Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

When the pass exploded in front of them, he thought the rage of Abula-Mazki would kill them all. Somehow the warrior priest had survived the rocks. All the men around him had been crushed but none of the rocks had even so much as touched him. Somehow, he’d reined in his rage at those who they were pursuing escaped. When told that the only other way to follow would be to backtrack to the eastern pass, his rage again erupted.

Riding like to kill the horses, he pushed them on until they were through the pass. Once on the other side, Abula-Mazki had sent the Sub-leaders and their groups in different directions in an attempt to locate them, while keeping two of the groups with him. Ragni was glad that his was not one of the groups that had stayed with the unpredictable man.

He had moved his men across the river to patrol the western bank. Earlier they spied their quarry and sent a man north to raise the alarm while the rest of them backtracked to the ford.

Once across, they continued the pursuit halfheartedly. Ragni had no desire to confront a mage who could bring down mountains, but dare not show this to his men. They entered the foothills, moving quickly for a little over an hour.

One of his men cries out from a hilltop where he’d been scouting. “I see their campfire.”

“They took the time to camp when they knew we were giving chase?” Ragni muses to a nearby rider.

“Either they’re sure of themselves, or stupid,” the rider replies.

Nodding his head, Ragni motions for the scout to return to the group. Once he’s returned, Ragni says, “Use bows and take them unawares, we cannot let the mage have time to cast a spell.”

His men all nod and get their bows out and ready. When all are set, they move as one around the hill toward where their quarry has their camp.

As the camp comes into view ahead of them, he sees their quarry sitting there relaxed around the fire, meat sizzling as it cooks over the fire. Off to one side are their horses tied in a picket line.

He signals his men to quietly surround the camp, using animal calls to one another, letting him know they’re in position.

Once he’s heard the last call, telling him all are in place, he gives out with the call to signal the attack. Arrows fly into the camp as they simultaneously fire at the enemy. They drop their bows as they draw their swords and follow the volley of arrows into the camp.

Suddenly, a light encircles them and golden bands arc toward the sky where they meet above the center of the camp.

His men cry out and try to leave but soon realize they are trapped in a cage they can’t escape. That’s when Ragni realizes the mage is facing them. He’s shocked to see all their arrows in the ground, each one having missed their mark.

The mage says, “To follow is to die. Turn around and go home!”

Then the mage, his companions and the horses all begin to change. Their features turn into demonic visages and their hands become claws with long, sharp nails. They begin howling and growling as they advance upon them.

His men cry out with fear, pressing themselves as far away from the demonic creatures as they can. Two of them, warriors tested through many battles, faint dead away as the creatures come closer. Then suddenly, the creatures swell to twice their original size as they let out a roar of ear shattering intensity.

Then with a blinding flash of light, the creatures, the camp, and the cage disappear.

From a nearby hill, Jiron gives a quiet chuckle as he sees what’s going on over there. “Man you’re good,” he tells James.

James doesn’t respond, just continues watching, hoping it’ll be enough to dissuade them from continuing.

When the light flashes and all becomes still, he holds his breath, hoping it worked. Then suddenly the men down there erupt in a flurry of motion as they wake up the ones who fainted and run back to their horses. They mount quickly and he sighs with relief when they turn and race south just as fast as their horses will go. For these men, the chase is over.

Once the riders have moved through the hills and are once again out of sight, James stands up and makes his way with the others back down to where their horses are picketed.

“That should discourage any pursuit from them for awhile I would think,” announces James.

Laughing, Miko says, “I would think so. I thought they were going to soil themselves when we turned into demons.”

“How did you manage that, anyway?” Jiron asks.

“Can’t really explain,” replies James. “Has to do with light and perception.”

“It was effective anyway,” he says.

“Doubt if it would fool any serious mage,” he tells him. “Abula-Mazki wouldn’t have been fooled, I’m sure.”

Once they’re mounted, they head north again. Even though the pursuit from the south is stalled, if not stopped completely, there’s still the rider who’d raced north. James wonders what he is up to as they head once more to the north.

Continuing north until it’s almost dark, they then move toward the river so James can look around to see if there are any forces closing in.

He digs his pool again and once the water has filled it and becomes placid, begins to scan the countryside for hostiles. To the south, it’s clear. He smiles to himself when he realizes his attempts to thwart pursuit had met with success. To the east all he can find are more plains.

Looking westward past the river, he finds the road going north and south. He scans the road in both directions and is satisfied when he doesn’t see anyone upon it. There is a small town sitting on a crossroads further north, but nothing which concerns him is going on there. The road goes through the town as it continues its way north while another one begins, heading due west out of town.

The town there does have a garrison but doesn’t look to be very large and it shows no signs of preparing to leave. He moves the image northward and finds the river continues on through more plains until entering another set of hills.

Getting up, he says, “Looks like there is no one near, so it should be safe to have a fire tonight.”

“Good,” Miko exclaims. “I hate being in the dark out here.” He scans the area and tries to find sufficient fuel for the fire, but there’s not much available. When he has gathered all he can find, he looks at the small pile and says, “I doubt if this is going to last the night.”

“Probably not,” agrees Jiron. “But it should last through dinner.” He looks over and sees James returning to camp with three small rabbits. He takes them from him and proceeds to get them ready for the fire.

James sits and rests, a little tired from the magic expended earlier in the day. He seems to be able to do more with less effect as he goes along. Must be like weightlifting, the more you do, the more you can do.

Miko gets the fire going and in no time the rabbits are cooking.

The evening passes uneventfully after dinner as they take their turn at watch.

Before setting out in the morning, James goes back over to the small pool and again scans the area for hostiles. “Jiron!” he hollers.

When Jiron comes over, with Miko right behind, he shows them the large force of riders on the plains.

“Where are they?” Miko asks.

“Best I can figure, about an hour to the southeast,” he says. “And Abula-Mazki is with them. It looks like two or three times the number that we surprised back in the hills.”

“Is that all?” Jiron asks.

As he continues to scan, they see another force approaching from the northwest, having already entered the west side of the hills the river flows through to the north. “Looks like they have us boxed in,” says James.