Imdalind Ruby Collection One: Kiss of Fire | Eyes of Ember | Scorched Treachery

by Ethington, Rebecca

  The room exploded with color and action for the seconds it took me to do away with each of Thom’s potential weapons. The ribbons of color snaked down to the ground last, only to fall in pools of glitter before they disappeared back into the stone. Through it all, I didn’t move my hands an inch.

  “Six seconds!” Dramin called out. He ran toward me as I opened my eyes, stiffly moving to my feet. “How many was that, Thom?”

  “Twenty real, ten conjured, and five attacks.” Thom didn’t seem too pleased. “You probably could have gone faster.”

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Thom,” I gave him a grin to go with my sarcasm, Thom rolled his eyes and moved away from us.

  “Do you think you could do more, Silnỳ?” Dramin asked as he bounced on his heels.

  I would say he was too excited for what was going on, but if he wasn’t bouncing around like a hyper teenager, I would be. I had worked with Ilyan on this for months, and now I was finally making progress.

  “More items or more magic?”

  “Both,” Dramin’s voice was so eager, he reminded me of a five year old being offered ice cream.

  “You read my mind.” Okay, now I was bouncing alongside him, anyway.

  “Well,” Thom yelled from across the hall, “if you don’t need me, I am going to go check on our invalid.”

  “Thom!” Dramin yelled after him, but Thom only waved his hand in farewell.

  “Thom!” Dramin tried again, but Thom didn’t even turn to look back. “You great lazy oaf! Get back here!” Dramin was still yelling, but Thom had already disappeared back into the main room where I was sure he was going to take a nap by the fire.

  “Well, what are we going to do now?” I asked, before taking a nice long sip of the Black Water. Yep, I was definitely becoming addicted.

  “How about we test your sight?”

  So much for my magical celebrations. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. I knew what he was talking about, and honestly, I wasn’t interested.

  “It’s twenty-twenty thank you very much.” I spoke as brightly as I could before smiling and strolling away, following after Thom. I may have Drak blood, but I didn’t want to see any of the things the sight could give me.

  “What’s twenty-twenty?” Dramin asked, obviously not getting the reference.

  “My vision.” I provided, but Dramin sighed, his regular smile disappearing.

  “I am talking about your sight, Silnỳ. Not your vision. There is no reason to be scared.”

  I froze, but didn’t turn to face him. Instead, I looked up to the large gash I had placed in the stone dome the day before, not wanting to give him an answer. Of course I was scared. I had no interest in reliving my past, let alone seeing the future.

  “There is no reason to be scared,” Dramin repeated, his steps coming closer. “This is simply another step in the process. Without using your sight, you will not be able to summon the Black Water for yourself, and I will not be able to show you the sight that told of your true purpose.”

  “That’s not a problem,” I said, turning toward him. “You can come with me and Ilyan, and you can tell me what was said rather than show me.”

  I smiled brightly, happy when he chuckled. My thoughts of compromise were dashed when he began to shake his head. Of course he wouldn’t make it that easy.

  “I cannot follow you all around the earth while you fight Edmund, Silnỳ. I am also not going to travel with you on your honeymoon, or always be there when you are injured.”

  “Honeymoon?” I said, interrupting him. “Who said anything about a honeymoon?”

  “You must call the Black Water on your own,” Dramin continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “And as for the sight, I have to show you.”

  “The sight?” I asked, folding my arms and bringing the fur cloak closer around me. “Like the sight. You’re going to show me?”

  “I do. I have seen it, Silnỳ. This is just another step in the process.”

  I needed the Black Water. I needed to know what had been foreseen about me. He had me there, and I hated it. I turned toward him, keeping the cloak around me tightly.

  “Fine,” I said grumpily. “Show me the way.”

  Dramin bounced once before turning and walking toward the large opening he had shown me the day before. I followed after him, my body aching with each step. I took a drink as I walked, the Black Water dulling the ache.

