The Path of Giants

lot about plants. I mostly sold seasonings, and some potions here and there. Not cursed ones.”
“But you did perform curses for money?” I asked.
“I didn’t trust a lot of people, so I didn’t perform many curses.”
“But you did for Remi.”
“Yes,” Hadley answered confidently. “I trusted Remi.” She spoke the words scornfully. “At least I used to.”
A servant entered. “Would the lady like to bathe?” The woman sounded as if she was hoping Hadley would agree, as if her filth offended the servant.
Hadley looked at me as if silently asking for permission. I was glad for her deference.
“We will both have one,” I announced. “If you finish before me, wait for me by the exit.”
For a moment, I thought she would disagree as she looked at me from the side, but eventually she nodded.
I didn’t know if she had something planned, but I doubted she would finish bathing before me. She was very dirty, and she had a lot of hair.
She waited for me as I walked around the table to leave.
“You said your name is Jon Oklar?” she asked.
I hadn’t told her that in person. It was a little eerie.
“Yes.”
“Do you promise that no punishment will come to me if I return with you?”
“I still haven’t asked you what crimes you’ve committed.”
“But you have some idea.”
The servant watched and waited, Hadley shooting a look in her direction. She looked down and pretended not to be listening.
“I do,” I admitted. “Remi says you only cursed people who deserved it. If that’s true, then no punishment will come to you.”
“You swear it?”
I scratched my face. I remembered the last time I’d made an oath to someone without asking the king first. It was when I’d first met Jennava in Koluk. I’d promised I would get an army into the forest to aid her. The king had refused to listen, so I’d taken it upon myself to get the army there.
I’d been punished quite severely afterward.
“I can’t promise something that I don’t have the power to promise,” I said.
She frowned.
“But,” I continued, “I will promise that I will stand up for you if you have intentions to help us. Is that the case?”
“That’s the only reason I’ve agreed to meet you here.”
“Really?” I asked somewhat dubiously. “It’s not because you are sick of running?”
“No. Well, I am, but that is not the reason. You said you need my help. I have wished to help Lycast for years now. I have done so in many small ways. I have touched the lives of several people, like Remi, who could not find justice in any other way, but I have not had the courage to approach the king himself and offer my service. I feared what might become of me would be a permanent relocation to the dungeons. However, everything changed after I spoke with you. But now I must ask to see your papers, and then I believe everything will be set in motion.”
There was something different about the way she spoke, not the words she chose, though they did give me a clue that she had been highly educated like Kataleya and Reuben had. It was that she seemed to have a slight accent with some words, something I attributed to her being from Rohaer.
I passed off my papers. She seemed surprised by what she saw.
“You’re not much older than I am,” she said as she gave them back. “You seem older.”
I felt older as well. The loss of my father had done that to me.
“What kind of sorcerer are you?” she asked.
“A wizard,” I informed her.
She didn’t seem too impressed to meet a wizard. Perhaps there were more of them where she came from.
“I thought you might be the healer I heard about who was traveling around Lycast,” she said with disappointment. “I heard things about his description that…I thought matched your appearance.”
I was curious what those things might be, but I shook my head. “Are you hurt?” I asked.
“No. I was just looking forward to meeting him. When you discover I wish to assist your king in this war, am I going to meet him eventually?”
“You will.”
I didn’t know why I wasn’t inclined to tell her the truth. Perhaps I just wanted to keep something private because it felt like she already had assumed so much about not only me but what we would be doing together.
I had barely spoken to her, but I was almost certain I understood what she was like because I saw much of myself in her. It was as if she was prepared to go through life without humor or enjoyment of any kind…as if her purpose was everything.
I wondered if this was the impression I gave my peers. Seeing these features on someone else made me want to loosen up. There was no reason to be so severe. I had already chosen my path through life. So long as I didn’t take any detours, what was the problem with enjoying it along the way?
“I’m putting my life in your hands, wizard,” she said. “I expect my things will be returned after the king has given me his blessing.”
“I’d imagine that’s the case.”
“Then I will wait.”
She started to leave, following the servant out.
“You still haven’t really explained why you trust me,” I said.
She turned around. “I don’t completely. However, I know what I felt from you when we spoke through mana. I knew I could trust you enough, at least to meet.”
So it was mana that had allowed us to talk, and it was mana that gave me the feeling that I could trust her. I hoped she understood how it worked and would be inclined to explain it to me.
I watched her stroll out of the room confidently, as if she didn’t have a single fear about leaving with me.
I wanted to trust her. No, it was more than that. I felt I had been playing a game all this time without realizing I was missing a piece. And now I wanted her to be