Eyes of Ember (Imdalind Series #2) (20 page)

“Why?” I shook my head
trying to clear the image and the memory of Cail and Ilyan fighting out of my mind. “How do you know that?”

Thom sat up all the way and leaned forward
. His blue eyes shimmered in the firelight as he looked toward me. “When Cail was born, it was decided that Edmund needed a new bodyguard. So Edmund and Timothy both infused the infant with a Štít of their magic. However, Edmund also placed his there to give Cail power. You see, Edmund placed his Štít right inside Cail’s heart. From birth, Edmund’s wicked power has influenced him. And from birth, Cail has been taught how to use Edmund’s power as his own. All with the knowledge that if he steps one toe out of line, Edmund can kill him no matter where he is.”

I gasped
, my hand subconsciously moving to my shoulder where Ilyan’s weak tendrils still swirled within me.

“Yes,” Thom nodded, “I know that Ilyan has done
something similar to you.” I saw Dramin’s head spin toward me at Thom’s words, but I ignored it.

“I will admit I was shocked when I was healing him and suddenly my energy moved across the room.
But Ilyan’s Štít in you is different than what resides in Cail’s body. Ilyan has placed his there to protect you. Besides, I doubt you could use his magic to your benefit. Even trying to hold Ilyan’s magic inside of you would kill you.”

Thom
laughed as if he had told a great joke and lay back against the couch again. I let my eyes flow away from Thom to Ilyan’s still body.

But I had held Ilyan’s magic. He had accidently pushed too much within me
when setting up the Štít, and I had survived. And I was sure he had done it again when using the Stutter to get us here. I shook my head and looked away.

“So Cail can use Edmund
’s magic?” I asked before drinking the last of the liquid from my mug.

“Yes,
” Dramin answered, “although I don’t think he does very often. I am not sure he can without Edmund’s express permission.”

I nodded and looked away from him,
into my empty cup. I knew exactly when Cail was using Edmund’s magic with his permission – every night, when he haunted my dreams. I didn’t dare look over to Ilyan. I wished I could talk to him, tell him I had figured it out. Even though I am sure he already knew, I needed tell him... needed someone to understand. I shook my head and looked up, cringing a bit to see Dramin staring at me.

“What is it?” I wasn’t sure if he didn’t know or was just being polite in asking, but
either way, I still didn’t want to answer. After all they would both find out tonight when I woke up screaming with no one there to calm me.

“
Ummm...” I asked the first thing that came to my mind, lifting the empty mug to make my intent clear. “Can I have some more?”

“I’ll get it,” Thom grunted from the other side of the fire, as he lifted himself up to
a sitting position.

“Don’t bother,” Dramin said as he waved his hand, the mug filling with the dark brown fluid.

I smiled appreciatively and took a big swallow, loving how it was energizing my body.

“No,
” I turned toward Thom, surprised at how his voice had changed from before. He stood in front of the fire, his startled eyes jumping between me and Dramin.

“What?” I asked,
looking around, worried something was coming up behind me.

“You didn’t?” Thom
yelled at Dramin.

“I did
. You can imagine my own surprise when my sight showed me what would come if I did.” Dramin’s voice was calm against Thom’s outburst. I continued to look back and forth between them, my confusion growing.

“You could have killed her, Dramin!” I jumped at Thom’s shout,
my heart thumping at his words.

“
I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t been shown that it was the right path, Thom. Besides, she just needed to be woken up,” Dramin said. “At least now we know and can work with it.”

“Kn
ow what?” I practically shouted. I needed to know what was going on.

“He gave you some of the
Black Water to drink,” Thom said, his voice strained. “Your Father’s blood still flows strong in your veins.”

Eighteen

“Wait
,
what?” I looked between the two men, from Thom’s panicked face to Dramin’s gleeful grin. They seemed to be waiting for me to do something. I looked directly at Thom, deciding that his anger might prompt him to tell me the truth a bit faster.

“You,” I said as sternly as I could,
my panic seeping out anyway. “Tell me what he did.”

Thom’s eyes narrowed at me as he grunted in
disapproval. Normally I would have apologized for my rudeness, but right now I didn’t care. I glared at him for a moment longer before he grunted again and sat back down on his couch.

“The
Black Water is the water that the Drak use to cultivate the magic of sight. It is their main food source, and essentially the very core of their power. The water can only be held in a mug made from the mud of the outer rim of the Wells of Imdalind. It’s why your Father could become so weak when Edmund kept it from him. If you keep the mugs away, you keep the Water away. The water is poison to any other being but the Drak. By giving it to you to drink, he could have very easily killed you.” Thom huffed before looking away from me, his continued frustration at the situation evident.

