"You need rest," Jiron tells him, "and Potbelly could use a day for his wound to heal."
"We may not have that much time," warns James. "They're going to want us bad. Lord Cytok will most likely want revenge for what we did to him." He looks to Jiron and says, "He'll mobilize everything he can to search for us."
"What should we do?" he asks.
"I'm still going after Miko, but the rest of you should try to get out of the Empire," he says.
"You helped me get Tersa back, I'm not going to leave you before you rescue your friend," he tells him.
James looks at him a moment and then replies, "Alright. We're near the coast, or at least we were. Maybe we can sneak into a port town and get passage for the others on a ship, sailing up the coast to Cardri. If the Empire isn't at war with them, then there still should be unrestricted access for Cardri captains."
Jiron nods and adds, "With them out of danger, you and I can go after your friend."
"We just need to figure a way into a port where a Cardri ship is at anchor," he says.
"That's going to be the tricky part," agrees Jiron.
"What's going to be the tricky part?" asks Yorn as he comes over and joins the conversation.
Jiron quickly fills him in on the plan thus far. "You and the others need to get Tersa and Delia to a safe place and hole up while we're rescuing his friend."
"Take her to Trendle, it's a village to the north of Bearn," suggests James. "When you get there, find a Forest Warden by the name of Ceryn and let him know what's going on. He should be able to get you settled in while you wait for us."
"Alright," agrees Yorn.
"Now," James says, "ready or not, we need to get out of here."
Chapter Twenty.
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"Get away from me!" Potbelly yells at Scar who's trying to assist him in mounting his horse. "I ain't no invalid."
"Alright," Scar replies impatiently as he backs away. "Tear out those stitches then, I hope you bleed to death you pig headed mule!" He stands there and watches as Potbelly grabs the saddle and swings himself up onto his horse with a groan.
"See," he says through teeth gritted in pain, perspiration beginning to form on his face, "don't need your help."
Scar shakes his head at his friend then mounts his own horse. Staying close in case Potbelly needs him, he sits and waits for the others to get ready.
Delia rides over to them, nods to Potbelly as she asks Scar, "How's he doing?"
"I'm fine!" Potbelly answers, irritated at her for talking about him like he isn't even there.
"Stubborn and likely to kill himself because of it," he says with a slight smile, "but I think he'll survive the ride."
"Let's hope so," she says.
Jiron is the last to mount. He turns toward the others and says, "We'll make for the sea and then travel along the coast. First chance we get, we'll acquire some clothes that will allow us to pass ourselves off as Empire citizens."
Yorn asks, "What are we to do if we encounter the enemy?"
"Avoid them if possible," he replies. "Kill them if not."
Yorn gives him a satisfied grin at the thought of a little payback for the sacking of his home.
"Now, let's ride!" Jiron exclaims as he kicks his horse into a trot. Heading to the northwest, he leads them toward the sea.
James rides in the lead with Jiron as they make their way back through the desert to the road. "Think we'll make it?" Jiron asks him.
"We can but try," he replies.
"What do you plan to do once you get your friend?" he asks.
"Make our way back to Cardri," he says. "At least there it's reasonably safe right now. After that, who knows?"
Shorty hollers from the rear, "Jiron! Riders coming from the north! Looks like an advance patrol."
They turn to see ten riders coming directly at them, they have little chance in avoiding contact. "Potbelly! Stay and watch the others," Jiron hollers to him. Turning his horse, he cries to the rest, "We can't let even one escape, or they'll bring more."
Leaving Potbelly to protect Roland and the ladies, the others turn and race to meet the oncoming horsemen. Before they close the distance, two slugs fly from behind each taking out a horse causing the riders to fall to the ground. Drawing their swords and knives, they race forward, closing with the enemy.
Shorty lets fly with a knife and takes out one rider as the knife embeds itself in his chest. He then slows his horse and jumps to the ground, as knives are little use in mounted combat. He dives to the ground to avoid the blows of the mounted riders and regains his feet quickly as he heads for the ones approaching on foot whose horses were knocked out from under them.
Stig closes with a horseman, his shield on the arm holding the reins and his mace striking out. With a clash of metal, the combatants begin beating at one another, each looking for an opening.
James holds back and is looking for a clear shot to take out another rider, but his friends are too close, he dares not try it.
Two swords weaving a pattern of death, Scar engages a horseman and soon has him falling to the ground, blood welling from where his sword took him through the chest. Looking around, he sees Shorty running toward the two men on the ground. Suddenly he notices a horseman riding toward him from behind, sword raised to cut him down.
"Shorty!" he yells, "Behind you!" He watches as Shorty turns to see the horseman almost upon him and dives to the ground, avoiding by inches the sword of the rider. Then Scar's attention is diverted as he's beset by another horseman, having to block an overhand attack with one sword while slicing back with the other.
Yorn is engaged with two and is having a hard time, trading blows with one while turning his horse to avoid the other. Suddenly, the one he had been trying to avoid falls from his horse as one of James' slugs explodes out of his back.
Shorty regains his feet as the two on foot reach him. He circles, trying to keep it so only one is able to attack him at a time. He catches the sword of his attacker on his left knife as he follows through with the other, opening up a long slash along the man's forearm causing him to drop his sword.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the rider turn and begin to come back toward him as the remaining man closes in and engages him. Unable to disengage, he tries to quickly finish him off but is distracted by the advancing rider.
