IX

They had made camp near the river next to some large rocks. It wasn’t difficult to tether the horses either. Yoreno simply grabbed a rock and put it atop his horse’s reigns.

Now they sat about the fire, huddled in their coats as they ate some of the provisions they had purchased before leaving. From the river, they boiled water for tea. Yoreno sipped at his from a ceramic cup.

It filled him with warmth.

“I can’t believe how cold it is,” Dell complained.

“It’s the desert,” Sorika said. “It’s scorching hot during the day and cold at night.”

“I hate the desert.”

Lev leaned forward and put another log onto the fire. It hadn’t been hard to collect dried wood from dead trees about. Some of the dried driftwood from the river also burned extremely well.

“I hope Dantera is all right,” Mai said.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Yoreno said, though he wasn’t certain that he believed it himself. She was a capable woman, the best fighter he knew.

But still…

Alone in this place?

Yoreno was distracted when Dorrin visibly shivered.

“You just need more of these spicy peppers,” Lev said, and scooped more of the cooked dish into his plate.

“My mouth is still burning,” Mai said.

“It’s good for you.”

Looking up past the group, Yoreno saw something in the darkness and stood up abruptly, his heart lurching inside his chest as his hand went for his sword hilt.

“What is it?” Dell asked, alarmed. “What did you see?”

Yoreno unsheathed his sword. “There’s a person in the dark.”

“Shit!” Lev hissed, and his knife was out of its sheath in an instant.

Mai turned, grabbed at her staff, but it fell, clattering against the hard ground. She muttered in frustration and picked it up.

Sorika downed a vile of some potion and her eyes became luminescent. “Men,” she said. “With swords.”

“Come out!” Yoreno called. “Or we will kill you.”

Sorika turned about, glancing in every direction of the camp. “Three more behind.”

“It’s an ambush,” Dell growled.

“I should have stayed home,” Dorrin whined.

“Shut the hells up!” Lev snapped.

Mai called out a spell and a plume of light shot into the air, lighting the surrounding grounds with bright yellow light.

And then the men surrounding them screamed and closed in on them.

Completely unprepared, Yoreno screamed as well, unable to do anything else but rush forward. A shaft came at him and he turned his shoulder, dodging the point as a swordsman with a curved blade tried to cut him down the middle with a powerful overhand strike.

Lev lunged in and stuck his dagger in the man’s stomach and he grunted while trying to hold his blood in.

Mai called out and a fireball shot through the air, but missed its target and exploded behind the enemy mage standing at the front of the group of attackers.

Sorika turned around completely and darted past Yoreno and Lev, probably attacking the men behind them.

Dell rushed forward on the right, so Yoreno shoved his wounded target down onto the ground and ran to the left to encircle the group of men in front of them.

The enemy mage called something out and bright zigzagging bolts of lightning came out of his hands straight toward Yoreno.

But something suddenly shunted him out of the way.

Once he came to, he realized Mai had sent a projectile between him and the enemy mage’s attack. It had been an energy barrier that pushed Yoreno away and deflected the attack into the air.

Lev bolted forward, rolled over the hard ground and went into hand-to-hand combat with another swordsman.

Yoreno rolled to his feet and met swords with another bandit, but he parried Yoreno’s blow and countered, nearly cutting his head off.

Falling below the strike, he sucked in a short breath of cold air and rolled about, dodged another sword strike as two more men rushed up.

Another explosion rocked the area where Yoreno was a. Heat and fire burst forth. The two men who had come upon him cried out and fell on the ground.

Once Yoreno was back to his feet, he jumped back, narrowly missing another sword strike, then he lunged forward, unable to block his enemy’s blade, so he lifted his vambrace.

The attack struck the runes there and they reacted violently, sending the attacker’s sword arm back. Yoreno had just enough time to pummel the man in the face with his other fist, his sword still held in that grip.

Blot burst from the bandit’s nose and he went down. Wasting no time, Yoreno brought his sword down into his chest.

A bright light exploded behind him and he whirled, found the enemy mage in a duel of magic with Mai. His lightning shot forth—Yoreno’s heart leapt into his throat—but Mai deflected it, using both her free hand and her staff, a gnarled tree branch with a crystal set within the twirling vines at the top.

She flinched, sending the arching magic up into the open air, then lifted her knee and twirled her palm about the crystal in her staff and a fireball formed there. She lunged it forth, but the enemy mage deflected it at the ground near Yoreno.

It exploded and he went flying, his ears throbbing with sharp pan from the crack. Before landing on the hard ground, he lifted his elbows to shield his face from the impact as he went rolling in the dust, rocks and sand covering him while he grunted from the blows.

Someone loosed an arrow.

There was a grunt.

Yoreno recovered as Sorika came up to him. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah!” he said, halfway between a grunt and an angry cry. She then left his side and fanned out toward the enemy mage’s rear.

“Surrender!” Yoreno called.

The mage, still wearing his head wrappings and his face coverings, grunted, turned and lashed out with magical thunderbolts at Dell.

He lifted his sword, the magic there coalescing toward the runes in his blade. Then they exploded, the sword flying out of Dell’s hand as he cried out and fell back.

“No!” Mai screeched and lashed out with a series of small fireballs.

The enemy mage deflected the first two, then absorbed the third, the power being returned to Mai, but she jumped out of the way, her staff still shunting forward with each plume of fire.

The mage deflected two more blows, then hit Lev’s shaft out of the air with his bare hands.

The last fireball struck, landing in his center.

It exploded, sending his body back in a ball of flames.

“Gods!” Yoreno called out with wide eyes. He glanced about. What men they hadn’t killed had glanced about at the sight of their fallen leader. They retreated back into the rocks and hills.

Yoreno regarded back the enemy mage. He was nothing more than a charred corpse. Then he ran to Mai. “Are you all right?”

She got up and brushed herself off. “I’m fine.”

“Is everyone all right?” Dell asked.

“Are we all right?” Sorika snapped. “Are you all right? Where’s your sword.”

Shrugging, he said, “I don’t know. I let go and it just… I don’t know—exploded?”

Lev breathed in deeply.

“I think your last shaft really distracted him,” Mai said. “It allowed my fireball to connect.”

Lev nodded.

“Where’s Dorrin?” Mai asked.

“Here!” he said.

They all turned to find him with a raised hand, his mini crossbow in his other.

“What did I tell you about cranking for a second shot?” Yoreno scolded. “We could have used you in that fight.”

He scratched his temple. “I’m sorry.”

“You will be,” Lev said.

Dell spread his hands. “Easy. At least he got a bolt off, and besides, he’s another warm body running around to distract our enemies.”

“Not nice,” Mai said.

“I’m just saying… don’t be angry with him. He has his uses.”

“Thanks,” Dorrin said sardonically.

Sorika glanced off into the distance. “I want to scout the remaining grounds to make sure no one else is out there lurking.”

“Yeah,” Lev said. “That’s a good idea.”

“It’s going to be a long night,” Dellwyn said.

“After that,” Mai said, “nobody is getting anymore sleep. I’ll cast another plume of light into the sky.”

“Wait,” Yoreno said. “Let’s find an elevated position first so we can get a clear view of the area.”

“Good idea,” the mage said.