Shadows of Home

by James R. Vernon

  Ean ran a hand through his hair. "I suppose you're right."

  "Of course I am. I'm always right, you're just too dense to realize it most of the time."

  Despite his sour mood, Ean felt a laugh building and didn't bother to contain it. Azalea gave him a strange look as he let out a few chuckles but eventually joined in.

  "You know," Azalea snaked an arm around his and leaned into him. He turned to look at her as she continued, trying to ignore how close her lips were to his. "Mayor McFatty won't appreciate you bringing a bunch of immigrants into his village."

  Ean felt the slightest bit of satisfaction at the look of surprise Azalea gave him as he listed off a number of unpleasant things Mayor Erikson could do with his opinions.

  Chapter 11

  Ezzy could tell by the way Shay's lower incisors were almost completely exposed that she was about to hear something from the larger woman she probably wouldn't like. The two were crouched not more than a few hours past the northern border of Rensen Forest. The sun had just started to rise, casting faint rays of light through the thickening trees. They had left their camp just off the main road, leaving Nolan and Bavian with Paz, so Shay could continue Ezzy's training. The pre-dawn hours had been spent hunting animals without actually catching them and growing comfortable with being out in the woods again.

  "We need to speak." Shay moved into a sitting position.

  "What is it?" Ezzy kept her voice steady as she sat as well. It was difficult staying calm. The last time Shay had made the same statement, in the same exact tone, it had ended with her receiving five lashes across her back. They had been deserved but that hadn't lessened the pain. Or the soreness afterwards. The red-skinned woman stared back at her with unflinching gray eyes—eyes that reminded her of her place and the response that was expected. "What do you wish to speak of, Shayua?"

  "You have seen your prey; you have engaged him."

  Ezzy waited for more but Shay sat silently. "Yes, I've finally found Ean Sangrave."

  "And you still intend to bring him to justice—to bring him before the Temple Courts for judgement."

  "Yes. If he survives my attempts to capture him--"

  The blow came without warning, Shay somehow rising enough to lean forward and slap her right across the cheek. While nowhere near as strong as a punch, Shay's hand carried enough strength behind it to almost knock Ezzy over, leaving a sharp sting across the left side of her face. Ezzy's immediate instinct was to sit back up and attack the woman, which only would have led to more bruises and sore body parts for her and looks of disappointment from Shay. She had learned that lesson the hard way.

  "I..." Ezzy tried to choose her words carefully. "I am unsure why I was struck."

  "What is the fourth tenement of Avien'zia?"

  Not wanting to be struck again, Ezzy spoke. "There is no emotion in a hunt."

  "And have you erased all emotion you feel towards Ean Sangrave?"

  No point in lying. Shay had watched her, full of emotion, instigate the fight that happened in Lurthalan. "No."

  "Then you must distance yourself more from the situation."

  "But the man is responsible--"

  "Do not waste my time telling me things I already know.."

  "Shayua," Ezzy said, letting a little of her frustration enter her voice, "I understand you are pushing me to be a great hunter for Avien'zia, but this one hunt is different than your average bounty. This man destroyed my family."

  "First, every hunt needs to be the same. Whether it is for personal reasons or monetary gain. Our goddess demands it. Second, and possibly more important in this instance, there is more to this hunt then a simple quest for revenge."

  "Justice."

  "No. Justice in your eyes involves the man's death. That is not justice. That is not Avien'zia's way."

  "It's too early to talk about this."

  Ezzy rose to walk away, but something struck her ankles before she was up, sweeping her legs and depositing her back on the ground. Before her brain even processed what had happened, Shay was on top of her. The taller woman's legs pinned Ezzy's arms and Shay covered her mouth with one hand as her other hand wrapped around Ezzy's throat.

  "I need you to listen carefully," Shay whispered in a way that made it sound like a scream. "Since you seem to have trouble holding your tongue despite the thrashings you've made me give you, I will hold it for you. You will not attempt to take Ean Sangrave's life. You will not have Paz pound him into a bloody paste. All you will be allowed to do is take the man ALIVE, and receive whatever satisfaction you wish from knowing he will face Temple justice. This is not up for further discussion. Do I make myself clear?"

