Ember

by Tess Williams

  Somehow the dark gaze got even harder. I just stood there, trying to figure out if I should move, feeling monumentally awkward.

  Finally his head nodded backwards. “Go sit down.”

  I opened my mouth to speak but he interrupted.

  “Sit.”

  With a gulp and a glance at the veined forearm holding the door shut beside me, I lowered my eyes and walked over to the bed. Considering I had no idea what was happening at this point, I waited for further instructions, but Jaden just walked back over to his dresser.

  Oh, this is just ridiculous! What could he possibly be doing now?

  I sighed dejectedly and finally allowed myself to study the orange flame on his nightstand. It wasn't long before a slamming drawer brought my attention fully back onto Jaden. He was slipping a weapon into his belt.

  “Let's get one thing straight,” he started, attention still focused elsewhere. “Thoran and a few of the others might be going, but once we're out of the lodge they'll be busy.” He looked up now. “In other words, I'm all you've got, so you better listen to everything I tell you to do.”

  My eyes narrowed in confusion before widening. “Wait, you're saying you're going to take me?”

  He didn't respond, not at all, which was in itself answer enough. Anticipation knotted in my stomach, — but it was dwarfed immediately by curiosity at Jaden's sudden change.

  “I don't understand, why did you?—”

  He turned around to open another drawer before I could finish. I narrowed my eyes, but only because his back was turned. Truth be told, I was beginning to feel slightly insecure, not the ideal sate for going to an evil dimension, or arguing with Jaden.

  I kept quiet.

  “First rule, don't ask questions.”

  I took a deep breath as he shuffled through the drawer. “Okay, I can do that.” I'll just ask Ikovos when I get back. I'm good at not asking questions . . . right?

  “Two, don't look any of the Meoden in the eye, just keep your head down.”

  I nodded seriously as he closed the last drawer and stood up straight.

  “Do I get a weapon?” I asked carefully.

  He turned around and walked to the other side of the room to grab his jacket. “No. And that was a question.”

  “Oh, right. . . .” I sighed. I was thankful he had decided to take me, but it didn't seem to change the fact that he didn't like me much. I stood up, preparing to follow him, tucking some hairs behind my ear and straightening a wrinkle in my shirt nervously.

  “Rule three, don't go off . . .” His voice trailed as I caught him giving me an once-over. He turned around to grab another jacket. “Put this on,” he said, tossing me the dark leather overcoat. It weighed a ton.

  “Will it be that cold?” I asked as I slipped my arms into the sleeves. I thought I saw his head shaking slightly as he turned to open the door.

  “Sure,” he drawled, then he looked at me as an obvious signal to go ahead.

  A bit flustered by the rapid departure, I entered the hallway, shrugging the jacket on completely. It was much too big and much too heavy, but I didn't mind . . .

  I barely made it two feet before Jaden was out ahead of me, moving at a rapid but rather controlled pace down the hall.

  “Rule three, don't go off by yourself anywhere.”

  I would have liked to scoff at this one, I wasn't that stupid, but all brevity was lost when he turned his head back to see that I had heard him.

  “Got it,” I replied submissively.

  Without an acknowledgment, he turned his head forward and continued walking. We went on like this for a while, the halls getting less and less crowded.

  “Ah, Jaden? . . . “

  He pushed through a door ahead, stopping inside to hold it open with an outstretched arm. I walked past him carefully into the small, dark, space, then checked to see if he'd heard me. He was giving me an expectantly impatient look, so he must have. The door closed slowly behind us.

  “Ikovos said that Thoran might have a problem with me going. Are you sure you don't need to ask first?”

  He raised one eyebrow like I'd just asked the most absurd question in the world. “There won't be a problem.” With that he reached for the torch on the wall and headed down the unlit stairwell ahead.

  “Okay,” I muttered to myself, then tightened the jacket and followed him down the stairs. It was strange, I thought I felt a breeze coming upwards, and it didn't seem at all like we were still in the lodge. I would have asked Jaden about this, but of course that would be breaking the rules.

  I watched him ahead of me. Eyes forward, pace brisk, belt loaded with foreboding weapons, and not a word, not a single checking glance . . . My brow furrowed as we reached the base of the stairs. The room was larger, but once again unlit.

