From Flame and Ash

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  The magic pulled at me, licked at my skin. This was where I needed to be. Soon, I would see my friends. Soon, I would know what path I needed to take and would stop hiding. Because the others needed me, and frankly, I needed them. So I took a step, and then another. The magic tugged at me, pulling, fraying. Braelynn purred against my neck as if she enjoyed the feeling. If I were honest with myself, maybe I was enjoying it, too. It was as if I were coming home after a long journey to something familiar and sweet.

  It didn’t make any sense because I had only been here once before, yet I knew this was where I needed to be.

  And as I stepped into the bright light that was the southern Spirit territory, I shielded my eyes with my hand. Braelynn leaned into me, still purring as she faced forward. I focused on the three shadows coming towards me. Three figures that didn’t feel like the dark energy of the Negs or as if they were trying to hurt me.

  But they didn’t feel familiar.

  When they walked into the light in my line of sight, they didn’t look like anyone I knew either.

  I held up my hands, the earth beneath me rattling just a bit, and the air sliding between my fingers. I was ready to fight back if needed.

  But then a man held up his hands, his deep voice rumbling. I froze. I did not know these people, but it seemed they knew me.

  “Lyric? Good, Alura said you would be here.”

  I didn’t know this man, but he clearly knew me. Or of me.

  “Who are you?” I asked, not backing down on my Wielding. I had learned to protect myself, at least somewhat, and that was better than when I’d first stepped foot into this realm a year ago.

  The woman standing beside the man who’d spoken rolled her eyes. “Really, Teagan? You’re just going to call out her name and act like we aren’t strangers?” She came forward then, her dark hair lustrous. She was absolutely stunning, but I had no idea who she was.

  “Sorry for that. I’m Aerwyna, but call me Wyn. This is Teagan.” She pointed over to the bigger man who had first talked. “And this is Arwin,” she said, pointing to the smaller male who looked more like a boy than a man. But I couldn’t really tell what age anybody was. Considering that Rhodes and Easton were in their two hundreds and looked my age, I probably wouldn’t be able to.

  “That doesn’t really help me,” I said, my voice terse. “Just because you know my name doesn’t mean I should know you.”

  “I knew this was going to happen.” Wyn shook her head, tossing her hair back from her face. “We’re Easton’s friends. From the Obscurité Kingdom. And we’re here to take you back to the court so you can begin your training.”

  Training?

  “Easton?” I asked, my voice breathy, my palms going clammy.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I was supposed to contact him if I needed him. And I hadn’t. I didn’t need him. And if I kept telling myself that, maybe I would believe it. Because contacting Easton meant that I was making a choice, and I didn’t want to do that at all. I didn’t want to decide between the two kingdoms. I wanted to save them both. I needed to help them. However I could.

  But that meant that Rhodes and Rosamond hadn’t sent for me. Hadn’t wanted to help.

  I swallowed hard and studied the three people in front of me. Wyn had her hair down, the strands blowing around her shoulders. Her skin was paler than mine, making the red of her lips stand out. She had huge, light blue eyes that were almost gray and seemed to be filled with knowledge and humor at the same time.

  Teagan was just as large as Luken, Rhodes’ second in command and friend. He was broad, and while Luken was light and blond, Teagan had darker hair that wasn’t quite as long, though it looked like he raked it back with his fingers often. Teagan’s skin appeared tan, maybe from being outdoors often, while the other man was a bit paler with shorter hair that had designs cut into it.

  Now that I looked at them, felt their Wielding, I knew they weren’t Lumiére. I could feel the Wielding of Fire and Earth on them, though I couldn’t tell which person held which magic. But these three were not of the Lumiére Kingdom.

  These were Obscurité.

  The other kingdom.

  And not my friends.

  Chapter Four

  “I have a note from Easton,” Wyn said, coming forward slowly, her hands out as if to say that she came in peace. She shook her head and sighed. “I knew he should have come with us, or at least had us bring someone you might have met in the court. But everything’s a little…uneasy at the moment, so we’re the ones who came to take you home.”

