His answer flashed around her—a thick rope woven of ice. It lashed out from his wrist and wrapped itself around her waist. Alayne grabbed for the water particles to release the rope, but Malachi was too quick. He heaved backward on the rope, and Alayne shot over Malachi's head into the blackness beyond. She rammed headfirst into a jellyfish bigger than she was. Burns sizzled down her face and chest.
Alayne gasped with the pain and yanked the stingers aside. She turned back to fight Malachi, but he was already thirty feet above her; the ice rope had tightened around her waist, and a moment later, she was yanked upward.
Fire leaped into Alayne's hands. Though the water kept the flames from licking across her palms, the heat was present. Alayne wrapped both hands around the ice-rope. She felt it thin immediately.
The surface of the water took her by surprise. Her whole focus had been trained on the ice-rope. Alayne's head burst from the water, and the change from water to air threw her lungs into a tantrum. She hacked out water for a solid ten seconds before she realized that Malachi lay sprawled on a wooden raft fifteen feet to her right. His legs trailed through the water up to his knees; one hand propped up his head as his other splashed lazily in the water.
“Alayne, I just can't tell you how much I've looked forward to this all year long.”
“The pleasure's all yours.” Alayne flung the water from her face, and searched the water behind Malachi for any sign of Daymon or any of the other students.
Malachi guffawed, a deep hearty laugh that started in the pit of his stomach and burst through his vocal cords.
“Now, see, that's what I like about you, Alayne. You give as good as you get, even if it ain't lookin' so hot for you.”
The water was quieter than it should have been. Something floated to one side of Alayne. The cold, crawling sensation that crept up Alayne's spine had little to do with the icy water.
It was Daymon's vest he'd put on that morning. She sucked in a cold breath. “Where's Daymon? Where are the students you captured and brought out here this morning?”
Malachi sat up on his raft, kicking his feet in the water. “So you learned how to breathe the water, did you? Well, I always thought you might. Seemed like you mighta had a touch more skill than most I've seen.” He swirled the water with one of his hands. “'Course, I reckon that Vale mighta had a little somethin' to do with it, too. Sure you don't want to try to partner with me, Alayne? Get that old pressure off your back? The Elemental Alliance, Pence, Sprynge? Me?”
“Where is everyone?” Alayne blurted. The small island where Katya Angliss had paced before was empty; no sign of her nearly invisible refraction of light. What had happened on the shore while Alayne had hovered among the weeds on the bottom?
“Where is everyone?” Malachi mimicked, sending small whirlpools zinging across the surface of the water. “Always so concerned 'bout other people, ain't you, Alayne? Always wantin' to know where your parents are or your Guardian. What about your boyfriend from last year? 'D'they ever find his body?”
Alayne's fury rose. “You killed him.” Even as she shouted it, though, she realized she wasn't telling the strict truth. He's alive. He has to be.
“Oh, he was just one more to add to my total. Did you know up until I killed him, I had been stuck on two-hundred and ninety-eight for years? Well, he was number two-hundred and ninety-nine. How great is that? He had such a significant number. My last one before three-hundred. Alayne,” he paused as he raised his gaze. “I've decided your daddy is the one that's gonna be my three-hundredth.”
Alayne's hands erupted into flames. She'd just pulled back a flaming tongue of fire to release it, when Malachi nodded toward the edge of the jellyfish sea. “I wanna show you somethin' before you decide to roast me.”
Alayne's flaming hands paused as she stared at him; the heat waves shimmered upward through the air, distorting her vision. “What?” she bit out.
“Why don't you put out your little fireball, Alayne? It makes me a mite nervous, though after you see what I'm going to show you, I don't suppose you'll be much tempted to use it.”
Frantic necessity dictated that Alayne dip her hand down into the water; it hissed as the flame extinguished.
“What did you do with Daymon?” Her voice was steady and low, shaking with fury.
“He was expertly gathered by Ms. Katya Angliss, loyal friend of mine, and taken to the place I want to show you.” Malachi motioned toward the falls just past the island where Alayne had seen, or not seen, Katya Angliss.