  Ezzy stared hard at her mentor and friend. The woman's eyes looked like two storm clouds about to unleash a deluge of rain and lightning. If only Shay could understand how much Ezzy had lost. But how do you explain that to someone whose path to life had been so utterly different from her own?

  After a few more tense moments, Shay released her grip on Ezzy's mouth and neck. The woman didn't get up though. "Do I make myself clear?"

  "And if I do try to take my own justice and kill the man?"

  "Then I've been ordered to kill you."

  "What?" The finality of the woman's words scrambled her brain. "Ordered? By who?"

  "I've already said too much." The woman rose, releasing Ezzy and allowing her to breathe a little easier. Shay did not remain standing next to her but headed back towards the road where they had made camp.

  Scrambling to her feet, Ezzy hurried after her. "No, you can't say something like that an expect me to drop it. Not when it concerns him." Reaching the woman, Ezzy placed a restraining hand on Shay's shoulder. She had been prepared to counter any attack Shay launched but was surprised when instead, all the woman did was stop in her tracks. Shay's head drooped to her chest.

  "Shay..." Ezzy finally got out after the initial shock wore off of not being beaten down. "Who would order you to kill me?" And would you actually go through with it?

  "You must swear an oath to me."

  "Fine, of course, whatever you need me to do." Ezzy's words tumbled over themselves in anticipation.

  "Swear on Nolan's life."

  "What? Why Nolan's?"

  Shay turned to face her. "Because he is as close as family to you. If you swear on his life, I know you won't break it. I know you understand that if you do, if you kill Ean Sangrave, you forfeit Nolan's life."

  "That's..."

  "If you cannot say with certainty you will not betray the oath, do not take it. As grumpy as the old man is, I have become used to having him around. I do not wish his death at my hands."

  "You are asking a great deal." Ezzy knew that Shay would go through with killing him, even if Ezzy accidentally killed Ean.

  "Swear it or we will abandon this hunt."

  The thought of being this close to finally catching Ean just to give up now made her stomach churn. It was an easy decision, despite the restrictions it put on her. "I swear on Nolan Bintershad's life, to our goddess Avien'zia, that I will never repeat what you tell me now."

  Shay shook her head and started walking away.

  "Wait!" Esmerelda hurried after her again. "I swore. Aren't you going to tell me who told you to kill me?"

  "I fear you take things too lightly." The woman didn't bother to stop or even turn her head as she spoke. "Swearing on your own life is one thing, but to do it casually with someone else's..."

  "I don't take it lightly. But I will be the one to catch Ean, and if someone wants me dead, I need to know."

  "They do not want you dead, but they also do not want you to kill Ean Sangrave."

  "Who are they?"

  Shay let out a long breath before continuing. "The order came from the Voice of the temple, which means it came from Avien'zia herself."

  "You can't be serious--"

  Shay spun and snatched Ezzy up by the front of her shirt. The stronger woman lifted her into the air as if she were as light as a feathe
r. The edges of her clothes cut into her skin as Shay twisted them up in her grip.

  "Deadly serious, Esmerelda." Her tone echoed her sentiment. "An order from the Voice of Avien'zia is indisputable. I would prefer not to kill you. You have been an excellent apprentice, despite your stubbornness, and you have even become my friend." Shay pulled her in close so her two incisors were almost touching Ezzy's chin. "But if we find Ean Sangrave again, and I even get a hint that you might try to kill him, I will hurt you. Severely. If you continue despite that, I will end your life and Nolan's now as well. Have I made myself clear?"

  "Yes, Shay," Ezzy croaked. Shay held on to her for a few moments longer, then released her grip. To Ezzy's credit, she was able to keep upright as she dropped to the ground, even though her legs had become shaky.

