Brian Pratt - Fires of prophesy

All of a sudden, two of the buildings behind them blast apart, their stones raining down upon the men running in the street. Cries ring out as the stones crush the men. With great relief, Jiron sees the street behind them is now completely blocked by the rubble.

He looks over to James and sees perspiration beginning to form and course down his face. His breathing is coming in gasps and he’s leaning slightly in the saddle.

“James?” he asks but then stops when James shakes his head.

The wind suddenly begins blowing harder as it steadily increases in intensity. Jiron looks to the sky as clouds appear, moving toward them with unnatural speed from all directions. James begins to moan in pain but still he concentrates, directing the magic.

Having just witnessed the power James unleashed on the men now dead under the rubble, the soldiers waiting for them at the edge of town become restless. They become even more so when they see the clouds gathering in the sky above them. Several crossbow bolts fly in their direction, but the force of the wind knocks them awry. A man with a commanding presence, an officer by his bearing, stands there yelling at the nervous soldiers, attempting to bolster their courage.

Jiron looks on in absolute amazement as he watches a section of the clouds begin to descend a little ways down from the dark mass above. And then suddenly, with great speed, it slams into the waiting men below. Nothing can be heard but the roar of the tornado as it rips through the gathered men beneath it. Bodies are ejected from it, flying in all directions to land broken and lifeless. Those not directly under it are sucked into it until they too are eventually thrown out, falling lifeless to the ground.

A very few of the men that were gathered at the edge of town survived the initial plunge of the tornado. Thrown around by the wind, the rest flee for their very lives. Suddenly, a cry comes from James and the tornado splits in two, each half moving away from the center of the street in opposite directions.

Jiron glances back to James who is trying to say something but is having trouble being heard over the roar of the wind. Leaning closer, he’s able to make it out, “Now, go between them!” Trusting in James, he gets the horses moving quickly and they approach the towering funnels. The wind whips them mercilessly as he approaches the gap between the two.

The horses balk at going between the two towering tornadoes, but with whips and kicks, Jiron forces them through. “Hurry!” he barely hears James shout as they pass between the swirling masses of destruction. Kicking the horses harder, Jiron at last emerges from the other side, where it takes little encouragement to get the horses into a gallop.

Another cry escapes James before he passes into unconsciousness. Jiron looks back to the tornadoes and sees them melding back together into one large tornado that quickly dissipates. Seeing no imminent pursuit, he turns the horses southeast and races out into the desert.

“Please drop your weapons,” the Eye says to them.

Roland glares at the captain, feeling betrayed. The captain just returns his stare, his face devoid of any emotions.

The Eye raises his hand and the crossbowmen take aim as he repeats his command, “Drop your weapons, now!”

With little choice they remove their weapons and drop them to the ship’s deck.

“You’ve given us quite a chase,” he says to them. “Fortunately, that is now over.” Turning to the captain, the Eye says, “Have your men secure their hands behind them.”

The captain glances behind him to his men standing there, “You heard him boys.”

“Aye, captain,” one of them says as they start to move toward Roland and the rest.

As they pass through where the crossbowmen stand, they suddenly turn and knock the crossbows out of their hands, quickly subduing them. The captain, in a fluid motion, draws his sword and rests the point on the Eye’s chest.

“What is this, captain?” the Eye exclaims in anger when he sees the captain’s sword threatening him.

“You’re not taking them,” he informs the Eye.

“I’ll have you killed for this, captain!” the Eye warns vehemently. “I’ll send your ship to the bottom of the sea!”

“Toss em over, lads,” the captain tells his crew, ignoring the threats of the Eye.

One by one, the crossbowmen are thrown overboard until only the Eye remains. “Captain!” one of the men up in the rigging hollers out as he points toward the docks, “we’ve got company!”

The captain looks over to the docks and sees a score of men running toward his ship. “You’ll never get out of this harbor alive,” the Eye warns him.

“Cast off,” he cries to his men who begin casting off lines and climbing the rigging.

“Your death will be a pleasure,” the Eye continues, “watching as you wriggle upon the end of a pole as it slowly pushes its way through your guts from your ass!”

“Would you just shut up!” the captain yells at the Eye. He turns him around, boots him in the butt and watches as he plummets over the rail into the sea below.

“Thank you captain,” Tersa says as she comes forward.

“Enough time for that later,” he tells her. “You and the others stay out of our way and we may yet live through this.”

“Mr. Kerny!” he hollers.

“Yes sir,” a sailor yells from the other side of the ship.

“Make for deep water!” he cries.

“Aye, aye captain!” he replies as he begins turning the wheel to steer them out to sea. The wind begins filling their sails as they slowly turn away from the docks and head out of the harbor.

Splash!

A rock hits the water not five feet from the side of the ship. “Look!” Stig cries as another boulder flies through the air toward them. They brace for impact but it flies over the ship, landing with a splash twenty feet away.

“That was close,” exclaims Shorty.

“Mr. Kerny!” the captain yells.

“Yes, captain,” Mr. Kerny replies.

“Hard to port, evasive actions!” he tells him.

“Aye, aye captain!” and then they feel the ship lurch as Mr. Kerny begins attempting to evade the oncoming boulders.

“Captain, look!” Delia cries as she sees two ships beginning to pull away from the docks.

“I see ‘em, lass,” the captain tells her, “but if we can beat them to open water, they’ll never catch us.”

“Ahoy aloft! Full sails!” he shouts to the sailors in the rigging.

Without even a reply, they begin to completely unfurl the sails. Once they’re fully extended, the boat lurches as the wind fills the sails.

Delia looks to the ships that are pulled out, but they’ve already begun to fall behind. She soon realizes that they are not going to be able to catch them.

The captain comes over to where they’re crouching by the railing and asks, “So, do you have my fifty gold pieces?”

She nods to Roland who hands over the pouch containing the gold.

The captain opens it and looks through it, satisfied.

“You did all this for fifty golds?” Stig asks incredulously.

“No, son,” the captain replies, “I did it because I hate the empire.”

“But you’ve risked your life and your ship for us,” Delia says. “How can we ever repay you?”

“Having the pleasure of kicking that son of sea cow overboard was payment enough,” he tells her breaking into a big smile.

“Make yourselves comfortable,” he tells them. “It’s a three day trip to Cardri.”

The wind starts to fall off suddenly and there’s a cry from up above. The captain looks to the sky and watches in amazement as the clouds begin rushing toward Al-Kur. “What the hell?” he exclaims.

“It’s James,” Delia whispers to the others.