Akasha 4 - Earth (38 page)

I sent energy straight into the Earth
below us. I kept a tight rein on it, forcing it to circle. The
entire room shook in response. The crowd gasped; a few near the
doors bailed. Dragon was tight-lipped.

The filing cabinets bumped up. One
after another, following the circle around. Just tiny hops, pushed
up by the ground underneath. One near Dragon had enough momentum to
fall over. Still hot from his fire, it singed his calf. He jumped
away, then looked at me, wide-eyed.

I shrugged. "You play with fire
and…well, you know the rest."

He turned to the crowd. "Light
them!"

No one responded. Instead, they all
looked at each other, shifting on their feet, scratching their
necks.

"Light them, or I will strangle each
and every one of you!" Dragon shouted. He kept a wary eye on
me.

I put my hands in the air, signaling
for him to proceed. My eyes scanned the room, locating the majority
of the sand bags. This was going to be tricky, especially not being
able to use air.

A series of barely distinguishable
flicks, and the tiny, annoying flames were back. I sent out earth
magic, but not into the ground. This time it was electric
signals.

I sent it spinning around the room.
The pressure increased, creating a weak, geomagnetic field. One by
one, granules of sand were loosed from their bags. At first, you
couldn't see them. But eventually, like static on a TV screen, they
gravitated toward each other, blurring our vision. I watched as
people covered the orifices of their faces with their hands. They
didn't seem to notice belt buckles and watches pulling ever so
slightly toward the center of the room.

I pulled apart my weaves, and sent out
an oscillating tempo. The sand followed, and soon created thick
enough strips to distinguish flames.

"Light them again," Dragon ordered,
covering his own mouth.

"That sand – gets everywhere, doesn't
it?" I moved one weave in, dousing him in the back of the
head.

He tried pulling flame from the few
lighters that were still lit. Sand moved in, extinguishing
them.

Dragon growled, marched toward someone
who still held a lighter, and took it from her. Right behind, I
placed another kick into his side. The lighter flew up in the
air.

I caught it, then turned to address
the audience. "Light them again, and I will start shoving the sand
down your throats!" It seemed convincing, even if I couldn't really
do that, unless they each had a high dose of iron for breakfast
that morning. I stared down the onlookers. The sound of several
dozen lighters hitting the floor echoed across the room.

I turned back to my opponent. "How's
the side, Dragon?"

He backed away, hands moving to
protect his midsection. He bumped into one of the filing cabinets,
falling back on it. As soon as his butt touched, he hopped back up.
He craned his neck over his shoulder, brushing at his pants and
checking for burns.

I laughed out loud. He definitely
wasn't having fun anymore. I turned to the ref. "How does this
end?" I noticed his lighter also lay uselessly on the floor by his
foot.

He followed my gaze, then kicked the
lighter away and cleared his throat. "Your opponent has to be
unable to continue. He can't just give up – there are no
tapouts."

I turned to Dragon, one side of my
mouth tipped up in a smile. "Oh, good."

Dragon's eyes went double-wide. He
took two steps back, then stumbled for the door. The crowd parted,
but before he got there, two more shirts in black stepped in front
of the exit. They held up their palms, each with a ball of fire
levitating above. They threw their element down in front of them,
creating a wall of fire.

Dragon backpedaled, skidding across
the floor. He stopped just short of the flame. There were no more
exits.

"Draaaagon…come back to plaaaay…." I
taunted from the circle.

He shook his head violently, then
followed the room around, pushing people out of his way. I adjusted
my weaves, sending them straight down into the Earth. The sand
granules hit the floor, skittering across the concrete – unable to
follow the energy further.

The Earth responded, and a slab of
rock jutted up. It just barely missed Dragon, but certainly caught
his attention. He ran faster. I concentrated, trying again. The
next one caught him under his foot. The rock shot up at least as
tall as he was. Dragon was launched across the room. He landed hard
on his back, right in front of me.

I took a step back, dropping to my
knees, and sending the last bit of energy I could muster into the
Earth. The room shook, people and filing cabinets alike falling
over. Cracks crept along the walls and ceilings.

Dragon stood. With a wary eye on me,
one foot lifted. He was going to try running again.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I
said, looking up at him. "Just stay still and you won't feel a
thing."

His whole body tensed. I had to be
quick before he decided to bolt.

Just don't go too
far...

My energy hit stronger stone, and shot
off in a different direction – to the west.

Oops, too far.

I could feel it, even from here.
Several miles, cracking hard stone all along the way. I used what
was left, localizing it. Right as Dragon turned, preparing to run,
a large stone shot up in front of him. Another came up behind him.
The rest were easy; one after another, until he was encased in a
five foot diameter stone cage.

His voice floated up and over, "Hey!
Let me out – please? I'm…I'm…claustrophobic. I'm sorry. I think my
nose is broken." No one answered his pleas. "I have to
pee."

The ref laughed, coming up beside me.
He took my hand, raising it in the air. "Winner!"

Cheers and shouts echoed across the
room. It would have been much louder if half the room hadn’t
bailed. That was okay, maybe when they asked about the rest of the
fight, the details would be exaggerated – make me look
good.

The ref dropped my hand. I glanced at
the lighter he held in his other hand. A zippo painted with the
American flag. "I apologize for that." He shrugged. "Dragon – well,
we all had our reasons for helping him."

I reared back my fist, hitting the ref
square in the jaw. He went unconscious, slumping to the ground. The
cheering stopped.

