Kazen held back at first, just blocking the occasional jab and strike. He certainly did not wish to harm the girl. As the match continued, however, he became increasingly concerned about his own well-being. Thrashes and swats began coming from every direction as E’enna tried to overwhelm and confuse him with the speed of her attack. The rapid clatter of colliding weapons shook the quiet forest.
Though E’enna’s strikes were swift and precise, Kazen could tell she was pulling her hits, which meant she probably wasn’t trying to kill him after all. A smile caught his lips and a flood of exhilaration fell over him. It was time for him to take control of the match. He advanced slowly, pushing her back with powerful blows but never really able to get a stroke past the nimble staff.
“I’ve trained for six hours a day, every day, since I was five,” E’enna said. “Why don’t you just give up?”
Kazen flashed a mocking grin. “How interesting.” He stepped back and twirled his sword in a brash exhibition. “Twenty minutes a day for two weeks, give or take a day.”
E’enna glowered at him and forged forward with newfound determination. They battled back and forth for nearly an hour, until their bodies ached and only the last hint of daylight remained. Both exhausted, their swings became weak and unavailing. Kazen found himself giggling at the thought of how ridiculous they must look.
“What’s so funny?” E’enna asked in between huffing and puffing.
Kazen laughed again. “I don’t suppose you would be willing to call it a draw?”
E’enna hid a smile. “Giving up already?”
“I suppose you will want me to bow to the master before we can turn in for the night?” He chuckled.
Lowering his sword and head in mock defeat, Kazen never saw the final blow coming. The white staff caught his forehead on the upswing and threw him backward to the ground. Landing hard, he wheezed as the air exploded from his lungs. For a moment, his whole body felt numb and disconnected. As he reached for his head, a wave of searing pain rushed over him. A stream of blood ran down his face from the gash just over his eyebrow.
E’enna dashed over to where Kazen lay and dropped to her knees beside him. “Kazen! I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize you had stopped defending yourself.” Her eyes were wide and deep with concern.
Kazen held the wound with his hand as he sat up, blood trickling out from between his fingers. “No, no. It was my fault, I wasn’t paying attention.”
E’enna continued to apologize as she helped him to his feet. “Please, let me see. I can treat the wound.”
“It’s really not that bad.” Kazen tried not to wince as a drop of blood dripped into his eye. “Barely a mortal wound at all.” He chuckled.
E’enna laughed and shared a genuine smile with Kazen for the first time.
Seeing the hit, Ilagon and Shanks rushed over to Kazen. Ilagon gently pulled Kazen’s hand from his head and grimaced at the serious laceration. Shanks took one quick look and turned to E’enna with an accusing glare.
“What were you thinking?” Shanks hollered.
“I didn’t mean to,” E’enna cried, her voice quivering.
“You’ve been brooding around for two days,” Shanks scolded with a pointed finger. “Whatever the problem is you need to deal with it, but don’t take it out on the boy!”
Tears flowed from E’enna’s eyes. With a toss of her hair, she turned and ran into the woods.
“You get back here and tend to this wound!” Shanks called after her.
Still clutching his head, Kazen stepped in front of Shanks. “It was an accident! And it was my fault anyway.”
Shanks crossed his arms. “You’re a good lad, Kazen, but you don’t have to protect her.”
Exasperated, Kazen sprinted into the woods after E’enna. He found her just a short distance away, sitting on a hollow log. She wiped a tear from her cheek as she looked up at Kazen.
“I’m so sorry.” She sniffled.
“It really is nothing,” he said, turning his head to hide the blood that still oozed from between his fingers. “Accidents are bound to happen.”
“No.” She smiled. “I mean I’m sorry about how I’ve been treating you. Shanks is right. I have acted terribly. I’ve thought of no one but myself and I’m sorry. I hope we can still be friends.”
“Well, I certainly would not want to be your enemy.” Kazen smiled down at her.
E’enna laughed and stood up in front of Kazen. “Now, let me take a look at your wound.”
Kazen reluctantly pulled his hand away from his head. Standing on tiptoe, E’enna tilted his head down so she could see.
