From Flame and Ash

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  The bones were surrounding him, those waiting at the edge of the cliff.

  But nothing could help him.

  He fell, a scream on his lips that echoed in my head. The rocks took him, and then I couldn’t see him anymore.

  I couldn’t see anyone.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  This can’t be happening.

  Not again.

  Rhodes…

  He’d fallen.

  Off a cliff.

  He…he couldn’t be dead. He had to come back. He had to be able to use his Wielding. Right?

  He couldn’t be dead.

  There was no body. I didn’t see him die. He wasn’t dead. I refused to believe it.

  “Lyric,” Wyn shouted, shaking me. “Lyric! Are you all right? Did the magic touch you? It takes away your Wielding and who knows what else. Lyric!”

  I blinked, trying to focus on my friend as the battle raged around us.

  Rhodes had pushed Wyn and me out of the way, had taken the assault of the bone magic mixed with the Lord of Water's own Air Wielding straight to his body. He hadn't been able to protect himself, hadn't been able to use his own Wielding to stop his fall.

  Instead, he had fallen off the cliff, with the rocks and the bones and everything else falling on top of him. An actual rockslide, where the magic of the Lord of Water had slammed into him, and there was nothing he could do to save himself.

  And Rhodes hadn't uttered a sound.

  "Lyric. Snap out of it. We have to keep fighting. The Lord of Air is down, the Lady of Air is losing her shit," Wyn snapped.

  I looked up and shook my head, trying to pull myself out of wherever I had just gone.

  "Okay, we can do this."

  "Oh, we're going to do this." Wyn held out her hands, and the earth shook beneath us powerfully. I hadn't even realized Wyn possessed that much Earth Wielding within her. "That Lumière prince does not get to die for me," she growled.

  "No, he doesn't." I slammed my hand into hers, and we clasped fists. The earth around us rumbled in waves. While the water in the sea below the cliffs started to rise up, and the air whipped my face, and flames danced along my fingers.

  I was the Wielder of four elements. The only one in existence as far as we knew.

  I would not let the Lord of Water take control. I would not let Rhodes' sacrifice be in vain.

  And so, I grinned at Wyn, who smiled wickedly back at me, the look in her eyes manic. Because we weren't happy, we weren't gleeful.

  We wanted revenge.

  So we let go and stalked towards the Lord of Water.

  Rosamond had her arms outstretched, the air around her whipping as she brought some of the soldiers and the League and Creed to their knees. They clawed at their eyes, bleeding and screaming.

  I knew that Rosamond was using whatever Seer magic she had to force visions into the others. I didn't know how long she could do that, but I was going to help however I could. Because as soon as she faltered, she would pass out, spent from using so much of her power.

  The Lady of Air stood above her husband's body, her own hair blowing in the wind as she stood there, a serene look on her face even as war battled around her. She had her fingers spread, and I could tell by the way she just stood there that she was gathering up her power. An assault was coming.

  Easton and Teagan and Luken were running towards Wyn and me, their faces pale and bloody.

  "He's gone?" Easton asked, his voice a growl.

  Why did those two words break me?

  Why?

  "He's gone," I answered, my voice not sounding like my own. Easton must have understood though because he gave me a tight nod before reaching out to cup my face. "Use the power within. I'll be right beside you."

  And I believed him. I had faith that he would be right beside me no matter what power I gave into, no matter what ran through me.

  I just refused to lean on him. I would not let another person die for me.

  So, I backed away and then moved towards the Lord of Water. The others flanked me, the Lady of Air coming out of her trance as she and Rosamond moved to the west side. Whatever Air Wielders were left that had been on our side, as well as the Water Wielders that had moved away and joined our army moved with us so we walked in a line, all towards the enemy above.

  "You think to destroy me?" Durin asked, his voice sounding amplified. "I hold the power of the bone magic. I hold the power of so many lost before. I will be the true king. I will be the one who towers above them all. You are nothing. You can't even use your own Wielding to protect those you thought you cared about. Everyone keeps dying for you, and you can do nothing. You stand by and watch the world pass you by. You were never meant to be here. You are but a babe in the eyes of the world. You weren't born to be here. You were born to be nothing. You are just a human, weak and defenseless. And now you hold what you think is power, but it is nothing. You will die with the rest of them because you have forsaken all that is the Maison realm. You are nothing, Lyric."

  The others started shouting, but I wasn't listening. I just tilted my head and looked at the man who called himself the Lord of Water, the man who wanted to be the high king.

  "I am the Spirit Priestess. The one who was prophesied to unite us. But in order to do so, the rot must be gutted."

  "You call me rot while you lay like a snake in the grass waiting to take what is not yours?"

  "Stand down, Durin. Before you die at the hands of those who will protect this realm. Before you sacrifice any more lives for your greed. For your dishonesty."

  "I'll never stand down. This role is mine. And you are in my way."

  And then he held out his hands, the bones on his crown and necklace glowing once more as they had when he killed his own son.

