Miko draws his sword and begins advancing upon the dozen riders still coming toward them. Four veer off in his direction, the others come straight to where James and Fifer are standing.

James manages to throw two more slugs before he sags to the ground. "Close your eyes!" he hollers and a split second later, a brilliant burst of light flashes between them and the riders.

"Ah!" Fifer cries out as the light stabs like needles into his eyes. He hadn't heeded James' warning.

The horses of the approaching riders neigh in fright, and come to an abrupt halt, throwing the riders to the ground.

Jiron had heard James' warning and had shielded his eyes. Now he quickly moves forward and begins to dispatch the blinded riders. The first one he pulls from his horse as he stabs him with his knife. The next two he kills while they writhe on the ground, holding their eyes in pain.

The fourth one he comes to isn't moving, a cursory look shows him to have broken his neck when he'd fallen off his horse. As he stands up from inspecting the dead man, a horse runs into him and knocks him over. The rider strikes out with his sword but in his half blinded state, misses by scant inches.

Jiron rolls out from under the horse's hooves and quickly regains his feet. He moves toward the rider who is turning his head this way and that trying to locate him. The rider shakes his head and rubs his eyes in an attempt to clear them, enabling Jiron to move close without being seen.

He jumps the last few feet and pulls him from the horse, both tumbling to the ground. His knife flashes but the rider gets a hold on his arm, keeping the blade inches away from his face.

They roll and Jiron manages to knee the man in the groin, taking the fight out of him. The rider's arm loses strength and Jiron brings the knife down, puncturing the man's throat all the way to the spinal column in the back.

Jerking his knife out, Jiron rolls then comes to his feet as he looks around for another rider.

Miko stands amidst eight dead bodies, four men and four horses. His head swivels around as he looks for another to fight.

Jiron can hear the remaining rider as he races back the way they'd come, horn blaring. Answering horns can be heard further away in the dark.

Moving to where James sits with Fifer standing guard, eyes slowly regaining their night vision, he says, "There's more on the way and not too far back. We gotta go!"

James nods his head as he gets to his feet, Fifer lends him a hand when he almost falls back to the ground. "I'm alright," he says to him.

He sees Miko standing there among the dead and begins walking over to him. "Miko!" he calls out. When there's no response, he calls his name again. Glancing to the others, he says, "Gather some horses." Then he returns his attention to Miko.

Miko's head turns in his direction and he begins walking toward him. James can see the sword still gripped in his hand.

"Miko! It's James," he says in a calm and soothing voice.

Miko pauses a moment then continues toward him, his sword at a slightly less threatening angle. "You okay?" asks James.

"I think so," he replies, his voice sounding tired and slightly distant.

"Good, we need to get going, okay?" he asks him.

Nodding, Miko approaches him and then stops as he wipes his sword off on one of the dead riders before replacing it in his scabbard.

Jiron and Fifer come over to them, each leading two horses. Once they're all mounted, Jiron asks, "Which way?"

"Where did Lord Pytherian go?" asks James.

"He went more to the north, why?" replies Fifer.

"Then let's move eastward and try to draw off those behind us and give him time to get through the lines," he says.

"You sure?" Jiron asks.

"Yeah," replies James.

They turn and begin moving toward the east, the sky there behind the mountains beginning to show the first signs of the approach of dawn.

Chapter Twenty One.

As they push on eastward, they keep to a steady, mile eating pace that won't overly tire the horses. When the sky becomes brighter, they see ahead of them where the terrain is once again turning into hills before finally becoming the mountains rising in the distance. It isn't long before they leave the gra.s.slands behind and enter the hills.

Behind them, there is still no sign of the approaching force, but they know they're there. They come across a small spring in the lee of a hill and decide to pause for a short break to eat and give the horses a chance to regain their strength.

Jiron climbs to the top of the hill and looks to the west. "See anything?" Fifer shouts up at him from where he's filling his water bottle at the spring.

Shaking his head, Jiron hollers back, "It doesn't look like they're following us." After a few more minutes of scanning for the enemy, he returns back down the hill to the others.

