“Right,” he says. When their server leaves he relays everything she said to the others.
“We can’t bypass Korazan,” insists Jiron, “no matter the risk. Tinok might be there!”
“I don’t think he is,” replies James. “If he were, I should have been able to find him by now.”
“I say we go to Korazan,” Jiron says, his gaze turning to meet the eyes of everyone. As if to dare them to say no.
James thinks a moment then says, “How about this.” When he has Jiron’s attention again he continues. “We have been trusting my cloth trick to lead the way, correct?”
“Correct,” concedes Jiron.
“Then let’s do this,” he explains. “We bypass Korazan. If, when we are on the south side and the cloth points back toward Korazan, then we go. Otherwise we continue to follow wherever it may lead.”
Jiron mulls that over in his mind. He knows James’ magic is seldom, if ever, wrong. Nodding, he says, “Very well. If once we are on the far side it still points south, then I will forget about Korazan.”
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. The last thing anyone wanted was to return and spend any amount of time there. If there was any place where they may be recognized, it would be at Korazan.
“Then I suggest when we come close, we leave the road at that time,” Stig says. “If we go to the city and skirt around its walls, it could seem suspicious.”
“I agree,” nods James.
When their meal of goat, bread and a root reminiscent of a carrot arrives, they dig in with gusto. At one point in the meal Shorty mumbles under his breath, “…flowing with blood.”
“What?” James asks.
Looking up from his plate, Shorty didn’t realize he had spoken aloud. “Sorry,” he says. “It’s just that we barely even went into town. The way they make it sound, we killed half the people and left their bodies rotting in the streets.”
Scar laughs at that. “Pay it no mind,” he replies. “In a few years the story will grow to that we killed half the town and bathed in their blood.”
“Probably,” agrees Potbelly. “Remember that time with Oofa?” Scar nods.
“Oofa?” asks Jiron. “I don’t think I heard that one.”
“Oofa was a man who often came to the Pits to watch me fight,” he explains. “He was a self proclaimed aficionado of the Pits. Claimed he knew everything about everybody.”
James and Miko give each other a knowing glance and grin. Potbelly may not realize it, but he and Scar come off as just that type every now and then.
“One night, he took me out to dinner,” he continues. “Said he wanted to get to know me better so he would be able to make more informed wagers.” Shrugging, he looks around at the others and says, “A meal’s a meal.”
“Was this guy about five foot six with a bad comb-over?” asks Stig.
Smiling, Scar says, “That’s the guy.”
“I remember him now,” he says. “Always managed to get a spot right in front.”
“Back to my story,” Potbelly interjects. “While we were eating, he made some comment about how he’s bleeding this one lord dry. Apparently he and this lord bet often and Oofa always won. Anyway, the next day, he’s arrested.”
Scar begins laughing and says, “Someone must have overheard their conversation. By the time the rumor mill churned it out, he was an assassin bent on killing this lord.”
Potbelly starts laughing now and others join in. “It took him three days to straighten the misunderstanding out,” explains Potbelly. “The lord, too proud to admit that he spent time at the Pits, claimed he didn’t know the guy.” Tears coming from his eyes, he concludes with, “The day after Oofa was released, the lord showed up at the Pits sporting two black eyes and a split lip!” Unable to contain himself anymore, Potbelly slaps the table and almost chokes to death on a piece of carrot. Scar slaps him on the back and dislodges it for him.
Laughing with the rest of them, James is suddenly aware that the entire room is quiet and the other guests are staring at them. Sobering up quickly, he works to quiet the others down a bit. “Everyone’s staring at us,” he says quietly. “We don’t want to attract attention.” One by one they calm down. When the laughter finally stops, the other patrons return to their meal and the buzz of conversation resumes.
They hurry through their meal and are soon back on the road. Taking out his mirror while he rides, he brings Korazan’s image into focus. He sees the gaping wall where they made their way into the slaver compound. A mile out of town lies a mound of dirt that wasn’t there the last time. Probably the mass grave where they buried the dead after the battles.
Workers have already begun to rebuild the destroyed section of the wall, a flurry of activity is taking place in and around the base of the opening. Wagonloads of stone blocks sit awaiting their turn to be set into the wall. It didn’t take them long to begin the rebuilding.
Satisfied with what he’s seen, he cancels the image of Korazan and again tries to find Tinok. After several minutes of fruitless searching, he gives up and puts away the mirror. Glancing over to where Jiron rides beside him, he can see the unspoken question. Shaking his head, James says, “Nothing. I can bring up Korazan, but not Tinok. I’m sure he’s not there.”
“We’ll see,” he says.
James continues to periodically check on the distance to Korazan. When he figures them to be less than an hour away, they leave the road. He feels rather conspicuous as they are the only ones not using the road. But, keeping a steady pace without appearing to rush, should alleviate any thoughts or concerns the other travelers may have about them.
Once away from the road, he uses his mirror to maintain a good distance from the city as they circumvent it. Also, he keeps an eye out for any roving patrols which may be in the area. They were forced to come to a stop at one point when he sights in his mirror a score of riders that would have intersected their path at an inopportune time. When the riders were past and there was no danger of running into them, they resumed their journey.
