Diamond Bonds (17 page)

“Can’t… be done…” Di pants.

“Not enough force, I guess,” Jem reasons.  “Whatever this is, it’s a fortress.  I’m surprised the back wall cracked.”

Di looks back at the hole they used to enter.  “That monster has been gone a long time.  Do you think it’s still looking for us?”

“Maybe it got lost?” Jem hopes as she peers through the hole with her light rune.  She reluctantly slides back into the cavern, scanning the area as she does so.  “Di, I think it’s safe.”

The girl follows Jem, but she slips on the ice and falls.  “Ow,” she mumbles as she rubs her side.  “Your ice worked well on this crack.  Too well.”

“Yeah, that’s because there was a lot of…” her voice trails off as she looks back at the ice-covered crack.  “Di, I can only make ice, right?  But the ice I made froze all the water around it!”

Di cringes as she stands, still massaging her side.  “When you make ice, it’s already at sub-freezing temperatures.  So it would naturally freeze all the water around it as well.”

Jem snaps her fingers.  “I think that’s the answer!  Come on, let’s go find that thing!”

“You want to go
find
it?” Di gasps incredulously.  “What’s your idea… to
freeze
it?”

“Exactly!  It won’t be able to shape the ice, right?”

“You’re crazy!” she insists, but her arguing is interrupted by the sound of rushing water approaching.  Jem steps behind Di as the small girl prepares her shield, preparing for the inevitable.  Shining the light ahead, Jem waits for the creature to round the corner and show itself to them.

Instead of the monster, however, Era and Fire race into the large room, each stunned by the light rune as they shield their eyes.  “J-Jem!?” Era calls out.

“Era!  And…
you!
” Jem shouts at the sight of Fire.

Their reunion is cut short by the increasing sound of water rushing through the cavern.  Having apparently done away with its previous form, a torrent of water rushes into the giant cavern like a river gone wild.  Once in the middle of the room, it pulls together in the open space, stirring in a circle as it regains its form.

Jem barks, “You went and got
Fire?
  Are you insane!?”

“She found
me!
” Era insists.  “We were fighting and fell in the hole!”

“Fine, let’s feed her to this thing and hope it doesn’t notice us slip by,” Jem suggests.

“Want to try it?” she challenges.

“Guys, focus!” Di shouts, her eyes locked on the monster before them.

Jem gives Fire a look of defiance before turning to Era.  “This is a dead end, so we either run away until we collapse or we fight this thing.”

“Fight it!?”

“Listen, this might be a long shot, but maybe I can freeze it to death,” Jem says in a hushed voice.  “I need to get close.”

“Ah, so the queen bee is an
ice
queen?” Fire snickers.  “Just give me your dagger and I’ll carve this thing up in no time.”

“You want to use
this?
” Jem asks as she flashes her broken blade.  “I already tried.”

Fire is uncharacteristically shaken.  “That thing did that…?”

“It uses an elemental blade, so it will cut right through a dagger!” Di explains.  “We have to use elements to battle it.”

“What the… but
my
elemental blade doesn’t do that!” Era argues.

“Not the time, Era!” Jem chastises.  “Just keep your blade sharp and you’ll be fine, right?”

Era’s heart sinks as he’s reminded he lost the dirt when Fire kicked him down the stairs.  “I… uh… I don’t have it…”

“Then just hold the light and be a distraction,” she barks as she flips him the rune.  “Here it comes!”

Having formed three bladed appendages, the creature advances toward the clustered group.  Di’s arms tremble as she raises them, palms extended, forcing the air in front of them into a shield.  Era places his hand on her shoulder to help calm her nerves.  Swallowing hard, she forces her legs to move as she trots forward to meet the threat head-on.

Fire watches the display of bravado in disgust.  Her plan had been to sit back and wait for a chance to sneak by, but watching the three advance in front of her makes her burn with anger at the prospect of being protected.

