A cool wind blowing off the mountain feels good after the heat of the day. The sound of their horses’ hooves reverberates in the quiet as they proceed further up the mountain.
It doesn’t seem all that long before the wall enclosing the mine complex appears before them. Torches are spaced at twenty foot intervals along the top of the wall and several guards are visible in the light.
“That’s dumb,” comments Jiron.
“What?” James asks.
“With those torches up there they won’t be able to see much of what’s on the outside,” he explains. “Will ruin their night vision.”
“I doubt if their greatest concern is what’s on the outside,” James replies.
Jiron nods in agreement.
They pull off the road a ways and leave Jared with the horses while Jiron and James work their way closer to the wall. In the darkness they are able to come fairly close without fear of the guards seeing them.
“I think this will be close enough,” James says as he comes to a stop. The place he stops is a dozen or so yards from the wall and twice that from the gate. He settles down on the ground and Jiron comes to stand next to him.
At his belt is the pouch containing power crystals, similar to the ones he used when the enemy tried to locate him. He takes a few deep breaths to settle his nerves and then glances up to Jiron standing next to him. “Get me out of here if things go bad,” he says.
Jiron grins. He knows what he means by bad. “Don’t worry, I will,” he assures him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s had to carry an unconscious James to safety after he expended himself doing magic. Fortunately though, those times are becoming fewer and fewer.
Closing his eyes, James brings forth the magic and sends his senses into the mine. The mine is on a single level that extends deep within the mountain. A moment’s hesitation comes when he finds slaves still within the mine, but not nearly the number that would be there during the day.
Jiron hears him sigh and asks, “What’s wrong?”
“There are still slaves within the mine,” he tells him.
“A lot?” he asks.
“No, just about a dozen or so,” he replies.
“That going to be a problem?” he asks, afraid of the answer.
James shakes his head and then returns to what he came for. He takes his time in examining the stone encompassing the mine. What he’s looking for are points where he can take advantage of unstable sections of rocks to collapse the mine.
As he searches, his mind keeps returning to the slaves still within the mine. It doesn’t look as if they are doing anything, might be sleeping. From what Miko had told him of his time as a mine slave, these slaves may be undergoing punishment for one thing or another and that’s why they are still in there.
Then an idea comes to him. Searching for just the right spot, he begins weakening support beams and widening cracks in an area further into the mine than where the slaves are. If he creates a cave-in, they may just run out.
After a few minutes, he can feel the rock above the tunnel shift and begin to rumble. Then suddenly, rock begins falling as the ceiling caves in. Moving his senses to the slaves, he’s relived to discover they are now further toward the entrance.
When Jiron initially had returned and described the box canyon, he thought about bringing the side of the mountain down to block the mine. But then when he came and saw the complex in his mirror, he realized that if he did it would bury the entire place and kill everyone. Sometimes he wishes he was a bit less concerned with the welfare of others, sure would make life easier. But he is, so now he’s trying to bring it down from the inside.
They begin to hear noise coming from the other side of the wall as the cave-in is reported. He realizes he has to work fast before more slaves and workers are sent in to clear it. Again sending his senses deep within the mountain, he works on reducing the strength of the stone.
Crews begin rushing into the mountain to begin clearing the cave-in as more tremors shake the mountain. James begins to sense sections of the mine beginning to collapse as the mountain gives out with a groan. The men who had so recently entered the mine to shore it up are now running back out.
Then what he had tried to avoid happens. A massive rumble courses through the earth as the side of the mountain gives way. With a roar like a thousand giants going into battle, rocks and trees begin to slide down the side.
Recognizing the sound from the last time James had brought the mountain down on the trail back from Saragon, he grabs him by the shoulder and jerks him to his feet. “Come on!” he yells. Propelling him before him, he gets him moving quickly back to where Jared waits with the horses.
“What’s going on?” Jared yells when he sees them running toward him.
“Avalanche!” James hollers over the roar. “We got to get out of here.”
Mounting quickly, they turn their horses toward the road leading down the mountain and ride like their lives depend on it.
From behind them, a belch of dust envelopes them and blinds them to the road. Coughing from the dust clouding the air, they continue racing blind down the road. A sudden flare of light and James’ orb appears overhead to help them keep to the road.
When the roar of the mountain falling behind them finally grinds to a halt, they slow only slightly to prevent an accidental misstep by their horses. “Go!” James yells when Jared begins slowing down even further. “We’ve got to get out of here, they know where I am and will be coming.”
Jared nods and then picks up speed again. The dust cloud diminishes the further away from the mine they go.
Lights appear out of the darkness ahead as citizens of Ki come to investigate what happened. Hundreds of people are hurrying up the road, those on horseback leaving those on foot behind in their haste to reach the mine. James cancels his orb and plunges them back into darkness.
“Don’t stop for anything,” Jiron yells to the others as the riders come near. The lead rider slows down at their approach and starts speaking to them as they fly by. The man yells something but then is left behind. Moving to the edge of the road, Jiron takes the lead as they race past worried and fearful townsfolk.
