Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

Jiron holds up his water bottle and says, “Not much to toast with, but here’s to the pit fighters who didn’t make it through the last battle.”

The others hold up theirs, pausing in a silent toast, and then take a drink.

Suddenly Arkie begins to cry and Roland and Ezra make their goodnights as they take Arkie to the wagon where they bed down for the night.

Shortly after they’ve left, the rest begin to turn in, until the only one still up is Stig who managed to draw first watch. He begins walking a perimeter in the dark around their camp. The sound of the crackling of the fire and his footsteps as he walks around the camp are the only sounds James hears as he tries to fall asleep. Worry about Miko’s fate, as well as those traveling with him, weigh heavily upon him. Eventually though, sleep wins out.

The next morning, Tinok takes great pleasure in watching as his friends get up and begin to work the stiffness and aches out of their legs.

“You all look like a bunch of old ladies the way you’re hobbling around like that,” he informs them, smiling at their misery.

“Leave ‘em alone, Tinok” Jiron tells him.

“Alright,” he agrees when he sees how serious Jiron is, “I’ll leave ‘em alone.”

They’re able to get back in their saddles, but not without groans of pain. “You wouldn’t think they had spent years in the pits to hear them carry on so,” Jiron whispers to James.

“This is different,” he replies. “Besides it may not be just the pain, but an outlet for the fear and humiliation they’ve endured while they were slaves.”

Jiron nods his head and says, “Perhaps.”

After leaving the caravansary, they pull back onto the road. At the gates of Korazan, they come to where the road splits. They can either continue on through the gates and into Korazan, or turn left to follow the road around the walls rather than trying to forge their way through the crowded streets.

Jiron leads them to the left and around the walls. On the far side of the city, they rejoin the main road and follow it as it follows the shoreline of the lake. Before they reach the southern shore of the lake, the road splits. One branch continues following alongside the lake while the other takes a more southeasterly direction.

James hollers to Jiron to continue following the road by the lake. He glances back and nods as he turns his horse to follow it. Not too long after that, they come to the southern shore of the lake and begin to follow the river flowing out of it to the south.

The road is quite busy with many people, both walking and riding, passing them on their way to Korazan. At one point, a long caravan passes them going north, James counts twenty five wagons and almost thirty guards.

A couple of hours past midday they come across a man on the side of the road who’s standing by a wagon with a broken wheel. When Jiron comes abreast of him, the man says something but he’s unable to understand what.

“Can’t understand you,” he says to the man.

Looking frustrated, the man starts speaking to Jiron again, and this time talking real slow. He takes extra care to pronounce his words more carefully and clearly, as if that would enable Jiron to understand better.

By this time, Roland rolls up in his wagon and begins conversing with the man. With a look of relief, the man begins talking rapidly and when he pauses, Roland says to everyone gathered around, “He’s asking if we can take him and his cargo on to the next town, a place called Inziala. Apparently, there’s some kind of celebration going on there and he’s been contracted to supply wine.”

James looks at the poor man for a second before Roland says, “He’s willing to pay us five golds just to transport him a few miles down the road.”

“Sure,” James agrees, “we’ve got the room.” Turning to Stig and Scar he says, “Could you please help this gentleman transfer his barrels into the water wagon? There should be enough room for them.”

They get down from their horses and proceed transferring the barrels from his wagon to theirs. The man starts speaking again and Roland tells them he’s thanking them for their help. He then removes his horses from their traces and ties them to the rear of Roland’s wagon. Once his horses are secured, he climbs up and sits on the seat next to Roland as he waits for his cargo to be transferred.

James can hear Stig mumbling, “Lazy merchant…”

“Yeah, he could’ve at least helped…” Scar says to Stig.

When all the barrels have been transferred, they get back into the saddle and their caravan continues on down the road. Roland talks with the merchant and then says to James in the next wagon, “It seems the celebration is a yearly festival where people come from far and wide to just have fun.”

“Kind of like a county fair,” states James.

“What’s that?” Roland asks.

“It’s a festival where I come from that happens every year,” he replies.

“Oh,” he says.

“Maybe we could stop for the night there?” Delia asks him. When he looks at her, she says, “It wouldn’t take much time away from traveling, especially since we will need to stop for the night anyway. Also, I have a couple deliveries to drop off there as well.”

“You guys can go have fun,” he tells her, “but I don’t think I’ll be in much of a mood.”

Three hours later they come to Inziala, a large city sitting at a crossroads. To the north of the city along the river is a large area with hundreds of tents spread out. A crowd of people are moving in and around the tents. That must be the festival.

To the east of town is an area where the caravans have all gathered while they’re enjoying the fun. Finding a good spot near the other caravans, they set up camp while Delia takes the merchant with his wine over to the festival. She takes Scar and Potbelly along for protection.

After they’re settled in, Tinok, Cassie, Jiron and Tersa along with Roland, Ezra and Arkie deicide to go and enjoy the festival. “Do you want to come along?” Cassie asks James.

Shaking his head, he says, “No thank you. Someone needs to stay here and look after things. Besides, I’m not really in the mood for fun.”

“Miko?” she asks.

He just nods his head yes.

“I’m sorry,” she says and then giggles as Tinok takes her by the hand as they head over to the festival. Over her shoulder she says, “Goodbye!”

“Have fun!” James hollers after them.

The four guards remaining see them walk over toward the festival and say, “When do we get to go?”

“I’ll need four of you here at any one time to discourage any thieves,” he replies. “When Scar and Potbelly get back with Delia, you can draw lots and then two at a time can go.”

“Alright,” Yorn says.

An hour later, they see Delia trundling her way back to their camp with Scar and Potbelly riding along beside.

“Everything okay?’ he asks as she pulls up.

“Everything’s fine,” she assures him. “Got the five golds and another thirty for the packages I delivered.”

“Great,” he says.

Looking around, she says, “Just where is everyone?”

James indicates the festival and replies, “They left shortly after you did.”

From the group of guards, he hears several curses and a cry for joy as they draw lots to see who gets to go. Stig and Shorty walk over to James with happy expressions on their faces, “So you guys get to go first?”

“That’s right,” Shorty says.

“Could we perhaps have a few coins to spend?” Stig asks.

“Sure,” James says as he gets up and goes over to the money box. He takes out four silvers for each of the guards and hands them over.

“Can I come with you two?” Delia asks when she learns they are going over to the festival.