Embers of Darkness (Through the Ashes Book 2)

by J. A. Culican

  "Yeah, I guess so." She had never stopped to consider that Jaekob might not feel right at home in such a place, considering the Warrens his people had lived in for so long. "Okay, I'm going to send out my senses to that building across the way, if you think that's the right one to go to, and make sure it's clear. I'm not sure why we haven't seen any—"

  She looked up at the shadow that passed right over her just in time to see a massive, twisted figure streak overhead. A troll! It landed with a thud, the impact almost driving it to its knees, but it was unharmed. Fear coursed through her, giving her nearly instant tunnel vision so that she only heard the sounds of more trolls landing to either side of her.

  The thing's face was twisted in rage, a troll expression she had never seen directed solely at her before, and it raised a club as big as she was over its head. Her mind went blank, every thought merely spinning in place. She stared the troll in its eyes and knew deep in her soul that this was it. She was about to die.

  At the same time, she heard a wet, tearing sound she recognized as Jaekob's claws extending and tearing through his skin and bones. A weird, detached part of her wondered how he could so easily take the pain it must cause him and whether that was a common dragon tactic.

  Another shadow passed over her, but this time it was from the troll's club. It seemed to be arc toward her in slow motion, getting closer and closer, but she couldn't move. Every limb felt heavy, like when she tried to run in dream.

  All she could do was to stare at the club as it came toward her with a deep whooshing noise.

  Bells found herself suddenly looking up at nothing as the troll and his deadly club disappeared from view with a crash. She looked for it and saw something streaking into him from off to her left.

  She blinked twice and then everything sped up again to normal speed. Jaekob was plunging his claws into the troll, who looked surprised. It didn't even put up much of a fight. Jaekob climbed back to his feet, panting.

  Hawking! She turned frantically to look and saw him crumpled on the ground, another troll standing over him. It looked at her and grinned. Then it stomped toward her and Jaekob.

  Jaekob muttered, "I see trolls are as stupid as ever. Try to get to Hawking; I'll hold off the troll."

  He didn't wait for a response before charging at the monstrous troll, which stood almost twice his height but moved with deceptive speed. In a flash, they were rolling on the ground, leaping to their feet, and crashing into each other again.

  The building provided a convenient shadow which she used to full advantage to make her way to where Hawking lay unmoving. She gently rolled him over and saw terrible bruising already forming just over his shirt collar and extending down under his shirt. She used her dagger to slice his shirt—she didn't think he would mind, despite the expense, given the circumstances—and then gasped. The bruise extended over much of his chest, and there was no way he didn't have broken ribs from the blow.

  She brought her hands over his chest, hovering them just above the skin, and closed her eyes. As she expected, his aura was a mess. Her plan would tire her out, but he was her cousin, so she let her aura and his flow together. Where they connected, a bright swirl of glowing darkness and sparkling light formed.

  It seemed to take forever, but the darkness began to shift hue, becoming lighter; the sparkles from her own healthy aura seemed to glitter less. She felt her energy draining, leaving her fatigued.

  Something latched onto her wrist and looked down to find that Hawking was awake again. He slowly shook his head, his face twisted into a mask of pain. He groaned under his breath, "No, cousin. You need your strength. You healed me enough—I can get away..."

  As his voice trailed away, replaced by a pained groan, she scowled at him. How could he think leaving him there was even a possibility? She said, "Don't worry about it. I'll be fine, but you're still hurt. I think I fixed the worst of it, but you need more healing. You still have cracked ribs, and who knows whether your internal bleeding will start again if you try to walk out of here alone."

  He smiled up at her faintly, though the effort obviously hurt. "Listen to me. If you don't get that sword then it won't matter what happens to me or to any of us."

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and Jaekob's voice behind her said, "He's right. We came here on a mission. Why don't we hide him in one of these empty huts, where no one will find him? We can gather him back up on our way out, and he’ll be safer in the meantime."

  Bells was still entwined with Hawking's aura and she thought she saw a flash of purple dishonesty, but couldn't be sure.

