The Five Elements

by Scott Marlowe

  "What treachery is this?" Engus Rul's voice thundered almost as loudly as the pillar's cry. "You cannot offer what is not yours, bloodsucker!"

  "Also," Erlek said, his voice a scream, "take him!" The savant pointed a single finger at the dwarf. "Let the axe satisfy your masters' need for trade! Let its wielder satiate your need for blood!"

  So many things happened so quickly in the next few moments Shanna wasn't sure which of them happened first. Engus Rul snarled as he raised his hammer at Erlek. But the pillar, already on the move toward the dwarf, demanded his full attention, and so any harm he meant the savant went unfulfilled. The sitheri, who had drawn near Engus to better take advantage of the law of numbers, leaped away the moment full comprehension of Erlek's words sank in. Engus Rul stood alone before the approach of the gray, churning pillar.

  Alone but for Shanna who had no intention of letting her only ally die while she stood by and did nothing. The hand that guided the Element of Fire reached out toward the pillar, causing the flicker of flame to burst into an inferno that jetted out from her hand. It made it no further than the swirling vortex as the flames were swept up into the currents of the Element of Air. Shanna focused her effort, but still the Element of Fire failed to penetrate that ethereal barrier. "Stop!" she shouted into the flaming vortex. "Obey me!" But she had never truly learned to control any of the Elements, least of all this new one, and so her command went unheeded. "Stop!" She stepped forward, to see if the whirlwind moved with her. It did not. "Stop!" she said again, desperation in her voice. Then it no longer mattered.

  The churning pillar scattered the mist of the cloud as it advanced on the dwarf. Engus Rul did not wait for Valacia's guardian to take him, leaping at it with only his hammer for still he refused to wield the flaming axe wrapped and slung over one shoulder. Gray, smoking tendrils whipped out from the column and spun with the motion of the thing's body. Longer and longer, the tentacles reached for Engus Rul. The dwarven lord ducked beneath one as it whipped around, then he swung his hammer at the next. The hammer punched through, scattering smoke and the arm's connection to the body. The severed portion dissipated until nothing remained of it. But, like a hydra, the damaged tendril reformed, billowing out until whole once more. It lunged, latching onto the haft of Engus Rul's hammer and yanking it from his grasp. Engus Rul refused to submit, striking at the smoking column with fists and kicks that did less damage than his hammer. Then one tentacle grasped his outstretched arm. Another spun around and latched onto a leg. In that moment, Engus Rul, realizing he had no other choice, reached over one shoulder and took hold of Soljilnor. It seemed a touch and a purpose was all it took, for the instant the weapon was grasped firmly before him it became suffused with flame. Wrappings were consumed and so too was the dwarf's hand. The price of wielding the Flaming Cutter. Engus Rul's howl of pain was cut off as the tentacles grasping arm and leg lifted him from his feet and spun him around again and again with the pillar's motion. With each revolution, the tentacles receded further into the pillar. Engus Rul's attempt to use Soljilnor was without effect as centrifugal force nearly tore the axe from his grip, giving him no chance to use the weapon. The dwarf bellowed. Shanna thought it a curse directed at Erlek. Then the pillar of smoke drank him in and Engus Rul and Soljilnor were no more. The guardian of Valacia, given its due, swirled away, back to whence it came. In moments, it was gone, with only a swirling of cloudy mist to mark its passing.

  Shanna screamed in frustration. Though the Element of Air absorbed her outburst, this time it reacted, slowing and diminishing until the air was still, calm, and silent. Shanna felt the Element hovering around her, but it no longer impeded her. Shanna turned on Erlek.

  The sitheri must have seen the murder in her eyes, for they leaped between her and their patron with spears leveled. Behind them, Erlek shouted something—something about not harming his Tool. Erlek's utterance infuriated Shanna all the more as her mind latched onto the Element of Air. This time, her fury bent it to her will. It obeyed. Violent currents of air assaulted the sitheri, hurling them far enough away they were no longer an obstacle. Then, with flame, earth, and air, Shanna prepared to end Erlek's life.

  "Kill me and you'll never find the last Element!" Erlek screamed into the wind.

  "I don't care!"

  Fire sprang to life all around her, surrounding her in a sheath of twisting flame and death.

  Shanna's approach was matched step-for-step as Erlek backed away from her.

  "Why did you kill him? Why did you have to kill any of them? You didn't have to!"

  "But I did! I did what had to be done! Look into your soul—look!—and tell me you think differently!"