  His army stood behind him, their arms outstretched as they each held their Wieldings, ready to attack at a moment's notice.

  I wouldn't let this happen. I was the Wielder of four elements. The Spirit Priestess. I had fought countless dreams and other monsters. I might not know the histories of them all, might not know exactly how to control any of what I held yet. But I was here for a reason.

  And I would not let Rhodes, Brae, Arwin, Holdar, or anyone else die in vain for me.

  I would not let anyone else die for me period.

  And so, I held out my hands and let the power flow.

  Air began first, a slow swirl of sensation through my body as it flowed out of my fingertips and into the open space in front of me. I could see it like a wave creating a wall in front of my friends and me.

  And then Earth came, strong and unyielding. It leapt from the soles and arches of my feet into the ground and then rumbled up to combine with the wall of Air. It wasn't as thin as the microscopic wall that the knight of the Obscurité Kingdom had made when he tried and succeeded in killing me. But it was power.

  The others gasped, and I could feel their eyes on me even as they held back their own Wielding, ready to fight.

  But I wasn't done yet.

  I pulled my arms back a little farther and crooked my fingers ever so slightly. In doing so, I could feel the water in the air around me, as well as the sea behind me start to collect. Drop by drop, drip by drip, my Water came slowly, reaching up the cliff's edge as if it were crawling back from the abyss. It slid along the ground beneath us as if it were an overflowing river before it crept up the wall of Air and Earth that I had created, mixing with the wind and dirt.

  And then there was Fire.

  My new friend, my new element.

  My head fell back, and the heat and the anger and the burning within me crashed out of my face, through my eyes, my nose, out my mouth and ears, all of it erupting from a place deep within.

  I knew I could not create Fire like Easton, not yet. I could not Wield it with any accuracy unless only to do harm to myself and the world crumbling around him.

  But I could become it, if only for a moment.

  And so I screamed, the Fire erupting from me before it slam
med into the wall of my other elements, mixing with them and strengthening their hold.

  If I had had the fifth element, I knew it would have been the next step, but it was not time for that yet.

  My body shook as the Wielding reached out to me, wanting to hold me in its embrace. But I wasn't ready to let go.

  It was only for a moment, all of the elements coming together as I focused on what was in front of me, using instinct and not skill, no knowledge.

  I knew if I thought about it, I would fail, and that it would be my undoing. Because I didn't have the training or the strength to handle all of these yet, but I could at least use what was within me to protect the others.

  And maybe if I survived this, I would actually learn to call upon the elements without fear, without loss of control.

  But that wasn't now.

  Durin looked worried for only a moment and then he smiled, a grin that I knew I would see until the end of my days even if those days happened to be numbered.

  All of the power that he had held for so long, that slowly ripped from every single person he had killed over the centuries, slammed into him, and his entire body glowed. Even his own men, the Creed, and the League, took steps away from him as if haunted and scared by the man that wasn't a man anymore.

  No, he was power. But it was stolen power.

  And that had to make a difference.

  "Kill the Spirit Priestess!" the Lord of Water screamed. And then it began.

  The onslaught of power hit my wall with such ferocity that I took a staggering step back. Wyn put her hand on my right shoulder, Easton’s on my left hip, both of them holding me in place.

  It was because of them and their strengths that I could push more of myself into the wall.

  The lord slammed his Water Wielding mixed with bone magic into the wall, and I could sense the tiny fractures. But that was fine. I had more Wielding, and I would use it. But first, I had to tire him.

  If I could take away some of the power that he had stolen, even putting it into the wall itself, then it could give us a fighting chance. It might not necessarily be even ground, but it would be better.

  It had to be enough.

  "Take her down!" one of the League members said, and then the other Wielders ran towards the wall that I had created.

  Every single person on our side of the battlefield was protected by the wall, but as soon as it fell, as soon as those fractures split open completely, they would all have to use their own Wieldings to protect themselves.

  But it would be enough. It had to be enough.

  "Don't burn yourself out," Easton said, his voice a shout over the raging wind and inferno. "Let us help you."

  I turned to him. He didn't move back, didn't look scared at what he saw on my face. I knew I didn't look like myself. I didn't feel like myself. He wasn't afraid of me. Instead, he leaned forward and rested his forehead against mine. "Don't kill yourself trying to protect us. Let him burn out his bone magic, and then let the wall fall. We'll take the rest."

  "Don't die for me," I whispered as a tear slid down my cheek.

  "Never. But you can't die for us either," Easton said, sounding softer than he ever had before. And then he wiped the tear from my face and turned away, but he kept touching me.

  Wyn had her hand on me, and then Teagan and Luken and Lanya and Rosamond and the others.

  So many touched me, infusing me with their strength, even though I wasn't taking their Wielding. Just knowing that they were there, knowing that we were a unit was enough.

  And then the Lord of Water took a step to the right, leaning heavily, and I knew he was almost spent. He might still have his Water and Air Wielding, but he was losing the bone magic.