  Hawking said, "Yes, that's a great idea. In fact, I'll get myself across the street to that house. All the elves and trolls are on this side in these huge buildings."

  "But you aren't a soldier. You're just a fae!"

  Jaekob's voice rumbled in his chest, "Don't ever say that again, Bells. In the short time I've known you and the fae, you've shown me to have more respect for your kind than for any other. The fae are strong, living where dragons would rather fight to the death, and cunning enough to survive slavery. Fae are more in tune with Creation than any others, which we should all be ashamed of."

  "But he's still not a soldier. He can't do this."

  Jaekob squeezed her shoulder. "If we hope to live free, we're all soldiers today. Trust him and in Creation's plan for us. We have to go right now if we have any hope of saving both worlds."

  Hawking's gaze never left her eyes. "Trust me, Bells,” he said. “If you don't leave right now, I'm going to stagger through this camp and hope to distract them for you, anything to get you moving again."

  His aura couldn't lie, and showed he wasn't lying either.

  "Fine," she said through clenched teeth. She leaned forward and touched her forehead to his. "Be well, cousin."

  Jaekob grabbed her and began to drag her away. The last glimpse she had of Hawking was of him lurching across the street. She didn't see if he made it. Then she could only focus on the task at hand.

  "Let go." She jerked herself free from Jaekob's grasp and followed him.

  He didn't reply, just darted into the next shadow.

  Bells looked at Jaekob with a new appreciation. As they traveled through the former campus, now an army camp, he moved decisively, always picking the best cover even when it hadn't looked that good from afar. Both times they ran across sentries, he had been frighteningly efficient dealing with them, totally heedless of the pain his claws caused him every time he brought them out.

  She stood with him at the perimeter of an open area, the "quad," according to the sign. Just as Jaekob had said, there was a huge pavilion tent erected in the center. He was right, too, that the elf in charge had no interest in being inside human buildings, though it was apparently good enough for his troops. She didn't blame him—human buildings stunk of chemicals and worse things.

  The quad was almost empty of people, though. She shook her head. "This doesn't look right. Where are the troops and his messengers and all that?"

  "He can't carry the sword all the time. It's exhausting to carry it. When I held it, I was in a constant battle with the sword itself for control of us both. I think it has a mind of its own, or at least a purpose it was created for, and it will fight anyone working against that purpose."

  "So? That doesn't explain why there are so few people here."

  "It does, actually. He won't want the sword to fall into anyone else's hands while he isn't wearing it, and the best way to do that is to keep people out. The war room and supplies will all be in the buildings, along with all the people under him who have ambitions of their own. The sword will be here. I just know it."

  "In that tent?" she asked, her heart sinking, and she already knew the answer. The pavilion was in the middle of a wide-open space. Any of the few people who were there could see them when they tried to get to the tent, if they were looking in their direction, as could anyone looking out the windows in the surrounding buildings.

  "Yes, of course. We need a
plan—"

  As he was speaking, he cut off quickly and whipped to look at something. She turned to look where he did and saw the pavilion's double-flaps open, two guards stepping out and holding them open for a third emerging figure.

  An elf.

  And he had the sword on his hip. She could feel its power even from this distance.

  Two more guards followed him out.

  Jaekob grunted. “Those guards are no simple elves. Those are the Black Court's elite Sundowner troops. Battlemage elves with enchanted arms and armor, fanatically loyal to the Black Khan himself."

  She gulped. "So that would make that man..."

  "The khan, yes. Notice how they all have the same skin tone? That's a dead giveaway. Mystery solved. I was going to say we need a plan, but now we need one desperately. I can't take on four Sundowners by myself."

  "You took on four trolls. I've seen you fight."

  He smiled at her and his cheeks flushed red. "Perhaps. But there's a reason those are his guards and not trolls. They are very nearly equal in strength to a dragon warrior. I might be able to take two or three, depending on their gear, but four, plus the Black Khan himself? Never. Not in a stand-up fight, at least. We need—"

  "A plan, yeah, I get it." She frowned.

