Elements of Change

Alone

"Kammon!" Ezo screamed the man's name even though he knew he wasn't at camp with them. He could feel the man's magic back in the village even though they'd all stumbled back to the safety of their wagons together the night before.

"Ezo, what's wrong?" Alvrey came running towards him from her wagon. Her eyes were on him, looking him over for injury of any kind. He wasn't the one in danger though.

"Where is Kammon?"

"He went back into the village this morning," she said.

Tamis and Mathis had come running as well. Damn it! That meant they hadn't followed him either.

"That bastard! I told him not to go anywhere without me," he said as he turned to run back to the village. Alvrey caught his arm though and pulled him to a stop.

"Ezo, he's fine. You need to leave him be."

"Something's wrong." It had only been three days since Alvrey had healed Kammon from their exit from Pramas. "I can feel him under attack."

Alvrey gripped his arm harder. "Ezo, you shouldn't feel anything from him."

He didn't try to explain but pushed her hands away and began to run. He knew she was following, and she wasn't alone, but he didn't care. He wasn't far when he saw Ember flash up in the sky above him. He ran in that direction, but before long he didn't need to look for her. He could hear people yelling.

As he topped the small hill that separated the village from the rest of the countryside, he watched as a barrage of arrows soared toward Kammon. A wall of fire sprang up between him and his attackers. The arrows were decimated by the heat of the flames but Ezo could feel how tired Kammon was already. How long had he been fighting alone before Ezo had begun to feel the drain of his magic?

A hand grabbed him again and he spun to find Jaroh had hold of him. "This isn't your fight, Ezo," the man said.

"Whose fight is it then?" he demanded. He could feel the strength of Jaroh's hold. The man had an iron grip, but Ezo wouldn't be held back. He pulled air up around him and used it to push the man backward. Jaroh couldn't see the magic that attacked him and he let go of Ezo to brace himself against it.

Ezo didn't bother to apologize for his actions, and he wasn't sure he would even if he had the time. Instead, he ran to Kammon. He didn't need to touch the man to feel their magic combine. The flow between them had been steadily increasing the entire time he ran toward the village.

Seeing Kammon now though, feeling what he did, he slipped his glove off his right hand and pressed it to the nape of Kammon's neck. He felt the man shiver as strength flowed into him, an immersion in their growing magic.

"What are you doing, Ezo?" Kammon demanded.

"Saving your ass." He felt the next wave of magic as Kammon prepared another firewall. "I've got this," he said instead. He pulled the earth up from under the men that were attacking Kammon and watched them fall. The earth rose and they rolled down the other side. It wouldn't stop them for long, but it put something between them and Ezo pulled Kammon away, trying to get them away from the village.

"Ezo, stop. we can't run."

"We can damn well try."

"They'll just come after Jaroh and the players if we do," Kammon said. "There is no retreat together today."

"Then what do we do?"

"You need to get the others out of here."

"I'm not leaving you to fight them alone."

"Do you really think I'm incapable?" Kammon yelled at him.

"You're injured!"

"And you're an idiot! I'll meet you in two days at the next village."

"Kammon-"

"They're from Eques Lestan."

Ezo stopped arguing in his shock. The eques had done this?

"He sent men to the village to find me. Leave with Alvrey and the boys. I will meet you. It's the only way to keep Lestan from targeting the players as well."

Ezo wanted to argue but he had seen enough of the eques of Pramas to know the man was capable of it. "How can I make sure you get away too?"

Kammon relaxed at those words and he nodded at Ezo. "Knock down the stable wall. My horse is in there," Kammon answered.

Ezo didn't wait but created a flash of fire on the wooden wall. As soon as the opening was large enough, he doused it with water. The horses that had been stabled ran out and Ezo saw one wearing a saddle from the player's camp. Ember flashed into sight next to it and herded it toward Kammon.

"Get going," Kammon pushed him toward Alvrey, and Ezo stumbled away. He watched as Kammon sent a final wall of flame between himself and the men who had emerged on the other side of the dirt mound he'd raised. As he did, the horse reached him. Kammon scrambled up quickly, looking back one last time at Ezo before he turned the horse the other way and put it to a run.

Ezo looked back to where he had come and found that Alvrey was the only one still standing there.

"They went so the players would be moving before we reach them," Alvrey said. "This isn't the first time the players have needed a quick exit."

She pulled at his arm and Ezo began to run with her, but he looked over his shoulder one last time to see the destruction of flames on the grass surrounding the village. Kammon the Calamity could have destroyed the entire place with little effort. The village was a mass of flammable materials just waiting for a chance to ignite, but Kammon had held off.

"What the hell is wrong with people?" he demanded as he ran.

Two days. Kammon had said he'd meet them in two days. Alvrey reached out a hand for him but he pulled away. She knew what lay hidden inside Kammon and knew the damage that had been done to him, and she'd still tried to keep him from joining that fight. He couldn't forget it.

Whatever else was going on, she knew more than she was telling him and he was tired of being in the dark. In two days, he'd get answers from, or about, Kammon, or he'd head back into the world alone.

Author's Note: Even Alvrey is keeping secrets from Ezo now. He's not the type to sit around while it happens though. What will he do when he meets up with Kammon next? With the Calamity tell him what's happening? Or will Ezo end up on his own again?