As James rides past, he can’t help but see the worry and fear on the faces of many women. He knows they aren’t likely to find their men alive when they get there. Sadness comes over him a moment then he swallows it down and tries to concentrate solely on keeping his horse behind Jiron and not on what he just did to these people. Riding fast in the night, they soon leave Ki behind as they race westward.
Sweat streaming down his face, Kerith-Ayxt faces Aekion where he’s bound within the pentagram. Twice the height of a man, Aekion towers over the High Mage. Wreathed in flame, the heat coming from him is almost to the point of being unbearable. He can feel Aekion working against the spells holding him.
Tendrils of power come to him from the other mages within the Great Hall. Several have already fainted away from the exertion despite the power being taken from the slaves. They started with a hundred and twenty two slaves, now only forty four remain with a couple dropping every minute. And the spells that are to bind Aekion to hunt for the mage have yet to be completed.
Aekion’s form shifts as he stands within the pentagram. First the shape of a man aflame, then that of a wildfire and then something even more bizarre. But Aekion always returns to the humanoid form.
Kerith-Ayxt wrestles to place spell after spell upon the creature before him. Another mage sags to the floor, and then another. This is taking more than I thought. The errant thought comes to him, disrupting his concentration for a split second before he banishes it. Concentrating on the task at hand, he steadily works to bind the creature.
When all but the final spell has been laid upon the creature, the power coming to him begins to diminish. Casting a glance toward where the slaves are being held, he finds there are no longer any left to supply power. Panic begins to ensue as he realizes he’s not going to have the power to finish what
he began.
Out of desperation, he yells to the mage who had been draining the slaves, “The Novices!”
Nodding understanding, the mage rushes from the Great Hall and shortly afterwards, the flow of power is restored.
Returning to the flaming creature before him, The High Magus completes the task at hand and lays the final spell of binding upon the creature. When at last it is complete, the glow of the pentagram fades and Aekion stands free before him. If any of the spells he laid this night was not done with perfection, the creature will kill him.
What would you have of me, master?
“A mage walks the Empire,” he tells it. Between them a shimmering image begins to form and then solidifies into an exact replication of the rogue mage. “Find this man and kill him.”
Yes master.
The flames wreathing his body suddenly flare to twice their brilliance and then Aekion is gone. Thus begins the hunt.
Chapter Twenty
After leaving Ki behind them, they ride for several hours after taking the southwest road out of town. Wanting to put as much distance behind them as they can, they push their horses almost to the point of exhaustion before they decide to pull off the road and make camp.
Throughout the ride, James was expecting whoever tried to find him magically several days ago to attempt it again. What he did at the mines had to have been a beacon telling anyone where he is. Why they haven’t yet makes him wonder. No matter the reason, he’s glad he didn’t have to fend off another of their probing attacks.
Jiron tells him to sleep through the rest of the night while he and Jared take turns at watch which suits him just fine. Twice during the night, riders could be heard moving in the direction of Ki. Neither time did the riders notice their camp set back off the road.
Jared was on watch when the first band of riders appeared and woke Jiron who prevented him from waking James. “I doubt if they will even know we’re here,” he explains. They don’t have a campfire and are not very close to the road. Sure enough, the riders went on by without even slowing.
When the sound of the riders disappears in the distance, Jiron returns to his blanket. Before settling in he tells Jared to only wake him when ‘Riders slow down and approach the camp’. The second set of riders passes by during Jiron’s turn at watch. Keeping an eye on them in the moonlight, he watches while they race past.
Even before dawn begins to dispel the darkness, they get underway. The short rest break they had wasn’t enough, but they need to put as much distance between themselves and Ki as they can. Now that it is light, they will be much more leery of anyone approaching.
James takes out his mirror and brings the mine area into focus to see what he wrought. As the image clarifies he finds the mine complex completely gone, buried under tons of stone. The whole area is crawling with people as they search for survivors, though he seriously doubts if they’ll find any.
Then he scans their immediate vicinity and finds a force of a thousand men east approaching Ki from the south. Whether in response to what he did there or if they were already on their way, he isn’t sure.
Scrolling the image, he scans the road ahead and finds where their road intersects with another at a sizeable walled town. There they will need to take the road moving more westward in order to reach the next and most important area to hit.
He wasn’t entirely truthful with Jiron and Jared when he told them of a storehouse and stockpiles of weapons. What he plans to hit is much bigger than that and likely to prove quite dangerous. For further to the west lies the Empire’s School of the Arcane. He doesn’t have any grand design to take on the mages there and kill them all, it’s doubtful if he could even accomplish that.
No. What he wants to destroy is their library. Of all the things he’s come to understand about making magic do what you want, is that knowledge of what you are trying to accomplish is the most important thing. He believes that taking out their library and the books contained within will greatly reduce their ability to train more mages effectively. The idea of destroying aged tomes of knowledge really bothers him however. But leaving knowledge in the hands of those who will use it to the detriment of others bothers him more.
