She tried unsuccessfully to quiet her breathing. Daymon glanced her way. “A little out of shape there, Worth?” The dimple at the corner of his mouth deepened just a shade.
Alayne glared at him. “Pipe down, Houser.”
Their pursuers had reached the thicket. They crashed into the branches, tripping over undergrowth. A few of them splashed accidentally into the water with muffled curses expressing their outrage. Alayne fought the urge to summon a current to carry the whole lot of them downstream. Daymon shook his head at her.
The thick greenery of the pine hid their pursuers from sight as much as they themselves were hidden. Shouts and calls echoed through the copse of woods.
“Check downstream. Malachi said she can breathe water. She might have followed the river.”
The voices below them faded gradually into the distance.
Alayne raised her gaze to Daymon's. He was staring at her thoughtfully. “When you breathed water, I think it had to have been when you panicked, Layne. Sometimes when Elementals panic, they lose their connection to their element. But in your case, in your panic, the Vale took over. Think about it; the Vale kicks in for you in life-and-death situations. A possible bear attack, falling off the shuttle platform, a lightning strike, and then when you were in danger of drowning. It’s part of the Vale’s own survival instinct; it keeps you alive.”
“What are you saying?”
“Nothing yet,” he murmured. “I just wonder... if the Vale is more of a separate entity that we'd ever understood. It's shown that it can act without your forethought or management.”
Alayne's hand tightened on the tree trunk. Daymon rubbed a thumb over his jaw. After a moment, he shook his head. “It's something I'll discuss with my uncle. Don't worry about it, Layne.”
Alayne swallowed. Easy for him to say. “How did everyone get out of the ice cave?” The question had been burning in Alayne's mind since Daymon's arrival at the storage closet to free her.
Daymon glanced below them and started working his way along his branch back to the trunk of the pine. “It was all Kyle.”
“What? What did Kyle do?”
“Marysa was going to try to evaporate the huge water mass Malachi had put above our heads, but the only thing she managed to do was boil it. All at once, we felt a bend outside the cave, but it was stronger than any other bend we had ever felt, and suddenly, this crazy strong vacuum sucked the whole mass of boiling water right out the opening. After everyone got done being freaked out, Kyle claimed responsibility.”
“He made a—a vacuum?” Alayne's eyes widened. “So he actually figured out how to release his element from its anchor?”
Daymon turned to stare at her. “What are you talking about?”
Alayne glanced down, her hands tightening around their branch. She started to scoot toward the trunk. “Something I figured out in one of your uncle's simulations; releasing an element from its anchor creates a powerful vacuum.”
“Any air-master can create a vacuum, Layne. As long as there's a confined space and an exit for the air.”
Alayne shook her head. “Not nearly as strong as releasing the element from its stays. I've seen your wind, Daymon, and it's powerful, but releasing an element is, like, twenty times that power.”
Daymon was silent. He swung down to the next branch. “Well, maybe Kyle managed it. You'll have to ask him. Come on, we gotta get out of here. They'll be back in a bit.”
Alayne shook her head. “No. I'm going back for Jayme.”
Daymon had dropped to the next branch, but his head swiveled upward and his eyes met hers. “Alayne. No. You can't.”
“I can, and I will. You can't talk me out of it, Daymon.”
“Alayne—” His fist slammed into the trunk to his left. “You can't. He's Lieutenant Commander for General Shane Beckyr, for the love of all that's holy. You can't just trot up and snatch him out from under the noses of the entire Continental Guard and most of the Justices.”
Alayne stared at him. “I've got to try, Daymon. You know I do.” The soft words spread between them, a heavy blanket that smothered protests.
Daymon cursed.
“I don't want you to come with me, Daymon.”
He turned back to her. “You're mine to protect, Layne.” His voice was bleak. “It's your decision, but you're not doing it alone.”
Alayne held his look, noted the iron glint in his blue eyes. “The others—”
“Are capable.”
“And I'm not?”
