Ember (43 page)

I took in a heavy breath and focused on the
empty space.

Nothing.

Ikovos was still busy so I tried again.

Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate—

“Do you just want me to do it?” asked
Jaden.

The shock from the voice knocked me backwards
onto the floor, but that wasn't the reaction of note. As soon as I
heard it, a large, violet, flame burst up in the stove. It went on
for less than a second before disappearing in a sudden puff.

My eyes blinked, bewildered.

Jaden walked past me, then bent down on his
feet, looking into the stove. “Well that was unexpected. . . .” He
looked back, eyebrows lifted, but still seeming somehow
unfazed.

I couldn't think of anything to say. I was
sort of at a two-fold loss. He was wearing a tank-top . . . and I'm
pretty sure he'd never worn a tank-top before. Other than that
everything was the same, perfectly pieced hair, tanned skin, dark
eyes . . . I knew in my head that he couldn't possible look that
different than the day before, but every time I saw him it was like
. . .
ugh.

He lit the fire without fuss, then stood up
and offered me two hands.

I grabbed them, ignoring the shiver running
through my own, and balanced up straight. It took a second.

“You okay there?” he asked.

I let go. “It's early.”

He smirked at my quick release.

I shook it out, then looked around
uncomfortably. It didn't work very well considering there was
nothing to look at.

I turned back to him, pointing to the stove.
“Was that?—”

“No,” he answered. I was going to ask if what
I'd just done was normal.

“I meant when—”

“I know what you meant.”

I raised a finger. “How could yo—”

“I just do.”

. . .

My jaw tightened. “What color's the—”

“Blue.”

I narrowed fiercely, he looked almost
apathetically smug, then I waved a hand at him dismissively.
It's five in the morning.

“You're just ridiculous,” I declared, then
turned around to fix the pot on the stove. When I'd done it, taking
as long as justifiably possible to fill a pan with water and pour
some grounds, I turned back around, crossing my arms.

He was leaning against the counter,
looking
at me. I turned my eyes away quickly, then back a
few times to see if he had stopped. He was still just staring.

Finally he spoke. “Did you get up just to fix
Ikovos coffee?”

The other boy let out a cry from the pantry
as some pans went crashing inside. “I'm okay,” he yelled.

I turned back to Jaden perplexed. “No, I'm .
. .”

He lifted his eyebrows in question. It dawned
on me that they hadn't told him I was coming.

“I . . . I'm going with you guys . . .”

His brow dropped. “To Rizenn?”

I nodded. “Uh-huh.”

He looked down. I tried to read the
expression but couldn't, plus the whistle went off behind me, I had
to turn to fix it.

“All done,” said Ikovos, walking out of the
pantry with a filled pack in his hand.

I turned around smiling, relieved maybe.
“Perfect timing, coffee just finished.”

He brightened, dropping the bag by the wall.
“Sweet.” Then headed beside me after nodding to Jaden.
“Morning.”

The dark-haired boy lifted his hand in
response, then he too walked over.

“So Evelyn's coming, aye?” he asked.

I moved away from them discreetly with my
cup. They were both quite unconcerned about saying things in front
of people that most wouldn't. Sometimes when they started on
together . . . it could get a little scary.

Ikovos nodded. “Yeah, it was Thoran's idea.”
He smirked. “Should make things in town more interesting though,
right.”

I finished stirring my coffee, taking a sip
in time to see both turn around and look at me, eyes moving from
head to toe. Their smiles dropped. Both suddenly looked less
cheery, almost concerned.

“Right, interesting . . . ,” muttered
Jaden.

My face went red under their gaze, this is
exactly the type of brazen thing that most people wouldn’t do. I
cleared my throat, setting the cup down as they each lifted
theirs.

“Will we be taking the horses?” I asked
awkwardly.

Ikovos moved his eyes up to my face, as if
nothing was strange about the way they were talking. “We don't
usually, unless we have a lot of things to pick up.” He shrugged.
Jaden continued drinking. “We don't have much this trip, so we
probably won't take them . . . unless you want to?” he added.

