Flight: The Roc Warriors (Immortal Elements Book 1)

by Sarah Zolton Arthur

  “It does appear menacing,” he said, stating the obvious.

  “Usually means a storm is brewing… what kind of storm is the question.”

  My head throbbed, but I’d been out for far too long to take it easy any longer. My guys apparently weren’t going to let me work, so I took work upon myself. Rising slowly, I winced as I grabbed my head, making an audible— “ouch!”

  “Eaglet?” Shadow asked as he dropped down next to me on his knees. “What do you need?”

  “Ibuprofen. Do you have any?”

  “Did we pack any?” he asked. “Crest—check Meena’s backpack for ibuprofen.”

  “On it,” Crest called back.

  “I didn’t bring a backpack,” I found it prudent to remind him.

  “Dear one, you have been out three days. I told you we made contact with my mother. We did that hoping to bring her back down with us.”

  Okay, I guessed I had a bag. Didn’t he just have an answer for everything…Thankfully, he managed to find the little white bottle at the bottom of my pack. He popped the cap and handed me off two. Shadow helped me drink so I could swallow the pills. Rogue knelt to the side with a rag to dry my mouth. These big, burly man-birds treated me like a fragile china doll.

  I let them get comfortable with the fact that I was all right before getting on with my work. Plus, it gave the medicine a chance to kick in. Once I started to feel better, the time had come for me to work on those tinctures.

  Instead of walking to the book, that conveniently none of the men brought to me, even though I asked politely, I used one of the tricks Avalon had shown me and brought the book to me. I could get used to this witchy stuff.

  I turned to the pages for healing. The men had done a credible job, as I was awake now. But without the powers of the witch to back them up, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do.

  Hours passed. I had a healing potion simmering. I had luck beginning to brew, but we needed a few more ingredients. The men chatted as I rested in between checking on my brews. A nip here and a sip there until a queasy stomach stopped me cold. Far too late, as I was dealing with magic and potions, the thought occurred to me that maybe I shouldn’t have been mixing the teas.

  Meena, you ridiculous woman. What were you thinking? The problem was I hadn’t been thinking. As the pots over the fire simmered away, throwing differently-tinted fog into air surrounding the campfire, I held my hand out to work on shield charms. I felt like puking. And I felt sluggish.

  The ground began to rumble again. Fast as anything, the three men surrounded me protectively. “Not me—get the potions,” I yelled.

  Each man used part of his shirt as a hot pad to grab up a can or pot containing one of the brews; even so, they kept to the protective circle.

  One of the worst-case scenarios imaginable—a plume of magmatic smoke shot into the sky from the cap above our heads. The subsequent heat, carbon dioxide, and sulfur choked us as we tried to breathe. The smell of rotten eggs replaced the clean scent of wilderness.

  Grounding myself with the earth and raising both my hands, I concentrated hard to connect with my power. The air started to shimmer around us as a bubble of clean, fresh air replaced the toxins. I broke concentration once to tell the men, “It’s getting worse.”

  Just that little sentence was enough lack of control to rupture a small perforation in the bubble surrounding us. Toxic gas wiggled and wormed inside until I focused, closing the hole.

  I’d spent my life researching volcanos. Despite how it appeared to the untrained eye, this was the most unnatural natural phenomenon I’d ever witnessed. Sure, all of what we’d observed happened with volcanos readying to erupt. But this girl had lain dormant for ten thousand years. It was going hyper-speed toward full eruption. More than knowing it because of my years of training, I felt a physical connection with the mountain since leaving Cloud City. She was in pain and wanted me to fix it.

  The thing was, I didn’t know if I could fix what ailed her. Supernatural hadn’t exactly been my forte in years past—but I guessed it was about to be. If not us, then who? Humanity. The animal kingdom. The planet. Every being on the Earth would be stricken if we didn’t get control of the situation. All the situations happening all over the globe. Tsunamis. Quakes. Eruptions. Breya’s call telling me that homeless were turning up missing in great numbers as far away as Portugal and most likely farther.

