by Franc Ingram
He couldn't see him with his eyes, but he felt the older man. Lysander was sweating, straining, his mind racing. That was Lorn's anchor. Lorn reached for the power that would save the Master of Earth.
There were clouds out in the marsh, pushed out by the rising heat of the flames consuming the wall. Lorn called in the winds off the ocean to the south of them, forcing the clouds forward. As soon as they started towards the flames, the clouds tried to empty themselves over the marsh, but Lorn forced them to hold onto the precious moisture they carried, straining the weak crystalline bonds that formed clouds.
It took every ounce of concentration Lorn had to keep the overladen structures from shaking themselves apart in the aggressive winds. He needed the rain to hit in a particular spot and he wasn't going to lose a single drop until they were in place.
Lorn pushed the clouds toward the shining beacon that was Lysander. The friction generated inside the clouds created thunder loud enough to rattle the crystal tower. Lightning shot out in unpredictable directions. Lorn didn't care about that. He just needed the rain.
Once the heaviest cloud was over Lysander, Lorn let loose. He released every restrictive hold he had on the clouds like an overstretched rubber band snapping under the tension. Fresh wet droplets pelted the city, slapping against The Tower on their way to the waiting earth.
Lorn crumbled on the floor, drenched in sweat, struggling to breathe, and exhausted. He'd expended all of his smart particle energy, to the point he couldn't even feel the constant hum of them that stayed at the back of his mind.
The silence was dark, heavy, and terrifying. Shivers racked Lorn's body so hard he couldn't help but smack his head against The Tower wall as his body tried to shake itself apart. Then the tink, tink, tink of rain falling against the walls of The Tower filled the room. Sun pierced the smoke and ash, hitting Lorn along his side and its warmth filled him inside and out.
Lorn sucked in the sun's warmth and energy like a sponge. The exchange was so fast he felt his exposed skin on his hand and arms burn but couldn't stop himself from drawing in more power. Once Lorn felt strong enough he sat up. Then he stood. Then he ran.
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Lysander felt the rain burst before he saw it. The plants he was connected to spread their roots out wide in anticipation of the oncoming rain. Their excitement filled him with a sense of euphoria that threatened to sweep him away, allowed him to forget all about the violence and pain he stood at the heart of. Lysander wanted the distraction more than just to erase the current battle, but also to soothe away all the losses and sorrows he'd picked up on the way to the present moment.
It would have been so easy to let the plants take over and guide him where they wanted him to go, but he'd made promises to Yael, Leith, Kameke, and others. So, Lysander sucked up as much of that euphoric feeling as he could handle before it overwhelmed him and pushed it at the living wall, his first creation.
The agony of the wall was something Lysander had blocked off, like cutting off a damaged limb. He'd shut the burned parts behind a thick wall in his mind as not to be overwhelmed, but to effect repairs he had to have access to the entire wall.
"Kameke," Lysander croaked, Leith's voice sounding weak to his sensitive ears. "They need to push back."
Lysander would only get one chance to use the wall to kick the yetis out of his city, but they had to be within reach. Wade had to get them in place. Lysander opened his eyes wide enough to see Kameke kick a yeti off the roof.
She stomped her crystal covered foot against the edge of the stone roof creating a drum-like banging that cut over the den of battle. "Push back, now!" Kameke yelled.
Wade had kept a contingent of Rangers hidden in the armory awaiting the signal. At Kameke's word they burst out, weapons raised high, shouting and stomping, drawing as much attention as possible. Then they formed a tight line, shields held in front of them, and pushed forward forcing everyone and everything in front of them to move back.
Kameke spared a look behind her to give Lysander a nod. It was working. She reached out for the two yetis closest to her and grabbing them by whatever limb she could reach, took a running dive off the roof. Lysander didn't let the distraction go to waste. He headed the opposite way, knowing there was a vine ladder waiting for him off the backside of the roof.
