Born of Water: Elemental Magic & Epic Fantasy Adventure

by Autumn M. Birt

Chapter 35

  LESSON OF FIRE

  “So I suggest the first element you work on is fire.” Ty said as he dropped a poor assortment of twigs and branches next to the fire ring Darag had called from the ground. Niri cocked an eyebrow at him, humor bubbling to her lips.

  “Why?” Ria asked with bright innocence.

  “Niri can put out anything that gets out of control.”

  Ria giggled while Lavinia rolled her eyes. “Yah, no kidding,” Lavinia drawled.

  “Lazy,” Niri accused Ty. He shrugged, unthreatened. “Well first, the ‘kindling’ needs to be dry.”

  Niri focused on the first piece she picked up, narrowing her eyes. Water and sap leaked out from the split ends. Darag let out a slow breath.

  “Yah, she is a showoff sometimes.” Niri glared at Ty, wishing she had something to throw at him, something akin to a fireball. The idea of calling a storm to drench him crossed her mind.

  Ty grinned at her. “Hey sis, why don’t we take a walk and look for some more ‘kindling’ for them to play with.” Lavinia laughed, hooking her arm through her brother’s. They disappeared down the rise together.

  They had stayed in Bakk three days. All of them were exhausted, although Ria spent the time impatiently pacing, wanting to learn to use the gift that sang in her blood.

  “When?” Ria had asked each dawn.

  “Not here, not in town. On the way to Ashi’Shinai.”

  “In case I call the Curse,” Ria had said in response to Ty’s order, arms crossed.

  “No, Ria, because no one else must know it is possible,” Niri had consoled.

  Ria’s impertinence actually made Niri laugh, especially after she had bathed and let the water soak into her skin until she felt full with it. The girl had sulked for a large portion of the journey. This had been the first time Niri had seen Ria as the one most anxious to continue as she embraced, rather than forswore, the gift she had been born with.

  It had taken Niri nearly the entire three days in Bakk to feel the effects of the desert dryness fade from her mind. Ty had seemed to know. He took his time selling the camels for stocky legged horses common to the Steppes to the north and making arrangements for food and provisions. All the while the sunburn across his nose and eyes, places where the desert headscarf had not covered, healed to leave only a deep worry line between his brows.

  Darag and Lavinia had been inseparable in their happiness. Though Darag had left her to sleep and recover while he helped Ty prepare for the journey north, there was always a smile on his lips and a weightlessness in his step. If possible, Niri had thought Lavinia looked even happier than she had in Lus na Sithchaine.

  Now on their first day riding north from Bakk, they camped in a waving sea of grasses and sedge that rolled along the low hills. Higher mountains rose to the northeast, holding mostly scrub and rock. No trees were visible anywhere along the wide sweep of the horizon.

  The ground had become softer during the day. Dampness formed veins of water in the depression and soon they had been riding along grass choked streams, insects humming in the humid air. Niri felt alive with the change.

  Now she sat facing Ria’s olive eyes set in her lightly tanned face. Worry lines traced across Ria’s forehead.

  “How do you know I won’t use magic and summon the Curse?”

  “You won’t. We will watch you and tell you to stop before you do. Trust yourself.” Darag’s eyes were as kind and patient as his words. Ria swallowed and nodded nervously. “Are you sure you want to try?” Darag asked Niri.

  Niri nodded. The fluttering in her stomach was less visible than Ria’s anxious face, but existed nonetheless. “Yes, there is no harm in trying.” Darag’s lips compressed into a thin line, but he did not argue with her. “I’m sure you’ll try air when the time for it comes.” Niri caught his amused sidelong glance as she held up her stick.

  She had done this before, or something similar. She had summoned heat to create a tiny opening for a fire spirit to come through, enabling the connection to Sinika. Now instead of picturing Sinika, Niri thought simply of fire and flame. Warmth welled in her and she foisted it toward the end of the twig. She pushed all of her will into it.

