Read Online Embers at Galdrilene by A. D. Trosper - Free Book Online

with its other hand. Serena screamed and fell as it struck between her shoulder blades.
    “Serena!” Kellinar skidded to a halt and dropped to his knees next to her. Blood flowed from around the blade. He tried to stem it with his hands. Looking down the road, he watched the rider advance on them in the same unnatural silence, the sphere still balanced on its palm. Weakness washed over him.
    He stood on shaky legs as the horse drew near. He pulled two of his daggers and braced himself. The sphere was killing him somehow, but the Fates be damned if he wouldn’t take a piece of the rider with him when he died. “Come on you flaming get of a dragon,” he yelled. He tried to reach for his magic, air that threw people would be useful right then, but it kept slipping away.
    A woman riding a huge gray horse charged past him, nearly knocking him from his feet. The gray stopped, standing between him and the dark rider.
    The dark horse came to a stop at a yank from the reins and its rider’s eyes widened in shock. “All these years…you are supposed to be dead.”
    The woman laughed softly. “Is that so? Apparently you have been misinformed. But then, you and the rest of the Benduiren never were well informed were you, Alden.”
    Snarling in rage the dark horseman backed away, his eyes first sweeping both sides of the road, then the sky. The horses circled each other as their riders faced off. Kellinar reached for Serena. He needed to move her before she was stepped on by the horses. Blood ran from her mouth when he rolled her onto her side. His head jerked in surprise when a dark haired man knelt to help him. The man lifted her with ease and carried her to the side of the road.
    The woman spoke again, her voice like velvet covered steel, “These are not for you, Alden. You know this. You may want them; however, they would never do what you require of them. They are above that and beyond you.”
    Alden hissed. “I will not leave them to you, I found them. They are mine or they are dead!”
    “They belong only to themselves. This is a concept I know you have trouble understanding. You have no choice but to leave them to me.”
    To Kellinar, it almost looked as if the skull-like face sneered. “Why have I no choice, Guardian ?”
    “Do you truly believe I face you alone, Benduiren?”
    The dark rider’s eyes swept the sky again. A scream of rage and frustration tore from his throat and he dissolved into a black mist that streamed away to the east, still wailing. Kellinar glanced at the empty sky, trying to see what had made the thing leave. A thud drew his eyes back the road. The black horse had fallen to the ground. Kellinar watched in fascinated horror as its body withered until it looked as if it had lain dead for years.
    The woman leaped from the saddle and ran to where Kellinar sat next to Serena, his hands pressed around the blade as he attempted to stop the blood. Throwing her cloak aside she kneeled opposite him and moved his hands away. “You should not have moved her,” the woman said grimly. “You could have killed her.”
    He raised his eyes to hers. “I think she’s already dead.”

 
     
     
    V addoc backed away to allow Emallya access to the still, pale form of the young woman. She extracted the blood covered blade and laid it on the ground. Placing her hands over the wound, she sank into a trancelike state. The blond man kneeling next to the young woman looked on with anxious eyes. Moments passed. Vaddoc scanned the silent landscape, watchful for any danger.
    Finally, Emallya opened her eyes and sagged as if exhausted. He shifted his gaze to the young woman. Her face, though still drawn and pale, had taken on a healthier look. He saw no sign of the injury and she appeared to rest peacefully.
    Vaddoc turned his eyes on Emallya as she tossed the dagger well away from the road. “You healed her.” He suppressed a shiver of fear and swallowed. In the month they had traveled together, she hadn’t used