"It was like I could feel every raindrop as it hit the tent," she mumbled with a mouth half-full of fruit. "Back in our old home, I used to sit in the observatory during a big storm and listen to the downpour, but to actually feel it..."
Nolan nodded as Ezzy relived the night. He always enjoyed watching Ezzy's excitement as she experienced things for the first time.
To say she had been sheltered most of her life was a huge understatement. Private tutors, self-defense trainers, Sparktellers to entertain her and her younger brothers, and the occasional Vilathos toy that Nolan made for her were the only outside interactions she received. Her father kept her locked up more tightly than his fortune.
As the oldest child in the family, Ezzy had been trained from birth to take over the family business. Her time was spent learning about trade routes, the other Hawkpurse families, and everything she could fit in her head about the land. This left little time for the rest of the world. Everything had been viewed out of the many windows of her home, seen through the illusions of a Sparkteller, or read about in books. Now she got to experience everything the world had to offer, and she was drinking it in with a wild exuberance.
"I didn't want to sleep, it was so exciting," she continued. "Unfortunately, the beats of the rain were soooo soothing I fell asleep."
"Yes, most unfortunate."
"Do you think it will snow?"
"What?"
"Snow. I've never been out in the snow before. Do you think it will snow sometime soon? It's cold enough, right?"
"No, it rarely snows this season. And if it does, it's usually at the end of the season, not now at the beginning."
"Hmmm," she mumbled, her mind probably wandering off to something new. As soon as they finished their breakfast, they set out.
During both the fifth and sixth days, another storm decided to take up residence directly above them. After waiting out the entire first day in their tents, they had a choice to make on the second day: brave the weather and push on or stay huddled in their tents and hope the storm blew over.
Loving the storm and not wanting to soak her expensive clothes, Ezzy decided that they would stay put. As night fell and the storm raged on, she made a mad scramble out of her tent and into Nolan's tent.
"I was getting bored", she said, shaking the water out of her hair and spraying him in the face.
"Still a fan of storms?"
"Not so much anymore. Do they usually last this long?"
"Not usually."
"Think one of the gods is angry at us?"
The question caught him by surprise. Since her father's death and the downfall of her family, Ezzy had cut off all effort to worship any of the gods. She had gone as far as to curse out Drenks, her family's patron god, on multiple occasions and had cursed Nolan out as well the one time he had told her to stop. Being the wise man that he was, he never brought up religion again in front of her. For that same reason, Nolan decided to tread carefully here.
"I'm sure it's just a regular storm."
"But what if it's not? What if Drenks has finally decided to pay me back for all of the horrible things I say about him every day?"
"I'm sure he would understand after what you've been through. Plus, it's GanZroe that influences the seasons and the weather. Have you been saying inappropriate things about them?"
"No."
"Well then, nothing to worry about. I'm sure the weather is no more mystical than the dirt we've been sitting on."
"I guess."
Leaning forward, he placed a hand on Ezzy's shoulder.
"Alright, out with it," he said. "You've been educated about the gods more than I have. What do you really want to ask me?"
"It's annoying how well you know me." Leaning back on her elbows in the small confines of the tent, she let out an exaggerated sigh before continuing. "Nolan, which deity do you worship? I mean, which one do you mainly worship? I know we are supposed to send prayers to all of them, but which one do you lean more towards?"
"Why do you ask? You know that can be a very personal question to ask someone."
"Oh, and we're not close enough for me to ask personal questions?" She lightly kicked his arm with a soggy boot.
"You've never asked me a personal question in the past."
"We've never been stuck in a tent for two days in a row."
"Ezzy..."
"Fine, fine. I do have my reasons, but one of those reasons is that I want to know you better. You've been working with my family since before I was born, and the only things I really know are your name, that you've lived in Lurthalan all of your life, and that I trust you like family."
Nolan could feel the heat rising in his cheeks from the compliment. Trusting him as much as a family member was more than Nolan had ever received from anyone else in his life. He had never wanted a family of his own, preferring solitude over companionship. Most Thaljori lived this way, especially with the way long-term use of their type of magic messed with the mind. But if he had wanted a family, and a child to call his own, he would have wanted her to be exactly like Ezzy. Strong-willed, curious, ambitious, charismatic. Pretty much everything he wasn't. The fact that she trusted him so completely warmed his heart.
"Ni'Aren." he said. "The goddess of wisdom and knowledge."
"Really?" She sounded disappointed. "She's ok, I guess. Why her?"
"I've always been curious about how things work. Especially once I realized I had the ability to be a Thaljori. I have performed hundreds of bonds over the years, and I still don't understand half of what I do. It's all instinct, and that can be quite stressful considering the possible dark consequences when things go wrong."
"That makes sense...I suppose."
He shot her an annoyed look. "Alright then. How about you? It's obvious you have moved on from Drenks. Has anyone taken his spot in your mind?"
"Yes."
Finally, the point of the entire conversation. "Well? Who is it?"
"Avien'zia." She said the name in a hushed tone.
"The goddess of the hunt?" That certainly was surprising. "Why?"
