Faes enlightenment, p.22
Fae's Enlightenment, page 22
part #4 of Call of the Elements Series
Yes, but you will heal him, Göksu gently scolded. There was a better way to handle this.
Whatever.
His healing warmth washed over my legs, sealing the deep punctures and easing my pain.
I crawled toward Lodron, stopping within a foot of him. His fingers were already buried in the dirt, and the swirl of colors from the elementals’ magic surrounded him. I waited impatiently for him to find himself. As the colors spiraled around him, I felt my own darkness subsiding. When Lodron opened his eyes, they no longer glowed.
I reached out and slapped him as hard as I could.
He fell to the side, unable to catch himself with his injured shoulders. He cried out, and I almost felt guilty.
“What the hell?” he grumbled.
“Shut up and hold still.”
I placed my hands over his injured shoulders, the wounds I’d inflicted on him. Punctures that would have healed on their own if it had been Braden. I called on my connection to water, but it didn’t respond. I pulled harder and cursed when I got nothing.
“Don’t tell me I have to take him away to heal this,” I whined.
Of course, no one responded. Damn elementals. There was no way we were going to my house. The desert sounded perfect, except there wasn’t a whole lot of water in the desert. Maybe the beach below my house. He wouldn’t know where it was, and it was after dark, so there shouldn’t be anyone there. Done.
Lodron shifted beneath my hands, and I helped him roll over. “I’m going to take you someplace where I can heal your wounds,” I said. “Unless you prefer to explain this to your healers.”
“I’m at your mercy, princess,” he replied. “I never should’ve attacked you.”
“Probably, but I should’ve done more to help you calm your darkness rather than challenging your beast.” I wrapped my fingers around his hand. “I’m taking you to a beach. Try not to let go.”
I envisioned our destination, and we arrived a few moments later. I drew in a deep breath, immediately feeling the calm of the ocean. An ocean so much more alive than the waters circling the fae island. I noticed Lodron doing the same.
“Why does this feel different?” he asked, trying to sit up.
I knelt next to him and placed my hands on his shoulders, then pulled on the ocean lapping at the sands a few feet away. As soon as the healing started, Lodron’s pain assaulted me. I clamped my lips together and rode out the agony as his muscle pulled back together.
“Damn fricking reward for doing something nice,” I mumbled through gritted teeth.
“You had to take my pain in order to heal me?” he whispered as I fell back on my butt and rested my chin on my raised knees.
“Yeah, whatever,” I grumbled, drawing in deep breaths.
He sat next to me and rested his elbows on his own raised knees. I sat in silence, watching the moonlight reflect off the black waves.
“Why does it feel so different here?” he asked again. “And why haven’t I noticed it before?”
“I can’t tell you,” I replied.
“But you know.”
“I have theories,” I corrected. “If you listen to the elements, you’ll figure it out.”
A comfortable silence fell between us, and I did nothing more than listen to the waves. I didn’t want to think about the war between the fae or the new home for the supernatural families. In fact, I didn’t want to think at all.
“Will you tell me what you are?” Lodron asked, oblivious of my wants.
“Does it matter?”
He turned and squinted at me. “Yes.”
I smiled and shook my head. “I hope to be your ally and the one who will show your warriors how to regain their strength.”
“That’s who you are, not what you are.”
“Same thing.”
“No, not really.”
He wasn’t letting it go, and I couldn’t blame him. I would’ve pushed until I got an answer, but I didn’t know what made me so different from everyone else. Which was really what he was asking.
“I’m half fae and half mage,” I replied. “I’ve also got four elementals floating around in my head, and it makes me feel a little psychotic.”
“Yet none of those allow you to move as quickly as you do, and I suspect you can see me right now despite the darkness.”
“You’re a smart guy,” I muttered. “Figure it out.”
He laughed softly. “I’d accuse you of being a vampire, but they cannot enter the fae realm.”
I lay back in the sand and laced my fingers behind my head. Thousands of stars winked at me from the dark sky. The black hole I tried to get lost in a few weeks ago, called out to me. I smiled at it. Not today.
Peace filled me. Something I’d never had. Did it come from accepting my purpose in life? Or was I always a mess because I should’ve had four elementals all along? Was I now complete? I felt complete, like I suddenly knew my place in this crazy world. Even if I didn’t know what I was.
“What’s going through your mind?” Lodron asked, lying beside me.
“Clarity,” I replied. “Something I’ve lacked for a really long time.”
“You’re too young to understand the concept of a really long time.”
I looked over at him and growled at his mocking grin. He should have been raging over our fight, or because I dragged him halfway across the world, or that I continued to evade his questions. But he was calm. Maybe he realized he’d get answers sooner or later and was willing to wait. Or maybe he already knew the answers and was seeing if I’d share. Not happening.
“It’s better than being old,” I teased.
He laughed and rolled onto his back. “Did you mean it when you said you won’t betray your lover?”
“Yep.”
“That’s disappointing.”
I rolled my eyes, not sure I’d ever be able to embrace that mentality. “Can I trust you to respect my decision, or do I put you on the creepy guy list?”
