Part 44 (1/2)
A crossbow bolt strikes the building next to where Essin is standing and everyone turns to see the guards coming toward them.
Crumph!
The ground beneath the guards explodes upward. Essin gasps at the sight and then nods his head as he turns to follow Miko and the others to the wall.
”Get down!” James says to Jiron who is already several rungs up the ladder. Coming to the wall, he places his hand upon it and begins concentrating.
Jiron looks down to him, realizing what he's about to do and then jumps to the ground as far from the wall as he can. James releases the magic and a section of the wall fifteen feet across explodes outward, leaving them a clear exit from the compound. His knees begin to wobble and Essin comes to his side and says, ”Let me carry Nate.”
With relief, James hands the still unconscious Nate over to the man, who slings him over his shoulder and then follows the others. Once they've pa.s.sed through the trees for a ways, James glances behind them and realizes none of the guards have followed them through the opening in the wall.
”Wait a second!” he hollers, bringing everyone to a halt. ”Keep a watch out and I'll try to arrange a slight distraction for them.” Sitting down he tries to relax as he calms himself as he summons the magic and begins to sink his senses down through the earth, to the depths where the magma flows.
Searching for fissures and cracks, he uses the magic to create a path up to the lowest level of the mines. Just like bringing the water up in the desert, he creates a pathway for the magma to travel. Widening the way here, closing off another route there, he continues to bring the magma up to the floor of the mines. The ground begins to shake violently from the pressure he's creating, causing those on their feet to lose their balance and fall to the ground.
Finally, his senses detect that the magma has broken through and has begun seeping into the mines. He is also able to sense a continued building of pressure as more magma presses to push through the path he made. Realizing an eruption may be imminent, he gets back to his feet as the shaking finally subsides. ”We've got to move! NOW!” he shouts to the others. Essin again takes Nate and they race through the forest until they come to the road. Without even pausing, they burst out of the trees and run to the south to where their boat is waiting for them. As they race down the road, the ground begins to shake once more. With visions of volcano movies in his head, James gets ready to live his last moments on earth.
”What did you do?” Jiron shouts at him over the roar of the earthquake.
”Let nature loose!” he replies as they continue running, doing their best to remain upright as the tremors steadily increase in intensity.
Suddenly the ground stops shaking and all becomes unnervingly quiet. ”Get down!” James yells. From behind them a ma.s.sive explosion rips through the night as fire and lava burst from the ground and shoots up into the sky. The shockwave rolls over them, burning them as it goes. But just as soon as the burning starts, it stops. They get up, singed and feeling like they have just been roasted over a campfire. The smell of burnt hair permeates the air.
Looking back, they watch as lava b.a.l.l.s are shot into the air and then come to land in the forest with terrible force. Fires begin to rage wherever one of them lands.
”You can't do anything halfway, can you?” Jiron yells at him.
James just gives him a look as he stands up. ”I don't think it's over yet! Come on, we have to get off this island!”
They continue to race down the road as more lava b.a.l.l.s are ejected from the mine. One arcs through the air toward them. ”Watch out!” Miko cries out. Everyone pauses as they turn to watch the lava ball fly over their heads and strike the road a hundred feet ahead of them, entirely blocking the road with flame and setting the nearby trees on fire.
Immediately, Jiron leads them off the road in the direction of where they left Kristo and his boat. The sound of screams and yells come from all around as people flee the hot magma spilling out of the mine. Behind them, the sky is aglow from the numerous fires burning all across the island, the smell of sulfur infuses the air and begins causing them to cough.
Suddenly, three guards fleeing the eruption appear in the forest ahead of them, both sides surprised at seeing the others. One of the guards hollers something out and then all three draw their swords as they advance.
Jiron moves forward to meet them, both knives at the ready as one of James' stones sails past and takes one full in the chest, spraying gore upon the one behind. As the man in front of him falls, the gore covered guard stands there in shock and belatedly recognizes the threat Jiron poses as he approaches. Jiron is able to easily dispatch him and then steps around his lifeless body as he joins with the third guard.
This remaining guard, finally able to release his pent up anger and fear by all that has happened, comes at him with a vengeance. Crying a battle cry, he wields his sword in both hands as he slashes at Jiron.
With agility gained from hundreds of fights in the pits, Jiron maneuvers to avoid the sword and returns with a strike to the leg, drawing blood as his knife sinks an inch into the man's thigh.
