From Flame and Ash

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  It was a ghost dragon, and it was coming at us.

  And then it blew fire, and Easton grabbed me and slammed me to the ground. My head hit hard, and I rolled under him as he covered my body with his, screaming at the others to take cover, as well.

  The heat above us didn’t burn. Instead, it tried to lick at us, almost wrapping around us.

  “Don’t let it touch you,” Easton said, his voice right near my ear.

  I stiffened, attempting to see around him yet trying to pull him closer and away from the fire at the same time. “I won’t. It’s fire.”

  “It’s not just fire. It’s ghost fire. You don’t know that it’s hot until you can’t breathe and then, suddenly, you burn from the inside out. It’s worse than any normal flame, worse than any Fire Wielding I could ever do. Just hold on.”

  I’d tucked myself in as much as I could, trying not to let anything touch me. However, with Easton on top of me, with his body covering mine, there was no way that the ghost fire could actually burn me.

  No, it would have to get through Easton first.

  But I refused to let him die for me, refused to let him get hurt for me. But, if I pushed him away, he could get hurt anyway.

  That meant I would let him do this for now, and then…we would just have to have a talk about this whole the-king-not-sacrificing-himself-for-me thing.

  Easton rolled off me suddenly and then pulled me to my feet, looking around as if he were on alert.

  His hands were out, the earth shaking under our feet. I didn’t know if it was him or me that was creating that Wielding.

  I let my Air slide from my fingers, not knowing if I could actually use my Wielding against a ghost dragon.

  Easton had flames on his fingertips, and I hoped that if he could use that to protect us, maybe I could use Air, as well.

  I remembered the first time I’d met Easton before I even knew his name. He had used his Fire Wielding to protect us from the Negs, and I had somehow used my Air Wielding to lift his Fire higher to direct it the right way. We had never talked about it, had never done it again. Now, I wondered if that had been a coincidence or if we could do it again.

  Because I had no idea how to fight this thing.

  “It’s a Domovoi,” Easton said quickly. The others surrounded us, ready to use their Wielding even though none of us knew how to fight this thing.

  “A Domovoi?” I asked, not sure I could say the word properly.

  “It’s a dragon like you see, but this one’s pretty big. It usually has six to ten legs, and this one doesn’t have wings even though it’s flying. It’ll bring fire, the ghost fire that I told you about. Don’t let it bite you. Its bite is venomous. And if it gets too close, its skin will create this fume that can kill you.”

  I blinked up at Easton, still on alert. “It doesn’t have skin, though.”

  “Not right now. That’s because its rider is on it. But once the rider drops down from the Domovoi’s back, its skin will likely come around to create its shield.”

  “Rider?”

  Easton jerked his chin towards the Domovoi.

  “Look.” I turned towards the dragon as it circled us, fire spewing from its mouth. And then I glanced on top of the creature and saw what I had missed the first time.

  There indeed was a rider, and it was just like its Domovoi counterpart.

  The male, at least I thought it was male, was translucent at times and sometimes solid. A ghost.

  He wore robes that floated in a breeze that wasn’t there, with a hood that covered his head. I knew he was dead. Or at least was something like dead.

  The rider had arrows coming out of its back, and its chest and arms looked as if it had been murdered in a battle that had come with weapons that were before my time.

  I couldn’t see its face, I didn’t even know if it had one. It scared me.

  It was as if death were coming for us, and it wore only a hood, not a face.

  “Be ready!” Easton called out. “The rider can’t leave the dragon’s back unless it’s called, but we don’t know who’s calling it. Aim all of your Wielding towards the dragon’s side rather than its head. Its side is weaker. And then we can get it to go back where it came from. There’s no killing a Domovoi,” Easton added, and I figured that tidbit was mostly for my benefit since no one had looked shocked at seeing this thing, rather only that it was there at all.

  And so, I let my Air Wielding slide through my fingers and hoped it would be enough.