I shook my head. “Oh, no, that's fine.
However you guys would normally do it.”

Above all on this trip, I didn't want to be a
nuisance. This was usually probably somewhat of a break for them, a
chance to have some fun . . .
I'm sure I’m already putting a
dent in that.

As we finished up our coffees and made our
way out of the lodge, I tried to think of things I could do to make
the trip better for them, or at least be less of a burden myself.
To be honest, I was so grateful to be able to go that I didn't care
what I was doing. Unfortunately any attempts I made at assisting
backfired. First I said that I would help with the map-navigating
and they both already knew the way. Then I offered to carry the
extra bag and Ikovos took mine. When we stopped about an hour after
dawn for breakfast, I finally got a chance, succeeding in getting
them to let me make breakfast.

I unpacked the rolls and dried meat happily
from the pack as the two boys sat down on some rocks. We had
stopped in a small hill of flat stone that gave a view of the
forest around. The boys said they always stopped here for breakfast
when they went to Rizenn.

The trip had started out with that magically
promising feeling in the air, and it still hadn't diminished. I let
out a breath studying the pale scenery around us. The air was cool
enough to see my breath.

“So what type of stuff do you guys normally
do when you go to the towns?” I asked, passing the food around,
then sitting down cross-legged.

Ikovos took it, then shrugged. “Depends on
the town . . . It's usually picking up supplies or getting things
at the lodge repaired, sending mail. Plus it's how we get news
about what's going on around us.” I considered this, taking a small
nibble of my roll. “Rizenn is one of the bigger towns, as you
probably know, so we'll be doing a bit of everything.”

I nodded. The sky above was starting to fill
with passing birds, it reminded me of Tanis, so I slipped an extra
piece of meat into my bag.

I
had
heard of Rizenn before . . .
from some of the more traveled in Tiver.

Now, I took into account that what I'd heard
was from mostly women,
but
three things were always
repeated.

One, they had more material and jewelry shops
that you could hope for . . . which I didn't really understand
considering I thought the four in Tiver were too many. . . .

Two, it was a riverside town that had been
around a lot longer than Tiver, so it was supposedly quite large
and highly populated.

And lastly, if girls from the smaller towns
reached a certain age without any prospects of marriage, they would
be shipped off to Rizenn for a “vacation”, assured to come back
with a boy . . . or else not come back at all. I'd doubted this
last one at first, until I saw it in action with both of my
sisters. Granted, they had been sent well before they needed to,
but with my mother marriage was a dire business.

Still . . . I never knew why it worked . .
.

“Ikovos?” I asked without thinking. “Are
there a lot of men in Rizenn?'

Jaden stopped chewing.

Ikovos laughed shortly. “Not especially . .
.” I pursed my lips disappointedly. “Are you in need of one or
something?”

Jaden's scowl deepened. I looked up stupidly.
“Wha?—”

Ikovos was grinning. My eyes widened and I
waved my hands.

“Oh, no. No, no, no, nothing like that.” I
cleared my throat, then considered explaining . . . only now that I
thought about it, it was kind of an odd subject to discuss. I just
dropped it.

We talked more on the way, though not very
often and never about anything of great importance. Tanis had
settled into full sleep-mode in the pack. No surprise, I was sure
now that he was nocturnal. The weather was nice. Fairly regular,
maybe a bit more cloudy than usual.

We traveled mostly through the forest, but
eventually came to a road that had large clearings running along
either side. At a little past midday the town came into view,
another mile or so to go. My steps bounced excitedly. It stood
alone in a wide plain with a river running up beside it. From here
it really didn't look that big.

I smiled. “Is there anything I should know
before we get there?”

Jaden kept his gaze ahead. Ikovos
answered.

“Not really. You know, just the usually city
. . .” his voice trailed as I listened eagerly “. . . Tiver isn't
the only place you've been, right?” He asked it carefully.

I shook my head. “No.”
Heh,
practically.
“I've been to Kirne and Valtice , oh, and Domah
once.” I looked down, eyes widening. “That place was big.”

