James nods silently in agreement as they continue to follow Jiron south. The incident with the scout isn’t repeated and after little over an hour, Jiron slows down and has the others join him. “I think we’re past whatever sentries and patrols were watching Korazan,” he says. “Now, just where are we heading?”
“Two days to the southeast lies Ki,” he replies. “According to the intelligence Lord Pytherian’s agents gathered, there’s a large iron mine in the mountains close to it. It’s a relatively small town and doesn’t have much of a garrison.”
“Going to do the same thing there as you did at the island?” Jiron asks. He remembers how James had utterly destroyed the Iron Mines at Sorna when he caused a massive volcanic eruption to completely engulf the island. Intelligence gathered by Lord Pytherian said a whole chain of eruptions sprung into being and have since played merry hell with shipping in the area.
“Hardly,” he says. “Going to try to collapse it, make it unusable for quite a while. If they lose the iron from there, they will only have one other mine of any size in operation or so the reports said. The other one is too far south for us to reach and have any success in making it back to Madoc again.”
They ride for another hour or so before coming to where the road forks to the southeast. Skirting around the town that sits across the juncture, they move to follow the new road to the southeast.
Throughout the night, they continue to follow the road. Other than them, no one else is traveling so late in the evening. Two hours before sunup, they come across a small village straddling the road. Little more than huts with goat farms, there is at least an inn.
“We should stop here,” James says when the inn comes in sight.
“Are you sure?” Jared asks. “If we’re found out, it’s all over.”
“I doubt that will happen,” Jiron says, joining the discussion.
“All you have to do is go in and get us a room,” James tells Jared. “Tell them we’ll send someone down in the morning to let them know when we will want breakfast sent up.”
“Alright,” says Jared, a trifle skeptical.
The inn has a lone lit candle in the front room. They pull up to the rail outside where James and Jiron wait while Jared goes inside. He isn’t long in returning and indicates he’s obtained a room. They take their horses around back to the stables. Only one horse is all there is within the stables and they have their choice of stalls. They pick three close to the entrance. Once their horses are settled in, they take all their bags with them up to their room.
As they reach the door to their room, James’ orb appears. Opening the door, the light from the orb reveals a single bed. They both look at Jared. “Sorry,” he says apologetically. “It was all they had.”
“All they had?” responds Jiron in amazement. “The stables are nigh on empty and this place hardly seems a major stop along the road.”
“It’s okay,” assures James as he enters through the door. Once the door shuts behind them, they stack their bags against it as an alarm.
“You take the bed,” Jiron offers James.
James nods and takes a seat on the edge while the others make themselves comfortable on the floor. “It’s a couple hours until dawn,” he says. “When it’s light enough, someone may realize I am no longer with our main force. Things could get interesting when it does.”
“How will we know if they do?” Jared asks.
Jiron chuckles and says, “Believe me, we’ll know.”
Before getting comfortable James removes the two crystals he had in his pocket as well as another from the sack of crystals. The power stored within these three crystals will aid him to ward off detection in the event an attempt is made to locate him. Setting them on the bed next to him, he lays down.
“Good night,” Jiron says from his position by the door.
“You too,” replies James as the room plunges into darkness with the vanishing of the orb. Only the glow from the crystals remains.
Crack!
Jared comes awake at the noise and quickly looks around the room. The light from the rising sun is just beginning to shine through the room’s window. Jiron is sitting on the bed next to James who is surrounded by a faint glow.
“What’s happening?” he asks as he gets to his feet. Coming over to the bed, he discovers a glowing crystal gripped in James’ right hand, another lies on the bed next to him. His other hand moves to the edge of the bed and drops a plain white crystal to the floor where it breaks into two halves.
“They’re trying to locate him,” whispers Jiron.
“Is he okay?”
“So long as the glow remains, he’s fighting them,” explains Jiron. “Keep an eye on the door, wouldn’t want anyone coming in just now.”
Moving to the door, Jared puts an ear to the door and listens. “No one’s out there,” he says.
“That’s a relief,” mutters Jiron.
“Why?” Jared asks as he returns to the bedside.
“You see, when mages work magic, others who are nearby can sense it,” Jiron explains. Gesturing to James, he says, “This has been going on for awhile and if there had been one near, they would have been here by now.”
“You mean he could attract a mage from the Empire?” he asks.
“Yes.”
They watch him as he lays there and combats those seeking him. The glowing crystal in his hand gradually loses its glow until…
Crack!
…its glow completely disappears and shatters in his hand. After dropping it on the floor with the other, he takes the remaining crystal in hand and the battle continues.
“Doesn’t look like much is happening,” comments Jared after several more minutes.
“If they knew exactly where he was, it would be more dramatic,” Jiron replies. “Now they know he’s missing and are trying to punch their way through whatever deception he’s got going.” Turning to gaze at Jared, he continues. “Think of it like there’s a pebble hidden beneath a large blanket and you have to keep poking the surface of the blanket until you discover where it is hiding. Once you locate where the pebble is, then you use all your force to tear through the blanket until you have the pebble.”
“I don’t understand,” he says.
Jiron smiles at him and says, “I didn’t either at first. But he’s explained it to me often enough that I think I get what he means.”
The glow from the crystal in James’ hand flares as the light within begins to drop dramatically. Muscles in James’ body start to twitch as he struggles against the power of those searching. His breath becomes more labored as sweat beads across his forehead.
“What should we do?” Jared asks, the sight of what’s transpiring on the bed is starting to unnerve him. Battle hardened though he is, magic is an altogether different matter and has always unsettled him.
“Wait,” replies Jiron as he grabs a cloth and begins dabbing the sweat from James’ brow.
Suddenly, another loud ‘crack’ is heard as the last crystal shatters completely. “That’s not good,” mutters Jiron.
Jared picks up James’ sack and begins to open it thinking to get him another crystal.
“Don’t!” yells Jiron as he snatches the sack from his hands. “We don’t know which ones he can use. Take out the wrong ones and you could kill us both.”
Gulping, Jared stares at the sack as if it contained live vipers.
A moan escapes from James and both turn their gaze to him. Sweat is now streaming down his face, breath coming in ragged gasps. It doesn’t look as if he’ll be able to hold on for much longer.
A cry, a massive spasming of his muscles and then he flops back down only to lie still. Whatever was going on has obviously stopped.
“Is he dead?” Jared asks in a shaky voice.
Moving closer, Jiron lays his ear to James’ chest. After a brief moment, he hears the lub-dub of his heartbeat. Glancing to Jared, he says, “He’s alive.”
Sighing, Jared comes forward. “Thank goodness,” he breathes with relief.