The beast barrages Di’s shield with its three arms.  The girl winces as she focuses on the critical task of maintaining the barrier.  Jem shouts, “Break!”, and she and Era split off, running in opposite directions from Di’s protection.  The creature, choosing to split its arms, presses one down on Di while shifting the others to follow the two thieves.

Era works to keep the light centered on the beast while he dodges strikes from one of the arms, grateful its powerful attacks are slow.  With it being made entirely of water, Era notices that the light refracts and illuminates the entire target regardless of the angle.  He keeps moving in hopes of at least keeping one arm distracted, longing to contribute more effectively.

Jem runs to the giant water blob, keeping an eye out for the inevitable attack from above.  When it comes, she dodges and dives in, and she starts freezing the water the moment she touches the creature’s body.  As the ice creeps around the outside of the mass of water, a new fourth appendage takes a swing at the oblivious ice elementalist.  Just before it hits, Fire sweep kicks Jem’s legs out from under her, causing the blade to narrowly miss her head.

“Get up!” Fire yells as she dives backward, narrowly avoiding a strike from another appendage.

“I need Di!” Jem calls back as she gets to her feet.

Fire glances back across the cavern, barely finding the air shaper in the darkness, who’s still holding back the single arm pressing against her.  Dashing to the girl, she slides underneath her barrier and barks, “The ice queen needs you!”

Dripping with sweat, Di manages a grunt to acknowledge Fire’s request, but it’s evident she can do nothing about it.  Reluctantly, Fire heaves herself atop the air wall and kicks at the giant appendage, but her foot just sinks into the water, its consistency like mud against her boot.  She yanks it out and gives a glance to Jem, but she’s not making any progress, instead spending most of her time dodging multiple attacking arms.  Letting loose a battle cry, Fire jumps up and brings her good arm down hard on the watery tentacle.  Her bare hand penetrates the arm, chopping it off at its tip and releasing Di from its hold.

Free from the pressure, Di releases the shield and collapses to her hands and knees.  Fire, who had been standing on the shield, freefalls next to her with a yelp.  Resisting the urge to smack the girl, the mercenary wastes no time yanking her to her feet and dragging her toward Jem.

“How… did you break it?” Di gasps, but Fire gives her no answer.

When Era sees Fire leading Di toward the creature, he tries to run back to rendezvous with his allies, but the water creature slams one of its arms directly in his path, cutting him off.  “Why aren’t any of us water shapers!?” he screams in frustration as he reverses course.

As he runs, he notices a substantial amount of dirt where the water arm last struck, and it occurs to him that it can only shape a single element.  Any dirt that works its way into the water is quickly expelled due to the creature’s inability to control it, which means it’s actively depositing piles of earth as it moves.  The water creature lifts an arm to ready an attack, leaving a fresh pile of mud behind.  Era dodges the strike and scoops up enough dirt to form a knife.  As he continues to move, he drags his small blade along the ground in an effort to draw more into it.

Meanwhile, upon reaching Jem, Di immediately raises a large shield at the base of the creature to protect Jem as she works on freezing it.  Several smaller protrusions form and attack the transparent wall.

Fire cringes as each strike against Di’s barrier echoes loudly throughout the chamber.  She watches Jem’s slow progress and shouts, “No way will this work.  At this rate you’re just feeding it more water!”

“Got any better ideas!?” Jem retorts.

Di looks past Jem into the belly of the beast, noting the hovering mass is only supported by a thin pillar of water from underneath.  “Jem!  The pillar… breaking it should make the creature collapse!”

Jem and Fire glance at the pillar.  “Consider it done,” Fire calls out.  When she dashes under the hovering main body, though, smaller appendages form to protect itself.  They whip out at Fire, forcing her back until one wraps around her ankle and trips her as the other appendages form themselves into blades.  Helpless to defend herself, her trapped foot comes free as Jem grabs the appendage at its base and freezes it through, and they duck behind Di’s barrier before the smaller blades can slice at them.