James is lying stretched out on the ground, trying to rest for the few minutes they'll be staying here. Jiron comes over and sits next to him. Gesturing over to Miko, he says quietly so only he can hear him, "Is it my imagination, or is he getting taller?"

Sitting up abruptly, James looks over to where Miko is sitting quietly next to Fifer. Nodding, he replies, "Maybe, I hope not though."

"Why?" Jiron asks.

Lowering his voice so as to practically be unheard, he says, "If he is, it's the Fire doing it to him and that can't be good. The sooner we can get it away from him, the better."

"Why don't you take it?" asks Jiron.

"I don't dare," he replies. "It might be safe enough hanging in a pouch, but I might inadvertently reach in and touch it. From what the ghost of the priest of Morcyth said, that would be bad."

"What if one of us takes it?" he suggests.

"No," he replies. "I think it best if only one of us is affected by it."

"So what are we to do?" he says as he glances to Miko.

"Nothing right now," answers James. "Just hope nothing too bad comes of it. As soon as we're back in Cardri, I'll find somewhere to hide it."

Changing the subject, Jiron asks, "Can you do your scanning thing to see where those forces that were following us went to?"

Sighing, he says, "Alright, but after that I'm going to need to avoid magic for a while. I'm starting to feel the effects."

"Headache again?" guesses Jiron.

Nodding, James replies, "Yeah. It's not too bad right now, but if I should need to call on the magic in an emergency, it could get much worse." Getting up, he moves over to the spring and kneels down in front of it.

"What's going on?" asks Fifer.

"He's going to try to find the force that was behind us," explains Jiron.

Interested, Fifer comes over and watches as the surface of the pool begins to shimmer and suddenly focuses on an aerial view of them.

James scrolls the image westward and it isn't long before they see the large force of foot soldiers moving to the northeast. The image suddenly moves further to the northeast and they see Lord Pytherian where he's stopped at the edge of a forest taking a short break. If the army continues on its present course, they'll run right into him.

The image disappears as James stands up and says, "It looks like they're moving straight for Lord Pytherian." He glances to the others gathered around him and continues, "We'll need to convince that army to come this way."

"How?" Jiron asks.

"We'll attack," he states.

"You've got to be kidding, right?" Fifer says in disbelief. "The four of us, against that?"

"I'm not saying that we'll wade in with guns ablazing, no," he tells him. "But, we could convince them to alter their course enough to bypa.s.s Lord Pytherian. Or at least slow their progress down."

"How?" Jiron asks, intrigued at the prospect.

"Come close enough so they'll send someone to investigate us," he explains. "Then take them out. I'll use magic so if there's any mages within the group, they'll know I'm here. That should give them reason enough to come after us."

"You going to be up to that?" Jiron asks him.

Shrugging, he replies, "It's an hour or so before we get to them, I should be okay for a little magic by then. Besides, if we don't turn them this way, Lord Pytherian may not be able to get safely through the lines. He'll be rushed to make it through with this force nipping on his heals and that could prove disastrous for him."

"Then let's get moving," Jiron says as he walks over toward where the horses are picketed. Mounting, he waits while the others get up on their horses and then leads them along a route which should intersect with the route the army is taking.

Once they've left the hills behind, it isn't long before they see the dust on the horizon the army kicks up as it marches. "Let's maintain this distance," James says after they've moved a little closer to them. "We'll just move along parallel with them until they take notice."

Keeping the Empire's forces in sight, they maintain a leisurely pace. Their force is primarily foot with some cavalry mixed in. It takes a full ten minutes before the army finally realizes they're there. Suddenly, they hear a horn blast and six hors.e.m.e.n break off from the main group as they gallop toward them.

"Seems we finally got their attention," Jiron states.

"Took them long enough," replies Fifer. "I thought we'd have to holler over to them to let them know we were even here." Jiron gives out with a bark of laughter at that.

"Look," Miko says, "the foot soldiers are beginning to move in this direction."

"This might just work," says James. He waits for a minute or two to allow the riders to come closer before he releases the magic.

Crumph!

The ground beneath the riders explodes upward, creating a large dust cloud. When the dust cloud dissipates, they find all six riders lying broken and still amidst their dead steeds.

