The vision broke, and Ezer was left staring down at the top of the raphon’s head again.
It was positively jarring, and yet … something sparked in the back of her mind. A story Ervos had told her once, long ago, about a princess and her pet dragon. A magical companionship, as lovely as it was fearsome, for the two had forged a lifelong bond.
When the dragon died, a part of the princess died, too, for they’d forged their souls into one being. It was heartbreak that killed the princess in the end, for she was unable to live without that bond.
Ezer had cried the first time Ervos told her the story. It wasn’t real, she knew, for dragons didn’t exist in Lordach. Only wyverns.
But perhaps she could take something from the tale.
‘You use the visions to speak to me,’ she said as she scratched the top of the raphon’s head. ‘Is that right?’
She barely noticed when Six’s tail twitched, just once.
‘I don’t suppose that would be possible. But …’
Another twitch of Six’s tail.
Ezer widened her eyes.
‘Youarespeaking to me. Aren’t you?’ Ezer asked. ‘Show me again.’
It seemed impossible that the raphon could do such a thing. Because that would requiremagicof some sort. Magic that would allow a single touch to spark a vision into Ezer’s mind. Magic that no one seemed to know about, in all the books she’d read on raphons, in all the journal entries she’d looked back on thus far.
Not even Kinlear knew about what the beast could do.
But the vision suddenly came again, as if truly on command, stealing her sight away to that dark and swirling sea.
Two feathers floated side by side, one dark and one light.
Ezer kept her hand on the pup’s head, desperate to hold on to the image in her mind. It faded anyway, as if Six was done speaking.
‘It’s you,’ she said. ‘And me.’
She felt it, as sure as she felt the stones behind her head, the coldness lingering inside the cell.
And Six’s tail twitched again, just once.
‘Yes,’ whispered the wind.
Its arrival was sudden, but not unwelcome. She’d missed its voice lately, but she supposed that meant she’d also been out of any true danger.
Ezer grinned.
‘Do you have magic, Six?’
A single twitch.
Yes.
‘Incredible,’ Ezer breathed. ‘Does anyone else know?’
This time, the beast twitched her tail twice.
No.
No open-ended questions would do, but at least they had a way forward now. A mutual understanding of one another’s wants and needs.
Ezer’s heart began to pound in excitement.
