Of Embers

by Amily Cabelaris

  Evelyn glances up. The path ahead led them to Maven and Alesia. To chaos and death. The helmet drops. Cold, agonizing death. Followed by the most horrible fire and heat and loneliness.

  “Has everyone lost sight of what’s important?” Haven’t I?

  Evelyn shakes her head, chest tightening. A tear splatters onto the helmet below her. So quickly she’s forgotten what she’s been saved from. She was ripped from this world into one that only burned. One where unadulterated terror destroyed any vestige of thought. When she shuts her eyes, she can still see the shadows of others around her, waving their blackened arms, screaming for salvation. Screaming into the emptiness, never to be heard. Stuck forever.

  That was, of course, until a hand made entirely of light grasped hold of hers and pulled her back to life. She could once again taste the sweet air and hug those she loved so much. She received the chance to believe in Herus and never face those flames again.

  Evelyn collapses onto her knees. She presses her forehead to the dirt.

  “I am undone, Father,” she weeps. “I have let the worries of this life cloud your face. You delivered me from Hades, and I have forgotten you.” She knots the grass in her hands. “Forgive me, Father. Forgive my unbelief. You were the one who raised me, and I have let myself be distracted. My sin is far greater than those around me. Forgive me.”

  Evelyn relaxes there, in the grass. Thunder rumbles far away. She lifts her face as the first raindrops begin to fall. They mingle with the tears on her cheeks. Despite herself, she lifts her arms to the shouting sky. The tremendous boom feels like Herus’ response.

  She raises her hands. “You are my God, the God that does many wonders. You are my God.”

  The sky cracks open, releasing a flood of rain that soaks her. But she remains, undaunted by the thunder that shakes the ground, unmoved by the rain, unceasingly thankful.

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Asher left a moment ago when the rain started to pour, but Caius cannot take his eyes away. Evelyn has entranced him in a way that’s new. In a way he doesn’t quite understand. She kneels in the soggy ground, her arms lifted. From here he can hardly make out what she’s saying:

  “…for in you all things are new. I am a new creature. Why do I let other things pull me away?”

  New. A new creature. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he could transform into something new? Different from whatever he is now. Reborn.

  When she finally rises, he steps away. Pulls his mind back to solid ground. Rushes to the cave before she can see him. He crawls inside, shaking off the rain from his hair and clothes.

  “She’s going to see that,” Asher says, gesturing to his damp hair. “She’s going to be suspicious.”

  “I just couldn’t leave.”

  “She was praying,” Asher tells him. “I’ve walked in when…” His voice trails off.

  “When what?”

  Evelyn enters then. She’s smiling, glowing despite being sopping wet.

  Caius hands her a blanket from the floor. “Here.”

  “Thank you.” She bunches it against her wet hair, then gathers it in front of her. “I’d like to ask your forgiveness. Both of you.”

  Asher and Caius turn to her at once.

  “You were right,” she says, eyes lowered. “I was clinging so fiercely to the past that I forgot that everything has changed. I must learn to be more accepting of the changes in my life. In all our lives.” She raises her face. Her eyes shimmer like sunlight reflecting on the water. “I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

  Asher shrugs. “Of course. It’s all forgotten.”

  When she turns her eyes hopefully to Caius, his whole heart falls out through his feet. Once again, he is in awe of her strength. His mother used to say that admitting a wrong was a token of far greater character than fighting that wrong. He wishes she could have met Evelyn. She would have loved her.

  “Of course,” he says, fighting the urge to kiss her.

  She bobs her head. “So, what do we do from here?”

  “I think we could all wait in Tarreth until the flames finally go up,” Asher says. “But we should avoid Ilvara and Krassis. I’m afraid they may not be so fond of you two after today.”

  “Probably not.” Caius moves to a seat on the floor. “But we spend so much time travelling. It’s been weeks since I’ve had a sword in my hands.”

  “We need to be careful,” Evelyn says. “I heard the court wizard died. Leo’s father.”

  “Really?” Asher says. “How?”

