Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (30 page)

The light from within the house illuminates
them as they sit there on their horses, frozen in the man’s back
yard. They stare at each other a moment when suddenly the man calls
out and two dogs begin barking.

James sees two dogs run around the house and
head straight for them as the man goes back in the house, shutting
the door. He takes a stone from his pocket and throws it at one of
the dogs, taking it through the head.

Jiron jumps down from his horse as his
knives flash in the moonlight. The dog jumps for him and he twists
as his knives strike the dog as it flies past. It falls to the
ground and begins whimpering as blood flows from the wound in its
side. The dog tries to get up but is unable and soon lies still as
its life leaves it.

From the other side of the house, they hear
the man running into town, raising the alarm. “That tears it!”
exclaims Jiron as he gets back on his horse.

No longer trying to remain quiet, they race
toward the north side of town and the road. Lights begin springing
up as people fill the street to see what’s going on.

From up ahead of them, they see a dozen
soldiers moving to block their escape. Kicking their horses to
greater speed, they race to beat them to where the road moves back
into the hills.

“They’re going to make it first!” cries out
Jiron.

Crumph!

The ground under the running soldiers
erupts, tossing them every which way. The few that remain, turn
around and run back toward town.

Suddenly, James feels the prickling
sensation of someone doing magic. “They’ve got a mage here!” he
hollers at the others.

A wall of flame springs into being ten feet
in front of them, the heat searing their skin. The horses cry out
and come to a quick stop. James hears Miko yell, “James!” Turning
to look, he sees Miko’s panicked horse running directly toward
town, nothing he does seems to be able to alter its course.

“Miko!” he cries out as he turns to follow.
The heat behind him increases and he realizes the wall of flame is
moving quickly toward him. He concentrates and the wall begins to
decrease in size as it slows in its approach.

Seeing James occupied with the wall of
flame, Jiron says to him, “I’ll get Miko!” Without waiting to see
if he’s been heard, he turns his horse and races into town.

James finally gets the wall of flame to
vanish and he looks around, trying to find the mage. He locates the
brown robe off to his right. Taking a stone from his pocket, he
launches it at the mage and watches as the stone hits him, blasting
out the back.

When the mage falls to the ground, he turns
his horse toward town and moves to follow Jiron.

Jiron, upon reaching the edge of the town,
is thrown from his horse when a crossbow bolt strikes it, knocking
it out from under him. Jumping clear, he rolls and comes to a
crouching position as he surveys the area.

Another crossbow bolt strikes the ground
near his foot, he looks back along its trajectory and sees the
crossbowman pulling the wire back. Without hesitation, Jiron
sprints toward the crossbowman to engage him before he can get it
ready again.

The crossbowman sees him approaching and
throws the crossbow at him as he draws his sword. He thrusts at
Jiron who deflects the sword with one knife and then follows
through with the other, sinking the blade three inches into the
man’s side.

The man falls to the ground and begins
coughing up blood as his lungs fill from where Jiron’s knife had
punctured them.

With him out of the way, he looks around and
tries to see Miko, but can’t see him anywhere. The town is in total
chaos, people running everywhere. “Miko!” he hollers, but no reply
comes. “Damn!” he curses as he sets off into town on foot to locate
him.

James reaches the outskirts just as the
prickling sensation starts again. Looking around, he sees another
brown robe just as the air between them begins to shimmer and a
wave of force knocks him backward off his horse and into the side
of the building.

Smashing into it with great force, James has
the breath knocked out of him. As he tries to get his breath back,
he takes another stone out of his pouch and throws it at the brown
robe. Again, the stone smashes through him and the mage falls to
ground.

Looking around, he doesn’t see anyone
nearby. His horse had been spooked and is now running away out of
town. Moving cautiously, he stays against the building and moves
further into town. When he sees Jiron’s horse dying in the middle
of the street, he momentarily fears for his friend. But when he
doesn’t find his body anywhere, figures he’s already moved further
into town. The streets are beginning to clear of pedestrians as
they begin to realize fighting is going on.

