by Eric Vall
“I’m gonna get you back for that,” she muttered.
“Looking forward to it,” I assured her as I trailed my palms up her sleek legs. “Now, we need a route that’s gonna avoid Lyralus completely. The northernmost house near the coast is House Orrel, and Dragir said it’s about three leagues from the capital, so we should be able to work it out. Still, I don’t want to get lost hoofing it off road like this, so try to keep track of us, alright?”
“It looks like there’s a small road that hugs the coast once you’re directly east of the capital,” Aurora guessed as she squinted at the map. “It’s turns a lot, but it should lead us there. You better just head along the cliffs for now to make it easier. Keep an eye out though, because there’s a big red X maybe … two leagues from here, and it looks like it’s a pretty large area to try and drive around.”
I got Bobbie going and carefully reversed from the edge of the cliff where Dragir had parked her, and just as we were turning to head north, a long and sad call echoed from the cove.
Deya flipped around to lean out the window, and we all took a last look at the sea dragons coming toward the shore before we left.
Ruela let out a whine as she listened from her place on the floor, and Aurora sighed.
“I’m gonna miss those cuties,” the half-elf mused.
“I don’t want to leave them,” Deya said quietly. “I don’t know why, but I just want to be by them all the time. I’ve dreamed about them the last three nights in a row.”
Cayla brushed her hand along the elf’s shoulders. “You’ll be back again,” she assured her. “They’ll be right here waiting.”
Deya sighed sadly and sat back in her seat, and I sent her a reassuring smile.
“We’ll come straight here once we’re done at House Orrel,” I promised her. “That way Qiran can’t lock you up too fast.”
Deya sent me a sweet smile and nodded her agreement, and we left the cove and the hidden fortress behind as we began another journey north.
I was surprisingly comfortable leaving the bazookas behind with Dragir, and I’d moved most of my hoard of metal into one of the chambers for safe keeping as well. I brought a few axes along to keep stowed in the trunk, but I wasn’t too worried about the rest of the weapons for now. Dragir and Deya were probably the only elves in Nalnora I could trust not to use my own weapons against me, and if we were lucky, the head of House Orrel would make the shortlist.
I wasn’t feeling wholly confident on this, though.
I was intrigued to see what sort of rune magic was being concealed within the halls of the ancient House, especially after learning as much as I had from Dragir, and the added promise of the leader being less shallow than the elves in the capital was enough to make me almost excited.
But he was still an elf, and I’d learned to lower my expectations right off the bat.
At this point, I just hoped he wouldn’t try to kill us. That would be enough to make the trip a decent one, but scoring an allegiance with Orrel’s private army would guarantee the utter downfall of the Master’s forces.
Regardless of the resilient power of his rune, I didn’t doubt his brawny soldiers could be torn to shreds and eaten just as easily as anyone else.
The jungle opened up after we’d driven a ways along the coast, and we were able to stick to smoother terrain between tree line and the cliffs that dropped about a hundred feet to the sea.
Cayla and Deya were tucked side by side in the back while they flipped through the book of runes, and I could hear the beautiful elf murmuring the words under her breath as she scanned the pages.
Shoshanne worked on removing the cast she’d needed after the battle at House Quyn, and once she confirmed her wrist was fully healed, she scooted over to remove the stitches from my shoulder as well.
“How’s it look?” I asked as she worked.
“The muscle tissue is fusing nicely,” she told me as she lifted her healer’s bag from the floor. “The surface looks pretty angry, though. Did you do something to this?”
Shoshanne pulled a fresh jar of poultice out to apply to the skin that still hadn’t healed, and I was glad to find it barely stung anymore.
“I think it was the bazooka resting on it,” I told her, “but it’s not as sore now.”
“That makes sense,” she muttered. “This poultice should heal it within a couple days. The healers from House Quyn gave it to me to thank me for my service.”
“Are they as impressive as yourself?” I asked with a grin.
“They have different approaches,” she said thoughtfully. “Working with accelerated healing is so strange. The healers have to rebreak everything, no matter what, because the bones begin to heal in the wrong positions. They don’t have to set the breaks for any more than an hour either, because by then, the bones have already solidified enough, and it’s unnecessary to do anything besides wait.”
“That’s something I wouldn’t mind having in common with the elves,” I mused. Then I called over my shoulder to the women in the back. “Are there any runes in there for accelerated healing?”
“I’ll look,” Deya replied, “but I doubt it. Why would an elf bother with a rune that does what their body already can?”
I sighed and exchanged a glance with Shoshanne. “Spoiled elves.”
“Have you learned to create your own runes, then?” the healer asked as she returned her poultice to her bag.
“I’ve got the general idea, but it’s dangerous as hell to try and wing it,” I replied. “You know how a circle contains three-hundred and sixty degrees?”
Shoshanne nodded and rested her head against my shoulder.
“So, with rune magic, the circle is the map you work on, and every one of those degree lines is connected to an element that can be harnessed,” I explained. “But you need to counter the power of the erratic elements with grounding elements, and even then, the powers are almost fighting with one another while you’re creating the rune.”
Aurora furrowed her brow. “Can you tell they’re doing this, or is it just common knowledge?”
