Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2)

by Rebecca Ethington

  “Ilyan!” I yelled, desperate to get his attention. “Ilyan, wake up. Please. Ilyan, please don’t leave me.” I continued to yell at him, my fear having turned into a full blown panic. Ilyan was the last person I had. Ryland’s mind was still trapped, my Mother was dead, and Wyn had been captured and taken who knows where. I screamed as the reality of what was happening hit me and everything came crashing down around me.

  “Ilyan please!” The wind howled around me as I yelled, taking my voice with it.

  I pressed my hands against his skin, pulsing my magic into him desperate to awaken him, to heal him, but not knowing how. I looked around, knowing that my search for shelter, for help, would be in vain.

  “You can’t leave me!”

  I didn’t know where we were, or how we got here. I didn’t even know what was going on.

  “Help!” I yelled into the snow, my body shaking uncontrollably now, the cold freezing me down to my bones. I clung to Ilyan, my magic surging as I attempted to keep both of us warm, but I couldn’t focus enough to keep the flow of magic going.

  “Anyone! Help.”

  I turned back to him, my hands touching and pressing against his skin, desperate for any response.

  “Ilyan!” I couldn’t keep the hopelessness out of my voice. Everything was an impossible web of danger and fear, and I was trapped in the center of it.

  My life was repeating itself, over and over. Somewhere deep inside I wished this to be a dream, whether or not it was controlled by Edmund. I wished that all of this was a fabricated nightmare. But I knew it wasn’t.

  I lay down next to Ilyan, my skin freezing against the snow and my arms clinging to his still body.

  “Ilyan...” I pleaded, unable to deny the ache I felt for him. “Don’t leave me...”

  I had barely gotten the words out before I saw a dark figure moving toward us.

  The shape was huge. I cringed against Ilyan’s still form, fear of the unknown shape gripping me. I pulled my magic up to the center of me, dreading having to attack some monster. As it got closer, I could barely make out the shape of a man as he lumbered toward me. I sat up, not daring to hope, but terrified all the same. The figure yelled out something into the storm, his voice carried away by the wind.

  Soon, the shape towered over me, his sharp green eyes digging into mine. He was an absolutely hulking figure, mostly caused by layer after layer of large fur coats. He pulled down his scarf to reveal a cleanly shaven face.

  “Silnỳ! What are you doing here? What happened?” The man was panicked. He reached out and grabbed my shoulders with his heavily gloved hands, bringing me up to eye level.

  I stared at him, unsure of what to say. I didn’t know who this man was, and his voice and manner were scaring me.

  “Tell me! You are in safe hands, but I must know!”

  “Thom?” I asked, hoping beyond hope that Ilyan had gotten us to safety.

  “No,” he said, his voice strained. “He is coming though. Now, tell me, what has happened? Is everyone safe?”

  He continued to look into me, and I felt my heart fall. No, no one was okay. Ilyan was hurt. Wyn was gone. Prague...

  “Prague. They found them,” I stuttered, trying to find the right words. “They found us. Ilyan…” My voice broke and I looked toward Ilyan’s still form, scrambling out of the man’s hold and back to Ilyan’s side.

  “So it has happened.” I barely registered that the man had spoken, my focus back on Ilyan again.

  “Ilyan is hurt,” I said, pulling the man’s attention away from his reverie, desperate for help.

  “Do not worry over your Protector, Silnỳ, his energy was spent in getting you here. He will be well in a few days.” He smiled, his face lighting up.

  “Thom!” he yelled into the blizzard that surrounded us before turning back and grunting a bit. “The poor lad moves slowly in the snow. My name is Dramin, by the way, but you can call me Uncle.”

  Seventeen

  I leaned my body over Ilyan’s protectively. Dramin smiling at me, as if he was amused.

  “Uncle?” I asked, my voice shaking as my body convulsed in the cold.

  “Yes, didn’t Ilyan tell you?” He leaned over me, and I moved away instinctively.

  “Ilyan didn’t tell me anything.” I grabbed Ilyan’s hand, my heart plunging at his lack of response.

