Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

Taking his crossbow, Miko replies, “Sure thing.” Then he moves quietly out into the woods looking for dinner.

“Think he’ll get anything?” James asks him.

Shrugging, Jiron replies, “He has the last two out of three times. He seems to be getting better with it, though.”

“True,” he agrees.

They get the fire going and have lots of wood stockpiled for the night when they hear Miko crashing through the forest toward them.

James smiles at Jiron and says, “He’s not going to find anything if he keeps making all that noise.”

Suddenly, Miko bursts out of the trees and runs into camp. “James!” he cries out.

Jiron is about to make a comment about the ‘great hunter’, when out of the brush behind Miko emerges a large bear-like creature. A crossbow bolt is sticking out of its hindquarters. When it sees them, it lets out with a roar and charges straight for them.

Jiron jumps to his feet, knives in hand as the bear approaches. Miko runs past them and then comes to a halt at the other side of the camp. He turns and watches James and Jiron as they confront the beast.

James lets out with a blast of energy that strikes the creature in the side. It doesn’t even slow the creature, it just seems to make it madder.

Jiron steps backward, not wanting to close with it. His knives would be ineffective against such a brute.

Crumph!

The ground just in front of it erupts and throws it off its stride. A slug flies from James’ hand and hits it in the side, lodging against a bone. Damn! This thing is tough!

Creating his orb, he tosses it in front of the beast and causes it to explode in blinding light.

The creature rears back, crying out in fear from all the unexpected attacks and then runs off into the woods. They can hear its cries as it continues to move further away.

As one, they turn to Miko who says, “I didn’t even see it. I swear!” He looks back and forth between them and then continues, “I was aiming for a small rabbit. When I fired, it moved and the bolt flew past and into some bushes. I guess it was sitting on the other side of the bushes and got hit. It sat up and roared. Then it saw me there and started to chase me!”

They both continue to give him stern glares when suddenly, James starts chuckling. Then Jiron joins in until they’re both laughing.

“It’s not funny!” Miko yells. “I could have died!”

Which only makes them laugh all the harder. When they finally settle down, Miko is quite put out by them and sits down in a huff. “You guys don’t care,” he says, dejected.

Sobering up, James goes over to him and says, “Of course we care, but the whole situation was just too funny.” He can’t help himself as he breaks into another smile. “Don’t feel bad.”

“It’s just that I didn’t get anything for dinner,” he tells him.

“That’s okay, we still have plenty of meat from last night,” he assures him. “And I think there are still some fruit and roots from Lyria’s as well.”

When he sees they’re not really disappointed with him, he begins to smile a little.

They break out their rations and sit around the fire as they eat their dinner. Here in the mountains, when night falls, it falls fast. It’s not long until they’re in full night with only the stars and the almost full moon overhead to give light. They keep the fire going through the night in order to keep warm. Here in the mountains, it gets very cold when the sun goes down.

Early the next morning as they are getting ready to continue on their way, James looks to the east and sees a band of horsemen coming through a gap in the ridge. “Jiron!” he exclaims, pointing over to them.

“Let’s move!” Jiron hollers as they quickly run to the west, hoping to avoid detection. But that hope is short lived when they hear a horn, blaring. They glance back toward the horsemen and see them moving quickly in their direction, one of the riders is pointing to them.

Running through the trees as best they can, James tries to find a place to defend as he knows escape is no longer an option. They come to a steep side of the cliff where they can put their backs to as they face the oncoming horsemen.

The horn blares again and the riders come into view as they make their way through the trees before them. These horsemen aren’t part of the Empire’s forces, they wear leathers and most have short curved bows. Several of the bowmen have arrows knocked and aimed as they use their knees to steer their steeds.

“James!” Miko cries out. “What are you waiting for?”

The horsemen, though targeting them with bows, don’t feel necessarily evil or dangerous. So he holds back and waits to see what they’ll do.

At the horsemen’s approach, Jiron draws his knives and Miko brings up his crossbow. James puts his hand on the crossbow and lowers it back down. He steps forward, holds his hand up and says, “Greetings.”

Two of the horsemen exchange looks and one of them replies, “You are trespassing in Windrider territory.”

“Our apologies,” James says with sincerity. “We did not know that this area belonged to anyone.”

“None are allowed here,” the rider explains. “You must turn around and go back!”

“James!” Miko exclaims.

“Shut up!” he says to him. Turning his attention back to the rider he says, “There must be some way that we could be allowed to continue.”

“There is none,” the rider asserts. He nods over to the ridge to the north and says, “Had you crossed over, your lives would’ve been forfeit. But you have not yet crossed the sacred boundary, so I will let you live.” He pauses for a moment and then adds, “If you leave, now.”

Suddenly, he feels Jiron’s hand on his arm as he whispers, “James, look at their tunics.”

“What about them?” he whispers back.

“The beadwork,” he explains. “It’s the same as on that necklace Lyria gave you.”

James looks closer and he slowly nods his head as he sees the same pattern of shapes and colors as is on the necklace.

He begins to reach into his pouch for it when the archers begin to draw back their arrows at his movement. He stops and says, “I have something I wish to show you, if I may?”

Nodding, the rider holds up his hand and the archers relax somewhat but still have their bows at the ready.

He reaches in and pulls out the necklace, holding it out to the rider.

The rider gasps and takes it from him as several of the others gather around to examine it, the archers lower their bows a little bit more. After several moments of exchanging words in their language, the rider turns to James and asks, “Where did you get this?”

“It was given to us some time ago by a lady,” he explains.

“What lady?” he asks, an odd expression forming on his face.

“She called herself Lyria and she lived on an island in the middle of a lake,” he replies. “The lake sits at the southern edge of these mountains.”

His explanation generates more intense discussion among the assembled riders. The bowmen continue to keep their bows ready, but are no longer aiming them at James and the others.

When the conversation ends, the rider turns back to them and says, “We will take you to our camp.” Then he says something to the bowmen who put their bows away. They put the unused arrow in a quiver slung across their backs and then sling the bow alongside it.

The rider turns his attention back to James and says, “My name is Therin, sub-chief of the Windrider Clan.”

“I’m James,” he replies. Motioning to his companions, he continues, “And this is Jiron and Miko.”

“So we will be allowed to travel in your territory?” Miko blurts out.