Imdalind 01 - Kiss of Fire

impact, his face alight with joy. “There he is,” he growled, and he lowered his torso for only a moment to speak quietly to Wyn. “You’ll need to be on your toes. You know your father’s temperament better than I do; Timothy is going to play dirty.”
    “You just keep yours under control, and we may escape this mess we are in,” Wyn responded forcefully.
    Ilyan laughed widely at her before standing again, facing our attackers.
    Wyn slowed the car briefly before accelerating again, her driving sending us barreling through empty lanes and around frantically driven cars. Ilyan only laughed at the movement of the car, his body swaying gracefully as we swerved.
    His laughing continued as he waved his hands above him. I watched his actions in confusion as a large van came into view, maneuvering through the air above us. My heart jumped at the sight of the family still trapped inside. Ilyan had only been using empty vehicles as ammo, but someone else had thrown more than a vehicle at us. Someone else had thrown people. My anxiety lessened as Ilyan set the van down at the side of the road, and hopefully, into safety. He didn’t waste another moment before sending a massive explosion toward our attackers.
    Ilyan lifted his hand again, his eyes taunting the enemy behind us. His hand flexed, sending long strands of violent color from his fingertips like electricity. The sound of explosions and grinding metal penetrated the air so completely; I could not tell what was going on.
    Wyn swerved out of the way to avoid yet another explosion, but the tires still strayed into the broken road. Bits of asphalt flew into the empty cavity that was once the roof littering me with small burning rocks.
    I could hear Wyn’s quick erratic breathing from where I sat; I could hear her whispers as she spoke to the empty air around her. She spoke to Talon; she moaned his named, as tears streaked down her face. She was trying to be brave, but her heart betrayed her. She knew there was no hope; she knew we were going to die.
    Part of me knew she was right, and sadly, I was okay with it. I wanted to see my mother again; I wanted to apologize. But as much as my heart ached and screamed for my mother, a much bigger part knew I could not leave Ryland. I needed him, just as much as he needed me.
    Ilyan sent another round of ammunition flying past in a steady stream of large rocks, small cars, and everyday mundane objects. Ilyan had grabbed everything he could with his mind and launched it away from us like weapons.
    He lifted his hands again as a large, brilliantly-red, ball grew from his hands, shooting away from his palms like a bullet and pushing him back inside the car. The sound of the explosion rolled through me, the power loud and angry. My body called out in pain; my voice moaning and gasping with each movement. I remembered what Ilyan had told me; we had to escape alive and not in comfort. But he had also said there were too many for him to fight alone. I looked to his crumpled form in the passenger seat, my heart sinking.
    His face no longer held the joy, or the solid determination that it had held a moment before. Ilyan’s face was screwed up with panic, a bead of sweat dripping down his forehead. Wyn swerved blindly to the side in an attempt to escape another explosion, the front of the car nicking another of the escaping vehicles.
    “Take Joclyn and run, Wyn. Get back to Talon. I will hold them off as long as I can.” Ilyan gripped Wyn roughly, his voice a panicked command that made my stomach flip.
    “You’ll never make it out! I can’t… can’t let you.”
    I could tell how much it cost Wyn to say the words, to actually be willing to not make it back to Talon.
    “Don’t worry about me; I can do a lot more when I don’t have to worry about keeping others safe.”
    I twisted myself in the seat, my body screaming out in agony as I moved. Behind our speeding Mazda, a line of black SUV’s followed, each one large and foreboding. Their gauntlet herded everyone down the highway, moving us into certain death. And in the center of the line, speeding in front of all the others was a bright yellow Lotus.
    My heart stopped beating, my breath caught, and I felt the tears of panic splash down my face out of nowhere.
    “Ryland,” Had I meant to say it out loud, or simply speak to him in my mind? My voice caught in my throat, but the reply was right in my ear.
    “Run, Joclyn. Stay with Ilyan.” Ryland’s voice was a whisper,