“You are. But if you mess up, it's on my head, Layne. You know that.”
Alayne nodded and sighed and wished, not for the first time, that she could be normal, an Elemental with one ability. Water-Wielding would have been just fine. Why did life have to be so complicated?
Daymon looked down at the branches below them, listening intently. “This is our window, Layne. If we're going back up to Clayborne, we'd better get started before the search party gives up and heads back.”
“What about the others?”
Daymon swung down to the next branch, landing with a grunt. “We could take a short detour to fill them in.” He glanced up at Alayne.
She lowered her foot to the next branch and carefully moved her hands closer to the trunk. Sap clung to her palms. “I don't know if we have time for a detour.”
Daymon took the next three branches in quick succession. “Look, Layne,” he reasoned as she worked her way down, “Jayme's going to be heavily guarded whether we get to him before or after his men return. Also, since he's Shadow-Casted, you know his Caster's around him somewhere. It's not going to be a picnic. I say we let the others know what's up first, maybe wait until dark and then head over.”
Alayne dropped to the ground and glanced at the sky between the gently moving boughs above her. The pale sky was darkening. The sliver of a moon hung south of the spire.
With the realization that most of the day was gone came the bite of hunger. Alayne shoved it away; there were more important things to deal with. “Okay.” She glanced behind her at the river. “Let's go find the others.”
Daymon led the way to the edge of the copse, checking for signs of life. Far down the river in the dusky air, Alayne could see some of the soldiers scattering as they searched the water.
“No bends,” Daymon reminded her.
Alayne nodded. “At least we've got tall grass.”
“It's not going to hide us from above though.” Daymon nodded at the spire, its windows gleaming in the evening paleness far above them.
Alayne followed the direction of his gaze and realized he was right. “It won't be light too much longer. Can we wait?”
Daymon twisted his lips. The far-off murmuring of the guards near the river grew louder. “Nope.” He crouched near a tree. “They're coming back.” With those words, he launched himself into the grass, bending double to cut visibility. Alayne sucked in a deep breath and leaped after him, racing toward the two far off willows.
A shout followed them. Daymon cursed. He lowered his hands to the ground and began to gallop, like a horse, picking up speed. Alayne quickened her pace, but the hunched position wouldn't let her spread her legs as far as they needed to go to keep up with Daymon. A moment later, Daymon did an about-face, stood up straight, and caught Alayne as she ran full-tilt into him. He slung her over his shoulder and sprinted toward the willows.
The shouts behind them grew louder.
“They've seen us, Layne,” Daymon shouted. “You're going to have to do something.”
Alayne could only see Daymon's back as she bounced in time to his footsteps. She raised herself, straining to see the guards. The men raced through the grass, closing the gap quickly. The closest one was about a hundred yards behind Daymon.
Alayne called heat to her hands; it arrived so fast that they smoked. She shot a streak of fire. It crackled along the trampled path she and Daymon had made in the grass before branching out in a solid line and burning a flaming barrier between the men and herself.
She whipped her head around. The willows were quite near now. She turned back.
Most of the guards halted at the fire line, staring in consternation over the licking tongues. Three of the men leaped the line of fire. All three rolled, their clothes smoking, but then they were on their feet again. A flame ball flew through the air from one of them, blazing furiously, splitting the darkening air. Alayne yanked an underground water line upward. It burst through the dirt in an explosive geyser and shot the flame ball into nothingness just before it enveloped Daymon's leg.
Alayne whipped the geyser around and divided it into three powerful streams, aiming them at the three men's faces. All three of them fell back, raising their arms to shield themselves from the onslaught.
Alayne widened the path of the water, arcing it up and over the fire line she'd created, letting the water search out each person, pushing the guards back, back, farther and farther toward the river. With a final effort, the water found the rest of the search party, and Alayne swept them into the river and collapsed a wave on top of them. Even at this distance, she could see the crash of current wash them downstream. Before she let go of the element, she notched the bend so a geyser spewed massive amounts of water from the earth in the direction of the river, just in case. Then she collapsed, exhausted, against Daymon's back.
