Burnt Devotion (Imdalind, #5)(44)

Sain spoke softly to Ryland as I moved away from him, still staring into the trees. My magic stretched toward them as I moved, wrapping around them, around the angry flame of his magic. Not only him, but several dozen others that appeared into being as I approached them, standing beyond my reach.

Waiting.

“What is it?” I barely even acknowledged Thom’s approach. I didn’t look away from the trees.

“It’s an ambush.” The words were lead, but I knew at once they were true.

There was no other reason for them to be standing there. No reason for them not to rush toward the fight that I knew Joclyn and Ilyan were currently raging on the other side of the abbey.

A battle for distraction, a battle to give us time to escape.

Useless.

Edmund had been one step ahead of us.

I exhaled roughly as my magic flared, a small tree a few feet away turning to ash with the impulse.

I didn’t even seem to notice, although Thom jumped a bit. I guessed it had been awhile for both of us since the full strength of my magic had been released.

Now was as good a time as ever, I supposed.

I was ready.

I couldn’t stop the sinister smile from curling over my lips as the same maniacal joy that ruled me took over, heating my blood and loosening my stress in exhilaration. We might not make it to Prague, even if there was anything left. Hell, we might not even make it to the caves. Regardless, I was going to do my best, and I was sure going to have fun trying.

“Let’s go.” The depth of my voice had come back in one crashing blow.

Thom chuckled beside me as he walked back to Dramin wordlessly, leaving me staring at the trees for only a moment more before I turned, striding right to Sain who was still struggling with Ryland.

“Go help your son.” I didn’t give him a chance to rebut. Leaning down to help the blubbering boy to stand, I felt my magic move into him on instinct.

“He’s close,” he moaned as I draped his arm over my shoulder, as if I was going to be able to somehow carry him on my own the rest of the way. “He wants me to kill her.”

“I know, Ry. I know.”

He whimpered beside me as he twitched, his body jerking violently before my magic surged through him, stabilizing whatever Edmund had done and lifting him off the ground enough so I could run without hindrance.

I was going to need it.

With so much of my magic concentrated on keeping Ryland stable, I wasn’t going to be able to scan the forest as I had originally planned, a fact that was only going to make our situation worse.

We might know that a herd of Trpaslík were shadowing us, waiting to attack, but now we had no idea when.

It only added to the fun, though.

Thunder resounded above us again as we ran through the forest much faster than we had before. While the distribution of invalids might have been better with speed, it was the only thing that was on our side anymore.

We needed to get there.

I stared ahead, trying to block out the constant moans and outcries from the broken boy I stowed, focusing with all my might on the forest that surrounded us. I was waiting for a twig, a bush, an explosion, a clown to pop out in warning, something to clue me in on when they would attack us.

So far, there was nothing.

Nothing except the sound of our own feet, the pained noises from Ryland and Dramin, and the long, meandering line that Ilyan had placed in my mind, the line that part of me was still questioning.

Not like I had a choice now.

A bright red line intercepted the path we were following not far ahead of us, the map Ilyan had placed in my mind casting the magical instructions before me like a blue print.

Burn the trail here.

His instruction were as clear as day, his voice echoing through my mind as my feet began to slow on their own. The bind he had placed over all of us kept me in perfect time with what the plan was.

I laughed aloud at the realization. All my worries and questioning for nothing. Even if we had chosen to break the path, he would know. He had done this to me a few times before, and I always hated it. I wasn’t sure this qualified as using your magic for good, but I didn’t question it.

Thom and the Draks sped past me as I came to a stop, my hand still firm against Ryland’s skin as I let him fall to the ground, the full weight of his body coming to rest on my shoulders. It was a miracle I was able to stay upright underneath his bulk.

I held onto him as tightly as I could while pushing my magic through the earth as I took the chance to scan our surroundings, knowing I wouldn’t have another chance until the next intersection Ilyan had made in the map.

With the speed of the lightning that cut through the blackened sky, my magic spread through the soil, pressing against the bounds as I looked, as I searched for the same magic I had felt before. I found nothing, nothing but the same angry energy I had felt before. The presence was so heavy I could feel it wind its way over my magic, weighing it down, holding it in place as if it could devour it.

Burn the trail.

His voice came again, louder this time, and I knew I couldn’t ignore it. My magic recoiled back into me like a snake, the slithering tendrils moving through me like warm bubbles before I sent them out again, into the soil in a fan of heat and power that burned through the trail we had created, forging a new one away from us, through the forest and right back to the abbey.

It was an old trick, but one that almost always worked. Few people could actually feel and track the magic of those that were around them. The majority of the time, we all relied on good old-fashioned tracking.