Shades of the Past: The Morcyth Saga Book Six (38 page)

Jared was on watch when the first band of
riders appeared and woke Jiron who prevented him from waking James.
“I doubt if they will even know we’re here,” he explains. They
don’t have a campfire and are not very close to the road. Sure
enough, the riders went on by without even slowing.

When the sound of the riders disappears in
the distance, Jiron returns to his blanket. Before settling in he
tells Jared to only wake him when ‘Riders slow down and approach
the camp’. The second set of riders passes by during Jiron’s turn
at watch. Keeping an eye on them in the moonlight, he watches while
they race past.

Even before dawn begins to dispel the
darkness, they get underway. The short rest break they had wasn’t
enough, but they need to put as much distance between themselves
and Ki as they can. Now that it is light, they will be much more
leery of anyone approaching.

James takes out his mirror and brings the
mine area into focus to see what he wrought. As the image clarifies
he finds the mine complex completely gone, buried under tons of
stone. The whole area is crawling with people as they search for
survivors, though he seriously doubts if they’ll find any.

Then he scans their immediate vicinity and
finds a force of a thousand men east approaching Ki from the south.
Whether in response to what he did there or if they were already on
their way, he isn’t sure.

Scrolling the image, he scans the road ahead
and finds where their road intersects with another at a sizeable
walled town. There they will need to take the road moving more
westward in order to reach the next and most important area to
hit.

He wasn’t entirely truthful with Jiron and
Jared when he told them of a storehouse and stockpiles of weapons.
What he plans to hit is much bigger than that and likely to prove
quite dangerous. For further to the west lies the Empire’s School
of the Arcane. He doesn’t have any grand design to take on the
mages there and kill them all, it’s doubtful if he could even
accomplish that.

No. What he wants to destroy is their
library. Of all the things he’s come to understand about making
magic do what you want, is that knowledge of what you are trying to
accomplish is the most important thing. He believes that taking out
their library and the books contained within will greatly reduce
their ability to train more mages effectively. The idea of
destroying aged tomes of knowledge really bothers him however. But
leaving knowledge in the hands of those who will use it to the
detriment of others bothers him more.

Finished with his mirror, he returns it to
his pack. “The area ahead of us looks clear,” he tells the other
two. “By tonight, we’ll be at a crossroads where we will turn more
to the west. Then another day and a half will see us to our
destination.”

“After that we head home?” Jared asks.

James nods. “That’s right,” he replies.
“After that we rejoin the others and get out of the Empire as fast
as we can.”

“Good,” says Jiron. He’s been thinking about
Aleya and has been missing her. The memory of her in his arms makes
him want to see her again.

All that day they keep a steady pace with
short stops to keep up the horses’ strength. It was during one such
rest in the latter part of the day when James again pulls out his
mirror to check for hostiles in the area. Not finding any, he
scrolls down the road to the town ahead that lies at the
crossroads. From the looks of it, it isn’t more than an hour or so
away.

As he brings the image closer to the city,
the image starts turning hazy. Using more magic, he tries to
overcome the distortion. Suddenly, the glass of the mirror begins
to warp and the metal frame which he is grasping grows red hot.

“Damn!” he cries as he quickly throws the
mirror away.

“What happened?” Jiron asks. Stopping there
in the road, he turns back to find out what’s going on.

“I don’t know,” replies James.

They look to where the mirror lies in the
dirt on the side of the road. Smoke tendrils begin rising from it
as the mirror and metal frame both begin to turn fluid. As the
metal starts to drip, a fiery glow appears within the melted
glass.

Jared gasps as a form wreathed in flames
seems to rise from the glass.

“Fly!” yells James as he turns his horse and
flees down the road.

The other two turn and race after him as the
figure behind them continues to grow.

“What is that thing?” yells Jared.

“I don’t know,” replies James. Bending low
against the neck of his horse, he works to make it go even
faster.

A deafening roar sounds behind them as the
fiery creature leaves the ground and begins to soar toward them.
Even from this distance they can feel the heat radiating from
it.

James lashes out with magic but the spell of
force which should have knocked it backward barely phases it. “Make
for the city!” he yells to the others as he reaches into the pouch
hanging at his hip and pulls out one of the power crystals.

Slowing the forward momentum of his horse
slightly, he turns in the saddle and holds the crystal toward the
now rather close creature of flame. “Hold!” he yells and a
shimmering barrier appears around the creature.

The creature slows when it becomes trapped
within the barrier and begins settling to the ground. Within the
barrier it’s exerting massive pressure and the power of the crystal
is draining rapidly.

Tossing the crystal to the ground, James
kicks his horse and races after the other two who are now a hundred
yards ahead of him.

Crack!

With the shattering of the crystal, the
barrier vanishes and the creature once again resumes the chase.

A crackling noise sounds behind James and he
glances back to see a spear of flame flying toward him with
incredible speed. Responding with magic, he manages to deflect it
at the last minute, causing it to veer to the left where it strikes
the ground several yards away.

Other travelers on the road see the fiery
creature chasing after James and scream as they run for their
lives. Wagons are abandoned as people flee into the desert for
their lives.

Taking another crystal, James again cries
‘Hold’ as another barrier springs into being surrounding the
creature. Just as before, the entrapped creature begins to sink to
the ground as it fights to escape. Tossing that crystal to the
ground, he slows his horse to a slow walk as he hurriedly begins to
untie the sack of crystals from behind his saddle. He works the
knot binding it closed furiously but only manages to cinch it
tighter.

Removing his belt knife, he cuts through the
leather thong just as the power crystal cracks and the barrier
trapping the creature disappears. Roaring to life once more, the
creature springs into the air.