Suddenly, just when the rider is almost upon him, another horse runs full tilt into his attacker, knocking the horse off its stride. As Stig's horse crashes into the other, he vaults from his saddle and grabs the rider, dragging him to the ground. Stig lands on top of the rider and gets up first, mace smashing into him as he tries to rise, crushing his shoulder. He follows through with another blow that caves in the side of the man's head. Looking around, he sees Shorty engaged with one of the unhorsed horsemen and hurries over to render aid.
Able now to focus his attention on the remaining man, Shorty circles as he looks for an opening. The enemy strikes out with his sword and he deflects it to the side with the knife in his left hand. He twirls quickly and his elbow connects with the man's face, blood flowing from his broken nose.
The man staggers backward and then comes again at Shorty, who easily deflects another blow. Kicking out, Shorty knocks him backward toward the approaching Stig. As the man regains his balance, he's struck from behind in the head with Stig's mace and falls to the ground, lifeless.
Looking around, Shorty sees the battle is pretty much over, the last horseman is engaged with Yorn. Seeing his fellows dead or dying, the horseman starts to flee as he turns his horse and begins racing across the desert. Shorty is about to holler when the man falls to the ground amidst a gory spray as James' slug exits the man's chest.
"Anyone hurt?" Jiron shouts out over the battlefield.
"Slight cut, but nothing serious," Yorn yells back. Everyone else has sustained only minor injuries as well.
"Are any left alive?" James shouts.
"One!" replies Shorty as he comes to the one he sliced on the forearm. The man is lying there, trying with little luck to stop the blood from flowing out of the wound.
"Roland!" James hollers back over to where he's waiting with Potbelly and the ladies. "We need you!" He continues over to the fallen man as Roland and the others ride up to him.
"How may I help?" he asks when he reaches James.
James indicates the fallen man and says, "Maybe we can find out what their orders were and where they were to patrol."
"I'll see what I can do," he says as he dismounts and comes over to the fallen man. He starts to talk to him, but the man is unresponsive, just stares back at him.
"He's not going to cooperate," Roland tells him.
Looking to James, Stig asks, "Is this important?"
"Could be," James replies.
Stig draws a knife and comes over to the man as he says to Roland, "Ask him again."
Stig holds the knife in front of the man's face, intimidating him as Roland again begins speaking to him.
The man's eyes widen but still he refuses to say anything. "Tell him if he doesn't answer, I'll start removing fingers," he says to Roland as he grabs the man's forefinger, placing the edge of the knife against it.
Still the man doesn't answer, so true to his word, Stig takes a firm hold of the man's finger. He makes ready to slice the finger off and glances meaningfully at the dying man.
The man almost seems to deflate as he cries something out. Stig moves the knife away from the man's finger as he looks to Roland.
"I think he'll talk now," he says, relief obvious in his voice.
James says, "Ask him what they were doing here."
Roland exchanges words with him and then says, "They were looking for a group of assassins who tried to kill Lord Cytok."
"Assassins?" Scar exclaims. "That's not the way I remember it."
"What were their orders?" asks James.
"They were to patrol several miles into the desert and along the road for any sign of us," he says after speaking again with the man. "Apparently, no one really thought that we would be in this area, the main search is farther to the north."
"Good," James replies.
"How do we know we can trust this guy?" Shorty asks. "He may just be telling us this so we won't hurt him."
"I think he's telling the truth," Roland says, "at least as he knows it."
"I agree," James says. "Whether he is or not, it's not going to make any difference on what we're going to do."
"What are we to do with him," Tersa asks.
"We can't let him go or he'll tell them where we are," Stig insists.
"If we leave him here, he'll die," says Delia.
"Then there seems to be only one thing left to do," Stig says as he grabs the man's hair, lifts his head back and slits his throat. Letting go of the dying man's hair, he wipes his knife on the man's shirt as he gurgles and dies.
"Stig!" Delia cries out.
"What?" he asks back, staring her down and daring her to find fault.
She just turns away and goes back over to her horse.
"If he's telling the truth," James says as they all get back on their mounts, "then there may be a chance that we can find a port and get you all out of here."
Shorty comes over and gives James back the slugs he used to take down the riders.
Taking the slugs, James notices that he also recovered his throwing knives as well. "Thanks," he says to him.
"No problem," Shorty says as he goes over to his horse and mounts.
"What happens when they fail to return?" Scar asks. "Isn't someone going to come looking for them? I mean, as soon as they find them, they'll know we're not to the north."
"Then we better hurry and get to a port as fast as we can," Jiron says. Kicking his horse into a fast trot, he once more begins to lead them northwest.
Another hour of riding and they begin to see the road coming up ahead. The only traffic upon it is a caravan half a mile away moving east to west. Not observing any soldiers, they make for the road, coming onto it far ahead of the approaching caravan, not wanting to be close enough to be identified. They follow the road west as it meanders its way along the seashore which lies several hundred feet off to their right.
"If we continue west, we're bound to find a port of some kind," James says to Jiron as they ride along.
"We don't know that for sure, or even how far it's going to be," he replies.
"True, but our only alternative is to go east, back toward the capitol," he says. "And I don't think we'll be doing that."
"You got that right," agrees Jiron.
Up ahead of them, they begin to see a small fishing village appearing along the coast. Several small boats are out upon the water where men are casting out nets and pulling them back with fish ensnared within.
The village is just a small collection of huts so they continue on, hoping for a larger city. A small boy comes running out from between two of the huts as they pass and Roland hails him. When the boy comes over, he asks him something. After giving him an answer, the boy runs back into the village as he continues playing with his friends.
"What did you ask him?" inquires James.
"I asked him how far it was to the next large town," he replies. "He said a day away is the trading port of Al-Kur."
"Good," James says. "If we hurry, maybe we can reach it by nightfall."