Nature Mage (50 page)

As they stepped out onto the road Gaspi couldn’t help looking around at them all, and wondered at how much they’d changed in the last year. Taurnil had lost most of the doughy look he’d always had back in the village, and looked more like a fighter. He looked somewhere in-between the boy Gaspi had known and the fighting man he was becoming. He carried himself with a kind of quiet confidence that was reassuring, and since he and Lydia had been together that assured quality had deepened even further. Gaspi thought he looked like a man who knew his place in the world.

Jonn seemed to have banished his old ghosts. He smiled more freely than he’d ever done and Gaspi couldn’t imagine him ever getting lost in drink again. He was truly happy for his guardian, who’d given everything to look after Gaspi for as long as he could remember. The changes in Emea were subtler, but no less profound. She’d never be the type of person to be brashly confident, but there was a kind of underlying calm that grounded her sometimes nervous nature in something more peaceful and stable. It was as if there was a kind of glow around her. Gaspi knew she’d found a kind of contentment in healing that went beyond an enjoyment of magic. It was almost…spiritual. Emea must have sensed his scrutiny and caught his gaze with a puzzled look, the familiar frown line appearing down the middle of her forehead, and Gaspi found himself welling up with emotion for her. He was very lucky not to have lost her this year, and swore inwardly to do his best never to put her through that kind of upset again.

Lydia was perhaps the least changed of all of them, but that was because she’d been way ahead of them when they’d met. She’d always shown a self-knowledge that was a bit frightening, and had a kind of strength that rarely faltered. Once or twice he’d seen her crack around the time she and Taurnil were working things out, but Emmy had said that even in the heat of battle she had been calm.

Gaspi couldn’t help comparing himself to his amazing friends. Had he changed as much as they had? He’d certainly become a capable magician, but the most important changes were more personal than that. He’d learned how to meditate, and found he had inner resources he’d never known about. He’d also learned that he could be insecure and jealous, and short-tempered too, and that he needed to be aware of those things in future if he wanted to avoid getting all bent out of shape again.

It’s no surprise they had grown so much, considering everything that had happened, and it looked like the coming year was going to be even more challenging. Gaspi didn’t know quite what to make of Hephistole’s talk of destiny. Instinct told him the Chancellor was right, and that some unknowable force had chosen him and given him his natural talents for such a time as this, but sometimes it was hard to believe. Whether any of that was true or not, Gaspi was determined to do everything he could to help Hephistole and Voltan in the war they said was coming.

Shrugging his shoulders, Gaspi pushed away thoughts of darkness and danger. Now was the time to relax and enjoy the summer with his friends. Depending on what next year brought, they may not get another chance for a while.

Gaspi enjoyed every part of the journey home. He’d not seen much of the scenery along the Great South Road on the way to Helioport as he’d been unconscious, rushed towards the city by a desperate Jonn. The red soil of Helioport’s flood plain soon gave way to loamy ground and pale green scrub, which grew over the low rolling hills that stretched away for miles on either side of the road. The hills grew steadily taller as they travelled, a prelude to the majestic mountains that awaited them further north.

Each night Jonn made a campfire, and Lydia insisted on cooking for them. At the outset of the journey she’d made her intentions clear, and when Emea’s Ma couldn’t talk her out of it, no-one else had tried. Thankfully, she was pretty good at it. She’d bought some spices from a travelling merchant before setting off, and Jonn had brought along plenty of supplies, and so Gaspi had the unexpected treat of richly flavoured and beautifully cooked food at the end of each day’s journeying. One evening, after wolfing down a particularly juicy stew, he looked over at Taurnil, who was reclining against his backpack, licking his fingers in obvious contentment and appraising Lydia with a proprietorial eye.

“You’re a lucky man, Taurn,” Gaspi said carelessly, earning him a raised eyebrow from Emea. Ignoring the warning sign, he turned his attention to Emea. “Can you make stuff like this?” he asked.

Emea’s raised eyebrow was joined by the other one. “Why do you ask?” she said. Jonn secretly caught Gaspi’s attention from behind Emea, grimacing and drawing a finger across his throat. Gaspi cottoned on at last, realising he’d inadvertently stepped onto thin ice and needed to backtrack before it cracked beneath him entirely. “No reason,” he said quickly. “No reason at all. I was just curious.”