  Erlek's back came up against one of the Empyrean pillars. His eyes, darting back and forth, searched for some escape. The sitheri struggled to return to him, but their every step was hindered by gale force winds. Erlek pressed himself against the pillar, every bit of distance keeping him alive a little longer. "Kill me and you'll never know the Elements' true secret! You'll never find the last!"

  "I don't care about the Element of Water!"

  "No! Not water!" Tongues of flame just licked the sweat from Erlek's brow. "Not water!" He closed his eyes, the features of his face squashed in anticipation of the pain. His mouth never stopped moving. "Water is the fourth! But there is another! There is a fifth! The Fifth Element!"

  Shanna stopped. "You're lying," she said. "There are only four Elements. Even I know that."

  "No." The edges of the savant's jacket smoldered. The oculars of his mask twisted as the flames melted them. "There are five: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and one more. It lies at a place called Crusus Kirth. Crusus Kirth, where once stood the place you knew as Norwynne Keep!"

  The wind and flame assaulting Erlek diminished just enough for the man to exhale a full breath. His next words came out in a flood.

  "It required awakening. In the days of old, places such as Crusus Kirth were tended by the druids. It is a Nexus—a place of power where brims the very power of Uhl. But such places require rejuvenation, sacrifices. Life to restore life. Don't you see? It was the only way. The blood of Norwynne's people returned life to Crusus Kirth. Awakened it! Now, it waits only for the return of the Four Elements, for it was there they were created long ago by the elementalists." Erlek paused to take breath. "I have a machine…"

  The winds died further. The flame diminished to a flickering around Shanna's person.

  "Yes?"

  "Come with me to Crusus Kirth," Erlek said, his words running across dry and blistered lips. "Come with me and all will be explained."

  Shanna let the Element of Fire dry the tears from her cheeks. This wasn't the end. The deaths of those who'd been taken prisoner and either slaughtered or used up would not go unanswered if she waited just a little longer to kill Erlek. She'd have her revenge. If she let Erlek live just a little longer, she'd have everything.

  The winds evaporated. The flames disappeared.

  "Take us there, then," she said.

  Erlek bowed. His eyes, full of fear, anger, and something more sinister, never left Shanna's.

  "Of course. But first, I have a rendezvous to make."

  19. The Last Hunt

  FLAMING DEBRIS FELL LIKE RAIN around Aaron, Ensel Rhe, and Serena while heat from the furnace that Wildemoore had become blasted their backsides. Aaron, who huddled on the ground with his arms over his head, dare not remain so a moment longer, for in that microcosm of a moment right before Ansanom's manor had exploded, he'd seen the houndmaster coming for them.

  Coming for him.

  Still coming, Aaron saw as he raised his head to see that the blast had done nothing to slow the houndmaster's advance.

  Aaron pushed himself away from the others, who were unmoving, and tried to rise. But quivering legs would not support him, and his whole body shook as echoes of the explosion coursed through him so that he had to crawl on hands and knees. There was nowhere to go. Ahead, tongues of flame from Wildemoore's burning wreckage lic
ked the sky. Behind, twin embers from beneath that terrible horned helm burned into him. Aaron need not turn to see those eyes, for he felt them, singeing his skin, burning him, causing him pain. So much pain he almost found himself unable to do anything but writhe upon the ground. He managed to roll to his back though, just in time to see the demon with his butcher's blade standing over him. Ember eyes flared, and Aaron, unable to stand the pain any longer, cried out.

  Pain.

  He realized he’d not truly experienced it until now. Pain wasn't a simple cut or bruise. It wasn't the name-calling he'd endured, or the bullying, or even the isolation of not fitting in. Real pain was watching someone you loved slip away without being able to stop it from happening. Real pain was seeing your home laid waste, witnessing the deaths of so many, then being chased across Uhl for reasons that made no sense. Real pain was betrayal. Aaron had endured all of it. He had survived, but only because of others. Now, those others were gone or debilitated. There was nothing separating him from what came next. Nothing except for the charm given to him by the witch, Ursool.