  I didn’t take a step back like I wanted as she moved towards me. For some reason, I felt as if they were telling the truth. It wasn’t like I could truly trust them since I had no idea who they were, nor did I know if I could actually trust Easton, but he had helped me when I needed it. He had tried to help his people, as well. Now, he was trying to rule them.

  I had no idea about his character or who he truly was, other than the fact that he had fought by Rhodes’ side as if they had done it for decades. Maybe they had fought like that for decades. Centuries. It wasn’t as if I truly knew anything about their history. The time I had been with Rhodes had told me that I could fall for him, that I thought maybe he would be mine. That perhaps the connection between us was important.

  But I had been wrong about that.

  I pushed those thoughts from my head, wondering why they had come at all. Because it didn’t really matter right then. The only thing that mattered was these three people in front of me as I stood in front of the crevice that led to the human realm. We were out in the open, the glaring sun from the Spirit territory shining down on us.

  I had always thought that this area had a sepia tone over it as if the sun got a little too bright yet not bright enough at the same time. It was a large desert with craggy rocks all around, the ground so dry that it had broken pieces in it as if it had once been a great area of water but was now just barren desert.

  I knew there were trees to the east of us towards the Earth territory, but I didn’t know if there were any north or to the west.

  In fact, now that I really thought about the terrain, I figured the two courts were directly north of us. The way the Spirit territories were divided, each was a triangle of sorts, with the peaks coming together to contain the Obscurité and Lumiére courts. The courts themselves didn’t touch, their borders dark with magic until it was so opaque that I knew no one could get through. Maybe they could have in the past, but not after the Fall.

  From what I’d read, the Spirit territories did not have courts. There hadn’t been a king or queen for those territories, especially not after the Fall. I didn’t know who ruled them, or if anyone had. Because once the Fall happened, all of the Spirit Wielders left the realm. They had either hidden amongst the others, died, or had gone to the human realm, never to be heard from again.

  I knew there were at least twelve.

  Twelve who had stood on a clock in my dreams, facing me in order to tell me that something was coming, that I was needed. Those twelve had all helped me, had tried to save me.

  In fact, they had saved me in the end. Although, for some reason, I knew that might be the one and only time they could ever do it.

  It had taken great energy to even connect to me. I knew that much somehow, but I didn’t really know much else.

  “Lyric? Can we take you with us? Can we take you home?”

  I blinked at Wyn’s voice, pulling my thoughts from Spirit Wielders and histories that didn’t need to be gone through just then. Some said you needed to look past the history and what had come so you could look towards the future. I didn’t believe that. Yes, I needed to look forward, but I also needed to know what had come before, what had made all of us so I could figure out where my place was, what my purpose was.

  “You keep saying home. You mean the Obscurité Court. Your home?”

  Wyn winced. “Yes, sorry about that. I know your home is in the human realm where you just came from. Ri
ght? That’s at least what Easton said. He said he actually took you back there before. And that you could have contacted him at any point to come and bring you back, but you didn’t.”

  “You seem to know a lot about what Easton told me.” I didn’t know who this woman was, or her relationship to Easton, but she did have almost all of the information that Easton would have had about me. Almost.

  “I’m just telling you what he told me.”

  “And yet, you’re here. So that means you contacted Alura? How do you know her?” I didn’t just want to go off with these people, even though I really didn’t have a choice at this point. I couldn’t go back to the human realm, I knew that. I needed to find my place here. But I couldn’t find my way to the Lumiére Kingdom on my own. Rhodes and Rosamond hadn’t asked for me, but I also hadn’t asked to go to them. The fault lay with both of us, and only one kingdom had actually brought people out to come for me.

  Maybe I had to trust in that.

  The Air between my fingers sizzled, and I let out a breath. My Wielding loved being back in this realm, and I could feel it deep down in my bones that I was supposed to be here.

