Embers at Galdrilene

by Audra Trosper

  Alden hissed. “I will not leave them to you, I found them. They are mine or they are dead!”

  “They belong only to themselves. This is a concept I know you have trouble understanding. You have no choice but to leave them to me.”

  To Kellinar, it almost looked as if the skull-like face sneered. “Why have I no choice, Guardian?”

  “Do you truly believe I face you alone, Benduiren?”

  The dark rider’s eyes swept the sky again. A scream of rage and frustration tore from his throat and he dissolved into a black mist that streamed away to the east, still wailing. Kellinar glanced at the empty sky, trying to see what had made the thing leave. A thud drew his eyes back the road. The black horse had fallen to the ground. Kellinar watched in fascinated horror as its body withered until it looked as if it had lain dead for years.

  The woman leaped from the saddle and ran to where Kellinar sat next to Serena, his hands pressed around the blade as he attempted to stop the blood. Throwing her cloak aside she kneeled opposite him and moved his hands away. “You should not have moved her,” the woman said grimly. “You could have killed her.”

  He raised his eyes to hers. “I think she’s already dead.”

  Vaddoc backed away to allow Emallya access to the still, pale form of the young woman. She extracted the blood covered blade and laid it on the ground. Placing her hands over the wound, she sank into a trancelike state. The blond man kneeling next to the young woman looked on with anxious eyes. Moments passed. Vaddoc scanned the silent landscape, watchful for any danger.

  Finally, Emallya opened her eyes and sagged as if exhausted. He shifted his gaze to the young woman. Her face, though still drawn and pale, had taken on a healthier look. He saw no sign of the injury and she appeared to rest peacefully.

  Vaddoc turned his eyes on Emallya as she tossed the dagger well away from the road. “You healed her.” He suppressed a shiver of fear and swallowed. In the month they had traveled together, she hadn’t used any magic. At least none that he could see. And now this. He reminded himself that he could use magic, too. It didn’t bring him much comfort. Nothing like being reminded of a terminal disease even if Emallya did claim he wouldn’t go insane and die.

  She shook her head. “I did not. I do not have the power to heal. I only served as the vessel that allowed another to channel his powers through me.”

  The blond man looked stunned. “Who are you?”

  Emallya offered him a tired smile. “I am Emallya Lorant. This young man that travels with me is Vaddoc Eldark. How are you called?”

  “I’m Kellinar Doryne and this is Serena Cyen. Will she…live?”

  Emallya nodded. “Yes. She will sleep for a while, but she is completely healed.”

  Kellinar glanced at the road and the desiccated carcass of the horse. “What was that thing?”

  “In due time. For now, let us move away from the road and set up camp. Your friend will be thirsty when she wakes and will likely welcome a cup of hot tea.”

  Kellinar looked first at Vaddoc, then at Serena, and finally back at Emallya. “Have I lost my mind?”

  She smiled and stood up. “I am quite sure your mind is right there in your head. It is hard to lose one without losing the other.” She turned to Vaddoc. “Get this young woman settled and then you two can hunt down wood for a fire.”

  Vaddoc nodded and stepped forward to help Kellinar. He understood the other man’s confusion. It was one thing to know you can use magic; it was another to be confronted by a stranger who could use it.

  Serena shifted restlessly. Something disturbed her sleep. Maybe it was that horrible dream, the one where the Keepers were after Kellinar. No, that wasn’t right, that hadn’t been a dream. Something else awakened her. The delicious aroma of tea filled her nose. Her tongue felt as if it was made of cotton. A drink, she needed a drink. She struggled to swallow. Her eyes fluttered open.

  The night sky, glittering with stars, stretched overhead. A woman tended a tea kettle hung over a small fire. Serena glanced around, but saw no one else in the pool of light. She turned her eyes back to the stranger with rich, chestnut hair that hung to her waist. The firelight highlighted strands of gray in the woman’s hair. She had a fine featured face with full lips. Her violet eyes startled Serena. She had never seen eyes of that color before. Who was this woman? Her gaze traveled around the small campsite again. Where was Kellinar? She stirred uneasily.

