Ashes to Embers

by Michelle Schad

  “We need to leave. Now.”

  ***

  It never ceased to amaze Kaleo how dark the Poppy Fields were when Jaysen walked them compared to when the avian walked them. Even in the dark, however, the vibrant colors were seen, as was the doorway to the Sea of Stars. Kaleo frowned stepping forward toward the opening.

  “Jaysen!” he called into the Sea, hearing his voice vanish into the ether the further out it went. He let the darkness around him linger before banishing it away. He was about to step into the Sea itself when he finally saw his friend and stepped back waiting for the olven boy to exit the Sea of Stars into the Poppy Fields.

  “I thought you said it was dangerous to go into the Sea,” he said. Jaysen looked up with a scowl on his face, the doorway closing with a rush of air that set the poppies around them dancing.

  “What are you doing here?” the other boy said. “I told you not to come back.”

  “I told you I don’t listen very well,” Kaleo countered, moving toward Jaysen. Jaysen stepped back. He did that more often of late, making Kaleo frown. “Why do you do that? I’m not going to do anything to you.”

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Jaysen continued, ignoring the question. Tanis was not with him again though he held on to the staff. Not in a way that made Kaleo think the olven boy was ill, but it was not a normal feature in the dream world.

  “Neither should you,” Kaleo said, moving forward. “You tell me to stay away, to not come back, but you’re still here. You won’t tell me anything at all. Why isn’t it safe? Why do you keep coming back? You’ve helped me, let me help you in return.”

  “What? No,” Jaysen scoffed shaking his head. He sighed then and focused on Kaleo. “I don’t need help.”

  “What happened to us, Jaysen?” Kaleo said. “We used to be friends. We used to talk and laugh and… and we don’t do any of that anymore. All we do is argue. When did that change?”

  “When we grew up,” Jaysen answered. Now it was Kaleo’s turn to scoff.

  “Oh, get off it,” he said. “We’re not grown. We try to act like it but we’re still just children playing a game. Yeah, alright, I get it, I’m spoiled and things are probably not the same for you and we’ve never met outside of this field but you are still my friend.”

  “I don’t have friends,” Jaysen muttered. Kaleo merely shook his head. This was not how things were supposed to be. One part of his life was coming together while another was falling apart. He didn’t want that, didn’t want to lose his closest friend.

  “That’s a shame,” he said, turning away from Jaysen. “For whatever it’s worth, I found what I was looking for.”

  “Your father? He’s alive?” Jaysen asked. There was a note of surprise, maybe even excitement in his voice that made Kaleo hesitate in his answer. Jaysen had shown doubt, even tried to dissuade him from looking for his father at one point. Excitement was not exactly part of the olven boy’s repertoire, either. What was he hiding? Why were things so different now? Eventually, Kaleo simply shook his head.

  “No,” the young avian said. “He’s gone.”

  “Oh… sorry,” Jaysen said actually meaning it. Kaleo only nodded, walking back through the fields, letting the darkness take over again. “Kaleo.”

  He paused, looking back at his friend. There was pain on the other boy’s face, perhaps regret or sorrow. “I really am sorry.”

  “Yeah,” Kaleo replied softly. “Me too.”

  The next breath brought Kaleo out of the Poppy Fields to the stabbing discomfort of his hammock twisting his left wing up wrong and a sinking feeling in his gut. Kaleo ached for a bed. Soon, Reven had promised. He hissed as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder and then miscalculating the step out of his hammock. He tumbled out, landing on his face with a groan.

  “Ugh, today sucks already…”

  Two hours later, everyone stared at the manse in the foothills with skeptic faces. Reven grinned from ear to ear, arms spread wide to display his newest acquisition. It looked different in the light with vines still growing on some of the walls and part of the roof. All the doors had been replaced with strong pieces of oak and shiny brass hinges. The shutters were all closed to protect the interior of the home but those were not as nice as the door, some even looking like they were pulled from the wreckage of a sunken ship. It was easily the size of the city’s best inn with another smaller edifice around back that had no true purpose. Plus, it had a fountain out front that was an exact miniature replica of the Fuente del Cielo. It was hideous.

