“Don’t disappoint our master. We expect London to burn. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have many more stops to make before my mission is complete.”
“I can’t make this decision on my own,” Xander told the Wind Elemental.
“Make your decision quickly,” she replied. “Time is short.”
Xander staggered to the front door but paused as his hand fell on the door handle. He slowly laid his head against the cold wood and closed his eyes. A second ago, he had been so sure that taking the Elemental’s power was the right decision. It was the first step toward rescuing Sammy and finally defeating the Fire Caste. After hearing the Wind Elemental’s caveat, however, he found himself far less sure of his ability to make this decision on his own.
His aunts and uncles had been Wind Warriors for decades. Now in their fifties and sixties, all they had known their entire lives had been serving the will of the Wind Caste, helping bring enlightenment to humanity. They had watched their breed grow old and die without any new offspring to repopulate their dying race. They had lost friends to attrition and, more recently, lost old friends to the war with the Fire Warriors. After all they had been through, he was now getting ready to open the door and ask them to make one final sacrifice, one that would strip them of everything they’d known. He knew better than anyone that it was hard to keep your feet on the ground when you’d spent so long flying close to heaven.
Xander took a deep breath and opened the door. He squinted at the cold sunlight beyond the small cabin. The aunts and uncles climbed quickly to their feet when he stepped out of the house, eager for news. The Wind Elemental had been a myth among the Wind Caste. To know that they had found her at last was nothing short of a miracle.
He looked over to Sean and Jessica, who stood over to the side. His overweight friend flashed him a smile and nodded supportively. Though the others had their doubts about his decision to bring them along, Xander was incalculably happy to have them by his side. They were a grounding force in the midst of the insanity his life had become.
“Is it really her?” Giovanni asked. Frost had settled into the Italian’s long, wet, black hair, leaving glistening icicles hanging from the tip of his ponytail.
Xander nodded. “It’s really her.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” Thea demanded. “What did she say?”
It didn’t take Xander long to recount the story of the agreement between the Elementals. It took even less time to explain her offer and the offer of both the Water and Earth Elementals as well.
When he was finished talking, everyone sat in stunned silence.
Xander tilted his head upward while everyone digested the news. The air was remarkably crisp, like a pillar of light shone down specifically over Iceland. His eyes drifted toward the swirling, black clouds just beyond the borders of the island nation. If he strained hard enough, he could hear the angry, cresting waves slamming into one another less than a couple miles out to sea.
“You have to do it,” Patrick said, finally breaking the silence that hung in the cold air.
Xander laced his fingers behind his head and lay back in the grass. He took another deep breath, knowing that this was the part of the conversation he dreaded.
Alicia nodded. “If there’s a chance to stop the Fire Warriors from destroying everything, you have to take it.”
“I don’t really see how this is even a debate,” Thea added.
“It’s a debate because this won’t come without a cost,” Xander said sadly.
“It’s a lot of power to take into yourself,” Giovanni remarked, misunderstanding Xander’s concern. “Of course there are risks.”
Xander sat up so that he could make eye contact with his aunts and uncles. “The cost isn’t to me. It’s to each of you. You all are only Wind Warriors because she granted you the power. When I take her power…”
He left the sentence unfinished but saw the dawning realization in each of their eyes.
“Will we die?” Alicia asked. “I may be old but I’m not sure I am ready to die just yet.”
“No. Not die,” Xander corrected. “But when I take her power, you’ll become humans. Nothing more. No more flying, no more tornados, no more anything. You’ll just be people again, like you were a lifetime ago.”
Patrick sat down heavily on the ground. Thea collapsed beside him. Alicia and Giovanni remained standing but he could see the sadness spread through their faces. This was the life they had always known; the only life they could remember since their ill-spent youths. He was asking to take it all away from them.
“Can’t you just give us back the power once you’ve taken it?” Patrick asked. “If you’re going to become the Wind Elemental, can’t you just make us Wind Warriors again?”