  “I told you Dramin, Ilyan wouldn’t do anything he didn’t need to, especially when it comes to her.” I turned my body toward the gruff voice, surprised at the other large shape that had appeared out of the snow. He was tall and appeared twice as wide as I was sure he was, thanks to all the coats he wore. I could just make out a long dirty brown dreadlock protruding from underneath his woolen hat.

  “Put that on,” the second man said, dropping a huge fur coat in front of me. “You don’t want to freeze to death.”

  He leaned over me and I caught a glimpse of deep blue eyes as he shooed me out of the way. He picked up Ilyan’s limp and unresponsive body with one big jolt. I called out as he moved Ilyan over his shoulder and covered him with a shaggy fur. The man turned to me, his stare piercing me even through the blinding snow.

  “You look just like your Father,” he said, before turning away and walking away into the snow storm. I jumped up, moving to run after him, but my red shoes slipped in the snow filling them with wetness. I grabbed the coat and attempted to put it on, moving after them as quickly as I could.

  “Slow down, child,” Dramin said from beside me. “You will be going nowhere fast if you continue at that pace.”

  I glared daggers at Dramin and ignored his warning before continuing my trudge after Ilyan and the man I could only assume to be Thom. I could see Ilyan’s blonde hair swinging beneath the heavy fur that Thom had covered him with, the snowstorm threatening to swallow them up. I continued to slip and slide through the snow and wind, desperation filling me as they vanished.

  “Wait,” I yelled, knowing my voice would be swallowed up by the storm.

  “Don’t worry, child, Thom is taking him to our shelter,” Dramin said.

  I continued to move stubbornly forward, even though I could no longer feel my toes. I had only made it a few steps before Dramin came up beside me and lifted me into his arms. I yelled and struggled away from him, only to land on my back in the snow.

  “Don’t touch me!” I yelled, as I pulled myself up, the bulky fur coat making my movements clumsy.

  “I’m just going to carry you, Silnỳ. Nothing more.” He waved his hands in front of me as if to show me he was safe. I shied away from him.

  “I’ve got to get to Ilyan. He has to be okay. He needs to shield me so they can’t find me.”

  “Ilyan? He won’t be helping you for a few days yet.” My mouth opened in terror.

  “No! I need him…”

  “You’ve come farther along then I assumed.” Dramin said, but I barely heard him.

  My mind swam around fuzzily, terror at being found again mixing with my loss and fear over Ilyan. He saved me, as I knew he would. No matter what Cail and Ryland had said. I needed to get to him; I needed to make sure he was alright.

  My mind whirred and I realized that I was completely unprotected.

  “You have to do it!” I yelled as things clicked together. “You’ve got to shield me or else they are going to find me!”

  “Don’t worry. You are safe. Ilyan is safe. No one can track you here.” I locked eyes with him for a moment, my teeth chattering, before looking toward where Thom had disappeared with Ilyan’s body. I could see nothing but snow. My body sagged down, collapsing in on itself, as I convulsed in the cold.

  “Ilyan,” I whispered. I felt so lost without him, he had been so constant over the past few months, and now... I watched the space he had been carried into, growing more desperate with every frantic beat of my heart.

  I felt Dramin’s hand come to rest against my shoulder, his weight pushing me further into the cold snow. I shifted away from his contact, wrapping my arms tighter
around me in an attempt to get warm.

  “Do not worry. His mind will awaken when you call for him in your most hopeless state.” His voice had taken on a dead quality that chilled me further, if that was even possible. My head snapped up to look at him. I inhaled sharply. His eyes were fully encompassed in black, the centers glowing like the ember of a flame, staring off into the distance.”

  “It will happen after the sun has risen three times, after your heart has broken twice.”

  Slowly the blackness left his eyes, but I stayed still in the snow, feeling my magic attempt to heal my frostbitten extremities.

  “You’re a Drak.” He smiled at my realization, his face lowering to mine, his eyes back to their bright green color.

  “Ah ha. So, Ilyan has taught you something.” Dramin smiled wider, but I screwed my face up in confusion. How could he be a Drak? I had been told they were all dead... and my Father...

  “You’re a Drak,” I repeated.