  “Are there any more rules?” I asked as he moved to the right to set the torch into a holder on the wall.

  He spun around, leaning back against the door. “Yeah. No talking.”

  I took a deep breath. The last thing that we needed right now was another fight. “If I can't talk, what was the reason for rule one?”

  I caught a flicker of consideration past his disconnected visage. Then his eyes hardened, grazed mine boldly, and turned around to the door behind him.

  He opened this up into a much brighter, much wider room. It was unexpected to say the least. Lots of lights, white mostly, and heavy machines that filled the room with a rumble of metal-ticked sounds. There were a few men working on different pieces throughout the room. Some alone. Some in pairs.

  My study was interrupted by Jaden. He pointed past me to an empty wall on the right. “Wait over there.”

  I gulped then nodded, the unfamiliar surroundings making me much more compliant. As I walked over to the wall, I studied the large mechanism in the middle of the room more closely. Five iron, wire-entangled, pillars came up in a circle around what looked like a metal grate in the floor. There was some sort of symbol engraved on this, but I moved past too quickly to make it out.

  By the time I reached the wall and turned around, Jaden was walking up to three men on the far side of the room. When the first turned around I realized it was Thoran. I watched as Jaden addressed him, but when the deep, grey, eyes moved past to me, I quickly looked away. I didn't have to guess at what they were discussing. I only hoped that Jaden's confidence wasn't unfounded. An inward and unwarranted smirk crossed my mind, thus far it hadn't been.

  It wasn't long before Jaden moved away from Thoran. The latter man's expression seemed resigned enough to make me guess that Jaden had convinced him to let me come. I thought then that Jaden would walk over to one of the many boys spread throughout the room, but he ignored them all, opting instead to stand alone against the wall a few feet away from me.

  I waited a few seconds thinking he might speak, but nothing came. He looked bothered and somewhat bored . . . it made little sense with all the excitement of the situation, but I knew that the first bit, at least, was due to me.

  Nearby, two men were fiddling with a curiously-shaped mechanism. One of them glanced up at me and I impulsively slid over, closer to Jaden. The unreasonably attractive boy now had his head leaned back against the wall, eyes closed. When I checked back at the man who had looked at me he was smiling oddly. I glanced away after a moment, studying Thoran instead. He seemed deep in conversation with the two older men. Suddenly they all turned to look at me with not so much friendly expressions, as speculative ones.

  My chest rose a little bit and I looked down. I think the whole ambiguity of the situation had me spooked.

  I peeked over at Jaden again. His eyes were still closed. Then I started to strum my fingers on my leg. Just as I was opening my mouth to ask how long we would be waiting like this he spoke.

  “As soon as Master Boron gets here, we'll leave.”

  My mouth hung for a few seconds. Then I nodded coolly, before risking a glance at the boy beside me once again. His head was still leaned back, exposing his throat.
His jaw wasn't as clenched as usual, but everything else was tight enough to catch the intake of breaths. I thought I saw his features tense for a moment, before a large hand gripped my arm.

  I jerked my head around. Boron was standing beside me.

  “Hello, Evelyn,” he boomed, looking more gruff, if possible, than the night before. “Jaden,” he acknowledged. I didn't turn my head to see the boy’s response. “Did you ever find Ikovos this morning?” Boran questioned.

  I nodded. “Yes. Quite easily actually. By the way, I'm sorry that I left in such a rush.” I smiled apologetically until silence took over. He broke it unexpectedly.

  “Well,” he stated, putting a hand on his hip and looking back at Jaden. “Isn't that polite. I've been living with you lot so long, I'd forgotten what manners felt like.”

  Jaden smiled skeptically. I tried not to take notice, grinning sweetly at Boron instead.

  “Okay, I better get cracking.” He turned his head towards Thoran. “I think I'm already late.” He frowned pensively and walked towards the group of older men.

  I sighed and watched as he spoke with the other Masters. After a while they all split up. Boron headed towards the large, pillar-surrounded, mechanism. The two I didn't know went to another piece. Thoran actually left the room.