  Pain lanced down her arms like her veins were afire. Niri gasped as the lightning quick agony shot from her fingers. Her concentration broken, no further discomfort followed. She looked to where Darag had leapt to his feet, a few tears wrung by the sudden torment scattering from her lashes. Darag wasn't looking at her though. His eyes focused on the stick she held in a trembling hand.

  “You did it,” Ria said breathlessly, her rapt gaze held by the tiny flame.

  “Yes, but I don’t want to do that too many times unless I really need to.” Niri’s hand was shaking visibly. Darag opened his lips, brows pulled close as he looked from the flickering flame to Niri’s face.

  “You’re next,” she cut in before Darag could ask anything, concern evident in his drawn brows. Niri glanced quickly toward Ria’s wide-eyed and lip-biting nervous amazement. Darag understood the gesture. He said nothing as he reached forward for a twig.

  “Any suggestions?”

  Niri explained what she had done, Ria keeping careful attention to every word. Darag closed his eyes when she finished, sitting cross-legged before the fire. Niri felt the air change around him. To her, it was like the building heat of a small campfire. When Darag opened his eyes, there was a faint golden glow to his normal green.

  Darag focused on the stick in front of him. Nothing happened. The buildup of power in the air was intense, but Darag struggled with trying to find a way to throw the seed of fire away from himself. Ria’s shoulders bowed. Her hand holding the twig she had been toying with tightened to a fist.

  Suddenly the air changed. The stick Darag held burst into flames followed by the stack of twigs and branches in the fire pit. A column of fire shot ten feet into the air. Darag, Niri, and Ria all jumped backwards out of the way of sparks and flames.

  Niri couldn’t help it. She rolled onto her back and laughed. Lifting her head slightly, she tossed her tiny twig with its bit of flame into the settling fire. “I’m the showoff?” she teased, looking through the campfire at Darag where he sat with arms splayed behind.

  “I hope Ty and Lavinia come back soon. This isn’t going to last long and Ria still has her turn,” Darag said with humor. Ria expelled a breath.

  Under the fading sunburn, Ria could not turn paler. Her hand holding the twig shook, so that she steadied her wrist with her free hand. Without a word, she closed her eyes.

  “You can do this, Ria. From what Rath’kana said, Spirit Elementals can summon all the elements. You were born to this as well.”

  Niri’s words of encouragement did not reflect on Ria's face. Darag looked at Niri. She shook her head slightly. She didn’t feel any change around Ria either.

  Niri thought back to how she had been taught at Solaire, and then shied from the memory. Such techniques would not work on Ria. Not to mention, Ria had only summoned her power and used it twice before. The other two times it had failed her. Untrained, Ria was being asked to call a power that was not her primary gift. Niri bit the inside of her cheek.

  Ria’s brows knitted together. A pulse of energy pulled toward Ria. Niri leaned forward, but before she could say anything, Ria let it go. It happened twice more, each ending with Ria pushing her primary power away. Finally, a buildup of heat began to form around Ria, growing in strength with a slow but steady rise.

  With an intense gaze, Ria focused on the twig in her hand. The air crackled, but like with Darag, nothing happened. After a moment, the strength in Ria’s face faded. Her hand dropped slightly, lips softening. Then with whatever frustration she combined her will, a spark flashed on the twig’s end. A tiny flame burst to life.

  “Oh!” Ria’s concentration shattered with surprised delight. With not enough strength to burn on its own, the flame fluttered out.

  “Don’t worry, you’ll ...”

  Before
Niri could finish, Ria pushed a new spark to ignite on the tip of the twig. Stronger this time, it stayed burning when Ria stopped feeding it with her energy. Ria grinned.

  “That wasn’t as hard as I thought.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Niri said drolly.

  “But she is right in a way. You managed it. Why do only the Ashanti know this is possible?” Darag asked.

  Niri frowned. “I don’t know. Because no one realizes it is? Maybe it is easy because we know it can be done. Calling air the first time for me was ... difficult. I nearly lost the bubble so many times. And it took Sinika weeks to teach me the beginning of the summoning spell.”