  “Yes, so now you can be calm that your Protector will live. Although I am sorry about the heartbreak part. I can’t often control these things.”

  He smiled at me, but I only stared at him, my confusion growing.

  “Hmmm, I can see the gears turning in your mind. You are wondering how I could be a Drak if your Father was the one born from the mud, the first of his kind, and without any children, except you of course.” He continued to smile, but I did not know how to respond.

  “I will make you a deal. Let me carry you and then I will tell you everything. I will answer every question that is burning inside that little brain of yours. Stay here, or worse, attempt to walk on your own, and I guarantee that you will lose a leg by morning.” He said happily. I could already tell he knew what I was going to say.

  I nodded once and he swept me up, cradling me like a baby. I cringed at the contact, trying to keep as much of my body away from him as possible.

  “Nice shoes. Did Ilyan make them for you?” He asked; I glared at him, having no interest in answering him.

  He said nothing more as he raced through the snow, the cold air brushing past my face and making my eyes sting. Reluctantly, I glanced toward my feet, wincing to see them as red as the delicate shoes I still wore.

  Dramin continued to run as we approached a large cliff with a small opening in the center. Disappearing through the opening was the dark mass that was Thom and Ilyan. Dramin followed right behind them, carrying me through a dark cavern.

  “Well, Thom, you got your wish. She is just as stubborn as her father.” Dramin said as he came side by side with his friend. I looked around Dramin’s arms to see Ilyan’s head swinging as Thom walked, his eyelids still tinged with a deathly blue.

  “Well, at least she is not my responsibility this time,” he grunted, before moving off to the side, taking Ilyan away from me again.

  Dramin kept walking as he moved us into a large rounded cavern. The space had obviously been carved magically and each curve of the rock was smooth and perfect. Light that filtered in through large ornate sky lights reflected off of bits of mirror and glass that were suspended in obscure places across the ceiling. What could instantly be dismissed as trash was turned beautiful by the light and gave an insane amount of character to the space. The light shone brightly, glimmering off of faded paintings that I could tell were once masterpieces. Dramin set me down in a large squishy arm chair as a fire was lit in the middle of the large space.

  The whole cave was set up like the spokes of a wheel. In the center was the large fire, and surrounding that a circle of chairs and couches, beyond that, raised up a bit from the sunken centers, were about twenty bunks carved into the stone walls. Each had a mattress and a shelf. One was hidden behind a gold inlaid dressing partition and another had an ornately woven blanket. The rest were bare. I could almost guess which one belonged to Dramin and which to Thom. Thom didn’t seem the type for inlaid gold.

  I looked around until I found Thom, gently laying Ilyan in one of the bunks. I watched as Thom carefully stripped off Ilyan’s shirt before covering him with blanket after blanket of thick animal fur and placing his hands firmly on his face. I moved in an attempt to get up and go over to him, but Dramin stood right in front of me, placing a steaming cup of some foul smelling liquid in my hands.

  “Thom will take care of him, don’t you worry.”

  “I have to help him. He needs me,” I said, shock filling me at my own words. It would have been natural to be concerned, but this level of worry was shocking to me. I shoved aside my doubt of my own emotions as I attempted to stand and move around Dramin, but he only pushed my shoulders back into the chair, his hand wrapping around the cup to ensure I didn’t spill any.

  “You need to sit right there, drink that, and let your magic heal your feet before you lose them.”

  Dramin placed a blanket over me. I could feel my magic moving sluggishly around my body, congregating in my feet and toes as it attempted to heal me. I let it flow freely, even though I couldn’t stop my eyes from drifting to where Thom was healing Ilyan. I allowed my mind to continually check the Štít in my shoulder for any change.

  “What happened to him?” I asked, trying to keep the fear out of my voice, but not daring to look away from where Ilyan lay. It was hard to believe that Ilyan could get hurt.

  “He’s exhausted,” Dramin said and began shedding his many coats, laying them gently in one of the many chairs that surrounded the fire. The more he shed, the smaller he got, until he was nothing more than a tall wiry man with square shoulders. His hair was a tangle of long brown strands, his green eyes looking into me sharply as he smiled. He looked vaguely familiar. Not like I had seen him somewhere before, but as if I had known him. I knew it wasn’t possible though, he appeared to be a few years older than me, whatever that was worth given how magical people seemed to age.

