Ember: Echoes of Ashes - Book 1

by Jessica Schmidt

  “I found her!” It was Reia, suddenly bursting through a bush into the small clearing, followed closely by Emery.

  “Gods,” said the fae woman when she saw Midiga. Without question, she knelt down next to where Alleria was still crying and placed her hands on the wound. She closed her eyes, and her skin began to glow. Tendrils of wispy, green magic were flowing from her fingertips into Midiga’s body. Midiga’s breathing instantly improved, and her skin began to regrow over the cut.

  After a few minutes, Emery pulled back her hands and sat back roughly, looking exhausted. “She... will take a while to come to. Her body needs time to heal in its unconscious state before she can come back to us—but she will live.”

  It all happened so fast. So easily. Alleria, who had peeked out from behind her hands to watch Emery’s process, immediately covered her face again. She shuddered with a silent sob and didn’t even move when Reia came to curl up at her side.

  Laderic breathed a heavy sigh of relief, still sitting on the ground. He felt like the weight of the world had just been lifted off his shoulders. He and Midiga had been through worse fights than this but never had he come so close to watching her die. Just dumb luck. Bad luck.

  The group sat in silence for quite a while. Laderic eventually stood and walked off into the forest alone. No one followed him, but Alleria watched him go through her fingers. Emery sat cross-legged on the forest floor, meditating with her hands on her knees. The forest around her shone and sparkled. The dirt was sprouting tiny grass spears and little flowers. A breeze ruffled the leaves above them, scattering sunlight and shadows all around the forest floor. Alleria slowly removed her hands from her face, taking a deep breath of fresh, crisp air from around her. The weather really was beautiful, and if she hadn’t just endured a near tragedy, she would almost be enjoying herself.

  Laderic came back from the woods a while later, his pack slung over his shoulder. Alleria had left it on the ground back at their previous stopping point when she took off to find Reia. Someone could have easily found it and stolen all of Laderic’s things. Feeling even worse about herself, she brought her knees to her chest and buried her face in them.

  Laderic’s mind was somewhere completely different. He was so thankful that Midiga had been saved, repeatedly thinking to himself how lucky they had been. His guard had been down, and it had almost cost them her life. And he could never let that happen again. If he hadn’t been traveling with Emery, Reia, and Alleria... There’s no telling what would have happened.

  “We should stay here tonight,” he said finally, looking at Emery. “We can continue on to Charandall tomorrow. Midiga has to sleep, though.” His voice nearly choked up, and he swallowed a lump in his throat that he hadn’t realized was there.

  The fae opened one eye, nodded slightly, and closed it again. Alleria didn’t move. Midiga sighed in her sleep. Laderic moved to the ground beside the felid, sitting near her head. He gently scratched behind her ear like he knew she liked and stared off into space.

  They were all mostly quiet for the rest of the day into the night. Emery eventually flew up into the branches to continue meditating as the sun went down, absorbing the last rays of sun possible before nightfall. Alleria was sure Laderic had fallen asleep sitting up. She eventually stood and moved beside a tree, the same tree Laderic had punched earlier on. She leaned against its bark as she sat down, closing her eyes and hoping for some rest. She had slept this way many times since she left on her journey, and the familiar feeling of the bark against her back was almost comforting. She drifted off shortly.

  It took Laderic a bit longer to silence his mind and sleep, but his exhaustion had finally caught up with him. He hadn’t slept hardly a wink the last few nights since he had seen the river of black smoke, but that combined with the stress of the day acted like a tranquilizer. He lifted Midiga’s head to rest on his lap, leaned his own head back, and was soon fast asleep as well.

  Chapter 10

  It was Midiga who rose first in the morning. Her head hurt, her side hurt, and her legs were stiff as could be. It was just before sunrise, and everyone else was still asleep. She was confused, gently raising her head from Laderic’s lap and looking around. Laderic’s lap? Emery was nowhere to be found. However, she could hear quiet breathing coming from above her head in the branches. Alleria was directly across from her, leaning against a tree, fast asleep. The clearing she was in was different from the one they had stopped at the day before.