"To help us, of course! We haven't exactly had the best of luck so far. Finding out where to find this Iacane fellow has been our first big break in the past year. If he is still in Shade, of course. If that lead runs dry, we'll be out of options. Divine intervention would be our only hope at that point. Plus, I think a strongfemale deity is just what I need in my life right now."
"Understandable."
"That's it? That's all I get?Understandable. I just opened up about a major decision I've made for my life!"
"Well, I'll say one thing about it."
"Yes?"
"If you get on her good side, maybe she will mislead the bounty hunters.
"You are impossible!" she said, letting out a frustrated scream that rivaled the wind and rain outside in intensity. "Fine. Make jokes when I open up to you and keep bringing up my mistakes all in the same sentence. I don't care."
"Ezzy, I was just saying--"
"I'm tired," she said, grabbing one of his blankets and rolling onto her side. "I'm going to try and get some sleep."
"You're staying here?"
"You don't expect me to scramble back to my tent in a downpour, do you?"
He thought about mentioning how it was her idea to come to his tent in the first place, but decided against it. Best not to add fuel to the fire. Maybe having her nearby would help him sleep better while a war of the weather happened just outside. Probably not, but the thought gave him a little bit of hope.
"No, you stay here. Just try not to kick me too often in your sleep."
"I will make no such promise," was the last thing she said to him as they curled up for the night.
***
She had kicked him a total of eleven times that night, four of which he knew were intentional. It wasn't until her breathing became regular and the kicks were more dream spasms than the result of her anger that he realized she was asleep. As much as he cared about the g
irl, she was hard to understand. Sometimes she joked right along with his dry sense of humor and other times, like tonight, she took even the slightest comment as a personal attack. It had made their journey so far a tense affair.
The storm let up in the middle of the night, and they got moving at first light. Ezzy did her usual routine after a fight of not talking to him the first part of the day. Then, probably getting bored, she started speaking to him as if nothing had happened the night before. That was why Nolan never worried that much about their little spats. Ezzy was quick to forgive and forget.
They traveled on without incident for the next couple of days, stopping for each meal and enjoying the perfect weather that followed behind a storm. It was a peaceful trip during those days. Very little wildlife roamed the plains between Wethrintir and Lurthalan. They saw the occasional rodent or small prairie dog, and the occasional bird of prey, but for the most part, the only sights were small, rolling green hills. It made Nolan rethink his desire to live in the busy city he had always called home. Maybe he would enjoy retiring to the solitude of the untamed lands of Ven Khilada. Once he had finished helping Ezzy, of course.
The peaceful days had to end eventually. On the ninth day, with the sun high in the sky, they crested a hill and found the first of the many farms that littered the countryside outside of Lurthalan. Most of the land directly around the city was owned and operated by the various Hawkpurse families, while the farms on the furthest outskirts were owned by families not associated with anyone else. The farm in front of them was modest; a small barn, main house, and a few worker homes sat on the other side of three fields, each field full of the season's last harvest of corn. A few people were moving about the stalks, blurs of movement hidden by the tightly packed plants.
"Should we go down?" Ezzy asked, placing a hand over her eyes to block the sun. "I could go for a nice, home-cooked meal."
"Not all farm families are friendly. Especially those that don't have the support of one of the Hawkpurse Families."
"Still, we could at least try."
"Or we could keep going and be that much closer to Lurthalan, where there are plenty of places to eat home-cooked meals. Places with nice soft beds and places to bathe."
"Fine, fine. I get your point. We keep going."
Ezzy usually put up more of a fight over anything they disagreed on. Not wanting to question one of the few times he won an argument, Nolan let it go without another word.
They traveled the rest of the day. The further they went, the more farms they came across, the land getting more and more packed with fields, pastures, and barns. The workers on the farms all stopped their chores whenever they passed. Ezzy's Vilathos always drew a lot of attention.
It wasn't that Vilathos were rare. There were many in the realm; most large trade caravans made use of them. A large supply were used in the mining town of Harlyquain, dozens were created for construction and personal use in Lurthalan, and the largest one ever created worked in the Rensen sawmill. But it was rare to see a small group traveling with one out in the countryside. So, the farmers stopped and gawked at the construct, while Ezzy grinned and enjoyed the attention.
Nolan on the other hand did not like it one bit. They stuck out like a Taruun in a group of children. The storms might have slowed down word of Ezzy's bounty just as it had slowed them down. Or someone might have gotten word out on pigeons and her face was plastered all over Lurthalan already. He would only relax once Ezzy hid Paz somewhere when they got closer to the city. And then only a little.
They camped for the night, rose early, and before the sun had risen very far in the sky, they rounded a hill and Lurthalan came into view.
"Finally," Ezzy said with a laugh. "Civilization."
"That's one word for it."
"Bah, you are such a grump. Let's go. If we hurry, we can be in the city before nightfall. One of the inns has a bath with my name on it."
The thought of a warm bath to ease his aching joints was enough to improve Nolan's mood. As Ezzy picked up the pace, he did his best to limp along after her. They might be in for a world of trouble in the city, but Nolan would face anything that life threw at him if he got a few moments to sooth his sore body in a nice, hot bath first.