  The woman glanced at her. “You should be resting, not worrying. Your friend went to bring a little more wood. He returns now.”

  A moment later, Kellinar walked into the firelight accompanied by a Shaderian man who looked to be no more than a year or two older than herself.

  “Serena, you’re awake.” Kellinar knelt down in front of her, his worried blue eyes traveling over her face. “How do you feel?”

  She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Tired, very tired. What happened?”

  “That flaming thing on the road threw a dagger at you. I thought you were dead.”

  The memory of the dark rider on the road made her tremble. “How did we get away?”

  He gestured to the woman who poured tea into four small cups. “She saved us. If it wasn’t for her, we would both be dead.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe she saved you.”

  Serena’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I don’t feel any wounds. Where was I hit?”

  Kellinar lowered his voice to a whisper. “In the back. She said the blade tip nicked your heart. She healed you, the same way you healed me.”

  The approach of the woman stilled the questions flooding Serena’s mind. She took the offering of tea and a small cake of traveling food with a whispered, “Thank you.” While she ate, she watched the woman surreptitiously.

  Finally, she asked, “Who are you?”

  “My name is Emallya Lorant and this young man is Vaddoc Eldark. He was Border Guard in Shadereen before landing in the same fire as you and Kellinar.”

  “You mean he can use magic?” Serena asked.

  “He can,” Emallya said.

  “And you healed me? With magic?”

  The woman nodded. “Yes, in a way.”

  “Kellinar said the blade nicked my heart.”

  Emallya nodded again. “And pierced a lung.”

  Serena looked at her in wonder. “I could never have healed something like that. Your gifts are very powerful.”

  “That power was not mine, Serena. One day, you will be able to heal things like that.”

  Kellinar sat next to Serena with his tea and food. “I guess we were lucky you happened to come along when that thing attacked?”

  “It was not luck. Your power runs very strong in all of you. It glows in my mind like a beacon. The hum you hear led me to you. After collecting Vaddoc, I was on my way to Trilene. Six days ago,” she turned her gaze on Kellinar, “I felt you Emerge.” She looked back at Serena. “There are two others, besides these two young men, who have Emerged since you, Serena. Until five days ago you were not moving despite my efforts. I wanted to know why.”

  “So the hum is supposed to be there? It doesn’t mean we’re going crazy?” Kellinar asked.

  Emallya smiled. “For you, it is supposed to be there and no, you are not going crazy.”

  “What do you mean, despite your efforts?” Serena asked, thinking of her inexplicable desire to travel north.

  “My powers deal with what is known as Spirit magic. Most minds are like an open book to me if I wish them to be. I sent you the desire to go in the direction I needed you to.”

  “You mean you can read everything we are thinking?” Kellinar asked, a wary expression on his face.

  Emallya rolled her eyes. “It would get very crowded inside my head if I tried to absorb everything running through your minds. I suppose I could read your every thought, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to do so. Besides, it would be rude.” She took a sip of her tea. “However, reading your basic feelings and state of mind is something that I c
an only turn down the intensity of. I cannot block it or get around sensing it. On rare occasions, certain thoughts are so clearly defined within your minds, I hear them whether I want to or not. But I do not go around reading your minds.”

  Kellinar rubbed his forehead and stared at the fire as if he sought answers in its flickering light. “You seemed to know that creature on the road.”

  “I have met him before, a long time ago.”

  Serena shivered and looked out into the night. Her skin crawled as if those red eyes looked at her again. “What was it? Why did it want us?”

  “They used to be men. Now they are called the Benduiren. They reside half in this world and half in the realm of the dead. They want you for the powers you possess,” Emallya answered.

  The black sphere surfaced in Serena’s memory. “What was that thing on his palm?

  Kellinar looked up. “And why did I feel like it was killing me?”

  Emallya stared at the fire. “It is called a soul sphere. It is the only offensive magic they have left to them.”