  At least fifteen minutes later everyone was in the same position. Unfortunately for me this meant my knees were beginning to lock significantly, the added weight of Jaden's jacket accounted for most of this. I wondered how he managed to wear this thing on a regular basis . . . much like I wondered how he had managed to fall asleep within twenty minutes leaning against the wall in a loud room. But sure enough, every time I looked over his eyes were closed and his breaths were slow. I hugged my jacket snuggly and tried to do the same.

  “So you remember all the rules?” asked Jaden.

  Okay, I guess he wasn't asleep. I nodded. “Um . . . yes.”

  He sniffed then I felt him straighten up. “Good, time to go.”

  As he walked forward, my eyes perplexed and I glanced ahead. I don't know how he had known, eyes shut and all, but Thoran was back and five or so other men were standing close by him.

  I followed discreetly behind Jaden.

  Like I had originally intended, and especially now since it seemed Jaden was so terribly bothered at having me along, I planned to stand off a ways from boy once we got going. Despite the rules I doubted he would have any objections.

  “Luther and Kale, you'll break off at the second pass, check the watch-post, then meet back with us after the meeting.” It was Thoran speaking. Jaden had entered into the circle of men, expression all business now. A few of them nodded. All of their faces were rather solemn, which made me a little anxious. I noticed a couple eyeing me curiously. Thoran didn't give me any acknowledgment though. There was no doubt that Ikovos was right about him not wanting me to come.

  “If all goes well we should be back before ten,” continued Thoran. “Vaan, don’t forget that I need you to take over guard duty for Jaden tonight.”

  One of the younger men nodded. Jaden seemed unsurprised.

  “Okay, all set,” said Boron, who was still working by the large contraption.

  Without a word everyone moved in unison to stand on the metal, pillar-surrounded, grate. I gulped, eyes downcast, and did the same. I had absolutely no idea of course why we were doing this, but that's how it usually went with the order.

  There was plenty of space for the eight of us. Once Boron was on things got a little cramped. I was close to an edge between Jaden and one of the middle-aged boys. I wondered briefly if it would be against rule four, and one, I guess, if I asked someone else a question. Jaden's eyes were focused sternly ahead. I decided not to press my luck then bit my lip. As put out as he was, why had he decided to take me anyways? . . . Just then the floor shuddered, followed by a loud succession of clicks and a drop. I almost lost my balance at the sudden movement. Once I steadied I realized that the floor was still moving. Not the whole floor, just the metal grate, it was moving downwards. My heart started to beat a bit faster, far beyond a fish out of water at this point. I think Jaden's eyes grazed me once as the grate continued to lower, but him along with all the others didn't seem the least bit surprised.

  When we had gotten below floor level, the hole above us closed. It was pitch dark now. All that could be heard was the clicking mechanisms of the lift. Finally a glow came from below. The walls were stone, though not the dark Meoden obsidian, as I would have guessed. I suppose that wouldn't be possible considering we hadn't gone through a portal yet . . . come to think of it I didn't even know if we were going to the Meoden dimension. What had Ikovos told me about this? . . . We'd only talked about it a couple times. Once at the pool, another at the cabin . . . apart from Sylvanus only one name had been mentioned.

  Demian.

  The area began to lighten, exposing the lift. My head shook slightly when I saw a red sphere come into view, it was at the other end of the plain, gray-stone, cave we were lowering into. As soon as the lift clicked into place the men moved off towards the portal. There was a horrible chill in the air. I shuddered as they crossed the cave. Jaden stopped last after taking a step. He didn't turn his head, but I knew that he was waiting. I looked on searchingly for a moment, then walked behind him.

  A few men had already gone through, hardly slowing their pace as they disappeared into the sphere. The whole thing felt much like a procession, or a march into battle. The lack of talking only added to this.

  When there were only two people left ahead of us, Jaden moved back behind me. I didn't turn to look at him, but my heart skipped a couple beats, this proved he was at least aware that I was still present. When the last man went ahead I didn't let myself hesitate, following straight through.

