“I’m not feeling that bad,” he replies.
Jiron nods for him to go ahead and Jared leaves to get the horses ready.
Once Jared leaves, James holds up his bandaged hand and looks questioningly to Jiron.
“One of your crystals shattered in your hand,” he explains. “I think at the end when you began spasming was when it was cut.”
“Oh.” He finishes his meal in short order and then gets to his feet. “Shall we?” he asks.
“May as well,” Jiron replies.
They leave the room but not before giving it a once over to make sure they didn’t leave anything behind. That’s something his grandparents always instilled in him whenever they went anywhere. When the car was packed with everything from the hotel room, James was given the chore of returning one last time to check for anything left behind. Once in awhile his grandfather would leave something of James’ hidden in the room just to see if he was actually looking.
They reach the stairs and are halfway down when a man who may have been the proprietor meets them halfway up and asks a question. James feigns feeling unwell and Jiron simply shrugs as they continue on past. The proprietor continues to give them a puzzled expression even after they reached the bottom of the stairs and begin heading for the door.
“Wonder what he was trying to say?” asks Jiron as they hurry across the courtyard to the stables.
“Who knows?” responds Jiron. “Maybe just asking how you were doing.”
“Maybe,” he agrees.
At the stables they find Jared having already saddled their horses. It takes little time to secure their packs behind the saddles. Once they’re ready they waste no time in mounting and returning to the road.
When the small goat town is behind them, Jared says, “Several people asked if I had any word about what’s going on at Korazan. It appears word has already spread that something is going on there.”
“What did you tell them?” asks James.
“Just that we came the other way around the southern tip of the lake and didn’t pass by Korazan,” he explains. “And that we heard a large force had seized Korazan and were executing all the civilians.”
“Why did you tell them that?” James exclaims turning on him.
“Give them something to talk about among themselves and they won’t bother you anymore,” he relies. “It worked too.”
“Great,” sighs James.
Jiron chuckles beside him. “Don’t worry about it,” he says. “By the time we’re done the tales will be spreading far and wide, none even close to the truth.”
“I suppose so,” he says with a sigh. They ride on in silence for awhile. After mulling it over, he turns to Jared and says, “From now on, stick to the truth, okay?”
Shrugging, he says, “Sure. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I know. But either stick to the facts or stay quiet,” he states. “I don’t want any more wild rumors circulating about me and my doings than can be helped.” He stares into his eyes until he nods then turns back to the road.
Just after noon, they come to a sizeable town sitting at a junction where a road running north and south crosses theirs. The town looks to be of some importance, buildings three and four stories high can be seen rising above the walls.
“Shall we go around?” Jiron asks as they approach.
“That would look suspicious,” replies James. “We’ll go through.”
Nodding, Jiron says to Jared, “You take the lead. If anyone approaches, you deal with it and remember, we are on business of the temple.”
“Right,” he says as he moves ahead of the others.
Two guards are posted at the gate through which their road runs, neither one appearing to be too interested in the people passing through. They both lean against the wall as they keep an eye on the overall area, probably there more to keep order than to watch for infiltrators.
As they approach the gate area, they’re forced to slow due to the number of people making their way through the gates. James’ heart skips a beat when one of the guards glances directly at him, but then his eyes dart to another as they pass through to the other side.
Moving through the throng on the street, they sense a definite feeling of heightened stress and anxiety from the locals. People are a little too intense in haggling and move along the street in a more hurried manner. Here and there pockets of people are seen talking, rarely does laughter spring forth.
One thing that James notices is the relative scarcity of guards. Most towns they passed through when they played the part of merchants had many guards walking the streets. Other than the two at the gate, none other has made an appearance. Wonder if they sent them all to deal with Illan? If that were the case, this whole area would be a sitting duck should an army show up.
The road takes them through the heart of the city where the larger and more impressive buildings lie. Before they pass the first large structure, guards begin to appear. Here at the heart of the city is where the highest concentration of guards lies.
Many well dressed people are upon the streets in this area leading James to believe this is the city’s government district. The affluent are seen coming and going from the impressive structures situated within this area.
Moving quickly but not so fast as to draw attention to themselves, they make it past the government district and reenter the city proper. Before the eastern gates are in sight, a caravan of a dozen or so wagons comes toward them from up the road.
Jiron motions for them to move to the side to give the caravan room to pass. As the first wagon comes abreast of where they have paused at the side of the road, he sees a small red flare coming from the underside of the second wagon. Casting a quick glance at James he finds him staring intently at the caravan as it passes.
Then as the last wagon rolls by, he catches sight of another flare out of the corner of his eye. Just what is he up to? Looking around, he searches the crowd for anyone else who may have noticed. The people on the street appear to be engrossed in whatever they are doing and none look to have taken notice. After the last wagon and guards pass, they resume their progress toward the eastern gate. Another pair of disinterested guards stands watch at the gate as they pass through.
The eastern road is much more crowded than the one on the other side, probably owing to the fact the western road leads in the general vicinity of Korazan. And with what’s going on there, none wish to risk an encounter with the enemy.
Dying to ask James what he was doing but unable to do so due to the other travelers on the road, Jiron remains silent until they come to a stretch of road devoid of other travelers. Coming to ride next to his horse, Jiron asks, “What did you do back there?”
“What do you mean?” James replies innocently.
“I saw what you did with those wagons,” he states.
James flashes him a grin. “Oh that. Just something I thought of back at The Ranch.”
“What?” he asks.
James shakes his head and nods toward where Jared is riding. Understanding comes to Jiron that he doesn’t want to talk about it in front of Jared. Nodding, he stops the questioning and turns his attention back to the road ahead.
Throughout the rest of the day whenever they ride past a caravan, whether it was going in their direction or not, Jiron would catch red flares flashing briefly beneath one, two, or sometimes even three of the wagons. He would glance to James only to receive a grin in return.
When the sun reaches the horizon and no inn has made an appearance, they decide to pull off the road and make camp. The cool of the evening is a welcoming relief from the heat of the day. Now that it’s summer, the days are nigh on unbearably hot.
After they’ve finished eating and are sitting around the fire, the sound of a horse comes from the road. In the light from the stars overhead, they make out the silhouette of the rider coming in their direction. Jiron nods to Jared to be ready to deal with whoever is approaching.