The proprietor notices the guard at his door and when he asks about it, is told that James has been robbed at inns before so always has a guard posted outside his door. This explanation seems to placate him and he doesn’t bother them anymore.
Several hours after the sun has gone down, explosions begin to sound off in the distance. Bright flashes of light draw him to his window as he watches. His door opens and Illan and the others rush into his room, swords at the ready.
“We’re under attack!” Jorry exclaims.
James glances back at them with an amused smile as he shakes his head. “No, we’re not.” Gesturing out his window just as another flash lights up the night, he adds, “It’s just the wedding of the woman we almost attacked back by Trendle.”
“What?” asks Uther as he sheathes his sword.
“Remember those tubes she had in that chest?” he asks. “The ones that exploded when they went into their fire?” When he sees them nod their heads, he continues. “They’re called fireworks, at least where I come from they are, and are used for celebration. She must’ve just been married.”
“Oh, right,” Jorry says as he comes closer to the window to watch the spectacle. Another flash, this one green in color, challenges the night for supremacy. But then it slowly dies as the night once more asserts its control.
The fireworks last another ten minutes before finally stopping completely. Everyone files out and leaves James once more alone. He makes sure the chest is sitting right next to his bed on the floor before turning in. Tomorrow, he’ll activate the spells.
The morning dawns brightly and they’re soon up and back on the road. Before he left his room, he’d activated the concealing spells and monitored everything for several minutes before he was sure that each crystal was functioning properly.
When they leave Wurt, much to the amazement of the others, he takes the road south. The others ask him about it and he gives them vague replies at best. Finally, Illan tells them to shut up and stop their bothersome questions.
Several miles further down the road, Uther suddenly exclaims, “James!”
Glancing over his shoulder, he asks, “What?”
“Behind you!” he replies pointing to the old blanket covering the box. A red glow can be seen coming from within. Afraid of what this might mean, he stops and gets off his horse. Removing the chest from his horse, he sets it on the ground before taking it out of the blanket. The crystals are all glowing.
Glancing up and down the road he sees no one around. “Into the forest, now!” he cries as he picks up the box and runs through the edge of the trees. Can’t let anyone who may pass by see what’s going on. Not even looking back to see if they’re obeying him, he hurries deeper within the forest. Once he’s well hidden from the road, he sets the box down and sits on the ground facing it.
As Illan and the others approach, he says to Illan, “They’re hunting for it.” The crystal supplying the power to the concealing ones is being drained rapidly.
“What are you going to do?” Illan asks.
“What’s going on?” asks Uther.
“Quiet!” commands Illan.
James ignores them as he calls forth his magic. He immediately can feel a malignant power trying to find the Fire, the sheer amount of magic being used is staggering. Channeling his own magic into the power crystal, he attempts to keep the concealing spells active.
The one searching for the Fire suddenly dramatically increases the amount of magic being used, causing James to gasp as more of his own power is being sucked out of him to maintain the spell.
Illan and the others watch on as the glow of the crystals begins to intensify. They see James begin to pant and beads of sweat form as they drip off his forehead as he tries to thwart the attempts of the seeker.
Suddenly, the trees around them begin withering, one actually cracking down the middle. “What’s happening?” exclaims Jorry.
“It’s James,” explains Jiron.
“What’s he doing?” cries out Uther.
“I don’t know,” he says, shaking his head. “But he’ll not be good for much when this is over.”
“Form a perimeter around him,” Illan barks out. “Jorry, you go out to the road and keep watch. Jiron, stay next to him and do what you can for him. Uther, keep the horses under control. We can’t afford to have them running off.”
As they hop to it, he glances at the box in wonder as the glow from the crystals continues to grow.
No longer able to use his own nearly depleted inner stores of power, James has had to tap other resources. Drawing the power from the trees and the other vegetation around him allows him to be able to maintain the spells.
The amount of power used is staggering! Never could he have imagined such an unrelenting torrent of power. Malignant evil can be felt emanating from the source of the power, itself almost as hard to counter and deal with as the seeking magic.
Just as he did back when he fought that evil presence when he first came to this world, so too now does he again create conduits from the vegetation to deliver power to the crystals.
Concentrating as hard as he is on maintaining the flow of power to the crystals, he fails to notice just what effect it’s having around him. Trees and plants are dying rapidly, some even give a ‘pop’ as they crack open and crumble to the ground.
Suddenly, whoever was seeking the Fire, stops. James cancels the conduits quickly and almost feels fried as a backlash of power burns through him. Crying out, he falls backward into Jiron’s arms and slumps into unconsciousness.
Chapter Thirteen
“Now what?” asks Jorry as they gather around Jiron who’s cradling James’ head in his lap. A large circle of devastation radiates outward from James and the box, almost reaching the road.
“I don’t think we should stay here,” Jiron says. “Until he wakes up, we’ll not know if they found out where we are.”
“I agree,” Illan says. Indicating James, he says to Jiron, “Better get him on his horse, tie him if you must. The rest of you, get mounted.”
Uther lends a hand with helping to secure James on the horse. Illan takes the old blanket and again wraps the box before securing it behind James’ saddle. When everyone is mounted and ready to go, he turns to Jiron and asks, “Do you know exactly where he planned to go?”
“Trademeet,” he says. “Though we shouldn’t go through Trendle on the way back, we don’t want anyone knowing we’ve turned around.”
“Good point,” he says. “Let’s move.” They come back to the road where Illan turns them to the south as they follow it back around the forest.
Several hours past noon they return to the fork in the road with the branch leading due east. He turns them that way. “How’s he doing?” he asks Jiron.
“About the same,” he replies. “He’s not going to look like he’s improving until he actually regains consciousness.”
“Let me know,” he says.
“I will.”
Near nightfall, James begins moaning and thrashing around on his horse. Jiron moves next to him and somehow manages to calm him down. By that time, they have all stopped and gathered around him.
Illan looks to Jiron with a concerned look on his face.
“We need to find a place to rest for the night,” Jiron tells Illan. “I don’t know what that was, but he never did anything like that before.”
“Okay. Next place with an inn, we’re stopping.”
The next place happens to come along an hour later. Just a bunch of buildings along the side of the road, not much more than a place catering to travelers who weren’t able to reach the next town.
No sign hangs out in front of the inn and the place looks a little worse for wear. Several horses, along with a small caravan are tied around back. This place doesn’t even have a decent stable for the horses. If it wasn’t for James’ need for a good night’s rest, Illan would’ve passed this place by.
“Uther, go in and see if they’ve got at least three rooms for us.”