James once more feels the prickling of magic
being used.
Just how many mages are in this stupid town?
Unconsciously, he glances back to where the last mage had fallen,
and stops in shock. The mage’s body is no longer there. He’d seen
it fall after the stone had blasted a hole right through its chest,
so just where is it?

Down the street in front of him, a brown
robe stands as bolts of energy are fired toward him. He deflects
them by creating a shield and throws one of his last stones toward
the mage. The stone blasts through his chest and the mage falls to
the ground.

James moves toward the building and pauses
next to it as he watches the body of the fallen mage. After several
moments, it shimmers and then disappears.
An illusion!

He begins to look around, trying to find
where the mage actually is. From up the street, a brown robe begins
walking toward him. Without pausing, James launches a stone at the
brown robe, and again, it falls to the ground dead.

James bends down and picks up a stick from
the ground. He casts a seeking spell to find the source of the
other mage’s magic and the stick begins to point to the building
across from him. Canceling the spell, he searches all the windows
before he catches a movement out of the corner of his eye. Looking
all the way to the top, he sees a shadow moving upon the roof.

Gotcha!
He begins to let the magic
flow and directs it to the building the mage is on. Suddenly,
cracking and snapping can be heard coming from within it as the
support beams begin to break in two. A section of the building
collapses and then the whole thing falls in.

A thick cloud of dust rises and a second
later he sees the mage stumbling from the rubble, coughing and
holding his broken left arm tight to his chest. Letting the magic
flow, he strikes out with an energy wave which strikes the mage
with great force. He’s propelled back into the wreckage and James
can hear more boards break as the mage smashes into them.

Moving toward the collapsed building, James
hunts for the mage. A prickling sensation can be felt as the mage
begins a spell. James doesn’t wait for it to be completed, he
lashes out with waves of force, pummeling the mage.

The prickling wavers and then stops. He
creates the orb of light and moves into the rubble. He finds the
mage, lying unconscious as blood oozes from her nose and mouth.
A woman?
Unable to outright kill her, he leaves her where
she lies as he makes his way out of the rubble and back onto the
street. He cancels his orb so as not to be a beacon in the night
for his enemies.

Back on the street which is now empty, he
moves further into town to find the others.

Jiron, meanwhile, turns a corner and is
knocked down by a running, terrified woman. The woman falls on top
of him and begins screaming. She claws at him, leaving red lines
along his left forearm before she gets back up to her feet and runs
away down the street. He gets back up quickly and looks down the
way the woman had come, he can hear the clashing of swords. “Miko!”
he cries out as he runs toward the sound.

As Jiron moves toward the sound of battle, a
townsman rushes from a nearby doorway and hacks at him with his
sword. Easily blocking the attack, Jiron kicks out with his foot
and hears a snap as the man’s knee breaks.

The man falls to the ground, and Jiron moves
around him, leaving him there in his agony.
James must be
rubbing off on me
he thinks as he leaves the man alive behind
him.

Suddenly, the sound of fighting stops and
from around the corner steps Miko. Covered in blood and carrying a
gore covered sword he walks toward Jiron.

“Miko!” Jiron calls out but it doesn’t seem
as if he’s hearing him. Running forward, he stops in front of him
and places a hand on his shoulder. “Miko, are you alright?” he asks
as he shakes him slightly, looking intently in his eyes.

Miko suddenly starts, as if seeing Jiron for
the first time and replies, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Thank god!” Jiron says. “Let’s go find
James and get out of here.”

Nodding, Miko looks at the sword in his
hand, almost seems surprised it’s there. Tossing away the sword he
follows Jiron as they hunt for James.

As they run back down the street, they see
him coming toward them. “You guys okay?” he asks as he comes close
and sees Miko there, covered in blood.

“We’re fine,” replies Jiron. Miko nods as
well.