James opens the sack and hunts for a specific
pouch of crystals, one tied with a string dyed blue. Before he
finds it, crackling noise announces another of the fiery bolts
coming toward him and he again responds with magic. The bolt is
deflected to the right where it impacts with an abandoned
wagon.

Ka-Bam!

The wagon erupts in a fiery explosion. Out of
time, James takes his last power crystal from his belt pouch and
again confines the creature. As it settles again to the earth, he
hunts for the pouch with the blue string.

“Aha!” he cries triumphantly when he finds
it. Quickly untying the string he pulls out two crystals glowing a
dark crimson. These crystals are the last of the ones he created to
deal with the hell hounds, those creatures of fire sent by the
followers of Dmon-Li. This creature could very well come from the
same place.

Crack!

The crystal maintaining the barrier shatters
and the creature is again hurtling forward. Tossing both crystals
toward the creature, James unleashes the magic contained within
them. Immediately, a shimmering blue field springs to life
surrounding the creature. Its roar of pain can be heard as the
frigidly cold barrier sears into it.

James adds his own power to that of the
crystals as he fights against the power of the creature to implode
the barrier and kill his attacker.

Crack!

James’ unbelieving eyes flick toward where
one of the crystals now lays shatters on the ground and the glow of
the other is diminishing rapidly. “Damn!” he cries. He isn’t going
to be able to do it. Even if he drains himself to the point of
unconsciousness, there’s little chance of stopping this creature.
He continues to use his own magic to hold the creature while he
turns his horse and begins putting some distance between them.

Kicking the sides of his horse, he quickly
gets it back to a gallop. Half a minute later, the remaining
crystal shatters. With that, the drain on his own reserves is too
great and he’s forced to let the spell go. When the barrier
disappears the creature again roars to life, the sound similar to
that of a forest fire and the chase is on.

Jiron and Jared had come to a halt while he
was facing off with the creature. But when they see he lost the
battle and was in flight, they again bolt down the road.

As James races down the road, he removes the
remaining crystals from his sack one at a time. These crystals
contain spells he so painstakingly worked to get just right. With a
thought he removes the embedded spells and quickly uses them to
power barriers to slow the creature. Each one only gives him a
minute or two to get further down the road before they fail.
This creature is powerful!

Behind them in the road, a wake of burning
wagons which caught fire either by the fiery bolts or by just being
in close proximity with the creature, sends a billowing cloud of
black smoke into the air.

Soon, the walls of the city appear before
them. What safety they may afford them is questionable, but it has
to be better than out here in the open.

People are fleeing in through the gates to
escape the inferno roaring down the road toward them. The gates
begin to swing shut before Jiron and Jared even come close. By this
time, James has managed to put a hundred yards between the creature
and himself. His store of powered crystals is all but exhausted,
only three remain.

He comes abreast of Jiron and Jared where
they have stopped near the gates. Jared is pleading with the guards
on the walls to open the gate but his pleas have no effect. They
are not about to take the chance of the creature entering their
city.

James glances behind and finds the creature
has escaped the latest barrier and is on its way. “Get back!” he
yells. Removing one of the three crystals, he tosses it down to the
base of the gate before moving back down the road.

Crumph!

The crystal explodes and the gate is knocked
from the wall. With a groan, it tips and falls inside the walls.
“Move!” he yells. A quick glance behind shows the creature gaining
fast.

Racing for the gate, they bowl over several
guards as they pass through. Inside the gates is mass confusion as
the citizens stand in awe struck wonder at the gate now lying in
the road. When James and the others race through there is little
reaction other than pointing and getting out of the way. But when
the fiery creature roars through the open space where the gate had
stood, pandemonium erupts. People scream and flee in all
directions.

They are forced to slow even though they are
knocking people down left and right. Fortunately the panic is
behind them, most of those ahead are as yet unaware of what’s about
to make an appearance.

“James!” yells Jiron. “Where should we
go?”

“I don’t know!” he cries out.

“There!” yells Jared, pointing down the road.
Ahead is a rather large and sturdy looking building made of stone.
Easily four stories in height with windows only along the upper
floor, the place looks like a fortress. A single wooden door stands
closed with two guards standing watch.

“That will have to do,” he replies.

Without hesitation Jiron bolts forward, his
horse knocking down another pedestrian. Before he reaches the
guards, the fiery creature enters the street behind them. The
guards pay Jiron no attention as they see the figure of flame
coming toward them.

Jiron rides into one as he leaps from his
horse at the other. Knife flashing as he sails into the man, he
quickly takes him out. Turning quickly to face the other, he finds
Jared pulling his sword out of the man’s chest. Replacing his
knife, he makes for the door. Finding it locked, he turns to James
just as James comes forward and places his hand on the door.
Releasing the magic, the door explodes inward and Jiron is the
first one through. Another guard is positioned just within and two
quick passes with his knives leaves the man dead on the floor.

Jared slams the door shut after James enters
but it’s skewed off its hinges and won’t close all the way.

“This way!” Jiron yells as he runs down the
hallway leading from the door.

James races behind him with Jared following
close. Securing the pouch with the last two powered crystals to his
belt, he tries to figure out the next course of action. A well
dressed man enters the hallway in front of Jiron who knocks him
aside.

The man starts yelling as they race past.
Then the door they entered the building through slams open. Framed
in the doorway is the fiery creature, heat radiates from its body
down the corridor. The stone walls on either side of the creature
begin to turn black as it makes its way into the building.

A crackle announces another of the fiery
bolts coming toward them. James instantly erects a barrier behind
them in the hallway and the bolt rebounds off it back to the
creature. When the bolt strikes the creature it gets reabsorbed and
doesn’t even slow it down.

The heat in the hallway is tremendous and the
temperature continues to rise.