"Yeah," he says, as he continues riding. "They're not altogether legal, but many of the wealthy pay to have people fight one another with weapons for their amusement. It pays pretty well, but you usually don't survive long."
"I always did the knives, so did Tinok. We both rose up through the ranks quickly, you see we both kind of have a knack for this sort of thing. We never were set against each other and were able to become friends. Friendship with another in the Pits is rare, because often you have to face them; many don't even bother. But we got along well, even though we knew a day would come when we would be set against one another."
"Finally, the day came when we were set to face off in the pit. You never know who you will be facing until your name is called. When our names were called, we both marched out into the pit and by this time, our friendship had grown very strong. We both could see that the other's heart was not in this. When the order was given, Tinok opened himself up to me, didn't even try to defend himself, he was willing to sacrifice himself rather than strike me. The crowd was not happy, they had come to see blood spilled. They began calling for me to kill him, but I couldn't."
"I came and stood next to him and cried to the gathered people, 'We will not fight each other.' You can imagine what happened next, they sent in the bruisers, the ones who deal with problems in the pits. Two came in, wielding clubs. We stood our ground and in no time at all, they were dead at our feet. We stood defiant before the crowd, side by side."
"Next, they brought in two armored guards with swords, and to the shock of everyone there, they soon laid dead at our feet too. After that the crowd began to realize what they were seeing, and started applauding us. Two upstarts, who wouldn't play their game, ended up playing their game." He breaks out into a laugh. "So from then on, they paired us up. They would send two, three, sometimes four against us at a time, but none could match us."
"Incredible," James says.
"Yeah," agrees Jiron, "it was."
"What made you start in the first place?" James asks.
"My sister and I used to live on the streets," he explains. "And one day, a man came to me and told me about the clubs and that he thought I might have some talent at it. He offered me a silver if I came and at least tried some sparring with him. I did and found I actually did have some talent for it. I'm pretty good with any weapon as it turns out, but with the knives, I'm very deadly."
"The man trained me for six months and then I had my first fight. They put me against another knifer and I took him relatively fast and received coins for winning. After several fights, I was able to get a small place where my sister and I could live, a place she would be safe until she could hopefully find a good man. She never wanted me fighting, but you gotta do what it takes to survive."
"I understand that," he says.
From behind them, Cassie interrupts and asks, "Do you think they're going to follow us?"
James turns into his saddle and says, "Most assuredly, it's only a matter of time. I'm just hoping they won't think that we're escaping further into their territory. Most likely they'll think we've already headed north or due west toward the Silver Mountains and Cardri. That's where I would think to look if I was them. I doubt if anyone will remember which way, exactly, we were heading. They were a little preoccupied at the time."
Next to him, Jiron breaks out into a laugh and nods his head.
They ride on for another hour before they begin to see a town appearing on the horizon. They keep an eye out for movement but the place appears to be abandoned. As they approach they can see why, buildings stand empty, gutted with flame and dead bodies are scattered around the area. A road passes through the center of town going from east to west, though there appears to be no one upon it.
"Do you think the Empire did this?" Cassie asks, as they stop well away from the town.
James says over his shoulder, "Most likely they did it on their way to the City."
"Shall we go see if anyone is alive?" Delia asks.
"I think anyone who's alive would've gotten away before now," James replies. "Besides, we can't take the chance that we will be discovered here."
"But someone there could need our help!" she insists as she points toward the town.
"Sometimes," he begins to explain, "you have to think of..."
She gives him a dirty look and kicks her horse, galloping toward the town before he even has a chance to finish.
"Damn!" Jiron exclaims as he races after her.
The rest hurry after, attempting to catch up with Jiron and Delia.
"Are you crazy?" Jiron yells at Delia when he catches up with her.
Getting down from her horse, she goes over to one of the bodies lying on the ground to see if they're still alive. Not paying Jiron any attention, she moves on to the next.
He dismounts and goes over to her, grabbing her by the arm and turns her to face him. "We cannot stay here! The Empire will use this road and it's only a matter of time before they get here."
