The Five Elements

by Scott Marlowe

  Aaron fell to his knees, retching. He coughed and choked, remaining on all fours until a moan, come from Erlek, sounded. Aaron lifted his head to see Krosus's sword raised, ready to deliver another killing blow. This time Aaron found his voice. "Stop!" He spit vomit from his mouth and tried to stand, managing to gain his knees only. "Stop! Leave him alone!"

  Krosus's stare swiveled round to pierce Aaron's soul. Aaron could not stand such a look and he fell back, unable to speak. But the houndmaster obeyed, sheathing his sword as he withdrew.

  Aaron stood on wobbly legs. Stumbling, he moved to stand over Erlek.

  The man was a shamble of bloody, torn robes and mangled skin. Crimson ringed a mouth full of broken, false teeth, and his one, good eye stared out wildly. The other side of his face was a meaty smudge. A moan escaped from between swollen, torn lips. The sound rose, then fell, until it was not a moan at all, but a laugh bubbling forth.

  "You've killed me, boy. Five hundred years could not stop me, but you… . You would have the Elements for yourself. I see it in your eyes."

  "The Elements?" Aaron shook his head. "I don't want them. I never wanted them." Aaron looked for the Element of Water. It took a moment, but there it was: the urn was broken, shattered, the liquid inside emptied out onto the earth. Aaron told Erlek as much.

  Erlek coughed out a splash of blood. "It is… returned to the earth then." The man's one eye closed. His breath, visible as small bubbles of blood, lessened. Aaron thought that, finally, he might die. But then his eyelid flashed open, revealing a steel gray spark. "I saw it in her eyes, too. From the moment… I first saw her. She will finish… what I have started." He swallowed. "When… not return, she will know… I am dead. Returned to… the earth. She will sense… . She will finish it…" Erlek smiled a wicked grin with the half of his mouth that still worked. "…for all of you."

  Aaron narrowed his brow, but not at the threat in Erlek's words. He narrowed his brow in puzzlement. "Who is 'she'?" Ansanom had referred to Erlek's apprentice as 'Erlek's boy'. He'd said nothing about a girl.

  "A waif, a hellion. A prisoner, until Fate showed her to me. She is… filled with darkness. Surrounded by it. From the hair on her head… to the depths of her soul. She will do no good."

  "Who? What is her name?"

  The light was dying in Erlek's one remaining eye. He said only, "Return… to your home. Perhaps you will recognize her. Return… to Norwynne." The last word faded to a whisper, then silence. He was gone.

  Aaron turned away to find Ensel Rhe and Serena regarding him in silence. The dogs were quiet now, sitting on their haunches or lying down, waiting for whatever task Aaron set them on next. Except there were no more tasks. Aaron almost ordered them away as Ensel Rhe had suggested earlier. Words of Erlek's distracted him as he turned his look upon the burning house, as if the flames might give him answers. Return to Norwynne. She doesn't know what she is about to unleash. Aaron shook his head. Always more questions. Aaron doubted he'd ever find all the answers.

  A hand on his shoulder caused him to turn and face Ensel Rhe and Serena. It was Serena who'd reached out to him.

  "We have to go back to Norwynne," Aaron said. "Something bad is going to happen there."

  "But Erlek is dead," Ensel Rhe said. Blood and bruises crisscrossed the eslar's face, his clothes were torn and dirty, and his sword, still unsheathed, was held in a grasp so loose it appeared it would slip from his hand at any moment.

  Serena spoke before Aaron could answer. "It might not matter. Erlek had an apprentice. Another descendant of Tarn Galangaul. Norwynne, like this place, was built over a Nexus, though the one over your home is much more powerful. If Erlek was coming here for the Element of Water, then he already had the other three." Though she did not say it, she was with them now. There was nothing left for her here.

  "The urn," Ensel Rhe said, gesturing at the broken crockery.

  "Erlek said it had returned to the earth," Aaron said.