I turned to the crowd. "No more dog
fights."

Everybody stared, but when I glanced
their way, eyes flitted down to the ground.

I stepped toward the stone cage. "Do
you hear me in there Dragon? No more dog fights! And if I catch
wind of one, I'll intervene. Trap everyone involved – refs,
contenders and audience alike in one of these stone
cages!"

There was five seconds of silence and
then a weak, "okay," from the other side of the rock.

Chapter
57

So Mote it Be

"Sir – there are some reports coming
in. Weird activity northwest of here, within city
limits."

Shawn paused on his way toward the
stairs.

The Earth took that as a go ahead to
continue, "A lot of fire—"

"You're on duty tonight?" Shawn asked,
interrupting her.

"Yes, sir."

"Don’t call me sir."

She clamped her lips shut.

He sighed, looking at the full moon
lighting up the inside of the deli better than a dozen candles. A
full moon meant better control over powers – everyone knew that.
There was bound to be some unauthorized practicing. "Get one of
each of the other Elementals to stand duty with you tonight. Let me
know if it gets any worse."

She held out a stack of handwritten
letters that had been coming in nonstop the past half hour. "But
the reports—"

Shawn took them from her, and threw
them back down on her desk. "Otherwise, see to it that I'm not
interrupted." He himself planned to take advantage of the full
moon. Tonight, he needed perfect control over his powers. It was
finally time to see Sarah.

* * *

When his boots hit the cave floor, an
eerie echo bounced off the walls. The last of the Shades, save
Sarah and Arianna, had made it out. Releasing the final few was a
blurry memory. Even thinking of it now caused his palms to pulse in
pain.

And here he was again,
back for more.
What do they call
that?
"Pussy-whipped," Shawn mumbled under
his breath.

"What?"

Shawn jumped at Arianna's voice behind
him. "Um, nothing." He rubbed his nose with the back of his arm.
"Mind showing your face? That gas cloud…it's weird."

Arianna took form in front of him. Her
black hair had an extra shine to it. "How are you
feeling?"

"Better." He smoothed his shirt then
glanced at the cave high on the wall over his shoulder.
"Nervous."

Arianna's lips turned up in an
unexpected smile. "Whatever happens – things will be as they were
meant to be."

That was hardly helpful. Shawn
realized he was biting his fingernails. He hadn't done that
since…well, since he was a boy. He stuffed his hands in his
pockets, and his fingers hit something hard. "Oh, I wanted to leave
something here, if that's okay."

He pulled out a wrapped package and
handed it to Arianna.

She glanced at him, then pulled apart
the folded edges of thick paper to peek inside. Both eyebrows went
up, and she folded the package again. "You think this will
help?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. That's not
really why I wanted to leave it. It just doesn't belong to
me."

"Fine." She set the package down on
the platform by her feet. When she stood, she folded her hands in
front of her. "I am ready now, Athame Wielder."

He swallowed, nodding his head. He
unwrapped the hand with the least amount of damage, staring at his
open palm. He doubted it would ever really look the same
again.

In front of him, Arianna's form
flickered; a sign of her impatience.

Shawn licked his lips. "I just wanted
to…" he drifted off as he looked at her. Arianna's large, brown
eyes were boring into him. He scratched the back of his
neck.

Why is this so
hard?

"Yes?" she asked.

"Um…thank you, for…helping
me."

Her eyebrows creased. "It
wasn't
you
I was
helping, Athame Wielder – what you seek to gain is just…a
byproduct."

"Yeah," he mumbled, glancing down at
his damaged hand again. "I know."

He took a deep breath, then extended
his arm, palm over Arianna's head and whispered the words with a
shaky voice, "In love and in trust, in peace and in wisdom, I
release you, so mote it be."

A rush of wind circled around the
cavern, picking up dust and water as it went. The stream tightened
and converged where Arianna stood. Shawn squinted, ducking his head
and shielding his open wounds against the elements. The noise was
deafening. Finally, Shawn peeked over.

Arianna's large, brown eyes were still
boring into him. He blinked. She was leaving, but on her own terms;
not his. When he looked away, a final gust of wind and then all was
silent. He straightened, resisting the urge to rub out the goose
bumps on his arms. Drops of water hitting the still lake below
echoed through the cave. Shawn didn't remember it being
so…dark.

He took another deep
breath.
And that was the easy
one
, he thought.

Short, barely noticeable bursts of
light danced across the wall beside him. They grew in size,
highlighting Shawn's own, small shadow. He turned, squinting at the
figure of light on the cave ledge, sucking in his
breath.

Sarah.

His lips refused to form the name out
loud. He couldn't move, except for his unwrapped hand, twitching
out of control.

Sarah's Shade descended. As she landed
on the ledge in front of Shawn, his hand twitched
faster.

"Okay, then." She took her human form,
crossed her arms, and met Shawn's blue eyes. "Justify your
actions."

Shawn swallowed. "What?"

She eyed him, tapping her foot. "It's
why you're here, isn't it? You cannot obtain Akasha without a clear
conscience."

Shawn pressed his lips together,
tight. He knew he'd have to defend himself to Sarah; he just didn't
think it would be right away. His practiced speech flew out of his
head the moment he saw her. "It was the Great Rite," the words
tumbled out of his mouth. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking
down.

Sarah's eyes grew wide.
"The Great Rite isn't about rape. It is supposed to be
consensual
. And usually
done metaphorically – with a knife and a Chalice."

His eyes met hers. "That's not how we
did it."