Ember (4 page)

“Bush-girl?”

“But what I don't understand is,” Ikovos took
a breath. “Why you were trying to hide her from me?”

Cornelius threw his arms into the air. “Don't
ask me to explain the logic of my lunatic of a partner. I'm just
following orders.”

“Oh, so it was Master Thoran,” said Ikovos
grudgingly. “I should have known, and I'll bet he didn't say
anything about Jaden right?”

“If he didn't it would be for good reason,
Jaden doesn't have half the fanciful ideas you do on the subject.
Nor is he as prone to unbridled,
unrelenting
,
curiosity.”

“Oh, that's just what he wants you to think.
I should know he's
my
best friend.” His face turned sour and
he pointed a finger at Cornelius. “And you know what else? This is
unfair and prejudicious treatment, I am personally offended.”

Cornelius rolled his eyes. “Oh, Ikovos, it
doesn't matter anyways, Thoran didn't want
anyone
seeing
her. She is just spending the night and in the morning I'm taking
her back home.”

Home.
At this point the word gave me
mixed feelings. On one side I longed for the comfort and safety of
the familiar. At the same time it was the
last
thing I
wanted. And besides that: watching Cornelius and Ikovos talk had
been the most entertaining experience I'd had in weeks.

Cornelius interrupted my thoughts. “Now if
your
finished
,” he gave Ikovos an evil stare then turned to
me. “Again, I am most sorry for the insensitive conversation.
Between you and me this one doesn't know how to keep his mouth
shut.”

“Hey, I resent that,” said Ikovos.

“Are you ready to continue our journey?” He
paused. “No doubt you have even more questions now, but I would ask
you to postpone them a while longer.”

I nodded. “I’m ready. I know you will answer
my questions when you can.” I would have like them now, but I
thought that a show of trust might compel him to honesty later
on.

“Good,” he said smiling. My plan had
definitely worked. “Let's get going then.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” Ikovos interrupted.
“Don't you think we should be properly introduced?”

Cornelius eyed him.

“Okay, okay, forget I asked.”

*

Ten minutes later we'd covered a good bit of
ground through the forest. Actually it wasn't much of a forest, at
least not the kind I was used to. Just a few trees scattered here
and there in clumps, velvety green grass covered hills in every
direction. I half expected to hear some creaks or rivers nearby,
instead the only noise were the chirping crickets from before.
Well, that and Ikovos, who had started whistling a while ago. Not
long before that it had gotten dark. Stars were now glittering in
the night sky, no clouds in sight, no sign of the moon, just
stars.

I cocked my head up and exhaled, watching
warm air escape my lips and dissipate into the night sky.

“How do you walk looking up like that?”

I had been so lost in my thoughts I hadn't
noticed Ikovos walk up beside me.

I blinked at him. “Are you always so
direct?”

“I don't know,” he said. “I guess I'm just
curious.”

“Fair enough,” I replied. “I'm not sure how.
I've never been very good at paying attention to what I'm doing, so
I guess my feet just had to learn to walk on their own.”

“Hunh . . . weird.”

“Yeah, I know.” I chewed my lip and looked
around noncommittally.

“Soooo . . . I never got your full name.”

I glanced ahead at Cornelius and lowered my
voice. “It didn't seem like Cornelius wanted me giving it.”

Ikovos waved him off. “Oh, he doesn't really
mind. He gets like that after being in the Meoden dimension to
long. Plus he's worried about Master Thoran.”

That made sense enough to me. “Okay, I'll
tell, but first . . . .”

“Uh-oh, here it comes.”

I rolled my eyes. “It's not that bad, I just
want to know what the big deal is with women around here.”

This caught Ikovos by surprise, I could tell
because he started choking on nothing.

He cleared his throat. “You said
I'm
direct?”

“I guarantee you my curiosity rivals yours by
a long-shot.” I checked ahead then, just to make sure Cornelius was
still in front of us.

“Okay, it's probably not as weird as you
think . . . potentially more so though.” He paused seemingly
collecting his thoughts. “I'm going to give you the quick version
with a promise to go in depth later.”

