They watched the threads while they wove themselves tight and then faded. Bardeck stared at her with wide eyes. Emallya stood stunned. She could sense everything about him, but not in an uncomfortable way.
Jedrek chuckled from where he stood a few paces away. “It would seem the ever popular Bardeck has been claimed.”
“Claimed?” Emallya frowned.
Bardeck seemed to thaw. He blinked and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. “What just happened…that was a bondmate bond forming. I’ve seen it happen before. Mernoth thought there was a possibility, but I didn’t believe it.”
“You?” She raised her eyebrows, surprise flashing through her. “You mean we…?”
“It isn’t anything you need worry about right now.” He smiled gently. “Not until Rylin is older. For now, all that matters is that you spend time with your draclet.”
He finished raising her hand and brushed his lips softly across it. “I will go fetch your family.”
Emallya watched him walk away before looking at Jedrek. “A bondmate? Already?” Her head spun. So much had happened all at once.
The older man shrugged. “It usually happens right after hatching if the compatible person and dragon are near.”
Emallya turned back to watch Rylin, overwhelmed by the events of the day.
“I like him.”
Emallya heard Rylin’s words as clear as day in her mind. With a smile she returned the sending. “I think I like him too.”
Even in the face of war with the recent loss of her brother, the future looked promising. Emallya gazed at Rylin and realized every dream she’d ever had for her future meant nothing now. She no longer cared if she ever had children. She had a bondmate and best of all, she had Rylin. That was more than enough for any woman to receive.
The light of a single candle flickered across Emallya’s features. Unconscious, she alternated between raging fevers and sweat soaked shivers. The Healing mages could do nothing, not for this. Bardeck sat and dipped a cloth in a basin of cool water. Gently, he wiped away the perspiration beading on her brow. For two days, since they found her broken body lying next to her dragon on the battlefield, he had watched her fight for survival.
The memory of Rylin, her beautiful silver scales blackened by Shadow fire and covered in blood, brought a lump to his throat. Rylin was dead. Bardeck watched tears leak from the corners of Emallya’s closed eyes. He longed to see those violet eyes open, yet it terrified him. He dreaded the shattered look he would see in them. He knew the tearing pain the loss of her dragon would cause.
By the Fates, he had seen enough riders go through Separation during the course of this war. Most didn’t survive the pain of being unbound, and the utter desolation, when their dragon was ripped from them. Even in Emallya’s unconscious state, pain pulsed in her. He felt it in himself, through her and through his own dragon, who grieved the loss of his mate.
He tensed as she stirred restlessly. He already pulled as much of the pain from her as he could. He felt Mernoth ready to block him from pulling enough to harm himself. As much as he wanted to spare Emallya, he understood. Separation was even harder on a dragon.
Would he lose her, as so many others had been lost? Bardeck knew only too well the pain of losing a bondmate. Ilyana, and her dragon, had been dead almost a year. He and Emallya still felt the ache of her loss. Now Rylin was dead and Emallya teetered on the threshold. His heart clenched. How much more could he and Mernoth take?
She bolted upright in the bed, her eyes wide and glazed. Leaping from his seat, he grasped her hand. She sucked in a ragged breath, her voice sounded harsh and otherworldly when the words began to flow from her mouth. “The last shall be fought and both sides will lose. Blood and fire will mark the ruins. A ray of light, a stain of shadow, will endure to breathe life and death into the future. The fire will perish, yet embers shall return to answer the call.” Her eyes were filled with the horror of her vision as she stared off into another time and place. Her breath left in a rush and she collapsed in a heap.
Pain was hers. It writhed through her body and flowed in her blood. Slowly, Emallya climbed out of the dark fog shrouding her mind. The liquid fire in her veins made her thoughts confused and hazy. She knew. Knew to the depths of her being that her dragon was dead. Her Rylin. Gone. Forever. How would she live without her?
The closer she got to the surface, the more intense the pain became. She wanted to retreat back into the darkness, but the life still pulsing in her veins wouldn’t let her. She shivered violently in reaction to the first wave of Separation and lay helpless as the pain convulsed her body.
