Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (13 page)

Ezra felt a sudden, sickening impact run up
his arms and into his shoulders. The moment seemed to freeze in
crystal clarity. The shocked expression on the wind-scarred's face.
The length of gleaming metal extending from the left side of the
man's chest, shirt burned away to show where the blade had slipped
between the graceful whorls of two delicate scars.

The world slowly came back into motion.
Arn's hand reached forward slowly, trembling as it came. “You...”
blood bubbled from his mouth. Sarah and Mat fell to the floor at
the back of the room, some thirty feet away, with two heavy
thuds.

“
Ezra, run!” Sarah screamed.

Ezra's eyes widened as the elementalist's
hand fell toward the earth. He spun and sprinted for the door.

There was a deafening clap, and suddenly a
wall of air and sawdust hit him from behind. Ezra saw the top of
the doorway blurring toward him, felt a brief impact, then nothing
but blackness.

“
Hawkins.” Stinging pain. “Hawkins!” More stinging pain.
“
Ezra!
”

Ezra managed to shield his face before Sarah
could slap him again. He looked around in confusion for a second.
Trees. Sarah. A decrepit old lumber mill. And he felt... singed?
Everything came back to him in a rush. “Oh,” he said, then turned
and retched, suddenly glad that Kirsten had kept him from eating.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, mumbling in a dazed
voice, “They blow up.”

Sarah's concerned eyes softened momentarily,
then snapped directly to anger. “Hawkins! That was the stupidest
thing I've ever seen anyone do in my life!”

She hugged him. Hard. Then she turned away
very quickly, wiping at her eyes furtively. Mat came out of the
building, looking pale but functional, carrying two sobbing little
girls who clung to him desperately. A third was being tugged along,
hand latched to his belt, sniffling.

He spotted Ezra and gave a roguish grin.
“Not bad Ezra!” He called out. “Looks like I still got the girls
though!” He started laughing a boisterous laugh which quickly
devolved into a hacking cough. Sarah made a disgusted sound and
walked over to take one of the children.

Ezra got woozily to his feet, and his head
immediately reported that it might be twice its normal size and
sloshing with liquid. Also, quite possibly on fire. “Ow,” he
groaned, closing his eyes and putting a hand on his forehead. He
stumbled forward a few steps, and his foot landed oddly on
something hard, heavy and round. “Ow,” he agreed with his previous
statement as he landed heavily on his rear. Looking around for the
offending object, he found the hilt of Mat's sword. Picking it up,
he noticed deep, smooth gashes cut into the metal, rendering it
practically useless. He hefted it lightly in his hand, thinking to
toss it out into the forest, then gave it a thoughtful look and
tucked it into his belt.

A cold breeze blew through the forest,
stirring leaves as it went. Sarah shivered as she walked up, little
girl bundled in her jacket. “Winter's on the way. Getting cold up
here,” she said quietly. Then she smirked down at Ezra where he
sat. “Gonna join us Hawkins, or does one of these kids need to
carry you back?”

Ezra looked down his shirt. A few blackened
holes marked where fire had found it. He had a feeling his face was
an unholy mess. Yeah, he probably looked pathetic enough. Reaching
out a hand toward her, he put on a winning smile. Sarah rolled her
eyes as pulled him to his feet. A look of concern passed over her
face. “You feeling okay?” She put the back of her hand to his head.
It was blessedly cool. “Feels like you've got a little fever.”

“
Huh?” Ezra cracked an eye open. “Aside from what I can only
assume is near-fatal head trauma, I feel fine.”

“
What did you do to my sword?” Mat cried, eyes finding the
battered hilt thrust through Ezra's belt. “I leave you alone with
it for five minutes... rookies! This is why you don't get nice
things.”

“
No-one said there'd be swords. You're just lucky I knew which
end to hold without someone telling me.” Ezra laughed, smile still
on his face.

“
Whiners,” Sarah grumbled with a long-suffering smile. “Both of
you. And after I did all the clean up alone. Make yourself useful
and take one of those kids from Mat or something,
Hawkins.”

