"True," Jiron says, crestfallen. "I just wanted to know."
"So do I, I'm worried about them. But they should be alright until they get sold and hopefully we'll be there before then."
Jiron just sits there, his mood dark as thoughts of his sister and what may be happening to her run through his mind.
Not too long after, they break up and turn in. The two lads sleep under their wagons while the rest of the group stays together around the campfire.
Chapter Twelve.
They're up and ready to roll by the time the sun crests the horizon. Now a much larger caravan, they decide to have Roland drive the wagon in which Ezra and Arkie ride. Jiron again rides point now that he's mostly recovered from his ordeal, while Tinok and Cassie drive the water wagon. James and Delia take the front wagon with the two lads eating dust at the rear. They still have the string of five horses they acquired earlier, as well as Roland's two, just in case.
The road south of Zereth-Alin slowly begins to turn hilly the further they ride. The hills are sparsely covered with scrub brush, the occasional snake or lizard makes an appearance. There's not too much traffic on the road, the heat of summer must keep all non essential travel to a minimum.
During a stop to water the horses, Delia approaches James and asks, "Ready?"
"For what?" he replies.
"To learn how to use your sling," she replies.
Getting down from his wagon and the cool of the shade he says, "Sure." He then rummages in the pouch at his waist and pulls out the sling as well as five of the slugs.
She leads him away from the others and then takes the sling from him. She also takes one of the slugs and puts it into the sling's pouch. "What you want to do is hold it by the two loops on the ends like this," she says as she demonstrates the proper technique. "Then you slowly wind it up and release one end of the sling when it reaches the proper position that will enable the slug to fly where you want it. Watch."
She quickly winds up the sling and then lets go of one end while still holding onto the other. The sling opens up and the slug flies through the air, hitting a small tree ten yards away. Turning back to him, she says, "Easy."
Giving him the sling, she watches as he gets ready to place a slug in it. She adjusts the way he's holding it and then gestures for him to insert a slug. "Now, wind it up and when it feels right, let only one end loose so the slug will fly free, got it?" she asks.
"I think so," he says. Winding up, he gets the sling whirling fast and then lets go. He hears a chuckle coming from behind him as the sling leaves his hands and goes flying out into the desert, the slug still remaining within its pouch. Turning around, he sees Tinok standing there, shaking his head and grinning.
"Don't mind him," she tells James. "Just retrieve your sling and let's try it again."
Once he's returned with it, he stands the way Delia instructs him to maintain his balance and remain centered, then gets it whirling quickly. This time when he lets go, he manages to retain one end of the sling, but he hears more laughter as the slug hits one of the wagons behind him.
"Watch it!" Jiron says from where the slug almost nailed him.
"Sorry!" James hollers over to him.
"Better," says Delia.
"How is that better?" he exclaims. "I almost killed Jiron."
"You didn't lose the sling this time," she explains. "Now, do it again and concentrate less on retaining the sling and more on the target."
Placing another slug within the sling, he gives her a look and receives one of encouragement back. Behind him, he hears Tinok loudly say in amusement, "Be alert, he's trying again."
Trying to concentrate on the small tree that she hit earlier, he begins to twirl and then releases. To his satisfaction, the slug goes in somewhat the desired direction, though still hitting the ground ten feet away from the tree.
"Not bad," she says encouragingly. "A little more practice and you'll have it down. Just don't expect to be perfect too soon, it takes time to learn."
Taking another slug and placing it within the sling, he whirls it and lets it loose while at the same time adding a touch of magic to it. The slug flies unerringly to the tree where it strikes it dead center, punching a hole right through.
Delia looks at him and says, "That's cheating."
James shrugs and gives her a grin, and then he puts it away as they prepare to get underway.
At one point they come across where an old building had once stood, its wooden frame now lying broken and vacant. At a suggestion from Tinok, they stop and jury-rig a canopy for the water wagon from the building's wooden remains. They find four boards that they manage to secure to the wagons frame and then tie a blanket atop it. Not exactly stylish but it helps. The two lads just smile and shake their heads at it all, they're just fine riding in the sun on their wagons.
The rest of the day passes fairly uneventfully, just endless miles of dry hills with only the occasional traveler coming from the south. By the end of the day, they've already emptied one of the barrels of water and have begun to drain a second. They have had to stop every other hour to give each horse some to drink.