  “I don’t know. I just heard it as we were leaving. If he was killed by one of the bandits, who knows what else they’re capable of?” She catches Caius’ eye. “What did you think when you met with him?”

  Caius shifts uncomfortably. “It was all right at first. He only asked about a few types of plants before he tried to recruit me to kill the dragons.”

  “Kill the dragons?” Evelyn repeats.

  Caius nods. “He wanted to find a way to poison them, so he could get rid of them entirely. I told him I didn’t want to be involved and walked out.”

  “And the next day he turns up dead,” says Asher.

  Evelyn nods. “The bandits must have found out he wanted the dragons gone and killed him.”

  Caius rubs his thumb and forefinger together to feel the scratch left by the sharp edge of the fire crystal. He can’t bring himself to confess, even to Evelyn, the only person he could tell anything to. He can’t risk her thinking of him like he thinks of himself.

  “Either way,” Caius says, “it’s dangerous to start the fighting, but to be true, that sounds better than waiting any longer.”

  Asher sits down across from him. “Impatience could get us all killed.”

  “Coming from the man who left Tarreth before any of his troops,” Caius says, smirking.

  Asher spins a twig in his fingers. “Like I said, it is frustrating to wait for things to happen.”

  Evelyn crosses her legs next to Caius. “Like what? The war?”

  Asher flattens his mouth and tosses the twig. He eyes both of them. “Yes.”

  Caius guesses that’s not it. From his hesitation, Caius gathers it may be about a woman.

  “Priscilla?” he asks.

  Asher’s head shoots up. “Why do you say that?”

  “You can talk to us about it,” Caius says.

  Asher rubs his forehead, concealing his face partially from them. “It’s really nothing. She has feelings for someone else.”

  “Did she say as much?” Evelyn asks.

  “No, but I know it’s true. I don’t even know if I feel anything for her. It has all been rather confusing.”

  “What were you waiting for?” Caius asks him. “If you cannot confront your own feelings, how can you share them with her?”

  Asher folds his arms. “I had no plans to share anything with her, really.”

  Caius waves a hand. “Then what did you expect? You want her to risk everything she knows for someone going off to battle when he isn’t even sure he feels the same way?”

  “Did you speak of this at all to her?” Evelyn asks him.

  He rubs a hand through his hair. “I told her I cared, but I was angry.” He stands at once and wipes his hands on his trousers. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  “Asher, if you love her, you should tell her,” Evelyn says quietly. “What if you die on the battlefield? Do you want your last words to her to be angry ones?”

  Instead of storming out like Caius expected, Asher sinks back to the ground.

  Almost inaudibly, he says, “No. And I didn’t say I loved her. I just…”

  “Let’s go back to Tarreth,” she continues. “War won’t really hit for a few days, at least. We’ll want to be there when the lines move out. And for our own personal business.” She lets her breath out. “I worry for the Esterden people. When the bandits find out they’ve been crossed, the citizens will be at risk.”

  “After our scuffle this past year with Esterden,
the thought of worry for their people is strange,” Asher says.

  “But they’re just people,” says Evelyn. “They want peace, just like we do.”

  “Not all of them,” Caius returns. “I’ve worked with the men outside. They brag day and night that they have the Pond now. And still, they complain they want more. Ralik’s mines. Kalpine’s sea plants and fish. Some of those men have an unquenchable bloodlust. They’ve been driven by the greed of their leader. That’s all they know.” He thinks of Silas, hating his assigned city, hating the bandits. Cast out and long dead because of his own people. He thinks of those corrupt guards watching Evelyn sleep at night.

  “Esterden can burn to ashes for all that I care,” he says.

  A powerful gust of wind swoops by the cave entrance. Caius crawls out quickly. That is no ordinary gust of wind.

  He glances at the dark forms soaring above him toward Tarreth. Dozens of them in every colour, he imagines. But in this weather, they all look black. Black as death itself. The power of their combined flight is enough to shake the trees. To sweep the rain from the mountain. To shake the ground like quakes from deep below. It staggers Caius where he stands.

  When he can finally find his legs, Caius dives for the door of the cave. He doesn’t realize he’s breathless until he speaks.

