by M. Stratton
“I think you completely underestimate this whole situation,” Erion replied.
Using every ounce of control I had, I tried to keep myself calm. Over the centuries, I’d learned the best way to make him do what I wanted. He’d never responded well to anger.
“Do you really think I haven’t plotted and planned for every single outcome?”
“Oh, no, I’m sure you have. But you couldn’t have thought of everything. She’s different and brings something completely unique to the table. Things you couldn’t possibly even dream of.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re intrigued by her.”
“So what if I am? It doesn’t mean I’m not going to do what’s best for my people.”
“What is it about her that has both of you acting like her babysitter?”
Shaking his head, he turned his back to me and looked across the canyon. “You think this will be the perfect place for the battle?”
Walking over to him, I placed my arm around him and rested my head on his shoulder. “I do. You can use your wind to keep them where I want them, and I can make sure they never make it out alive. The ground is solid rock. They won’t be able to escape through the dirt this time.”
“What about Naida?”
I waved my hand away. “She’s too busy playing with her creatures to care what we do.”
“Again, you aren’t thinking things through. She doesn’t want her people harmed any more than we do.”
“Yes, but she also doesn’t like to fight.”
“While you live for it.”
“Some of us have had to fight for everything we have,” I replied.
He looked down at me. “All you had to do was look around, there were plenty of people willing to help.”
Rolling my eyes, I pulled away from him. “Can we please not talk about this again? I wasn’t in love with you.”
“This is where your downfall will be, Dayna. You always think you know everything and are so focused on your goal, you forget to look around you. I wasn’t talking about us. I was telling you before the bloodshed, when the four of us were friends, other people cared about you.”
“They cared about what I could give them. Nothing more.”
“There are times when I wonder how someone who cares so much for her own people could be so cold when it came to others.”
“Maybe it was how those others treated me and my own. Did you ever think of that?”
“No, Dayna, it’s how you perceived them. You were always ready to think the worst of everyone else. You always thought they were attacking you, putting you down. They were always wrong and you were always right. You were the one who was always getting your sensibilities hurt by some injustice or another. You were the one who was completely justified in seeking revenge for whatever someone did to you, but any time someone called you out for what you did to them, it was different.”
“You don’t understand!” I screamed at him. “You didn’t watch your people die by the hands of the other elements!”
“You forget who you are talking to. Each and every element had people die in that battle, it wasn’t just yours. All you can focus on is your people and Hallet killing your parents. But listen here; his parents died first, and from all accounts, by an Earth Element. By the old rules, he was completely justified as the new King of the Fire Elements to fight your parents to the death. Think about the fact that you two weren’t the only ones who lost parents that day. Mine and Naida’s were killed, too. Everything changed that day for all of us.”
I’d never seen him this angry. His hair was almost as black as the clouds that boiled above us. Lightning and thunder rumbled through the canyon, echoing off the walls until it was almost a constant sound. I needed him on my side if this plan was to work, and I wasn’t about to lose it now because he finally decided he’d had enough.
“I’m sorry, you’re right. The scars of watching my parents killed right in front of me is a pain I will suffer from forever. Something I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. I close my eyes, and I can still see their faces as they perished. It haunts me, Erion. Still, after all of this time.” My voice broke.
He gathered me up in his arms, and I smiled. Sometimes he was too easy.
“I understand. The image of finding my parents slaughtered will always be right there, waiting to surface. I’ve been thinking of them a lot lately. This isn’t what any of them wanted. They’d tried so hard to bring peace here.”
“Sometimes you need the war to bring the peace,” I said.
“And sometimes you need to sacrifice in order for peace to happen.”
My heart sank. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m going to be sitting this one out. I don’t have the fight in me anymore. I think Raina will succeed in her endeavor.”
“Please,” I begged. “Don’t do anything rash. I need you.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t.”
I needed his power in this battle, there was no way I could win without him. Standing there, I looked at the man who loved me and had done anything I had asked of him since we were children. I would have to kill him now to get what I needed: his power.
Hallet
“What’s wrong?” I asked Raina. We’d been working on our water magic, which was really strange for me because up until she healed me, fire and water didn’t mix. Now I could manipulate both at the same time.
“I don’t know.” Her chest heaved. “I can’t seem to catch my breath.”
With her hand shaking, she reached out for me. Instinctively, I lifted her up into my arms and took her home. Carefully, I set her down on my couch.
“I don’t know if I’m ever going to get used to that whole flashing, transporting thing you do.”
“Whisking, we call it whisking. You can do it too, and have.”
“When I don’t realize I’m doing it.” She rubbed the center of her chest.
“What is it? Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know how to describe it. It started with a pressure on my chest. Do you get sick here?”
“No, Charlie had to explain what sickness meant when it came up in the books he brought to us from your world.”