“Oh!” she gasped. “It’s worse than I thought. Does it hurt very much?”
“Only when I breathe,” Kazen said, trying to make light of the injury.
“You’re impossible,” E’enna scolded with a smile. “Now don’t move.”
She put both of her hands over the wound and looked into his eyes. A soft blue light emanated from her palms. Kazen felt an odd, tingling sensation that started at his head and slowly enveloped his entire body. A remarkable sense of calm fell over him. The air around him seemed softer somehow and the colors of the forest more defined and brilliant than he had ever remembered them being.
Drawn into E’enna’s gaze, Kazen felt as though he could stay there forever, just looking into her eyes. In an instant, though, the feeling was gone and he felt as if he had been rudely awakened from a peaceful dream. E’enna lowered her hands and stepped shyly away. Touching his forehead, Kazen was astounded to find that the gash was completely healed. Dried blood still caked his face and eyebrows but the wound had vanished. More than that, he felt incredibly energized and alert. He felt like he could walk another twelve hours without needing a rest.
“How did you . . .” he started, but was cut off by the strained look on E’enna’s face.
Her eyes closed, E’enna crouched to the ground and clenched her hands together. Suddenly, she screamed in apparent pain. A gash ripped open on her forehead and blood streamed down her face. Tumbling backward, she clutched her wounded head. Kazen leapt to her side and pulled his sword, ready to swing at the invisible assailant.
“No,” E’enna gasped, pulling herself back to her feet. “Everything’s all right.”
At that moment, a piercing white light began to radiate from the open wound. The gash on her forehead closed and disappeared entirely, right before Kazen’s very eyes. Beneath the wet stain of blood, her skin was flawlessly mended, not a scratch remained.
Kazen’s mouth gaped open. “What . . . What are you?”
“I am a healer,” she smiled weakly. “From the K’utai clan.”
“A healer? I thought Gregore had killed all the healers,” Kazen blurted out with his usual tact. “I am sorry . . .” he fumbled. “That came out awful.”
“It’s all right.” E’enna turned away. “That all happened many years ago. And as far as I know, you’re right, there are no other healers left.”
“I am truly sorry,” Kazen said. “You have every right to be angry at whoever you want. It was wrong of me to demand your courtesy when I knew nothing of your pain or of your past.”
“You’re very kind.” She smiled. “But we have more in common than you may know. In fact, our pasts are not so very different at all.”
Kazen stared at her in puzzlement.
Looking down at her toes, E’enna began to speak but was interrupted by Shanks’ hard voice.
“Come on, you two!” he barked from somewhere behind the failing light. “It’s not safe away from camp after dark!”
E’enna immediately started off in the direction of Shanks’ voice.
“Wait!” Kazen stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “What did you mean by that?”
E’enna smiled warmly at him. “I just want us to be friends,” she answered. “Let’s just leave it at that for now.”
“Friends . . .” He nodded, a bit confused. “Of course we can be friends. But . . . but what did
you mean about our pasts? Have we met before?”
E’enna shrugged innocently. “You wouldn’t want to have all the answers right from the beginning, would you?” And with a sly toss of her hair she trotted off toward the camp.
“Of course not!” Kazen called after her with a roll of his eyes. “That would make things too ridiculously easy!”
Finding his own way back to the camp, Kazen found Ilagon and Shanks sitting silently by the fire. E’enna walked quickly over to Shanks and hugged him tightly before pulling out her blanket and huddling down to sleep beside him. He patted her tenderly on the head and bid Kazen and Ilagon goodnight as he drew his own blanket up to his chin.
Ilagon eyed Kazen’s forehead. “You look none the worse for wear.”
“You knew she was a healer all along.”
Ilagon just tilted his head and said nothing.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You’re a smart boy. I knew it would not take you long to figure it out for yourself.”
Kazen shook his head. “Does everything have to be a riddle?”
“It is only a riddle until you figure out the answer. For instance, you have probably already figured out they you will be taking first watch tonight.”
Kazen rolled his eyes and grabbed up a blanket. “Goodnight, Ilagon.”
“Goodnight, Kazen.”