  “Glorious, isn’t it!” Reven said. Kaleo made a face, even Serai who was normally so supportive, wrinkled her nose. Reven dropped his arms. “What?”

  “It is broken,” Serai said.

  “It needs paint,” Kaleo added. Lara stood beside him, nodding in agreement. She’d come with him after their morning lesson of the city and Mahalan people.

  They were unlike anyone Kaleo had known thus far, with very strange customs and a panache for celebration that rivaled the tywyll who celebrated everything.

  “It is…different,” Ajana finished. Reven sagged with an over-dramatic sigh. The half-olven thief-taker came to Reven the night before with tears in her big eyes and a welt on her cheek. Liam had gone too far. “It has some rustic charm.”

  “You’re not seeing the big picture,” Reven continued, stepping over a large chunk of something that was buried beneath a mountain of dead leaves. Landscaping was not part of the repairs, apparently. “Imagine all the potential. Especially once it’s painted and restored; clean.”

  “What do we clean it with, holy fire?” Kaleo muttered. Lara giggled.

  “No one asked your opinion, urchin,” Reven said. “Who is that with you?”

  “Lara,” they both said simultaneously. “Oh,” Reven replied. “So, you are real, good to know. Told you there was nothing wrong with him,” Reven said, making Kaleo arch a curious brow. “It’s even a girl. But I’m not taking care of her, got it. No more urchins.”

  “I’m sorry, when was this a discussion?” Kaleo asked, feeling suddenly embarrassed by the topic of conversation. Lara giggled, glancing at him almost shyly. He liked her but their relationship had not traveled past student and teacher. Yet.

  “You talk in your sleep,” Serai and Reven both said with Ajana nodding in agreement. Reven added, “Mentioning someone named Jaysen many times. I’m not judging.”

  Kaleo merely palmed his face, wanting to crawl under the pile of dead leaves. Horrible day, indeed.

  ***

  Several hours later, Kaleo lay on his back in a room that would eventually be a dining hall. The manse had three levels total and a sub-level used for food storage. The boy was covered in grime and his fingers looked like pale prunes, but the place was starting to look better. So far, no holy fire was needed. The women took their leave to go back into town for pretty things, which meant they were tired of cleaning and wanted a break. Reven did not blame them as he was just as tired, flexing his fingers one at a time. All the crates from the previous owner were still there, each one so rotted that one already broke just by touching it. Stacks of new crates stood beside the old, full of things Reven ordered. He put a large amount of coin into his new home and would need to put in more still before it felt right, but it was a start.

  “Looks better in the daylight, right?” Reven said, looking down at Kaleo as he rifled through a crate stuffed with straw. It held fine tableware that he procured for the manse though he still had no place to put it. Furniture was still coming, already commissioned. What few pieces that remained in the manse were almost as rotted as the old crates. All in due time. The space and privacy were needed for Malek and Azure - - and the chimera that followed Kaleo around. It was a topic he needed to broach with his urchin but he could only tackle one bit of insanity at a time.

  “Sort of,” Kaleo replied, tilting his head back to see the bard. Reven smirked. “Do I have to keep my hammock or do I get an actual bed, Master Bard?”

  “Depends - how o
ften will Lara be visiting?” Reven countered. Kaleo flushed so red the bard was positive he would ignite in flames. “She seems nice. Runeli, right?”

  Kaleo’s answer was squashed by loud pounding at the door. Reven frowned, moving to the wide double doors in the grand foyer. He cracked one of the doors open and groaned. Liam stood on the other side with a scowl on his face and a welt under his right eye that was too perfectly round; a bar fight. Serves the idiot right, Reven thought.

  “Where is she, Rev?” Liam asked. The two men had not spoken since their row over Kaleo. Now the duende man came with his usual demands, demands that Reven was not inclined to give in to.

  “Not here,” Reven retorted. He tried shutting the door but Liam stuck his foot in the way. Kaleo stood behind the bard, watching silently. “She’s not here, dammit!”

  “Don’t lie,” Liam said, shoving at the door with more strength than Reven gave him credit for. “I know she come t’you after wha’ I done. I din’t mean it. I got wasted an’… c’mon, Reven, where’s she at?”