“
But I didn’t die, so what does that mean?” I looked between the two men, waiting for answers.

“You are
one of The Chosen, correct?” Dramin asked calmly before sipping from his cup.

“Yes
.” I nodded my head, waiting for him to continue. That in itself was a reason none of this made sense.

“And you have a mark?” He smiled at me from behind his cup
. I nodded at him. “Can I see it?”

I looked at him for a moment, before exhaling. I didn’t see any reason why I shouldn’t other than that I didn’t want to
, and that wasn’t a very good reason. I closed my eyes before lifting my hair to reveal the small mark on my neck. Dramin exhaled sharply, which I wasn’t prepared for, but I still kept my eyes closed.

“Look Thom, it’s a dragon. H
ow interesting.” His tone made it sound like it was far more then interesting. It made my skin crawl. I dropped my hair and opened my eyes, turning to face the two, only to be shocked at Thom’s open mouthed stare.

“What?” I asked,
affronted. “Does that mean something?”

“Hmmm?” Dramin studied me and I got th
e same feeling as before, like he was looking inside of me. “Not yet, I think.”

I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion
and he laughed at me.

“The important thing here, Silnỳ
, is that you are in fact a Chosen Child, and yet you can hold the Black Water within your body.”

I waited but Dramin said nothing more,
he only smiled. Thom grunted from the other side of the fire, making me more upset; at least I got answers from him.

“Which means...” I prompted him.

“Which means, you not only have the powers that the Skȓítek and Trpaslíks carry, which were awakened within you when the Vilỳ kissed your skin. But also those of the Drak as well.” Dramin smiled like I was the most amazing thing in the world, but my stomach tied itself in knots of confusion.

“So... I can
, like, see the future?” I asked, the disbelief heavy in my voice.

“
Ohhh... I know you can do much more than that.” Dramin’s smile increased. Thom sat up again, swinging his legs to face us, the same disgruntled look on his face.

“What are you getting at
, Dramin?” Thom asked, obviously irritated.

“Tell me, Silnỳ, what does the
Black Water make you feel like? What does it do to your magic, your body, when you drink it?”

I
shifted my weight, hating the intense stares that both men were giving me. I looked for something to do and instinctively took a drink from the mug in my hands. I regretted it immediately. Both their eyes were on me waiting for an answer. I swallowed the mouthful of Water and I suddenly knew what to tell them.

“It makes me feel warm, stronger somehow
. My magic feels a little more alive, a little looser.” I looked up to find Dramin smiling more, if that was possible. The man seemed to be smiling all the time. “Is that good?” I asked, worried that I had said the wrong thing.

“Oh, that’
s very good.” Dramin stood and threw the heavy furs off of my lap. I sat there, staring at him, wishing I could put the blankets back on. My feet were now a normal color and I could feel all my extremities, but the cave was still cold.

“Come along,
Silnỳ. I want to try something.” Dramin pulled me to a stand, carefully taking my mug from me as he did.

Carrying my mug in front of him
, he began pulling me along behind him. I was secretly thankful that my feet seemed to be working the right way.

“Where are we going?” I asked when I
realized he was dragging me toward the dark tunnel we had entered the cavern through. I looked back to Ilyan, nervous that I was being pulled away from him. The longing I felt scared me, so I shoved it away.

“I want to try something
,” Dramin repeated.

“Yes, I heard that the first time,” I snapped. He continued to drag me
forward. I looked back to see Thom standing near the fire, his arms folded, having no intention of following us. He smiled at my panic stricken face.

“I’ll stay here,” he called after us rigidly, “
and watch over sleeping beauty.” Thom batted a hand at us before turning toward his own bunk, but I didn’t see anything else as Dramin had dragged me not into the dark tunnel that led outside, but into another round cavern that was connected to the first.

This one was not as nice
. In fact, it was bare. The large dome of the rock spread high above us but there were no paintings or dancing bits of reflection, it was only stone and a hundred blue, glittery orbs that Dramin had sent to the ceiling when we arrived in order to give us light.

I stepped away from him
to look at the large space. While bare, it was still impressive.

“What is this place?” I asked, o
ne magically assisted cave I could accept, but two perfectly rounded caverns?

I turned to Dramin, surprised to find his smile faded.

