Brian Pratt - Trail of the Gods

Stepping back from the cliff, she sees James lying on the ground. The sight of him sends fear through her, she doesn’t know why. Earlier during their trip together, he’d been an amiable and likable fellow. But after what she had just seen him do, the mere sight of him terrifies her. She comes nearer to him and nudges him with her foot almost as if she needs to believe he’s real. A groan escapes him when she nudges him, causing her to jump backward a foot in fright.

From the trail she hears the sound of Jiron returning with a horse. She doesn’t know what to do, being in company with such people. One tears down a cliff and the other scales a sheer drop of a thousand feet and then takes out the entire force at the top.

Jiron secures the horse with the other two and then notices how she’s standing as if she’s about to flee. “Relax,” he tells her with a smile. “Help me gather some wood so we can have a fire.”

When she still doesn’t move, he comes over to her and says soothingly, “Truly, we won’t harm you. And while you are with us, we will not allow others to harm you either. Though we do seem to attract the attention of the worst sort of people.”

He leaves her to her thoughts as he begins combing the area for firewood. After depositing his second load near James, he sees her take her bow from off her shoulder and says to him, “I’ll get something for dinner.”

“That’s a good idea,” he replies as he returns to the area by the few trees up there for another load. The clouds above had begun to clear ever since the cliff fell. Soon, blue can be seen and off to the west, the sun is beginning to descend close to the horizon.

The area around them is sparsely dotted with trees, mainly just rock and the occasional bush. Off to the west, the ridge they’re on slopes down until it finally dwindles into hills. Nestled in the hills lies a large fortress. Must be Kern that she mentioned earlier. And beyond it lies Cardri!

Jiron has the fire going by the time Aleya returns with but a single rabbit. “I think all the noise must have scared off everything else,” she explains.

Taking the rabbit from her, he says, “I’m sure this will do nicely.”

She glances over to James where he lies by the fire. Wrapped in a couple blankets to keep the chill away, he looks down right peaceful lying there. “How is he?”

“He’ll live,” replies Jiron as he begins getting the rabbit ready for the fire. “This actually happens quite often when he does what he calls, ‘over the top’ magic. He’ll sleep through the night and most likely wake up in the morning.”

Taking a seat next to him, she sits quietly while he skins and guts the rabbit. When he at last has it on a stick and roasting over the fire, she says, “After what I saw earlier, I can understand why they want you so bad.”

He gives her a grin. “That’s not the half of it,” he says to her, but doesn’t elaborate further.

“Do you think it’s wise for us to stay here?” she asks. When he glances at her she continues, “I mean, the archers that were up here must’ve come from somewhere. I understand there’s a large force of the Empire’s soldiers down by the fortress, they’ve been there ever since the invasion of Madoc.”

“If an army is on its way here,” he explains, “we would meet it all the sooner if we went down the mountain.” Gesturing over to James, he adds, “If we give him a chance to rest and regain some of his strength, then we stand a better chance of surviving the encounter.”

Nodding, she returns her gaze to the fire and watches it dance and pop as she thinks about what he just said. “What do you plan to do if you should make it back to Cardri?” she asks after a few minutes of silence.

“That all depends on James there,” he tells her. “I’ll be staying with him for awhile, strange things are afoot and he seems to be in the middle of it all. I don’t know what the gods may have in store for him, but it should prove interesting.” He takes the rabbit off the fire and inspects if briefly before returning it to the flames.

“You could come with us if you like,” he suggests to her. Before she has a chance to reply, he adds, “Since the way back to your home is currently unavailable, that is.”

“I may do that,” she replies after unconsciously glancing to where the stairs used to be.

They sit side by side, the proximity of each other lending them comfort. The clouds have completely disappeared by the time the rabbit is ready to eat. Saving out a large portion for James when he wakes up, Jiron divvies the rest of it between him and Aleya.

After they’ve finished eating, he suggests taking the first watch while she gets some sleep. “I’ll wake you sometime after midnight,” he tells her.

“Very well,” she says as she gets a blanket from one of the horses and lies down next to the fire.

Jiron moves out of the light to better preserve his night vision as he begins to slowly circle the camp. Every once in awhile he catches himself staring at her as she lies there sleeping, the light from the fire dancing across her face.

He moves through the trees further away from the camp and stares out over the valley to the west where the Fortress of Kern lies. Once James finally awakens, they’re going to have to make it there somehow. If what Aleya says is correct, they’ll have an army to get through somewhere between here and there.

Moving to the other side of the ridge where the stair used to be, he sees down amidst the rubble that once was the side of the ridge many lights. From their number he figures there still to be a sizeable force left. Too bad we didn’t get them all! It’s highly unlikely they’ll be any more of a threat for awhile. The cliff’s too high and vertical for the average soldier to scale and they have a long way to walk to get out of the mountains.

The morning dawns sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Jiron wakes to find Aleya already having killed their morning breakfast and can smell it from where it’s roasting on the fire.

“Good morning,” she says when she notices him sitting up.

“You too,” he replies. Nodding to James, he asks, “How’s he doing?”

“Still sleeping,” she tells him. “He hasn’t awoken yet. Is that normal?”

Shrugging, he says, “I really wouldn’t know. But there have been times when he didn’t wake for awhile. Once he took almost two days to come out of it.” Seeing her concern, he adds, “But we’ll not wait that long. If he’s not up by noon, I plan to wake him up. As you said last night, there could be more forces on the way.”

“I was thinking about that last night,” she says. “If they would’ve sent a rider to warn the forces by the fortress back when we first entered the mountains, then it’s possible they could’ve gotten to them in time to send the crossbowmen up here to block off our escape route.”

Nodding, he replies, “That would make sense. It did seem kind of odd that we weren’t pressed very hard in the mountains. They knew where we were going, or at least had a good idea, so they didn’t want us to move too quickly and reach here before their forces could get into position to greet us.”

“So that would mean,” she says, “whatever forces are near Kern, will be waiting for us.” After a moment, adds, “If they’re not already on their way.”

Nodding, Jiron gets up and says to her, “I’m going to check down the trail, just in case. Keep an eye on him, okay?”

“Sure,” she replies. She takes out what was left over from the rabbit last night and begins eating. She plans on saving what’s cooking over the fire for James when he wakes up. As she eats, she watches Jiron disappear down the trail into the forest. She thinks about the turn her life has taken the last few days. Glancing at James, she wonders what she’s gotten into and where it may lead her.