He scrambled down it in a hurry, grateful for Leith's dexterity and natural agility. Lysander would take the back way to the wall, Leith knew all the shortcuts and Lysander had easy access to those memories. So, he ran without thinking, letting his borrowed body lead the way, and hoping none of the yetis followed.
When he heard footsteps behind him, Lysander turned to see Oleana following. But it wasn't Oleana, it was Lorn, the rainmaker, the savior of the city. They ran together in silence, not wasting a single breath on chat. They both knew what needed doing. Leith's shortcut brought them to the east side of the wall. If they followed that line they would reach the south gate in a matter of a few minutes.
Lysander pointed up, but Lorn raised his stump of a right arm. It didn't matter, Oleana was light and Lysander had enough adrenaline coursing through him to allow him to rip a yeti in two. He bent low so Lorn could wrap his good arm around Lysander's neck, and feet around his torso. Lysander waited for his wall to make steps, then climbed with as much haste as he could manage.
In the relative safety at the top of the wall, Lysander sat his passenger down, and for the first time since switching places with Leith, he had a moment to relax. He took a breath and thought about his next move.
"Can you give me more rain?" Lysander asked as he knelt on the wall, running his hands along the layer of dark green leaves at his feet. He got a feel for where the holes in the wall were.
"Some," Lorn said. "Thunder and lightning too, just to make it a show."
"Sire."
Lysander looked up to see some of Yael's archers gathering around them. "Perfect," Lysander said. "I'm about to create a giant barrel for you all to shoot some fish in." The archers looked puzzled. Lysander waved them off. "You'll see." He turned to Lorn, "Let it rain."
Lorn pulled down enough rain to have Lysander shivering down to his bones. His hair was plastered to his head, even his toes were squishy in his boots. Lysander coaxed the wall into creating a set of loops at their feet to help steady them.
"Brace yourselves," he warned. The word traveled down the line until all the archers were ready.
Lysander sang the song of the roots, letting them dig at the wet earth. Lysander watched as the yeti were pushed closer to the wall, Wade and his men holding up against the frantic onslaught. Lysander was poised for the right moment to strike. As planned, Kameke told her men to halt and a short gap opened up between yetis and the allied troops.
The roots underneath dug a big hole, crumbling the ground under the yeti's feet. They tumbled in on top of each other, several feet down. The archers atop the wall didn't need any orders from Lysander. They let loose on the trapped yetis.
With the yetis being handled, Lysander used the overgrown roots to fill in the holes in the wall to prevent any more problems from coming through.
CHAPTER THIRTY: OLEANA
Oleana came to in her new body with a vicious snap, but she pushed the sense of disorientation aside, worried only about protecting her son. Catching sight of Cornelius at the edge of the cliff didn't fill her with the usual mixture of hate and fear. Instead, Oleana had a clarity of purpose that was a rarity in her multiple lives. She had to eliminate the threat Cornelius represented once and for all.
With a running leap, Oleana came down on top of Cornelius using the arrow in her hand as a spear, aimed directly at his eyes. Shock was written all over the Ice Ultra's angular features, but his reflexes were fast. He swatted her away with a brutal wave of his right arm.
Oleana landed on her feet faster than she expected, a perk of longer legs. She didn't let up on her attack. She charged again, using all of Lorn's refined power to push Cornelius back. She continued to jab at his e
yes, but Cornelius bobbed and weaved just out of her reach frustrating her. When Cornelius took a swing at her, Oleana jumped back, putting several inches between them to catch her breath and change tactics.
Adjusting her hold on the arrow, gripping the base of the arrowhead between her middle and ring fingers, forcing the shaft flat against her forearm, she could use the weapon more like her sai. In the new, more confident position, Oleana's first move was a jab toward Cornelius' throat. When he raised his arm to block, she dropped down low, giving him two quick punches to the ribs with her right hand and attacking his open left side with her makeshift sai. The weapon wasn't made for that kind of use, so it cut into her hand, mixing his blueish blood with hers. Oleana didn't care. She'd drawn first blood, that's what mattered.
