Read an Excerpt
The horses begin making noises as they hurry about their work and all of a sudden, the flap of the closest tent opens up and a man peeks out. "What are you doing with my horse?" he asks with an edge to his voice as he exits the tent and begins to approach them. He's wearing a plain cowled robe with the hood thrown back revealing shoulder length red hair. His eyes are dark and James can see anger smoldering behind those eyes.
James glances to Jiron and they both come to the same decision. Jiron's knives flash in the firelight as they spring to the ready. James takes a stone he had in his pocket and casting his spell, unleashes the magic as he throws it at the approaching man.
The instant before the stone leaves James' hand, the man flicks his wrist. When the stone nears him, it hits a barrier and ricochets away into the night.
Startled by the ineffectiveness of the stone, James hesitates a moment, trying to understand what had just happened.
"The mage!" the man cries out in shock, then his eyes get a calculating look.
Jiron launches himself at the man, knives flashing in a whirling pattern. As if he was dealing with an annoying fly, the man waves his hand towards him.
James feels a prickling along his skin as he watches Jiron being lifted off the ground and thrown a dozen feet away. Understanding comes, He's a mage too! James directs his magic to the ground under the mage's feet and lets it flow.
Crumph!!!!!
The ground explodes upwards with incredible force. When the dust clears enough, James sees the man still standing there untouched.A three foot diameter of ground remains undisturbed beneath him.
"That's all you got?" the man asks with contempt, words heavy in accent. He swirls his hand and it begins glowing red then he flicks it at James. A red light flashes towards him, striking him hard in the chest, knocking him backwards onto the ground.
As the man makes his way through the crater that surrounds him, he says to James, "I was expecting more of a challenge, how disappointing."
James lays there unable to breathe, gasping as he tries to take in a breath. He sees a knife fly through the air out of the dark towards the mage, but it hits an invisible protective shield and bounces harmlessly away, landing on the ground.
Once the mage clears the crater, he gestures with both hands while staring intently at James. Suddenly, James' legs begin to cramp, he can feel their muscles knotting and twisting causing him great pain. He cries out from the pain and in desperation casts a spell, one he used many times back home, role playing. He feels it using up the remaining power within him, leaving him weak, barely able to move.
The approaching mage chuckles as he sees a clear, shimmering bubble appear between them, floating in the air. "What's that suppose to do?"
He casts another spell and the bubble begins sparkling as if fireflies were contained within. The mage's face looses its look of confidence and begins to exhibit worry. The sparkles begin to increase in luminosity as the man's face slowly turns to a look of confusion.
Jiron comes to James' side and asks, "You okay?"
Exhausted from the spell he just cast, he gasps, "Will be." The effect of the mage's earlier spell begins to dissipate and the pain in his legs subsides. Jiron turns to the mage and with knives ready, advances on him once more. James grabs his arm as he starts towards the mage, stopping him and warns, "Don't touch him or the bubble."
"Why?" Jiron asks.
Shaking his head, he replies, "No time to explain, we've got to get out of here. Now!" he shouts, then lapses into unconsciousness and sags to the ground.
Jiron looks to the mage who is shaking his head with a look of horror as he stares into the bubble, the sparks within gaining size and intensity. "No!" he cries in terror, suddenly dropping to the ground. The bubble is getting brighter and brighter by the second.
From out of the darkness, Tinok and the girls come running towards them. "Get the horses!" Jiron shouts as they approach. He begins to untie the remaining horses from the tree.
"What's that?" Cassie asks as she makes to approach the bubble.
"Get away from it!" Jiron yells at her. "James said not to touch it."
He hollers over to Tinok and says, "Help me get James on a horse." When he comes over, they lift him up and quickly secure him onto the horse with rope.
Delia mounts a horse and then looks back over to the mage who is by now whimpering in terror. His hair, once a vivid red has now turned grey and he's beginning to shrivel in upon himself like a grape having spent too much time in the sun.
Jiron mounts and says, "Tinok, you stay next to James and make sure he doesn't fall off." He turns his horse towards the southwest, "Let's stay close together," he advises, "and maybe we can survive this." He glances over to the bubble; the sparks have grown until they now fill the entire bubble with a white light whose intensity is painful to look upon. The mage on the ground is no longer moving and appears dead.
Kicking his horse in the side, Jiron rides through the camp, the others close behind. Out of the darkness ahead of him, several men suddenly appear. Holding on tight, he rides straight through them, knocking them over. He looks back towards the bubble, and the light is now extremely bright, illuminating a large portion of the camp. He can see dozens of men running towards it, one of whom is wearing a cowled robe just like the other mage had. They race past the tents and reach the far side of the camp.
They pass numerous soldiers but none seem to notice them, all eyes are turned to the now brilliantly bright light. The guards at the fringe of the camp take notice of them approaching and command them to stop. A crossbow bolt flies past, nearly striking Tinok as they race through. They flee into the dark grasslands to the southwest of town, leaving the guards behind. They don't get too far before . . .
Schtk!
They look back at the sound from the backs of their horses, everyone holds their breath in anticipation of what may happen. Then . . .
Booooooom!
A giant explosion, ten times the force of what they experienced when that building blew earlier. They feel the concussion wave as it washes over them, luckily they're far enough away that it doesn't hit them with enough force to knock them over, just causes their horses to miss a step. They stop and look back at the camp.
Reaching towards the sky is a tower of flame, the roar from which can be heard even though they're now far away from it. The base of the fire extends throughout the camp in every direction, burning everything within.
They sit there in awe as the flame punches through the clouds and then slowly dissipates, appearing as if it's sinking back down to the ground.
"Dear god!" Cassie exclaims.
They all glance at the unconscious James and then look to each other. Tinok asks, "Just what have we gotten ourselves into?"
"I don't know," Jiron replies, shaking his head as he glances again at James. "I don't know." Kicking his horse, he leads them out into the grasslands.