“You can feel them in the air, it’s pretty distracting actually,” I continued. “Then, when you’re done getting all these elements to show up, you have to feel out the imbalances in their powers and draw random lines to make them work together coherently.”
Aurora let out a low whistle. “That’s more complicated than I expected.”
“Right?” I sighed. “Dragir thinks I might be able to use my magic to help me keep track of the elemental lines, though.”
“That would be perfect,” Shoshannne mused. “Could you create your own rune to counter the Master’s rune?”
“I don’t think I need to,” I told her as I thought back to everything I’d discussed with Dragir over the last day. “The Master’s rune is an inward force. One of the degree lines on it signifies the power of the elements he’s harnessed act inwardly on anything that wears it, but the outward degree isn’t marked. Which means the rune can’t affect anything outside of itself. I want to create an offensive rune that could help me in direct combat against the Master himself.”
“What would it do?” Aurora asked.
“No idea,” I chuckled. “Something fucking awesome, hopefully.”
Deya leaned forward to rest her elbows on the back of my seat. “Would you brand it or use a pendant?”
“I’m leaning toward a pendant,” I told her as I considered Dragir’s warning. “Anything violent tends to be a real mind-fuck to live with I think.”
“I wonder if that’s why Dragir dislikes his rune,” Deya mused, “because it’s violent?”
I decided to sidestep the question.
“It’s why the Master’s rune is so powerful,” I pointed out. “If you can’t maintain the separation between yourself and the rune that’s branded on you, it can overrun your consciousness. So, his soldiers will get worse the longer they live with the rune.”
“That sounds horrible,” Shoshanne muttered.
“Then our only choice is to kill them all,” Aurora concluded. “I mean, how do you reverse a branding?”
“You don’t,” I replied. “That’s why it’s smart and stupid at the same time. No one can separate you from the power of the rune you’re wearing, which means they can’t use it against you. But you’re also stuck with the rune and whatever it’s telling you forever.”
Shoshanne lifted her head. “Telling you?”
“They sort of whisper,” Deya explained. “Here, hold still.”
The beautiful elf slipped her necklace off to place it around Shoshanne’s neck, and I glanced over to see the healer’s eyes slowly widen.
“I can’t understand what they’re saying … ” Shoshanne muttered as she furrowed her brow in concentration. “There’s so many of them.”
Deya giggled. “They also speak in Elvish,” she told her, “but some of them whisper about the wind or water, and a few of them are constantly going on about concealment and transparency. It depends what elements they harness, I suppose. Since I have so many runes, it all tends to blend together to me, but overall, I feel secure when I listen to them.”
Shoshanne shook her head in amazement as she removed the necklace.
“They sound beautiful,” she decided. “but I can’t imagine how the Master’s rune sounds … ”
“I’m gonna guess it’s much less comforting,” I offered with a wry smile.
Deya let Aurora wear her necklace next, and she’d just slipped it over Cayla’s head when Shoshanne leaned over the half-elf to look out at the ocean.
“What’s that?” the healer asked.
I was busy navigating the thin strand of terrain I had available, and as she asked the question, it occurred to me we must be coming close to the red X that had been on the map.
“Hey, where’s that X supposed to be?” I asked Aurora, but the women were all looking out toward the horizon.
Then the wheels seemed to snag in something, and I pumped the accelerator to get us back up to speed. It didn’t make any difference, though, so I tried steering us toward the jungle as we continued to slow down.
“Mason … ” Cayla said.
“Give me a second, I’ll fix it,” I muttered as I tried pumping the accelerator once more.
“Mason … ” Cayla tried again.
“Yeah, I’ve got it,” I grunted.
The car was nearly at a full stop now, and I focused all of my attention on the channeling gem at the center of the steering wheel. I tried to force more power into the wheels so they would turn, but it was like the gem had suddenly run out of gas or something.
When the car stopped completely, I finally realized we were slowly sinking into the ground, and I leaned out my window to see the studded tires were more than half embedded in the earth.
“Godsdamnit,” I sighed. “I think that X was quicksand.”
“That might be a problem,” Aurora informed me, “because whatever the hell that is, it’s getting bigger.”
“What?” I asked as I turned in confusion, but then I noticed something out on the horizon, and I leaned toward the window as well. “What is that?”
“That is what I was trying to tell you about,” Cayla said.
“Is it water?” Shoshanne asked, and she squinted into the glare of the sun.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I mumbled as the thing slowly drew closer to shore. It stretched for miles in each direction, and it had grown large enough to begin casting its own shadow across the surface of the sea.
A tidal wave.
I quickly slid back to the driver’s side and climbed out the window.
“We have to get the fuck out of here,” I told the women as I summoned my Terra Magic to try and free Bobbie’s tires.
“Why?” Deya asked nervously. “What’s happening?”
“Well … ” I muttered as I tried to adjust the soil beneath me. “We’re currently sinking further into the ground, and that thing out there is called a tsunami, which means we’re gonna die if we don’t get this car moving fast.”
“What is a tsunami?” Aurora demanded. “Does it have wings?”