  Because the light of his crown and the other bones he had put on himself as if in fashion were starting to dim.

  But he came at us with another onslaught, and I shook, the wall ready to fall.

  I didn't know how to end it, I didn't know how I'd even made it this far.

  But I knew it was almost over.

  And as the last light of the crown faded into nothingness, the wall fractured, leaving us bare and out in the open, but not useless. Not inhibited.

  Because we were Wielders, and I was the Spirit Priestess. And I had more.

  The others let go of me, and my whole body shook, but it wasn't enough. I had used all four elements in a way I hadn’t known I could, in a way I hadn't before.

  And now it was too much.

  Fire erupted from me, and I held out my hands, standing with my legs braced apart as the others fought the onslaught of League and Creed members and the other Wielders who fought for the Lord of Water. I only had eyes for Durin, and he was weak.

  He had used too much, and now, this would be his end.

  I had killed before, and I would again.

  But I would look into his eyes as I did so, and I would carry it on my soul for the rest of my days.

  And so I moved my left arm forward and pointed towards the Lord of Water.

  He screamed as the Fire touched him, engulfed him in a wall of flame and ash.

  The others looked at me askance, but not my own people. My friends understood what I had done and why. I knew they would have done the same.

  He had killed so many, and he would do it again and again unless he were stopped.

  As Durin screamed his last breath and fell into a pile of ash, I couldn't help but think of Brae.

  My best friend had become ash but had come back as my Familiar.

  The Lord of Water wouldn't be coming back.

  But the Fire whispered to me. It was too much, but it wasn't done yet.

  I wasn’t done yet.

  The Lord of Water and everything he had done couldn't remain.

  And so, I lifted my palms to the sun and let the Fire burn.

  It scorched a trail through the enemy, burning those in its wake, and slammed into the castle itself. The estate had been made of ostentatious water and stone to showcase the power that Durin had stolen.

  It was empty now, evacuated because Rosamond had Seen this.

  And now it would be no more.

  As the power erupted from me, and my other elements fought for control, the world burned, and the castle turned to ash and ruin. The others ran from me, not from the Spirit Priestess but from what I had become.

  Because I couldn't control it.

  And the Fire kept coming as if there were no bottom to the well.

  And then the other Wielding came at me, and I couldn't control any of it.

  I couldn't control myself.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  The Fire slid from my fingertips as the Earth caused the stones to rumble beneath my feet. The Air whirled around me, and the Water slammed into the side of the cliff as if reaching out to me.

  All four elements warred for control, and it was all I could do to keep my breath.

  The Fire was still raging, and I turned slightly to the left. Others screamed, running in fear of my power.

  I didn't want this. I didn't want people to fear me, I didn't want any of this.

  But I couldn't control it.

  I hadn't been able to control it when Water had taken me over, and now Fire would be worse.

  I remembered when someone had once told me that Fire was the hardest element to Wield. Because no matter what happened, it was always within you, forever trying to burst free. Fire Wielders needed to have more control than others, so much that they turned to stone when they had to hold everything in.

  And while Teagan might laugh and joke with Wyn, he was incredibly controlled in his fighting, and trained harder than anyone else I knew.

  And Easton was the same way. He used so much of his power just to control it, along with his Earth.

  I remembered meeting that little baby Firedrake, watching it dance along the desert that was the Fire territory.

  There had been such innocence in that flame, but there was nothing innocent about the flames I now possessed.r />
  I remembered using the fiery blooms of the cactus in the Fire territory with Easton’s Wielding to take out the Negs that had tried to kill us.

  The first time I had met Easton, I had been standing with Rhodes, trying to fight for my life using only one element. Air. The only one I had at the time.

  I had used my Air to help Easton's Fire, and we had worked together without even knowing who we were to each other. Not knowing who each other was at all.

  I remembered all of that, but it wasn't enough.

  Because I wasn't that innocent flame. I wasn't the cool and collected Wielder.

  I was out of control, and I couldn't hold back.

  A river of Fire surrounded me, slowly crawling to make a full circle and blocking off my friends and the others who might come at me.

  I couldn't think, could barely breathe, and while the other three elements were slamming into me, trying to either stop me or protect me, or just take over Fire so they could be the one that took me, it wasn't enough.

  The Fire was too strong. I had never Wielded it with any accuracy.

  I had burned a castle to ash, had turned Rhodes’ and Rosamond’s childhood memories to dust.

  I was of flame and ash and nothingness.

  And I couldn't stop.

  The battle had ended, those who had survived on the other side had run, and I could see some of the Air and Water Wielders who had been on our side chasing them. But I couldn't focus.

  I didn't know if the Creed or the League had survived, or what would happen to them. I didn't know anything right then.

  I couldn't tell if my friends were near or even if they had survived, I could just feel the flame on my face and know that this was how I would end.

  Maybe this was what I needed to do all along, collect the four elements and stop an uprising. The others would survive without me.

  At least those who had survived to this point.