The Embers of Light

by Tammy Farrell

  The being in front of Malcolm held out his hands with a shrug. “Apparently so.”

  Malcolm’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach. “Kain?” he managed.

  “The legend lives,” he said with a grin. “I am disgusted to find my son, a Dia of Cian blood, standing before me as a cowering mortal.” Kain raised his chin irritably. “I simply loathe mortals.”

  Malcolm might as well have been two feet tall in that moment. Shock and embarrassment became the glass through which he looked, the displeasure in his father’s eyes injuring him worse than any physical pain he’d thus endured.

  Behind the countenances of Ailwen and Annora stood his mother and father, two ghosts whose memories had haunted him his entire life, their faces unknown. And now here they were, standing together under the same roof, staring at him with eyes that cut like broken glass.

  “I thought you were dead,” Malcolm said, trying to calm his nerves.

  Kain nodded. “That I was. Seven times I have been slaughtered and fought my way out of the Otherworld, as a Dia king should. This time was sooner than expected, thanks to that embarrassment of a Keeper, ignorant of how to protect her Light, making any mortal she’s doe-eyed for a Dia. She made it simple for me to seize this fine young man.” He smiled and looked himself over. “And what a surprise it was when Daria appeared.”

  Daria gave a timid smile, an expression Malcolm had never seen his mother make.

  “But this—” Kain said, grimacing and motioning to Malcolm. “This is unacceptable for a son of mine.” He looked Malcolm over. “You have some hard lessons to learn if you want to call yourself my son, and the first of them is to wipe that expression off your face. By the gods, I don’t know how you’ve managed to make it this far. Rowan molded my son to butter, didn’t he?” Kain said to Daria. “I should have guessed this was his doing. Rowan was never one for strength. He thought all could be conquered with the mind…the fool.”

  Malcolm sucked in a breath and put his shoulders back, hoping his stunned expression was fading.

  “But all hope might not be lost for you, Malcolm,” his father said. “After all, you did come close to having the Keeper’s power. And it was your hand that slew your master.” Kain let out a raspy, stone-on-stone kind of laugh. “Rowan must have been thunderstruck to find a blade in his chest, put there by my offspring.”

  Malcolm remained stoic as all words abandoned him. Was his father praising him or condemning him?

  “We have some work to do, Malcolm.” He turned, walked back up to the throne, and sat down. “First, we will get your Light back so you’re worthy to stand in my presence.”

  “And then what?” Malcolm asked bitterly.

  “And then, we will deal with the Keeper. I will not be banished from this world again. This time I am sure of that.”

  Malcolm nodded, trying to keep his knees from collapsing beneath him. On the surface, this was everything he’d ever wanted. His parents were alive, he had his body back, the promise of power returned to him, and revenge on those who’d wronged him in sight. But somehow he found himself feeling empty, the joy he thought he should feel eluding him as he stood there with the jagged vine of resentment weaving in and through his soul.

  Mara sensed the presence of others as she and Drake raced through the doors of Ayrith. “Corbin!” she shouted, dashing for the throne room. “Corbin, where are you?” She met Drake’s anxious stare when Corbin appeared in the doorway, his face lined with concern.

  He spanned the distance to Mara with long strides and embraced her. “What’s the matter? Did you find the ancients?” He gave a nod to Drake.

  Mara took in a breath and put her hand to her chest. “Thank the gods you’re all right.” She pressed herself against him. “I sense them, Corbin. I can feel others here.”

  Corbin drew her back and nodded. “Two Dia arrived just after you left.”

  “What?” Mara asked.

  Corbin nodded. “I wanted to turn them away, but Annora insisted we take them in. I’m not certain I trust them, but so far, they seem harmless.”

  Mara let out a sigh of cautious relief, but the warning of the ancients remained at the front of her mind. “Corbin, we did find the ancients.”

  “What did they say?” He kept his ocean blue eyes locked on her.

  “I have to take Ailwen’s power,” she said. “There is no choice. They say the imbalance is my doing, and I must undo it before it’s too late.”

  Corbin looked at Drake, who stood in silence. “Do you agree? Is this what should be done?” Corbin asked.