“I was going to say it was like when you have a chest cold. There is pressure on your chest, a heaviness that sometimes makes it hard to breathe. Or like the air is really thick.”
“Hmmm…” As casually as I could, I stood up and walked over to get her something to drink and buy myself some time to think. I had no idea what any of this meant, but something in my gut was worried it wasn’t anything good. We already knew for a fact some of the water and fire fringe were missing. Neither Naida nor I could feel anything off with our people, but sometimes if something tragic happened, we were able to feel it. Maybe that was what she was experiencing now. It would stand to reason since Raina encompassed all of us that she’d be tuned to each element. If something happened, it could possibly manifest with her.
Taking a moment, I hesitantly reached out with new Air power, but was unable to tell if anything was amiss. Part of this was easy for me since I already knew how to control my fire, but each element reacted differently to me.
“Here.” I held out the drink to her and sat down, wrapping her up in my arms. The prophecy said someone would come and bring peace to our world. It was frustratingly silent about what would come next. I hated where my thoughts were headed. What if she didn’t stay? What if she didn’t survive it?
“That’s odd,” she said. “It’s gone, like it never happened. I feel back to normal. We should get back to training. There is so much both of us need to learn now.”
“Maybe we should take the afternoon off.” Something inside of me was burning to keep her safe, here, where my power was the strongest. Where I knew the extent of my powers.
“No, Naida is waiting for us. I want to meet your sister. You know, the one who isn’t trying to kill me.”
“Fine, but if you star
t feeling anything strange, you have to promise to tell me right away.”
“Hallet, you do understand this is all unusual to me?”
Holding her tightly, I took a moment to simply enjoy her. “You’re so natural with your magic, I forget you haven’t been doing this your whole life.”
“You aren’t the only one. I wonder if it has something to do with all of the reading I’ve done. In the books, magic tends to come so easy; a wave of a wand, a chant of a spell, a flick of the wrist and there it is, right in front of you. Magic.” She shrugged. “Maybe that has made it easier for me.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, it’s like it never happened. Now let’s go.” Wiggling out of my arms, she stood up and offered her hand to help me up.
“Just trying to make sure your lungs feel strong since you’ll be breathing water soon enough.”
She froze. “What do you mean breathing water?”
“How else you do you think you’re going to be able to walk underwater?”
“Ummm, I wasn’t planning on walking underwater.”
“How else are you going to learn to control your Water power?” I asked.
“Like I have been, but not actually being underwater, breathing it.”
“When I spoke with Naida, she wanted to help and to meet you. What better way for you to learn your power than from the Queen of the Water Elements?”
“True, but what about you? You now can do the same thing.”
“I’m trying to keep this under wraps.”
“I thought you trusted her.”
“I do, but she will always do what is best for the greater good. She also prefers to be alone, as most of her people do. What I don’t trust is Dayna and possibly Erion. I want to keep this to ourselves; it could make the difference in the battle.”
“Good point.” She motioned to my eyes. “But how are you going to hide that? They aren’t black or just fire anymore.”
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath in and willed the color to change. When I opened them and saw her smile, I knew I’d accomplished it.
“Well, that looked easy.”
“You have no idea. Since all the elements are my base now, I had to learn to at least bring my dominant element forward. If you look closely, the colors of the elements are all still there, just not as visible.”
She came closer and stood on her tiptoes, looking deep into my eyes. As always, whenever we were close, our souls reached for each other. Our powers wanted to mingle. The urge to unite and create magic was extreme, and it took everything I had to hold back. We’d purposely not joined them together. Separately, we were stronger than anything Aimsir had ever seen before. We had no idea what would happen if we both focused on the same magic.
With her hand over my heart, she whispered, “Hallet, King of the Fire Elements, when I first met you, you said if there was anything I wanted all I had to do was speak it, and you’d make sure I had it.”
Lifting her hand and kissing the back of it, I didn’t break eye contact with her. “I did. What do you wish, milady?”
“I wish for everything.”
“Then I shall make sure you have it.”
She laid her head on my chest, and I enjoyed every single moment of her.
*****
“Brother, are you sure you won’t join us?” Naida asked me.
“No, you two go on, I’ll stay right here.” I waved my hand at them.
Naida laughed. “One day, brother, I will at least get you on a boat in the water.” She turned to Raina. “I’ve always loved to tease him about playing in the water. He was no fun when we were kids.”
“And you never had any fear of me.”
Her musical laugh filled the air. “I never have feared much.”
“And that is what makes you a good Queen. That, and you aren’t reckless.”
“Have you spoken to Dayna?”
“No, and since she tried to kill us the other day, I don’t see a friendly conversation anytime soon.”
“I’m surprised she hasn’t come to see me.”