  I had known that I was meant to be in this realm the first time I stepped onto its ground, though I hadn’t known what it really signified at the time.

  Now, I was here for a purpose.

  “I don’t really know what else to tell you other than we should probably get going. The Negs could be here. They’ve been patrolling more often.”

  “Why is that? Is everyone okay?” I needed to stop thinking about just myself and instead think about the people here that needed help. They were dying because of not only what the knight had done, but also because the crystals that fed the Maisons their Wielding and life forces were failing. The more the crystals dimmed, the more people we would lose.

  “We’re getting better. Lore screwed us up a bit, but we’re not going to let that stop us from rebuilding.” Teagan was the one who spoke that time. I turned to him. He was strong, and he looked it. His voice was low, and there was such promise in his tone that I really did believe that he wanted to help his people. I just didn’t know where I fit into that.

  “I know you don’t know us, and you didn’t really have a lot of time in the Obscurité Kingdom to actually meet everybody, but we’re here to help you back to the court.” It was Arwin that spoke this time, and I looked at the younger man. For all I knew, he could be hundreds of years older than I was, but he seemed younger in the way he spoke and the manner with which he held himself. I didn’t really know. It was just a feeling.

  “Alura told me to trust who was on the other side.” As soon as I said her name, the bracelet on my wrist warmed, and I looked down at it. The Fire and Earth elemental charms brightened on my wrist, and my eyes widened. It seemed the magic that she had put into whatever I was wearing wanted me to go to the Obscurité Court.

  I might have been seeing things, but I knew I had to go. After all, there was nowhere else to go.

  “Alura gave you that?” Wyn asked, her voice careful.

  I lowered my hand and stared at her. “Yes. She said it was for protection and other things she didn’t elaborate on. She doesn’t seem to tell me much.”

  Wyn’s shoulders dropped as if she were releasing tension. “That’s good. Protection is good.”

  “What did you think it was?” I asked.

  “Oh, it could have been anything when it comes to Alura. But if she says it’s for protection, then it’s for protection. She would never lie about that.”

  I swallowed hard. “So you’re saying she would lie about something else?”

  Teagan let out a gruff laugh. “Great job, Wyn, you’re making sure that you stress her out and make her not want to trust us at all.”

  “Oh, shut up. I’m sorry, Lyric. It’s been a long journey, and we still have a longer one to go. Easton would have opened a portal through the crystal to get us back quickly, but none of us wanted to waste the energy. I hope you understand. We’re going to have to make our way back to the court on foot.”

  I nodded, having expected that—only with Rhodes to the Lumiére, and not Easton or his people to the Obscurité. “I figured. And I don’t want to use any more energy than we need to. I know that the land needs the crystal. That the people need it. And I’m going to do whatever I can to help fix that. Not that I actually know what I’m doing,” I added when all of their eyes warmed just a bit as if they were waiting for me to come out with all the answers. I had none. And from what I could see, they didn’t have any answers either.

  “Well, let’s be off. We’re going straight north instead of through one of the other territories. We should be fine, but we’re going to move quickly. It’ll take a couple days, mostly because we’re going on foot. But then we’ll make it to the Obscurité Kingdom, and we’ll be able to see Easton. And then he’ll tell us exactly what we’re doing.”

  I nodded at Wyn’s words and then followed them as they turned back to where they had stashed their packs.

  It seemed the four of us were going on a journey, something that reminded me of my first trip here.

  Braelynn nuzzled my neck, and I blinked, having forgotten about my best friend on my shoulder.

  The fact that the others hadn’t commented on the cat with wings stashed in my pack told me that either she had hidden the whole time during the conversation or Easton had warned them.

  “Is your friend going to be okay during the journey?” Wyn asked, seeming genuinely interested. She reached out a hand, and Braelynn sniffed it before nuzzling her. Such a typical cat gesture. I was actually surprised that she didn’t lash out. Braelynn wasn’t violent, but if somebody came at her a little too quickly, she got startled and used her claws rather than her purrs.

