Firedrake - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,80
touched his cheek. “A soldier you may well be, but simple? Never that.” Reaching up, she kissed him gently. “The Mother of All has plans for us we cannot fathom. It’s like Gryffid said. Each of us came to this island for a reason. We need only figure out what it is.”
He hugged her close as they turned again to watch Drake’s progress.
“I believe I was brought here for a lesson in humility.” Mace smiled wryly. “All those years I strove to be the best. I had to work so hard to equal and only sometimes surpass what came to Drake naturally. But he never saw it. I never begrudged him his natural ability. But now…”
“Now he’s a mage.”
“There’s no way to compete with that.” Mace felt fear for the first time, but it wasn’t fear of Drake or his abilities. It went deeper than that. “I’m afraid he won’t need us now.” His arm tightened reflexively around her as she snuggled into him.
“Time will tell, but I have hope the Mother of All knows what She’s doing when it comes to the five of us. For one thing, you know Jenet will never let him go again, and I get the feeling she can be tenacious.”
Her little chuckle warmed Mace’s heart. “I believe you’re right on that score at least, milady.”
“Then we’ll just have to see where this leads. Drake is a mage now. There’s no turning back from something like that. We’ll need to stand by him and accept him for what he is and what he can do, trusting him to believe in our love and accept it as his due.”
Mace turned and hugged her close. “You’re a marvel, my love. I don’t deserve you, but I’ll never let you go.”
“Good.” She smiled up at him. “Because I’ll never let either you or Drake off the hook. You’re mine now. Get used to it.” The saucy wink she gave him belied her warning words.
In the courtyard, flames erupted around Drake’s body, surrounding him in a pillar of fire, but all he felt was their warmth, none of the searing pain associated with natural flame. No, this was magical flame, and it came from within himself. He could hardly believe it.
“Good,” Gryffid coached him from several feet away. “Now shape the power to your will. Command it and control it. Do not fear it, for it cannot harm you.”
“Or us,” Jenet said from behind him. She was on his right, Nellin next to her on his left. The dragons were there to help contain his fire, should it go out of control, but so far he was able to master the immense energy that wrestled with his will.
“I was going to encourage you to let it all out, but I see I miscalculated your power, young Drake.” Gryffid was laughing, apparently pleased with himself, though Drake didn’t quite understand why. It was all he could do to retain control over the wriggling energies that vied to be let free.
With Gryffid’s help, he’d learned to tap into the river of power that lay just beneath his soul’s surface. It had always been there, but Drake was only marginally aware of it. Only at times when the Jinn power had been high had he felt the stirring, the rippling of the energy current down deep inside him. He always felt itchy at such times—like something held captive inside him was trying to get out—but he hadn’t known how to free it. No way could he have known the immense burning river that flowed beneath his surface, just waiting for him to tap into it.
The feeling was like no other. The fire cleansed him. It burned him down to his simplest needs. Jenet was there, as always, in the burning center of his soul, but so too was Krysta. Beautiful Krysta. Her love nurtured him and helped him bank his fire. Mace was there too, he saw, and Nellin, on the periphery, ready to protect him should he fail. It was a comfort he hadn’t known since leaving his home.
They were part of him. Perhaps the best part. The thought of their love and care humbled him and gave him the strength to control the fire, to temper the flames. They were his world. His family.
Slowly the flames came to heel. He felt their submission with triumph. The inferno that surrounded him died down, but he knew he could recall it with the merest flicker of his will. It was a