CHAPTER FIVE
Coming Home
Lurthalan.
The only settlement in the realm large enough to be called a city. Divided in half by the Melcoi River, Lurthalan sat on the southern edge of the Great Melcoi Lake. The west side contained most of the buildings: the docks, a few of the temples, the Water Market, Merchant's Circle, and hundreds of homes. The east side of the river held mostly temples, the Hero's Refuge, and a solitary inn. Two roads led out of the southern end of the city, one on each side of the river. A stone wall began to ring the tightly packed buildings on the west side of the river, its construction started a few years ago. Built by Vilathos twice Paz's size, the wall was dwarfed only by the temples that spotted the city landscape. Massive structures completed before the time of the Plague, the temples were each unique and a sight to behold. Hundreds of followers gathered both inside and outside of each temple every day or crossed over the Melcoi Bridge from one side to another.
Which Nolan believed might be a problem.
The temple of Avien'zia sat just outside the western gate. A huge circular building made of wood and furs, it was often surrounded by the casual devotees of the goddess. Small tents, cooking fires, tanning racks, and anything else associated with hunters littered the grounds. Shouts filled the air and blood stained the earth. All the massive temple of Avien'zia and surrounding tents were missing in order to be included as a district of the city was a name. The majority of people that lived in those tents were hunters, butchers, and leatherworkers, which was of no real concern. It was the other men and women, the ones in garishly decorated leather armor and carrying a plethora of weapons, that made him worry.
Bounty hunters and Fara'korin, the elite trackers of Avien'zia, swaggered among the tents and makeshift stalls. The Fara'korin had no equal when it came to hunting men and were expert marksmen. They wouldn't be a problem though. Avien'zia's special hunters took too much pride in themselves to take any notice of Ezzy. Whatever small bounty she had on her was nowhere near enough to catch their interest. Ezzy could hold up a wanted poster with her face on it to one of the Fara'korin and they would laugh at her. They would probably tell her to become more interesting as well.
It was the regular bounty hunters that Nolan worried about. With no moral code, little to no compassion, and an appalling lack of basic hygiene, they would turn over their own mother for a few coins. If word of Ezzy's bounty had already reached Lurthalan, most of the bounty hunters gathered around the temple would have a picture of her in their possession. If that was the case, their only hope was that her bounty was small enough that it wasn't worth memorizing for most of those gathered in the area.
Approaching the city, Ezzy had Paz drop their bags and then sent it to sit amongst the other Vilathos constructing the wall. It wouldn't look out of place there, even with his unique, all-metal design. It would also keep Paz close, just in case they needed him.
With Paz out of the way, the two of them blended into the mass of people walking into and out of the city, and got as far into the middle of the crowd as they could. It was close to mid-day, which worked out well for them. The roads into the city were packed this time of day. People and carts jostled as they moved about, the crowd pushing in on them like grapes caught in a wine press.
He had forgotten how horrible it all was. He hated being touched since he had been a child, so it was almost painful to have so many people rubbing against him. His stomach began to churn, his vision blur. The people, so many people, all around him...
Something slid into his hand. He glanced down and found a small, tan hand in his, squeezing gently. Looking back up, he found Ezzy studying him with compassionate eyes.
"It's going to be ok," she mouthed to him.
He focused al
l of his attention on that hand. Felt the pressure she applied. Let the crowd around them disappear. His breath returned, his stomach calmed. Closing his eyes to the world, he let Ezzy lead him through the crowd.
How his anxiety over crowds of people had gotten so bad, he didn't know. He hadn't been around many people during his training. Years of keeping to himself after he went out on his own and only coming out to perform jobs had made the problem more acute. The physical attack he suffered that gave him his limp certainly played a large role as well. But he had always felt nervous and on edge around large groups of people, even at a young age. Having lived in the city his entire life, he should have learned how to manage it.
Instead he was struggling just to put one foot in front of the other and was being pulled through the crowd like a child. He should be keeping watch. They were probably passing Avien'zia's temple this very moment. He should be scanning the crowd, looking for any signs of recognition on the faces around them. A normal man or woman was just as likely to give them away and collect part of the reward as a bounty hunter. Nolan felt utterly useless.
Blind to what was going on around him, he stumbled through the crowd. At one point, Ezzy picked up speed, pulling him faster than before. Fearing trouble, he risked opening his eyes. A sea of men and women surrounded him. A rainbow of different colored clothes assaulted his eyes, increasing the sense of disorientation. He lost his focus for a moment and the clamor of too many people washed over him like a tidal wave. His feet went numb, and his palm began to slip from his walking stick. When his toe hit a loose stone in the road, he almost went down, but Ezzy kept a good grip and he stayed on his feet. Shutting his eyes again, he decided it was better to be guided. Ezzy was smart enough to pick out anyone dangerous.
After walking for what seemed like an eternity, Nolan was pulled off to the left, perpendicular to the direction they had been headed. Fewer people bumped into him as they moved, until he didn't feel anyone around them at all. Only then did he chance another look.
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