“I’ll do whatever I have to. If they don’t back down, I won’t either.”
Kammon nodded once but didn’t respond to Ezo’s words. Instead, he stepped through the center of Ezo’s magic, setting off the trap within. The touch of his magic made Ezo too aware of the former soldier.
Ezo could feel the strength within him, but fatigue pulled at Kammon. Ezo remembered the way it had dragged at the other man when they’d been joined at Mason Creek. It wasn’t quite burn-out, but it could take years to recover. Without a flood raging around them, Ezo could concentrate on it. This wasn’t the exhaustion of too much power drawn. It was something different. He wanted to understand, so the winds ripped around Kammon, and his magic passed through him.
The sudden wall he hit stunned him and he dropped his magic.
“What the hell are you doing?” Kammon demanded.
“Nothing. What was that?”
“Me, keeping you out. Knock it off.”
He realized then that he’d imitated what Kammon had done that night. Kammon had talked about joining the evening before and even apologized for his intrusion the night they’d first met. Ezo didn’t have an excuse for why he’d done what he had. It wasn’t his intention to join with him, but he was inquisitive by nature and it had always gotten him into trouble. How could he tell Kammon he’d tried a joining just for curiosity’s sake?
He nodded, too ashamed for words.
“Let’s keep moving. Anyone else who triggered this would do so unknowing. They’d keep moving down the path. That’s where the raiders will be waiting.”
Kammon walked away and Ezo followed behind him. “Will they come for us, with our magic? Won’t they stop when they sense us?”
“If they have an elementalist like we think, they’ll still have to get close to us to know that we aren’t common folk. We can catch them before they run.”
“You have a similar trap in mind?”
“No. An extra set of eyes.”
“What?” He looked around to see if Kammon had been laying some sort of trap of his own along the way but there was nothing. “What do you mean?”
When Ezo turned around, a blood-red hawk rested on Kammon’s forearm. He stepped closer and the hawk turned its head to look at him. The hawk’s wings were tipped with a red so dark it was almost black. Its chest was a burnished orange and its underbelly was golden. It wasn’t the strange coloring that drew him to the creature though. He could feel it. It was pure magic.
“Ember is my effigy.”
“Effigies are just a myth,” Ezo said before he could stop himself.
“Your uncle told you that?” Kammon scoffed. “They are rare, but not unreal. There are maybe 5 or 6 elementalists alive today that are strong enough to contain an effigy.”
Ezo stepped closer and raised a hand to it, but Ember flared its wings and screeched. He pulled his hand back quickly.
Kammon laughed, stroking the hawk’s head to calm ir. There was genuine affection on his face as he looked at the effigy. Ezo was struck by how young he looked like that. Kammon couldn’t be more than a few years older than him, but he hid his youth with the weight on his shoulders and the scowl on his face.
“Are there rules for touching it?” he asked.
“Her. And the only rule is if Ember allows you to. She doesn’t come close enough to meet most people. She flies above me normally, keeping a lookout.”
“If she allows me? Isn’t she a part of you?”
“No. It’s hard to explain. Effigies come to the most powerful elementalists. They are a part of us, but they are not us. Ember has a personality of her own. She is pure magic, and will often do as I ask, but it is always her choice in the end. In fact, there have been times when she has stood between me and the choices I was making.”
Ezo was fascinated by Ember. There had always been stories about effigies but Jacob had told him they were just stories. People wanted to believe in someone so powerful they could create magic instead of use the magic that surrounded them. Ezo had always had reason to wonder about effigies. He’d been able to do things with magic that bordered on creation, but his uncle has always insisted his powers were nothing like that. “Can she speak to you?”
“Not words, but she makes herself known well enough.” Kammon looked at Ember then. “Ember, watch for me. Give us notice if the raiders are coming.”
She butted her head against his hand and when he threw his arm up, she leaped into the air.
Ezo was mesmerized by her flight and watched as she rose above the treetops. “She’ll do as you asked?”
Kammon started walking again and Ezo sped up to walk beside him. “Yes. She wants to find these raiders as much as I do. I wouldn’t take a job she didn’t approve of.”
“And if the raiders run when they realize what we are?”
“Do you always ask this many questions? That’s all you’ve done since I met you.”
“Jacob use to say the same thing, so I guess it is.”
“Jacob?”
“My uncle.”
“Your uncle, the elementalist, was named Jacob?”
He nodded. It was a strange way to ask about his uncle, but he had come to expect oddities from the other man. “Yeah. He used to travel a lot when I was little. When my parents died, he came back to take care of me.”
“What do you know about him?”
“What do you mean?”
“I knew a Jacob. An elementalist who … traveled. He didn’t have a high opinion of the universities or the ruling class.”
Ezo frowned. “That would describe him.”
“He had a scar, across his left cheek?”
Ezo nodded, too surprised to question how Kammon knew.
“What happened to him?”
“He got sick. No one knew what to do. Not even a healer could help him.”
“I’m sorry. He was a good man.”
“Thank you.”
An uncomfortable silence settled between them as they walked. Ezo wanted to ask how Kammon knew his uncle and what he thought about the other man, but considering what he’d already said, it wouldn’t be welcomed. Instead, he pulled a small bag from his pack and opened it. He had dried fruits and nuts from the last village he’d visited. He ate a few, then knocked his elbow into Kammon’s and extended the bag to him. Kammon looked at him with a furrowed brow, then saw the bag in his hand. He took a handful, then gave Ezo a small smile.
“Thank you.”
Ezo nodded back. The silence between them became companionable as they walked, sharing the bag between them.
It was almost empty when Kammon held out a hand in front of Ezo and stopped. His eyes were directed upward and Ezo waited. A second later, Kammon looked at him.
“They stopped. Ember saw them approach, but they’re turning around.”
“Can we follow them?”
Kammon nodded. “We’ll find them, and we end this.”
Ember is so cute 🥺
I love Ember! As soon as I started writing her, she just seemed to have a personality waiting on the page :P