  The cry for help coming from inside the mountain.

  When we got home, I was due for a good mental breakdown. Crying the likes of which my mate had yet to see coming from me. I deserved it.

  For now, I continued to focus on the bubble surrounding us and extended my reach in an attempt to calm the impending pyroclastic event teetering right there on the edge. This was bad. So bad.

  The sky began to rain pumice stone, ash, and obsidian. I bore down like a woman in labor, one hand keeping the bubble around us, the other straining to calm the stirrings deep inside the ground.

  My whole body began to vibrate. Energy drained from me as blood would from a gunshot. My breathing became difficult. My chest tight, unable to pull in enough air. Because of this, my pulse quickened—both temple and neck pounded out a ‘heartbeat.’

  If I had to guess, I’d guess I was actually dying.

  Chapter Fourteen:

  An Eagle Takes Flight

  As suddenly as it started, the smoke—ash, pumice, and obsidian—dissipated. The ground stopped rumbling. Somehow, and I wished I knew how, I stopped it for the time being. Yet to do so drained me, leaving nothing in the stores.

  Opening my parched mouth, I tried to call to Shadow, who stood right next to me, yet not one sound, not even a squeak, escaped. As if he sensed me slipping away, he turned his head sharply. “Meena,” he shouted, dropping to his knees.

  The other two men turned to gawk and dropped next to me, too.

  “Water,” Shadow ordered. “She needs water.”

  Crest leapt to his feet and ran to his pack, where he pulled a bottle of water. In an instant he fell to my side, unscrewing the cap as he did. Shadow placed one hand to the base of my neck to help me sit up slightly. He held the bottle to my lips and tipped the glorious liquid into my mouth little sips at a time. I needed to gulp it down as parched as I was, though I lacked the energy to do so despite the desire to quench this incredible thirst.

  The coolness dribbled down my chin. I couldn’t swallow. My body could no longer hold the weight of even my arms up. They dropped to my sides.

  An image of dead fish dumped from a snare came to mind. It would’ve been funny if not for it happening to me.

  The scariest part, though—the sparks fizzled out completely. As if there was a short in my magical connection, but I had no breaker switch to flip it back on.

  Shadow scrutinized me. “Meena?” he asked again, this time sounding… frightened.

  I couldn’t fathom as to why he sounded so strange and went to tell him so—only my mouth refused to open. This was a new development. An incredibly unwelcome new development.

  My eyes remained open. I saw everything in front of them but that was the extent of it. All my muscles locked up tight including my eyes, they stayed frozen straight ahead.

  What did they call this? Catatonia, maybe? Except I retained full function of my mind. It only affected my body.

  That did nothing to calm the fear of my mate. He couldn’t know that I saw him leaned over me. His beautiful dark hair spilling over his shoulder to tickle my skin. Tickles I’d laugh at or wiggle away from if I still held the capacity to move.

  “Meena, eaglet.” He shook me almost violently. It didn’t hurt, but it scared me. Not of him, but for him. Because I couldn’t reassure him that I’d be okay. “Talk to me,” he shouted. “Rogue, Crest,” he called then to his brothers who’d already dropped down next to him, leaning their faces over mine.

  “Meena, sweetheart,” Rogue said. “Can you talk to me?”

  No. No, I couldn’t, despite how badly I wanted to. A
nd make no mistake, I wanted to.

  A phone rang and I watched Shadow fish it from his pocket. He hit the answer button and put it to his ear.

  “What?” Shadow asked tersely into the line. Then he paused. “No, no. We have had some complications here.” He paused again. “It is bad.” Another pause “Yes…” And he finished by saying, “Shit. Not now. Yes. Thank you for calling.” Then he pressed the end call button.

  “Well?” Crest asked.

  “That was Race. Wolves are on the move—headed this way.”

  “We have to move her,” Rogue shot back.

  “I know,” Shadow clipped, and I bet he was regretting meeting me right about now.