  “Now!” Easton called out. We worked as a unit, and while the others were far more trained than I was and had worked as a group before, I felt like I could help. That I needed to help.

  Easton used both his Fire and Earth in tandem, slamming a wave of flaming Earth into the side of the Domovoi.

  Teagan used his Fire Wielding to create a tornado of fumes and plumes of flame that went under the dragon, trying to crisp it from below rather than directly where Easton had hit it. Wyn had her Earth Wielding, sending rocks into the Domovoi’s side with the same type of dirt and soil wave that Easton had used.

  And then Arwin added his Earth Wielding as well, bolstering Teagan’s Fire and slamming soil and other debris up into the dragon. Everyone worked as one to bring the thing down.

  I wasn’t going to help with my Earth Wielding, the others were much better at it than I was.

  But I had one thing they didn’t. Air.

  So, I held it in my hands and pushed it from my body, the Air Wielding ripping from me but without pain. It was as if it were always meant to be there, just a slight prickling sensation and then a wave of triumph.

  The Air Wielding wrapped itself around the other four’s Wielding and moved it faster, harder into the dragon.

  The Domovoi screamed, as did its rider, and it was like no other sound I had ever heard in my life.

  I wanted to slap my hands over my ears so I couldn’t hear anymore, but I couldn’t, not when I needed to use my Air Wielding.

  Easton shouted, and the others moved closer, their Wielding feeling even stronger around me. So I did the same, trying to use what I had to protect my friends, to protect Easton. To defend myself.

  And then the cloaked rider figure looked at me, and I could feel whatever eyes it had directly on me. I knew this was death. If he touched me, I would die.

  But then Easton put his body between the cloaked figure and me, blocking my view and making my Air Wielding falter for just a moment.

  “Fade, go away! Run back to the hole you crawled out of,” Easton shouted. The masked figure looked at Easton and then practically through him to me. Then, suddenly, they were gone.

  The Domovoi and his rider were gone, and all of us let our Wielding fall. My body shook as I tried to figure out if I had burnt myself out or not.

  I was so angry. So livid with Easton.

  He had to stop trying to sacrifice himself for me. He had to stop doing the things that he kept doing that confused me.

  But before I could say anything, before I could figure out exactly what I was feeling, there were footsteps on the ground beside us. We all turned, ready to use our Wielding again.

  But this time, it wasn’t the rider. It wasn’t the Domovoi.

  No, this was someone I had seen before in a dream. Someone I knew yet didn’t know.

  An old man in robes, his face worn, and his eyes looking as if he were both seeing for the first time and ageless.

  He grinned at us, and Easton growled. “About time you got here. Okay, then. I guess you want some fish? Okay. Glad you took down the Domovoi. It’s been very annoying recently. Well, come on now. Dinner’s ready.”

  And then the man I knew as a Spirit Wielder, one I thought had been on the face of the clock in my dream, turned around and walked towards a set of caves I hadn’t seen before.

  I wondered what the hell had just happened.

  Chapter Eleven

  The others once again had their Wielding queued, ready to fight this man, but Easton gave them a look,
and they all stood down. As if the boy by my side knew that the Spirit Wielder might be dangerous but not in a way we all knew outright.

  How I knew that, I didn’t understand, but this was a step. I could tell. A beginning. I just needed to figure it out. The others gave me a weird look, and I just shrugged before we all followed the old man.

  Why? Because, apparently, this was my life now, and I had no idea what we were doing. No, that wasn’t right. We were following him because I knew we needed to, and while the others trusted me, they also knew we were there for a reason. We were going on Seer magic, and from clues from the bracelet on my wrist at this point, and the others knew more than I did. At least, I hoped they did.

  “Who is he?” I asked, my voice a whisper.

  Easton moved closer to me, his body warm. I figured it must be from the excess adrenaline rushing through his system. We were all a little out of breath, a bit sweaty from our fight so that just made sense.

  “He’s a Spirit Wielder. Can’t you feel it?”

