Book One Excerpt Three

They travel for no more than a half of an hour when coming from the east they see dozens of people, some running but all are making the best speed they can. Some with small children, others have bundles either tied to their backs or carried in their arms.
“Must be refugees fleeing from another town the Empire’s taken,” James guesses, “or is about to.”
“What’ll we do?” asks Miko, obviously concerned seeing as how the refugees are heading their way
Coming up behind the fleeing people are six riders who are wielding clubs and riding hard to overtake them. When the riders reach the stragglers, they strike them in the head with their clubs, felling them, and then racing on to the next. Behind the riders are three wagons, each trailing a line of naked people, both men and women of varying ages, tied to a rope. Out in front of each of the wagons are two people, who, when they come to a felled refugee, run over and start to slap or hit them until they come to. When they’ve regained consciousness, they’re pulled to their feet, stripped of their clothes and then have their hands tied behind them. They’re then taken and added to the line of naked people behind the wagon.
“Slavers!” James says in disgust. He stands there watching them for a moment as a woman who’s carrying a baby gets struck in the head. The woman falls and the baby goes flying out of her arms, striking the ground where it begins to cry piteously. The mother doesn’t lose consciousness and crawls over to her baby, wrapping her arms around it protectively, still attempting to crawl away. When the wagon comes, one of the men pulls the baby out of her arms. James can hear the woman’s scream as she tries to hang on to her child. The man just strikes her across the face and than takes the baby from her arms, handing it to someone in the back of the wagon. The crying woman is then stripped and added to the long line of slaves at the back of the wagon.
“James!” Miko says as he pulls on James’ arm insistently, “we gotta get out of here!”
Shaking his head, James says, “No.” He turns his head to look at Miko and says, “You don’t have to stay.” Turning back towards the oncoming horsemen, James reaches inside his pouch and grabs several stones, holding them in his left hand. He takes one in his right and starts walking towards the horsemen.
“Crap!” he can hear Miko say behind him as he follows him into battle.
One of the horsemen is fast approaching a man who’s carrying a bundle on his back. The man looks back and sees that the horseman is almost upon him. He throws his bundle away as he tries to run even faster. The horseman closes with him and has his club raised to bludgeon the man to the ground, when something strikes him in the chest, going through the leather armor he’s wearing and blasting out the back, spraying gore. He looks at his chest for a moment in disbelief, then topples off his horse, hitting the ground dead.
Another horseman sees his partner fall and cries out alerting the other riders. He hooks his club to the saddle then draws his sword as he pauses, looking around for whoever killed his partner. Seeing James standing there when everyone else is fleeing, he kicks his horse and charges straight at him, sword raised to cut him in half.
James cocks his arm and lets fly another stone, striking the charging rider through the forehead causing the back of his head to explode out. Like a limp rag doll, he falls off his horse and hits the ground.
“Miko,” James says over his shoulder while indicating the horses of the fallen riders, “grab the horses, we’ll need them. Also search the dead riders for valuables or any papers.” Not looking to see whether or not Miko is doing what was asked of him, his attention remains on the four riders racing towards him, swords raised.
James concentrates and then lets the magic flow,

Crumph!

The ground under two of the charging riders erupts, throwing debris, horses and riders into the air.