Fires Of Prophecy Part 38

"Yeah," Miko replies as he carries the rocks over to the wagon. "He lost his hand because he tried to attack me one night and the guards cut it off, probably because he had a knife."

"That's the general rule," he says. "I take it he doesn't care for you too much, then?"

"You could say that," agrees Miko.

"You'll never survive if he only gives you half rations," Nate tells him.

"What should I do?" Miko asks.

"If he does it again," he explains, "tell Essin. I'll back you up on it."

"Alright," he says, "I'll do that."

The rest of the day pa.s.ses pretty much as the previous one had. Apparently their quota was four wagon loads a day. "And there better not be just rock in there either!" Essin keeps telling them. At the second to last break of the day, Black Tooth is again the one to bring their bread and water. Miko figures he's given that job because a one handed man is of little use otherwise.

When he comes to Miko, he gives him another of his crooked grins as he fills the ladle again only half full. Instead of taking it, Miko hollers over to where Essin stands, "He's only giving me a half ration of water!"

Black Tooth's smile disappears as he quickly dips the ladle back in before Essin has time to come over to see what he's doing.

"What's going on over here?" he asks, obviously not pleased at having been disturbed.

Indicating Black Tooth, Miko says, "This man here is only giving me half rations of water."

Essin speaks to Black Tooth and gets a reply. "He says you just want seconds," he says to Miko.

Nate steps in and says, "I've seen it. He's been shorting Miko because of an old grudge."

Essin looks from Nate, Miko and then to Black Tooth. Making up his mind he says something to Black Tooth and then walks away.

Black Tooth gives Miko a dark look, dips the ladle and gives him a full measure. Miko takes it and says, "Thank you" to him very pleasantly just to irritate him.

"What did Essin say to him?" Miko asks Nate once they've returned to work.

"He said if he ever shorts one of his workers again, he'll have the other hand cut off," he replies.

"Good," Miko says with malice. He really doesn't care too much for Black Tooth.

Near the end of their shift, there's a rumble from off in the mines and then someone comes running and says something excitedly to Essin.

"Leave your picks boys," he tells them. "There's been a cave-in and we've been told to go help dig 'em out."

He turns and leads them at a quick pace down a side tunnel that has dust belching out of it. They go down it a ways and arrive at a spot where the ceiling has fallen in and has either trapped or killed the men that had been working this area.

They begin to clear the rubble as fast as they can, sometimes several of them have to work together to move a sizeable boulder. Miko works diligently and suddenly sees an arm sticking out of the rubble after removing a stone. "Someone's under here!" he hollers.

Everyone begins to clear that section until the body can be removed. Miko gets sick when he sees the skull has been smashed and the man's brains are oozing through the cracks.

They find three more bodies before they break through to the other side where the rest of the crew had been trapped. One has a broken arm and another a broken leg, the rest of the crew are unscathed.

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 sh.o.r.e 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.s.

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 a.s.sures 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 a.s.sured, 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.

The wall surrounding the town is not very large, almost seems more for aesthetic value than for defense. A gate stands across the road where it pa.s.ses through and is being guarded by two men. Jiron pauses for a moment to observe them as he evaluates his chances of making it through.

Deciding not to risk detection, he moves down the wall away from the gate. Reaching a spot where no one can observe him, he jumps up and grabs hold of the top of the wall, then proceeds to pull himself up. He looks over the top to the other side and when he sees it's clear, slips over the wall and drops to the ground.

Keeping to the shadows as best he can, he runs across the distance to where the first building lies. He moves along its side until coming to a window. Glancing in through the window, he discovers it to be some sort of carpentry shop. Not what he's looking for, he continues down to the adjacent building where a light is shining out through a window. Looking in, he finds this one to be a home, most likely that of the carpenter. It doesn't look as if any one is currently within, though it's hard to be sure.

Not wanting to take the chance where someone could be home, he continues on from building to building. Staying in the shadows as best he can, he finally comes across one that is dark, yet seems to be a residence. Hoping for it to have some food, he makes his way around the side to the alley running between it and another building.

Finding the alley vacant, he moves into it and continues down until he comes to a door leading into the building he wants. A moment's listening at the door a.s.sures him there's no one on the other side. He takes the handle and tries to open it only to discover it's locked. Taking out one of his knives, he works on the lock until it clicks open.

Pushing open the door slowly, he makes his way into the dark interior of the house, closing the door quietly behind him. Much to his relief, he finds that it is indeed a residence and begins to search the house until he comes across the pantry. Relieved to find it containing food, he takes a loaf of bread and puts it inside one of his sacks as well as some dried fruit. It's not going to be enough to last him and James for very long, but it's a start.

