Kamira felt herself taking a step backward, trying to distance herself.
“It’s okay. I’m not going to do anything to you. You don’t have to be scared.” He offered her another gentle smile. “It's been a long time since I’ve been in the presence of a Legion. The others have never met one, but when a Legion is near, the air shifts around them in a way that feels like the currents of the sea. Something that the other Sorcerers wouldn’t understand.” He turned toward the path again and began walking, motioning for her to follow. “Do you know much about the Legions? I suspect you are probably only one of a few left in Emmoria. We had all thought they were eradicated long ago.”
“I…” Kamira stretched her mind to find the words. “No. I only know the little my family has told me. That Legions control all the elements and the Emperor hunted them, destroying them long ago.”
Rogaan nodded, bringing a hand up to stroke his chin before continuing, “Legions always were far and few inbetween, but they all descended from one being. The original Legion, Honoria the protector.”
Kamira balked, stopping in her tracks. “The woman from the War of the Four Kings?”
Rogaan laughed. “Yes, the Legion who raised an army of the dead to end the Elemental War centuries ago. She is your ancestor.”
“That story is real? All those things actually happened?”
He smiled. “As real as you and I.”
Kamira noticed for the first time the true lines of age on his face and the subtle hints of gray hair mingled in with his dark tresses. It was known that Sorcerers hid their age much better than the Ungifted, living many decades beyond them. The average lifespan for an Ungifted was eighty years, whereas the average for a Sorcerer was thirty years beyond that. She wondered how old Rogaan really was. She imagined he was older than Cormac by at least a decade.
“Being a Legion is a special thing, even more so now. There aren’t many left. You may be one of only a handful remaining.”
One of three to be exact, Kamira thought. Her entire family, except for her father, were all Legions, but she was curious if there were more this man knew of. “Do you know of any other surviving Legions?”
“The only other one I know of is Forcina.”
Kamira coughed, choking on her own saliva. “What?!”
Rogaan looked at her with an arched gray brow. “I thought you knew. Forcina is a very, very powerful Sorceress. We believe she is a Legion and, likely, closely related to you, but she is also something else. She has traveled for decades, roaming the seas, looking for more power in other lands. And she has succeeded in finding it. She is far more powerful and terrifying than a Legion now.”
Kamira couldn’t breathe. This was more than she had ever learned about herself, about Emmoria even. Forcina had traveled outside of Emmoria. She didn’t even know any other lands existed beyond theirs.
“It is why I had my outburst earlier. I have taken great measures to hide this place from Forcina. She is unruly, and her power is too great for us to withstand. If she were to find our oasis,” he paused, taking a deep breath, “there is no knowing what she would do. She can’t stand the fact that the Ungifted were able to take over our Empire. We are now weak in her eyes. It is why you, another Legion, being here is dangerous for us. If she can sense you, as I can, then she may be on her way here as we speak.”
Kamira frowned at that. If that were true, wouldn’t Forcina have found her easily when she was in Neilmaar with Jaario? She had looked directly at her, but then simply just walked on. Maybe Rogaan was mistaken. “I’ve been on the ship with Doraan’s crew for over a week, and she didn’t know I was there until I made myself known to her. I don’t think she can sense me as you can.”
“Let’s hope that is true, for all our sakes, but you understand why we must ask you to leave at first light?”
She offered him a small smile of acknowledgement. “I understand. Don’t worry, we will honor your wishes.”
He nodded his gratitude.
They continued to walk in silence for a time, watching as the sun began to set, casting a splash of fuchsia and lavender across the horizon. She was admiring the beauty of it, enjoying the change in color as the sun set further, the colors melding into one another, creating a darker magenta along the skyline.
That color had a thought suddenly popping into her head. “Do you think it is possible that Forcina somehow found a way to bend someone's fate during her journeys across the sea? That she learned a new skill, something that we are also capable of but just haven’t had the tools to learn it?”
Rogaan furrowed his brow, thinking over her question. “It is possible. I’m still not sure I understand how she did what she did to your friends. If that is true, and she has really learned to change a person’s fate, bending their lives to her will, then I’m afraid there is no hope for them. The only way to change it is to hope she reverses whatever strange magic she had wielded, or kill her and hope what she has done will be broken.”
That wasn’t the answer Kamira was looking for, but she knew it was the only one he could give. He was right. They didn’t understand anything that Forcina had done. It was something that had never been done in Emmoria before, and so it was something so foreign that Kamira still could barely comprehend it.
But Kamirawasa Legion, just like Forcina. If Forcina had been able to learn to bend fate, then maybe Kamira could, too. They needed to travel over the ocean, find the lands that Forcina had been to, and figure out what she had discovered. Their adventure didn’t end here. There was more to their story, more to Doraan’s and the crew’s stories. She needed to find Doraan and tell him what she had learned.
“The festival will be starting soon. Tonight we celebrate the Legions who gave their lives to save us,” Rogaan said. “Tonight we celebrate your ancestors and you.”
Kamira smiled at the older man, nodding her gratitude to him for all he had told her—for the knowledge she had gained from him—all the while wondering why Adonis had told her to keep her gifts a secret from these people.
28
Doraan
Nightwasclosinginaround them as the entire crew made their way to the island’s center where the festival was to be held. Doraan’s mouth dropped open as they turned a corner and beheld the spectacle before them.