  Serena’s insides felt cold. “What would it have done if you didn’t show up?”

  Emallya looked up, her eyes a dark shade of purple in the firelight. “You would have died. A soul sphere pulls your soul away and locks it in darkness where it can never find the peace of Maiadar.”

  Vaddoc asked, “What was it that made him leave?”

  “I made him think I was not alone,” Emallya said shortly. Serena got the feeling the older woman left something important unsaid. Emallya looked at each of them. “I can offer you a place that is safe, both from the Keepers and the Benduiren.”

  Kellinar spoke up, “Why in the name of the Fates should we follow you? I mean, I’m grateful for your help, but how do we know your intentions are good?”

  “You are certainly free to run off in your own direction if you wish, Foundling. I have no hold on you. If you choose that path, you know now that the Keepers are the least of your worries. The Benduiren will not stop hunting you.”

  “Why did you call me, Foundling?”

  Vaddoc chuckled. “Apparently, a Foundling is a special type of magic user.”

  Kellinar looked at the Shaderian who poked at the fire with a stick. “How long have you traveled with her?”

  Vaddoc smiled. “Almost a full month.”

  “Do you trust her?”

  Vaddoc’s amber eyes glowed in the firelight when he looked up. “Yes, I trust her.”

  Serena felt the weight of the woman’s violet gaze as she fixed both her and Kellinar with it. “It is fine that you ask Vaddoc’s opinion of me, however, you cannot follow me based on his answer. You have been offered a gift, one more precious than you can begin to imagine. You must accept it or reject it on your own and with the feelings in your own hearts. It must be sincere either way.”

  Emallya turned and looked out into the night. “We are being watched.”

  Serena’s stomach rolled as dread charged through her. What if that thing, that Benduiren, had come back? Vaddoc and Kellinar were on their feet. The Shaderian held a curved sword in each hand. Kellinar started to pull two of his daggers, paused and then let them slide back into their sheaths.

  He stared into the darkness. “I can feel it. I have felt it several times since we left Trilene. Whoever it is, I don’t think any harm is meant.”

  Emallya raised an eyebrow. “How do you feel this?”

  Kellinar looked at the older woman. “The air currents…told me.” Emallya nodded as if air currents that told people things were nothing unusual.

  Serena strained her eyes against the dark, searching the deep black of the night. She saw nothing.

  Emallya raised her voice and called out, “I can feel you hiding there. If I had not been distracted, I would have noticed you sooner. Tell me, do you intend to crouch like a frightened rabbit behind that poor excuse for a bush all night?”

  A small shape separated itself from the night and walked to the edge of the firelight. Serena gasped, this was not what she’d expected and she wasn’t sure she could believe her eyes. How had they been followed? Beside her, Kellinar stood as if frozen.

  The young boy that came out of the night stood as tall as he could and looked straight at Emallya. “I ain’t no scared rabbit. I ain’t scared of nothing.”

  Emallya smiled. “There is nothing that makes you afraid?”

  The boy chewed his lower lip and his eyes shifted to look at the ground in front of his toes. “Well, maybe some things. Like that thing you chased off the road. That scared me,” he raised his eyes to hers again, “but I ain’t afraid of you.”

  “And why is that?” she asked.

  “’Cause Kellinar and Serena ain’t afraid of you.”

  Kellinar sucked in a breath and let it out. “Loki, what are you doing here?”

  “Is that how you are called, young man?” Emallya asked the boy.

  Loki nodded and Kellinar asked again, “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to, Kellinar! Them flaming Keepers raided the Thieves’ Caves looking for you. Everything was crazy. They tried to catch me ‘cause they knew I was your friend and they thought I knew where you was hiding, only I got away. At first I didn’t know where you were and I just was walking. Then later, I seen you ahead of me on the road. So I followed you.” Loki’s voice held some of the fear he claimed he didn’t feel.

  Serena looked at him. “Why didn’t you let us know you were there?”

  “ ’Cause I thought you wouldn’t let me come, that you’d send me back and I can’t go back. They’ll get me.”