Xander shrugged but a gut feeling told him the answer. “I’m not sure it works that way. I’m not actually becoming the Wind Elemental. I’m actually the antithesis of all the Elementals. I’m taking their power to stop the vicious cycle of castes rising and falling.”
They fell silent again and Xander hated himself for even having to be the messenger. In his short life, he’d never been so attached to something as they were to their powers. He could sympathize with their prospective loss but struggled to empathize.
“I told her I wouldn’t do it unless you all agreed,” Xander said. “I couldn’t bring myself to agree to her terms unless you all understood the risk. This is…”
“Do it,” Giovanni said, wiping away defiant tears from his eyes.
“I know this can’t be easy for…”
“Do it,” Alicia agreed. “You have to.”
Xander turned slowly toward Thea and Patrick. Of all the remaining Wind Warriors, he expected the most resistance from those two. Still, his promise had been that he wouldn’t take her offer unless they all agreed.
“Thea?” he asked.
She nodded. “We’ve had a good run but this is the right decision. I can’t believe our future is in your hands but it’s the best chance at a future any of us has.”
Xander smiled, hoping her remark was meant as a joke and not a backhanded compliment.
He turned finally toward Patrick. The Irishman pursed his lips and shook his head slowly. Xander’s heart raced in his chest.
“You’d be a fool not to do it,” Patrick said. “Quit being a whiny little Nancy girl and go tell her you’ll accept her offer.”
Xander smiled and stood. “Thank you all.”
“Go, lad, before I change my mind.”
He walked back into the cabin and knelt beside the elderly woman. The glow from her skin intensified as he approached, until the interior was nearly as brightly lit as the hilltop outside.
“They’ve agreed.”
“As I knew they would. They were all chosen because they were men and women of exceptional moral character first and foremost. They will always do what’s necessary to ensure the safety of those under their protection.”
Xander cleared his throat. The door was left open behind him and he could see the long shadows stretching in the doorway as the aunts and uncles crowded close to see the Wind Elemental.
“What do we do now?”
The Wind Elemental placed her hand on his wrist and gave him a gentle squeeze. “Now, I give you my power.”
The translucence of her skin grew more pronounced as she glowed with an inner light. Xander could see sparks of light flickering just beneath her skin, as her grip grew stronger on his wrist.
The gently blowing, cold wind outside turned to a howl. Sean and Jessica braced themselves against it, as it seemed the hurricane winds shifted directions just to cut past the small cabin.
The Wind Elemental’s nails cut into his wrist. He could feel blood trickling over his palm and dripping from the ends of his fingers. Despite the sudden pain, he refused to withdraw his arm.
Deep within his chest, Xander felt the bottomless hole open as her power flooded into him. The hairs on his arms stood on end, as the room grew electrif
ied.
Beyond the doors, dark clouds gathered overhead and icy raindrops splattered on the frozen ground. The wind hummed with power as it whipped madly around the house, blasting the meager structure from all angles. Thunder rumbled through the clouds as unseen lightning crashed between the massive cells boiling overhead.
The light emanating from the Wind Elemental faded as her power transferred between them. The glistening stars beneath her skin twinkled before blinking out of existence. Her grip grew weaker as she seemed to sink into herself, finally becoming the frail woman she had first appeared to be.
For one last moment, her grip tightened again and her milky eyes locked on Xander.
“Prepare yourself,” she said. “It’s time.”
The last of the power slammed into him as a lightning bolt wider than the cabin crashed down over it, blinding everyone before the world suddenly grew dark.
Xander was everywhere at once. He was the wind caressing the wings of a bird in flight. He was the breeze whispering through the pine trees. He was a warm gust that drenched the swimmers on a tropical resort. He was the fuel that fed a rapidly spreading wildfire. He was the arctic blast that froze the breaths of mountain climbers in their lungs.