Crying out in pain, the man brings his sword around for another attack which Jiron deflects with one knife while following through with the other, opening a four inch long cut along the man's left forearm.
The wound causes him to falter in his next swing, leaving him open to a thrust through the breastbone. Puncturing his heart, Jiron's knife becomes wedged between two ribs and is ripped out of his hands as the man falls to the ground. Bending down to retrieve his knife, Jiron has to place his foot on the man's lifeless body in order to pry the knife from where it's trapped.
Wiping the blood from his knives on the man's s.h.i.+rt he quickly gets his bearings and then continues to lead them through the forest toward the boat. The forest begins to fill with smoke as more and more of the trees catch fire, the roaring of the inferno behind them continues to grow with every pa.s.sing second.
At last they come to the cove where they left Kristo and Jiron comes to a stop, cursing.
”What's wrong?” James asks as he comes to stand next to him. He looks out over the inlet and understands.
The boat is gone.
”I knew we should've killed him!” Jiron exclaims. ”Now he's going to raise the alarm that the ones they were looking for on the mainland are now here.” Behind them, another blast erupts into the night, throwing fire and lava in all directions. He looks to James and continues as he gestures behind them, ”As if they wouldn't be able to figure it out with that going on.”
”How are we to get off the island now?” Miko asks.
”There's still the dock over by the smelters,” James replies. ”It's further south a ways, but it's our only hope.” The weight of impending doom seems to be dropping down upon him, ”I don't think we have all that much time.”
As they get moving though the forest, Essin asks, ”Time for what?”
James glances back toward where the fire and lava shoots to the sky, ”Before the entire island goes.”
”Goes?” Miko asks.
”Kaboom!” he shouts loudly, raising his arms into the air, ”taking everything and everyone with it. Apparently, this area use to be volcanically active long ago, and I seem to have begun a series of events which are going to bring this area back alive again.” he shouts loudly, raising his arms into the air, ”taking everything and everyone with it. Apparently, this area use to be volcanically active long ago, and I seem to have begun a series of events which are going to bring this area back alive again.”
With renewed determination, everyone picks up speed as they crash through the underbrush, heading to the southern docks. James takes a turn at carrying the comatose Nate, giving Essen's arms a break.
When they come to the smelter area, there's a flurry of activity going on as the people there load what looks like long bars of iron onto wagons. Some wagons have already been loaded and are on their way to the southern docks.
”There must be a s.h.i.+p there,” figures Jiron, ”and they're trying to save as much of the iron as they can.”
”Then we'll just have to convince them to take us along,” James says as they remain in the forest and skirt around the buildings.
”Do you think they will?” asks Essin.
James just looks at him and shakes his head. ”It'll end up being us or them,” he says.
”Oh, right,” he says.
Once around the camp and come to the road, they no longer try to avoid being seen as they race onto the road and make a break for it to the south. A cry goes up behind them from the drivers of the wagons currently on the road but they are slow and there are no guards with them. Not paying them any heed, they continue racing toward the docks and their only chance to make it alive off the island.
”How far is it?” Jiron asks.
”Not sure,” James replies as he begins to get a st.i.tch in his side, ”maybe another mile or two.” Then turning to Essin he says, ”Here,” as he hands the unconscious Nate back to Essin. ”I may need my strength when we get to the docks.”
Once Nate is back upon Essin's shoulder, James is better able to continue running. The ground begins to once more tremble as shockwaves ripple outward from the mine. ”It's not going to be much longer!” he yells.
Suddenly, the road opens up on a clearing, the dock lies on the far side over a hundred yards away. Two wagons are being unloaded as a dozen people transfer the iron bars to the only s.h.i.+p docked there. A dozen guards stand watch.
When they enter the clearing and have covered half the distance to the docks, one of the workers sees them and gives the alarm. The twelve guards turn and draw their swords as they move to intercept them before they can reach the s.h.i.+p. Iron slugs begin flying toward the advancing guards, taking out five before they take a dozen strides. Using a tactic he saw in an old war movie, James takes out the ones in the rear to keep the advancing ones from realizing their number is decreasing.
Then he let's loose more of the power as the ground erupts, throwing another five into the air.
Jiron advances upon the remaining two, knives at the ready. The first one closes with him and he deflects the sword thrust with a knife as he follows through with the other. The guard dances back as his slice misses the guard's chest by bare inches.