Had Jacob and Ezra left the last two guards where they had fallen, the guard patrol might have come into the stable with their weapons drawn and Jacob might not have survived. As it was he heard the rasp of the guard’s sword clearing its scabbard. He was so startled he reached deeper into the earth than he ever had before, he felt a wall within himself crumble and a circle of flame erupted around him, burning the guard alive and setting the entire corner of the stable alight.

The other guards were shielding their faces from the sudden blaze as Jacob vaulted out a window in the back of the stable and ran to catch up with Ezra. Stumbling to a halt next to the nervous horses who calmed at the presence of the shaman, Jacob bent to catch his breath as Ezra cocked a quizzical eyebrow.

“What in the seven hells was that? It sounded like a broadside fusillade!”

“Long story short: magic. Let’s finish up here and get moving,” Jacob gasped.

They led the horses out of the section of fence Ezra had demolished and tied ropes to a larger section, securing the other ends to their dozen saddled horses. The towering blaze of the stables had the horses still inside the yard stampeding about in a panic. When the two men kicked their group of mounts into a gallop and the entire western fence came down the whole herd followed them in a flowing river of horseflesh.

The cascading tide of panicked horses and the raging inferno creating excellent diversions for the city guard to deal with. Cutting down a side street, Jacob and Ezra guided the stolen mounts towards the rendezvous point, their mission a roaring success.

* * *

I awoke in a vaguely familiar room with a throbbing head. I was laying in a bed, a clean white bandage wrapped around my shoulder, my right arm in a sling and my right leg set in a splint. My torn uniform was draped on a chair near the bed along with a fresh set of neatly folded traveling clothes. My silver gladius and rifle were propped in a corner of the small room, near a desk. Faint daylight trickled in through an open window opposite me and I could hear birdsong. As I became gradually more aware of my surroundings, I noticed that the room seemed to be swaying. Sitting up in bed and looking out the window I saw trees moving past and could hear creaking and the clop-clop of hooves. I was in a wagon.

I stood up, teetered, and nearly fell back into the bed while I struggled to find my balance. At this point I realized I was nude and carefully put on the clothes from the chair. I couldn’t lift my arm very high and the splint on my leg made getting the pants on a challenge, but I managed it. Fully clothed with a dull ache in my shoulder, leg and head I limped over and stuck my head out the window.

Looking forward toward the drivers bench I saw a familiar head of graying hair.

“Lisa?!” I exclaimed.

Turning her head, she smiled back at me, “He’s awake!” she called.

I heard a thump on the roof of the wagon and looked up to see a trapdoor in the ceiling. it creaked open and Karan dropped through the opening and wrapped her arms around me in a big hug. I put my good arm around her and lowered my cheek onto her head. The wagon shuddered with another set of steps and Isaac’s face grinned down at me from above.

“Hey there lefty,” he said.

“You’re hilarious,” I grinned, flipping him off with my left hand.

“I was so worried about you,” Karan said, looking up at me, “I’m so sorry about the Commander.”

My grin vanished as the memories rushed back, my hand shot to the pocket of my borrowed clothing, the medallion was gone.

Calm,” Karan said, “Be calm, it’s right here,” she reached behind her head and untied a string from her neck, on the end of the string was Kearse’s medallion.

I gently took the medallion from her hand and tied it around my own neck. Then I reached out and hugged her back into my chest, kissing her on the forehead. As relief flooded over me, my injuries caught up with me and I tottered over to the bed and collapsed.

“Explain please,” I said, propping myself up on the pillows.

“Obviously we escaped,” Karan began, sitting in the chair by the bed as Isaac lowered himself into the wagon, “Ezra and Jacob’s distraction was even bigger than we hoped. As it turned out though, the guards were better prepared than we thought.”

“Are they alright?” I asked.

“Everyone’s fine, we all made it out. The trouble was, they had a mage of their own, a very powerful one, and he or she was able to put out the stable fire before it spread, if we hadn’t taken all the horses we could very well have been caught.”

“We almost were anyway,” chimed in Isaac, “Luckily, Nicolas’ friend who escaped from jail with you was a member of the resistance and was able to get us into the mining district where Lisa and her gang were able to smuggle us out of the city.”

“There’s a resistance?” I asked.

“Yes,” said the man himself, dropping through the ceiling and landing soundlessly on his feet.

His sudden appearance made Karan jump and startled me a bit as well.

“He does that a lot,” Isaac commented.

“My apologies, it was not my intent to startle you,” he said softly, offering a small bow.

I hadn’t gotten a good look at the man since I was mostly unconscious during our escape from the cells below the barracks. Standing in the shaft of light coming in from the open trapdoor I saw that he was of the Elvenkind, softer of feature and more graceful than the race of Men, Elves were a dying race in this turbulent era. His pointed ears jutted out from a deep blue bandanna he had tied around the lower part of his face, the flowing golden hair of his race had been shaved down to an inch or so in length. He wore an armless black cotton shirt and tight black leggings stitched with arcane markings that matched his forest green eyes, a leather belt hung with pouches draped across his waist.

“My name is Iansianadell’et’Arion Leafstalk,” he continued, “you may call me Ian as I understand my Elven name is a bit of a mouthful for most humans. I must thank you for helping friend Nicolas and I escape.”

“Greetings,” I said, inclining my head to the first Elf I had ever met, “I am Drake Grant. Is Nicolas around? He and I need to have a few words.”

“We approach a rebel hideaway in the woods as we speak, once we arrive there we can all talk together. I must go ahead and warn the rebels of our arrival so that they know friends approach. We shall speak again soon Drake,” as he finished speaking Ian leaped up, grasped the edge of the open trapdoor and flipped himself up onto the wagon’s roof.

“I’ll go keep my eye on the showoff,” Isaac said, attempting to use a similar technique to make his exit. He managed to get both hands on the lip of the opening but had to haul himself out with significantly less grace than the showoff. The entire wagon creaked as he did so.

“We’re still not sure who to trust,” whispered Karan, “I have everyone keeping their eyes peeled.”

“Well,” I said, “Nicolas and Ian could have left Jason and I to die in those cells. And Lisa’s caravan was attacked by Wolves when I was traveling to the city with it and I saw one of those big bastards watching in the trees. I don’t think they would attack a caravan they owned, and Lisa seemed genuinely upset afterward.”

I let out an exasperated breath,“It’s still best to be on our toes anyway,” I reached up behind her head and pulled her down until our foreheads touched, “Thanks for keeping us all together while I was out.”

“Your plan kept us together, I just kept my eyes open and prayed for you to wake up,” she said, nestling into my shoulder, “Isaac helped too.”

Next Chapter: Chapter 15