The sense of omnipresence was disorienting. He was connected to the air itself. It surrounded the planet like a transparent ocean, soaking itself into every visible and invisible crevice that existed. Being everywhere was far too much for him to fathom.
Xander tried to pull back within himself but found the action difficult. His body seemed too small to contain so much power. He was the proverbial cup trying to hold back the ocean.
Despite the effort, his will was strong. The bottomless pit within him grew deeper and wider as the power receded from the world and settled back within his body. He still felt connected to everything that was happening but it was a more passive connection rather than a personal observation. With a great tug, his consciousness raced back across the planet, finding residence once again on the large island in the arctic, in the center of an innocuous cabin on a frozen hilltop.
Xander opened his eyes, though the world seemed blurry and limited when viewed through his own eyes. He had just delved into the heart of erupting volcanoes. Being a twenty-year-old man again seemed anticlimactic.
A shadow fell over him and he struggled to make out the face. He could hear the man talking but his words seemed lost amidst the more intoxicating whispers of the wind beyond the cabin’s front door.
“Xander?” the man said loudly again.
The words took on more clarity, as did his vision, when Sean repeated himself. “Xander? Talk to me, buddy.”
Xander shook his head and the sense of detached omnipresence faded away. “I’m okay.”
He groaned as he tried to stand. He wasn’t alone in his pain. His aunts and uncles were in various stages of consciousness as they recovered.
“What happened?” he asked.
Sean shrugged. “My best guess is that since we’re close to Scandinavia, you pissed off Thor, God of Thunder.”
Xander smiled as he accepted Sean’s arm for support. They turned toward the interior of the cabin and Xander felt his heart drop. The Wind Elemental’s eyes were closed as though she were asleep, though he knew the truth long before he checked for her pulse. The Elemental power had been all that had kept the host alive. With her power now in Xander, her host body had nothing left to sustain its life.
Giovanni limped into the cabin and stood beside the newly appointed Wind Elemental.
“You did the right thing,” the Italian remarked.
“How do you feel?” Xander said, without being able to bring himself to look at the former Wind Warrior.
“Like a bird that had its wings clipped.”
Giovanni turned away from the old woman in the bed and gestured for Xander to follow him outside. “Come and say your goodbyes. You have much to do and not much time to do it.”
Xander followed him outside and stared into the sad eyes of the other three aunts and uncles.
“Who knew this would suck so bad?” Patrick said as he sat on the ground.
“I’m sorry, for what it’s worth.”
“Don’t be,” Alicia said. She looked far older than she had even minutes before. “You did what was right—what needed to be done.”
“Do you know where you need to go from here?” Thea asked.
Xander furrowed his brow. The Wind Elemental had said they would sense one another, like it was a magnet drawing them toward each other. He closed his eyes and focused on the Earth Elemental.
His consciousness leapt from his body and soared over the ocean. He sped down the length of the Atlantic until stopping suddenly above an unremarkable stretch of water. As quickly as it happened, Xander returned to his body.
“Yeah, I think I do.”
“Then get going, lad,” Patrick replied. “Go be the hero. Go save the world.”
“What will all of you do?”
Patrick smiled. “Take a look around. The hurricane’s gone and we have a boat. We’ll be fine. We’ve spent so long being Wind Warriors; it’ll be nice to just be a human again for once.”
Xander hadn’t noticed, as caught up as he was with his new powers. Blue skies reigned as far as he could see in all directions.
“I’m sorry,” Xander said as he turned back to them.
“Come here,” Giovanni said as he pulled Xander into a tight embrace. The other aunts and uncles stood and joined them.
“I’m going to miss you all,” he said. “I really wish you could come with me, regardless of losing your powers.”
Thea shook her head and surprised him by smiling. “In case you didn’t notice, we’re old. Old Wind Warriors are still dangerous. Old humans aren’t worth much in a fight.”
