Ash (The Elemental Series, Book 6) (14 page)

“What did you say
,
friend?” Norm put a big hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of the memory I’d thought I’d put away.

I shook off the sudden lapse. “Nothing, just . . . the past.” I made my way around a vendor of saris, the long silk floating on the breeze like a series of colorful flags as I tried to banish the sudden chill on my skin.

Looking as I did wearing a leather vest and khaki pants, I most certainly did not fit in. Normally I would have been mobbed as a tourist with my blond hair and fair skin. The newest wares would have been shoved under my nose to tempt me with the colors, textures, and smells of everything you could ever imagine being sold in a place like this. Being barefoot and carrying several weapons seemed to be working in my favor in keeping all the vendors and their sales pitches off me.

My friend Dhanvantari’s home was on the far side of the city. We made good time in getting there, even with Norm stopping here and there to touch things.

More than once I had to slap his hands away from fragiles.

The house built out from the rocky bluff was three stories high and looked to be breaking down in every aspect. As though the mansion had been left to ruin for a thousand years, but I knew that wasn’t the case in the least. I had helped build it only fifty years prior. I knew that it would last a lot longer than any manmade structure. That being said, Dhan like
d
to keep it looking as though not only did no one live there, but it wasn’t worth bothering in regards to being burglarized.

I started to tap on the large iron gates out front and froze. The metal hummed softly like the faint buzzing of a beehive. I took a step back and dropped my hand. Electrified? Now, that was interesting.

“Dhan, I need my stuff,” I yelled.

Norm sniffed the air. “Who is Dhan?”

“A friend,” I said softly. Or at least, I hoped he still was.

There was no answer to my call, so I flicked my fingers at the dirt below the gate and moved it in a huge chunk, big enough that Norm and I could shimmy in underneath the electrified gates without touching the humming metal. What was so strange to me was that Dhan had never been afraid before. What had changed that he suddenly had put up an electrified fence?

I dropped to my belly and wriggled through the hole I made, and Norm followed, grunting as he got a slight shock on his ass. “Ouch, that’s hot. Wait,” he pulled himself through and glanced up at me, his eyes glimmering. “Is this where we’re going to pull the prank?”

“No, my friend is here. He’s going to help me get all the things I need. For the prank.” It seemed wrong to keep leading Norm on, but I didn’t really know what else to do. If he was supposed to come with me, and to do so quietly, it seemed the only way. Still, I had a feeling it might come back to bite me in the ass.

I strode toward the front doors of the mansion. They were askew, broken halfway off their hinges and hanging by mere threads of metal. Again, I wasn’t put off. Not by that; I knew what Dhan was going for. He wanted people to do a complete fly-by. I broke into a jog, and between one step and the next, the world flashed around me, and I found myself flat on my back as a pulse of electricity shot through the soles of my feet. I lay there, panting, unable to believe what had just happened. Norm burst out laughing. “Oh, mother goddess, you should see your face, that’s a good prank . . . AHAAHH!”

He howled, and I could only guess that he’d been hit by the same electrical current that had caught me. I rolled to my belly and pushed away from the house. Using my connection to the earth, I found the trace-thin wires. “What the hell, Dhan?” I compacted the ground around the wires, crushing them flat and useless.

And then I looked at Norm. He was flat on his back with his arms and legs straight in the air along with every strand of his long floating hair. His eyes were bugged out wide as he slowly turned his head to stare at me. “Wow, I don’t like that prank after all.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t so good.” Even though I had to admit Norm did look mildly funny. My lips twitched and I clamped my mouth shut.

I shook my head and stood. “Dhan, that was not nice.” I pushed my toes into the loose dirt and connected even deeper to the earth. The house in front of us rumbled in response to my call, the foundation of it rattled, and someone inside screamed. A woman, not a man. I frowned. “Norm, you stay here.”

“Yeah, I’m just going to lie here for a while.” He lowered his arms and continued to stare up at the sky. I jogged toward the house again, slowing as I reached the doors. While electricity wouldn’t necessarily kill me, there was no doubt it was unpleasant and could incapacitate me long enough for someone who wanted to do me harm to have an open window in that department.

I peered through a crack in the door. There was a woman on the floor, or at least I thought it was a woman. She wore a sari faded with age, but other than that and the long dark hair, I was hard pressed to say if she was even human. Slowly, she lifted her head, and I jerked back.

Skeleton. Her skull had retained her hair and that was about it. Another thing to scare the humans away, to keep Dhan safe when he rested between his healings . . . but it seemed extreme. I’d never known him to be so afraid, not for himself.

I pulled my two swords out and pushed through the doorway. The female skeleton lurched toward me, her hands outstretched as she whispered a curse in Hindi, that I would die and not find release, that I would live and wish for death, that I would find myself trapped in darkness and pain forever. Not exactly what I would call pleasant.

I removed her head with a single strike. She wobbled where she was for a moment, then fell in a strangely graceful clattering of bones within her sari. I didn’t put my weapons away
,
though, not after that odd welcome. “Dhan, it’s Ash, from the Rim.”

No answer, but there was a scuffle of feet from deeper within the house. I crept forward, all my senses on high alert. I entered the kitchen first but found no one. From there, I slid through each subsequent room, but still
,
there was no sign of my old friend. I slid both weapons away and frowned as I made a slow circle. A sigh escaped me. He had to be out on one of his errands, I shouldn’t have been surprised. And yet . . . something didn’t feel right. Like there were pieces here out of place.

I backtracked into the kitchen where a small TV sat. I stared at it, quickly identifying the power button. I flicked it on and the screen came to life in a blur of black and white images. I moved the channels around until I found a weather channel.

“Hurricane Charley is sliding across the Atlantic Ocean, but we expect it to dissipate before much longer.” The announcer was speaking over an image of swirling clouds that spun between North America and Europe.