Fire stoops to one knee as Jem bends over, out of breath.  “How did you think you were going to cut through that?  With your bare hand!?” Jem screams.  Fire ignores her and hides a wince as she rubs at the leg still crying out from her injury at the bluffs.  Jem turns to the air shaper and says, “Di, we need you to come with us.”

A hard SLAM echoes out as the creature brings its three arms down as a combined club of water, flinging Di backward and leaving Jem and Fire unprotected.  The club reforms into a blade and comes down on the dazed Di, but Era zips in and deflects the attack with a massive dirt sword.

“Miss me?” he calls out.

“Era!  About time!” Jem cries in relief.

The creature splits its arms once more and resumes its assault.  Era intercepts one arm and then another as they continue to barrage him.  Having his own elemental blade, he defends each strike without concern of the blades slicing through him, though the strain from such shaping takes its toll.

Fire joins him, running to his side and watching for an opportunity.  As Era meets a blade, she slides past him, leaps into the air and comes down on the tentacle, chopping it clean through.  Era is momentarily awestruck by the feat, but his attention soon returns to the other arms.

“Era, light!” Jem yells, and Era obediently flips the rune back to her.  “Let’s go!” she cries as she grabs Di and drags her under the belly.  Di extends her palms upward, providing a ceiling that the small tentacles harmlessly strike.  Arriving at the central column, Jem grabs the water and starts her attack.

“You need to freeze it all the way through!” Di shouts as she maintains the shield.  “Any amount of water inside will keep it up!”

“It’s too thick!” Jem replies as she continues to apply ice, her energy almost exhausted as Di, Era, and Fire hold the creature at bay.  She grunts and screams as she forces the ice further and further into the column.  Just as she’s about to black out from the effort, it freezes all the way through.

Instantly, the giant orb of water comes crashing down on Di and Jem, knocking them hard into the ground as the creature loses its form.  Its appendages fall off as the entire mass rushes around Era and Fire’s feet, but, just as it appears the waters are dispersing, a central glob of water pulls together in the middle.  The creature, despite losing most of its mass, manages to display new life by pulling in much of the water from the ground.  It also sucks Jem and Di into its mass and traps them within its watery confines.

Now half as large as before, the creature again raises its body on a small column of water, and this time it displays much improved mobility.  Di and Jem struggle in vain within the water, trying to escape but unable to gain any momentum.  The water inside is spinning at a high velocity, dizzying its prisoners while creating a strong current within.  Jem freezes it from the inside out, creating chunks of ice that float to the top and fall out, but her efforts are clearly going nowhere.

Era grips his large blade, realizing Jem and Di don’t have long before they drown.  Illuminated by the light rune swirling within, the creature again creates bladed protrusions and attacks its remaining opponents.  Era and Fire split up, each trying to get in close, but the arms keep the two from approaching.

Desperate for time, Era charges in recklessly, deflecting attacks and swinging hard at the base of an arm, chopping it off.  As another of the blades meets his own, he looks at his trapped friends and sees a large, floating object near the top of the swirling mass of water.  He strains his eyes to see what it is until another arm forces him to retreat.  “Fire!  Something is in there!”

“I know!  Your
friends!
” she shouts as she nimbly dodges an attack.

“No, something else!  Something floating in the middle!”

“In the middle?” Fire mutters, spotting the dark object floating effortlessly amidst the currents.  Locking onto the target, she zips toward the body, hoping to jam her fist in far enough to make contact.  However, a tentacle of water lashes down and wraps itself tightly around her feet.  It yanks her into the air as every blade accelerates to impale her, but Era slices cleanly up through all the arms at once, turning the weapons into a harmless spray of water as Fire crashes to the floor.

Using his momentum, Era swings around and cuts down on the creature from above, pressing into the water with enough strength that he makes contact with the object.  The moment he does, the mass of water again falls, washing out along the cavern floor.