  I held back a shiver and nodded. “I still have trouble figuring out which element is which within someone, other than knowing whether someone’s a Wielder or not.” I paused, that sense of knowing creeping in yet again. “But, yes, I knew he was a Spirit Wielder.”

  Easton gave me an odd look. “You’ll be able to figure out the differences the more you get used to us. That much I know. Plus, you’ll eventually have all five elements running through your system. It’s no wonder you get some of them confused because like reaches out to like and all that. But I have a feeling you knew this man was a Spirit Wielder for other reasons. Care to share?”

  We were talking softly, the others walking in front of us as if keeping us safe from the Spirit Wielder. I wondered why Easton seemed to know so much. Of course, that always seemed to be the case with him. He saw too much, knew too much, yet never revealed anything about himself.

  A typical king, I would think.

  “I saw him in my dreams,” I said, not knowing where that answer had come from. I hadn’t meant to say anything, but there it was, the words out of my mouth and me unable to do anything about it.

  “Your dreams,” Easton repeated, his voice low as if his mouth were getting used to the words and sounds.

  I didn’t want to tell him all of it, and I didn’t think I was going to just then. But I could tell him at least the part about the dreams. After all, keeping everything to myself likely wouldn’t help me or anyone else.

  “I’ve had dreams and nightmares for as long as I can remember. Sometimes, it seems like I’ve always been meant for this point in my life, as if something’s been reaching out to me, wanting me to know I should be here, that I should have been here long ago. I can’t explain it. But, yes, he’s been in my dreams, although I’ve never seen his face before today. He and eleven others. Like the hours on a clock.”

  Easton gave me a shocked look and then nodded. “We’ve always known the Spirit Wielders were out there. I guess it makes sense that they would reach out to you.” He frowned again. “There’s more to that story, though. And I know you’re not going to tell me right now. But if you need to share, I’m here. But be careful, Lyric. Anything that reaches out to you in dreams or in visions has the power to connect to you in ways that you may not be ready for. Something you may never want.” At his warning, I shivered.

  “I know. I know.”

  Because I didn’t know why the Spirit Wielders had helped me before, why they had helped me in my dreams and tried to speak to me.

  All I knew was that it wasn’t easy trying to figure out where I was positioned and how to interact in a world that wasn’t my own, even though maybe it should have been.

  I couldn’t believe that I’d actually talked to Easton about it at all. I shouldn’t have.

  He never shared anything with me, and I really didn’t even know him.

  But now I wasn’t sure what to do. Because I shouldn’t have spoken to him.

  I shouldn’t have bared that part of myself. Yet it seemed like the only thing I could do at the time.

  Maybe using my Wielding as I had was a little too much for me and the lack of oxygen to my brain was impacting more than I thought. Because I wasn’t really making any sense, it seemed my thoughts were a step or two behind everything else.

  “Why are we following him?”

  “Because he’s a Spirit Wielder living out here alone. I want to see what he’s up to. We’re still going in the right direction towards the Lumiére Kingdom. But I have a feeling there’s a reason he is here, and I want to figure it out.”

  I nodded, agreeing. “I want to know, too. Plus, I’ve never met a Spirit Wielder before.” My tongue tripped over the words. “I…I was kind of worried I would never find one.”

  Easton gave me a knowing look, and then we ended our conversation, walking side by side in silence as the others surrounded the old man. I wondered exactly what would happen next.

  We didn’t walk far, only to the caves that had been near us when we fought the Domovoi. The old man seemed to have created a home for himself inside the caves. It didn’t make much sense to me, but he was here, and there had to be a reason for it.

  Though maybe there was no reason, and this was just a way for the Negs to come at us. Or for something else to come at us.

  I had to remember that the Lumiére and the Obscurité were at war. They still had battles and skirmishes, and there were still rules against going into each other’s kingdom. There were no full-scale wars right now, no true battles that seemed to take ages, but I had a feeling that was coming.