  Laderic was passed out on the ground beside her, drooling slightly in his sleep. When she saw him, her memory clicked into place. She remembered hunting, she remembered the bear, and she vaguely remembered speaking with Laderic before... nothing. She had no memory after Laderic had killed the bear.

  She gingerly reached and felt her side where she remembered the pain had been. She felt dried blood, but no wound, and only a dull, achy pain. She sat up completely, stretching and yawning. The only thing she felt now was hungry. She scanned the area for Laderic’s bag, finding it in no time and digging for some of the jerky he had brought for them. She found it but frowned when she realized they had less than she thought. If only I had been able to get that deer... It’s long gone now.

  “You’re up,” peeped a small voice. Midiga looked toward where it had come from to see small golden fox eyes glowing in the twilight.

  “Reia,” she breathed, quietly. “What happened? Where are we?”

  “We aren’t far from where we originally stopped. Laderic didn’t make it that far with you on his shoulder.” Reia walked over to sit near Midiga, her seven tails curled around her body. “I was so worried, Midiga. I thought I was going to get another tail yesterday.”

  Midiga grimaced, remembering that kitsune get their tails after moments of personal growth or strife, including witnessing death. “I was that bad, huh?” she mumbled. She looked at Laderic again, shaking her head. She couldn’t believe he had carried her all this way. “Is everyone okay?”

  Reia’s ear twitched, and she bared her teeth in a grimace. “Sort of. I had never seen Laderic panic that way, though I’ve only known him a short time. And Alleria... she feels guilty.” Reia quickly relayed to Midiga how Alleria had been unable to heal her, and Emery had come in the nick of time. “So Alleria feels like you almost died because of her. And Laderic feels like you almost died because of him. So really, they’re both feeling bad. But they’ll be glad to see you up and moving. Surely, they’ll feel better,” she said hopefully.

  And they did, a little at least. Laderic awoke several hours later and panicked slightly when he realized Midiga was no longer next to him. He was relieved, though, to see her up and chatting with Emery near where he was sitting. Alleria woke shortly after and was also thankful that Midiga was okay, but her gut still clenched when she thought about how close the felid had been to death, and how she herself had been unable to even slow the bleeding down, let alone heal her ribcage.

  Thank the gods for Emery, she thought as she watched the fairy pantomime the events from the day before. Midiga was smiling, nodding every so often as Emery gave an exaggerated reenactment from her point of view.

  “And then we burst through the trees where you were hanging onto your life by a very thread! Alleria had put forth a valiant effort, and I continued her work by healing the rest of your side,” she finished, panting slightly from the wild movements she had made with her arms. “Also, I find it weird that the bear was this far south… Bears in Brushdeep live much farther north. Something must be happening to their food supply…” she frowned. “I’ll have to investigate when I get back to Charandall. I haven’t been home since last summer, you know.”

  Midiga nodded, placing her hand on the fae’s shoulder in solidarity. “Thank you, my friend,” she said seriously. Emery blushed slightly at the word ‘friend.’ “If not for you, I certainly would not be here today.” She looked at Laderic. “And you.” She turned her head toward Alleria. “And you, too.”

  Alleria frowned, nodded,
and looked away. Emery had spoken highly of her a few moments ago, but she didn’t feel at all like she had helped the situation. If anything, she felt like she had made it worse. She felt her throat tighten with guilt, and she shook her head to clear it. It’s fine. Midiga is okay. It’s fine...

  Laderic seemed back to his usual self. “Thank you, Emery,” he said genuinely. “I had never been so worried about Midiga in my life. And that’s saying something. She’s always getting herself into some kind of trouble...” Midiga laughed and shook her head.

  “Says you! You are the one always getting yourself nearly killed. I remember this time that Laderic got into a fight in Starpoint...”

  And so, they spent the rest of the morning recounting tales of times each of them had nearly been killed, which were amusing, to say the least, but didn’t make Alleria feel any better.

  They got back on the road, heading northeast toward Charandall. They had just two more days left until they were to part with Emery, and they kept a good pace. Alleria lagged behind most of the time, quieter than usual. Even Reia was up toward the front, participating in their conversation and laughing at their jokes.

