ELLA tended Killian's wounds as they rested within the trees, under the flickering glow of firelight. She could have activated a nightlamp but it was a cool night, and the warmth would be good for him. Perhaps it would be good for her too.
The freed prisoners had fled into the forest, knowing better than to stay anywhere near Seranthia. Now there was just one more facility Ella needed to destroy.
"You look like you're thinking," Killian said as Ella touched a damp cloth to the sores on his wrists.
"I was thinking about that place," Ella said. "How long were you there?"
"Not long at all. Weeks. Some people were there a lot longer than that."
Ella moved on to Killian's ankles, making a sound when she saw the bloodied mess he'd made of them. "How could you do this to yourself?"
"Fear of dying does that to a man," Killian said. "For some reason you become a little desperate. Aren't there others out there who might need your help more?"
"To be honest I don't know what I'm doing," Ella said. "But I've been in a few battles now, and I'm pretty sure you're supposed to clean wounds. At least with you if I get something wrong, it isn't much of a loss to the world."
"I'm glad to know you feel like that," Killian said wryly. "I've thought about you. Thought about you a lot. Yet the girl I've been thinking about doesn't care about me."
Ella's breath caught at Killian's words. She'd slotted back so easily into the familiar feeling of companionship that she hadn't taken note of the way he was looking at her. Was he toying with her? It wouldn't be the first time.
She pushed in a little too hard at one of the wounds on Killian's ankles, making him gasp. "Let me see. We were in Petrya, if I recall correctly. You looked out the window, and then you told me you were going out for a short while. I never saw you again."
"Might that be because High Enchantress Evora Guinestor would have carved me into little pieces?"
"You could have told me."
"What would I have said? Ella, I'm going to Stonewater to recover the Halrana Lexicon I stole. Don't let your boss see me on the way out."
"Something like that."
"I did what I had to do," Killian said. "I had to go back. Something told me the answers I was looking for were in Stonewater. You have a brother, Ella, and a people. You have a last name, and a home. Maybe I have family out there, somewhere. Or maybe I'm just some orphan thief. I have to know."
"You're more than that," Ella said softly, "and blood doesn't make anyone who they are."
"You don't know what it's like. And, Ella, I was right. When I got to Stonewater, I met someone who knew about me. He knew about how some lore doesn't harm me, and how essence doesn't kill me. He asked me to help him destroy the Primate's relics, and in return he would tell me who I was. What I am."
"Did he tell you?" Ella asked, fascinated despite her belief that people make their own destiny, family or not. Maybe he was right. Maybe she didn't know what it felt like to have no home, no relatives, and to be different.
She looked at Killian again. The red hair, the piercing blue eyes; Ella had never seen anyone with his features. His strong jaw and athletic build made him handsome, but there was some other quality to him as well. There was something almost fey about the way Killian looked.
"I destroyed the relics," Killian said. "I did my part to end the Primate's evil. In return Evrin Evenstar promised to tell me what I wanted to know. But he never made it to our meeting. I waited, but he never came."
"Evrin Evenstar?" Ella started. "Did you say Evrin Evenstar?" She took a breath. "At the beginning of the Alturan Lexicon there's some writing. I've seen the same writing in the Hazaran Lexicon."
"I've seen it," Killian nodded. "'To the common people of Merralya, one and all, I give you this, the third volume in my Tomes of Lore. Evrin Evenstar. ' I read that in the Halrana Lexicon."
"I once met someone who said his name was Evrin Alistair," Ella said. "He taught me animator's runes. He was clever, and strange, and funny, all at once."
"Did he have a white beard, flecked with ginger?" Killian asked.
"And blue eyes," Ella said. "Blue, like yours."
"It was him." Killian nodded.
"How?" Ella asked. "How could Evrin Evenstar have created the Lexicons, yet be alive today?"
"I don't know," Killian said. "It's somehow tied in with who I am. What I am."
"Please, go on," Ella said. "Evrin: what happened to him?"
"I've only learned this since, but while I tried to destroy the relics the Primate used to create essence, Evrin went to a different part of Stonewater, the Pinnacle, to destroy something he considered at least as important."
"I knew something had happened to disrupt the Primate's supply of essence. You saved countless lives. What could be more important?"