Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) (20 page)

She gasped. “How did you know?”

“What shape?”

“A sparrow,” she whispered. “The others don’t know. Please, don’t tell them.”

“Why?”

We were through the main building and at the front door. Norm bumped into me, and grumbled something about being tired still.

I repeated my question to the witch, and she swallowed hard.

“Because they fear me already. I am the daughter of the great Devana. She held more power than the coven now holds together.”

I lowered my face so that we were nose to nose. “Mala, I seek a woman who can shake the earth, and who does not belong here. Is there one in your coven like that?”

Her eyes widened further and she nodded. “Yes. You . . . you speak of Cassandra. She is new to our coven, and so . . . she is stronger even than I.”

Cassandra. Cassava. The name coincidence was not lost on me. “You will help me stop her, then.” I pushed her out the door and into the night. While I needed to rest, we were close enough that I also knew I needed to move forward. The trap was coiling around us and there was no time to do anything other than react. I had to try and spring it on Cassava first.

Mala struggled in front of me. “Let my hands go, I am no help to you if I cannot use my magic.”

“Ah, well, there is a problem,” I said. “Your magic caught me in a spell, one that would have you riding me even now in the hopes of a child. Not acceptable.”

She had the decency to blush. “Yasmine . . . she, I will not defend her. But I would not have taken your body. Not without consent.”

I snorted. I doubted that greatly, but she had a point in regards to her hands. If Cassava came at me, a witch on my side would be a powerful ally.

“I want your words, sworn on your deity, that you will aid me in dealing with this Cassandra.”

We stopped at the edge of the village, the dusting of starlight above us giving the world a surreal, eerie feel I’d not encountered in a long time. Not since I’d been a child and still had my family around me.

Watching the stars appear above the canopy of the redwoods, my siblings and mother with me, laughing as we named every light.

Damn it, where were these memories springing from? I shoved them away and refocused.

I spun Mala to face me. “If I let you go, you need to understand that I will run you through if I think for a second you are going to betray me.”

Her already pale face blanched even more. “I believe you.” Mala put two fingers to the hollow of her throat. “I swear on my connection and power that flows from the goddess that I will aid you in your quest.”

That was good enough for me.

With a swipe of a dagger, I cut her hands free and she stumbled a few steps. I caught her by the arm and helped her balance.

“How far in are they?” I kept close by her. It would be the best advantage I could have if she was going to take a shot at knocking me out of the game.

The game. Just like Talan had said. I gritted my teeth, hating that my mind had veered that way. This was not a game. Peta’s and Lark’s lives could be on the line, and I would not treat them like throwaway pieces on a chessboard.

“We are within a few hours’ walk,” she said softly, her voice trembling.

She shivered and rubbed her arms. Of course
,
the bite of winter still lay on the land here this far north in the cold of the night, and I’d dragged her out of the brothel with nothing on but a long sweeping dress. “Norm, can you carry her?”

The Yeti stepped forward and scooped her into his arms. “Like this?”

Her eyes widened and then narrowed. “I can walk.”

“Not if you freeze to death. The Yeti will keep you warm,” I said. “I don’t need you dying on me.” The unspoken words were there in the air between us. I didn’t care if she died after she got me to the mountains, to the place where the witches gathered. But until then I would do my best to keep her alive.

Norm curled his arms tightly around her body. “She’s pretty tiny.”

From behind us came a screech like that of a hunting night bird. Mala jumped and clung to Norm. “Yasmine is awake. She will come after us.”

“Can you convince her to help?”

“No, she likes Cassandra.”

Of course she did.

I bolted forward, and Norm kept up despite carrying the witch. “Head for those trees.”

In the wild, I had a shot at keeping the witches busy. The scrubby trees were bare from the winter winds and they looked frail, but I could see the heart of them. They were filled with sap, waiting for the late spring to come and free them. But if I pulled the sap to the trees’ edges, then perhaps . . .

“Norm, can you make it colder?”

“What do you think to accomplish by making it colder?” Mala asked.

“You said you can’t help. So keep your mouth shut,” I growled at her.

We reached the trees as something shot toward us, a bolt of power that slammed into the ground to our left. Mala moved as if to send a spell back and I grabbed her hands. “No. Let them believe I forcibly took you. That will be better.”

Her eyes were wide. “Why would you protect me?”

“That’s his job. It’s what Enders do,” Norm said. He clutched her with one arm, then lifted the other to the sky and wiggled his three fingers as if beckoning something. The sky above darkened and snow flowed down, quickly covering the ground around us and hiding everything around us from view.

“Cold enough?” he asked.

“Good for the moment. I’m going to ask you for more in a bit.”

I put my hands to the closest tree and called on my connection to the earth, drawing the sap farther up the trunk until it hovered on the edges of the bark. It crackled and snapped as it froze. I could feel the droplets harden underneath my hand, right on the edge of exploding. It would not take much to push it over the breaking point.