Daymon set Alayne down. Kyle crouched near the first willow trunk, his eyes wide as he surveyed her handiwork. “Layne.” He walked toward her. “You're safe.” His voice broke, and he cleared his throat, pulling her into a tight hug. “I thought you were lost for sure after you took off like that with Malachi.”
Alayne wrapped her arms around his solid torso, allowing her eyes to slide shut. “Thank you, Kyle,” she whispered, “for getting them out.”
Neither spoke for a moment. All the adrenaline, the panic, the terror of the day slowly seeped from Alayne's nerves as she rested her head on Kyle's shoulder.
He seemed reluctant to speak or to let her go when she stepped back. “The geysers and your line of fire aren't going to last long, though. Those guys are swept downriver, but there'll be more of them.” He glanced at Daymon, raising an eyebrow. “What's the plan, Houser?”
Marysa hit Alayne full tilt, her arms going around her in an exuberant bear hug. “Honey, I've been so worried about you. Are you all right? What happened? Malachi had us pinned. What in CommonEarth is going on?”
Alayne rubbed her rib cage where she had jounced on Daymon's shoulder for that last sprint. “Are you guys okay? Daymon said Kyle got you out of the ice cave.”
Kyle glanced at the ground, suddenly self-conscious.
Rachyl snorted just behind them. “Yeah, that was fun. Although Marysa just about boiled us alive.”
Marysa's cheeks flushed. “I was trying to get it to evaporate.”
“Anyway, it all ended well. We're safe for the moment, but now we don't know what to do. We wondered what your ideas were, Alayne.”
Six other students had climbed down from the willows. Then seven, eight. Eleven, fourteen. Alayne blinked. Twenty-four altogether. All of them were the students Cornelia had told Daymon about that morning, the ones Malachi had taken and used as blackmail against her. Alayne recognized two First-Years, one Second-Year, and Alex, Sylvia, and Holly in the group. Eryc Connel leaned against the tree behind Rachyl. The others, she didn't know.
Alayne glanced at Daymon and cleared her throat. “I—I need to go back to the spire.”
“You what?” Kyle snapped. “Are you nuts? Malachi's up there, and Sprynge, all the rest. After what happened today during exams, you're seriously going in to face that crowd?”
Alayne shrugged helplessly.
Marysa jumped in. “Layne, you can't. We can just leave, go somewhere else, hide for a while until this all blows over. We'll go to Last Order headquarters or something. You know where that is, right, Daymon?” she asked desperately.
“Cross is in there.” Daymon's voice split through the group; dead silence immediately followed it. Everyone stared at Daymon and Alayne.
Alayne gazed miserably at the ground beneath her feet. She still only had one shoe. Irritated, she kicked it off, her bare feet settling into the grass. “It's true. He's alive, but he's Shadow-Casted. I need to go find his Shadow-Caster and—and get rid of him.”
Chapter 27
The deathly silence that greeted this announcement hung like a pall over the group. Alayne looked around at the faces—hard to make out now in the solid darkness.
Alex was the first to find his tongue. “We'll all go. Create a diversion or something. Then you can do some of your super-power stuff, Worth, grab Cross, and we'll all run lickety-split away from here.” He grinned.
Alayne shook her head, glancing again at Kyle. Even in the darkness, she could read the pain in his eyes. She took a deep breath. “No, no one comes with me except—Daymon.” She looked over at him. He nodded once. “Beckyr's New World Army is here at Clayborne, and more are coming; they should be arriving any time now. We'll need to get inside to where Jayme is, and a group this size isn't going to be able to do that.”
She expected the protests that immediately spilled from Marysa's mouth, even Rachyl's. She didn't expect Kyle's reaction.
“Leave him, Layne.” His voice was hard as nails. “Everyone knows that once you've been Casted, you're a shell of your former self anyway, even if you can break the Cast. Leave him in there. It'll be kinder.”
