Peering through the black and blue striation of light, I tried to find him, tried to see. But the deep blue of the moon cast confusing shadows over the rocks of the cave.
Everything shook as the child cried again, as though the sound of his cries would bring everything crumbling down. Dust fell like snow, covering me, smothering me, surrounding me until it was all I could see, the vision shifting, buzzing in my ears like television static that pulled me out of the reality I thought I was trapped in.
No, not a reality, only the distorted future that drifted in and out of focus before landing in the deep red glow of my sight, my vision shifting with a jolt to the same derelict, red-tinged streets of Prague that I walked every day, that I surveyed every day, that I fought in just as often.
That I fought in now.
A herd of running feet and heaving breaths surrounded me as the sight became clear. The crash of an attack resounded somewhere before us, and despite a part of me wanting to run the other way, I still continued forward, my prescience guiding me through a tight alley and right into the fray of battle where Ilyan and Risha were surrounded by men, Ilyan holding one by the neck as he fought more than a dozen others.
I fought, grunting, as I joined them. Magic exploded, exactly as it did every time Edmund’s men attacked in the city, whether in premonition or in life. This time, however, it was broken by the same electronic noise that had haunted my sight for months. Everything cutting in and out until it stopped.
No, I stopped.
The battle continued as I stood there with flashes of magic beating through the sound of death. But I could not move. I stood, staring at a tall, muscular figure who was walking through the battle toward me, their body shrouded in a dark cape, face hidden.
Sound drained from the world, leaving only the thunder of my heart, as I stood, surrounded by death, the smell of blood, and heavy smoke.
While I watched in wide-eyed horror, the man before me slowly pulled down the hood, revealing not the man I expected, but Wyn with a wide, nefarious smile, the look so similar to Edmund’s that, before I knew it, I was screaming.
The sound of my terror echoed in my ears, but I didn’t know if it was trapped in sight or ricocheting through reality.
Wyn stared at me, the smile spreading farther as bloodstained teeth appeared behind thin lips. My scream grew before she turned away, leaving me standing in silence, leaving me surrounded by the bodies left behind: Ilyan who bled as he looked into the nothing before him, Thom who stayed lifeless against the red-tinged asphalt, my mother, Ryland, Talon, Risha. They were all there, their blood seeping into the leather of the worn shoes Ilyan had made me so long ago, seeping through the tiny hold that had formed near the toe.
The scream lingered, moving through me as the bodies faded, shifting to rock and darkness as the sight became the cave that had haunted me for months. It was dark and damp with the deep crimson blood that flowed over the jagged rocks like a river. Ilyan’s body was spread-eagle over those same rocks, the river pouring from him, his eyes vacant, mouth agape.
The scream increased as the sound of Edmund’s laugh joined it in a reprehensible harmony. I listened to it, dread ripping through me as I tried to wake up, as I pled to wake up. I begged for the twisted sight to leave.
“Wake up!”
I wasn’t the only one.
With a jolt, I sat straight up in bed, my eyes wild as the sight faded to nothing. The tension and fear that ran through my body made it hard to see straight, let alone breathe at a normal rate.
Mi lasko? His voice was as panicked as I was. I couldn’t blame him. I knew he felt my fear and had probably seen some of the sight.
As long as he didn’t see the last of it, however, we were good. I had kept him from that knowledge thus far, and I would do anything to keep it that way.
Are you all right? he asked from the rooftop he stood on—the old, battered building he used as a lookout, miles away from where I lay, warm and supposedly safe in my bed.
“Ilyan,” I said it aloud between heaving gasps, my eyes flashing to his side of the bed, despite knowing he was not there. If he had been, he would have been holding me. He would have been singing to me.
Always, he whispered in hushed response to my thoughts, his magic moving into me steadily in a thick wave of warmth and love. I will wrap my arms around you the moment I see you.
I knew he would. I could practically feel his arms around me now while his soft, hushed voice drifted into my mind in the melody that was embedded into my soul.
With a sigh, I wrapped myself up in the warmth, in the song, and fell back onto the bed, my breath slowing as the anxiety trickled away, leaving me with the unusually high level of anxiety I had quickly grown used to. War would do that to you.