  "Yes, and fast. This will be our best chance at getting that sword. If we can just get it into our own hands, then we will surely win."

  "Why not ambush him when he goes somewhere with it?"

  "After he leaves this place, there will be far too many of his supporters for us to attack him."

  Bells' stomach rolled. This was it, she was really going to do this. Attack an elf king, and she a mere fae... She gulped, but nodded. It had to be done. Maybe she could do it without having to risk battle—she was no warrior. "Maybe I can use my shadow-walk to get up behind him and just grab the sword?"

  "No, unfortunately. One of the few enchantments all Sundowners have in common is Truesight. Being invisible through a spell wouldn't even help."

  "Well, I do know one spell—" She cut herself off before finishing and grimaced. It was a stupid idea.

  "What is it? There are no stupid ideas, just ideas that may not work at the moment. Tell me what it is."

  "Um, the trees... Before all the Pures fled across the Veil long ago, the fae and the trees were the closest of allies. Some fae still know the spell needed to call on a tree, not just as I have done in the past with growing them, but to really summon them. Enough fae could summon an army of trees, or what the humans used to call treants. My father was important enough to have been taught that spell, and he shouldn't have done it, but he taught it to me."

  Jaekob grinned and his eyes flared red for a second. "Are you telling me that you can turn any tree into a real soldier?"

  Bells nodded. "In theory. I've never done it. But we must never do so for selfish reasons, which is why we never summoned them to help us stay free. If we perform the spell and the trees decide the cause isn't worthy, it would sever our connection to them and to all trees. Maybe even to all plants. It would render us... I guess that would make us human, almost." She shuddered at the thought.

  He didn't waste a moment before asking, "Would you rather be true slaves, body and mind, or save the world at the risk of becoming human? One is guaranteed, and the other is a maybe."

  He had a point. Still, she was terrified. The more she thought about it, though, the more she became convinced she had no other options. But what would her father do? The choice became clear. "Okay, I'll try. If it works, what should be our plan?"

  They both looked out over the nearly empty quad. There were a few trees already planted. One was a large black oak. "The oak has to be the choice,” Jaekob said. “Maybe it will move slower than a younger, smaller tree, but we don't need it to move quickly. We just need to distract the elves. No doubt the khan will move back, letting his guardians protect him while he goes into his tent to fetch a scroll. I can't even imagine how many spells he must have prepared for his attempt at building an empire, and those would all be in his tent."

  Bells felt a bit like a warrior at the moment and almost grinned until she remembered the odds against winning. "And while his guardians are distracted, you and I go into the tent and get the sword from him?"

  A single thought flashed through her mind, not her own but Jaekob's, courtesy of their connection: Not us, just me. He smiled, though, and said, "Yes, then you and I go fight the khan and get that sword before he can use it on any more people."

  She paused. Had he just lied to her? Or had he changed his mind? She couldn't be sure. She also couldn't ask him about it, not without giving away the fact that their connection had been working in her favor all this time.

  Or had it? Did he, too, receive thoughts at random from her? Aargh. No time for this. "Let's do it," she whispered.

  She sat down and crossed her legs, resting her hands on her knees, and closed her eyes. She envisioned a glyph, one that would animate that tree. It wasn't just a simple glyph, not for so complex a task. No, every stroke mattered, and different angles would give different results. It was also a bit of a color puzzle, with each stroke a different shade and hue. She had to get it just right to not only activate the tree but to get it to do what she wanted and adapt to changing circumstances.

  As she painted different strokes in her mind, creating the glyph, she could sense Jaekob's impatience but pushed the thought aside. She had to focus. A little blue here—no, that was the wrong shade—another quick adjustment... There, that's right... Add some purple over there...

  She added the last touch and abruptly, in her mind, the glyph flared brightly and then blew away like smoke in the wind. A commotion made her open her eyes, and she grinned as she saw the oak tree bearing down on the khan and his guardians, using its thickest roots like legs. The elves stared at it without moving. She could only imagine their shock.

