Emeralis Veilborne's Arc

Chapter 2 of 4

Emeralis and Koral reached EveMae Village by dawn. Timbered cottages clustered around a stone well, and a small chapel rose above thatched roofs. The two girls needed more than magic to hunt the cloaked men. Emeralis had watched five swords close on her once. Her acid broke one blade. It would not break five. "We need steel," she said. Koral nodded. "Then we find someone who knows it." They found him behind the chapel, splitting wood. A short man in a black cloak swung an axe with quick, exact strokes. A sword hung at his belt, its guard shaped like gold wings. Emeralis stopped cold. The cloak was the same as the men who burned her home. Her hands rose, fingers wet with acid. "Don't," the man said, not turning. "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." He set the axe down and faced them. His eyes were sharp and tired. "Name's Nymiir. I wore that cloak once. I hunted people like you. Then I stopped." He looked at Emeralis' shaking hands. "You throw acid because you can't hold a blade. I can smell fear from here." "You worked for them," Emeralis said. Her voice cracked. "They killed my parents." "I know what they do." Nymiir picked up two wooden practice swords from a barrel. "That's why I left. And why I'll teach you. Magic runs out. Steel doesn't." He tossed one sword to Emeralis and one to Koral. "Or keep running until they catch you." Emeralis caught the sword. She hated him. She also knew he was right. She raised the blade. He drilled them all day. He knocked the sword from Emeralis' grip a dozen times. "Too much anger. You lunge, you fall." He struck her ribs, light but sharp. "Breathe. Watch my shoulders, not my eyes." Koral moved like her water, smooth and patient. Emeralis fought like a fire, wild and hot. Nymiir hammered that out of her, hour by hour. By dusk her arms burned. But when he came at her again, she read his shoulder. She stepped aside and stopped his blade with hers. The wood cracked together and held. Nymiir stepped back and almost smiled. "There. Now you're dangerous with more than your hands." He sheathed his own sword and grew still. "I'll tell you one thing free. The men who burned your home don't act alone. They take orders from a Sorcerer in the north. He wants this war. End him, and the killings stop." Emeralis lowered her practice blade. For the first time, the war had a shape. A name she could hunt, even if she didn't know it yet. "Where in the north?" "That," Nymiir said, "you'll have to earn." He walked toward the well and did not look back. Emeralis met Koral's eyes. They had swords now, and a direction. The hunt had a head to cut off. In the morning, they would ride north.