Hunt for Justice (4 page)

CHAPTER FOUR

Change of Faith

The trip took more than eight days and it certainly was not pleasant.

Nolan had lived most of his forty-seven years without taking a single step outside of Lurthalan. He had been born there, trained there, and had all he needed in the city. When he sustained the injury to his knee, he rarely took two steps out of his own home. He relied completely on his Vilathos back in those days for everything: cooking, cleaning, taking his orders to the shops to be filled--his Vilathos had done it all. Now, he was out limping around the countryside, fighting off thugs, and on a hunt for a single man in a great, big world. The irony of it all was almost funny.

Almost.

On the second night of their trip, a fierce thunderstorm descended upon them while they slept. Sitting out on the plains, they had nothing to protect them from the elements except their flimsy tents. The combination of the wind and heavy rain assaulted them worse than the gang had in Wethrintir. At one point, he thought the gale was going to carry him off, tent and all. He pictured his slim frame tumbling around the inside of the tent while the winds flung him into the Deadlands, or even worse, the lands of the Shadaer Umdaer. Needless to say, he was still awake when the storm moved on and the sun began to rise.

Ezzy, of course, loved the whole experience. That morning, as they ate cold rations on a wet ground, all she could talk about was the storm.

"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 stron
g
femal
e
deity is just what I need in my life right now."

"Understandable."

"That's it? That's all I get
?
Understandabl
e
. 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 girl, 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.