The air around them changed and when Cornelius, breathing hard with his face twisted in a snarl, reached for her shoulder ice leaped from his fingertips to her arm. Oleana scrambled back in a hurry, remembering the dread she'd felt the last time his ice had encased her.
Back then the pain had engulfed her, became her whole world. Darkness and agony had surrounded her, took away her freedom and ruined her arm. She couldn't go through it again. More importantly, she wasn't going to let that piece of crap do anything similar to her son.
Lorn had strength, more than he knew, and he had abilities that his young mind had yet to access. Oleana was older, more steeped in the ways of the Heirs, and now The Twelve. She had power beyond what any of them was used to. Cornelius wanted to play a war of the smart particle. Oleana knew Cornelius would lose.
The temperature continued to drop, and Cornelius formed an ice spear in his hand, hurtling the half-formed weapon at Oleana in a recklessly wild swing. She was forced to duck as low as she could get her elongated body to go. Before she could recover, missile after missile came at her.
Cornelius’ weapons didn't have much range, nor were they well aimed, but they kept her running, tiring her out. Oleana quickly ran low on the room to maneuver on the small mountain ledge. The wrong step would send her plummeting to her death, Lorn's death.
Oleana had controlled Tannin on the battlefield once, but it took so much out of her for only a few seconds of control. Then she'd used the same technique on Lysander with very mixed results. Her mistake then had been in forcing her control on others when there were other tools in her arsenal. She now remembered Cornelius’ creation as if her own hands had done the making. Therefore, under the right circumstances she could unmake or remake him as she saw fit. She just needed time.
"See Cornelius, the problem with beings who have lived very long lives," Oleana said, her words sounding strong in Lorn's deeper timbre. "It's that they think time has no hold on them. They watch centuries roll by thinking the next will bring more of the same. And they think those who live in fear of time are nothing more than ants to be squashed."
Cornelius smiled. Oleana knew the imagery would amuse him. He was petty and self-absorbed, even in the middle of battle. She also knew all of his ice abilities came from smart particles with a particularly high-frequency tone. When Oleana really looked at him, looked through him, she could see the turquoise glow of the particles gathered close to the skin in his hands, down his arms, and across his chest. They danced along like excited wasps as he drew on the low-level electricity they emitted.
Oleana worked through the potential kinks in her plan in a game of mental chess knowing that her actions would either get her son killed or save him from the worst danger they faced, permanently. She wished she could ask Lorn if it was really worth the risk. When Cornelius' missile strike backed her up against the rough mountain wall, she realized there was no choice.
Oleana could prepare her own body to receive an energy transfer in a split second. She had to do Lorn's on the run, purposely slicing both her palms in the process, hoping that Lorn wouldn't be mad at her in the end. She charged at Cornelius screaming at the top of her lungs like a madwoman, because that's what she was. Mad, desperate, cunning, and maybe finally, brave.
Cornelius reached out to grab her with his icy hands. Oleana ducked low, but they still grazed her across the back of her head and neck. She was never going to get used to being so tall. Pain shot down her spine and her head pounded, but she absorbed it, pushed through it, remembered it was just temporary.
Oleana aimed at Cornelius' feet, sweeping them out from under him. His lanky body fell hard and she jumped on him, straddling his chest, the ice of his body burning her inner thighs on contact. Cornelius clawed at her neck and she slashed his left palm. Before he could pull back, she slashed the other one. Then she did what went against every survival instinct, every bit of fight training she'd ever received. She dropped her weapon and grabbed tight to the hands that were trying to end her.
Rock hard nails dug into the back of her hands and ice scraped its way across her skin, yet she held on and she called out. Cornelius bucked and rolled, putting himself on top and Oleana just held on, and she called out. She called to the million microscopic particles that gave the Ice Ultra his power and longevity.
He pinned her to the rocky ground like an animal in a trap as his ice spread down her arms, onto her chest. Her breathing became painful and slow. Her every muscle clenched against the bitter, energy-sapping cold. Oleana could see the pride and satisfaction in Cornelius eyes, mere inches from her face, thinking the victory was once again his.