Chapter 8
The following days were miserably hot and humid. The insipid sun stayed shrouded in a milky haze. Undersized trees warped and bowed under the dense, sticky cloud. Grass and bushes were replaced by moss and fungus, which thrived in the sultry atmosphere. Gnats and mosquitoes became more and more bothersome, and the party spent much of their time cursing and swatting at the bloodsucking pests.
By mid-afternoon on the sixth day, they were all quite exhausted. The thick air seemed to add extra weight to their packs and every breath was labored. Despite the arduous conditions, Skanks and Ilagon kept them on a steady pace.
“We should be coming up on the town of Roenor any time now,” Shanks said. “We can stop and replenish our supplies. Perhaps we’ll even take refuge from this unbearable heat at the local inn. I don’t know about anyone else, but I could do with a night in a soft bed.”
Kazen and E’enna looked at each other with eager grins. They both hustled along with newfound energy, tripping over each other and laughing, each trying to get into the lead. They stumbled along until the forest abruptly broke and yielded to a vast, empty expanse. The group stared in silent bewilderment at the sight before them.
A stagnant mire stretched on as far as the eye could see. White fog lingered heavily over the blue-green swamp. The rank smell of fermenting vegetation rose up from the musty water. Pointed tips of wooden rooftops stuck out here and there from under the slimy mire.
“How can this be?” Kazen covered his mouth and nose with his cloak. “It looks like the whole town was just swallowed whole.”
“I do not know,” Ilagon answered, looking very concerned. “But we must find a way to get through. Kazen, hurry up a tree and look if you can see a way around.”
Kazen prided himself on being quite adept at climbing trees and quickly hopped onto the tallest tree he could find. He scurried up the lean branches until he could see over the canopy of leaves.
“It’s endless!” he yelled down. “I can see no easy way around!”
Ilagon shook his head. “Then we will have to go through it.” He looked at Shanks, who nodded.
“What?” E’enna objected. “No. There must be another way around. We don’t even know if there is enough solid ground here to walk on! Perhaps if we traveled west for a few days the swamp would recede enough for us to get through.”
“Look at this place, E’enna,” Shanks insisted. “Not six months ago this was a thriving town surrounded by hundreds of acres of flourishing fields. Time may be shorter than we thought. We must get Kazen to Crenin Non.”
“Oh, all right.” E’enna grumbled. “But if that sludge gets deeper than my knees, you’re carrying me.”
Shanks patted her on the cheek. “That’s my girl! We’ll need to fill our packs with as much dry wood as we can carry, and let’s all grab some sturdy walking sticks.”
Kazen hacked down a few good-sized limbs and they all grabbed sticks that were to their liking. As they reached the edge of the mire, Ilagon prodded the soggy soil with his stick.
“If we stay to these mossy paths we should be all right,” he said. ”We walk in a straight line, one behind the other. No one steps out of line without checking the ground first. Swamps can be deceiving: One moment you are on solid ground and the next you are up to your neck in foul-smelling muck. So everyone stay alert and keep an eye on each other.”
Cautiously, they set out across the marsh. E’enna seemed more dubious about crossing the wetland than anyone else. She eyed the slightest bubble or ripple in the water suspiciously, and she followed closely behind Ilagon, who had taken the lead. Kazen had barely given it a second thought until after a few hours passed and he could no longer see the line of trees behind them. If they came to a spot they could not pass, he wondered if they would be able to find their way back to solid land. Even the relatively solid paths squished beneath their feet. At times, the trail narrowed to almost nothing and they had to leap like frogs from patch to patch. The murky water to either side of them was black and coated with green slime. Silent, slithering creatures moved about just under the water’s surface.
As dusk fell, they came across a semi-dry scrap of land that was wide enough for all of them to sit. Using their dry wood sparingly, they made a small fire and huddled within the ring of light. They munched quietly on dried cakes of rice, not wanting to disturb anything that might be lurking in the dark waters.
“I think we will need two sets of eyes on watch tonight,” Ilagon said, almost in a whisper. “Kazen and I shall take first watch.”