  Serena shook her head. "I don't know what that means. But I do know that even with only three of the Elements, Erlek's apprentice might still try to carry out his plan."

  "Which is?" Ensel Rhe asked.

  "Mastery over the Elements."

  "No," Aaron said. "I mean, yes, but Erlek has been after something more from the start. I think what he's been after all along is the Fifth Element."

  No one contested it, for they all knew it was true, though not a one of them knew a thing about it.

  "It's very possible Erlek's apprentice is already on his way to Norwynne," Ensel Rhe said. "He might even already be there. It took us many days to get here. It will take us many to return. There is the flying machine Erlek came in on, but it is only big enough for one." He shook his head. "I don't see how we are to do anything about this."

  It was a dilemma, true. A problem with no easy answer. Aaron looked past the both of them, at the only structure of Wildemoore Manor still standing: the wagonhouse. Then he looked at the pack.

  "I have an idea."

  20. The Final Betrayal

  THE WALK FROM VALACIA TO the Griffin sapped the anger from Shanna, leaving her tired—exhausted, really—and plagued by a numbness that nibbled away at her spirit. Her hands had started trembling halfway to the airship. Clenching them into fists halted such nonsense for a time, but only until the sensation spread to her arms. She clasped her arms across her chest, but such measures also proved temporary as she then had to fight to keep her entire body from trembling. Shanna wasn't sure how she made it up the rope and onto the airship's deck. She thought perhaps one of the crewmen—Tom perhaps—had helped her up the last bit. But, thinking back, her memory was spotted with so many holes the only thing she remembered clearly at all was what had happened in the ancient city of the Empyreans. Engus Rul was dead. While the dwarf had never truly been on her side, he'd also never really been against her. Of all the dwarves, he'd been the only one. That was why, as she gained her balance on the ever-shifting deck, she was not surprised at the reception waiting for her.

  The remaining dwarves stood on deck with naked steel in their hands. Opposing them, and keeping them from grabbing Erlek outright, were the sitheri, their own weapons brandished. Around them all, standing at a safe distance, a handful of mates wearing high altitude gear fingered the hafts of pikes better suited to repelling boarders than quelling a riot. Still others kept hands close to clubs and knives. A riot was just what Shanna expected to break out at any moment when, instead, one of the dwarves stepped forward to ask what had become of Engus Rul. Erlek opened his mouth to respond, but a quick outburst from the dwarf silenced him.

  "Shut yer mouth, bloodsucker!" the dwarf said. "I'll hear it from the girl."

  As all eyes turned to her, it was not the sudden attention which kept Shanna's voice quiet but a sudden rash of shame at her inability to keep Engus Rul alive. She'd been handed more than one opportunity to end Erlek's life, yet she'd not taken advantage of a single one of them. She could have prevented Engus Rul's death. Instead, she'd contributed to it. In the end, her prolonged silence was answer enough for the dwarves.

  Chaos ensued as dwarf traded blows with sitheri. Only interference from the pike-wielding airmen kept the scuffle from breaking out into a full-scale war as they leveled the hafts of their weapons between the conflicting parties. From there, the confrontation ended as quickly as it had begun, but only after bitter pledges of retribution from the lips of the dwarves. Their threats were not only for Erlek. Threatening glances were leveled at Shanna too. A wave or two of an axe was meant to signify her head coming off. Still, she longed to tell them that she, too, mourned Engus's passing, that he'd been a sort of friend, and that she'd tried to stop Erlek from killing him. She knew the futility of speaking such words though to ones who hated her as much as they hated Erlek, so she said nothing. It was all she could do to keep her trembling from showing, anyway.

  Shanna left the dying commotion of the main deck behind, floating down into the comforting half-light of the Grif
fin's hull. With relief, she tore off her mask and heavy coat. Erlek trailed her all the way to her room. Sighing, Shanna turned to see what he wanted rather than lead him into the small confines beyond her door.