  Darag turned his focus to the dying fire. He held out a hand and the flames intensified, rising up at his calling. With a quick jerk, flames detached from the fire. Roiling, the fireball rose into the air. With the tiniest stretch of his fingers, it dissipated. Ria sighed wonderingly. Darag turned to Niri.

  She shifted, holding up a hand and then stopped. Shaking her head, she sat back. “No, I think not.” Her face felt stiff.

  “Maybe with practice it will be less painful?” Darag suggested.

  “Practice!” Ria said, giddy. She slid forward until her knees touched the stone of the ring. The fire rose up without her moving her hand, a fireball cutting off and expanding slowly like a bird’s wings opening. Instantly, she sent up another one, this time swirling it in on itself until it winked out as a tiny spark.

  Laughter on his lips, Darag shook his head. “Now who is the showoff?”

  Ria grinned.

  Ty and Lavinia returned a few minutes later. Lavinia dropped her pile of sticks next to the fire and put her arms around Darag, holding him from behind while she nestled her cheek against his neck.

  “Having fun?”

  Ria answered Lavinia’s question. “Yes.”

  Ria formed another ball of flame from the dying fire. She collapsed it into itself quickly so that it shone brightly in the late afternoon light like a star. Lavinia blinked rapidly a few times while Ty chuckled. He tossed a few more sticks into the fire.

  “Wow, can you do that?” Lavinia asked Darag.

  As Darag held out his hand, the air changed, feeling thick like before a storm. The flames flattened back to black coals specked with glowing embers. With the slightest lift of his finger, a jet of flame shot into the air like dragon’s breath. Darag spread it out above their heads so that it glistened into a luminescent mist before it faded.

  “I should have guessed. Things are always easy for you," Lavinia teased.

  Darag shifted suddenly so that Lavinia lost her balance where she knelt behind him. He caught her, pulling her around so that she ended up lying across his lap.

  “Oh yes,” he said dryly. “Things are always effortless for me.” Then he kissed her.

  “And you?” Ty asked Niri.

  Niri shook her head. “It is possible, but not pleasant.”

  Lavinia had completely broken Darag’s concentration. After a moment, they rose together and walked hand-in-hand down the hill from the camp. Jumping a small stream at its base, they headed up the next mound, talking and laughing.

  Ria was totally absorbed in the fire before her as if she could make up for the lost years when she didn’t know she had the skill. Her brow was furrowed and hand held out as the flames danced and writhed to her calling.

  Niri watched a minute, then stood. Ria had called a spark out of the air and was seeing how long she could keep it in existence before lack of fuel snuffed it out. She was getting quite good. Niri headed down the hill to where Ty was scavenging a few meager branches in the hopes of having the fire last more than an hour. The evening already promised to be cool, although not bone chilling like the desert nights.

  There were scant pickings of the tiny shrubs. Niri meandered along the trickling rivulets, her mind wandering. The flowing water and damp underfoot was a comfort. The agony of calling fire had scorched her senses similar to the days in the desert. At least here, there was water around her for relief. Ty’s voice nearby nudged her from her empty thoughts.

  “Ria seems quite happy.”

  Niri smiled. “Yes, I think she is likely to keep at it until she falls over from exhaustion.” She shook her head, thinking again of what it must have been like leaving home and running so far for a gift Ria neither wanted nor could use. It made Niri’s time in Solaire seem a little less harsh.

  The light at her feet changed. Niri glanced up to see what looked like a star hanging above the camp, neither fading nor strengthening. Ria could only hold it for so long before it winked out, leaving the shadows darker than before. With its disappearance, Niri’s eyes found the silhouette of Darag and Lavinia. Lavinia stood in front of her husband, leaning back against him. Arms loose around her waist, Darag bent his head to speak to Lavinia quietly or brush her shoulder with his lips.

  Joy filled Niri at seeing their happiness together. She pulled her gaze away to search for more wood, full of contentment beyond what water granted. Her eyes crossed Ty’s as he looked away from Lavinia and Darag as well.

  “Your sister is very happy.”

  Ty half snorted, half chuckled. “She has always gotten things right the first time. I can’t believe we are related.”

