Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,110

She extended too much.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

He marched Dorian away, across the courtyard, as Jayna turned her attention back to Eva, covered in smoke, motionless.

She pushed power down into her again using the dragon stone. The more power she pushed, the more she felt a resistance. There wasn’t going to be anything she could do.

The idea that she could lose Eva this way . . .

“Don’t,” Eva said.

“I’m not letting you go.”

“You can’t save me.”

“I can. I did it once before.”

“You can’t save me this time,” Eva said.

Smoke started to dissipate, as if drawn away by the wind.

Jayna cried out.

She wasn’t about to leave her. She wasn’t about to do nothing.

What had she learned about the Ashara?

Heat.

It was restorative.

There was one thing she did know how to do.

She got to her feet and hurriedly made a pattern. She placed points all around Eva, forming a star with her in the center.

She could feel the energy as she worked, but she knew she needed something more. If she wanted this to be successful, she was going to need a focus—she was going to need more power.

The bloodstone surrounding the dragon stone.

Jayna didn’t care if it would change how she could draw upon the dragon stone ring; she only cared about drawing enough heat to feed Eva. She had seen Asaran in the outpost, standing in front of the fire, feeding his own power.

She could do the same thing.

Only this time, she wondered if she could give enough to Eva to save her. She had to act quickly. The smoke continued to drift, and somehow, Eva’s body was dissipating with it, drifting away. She needed to move quickly.

Jayna stepped back.

Then she pulled energy off the dragon stone ring and set it on top of Eva.

As she did, she called upon sorcery.

She would save her friend.

She felt that energy building and poured it into the spell, which began to glow. It rapidly worked its way around and formed the star as it touched upon each of the points. From there, it struck the bloodstone and burst into bright light.

It created something akin to a fireball. Jayna was forced to back away, the heat of it too much for her.

She waited as the moments passed.

I couldn’t have been too late. Not to save Eva.

And then there was movement.

It came from deep within the flames and seemed as if the flames themselves shifted, forming something with massive wings, a long jaw, and an enormous tail, but then that image flickered, the smoke and flame coalesced, and then they disappeared.

Eva stood there, watching Jayna, light blazing in her eyes. “You saved me,” Eva said.

“You’re back,” Jayna said.

“It shouldn’t have been possible.”

“I used the bloodstone. The dragon stone.”

Eva held out her hand. The dragon stone ring rested in her palm, but the bloodstone was gone. “This is yours.”

There was something different about Eva.

“Thank you for your help. I could feel what you did when I faced those sorcerers,” Jayna said.

“I think I was always meant to help you.”

“If Asaran is right, then you were supposed to be the first one here.”

She frowned. “And yet, I was here when I needed to be.” She tipped her head to the side. “I remember . . .” She shook her head. “I don’t know. The memories are there, but they’re faint.”

That was better than they had been before.

“We need to go get the bloodstone to seal off the cracked enchantment. I know we can use it for that, but I don’t know how to do it,” Jayna said.

Eva tipped her head to the side again, and there was something strange about the way she did it, almost birdlike. Flames seemed to flicker in the back of her eyes.

“Yes. I can see how that would work.”

She began to emit smoke, though Jayna saw no blood this time, then she suddenly disappeared.

Jayna frowned.

Where had she gone?

She looked around the clearing, but there was nothing. The sorcerers who had been destroyed were gone. There was nothing but darkness pressing in upon her. She took the Toral ring and slid it back onto her finger.

“You did well.”

Jayna spun to see a face appearing out of the darkness. “Ceran?”

“You did well. I wasn’t expecting you to face this, but . . . Unfortunately, there has been more challenges than I realized.”

“More challenges?” She tried taking a step forward, but she realized she could not.

Ceran held her.

It was strange, and different from the time he had transported her to show her the battleground;