5.Death of Chaos
LXXX
“QUIET.” JUSTEN EASED Rosefoot along the narrow road, bordering the walls of Jellico. Unable to see with his eyes, he let his perceptions guide him and his pony toward the western road and away from Jellico, away from the Viscount and the coming battle.
Behind him, Tamra struggled to sense her surroundings, struggled to keep her shields in place and her mount from betraying her location while following the gray mage.
Click... click...
“You hear something?” echoed a voice from the wall overhead.
“What? You think the sundevils are already outside the walls?”
“Who knows... wish I were out there.”
“You leave, and the Viscount'll have your guts for bowstrings. He's not letting anyone leave.”
“Tell me... the merchants are screaming...”
“There's something down there.”
“What? A stray dog? Go ahead. Waste a quarrel, but you'll wish you had it when the sundevils get here. See that dust? That's them. Won't be long before the thunderguns are booming.”
“Shit.”
“It is, isn't it?”
Justen smiled tightly in his cocoon of darkness.
Tamra wiped her forehead, struggled with her shields, and tried to keep close to Justen and Rosefoot.
... click... click...
“... swear I heard something...”
“... forget it...”
As the two mages slipped through their own darkness toward the southwest, the heavy cloud of dust rolled toward Jellico.