  “What are we going to do?” Crest again. Wasn’t that the hundred-million-dollar-question.

  “I have to go to Mother. She is the only one I know who can help.” With the back of his fingers, Shadow gently stroked the skin along my forehead and down my temple. The tender touch would’ve brought tears to my eyes if I still held the ability to produce any.

  “What do you want us to do?” Rogue asked.

  “Read the book. See if there is a potion for you to brew that might help. Not that it will be as powerful as hers, but something is better than doing nothing at all.”

  “How are we supposed to take care of her and search out twigs and leaves?” Crest asked indignantly.

  “Race and Bracken are on their way. Once they get here, we will move.”

  After their little talk, the brothers left my side. I heard the activity, lots of activity, all around me. I just couldn’t see any of it. Every so often, Shadow’s face filled my vision as he popped down to peck my cheek, my lips or some other spot on my face. He whispered sweet things in my ear, made promises for when we finished our mission.

  Time passed slowly when immobile. So much needed to get done. I hated not contributing. I hated being the weakest link in our hero chain.

  Eventually, two more distinct voices appeared on the scene, voices I recognized as Race’s and Bracken’s.

  “Are you sure she is even still alive?” Bracken asked, his concern for my wellbeing evident. Shadow was lucky to have such a good friend to lean on at this time.

  “She breathes, so yes, I am sure. But I have to go to my mother…” Shadow trailed off and I wished I could ease his worry.

  “If anyone can help her, it is Avalon,” Race said.

  “We need to move her first,” my mate told them both. “I will leave once she is safe again.”

  “Will your wing hold out?” he asked.

  Shadow patted the sling. “I have been resting it, but between the healing tea and our natural Roc healing, I will be fine. My brothers were just being cautious.”

  “Then go. The four of us will move her, brother,” Rogue said as he gave Shadow a little push.

  “She is my mate,” he protested.

  “And she needs your help. On my life, Shad, she will get to the next stop safely.” Rogue stood, pulling at Shadow’s shoulder to get him to stand.

  But before he would go, he bent in low. “Meena, my love. If you can hear me, I am flying to get help from my mother. You will be safe with my brothers, but I am the fastest. It must be me who goes.” Then he touched the tip of his nose to mine, ran it up the bridge, back down, and rested his forehead against mine before he closed his eyes and kissed me.

  I felt his breath heavy on my skin. Well before I was ready for him to break the contact, he stood and leapt from the ground, transforming to bird mid-jump and flapping his mighty copper wings, his clothing and sling drifting to the ground.

  The four men who were left fashioned a makeshift stretcher, able to be carried at each corner, out of branches from the pines that they’d torn off the trees with their bare hands and woven together, securing the joints with thin, rope-like peelings of bark. While Rogue and Crest moved me and the pelts to the stretcher of branches, Race and Bracken cleaned up the campsite of any visible traces that we’d been here.

  The four men then each picked a corner and lifted me easily. Crest wore two backpacks, mine and his, as we wound our way around the mountain. Farther up this time than we had been. It was good to mix up our ascents and descents in order to keep our enemies from pursuing. They hardly made a sound as the miles melted away underfoot, traversing over wickedly altered terrain from the quakes and rockslides that would’ve taken me days, not hours, to move along had I been able to walk.

  Every so often one of them stopped the procession to tilt his head up, listening or smelling the air to make sure our path was clear from danger. Not one other man made a move until the one who’d stopped us tipped his chin down and nodded to the rest. Then we continued on.

  Pain spread through my body as the tea and meds I’d taken earlier wore off, and I couldn’t tell them I needed more.

  Thankfully, we hit a patch of ground cleared enough from debris for them to set me down. No more than ten minutes after, I felt the heated blaze of a fire warming my skin, the light flickering and dancing to cast shadows of burnt umber over me and the ground. If anything, they worked efficiently.

  “We have to look for plants while there’s still daylight,” Crest told the others. “You’ll look after her?”

  “A lot of trouble over a tiny witch,” Race said.