  A moment later, the four guardians overcame their shock and burst into motion, charging toward the tree.

  Jaekob said, "Nice. Let's go," and scrambled from cover. She was only one step behind him as they sprinted toward the pavilion in an arc that quickly took the guardians out of view.

  They reached the pavilion wall seconds later, just as the sounds of elves fighting the tree began. Jaekob extended his claws and drew his hand back to slice at the tent's canvas wall—

  A shadow passed over her. Actually, it passed over the entire quad. Jaekob froze. Confused, she looked up and then she froze, too, disbelieving her own eyes. Dragons! Flight after flight, wing after wing, Dragons soared above the town, and they were moving fast. "What on Earth?"

  Jaekob whispered, "They came," and his voice sounded different somehow. His aura flared in reds and greens, a mix of anger and relief she didn't understand. Was he worried about their coming, or excited?

  But now wasn't the time to examine that. From all around her, from every building, cries of alarm went up and troops began to file out into the streets.

  Bells' voice cracked as she cried, "Now, Jaekob! It has to be now."

  He turned from looking at the sky, a dazed expression on his face, but then he blinked rapidly and the focus returned to his eyes. He swung clawed hands at the pavilion and a sliced section of fabric fell inward.

  Jaekob bolted through it before even looking inside. She followed without thinking. Inside, he rushed the khan as the man drew a sword—the sword—and struck with his shoulder into the khan's midsection. The sword went flying and clattered across the ground.

  As the khan drew another sword, this one ordinary, he and Jaekob fought, blocking her way to the blade. She tried to dart for it, but the khan thrust his other sword at her and she fell backward. There was no way she could get it, not yet.

  The khan swung his sword with both hands, and though Jaekob blocked it with his claws, the force sent him reeling backward into a weapons rack. He grabbed the closest sword and came out swinging. Although every fight Bells had seen so far ended in seconds, usually, it was no
t so with those two—he and the khan seemed evenly matched to the point where she could have believed they'd trained together if she didn't know better.

  The sounds of battle outside the tent grew more ferocious, more intense. Once, the ground shook and she imagined a wounded dragon plummeting into the ground.

  Bells threw a handful of seeds, scattering them over the dirt floor, then focused all her attention on them. She found the one she wanted, a vine, and willed it to grow. It slithered across the ground, growing at an impossible rate, wrapping itself around the khan's ankle at her request.

  Seconds later, as the khan tried to retreat from Jaekob's most recent flurry of blows, he staggered, ankle bound by the vine. He almost fell but a quick slice with his sword settled the matter.

  Bells realized with a start that the fighting had shifted toward the tent's entrance. For a few seconds, she had a clear path to the sword on the dirt near the khan's bed. She took one glance at the two fighters to make sure she wouldn't be charging into them, then bolted toward the sword , leaping and landing on her belly. She rolled under the bed and, as the two fighters worked their way back toward her, reached out and snatched the sword, drawing it back under the bed with her.

  Time seemed to freeze for a moment. She felt a jolt of overwhelming energy flood through her from the sword, and it instantly filled her. She was a cup overflowing as time resumed its normal pace. As she stared at the sword, she saw beyond it in her peripheral view that Jaekob had fallen onto his back as the khan leapt onto him.

  She tried to cry out in fear, but then everything went black.

  Bells opened her eyes and found herself in a white room, brightly lit but with no torches or light bulbs that she could see. The room stretched about twenty feet across, and in the center was a chair. A person was tied to the chair, wearing a burlap bag over their head. Next to the figure stood a table, and a row of tools and blades lay on it.

  She turned around and saw a door. She desperately tried to open it. She had to get back to Jaekob! But it wouldn't budge no matter how hard she pulled, and she didn't see a lock to pick. She patted her pouch, then looked down in astonishment—her seed bag was gone. So was her dagger. In fact, she wore only a white tunic that hung to her knees. She wiggled her toes, and found the floor was comfortably warm.