Jaden smiled immediately, who knows why.

When I looked back at Ikovos, he seemed a bit
distressed.

“Domah? You mean you've never been anywhere
bigger than Domah?”

I pursed my lips. “Well . . . no. . . . But
Domah's big. There's so many people there and, ugh, I got separated
from my group twice. The buildings are so high you see, so—” I
raised my hand up to show, but when I looked to Ikovos he was
practically wincing. “Is something wrong?” I checked carefully.

He scratched the back of his head, eyes
wide.

Jaden shook his head. “I told you she should
have worn a robe.”

Ikovos looked like he might agree, then
tossed a hand in dismissal. “That's your answer for everything, and
you're gonna freak her out saying stuff like that. It'll be
fine.”

My head went back and forth between them as
they spoke.

“Ikovos, the biggest town she's been to is
Domah . . . and she
got lost.
”

I raised a finger. “Hey, that was—”

“We'll be right there, Jaden. We're not gonna
let her get lost.”

He scoffed. “Yeah, well, that's the least of
our problems.”

Ikovos raised a pained eyebrow.

I threw both hands up, turning around.
“Guys!”

They both looked at me. We all stopped in the
road.

“Will you stop talking about me like I'm not
standing right here.” I ignored their dubious expressions and took
a breath. “Look. I know I'm more used to a small town, but it's
just a city, full of
people
. You make it sound like it's the
most dangerous place in the world, it's only Riz—” I turned to
gesture towards the city behind me “—zenn . . .”

I'd been paying so much attention to the boys
that I hadn't noticed how close we'd gotten. It had to have been
the largest buildings I'd ever seen. I didn't even know buildings
got that high. When I'd first seen the lodge, which was about four
stories, it had been the tallest building I'd ever seen. But
it
stood alone, surrounded by similar-sized trees.
These
building were even taller, some nearing ten stories,
and there was nothing around to belittle their size. I could
already see people crowding the entry ways from here, wagons,
horses . . . and so many.

I gulped.
That looked much smaller from
across the field.

Chewing on my lower lip in consideration, I
swung back around to Ikovos and Jaden. “Okay, so it's a bit bigger
than I expected.” They were eyeing me skeptically. “It's still just
a city.”

Both boys walked by me without a response,
Ikovos putting a hand to my back. “Just stay close, okay?”

I nodded as we moved forward. “Okay.”

He let go. Jaden eyed us.

I guess this
was
going to be
interesting . . .

*

“Wow,” I said, pointing to a shop to the
left. “They have a whole place just for fruit.”

Jaden gave it a dubious look. “Of all the
things we've passed that's the first you point out?”

My shoulders slumped. We had gone a bit into
the city now, everything around us was so hectic. Hundreds of
people passing every which way through the streets, maybe here to
stay or just traveling through.

Lots of young adults.

When we'd first entered I was admittedly
nervous. But as we passed by so many things I'd never seen or heard
of, I quickly forgot about it . . . of course it helped also that
two strong, rather eye-catching, boys were standing ridiculously
close on either side of me. Anytime I started to trail off, they'd
pull me back between them. It was especially difficult when the
shopkeeper's started honing in on me. I think the fruit-shop owner
was about to do that now.

“Oh, no, here we go again,” muttered Ikovos.
“You had to look didn't you. You're like a walking vendor
magnet.”

I winced as the shopkeeper rushed
forward.

“Hello! What a wonderful day today!” It was a
large, exotic-looking, man with a heady accent. He focused in on me
immediately, ignoring the two boys. “You must be passing through
for a visit, aye? How about some fresh fruit for refreshment?”

I stuttered nervously. “Um . . . no thanks, I
don't—”

He grabbed my hand, pulling me forward.
“Come, come. I have just the thing.”

I towed behind awkwardly. “Ah, really, thank
you, but I don't—”

Ikovos stepped in, taking my arm back from
the man. “We're not interested, thanks.”

“Have a good day,” added Jaden.

The man conceded immediately, moving on to
the next customer. We started down the street again.

“How do you guys get them to stop?”