"Distraction?" says Lord Pytherian, glancing at James.

"May not have much choice," replies James. Sighing at the inevitable, he turns to Lord Pytherian and says, "You and Miko stay here while Jiron and I arrange for some of the guards to be drawn away."

"What are you going to do?" he asks.

James looks him in the eye and says, "You'll see." Turning back to Jiron he asks, "Ready?"

Giving him a mischievous grin, he replies, "You bet."

To Lord Pytherian, he says, "We'll be back in a few minutes. No matter what you may see and hear, don't move from this spot. Understand?"

Lord Pytherian nods his head.

"Let's go," he says to Jiron as they head out.

Lord Pytherian watches them go back down the alley away from the gate. He asks Miko, "What are they going to do?"

Shrugging, he replies, "I don't really know. When I first met James, he could hardly do anything without going unconscious or having horrendous headaches. But the last few weeks he's been able to do the most amazing things."

James follows Jiron through the back alleys until they've put some distance between the east gate and themselves. "You know," he says to Jiron, "when this all begins to let loose, they'll know we're not in the Keep."

"True," he replies, quickly making his way along a dark alley. "But hopefully that information will come too late to be of much use."

James comes to a stop and says, "Let's pause here a moment." A couple seconds later, five small bubbles appear and begin to float away.

"Now let's see if we can find a building that's not being used right now," he says as he indicates for Jiron to resume leading the way.

Nodding, Jiron sets out and a couple blocks down they find a warehouse. Looking inside, they see it stocked with bolts of fabric and other valuables, but otherwise unoccupied.

"This'll work," announces James. He pauses next to the side of the building and ever so briefly, a spot on the wall lights up and then disappears. They go all the way around the building, stopping at each side for a moment until the light flashes just as it had on the first side before continuing on.

Once they have paused on each of the four sides of the building, they then move back closer to the eastern gate. One street runs almost directly from the eastern gate to the warehouse they just visited. They make their way carefully down the street until coming to within five hundred feet of the eastern gate, far enough away so that the lights from the gate won't reveal them.

James pauses at one point on the north side of the street for a moment then moves down fifty feet where he again pauses for a second. Then he makes sure no one is looking before darting across to the other side where he does the same thing on the other side of the street, directly across from the two places he'd stopped at on the north side.

Satisfied, he gives Jiron a nod and they begin to move back to where the others are waiting. James grabs his arm as he starts to cross the area between the points where he'd just stopped those four times. When he looks at him, James whispers, "Not a good idea."

Nodding, he moves back and skirts that area. Ducking down a side alley to avoid a patrol, they finally make it back to where the others are waiting.

Lord Pytherian sees them coming and waves them over. When James comes next to him, he says, "Nothing happened."

"Just wait," James a.s.sures him.

Suddenly, they see a shimmering bubble making its way slowly down the street toward the soldiers at the gate. The translucent bubble is hard to see unless you know what you're looking for. As it gets closer, the mage there suddenly turns his head toward the bubble, sensing its magic resonance.

The mage says something to a soldier next to him who barks an order and everyone there comes immediately to attention. The crossbowmen on the walls are staring intently into the darkness of the street but fail to find anyone.

The bubble abruptly turns around and goes back the other way. The mage, sensing the magic moving away from him moves to follow when from across the town...

Crumph!

...the warehouse erupts in a tremendous explosion throwing fire and stone into the air. The mage immediately begins moving toward the explosion, half the soldiers going with him.

James can detect several of the bubbles in the area, throwing off the senses of the mage as he tries to hunt down the source of the magic he's sensing. He watches as the mage begins walking determinedly down the street, directly toward the place where he'd stopped those four times. When he reaches the center of it, four lights flare into being. The mage cries out as he falls to the ground and the soldiers with him try to run but are stopped by an invisible barrier that has sprung up between those four lights, boxing them in. Trapped, the soldiers begin crying out as they strike the barrier with their swords and fists but to no avail.

James takes some slugs out of the pouch at his hip and begins launching them up to the crossbowmen on the walls. One by one, they're struck and begin falling off the walls, some landing within the courtyard, others falling outside the walls.

Pytherian glances to James with renewed respect as he continues launching slugs until the walls are cleared of crossbowmen.

With his knives drawn, Jiron says, "Milord, it's our turn."

Nodding, he pulls the sword from its scabbard as they move toward the soldiers guarding the gate.

As Miko turns to follow them, James grabs his arm and says, "We need to open the gate."

Snapping back to himself, Miko nods and follows James to the gatehouse. On the way, James takes out two more guards before Jiron and Lord Pytherian begin to engage them.

Within the gatehouse are several levers and James begins pulling them at random. Miko stands at the door to the gatehouse, sword drawn and keeping a lookout. A loud clatter suddenly can be heard coming from the gates and then they begin to slowly swing open.

"Let's go," he says to Miko as they leave the gatehouse. A horn sounds from the top of the wall as a soldier there warns of the gate beginning to open. James looks to Jiron and Lord Pytherian who have already disposed of half the remaining guards and are standing back to back as they hold off the last four.

Down the street, past where the soldiers are trapped by the force fields, James can see a band of cavalry coming.

"My Lord!" a voice cries out.

Coming through the east gate are Miller and his band who're moving to engage the soldiers battling Lord Pytherian and Jiron. They quickly overwhelm them and secure the immediate area.

"My Lord," Miller cries out as he reaches his side. "We must leave!" Behind Miller is an extra horse for Lord Pytherian.