More horns sound from within the host and suddenly the bulk of the riders break into a gallop northward as the foot turn and begin moving directly toward them.

"Where are they going?" asks Miko as the riders move out of sight to the north.

"Most likely trying to cut us off so the foot will have a chance to catch up with us," replies James.

"But aren't they worried about you doing more spells against them?" he asks.

He begins to feel the p.r.i.c.kling sensation of magic and says, "They have a mage with them, and if he's been following all that I've done, he should realize I haven't much left in me."

"Oh," grunts Miko.

"Shouldn't we be moving now?" asks Fifer as the foot soldiers begin closing the distance rapidly.

"Absolutely," says Jiron as he turns back to the east. They all break into a quick gallop, making sure not to outrun the foot soldiers as they race for the mountains.

When they're finally back among the hills, they make sure to pa.s.s over a hill from time to time to allow the pursuing army to keep track of their position. They continue this strategy for another hour, managing to keep the army behind them at a constant, yet safe, distance.

Suddenly from the north, horns begin sounding. From behind them, horns can be heard answering them. Topping a hill, they look to the north. James hears Fifer gasp beside him when he sees a force of riders approaching, with some foot soldiers mixed in. A force over twice the size they'd seen break off from the pursuing army earlier. "I guess we know where those riders had been going," James says.

"Yeah, to get reinforcements," adds Jiron.

They watch as a large contingent of horse and foot begin entering the hills from the north. Numbering over a hundred horse and three times that number of foot, James realizes their plan may have worked too well.

"No more piddlefarting around," he says as he turns his horse due east. "Let's get the h.e.l.l out of here!" The others follow as he rides down off the hill and begins racing through the hills.

They go no more than half a mile when a road appears between them as it makes its way eastward. Coming onto the road, they're able to increase their speed as they fly toward the mountains.

From behind them, they continue to hear the horns of the two armies calling to one another. Scouts can be seen behind them from time to time as they crest hills in order to better direct the pursuing armies.

Up ahead of them in the road is a cart drawn by two mules, making its way toward them. Without stopping, they swing around it and continue down the road. The driver glances over his shoulder at them as they quickly disappear around the next hill. When he turns back, he's startled to see the hills beginning to swarm with the Empire's forces as they close in.

"Maybe this idea wasn't so smart!" James hollers over to Jiron as they race along the road.

"It worked though," he replies. "They're definitely not heading toward Lord Pytherian now."

Behind them, they can see dozens of riders upon the road in pursuit. To the north, horns can still be heard as they call to those in hills to the west. The cavalry must be pacing them as they keep them bottled up for the foot soldiers.

The hills begin to grow steadily steeper until they finally meld into the mountains. The road now winds its way between two steep sides of the mountain, with no way to go now but forward.

Turning a corner, they come to a junction, either straight ahead along the main road, or they can follow a smaller one that winds steeply up the mountain to their right. Deciding on speed, they continue to follow the road which continues straight ahead.

Ten more minutes pa.s.s when suddenly a small village appears ahead of them. They pause momentarily at the edge of the village to determine where to go. The villagers watch them but make no move to approach.

The village is nestled in among the sides of the mountain, the only way to go now is to follow the road as it leaves the village to the south. With the horns behind them getting louder, they kick their tired horses into a gallop as they race through town to the southern road.

From where it exits the village, the road begins to dwindle in size as it begins to curve to the right. Further down, the road, soon narrows into a small path with ruts made from the many wagon wheels that have rolled through here. They're forced to slow their horses as the footing begins to get uneven with all the ruts and they run the risk of a misstep.

The horns still sound behind them, almost as if they're trying to drive them forward. Whether they are or not, they no longer have any choice but to go on.

Suddenly, the road ahead of them enters a box canyon with steep sides. At the end of the road is a mine entrance, a dead end.

"Now what?" asks Fifer, dismay in his voice. The others pause as they consider what to do.

From the mine entrance, several men walk out holding picks and shovels, eyeing them suspiciously. They don't look very friendly as they walk toward them. The one in the lead begins shouting something to James and the others as he brandishes his pickaxe.