“Alright.”

“Here goes. We — that is . . . me, Master
Cornelius, Master Thoran, pretty much anyone you've heard about
since you've been here — are part of an order that fights bad guys.
The Meoden in particular. Apart from a few of the masters, like
Cornelius and Thoran, most of us aren't over twenty. All male.”

I considered it. “And?”

“And we're out in the middle of nowhere.
Meaning we don't get a chance to see girls that often.”

I stared at him blankly.

What the heck type of boys give up girls to
live out in the woods with some guys? None of the ones I'd met.

This was getting weird. . . .

“Okay, I can tell you're sort of freaking
out. Let me ask you this.” For the first time his tone became
serious. “If someone offered you the chance to help people, a
chance to fight all the bad things that had ever happened to you,
to wake up in the morning knowing you were changing things for the
better: what
wouldn't
you give up to take it?”

Darn it. What he had just said was the reason
I didn't want to go home.

I hadn't realized it till now, but they had
something I'd waited my whole life to find.

A purpose.

I looked at Ikovos. He'd just made me, and
worse still he knew it.
There isn't going to be anything I can
do to protect myself from this guy.

That thought left me two options. One: I
could run away screaming as fast as possible or, two: I could live
with vulnerability. . . . I glanced around for an open route then
sighed.

“It's Avest, my name. Eve Avest.”

He smiled from ear to ear and looked ahead.
“Avest.” He tested it. “Avest. Hunh, don't think I've ever heard
that before.”

Glad that the serious topics were closed for
now I delved in. “Should you have?”

“Well, yeah. I sort of have this names slash
meanings thing. Usually can't get a last name past me.” He paused.
“We'll just have to look it up tomorrow.”

“If I'm still here,” I said, letting a little
more disappointment show through my voice than I would have
liked.

“Hey, if I have anything to do with it, we'll
figure out how to keep you around.”

I smiled at him. “Sounds like you already
have some ideas.” Extending my hand I added. “Partners then?”

He took it. “Let’s just go crazy call it
friends.”

I laughed.
Friends is good.

*

And that's pretty much it.

I took a big yawn on the comfy couch of the
study. I'd gone through my whole day in my mind and still, it
didn't make much sense. The only difference was that now I'd lost
an hour of sleep.

Ikovos and I had talked the rest of the
journey. He left once the lodge was in sight. It was well hidden in
a clump of trees, a few stories high and mostly wood. Looked like
an average, if not oversized, cabin. Cornelius had led me through a
small door, which I'd doubted was the main entrance, and a couple
turns later we were in his study.

Okay, that's all the thinking I can do in
one day.
I prayed quietly for multiplied hours of sleep then
passed out from exhaustion.

~ ~ ~

I WOKE UP AND MY first thought was a big cup
of coffee. My second thought was getting the loud knocking sound to
go away. And before I got to the third I was back in
sleepy-land.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Ugh.
“Okay, mom. I'm getting up.” I
yawned and gave my pillow a farewell squeeze.

“Wait a minute . . . this isn't my
pillow.”

All at once yesterdays' events crammed into
my head. Most people might have closed their eyes, trying to
imagine it all away. I, on the other hand, got a stomach twisting
with excitement and a head swirling with silly thoughts of fate and
such.

I figured Cornelius had been responsible for
the knocking, so I ran to open the door. My stomach lurched.

Definitely not Cornelius.

It was Jaden, and, if possible, he looked
even more intimidating that the night before. He was wearing a
plain cloth t-shirt and dark leather pants. His arms were crossed
and his breathing was slow. Obviously, he was less worried about
the situation than I was . . . I doubted he worried about much of
anything.

“You look like you're still asleep,” he
said.

I fumbled for a response that made sense, but
drew a blank. Mornings weren't my thing, neither are cocky boys who
control fire . . .
Okay, at least the first part is
true.

“Where's Cornelius?” I asked.

The corners of his mouth lifted. “What, not
happy to see me?—” silence “—He had somewhere to be, asked me to
see if you could hang out in here for a few hours.”