  “With Serai,” Kaleo answered. “In town.”

  The door opened enough for Liam to nearly tumble into the grand foyer. They both looked at the young avian, Liam with a scowl and Reven with a curious frown.

  “Still around?” Liam scoffed. “Shame. Woulda been best fer ya t’go on home.”

  Now Kaleo frowned, watching as Liam stepped aside. The courtyard was filled with avian soldiers, all armed to the teeth. The one in front, a woman, shot a dart from a tiny crossbow at Reven. It hit him center mass, dropping him to his knees.

  “NO!” Kaleo cried. Reven heard him but could not move or speak, could barely think. “REVEN!”

  “We square then?” Liam said. Reven’s eyes rolled in his skull. Movement made him dizzy. He watched Kaleo fight, losing Power at the soldiers that was oddly deflected. The boy lost, growling at his opponents. Reven watched another avian move into his line of sight and stare down at him with a wicked smirk on her scared face.

  “We are… square, Master Roe,” the woman said. Reven did not hear anything more but muted voices. His body felt heavy and his mind stuffed with cotton.

  “You son-of-a-bitch!” Kaleo hollered, watching the bard struggle to remain conscious on the floor. Liam smirked with vicious glee - until a pistol came up into his face.

  “Of course, assisting in the kidnapping of the amatti is as reprehensible as the desecration of the ancestors,” Tondra Caelestis purred. “Arrest him.”

  “Er, wha’ now? We ‘ad a deal, woman!” Liam growled as he was taken down and clapped in irons. Kaleo grinned though it did not help him or the bard in the least. It still offered sick satisfaction to see Liam get what he was owed for his betrayal.

  “And I honored that deal, Master Roe. Zorian Li’ael will be reported dead and no longer hunted.

  You’re welcome. Take them away!”

  “No! No!” Liam hollered. He was silenced with the hilt of a sword to his temple. Kaleo sneered at Tondra Caelestis, the woman leading the insurrection, as she took his face in her hands. There were no irons on him; his containment was worse. He knew what dropped Reven so quickly, a serum known as tol shal that robbed a caster of literally everything. It was potentially lethal to them in large doses. She would not dare use such a thing on a member of the amaterasu. She would, however, use something else. He could feel his Power but not touch it, the bracelets on his wrists cool and tight against his skin. Binding shackles. The ropes that held him were nothing compared to the shackles.

  “Your mother will be so relieved to have you home,” Tondra purred.

  “Step-mother you heinous bitch!” Kaleo barked as he was hauled away.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Navid worked his way through the center jungle of Tierra Vida with great caution. The creatures of the island were as deadly as they were beautiful. The island was not all jungle, with many mismatched environments stuck together. Closer to the city, the jungle gave way to lush forests of evergreens with an oasis of rolling white sand just outside the city limits as if pieces of every land mass found their way to Tierra Vida and glued themselves into a single landmass. It was confounding but it sufficed as home - for now. Kaleo’s letter gave him hope even if it stirred Maeve’s ire.

  Eila and Rielle followed him, each with a hook sack full of pilfered supplies. Navid knew Maeve had a strong dislike of him and his kind. His presence was tolerated because the girls would have it no other way. However, given the news from Kaleo, Navid no longer felt the need to suffer the woman’s ill-placed rage. Yes, he failed in his duty as guardian, but he did not cause the downfall of the tirsai people. Lacking another target, however, Maeve aimed her wrath at the savage centaur who lost both her brother and her nephew which left the tirsai people without an heir. Maeve would not even entertain Kaleo as a possibility and, to be honest, Navid could understand why. There were… issues between the tirsai and the avians now, and bastard children were not normally given much thought beyond their name-day. From what he understood, Kaleo had been the first to even survive past his name-day.

  “This one is Aeron’s,” Rielle said, handing Navid a smooth, nearly-black stone with sharp edges. “The dark-skinned man had them all. He’s Itahli, I think.”

