EMBERS – CHAPTER 6

My fingers drummed against my leg as I sat by the fire. The man stood beside a chest of clothes, biting his thumbnail. He was a head taller than me and probably twenty years older. Thin, short scars decorated his face.

My voice sounded slow and hoarse as I broke the silence, “So you’re telling me that the Specters can come out in daylight?”

He cocked his head. “That’s what I just said, wasn’t it?” My face grew hot. When I didn’t say anything, he continued. “The cloak that you just saw is their new protection. They’re able to come out now anytime and anywhere.”

“Why?” I asked. My heart raced inside my chest, my feet ready to spring into action at any moment and take me back out into the forest.

His charcoal eyes pierced me before he looked back down at his hands. “You know very well the war that is being waged between the living and the dead. The Specters have become desperate. They have new,” he paused, “strategies. They’ve become bolder since branches of the Order are going up in smoke.”

“Branches?”

“There’s more than just one,” he said.

“How do you even know about the Order?” I asked. He was no regular huntsman. Mage? Warlock? He smiled ruefully. “Who are you?”

“My name’s Erik. I made a peace agreement of sorts with the Order. They asked me to join them, but I’ve found better things to do with my time,” he looked lazily into the fire. “What is so special about you that the Order was trying to protect?” His eyes shone with mischief. The ruby burned in my pocked, so hot I almost yelped out in pain.

“Nothing.” I refused to meet his gaze.

He looked at me again and sighed. “Show me the ruby. It’s in your pocket. I won’t take it. I just want to see it.” I gaped at him, my heart dropping into my stomach. He smiled, “You and your friend Aaron are not the only ones with special powers. As rare as magic people are, you still run into one every once in a while.”

“You’re a mind reader,” I whispered. Great. Now he could see exactly what I was thinking. So much for trying to escape.

He nodded, “Now show it to me.” I hesitated and he rolled his eyes.

“Fine,” I said. I slipped my hand in and pulled out the red ruby. He looked at it, eyes wide.

“What’s the matter with it?” I challenged. It looked the same as it always did, crimson light pulsing from its depths in a quick one-two beat.

He raised his eyebrows. “Do you know what you’re holding?”

“No, not really,” I said. “I’m trying to figure out what it does.”

He smiled. “I’m lucky I ran into you then. Or vice versa,” he said. He walked across the dirt floor, his body feet away from me. “That blood-red gem you’re holding is my heart.”

My jaw dropped.

“Your heart? You’ve got to be kidding,” I said.

He nodded. “Hard to believe, right?”

“But I took it from the Specters. They’ve been guarding it for centuries. How is it your heart?” I closed my fist. This was a just a trick. It had to be. To make me give the ruby to him.

“Not centuries. Just as long as I was alive. It didn’t really have a form until I came about.” He noted my raised eyebrows and waved a hand at me.

“It’s too complicated for me to explain. Too complicated for you to understand,” he said. “I’m not asking for it back.”

“How are you alive then?”

“It’s still beating, isn’t it?” he asked.

I looked down, watching the ruby pulse again. “Yes,” I said slowly.

“As long as it beats, I stay in this world.”

“Why did they have it?” I asked. If I was going to believe this whole “heart” thing, he needed to at least try to make me understand it.

“It’s how they live. A trade of sorts. They need it to survive. You’re a mage, you should know that.”

“But they usually kill people, not keep pieces of them,” I reminded him.

His face grew serious as he nodded, “Yes, that’s true.”

Silence filled the room and I slipped it back into my pocket. His eyes followed my hand but he made to move to walk across the room and take it from me. It was just what I needed: a bargaining tool.

“I have to get Aaron back,” I said. “Tell me how and then we can talk about giving you your heart.”

“I told you already I don’t want it,” he said.

My heart sunk. “At least tell me where I can find him.”

He paused, his fingers tracing over his sword. “We can’t be rash about it. Marching into a den full of Specters isn’t going to solve any of these problems,” he said calmly. “You still don’t understand everything.”

“What is it that I don’t understand?” I spat at him. Rage boiled under my skin and I tried to take a deep breath. I was still a Novice learner when it came to magic. I didn’t want to kill anyone on accident. Not just yet anyway.

“Aaron is only the first of many who will disappear.” He paused as he gazed into the fire. “I need to take you back to the Order, understand?”

“The Order? I thought it was destroyed.”

He laughed. “This is what happens when you come from such a small village. Your home was only a branch. The main one is nearby.”

Heat flooded my cheeks and I looked down at the ground. Foolish. “And they’ll know what to do with the – with yourheart?” I asked.

He shrugged. “It’s really worthless to us. But it’ll be safer with them than it will be here.”

My eyes burned. Aaron was gone and it was all my fault. Erik walked toward me. His steel eyes softened.

“It really isn’t your fault. Everything that’s happening. Losing the stone made the Specters understand that they really haven’t been living. It was only a matter of time before they attacked us, declared war officially,” he said.

I fingered the knife at my waist. “We will find Aaron first though, right?” I asked.

“It’d be best to get you to safety first. To get you away from me,” he said.

Why? I wanted to demand. If he was such a danger to my safety, why was he helping me? I swallowed. “We need Aaron. He can teleport.”

“It’ll be too dangerous.”

“I will not go to the Order without him,” I said slowly.

Flames crackled across his silver eyes. He stared at me hard but I refused to flinch, refused to look away. He sighed.

“Fine. We’ll get your friend. But then I’m taking you back to the Order. Ending whatever quest it is that you’re on.”

“Our mission was to discover what the ruby was. We lost our home, we were following the path it gave us…” I stuttered.

“Right back to me.”

“You’ll need to go to the Order and explain to them about your heart. They’ll hear you out, maybe let you have it back. They didn’t know what it was,” I said.

“They’ve known for a while now,” he whispered beneath his breath.

I blinked at him, put on my best pleading face.

Erik bit his lip. “Fine, but the ruby stays here. If we lose it to them, the battle’s over.” I nodded.

He pulled me over to an ancient trunk that sat in the middle of the room and opened the lid. Inside was another container, smaller and lined with purple velvet. He opened the latch and I placed the ruby inside. Taking a red pen, he drew symbols around the lock. The box sizzled for a moment before it settled down into the depths of the trunk. He did the same with the outer box. Standing up, he turned to me and said, “You sure you’re ready?”

“I’ve never felt more prepared,” I said. Butterflies buzzed in my stomach.

He nodded. “Then you’ll need all the sleep you can get. Rest up. You can rest there,” he gestured to a worn leather chair in front of the fire. I watched the smoke curl toward the ceiling. Sparks sizzled as it touched the enchanted rocks. At least he was smart enough not to let us suffocate.

“I’ll be in the back room. If anything happens, come and get me.” With one last look, he ducked his head under a carved dirt archway. A flap of fur swung shut over the entrance.

I sat down on the chair, felt it creak under my weight. Shadows from the fire flickered across the red clay walls. The light blinked off the symbols of protection; I only knew them because Aaron had taught a couple to me. Invisibility, Silence, Dark. Only readers could understand their significance. A makeshift kitchen, with a boiling pot and an herb holder, sat toward the back of the room.

Snores issued from Erik’s room. Already out. I crept over to the trunk and traced the edges of the rough wood with my fingers. Maybe this would give me a clue about him. Tendrils of my magic enveloped the lock. The metal sizzled, burned my power. Mind-readers, I thought bitterly. I stared annoyed at his door. I guess the Order wasn’t the only society who kept secrets. I’d trust him for now. But if he did anything out of the ordinary, I’d be out of here faster than Aaron could teleport.