“Wow, look at him!” Clause cried as he bent over the creature. “What on earth did you get into?” Ezra watched in amazement as Clause practically slipped into a trance. He rubbed the beast’s coarse hair between his fingers and then traced the massive tusks. He started muttering to himself, so low that Ezra couldn’t even make out his words, as he knelt and began to rifle through his multitude of pockets.
Will’s eyes widened, and he silently caught Ezra’s attention. He cocked his head towards the scholar and slightly raised his hands as if to ask a question. Ezra frowned. He vaguely remembered Clause doing this a few times before leaving the castle, but Ezra had always left Clause in peace and found something more interesting to do.
“So you’ve never seen this before?” Ezra asked hesitantly.
Clause didn’t answer at first, not until he had dug out a loose piece of cloth from his breast pocket and some twine that was stored in his open-vest. “Nope,” He finally replied, still half-speaking to himself. “This is a new one for me, but I wonder if it’s got something to do with Damarian’s army.” He yanked a clump of bristles free. “Can I see that dagger of yous?”
“What would a boar have to do with Damarian?” Will asked as Ezra placed his dagger in Clause’s open hand. Ezra shot Will a look, but the boy paid him no mind.
“I suspected a bit of black magic worked into his army- there are a few apothecaries that would do the trick- for individuals. Personally I didn’t find it possible for someone to amass enough resources to sustain such a large army, though.” Balancing the cloth in one hand, Clause began to scrape bits of the boar’s tusks off. A fine powder trickled down into his covered palm. “Only, humans can’t use magic- so I dismissed the thought...” He frowned. “Shouldn’t have done that.”
“And the fact that the boar’s black makes you think this? Really, you’re going off of colors?” Will asked.
Ezra winced and took a step back as Clause halted in his work. He silently wished he had had the sense to send Will back to the circle- the boy didn’t know when to hold his tongue.
Clause’s gaze turned steely. “Why the hell do you think we call it black magic? No shit black magic leaves black marks behind. It’s literally dark, not just figuratively.” He thrust the blade of the dagger into the ground. and carefully began to ball up the twine. “You’re lucky it was just a boar this time. You think you’ve seen strange stuff now- just wait until we head a little deeper into the woods- a bit farther away from your civilization. Where we’re going, there’s going to be creatures even I have the sense to run from.”
Will’s face paled. He opened his mouth, but finding no words, closed it again and rubbed his neck.
“Why don’t you go back, Will.” Ezra said. “We’ll finish up here.” Will glowered at him, but silently turned on his heels and stalked off. Ezra knelt down and retrieved his dagger. “You didn’t need to do that.” he said softly.
“Magic isn’t a joke. You’d think he’d already have his head wrapped around that one.”
“You forget Clause, for most of us magic is a fairytale. Sure we know you’ve got your special herbs-” he added quickly, “-but magic, real magic? To most of us that’s the stuff of myths and legends.”
The two stood. Clause cocked his head at assessed Ezra as he tucked his samples away. “Not you, though.”
“No, not me. But my parents had more liberal views, and didn’t mind me hanging around folk others would consider odd.”
Clause didn’t smile, but Ezra could see the tension drain from his body. “Right then. Well, whether you like it or not, I’m going to be a hard-ass. I have to, or you three will wind up doing something that could get us all killed.” Despite his words, Ezra felt reassured.
“Fair enough, but have a little more patience with Will. It’s not like first impressions went over too well.”
“Alright, Ez. I’ll save the more lengthy discussions about magic and the woods for our break at the cabin. But we are going to sit down and have a frank chat, and I don’t really care who gets their feelings hurt over it.”
“Deal. Are you packed up here? Or did you need more… samples?”
“Nah, I’m all set. Let’s go.” Clause took one last moment to dust of his hands, and then led Ezra back to the ring.
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