“I know, Vir. I know,” Maiya said softly. “You were amazing, Vir.”
Tears welled up in his eyes, and he blinked them back. He’d die of shame if he actually cried in front of Maiya.
He didn’t even know why he was crying. It was like a dam had been burst, unleashing a torrent of emotion that swept him away.
Yet above all that, he felt pride. Pride over the progress he’d made. Just a few months ago, he’d have frozen up against those pirates. Forget coming up with a plan to fight them—he doubted he could even have run away as he was back then.
Back in the Godshollow, the knight forced him to flee like prey. He’d basically done the same thing today, but there was a difference. He’d risen to the occasion. He’d saved his friend from a knife in her back. Because of his actions, no harm had befallen Maiya or Bumpy.
Vir’s mind drifted back to Apramor’s speech on the day of his fifteenth birthday. It felt like an age and a half ago, but he could recall every word. He’d etched the entire sermon into his mind.
Before he realized it, he’d started whispering Apramor’s words that day.
“So that their place shall never be among those cold and timid souls, who know neither victory, nor defeat.”
Maiya broke her embrace and stared him in the eye. I’m not the only one about to cry, he thought.
“My father’s speech,” she said. “He spent an entire month coming up with that, y’know?” Teardrops began streaking down her face. “He was worried sick about how you’d feel after you learned the truth about your magic. He didn’t want you to feel bad, y’know?”
Vir hugged her tightly. “This is so dumb,” he whispered. “It was just a couple of pirates. It’s nothing to get so emotional about.”
Maiya laughed. “Right? So dumb.”
And yet, the tears continued to come. The two friends remained silent for several minutes before Vir finally let go.
Wiping his tears, his face flushed with embarrassment, Vir cleared his throat. “So, erm, we should probably set up camp.”
“Yeah. Right. And I’m gonna have to reapply this makeup now that you’ve gone and ruined it.”
Vir cocked a brow. “Me? What about you?”
She poked her tongue out at him. “No point doing it now, though. We’ll just mess it up again—Oh, but wait.” She retrieved the tent fabric from a pannier. “Gotta do something first. You stay here and relax. I’ll handle this.”
Vir watched as she mounted Bumpy and retraced their path, disappearing off into the distance, leaving Vir alone on the dune.
She didn’t even say where she was going…
She returned several minutes later, walking behind Bumpy, dragging the fabric behind her.
“You’re hiding our tracks!” Vir exclaimed. “That’s a great idea!”
I should’ve thought of that, he belatedly realized. The stress of the pursuit had his mind all rattled.
His friend beamed at the praise. “Just figured there hadn’t really been any wind. Didn’t want our tracks to lead those pirates right to us. They’re gonna have a hard time doing that now, though. I made sure I did a good job.”
“I have no doubt,” Vir said, letting out an enormous yawn, which triggered the same from Maiya. The exhaustion of the day was finally catching up to him.
The long journey left them both exhausted, and the pursuit afterward completely drained whatever energy they had left.
“Let’s get some rest,” he said, taking the tent from Maiya.
Unlike the tents Vir was familiar with, this one was more like an incredibly short canopy, just high enough for Vir and Maiya to crawl in underneath from any side. It did nothing to protect against the wind, but it did shield them against the heat of the blazing sun… somewhat. It wasn’t perfect, but it was far better than nothing.
Vir began erecting the structure by first retrieving four rounded stones from his rucksack. He inserted one into a corner of the fabric, twisting the surrounding cloth before tying a knot to capture the pebble within it. He then lashed that to a wooden spike they’d brought along, driving the pointy end into the sand.
After repeating this process three more times, he finished constructing the rectangular desert shelter.
Bumpy folded his legs and rested next to the tent. The Ash’va had nodded off before they’d even removed the panniers off his back.
Vir moved as many of their supplies as possible under the protection of the tent, then crawled in next to Maiya, who was gulping down mouthfuls of water. She wiped her mouth and passed him the leather waterskin, and he followed suit, relishing the delightfully cool water.
“Guess we’re sleeping in the wild after all,” she said, scrunching her face.
“It’s really not that bad, is it? Consider it a novel experience. And tonight? Tonight, we’re gonna sleep on a nice, comfy bed at Saran.”
The delight on Maiya’s face almost washed away Vir’s fatigue. Almost.
30THE ROAD TO SARAN
Vir was out the moment his head touched sand, and for the first few hours, he slept like a log. Then, as the sun reached its apex, and the temperature went from pleasantly warm to unbearably hot, he began to toss and turn, as did Maiya.
It was the sweat that dripped into his eyes that forced him to wake up. His armpits had turned into a river, and his back was just as soaked. Thankfully, he’d removed his shirt prior to falling asleep, but that just meant granules of sand now stuck to his wet back.
“AAAAAH! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFFFF!”
Vir jolted upright to Maiya’s screams. He immediately reached for his katar, ready to do battle with pirates.
How did they find—oh! Nevermind. With a sigh, he put his weapon back down.
“Maiya, it’s just a little scorpion.”
“It’s icky and gross, noooo!”
Uh, oh. She’s crying now. Better do something…
Maiya clutched at her hair, desperately trying to rid herself of the small creature that was undoubtedly panicking as much as she was.
“Just hold still,” Vir said, gently pulling the scorpion out of her hair and setting it down on the sand outside the tent. “You almost broke our tent.”
“What was I supposed to do? Just lie still and hope it went away?” Maiya said, sitting with her knees drawn up to her face.
Vir rolled his eyes. “These scorpions can’t hurt you. At worst, they’ll sting you, but their venom is useless against humans.”
This wasn’t the first time this kind of thing had happened. He was sure it wouldn’t be the last.
“You’re such a mess,” she said, commenting on his makeup.
“That’s rich, coming from you. Have you taken a look at yourself?” Vir countered. Maiya hadn’t taken off her top for obvious reasons, leaving her shirt sticky and soiled. “Good thing Riyan gave us another set of clothes.”
“Ugh,” was Maiya’s reply. Vir was used to being dirty. Maiya? Not so much.
“Bet you wish you had a Water Affinity right about now!” he teased. “At least you wouldn’t have to worry about keeping clean.”
His friend frowned. “I guess… It sure would be nice to conjure water whenever I felt like it. Apex Fire and Greater Water would be nice. Rare combination, too. Yep, that’d be nice. Water Affinity’s supposed to be rare, though.”
“True,” Vir replied. There were no utility orbs that could conjure water out of thin air, after all. Water was one of those unique affinities with applications both in and out of combat.
Vir wondered whether Ice Affinity magic could conjure drinking water, but he didn’t know what spells that school of magic possessed. He supposed Maiya would find out soon enough once she began her mejai training.