Chasing Embers | 1

26 | E m b e r

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There was no way to describe how overwhelming it was to watch the scene in front of me unfold. A fear began to fill me as my attention switched from Adara's limp arm to Maddox's dark eyes and over again. There was an eerie silence on the beach. Not even the waves seemed to crash or the wind to howl. It was like the world was frozen.

No one moved. Even in the midst of a battle, everyone was still. They were waiting for their master's call. But why? What made him so great and powerful? Why didn't The Guard turn on him? I could see in some of their eyes that they wanted to, so why didn't they?

I looked back to the young tyrant in front of me. It puzzled me why his eyes had become dark like black ink ... like Ragan's.

Then, everything clicked into place. I realized who we were truly up against, the full potential of my opponent.

Maddox was a Valarious.

There was no other explanation for what was happening. It was impossible for him to have crushed Ada's arm like that, but his eyes turned dark. He had revealed his top card. I saw him look in my direction, a smug grin forming on his pale face as if he knew what was racing through my mind.

I became overwhelmed at the thought that maybe we couldn't escape. His true identity turned the tables. A Valarious backed up by the greatest army this world had ever seen would be unstoppable. I wasn't sure that, even with the assistance from the rebels, we would escape victorious.

My eyes flicked to Ragan. She had known. It was obvious by the painful expression on her face, her frown stretching out the scar on her cheek. Ragan was his sister, so of course, she knew. But she neglected to tell us. What else was she hiding? My amount of faith in her could not have chosen a worse time to descend. How could I fight next to someone when I didn't know if they would turn around and sink a knife into my side? If they would betray me? I had to look away.

The battle began to proceed. Aside from Adara, who was as pale as freshly fallen snow from the pain, there were four of us against a few dozen soldiers and one intimidating, powerful man. We had no plan. So when they all surged forward, I panicked.

I whipped out the knife that had been tucked at my side, no doubt in my mind that I would have to use it. When one of the men coming at me duplicated, I groaned. I decided that House Esthin was one of my least favorite Houses.

With a sweep of my hand, a blast of wind shot sand at him and his replicas. They all shielded their faces at the same time, giving me the chance to lift a couple of other men off their feet. I used gravity as my guide to suspend them in the air, hanging upside down.

Beside me, Wren was controlling the ocean with ease. The furious waves crashed into soldiers and sucked them under, only leaving those with the ability to fight it off. His sea blue eyes caught mine then quickly flicked to something in front of me. I followed his gaze.

The Esthin man had recovered. He began to run towards me, his sudden closeness shocking me enough to release my hold on the soldiers hanging above. They came tumbling down on top of some of the man's duplicates. The others rushed toward me. My grip on the knife tightened.

My short blade collided with the nearest copy's sharp scythe. The force of the impact sent the bones in my fingers rattling. I quickly kicked him in the gut, knocking him down along with his weapon, and turned to the next man.

He came at me as swiftly as the copy before him. The only exception was that when our knives hit and his fist buried itself in my stomach, I could tell he was the real attacker.

I doubled over in pain and stumbled back, leaving my face exposed. He took that in stride and kneed me in the nose. Fireworks of blazing pain spread from the center of my face to my ears. The metallic taste of blood flooded my lips. I winced and dropped to the ground as his scythe slashed across the air where my hanging head had been moments earlier, meaning to kill.