  “It’s the bandits,” he says. “They’re headed for Tarreth.”

  Chapter 34

  Ignite

  Images flash across Evelyn’s mind from a few months ago, when she and Caius discovered Esterden’s surprise ambush on Lockmire. The furious pounding of her heart. The dark forest blurring past as she ran, trying to keep up with Caius. The fear and confusion spinning her mind in circles.

  Now, there is only stillness. She watches the dragons soar above with Asher and Caius next to her. Dark wings and scaly bodies block out the sun. Other than the thump of the wings, the procession is silent. The three of them are silent as well. Silent with dread.

  Once they’re out of sight, Evelyn turns back to the way the Esterden wagon must have gone.

  “Ilvara might not yet be there. We should warn them,” she says.

  “They’ll see them,” Caius says. “Maybe they’ll come back this way.”

  “It would be foolish to enter Tarreth now,” Asher adds. “The bandits won’t be interested in taking prisoners.”

  Caius shakes his head. His voice is gravelly when he speaks, “They must have discovered the plot to cross them. I should have stayed silent.”

  “Don’t blame yourself,” Evelyn says. “I brought it up. My interaction with Ilvara upset me, and I forgot to be discreet.”

  Caius glances at the base of her throat. “You gave back your pendant.”

  Evelyn pinches the skin at her collarbone. “Yes. I know what you meant when you told me about your mother’s pendants. How you didn’t want to see them anymore.”

  He makes a kind of pained expression. “But you haven’t lost her.”

  Evelyn looks down. “Yes, I have.”

  The centre of her chest is empty, like all her insides have been pulled out.

  She lifts her head. “But I don’t want to dwell on it. There are dragons and bandits in Tarreth, and we need to take care of it.”

  “We’re three people,” Asher says. His worried eyes scan over the trees in Tarreth’s direction.

  “What about the generals from the other holds?” Evelyn asks.

  Asher turns to her. “Is there a point to rallying troops? Travelling across Ardellon will take days. Tarreth will be a smoldering pile of rubble by then.”

  Evelyn grabs Caius’ arm, the idea forming as she speaks. “Not if we take dragons. Caius, is it possible? Could we fight against theirs?”

  “If there are any dragons left. The bandits may have taken all of them.”

  “We’ve got to do something,” Asher urges them. “And we’re no use to Tarreth running in with only our little swords. Not against a horde.”

  Caius nods. “Perhaps the other holds still have men willing to fight.”

  “Let’s get to the meadow then.” Evelyn pulls him in that direction. “No time to lose.”

  “You’re right,” Caius says. “Tarreth has one chance at survival, so we must try.”

  They run south through the dense forest, stopping for only a few moments. Even Caius sounds out-of-breath.

  “You haven’t been training much, hm?” Evelyn asks him with a smirk.

  He shakes his head. “It’s been awful not running in the mornings. I feel like an old man.”

  Finally, the meadow opens up before them. As the boulders appear in the distance, the reality of the situation begins to dawn on Evelyn. Could the bandits really win? Could they take Tarreth?

  She can see it now. Beautiful pale city turned to a pile of ashes like Lockmire. Hundreds of homes destroyed. Families ripped mercilessly apart. Slaves forced to work or be tortured. Hundreds treated like she was. Ugly, brutish monsters murdering the innocent for sport.

  Her feet move faster.

  When they arrive, Caius lifts his arms to the rocks at once. “Surge jumentum ignis, audi vocem meam!”

  There is an immediate rumble beneath them. “Gathering them together must have riled them up,” Caius says. “They’re very busy under there.”

  Asher gestures at the dark rocks and starts to say, “So, a great dragon is just going to come out from—” when the boulder cracks in half and tumbles aside.

  They fall away from the thrashing ground. A dragon with a bony green face appears, plenty large enough to fit the three of them and more. Far more. Once he’s shaken the earth from his scales, Caius and Evelyn climb on. Asher hesitates.

  “Hurry,” Evelyn calls down.

  He flattens his lips. “And this is the only way we can get there quickly? I didn’t very much like my first ride on these things.”