This residence contains many things of value so he doesn't feel obligated to leave any money this time. They won't suffer from the loss of a little bit of food. As he returns to the door leading to the alley, he opens it a crack and looks out to find the alley still remains dark and empty. Leaving the house, he closes the door behind him and starts moving further along the side of the alley until coming to a cross street. He sees hanging outside of the building directly across the street from him, the unmistakable sign of a butcher's shop. That's what I need! That's what I need!

Excited at the prospect of raiding a butcher's shop, he looks up and down the street before he crosses. A lone man is walking toward him. Hiding in the shadows of the alley, he waits until the man pa.s.ses and continues down the street, eventually moving out of sight. A quick scan after the man disappears shows the street to be empty so he dashes across to the shadows of the alley next to the butcher's shop, where he pauses momentarily to glance back along the street. Finding that he's made the dash undetected, Jiron begins searching for another entrance to the shop, other than the one facing the street.

Around back, he finds a door that's locked and no amount of finagling with the lock will open it. Wishing for his lost lock picks, he begins glancing overhead and spies an open window on the second floor.

Searching the alley for something that might help him reach the window, he finds a broken crate lying in the alley several feet away. Going over to it, he checks it quickly to be sure it'll hold his weight, it seems st.u.r.dy enough. Picking it up, he brings it over and sets it under the open window. Standing upon the crate, he comes to within inches of the window. Hoping the crate will indeed hold up under his weight, he jumps up and grabs the window sill. He then pulls himself up so he can look through the window.

The room looks to be someone's bedroom, a bed and several dressers are contained within. Snores can be heard coming from the bed, two forms are sleeping under the covers. Not wanting to risk disturbing them, he drops back down to the crate which collapses under his weight with a loud crash. He quickly rolls against the building and holds still.

The noise from the crate crashing and him hitting the ground must've woke up one of the sleepers, for shortly a head sticks out the window and looks around the darkness of the alley.

Lying there perfectly still, Jiron watches as the person continues to look for several seconds before pulling his head back in. He waits for a minute and then lets out a sigh of relief when whoever it was fails to raise the alarm. He mustn't have seen me here in the dark. He mustn't have seen me here in the dark.

As he gets up, he sees two shapes coming toward him. They quietly say something to him but he doesn't understand what they're saying. Backing up slowly, he retreats back down the alley, never taking his eyes off the two approaching figures. Suddenly, a noise from behind and a quick glance shows another shadow approaching from behind.

Again, the figures say something. When he fails to reply, he sees them draw knives and can hear the person coming behind him do the same.

Sudden calmness comes over him as he realizes these are just some local thieves out for a score. Drawing his two knifes, he quickly advances upon the two approaching him.

They're shocked for a moment as they didn't expect him to launch an attack, and that moment's hesitation is all Jiron needed to drop one to the ground. Quickly engaging the other, he blocks the man's slash with one of his knives while following through with his other.

The man cries out as Jiron's knife penetrates into his side, sinking five inches of steel beneath the skin and puncturing a lung. Falling to the ground, the man begins crying out and choking as his lung fills with blood.

Turning to the last thief, Jiron stands ready and can see the man is about ready to flee. Then suddenly from overhead, the person who had looked out previously now begins shouting, raising the alarm. That's all the other thief needed, he quickly backs up and turns as he flees out of the alleyway.

Jiron quickly follows, deciding that the food he has will have to be enough for now. As he races across the street back the way he had come, another person who had stuck his head out his window to see what the other guy is yelling about sees him and starts to holler as well. Several guards, alerted by the shouting, see him running and give chase.

He dodges between buildings as he tries to throw off pursuit, all the while trying to make his way back to where his horse is tied up. He finally throws his pursuers off by ducking into a building and going out a side window. As they run off in the opposite direction, he makes a beeline for the wall and is soon over to the other side.

His horse is right where he left it. Mounting quickly, he turns toward the desert and kicks his horse into a gallop, putting distance between himself and the city.

Not happy with the small amount of supplies he had acquired, he supposes it'll have to due under the circ.u.mstances. He tries to get his bearings in the dark in order to locate the area where he left James.

He rides for several minutes before spotting a light off in the distance. It looks to be a campfire. Don't tell me James built a fire? Don't tell me James built a fire? That'll alert everyone to our presence here! That'll alert everyone to our presence here! Getting mad at James' stupidity, he rides toward the fire. Getting mad at James' stupidity, he rides toward the fire.