Alayne desperately wanted to see what Malachi was talking about, but the other side of her screamed, He's still alive, you idiot. Fix that.
“Nah, you don't wanta do that,” Malachi warned as Alayne returned her gaze to him. He pushed himself off the raft, sending the wooden platform bobbing behind him on the disturbed water. “See, Alayne, have you noticed that none of the other kids are hangin' around? Have you seen their face-offs?”
Alayne's eyes widened as she glanced over her shoulder. The island on the first level was empty. The palm trees that had housed some of the students were bare. Not a sign of life disturbed the water or the land around them. The only sound was the thunder of the falls.
“What did you do with them?” Terror spiraled inside her.
“Tsk, tsk.” Malachi's calm demeanor was maddening. Alayne again snuffed out the flames that burst into her palms. “So hasty. Well, come with me, girlie.”
Malachi tugged the water element, racing both of them toward the falls at the edge of the jellyfish sea. The water grew choppier and blacker as they approached the edge.
Below, far, far below was a sea of whiteness. Alayne sucked in a deep breath. The third level was ice. The water tugged at Alayne's waist and legs, sucking her closer to the falls. Malachi stayed out of arm's reach to her right. And then they stopped—on the edge.
Malachi grinned at Alayne. “Amazin', ain't it?”
Although the water thundered past Alayne and tipped over the edge, about fifty feet down it turned to solid ice. A harp of ice formations swept from one side of Alayne's vision to the other. At least two hundred feet down, the ice lake spread itself into solid whiteness as far as the eye could see.
“Want to?” Without waiting for acknowledgment, Malachi swung his arm across Alayne's back and shoved her over the edge.
* * *
The world flipped and righted itself at least four times before Alayne could grab the air element and slow herself to a stop about twenty feet above the smooth ice surface. She jerked her head back to the top of the falls where she expected Malachi to be triumphantly laughing, but he was most of the way down the falls, sliding easily in an ice-chute he'd created.
He slid onto the ice at the same time that Alayne let her feet touch down. The foot without a shoe jerked back at the frigid contact with the ice, so she pulled some heat from the air around her and created a warm cushion of air for the appendage.
By the time she was done, Malachi had reached her. “Disappointed I didn't kill you? You'll be wishin' I had since I didn't at first.”
“What do you mean?”
Malachi circled behind her, wrapped one arm around her neck, and pointed with the other hand toward the frozen falls.
At first, she couldn't figure out what he was talking about. And then she saw it. Beneath the ice formations, a black hole opened. It wasn't a large opening, but it was enough that Alayne could see the melted ice behind it, the pool of water that puddled beneath the icicles.
There was a flash of color—someone's t-shirt. Alayne gasped and started toward the opening.
“Hold on there, Alayne.” Malachi hooked his arm through her elbow. “We got some deal-makin' to do.”
“I'm not making any deals.” Alayne whipped her arm free.
“Then they'll all die.” Malachi sighed sadly. “That's too bad, 'cause not all of 'em are half-bloods. Got some full-blooded Elementals in there, and it's such a waste, if you think about it.”
“Who do you hav
e in there?”
“Well, your Guardian's one, which I didn't much like, 'cause he is a full-blood. But he weren't going to have it no other way. Idiot boy don't know when to stop.” Malachi tapped his hands together. “Then we got that other boy that were sweet on you. Funny how they all show you so much attention. Then there's that pretty mite that spent most of last year under Cliffsides. She probably ain't feelin' too cheerful now. And her friend, the Leader's niece. You don't want to go gettin' on the bad side of the Capital, now, do you, girlie? We can avoid so much if you just listen up to my deal.”
Alayne closed her eyes. Daymon, Kyle, Marysa, Rachyl. All the people she cared most about. “Is that all?”
“Ain't that all that matters?” Malachi barked a laugh. “I know your buttons, girl, and I know how to push 'em. But no, that cave is full up. I nicked twenty some kids this morning, dragged 'em from their beds, before exams even started and brought 'em here. Then I had that girl take the message to you that I had 'em trussed up, 'cause I knew you, out of the goodness of that big ol' heart, would come lookin' for 'em. I just added the last few idiots to sweeten the deal a bit.”