  Caius rolls his eyes and reaches down. “Come on.”

  Asher takes his offered arm. He scrambles awkwardly aboard and seizes the dragon’s spine so tightly his hands turn white.

  “Sursum!” Caius calls. The dragon lifts into the air with lightning speed. Asher gives one guttural groan, but nods when Caius asks if he’s all right.

  Their first stop is Vestar, the farthest hold. The dragon moves so fast that the forest below passes in a smudge of green and black. They drop outside Vestar only minutes after taking off. White fields cover the hills. Cotton, all ready to harvest. With so many farmers dead and gone, it’ll soon rot with rain and freeze with snow.

  Caius waits with the dragon while Asher and Evelyn run into the city. It’s faced little damage from the bandits since Lockmire, but its general is still disturbed from news of Tarreth’s attack.

  “Most of my troops went to Lockmire months ago,” he tells them. “All I have are some guards, but I’d like to keep them here to protect the city in case they bring their trouble here.”

  “We need to pinch this wound at the source,” Asher says. “If we stop them in Tarreth, there’s no worry about them coming here.”

  The general grips the desk in front of him, digging his thumbnails into the wood as he ponders it. Finally, he stands. “It’s a big risk, but Tarreth needs it. My guards are yours. I’ll get them out at once.”

  “We are indebted to you, sir,” Asher says, bowing deeply.

  “I want the bandits gone,” returns the general.

  “We’ll make sure of that,” Evelyn tells him.

  Once thirty guards pile onto the dragon, it pushes off into the air again. Reactions are varied from the new riders. Some grip the spines like Asher, hands shaking, eyes wide; some whoop with joy at the thrill.

  Ralik is far more affected by the bandits. Doors are shut and guarded with spikes. The streets are deserted except for a few guards. Evelyn follows Asher into the main tower. They descend into a meeting room at a guard’s direction. A single candle illuminates the room, empty except for a pair of hands pressing down onto the table where a map is laid open. One hand is marked in
the centre with a pocked, white scar.

  The dark figure moves when Asher and Evelyn enter the room. He lifts the candle, and Evelyn steps back, feeling silly for having forgotten who the general of Ralik was.

  “Hargis,” Asher says, “Tarreth needs your help.”

  Hargis lowers the candle. “You.”

  Asher presses on. “We spotted dragons on their way to the gates. Tarreth will be lost without your men.”

  Hargis touches his candle flame to an unlit candle, then another, and another, until the room glows orange. He looks just as mean and brutish as he did the day Evelyn stuck him in the hand with an arrow.

  Slowly, he says, “You want me to send my men to Tarreth to fight off the bandits?”

  “Yes,” says Asher. “We’ve gathered men from Vestar already. We’re headed to Prynveil next.”

  Hargis goes back to his table. “There is no one left in Prynveil. The bandits have destroyed everything.”

  “That’s why we need to fight back,” Evelyn says.

  Hargis stabs a dagger down into the wood, making Evelyn flinch. “If Lockmire had stayed strong, perhaps they wouldn’t have gotten so far.”

  Asher takes one step forward. “None of that matters now. We are Tarreth’s last hope.”

  Hargis huffs. “Tarreth was supplying Esterden anyway. They organized their own destruction. Let them have it. Filthy neutrals.”

  “Lockmire was strong, but they were overwhelmed,” Evelyn counters.

  Hargis glares at her from the table, his eyes black under bushy brows. “Lockmire’s leaders were off finding you. They were wasting time, energy, and resources getting you back. The trainer focused more on wooing you than actually training. We may be a small distance from Lockmire, but the few men who could return home returned with all the stories.”

  Asher raises his voice. “There’s no need—”

  “Look what’s happened, General, and tell me what you see,” Hargis interrupts him. He jabs his finger at Evelyn. “I told you she would only distract the men. I told you everything would go wrong if you let her in. Now, all our holds are destroyed. Hundreds of men have been killed. And for what?” He turns on Evelyn, and she instinctively steps back again. “So you could have a chance at glory?”