  The adjoining chamber was different from the others. It was the same dome shape, the same raised stone work circling the walls, but there were no bunks or benches lining the platform. Instead, there were odd runes carved into the stone. A portion of the circular room was sunken, but you wouldn’t be able to tell without looking closely. The sunken area was filled right to the top with an unmoving liquid that I could easily recognize as Black Water. Somehow, even though the water did not move, the room was filled with the rippling reflections of waves on a pond.

  The waving light hit against the far wall revealing more carvings, more runes, and a delicate glass pane that revealed the outside where the blizzard still reigned. The light of day that managed to make it through the blizzard filtered into the space, mixing with the magical shimmers.

  Even if I knew nothing about Drak, and Skȓíteks and Chosen; I would have known this room was magic. It shook in my bones.

  I stepped around Dramin to walk around the large cavern.; the light ran over my face as I traced the rough carvings with my fingers. I didn’t feel any peaks of my magic or strong sensations of what was going to happen, but I felt comfortable. The terror at seeing into the past or future had ebbed, leaving me with a jittery excitement.

  I continued to walk, letting my fingers trace the shapes. I had all but forgotten that Dramin still stood behind me until he spoke.

  “The Hall of Sight. This was the last one built and one of the only ones that remain. They can only be built in select places on earth where the magic seeps to the surface, the Black Water bubbling up for our use. While we can use the Black Water at any time because the Water resides within us, the larger, more important queries always require our sight to be used within this hall, and many times, more than one Drak must be present.”

  I barely heard him. My blood seemed to hum the more I was in the room, reminding me of when Ilyan had centered my magic.

  “It has been many years since I have used my sight beyond the mundane. I miss the power very much. Someday perhaps I will be able to see with others again.”

  “Is it hard to do?” I asked, the question more to myself than to Dramin, my nerves having almost left.

  “It is as easy as breathing, Silnỳ. The magic already resides inside of you. Once you have unlocked the door, the rest of your abilities will open to you.” He spoke reverently, his excitement at what was about to happen clear.

  “What abilities?” I turned from the runes to face him. He stood right by the water, the still surface reflecting nothing.

  “The ability to recall previous sights, to provide yourself with the nourishment you need, and most importantly, to use your sight at will. After you experience your first sight, the Black Water will become a part of you.”

  I didn’t want that. Or maybe I did, and I was just scared of it. The serenity of the room, and the calm on Dramin’s face were sure helping to take the edge off.

  I swallowed heavily as I stared into the smooth reflection-less surface of the water. I could feel my body pull me toward the surface, willing me to join it somehow. I took a step forward before moving back again, fighting my need to touch the water.

  “Does it hurt?” It was a child’s question, but I needed to know. I was beginning to realize that I couldn’t avoid pain, but I could at least prepare for it.

  “No, child, but your first sight will be the strongest you will ever experience on your own.” I wasn’t sure his answer helped. “As the water moves into you and becomes part of you, you will see the past, present, and future of yourself and those you hold in your heart,�
� Dramin stepped right beside me, his voice a whisper. “It will come in a web, and it is likely nothing will make sense. It is only after, when you learn to recall your sight, that you will be able to make sense of the confusion.”

  Confusion like I wanted to jump head first into the pool.

  “Are you ready?” he asked, his eager anticipation bleeding through him.

  “Yes.” My answer was instant. I still could not take my eyes off of the water.

  “Then place your hand in the water.”

  “That’s it?” I asked, turning toward him for the first time.

  “Yes. For those who are not among the Drak the water will burn their skin, but to touch the water is essential for the Drak.”

  “Will it burn me?”

  “No, Silnỳ. You are one of the Drak. Just place your hand in the water.”

  The prickling of my skin grew as I fell to my knees, the heavy fur cloak falling off of my shoulders. I reached toward the water, hesitating for one shaky breath before I pushed it beyond the surface.