  "Good," Shay said, turning her back once more and heading back towards the road. "Now, we have wasted the better part of the morning with all this talk. When we get back to our camp, you are to break everything down and load your metal monstrosity with our gear. Scout ahead as the rest of us travel down the road. If you find anything, report back immediately. If you find nothing, then when the sun has crossed over the road and begun its descent, you will find a suitable place for us to camp for the night."

  "We're camping again? Every hour we waste--" This time Ezzy was able to dodge the backhanded slap sent her way, although it came close enough for her to get a clear view of Shay's scarred and dirty knuckles. She spoke quickly before her teacher could follow up with another attack. "I will do as you ask, Shayua."

  Cold, gray eyes looked at her for a moment more, then she received a grunt in reply as the woman moved on. Even so, Ezzy kept her guard up. It wouldn't be the first time the woman had forestalled punishment only to lash out at her when she least expected it. She continued to stay on guard until they got to the group, got everything packed, and Ezzy had sprinted ahead far enough out of the sizable woman's considerable throwing range.

  Chapter 12

  Despite Ezzy concerns, they reached Rensen in the afternoon of a two-day journey, which normally would have taken at least three from the northern edge of the forest. She hadn't noticed them taking a much speedier pace, but on the same token, she was in much better physical condition than when she had first set out on her hunt for Ean Sangrave. That wasn't to say she hadn't kept in shape before. Hand-to-hand combat training had been an almost daily routine before her family came to ruin. She had kept up her training moderately at first, and then tripled it under Shay's strict tutoring.

  The other reason she probably hadn't noticed was that even Nolan hadn't complained either day about the rate they had been traveling. She could usually count on him to be the voice of complaint about something when she couldn't openly do so with her teacher. But then again, her old friend had gotten much more reserved since the events in the village of Shade almost a whole season ago. Life had been chaotic from the moment they left Shade, from the run in with the bandits, Bavian Toll joining their group, and chasing false leads until they finally ended up in Lurthalan. While they stopped for supplies in Rensen and asked around about Ean, Ezzy would make sure she got some time alone with the man to see how he was doing.

  Bavian, on the other hand, wore his emotions on his sleeve, usually five or six different and conflicting ones at the same time. As the forest opened up and Rensen came into view, the man began to skip ahead of their group whistling as he went.

  Shay shook her head "That man is strange."

  "Something we both agree on," Nolan replied. "He’s also not to be entirely trusted."

  "Agreed."

  "He saved our lives," Ezzy interjected as they continued down the road. "Twice."

  "That doesn't make him any less insane. Or less dangerous. We don't know what his real motivations are, or what the Janpair family actually ordered him to do." Shay's eyes followed the man as he skipped down the road. Bavian stopped right before the edge of town and looked around for a moment, then skipped off the road and into a patch of open land to the left.

  "If he wanted to hurt us, he could have attacked us at any point since he has been with us. And he has been more than helpful on a few occasions. Why would he wait all this time to turn on us later?"

  Nolan let out a grunt. "Why would he do half the things he does? Why does he wear such garish clothes? Why does he speak in gibberish and make up words he doesn't even know the meaning to?" Nolan began to shake his head. "Why is he crouched in that field rubbing his hands over a patch of dirt?"

  "Is he eating the dirt?" Shay peered ahead, her eyes squinting as she stared at the man. "I think he is eating dirt."

  Ezzy let out a sigh as they got closer. By the time they reached him, Ezzy saw he had actually been eating soot and burnt grass. A large section of the ground had been scorched, while other sections had tiny tracks of black, brittle grass that stretched towards the town.

  "What are you doing?" Shay sounded as if she had found a puppy that had gotten into her lunch.

  "There was a battle here." Bavian kept his attention on the ground, his eyes darting about between the different scorch marks. "Recently. Maybe two days old."

  Nolan moved close enough to look over the man's shoulders. "How can you tell? A natural fire could have caused this. This is a logging village after all. I've heard the chemicals they use to treat the wood for stoves and fireplaces is flammable."

