Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“Then we’ll just have to trudge on as best we can and hope for the best,” Jiron says.

From where Miko is lying down, they begin to hear snores and they just smile at each other. “Hate to wake him up but we need to get going,” says Jiron.

James groans as he gets up and limps over to him, nudging him with his foot. It takes some doing, but he manages to get him awake. Jiron sets a quick pace, following the river north as they pass deeper into the forested hills. It’s not too much longer before they are able to see the sun glistening off of a large body of water through the trees ahead of them. It’s the lake that the mural back at the ruins had depicted.

It’s not nestled in among the mountains like they’d thought, but rather sits at their base. They can see how the foothills hug its southern shore and turn into mountains on its northern side. The lake itself is quite large and has a large island situated out in the middle of it. The island is wooded and looks deserted.

They turn and follow the shoreline east as the river coming out of the lake is too wide to cross to the west. After walking over a mile along the shoreline, Jiron points behind them.

Coming out of the woods where the river leaves the lake are dozens and dozens of soldiers. When they see them ahead on the shoreline, they begin moving in their direction.

James pauses for a second to watch them as they pour out of the forest. It looks like nearly a hundred men are behind them. “Dear god!” he exclaims as he watches them.

A whimper escapes Miko and Jiron says, “Move!”

Moving quickly, they leave the shore and enter the forest. “We’re going to have to do something,” he says to James. “We’ll never make it with all them behind us!”

“I know,” replies James as he works to keep his tired feet moving. His leg is on fire and feels as if it’s about ready to buckle. Somehow his leg continues to keep going as he keeps up with the hurried pace of the others.

As the hills become more pronounced, he begins to get an idea of how to deal with their pursuers. He keeps an eye out for a suitable spot for his plan, and when they come to where a ravine passes through between two hills, he says, “Let’s stop.”

“Why?” asks Miko.

“I intend to discourage any more pursuit,” he tells them.

“How?” Jiron asks.

“First of all…”

From where Miko lies at the crest of the hill where the ravine ends, he watches as the first of the men enter the ravine and make their way toward him. Getting his crossbow ready, he takes aim, and as they near the middle, he lets fly.

The bolt misses the lead man and strikes the ground in front of them. The line halts as they search for where the bolt originated from. While they’re doing this, the rest of the men behind them continue to enter the ravine, creating a tight packed crowd.

When enough of them have entered the ravine, Miko suddenly stands up and turns around as he races back over the hill. “I hope this works,” he mumbles to himself as he hears cries of the soldiers behind him when they see him running away.

Suddenly, he’s knocked off his feet by a deafening explosion behind as the ravine rocks with an enormous explosion. Glancing back, he sees a cloud of dust rising to the sky.

He moves around to where James said to go and meets up with him. He’s sitting on the ground, head cradled in his hands. “You okay?” Miko asks, worried.

James just shakes his head as he sits there.

Miko moves around to the hill where Jiron was suppose to be waiting and watching what happens in the ravine. He comes up behind him and asks, “Did it work?”

“Looks like it,” Jiron replies from where he’s lying on top of the hill looking down into the ravine.

When Miko crests the hill where Jiron lies, he can see the ravine is no more. The hills on either side have exploded outward, coming together and crushing all that had been between them. He looks to where Jiron points and can see maybe ten men who are hesitantly approaching what used to be the ravine. Only ten of the force behind them survived.

From the ravine, they can hear the cries of the soldiers who hadn’t died in the initial explosion. The ten move cautiously toward the ravine and when they realize nothing further will be happening, speed their approach as they move to rescue the survivors.

“Think they’ll continue after us?” Miko asks Jiron.

“Doubt it,” he says. “They’ll have all they can do just to get the survivors out of there.” Turning around he begins to head back to James and says to Miko, “Let’s go.”

Miko glances back at the men coming to the rescue and then follows Jiron down.

When James sees them coming, he says, “Well?”

“Looks like you got most of them,” Jiron replies. “Less than a dozen remain and they’ll be too busy helping their fellows to come after us.”

Shaking his head at all the death and destruction, he says, “Why can’t they just leave us alone?”

“They will now,” Miko says.

Saddened to have once more caused so many deaths, James sighs, “Alright, lets go.” He gets up and Miko comes to help him as he starts to waver a little bit. “Thanks,” he says once he regains his equilibrium. Limping, he has to lean on Miko to even walk, the pain in his leg is so bad.

Jiron angles them away from the scene of the explosion and they make their way back toward the lake shore. From there, they continue following it for several more hours until James states that he just can’t make it any further. Jiron moves ahead and returns shortly saying he’s found a spot along the shore they can spend the night.

As he brings them back to the camp site, he sees a small animal at the edge of the water. Stopping, he whispers, “James, can you take him down?”

Removing a slug from his belt, he leans on Miko to steady himself as he prepares to throw. When he throws the slug, his leg gives out and he loses his balance, falling to the ground. Despite falling, the slug flies true and strikes the animal, killing it.

“You got him!” Jiron hollers jubilantly as he moves over to the dead animal.

Miko helps James to his feet and then over to a tree where he aids him in sitting down. Once James is settled in, Miko sits down next to him and then passes out from exhaustion.

Bringing the animal over, Jiron says, “You just rest. I’ll gather some wood and we’ll have this cooked in no time.”

James just nods his head before resting it back against the tree. Closing his eyes, fatigue takes him and he quickly falls asleep.

The smell of roasting meat wakes him up. Glancing over to where Jiron is cooking the animal, he asks, “Do you think it’s risky to have a fire?”

“Maybe, but I’m not eating this raw,” he replies. “Besides, I really doubt if anyone will be coming after us so soon after the beating they took back there.”

“I hope you’re right,” he says.

They have a hard time waking Miko when dinner is ready. But once the mouthwatering aroma reaches him, he perks up and readily joins in.

James wishes for more than just meat to eat. He was never much into salads or vegetables when he was back home, but he sure misses them now. Looking around, he’s sure there are edible plants and roots out there somewhere, if he only knew what they looked like. Oh, well, at least he has the meat.

When they’re done eating, they toss the carcasses into the water and Miko is surprised when nothing comes and eats them. “Where are the little fish?” he asks.

“The water’s probably too cold for them,” explains James. “They most likely prefer the warmer water back in the swamp area.”

Miko just looks curiously out at the water and when still nothing happens, nods his head and realizes that James is probably right. Again.