Miko had said to watch for unusual weather patterns, that Cassava would throw the area she was in off its center. I frowned and leaned in close to the TV as if that would somehow give me the exact answer I wanted. The British Isles were in the direct path of the hurricane . . . if it were going to go rogue. I tapped my fingers on the edge of the counter, thinking. Behind me was the sound of a weapon sliding from a sheath. I spun, drawing my swords as I did so.

Behind me was Dhan, or at least I thought it was Dhan. His eyes were sunken in and his usual healthy glow was sallow and grim. Even his jet-black hair was dull; not gray, but as if someone had taken away the shine.

“Dhan, it’s me, Ash.” I did not lower my weapons. He was a healer, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt me. I’d taught him how to use his curved sword that even now wavered in front of my face.

“Ash?” He said my name as though he wasn’t entirely sure.

“Yes. I am an elemental from the Rim. I helped you build your home here.” I kept my eyes locked on his while being completely aware of all around us. Just in case he had another trick up his sleeve.

Dhan shook his head once. “No, she said Ash was dead. That I could no longer keep my home.”

A chill swept through me. “Who said that?”

“A queen,” he whispered. “But the cat spoke and she told me to wait for you. That she wanted a message given. You aren’t to go after her. Let her go.”

My jaw ticked and I lowered my two swords. “Dhan, thank you.”

He shivered and ran a hand over his face. “She spelled me to attack you, friend. Only . . .”

“Only because you are a supernatural, it didn’t work so well?” I offered.

“Because I am a healer.” He breathed out softly and the weapon clattered to the floor. He slumped and I caught him right before he hit the ground. Moving swiftly, I carried him to one of the large bedrooms and laid him down.

“What do you remember of her?” I sat beside him because he wouldn’t let my arm go. He clung to me, as though fear had made him wildly uncertain.

“She said you would come here looking for her. She took my healing for herself. She was dying, wounded badly. But she took my healing and then hurt me.”

Understanding dawned slowly. Cassava had been injured by Lark after all. Driving the avalanche had been done to slow us down, to give her time to escape to Dhan. I was not surprised she knew about him; she’d been my queen and the one I reported to during the escapades with the idiots. I’d told her all about him and his miraculous ability to bring people back from the brink.

“Dhan, did she have anyone with her? A man, perhaps?” I didn’t want to lead him too much. I needed his words to be the truth, and not what he thought I wanted to hear.

“Maybe.” He frowned. “But . . . he . . . told me . . . to forget.”

Of course he did. There was no way Cassava could have spelled Dhan on her own—she needed Raven now to do her dirty work. Damn it, they were so many steps ahead of me. “Was there anything else?”

He drew in a breath and then shook his head. “I’m not sure. Get me that bottle over there, it will help me recover.”

I went to the dresser where he pointed and grabbed a large green glass bottle with a cork in the top. I brought it back to him and uncorked it. The strong heady aroma of jasmine filled the air. Dhan took the bottle and swallowed it down until it was empty. He leaned back and closed his eyes. “Give it a minute.”

From the front of the house came a loud grunt. “Hey. Is there a prank with this skeleton?”

Dhan’s eyelids flickered open and a smile hovered for a moment. “You brought a Yeti with you?”

“Long story.” I stood and made my way out to where Norm hovered over the skeleton, pushing it with one big foot.

“Is it a joke?”

“No, come on back, I want you to meet my friend.”

Norm leapt over the skeleton, clearing it by a good six feet, and landed almost on top of me. I stumbled back and he shot out a hand to catch me. “Sorry, don’t want her to reach up and touch me.”

“Fair enough
,
” I grunted, and then led the way back to where Dhan was already looking better. “Norm, meet my friend Dhan.” I backed out of the room and headed to the kitchen. There was a pot of food on the stove; I peered into it. By the smell and color, I was guessing a curried chicken, and a part of me was hoping for butter chicken. I hadn’t had that in over fifty years and my mouth salivated at the thought. Even better, it looked fresh, probably made only in the last day or so.

I flicked the gas stove on and started the food to heating. Dhan would need his strength back, and both Norm and I needed to eat as well. Unlike Lark, who went into things without much thought, I’d learned the hard way that you had to take care of yourself if you wanted to see a hunt through to the end successfully. Within minutes, the pot was bubbling. I scooped it into three bowls, stuffing some naan bread I found into each to use as a scoop.

I stepped back into the bedroom and Dhan gave a low whistle. “I never thought of you as a housewife, Ender Ash.”

“Glad I could amuse you. Do you want to eat or should I give it to Norm there?”

Dhan held out a hand, and I gave him the smallest of the bowls, the largest to Norm, and the final one to me. As men are wont to do, we settled down to eat, no questions passing between us. The silence was a nice change after all of Norm’s questions about pranks.

But the silence, of course, could not last. Dhan put down his bread when his bowl was only half empty. “What happened, Ash?”

I chewed the last of my meal and put the empty bowl on the side table. “The woman who came to you was my queen, and she has taken hostage a companion to my mate.”

That last word hit me in the chest. The first time I’d said out loud that Lark and I belonged together. The burn in my heart suddenly had nothing to do with the heat of the curry dish.

Dhan gave me a solemn nod. “It is good to see you involved in this world, finally.”

I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

Dhan laughed softly and adjusted his stance on the bed. “A seeker of justice you have been, but you never let yourself feel. I never heard of you with a woman before. Nor did I hear of you breaking rules.”

“You don’t know I’m breaking rules,” I pointed out.

The healer shook his head. “I know more than you think. Like why this Yeti is important to the task at hand for you. Why you need him still.”

“For the prank, right?” Norm said around a mouthful of food.