“I’m lying on the beach next to you alone, keeping my hands to myself,” he said. “What do you think?”
“Thank you. I suppose the answer should’ve been obvious.”
“Don’t thank me yet. As soon as you change your mind about him, you won’t be able to get rid of me.”
I laughed and went back to looking at the stars. Two allies down and too many more to go, but at least I had the king’s permission to show the warriors my relationship with the elements. Sort of. I needed to learn how to use my fae spells with the elementals first. A task assigned to my first ally.
“I really need to go back,” I said. “I have a feeling tomorrow will be a busy day.”
“Thank you for your help today,” Lodron said. “I don’t think I can ever repay you.”
“There’s no debt to pay, unless of course you’ll intervene when the king sees what I have planned for your warriors.”
“I suspect he already knows,” he said, confirming my suspicions from earlier. Nardan already knew what I could do. “He can’t be the one to initiate the change, but he won’t stop you from doing it.”
“Especially when he was the one to drive his people away from the elementals in the first place?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“I understand.” I sat up and gave Lodron my full attention. “I assume you know your way home?”
He smiled. “Always. See you in the morning.”
Chapter 19
Niyol’s harsh magic raced through my veins, feeling a little like sandpaper, but the thrill of it pushed away the pain. Alra partnered with Adeen against me and Niyol. Trying to trap Alra in a corner of my training room, I pushed waves of wind at him, but he countered them easily with his own walls of fire.
The first time I ran right through the flames, I thought for sure he’d have a heart attack. He’d dropped all his defenses thinking I’d be burned to a crisp. Of course, I took advantage of his momentary lack of composure and threw him on his ass.
Now, a permanent frown fixed itself on his face. He could attack me with fire all night, but it wasn’t deterring me. And he hated it.
I raced towards my training buddy, easily dodging the balls of fire exploding from his hands. I returned fire with my favorite spears, narrowly missing him. With Niyol’s wind at my back and my vampire speed, Alra had no chance of avoiding me as I smashed into him. My elemental was the fricking bomb!
I cushioned Alra’s fall with a bed of air, but it didn’t stop the breath bursting from his lungs when I landed on top of him.
“You can create weapons?” Alra coughed, pushing me off his chest.
His voice echoed off the walls along with Niyol’s deep laughter. Adeen’s fire flickered around him, doing weird things to the color of his armor.
“So can you,” I teased.
He grunted. “From metal and magic,” he countered. “I don’t pull them from the air.”
I pointed at the flaming sword still in his hand and laughed. “Liar.”
“You know what I meant.” The sword vanished, and he stomped across the room. “I thought you knew nothing of your fae magic.”
“I didn’t know it was fae. It was one of the first things Niyol taught me.” My smile faltered. Was Alra actually mad?
“What else do you already know?” he asked, his expression unreadable.
“Don’t get all pissy,” I mumbled. “I can create these and daggers easily. Probably other stuff too, I just never thought about it. I once tried to make one from, um, a liquid, but Göksu shot it down.” No matter how much I liked Alra, I wasn’t ready to share the stuff about sucking blood from someone’s body. “Apparently, I need fire…” I paused and glanced at Adeen, who flitted around the cavern. I had fire now. Could I make a frozen spear from water now that Adeen could suck the heat out of the water for me?
“Oh yes, my dear,” she hummed. “We can certainly do that.”
I giggled with anticipation, until my little beast joined me. The thought of turning blood into a weapon excited her, not me. Killing was the only way to get blood, something I wasn’t thrilled about doing.
“We’ll stick with air tonight,” Alra said, his frown softening just a little.
“Right,” I muttered, joining his bad mood. “So, please explain what I’m supposed to be learning besides creating weapons.”
“What did you just think of?” he asked, obviously feeling my sudden change of emotion.
“Nothing I want to talk about.” He didn’t press me, and I silently thanked him. “I didn’t realize those things were part of my fae heritage. I learned to do them before I even knew the fae existed.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “The ability to create your weapon comes from the elemental channeling its power through you. Your proficiency at doing so will enable us to move to the next step, which is using the elementals’ power to give you speed or strength. But again, I suspect you already do that.” The fiery sword appeared in his hand again, and his features softened even more. The flames reflected in his dark eyes, and I suspected his mind was no longer here in my sanctuary.
“I’ve missed this. Earth and fire were my specialty.” He shook his head and gave me his attention. “It’s irrelevant. Let’s teach you some spells.” The sword disappeared, and he smiled as if he hadn’t just been lost in the past. “I know you have difficulty with the fae language, so we’ll do one at a time.”
I blushed, thinking of the necklace hidden beneath my armor. “I might have a fix for that,” I mumbled, whispering the spell to release my armor. As soon as the fabric softened, I pulled the necklace out and cradled the pendant between my fingers. “My father left me a gift that translates the language for me.”
Alra stepped closer and extended his hand. “May I?”
I nodded and let him roll the stone between his fingers.
“I’ve only ever seen one of these,” he continued. “This might be the same one.”
He dropped the pendant, and I tucked it back beneath my armor. “I’m not sure where he got it,” I explained, “only that he told Grant to give it to me.”