  I had barely registered the warmth of the water before my vision faded to the burn of a bright red ember, like the flame that I had seen in Dramin’s eyes that first day. My head felt light and airy, everything swimming and swirling as I looked into the burning red color. Then the sight changed.

  Shadows twirled and danced before me as an image of an infant being placed into my mother’s arms began to form. The vision changed to a flash of blonde hair running down a hall I had never seen before as screams filled the air. The hair changed to a flash of me crying in my bed as my parents fought. A moment later, a vision of Edmund choking Talon against a wall came into view, Talon’s face battered.

  “Give me what I need, Talon,” Edmund’s voice rang out like an echo in my ears.

  “You better make it look good, Edmund.” Talon let out a deep chuckle.

  Edmund’s hand moved back in preparation for a strike before the colors washed away to be replaced by me running through the trees. Ryland’s hand hovered over the ground as he formed a perfect ring of Pansies, which disappeared as soon as they grew, changing into Wyn and my father running through a dark cave, a man falling to the ground in agony before them.

  “Was that really necessary?” my father asked, his voice tense and scared.

  “He would have done the same to us,” Wyn hissed without looking away from the body in front of her. “Don’t like it, don’t travel with a trained killer.”

  “As long as that assassin doesn’t turn her skill on me, I think I will be happy.” Sain laughed humorously as the vision changed to Ryland as a child, speaking to his mother through the bars of a cell, their hands intertwined.

  “Don’t cry, my little love, you are stronger than your father will ever be.” Her voice echoed around the space as Ryland cried.

  The sight changed again to Cail crying in the dark and Wyn wrapping her arms around him in an attempt to comfort him, a ripped t-shirt hanging off her shoulders. A flash of fire met my eyes before it faded again to me crying on a bed, older this time, screaming for help as Ryland moved toward me, his eyes gentle and blue.

  “Jos?” Ryland said softly, “I’m not going to hurt you, honey.”

  “Go… Away!”

  A quick change showed me an image of Ilyan running down a stone hallway, his hair short and dark with his face covered in blood and bruises. My heart ached for a reason I couldn’t place. My head began to pound as the speed of my sight increased, some images barely registering, the voices beginning to overrun one another.

  “Take him and use him for your benefit; maybe that will give you the upper hand.” Edmund said as he spoke to someone I couldn’t see, his hands pushing Ryland’s weak body away from him.

  It flashed again to Cail lying in a chair, Edmund and Timothy around him. “Make her break the bond, Cail, then the sight can never be.”

  The colors washed away to something else before Edmund had even finished speaking.

  “If you touch her, father, I swear I will end you,” Ryland was firm, but Edmund only laughed before they continued to spar in the basement of their estate.

  The image of them sparring changed to Ilyan holding me against a wall, a building burning around us, his hand soft against my face. I could just make out tears flowing down each of our cheeks before it changed again to Ilyan walking into a large stone hall that I had never seen before, his hair short against his head. It then flashed one last time, a man’s scream echoing in my head as it followed me back into reality.

  I panted heavily as the vision left me, everything that I saw combined into a jumbled mass. One thing stood out, though. One thing was crystal clear to me.

  I felt Dramin’s arms come around me as he replaced the cloak, my breathing slowing down.

  “It’s okay, Silnỳ,” he said softly. “It’s over now.”

  I continued to gasp for air, my knees aching from being pressed against the cold stone floor.

  “Dramin,” I gasped, as I reached for Dramin, holding onto his wrist tightly. “I saw your death... I saw...”

  I felt my head go light, my vision blacking out as the sight showed me his death again. He moved in front of what I could only guess was Ryland, the bright light of an attack shattering into the air. As I watched the scene unfold, my voice spoke in an oddly dark and monotone way. I should have been scared, but my heart rate never increased, my mind accepting my new power.

  “Betrayed by your brother in the last hour of light, you will save one who has lost more than you. It will come at the dusk of a powerful death before the blood red moon will herald a birth.”