  Drake nodded. “It’s the only way. If we can’t understand his power, it must be taken back.”

  Corbin pressed his lips in a hard line and looked off in thought. “Then it must be done.”

  “Our queen has returned,” Ailwen said as he strolled in the room with Annora on his arm.

  Mara stared as a young woman and man followed them. Their eyes rested on her with apprehension, their hands hung stiffly at their sides.

  Annora ushered the two forward with a smile. “Mara, this is Seren and Tristan.”

  They both gave her an awkward bow.

  Mara offered them no greeting, and rather wished these two had never arrived. Their presence made what she had to do next seem all the more difficult. If they’d expected her to be welcoming, the most she was able to give them at that moment was a hard stare.

  She turned her attention to Ailwen. “There is something I need to discuss with you.” She wished it could be simple. That he would understand; accept her promise to restore his Light when she was sure it was safe. But there was a look in his eye that told her otherwise, and she knew as she forced down the rising ache in her head, time was not on her side. She took a step towards him. “You will have to forgive me,” she said.

  Ailwen narrowed his eyes and exchanged glances with Annora. “Forgive you?”

  Mara took in a breath and with blind swiftness she seized him in her clutches before he had a chance to react. Annora let out a cry, but Mara ignored her, latching onto Ailwen’s face with her hands and summoning the same power she’d used on Malcolm. Her arms were stiff, burning as she withdrew Ailwen’s Light, and she braced herself for the violent release, the one she knew would come once she’d taken it all.

  But it didn’t come.

  Instead, his power seemed limitless, the struggle between them never-ending, and when Mara finally released him, the pain in her head returned with a vengeance, like the blade of a dagger lodged right between her ears. She cried out and fell to her knees.

  “Mara!” Corbin rushed to her side and pulled her to her feet.

  She gasped and looked up at Ailwen, the Light still within him, his eyes black as night.

  The ancients were right; a dark Light had seeped in through the gateway and now it was standing before her. As her breath caught in her throat, she finally began to believe what she’d known since the night she gave him Light.

  This was not Ailwen.

  Ailwen began to laugh. “I’ve had enough of these games.”

  Mara gathered her strength and raised her chin. “So have I,” she said icily. “Tell me who you are.”

  The smooth shush of a sword being pulled from its scabbard got Mara’s attention. She turned to see Drake, sword in hand and eyes wide with dread.

  Ailwen smirked. “Tell her, Draca. Tell her who I am.”

  Drake shook his head. “It can’t be. It can’t.”

  This made Ailwen’s eyes glisten with amusement. “Oh, Draca, still naïve as ever, I see.”

  Drake blinked and took in a hard breath, seeming lost for words.

  “It is true.” Ailwen moved towards him. “You thought you could hide it from them, didn’t you? You thought you could let her take my power and your secret would be safe.”

  “What have you done with Ailwen?” Drake asked.

  Corbin stood in front of Mara protectively, but the weight of the air and the fear in Drake’s eyes told her they were deal
ing with something far more dangerous than the three of them could handle.

  Ailwen sneered and took another step forward. “Yes. Tell them, Draca. Tell them who I am.”

  Drake pressed his lips together. “You are supposed to be dead,” he seethed. “You are supposed to be trapped in the Otherworld.”

  “That would have been the case, had it not been for our Keeper’s decision to open the gateway.” Ailwen glanced at Mara with contrived pity. “She’s so young, Draca, so unfamiliar with her own power. Slipping through was simple. And so here I am, returned once more.” He shook his head reproachfully. “You should have warned her.”

  “What is he talking about?” Corbin demanded with an icy stare and a note of uncertainty in his voice.

  “It’s Kain,” Drake whispered.

  Mara gasped. “The Cian.”

  “Yes,” Kain said with tightened black eyes. “This lad was the perfect vessel to take over, didn’t put up much of a fight.”

  “Go back to where you came from!” Drake growled, lunging at Kain. But his effort was thwarted, when with a swipe of Kain’s hand, Drake’s legs slipped from beneath him and he crashed to the ground.