Oleana held on and she summoned the particles with her siren song, absorbing them into her borrowed skin, freezing inside and out. She let the pain show on her face knowing Cornelius wouldn't realize the truth until it was too late. Then he would know that his arrogant assumption had cost him dearly. In that moment, the pain, the fear, it would all be worth it.
Ice slid up her neck and toward her mouth, electrifying her nerves and kicking her into a panic. She'd faced the ice before and lost. She couldn't let that failure haunt her, not today.
Oleana looked through Cornelius' angry eyes and thought of her son. She remembered how Lorn had taken to his first sword fighting lesson with such enthusiasm and vigor. Then she remembered the young man she’d seen when she woke up from the nightmare of Cornelius' ice prison. She’d seen the worry lines around his eyes and the way the weight of leadership had pulled his shoulders down. But when he’d smiled that enthusiastic, happy boy had been revealed. That smile gave her the strength to endure anything.
Victory was hers. She could feel it as the progress of the ice slowed to a crawl. She could feel every crystal of the ice grow like a new cell in her body, branching out, splitting, creating the next ice crystal. The ice was hers now and Cornelius still hadn't realized yet.
He didn't suspect until Oleana pushed forced the ice away from her neck and split it across her chest. That's when Cornelius tried to pull away from her, but she held him still. Oleana looked into his eyes, saw fear there and held him still.
"How is this...?" he stammered.
"Like I said, you underestimate those who appreciate how precious time is." Oleana laughed, crazed by how close she got to death and amused by the bewildered look on her enemy's face.
The moment of madness passed and Oleana pushed Cornelius away with her knees and shins against his chest, shattering the ice that had connected them. "Now that your time is up maybe you'll take a second to reflect on your mistakes."
The startled ultra landed on his backside while Oleana jumped to her feet. Cornelius was no fool. He had to feel something was drastically wrong. His face was drawn and his light blue eyes were as wide as his eye-sockets would allow, but there was a hard set to his shoulders that left no room for surrender.
Cornelius forced his feet under him. His fists clenched and the muscles in his arms bulged, ready for a more physical fight. Oleana braced herself on steady legs, sucking in the cold crisp air.
Cornelius charged with long steady strides, and Oleana punched him in the face with a fist encrusted with ice. As he twisted, she kneed him in the chest, then elbowed him in the face.
Cornelius absorbed her last blow, raking his claws across her chest. Her armor was ripped to shreds and she felt the sting of the blow from shoulder to shoulder.
Oleana wrenched her arm free, feeling her tendons stretched to the maximum, as Cornelius held on as long as he could. Once free, Oleana blasted Cornelius with a ball of ice she'd formed between her two hands. Oleana didn't realize how close they were to the edge until Cornelius fell back, disappearing from view as he careened backward off the mountain.
Oleana's fight wasn't over though. Lorn's body wasn't made to absorb the number of particles she had so greedily taken. The instant the adrenaline rush of her life and death struggle started to fade, Lorn's body crashed. His body reacted as it did to all infections. It fought hard against it. She was freezing on the inside and burning on the outside. His skin felt like it an overfilled balloon ready to burst. Oleana was desperate for relief.
A ragged scream tore from her mouth as blood oozed from her palms and she released the smart particles into the air. Dark clouds formed above her head, blocking out what light they did have. The air temperature dropped noticeably, and the air took on a weight that boded ill for anybody within range.
The heavens opened up and pelted the mountain and valley below with ice and snow.
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Two of Lorn's archers found their way to Oleana's side through the frigid wind and blade-like icy rain. "Sire, are you alright?"
Oleana had fallen to her knees. The rocks under her hands felt like they were cutting through to the bone. Her head was spinning, and her stomach felt like a paper-thin bag of acid, sloshing around with every move she made.
She swiped at her eyes in time to see the two yetis coming for them. She snatched the bow from Mevra's hands and an arrow out of her own quiver. She nailed the second beast between its eyes before Allana caught on and let one fly at the first.