  My voice faded out as my vision returned, Dramin’s surprised face coming back into focus.

  “Uncle?” I asked, alarmed at having seen his death.

  I expected him to be more concerned, for panic to spill out, but instead he only nodded.

  “I know.”

  Ninety-Five

  Joclyn

  I sat back in the large, squishy armchair, letting my magic pull the fur tighter around me. The cave was cold, even with my magic keeping the fire strong. The orange light casting odd, eerie shadows around the empty chamber, they probably would have been scary if it wasn’t for the howl of the wind that echoed down the long tunnel. The sound of the blizzard was deep and relaxing and I sunk further into the chair, willing myself to stay awake.

  Dramin had carried me back to the main hall after my first sight, I had been too weak to get back here on my own. He had draped me in blankets and talked on and on about the significance of what had just happened, and what I had seen.

  He talked on and on about how to understand the subtle changes for sights of the past; such as the dirty quality of the image or the tinny distanced voices of the subjects. I was too tired to remember much, though. I was going to have to ask him to go over it all again in the morning.

  Which I was sure he would.

  He wanted to see everything.

  I was trying to forget.

  The image of Wyn comforting Cail upset me the most. The image was crystal clear, so it wasn’t a sight from the past; it made me anxious to know what it could mean. Or why after everything Cail had done she would be comforting him.

  Dramin had tried for about an hour to get me to use my recall to view the sight again and in further detail, or to even be able to call the Black Water myself, but it was no use. I was too tired and my mind too unfocused.

  I knew why. I had a feeling that Dramin knew too, but I wasn’t going to say it out loud, nor was I going to visit the Tȍuha to remedy the matter.

  I was scared.

  I was as scared of the Tȍuha as I had become of my nightmares.

  “Stupid.” I hissed, knowing I was being ridiculous. I was sure Ilyan would tell me as much. He was my protector after all.

  My Protector.

  I turned to where he lay, my heart twisting. It was odd to think of all that the words had come to mean to me; all that he had come to mean to me.

 
I wiped the thoughts from my head and turned back to the fire, not wanting to dwell on something that would ultimately lead me to replay my nightmares and riddles.

  Which unfortunately was the best thing to do when you were avoiding sleep.

  I sighed; I couldn’t avoid it any longer, my eyes had already started drooping. I drained the last of the mug and shuffled to my bunk, body groaning and head spinning.

  My feet barely carried me across the cold stone floor before I collapsed on my bunk, the layers of furs smothering me as I landed hard on the pile of furs that passed as a mattress.

  “Don’t be a wimp, Joclyn,” I moaned to myself, the sound echoing around the tiny alcove my bed sat in. A few days ago I had been desperate for my own bed, and now I wanted anything but.

  I let the blankets and furs swallow me and closed my eyes. It only took seconds for sleep to overtake me and the dream to come.

  I stood in the middle of the clearing as always, the eerie branches stretching and swaying around me.

  “We’ve been waiting for you, Joclyn.” Cail’s voice was loud and right behind me. I fought the desire to spin around to face him, instead keeping my body still as I stubbornly looked toward the trees.

  “Have you?” I pushed as much snark into my voice as I could.

  “I take it you thought that if you stayed awake you could avoid me?” He ran his hand down my hair, the weight pulling at the long strands.

  “It was worth a shot,” I said a little too honestly. I attempted to keep my voice light and airy, but my fear was too severe.

  Instead of replying, however, Cail laughed. The sound bounced around the clearing and reverberated inside my head.

  “Oh, Joclyn. Sweet Joclyn. How I enjoy our time together.” His words were endearments, but his voice was like ice. It ran up my spine and sent an unpleasant shiver through my shoulders.

  He had come around to face me, his dark eyes even darker in the dim forest as the red of his hair disappeared in the night.

  “Well, that makes one of us. I would rather rot in hell than spend time with you.” I leaned in, well aware I was sending spit flying over his face. He deserved it.