I could hope he was wrong, but that was a fool’s way of thinking. “How do I use this?”
He nodded once. “The place you wish to be, you must hold it in your mind. Then you touch the blade to the center of your forehead and then touch the ground. The place you seek will open up to you then. Step through. It will close within seconds, so make sure your friend is not slothful.”
I nodded and strapped the circular blade to my waist. “Again, thank you.”
“Of course.”
I paused, then turned and took the stack of money, stuffing it inside my vest. There was no way of telling what we might need on our journey. I touched the earth around the enclave and beckoned it to cover the hole.
A thought rumbled through my mind. “Why are you helping me this much? In the past, you would barely even acknowledge me as I stopped in.”
He pursed his lips and his eyes went thoughtful. “Because . . . what you are doing, I feel it in my bones. These actions of the one who was your queen will shift the world somehow. Whatever happens, Ash, is meant to be. Fight and do not fight. That is what I see for you.”
Fight and do not fight? His words were about as clear as mud.
I could only hope that by the end of my quest they would make sense.
CHAPTER 9
stood in the overgrown garden of Dhan’s home with Norm by my side. Dhan remained back watching us. We’d said our farewells, and he’d wished us luck in his own way.
I thought of the cliffs of Moher on the western coast of Ireland. I’d been there once, when I was a child and Traveling was allowed for the common elementals. My mother and I had stood on the cliffs, looking out into the ocean, breathing in the fresh salty air.
I did not like how my memories had suddenly decided to make themselves known on this journey.
I swallowed down the bile that suddenly rose in my throat and touched the circular blade to the center of my forehead as I’d been instructed. Going to one knee, I touched the blade to the ground at my feet. A bright bolt of light shot upward and stopped just above Norm’s head. Slowly it spun, widening in its circumference until it was four feet across. I stepped through and then looked back to Norm. He hesitated and then leapt at the last moment when the bright light was dimming and shrinking.
Which pretty much meant he tackled me to the ground, taking me out at the waist. I hit the hard rocks and instinctually softened them. They drew me down, Norm’s weight pressing me in even farther. “Get off!”
“Sorry, that was spooky, man,” he said as he pushed off me.
It was only then that I noticed the weather. The wind ripped around us, catching both my cloak and Norm’s long fur into a tangled mess in a matter of seconds. He looked down at his body once and then shook his head. “That’s going to take forever to comb out.”
The image of the Yeti combing out his long hair stuck in my head and I couldn’t help the sudden swift smile. I lost the humor, though, as I really took in what was happening. Rain slashed sideways, and the only reason we hadn’t been hit by it was because we’d stepped out between the two rocks I’d remembered from my previous visit here. But looking out from the small shelter, the world was a dark and violent place. The hurricane obviously hadn’t dissipated as the humans had hoped. I frowned against the blustering winds and took a step out from between the shelter of the two rocks. The storm caught me, shoving me back before I connected to the earth and sunk my feet down a few inches.
“Friend, I don’t like this weather!” Norm called to me over the wind. I glanced back at him.
“You got anything you can do about it?”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, this is too strong for me. I can do a little, and mostly with snow. This is way too much for me.”
Of course it was. I started off along the cliff edge, letting my connection to the earth guide me. There was something under the rocks that hummed to me. A call of like to like. I broke into a jog, feeling the connection grow stronger and stronger until it made my skin feel as though I was getting a light electrical shock running over me. But not in a painful way; more like I couldn’t shake the sensation, it was just there, irritating me. That was not Cassava, I was sure of it.
Okay, almost sure of it.
I bent one knee and went to the ground. I pressed both hands to the earth, as rain dripped down my face and the wind tore at my cloak. The earth could not fight those elements, but it held steady through their battering. Norm crouched beside me, hunched down small enough that he might have gone unnoticed if not for his brilliant white coat. “What you doing?”
“Listening,” I said.
That he heard me over the storm raging around us was something. He flicked his tongue over his single sharp tooth. “What are you listening for?”
He roared the words, and I knew I would not have heard them otherwise. I shook my head, not sure I could explain the Ender ability I was employing. One that allowed me to find those I’d been sent after. The thing was, despite the humming energy, I wasn’t picking up on any other Terralings. If Cassava was here, and close enough to be causing the storm, I should have been able to pick up on her energy. Should have been. For all I knew, she’d learned a way to hide her signature from Enders who might search her out.
“Damn it,” I snapped and pulled my hands from the earth. A particularly sharp gust of wind swept across my body, sending me flying, knocking the breath out of me as I slammed into a large boulder, my side taking the brunt of the hit. I gripped the stone and looked out over the cliff edge and into the ocean.
The heart of the storm approached, and it was one big bad bitch; but worse was what I could see within it. This was not going to go well, no matter how it ended. “Norm, to me!”
The Yeti leapt in my direction and the wind caught him up, flinging him over my head. He yelped and then was silent. I looked over at him to see him clutching the ground about thirty feet away from me. Good enough for now.
“Stay there!”
“You got it!” He ducked his head, and I think he closed his eyes. But I couldn’t be sure. Not that it mattered. I had more trouble than I wanted, and the last thing I was worried about was Norm burying his head in the sand.
