Lost Tides: Elemental Seekers Series

by H. M. Sandlin

  “Please. There must be someone that knows why I’m here. Please ask. I was sent a note telling me to find the water sprites. Ask them.”

  “Lies. Sprites don’t bother with humans. Humans can’t even talk to them.”

  “I can. They showed me a book to help me learn it. I’ve been translating it and learning the language for months. I’m not great at it, but I’m getting better. Please listen to me.”

  He pushed me into the first room, and the other men put my friends inside. They didn’t throw them, but they weren’t gentle either. They were going to be sore when they got up. The door slammed behind us, and I heard the men leave.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I rushed to the door and pulled on it, but it was locked. I tried using my magic to break the door or the wall, but something was blocking it. I pulled on all of the elements, but my magic wouldn’t work. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I saw a light grey magic snaking up and down the walls.

  When I tried using my magic again, the light grey color glowed. That’s what was keeping it from working. I searched the walls. The grey magic seemed to be strongest at the door, so I moved to the opposite side of the room. This time when I pulled on my magic, I could see a small trickle of magic circling my hands. I tried to pull more, but it took a lot of energy. I didn’t want the magic to go to waste, so I called Abby over.

  “Grab my hand and try to heal Richard and Tider.”

  “I can’t,” she said. “My magic isn’t working.” She looked panicked. I only had my magic for a few months, and I hated not being able to use it. She had magic for most of her life. It would be like losing a big part of yourself.

  “I can share magic with you. I have a small amount that I can use right now. I will pass it to you.” She looked at the door. “It’s not enough for us to get out,” I told her.

  “Ok,” she grabbed my hand and knelt next to Richard and Tider. “I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to do. Hold on to my shoulder, so I can work on both of them at the same time.”

  I put my hand on her shoulder and watched as she put a hand over each of their foreheads.

  “Now,” she said.

  I closed my eyes and channeled all the magic I had been able to collect into her. I watched as her hands filled with yellow healing magic and poured into the guys. After all her magic had been used, she slumped forward. The guys began to stir as I knelt down.

  “Were those real elementals? I didn’t think there would be any living ones here. I thought we would be looking for something in a dead palace,” Tider said.

  “Definitely not dead. They are strong, and they don’t seem to like people.”

  “Did you tell them who you are?”

  “I don’t even know who I am yet. I did tell them that the water sprites told me to come here. The head guy laughed at me. He said no one can talk to water sprites.”

  “That’s not true. There are more than a few people who can talk to them.”

  “I am going to have to use more than air magic here,” I said. “We are going to need everything we have if this comes down to a fight.”

  “Thankfully, the Pulhu can’t get in here, so you should be safe from them finding out.”

  “Hey, whoever you are over there,” someone yelled from outside the room, “what are you talking about? Do you have a way out of here?”

  We all turned towards the door, startled.

  “Who’s there?” I asked.

  I saw a boy about my age looking through the bars on the door across from us.

  “I’m Adam. Who are you? And how did you end up in here?”

  “Adam, you wouldn’t happen to know Chet, would you?”

  “I sure do. That’s my grandpa. How do you know him?”

  “He asked us if we could look for you while we were in here. I guess we found you.”

  “I’ve only been gone a few days, and he sends in the rescuers. He could have given me a little more time.”

  I stared at my friends, worried, “Adam, you’ve been missing for four months.”

  “What?” he stared at me. “That’s not possible.”

  “We may have a problem,” I said, turning towards my friends. “Chet mentioned that the times would be different, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about at the time.”

  “I’m more worried about the elementals that put us in here, and what they want with us,” Richard said.

  “What’s going on over there?” Adam yelled.

  “We are trying to figure things out. We aren’t sure what’s going on here. When you were looking around, did you see anything strange?”

  “I saw elementals using their powers, which was strange. Something is wrong with the king’s face too. It’s only his eye and forehead on the one side, but somehow it makes him look off. I don’t think he was born that way. I overheard him talking to one of the guards. He said without his staff, it will eventually take him over. I think he meant a curse, and that’s what is going on with part of his face. They think I took the staff since I was caught in their palace sneaking around.”

  “Wow. You’ve seen a lot since you got here,” I said.

  “You didn’t take the staff, did you?” Abby asked.

  “No, I didn’t take it. I have an idea who might have. They wouldn’t listen to me though.”

  “I’m not surprised. They don’t seem big on listening to anyone. Especially humans. The guards seemed really unhappy that we were here.”

  “Well, they have been banned from having anything to do with humans. The shadow king could come down and destroy them for even being near us.”

  “For now, we need to get out of here.” Richard raised his hands and tried to use his magic. When his face fell, I spoke up.

  “Don’t waste your energy. We already tried using magic. It’s not working. There’s a spell on the room that prevents us from using it. At least most of it.”

  “Most of it?”

  “Yes, I can use a little bit. That’s how Abby healed you both.”

  “Thanks, Abby. I didn’t realize that you had to heal us.”