Time passed, how much she didn’t know and didn’t care. Minutes, hours, days...the eternity it felt like? Her muscles still quivered in the aftermath. There would be more, she had seen it enough times and tried to help those who went through it. Now she knew why they eventually chose to give in to it and follow their dragons.
She opened her eyes. Darkness greeted her. Good, maybe I am dead. No, surely there is not this much pain in death. Where am I? Where is Bardeck? She started to reach for him and stopped at the sharp pain that stabbed at her head. Cool hands touched her forehead and face.
A dim light sprang to life, revealing the haggard face of a woman. Emallya struggled to remember her. Mari. The woman’s name was Mari and she was a mage from the Tower of Light. Why was a gold here? Why not a yellow or Bardeck? Slowly, her mind focused. She took in Mari’s disheveled hair, red rimmed eyes and the fresh tear streaks in the grime on her face.
Emallya pushed herself into a sitting position. “Mari,” her voice was nothing more than a whisper in her dry throat. “What happened to you? Where is Bardeck?”
Mari didn’t answer. Instead, she poured water into a cup and offered it to Emallya. She accepted it gratefully and took a long drink, the cool water sliding down her parched throat. When the cup was empty, Emallya looked at the other woman again. Beyond the dirt and mess of hair, Mari’s gold robes were torn and singed as if she had been in the path of a young Fire mage.
Emallya leaned forward. In the dim light, Mari’s eyes were haunted. “Mari, tell me what happened.”
Mari stared back without speaking. Emallya felt pain and confusion rolling off the other woman. She reached for Mari’s mind, intending to find out for herself what happened, but the magic weave shattered on a thousand shards of pain. She should have known better than to try and touch her power this close to Separation. Gritting her teeth she bore through it, her body and soul reminded of the loss by the touch of power. The second wave rolled over her.
When it was over, she climbed unsteadily to her feet. Wiping at the tears that ran unchecked, she looked down at herself, half expecting to see blood running in rivers. There was none. There wouldn’t be. The wounds Separation made ran much deeper than skin and muscle. Still shaking, she looked around her. She was in the Hatching Chamber. A small table stood against the wall under the dim glow of an orb. A book lay on the table. No, not a book. A journal. Bardeck’s journal. It was open to the pages in the back and covered in dust.
Mari spoke for the first time, her voice barely above a whisper, “He wanted you to find it. He wanted you to read it. I didn’t know…I didn’t know where to go. So I came here.”
“Why is he not here to tell me himself?” Emallya asked. Bardeck wasn’t there in her mind either and the pain stopped her from reaching for him. But why was he not there? Why did he leave this damaged mage here where he should have been? She tried to ignore the tendrils of fear growing in her stomach and tightening around her chest. She blew the light film of dust off the pages and squinted at the script in the dim light.
It detailed the plans for a major battle; told of a gathering of dragons and their riders, of the protections they had laid on a large clutch of eggs. It told how they placed her in the Hatching Chamber because it was one of the deepest in the hold, in the hopes she would survive as a guard against the future.
Turning, she peered into the
semi-darkness. In the shadows in the middle of the chamber, covered in their own sheet of dust, lay a large clutch of eggs. Among them were the last her dragon had laid. Tears stung her eyes at the sight of them and she returned her attention to the pages of the journal.
Dread settled over her as her eyes moved over the writing. It told of a future, one both beautiful and terrible. It told of doom and possible salvation. A future she had foretold. The vision that spawned the forewarning exploded into her mind and swept her away. Someone was screaming. Was it her? The images rolled over her, one flowing into the next. Her mind tried to block the vision, but without her dragon as a buffer, she had no control over it. It overwhelmed her and pushed on, carrying her with it until its conclusion.
She was on the floor next to the table. She reached for Ilyana before remembering her bond-sister was dead. Desperately, she reached out for Bardeck, pushing past the pain, and found…nothing.
She scrambled to her feet with Mari’s help. She grabbed the woman’s arms in a tight grip and looked into her eyes. “Mari, where is Bardeck? Where are the other riders?”