  Niri peered at Ty. He was still scanning the fast growing shadows for wood, his search bringing him closer to where she stood. The hardship from the desert was fading from his face with skin tanned but lips no longer chapped. A warmth stirred in her, rising unexpectedly.

  She shifted away before their paths crossed, her breath a little quicker. Ty had become a good friend since the desert, before that even, maybe since Rah Hahsessah. Something had changed in him after they had sailed from Drufforth, or maybe something had left. Niri’s thoughts snagged on their talk in Sardinia, which had been the first time he had held her to give her comfort, and then drifted to when she had cried in Tiero.

  “Are you alright?”

  Niri realized she was standing motionless across the weedy stream from Ty. She blushed, happy the darkness hid the color.

  “Yes ... thoughts getting the better of me.” Ty was still looking at her, his eyes narrowed to see through the dimness. Niri found herself asking a question she did not even know she wanted an answer for. “You never did say what Ria had told you during the southern crossing that you said helped.”

  Ty looked away, Niri certain she saw him blushing. He gazed toward the barely seen glow of the campfire and then down at his feet.

  “She said several things really,” Ty said, looking up at Niri through his lashes. “She said she appreciated that I had come along, but that she wasn’t my responsibility. She was sorry for the arguments in Drufforth. And.. and that she was happy to know me as more than Lavinia’s brother. That I was a friend, but she didn’t love me.”

  Niri opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. Ty chuckled at her befuddlement. A flash of humor crossed her lips.

  “I didn’t realize that having a woman say they didn’t love you would cheer you up.”

  Ty grinned. He glanced up toward the fire again. “It would depend on the woman, I suppose.” He hesitated a moment, his eyes finding Niri’s once more. “Like if you said it, I think I would be very upset.”

  Niri’s breath caught in her throat as she met Ty’s gaze. He tried to keep the humor alive on his face, but his expression turned more serious by the second.

  “Ty, I ...” Nothing came into Niri’s mind.

  Ty tossed down his armload of sticks and walked across the sodden gully between them. He took her hand before she could react.

  “Look, I know you must hate me for what I said after the Curse. I had no reason to accuse you. Damn it,” Ty looked away, pain on his face. “I should have apologized before and not been such an ass, wishing you’d just forget that day.”

  “You had every reason to hate the Church. I don’t blame you for that.”

  Ty touched her cheek with a hand that trembled s
lightly against her skin. His gaze was far more tender, but still filled with pain. “But I had no reason to doubt you.”

  Niri’s heart was pounding in her chest. A tremor went down to her knees, making them weak. “You didn’t know me well then.”

  “I know you well now. Will you forgive me at least?”

  “At least?”

  “So that we can be friends.”

  A smile fluttered on her lips. “I don’t want to be friends with you.”

  Ty’s hand twitched against her skin as he stiffened in shock. Niri almost felt guilty for the wince that flashed across his face. But when he looked at the partially lifted eyebrow and her smile, he relaxed. It took another heartbeat for him to put together what she meant.

  Ty pulled her close, holding her tightly but as if she was something fragile as well. She found herself pressing into him.

  “I never expected ... you can’t mean that.”

  His breath was a warm whisper against her cheek. “Is it so hard to imagine I love you?” Niri’s voice trembled.

  “Yes,” he laughed, pulling back to gaze at her face. “Yes it is. I thought you had better sense.”

  “Sometimes things just don’t make sense,” Niri whispered, lightly touching his face. “Like after everything you would end up caring for a rogue Priestess.”

  Ty leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes briefly. “Elemental, Priestess, that doesn’t matter to me. I love you, Nirine.”

  His lips were soft against hers, tentative for a moment. Then the fire of sudden passion got the better of them. They were both shaking when the kiss ended a few minutes later, Ty brushing her closed eyes with his lips while her heart pounded like a drum.

  “Just promise me one thing?”

  “What would that be?” Niri murmured.

  “If I ever act such the fool again, you will toss me overboard.”

  “With pleasure.” Niri gave him such a wicked grin that Ty laughed and kissed her again.