I turned back and looked into the heart of the storm again. Within it floated two figures. One that hovered high, within the wind tunnel, and one that rode low in the waves.
Elementals.
As an Ender, it was my calling to stop wayward elementals, even if they weren’t Terraling. It was part of my vow to protect our world from those who would cause it harm.
I pulled both swords from my sides and anchored myself in the ground. The connection to the earth quivered under me, and as I asked for power, the humming that had spoken to me earlier all but leapt with what I could only describe as glee. Strength like I’d never known snapped and roared through me. I brought my hands around and slid the weapons back into their sheaths. I wasn’t going to need them for this fight.
Beckoning large stones up from deep under the ground, I laid them out in a line around me. Perfectly round stones, like small cannonballs. I bent and hefted one in my hands. There was no way I would be able to hit the elementals from this far away. But the power that rolled and frolicked through my veins told me otherwise. Not only was it possible, but it was expected of me. If the storm continued to rage with the elementals powering it, hundreds upon hundreds, even thousands, of lives would be lost.
That was unacceptable.
I threw the first stone and it shot through the air like it had indeed been released from a cannon. Sailing across the water in a blur, it missed the Sylph in the middle of the hurricane by mere inches. She dodged and ducked, and that brought her attention to me. I already had another stone in my hand and threw it down at the Undine. But the elemental riding the waves was warned and ducked out of the way, diving below the water. In another time, I would have been afraid that I’d blown my cover. But that strange power that I called to me made me confident beyond anything I’d ever felt
before.
I wasn’t sure if that was good or not.
I held a hand out, palm facing down, and the sand under the ocean raced upward. I wrapped the fine granules around the Undine and pulled her under the waves. I couldn’t drown her, but I could keep her away from the fight for a time.
The waves slowed but didn’t stop altogether.
The Sylph, though, was not deterred. She rushed at me, her features becoming clear as she drew close. She was one of the younger daughters of the old queen, Aria. No doubt cast out when she caused problems with the new young queen, Samara. Not that it mattered. I would have to deal with her either way, regardless of her bloodline.
The hard way, no doubt. I picked up the rocks at my side until I held two in one arm, and one in the other. I threw them in rapid succession and the Sylph dodged the first two. The third caught her in the head as she hovered right over the edge of the cliff. She let out a cry and fell, her long silvery white hair flying out around her like a broken doll falling from a shelf.
The storm did not abate. I knew it would take time. Time for the elements to realize they were no longer being driven.
Leaning into the wind, I pushed my way to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
A hand snaked up and grabbed my ankle, jerking me off balance. “You bastard. I’ll kill you, you piece of shit Terraling! Weakling!”
I was in open space for a moment being flung out over the water before I was grabbed from behind, my one forearm engulfed in Norm’s three-fingered paw. “Got you, friend.”
He yanked me onto solid ground, but the Sylph hadn’t let go of my ankle, which meant she came with me. We hit the ground at the same time and I scrambled to get on top of her, to pin her hands down and knock her out. The last thing I needed was—
I tried to draw breath but the air was sucked away from me. I didn’t slow in my rush to her, though already I could feel my head spin from lack of breath as the oxygen was compressed out of my lungs, collapsing them. I climbed on her and slammed a fist into her chin. Her eyes rolled and I sucked in a big breath of air.
Typical elemental. She’d been raised to believe she was powerful, but had never been trained to fight with her hands. That was part of the secret of the Enders. That was why we were successful so much of the time. We were trained to fight where the normal populace, even the leaders of our realms, were not. In fact, they were encouraged not to.
And a good thing, too. I sat back on my heels and behind me, Norm yelped. I spun in a crouch. Two Sylphs floated above our heads, dressed in the white Ender leathers of their people. I swept my cloak back so they could see my Ender’s vest. Slowly they dropped to the ground and approached me. One of them snapped his fingers and a bubble of air slammed down around us, blocking the raging storm.
“Ender Ash, you saved us some time,” he said. I recognized him.
“Not intentionally. I am on my own hunt, Ender Rio.” I’d met him a few times, but I would not call him a friend. The other Ender was young, and I didn’t recognize him.
Rio nodded and dropped to a crouch beside the Sylph I’d taken down. “Who is it you seek?” He pulled a knife out and cut the throat of the young woman as though he were cutting a loaf of bread. I didn’t flinch, but Norm let out a cry.
“Why did you kill her? She was pretty,” the Yeti whispered.
Rio didn’t even look at him and I kept my back to Norm. I could not explain to him that this was the only way to stop a banished elemental from destroying the world. It was impossible to know which way an elemental would swing when they were cast out.
Banished, and then we were sent after them. It seemed . . . counterproductive. Then again, there weren’t that many banished elementals until recently. “I seek the old Terraling queen. She tried to kill our king, and deceived our family.”
He straightened. “I’d heard rumors of Cassava losing her mind. It makes me nervous to see her son courting Samara.”
My heart seemed to freeze in my chest. No good could come of this news. “Raven is courting Samara?”