With the sun settling close to the horizon, they pull off the road to make camp. Once the horses are taken care of, they settle down around the campfire and have dinner while they swap tales and songs. Before the end of it, the two lads come over and join the fun. One of them, Hakim, even sang a song while his bother, Hakir, told a story that only Roland could understand. He did his best to translate and everyone enjoyed it.
As the fire begin to burn low, everyone starts turning in. James can't seem to fall asleep, worry about Miko keeping him awake. So he just lies back and stares at the stars, still amazed at just how much clearer they are here than back home. Must be 'cause there's no smog here Must be 'cause there's no smog here, he figures. Whatever the reason, they seem to work like counting sheep for before he even realizes it, he's asleep.
He wakes in the middle of the night, noise from where the horses are picketed having disturbed him. The fire has long since burned out and the only light is that from the stars above. He sits up and looks around but doesn't see anything out of the ordinary, everyone else is still asleep. Even Hakim and Hakir are snoring peacefully under their wagons.
Then one of the horses snorts again and he can hear several others begin to pace around. Suspecting trouble, he quietly crawls over to Jiron and wakes him with a gentle shake. "Trouble," he whispers to him as he comes fully awake.
He sees him nod his head in the starlight as he sits up, looking around. "The horses are skittish for some reason," James whispers to him. "Go check it out and I'll wake Tinok."
Again, Jiron nods his head as he gets up, silent as a cat and begins making his way over to the horses.
Just as James reaches Tinok's side, he sits up, a knife in his hand as he strikes out. Stopping the blade just inches from James' nose, he asks, "What the hell are you doing?"
"Quiet!" James whispers intently. "Something's going on."
Suddenly very alert, Tinok looks around.
"The horses," James whispers to him, "something's got them..."
Suddenly, a cry splits the night, coming from where Jiron had gone to check on the horses. Without even thinking, James casts a spell and his glowing orb appears over the camp, brightly illuminating the area. There they can see Jiron in battle with two men, armed with swords and others approaching out of the desert.
Everyone else comes awake, Cassie screams and James says to the rest, "Stay together!" as he and Tinok race over to where Jiron is being hard pressed by the bandits.
As he runs, James takes out one of his iron slugs and casts it at an oncoming bandit, taking him through the stomach. As the slug exits through his back, gore flies as he falls over dead.
As they reach Jiron, Tinok kicks out and knocks one of his opponents down and then begins to battle another, knives flashing in a blinding arc of speed.
Having Tinok distracting one of his attackers, Jiron is able to be more on the offense with deadly results as another of the attackers falls to the ground.
Two men appear out of the night, coming straight for James. One of them is the man who had offered them his services outside the merchant's guild. "It appears you did need our services after all," he says with a grin full of malice.
"Not necessarily," James says as the power surges out of him. A wave of force throws them backward and he takes one out quickly with a slug. The other man, the one who approached them outside the merchant's guild, gains his feet quickly and comes at James with sword in hand.
Just before the man closes with James, Jiron comes running and imposes himself between the man and James. The man strikes out with his sword and Jiron deflects it with one knife while following through with the other. Dancing backward, the man pauses a moment as he takes in the situation. He's the only one left standing.
Turning, he begins to race away when a slug flies from the other side of camp and strikes him between the shoulder blades. A snap can be heard as the man's spine is shattered. He falls to the ground and lies still, whimpering with pain, paralyzed.
"Good shot!" Tinok says to Delia who is putting away her sling.
Jiron moves to the man lying on the ground and can see the pain in his eyes. Bending over, he takes his knife and ends the man's misery. Turning to James he asks, "Who were these guys?"
Pointing to the dead man at Jiron's feet he says, "That one offered me the service of his band for guard duty, but I turned him down. Guess he figured we were easy prey."
"Guess he thought wrong," Tinok says, chuckling. Cassie runs over to Tinok, burying her head in his shoulder, crying.
Jiron and James check the horses and find them fine then return to the camp. A fire has already been started from the embers of their earlier one. "Everyone alright?" James asks as they return.
"We're fine," Delia replies. The two lads had come out as well, knives at the ready, but have sheathed them again now that the fight was over.
James can hear Tinok trying to calm Cassie by saying, "It's okay, it's over."
Jiron begins the task of dragging the bodies out into the desert away from camp, while everyone else takes stock of the situation.
As James sits down by the fire, the two lads stare at him with eyes wide. "What?" he says to them.
They reply in their own language.