“Quit talking the boy’s ear off,” Alicia said as she sobbed quietly. “He’s got work to do.”
Xander turned toward the only two people left. Sean smiled broadly at him. Even Jessica seemed slightly happy at the attention.
“What about you two?” he asked. “You’re not old yet.”
Sean shrugged. “I’ve got nothing else to do. What about you, Jessica?”
Jessica looked at him and pursed her lips. She looked away and scanned the surrounding rolling hills. “I don’t really work well in the cold. It dries out my skin. Can you promise me you’ll take me somewhere a little more tropical? Maybe stop by the Bahamas on the way?”
Xander laughed at his two friends and pulled them both tightly into a hug. “I wouldn’t want anyone else by my side.”
Sean looked over at Jessica, who nodded approvingly. “We’re with you to the end, brother.”
With the two still close by, he kicked off the ground and the three of them flew into the air.
“Just try not to get us killed, okay?” Sean remarked nervously as they rocketed out over the ocean. “Xander? Okay?”
Sammy clenched the large rock tightly in her hand until one of its sharp edges bit into the flesh of her palm. Sunlight trickled through the distant opening of the cavern and she could smell the fresh desert air taunting her with her freedom.
A Fire Warrior stood near the entrance, his back to her as he stared out at the blasted landscape. He was oblivious to her presence and stood leaning against the limestone wall with only passive attention paid to his job of protecting the entrance.
She slid silently behind him, her booted feet making no noise on the hard, stone ground. Her heart fluttered and her skin grew clammy as she raised the stone over her head. With a quick downward thrust, she struck the rock against the back of the guard’s head. Blood blossomed across his scalp, staining his blonde hair. Without so much as a grunt of acknowledgement, his knees went limp and he slumped to the ground unconscious.
“I’m sorry,” Sammy said as she dropped the rock beside him. “I really am. But I can’t have you trying to stop me.”
She stepped over his prostrate form and ran out into the hot Californi
a sun. The land beyond the cool tunnel still seemed so foreign to her. Having exited the cave many times while training for her trip to White Halls, she had become intimately familiar with the rock outcroppings and bushes that made up the landscape. What she looked upon now was as alien as it was bizarre, with large stone shards jutting from the ground at odd angles.
Turning away from the foreign view, she rushed toward the highway that ran not far from where she emerged. Her steps faltered as she realized the road was empty. When she and Abraxas had arrived, he had left the car abandoned on the side of the road. She silently cursed herself for assuming it would still be there. It would have been the perfect vehicle for escaping the clutches of the Fire Elemental but leaving it abandoned on the side of the road would have been a clear indication to anyone driving past that something unusual was occurring in the area. Of course, one of the Fire Warriors would have moved it, though she couldn’t fathom where they would hide it in such a desolate area.
Frowning, she ran to the edge of the road. The pavement itself had seen better days. Sand drifted over the black asphalt in droves, concealing the soft edge of the road and blurring the white lines that marked the right and left most edges of the highway.
Her feet crunched on the sand and she could feel the rumble strips concealed beneath her step. She looked quickly left and right, hoping to catch sight of a passing car, but the road was as abandoned as she always remembered it. Few people drove through this part of the State, especially when better options like Interstate 40 existed just south of where she stood.
Panic welled within her as she realized she didn’t have time to wait. It wouldn’t take long for the Fire Warriors to realize she was gone, if they hadn’t already. They’d quickly be in pursuit, emerging from the same entrance that she just left. She didn’t have time to stand around, lost in a sea of indecision.
She chose east, since she had driven that road many times, and started to run. Driven by panic and adrenaline, Sammy knew she was running far faster than she could sustain over a long period. She would tire soon but she hoped to put enough distance between her and the cavern entrance that she wouldn’t be immediately visible on the long stretch of desert when they looked for her. If they were confused about which direction she fled, it might buy her a few extra minutes or even hours while they bothered searching both east and west.
Flame Caller Page 23