  Aaron's hand went to the tooth that still hung about his neck. By reflex, his hand shot away, for it was the source of his sudden pain. A shocked instant passed before he grabbed hold of it again. This time he ignored the sensation stabbing into him. He saw right away it was stained with blood. His blood, from the wound on his hand that still oozed. He'd touched the tooth down in the laboratory once he'd been freed and again as they'd run up the stairs to escape before the extraction engine exploded. But though the houndmaster had stood nearly this close to him before, the tooth had previously remained inert. The difference now was Aaron's blood coating the smooth, enameled surface and mixed with the dark stain that had already been there since he'd received the charm from Ursool. The witch had called the tooth a middling charm. Though Aaron had puzzled over the distinction before, only now did he grasp its full meaning. Blood was the activating agent and the tooth was a middling—a connecting medium—between two entities. Those two entities were Aaron and Krosus. But the connection had not been completed between them. Not yet.

  Realization alone would not sway Krosus's sword and so his blade fell. Aaron scrambled away, just avoiding it. As the houndmaster readied his weapon for another attack, Aaron jumped into a crouch, then leaped at him. Holding the tooth like a knife, he slashed Krosus's unprotected thigh even as he squirmed between the demon's legs. Aaron kept moving, putting some distance between them before he finally stood. As he turned, he held the tooth up, elated and dismayed at the same time to see the demon's blood mixed with his own. Krosus's crimson eyes flared. The sword drew back and the hounds, who thus far had been content to let their master complete their task, grew unsettled. They were behind Aaron, cutting off escape. It didn't matter. Aaron wasn't running anymore. He held the tooth before him as if it were a knife and waited for whatever came next.

  What came next was nothing. Krosus and his hounds stopped.

  Aaron let out a slow breath, wondering if any sudden movement of his might undo what he had just done. He took another breath, realizing for the first time how thunderous his heart beat in his chest. Though several of the dogs pawed at the ground and whined with steaming breaths, there was no untoward movement from either them or their master.

  "Put your sword away," Aaron said, testing the effect of the Joining.

  Aaron saw the defiance. Though the tooth put the two of them on common ground, there remained a battle between them. Physicality had been removed. Witchcraft ruled now, as did the mind. Krosus resisted the command, but in this, a battle of sheer will, Aaron was the stronger. Krosus had no choice but to yield. He sheathed his sword. The dogs, with heads bowed and tails tucked, moved to stand in a crowd behind Krosus. Illuminated by the fires that still consumed Wildemoore, they waited.

  Ensel Rhe and Serena had risen. They kept their distance from the pack as they approached Aaron.

  "What has happened?" Ensel Rhe asked. The eslar's khatesh was drawn, but the blade hung in a tired, weakened grasp.

  "I've taken control of the dogs and their master."

  Ensel Rhe's silence expressed his puzzlement. Then, with the pragmatism of a soldier, he accepted the explanation and said, "Tell them to go away then."

  "Yes," Aaron said. He'd send them so far away they'd spend the remainder of their existence getting there. "That's a good—"

  "Tsk, tsk. A shame to leave such a valuable item just lying about."

  The words slithered in from the dark, silencing Aaron and drawing the attention of everyone present, including Krosus and his hounds.

  A thin-framed man clad in earthen robes appeared from beyond the halo of fire consuming Wildemoore. Erlek Abn Nee stepped down from a small flying contraption to set foot upon the scorched earth. He stood unmoving for a moment, arms held at his sides. Then the blaze engulfing Wildemoore flared, its light shining across the distance to illuminate the top of the man's balding head. His full attention was on something at his feet. Something which he stooped to pick up before he straightened and stepped forward into the light.

  "Do you ever wonder why sorcerers choose such remote locales in which to build their homes?" he asked, gesturing with his free hand at the dark wilderness around them. His other remained at his side, cradling the urn that held the Element of Water. "Because there are places on Uhl imbued with a special connection to the forces beneath, above, and all around us. Nexuses, they are termed. Potent repositories of the energies which govern our world." Steel gray eyes studied what remained of Wildemoore Manor. "Ansanom built his home—which appears to have come to an untimely end—upon one such locale. He thought it might provide the spark his research needed. Perhaps it would have. But that matters little now.

  "We met a handful of years ago, when Ansanom wooed me to his home with promises of knowledge. Useless knowledge, I might add, but he never knew that. Ultimately, when our business was concluded, I meant to kill him." He smiled, light from the burning fires reflecting from his fake teeth. "While I see you have taken care of that task for me, it falls to me to deal with the rest of you." Erlek's free hand, already slipped into his robe whilst he spoke, emerged holding a small vial. A flick of his thumb sent the vial's stopper spinning end over end to the ground. Then, without warning, he threw his head back and downed its full contents. When he was finished, he tossed the empty vessel aside. "Its effects are not long lasting," he said as a wave rumbled through the ground deep beneath their feet, "but here, at the Nexus of Simion"—Erlek's free arm extended from his side to lift to the sky—"with five hundred years of knowledge at my command"—winds came to life, swirling around him, lifting him—"the power of the druids is mine!"