It’s not only patrols that they work to avoid, but those living in the area as well. While unable to completely avoid all the farmstead in the area, James is at least able to have them thread their way through so they won’t come in close proximity to them. They see some of the farmers out with herds of goats, occasionally one would wave a greeting as they ride by.
Due to the meandering path he leads them on through the farmsteads, it takes them close to two hours to reach the road on the south side of Korazan. At which time he takes out his cloth to see where Tinok lies, whether it will be north to Korazan or still to the south. Everyone holds their breath and when the cloth rises to point south, they collectively breathe a sigh of relief. They had been dreading having to return to Korazan.
“That settles it,” announces Stig when the cloth rises.
“Yes it does,” agrees James. Turning to Jiron he says, “He’s not there.”
Disappointed, Jiron nods. “Let’s get going,” he says.
Putting the cloth back in his pouch, James indicates for Reilin to take the lead as they continue along the road to the south. To their right sits the lake, Tears of the Empress. A beautiful lake, its water glistens in the sun. Many boats of varying shapes and sizes are out upon her waters.
They follow the road south along the shore of the lake for an hour until they reach a crossroad. Taking the right fork, they continue to follow the shoreline until they reach its southernmost point. There the road turns and for a brief distance goes due west until it comes to where the waters flow from the lake into a sizeable river. At that point, the road turns from due west and follows the river on a more southwesterly course.
Not too far from where the road begins to follow the river, they come to another bridge that has been destroyed. Again as in the previous ones they came across on their way down, this one too is in the midst of reconstruction. Two of the makeshift wooden bridges span the river here.
“We didn’t come thi
s far south,” states Stig.
“No, you didn’t,” affirms James.
“One of your wagons?” asks Jiron in a whisper.
“It had to have been,” he replies. Other than Jiron, he hadn’t told anyone else about what he did with the wagon and wanted to keep it that way. After splitting off with Illan, he had planted seeds of magic in the beds of various wagons in many caravans they had passed. The seeds were to accumulate magic and then explode when they crossed over bridges. It looked as if one had.
“Then how did this happen?” Stig asks. Glancing to James he adds, “You do this?”
“Yes and that’s all I will say about it,” he replies. The last thing he wants is to have word spread about what he does with magic. An idea of what is possible could lead others in the magic business into embarking upon acts that could have serious repercussions.
The others take his lack of explanation with equanimity. They have been with him long enough to trust that what he does is for a reason and usually a good one.
Not too far past the ruined bridge they decide to stop for the night. It’s been a long day and the time spent on the road is beginning to wear on them. Before the light fades completely, James again tries to get Tinok in his mirror but to the extreme frustration of Jiron, comes up with nothing. “How far away is he?” he asks when James tells him of the results.
“I don’t know,” replies James as he puts away his mirror. “I’ll try again in the morning.”
Practically stomping in frustration back to where he and Aleya have their blankets laid out, he fumes over James’ inability to find him.
Sighing, James feels bad for his friend and would do more if he could. Though he’s been able to do some pretty amazing things, he’s not all powerful. He goes over to where Shorty has pulled cooking duty and gets a plate of what he calls stew. Not very good but at least it’s hot and filling.
Once they finish eating, they turn in for the night. As James lays there under the stars he gazes up at the full moon above them. He can’t help but think that time is running out and running out fast. Trying to put his worries aside, he eventually calms his mind sufficiently to fall asleep.
No sooner does James awaken the next morning than Jiron is bugging him to look for Tinok. Making him wait until he answers nature’s call, he then gets settled on the ground with the mirror held in his lap. Concentrating hard, he visualizes Tinok and sends forth the magic. Nothing. Giving more magic to the endeavor, he sends forth a burst and for the briefest moment, the image in the mirror flickered then disappeared.
“Did you see that?” asks Jiron excitedly.
“Yeah,” says James, “I saw.” The image flickered for a moment when he used more magic.
“Something happen?” asks Scar as he and the others come over to investigate Jiron’s outburst.
“He almost had him!” exclaims Jiron. Almost dancing with glee, he turns back to James and asks, “Can you do it again?”
“Possibly,” he says. Returning his gaze to the mirror, he opens the gate so to speak, and the magic pours from him. The image in the mirror shifts and Tinok appears.
“That’s him!” Jiron cries out.
The image is hazy, possibly due to the distance it’s coming from. Tinok is sitting in the back of a wagon with hands and feet manacled. It’s very hard to tell but it looks like the wagon is in motion.
“Where is he?” Miko asks. “Can you expand the image any?”
He tries but the drain of power is too great. Shaking his head he says, “It would require more magic than I have.”
Suddenly, he feels Miko’s hand on his shoulder. Glancing up he sees him there with the Star in his hand. “Maybe this will help?” he asks with a crooked grin and the Star flares brightly.
“Yes it will,” he replies. Casting a leech line to him, James suddenly feels the power of the Star flowing into him via Miko. As he returns his gaze to the mirror he hears Jiron say to Miko, “Thanks.”
With the added magic of the Star, the image clarifies some but the haziness remains. Expanding the image, they see that Tinok’s wagon is one of several. One man in armor on a horse rides in front of the lead wagon while a dozen others ride alongside the rest.