“This was to be a home for one of my posterity, a young lady named Delia and her mate Chandle. They were killed in the massacre. Thom and I stay here because no one but Ilyan and I know of this cave’s existence. Ilyan helped me to build it. It was to be a surprise.” He smiled sadly. I didn’t know what to say so I turned away from him, trying to keep my own sense of loss at bay.

“The room we came from is the living quarters, this is the practice hall, and through that door there,” he pointed
toward a small opening on the opposite edge of the space, “is the room of sight. It is a sacred room where the Drak can see and record their visions.”

I looked toward the room with interest, but I knew I didn’t want to go in there
. I was afraid if I did Dramin would expect me to do something I wasn’t prepared for.

“So, what are we doing here?” I worded my question carefully, hoping to take his attention off of the room of sight.

“Did you know Silnỳ that only one magic can exist in a soul at one time? A Vilỳ can only ever be a Vilỳ, a Skȓítek a Skȓítek, a Drak a Drak. If the love is strong enough they can mesh, it has been done in the past, but I am not sure Ovailia ever loved Sain. That was one of the reasons Sain and Ovailia’s bond never held; their magic could never truly be one. The only form of magic that can intermingle is that of a Chosen child, but to have two types of magic in one person prior to a Zȇlství has never happened. It would be too much. The body, the soul, could not contain it. And yet, here you are. You have the magic of a Trpaslík and a Skȓítek, as caused by the bite of a Vilỳ and the magic of the Drak from your Father. All that, in one little body.”

I stepped away from him, instantly feeling awkward. I didn’t like the way he was insinuating that I was
some super powerful being.

“The Silnỳ,” he said
, as if on cue. Most Powerful. I shook my head and moved away further.

“Too much magic
. Are you saying I might be like Ilyan, like how he can’t use the whole of his magic on one person?” Dramin’s eyes narrowed at me as he began to move around me. I held still, even though I wanted to move away from his hawk like stare.

“No, not yet
,” he said. I could tell it was more to himself, then to me, but it still perked my interest.

“What
’s not yet?”

“You are not
yet ready to see all that you must see.” He smiled again as he stopped in front of me, his body far too close for comfort.

I stepped away
, my insides tensing when he smiled again. He pushed the mug back into my hands, the warm Black Water still swirling heavily inside.

“The Drak drink the
Black Water from birth. It is part of our very nature, part of who we are. You have had two mugs. It is the start of your new life. You will find, in a matter of days that you will no longer desire human food. You will not need to sleep as much. You will only need the Black Water to sustain you.”

I looked into the mug
uneasily. I already wanted to take another drink and that alone was worrisome.

“Now
, let’s conduct a little experiment. I will shoot a target into the air for you. I want you to drink of the Black Water and then fire your magic at the target. Aim to kill.” I nodded once. That sounded easy enough, if only my stomach would stop flipping from nerves.

I lifted the mug to my lips and drank greedily, loving the way the
liquid filled me up. Dramin smiled as I downed the liquid. I lowered the mug as he fired a dark heavy shape from his hands and across the large space. It was heavy and more cumbersome then the magic I had learned to control, it almost looked...weak. I lifted my hand, surprised by the response my magic had to that simple thought. Without even having to focus the way I always had, a ripple of brilliant violet flew from the palm of my hand, faster than I had ever seen, to intercept with Dramin’s dark target. The two collided heavily in the air, a purple shower filling the room as my magic destroyed the target.

I didn’t move
. I didn’t dare. I stared at the now dark intersection, the impact replaying in my mind. Ilyan had been training me in combat for months and I had never been able to obtain that kind of power, even after I was able to shield myself from the drain caused by the necklace. Ilyan had always said how strong my magic was, but it had never responded. Not like that.

“Wonderful!” Dramin shouted as he clapped his hands enthusiastically. “Did you know that the Drak carry no defensive magic
? So the fact that you can do that, and so well, is amazing.”

I stared at him.

“Would you care to try it again?” Dramin waved his hand over my mug, the liquid instantly refilling.

I looked at the
Black Water for a moment before nodding my head and emptying the mug with one gulp. Dramin laughed as he sent another target for me. This time I released the mug into the air, only to have it float before me, as I sent a strong impulse from both hands. The energy wave moved away from me, disintegrating the target and leaving a long divot in the rock. I reached out and grabbed the mug from where it still hovered in the air, my hands wrapping around the smooth ceramic as if I was afraid I would drop it.