Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

He settles down to sleep for he’s taking the mid watch which is the worst one for getting enough rest. You don’t get enough before your shift and you have a hard time going back to sleep afterwards.

Finally though, he does manage to fall asleep.

“ James! Wake up!”

Startled out of sleep, he awakens to see Jiron running toward the camp. “What?” he asks as he sits up, suddenly alarmed. Night had fallen and the woods are dark, the dim glow of the dying fire is all that keeps it at bay.

Miko wakes up and still half asleep says, “Is it my turn?”

Jiron runs to the remnants of the fire and begins kicking dirt on it, putting it completely out.

“What’s going on?” James asks as he gets to his feet.

Miko comes fully awake when he sees Jiron putting the fire out. Realizing that something’s not right, he quickly gets to his feet.

In the last light of the fire before it’s covered by Jiron, they see him pointing to the north as he says, “There’s a road not fifty feet further ahead.”

As the last dying ember is covered and they’re thrown into darkness, James can hear voices coming their way from the direction of the road. He begins to see torches moving their way in amongst the trees as well.

Leading them away from the camp, Jiron whispers, “Soldiers, lots of ‘em.”

As they hurry through the brush away from the river, James asks in a hushed whisper, “Were they looking for us?”

“I don’t think so,” he replies as he continues leading them further away from the river. “I had been scouting ahead of us for when we leave tomorrow and had found the road. They were simply marching this way, coming over the bridge that spans the river we had been following. Then as I was heading back, I heard one of them say something and a smaller group broke off from the main force. They began making their way to our camp. I think they must’ve seen the fire and were going to investigate.”

They hear Miko mumble in the dark, “I knew the forest was a bad place to be.”

Suddenly, they hear a horn sounding from back at their campsite. “Damn!” curses James, “they’re going to be combing the woods for us for sure.”

Jiron slows them down in the hopes they’ll make less noise as he continues to lead them further away from the soldiers.

Suddenly, the woods open up and the moon above shows they’ve come out on the road. Five feet in front of them, a horn sounds, ripping through the stillness of the night as a soldier spots them coming out of the forest.

They stand there frozen for just a moment as two torches burst into life along the road, one across from them and another further to the west. Two dozen soldiers stand on the road between them and the forest to the north, their attention now turned directly to them. The soldiers draw their swords as one of them steps forward and says something in a commanding tone to them in their language.

“James,” Miko begins to say when the group of soldiers between them and the other side of the road are suddenly thrust aside like rag dolls by a blast of magic from James, clearing a path through.

“Move!” he yells as he propels Miko toward the forest on the north side of the road, through the gap in the line of enemy soldiers he’d just created.

The soldiers not thrown aside immediately give chase, following them into the forest. A horn sounds behind them as their pursuers alert the rest of the force as to their whereabouts.

The sound of pursuit is very close behind them. James concentrates as he runs and…

Crumph!

…the ground under the pursuing soldiers erupts, tossing them like rag dolls. When they slam back to the ground all but a few lie still. The explosion slows the pursuit and allows them time to move further into the trees.

“Come on!” Jiron hisses to Miko who’s falling behind. The trees and bushes continue getting in his way as he tries to keep up. The faint light from the stars above gives insufficient light to navigate the forest quickly.

From out of the forest ahead of them, three soldiers appear, one of them raising a horn to his lips. Jiron draws his knives and rushes to intercept. He moves to take out the one about to sound the horn when the soldier abruptly flies backward as one of James’ slugs takes him in the chest.

The other two soldiers draw their swords but are no match for Jiron. The first one to close with Jiron thrusts at his poorly armored chest. Deflecting the thrust skillfully away from his body, Jiron strikes with his other knife and sinks several inches into the soldier’s chest, piercing his heart.

He strikes out with his knee to aid in removing the dying soldier from his knife, while at the same time twisting to avoid a slice from the man’s comrade.

The remaining soldier attacks again, this time with an overhand hack and Jiron catches and stops the falling blade between his knives. While holding the sword immobile, he kicks out and catches the man in the knee. The sound of bones snapping can be heard as his knee breaks, causing the soldier to cry out as he falls to the ground.

Not willing to take the time to finish him off, they skirt around the fallen soldier and continue into the forest. James notices that Miko has acquired a sword from one of the fallen guards, its scabbard secured around his waist.

As they follow Jiron through the trees, they can still hear the soldiers in pursuit not very far behind them.

“We’re not going to lose them,” cries out Miko.

James abruptly stops and turns toward their pursuit.

Crumph! Crumph! Crumph!

Three more explosions, spaced fifty feet apart, erupt under the leading edge of the advancing force. Men scream as their bodies are flung up into the air only to fall back, slamming into the ground with bone shattering force. Many fail to move again while others weakly call out for help. Several trees in the explosion area begin to topple, men cry out as they run to avoid them. Some are crushed by the falling trees while trying to rescue their companions who’d been injured in the explosions.

“That should slow them down some,” James says as he rejoins the others. Setting a quick pace, they race through the trees to put as much distance between themselves and the soldiers.

As they continue on, the sound of pursuit becomes more distant. Jiron continues to lead them northward, though he soon loses exactly which way north is. Not being a woodsman, he’s now using the sound coming from their pursuers to determine their course. His main goal is simply to just stay ahead of them.

Suddenly, the trees open up and the river appears before them. Without hesitation, he immediately turns to follow it upstream. “Won’t they think to follow it?” James asks him.

“Most likely,” he says, “but that mural indicated this river comes from a lake nestled in among some mountains. I think we’d be better able to lose them in the mountains than in here.”

“Good thinking,” James replies approvingly.

When the sound of pursuit all but disappears, they slow their progress, giving everyone a break from the relentless pace. They pause near the river for only a few moments to allow everyone to have a quick drink and to catch their breath before continuing on.

“Let’s go,” Jiron announces as he makes ready to resume following the river to the mountains.

Miko gets to his feet with an exhausted groan. Jiron grins at Miko but then his grin disappears when he sees James beginning to limp on his wounded leg.

Coming over to James, he says, “Leg bothering you again?”

Nodding, James replies, “Yeah, a little. All this running is putting a strain on it.”

“You going to make it?” he asks.

“I have little choice,” James says, resigned. Then he indicates Jiron should proceed as he says, “Go on, I’ll be fine.”