The haziness gradually increases despite the amount of magic he’s using. Then all of a sudden they come to the side of a large, black surface. It could possibly be a wall. A section of the wall slides open and the man in armor leading them rides inside. The wagons follow along behind, and when the last wagon passes through the wall, the mirror returns to normal.
“What happened?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t know,” admits James. Staring perplexed at the mirror, all he can see are the reflections of himself and the others as they stare down at it. The magic is still flowing, but there is no image. Stepping up the magic flow, he draws more from Miko. Steadily increasing the flow of magic he concentrates on Tinok but the mirror remains blank. With a sigh, he gradually reduces the magic flow until he stops it altogether.
“I can’t reach him anymore,” he says. When Jiron is about to argue, he adds, “I was using more magic than ever before in searching with the mirror. There’s nothing more I can do.”
“At least we know he’s alive,” offers Stig. “That’s more than we knew before.”
“That’s right,” agrees Scar.
“He’s in trouble,” Jiron says as he gets to his feet. Looking at the others he says, “What are we waiting for?” They quickly make ready for travel. Once they’re mounted, Jiron leads them back to the road and maintains a quick pace.
After they’ve been on the road for an hour, James pulls out his cloth to see if they are still going in the right direction. When he casts the spell that he’s cast every time he’s done this, the cloth remains still. A shiver runs through him as he stops the magic. Attempting to home in on Tinok, he again releases the magic and says under his breath, “Come on!” But the cloth remains still and doesn’t even twitch.
He glances over to where Jiron is watching him. “It’s not working,” he says.
“What’s not working?” he asks.
“My cloth trick,” he explains. “It isn’t pointing to where Tinok is.”
“Why not?” he asks.
Shrugging, James says, “I don’t know.”
Bringing them to a stop there in the middle of the road, Jiron moves his horse to his side and says, “Do it again.”
“I’ve already tried twice and it isn’t working,” he tells him.
“Do it again,” he insists. By this time the others have gathered around to observe what’s going on.
Holding up the hand with the cloth once more, he concentrates on Tinok then releases the magic. Just as happened the two times before, the cloth remains down. Bringing his gaze to Jiron he sees the worry and fear for his friend that he’s feeling.
“What can it mean?” he asks.
“Something is blocking my search,” James explains.
“Or someone,” adds Brother Willim from his position next to him.
“Or someone,” agrees James.
“But who or what would do that?” asks Aleya.
“I don’t know,” James admits. Casting his eyes around the group, he looks questioningly for any ideas but they all shake their heads. Then he remembers the image in the mirror before he lost sight of Tinok. They had entered some building. Whoever is inside has to be blocking him. Glancing to Jiron, he decides to not add more worry to his mind and keeps the thought to himself.
“What about that prostitute in Inziala?” asks Stig. “Maybe she could shed some light on this.”
“Yes!” exclaims Jiron. “Maybe she can.”
“I doubt if she would be the one to have done this to Tinok,” Shorty says.
“No,” agrees Jiron. “But maybe she would have a good idea who did.”
“If nothing else, we could find out where she got the necklace,” offers Scar.
Nodding, Jiron asks, “Anyone know how far Inziala is from here?�
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“I think it’s south of here,” Reilin finally answers, “but I don’t know where.”
Just then from the south they see a single wagon approaching with two men sitting on the driving seat. “Reilin,” James says. “Go ask them if they know where Inziala is.”
“Alright,” he acknowledges and moves to intercept them.
Jiron waits with the others while Reilin rides ahead to meet with the men on the wagon.
The men on the wagon are wary of his approach. One actually pulls out a crossbow when he realizes Reilin intends to approach them. Reilin stops ten feet away, holds up his hand in greeting and talks. He and the two men exchange words for several minutes then Reilin turns his horse around and rejoins them. The two men on the wagon keep an eye on them as their wagon rolls closer.
“They said that Inziala is only about a day away,” he explains. As the wagon passes them on its way north, James gives the two men a nod of thanks. The men only stare at them as they pass, their weapons at the ready.
“Friendly pair weren’t they,” comments Scar after they’ve resumed their trek south.
“You could say that,” agrees Potbelly. Glancing back to the wagon, he sees the man with the crossbow turned in his seat and is keeping an eye on them. “Wonder if travelers run into trouble out here?”
“Who knows?” replies Jiron. “I want to make Inziala before the sun goes down if we can.” Nudging his horse into motion, he gets up to a quick gallop.
The rest of the day they maintain a furious pace. They all understand that time is running out and now without James’ ability to point the way, it could take them longer to pick up Tinok’s trail. With only short breaks to answer the call of nature and to water the horses, they practically fly down the road.
When the sun begins to draw close to the horizon, still Jiron continues the fast pace. Three hours later when the horses are on the verge of exhaustion, the lights of a city appear out of the dark before them. Coming across a party of four men and two ladies, they ask them if the town is Inziala. James breathes a sigh of relief when they say it is. His butt was beginning to get sore from the hard pace Jiron had set.
The Mists of Sorrow: The Morcyth Saga Book Seven Page 19