They made their way slowly back to the
village, the setting sun before them. The villagers must have seen
them coming. Several families ran out, sobbing as they collected
their children, bowing and thanking the exhausted team over and
over. No-one seemed to question Sarah's sudden appearance and,
quite frankly, Ezra couldn't say he blamed them. The little boy
from earlier was standing behind his mother, big, serious eyes
watching Ezra.

“
This,” Ezra said, kneeling down carefully, “is for you.” He
handed over the broken hilt, which the boy accepted with a sense of
gravity. “Always remember that any warrior's greatest weapon is his
mind.”

“
Nerd.” Sarah's voice came through the communicator, but he had
a feeling that she was smiling. Mat was grinning broadly at the
boy's mother. It was too much. Ezra threw his head back and
laughed, happier than he had ever been.

==

“
So there I was, pinned to the wall, dead to rights.” Back at
the Guild, Mat dramatically recounted the day's deeds to a small
gathering in a conference room on the first floor, surrounded by
barrels of apples and jugs of apple whiskey, wine and cider. “When
out of the shadows walks Ezra!” Mat thrust his half-empty glass of
whiskey in Ezra's direction. “Ezra!” cheered the room, raising
their glasses and drinking. Ezra smiled sheepishly. Gal punched him
lightly in the shoulder, grinning.

“
He starts in on this, like, prepared speech, a
monago...molonaug...” Mat squinted his eyes in consternation,
stumbling over the word.

“
Monologue!” shouted Sarah, erupting into a giggling
fit.

“
Monologue!” Mat echoed with drunken certainty, pointing to
her. “About how foolish he is. How this was inevitable.” He jumped
up on the table, posing grandly, “'We are the terror that lurks in
your nightmares and makes you wet the bed! You should be trembling!
We are the Guild of Sundry, and I am Ezra!'”

“
Ezra!” everyone cheered again, throwing back more
drinks.

“
And the wind-scarred, the wind-scarred, he's all like, 'Noooo'
and starts flinging wind around, trying to like, protect himself or
something. And what does Ezra do? He brings the sword up,” Mat
mimed bringing a sword up in front of him, “looks back at the two
of us, smiles, and whispers 'Let's get dangerous.' Then he freaking
jumps into the wind, my sword in his hand, and starts
flying
toward the sucker.
And then! And then he throws this match at the poor schmuck and
BOOM! The whole thing goes up into a thundering
fireball!”

Gal scooted over next to Ezra and cuddled up
against him, listening. His face heated briefly and he looked down
at her, smiling as Mat continued.

“
And this thundering scarred, he's just flipping out. He starts
screaming-”

“
And crying!” yelled Sarah between laughing breaths. “Like a
girl!”

“
Screaming and crying!” Mat pointed meaningfully back to Sarah
again as she pounded her glass on the table. “And he's all like,
'Curse you Ezra!'”

“
Ezra!”

“
'Curse you and your ridiculously handsome friend for softening
me up!'” The room devolved into a fit of laughter. “And my boy
here, he
literally
flies in and...” Mat performed a lunging stab on the table.
“Then he grabs the scarred, pulls him close, and looks directly
into his eyes.” Mat brought up two fingers in front of his eyes to
demonstrate. “'Who are you?' the wind-scarred whispers. 'Hawkins'
he replies, cool as you like, then he pushes the wind-scarred back
and just waits there, right at the edge of the death surge. 'Ezra
Hawkins.'”

“
Ezra!” The cheer exploded through the room again.

“
So we save the day, bring back the kids, and the town throws
this freaking party for us. Food and drink and girls galore. It's
crazy! And Sarah's over in a corner, drinking five hillbillies
under the table, and I've got four girls-”

“
At least! Four at least!” Sarah howled amidst bursts of
laughter.

“
Four at least! And they're all fighting over which one gets to
bring me food and sit on my lap and feed me. And
Ezra...”

“
Ezra!”