His eyes locked on mine. “By your words, you see it is not a good thing, too?”
I shook my head. “He was working with his mother. If I could kill him, I would.”
“Shit,” Rio wiped his knife on the dead girl’s clothes and put it away, “I must go, then. I can still stop Samara. She trained with me before she was raised to be our queen.”
“Wait,” I put a hand on his forearm, “Raven can control your mind. He has power over Spirit. If you go in bold, he will stop you.”
Rio’s face hardened and his jaw twitched. “And you have not killed him why?”
I raised both eyebrows. “Did you not just hear me? He can control your mind. He has power over all five elements, Ender. Do not go in bold. Kill him in his sleep.”
He nodded slowly. “I do not like it. That is the coward’s way.”
“Then be prepared to live under a madman’s rule.” Already I could see how Raven would play it. He would claim he was displaced from his family, a family that had not banished him but instead cast him aside. That he needed only a place to live a little while, that he would help them if they would allow him a measure of peace.
Samara was far from soft, but Raven was handsome and charming. If he used Spirit on her, there was no way she would deny him. I wanted to pull my hair out in frustration at the thought of Raven getting away with destroying another of the elemental families. Though the Sylphs were not my favorite cousins, they were cousins, and I would not wish Raven on them.
Rio and his companion stepped back, and the bubble around us burst and let in the raging storm once more. We watched as they rose and swept away to the east, back to the Eyrie. Silently, I wished them all the luck in the world. They would need it if they were going to have a chance at Raven. For a moment, I thought I should call them back, tell them that I would help them take him out.
No, Cassava first. Take out the root and kill the plant. The words were not my own as they echoed in my skull, but I agreed with them, as a shiver ran down my spine.
Norm put his hands over his ears and grimaced. “This is shitty, friend. I want to go back to the mountains.” At least, that’s what I thought he said over the roaring torrent of wind that cascaded over us.
I nodded, pointed at him to move, and then I turned away from the cliff. That last was a mistake.
Because within the water I’d left an Undine alive, banished and mad with the loss of her home.
An Undine who was pissed as hell with me for stopping her storm.
CHAPTER 10
ater raced up the cliff behind us and washed over me in a single gulping wave. Norm yelled once and I spun, trying to get my hands or feet on the earth, anything to anchor myself. But the water held me away from it, keeping me only inches from salvation—tempting me with a possibility that wasn’t there.
This was the fear of many Terralings: to be dragged to their deaths in the watery bowels of the ocean. We were considered weak because the other elements could so easily overpower us. Only, what I’d learned and seen from Lark was that our family was far from weak.
That I was far stronger than I’d realized.
In a blink, we were pulled into open space and then drawn down into the frothing waves at the base of the cliff. I caught a glimpse of a grinning mouth and a pair of wild, madness-filled eyes, but then the vision was gone and I was tumbled about over and over, crashed against the rocks and pummeled from one end of my body to the other.
As I was smashed into a particularly large rock, I grabbed the edge and held on tightly. Using the power of the earth to strengthen me, I climbed up and got my head out of the water. Barely able to see, but at least I was out of the water and could breathe. I stared at the hurricane-induced waves, looking for the white fur that would be Norm. He was nowhere.
“I’m on the shore!” he crowed, and I spun to see him completely bedraggled, slicked to the skin and clinging to the edge of the rock cliffs of Moher. Not what I’d
call the shore, but he was at least not in the full force of the water.
“He is not the one you should worry about,” came the gurgling voice of the Undine. I pulled my right-hand sword and swept it back in a single smooth motion, without even looking. There was a cry that cut off in mid-vocalization. I spun and watched as the Undine’s head fell from her shoulders and into the water, pale blue blood flowing from the stump where the head had been only a split second before.
“Wow, that was good, friend!”
The water eased around me, as though with its master gone it could finally begin to relax its stance on battering the cliffs up and down the coastline. The hurricane still raged, though, and even as I thought it, the elements around us picked up again. Though the Undine and the Sylph were dealt with, they had started something that would have to peter out on its own, to whatever ending that might be. At least there was no force driving it now, no madness powering it.
I slipped into the water and swam the rest of the way to shore, the waves lashing me. I stumbled to my feet. There was not much space between the cliffs and the water where we were, especially not with the way the ocean frothed and raged around us.
Soaked through, the cold began to take hold of me, forcing me to acknowledge its presence. My teeth chattered violently and I could barely walk straight. I pulled the cloak around me tightly and the cold, wet air was blocked.
Norm followed me closely as I made my way along the ground’s edge, searching for the right kind of surface. Finally, I put my hand to the cliff’s rough feel, noticing the different colors in it, the multitude of textures that created it. Coarse and smooth, all of it was earth, and I knew every piece as if they were my own.
I flexed my fingers and the rocky wall pulled away, shifting and crumbling as a small hole, just big enough for the two of us, opened.
“You first, Norm.”
He got in without question, though I knew I was about to ask a lot of him, being a creature of the wild winds of the north as he was. I slid in beside him and then called the rock around us, closing off our own cave.
Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) Page 10