  Dramin sat down in the armchair next to me, his hand patting my knee. “Ilyan is one of only a handful of Skȓítek who can perform a Stutter. It is draining enough with one person, I have never known it to be done with two people before.”

  “A Stutter?” I pulled my eyes away from Ilyan to look at Dramin.

  “Yes, a tri-dimensional move from any point to another. It happens in the blink of an eye.” Dramin took a drink from another mug filled with the same foul smelling liquid I still held in my hands.

  “You mean, he instantly moved us from farmland in Ohio to...”

  “High in the Alps, near a peak known as the Pizzo delle Saette.” My eyes bugged out of my head and Dramin chuckled at me lightly before taking another drink.

  I looked away from Dramin to Ilyan; I had no idea anything like that was possible.

  “It takes a spectacular amount of power to accomplish. Most people do not have enough magic to transport themselves let alone another. I am surprised the effort did not kill him. But then, Ilyan is one of a kind. His heart is good, child. Without that goodness and light, he may not have been able to save you tonight.”

  “‘One seeks power, the other light.’” I mumbled to myself.

  “I’m sorry?” Dramin asked, but I only shook my head at him.

  I didn’t want to think of Ryland’s words on the roof. I didn’t want to think of the possibility of Ilyan thinking about me that way, or even Ryland using me that way. The thought gave me a jittery butterfly feeling I wasn’t very appreciative of. Ilyan had saved me. He was my Protector and that was what he did.

  “And, you are sure he is going to be alright?” I desperately wanted to run over to him and somehow help Thom. But I could still feel the tingling of magic in my toes, and I wasn’t sure I could stand on my feet yet.

  “Never doubt the word of a Drak, child. He is resting. You will see him in a few days’ time.”

  “After my heart has broken twice,” I repeated. I turned to face him, unsurprised to see him staring at me. I shifted my weight in the chair, the look he was giving me making me uncomfortable.

  “I am still very sorry about that, but don’t worry.
It will be for a good cause.” He lifted his glass to me as if to tap it with mine, but I stayed still.

  “So, you are a Drak, then?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Didn’t we establish this already? Oh wait, you are wondering how I can be alive, or even be here considering the position of your Father.”

  “Yes, but you promised answers.”

  Dramin looked at me for a moment, his eyes making my insides squirm. His gaze made me feel like he was looking into my future, which given his magic he possibly could be. I wasn’t sure I wanted anyone looking into my future, so I shied away from him, squishing my back further into the chair.

  “Are you going to drink that?” he asked, gesturing toward the still full mug of steaming dark brown fluid he had given me. I swirled the mug around a bit, the thick fluid not moving around much.

  “Probably not. The smell is making me a bit sick.” I tried to move it away from me, but Dramin only smiled.

  “It tastes better then it smells, and it is the best thing for awakening magic. If you drink that I will tell you everything.”

  I pulled the cup toward me before looking at him, one eyebrow raised in accusation, “I thought our deal was you get to carry me here, and in return, you tell me everything.”

  “This is a new deal.” He smiled and I scowled back at him. I didn’t like being tricked.

  I locked eyes with him for a moment, hoping to stare him down. He grinned at me and leaned forward, giving me the same look he had before. My insides squirmed again and I shrunk away. I didn’t like the way he looked at me, the way he seemed to see through me. I pulled the mug to my lips, cringing at the smell of the fluid before the sweet honey flavor hit my tongue. The second I swallowed I could feel everything inside of me speed up. My magic warmed and moved faster. I hadn’t felt the current inside of me feel so alive since the morning after Ilyan had first centered me.

  “Talk,” I said, not willing to admit that the drink actually did taste good.

  Dramin smiled widely before sitting back in his chair, his legs crossing to face the fire. The light flickered around the space, ricocheting off of the pieces of metal and glass that hung from the ceiling and giving the whole space a glittery feeling.