  "Nope." Bavian rose, his eyes still darting about. "Didn't taste any chemicals in the ashes."

  "You know what burnt chemicals taste like?" Shay asked.

  Bavian let out a huff and rolled his eyes at the woman before moving off, which forced the others to follow along. Since the man had seemed unreceptive to Shay's question, Ezzy tried a different approach.

  "If the ashes don't taste like chemicals, what do they taste like?"

  Bavian's head swiveled about for a moment. "Magic." Then he was off again, this time heading towards the closest building. Following along, Ezzy noticed some of the wooden planks that made up the wall seemed brand new. On closer inspection, she found a few black marks scorched in the older wood surrounding the new construction.

  Either not noticing the marks or desiring to investigate further, Bavian began to lick the wall.

  "This is him being helpful?" Nolan muttered.

  Ezzy hushed him with a look before returning her attention to Bavian. "Some of those boards look like they were recently burnt. Was that magic too?"

  "Tastes like magic." Bavian took another long lick of the of the material that sealed the new boards to the old. "Like burnt meat."

  "Or burnt wood," Shay grumbled.

  "No, not wood," Bavian replied, either ignoring the woman's tone or missing it completely. "Burnt meat, like a steak left too long in the fire." He licked his lips. "Hhhmm. Definitely a fire elementalist. Other magic too, although I've never tasted its kind before. Certainly has a kick though."

  Ezzy wasn't sure whether the man was telling the truth, believed he was telling the truth, or was making things up as he went. The expression of her other companions told her what they believed. She was leaning towards their disbelief as well, but at the same time, she wasn't about to ignore any lead they might get.

  "So, you think two magic-users battled it out here at the edge of the village?"

  "Yup."

  When it was clear the man wasn't going to say more, Ezzy asked the next question on her mind. "Any idea who won?"

  "I'm not psychic, Esmerelda," he said with a laugh. "When you have a meal, do you know exactly where the ingredients came from and who killed the animal or plant? Don't be silly."

  Her question hadn't been any sillier than saying he could taste magic, but she let it go and tried to think of another foolish question that...didn't sound as foolish.

  "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

  "There is a lot of the other magic still in the air. The strange kind. Whatever it was, a great deal of it was used."

  "So, basically you can tell us n
othing." Shay didn't sound the least bit surprised.

  Bavian let out a sigh. "I can tell you two people fought. Someone won but no one died." When Shay opened her mouth to speak, Bavian tapped his nose. "I don't smell any human blood."

  "Let's assume,” Ezzy said quickly to cut off any further argument, "that the other magic came from Ean. Have you ever tasted any Abysmal energy or been near a Scar before, Bavian?"

  He shook his head.

  "So, that could explain the magic you don't recognize. We know Ean was heading this way, and its more than likely I'm not the only one who's life he has negatively impacted. My guess is someone found him before we could."

  Nolan moved to Ezzy's side. "If we are going to believe this foolishness, then someone, or more likely multiple people, saw the fight take place. Instead of wasting more time coming up with what happened based on one man's bizarre--"

  "And unproven," Shay interjected, but Nolan ignored her.

  "--senses, we should see if we can find some actual witnesses."

  "This time of day," Bavian said, licking his lips, "I would imagine most people are either eating their dinners at home or down at the local inn. Since most don't like people pounding on their doors and asking strange questions when they are trying to eat dinner, I suggest we head over to the inn."

  "That actually makes sense." Nolan looked just as surprised as he sounded to agree with the man.

  "And while we're there, we can get a room for the night and have a well-cooked meal." Bavian licked his lips again.

  "If we figure out Ean was here and what direction he went next," Ezzy said, "I want to head after him right away."

  "No." Shay crossed her arms across her chest. "We will stay the night and rest."

  "But--"

  "When on a hunt, one never knows how long it will be until they can sleep in a comfortable bed or eat their next well-cooked meal. We are here now, so we will take advantage of Rensen's hospitality." The woman's voice made it clear the decision was not up for discussion.

  "Fine," Ezzy replied.