Mari’s lower lip quivered, tears swam in her eyes and her voice wavered, “There is only…there is only you, Di’shan.”
Emallya’s heart pounded as she ran for the door of the Hatching Chamber. “Oh, no. Please, no!” Yanking the door open, she threw herself into the hall. Stumbling, she half ran through the Dragon Hold. Fear coiled in her stomach. Rubble and rock were strewn across corridors. The dead lay in twisted piles that she tripped over in the near darkness. Weeping from those still alive echoed down the halls.
Even in the Great Hall, the light was terribly dim. In one direction, the doors leading to the inner terrace were torn from their massive hinges. In the caldera beyond, the bodies of dead draclets lay strewn across the grass by the lake. She choked on a sob and turned the other way. The entrance from the city was almost completely buried in collapsed rock.
Her breath came in ragged gasps that tore at her throat as she scrambled up the sharp rocks of what had once been a mighty arch. Uncaring of the scrapes that made her hands and feet bleed, she pushed herself through the narrow hole at the top. Losing her hold, she fell down the far side. Her bruised and battered body came to rest on the broad terrace at the top of an enormous, sweeping stairway of stone.
Lying with her forehead pressed against the gritty stone of the terrace, she trembled. She didn’t want to look, didn’t want to see what she knew lay beyond. She fought for control of her emotions, her mind and her body. Everything in her screamed for release from the horror her world had become.
Slowly, she raised her head and looked out at a scene of utter devastation. The city of Galdrilene was no more. The six mage towers stood broken and burning. The ground itself was churned and blasted. Fires raged uncontrolled, feeding off the remains of what had once been a beautiful city. In desperation, she again reached for Bardeck and Mernoth with her mind and was greeted by a bleak void. The burning city echoed with her screams as fear and aching loss rode in with the next wave of Separation.
She wanted to die, wanted to follow her dragon. There was nothing left for her; except the eggs. Rylin’s eggs were there and they needed protection. Mari scrambled down the rubble of the doorway to her. There were other survivors, too. They needed her. And the future needed her. Galdrilene was in ashes, but her vision spoke of embers that would fan flames into the future. Embers. Future riders. Somehow, she had to be here for them.
ALSO BY A.D. TROSPER
The Dragon’s Call Series
Embers at Galdrilene
Book One
Tears of War
Book Two
Ashes and Spirits
Book Three
Available Summer 2014
Other Titles
Bound by Time
Available Spring 2014
The Legend of Christmas Magic
I have to thank my husband for his
consistent support as I pursue my dreams.
Thank you also to my readers:
I adore each and every one of you.
And as always, many thanks
to Blue Harvest Creative
for everything you do.
MEET THE DESIGN TEAM
Cover design, interior book design,
eBook design, and editing by
Blue Harvest Creative
www.blueharvestcreative.com
Born in Kansas, I spent a lot of my childhood moving around. I’ve lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Washington State (around Seattle), and southern California. I had many great adventures growing up. Right now I reside in Kansas again with my husband of 19 years, my three children, assorted cats, and my wonderful dogs Roxie and Abby. One of these days I will escape the plains and make my way back to my beloved Pacific Northwest.
I’ve been an avid lover of fantasy since I was a young child. Dragons, elves, fairies, dwarves, and other denizens of the fantasy world as well as magic have always fascinated me. As I grew up, I developed an interest in vampires, zombies and my interests branched out to take in paranormal and urban fantasy.
I don’t have any special writing credits to my name other than a wildly active imagination and the ability to form that imagination into written stories. Beyond writing and reading, I also have a deep love of neat stairways, doors, doorways, and gates. I’m also convinced chocolate is a food group.
Visit the author at:
www.facebook.com/adtrosper
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www.adtrosper.wordpress.com
Table of Contents
Book Description
Title Page
Copyright Information
Books by A.D. Trosper
A New Beginning
Preview: Embers at Galdrilene
Purchase Links
Acknowledgements
Meet the Designers
About A.D. Trosper
Visit the Author
Tales from Galdrilene 1 New Beginning Page 3