  "I go to meet a powerful sorcerer to barter for the Element of Water," Erlek said.

  "Barter like you did for the Element of Air?"

  A smile just turned the edges of Erlek's lips. "You will remain behind. We cannot risk the Elements we already have falling into the hands of this man."

  Shanna's hand went to the satchel still hanging from one shoulder where the three Elements were stowed. A spark of defiance still sheltered within, she half-hoped Erlek asked for her to surrender them so she could refuse him, but he did not. He intended to leave immediately, alone upon one of the gyros. He ordered her to stay in her room until his return.

  "The crew and my sitheri will see to it that you are kept safe from the dwarves," Erlek said. "The captain of the Griffin owes me much more than they ever will. Perhaps it is best if Mirna alone is allowed access."

  Shanna, who was of a mind to agree after their reception, offered no resistance.

  She stayed in her room the remainder of that day and most of the next. The Griffin descended to a more hospitable elevation, but remained mostly stationary as they waited for Erlek's return. She spent most of her time lying in her cot, sleeping and too often dreaming of cloud cities and the pillars of swirling smoke that guarded them. Each time, she was awoken when the column gripped her in its smoky essence, twirling her around before sucking her into oblivion. The first time, she woke screaming, crying, and near convulsing until gentle, firm hands gripped hers, drew her near, and stayed with her until the episode had passed. Mirna came to her often, sometimes to bring food, sometimes just to talk. She mentioned Tom, telling Shanna the boy had asked after her more than once. Shanna would have liked to have talked to Tom, but not having the energy to receive him she let Mirna's comments about him go unanswered.

  She left the Elements in their satchel, never once taking them out, though she kept them close. She had tried hanging them from a hook on the wall opposite to where she slept, but somehow they always ended up next to her. She fell asleep embracing the satchel. Never once did she feel any stirring from them. Before, her mere proximity had elicited a response, almost as if waves of interference passed between them. Now, there was none. They were in tune with one another, the Elements' energy rising and falling with each breath she took and every beat of her heart. Still, it created a sensation deep within her, a feeling that, finally, she belonged.

  Toward the end of the next day, after Shanna had spent all of the afternoon alone, wrapped in her melancholy, Mirna came to her. Her soft knock was so familiar she hadn't even the need to ask who it was or look to see who came through the door unbidden. Mirna, who for all her quietness and subservience, had proven the most steady thing of all since this madness had begun. Mirna drifted to Shanna, who lay upon her cot. Gently, the woman brushed at Shanna's long, dark hair as she hummed a soft tune. The sound of it lulled Shanna into the beginnings of sleep. Only Mirna's voice, the words spoken softly, as if words in her melody, kept her from fading altogether.

  "It is done now," Mirna said.

  Shanna, whose mind was drifting amongst the clouds, almost did not register the words. "What is done?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

  Mirna, still standing, leaned closer as she made to wrap an arm about Shanna's shoulders. The cot swayed from the motion. While the Elements were safe at Shanna's other side, the motion was enough to shift the satchel. Shanna half-turned, to settle the bag before it fell. By the time she saw the knife it was already buried to the hilt in her belly.

  Her gut was filled with liquid fire. Shanna opened her mouth to give voice to the explosion of pain, but the only thing to pass across her lips was a silent scream that Mirna made certain stayed silent as the woman's hand closed over her mouth. A burning sensation hotter than the molten rivers of Cauldron Mountain lanced through every part of her, dulling her senses and immobilizing her so that even breathing took more effort than she was able. She swayed and fell to the floor. The jolt sent such a blast of pain exploding into her head that she almost blacked out. Then Mirna was there, running one hand across Shanna's forehead with the gentleness of a mother while her other grasped the hilt of the knife still jutting from Shanna's stomach. With a quick exertion, Mirna ripped the blade free. Shanna's breath left her and she did wail then, screaming, but so faintly no one heard. Mirna laid the bloodied knife across Shanna's throat, then she lowered herself bodily on top of her to whisper into her ear and to keep her from moving.