  “Hey, Adam,” I called out. “What do the elementals want with us?”

  “No idea what they want with you, but they want me to tell them where the staff went.”

  “How do we get an audience with their king or queen? Maybe they will listen to us.”

  “Don’t worry. They take me up there every evening before they give me dinner so the king can yell at me to tell him where the staff is. He will probably want you up there too.”

  “We are going to get some rest, and then we will talk more. I want to be at full strength when they let us out. Once we can use our magic, we might be able to get away.”

  We all laid down and tried to get some rest. There were only two chairs and a small cot in the room. After a brief argument, we persuaded Abby to take the cot, and we laid down on the bare floor. I finally fell asleep only to be awoken by the guards slamming our door open and yelling at us to get up.

  “Let’s go, you have an audience with the king. Now!” he yelled when I didn’t get up fast enough.

  We stumbled to our feet and quickly walked through the open door. We were each paired up with our own security guard. Mine was the same one from earlier.

  “What does he want with us?” I asked.

  “Probably to find out what you are doing here, and who sent you,” he sneered.

  “I already told you all of this. Why didn’t you tell him?”

  “Trust me, I did tell him. He doesn’t believe you, and neither do I.”

  “Why else would I come here?” I demanded as we walked back up the stairs.

  “Who knows? Probably for power, or maybe you are working for the fire elementals. They always wanted to end us. Maybe they think they can by sending humans in to do their dirty work. Well, I’m telling you now, it won’t work.”

  “I already told you. I’m not here to hurt you. I was told to find you.”

  “Let’s
see what the king thinks of you,” he pushed me out into the room, and we walked towards the throne. The room was full of guards and more elementals. They all started talking when we walked in. Once we were there, our guards pushed us to our knees. A hush fell over the crowd, and I lifted my head to see the king striding into the room before my guard pushed my head down. “No eyes on the king unless he gives you permission.”

  “Whatever,” I growled. I was getting sick of being a prisoner. I tried calling my magic, but my guard smacked the back of my head.

  “Don’t even try it,” I wondered how he knew every time I tried to call my magic. I closed my eyes and focused. The room was bathed in a soft blue light. Some of the elementals had a stronger light, like my guard, and some had a weak light. I figured that had to do with how strong their magic was. I shifted slightly so I could see the king out of the corner of my eye. He had the strongest glow of all the elementals but woven into his blue light was a dark thread. When I looked closer at it, it seemed to pulse with its own life. The thread was small, no wider than a half-inch, but it wound through the kings blue and distorted it.

  “Stand humans, and let me hear your reasons for invading my palace,” the king called.

  I stood up and looked at the king. Quickly my guard smacked the back of my head. I looked back at the floor, but I had gotten my look at the king’s face. Adam was right. The left side of his face was changing. One eye was a bright blue while the other was black, and his forehead was wrinkled halfway across his face. He had a streak of straight black hair on the side of his head that seemed to be changing even though the rest of his hair fell in golden waves.

  Whatever was happening to their king was bad. Something evil had gotten to him, and I had a feeling if it took him over completely, the king would come for humans. I couldn’t let that happen. I tried to stop myself, but I couldn’t stand the thought of what he would do if he let the curse have him. It reminded me too much of the books I had read on the other void users and how they had changed.

  “You’re cursed,” I said. “Why haven’t you fixed it? Do you know what you could become?”

  “Of course I do,” he roared.

  “Then fix it. I’m sure there is a way to do it. You could hurt a lot of people if it gets worse,” I said accusingly.

  “How do you even know about it, human? Did you do this to me?”

  “What? No, I didn’t do this to you. How would I? I just got here, and you have obviously been like this for longer than one day.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because no one looked surprised to see you looking the way you do. If you had just been cursed, then they would have been shocked. You need to do something about it now,” I looked at him, and my guard raised his hand.

  “Stop,” the king commanded. “My guards tell me that you said you were told to come here. By who?”

  “By a water sprite. The note said to find the water sprites. I wasn’t expecting to find you here.”

  “Why not? It’s my palace.”

  “Well,” I tried not to squirm, “I didn’t actually believe you existed.”

  “What? You didn’t think we were real? Where did you think you got your powers from?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t exactly had them long, so I’m still getting used to all this.”

  “Lies,” my guard yelled. “She is very powerful. There is no way she has only had her powers for a short time. She wouldn’t be able to control them. You remember how humans used to be without a lot of training.”

  The king looked at me, “Are you lying to me?”

  “No, I’m not. I came here to find answers, and instead, I find elementals with a king who is cursed and might become pure evil if he doesn’t fix it. This isn’t exactly what I was looking for.”

  “What answers could we possibly give you?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “I will give you a chance to prove that you mean us no harm. You must retrieve my staff for me. Then I will know that you are telling the truth, and I will answer your questions and let you leave.”

  “One more thing,” I said to him, “we can’t be missing for months. The guy you have locked up downstairs needs to come with us. He’s been missing for a few months, and he says he has only been here about four days.”

