Chapter 13 | Part 5

The light changed without becoming morning.

Drusniel woke against a rock wall.

Everything hurt.

Elion sat nearby.

“You stayed.”

“You came back for me.”

“No one’s done that before?”

Elion shook his head.

Drusniel picked a fleck of rust from his palm.

“You treated me like a person.”

“You are a person.”

Drusniel looked away first.

“What now?” Elion asked.

“Szoravel.”

“Who?”

“A mage. East. Beyond the disputed territories.”

“I know parts of east.”

“From the memories?”

“Some.”

“Do you know Szoravel?”

“No.”

Drusniel looked at him.

“What are you?”

Elion considered his hands again.

“I don’t know.”

“What can you do?”

“Change.”

“Into what?”

“Things.”

“Specific.”

“I know.”

A small movement at the corner of Elion’s mouth.

Then it vanished.

“Sometimes I know how a shape moves before I take it. Where it has been. What frightened it.” He rubbed his wrist. “Might be from something I copied. Might not. I can’t tell.”

“Can you choose the memories?”

“No.”

“Can you trust them?”

“Not completely.”

Drusniel nodded.

Elion stood.

“Why did you open my cage?”

Drusniel looked at the red marks on Elion’s wrist, where the bars had pressed.

“I had enough left for your lock.”

“You could have kept walking.”

“I know.”

Elion extended a hand.

“Together?”

Drusniel took it.

“East.”

Elion pulled him up.

“East,” he agreed. “Walking free.”

They gathered the waterskin, food and blanket.

Then they started toward the volcanic glow.

End of Chapter 13.5 —> 14.1: Naming Without Explaining: The Recognition