  "This is how it must be, Shanna."

  Shanna felt the sharp edge of the blade, made warm by her blood, press against her neck.

  "The earth was never meant to be enslaved."

  Shanna sensed more than felt the muscles in Mirna's arm tensing, ready to slice the blade across her naked throat.

  Except it never did.

  Shanna felt it now. Water, splashing to the ground leagues away, absorbed by Earth, and here in the room with her, the Element of Water. Rational thought, expunged when Mirna had rammed half a foot of steel into her, escaped her. Questions and the need for answers fell by the wayside. She felt it, Joined with the others at long last, as a sense of euphoria that burned through the pain and the betrayal and single overwhelming feeling that no one—no one!—remained with her. Mirna had been her last lifeline. Now, there was Earth, and Fire, and Air, and Water, joined as one again only because she existed. They were hers to control and command. Erlek's death flitted by as an afterthought, a fractional second of satisfaction. She'd held off killing him only because of the knowledge he possessed. Now, she realized he'd possessed nothing. She alone was the impetus that had drawn the Elements together. She alone willed them to life.

  Life was what they were. She knew that now. Death, too, for those who wished her harm. Now, Shanna summoned them. Slumbering Earth, coruscating Fire, capricious Air, and now, Water, that Shanna knew longed for nothing more than release. Not to kill—the desire to visit death upon another was wholly Shanna's—but a longing to simply be. Shanna called to them, through the dizzying haze in her mind, through the blood and tears, and through the physical boundaries separating them. In that shattered moment, the Four Elements came to life.

  The satchel containing the three burst apart. Joined by the fourth they became something else entirely. Raw energy engulfed the small room. Mirna screamed. The knife in the woman's hand disintegrated away to less than dust as she was hurled away from Shanna, who gained her knees and then, somehow, clutching her gut from the pain, stood. Mirna herself remained upright only because the power crackling all around Shanna reached out to hold the woman propped against the far wall. Mirna struggled, but there was no release. Blood pounding through her head, Shanna made ready to finish her. The Elements, joined into something that transcended their individual existences, came at the woman from every direction at once, permeating every bit of her physical being, every fiber of the soul energy which gave her life.

  "I trusted you!" Shanna screamed.

  Mirna's face contorted in surprise and horror and pain, then Shanna finished her. The energy of the Elements hurtled into Mirna like a wave, consuming her and the wall behind her. It did not stop there. The release blasted through the Griffin's inner hull, burning and disintegrating everything it touched until Shanna had a clear view of the night sky beyond.

  Shanna heaved in breaths, letting the Elements separate into their constituent pieces. She was far from done. Her mind beckoned to Fire. There was a moment's hesitation, then the Element lanced into her, cauterizing the wound Mirna had caused. Already dizzy with pain, that last stroke almost sent her into oblivion. But if she stopped now, if she faltered for even a moment, it was over for her. The dwarves still wanted her dead. The crew of the Griffin no doubt as well, for what she'd just done, despite any promises they'd made to Erlek. The man was gone now, anyway. She was on her own
.

  Shanna saw faces, popping into view down the path of destruction she'd created. The screams and howls of those caught in the blast—those who hadn't been killed outright—followed. It was everything Shanna could do to remain upright. She pushed the faces and the wounded from her mind else they drag her down into a sea of regret.

  "Tom!" a man Shanna didn't recognize shouted at her between sobs. The man's face was streaked with soot and blood. "You've killed Tom!"

  The words penetrated Shanna's shield, slicing her through the heart and causing her to lurch backward. Only the wall there kept her from toppling. She closed her eyes, sealing away the tears and willing away the looks of anger and horror, the sounds of the dying and wounded, and, most of all, Tom, who probably never even knew what hit him. Shanna had purpose now. Nothing must stand in the way of that.