Emea’s Ma chuckled warmly. “Smart boy,” she said, and Taurnil’s parents joined in the laughter. Seth leaned forward and cuffed him across the back of the head. Emea flushed bright pink, but couldn’t contain a little smile, which pulled the corners of her lips upwards against her will.

Gaspi caught her eye, and seeing that the danger had passed, laughed nervously at his own helplessness. Later that night, Gaspi fell asleep wondering if he’d ever feel on stable ground again.

It took them four days of leisurely travel to reach the point where they were to diverge from the Great South Road. They paused to find the gypsy encampment where Gaspi had fought off the first demon they’d encountered, and Jonn told the tale of that dark and fateful night. After a bit of searching, they came across the spot. Emea’s Ma stared in horrified fascination at the wide patch of scorched earth where the grass still refused to grow back.  It was surrounded by a thick fringe of lush green growth and stood out in stark contrast, a magically inflicted scar on the virgin soil. After Jonn told the story, Lydia left Taurnil’s side to give Gaspi a kiss on the cheek.

“You saved me that day,” she said, her voice rich with sentiment. “Thank you, Gaspi.”

Gaspi put his arm round her and gave her a squeeze. He didn’t really understand Lydia a lot of the time, but she was very important to Taurnil, and she was Emea’s best friend. He supposed that you don’t have to understand someone to grow to love them;  and standing there, remembering that dark night of over a year ago, he recognised that she had made an inroad deep into his affections.

“You’ve had quite a year,” was all that Seth had to say.

They turned off the road after that, trekking through thickening forest for two days and nights, before emerging onto the broad plains that skirted the great mountain range that cradled Aemon’s Reach. They camped at the base of the mountains, not wanting to start the most arduous section of their journey until they were fully rested. Emea sidled up to Gaspi round the campfire that evening, and snuggled up under his arm.

“Can you believe it?” she asked excitedly. “Tomorrow we’re going

to be back in Aemon’s Reach? I can’t wait to see my Da and Maria. She’ll be so much bigger by now!”

“Jonn says it’ll take two days to reach the village,” Gaspi said, “but

yeah... it’s gonna be strange.” He was quiet for a long moment. “Do you think people will really believe we’re magicians?” he asked, voicing a concern that had been niggling at him.

“What?” Emea asked incredulously. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“I’m pretty sure some people won’t,” Gaspi said. “Or will pretend they don’t – Jakko, for one.”

Emea pushed herself off his chest, and looked seriously into his eyes. “Now, Gaspi - you’re not going to stir up all that nonsense again, are you?” she admonished.

Gaspi thought about it for a minute. “Nah...I guess not,” he said with a grin. “Heppy said I had to grow out of that, and so did you in your own way! I‘m just winding you up.”

“Mmm,” Emea murmured disbelievingly, resting her head back on his chest. “As long as you are,” she said, sleepily.

Gaspi mulled it over before he slept that night. He
had
been winding Emea up, but there was always that little voice in him that wanted things to be seen for what they are, that wanted fair treatment. He couldn’t afford to listen to it anymore, and he’d never use his magic to pick a fight with someone again, especially if that person wasn’t a magician themselves. But he hoped that one day that voice would go away altogether, and he wouldn’t be bothered about what people thought anymore.

They set off up the mountain the next morning, and it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to be easy. Taurnil’s training meant he was much fitter than the other three and he wasn’t too troubled by the climb, but Gaspi and the two girls were soon pulling in massive lungfuls of air as they struggled up the slope. Seth and Jonn were doing fine, but the two ladies were struggling even more than the magicians, so they had to keep the going really slow and take a lot of breaks.

