I shifted my weight, hating the intense stares that both men were giving me. I looked for something to do and instinctively took a drink from the mug in my hands. I regretted it immediately. Both their eyes were on me waiting for an answer. I swallowed the mouthful of Water and I suddenly knew what to tell them.
“It makes me feel warm, stronger somehow. My magic feels a little more alive, a little looser.” I looked up to find Dramin smiling more, if that was possible. The man seemed to be smiling all the time. “Is that good?” I asked, worried that I had said the wrong thing.
“Oh, that’s very good.” Dramin stood and threw the heavy furs off of my lap. I sat there, staring at him, wishing I could put the blankets back on. My feet were now a normal color and I could feel all my extremities, but the cave was still cold.
“Come along, Siln?. I want to try something.” Dramin pulled me to a stand, carefully taking my mug from me as he did.
Carrying my mug in front of him, he began pulling me along behind him. I was secretly thankful that my feet seemed to be working the right way.
“Where are we going?” I asked when I realized he was dragging me toward the dark tunnel we had entered the cavern through. I looked back to Ilyan, nervous that I was being pulled away from him. The longing I felt scared me, so I shoved it away.
“I want to try something,” Dramin repeated.
“Yes, I heard that the first time,” I snapped. He continued to drag me forward. I looked back to see Thom standing near the fire, his arms folded, having no intention of following us. He smiled at my panic stricken face.
“I’ll stay here,” he called after us rigidly, “and watch over sleeping beauty.” Thom batted a hand at us before turning toward his own bunk, but I didn’t see anything else as Dramin had dragged me not into the dark tunnel that led outside, but into another round cavern that was connected to the first.
This one was not as nice. In fact, it was bare. The large dome of the rock spread high above us but there were no paintings or dancing bits of reflection, it was only stone and a hundred blue, glittery orbs that Dramin had sent to the ceiling when we arrived in order to give us light.
I stepped away from him to look at the large space. While bare, it was still impressive.
“What is this place?” I asked, one magically assisted cave I could accept, but two perfectly rounded caverns?
I turned to Dramin, surprised to find his smile faded.
“This was to be a home for one of my posterity, a young lady named Delia and her mate Chandle. They were killed in the massacre. Thom and I stay here because no one but Ilyan and I know of this cave’s existence. Ilyan helped me to build it. It was to be a surprise.” He smiled sadly. I didn’t know what to say so I turned away from him, trying to keep my own sense of loss at bay.
“The room we came from is the living quarters, this is the practice hall, and through that door there,” he pointed toward a small opening on the opposite edge of the space, “is the room of sight. It is a sacred room where the Drak can see and record their visions.”
I looked toward the room with interest, but I knew I didn’t want to go in there. I was afraid if I did Dramin would expect me to do something I wasn’t prepared for.
“So, what are we doing here?” I worded my question carefully, hoping to take his attention off of the room of sight.
“Did you know Siln? that only one magic can exist in a soul at one time? A Vil? can only ever be a Vil?, a Sk?ítek a Sk?ítek, a Drak a Drak. If the love is strong enough they can mesh, it has been done in the past, but I am not sure Ovailia ever loved Sain. That was one of the reasons Sain and Ovailia’s bond never held; their magic could never truly be one. The only form of magic that can intermingle is that of a Chosen child, but to have two types of magic in one person prior to a Z?lství has never happened. It would be too much. The body, the soul, could not contain it. And yet, here you are. You have the magic of a Trpaslík and a Sk?ítek, as caused by the bite of a Vil? and the magic of the Drak from your Father. All that, in one little body.”
I stepped away from him, instantly feeling awkward. I didn’t like the way he was insinuating that I was some super powerful being.
“The Siln?,” he said, as if on cue. Most Powerful. I shook my head and moved away further.
“Too much magic. Are you saying I might be like Ilyan, like how he can’t use the whole of his magic on one person?” Dramin’s eyes narrowed at me as he began to move around me. I held still, even though I wanted to move away from his hawk like stare.
“No, not yet,” he said. I could tell it was more to himself, then to me, but it still perked my interest.
“What’s not yet?”
“You are not yet ready to see all that you must see.” He smiled again as he stopped in front of me, his body far too close for comfort.