  The other side had me disoriented, but mostly because of the view, I had actually managed not to end up flat on my face. The cave was so identical to the one I had just been in, though, that I thought something must have misfired. There was even a lift which the men were already piling onto. Two details told a different story. Firstly, up until now I'd been rather cold, despite the jacket, now a stuffy heat filled the cave, too intense to chock up to natural fluctuation. Then there was the disheartening presence of black obsidian, a dead giveaway in and of itself.

  For a couple seconds I froze, unsure of whether to follow the group or wait for Jaden. I went with the first option, though it made little difference, by the time I was on, Jaden was already beside me.

  A corner of my mouth lifted, but I immediately reprimanded myself. Why are you smiling? He's the one that's making you all freaked out and insecure to begin with. The floor began to lower again. He didn't even give you fair warning about the lift, or the portal . . . goodness know what's next.

  Just then a bright, orange light shone from below. At the same time a low roar broke the prior silence and a concentrated heat poured in, as if a pressure seal had been released. My brow narrowed, I almost wanted to lean down so that I could see what was in the next area quicker.

  What came into view took the breath from my chest. A massive, no gigantic, round chamber. It had to be at least a-hundred-and-fifty feet high, even longer across. The walls were all dark obsidian, but they shown a bright orange from what lied beneath. A lake of fire, for lack of a better term, too thin to be lava. Rock jabbed up in places along with gusts of maroon, flame-laced, steam. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, and we were at the peak of it headed down.

  A hand rose to my chest and I rocked a step back. This caused me to bump into one of the boys. He eyed me oddly as Jaden's gaze flicked over. I mumbled a quick apology and scooted back ahead, even further when Jaden straightened a bit closer between us. It was now that I noticed there were no bars around the edge of the platform. I looked down again. At least seventy-five feet still to go, and nothing but stone and fire to catch your fall.

  My eyes swiveled. “Jaden, why wouldn't you have—” I turned my head around as I said it
, only to wind up staring at the chest of his jacket, closer than I expected. I gulped, tilting up, “—have railings?” I finished in a whisper.

  He looked somewhere between bothered and confused. “Why would we need railings?”

  I turned back around, for multiple reasons, leaned over the edge again, and shook my head. Men. How egotistical do you have to be to not even put a bar on a hundred-foot lift over lava?

  It was another good minute before we reached the rock base below. Once again they all just started off unceremoniously. The piece of rock we were on now was rather thin across, maybe twenty feet, but it went on for a long ways ahead. Thoran and Boron led the group, talking quietly now. Everyone else followed behind. Me and Jaden were somewhere in the middle.

  The area surrounding was more daunting than I’d expected, that much was certain. But something about the warmth and the noise, not to mention the group of heavily-armed men, made me feel secure enough to reinstate the “travel-away-from-Jaden” plan. I stayed back at least six feet, walking near the edge and studying the flames below.

  We kept on like this long enough that my thoughts drifted back to the meeting ahead. Okay, so this Demian character. I don't know a lot about him. The only thing I've heard was from . . . huh, where was it again? . . . Don't remember, but it was something about him getting rid of other Meoden. . . . Maybe he's not so bad . . . maybe he's not like Sylvanus. My heart skipped, but I kept it bottled. I had no reason to believe that Sylvanus would be there today, I'm sure Ikovos would have warned me.

  Only . . . Ikovos didn’t know, did he? . . .

  A flame steamed up to my left, jerking me out of my thoughts and into the uncomfortably hot present. I touched a hand to my head then studied my palm. I was sweating significantly, in fact everyone was. Lucky for them, they didn't have giant coats on. I looked down at it, then ahead at Jaden . . . why did he make me wear a coat? I shook my head dismissively. Just one more thing to add to the list of ways he makes absolutely no sense.

  I turned my attention to the chamber. The area was so massive compared to me. This had to be the pinnacle of surreal-ness since I had met Sylvanus, which was saying something. A week ago I barely knew anything beyond Tiver, and the only future in sight was spinster baker or town outcast. Now, here I was, in a giant chamber, in another dimension, with a group of vigilantes, on my way to a meeting with the worst sort of bad guys. . . . I started thinking this over with awe at first, but it quickly turned to anxiety. This whole thing was so far beyond me.