As he gets into the saddle, Lord Pytherian hollers, "James! Come on!" More crossbowmen are running along the wall as they rush to join the battle before the gate.

Jiron mounts up behind his friend as James and Miko run toward them. Bolts begin raining down as some of the crossbowmen on the walls near the gate.

James glances down the street and sees the cavalry already moving around the trapped men and racing toward them.

Crumph!

The ground under the leading horses erupts, throwing men and horses into the air and causing those behind them to come to a stop.

One of Miller's band cries out as a crossbow bolt strikes him in the back, causing him to fall from his horse. James makes for the now riderless horse and quickly mounts. He reaches down and helps Miko up behind him as bolts continue falling among them.

Another man cries out as a bolt strikes him in the shoulder, knocking him to one side but is able to remain in the saddle.

When Lord Pytherian sees that James and Miko are mounted, he cries out, "Ride!" Everyone turns and makes a break for it through the gates.

On the other side of the gate they head straight away from the walls, putting as much distance between them and the enemy as fast as possible. Several more bolts fly by as they ride but all fly wide of their mark and they are soon out of range of the deadly missiles.

Horns begin sounding behind them and are answered by horns to their left and right. James looks and sees two armies moving to intercept them, but since neither has cavalry, they're soon left behind.

In the moonlight they can see the mountains to the east of them and they make straight for them. They ride hard for an hour in silence, none wanting to take their attention off the ground ahead of them in fear of a horse putting a leg in a hole.

Lord Pytherian signals for everyone to slow down, to give the horses a breather. Riding next to Miller and James, he says, "I never thought I'd get out of there."

"We weren't going to just leave you there milord," Miller says. "I'm glad we were able to affect your escape."

"Yes," he replies. Then he turns to James and says, "How can I every repay you?"

"If we make it out of the Empire alive," he tells him, "that will be thanks enough."

Laughing into the night, he replies, "Consider it done!" Turning to Miller he asks, "Where's the rest of the army?"

"Madoc's forces are still in the field, last I knew," explains Miller. "The rest of the alliance's forces are falling away with your disappearance."

"d.a.m.n!" he exclaims, all traces of the laughter gone. "What about the Kirkens?"

"Word came that hostilities had broken out along their border and were recalled to defend their own lands," he replies.

"That's true," James tells him. "We ran into a band of Kirkens further south and they said something to that effect."

"I must return quickly," he states, "or Madoc and the north will fall to the Empire!"

"How far do we have to go to be past the Empire's lines?" asks Jiron from behind them.

Lord Pytherian looks at Miller who replies, "A day of hard riding, maybe more if they've pushed north since we left to find you."

"Getting there is the easy part," Lord Pytherian says. "Getting through to the other side, now that will be the challenge."

"Especially with another army on our heels," they hear Miko say urgently from where he sits behind James.

As one they glance back and in the moonlight see a large force of cavalry gaining quickly upon them. Spurring their horses back into a gallop, they race to stay ahead of the approaching force.

The man that had been struck with the crossbow bolt suddenly falls out of his saddle and hits the ground hard. One of Miller's men stops near him for a brief moment and then quickly rejoins the others. "He's dead," he tells them.

"d.a.m.n!" curses Miller. Leaving the dead man behind, they press on.

James continues glancing back as they race through the night and watches as the leading edge of riders continues to gain upon them. Their horse and the one carrying Jiron and Fifer are beginning to lag behind the others who aren't carrying double.

Leaning low over his horse's neck, James hollers over to Jiron, "We're not going to be able to stay ahead of them."

Jiron glances back at the riders and gives him a nod.

"Milord!" James hollers up to Lord Pytherian.

Lord Pytherian slows and James is able to come abreast of his horse. "You and the others push on," he hollers to him. "We'll never be able to keep up!"

Looking back at the riders, Lord Pytherian considers it a moment.

"You're needed back in Madoc," James tells him. "We'll give you time to get away."

"I'll not forget this," he tells him. "Madoc owes you a great deal young man." Then he kicks his horse and then he and the others begin pulling away.

James nods to Fifer and they begin slowing as they turn to face the enemy. Once they've stopped, James dismounts and faces the onrushing hors.e.m.e.n. From behind him, he can hear Jiron say to Fifer as they dismount, "When the fighting starts, stay away from the boy."

"Why?" Fifer asks.

"In the heat of battle, he sometimes can't tell friend from foe," he explains.

"Berserker?" Fifer asks.

"In a way," Jiron responds.

As the riders approach, the moonlight reveals about sixty riders coming hard. "Man," he hears Fifer say as he draws his sword, preparing to sell his life dearly.

James begins gathering the magic as the riders continue to approach. He reaches in and takes out several slugs that he holds in his left hand. Then, when the riders are close enough...

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

...three ma.s.sive explosions throw the leading edge of the advancing force into the air. They can hear the cries of men and horses as they arc through the air. When they crash back to the ground, very few can be seen moving.

"d.a.m.n!" comes Fifer's exclamation from behind him.

The trailing wedge of riders veers around to the left and right of the scene of carnage as they continue coming for them. James begins tossing slugs and riders start to fall.

Crumph!

The ground under the riders once more explodes upward and Jiron sees James take a step back, staggering, almost like he was about to fall. He turns to Fifer and says, "Whatever happens, we've got to keep them off of him."

Fifer nods to Jiron as they move to put themselves between the few remaining riders and James.