Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

James pokes his head through and sees them battling a dozen feet away. Passing through, he moves away from where Jiron and the guard are battling, staying near the side of the tent. Tied to the central pole of the tent, Miko sits with his hands secured behind him. Coming over, he takes his knife out and cuts his bonds.

“Thank god you’re here!” Miko says as he gets up off the floor.

“Never mind that now,” James tells him. “We’ve got to get out of here.” He looks over to where Jiron and the guard are still fighting. Neither one seems able to get the advantage over the other.

Jiron is able to deflect the blows of the guard but so far has been unable to successfully counter attack. James sees his difficulty and picks up a stool and tosses it over behind the guard, causing him to trip.

Off balance, the guard falls to the ground and Jiron is able to sink a knife several inches into the man’s thigh. Leaving the knife there, Jiron falls upon the man as they wrestle for the sword.

The man punches out and connects with Jiron’s jaw, snapping his head back. Jiron uses his knee and catches the man in the groin causing him to gasp in pain.

Seeing them on the floor, Miko comes over and kicks the guard in the side of the head which leaves him dazed. Jiron then has little trouble in taking the sword away and with his remaining knife, slices him across the throat.

He retrieves his other knife from the man’s thigh and wipes them both off on the dead man’s tunic. Seeing James has already freed Miko, he moves to the opening in the side of the tent just as the night lights up with a loud explosion which can be heard as the remaining bubble detonates.

“That’s it,” James tells them. “They’ll be back soon.” He tosses a tunic he’d found in the tent over to Miko so he’d blend in better.

“Then let’s not wait around for them to return,” Jiron says as he opens the slit and makes his way out of the tent.

He waits a moment, scanning the area as the others exit, and then they run in the opposite way from where they heard that last explosion. Running as fast as they can, they race past tent after tent until they reach the edge of the Grey Wolf Clan’s camp. Warriors are running around like ants whose anthill has just had a stick poked in it. James grins at the analogy. I suppose it has!

Finding that they are now on the outskirts of the entire Gathering, they see a wide open area between the edge of the tents and where the trees begin. Running fast, they cover the distance to the trees before anyone takes notice of them. Jiron again takes the lead as they make their way through to the northern ridge.

The camp behind them is total chaos, warriors swarm the area and several horns can be heard. Other areas of the Gathering are in an uproar as well as after the two large explosions in the Grey Wolf Clan’s area.

“They’re not going to let us just walk out of here,” Jiron says. “We have violated the Pact and I’m sure the protection of the Windriders will be withdrawn shortly if it hasn’t already.”

“Then let’s hurry and reach the northern passage out of here before they begin a serious search for us,” James suggests.

Angling as directly to the northern pass as they can, they break into a run toward the northern ridge. Suddenly, out of the trees ahead of them, appears a group of horses.

Jiron’s knives jump to his hands and James readies a spell before they realize that it’s Therin with several other Windriders. Therin has a big smile on his face as he approaches them. “I can see now why they want you so bad,” he says.

He signals a rider who brings out three horses. “Take these horses and fly swift,” he says.

As James mounts, he says, “Aren’t you running the risk of violating the Pact?”

“Probably,” he says, “but that’s my concern. And don’t worry about the horses leading the trail back to us. We stole these from the Grey Wolf Clan.” At that, a couple of the other riders break out laughing.

When they’re mounted, James says, “Thanks again.”

“You are welcome,” he replies. “Though you may not want to come this way ever again.”

“I understand,” James says as he turns his horse toward the north.

“Good luck,” Therin says. “And ride fast!”

They kick their horses and ride for the northern passage through the mountains. Jiron again takes the lead as they quickly leave Therin and the other riders behind.

“Think he’ll get into trouble?” Miko asks him.

“I hope not,” James replies. “But like he said, I don’t think we should ever come this way again.”

As they progress toward the pass, they see a large group of riders now following behind them. James can feel the prickling of magic, telling him Abula-Mazki is among them. “It didn’t take them long to determine where we were going,” James observes.

“He probably did the same trick to find you that you used to find Miko,” Jiron explains.

“You’re probably right,” agrees James.

“We’ll never lose them as long as he’s behind us,” Jiron says.

“I know,” replies James. “I’m working on that.”

The terrain suddenly rises steeply as they near the upper reaches of the pass. Suddenly, they find themselves between two tall ridges as they enter the pass. The pass is wide enough to accommodate several horses side by side and they continue racing through to the other side. The full moon above gives them ample light to see by.

Halfway through, James brings his horse to a sudden halt and quickly dismounts. Jiron soon realizes he’s not with him and glances back. When he sees him there in the pass, he stops and turns his horse around. Moving back, he asks, “What’s wrong?”

James glances up to him and replies, “Just trying to slow the pursuit.”

Jiron watches the pass behind them as James does his thing. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees glowing circular spots flash briefly upon the sides of the pass. They extended at least thirty feet up and after the last one flashes, he sees James slump to the ground again.

He quickly dismounts and helps James get up on his horse, tying him in place. “Haven’t much time,” he hears James say once he has him secured to the saddle.

Nodding, he gets mounted himself and they begin racing toward the far end of the pass. Jiron looks back, and can see riders in the moonlight as they begin entering the pass. Abula-Mazki is in the lead and riding hard to catch them.

Crumph!

When the riders are less than twenty yards from where James had worked the magic, the sides of the pass explode outwards, causing the ridges on both sides to sag into the pass. Gigantic sections of the ridge fall and crush the leading edge of the pursuing riders, Abula-Mazki among them. Cries from horses and men can be heard out of the mammoth dust cloud rolling through the pass.

Jiron pauses momentarily, waiting for the dust to clear. When it does, he sees the pass is now completely blocked by a pile of rubble, several hundred feet high. Even though he’s seen the effect James’ magic can have, it still amazes him. He turns back to the north and quickly makes it to the other side.

They catch up with Miko who’s waiting for them at the other end of the pass. They continue down the trail as it leaves the pass and begin to descend down the other side of the mountains.

“Think that’ll stop them?” Miko asks Jiron.

“If it doesn’t, then that warrior priest is more powerful than anything I can imagine,” he replies.

“Good,” says Miko.

They slow their pace a little to save the horses and travel for several more hours before finding a spot to make camp. Miko and Jiron take turns at watch, seeing as how James is already asleep.