“
Well, let me tell you, that boy can hold his drink. In fact,
if you look carefully, I believe he's still holding the same one!”
Ezra blushed again and took a small, polite sip while the room
roared with laughter.

The door slid open. A slim, dark skinned
young man with tribal tattoos on his face and a buzzed haircut
walked in. “Where's this Legacy shyster who thinks he's good enough
for our Doe?” he said in mock menace.

Gal rolled her eyes, then quirked a smile,
fluttering her eyelashes at the newcomer. “Aw, Sebastian, you know
that I'll always have a special place for you in my life. Right
next to the punching bag.”

Sebastian grinned. “Like you could touch me,
teammate.”

“
I'm sorry, but I need a man who can take on a wind-scarred
with nothing but a match and still blush like a virgin when I look
at him just right.” She threw Ezra a smoldering look. His face
turned beet red, and he tried to hold his cup up to cover for
it.

The rest of the room erupted in cat calls
and laughing jeers. “I'll drink to that!” Sebastian gave Ezra a
friendly clap on the shoulder, laughing and grabbing an apple and a
glass of whiskey as he went by.

“
As will I!” Sarah responded loudly. She tipped back her glass
then slammed it to the table, empty. Her head immediately followed,
and a loud snore prompted a fresh burst of merriment from the
crowded room.

A few hours later the party had died down
and everyone began to head out. Mat left carrying Sarah. “Not the
first time I've had to sneak her into the Hughes' place dead
drunk.” He winked at Ezra. “Won't be the last.”

As he left, Mr. Blair walked into the room.
He smiled pleasantly around at those remaining, who suddenly
decided they had more important places to be. A few muttered sirs
and hasty salutes, and Ezra found himself alone with Gal and
Blair.

“
Well,” Blair said mildly. “Quite the exciting first day on the
job.”

Ezra grinned as Mr. Blair checked a jug of
apple cider and poured himself a glass. Gal grabbed an apple and
perched easily on a table, crunching into it. She held out a hand
to Blair, smiling mischievously at Ezra.

Mr. Blair sighed and pulled the pair of
sunglasses from his pocket, depositing them reluctantly in Gal's
waiting hand. “Now we're even, Ezzy.” She put on the glasses and
continued to chew away at her apple.

“
Indeed. I find myself thinking that perhaps I will be betting
on you next time, Agent Hawkins.” Mr. Blair said with a little
smile on his face. “By all accounts, you acquitted yourself
admirably in a situation that should have resulted in both your and
your teammates' deaths.” His face slowly became more serious. “We
are deeply in your debt, young man, and the only thing I can say is
thank you. If there is anything I can do, any boon I might grant
you, please ask and I will do everything in my power to see it is
done.”

Gal beamed at him from her perch. Ezra
stared at Mr. Blair in stunned silence. He reached up and rubbed
the back of his neck, then said, “Well, there is one thing.”

“
Name it.”

“
I
want... I would like to be able to study them. The people outside
that is. The elementalists, the wind-scarred and the fire-kissed
and all of them. I want to have the chance to try and understand
how they get their powers, maybe even why they can control the
elements to begin with.”

Blair looked at him directly, eyes serious.
He nodded slowly. “What you are asking for... I could open up the
mission reports to you. Let you read them over, see what
conclusions you can come to. It would be a great deal of work, and
it would mean a lot to all of us who deal with them. Are you sure
that is something you want to take on yourself?”

Ezra considered for a moment, then returned
Blair's steady gaze. “I'm sure, sir.”

Mr. Blair smiled again and extended his hand
toward Ezra. Ezra took it and they shook. Gal made a disgusted
noise, whipping off the glasses and throwing them onto the table.
“Freaking science Legacy geek. 'Oh, look at me, I'm Ezra Hawkins
and I love work and research and not helping sexy girls win bets.'
Hope he chokes on the first strucking page.” She muttered angrily
as she stormed out of the room, turning to glare at Ezra as the
door opened. “You're back to owing me, Ezzy!” She whirled and was
gone.

Mr. Blair laughed richly as Ezra sheepishly
took another sip of his cider.