Fires Of Prophecy Part 25

"We must go after him!" he says.

"No, we shouldn't," Delia tells him. She grabs him by the arm and stares him straight in the eye as she continues. "With the wagons we will never be able to catch up with him. And if we abandon them, we lose the reason we're in the Empire."

He looks at her in anguish and she says softly, "Let him go, you have more immediate concerns."

"Like what?" he cries.

Pointing to his sister she says, "Like her."

Defeated, he nods his head acknowledging she's right. "Let's get the horses. .h.i.tched up and get out of here," he says miserably. He climbs to the top of one of the nearby hills and turns toward the desert, standing there as he looks out across the rolling, desolate hills. "Tinok!" he yells as his eyes scan the horizon. "Tinok!"

Nothing, dejected at the loss of his friend, he climbs back down and helps the others with getting the caravan ready for the road.

"He'll be okay," offers Yorn as he comes up behind him, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah," adds Scar, "he's a tough one, he is."

He turns and looks into the faces of his friends and says, "Thanks." Then he turns back and finishes saddling his horse.

It's a somber group that heads down the road this morning. Each remembers the fallen in their own way.

"Remember when Qynn was going up against that sailor who thought he was hot stuff?" Potbelly suddenly says, breaking up the silence.

"Yeah," Stig replies, chuckling, "the guy thought that Qynn was going to be easy pickings." Laughing, he continues, "He sure made him respect the quarterstaff that day."

"I remember," adds Scar, nodding. Then breaking into a smile, he says, "Remember that tune he would always hum as he was whacking someone to its beat?"

Laughing, Potbelly exclaims, "And how he started doing that stupid dance, making the poor guy even more humiliated!"

Everyone from the pits starts laughing at that, James looks over and can see the beginnings of a grin appear on Jiron's face.

After several more stories of Qynn's antics in the pits, the mood is lifted somewhat. Apparently, he had been quite the clown at times.

A little past noon they leave the foothills and are once again in flat desert. The river curves to the south, as does the road and after another two hours they begin approaching another sizeable city. From a fellow traveler on the road they learn its name is Morac.

Even though it's not getting dark yet, they decide to stop for the night here. Pulling to the northeast of town, they find a suitable spot for a camp and proceed to arrange the wagons and picket the horses for the night.

Delia says to James, "I'm going to take Scar and Potbelly with me to deliver a couple packages. Roland too."

"Alright," he says, "just be careful."

"I will," she a.s.sures him.

Once the others are aboard the wagon, she turns it and begins rolling on into town. In the course of her deliveries, she comes across a temple to Coryntia, The Hooded Lady. If you light a candle in one of her temples after a loved one's pa.s.sing, it's said that she will help them to find their way to the afterlife and not be stranded or lost along the way.

She pulls up to it and tells them, "I'll just be a moment." Getting down from the wagon, she goes inside the temple and approaches a table with many candles. Sitting in the middle of the candles is a single silver bowl. Placing a coin into the bowl, she takes a candle and carries it over to where a statue of a veiled woman stands. A couple candles are already lit there at her feet and she lights hers from one of the ones already burning, before placing it alongside them. Kneeling down, she says a prayer for Ca.s.sie, that she will find her way.

After several moments, she gets up and turns as she walks back toward the exit. Once outside, she climbs back aboard the wagon and then continues on with her deliveries.

Jiron has been moping around the camp ever since Delia left, hurt that Tinok ran out on him. Tersa comes over to James and asks, "What should we do?"

"About what?"

"About Jiron," she says as she gestures toward him. "I don't like seeing him like this."

"Not much we can do other than just be here for him," he replies. "He'll work it out on his own, all we can do is to simply allow him the time to do it."

"I suppose," she says, not entirely happy. "But I feel so helpless."

"I know," he a.s.sures her.

Yorn comes over and joins the conversation, "When the others return, we're going to take him to get drunk."

"Why?" she asks.

"To help him forget about things for awhile," he replies. To James he asks, "You want to come?"

"No, I'm not into that sort of thing," he tells him.

"Your loss," he says as he wanders back to the others.

From the wagon where Ezra and Arkie are, they can hear poor little Arkie crying. "He misses her," Tersa says. "She always played with him after we stopped."

"We all do," he admits, "she was special."

A little while later, when Yorn sees Delia approaching, he grabs Jiron and the pit fighters all head into town. They pause momentarily at the wagon and soon Scar and Potbelly join the group as it continues on its way.

When Delia gets to the camp, she asks James, "Where are they going?"

"To get drunk," he explains, "at least that's what Yorn said."

"Hope they don't get into any trouble," she states as she watches them go.

The first place they find is an old tavern with questionable clientele. Walking in, they see the mangiest group of derelicts this side of the gutter. "Perfect!" announces Scar as they sit at a large table off to one side.

A woman with a small beard and a patch over one eye comes up to them and says something that none can understand. Despite the language barrier, they finally make her understand that they want drinks. She brings them over several bottles of a foul smelling concoction that makes their eyes bug out and slightly burns as it goes down.

"Like mother's milk," Potbelly squeaks out after downing a large swallow.

"I hope they're not trying to poison us," Scar says as the liquid burns its way down to his stomach.

They sit there and drink for awhile, trading tales both true and improbable when a group of tough looking men walk into the tavern. They see them sitting at the table and walk over toward them. When they reach the table, one of them says something belligerently to them, which of course no one understands. Their failure to respond only makes him all the madder.

"What do you suppose is wrong?" Shorty asks.

A man sitting at a table next to theirs says, "You're sitting at their table and they want you out."