  As if with the queen gone and Easton now in his new position, we were just waiting for whatever would happen next. Because Lore, the knight, had taken so much out of the Obscurité Kingdom that I had a feeling there had to be a mirror version of it in the Lumiére.

  Everything just seemed…off. Easton had been right before when he warned me with that deep voice of his.

  It felt like a puppet master was pulling strings, and we were only in one part of what would happen. There was more to come.

  Because the realm was dying, and I was supposed to save it.

  From the look of the barren landscape in front of me, I was afraid I was too late.

  The old man stopped, surrounded by some of his things but mostly just dirt and dying plants.

  He was talking to himself as if there were people all around him. Some part of me kind of hoped that maybe he was talking to spirits or even the other Spirit Wielders, just in another part of the world.

  I had no idea what Spirit Wielders did, and no one else really seemed to know either. There was nothing written about them, and I didn’t know what their Wielding entailed. But this man looked insane. So, either being alone had done this to him, or it was the Spirit Wielding itself. I honestly hoped that this wasn’t my future.

  “So, Lyric. About time you got here. Now, I haven’t really seen people in a while. Couple hundred years or so. Not really sure. I usually hide from them, but I can’t really help it because sometimes they just find me. And then there’s that dragon thing, and it just comes at you out of nowhere.” The old man started rambling, and my eyes widened. Easton had put himself in between us just slightly so it didn’t look too obtrusive, but I still half-glared at him.

  He really needed to stop this whole trying-to-save-me thing.

  I could save myself.

  Or at least I could try.

  Teagan, Wyn, and Arwin were stationed around the area, looking over their shoulders yet still watching the man.

  None of this felt right, but I knew we had to be here. There was a reason we were here. And then I looked down at my bracelet and intuited that, yes, we were here for a reason.

  The star on my charm bracelet, the one that I knew was part of the Spirit Wielding, flared just once, warm against my skin. And then I realized that, yes, we were here because we were supposed to be.

  My whole life was now filled with magic, built on prophecy and th
e unknown. The fact that I was taking my cues from a bracelet that came from a Seer of some sort—or whatever Alura was—probably cemented that, but it didn’t matter.

  Because I needed to know more.

  And tonight, maybe I would find out more.

  Easton must have seen me glance down because he gave me a tight nod and then pressed in even closer as if wanting to let me know that he was by my side.

  I wasn’t sure exactly how I felt about that, but it was nice to have someone to rely on even if it was a little confusing.

  “How did you know my name?” I asked, my voice soft.

  The old man just shook his head and rolled his eyes. “We’re not really going to start at that point in time, are we? Because you already know who I am. We’ve spoken. A little. You know all about the blood and the sword and the like. It wasn’t really fun, but I’m very glad you’re okay. Because if you had died, it kind of would have messed up the whole prophecy thing, and then everyone would’ve died, and it would’ve been a whole thing. We really don’t want it to be a thing.”

  I blinked, trying to follow his line of conversation.

  The others gave me a confused look, but I didn’t fill them in.

  The only one who didn’t seem confused was Easton, and that was probably because I had just told him about the fact that I had seen this man in my dreams.

  If Easton could put two and two together, he would probably figure out that, yes, the Spirit Wielders had been there when I died and came back.

  I had no idea what I was doing.

  “Okay, I remember you. What are you doing out here all alone?”

  The others seemed to know to let me lead this conversation, even though I really didn’t think I would be the best at it. They were all so much older than I was, with so much more experience. For all I knew, I was going to say the wrong thing and ruin it all. But then again, this felt right. Even if I could be wrong.

  “I’m glad you’re here, Lyric.”

  That didn’t answer my question.

  “I’ve been here for a while. As long as I can remember. And I can remember pretty far, if you know what I mean. I remember when the ruins weren’t ruins, and the buildings touched the sky, and the people laughed and milled about on the streets. I remember the sound of children and the smiles of their mothers.”