"I would appreciate it if you would never mention this to anyone?" he asks, an edge to his voice. He's surprised when they both nod their heads in quick agreement. Maybe they can't speak it, just understand it.
When Jiron returns, he says to James, "You're getting better, less tired."
"Been getting a lot of practice lately," he says. "Too much if you ask me."
"I'll say," Tinok agrees from where he stands nearby with Cassie, though he doesn't seem too disappointed at being able to 'practice' with his knives.
After a while, when everyone has calmed down, they all try to go back to sleep, only this time taking turns at watch.
The next day they see scavengers over at the dead bodies, having a little morning breakfast. As quickly as possible, they hook up the horses and get on the road, none wish to remain a second longer near the dead bandits.
For the rest of the day, they make very good time, having only to stop to water and feed the horses. A little before sunset they come to a small cluster of buildings, hardly large enough to even call it a village.
"Looks to be just a way stop for travelers," guesses James.
"Could be," agrees Jiron. "Look," he says as he points to a group of wagons already camped a short ways from the buildings, "you may be right."
James says, "Looks like as good a place as any to stop for the night."
"I agree," replies Jiron.
Turning off the road, Jiron leads them a hundred yards from the nearest building, to a place where pits for campfires are available. Once the wagons and horses are set for the night, Delia, James, Jiron and Roland go over to the buildings to investigate. Cassie, Ezra and the two boys remain behind with the wagons.
There are only four buildings, one has a sign of a cracked egg and another one with crossed shovels. Deciding to try the one with the cracked egg, they go over and enter through the front door.
Inside, they find a large room with a central hearth containing many tables. A man comes over as they enter and says, "Welcome. How may I serve you today?" Heavy with accent, but understandable.
"We just arrived and were looking around, seeing what is available here," James explains.
"Ah, first time here?" the man asks.
"Yes," Delia pipes up.
"Here at the Broken Egg, you can get a meal and a room if you desire," he tells them. "The other shop across the street has many goods that a traveler may require." He pauses for a response and when none is forthcoming, asks, "Would you care for a room, or perhaps a bite to eat?"
Shaking his head, James says, "Not right now, we may come back later though, thank you."
"You're welcome sirs," and then with a slight nod to Delia he adds, "ma'am."
They turn to leave and once outside Jiron says, "Nice place."
"Maybe we could take turns and come here for dinner this evening," suggests James.
"That would be an excellent idea," agrees Roland. Jiron and Delia nod in agreement.
Crossing over to the store, they enter and find a small man, almost a midget, asleep behind the counter. They all look at each other wondering what they should do and then Jiron closes the door loudly, startling the man awake.
He sits up and looks around, rubbing his eyes. Seeing them standing there and recognizing them for northerners, he greets them in their tongue. "Hello," he says from his chair, not bothering getting down. "How may I help you today?"
"We just arrived and are looking around to see what's available," Delia says.
"Of course," the man says sleepily as a yawn escapes him. He settles back down in his chair and watches them as they browse through his merchandise.
It looks to be just an ordinary, traveler supply store. Just the same old things as are in every other one. James does see a kit with a small mirror, a comb and a pair of scissors. Thinking of his unruly hair and how it's been too long since it's been properly taken care of, he picks it up and asks the man, "How much for this?"
The man looks over, squinting as if he can't see it very well and replies, "Two silvers."
James takes a single silver out and says as he holds it up, "Give you one for it."
"Alright," the man says as he holds out his hand for the coin.
Taking the coin over to the lazy man, James drops it into his hand. He immediately takes the mirror and looks at himself in it. What's looking back is almost unrecognizable. His hair is an unruly mess, obviously running his fingers through it has been ineffective. Stubble, actually a scraggly beard that's not completely growing in everywhere, now covers his face, his dirty face. "GAH!" he exclaims as he looks at himself, rubbing his free hand over his patchy beard. I knew it was coming in, but my goodness! I knew it was coming in, but my goodness!
"What?" Delia asks.
Putting the mirror away, he says, "Nothing." Looking around he tries to find a shaving kit, but such a thing doesn't appear to have been developed in this world yet, or at least there isn't one here.
Seeing a small knife, he buys it for three coppers, thinking that later he might try to put a spell on it that will enable him to shave without scraping all his skin off in the process.
"Anyone else getting anything?" he asks.
Roland looks around and picks up a small piece of cloth, saying, "Ezra would like this." He haggles briefly with the man and then hands over the coins.