  “Alchemist, most likely. Smart to give them to him,” Eila agreed. The centaur smirked, admiring how much the girls had grown. They were smarter than their brother and as mischievous as any thief. Their weakness came in being unable to operate without each other. Where one went, the other followed, always within eyesight of each other. He hoped that would not be a hindrance to them on their coming journey.

  “That will get you there. This one,” Rielle continued, handing Navid a second stone with a different rune at the center. “Will get you back to me wherever I happen to be so be a little careful on that one.”

  “And,” Eila added. “You can only bring three others with you. It has a limit. I haven’t been able to spell them to bring more.”

  “Though, I imagine if he finds a Shard it might help bring more,” Rielle theorized, tapping her chin. Eila nodded in agreement.

  “Maybe but it isn’t tested so, try to keep it to three just in case.”

  Navid nodded as they reached the city limits. Gavail, like the other two cities known to Navid, was a port town open to trade, pirates, and passing ships heading to or from Esbeth. It was the pirates and thieves that concerned the centaur. They were quick to snatch up children and women for slave trade. The city was large, all things considered, sprawling across the shoreline in a wide spread of wooden buildings on high stilts to avoid the flooding tides. Small rafts or two-man boats were lashed to porches or hung from roofs for travel during high tide, with wagons or carts pulled along by two- legged lizards with crests of feathers atop their heads. If he had to guess, he would imagine the creatures could swim and the wagons made of something that could easily float along while the streets were flooded rather than impeding business practices.

  “All right,” Navid said, handing the girls a bag full of coin he’d saved over time. “That is enough to get you to Mahala. Do not waste time, stick together, and stay in Mahala once you’ve found them, understand?”

  The girls both nodded, identical faces regarding him with worry. They had a plan, a rough one, but one Navid hoped would work. He would go to Aeron and the girls to Mahala where Kaleo and their uncle were. If the letter was to be believed, the man recalled nothing of his life prior to the Fall of the Phoenix Empire but had Azure with him and another very Powerful woman that might be able to help. If that failed, they still had Kaleo who was Powerful in his own right. Navid did not want to put any of them at risk, but there would only be so much he could do once he found Aeron. In truth, the girls had the harder job.

  “I won’t fail,” Navid said. “Not this time.”

  “Good,” Eila said, sticking out her pinky. “Then swear you’ll come back.”

  Rielle did the same, her pinky extended like her sister’s. “Swear it,
guardian. Swear you’ll return.”

  Navid swallowed hard, feeling his throat clench. He grit his teeth and hooked both his own pinkies with theirs. An unbreakable oath.

  “I swear it,” he said gruffly. They nodded, darting off into the city toward the Port Circle located near the shore. He lost sight of them quickly, praying for the safety. He waited several long, tormented minutes before returning to the depths of the evergreens. He looked at the stone that belonged to Aeron, the rune etched into the smooth stone with a rough hand. The edges were sharp, needing only a droplet of blood to activate the rune. Navid held it in his palm, squeezing until he felt the sharp edges dig into his flesh and the distinct tug of teleportation behind his navel.

  ***

  The sounds of battle echoed across the fountain courtyard to Aeron’s bloodied ears. Too many concussive blasts left him damaged and partially deaf with constant waves of vertigo plaguing his pounding skull. Still, he heard the sound. Or, rather, felt the vibrations of it. He remembered the sensations from before. It did not take the demons long to find them after his dream - a day, maybe two. It was difficult to tell time as the Hex Storm left everything dark and made casting difficult. Sometimes spells went of as expected, other times what should have been a ball of fire became a swarm of gnats. It did not seem to hinder the demons as much as Aeron or Nadya, but it altered their Power as well. He shut his eyes briefly, tilting his head to listen through the damage done to his ear drums, to feel the ground beneath his sore feet or the vibrations of the splintered wall at his hands. Power. Those were not cannons or guns he heard, but the sound and feel of Power being flung about. The citizens of the town they took refuge in still had soldiers, all of them rallying to the king with weapons and more Power than Aeron realized. The Kormandi held great pride in their casters, purposely breeding for them much like the tirsai once tried to do. The difference was, the Kormandi succeeded. What Aeron saw put the tirsai to shame.