Staring him in the eye, she says, "Let go of my arm!" and continues staring him down until he does. When he lets go, she says, "Then help me, but I'm not leaving until I know there is no one here to help." She turns her back on him and continues on to the next person.
James rides up and says, "We gotta get out of here."
Jiron looks at him and says, "She won't leave until she's sure there's no one to help."
"Damn!" James curses, and then looks up and down the road, making sure no one is approaching. "Alright, everyone fan out and search for survivors. Cassie," he says to her, "you keep a lookout and if anyone comes from either direction, you let us know, fast."
She nods her head and then finds a position where she can keep both directions of the road in view. It's not too hard as this is a rather small town with only a dozen or so buildings.
The others move from body to body but are only finding dead ones. Jiron goes through the buildings, but again, no one alive is found.
"Someone's coming!" Cassie yells as she hurries back toward them.
"Where?" yells Jiron and James simultaneously.
She points off toward the west and says, "There."
James looks and asks, "Did you see how many?"
"More than one," she replies. "But I didn't count, I felt you needed to know as soon as possible."
"Delia!" James hollers over to her. When he has her attention, he points to the west and says, "We've got company!"
She looks west and sees the rider coming and runs over to where the others are. Tinok has already gathered the horses and they all enter one of the larger buildings, bringing the horses inside. James and Jiron take position by the window and watch. The others hold the horses, trying to keep them as quiet as possible.
It's not long before they hear the approaching riders. James watches as perhaps a score of riders make their way through the center of town, passing right in front of where they're hiding.
"...the dead? Seems wrong," they hear one of them say. The man speaks with the accent of one from the Empire.
"We don't have time to take care of it now," another one replies with the same accent.
As the riders pass by where they're hiding, one of them glances over at the window they're looking out. Ducking to the sides of the window, James and Jiron quickly move out of view. The man must not have seen them for he turns back and continues riding through town. Twenty riders in all pass by on their way through the town.
They wait for several minutes, allowing the riders to move further down the road before they exit the building. James peeks out and sees the riders have already ridden out of sight.
Seeing no one else on the road in either direction, he asks Delia, "Can we leave now?"
"I'm sorry for putting us in jeopardy," she says a little guilty, "but I couldn't leave without knowing."
"We understand," Jiron says, "but think before you act next time, our lives may depend on it. Okay?"
"Alright," Delia says.
Once the horses have been brought back outside, they remount. Then with James in the lead, they head south out of town, making their way into the grasslands.
Several times during the afternoon, they have to make detours when riders appear in the distance. Each time they were sure they would be discovered, yet each time the riders continued on until they were again out of sight.
When the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, they are still out in the middle of the grasslands. They decide to make camp, forgoing a fire in favor of not alerting the countryside to their presence.
They quickly eat before the sun sets completely and picket the horses close by their camp, leaving the saddles on in case they need to leave quickly. Not good for the horses, but necessary.
"Do you think we're catching them?" Cassie asks while they're eating.
"Who?" James responds. "The slavers?"
Cassie nods her head and says, "Yes."
"I would think so," he answers, nodding his head. "They have lots of people walking while we're riding, even though we are taking a more roundabout way we have to be gaining on them."
They sit there in silence for the rest of their meal. When they're done, they all settle down and get ready for sleep. James lies there and stares up at the sky as it continues to darken into full night.
"James?" he hears Delia say.
"Yeah?" he replies.
"Where're you from?" she asks.
"A long ways from here and probably won't be back for quite a while," he replies. "Why?"
"Just curious is all," she answers.
"Is everyone there mages?" Cassie asks.
"No, there are actually none there," he says. "I may be the first."
"You're the first one I've ever met," she says.
"Do I live up to your expectations?" he asks, amused.
"No," she said, "you're nice."
James laughs then sobers up and asks, "Are all the mages here mean?"
Tinok says, "Most people believe them to be. All you ever hear about is how mages ruin things and hurt people. Seeing what you've already done, it's not hard to understand why that is."
"It's all perspective," James says, "plus most tales of how mages help won't be believed and only the interesting ones are told again and again. Those tend to be the ones where they are not very nice."