  Kellinar ran a hand through his hair and looked at Serena. She shrugged; she didn’t know what to do. She didn’t think they could send him back, but how could they take him with them?

  Emallya walked over and crouched down in front of the boy, looking directly into his eyes. “We will not send you back, young man. Now that you are here, we can do no more than take you with us. There is danger along our path though. Kellinar and Serena must decide if they travel with me or find their own way. You will have to decide, too.”

  “I’m going where Kellinar goes.”

  Serena wondered how well things would go with the child along. “Are you sure Emallya? Loki can be a handful.”

  Emallya kept her eyes on Loki’s and said, “You will not cause me any trouble will you, young man? You will have to agree to do as I say if you wish to come.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Loki said. He looked at Emallya as if she was some great and wonderful goddess. Serena had a feeling Loki might find himself actually behaving around the older woman.

  “We take a child into danger?” Vaddoc asked.

  Emallya nodded. “The Fates have brought him here; his path lies with us now. It is late and we should all get some sleep. Serena, Kellinar, think about what I have said and what I have offered. I will have your answer in the morning.” She rose and began laying out her sleeping roll.

  Serena shivered when she thought about the thing on the road hunting her. She knew what her answer would be in the morning. If the woman knew of a safe haven, she was going with her. She had just passed her nineteenth birthday and the woman had to be at least fifteen to twenty years her senior. Somehow, she had learned how to deal with her magic without going insane and Emallya’s powers were considerably stronger than her own.

  The presence in her mind crooned. Her decision to journey with the older woman made it content. The feeling spread through her and for the first time in a year she felt relaxed and sleep came easily.

  Emallya sat staring into the flames. Loki was a surprise she hadn’t expected. She couldn’t send him away though. If they all decided to come with her, she would need to begin training their minds immediately. Alden may have fled for now, but the Benduiren wouldn’t stop. These Foundlings were too important. Later, they would have all the protection they needed. They were far too vulnerable right now.

  Vaddoc’s mind was already surprisingly strong and his blocks w
ere well made. But then, control over their minds and emotions were part of Border Guard training. It was understandable considering they still fought to keep the Kojen out in the desert and away from civilized lands.

  Kojen. Those twisted remnants of the War of Fire, left behind when the Shadow Riders were killed five hundred years before. The majority left to breed and run wild; they roamed the desert in packs, raiding into Shadereen and Calladar. Traders on the Blood River knew better than to put in for the night on the east bank.

  She thought of all the people so afraid those who could use magic would turn evil, so willing to put to death any unfortunate enough to show signs of its touch. She marveled at how much time could change history. She had walked these lands since they rose from the ashes of the war. Only a small group of people in the downlands even knew who she was anymore. She sighed and lay down on her sleeping roll. As she drifted off to sleep, she felt a light brush across her cheek and a whisper in her mind.

  Dawn found Emallya stirring the coals from the night before. The sleeping forms of the young people were no more than dark mounds in the predawn light. She moved quietly about the campsite, laying out a small leather packet of traveling cakes for each person and setting the small kettle on the fire for tea. She sat down and ate her own food, her thoughts reaching out to the other newly emerged Foundlings. The faint contact was easier and she let the connection fade, satisfied they still moved toward her.

  Then she turned her mind to what she thought might be another Foundling. She tried reaching out to the source of the threads of power and found nothing. She stared at the fire, watching the flames as she considered the flickering of energy that stirred in her mind. She should be able to follow that flicker back to its source, yet somehow the path remained inaccessible. Could the Foundling be strong enough to erase the mental path?

  She almost dropped her food when the face of a young woman swam before her vision, blotting out the fire. A face framed by rich chestnut hair with dark eyebrows arching over violet eyes. Before she could grab hold of the image and trace its origins, it was gone. Shaken, Emallya set her food down. The young woman must be the one she caught the faint threads of power from. Why couldn’t she follow the traces back to the girl? Could the girl really be that strong?