by Elina Vale
Boa then frowned, opened his jacket, and lifted his shirt and frowned. The markings were there. Black circles and twirls, weird symbols that meant nothing to him.
Eavan slightly moved, stretched her arms above her head, and opened her eyes. Boa covered his bare chest and closed his jacket. She blinked a couple of times and then smiled when she met Boa’s eyes. Eavan pushed herself up, sitting. She stared at Boa for a while, quietly, and then said, “Boa Riverson, I...I have a confession to make.”
Boa frowned. “What kind of confession?”
Her face was serious, and her eyes had a weird look about them. Was it guilt?
“I had a vision. I didn’t understand it at first, but then after what I’ve learned today... Now I get it.”
Boa sighed. She had just nearly been killed, and there she was, on the go again with her magic stuff. Boa cleared his throat and took a sip from his flask.
“A vision? What’s that?”
Eavan stared at the flames. “I’m a foreseer. I get these…visions. I see glimpses of the future, things that might happen, things that could one day become, or not, depending on the choices people make in this time.”
Boa coughed and nearly choked. “Are you serious? You can see the future?”
She smirked to Boa’s astonishment. “Of course I am. My visions started when I was fourteen. Most of the time the visions were erratic and weird, only some vivid colors and flashing images that made no sense. Something that could be counted just as a weird dream. But they got clearer by the time.” She glanced at Boa. “I had a vision about the red brellyboat, remember?”
Boa nodded. “I remember, I just thought it was a coincidence or…some weird senatai stuff. What about it?”
Eavan bit her lip. She looked suddenly very shy. Boa could’ve sworn she even blushed.
“Do you remember, the day we first met and I stood silently on the road, staring into nothingness after you?”
“Yeah. I thought you were nuts. Turned out, I was right about that." Boa snorted. "You had a vision?”
Eavan nodded and grimaced. “Yes. It had you in it.”
Boa lifted his eyebrows. “Really? Now you're dreaming about me? Uh, Eavan.”
She didn’t laugh. “Yes... I mean not like that. But I saw us having...a certain kind of relationship that I haven’t yet seen to be necessary for me.” She paused for a while, biting her lip, and then took a breath.
“I saw you as my drokashai.”
Boa splurged out the water, and it hissed when it hit the flames. He wiped his wet jaw, glaring at Eavan through the flames. “Well, your vision was wrong. I hate magic, remember. Taking a magic-hating man as your drokashai…” He let his words wither away as Eavan rolled her head.
Eavan closed her eyes. “I know that, Boa. But there’s more.”
Boa rolled his eyes. “Oh, nice. What?”
She opened her eyes again and sighed. She was quiet for a while, considering her words, and then said, “In my vision, I saw, that if you and I won’t become fighting companions, something terrible will happen. The blackness, the dark magic you talked about, will win... Thanks to you, I now understand my vision.” She fixed her black, burning eyes on Boa’s. There was such intensity in them that Boa nearly pulled away from her. She rose higher on her knees and stared at Boa. “We must stop it.”
Boa pointed at himself and Eavan. “As in you and me? We are going to stop the rising of the evil black magic and some crazy wicked senatai and save the world?”
She tilted her head and then nodded with confidence. “Yes. Well, actually, we must do some groundwork for a decade or two… You see, there will be someone else, a girl. She will be the one who will destroy the evil. I’ve seen her face in my visions too. Now I understand them.”
Boa sighed and rolled his head. “Eavan, Like I told to Karla, I don’t want anything to do with it. And—”
Eavan stood up, took the map from her pocket and handed it to Boa. “I will find the pendant with you and let you keep it. You know, the three senatai who cursed you died, but the markings are still there, Boa. It must mean something. Maybe the curse isn’t truly gone? What if someone still has you in their grip?”
Boa took the map and stared at Eavan. Her half-scorched hair didn’t diminish her beauty, and she stood tall, chin up and hands on her hips. Boa squinted his eyes, pondering. To travel, to fight with Eavan… That had been fun. She wasn’t that bad, actually. If he had to describe a true hero to someone, he would describe all of Eavan’s qualities—brave, fearless, smart, skilled, cunning, willing to sacrifice her life for a cause. A true heroine. But to go with her to the Spike, the tower of magic in Ironflare? To be surrounded by hundreds of senatai?
Eavan gazed at Boa under her dark, long eyelashes. “Please. Can we try this out? I’ll make a deal with you.”
Boa’s heart pounded like a hammer. Eavan's intense eyes drilled holes into his very soul. It was like the whole world had stopped around them. There was only him and Eavan, the fire between them and the silent forest around them. He cleared his throat and whispered, “What kind of a deal?”
“Train yourself and become my drokashai. A fighting companion for me. You know that’s the best training a man or a woman can get in this land. When you and I have completed our training, we’ll leave the tower. We’ll travel the world and find out everything we know about this dark magic and the artifact the one senatai talked about, the...the Star… After five years, if you're not happy, you can leave me, live your life on your own and forget all about magic and senatai.”
Boa rubbed the markings on his chest. She was right, they were still there. And if he would go with Eavan, he could get the pendant and keep hidden from the senatai.
Eavan whispered, “Your life could have a bigger meaning. You could accomplish something grand.”
Fight the black magic. Him? Boa rubbed his face with his hands and took a deep breath. He put the map into his inner pocket and made up his mind. He wouldn't let the sacrifice his parents made, go to waste. He could also spend some more time with Eavan, even if it meant facing his worst fears.
Boa fixed his eyes to Eavan’s black, alluring ones, and smiled with his teeth flashing in the dim light. Eavan smiled back, and somehow, seeing that smile made Boa very happy.
“Fine. Eavan Firestone, I’ll become your drokashai. But only for the next five years!”
Boa studied Eavan’s expression. She smiled and sat down, looking content. Boa squinted his eyes and shook his head. “You've had one of your visions that I would agree in this, didn’t you?”
Eavan grinned, winked, and her eyes lit up with magical light.
The story continues…
The Gate Run: Legends of Shadear (Shri Moongale Book 1)
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