Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

“They have our companion over there,” James tells him, nodding toward where Jiron sits, secured to the horse.

Roland looks over and sees him there, “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?” Looking into their eyes is answer enough. “Are you crazy? Do you know who that is over there?” He indicates the officer in charge.

James shakes his head and says, “No.”

“His insignia shows him to be a Commander of Ten,” continues Roland.

“So?” Tinok replies, obviously not impressed.

“A Commander of Ten only becomes one by being the best with the sword and usually totally ruthless,” he explains. “Any ordinary man taking him on, dies!”

“Still, we must rescue our friend,” insists James.

Nodding, Tinok agrees.

“You’re both crazy!” Roland exclaims.

Tinok grins and says, “Probably.”

James tells him, “Go back and have the girls start moving the wagons out of here.”

Roland gives him a look of utter disbelief at what they intend to do, but he turns and starts walking back toward the wagons.

Tinok looks at him in surprise and James says, “You’re right, we need to do this here, now, before they have a chance to get back on their horses.”

They watch as Roland reaches the wagons and begins speaking to Delia and Cassie. Delia looks at them and slowly nods her head, Cassie starts to cry out to Tinok, but Delia puts her hand over her mouth and quietly whispers in her ear. With a pained look to Tinok, Cassie gets on the second wagon and is soon following Delia, who’s leading the first wagon back to the road.

Looking to Tinok, James says, “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” he replies, “Let’s do it!”

James gathers several stones and Tinok readies his knives. About this time, the Commander of Ten has noticed that the wagons are rolling away, yet two have stayed behind. He says something to one of his men and the soldier starts walking over toward them.

As the soldier approaches, he says something to them in his language. Getting no response, he puts his hand on his sword as he continues to advance. By this time, all of the Commander’s men are aware of what’s transpiring. They start to flank out, and begin encircling them.

Not waiting any longer, James lets loose with a stone, propels it with the force of his spell and strikes the approaching soldier square in the chest, blasting out the back.

As his man falls to the ground, the Commander shouts out a command and his men, as one, draw their swords. The whisking of them all coming out at the same time makes an eerie sound.

James throws a second stone and takes out another of the advancing men. The four remaining soldiers fan out quickly, coming at them from different directions. Suddenly, he feels the prickling sensation that tells him magic is being worked just before he hears a shout from the Commander. Turning in his direction, he sees a green blob arcing through the air toward him.

Thinking fast, he creates a shield surrounding himself just before the green blob hits. It begins to spread, covering the shield in a green, sticky substance. Through the green goo, he sees Tinok being hard pressed by the man he’s fighting, with the others coming fast. His opponent is very skilled with the blade and there’s three more coming to join him.

James changes the nature of the shield and it bursts into flame, searing off the green goo, leaving him covered in a film of fine ash. Quickly, he tosses his last stone at one of the men advancing upon Tinok and catches him in the thigh, literally blasting off his leg at the hip. The man falls to the ground with a cry of pain.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees that Roland has snuck around the oasis and is coming toward where Jiron sits tied to the horse. But then his attention is again turned to the Commander who’s drawing his sword and advancing upon him.

James readies another spell and a bolt of energy flies from his extended hand, striking the Commander full on the chest where it explodes in a shower of sparks. When the sparks clear, James sees him still standing there, untouched.

Grinning evilly, the Commander continues his advance upon him.

Another spell and the ground erupts under him. Still, he marches on.

James quickly glances over to where Jiron had been, but now only sees the horse with an empty saddle. Turning his attention back to the advancing Commander, he considers the situation. He must be protected in some way! James begins backing up, prolonging the inevitable contact, trying to come up with some sort of solution to the problem.

Catching a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, he sees Jiron coming to Tinok’s aid as he joins the fight.

If I can’t use magic on him directly…

Concentrating once more, he brings his hands together and then as he lets loose the power, he spreads them apart.

With a crack, the ground under the Commander opens wide. Losing his balance, he falls into the gaping hole. Once he’s fallen below the top of the hole, James again unleashes the power and with a clap, brings his hands back together again. The sides of the hole containing the Commander smash together, closing with finality.

He looks around quickly and sees Roland, Tinok and Jiron coming over to him, the remaining soldiers lying dead on the ground.

Jiron is covered in bruises and his clothes are stained with blood, but otherwise in high spirits. “Thanks,” he says when he approaches James.

“You’re welcome,” he replies. “Glad to see you’re alive.”

“So am I,” Jiron replies. “I didn’t ever expect to see you two again.”

“We were beginning to get worried about you,” Tinok chides him. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when we catch up with the others,” he says. They each grab one of the soldier’s horses and mount. Riding quickly, they catch up with the girls in no time at all.

The girls stop the wagons when they see them coming. Once her wagon has come to a stop, Delia gets down and rushes over to Jiron, giving him a big hug when he dismounts from his horse.

Returning the hug, he asks her, “Miss me?”

With tears of relief running down her face, Delia replies, “A little.” And then she smiles.

Cassie runs and gives Tinok a warm hug and kiss as well. He kisses her repeatedly until Jiron finally has to break them up. A little red faced, they realize what they were doing.

“Now,” Tinok says, “what happened?”

“Well…” he begins as he relates to them all that had happened, up to the point where he ran out of the burning house and was captured. “When they took me back to the jail, the Commander had someone begin interrogating me.”

“How?” Cassie asks, wide eyed.

“The usual, I’m sure,” he replies. “Anyway, this messenger comes in and gives him a letter. When he’s done reading it, he barks out some orders and before I knew it, I was being tied on a horse and we all began riding hard to the south. We eventually stopped here, fortunately for me, and the rest you know.”

“What were they asking you?” James inquires.

“Mainly, they wanted to know what happened to the men that were garrisoned at Mountainside,” he explains. “Since I was hiding there and had killed a couple soldiers, they felt I obviously knew something.”

“Of course you did,” interjects Tinok.

“Of course,” agrees Jiron. “But they didn’t realize that.”

“What about the backpack?” James asks.

“I left it in the building that was on fire,” he says. “I saw it catch fire myself so there should be no more worries from that.”

“Thanks,” James says. “I’m sorry you got hurt, though.”

Looking at James tiredly, Jiron says, “So am I.” He then turns his attention to Roland and says, “Just who are you and why did you untie me? Not that I’m complaining or anything.”