  Ensel Rhe was moving before Erlek's feet had left the ground, but it was too late. He made it three steps, then, as if leaden weights had been attached to his legs, he ground to a halt. In moments, it was all he could do to remain standing.

  "'Tis a little known fact," Erlek said, "that the flesh contains an abundance of water. Made more dense, one might find themselves in a predicament similar to your own." Erlek laughed. In response, the clouded sky cracked with thunder and split with lightning. His gaze passed over Aaron as if he weren't there, moving instead to fix on Serena. "Shall you try your sorcery against me, girl? Eh?"

  Serena's stance was neither one of challenge nor defiance. The girl was frozen with fear.

  "I thought not," Erlek said, his gaze darting to Krosus and his pack. Lightning flashed across the sky as he spoke to them. "Finish your task and begone. Already, I tire of your slavering jowls."

  As one, the pack's attention settled on Aaron. But neither Krosus nor the hounds made a move toward their prey. Aaron watched them with uncertainty, his breath catching in his throat as he wondered what they might do. When they did nothing, Aaron finally found his courage bolstered enough that he raised his voice to be heard over the rising howl of the wind. "They won't listen to you!"

  "Eh? What's this?" Erlek's gray eyes settled on Aaron.
"What's that you say, boy?"

  Aaron almost blanched under that gaze as a splash of cold fear took hold at the base of his spine. The old Aaron would have succumbed to it. This Aaron clenched his fists and the mounting dread vanished as if smacked with a hammer. "They listen to me now."

  "Really?" He wondered at that for a moment, but did not contest the claim. He shrugged. "I suppose it matters little. Once, it was you I thought important. The fact of the matter is that you are really not that important at all."

  "Not that important? You summoned the dogs to hunt us down." Aaron remained unaware that it hadn’t been Erlek at all who’d summoned the hounds. "You destroyed my home! You—You killed my friend!" Aaron clenched his fists tighter despite the pain the wounds there caused him. He wanted to leap up, drag the man back down to earth, and pummel him over and over until he admitted that he, Aaron, was the most important person on the face of Uhl. Aaron had no such notion of self-importance, but why else would the savant have done all of those things to him? Even now, Aaron didn't want to admit he had known the answer to that question for some time. That it had all been a case of mistaken identity was too easy, too heartbreaking. But there it was. Erlek had done all he'd done because he thought Aaron was someone he was not. There probably hadn't been anyone even distantly related to Tarn Galangaul residing at Norwynne. How could Erlek, who'd spent five hundred years hunting down and finding treasures lost to the world, have been so wrong?

  There wasn't any more time for conjecture on the matter as Erlek's free hand came up. Aaron started to step away, but he remembered the hounds so close behind and stopped. The hounds, whining, growling, and snapping, returned the stare he threw over one shoulder. They no longer looked at him with hunger in their eyes. Now, they looked at him in anticipation. Winds swirled around him. He felt his body lifting, turning. With all his breath, Aaron shouted at the pack to attack.

  Like catapults wound too tight and finally released, the hounds sprang forward, their long strides sending them past Aaron to close the distance between themselves and Erlek in less than a second. Though suspended in mid-air, Erlek was not so high that powerful and otherworldly canine muscles could not propel the hounds within reach of him. The first dog snapped at empty air. The second, into the meaty flesh of one leg. Erlek howled in pain. Fire culled from the burning embers of Wildemoore Manor lanced across the distance to strike the hounds. The force of the druidic attack scattered some, but not all. A second hound locked its teeth on Erlek's robe, then another bit down on the man's ankle. Erlek's mouth opened in a silent scream as the combined weight of the three hounds started pulling him down. The others were not content to wait for him to touch ground. A pair leaped at the savant, barreling into him so that both man and dogs fell into a pile upon the earth. One thin arm of Erlek's reached heavenward, then the sight was blotted from Aaron's vision by the remainder of the hounds piling on. They gnashed and tore, ignoring Erlek's screams and calls for mercy. Then, in response to a silent command, the dogs left off and withdrew. Krosus stepped past Aaron, his sword lifted. For one moment Aaron thought to stop him, then it was too late. Erlek's struggles ceased.