“So, Grant knows you have it?” Alra asked, taking a step back.
“Nope. He gave me a puzzle box to figure out how to open,” I replied. “I assume he’ll ask what was in the box at some point.”
“Your father was clever.” His eyes dropped to my hidden pendant for a second, then he turned his back and moved to the center of the room. “His gift will definitely help you. Does anyone else know?”
“Lodron thinks my elementals came up with some super-secret spell to make it happen, but he isn’t aware of the necklace.” I followed him to center of the cavern.
“You shouldn’t have told him,” he muttered. “He is obligated to tell the king.”
“I know, but I can’t build trust by deceiving him.” My hands searched for something to fidget with, but my armor provided nothing. Maybe I should tie a scarf around my waist, or a belt with pockets. “Which reminds me, I need pockets.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “How does building trust with Lodron remind you of pockets?”
I blushed. “Don’t ask. I just need pockets or maybe a belt with pockets.
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do. Now let’s work on some spells.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
We spent the next half hour memorizing spells that mixed air and fire. It was fricking awesome once I finally got around to enunciating correctly. Our armor absorbed the spells, which I quickly realized I wasn’t immune to. Fire by itself didn’t hurt me, but once I added air, that shit hurt. It became beyond hot, more than my armor could withstand. It probably had something to do with chemical reactions or something, but science was never my favorite subject, so I could only guess. I had no idea why I was immune to fire alone, but not the mixture of the two elements. I couldn’t ignore the reality.
“I need a shield,” I whined, watching the skin blister on my hand from a fire ball I didn’t dodge. “If my hair catches on fire, I’m going to be really pissed.”
“Don’t get hit and you won’t lose your hair,” Alra taunted from the opposite side of the room. “You know how to use the wind to make you faster, why aren’t you doing it?”
“I was testing my really cool armor,” I lied. “I wanted to see how much it could take.” I didn’t want to admit I was exhausted.
Alra’s fiery sword disappeared as he strolled across the room towards me. “I think we’re done for the night.”
“Who put you in charge?” I asked. “I want to learn how to make that sword.”
“Tomorrow. Get a drink and sit. Let’s talk about strategy for tomorrow.”
“You mean today?” I grabbed a bottle of water from the weapon table and sat on one of the stone benches.
He dropped onto the seat beside me and twisted the lid off his own water. “I guess I did.” He grinned and downed half his drink within seconds. How did he do that? I’d be belching, then puking. “Most of the warriors will already know the spells you learned tonight, but they will have pushed them into a dark corner of their mind. I think you should start out demonstrating your stamina.”
He looked around the room, and I followed his gaze. The elementals were nowhere in sight, but I had no doubts they were here.
“Okay, so I show off my ability to change forms several times. Then what?”
“Then pick a sparring partner.” His gaze landed back on me. “I’d go, but I’m not welcome. Do you know who else will be there?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m guessing the king, Lodron, and Ronquil will be for sure.”
Alra crushed the water bottle and tossed it on the table. “As much as I don’t like Lodron, he’s probably the one you need to convince first.”
Heat rushed up my neck, and I frowned. Alra frowned with me. Damn his empath ability. “I’ve already kicked his butt, twice. I think he’s already convinced to join the team.”
“You’re serious?”
I shifted uncomfortably and took a few swallows of water. How much should I tell him? I had no idea. If it were up to me, there would be no secrets.
“You guys better spill the beans,” I mumbled, knowing my elementals heard me.
Silence filled the large cavern for several seconds before the floor rumbled. Danae and Göksu emerged from the stone and took a seat on the opposite bench, together. It seemed like they were always the ‘wise’ ones, while Niyol and Adeen were the let’s-go-kill-stuff team. And even before the girls, Göksu was normally the one I turned to for answers.
“Lodron is aware of parts of the plan,” Göksu said. “And Ronquil is aware of other parts. Just like Alra is yet another.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we were all on the same page?” I asked. “I’m starting to get confused about who knows what. And you know I hate keeping secrets.”
“Lodron cannot know of Alra’s involvement. Not yet,” Danae replied, resting her stony elbows on her knees. “Ronquil might accept your training, but it will be difficult for him to keep it from his father.”
“Why does it matter?” I asked. “The king is using me to reconnect his warriors to you. You had to have heard the conversation last night, right?”
“Yes, and at some point, he will have to admit the truth to his men, but he isn’t there yet.” Danae glanced at Göksu, who nodded. “If something goes wrong…”
“He can blame it on me,” I finished for her. She nodded. “I get it. Alra would be collateral damage if anyone else knew about his involvement.”
“If it works out the way we plan, everyone will know in another week,” Göksu said, rising to his feet. “The key is the first set of warriors.”
“And you have a plan?” Alra asked, drawing my attention. I couldn’t imagine how he must feel about all this. He was a pawn, even more so than me.
“She should convince your oldest warriors first.” My water elemental flowed across the space between us and knelt in front of me and Alra. “They’re the strongest and have the longest memories.”
“They’ll also be the hardest to convince.” Alra turned on the bench to face Göksu.
“Will they?” the elemental asked. “Were you so difficult to persuade?”