“Time to run. Norm, put her down.” He did as I asked, and I grabbed Mala by the arm and ran deeper into the trees. I whipped my cloak out and around her, sliding it off my shoulders and over hers.

The last thing I needed was her to freeze, and the way the temperature was dipping, she wouldn’t last another few steps.

“Why aren’t you cold?” She looked at me as we ran, and I shook my head. Now was not the time to be answering questions. The sounds of pursuit gaining on us were enough to keep me moving and my mouth shut. I glanced back once and saw the hovering figures in between the mists of the falling snow. Their cloaks and skirts swirled out around them as if they were the center of their own storms.

“Norm, ice it over,” I said. I grabbed Mala and pulled her to the ground, yanking the cloak over us both. Norm skidded to a stop beside us, spun, and roared into the wind, his howl picking up in depth and intensity as the temperature around us plummeted at a rate that was unreal. I kept my hands buried in the ground, urging the trees around us to give up their sap, pushing it to the front of the bark.

There it was; the edge of cold that would send the trees over the edge. “Norm, down!”

The Yeti dropped flat beside us with a thud that sent the snow up around him like a wave of white. I covered our heads with the cloak as best I could.

I held my breath and the first tree exploded. The pain of the tree’s death shot through me and I yanked my hands back from the ground, but it was no use. The trees exploded one after another, the shrapnel of their bodies slicing through the witches who would follow us.

Screams rent the air, and I wasn’t sure if it was the trees or the women who hunted our trail. I waited on the ground, Mala trembling beside me, her body the only warmth. “You . . . you killed them,” she whispered. I shook my head and stood.

“I doubt that. Wounded, yes. But I don’t kill indiscriminately.”

I held a hand out to her and she took it. Her eyes darted to mine and then away. I shook my head. “Don’t even think it. I have a mate.”

She shook her head and spluttered, but the blush on her cheeks said it all. Witches were drawn to mates of power, it was in their blood.

As it was in mine.

I started forward through the remaining trees, stopping only when I realized that both Norm and Mala hadn’t followed. “We have to hurry.”

“Why? They aren’t following us now.” Mala made her way carefully to my side. She stumbled on nothing I could see, and I caught her arm. She swung lightly into me and I snorted. I let her go as soon as she balanced herself.

“Because I have a friend who is in trouble, and I need to get to her as soon as I can.”

That was it, that had always been it. I needed to get Peta away from Cassava, none of that had changed. I blinked and stared at Mala, seeing her beauty—surprised I hadn’t noticed before now. I gritted my teeth against a strange, sudden push of lust I hadn’t had in years. Even with Lark . . . no, this feeling . . . the last time I’d had it overwhelm me was when Cassava had forced me . . . I shook my head and then did a slow spin, looking for the dark hair of Raven. “Raven, I feel you out there, messing with my head.”

The lust faded slowly, but I knew it was there, ready to be kindled again. Mother goddess, if I didn’t need Mala to find the coven of witches I would have let her go right there. Why hadn’t he shown himself? Damn him. I had no choice but to move forward. Anxiety fluttered in my belly. Raven knew I was here, which meant he could warn his mother.

“Lead the way, Mala, and hurry.”

“Of course.” She sashayed in front of me as if I could see past the cloak that hid her body. For whatever yelling I’d done, she acted as though I’d said nothing.

We walked in the darkness, the only light from the reflection of the snow bouncing a little starlight back to us. After a good two hours of walking with no more pursuit from the witches behind, or Raven in front, Mala held up a hand and then touched her lips.

I drew close to her and ducked my head. “How close?”

“Over this hill, there is a valley where there are standing stones. It is a place of power and it is where Cassandra has set up her home,” Mala said softly. Her eyes flicked to my lips and then up to my eyes. She pressed a kiss on me, but I didn’t react.

I pulled back. “I told you no.”

“I don’t believe you,” she whispered. “I’ll help you take her out if you’ll give me a child.”

Norm snickered as if it was the greatest joke in the world. I didn’t even look at him. “Wait here.”

I brushed past her and headed up the slope. Norm caught up to me easily and when I dropped to my belly in the snow, he did the same. “Prank time?”

“Maybe,” I said softly. The snow in front of me crysta
l
lized with my breath. With each inch we crept closer, I could feel the earth tremble around us. There could be none other than Cassava causing this tremor. I peeked over the edge of the hill into the valley. A fire blazed up from the center of five standing stones. While not near the size of the ones on the British Isles, they would still be over my head by a good three feet. I watched closely as a figure cloaked in red walked around the fire, teasing it with her hands. I shook my head. What game was she playing? And where the hell was Peta?

At her feet
,
she kicked something and I froze. Peta. The bound captive let out a whimper.

I loosened my swords so they would give me easy access if need be. The problem was, I was late to the game.

Cassava let out a wild laugh and yelled into the storm. “Let them fear me, let them know the power that is mine. I will hold back no longer. The world will tremble and I will be its new queen of the darkness.”

Now or never.