  “I may be in a different body, old friend, but my Light is fathomless. Don’t test me any further; you will not be so lucky again.” He turned his attention to Mara. “You, on the other hand, are much stronger than I’d anticipated. You almost had my Light for a moment there.”

  Mara clenched her fists. “Then I will be the one to send you back from whence you came.” She raised her hand, letting the fire grow in her palm until it was a fierce ball of flames, and hurled it at Kain. She was certain it would at least stun him, but to her dismay, it stopped in mid-air only inches from his face, and disappeared.

  Kain laughed and lifted his hand, striking Mara with an invisible blow that hit her like a stone wall.

  “Your powers may be protected from me, Keeper, but I can still subdue you like the pathetic wench that you are, if I must.”

  Corbin reached for his sword and took a step towards Kain.

  Mara cried out, grabbing his arm. “Corbin, wait!”

  Kain was braced to attack, but paused.

  “What do you want from us?” she asked, trying to deflect his attention from Corbin. This was not a battle to be won with brute strength.

  Kain’s head tilted with a smile. “What do I want?” he asked. “What do I want? Why don’t you tell them, Draca? We’re old friends, you know what I want. You used to want the same thing, didn’t you?”

  Corbin stiffened and looked at Drake. “What is he talking about?”

  Drake took in slow, heavy breaths, his eyes shifting from Mara to Kain. “He wants the true immortality.”

  Mara gaped at Drake, the utter sorrow on his face doing little to quell the sense of betrayal in her heart.

  “Yes,” Kain continued. “And I want the Lia Fáil, the Ruler’s stone—the one that was stolen from me.”

  His eyes bore in to Mara with a ferocity that, at one time, would have made her shrink back. But she stood firm. “No,” she said, pulling her Light from a place deeper than she thought she could.

  Kain leered. “You are just as stubborn as your mother. Don’t think she won by killing me, Mara. She paid a great price for challenging me, and lost many loved ones before she found the courage to fight back. The strength it took her to banish me left her stripped of power, left her like a worthless mortal sack! She lived out the rest of her life that way, and look,” Kain swept his hand to one side, “here I am once more. Do you really want to make the same mistakes?”

  Mara glowered, trying to appear undaunted by his piercing words. “My mother didn’t have the power of three Dia to defend herself.”

  Kain opened his mouth to reply but stopped, her stiff defiance clearly unexpected. He eyed her for a moment, taking measure of her, and then nodded. “Ah, yes. You have Rowan’s Light—and my son’s.” He dipped his head and lowered his voice as if there was a secret to tell. “Malcolm almost had it in his grasp.” Kain walked towards her. “He got close to you, didn’t he? Very close.” Kain took another step closer, but Mara pushed him back with a gust of air.

  Her insides hardened with anger and her hands nearly trembled. “He did have it in his grasp, but like his father, his greed made him foolish.”

  Kain nodded with a discerning gaze, making Mara wonder if he could see through her shell of courage.

  “That’s true. Impetuousness was a burden to me as well, but I am a much more formidable opponent than my son, dear. Just ask Daria, my wife.”

  Annora took a step forward and gave a mocking curtsey. “Greetings,” she said.

  Mara stumbled back into Corbin. “Annora?” she whispered in disbelief.

  “Not any longer,” Daria said through Annora’s sweet lips.

  “No,” Mara shook her head emphatically, looking to Corbin. “No,” she said again.

  Daria smiled. “You might want to rethink killing us.” She glanced at Kain. “Or you’ll be killing your friends as well.”

  Mara clenched her fists and glimpsed the vault.

  They weren’t just here for the stone. They were here for Malcolm, too.

  “She’s just an innocent girl,” Drake whispered angrily, no longer able to control his desperate rage. He scowled at Kain with a hatred that turned Mara’s heart cold. Whatever centuries of conflict lie between them, Mara knew the dam was about to be lifted, and it was a river she couldn’t stop from flowing.

  Drake huffed like a bull about to charge, his eyes a fiery blue, hands steady. “You will not destroy another Keeper,” he spat. “This time I will make sure of that.” He tossed his sword to Corbin and thrust a raging ball of Light at Kain. The ancient power struck the intruder like a tidal wave, surrounding him with a murderous blue fire.