Despite the exertion, Gaspi found himself enjoying it after a while. There was something invigorating about the feeling of blood pumping through his veins, and the views just kept getting better. He struggled to keep his eyes on the trail, wanting to look around at every moment, but after tripping twice and almost falling down the side of the slope, he forced himself to wait for the breaks to drink in the view. In those breaks he would sit facing back the way they’d come, the heaving of his lungs slowing down gradually as he looked out over the scene. The tops of tall trees stood way below him, and even the birds were circling beneath their vantage point. At the base of the mountain the plains stretched away endlessly until they met the pale blue dome of the sky. The best time was at sunset, after they’d made camp, when they all sat in contented silence, bewitched by shimmering reds and oranges smeared across the underside of mountainous, billowing clouds. The colours deepened to purple and then to black as night fully eclipsed the day, leaving them bathed only in the warm light of the fire, and later the silver glow of the stars.

The next morning, Gaspi awoke with a kind of nervous tingling in his belly. He shouldn’t be nervous really, but the idea of seeing his home again set a thousand anxious butterflies free in his stomach. Emea was excited and Taurnil was obviously looking forward to showing Lydia his home. Only Jonn seemed to share his mixed feelings. Gaspi caught his eye a few times as the day wore on, and they drew nearer to the village. Jonn smiled at him on each occasion, but his smile seemed a little tight, and Gaspi couldn’t help feeling that for Jonn this was less fun than it was for anyone else. He’d just have to make sure he looked after his guardian while they were there.

They climbed for most of the day, stopping often to rest. Gaspi was surprised at just how much cooler it was up in the mountains. It was still fairly balmy, but it was the middle of summer, and at that moment in Helioport people would be sitting under shady awnings to escape the heat.

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, the party of travellers rounded the last switchback in the trail, and pressed on into the forested inner valleys of the mountain range, within which lay the small network of villages that had marked the boundaries of Gaspi’s world for most of his life. It wasn’t long before every knoll, ditch, and clump of trees was familiar; the landscape of his boyhood wanderings announced itself with every step. Mixed feelings aside, Gaspi couldn’t help feeling sentimental. He walked closely with Taurnil and Emea, pointing out hollows they’d hid in and trees they’d climbed. It was only when Gaspi caught a glimpse of Jonn’s strained face that he remembered that these trees hid other, less palatable memories, too.

The first they saw of Aemon’s Reach was smoke rising through the trees ahead, smoke that they knew was rising from numerous chimneys as families settled down to share an evening meal. Emea tugged on his arm in excitement, almost wriggling with pleasure. She stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, then grabbed his hand and dragged him into a run. They ran through the last few hundred yards of forest, emerging into the village green. Gaspi turned full circle to take it all in. The cottages seemed smaller than he remembered, but otherwise all was as it should be. There was Emea’s home next to Hahldorn’s, and there was the Moot Hall, standing tall in the shadows of an even taller Koshta tree. And there was the pond, the sight of all those winter Koshta battles. They stood hand in hand, drinking in the familiar sights of home, while they waited for the others to catch up.

Dusk was well underway by the time they all stood on the green. Emea and her Ma went straight to their house to find her Da and Maria. No-one was about, so the rest of the travellers knocked on the door to Hahldorn’s house, where they were greeted with a loud exclamation of pleasure, and quickly ushered in.

“There’s someone to see us, dear,” he called out, winking conspiratorially at Gaspi. Martha came bustling out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a large apron that covered her from neck to ankles. Seeing who it was, she rushed forward and embraced each of them in her ample bosom. She hugged Gaspi first, and then Taurnil, placing a hand on the outside of each of his arms.

“And here’s my bear,” she said appraisingly, eyeing him up and down. “It looks like you’re up to the job.”

Taurnil flushed and mumbled something incoherent, before shoving Lydia in Martha’s direction. “Lydia’s my girlfriend,” he said, his face still bright red. Lydia held out her hand, but Martha swept her up in an engulfing embrace. Lydia stood stiffly for a second and then relaxed, giving in to the warmth of Martha’s hospitality. Just then Emea and her family bustled in through the front door, completing the party.

Once Martha had made a proper fuss over Emea, she left her guests in Hahldorn’s hands, and disappeared to the kitchen to cook up a feast for them all. As the evening went on, she managed to pick up all the important parts of their story. She sat next to Emea as they ate, patting her hand often, glowing with happiness at the fulfilment of her vision all those months ago. She only let them go at the end of the night when Emea had promised to spend the next day with her and Hahldorn and tell them about her healing gift.