  “A tiny witch who has pair-mated with your friend and future king, which means she will be our tiny witch queen,” Rogue said, putting him in his place.

  Bracken cut in. “Besides, she is a good woman. It is a shame that this has to happen to her.”

  Well didn’t he speak the truth? It was certainly a shame that I lay here in pain unable to voice it while my mate flew to get medicine to help and his brothers worried over me. And wasn’t it an even bigger shame that when Shadow and I should’ve been off somewhere enjoying newlywed time, we were busy preventing the end of the world?

  I worried for my new family, for Breya, and for a population I’d never met. I worried for the wolves who hated me, because I felt it down to my bones that some of them had to be good. Couldn’t it be possible for a few to simply be confused? Come on, this perilous time we found ourselves in was, in fact, confusing. I worried for other immortals as well as regular old animals who’d done nothing to deserve what was on the verge of hitting us all.

  “She will be safe,” Bracken said to reassure Crest and Rogue. And I would be. Race and Bracken wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me if they could help it. Well, Bracken wouldn’t. I wasn’t always so sure about Race. But as long as Bracken was along to look after me, I was sure he wouldn’t let Race let anything bad happen to me, either.

  They must have been reassured because both of the princes swept my hair back from my forehead one at a time and kissed me there with Rogue saying, “Hang in there, sis. We are going to fix this.”

  Being useless sucked and the pain got to me. I passed out.

  The intense aching hadn’t diminished much when the first stirrings of consciousness hit along with the first strings of conversation.

  “They are taking too long getting into that volcano,” Bracken said.

  “She saved all their lives in that last quake,” Race answered.

  “Do you not think I know that? But whatever is going on here, she needs to get down inside that shaft. Shadow and his brothers are so concerned with moving her from place to place, hiding her from the wolves or ravens, they are neglecting to do what needs to be done, and you know it.”

  “What do you suggest we do, then, Brack?” Race asked.

  “If they find it too hard, then it is up to us to get her there. All the plans rest on getting her inside.”

  “Okay, so what do you suggest, going behind their backs?” He asked another, what I thought was, a very good question. “That could get us court-martialed.”

  “Then we wait for her to wake and ask her what she wants to do. If she commands us, as our aerie-lady and the future queen, we cannot deny her.”

  As their future queen, they couldn’t deny me? T
hat certainly was good information to tuck away for later.

  A fly buzzed annoyingly around my face and landed on my cheek, causing pain to rip throughout my entire body. At the same time the voice from inside the volcano called out, “Help me.” Unable to take the pressure in my head from the voice and the pain from the fly, my world went dark again.

  Chapter Fifteen:

  The Wife. The Witch. And the Volcanologist

  The silhouette of a giant majestic eagle began to descend. For the rest of my life, however short that might be, I’d never forget that figure. My glorious mate in flight.

  I needed to fight, to recover, to give us the chance at a life we deserved to have after finding each other—our souls connecting—once again. Centuries had separated us before. Never again.

  Shadow landed, holding a leather pouch between his beak. He approached slowly, feathers sinking back to reveal his golden skin. As human features morphed from the bird, the pouch dropped from a beak that no longer existed into a fully formed hand of the naked man who stopped to stand before me.

  “Eaglet,” he said on a breath. “You are awake, aren’t you?” He stared deep into my eyes, almost as if he saw past the frozen body to the me inside.

  Not getting… rid of me… yet, birdman, I thought. My brain stuttered over the words from pain and I was surprised that because of our connection—it had to be our connection and not Roc powers because none of the others saw inside me—he figured out I was awake and that I hadn’t left him.

  “Do you hurt, my love?”

  Yes, he so saw me.

  If I could have nodded, I would have. Unfortunately, my only recourse was to try and convey the horrific pain through my dull eyes and hope he picked up on it.

  He dropped to my side and tipped the leather pouch upside-down in his opposite hand. A small bottle rolled out onto his palm. Throwing the pouch to the ground, he scooped me up into a partial sitting position and popped the stopper off the bottle with his thumb.