“What deal are you talking about?”
Malachi took a deep breath, inhaling through the remnants of his nose, a sharp whistle the result. His grin was smug, as if he were savoring the moment as much as was humanly possible.
“You . . . for them.”
Alayne flushed. “I don't understand.”
“Your life . . . for theirs. Oh, I ain't sayin' we're gonna kill you. You can rest easy on that point. Where's the fun in that anyway?” He laughed. “Since it's proved nigh on impossible to make you do something you ain't willin' to do, instead of tryin' to talk you into swingin' for our team, we decided you'd listen a mite better if we started killin' off your friends. You know, the ones that would do anything for you. Unless of course, you decided to play nice and come to the Capital. You listen like a nice girl to everything the Elemental Alliance decides they want, and all these students go free. Back to their families for their summer vacations, their mommies and daddies, their brothers and sisters and families, none the worse for the wear. What d'ya say?”
Alayne glanced at the cave. “What's in the cave? Besides my friends, I mean.”
“Oh, nothin' much right now. Just a little pool of melted water. When the tide comes in, though, is gonna be the problem. Your Water-Wielder friends might last a mite longer than the others, but in the end, they'll die too.”
Chapter 25
Alayne glanced wildly back and forth between Malachi and the cave. Straining her eyes, she could see more bodies, though the icicles hung low enough that they blocked any sight of faces. It didn't matter though—the fact that anybody stayed imprisoned in the cave was too much.
Alayne's tongue refused to move. She cleared her throat and tried again. “So you're asking me to come with you to the Capital? That's all you want?”
She looked again at the cave, experimentally touching the elements around her. The water elements vibrated with tension; Malachi had a firm grasp on them.
Malachi sensed what she was doing. “Let me explain, missy. See, if you so much as even touch them elements one more time, no matter which one it is, I got a whole backlash of water sitting right on top of them students in there, 'bout six feet over their heads. When it all comes down, it's gonna trap them in a bubble, and none of them are gonna get out. They'll all drown, see, just 'cause you decided you wanted to touch somethin' that I said was off limits.” He shifted his weight and propped one hand on his thick waist. “If you decide you're gonna play the hero and run in there all guns blazin', I've decided that water will shoot straight up their noses, into their mouths and down to their lungs. They'll all be dead in under a minute. Is that really what you want? 'Cause I'll play. Wanna?”
“But won’t that spoil the thrill of having my dad as your 300th kill?” Alayne asked sarcastically. Her fingers itched. If she yanked the water element from him, wrestled for it, maybe even won eventually, the odds were still high that she wouldn't be fast enough to finish him off before the water drowned every last person in the cave. She couldn't take that risk.
Malachi grinned.
Alayne drew a deep, calming breath. “You want me to play? Fine. Take me to your leader. Not Leader Blankenship; I know he's not the head of all this. Not even Sprynge. I want you to take me to General Beckyr.”
Malachi chuckled, and his laugh turned rapidly into a guffaw. It died as swiftly as it had begun. He sucked his teeth for a moment, his eyes sparking with amusement and something else. Alayne narrowed her eyes as she tried to read his expression.
After a moment, Malachi nodded. “Done.”
Alayne motioned toward the cave. “And these guys get taken back to Clayborne unharmed.” She planted her feet. “Or I'm not moving.”
Malachi slowly shook his head. “Can't do that, missy. See, Beckyr's up at the school, and havin' you and them so close together probably just ain't the brightest idea.”
“Wait. Beckyr's at Clayborne? When did this happen?”
“'T'all started this morning while y'all went to your exams. There's a big get-together with the General and the Continental Guard and a bunch of the Justices comin' for the occasion. Somethin' to do with the Alliance's bill that just got passed in the High Court, the one that lets us start the cleansin'.”
Alayne's heart sank. The bill passed; she had known it would, yet she had somehow hoped that something would happen, and it would get thrown out. Now her father was a condemned man, legal to arrest and ship off to the hated NRCs. Did the Capital truly hold him and her mother? Sprynge had alluded to that possibility, but she had no way of knowing for sure.