  “Time runs differently in our realm,” the king said. “You can’t have him. He may be behind the theft of my staff.”

  “Let us use him. If you really believe he did it, then we will find out, but for now, he can be useful.”

  The king shook his head and paced around before finally turning to me, “Fine, but you only have four days.”

  “That’s not enough time,” I said.

  “Maybe not, but if you want to go back to the human realm when you left, that’s all you get. I can’t change it any longer than that. Even that will be pushing it.”

  “We’ll do it. Where do we start?”

  “Hilail will set you up in guest quarters and tell you everything you need to know.” The king strode from the room, and my guard stood in front of me.

  “Let me guess you’re Hilail?” I shook my head. Just my luck.

  “Yes,” he growled. “You may have fooled the king, but I don’t trust you. I will be following everything you do.”

  “Good, then you’ll be around to help me if I have any questions. Now can you show us to our rooms?” I spun around and headed for my friends. I would have to be very careful around Hilail. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, just distrusting.

  I spun back around, “Oh, and Hilail, please bring up Adam?”

  “Adam?”

  “The boy in the dungeon, he will be staying with us.”

  “I don’t…”

  I cut him off, “You heard your king. We get to use him until we find the staff or until the four days are up.”

  Hilail sighed and then stormed off to talk to another guard. When he came back, he told us to follow him. I was surprised when he took us through the main hall and into one of the side halls. If we had to run for it, we were much closer to the entrance now, though I would rather find the staff. He stopped in front of a door and ushered us all in.

  “We are all staying here?” I asked, surprised.

  “There are four rooms to sleep in. This is one of our bigger apartments.”

  “What about Adam?”

  “I don’t care where he sleeps. Put him on the floor. He’s your responsibility now. When you are ready to leave your room, someone will be waiting to escort you if I’m not here. Don’t disobey them, or I’ll send you back to the dungeons.”

  “What is your problem with us?” I asked, fed up with his attitude.

  “You are the problem, you shouldn’t be here. The shadow king will kill us all for this,” he stormed out of the room.

  “Well, that went well,” I said sarcastically.

  “Actually, I think it did. You got us a reprieve for the next four days, and if you find the staff, we can get answers and get out of here,” Abby said.

  “Any clues on how to do that?” Richard asked.

  “None,” I said. “I guess we should ask Adam first. He seemed to think he knew who the thief was.”

  There was a knock on the door, and when I opened it, Adam was standing there with a different guard behind him, “Hey guys, you got me out. Thanks. When do we leave?”

  “We don’t. Let’s go sit down, and we’ll fill you in.”

  I looked at the guard standing at the door. He was looking at us scornfully. “Can you tell us when the staff went missing, and who had access to it?”

  “Why would I tell you that?”

  “Because I’m trying to save your king before the curse takes him completely.”

  The guard glared at me for a minute before finally answering, “You will have to talk to Hilail. He didn’t give me any orders to talk to you.”

  I walked back to my friends and shook my head. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

  “So we don’
t get to leave?” Adam asked.

  “Nope. We have to find the king’s staff if we want to leave.”

  “Well, that’s easy. His daughter has it.”

  “His daughter?” I asked.

  “Yeah, from what I overheard, she wants to rule in his place. She thinks she can do whatever she wants. She wants to go live with humans so they can worship her.”

  “Maybe we can get into her room or at least figure out where it is so we can look for the staff,” I said.

  “We could pretend to worship her,” Abby said. “That might get us into her rooms.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Richard said. “While you two do that, we will try to talk to some of the servants. Maybe they will be more likely to talk than the guards.”

  “Hopefully.”

  We went to the door and told the guards we would be leaving to start looking for the staff. We had to wait for another guard since we were splitting up. They didn’t want us going off on our own. When our guard got there, I grimaced. It was Hilail. It seemed I wasn’t going to be able to shake this elemental. Either he really didn’t trust us, or he didn’t want us to figure it out. Maybe he was helping the king’s daughter.

  “We want to go see the king’s daughter,” I told Hilail.

  “Sorry, she is busy,” he sneered.

  “Seriously, or are you being difficult? We are trying to help.”

  “I doubt that. She really is busy. She has meetings today.”

  “Fine, take us to these meetings. We need to start as soon as possible. We don’t have much time, and neither does your king,” I turned to glare at him.

  “I will take you, but she won’t be able to see you. Appointments must be made in advance to see the princess.”

  “We’ll see,” I said.

  We followed him through the palace, taking multiple turns to get to the area where the princess held meetings. We came to a small room where a few people were seated on couches, and a woman was behind a desk. “Do you have an appointment?” she asked us.

  “No,” I told her.

  “Sorry, if you don’t have an appointment, she doesn’t have time to see you,” she turned back to her desk.

  “Excuse me,” I tried. She ignored me. Hilail was smirking, and I was starting to feel like hitting him. I turned my attention back to the lady.