"Suppose you're right," he concludes.
"Maybe we should all be thinking about going to sleep," Jiron's voice cuts through the night. "We have lots of ground to cover and people to find."
"You're right," James agrees. Turning over, he tries to find a comfortable spot on the ground. I hate sleeping on the ground! Eventually, he's able to drift off to sleep.
The morning dawns beautifully and James wakes up stiff and aching due to another night spent on the hard ground. After getting up, he rummages through his backpack and comes up with some food for breakfast. While he eats he begins walking around the camp, trying to work the kinks out of his muscles.
It doesn't take long before they're all up, eaten, and ready to ride. Once everyone is mounted, they continue south, hoping to find where the slavers are heading. At one point during the morning, James takes out his compass and locates the general direction of where the slavers are. The needle points off to the southeast, more east than south. We're gaining on them We're gaining on them, he thinks to himself. Putting his compass away, he continues on, beginning to feel much better about the possibility of a rescue. Just hang on Miko. Just hang on Miko.
They don't travel much further before a running man appears from the east. Behind him, two fast moving riders are in hot pursuit, racing to intercept the man.
"We must help him," Delia cries.
Jiron and Tinok glance at one another and with a cry, they kick their horses to a gallop as they ride to aid the fleeing man. James and the girls follow behind at a safer pace, keeping an eye to the east for any other pursuers.
One of the riders aims a crossbow at the fleeing man, and James sees the man's pace falter as he's struck by the crossbow bolt. Stumbling, he loses his balance and hits the ground.
The riders, so intent on the man they are chasing, they fail to notice Jiron and Tinok until they are practically upon them.
Riding straight for them, Jiron and Tinok jump from their horses and each grabs one of the men, dragging them to the ground. When they hit the ground, they roll and come to their feet quickly, knife blades flashing in the sun.
The two riders get to their feet quickly and draw their swords as the two teens advance upon them. James sees Jiron divert a thrust of the man's sword and then strike with his other knife, dropping him to the ground. Tinok's man is wielding a sword in one hand and a knife in the other and is pressing Tinok backward.
Tinok sees out of the corner of his eye that Jiron's man is down and quickly begins a series of fast attacks. The pattern makes the man defend and through precisely timed and aimed attacks, causes him to leave a spot open where Tinok strikes, puncturing a lung.
The man stumbles backward and begins coughing up blood. Falling to his knees, he chokes on the blood filling his lungs. Unable to breathe, he soon falls to the ground, dead.
"Took you long enough," Jiron says to Tinok as he wipes his blades on the dead man's clothes.
Tinok just looks at him and they both start laughing.
Cassie by this time has made it to the man whom they were chasing, lying in a puddle of his own blood. The crossbow bolt must've struck an artery in his leg, for the blood is flowing from the wound quickly.
James comes over, and sees the amount of blood on the ground and when Cassie looks at him, just shakes his head, indicating there is nothing that they are going to be able to do for him.
"Thank you," the man says when he sees them approach.
Cassie comes to him and asks kindly, "For what?"
"For letting me die a free man," he tells her. He's dressed in just a loincloth, the garb of a slave.
"Were you part of the people who were captured when the City of Light fell?" James asks. "We're seeking friends who were taken by the Empire's forces."
"It fell?" the man asks incredulously. "Bad news indeed." The man begins to get a glazed look in his eyes and his voice gets weaker. "They'll probably be taken to Korazan, to the slave markets. That's where I heard the slaver say we were being taken, before I escaped."
"Korazan?" Jiron asks intently, "where is it?"
"Don't know," the man says, weakly, "somewhere to the south...I...think." The man takes one last light breath and then death takes him.
"Poor man," Delia says sadly.
"At least he didn't die a slave," Jiron says. "We should bury him before we go."
"I agree," Cassie says. She gets up and looks around until she finds a rock. Then she begins to scrape out a grave for the man. The others find rocks and sticks and before too long have a fair sized grave dug. Jiron and Tinok carry the man over to it and lay him respectfully within. They cover him with the excess dirt and when they are done, mount up and ride on.