I couldn’t help chuckling despite the fact that the ground wasn’t cooperating at all with my efforts. Maybe the humor was just my way of processing the terror rushing toward us.
“It’s not a creature,” I told the half-elf. “It’s a wave caused by a force on the ocean floor that’s strong enough to build into a wall of water. Once that wall reaches land, it’s gonna drown us and drag us out to sea.”
“What?” Cayla gasped. “Get us out of here!”
“Like I said … ” I grunted as I pulled my feet free from the Earth, “I’m working on it, but this fucking sand is being a pain in the ass.”
I kept sinking as I tried to find solid ground, but eventually I was on a sturdy enough surface to focus again. I tried solidifying the dirt since I could easily break it open to free the Mustang from there, but the substrate wouldn’t change. Then I tried seeping into the quicksand, and instead of altering its state, I worked on reversing the direction is was shifting. I tried pushing the ground upward, and slowly, the tires began to reappear.
“Mason, it’s getting closer … ” Aurora warned. “Are you sure it can reach us up here?”
I furrowed my brow and kept trying to force the weight of the Mustang upward. “Does it look big enough to reach us?” I asked.
“Yes,” Shoshanne said flatly.
“There you have it,” I grunted.
The women began to curse as panic set in, and they yelled orders at me to get the car moving while Ruela began growling from all of the agitation.
The suction of the sand fought against my magic, and it got stronger the more I lifted the Mustang. So, I split my magic, and while I fought against the pull of the ground with my Terra Magic, I sent my metal magic into the frame of the car to try and lift it along.
My mind ached with the effort, and I called out to Aurora as I realized it wouldn’t be enough. “Focus on the channeling gem,” I told her. “Get the wheels going.”
Aurora quickly sat behind the wheel and channeled all of her intention into the gem, and as I managed to lift the car another few inches, the tires began to slowly spin in the dense Earth. After another minute, it rose enough to reach the surface, and I propelled the car forward while Aurora continued commanding the power of the gem.
I kept my powers split as I felt through the terrain to find the edge of the sinkhole, and nearly forty feet ahead, the ground regained its normal state again.
We managed to get it there without sinking again, and I sprinted along the tree line to catch up as I eyed the crest of the wave. It was gathering both speed and size and looked to have shifted toward the north, and the moment I dove into the window of the car, I told Bobbie to get us out of there.
With my foot practically buried in the accelerator, we picked up even more speed, and we barreled along the edge of the cliff at what must have been close to ninety miles an hour.
“Can we take cover in the jungle?” Cayla called out over the wind, but I shook my head.
“We can’t get this kind of speed on that terrain,” I called back. “The wave will reach us before we get out of range in there.”
Deya began rambling nervously in Elvish as she worked to calm Ruela down, and my gut dropped as a shadow slowly blocked out the sun.
“Mason!” Aurora hollered anxiously, and my grip tightened on the wheel as I increased our speed another measure.
“Shoshanne,” I called, “push the wave back!”
“What?” she shrieked.
“Blow it back,” I ordered. “Wind can control waves. Throw everything you’ve got at it, now!”
Shoshanne nodded and crawled to the window, and then she raised her palms toward the wave as a violent wind whirled around us.
We sped along the edge of the cliff while the Aer Mage fought against the wall of water, but the force of her powers began shifting the tir
es dangerously, and I realized I was beginning to lose control over the car.
“Dial it back!” I hollered to Shoshanne.
“I can’t,” she yelled back. “I’m barely holding the water off as it is. It’s too strong!”
“Shit,” I cursed, and I reached over to grab Aurora’s arm. “Take the wheel!”
I pulled the half-elf over me as I moved to the other side of the car, and my heart damn near stopped when I saw the wave.
The crest arched a good sixty feet above the cliff, and the water continued to course upward as it hungrily gathered more fuel. I looked back to see the tsunami had already begun to break across the jungle, and the stout trees bent like twigs under the force.
“Shit,” I cursed once more, and I raised my palms toward the ocean.
I knew some sort of shifting on the ocean floor must have caused the wave, and I hoped a force just like it would be enough to send it back out to sea.
I let my magic follow the edge of the cliff down into the ocean, and then I pushed further until I finally found the bottom. The water must have been about thirty feet deep along the coast here, and I hoped we’d have enough time before the wave was too close to control.
I closed my eyes and broke a fissure along the floor of the ocean, and then I forced the two plates apart. The pressure of the water was almost too heavy to work against, but it served me well when I’d reached the width I wanted.
With a last surge of my magic, I slammed the fissure shut, and I could feel the shock of the force resonate up into the water I’d disturbed.
I opened my eyes and held my breath as the wave began to engulf the jungle only twenty feet behind us, but then the wall of water seemed to shudder.
A giant chasm suddenly broke across the belly of the wave, and it collapsed in on itself as the force from the fissure reached the surface.
The tsunami shook apart with an unnerving roar, and it crashed into a torrent of violent waves that rolled out in every direction as the weight of the wall pummeled the cliffside in the chaos.
We could feel the tremors of the ground through the base of the car, but Aurora kept us at top speed, and as water crashed around us, we were actually able to keep from being pulled over the edge with it.