“Sure, that's fine.” I yawned. “Ugh, sorry.
What time is it?”

“Early. How about some coffee?”

My caffeine addicted body did a mental tap
dance. This overpowered my fear of inconveniencing. “Coffee . . .
would be great actually.”

He nodded once. “I figured you for a coffee
drinker. You'll need to wear this.” He handed me a pile of brown
cloth.

I took it.

“It's so you won't be noticed. All the boys
wear it,” he said. “I'll wait out here.” He leaned against the wall
and re-crossed his arms, looking much too good for this early in
the morning.

I closed the door, told myself I didn't have
time to try and remember if I'd said something embarrassing, and
examined my new outfit. It was a brown wool robe, and a white cloth
shirt and pants, definitely no chance anyone would realize I'm a
girl.

I slipped it on in the bathroom at the back
of the study and looked at myself in the mirror. I put the hood up
and narrowed my eyes, trying to look devious. In my mind I totally
pulled it off. I gave myself a quick you-can-do-it smile, folded my
blanket, and exited the room.

Jaden was in the same position I left
him.

“Hmm. . . .” His eyes moved down my robe. “No
good.”

I checked myself. “What's wrong?”

“You still look like a girl.”

I looked down again and then back at him.

“Trust me, you do.” He stood up straight.
“We'll take the back way.”

I followed him down the hall, through a door,
then down another hall. It looked like this might continue so I
gave up hope of finding my way back, and stopped paying
attention.

I heard some knocking sounds and decided it
was a woodpecker. Made sense, everything in this place was wood.
The rooms and hallways were well lit with large glass windows. It
was still dark outside, but the stars had disappeared and there was
a dim blue glow on the horizon signaling mornings' arrival. I could
see little else besides the tree trunks.

Inside everything was swept and tidy. No
dust, no cobwebs, much different than other cabins I'd been in. It
smelt like a fountain and it had the same fresh breeze you get near
a waterfall. I had no trouble seeing myself getting used to a place
like this.

Next, we walked in a large stone room. It was
narrow, but the ceiling was high, forty feet or so. On one side of
the wall there were man-size niches with pillows in them. Pillows
and, oh my goodness, people,
sleeping
people.

“Best to be quiet in here,” whispered
Jaden.

No kidding.
There were at least a
hundred. The ones I could see were young, maybe not even in their
teens. The boys in my town spent their days playing games and
chasing girls . . . these guys looked like they'd seen harder
times.

I stared for a moment longer, then tip-toed
to catch up to Jaden.

We left the room and entered into what I
assumed was a kitchen. It had a stone floor, stone counter tops,
and wood cabinets. The cabinets wrapped around to my right into the
wall across. The counters followed beneath them, but stretched
further across the left side of the room like a bar. Behind this
was a large cafeteria-like room with high rafters and lots of
tables. The kitchen was small by comparison. Low ceiling, minimal
workspace, kinda cozy.

Along with some other oddments, a coffee
percolator sat on the counter near the bar. Jaden filled the bottom
of the piece with water and the middle with grounds. The smell of
it made my head buzz. Even though I spent nights away from home,
which means nights away from coffee, I had successfully managed to
develop a severe caffeine addiction.

Still handling the coffee pot, Jaden nodded
to a bar stool. “You can sit down, if you want.”

I didn't know if I wanted to, but I did
anyways.

The stools were on the other side of the
counter. I looked out at the cafeteria, then turned and tried to
inconspicuously watch Jaden. He opened up the bottom of the stove,
there was wood but no fire. At least that's what I thought at
first. In the next moment the entire stove was rolling with flames.
I could feel the heat five feet away.

My breath caught, a heady shiver running
through my body
.

Jaden closed the oven door and set the coffee
pot on top. I thought about asking him what the heck had just
happened, but that was a bit vulnerable for my taste.

He leaned against the counter across from
me.

Oh, who was I kidding?
Everything
sounds too vulnerable to me.

“Um . . . Jaden?” His name felt strange on my
tongue.