Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

“Last time I had used the power within me,” he explains. “This time I had time to plan ahead for the battle, so was able to harness other sources of power.”

“Other sources?” he asks. “What do you mean?”

“I set up spells that would slowly absorb power from the trees and other living things around them, storing it up until needed. Over the course of several hours, they had absorbed all the power they required for their spells. So when they went off, no power was drained from me. That’s why a lot of the vegetation around them had begun to look wilted.”

“Impressive,” Tinok says.

“Thanks,” he replies.

The rest of the day, they just sort of relax and take it easy, recovering from the ordeal of the last two days. Near sunset, some of them walk back toward the canyon to see how the fire’s doing.

Smoke still fills the air and across the canyon the trees are all blackened where the fire had raged. Pockets of fire are still visible here and there, but for the most part, it has consumed the readily available fuel and moved on. They can see it as it continues to burn further up the mountain, the flames arcing up from the tops of the trees where it’s still burning furiously.

They make it back to the camp just as the sun dips below the horizon and the light begins to fade. The rest allow James to sleep as they take turns standing watch.

When they wake in the morning and are ready to begin hooking the horses to the wagons, they come to the realization that no one knows how. Each wagon takes two horses, which ones were easy to figure out, as they were bigger and more muscular than the others. But the problem comes when they attempt to hook the traces to the horses.

The first time they thought they had it figured, the horses had walked right out of their harness when Tinok flicked the reins to get them moving. The girls laughed so hard at the expression on his face when the horses began racing down the road and the traces fell to the ground. He was almost pulled from the wagon but had let go of the reins in time.

“Nice,” Delia says, her brown eyes dancing in amusement.

Trying to ignore the reaction of the girls, Jiron runs after the horses and quickly brings them back. Taking their time and lots of trial and error, Jiron and Tinok eventually figure it out, finally enlisting James’ aid. Once they’re sure the horses aren’t going to leave their traces behind again, they board the wagons.

On one wagon rides Delia and James, with Delia attempting to drive the wagon but is finding it much more difficult than she had thought. Tinok is driving the second wagon behind them with Cassie sitting beside him. Jiron is on a horse in the lead, the rest are strung in a line tied behind Tinok’s wagon.

Once the wagons start rolling, they begin to learn the finer points of controlling a team of horses. Delia at first has her wagon weaving from one side of the road to the other and once they abruptly stopped for no apparent reason. By the end of the day, however, both she and Tinok have begun to be able to control them with some skill.

The road they’re following is barely wide enough to accommodate the wagons. At one point, Delia was afraid one of her wheels would slide off the narrow road and cause the wagon to slide down the mountainside. Near the end of the day they locate a good spot to make camp, an area little more than a widening of the road amidst the trees. From the campfire ring they find there, it would seem the smugglers have used this spot on more than one occasion.

James’ shoulder hurts worse than the day before. When they’re done with removing the horses from their traces and tethering them to a nearby tree, he has Delia take off the bandage and inspect it. The area around the wound is turning red and is warm to the touch.

“I think it’s getting infected,” she says to him, concern in her eyes.

“Great,” he moans. “Is there any alcohol in the wagons?” he asks her.

“Why?” she replies.

“It may help to purify the wound,” he explains. “Maybe even kill the infection.”

“I’ll see,” she says as she goes over and begins rummaging around in the wagons. She returns shortly with a bottle. “This is all I could find,” she explains, holding it out to him. “Not sure what’s in it though.”

“Just put it back,” he tells her. “I’d rather not take the chance.”

She returns the bottle to the wagon and then goes over to confer with Cassie, far enough away where he can’t hear them. They talk briefly for a few minutes and then Cassie walks over and enters the forest. Tinok sees her leaving and runs after her.

Delia comes back over to him and says, “Cassie has had some training with herbs, she may be able to find something that will help.”

James just nods as he lies there, beginning to feel worse. His face is starting to feel flushed and his body aches all over, a sure sign of a fever.

Cassie and Tinok come back after a few minutes with various leaves and petals. She takes a bowl from a wagon and proceeds to mash them all together within it. Once it has been combined, she tears a new set of bandages from a cloak found within one of the wagons and applies the mixture to it before bringing it over to James.

Taking off his old bandage, she tosses it into the fire before she applies the new one. When the mixture touches his skin, it brings a cool, soothing sensation. The pain noticeably diminishes and he is able to lie there more at ease.

“Thanks,” he says appreciatively to her.

“You’re welcome,” she replies with a smile, happy to have eased his pain.

He then closes his eyes and shortly falls asleep.

Cassie says, “I don’t like the look of his wound. The poultice I applied will ease the pain, but will do nothing to stop whatever is causing the redness and fever.”

“What can we do?” Jiron asks.

“Wait,” she says. “All we can do is wait.”

“Can you find more of those herbs?” he asks her. “He may need them again later.”

“I’ll pick more,” she says. She then walks over to the wagon and removes a basket she found inside before returning to the forest.

“I’ll go with you,” Tinok says as he gets up to accompany her. Seeing the look on Jiron’s face he adds, “There may be wild animals out there, you never know.” Then he hurries to catch her.

Jiron turns to Delia and says, “There may be something developing between those two.”

She watches them go into the forest together and replies, “You may be right, but I doubt if they even realize it yet.”

Cassie and Tinok return some time later with the basket full of herbs and roots. She places them in the wagon and then comes over to inspect James. He’s hot with fever and is beginning to perspire. “This is bad,” she says, concern in her voice.

“Bad?” asks Jiron.

“How bad?” asks Tinok at the same time.

“If he gets too hot then he’ll die,” she explains. “I’ve seen people who have died because their fevers became too high.”

“What can we do?” Jiron asks, worried.

“As I said before, wait. Either it will go away on its own or it will kill him, only the gods know for sure.” She takes a moist cloth and dabs his forehead with it as she tries to keep him cool, wiping away the sweat that is beginning to form.

They sit there and wait, afraid of what may happen.

The night explodes with light, startling them out of their sleep. They find James standing up and staring off into the woods. He raises his hands and cries out with words none can understand. Trees on the side of the road simply explode, shattering into millions of pieces.

“We’re under attack!” Tinok yells as he comes to his feet, knives at the ready. A rain of wood splinters falls all around them from the blasted trees, the larger ones causing pain when they strike exposed skin.