Jiron looks at the spokesman for the group and he says, "No, you find your own table. This one's ours."

Even though he couldn't understand the words, he understood the meaning behind them. The man suddenly reaches out and grabs Jiron by the s.h.i.+rt as he starts hauling him out of his chair.

Jiron stands up while at the same time swinging his fist with all his strength and connects with the man's jaw, sending him stumbling backward several feet into his fellows.

Then pandemonium erupts as one of the man's friends takes a swing at Jiron and both sides join the fray.

"For Tinok!" Scar yells as he trades blows with a large individual, finally sending him to the floor with two quick blows to the stomach and then one to the face, breaking his nose. Turning, he sees Shorty being tossed through the air where he hits the wall with a thud.

The other tavern's patrons quickly make for the sides of the room or out the door to avoid becoming embroiled in the fighting. Some join in, those who always enjoy a good fight no matter the reason.

The fighting remains fairly even until the town watch shows up. When Potbelly sees them enter he yells, "The town watch!" They all turn to see a dozen uniformed men entering wielding clubs, which they use to start felling brawlers.

Trading a few more blows, they turn and race to the other side of the tavern where they dive through the windows or run out the door into a side alley, to avoid being taken in. A quick survey shows them all there and then they race down the alley.

"Man that was a good fight!" exclaims Yorn, wiping blood away from his nose.

"Just what I needed," Jiron adds, smiling.

Stig says, "I think one of my teeth are loose," as he wiggles one.

Walking down a little further, they find another tavern where they're able to resume their drinking once more. An hour pa.s.ses and they're beginning to get fairly drunk, having a grand time. A girl comes over to them and asks, "So, are you boys new in town?"

"Yeah," Stig replies as she makes herself comfortable on his lap, "just pa.s.sing through." He places his arms around her as she leans against his chest.

"I've got some friends who would like some company tonight," she says sultrily and she runs her fingers through Stig's hairy chest. "If you feel up to it of course."

"How many friends do you have?" Potbelly asks.

"Oh, more than enough to satisfy you, I'm sure," she a.s.sures him.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Scar says, grabbing the bottle and then getting up from the table.

She gets up off Stig's lap and leads them out of the tavern.

James paces by the fire, Where are they! Where are they! Everyone else has already fallen asleep and it's well past midnight. Everyone else has already fallen asleep and it's well past midnight. Probably pa.s.sed out in the street somewhere. Probably pa.s.sed out in the street somewhere. Having to know, he takes the mirror out of his shaving kit and concentrates on Jiron as he gazes into it. Having to know, he takes the mirror out of his shaving kit and concentrates on Jiron as he gazes into it.

Slowly, Jiron's image begins to appear and at first it looks like he has in fact pa.s.sed out somewhere. Broadening the image, he realizes they're not pa.s.sed out, but tied up and lying on a dirt floor. He can see the others lying next to him, some are struggling trying to loosen their bonds.

d.a.m.n! What did they get themselves into now? Unable to see much more, he puts the mirror away and goes over to wake up Roland. Unable to see much more, he puts the mirror away and goes over to wake up Roland.

He gently places a hand on Roland's arm and gently shakes him.

"What?" Roland says groggily as he wakes up.

"We got trouble," James whispers to him, trying not to awaken Ezra who's lying next to him.

Sitting up abruptly, he looks around the camp but doesn't see anything. "What trouble?" he asks.

"Not here, in town," he explains. "The guys are in trouble and we need to go get them."

Roland gets up, gently disengaging himself from Ezra and then goes over to the remnants of the fire with James.

"What happened to them?" he asks.

"I'm not sure," he says and then explains to Roland what he saw in the mirror. "But we better do something."

"I agree," Roland says once he understands their predicament.

James goes over and wakes up Delia, explaining the situation to her so she won't worry if she were to wake and find them gone. Then he and Roland head into town to try and locate them. James makes sure that he has the belt with his slugs around his waist just in case.

"How are we going to find them?" Roland asks as they enter the town.

He moves over to a side alley and then glances around to make sure no one is watching. "Watch," he tells him as he lets the magic flow and a s.h.i.+mmering, transparent bubble forms in the air before them. In the dark of the alley it's almost impossible to see unless you know what to look for. "I've been working on this the last couple of days," he says. "Thought it might come in handy in finding Miko when we finally catch up with him."

"Amazing," Roland says as he reaches out his hand to touch it.

"Don't," says James as he lays his hand on Roland's arm. "It would most likely disappear if you do."

Taking his hand back, he says, "Sorry."

The bubble begins to float away as it leads them in Jiron's direction. Several times it floats past people on the streets, but in the dark, they fail to notice it. Whenever James loses sight of it, he has it flash a very dim light until he once again spots it and is able to follow.

It takes them through the city, all the way to the other side, where it comes to rest near the door to an old house with a single light emanating from an upstairs window. The bubble starts to dimly flash in the dark.

"They're in there," he tells Roland as he cancels the spell.

"Now what?" he asks.

As James approaches the door, he says, "We knock and ask for them back."

"What if they don't admit they're here?" he asks nervously.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to insist," he says as he knocks loudly upon the door. When there's no answer, he pounds a little harder.

From the other side they hear footsteps approach and the door opens a crack. A little old lady sticks her head out, "Yes?"

"Good evening ma'am," James says, somewhat surprised to see such a harmless woman here. "I'm sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night, but I have reason to believe that some friends of mine are here."

"There's no one here but me," she says.

From a window upstairs, Roland sees a shadow move across it. "Someone's upstairs," he whispers to James.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you if I can come in to see for myself," he tells her.