Sentience

Chapter 3

The outside of my family home looked different under the guise of night. The cracks surrounding the windows ran a bit deeper, the brickwork more eroded than I had ever noticed before and the flowers adorning the doorway, slightly rotted. Behind me, the creature fastened the supplies Hervad had left behind, onto the carriage.
"Where will we go?" I heard myself asking, drawing my arms around my self. Still in my nightgown and robe, I was thankful of the summer warmth.
I heard the creature hop off the back of the carriage, then the scraping of boots on gravel as he walked towards me, "We need to find the Orb, as your father calls it. Within Majic, it has a true name, a name that roughly translates to 'guiding light'. When a Maji dies, Majic essence travels through the Orb, returning us back to our realm. When a Maji is born, Majic essence travels through the Orb and kisses the babe, waiting to be awakened when the Maji is ready. With the Orb gone, presumably taken from it's altar, there can be no more new Maji." The creature let out a long sigh, "But if a Maji has taken it? They can harness the power of any Majic taken from a deceased Maji."
"Who would take it?" I asked, "All the Maji users are enslaved."
The creature considered this, "As you were enslaved? Before I found my way to you, I belonged to a man who had escaped this horrible place. This place where Maji were captured and turned into puppets for the wealthy." His words sounded like acid, each syllable packing an invisible punch. The creature looked at me, purple fire behind his eyes, "The man lived with a tribe and came across many others in his life. The Rijjin, like you, could build the villages in the time it would take the non-Maji to cook a meal. The Morkinn, the ones whose fire could burn down the village in half the time it had taken you to build it. The Zuri, whose majic could mend almost any wound, who could wander a battlefield and make flowers rise from the decay. The Lynti, the mind Maji who control the whims of simpler beings. The Hiaki, those of us who manipulate water to their will. We will need all of them for what is to come. We have to find them."
It was an impossible task. An impossible thing to ask of me.
The creature let out another sigh, "But first, we just need to leave here." He offered me his arm and led me to the carriage.

+

The first couple days of travelling were fine. The creature, Elryn as he liked to be called, provided me with a cotton shirt and trousers to replace my nightwear as well as food whenever I asked for it. He found us shelter in caves and if that wasn't possible, he'd create debris huts from whatever he could find in the forests lining the paths. We hadn't spoken much, hadn't needed to. It wasn't until the third day that much was said at all.
We were stationed just off of the main path leading North of Thornhaven. The horses had grass to graze on and I had noticed earlier a small lake that looked ripe for a dip. It had been a while since I washed last and the idea of submerging in water, no matter how cold it was, sounded delightful. Elryn told me that we needed to cross the border out of Silvercrest and into Drakoria, as that is where the temple holding the Orb was located.
"We will make it to the border by tomorrow," He told me, "but before we do, we'll need to stop in Sunhaven. With it being the closest town to the border, we can gather-" He stopped short. His ears twitched slightly, the only signal he had heard something I hadn't. Elryn slid his boot over the map he had traced through the mud, blurring all the lines, making all the markings negligible. I whipped round in the direction he was looking but saw nothing.
When I opened my mouth to say something, he just held up a finger. A silent signal to remain quiet. A few moments later, three figures came into view. Elryn had started tending to the campfire, slowly turning a rabbit on the spit.
"Hello!" He greeted the people approaching us. I cringed at his brazenness.
The figures remained silent as they stepped into clearer view. Two of the three were men, dressed in the royal garb of the Silvercrests; The rulers of the Silvercrest territory. The man on the right had a rapier in his belt. The man on the left, a bow across his back. Behind them was a small framed, hooded woman in iron shackles. Maji.
"Do you have a license to camp here?" One of the men said, his voice gritty and rough. For a Kingsman, he looked no better than a common thug. A scar ran from his brow to his jawline. His lip split from a recent fight. The other man looked no better than his counterpart, shorn hair and an eyepatch to match.
They are not Kingsman
I know. Elryn's voice echoed in my thoughts.
I looked at him but his face remained as though a small conversation had not passed between us.
She is Maji
I know. Elryn said again.
"License?" Elryn asked, "I'm quite new to this side of the continent. I was unaware of such a thing."
The man with the scar looked sidelong at his shorn headed friend and then back to Elyrn, "We're going to need you to pay the fee if you intend on camping here."
Elryn removed the rabbit from the spit and took a deep bite, either ignoring or not feeling the heat that would've been escaping it, "I don't think so." He replied through a mouthful of meat.
I made to maneuverer myself between Elryn and the men. At the movement, both males grabbed for their weapons. The woman's eyes snapped to mine. They were the colour of sea glass, the only colourful thing about the otherwise pale, withered woman.
Haiki Elryn whispered into my mind.
An image exploded behind my eyes. Great warriors, men and women, all with sea-glass coloured eyes, riding the tides to the opposing battleships. Great waves, guided by their hands, crashed into the ships, knocking soldiers overboard, damaging the hulls, snapping the sails.
I blinked, the image vanished.
"You should leave." Elryn suggested, eyes slitting with challenge as he stepped between myself and the men.
I grunted and sidestepped him.
More than capable to look after myself
Not without me you're not. He replied.
You still follow my orders
I do but have you ever even been in a fight before? He asked, knowing full well I hadnt
Yeah well-
An arrow shot past my face. I merely blinked as a purple shot of Majic from Elryn caused it to skim my ear. It took me a moment to register that both the men had their weapons in their hands. One was already notching another arrow.
Throw him I silently commanded.
Within an instant, Elryn had turned to smoke and barrelled into the two men, knocking them off their feet.
Take their weapons
Elryn managed to throw one of the men's swords far enough away that he wouldn't be able to go for it without struggling. The other man however, still kept his bow and was attempting again to notch an arrow. My mind was racing, trying to pre-emptively calculate moves I couldn't see coming. My eyes shot to the woman's. She nodded.
Break her bonds
I felt Elryn chuckle in my mind as he smashed apart her iron shackles. With the cruellest smile I had ever seen, the woman raised her hands. In shock, the man held his bow still. Within seconds, water came rushing towards the woman from the nearby lake. She brought her hands together, causing the water to form into a sphere. She guided the water to the men and engulphed them. Both of them were flailing inside the water, chocking. They grabbed for their throats, hungry for air.
"Leave them now," I told her, "you don't need to kill them."
The woman laughed like a maniac, "Don't need to kill them?" Her hood fell back revealing a bob of red hair, "Where was their need?" She asked, condensing the sphere down, building more pressure against the men's lungs, "Where was their need when they cut me down? When they cut down my sisters, my brothers and my friends?" She was roaring now, pure hatred fuelling her Majic. 
She was going to burn out if she allowed herself to continue like this. I didn't care if the men lived or died, by the sounds of it, they did not deserve life. But this woman? I did not know her but something told me she deserved a life without the iron shackles that her bound her for so long.
Take her out
Elryn, elusive in his smoke, whacked the back of the woman's head.