“She’s waiting for the right time. She always has a plan.”
“What about Erion?”
“He came down and spoke with Raina. I’m not sure where he stands.”
She bit her lip and nodded to where Raina frolicked in the water with some dolphins. “He needs to stand with us. The amount of magic she has is unbelievable. I wanted to fall to my knees when you two first arrived. It was hard for me to tell where her magic ended and yours began.”
“Wait until she actually uses it. It’s a sight to see.”
“Do you think Dayna will survive this?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. There have been times lately I’ve wondered if she was past saving. There is still a part of me that wants what our parents wanted, all of us living together. I remember the four of us growing up together, playing together. I’m saddened that it won’t be what they envisioned because I can’t see Dayna backing down. If she’d only spend some time with Raina, she’d realize she only wants everyone to simply get along.”
“I don’t think she wants to see it. She was always too strong-willed.”
We stood there in silence for a moment, each with our own memories, before she turned to me and took my hands.
“I know you and Ronin have been talking and planning. While I would prefer to stay in the depths of my ocean, I know I cannot. Let me know what you need, and I will get it to you. We can’t continue to live like this. Separate, only thinking of ourselves, not caring if another element was brutalized. It has to stop.”
“Thank you, Naida. We’ll do whatever we can to keep your people safe.”
She touched the side of my face. “I know, Hallet, King of the Fire Elements. You are a good man. Now go to your fate.”
Dayna
“Hello, sister,” I said as I sat down on the cool sand next to Naida. She knew I hated being this close to the vast ocean and not on solid ground. I hoped by coming here to her, she’d be more receptive to me.
She turned to me, her dark blue eyes narrowed. “What do you want?”
“Really, what makes you think I want anything?”
“Because Raina is here and has Hallet on her side. Erion hasn’t been seen in days, and I know you are starting to panic because you figured you’d at least have him on your side. So, without him, you’ve decided to do me the honor of asking me to join forces with you.”
I decided to ignore most of what she said and distract her. “What do you mean Erion hasn’t been seen in days?”
“Ciel came to see me. He’s been trying to hold everything together, but Erion didn’t inform him of his departure. He’s never left without telling Ciel the length of his journey or without leaving him a list of tasks to be completed in his absence. His people are getting nervous with only the second in command around. Everyone knows what is coming, and they are scared; they need their leader.”
“I’m surprised Ciel came down, he’s always preferred the clouds to the ground. When was the last time he was here?”
“After our parents’ death when we were crowned and our seconds given their extra power. Well, all but you. You’ve never needed anyone but yourself.”
“I can depend on myself.”
Naida shook her head. “You could have depended on all of us, but you chose not to.”
“You and I seem to remember things differently.” I kept my anger in check. This wasn’t going how I had planned. “What do you think of Raina?”
“What makes you think I’ve met her?”
“Because I know you, sister.”
“She told me in her world she was nothing special, she had no magic. It seems so incomparable. Hearing about her world with her words instead of the Librarian’s. They both saw things so differently.”
“Did she say she wanted to go back?”
“Funny, I asked her if she would go back given the opportunity.”
“And…�
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“She didn’t answer.”
“That means she’s staying.”
“I’m not so sure. I think it means she’s on the fence, waiting to see how this whole thing plays out. It made me wonder if maybe there’s something she isn’t telling us. The prophecy never said the god would stay, only that peace would be brought to our world. We always assumed the door would only open once, for the god to come through it, but maybe she can open it and go back home again.”
“That would be wonderful.” I tapped my finger against my lips, wondering if I could make her leave sooner rather than later. My plan would be much easier if she left. The amount of power running through my veins now was intoxicating. I wanted more.
“Aren’t you worried about Erion?”
I barely held back a sigh. I was done with that conversation. “He’s a big boy. I’m sure he’s thinking by hiding from the battle, his people will be safe up in the clouds.” I looked up at the sky. I knew they used to hide themselves up there from us down here. I wanted to fly up and let them know who was really in charge.
“He’s never backed down from a fight before.”
“There’s always a first.” I shrugged. “Who knows what goes on in his head? He doesn’t confide in me.”
“We used to be close, all of us.”
She wasn’t going to help me. I stood up and dusted the sand off my legs. “Life changes, nothing can ever stay the same. You deal, you adapt, or you die. Go back to your water.”
“I miss you. I miss what we had as children.”
“I don’t. I’m stronger now. I’ll never be that weak again. It’s better this way.”
“I remember a little girl who used to cry when animals were hurt. You never wanted to see anyone die.”
“You see enough death, and it desensitizes you.”
Naida shook her head. “Then I hope I never get used to it.”
“Don’t worry, sister, you won’t.” I smiled. She wasn’t going to have the chance. I needed her power, just like Erion’s.
Raina