  Emery was the one who noticed Alleria wasn’t near them first. She looked behind her, seeing how far behind she was lagging. Frowning, she flew a little slower, letting herself fall back to where Alleria was walking.

  “Hey honey, what’s up?” she asked kindly. Alleria shrugged and kept walking in silence. She looked up at Midiga again, walking up front with Laderic, and looked back down, dejected.

  “Ah,” Emery said, grinning. “Jealous, are you? Well, don’t worry. If they’ve been friends this long without becoming any more than that, then I’m sure you don’t have anything to worry about!”

  “What?” asked Alleria, realizing Emery must think she was jealous of Midiga. “No, that’s not it at all. No… I’m just…” she looked down again. “I’m useless.”

  Now Emery was shocked. “What? No! You aren’t useless, dear. Don’t feel that way.” She was flying backward, looking Alleria in the eye. “You did your best. And your best is all you can do! So you did everything you could.” Alleria shrugged, not having thought about it that way, but not really comforted, either. Emery noticed, and kept talking. “Midiga is very appreciative of everything you did for her… she told me this morning when she woke up. She told me everything she remembered that had happened, and when I told her the rest of the story, she was so thankful!”

  “Really?” Alleria asked, looking back up at the felid woman. She didn’t seem upset. She was joking with Laderic just like usual. But Laderic— “Laderic was so angry,” she said quietly. “He punched a tree, he was so mad at me…”

  “I don’t think he was mad at you. I think he was just scared.” Emery shrugged, watching the two of them walking in the front. “When people are frightened, they say and do things they might not normally.”

  Alleria frowned. “I guess,” she said, unconvincingly. She wanted to believe what Emery was saying, she really did.

  Emery gently grasped Alleria’s hand, holding it in her own two tiny green ones. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’ve really come to like you these last couple days, and it pains me to see you so upset.” Though she could hardly admit it to herself, Emery had found herself enjoying Alleria’s company more than she had enjoyed anyone’s company in years. Alleria’s personality was so much like Wyndi that it was uncanny. And she missed her twin sister deeply. Emery had always seemed like the older, more mature sibling, and had acted almost motherly toward Wyndi. She felt the same maternal feeling toward Alleria. It was comforting to the fae—soothing, even.

  Seeing Alleria still upset, she made up her mind. “Give me just a minute,” she said, holding up a tiny finger. Then, she whirled around to catch up with Laderic, and Alleria could see them talking. Emery was waving her hands dramatically as she often did. Laderic looked back at Alleria and said something. Emery threw her hands up in the air and pantomimed a punch, and pointed her finger in his face. Laderic shrugged his shoulders and nodded, and said something to Midiga, who nodded and pointed at him accusingly. Alleria knew they must have been talking about her, but the exaggerated hand signals and finger pointing were too funny for her to be self-conscious about it.

  When Laderic slowly started drifting back toward her as they walked, she had to force herself to stop smiling. He fell into place beside her, stretching his arms up over his head nervously. They continued to walk in silence for a while, and Alleria watched Reia now in front of them. Reia was telling another animated story to Midiga and Emery.

  “So…” began Laderic. Alleria looked up at him expectantly. He was looking up at the sky. “Nice day for walking, thank the gods.”

  “Yep,” she said. An awkward silence enveloped them. He was right though. It was another beautiful day, and they had really been lucky with the weather so far.

  Laderic took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I am not mad at you,” he said without much context.

  Alleria knew what he was trying to say, but pushed him to say more. “What do you mean?

  “The… the thing. The punching thing?” he tried to explain through his awkwardness. “I don’t want you to think I was mad at you. I just have issues sometimes expressing how I’m feeling, and sometimes it comes out that way, and it gets misinterpreted, and I just don’t want you to think I’m mad because I’m not,” he stammered. He looked at her eyes, which were bright gold. “I’m thankful if anything. You did what you could, and so did I, and so did Emery, and in the end, Midiga was all right. I think that’s the best outcome that there could have been.”

