Brian Pratt - Warrior priest of Dmon-Li

“If we can make it north along the river quickly,” Jiron suggests, “we may be able to move past them before they connect with the riders.”

“Then we better hurry,” James says, getting up. They mount and quickly break into a gallop heading north. He wishes he still had his mirror so he can scan while riding, but that’s long gone at the bottom of the ocean.

Moving fast, they are soon approaching the hills to the north. Hoping to have beaten the soldiers coming from the west, they continue to follow the river as it moves among the hills.

Suddenly from the west, they see a scout crest a hill. They watch as he raises a horn to his lips and blasts a series of notes.

“That’s done it,” James says, just before a rock leaves his hand and sails toward the scout on the hill. They watch the rock fly through the air and then strike him, knocking him off his horse to the ground.

“They’ll be on us for sure, now,” Jiron says as he once more spurs his horse onward, the others following suit. They continue to follow the river as it meanders its way through the hills.

As they ride, the ground begins to change from hilly grasslands to more of a desert, like what they experienced when they were searching for Miko. Another horn rings out, James glances behind and spies another scout. Several more riders suddenly appear alongside him.

“We’ve got company!” he hollers.

Spurring their horses on to even greater speed, they fly alongside the river. The hills on either side of the river begin to rise and James realizes they’re entering a canyon of some kind. Not as big as the Grand Canyon back home, but large. As the sides of the canyon continue to rise, he’s quick to realize that if they sent forces to the other side, they may very well be trapped.

The ground becomes rockier and less stable the further into the canyon they move, forcing them to slow their speed. Behind them, the foot soldiers have entered the canyon as well and are following about a mile away.

Progressing still further into the canyon, they come across a series of wooden stakes with wooden crossbeams. Skulls and bones hang from them as well as pieces of leather, which James thinks might be skin.

“What is that?” Jiron asks.

“I’m not sure,” James replies. “It can’t be good though.”

As they pass the structure, James begins to see others scattered about the floor of the canyon as well. Some not very large, though a couple are even bigger and more complex than the first one they encountered.

“This might be a burial ground of some sort,” he tells them.

“Burial ground?” Miko asks.

“Yeah,” he says. “It just feels that way.”

Nervous, Miko looks around.

“James, look,” Jiron says, directing his gaze back to the soldiers following them.

James glances back and sees the soldiers have stopped at the first of the stakes and skulls.

“Seems as if they are reluctant to enter,” Jiron observes.

“Hope so,” James says.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be here either,” Miko says as he glances around the canyon nervously.

“We have no choice,” James tells him as they continue on further into the canyon.

They keep glancing behind them and still the soldiers remain there at the stakes, unwilling to enter the canyon. The further into the canyon they move, the more of the burial sites they see. Some now actually have full skeletons laid out upon them. All the bones are human.

Miko is getting more and more nervous the further they go. The canyon is absolutely silent, not even the familiar sound of birds or animals can be heard, only the rush of the river flowing by makes any kind of noise. But even that has a hushed quality to it, as if it dares not disturb the peace of this place. With the sun already having moved past the lip of the canyon, the lengthening shadows give the place an even more eerie feel.

They proceed onward, further into the canyon for another hour or so when James decides to pause a moment to dig out a pool by the river to look for pursuit.

“Do we have to stop?” asks Miko, who is getting very jumpy.

“Yes,” replies James. “It will take just a moment. I want to do it before it gets dark and I’ll no longer be able to see anything.”

Once the pool is filled and the surface has stilled, James begins to see what the forces behind them are doing.

The image shimmers a moment and then they see themselves by the river. He scrolls the image south until the soldiers who stopped at the boundary are in view. A large force of foot and horsemen are gathered together. Bringing the focus closer, they are able to see two men arguing animatedly. One of them is Abula-Mazki. What I wouldn’t give for a little sound.

The two men are obviously at odds over what they should do. From the way Abula-Mazki is gesticulating, it would seem he wants them to follow into the canyon. The other officer is adamantly refusing.

In an enraged fit, Abula-Mazki stretches out his hand and they see the officer fall to the ground. Abula-Mazki then turns to the others assembled there and begins talking. The death of their officer must have given them the impetus they needed, for they begin to hesitantly move into the canyon.

“They mean to follow us then,” Jiron says from over his shoulder.

“It would seem so,” agrees James.

“What’s at the other end of the canyon?” Jiron asks.

The image moves quickly until it reaches the northern end and they see another large force of men waiting there. They seem to be settling in and preparing defenses. Tents and campfires have sprung up throughout the assembled forces.

“They plan to force us north and then get hammered between both armies,” guesses Jiron.

“Yeah, and with his magic to counter mine,” James says, “we’re dead.”

The image disappears as they stand up. Jiron looks around them, then up at the canyon walls.

“You aren’t serious,” asks Miko when he realizes what Jiron is thinking. “We can’t climb that far.” He looks up at the imposing sides of the canyon, in some places the surface is almost vertical.

“We have several hours before the southern force gets here,” Jiron says. “It’ll be a hard climb, but we seem to have little choice.” He walks over to his horse and takes his things.

James follows suit. When he sees Miko just standing there, he says, “Come on, we can do this. We have a better chance of scaling the walls of the canyon than surviving the battle that’s to come.”

Coming over to his horse, Miko gets his things. Then he looks dubiously at the canyon wall above them. “Couldn’t we just scare them like we did to that bunch earlier?” he asks.

“I thought about that,” James tells him. “If it were just the men, then sure, I’d try it. But not with that warrior priest with them. He’d for sure see through the illusion and most likely counter it.”

“Oh yeah,” he says, disappointed.

“We need to hurry if we’re to beat the failing light,” Jiron says. Then he moves away from the river and begins to ascend to the top of the canyon.

Miko starts to follow him but then pauses when James hasn’t moved. He glances back and sees him staring intently at the horses. Suddenly, the horses begin whinnying in fear and bolt along the river to the north.

James then turns to follow Miko and Jiron. When he sees Miko looking at him, he says, “Didn’t want them to find the horses and know where we’d started climbing up. It might give us more time.”

Miko just nods slightly as James joins him. He turns back and resumes following Jiron as he hunts for the way up.

At first, the way is fairly easy and not too steep. The sides of the canyon are composed mostly of shale and the ground is covered in loose rocks. This makes for an unstable surface which causes their feet to at times slip out from under them.