  “Alura said she would be fine and hooked up this whole harness thing.”

  “If she gets too heavy for you, one of us can carry her. I don’t think those wings of hers are ready for flight just yet.” Teagan winked as he said it, and Braelynn let out a little mewling sound.

  Yet? Would Braelynn ever be able to fly?

  I pondered that as Braelynn let Teagan pet her before doing the same with Arwin. Then the five of us were off for our long walk up the Spirit territory towards the Obscurité Court.

  I had been here before, though I hadn’t been in this part of the territory. The closer we got to the Obscurité Kingdom, the more rock faces there were. There weren’t ruins or evidence of large civilizations. It was as if all of that had been erased from the face of the territory altogether.

  It probably should have worried me, wondering where all the Spirit Wielders once lived. But after five hundred years, half a millennium of harsh winds and even harsher sunlight, maybe none of that survived. Perhaps the evidence of who those people were had gotten just as lost as the people themselves.

  “So, do you all work for Easton?”

  Teagan laughed again but nodded.

  “Sort of. Easton and I have been best friends since we were kids. He’s an asshole, but he’s my king.” Teagan did a sort of bow thing as we kept going, and I snorted.

  “Well, Easton was kind of a butthead to me, but he did save my life.” I paused at that, remembering the pain, the Fire. But he had tried to protect me, and he had watched as his mother died as she sacrificed herself to save me. I didn’t think I would ever be able to find a way to repay that selflessness. And I didn’t imagine the boy I had seen would ever be able to forgive me for what his mother had done.

  But that was something I would have to face soon. We were only a couple of days’ journey from where Easton was, where the King of Obscurité was. I would have to face him sooner rather than later and confront exactly what it meant to see the boy who might blame me for his mother’s death.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have come with these people after all.

  “He doesn’t blame you,” Wyn said softly as the others moved forward. Braelynn was now on Teagan’s shoulder, her little harness attached to h
is bag. Braelynn hadn’t been too heavy for me, but Teagan had said that he didn’t want me to tire out. In fact, he’d been kind of gruff about it, mumbling about how weak I would be if I kept moving at this pace while holding a cat. I couldn’t make any sense of it, but I let him take her away because she seemed to trust him. Brae was my barometer of trust these days. As were most cats.

  If a cat didn’t like you, there was likely a good reason.

  Or maybe that was dogs.

  Either way, Brae was my test, and I was sticking to it.

  “What?” I asked as Wyn nudged me.

  “I said, Easton doesn’t blame you.”

  I swallowed hard. “How did you know what I was thinking about?”

  Wyn just sighed. “I can’t read minds, and I’m not a Seer. But I know when people are feeling guilt or something painful. It almost hits me. Maybe I’m an emotional Seer. Who knows? But I know that you’re in pain. And it’s not just from what happened to you when Lore betrayed us. I know it has to do with what you saw, and what Queen Cameo did. Easton doesn’t blame you. How could he? You’re the Spirit Priestess.”

  I didn’t flinch at Wyn’s use of the title. That had to count for progress, right? “You say that, yet I can blame myself for it. She didn’t have to do that. Yes, I will always blame Lore for what happened, but I had some role in it, too. If I had been fast enough, if I had found a way, maybe it wouldn’t have happened at all. Maybe Cameo would still be here.”

  “And maybe if the three of us—me, Teagan, and Arwin—hadn’t been on patrol on the other side of the Spirit territory dealing with a roundup of Negs, we would have been able to save the queen. Maybe if we hadn’t been so positive that something was wrong, so sure that we needed to leave because we were trying to save our people, we would have been in that throne room to help Easton. But we weren’t. We weren’t there, and now the queen is dead. Long live the king.”

  We didn’t speak much after Wyn’s whispered words, my thoughts rolling around from one topic to another. I knew I was here to train, to figure out my role in all of this, but maybe everybody else was, as well. Perhaps nobody knew where they truly fit into this war that didn’t seem so much like a war but an ongoing battle that never seemed to end.