Alayne blinked, staring at him as anger erupted inside her, so strong, it burst through the ends of her fingers in a torrent of fire. She clamped her control onto the element, quenching it. “What did you say?” She took one step closer to Kyle. “Did I just hear you say to abandon Jayme to the EA? To give up because there's a possibility that he may never be who he once was?” Tears burned her eyes. “You listen to me, Kyle Pence. You have no right to say what Jayme deserves—you may think he's not going to be worth anything, but he still deserves that chance. I don't care if you won't help; I'm going back in there. And I'm bringing Jayme back with me.”
Kyle stared at her. His jaw shifted several times beneath the tension. Abruptly, he wheeled, shoving his way through the group and breaking into a run onto the open prairie. In a moment, he had disappeared behind a curtain of darkness.
Alayne released a calming breath. She stepped forward and pulled Marysa into a hug.
“Be careful, honey.” Marysa pulled back, her icy blue eyes intent even in the darkness. “I hope you can get Jayme out.”
Alayne nodded. “Thanks.” She swallowed. “I'll see you soon, okay?”
Marysa nodded, her blue eyes shimmering behind unshed tears. She released Alayne and stepped back.
Alayne squeezed Rachyl's hand and waved briefly to the rest of the students. She turned to the spire as Daymon moved beside her. “Ready?”
“Let's do this.”
* * *
Under cover of darkness, Alayne and Daymon approached the spire. Lights shone from many of the windows. Alayne's stomach cramped from hunger. She hadn't eaten all day. She pushed the uncomfortable sensation aside. “I have an idea,” she whispered to Daymon as they bypassed one of the four major supports of the spire.
“What's that?” he asked. He pulled them close to some of the hedges that surrounded the spire, peering carefully at the chute. Two guards stood at attention near the doors. A boat moved steadily up the river, nearing the dock. “Looks like more forces are arriving.” Officers lined the rail of the boat, their heads turned up to take in the lit spire.
“Looks like.” Alayne nodded. “Remember Katya Angliss today?”
Daymon crouched, gauging the distance between the dock and the chute doors. “Maybe we can fly up—go through the broken window we got out of today.”
“Will you just listen? Katya Angliss was the Air-Master, and she made herself invisible.”
Daymon whipped his head around to stare at her. “But Layne, we've never done that in classes; it's ridiculously hard. You think we could do it well en
ough to get inside?”
“I don't know, but it might be our best shot.” She sighed. “I don't know the exact best method, but it seems as though you bend the light, refracting it enough that you can't see through it, and then notch the bend. If we can do that, we might at least have a start.” She jumped backward into the hedge. “Someone's coming.”
Daymon leaped into the hedge next to her. Sharp, needle-like leaves pricked her skin. A large black spider crawled over her shoulder and up her neck, coming to rest just below her ear. She shuddered, but didn't move.
Soon enough, soldiers passed them, their faces lit by the lights of the spire. As they trudged by, their expressions were dark with anger. They clustered onto the main walk, talking and arguing. They looked, to a man, thoroughly disgusted. “I can't believe they disappeared so thoroughly. Where under the skies did our men go?” one blustered.
Another one cursed and spat on the ground. His clothes were soaked. “Geysers erupting along the riverbanks, and not a sign of them. What are we going to tell Beckyr?”
None of the men seemed to have an answer to this question. They stirred uneasily.
At that moment the boat docked, and the gate opened. The wet guards who had just arrived on the sidewalk snapped to attention as the first officers poured out of the gate.
“Psst.”
Alayne jerked her head toward Daymon. She could just see him through the leaves.
“Try it.”
“Try what?” The movement of her mouth propelled the spider downward again. It jumped from her chin onto a nearby leaf. She grimaced.
“Make yourself invisible.”
“Daymon, I have no idea—”
“Just do it,” he snapped. “I'm going to try, too. See if we can sneak up into the spire with some of these guys.” He nodded toward them.
Shadows of Uprising (Guardian of the Vale Book 2) Page 31