“Then let’s get out of here,” he says. He
quickly surveys the area and sees an inn. Moving quickly, he leads
them around back to the stables there. Entering the stables, they
find a terrified stable boy who runs to his room and hides. While
they are saddling three horses, they catch him peering out at them.
Whenever he sees he is being observed, the boy ducks back inside
the room.

When the horses are saddled, they mount and
ride out of the stables. No one is there to challenge them. As they
race out onto the street and make their way to the north side of
town, they see people staring out of windows and from behind
doorways.

If there are any guards or soldiers
remaining, they’ve decided it more prudent to be absent than to
stand in their way. They make it to the north road and quickly
leave the town behind them.

After they leave, the townsfolk start to
come out of their homes. They begin to take stock of the damage
wrought by the intruders. The most ghastly sight of all is the area
where the boy had walked out. A dozen soldiers lay dead as well as
several of the townsfolk who tried to help, their bodies literally
hacked apart. Some wonder what had visited their town that night.
Many pray that it never comes back.

They find a small stream several miles past
the town where they pause to allow Miko a chance to clean off the
blood.

While he’s by the stream, James pulls Jiron
aside and asks, “What happened?”

Shrugging, he replies, “I don’t know. I
heard fighting and by the time I got near, the fighting was over
and he walked around the corner.”

When he pauses a moment thinking about it,
James asks, “What?”

“It’s just that, when I first approached
him, he didn’t seem to be aware I was even there,” he explains.
“When I took him by the shoulder and shook him, that’s when he
became aware of me.”

They both turn to look at their friend over
by the stream. James is worried about him, not sure what happened.
Maybe he was just in shock over the fighting, he hopes that’s all
it was.
But how had he even survived?

When Miko finishes cleaning himself as best
he can, they once more mount and quickly put distance between
themselves and the town. He’s not sure when it will materialize,
but James is positive that pursuit will be forthcoming, and
soon.

As they ride, James keeps an eye on Miko but
he seems his same old self and soon quits worrying about him.

The hills begin to fall away as they move
further away from the town until they finally pass into grasslands
once more. As the road starts to turn more to the west, James
suggests cutting cross country across the plains in order to
maintain a more northerly route. Everyone is in agreement with the
idea so they turn off the road, making their way into the
grasslands.

As they cross the grasslands, the moon
begins to reach the horizon, what light it gave them about to
disappear. Once it sinks below the horizon, travel becomes more
risky as they only have the light from the stars to guide them.
Like ghosts, they move silently in the night, hoping there are no
holes or anything else for their horses to trip upon.

Throughout the night, they maintain a quick
pace, pausing now and then to allow the horses to rest and grab a
bite to eat. When dawn approaches and the sky begins to lighten,
they find themselves still in the middle of grasslands. Off to the
northeast, the lightning sky silhouettes a range of tall
mountains.

“We’re pretty exposed here,” says Jiron.

“I know,” agrees James. “But not much we can
do about it now.” He glances back to Miko and sees him asleep in
the saddle. Despite being asleep, he’s somehow managed to remain on
his horse. James cracks a slight grin at the sight.

They continue on as the day gradually
brightens until finally the sun tops the mountains to the east.
With the sun comes the heat of the day, James can tell it’s going
to be a hot one.

As the sun makes its way up into the sky,
they see a sizeable city ahead of them. This one is even bigger
than the previous one. It even has a sizeable defensive wall. A
small keep can be seen situated near its center. Not wishing to
take the chance of being noticed by the men patrolling along the
top of the wall, they turn east and move quickly toward the
mountains in the distance.

They see many people moving outside the
walls but none seem to take notice or even care that they’re there.
Suddenly, horns can be heard coming from the city. They turn in
panic, expecting soldiers to boil from the gate in pursuit.
Instead, they hear answering horns sound from a large force of men
consisting of both foot and cavalry approach the city from the
east.