  Alleria nodded, feeling instantly as though the world was off her shoulders. She went from being anxious and upset to those feelings being overshadowed by sheepish pride. But Laderic wasn’t finished.

  “I have always had problems with expressing my emotions,” he said softly, looking away. “Especially negative ones. I… I think it probably comes from my childhood. I grew up without my mother and in a house of all boys. When your dad hangs out with a rough crowd, and your older brother runs the farm, you’re not supposed to let your emotions get the better of you. It makes you less of a man.

  “My dad had a pretty bad run in before—got involved with some stuff he should have stayed out of. He came home one day and told my brother and me to get our stuff together as fast as we could because we needed to leave. Well, I went outside to the shed and tried to get together what little food we had saved up, and that’s when they came.”

  Alleria stared at Laderic, drinking in his every word. Midiga had fallen back slightly to listen to the story she had heard many times before. She placed a paw on his shoulder in solidarity as he spoke. The words were spilling out of him now, and he didn’t know why. He hadn’t told this story in so long since he had told Mavark for the first time, a little over a year ago. And he just couldn’t stop himself from telling her.

  “They came, a dozen of them—nightwalker spectrals. I don’t know what Dad had possibly got into that involved them, but it must have been bad, and they—” He choked up for a second and cleared his throat to continue. “They surrounded my house and burned it to the ground. A black fire. Burned it and left while it was still burning. The leader, he wore a white cloak, and I’ll never forget it. It shone in the moonlight. The others followed him back into the woods once he started their retreat. And I came out of the storehouse when they were gone, to try to search for their bodies, but there weren’t any… just ashes.”

  Alleria then realized she was crying, as a gust of wind chilled the tears on her face. She wiped them off, still looking at Laderic. He, too, had tears wetting his face, but it was as if he didn’t notice. His eyes were misty, staring into the distance. The tears fell down his cheeks, dripping onto the ground.

  He had opened up to her so soon that it almost scared him. It must have been because of what had happened with Midiga the day before. Such serious experiences often bring people closer together more
quickly, and this was no exception. Such a thing he would not have dreamt of telling her just days before, but now it felt so easy—and so necessary—for her to know.

  “I didn’t know nightwalker spectrals could use fire magic,” Emery commented, having listened to his story.

  Laderic shrugged, blinking away more tears. “That’s the same response I always get. But I know what I saw. These spectrals weren’t like any other nightwalkers I’d seen. They were… demonic.”

  It was silent for a while. With Laderic setting the mood, and opening up to her like that, Alleria felt compelled to do the same. It had been weighing on her mind, what she had been keeping from them, and she had been waiting for the right time to come clean. And there was no better moment than now. She hadn’t been sure she could trust him or Midiga before with details of her past before. She wasn’t certain how they would have viewed her, or if they would have wanted to help her, but after Laderic told her such a thing, she wasn’t worried anymore. And the similarities… they were uncanny. “Something like that happened to me too,” she said slowly.

  He looked at her, wordless and confused. Something like that? “What do you mean?”

  “I wasn’t completely honest with you before,” she began. She wrung her hands. “I hadn’t planned to leave my parents’ house in the south, where I’m from—at least, where I can remember I’m from. Like I said before, they were my adoptive parents, and my memory before my mid-teenage years is essentially nonexistent.

  “We lived on a small farm also, outside of a village on the outskirts of the kingdom of Mariscale. The lands around Mariscale aren’t the best for farming, but we raised livestock and chickens, and sold cheese and eggs to our neighbors, making a decent enough living. My mother was also an apprentice at a local apothecary, learning how to mix medicine, potions, and such, so we could sell the farm and move into the city.

  “It was just after she had completed her training to start making a living as an alchemist when they came. My father caught word of the canidae in town, searching for me. I didn’t know for the longest time how he knew they were looking for me. I only realized it after you told me that I was an elf. They were bloodhungry, and they were asking about renegade elves in the area. Mother told me they had known this day would come. They told me that we must all travel to the north and that I had to get there to discover who I truly was—to recover my memory.