Kazen had always preferred to take first watch in most cases and tonight was no exception. The wet ground and bloodthirsty mosquitoes would have kept him up for hours anyway. Staring out over the water, he could barely see more than a few feet out. The rolling fog had thickened and would not be cut by their modest campfire. Frequent calls of croaking toads and grunting lizards made for an eerie orchestra that played without rest through the long night.
Without the stars or the moon, it was difficult to tell how much time had passed. Kazen figured it had been several hours by the number of logs he had put on the fire to keep it alive. Ilagon must have been thinking the same thing, for he gave Kazen a nudge and motioned for him to wake up the others.
Kazen scooted over to E’enna, who had curled herself tightly under Shanks’ arm. He shook her gently. She woke without a word, and in turn she woke Shanks with a slap on the shoulder.
Feeling quite exhausted, Kazen flopped down beside the fire. He pulled his hood over his head to hide from the biting insects. Kazen took a last peek at the unsettling blanket of fog before drifting off to an uncomfortable slumber.
He was jolted awake by a swift kick to his side. The sun had just begun to filter through the dense fog. The others were already standing around him with weapons drawn.
“Get up!” E’enna whispered. “There’s something here.”
Leaping to his feet, Kazen shook the sleep from his head and drew his sword. “Demons?”
“No, it’s not cold enough.” E’enna motioned with her head at the water.
Sure enough, just a few feet away, something very large shifted under the slimy surface. It twisted and circled around their tiny island, it’s wake slicing through the film of green algae.
“What is it, Ilagon?” Kazen backed away from the water’s edge.
“I am not sure,” he answered. “However, it seems to have taken quite an interest in us.”
Shanks leaned over to Ilagon. “Do we try to make a run for it?”
Ilagon shook his head. “We have nowhere to run. It could be miles to dry land.”
&
nbsp; “Oy! Oy!” E’enna anxiously interrupted. “Where did it go?”
They all looked about urgently but the creature had gone under. The water was perfectly still and the swamp had become deathly quiet.
“I can’t say I like this,” Shanks mumbled.
The murky water exploded in front of them. A giant serpent reeled its head up out of the water. It towered over them by at least ten feet, leaving Kazen to believe that hidden under the water was probably another twenty feet. Its body was as wide and thick as the trunk of an oak. Its white belly contrasted with the green-and-black scales on its back. The creature’s eyes were not black and empty like those of its smaller cousins, they were catlike and betrayed a clear intelligence. It peered down at them and wagged its forked tongue.
Shanks pulled a gleaming dagger from his sleeve and hurled it at the snake’s neck, but it bounced off the tough scales and splashed into the water. “Not good,” he mumbled.
Hissing loudly, the serpent struck with fantastic speed. They jumped out of the way just as its snapping jaws clamped shut. Flailing wildly, they all hacked and slashed at the snake, but the creature’s armor was impenetrable. It thrashed its giant head, knocking them all down and sending E’enna splashing into the murky water. With a glint in its yellow eyes, the serpent quickly slithered back under the slimy bog. E’enna resurfaced, coughing and sputtering, floundering madly about.
“Get out of the water!” Kazen screamed.
Shanks rushed to the water’s edge and grabbed her by the arm. With a mighty heave he pulled her from the water, the snake snapping at her heels. The pair fell to the ground and scrambled backward on their elbows, kicking frantically at the serpent that chomped and nipped at their feet. Kazen hacked at the beast with all his strength, but the creature would not be deterred from consuming its prey. Ilagon rushed back to the packs lying on the ground and pulled out his bow. Kneeling on one knee, he took aim at the thrashing snake and let loose his only arrow.
The arrow whistled through the air, hitting its mark and piercing the serpent’s eye. The creature recoiled in pain, tossing its head back and throwing Kazen to the ground. As Kazen fell, his sword was jolted from his hand and splashed into the obscure water. He reached for it. His fingertips fumbled over the pommel but the sword slipped away into the murky darkness. He looked up at the serpent, which was still writhing in pain, and he looked back down at the water. With a deep breath, he plunged headfirst into the black pool.
The Flame Weaver Page 10