Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (38 page)

“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.”

“Damn!” 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.

“Damn!” 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 horsemen. 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 massive 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.

“Damn!” 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.

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.

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 grasslands 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.