  For a moment Mara’s heart leapt, thinking Drake’s Light was strong enough to contain him, but within seconds, Kain had shrugged the Light away.

  Drake’s expression hardened to stone, but before he could lodge another attack, Kain lifted his hand and a ring of black fire rose up at Drake’s feet, trapping him within it.

  Corbin launched himself forward, but Mara grasped his arm and shook her head. “Don’t,” she begged in a whisper. She turned a hard eye on Kain. “I will never give you the stone,” she said, masking the nerves in her voice.

  Kain stiffened and his smile faded. “Yes, you will. In a match of strength, you can’t outdo me, and in a match of wills? Well, I’ve learned to harness a stronger power than you could ever imagine.” His face darkened as Mara’s vision clouded, the pressure of a giant’s hands crushed the sides of her head and she fell backwards, Corbin catching her in his arms. She was lost in her own mind, trapped by whatever power he had over her, when suddenly, the power released her. Mara sucked in a breath and steadied herself.

  “I have thousands of years of experience, Mara. You stand no chance against me.”

  She could feel Kain, Daria, and the two strange Dia watching her. This was no coincidence, these two Dia arriving.

  This was an ambush.

  She reached down for Corbin’s hand and squeezed it, trying to gather her thoughts. With Drake entrapped in the ring of fire, they were outnumbered, and this being’s power was one she didn’t know how to fight off. He could get inside her head, turn her to ruins in an instant. She remembered the ancient Dia’s warning—a life of chaos. This was that warning come to pass, so soon, and so completely out of her control. If she used her power to kill them, Annora and Ailwen would perish. If she gave in to them, not only would she be giving up a Light she was sworn to protect, she would be giving up her soul.

  She looked up to Corbin, hoping to find reassurance, but the heat emanating from him now was a sure sign that he could restrain himself no longer. Instinct was taking over as his gaze darted from his father trapped in the flames, to Kain.

  This time, nothing Mara could do would hold him back. He stepped in front of her, his guardian’s role
assumed. “Enough of this! Leave this place,” he hissed, inching closer without a hint of fear. “Leave Annora and Ailwen alone. Leave this world for all I care, or find yourselves trapped in it, down in the pits with your son.”

  Kain and Daria exchanged glances, and a voice that made Mara’s skin crawl spoke up.

  “Trapped? I see no one trapped here.” Malcolm came over the threshold of the throne room, his white hair cropped short, his mortal eyes dark and unforgiving.

  Mara felt as thought she’d been punched in the gut and her throat went dry. Her eyes saw Malcolm standing there, but her mind didn’t want to believe it. “This can’t be happening,” she whispered, too stunned to react when Corbin charged, his sword drawn, his movements so quick, Malcolm didn’t have to time wipe the smile from his wretched face. It should have been a quick death. Corbin could easily finish him, but the moment Corbin’s blade stretched through the air to take off Malcolm’s head, he stopped himself.

  “The curse,” Mara whispered.

  Corbin dropped his sword and grabbed Malcolm by the throat, catapulting him across the room and pinning him to the wall. “You vile piece of shit,” Corbin seethed.

  A victorious smile slithered across Malcolm’s face as he wiped blood from his lip. “Kill me, champion. Kill me and kill your Keeper, too.”

  Corbin seemed frozen in time, unable to drop Malcolm from his grasp, and unable to kill him. Mara’s stomach twisted at the sight, a desperate anguish consuming her.

  “Let him go,” Kain said evenly.

  Corbin didn’t budge, his eyes locked on Malcolm, his face as red as a royal seal.

  “Let him go,” Kain repeated.

  When Corbin didn’t react, Kain focused on him, using his power to gain access to Corbin’s mind. He dropped to the ground with an agonizing howl, clutched his hands to his head, and stumbled back as a ring of fire rose up to trap him as his father had been trapped.

  Kain clasped his hands in front of him and turned to Mara. “Fire,” he said with a shrug. “Even the truly immortal can’t survive it.”

  The flames grew higher around Corbin, becoming an impenetrable wall between them.