“So what you gonna do, Alayne? You gonna trust me long enough to go talk to Beckyr? Or you gonna kill all your friends in that there cave?”
Alayne batted her braid back over her shoulder. “Let's go talk to Beckyr.” She pointed at the cave. “Notch your bends; I won't leave until I know that water's not going to drop on them while we're gone.”
She knew he spoke the truth about the water; she could feel its massive weight sitting directly above the students, shifting as Malachi held it aloft. A moment later, the water stabilized. Malachi had notched the bend.
“Now,” Alayne ordered, her voice shaking a little. “You're going to seal off the cave to keep the tide from coming in beneath the ice.”
“No can do, missy, and the longer you sit here giving me orders, the sooner that tide's gonna come in. So you wanna talk to Beckyr or ain't you interested? If you ain't, I'm content to sit here and watch your friends drown.”
Alayne swallowed hard, her hand itching to touch the elements. A quick yank, and she could shoot Malachi three miles east. Or dunk him beneath the ice. Or roast him alive. But he held the notch in his hands, and no matter what she did or how quickly she did it, she wouldn't be able to stop that huge mound of water from crashing over her friends, and while she might be able to rescue some, she likely couldn't save them all.
“Let's go.” Alayne motioned to the west, where she could see the tip of Clayborne's spire.
Malachi chuckled. He bent the element, and two sleds made of ice skidded across the frozen water beneath their feet. Alayne cocked an eyebrow.
“You wanta get there fast, don't you? This'll be water's fastest method. I ain't about to let you try air.”
Alayne stepped onto her sled and knelt, grasping the sides. “Why not?”
Malachi hooted. “You sure do ask ridiculous questions, don't you?” His sled spun across the ice, and Alayne's swiftly followed. She allowed him to jerk it whatever way he wished, and a second later, they scooted vertically up the frozen falls, back to the jellyfish sea.
Alayne's hands cramped as she clung to the sides of her sled. The water elements buoyed up the sleds and pushed them across the sea so fast, she had hardly any time to blink. The roaring tumbling falls were in front of them now, and then the sleds danced up those as well. Each time th
e sled bounced against the water, Alayne thought she'd lose her grip. Her knuckles were white and bloodless. She couldn't feel anything anymore, not even the cold of the sled.
Now they were zooming toward the shoreline where the empty piers jutted into the sea. She wondered what Sprynge had decided to do with everyone.
As soon as the sand appeared beneath their sleds, Malachi pulled the water element along, and a steady fast-flowing river wound across the land, pushing closer and closer to Clayborne. Wind whipped Alayne's hair out of her eyes. She glanced behind her. The exam area was a small, sparkling lake in the distance.
The sleds dropped suddenly onto dry ground as the rivers melted into the earth beneath them. Clayborne's spire loomed overhead. Alayne released the edges of her sled, her cramped fingers numb. She rubbed them quickly, straining to restore circulation.
“Right this way, Alayne.” Malachi motioned toward the front entrance. He seemed to be hiding a smile. “Beckyr's upstairs.”
A nervous chill danced up Alayne's spine. This was the scene from her vision. Alliance flags decorated the whole spire, hanging from every level clear up to the shuttle platform. A large boat was docked at the pier, four smaller ones tied to pilings nearby. A shuttle hovered overhead, slowly moving in to the landing platform at the top of the spire.
It was a different place from when Alayne had left this morning. The EA was here in force. She took a deep breath and jogged toward the chute, Malachi beside her. She stepped in, and Malachi pressed a button.
Time seemed to tick in resounding clicks in Alayne's head. The tide wouldn't be in for at least another four hours, but in such an uncertain situation, Alayne worried that she wouldn't be able to get back on time. She mentally pictured the water rising in the cave—to their chests, their necks, their mouths, their noses. She shuddered.
The car lurched to a stop at the commissary, and Alayne stepped out.
She stopped with a jerk, and Malachi ran into the back of her. “What's your problem, Alayne? Forget how to walk?” He circled around so he could see her face. “Come on this way. I think I'm gonna enjoy watching this.”
Shadows of Uprising (Guardian of the Vale Book 2) Page 29