Finished with his mirror, he returns it to his pack. “The area ahead of us looks clear,” he tells the other two. “By tonight, we’ll be at a crossroads where we will turn more to the west. Then another day and a half will see us to our destination.”
“After that we head home?” Jared asks.
James nods. “That’s right,” he replies. “After that we rejoin the others and get out of the Empire as fast as we can.”
“Good,” says Jiron. He’s been thinking about Aleya and has been missing her. The memory of her in his arms makes him want to see her again.
All that day they keep a steady pace with short stops to keep up the horses’ strength. It was during one such rest in the latter part of the day when James again pulls out his mirror to check for hostiles in the area. Not finding any, he scrolls down the road to the town ahead that lies at the crossroads. From the looks of it, it isn’t more than an hour or so away.
As he brings the image closer to the city, the image starts turning hazy. Using more magic, he tries to overcome the distortion. Suddenly, the glass of the mirror begins to warp and the metal frame which he is grasping grows red hot.
“Damn!” he cries as he quickly throws the mirror away.
“What happened?” Jiron asks. Stopping there in the road, he turns back to find out what’s going on.
“I don’t know,” replies James.
They look to where the mirror lies in the dirt on the side of the road. Smoke tendrils begin rising from it as the mirror and metal frame both begin to turn fluid. As the metal starts to drip, a fiery glow appears within the melted glass.
Jared gasps as a form wreathed in flames seems to rise from the glass.
“Fly!” yells James as he turns his horse and flees down the road.
The other two turn and race after him as the figure behind them continues to grow.
“What is that thing?” yells Jared.
“I don’t know,” replies James. Bending low against the neck of his horse, he works to make it go even faster.
A deafening roar sounds behind them as the fiery creature leaves the ground and begins to soar toward them. Even from this distance they can feel the heat radiating from it.
James lashes out with magic but the spell of force which should have knocked it backward barely phases it. “Make for the city!” he yells to the others as he reaches into the pouch hanging at his hip and pulls out one of the power crystals.
Slowing the forward momentum of his horse slightly, he turns in the saddle and holds the crystal toward the now rather close creature of flame. “Hold!” he yells and a shimmering barrier appears around the creature.
The creature slows when it becomes trapped within the barrier and begins settling to the ground. Within the barrier it’s exerting massive pressure and the power of the crystal is draining rapidly.
Tossing the crystal to the ground, James kicks his horse and races after the other two who are now a hundred yards ahead of him.
Crack!
With the shattering of the crystal, the barrier vanishes and the creature once again resumes the chase.
A crackling noise sounds behind James and he glances back to see a spear of flame flying toward him with incredible speed. Responding with magic, he manages to deflect it at the last minute, causing it to veer to the left where it strikes the ground several yards away.
Other travelers on the road see the fiery creature chasing after James and scream as they run for their lives. Wagons are abandoned as people flee into the desert for their lives.
Taking another crystal, James again cries ‘Hold’ as another barrier springs into being surrounding the creature. Just as before, the entrapped creature begins to sink to the ground as it fights to escape. Tossing that crystal to the ground, he slows his horse to a slow w
alk as he hurriedly begins to untie the sack of crystals from behind his saddle. He works the knot binding it closed furiously but only manages to cinch it tighter.
Removing his belt knife, he cuts through the leather thong just as the power crystal cracks and the barrier trapping the creature disappears. Roaring to life once more, the creature springs into the air.
James opens the sack and hunts for a specific pouch of crystals, one tied with a string dyed blue. Before he finds it, crackling noise announces another of the fiery bolts coming toward him and he again responds with magic. The bolt is deflected to the right where it impacts with an abandoned wagon.
Ka-Bam!
The wagon erupts in a fiery explosion. Out of time, James takes his last power crystal from his belt pouch and again confines the creature. As it settles again to the earth, he hunts for the pouch with the blue string.
“Aha!” he cries triumphantly when he finds it. Quickly untying the string he pulls out two crystals glowing a dark crimson. These crystals are the last of the ones he created to deal with the hell hounds, those creatures of fire sent by the followers of Dmon-Li. This creature could very well come from the same place.
Crack!
The crystal maintaining the barrier shatters and the creature is again hurtling forward. Tossing both crystals toward the creature, James unleashes the magic contained within them. Immediately, a shimmering blue field springs to life surrounding the creature. Its roar of pain can be heard as the frigidly cold barrier sears into it.
James adds his own power to that of the crystals as he fights against the power of the creature to implode the barrier and kill his attacker.
Crack!
James’ unbelieving eyes flick toward where one of the crystals now lays shatters on the ground and the glow of the other is diminishing rapidly. “Damn!” he cries. He isn’t going to be able to do it. Even if he drains himself to the point of unconsciousness, there’s little chance of stopping this creature. He continues to use his own magic to hold the creature while he turns his horse and begins putting some distance between them.
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