After they’ve removed the rubble and the men are being taken to the surface to mend, Essin leads them back to their area. On the way back, Miko sees a group of men coming with timbers and hammers to shore up the fallen area.
Once back and again picking away at the wall, his mind keeps returning to the cave-in and he can’t get the picture of the man’s skull, crushed by the fallen stone, out of his mind. The tunnel feels smaller than it had before and every noise he hears, scares him as he thinks the tunnel is caving in.
When they at last head back up to their room, Miko is happy to be out of there. All night long, he has dreams of being trapped inside the tunnel as it caves in around him.
Chapter Twenty Five
The day before, they headed south as directly as they could and had put many miles behind them. Several times they came across dead soldiers and horses, all having been flayed by the storm. Every corpse had a good portion of their skin removed, some even with bones exposed from where the flying debris had shredded the skin and tissue from them.
They remained out of sight of the road to the west while paralleling its course south. Once they detoured further to the east to avoid patrols and each time James had dreaded the thought of possibly having to do magic to escape them. But thankfully, they managed to avoid detection and hadn’t needed to use magic.
Close to nightfall, they come across a small spring and made camp. Barely three foot across and two deep, it held enough water to quench their thirst and satisfy the horses. By the time they were done with drinking and filling their water bottles, they had practically drained it dry. By morning, though, it had refilled to its previous level and they were able to top off their water bottles again before setting off.
Prior to leaving, James pulls out his mirror to see if he can determine Miko’s whereabouts. When the image begins to appear, he starts to panic because it is so dark. At first he thought he was looking inside a grave but then a light appears and he sees Miko with a pickaxe in hand, swinging it against a rock wall.
“I found him!” he announces excitedly. “It looks like they have him inside some kind of mine.”
“A mine?” Jiron asks. “Can you determine where?”
He tries to expand the image but to no avail. Shaking his head he says, “All I see is the inside of the mine, others are there working beside him.”
“Must be a big place then,” Jiron figures.
“Perhaps,” he replies. “I’m sure the locals would know of it, but we don’t dare inquire.”
Jiron nods in agreement, “Yeah, we would stick out all right, what with us not knowing the language. What do you propose we do?”
Thinking a moment, he takes out a strip of cloth and says, “I’ll keep using this to show us the way and eventually we’ll find him.”
“Even across water?” he asks. “Remember, he was on a ship a few days ago.”
“There’s no reason to believe he’s not on the mainland,” James says. “They could’ve simply used it for quick transport from one city to the next along the coast.”
Looking dubious, Jiron shrugs his shoulders and says, “Either way, sitting here isn’t going to get us any closer.” He tops off his water bottle and then allows his horse a last drink from the spring before mounting. Once mounted, he waits for James to do the same and then they’re on their way.
Jiron looks over to James and sees him holding the piece of cloth as it sticks straight out from his hand. It’s pointing to the southwest. “Should we head that way now or stay south until he’s due west?” he asks.
“May as well head straight there,” he says. “We don’t know if going south or southwest is the safest way. So we may as well go in as straight a direction as possible.” He looks to Jiron and then says, “Until our circumstances change that is.”
“Southwest it is then,” Jiron says as he turns his horse in that direction. As James turns to follow, Jiron asks him, “What do you plan to do after we find your friend?”
“First thing would be to get him out of wherever he is,” he replies. “I still want to try to head back to Cardri. Maybe we could get a ship and sail around the coast.”
“Maybe. Then what?” prompts Jiron.
“Oh, maybe rest for a while and perhaps build a house.” He glances to Jiron and continues, “There are some things I’ve been thinking about, things to do with magic that I would like to experiment with. I want to be somewhere safe and away from people where I can work and not be disturbed.”
“What about searching for information about this Morcyth? Do you still plan to continue with that?”
“Absolutely,” James replies. “There are things I still need to know, but the last few weeks have shown me that I need to be better prepared before I set out again.” He pauses for a few seconds then says, “But I’ll worry about that when I get Miko back to Cardri. One thing at a time.”
They ride along in silence for a while longer before a road appears in the distance ahead of them. The coastline has begun to curve which has brought the road toward them. Several travelers are upon it, none looking to be military in nature.
Jiron looks to James who shrugs and says, “The road might actually be okay now.”
“How do you figure?” he asks.
“Since that large force had just recently come through here,” he explains, “it’s unlikely they would expect us to be here.”
“Possibly,” states Jiron.
“Besides, I’m tired of slugging our way through the desert. I want to get to Miko as quickly as possible.
“Alright,” agrees Jiron as he leads them toward the road. Upon reaching it, a fellow traveler on his way north says something to them, but they ignore him as they pass.
The man turns and says something, an obvious statement about being rude before he continues on his way.
When they are some distance away from the closest traveler on the road, James says, “It’s going to be a problem, not being able to speak their language.”
“I know,” replies Jiron, “but what can we do about it?”
“Nothing, I suppose,” he says.
They follow the road for several more miles and the only traffic they encounter is civilian in nature. James is surprised at the lack of military presence on the roads. Maybe the force he saw before the storm is all they are sending, or are able to send. Hopefully the local garrisons have been depleted to make up that force and are unable to spare any for patrols.
A town begins to appear ahead of them and when Jiron notices it, suggests, “Perhaps we should skirt around it. We could make camp out in the desert and I could sneak in for some supplies after it gets dark.”
James nods agreement, “Our supplies are getting a little low.”
So they veer to the east and continue until they’ve reached a spot a good two miles away from the town. They set up camp and wait for the coming of darkness. When the sun reaches the horizon, Jiron mounts his horse and says, “I’ll be back in a couple of hours, hopefully not longer.”
“Be careful,” cautions James.
“I will,” he assures him.
As he gets ready to leave, James stops him and says, “How are you going to be able to find me out here in the dark?”
Jiron looks around at the landscape and fixes the landmarks in his mind before he turns to James and says, “Rest assured, I’ll find you.” Then he turns his horse in the direction of the distant town and rides off into the deepening night.
Upon reaching the edge of town, he skirts along the edge, keeping to the shadows. He comes across several trees growing beyond the edge of town and stops to secure his horse in among them. With any luck he’ll still be there when he returns.
Removing a couple sacks from his saddle bags, he folds them up tightly and places them within his belt pouch. He pats his horse on the neck as he says, “Stay quiet,” and then melts into the darkness as he makes his way to town.