Blood of the Sea, Chapter Fourty-Nine

Chapter 49: Agitate

Enya

Enya sets the pace, confident atop her trusted J’korun. The others are less stable; bouncing along on the mounts like sacks of vegetables. A few seem to catch on quicker than the others, and the water caller, Vance, tells her those are the ones known as E’len. Their purpose remains a mystery to her, but Enya doesn’t spare the energy to ask him what he means by that title. She knows she can make the ride to Kildangan in a day and a half, flying over the land in pursuit of something, but her band of misfits - soldiers though they appear - will slow her down. Veyda had said he would be useful, and Enya has to admit that water magic in a port city would have quite the impact. She only hopes he will do what is required of him; but if not, her sister did give her license to deal with the outcome. Her skin warms at the thought, ribbons of fire dancing around her forearms before fading into the wind.

A few hours in, the water caller rides closer to her side. Enya can feel his stare weigh along her shoulders, and after a long moment where the tension builds in her neck, she snaps, “What is it you want?”

“Are you a mage?”

Enya glares at him, “Do you think the queen would have sent me if I wasn’t?”

“What magic do you have?”

“Do you ask everyone stupid questions?”

Vance’s head rears back, surprise plastered across his face. Enya only rolls her eyes and turns forward. The road stretches ahead of them through the trees. If only I could ride ahead and lose them. It would make things simpler. But the queen asked her to accompany the water caller and his people.

“I’m curious about your world. About the world I’ve stumbled upon.”

“You didn’t stumble upon us,” Enya retorts, “You came to us; asking about magic and those who rule.”

“You know that, huh?” Vance drags a hand over his head in Enya’s periphery.

“I know most of what goes on in the red castle.”

“But you aren’t around…”

“By choice.” Enya’s gaze flicks up, toward the sky hidden by the treetops. Kadaeva, spare me from killing this idiotic man. “Make no mistake, water mage; of the two of us, only I am free to do as I like.”

Vance snorts, sure of himself. “I didn’t know so many mages were delusional.”

Enya pulls her J’korun around to stand in front of the one Vance rides. Her stallion arches his neck, making himself bigger and snorting aggressively. “Delusion has ridden in on salt-soaked waves to crash upon the shores of Farrah. Be careful who you are making into an enemy, water caller. Water evaporates. Water boils. Water follows the paths carved for it in the earth.” She gives him a blank, bored expression, though her blood hums louder and louder in her ears. “Do you understand what I am saying?”

Vance appears unsure of himself, his hands readjusting in the J’korun’s mane, and he turns his head as though gathering strength from knowing his friends are at his back. Enya lets a smile grow slowly upon her face, never meeting her eyes.

The water caller nods once and clucks his tongue at the J’korun under him, steering it around Enya. Under his breath, he says, “Every body is a vessel of water, mage.”

Enya turns her J’korun close at Vance’s heels, “And bodies burn, idiot.” She taps her heels against her J’korun’s sides, darting ahead of the group of strangers at her back. They have a trail to follow. If they can’t do that much… she shakes her head. Fire needs space to breathe, and right now, I’m feeling suffocated.