Diamond Bonds (19 page)

However, the situation is complicated by the fact that the girl could be worth some serious coin to her hometown.  Plus, though it is clear the bounty is directed at Di, turning in Era and Jem
after
returning Di home would add to her profit.  She’ll need to keep them all safe until she can capitalize, one way or the other.

A distant whinny prompts her to drop the thought altogether.  She spots a pair of horses across the chasm, and one rider sports a very familiar dark jerkin.  “Jaras,” Fire grunts, her anger already seething as she watches them steer their horses toward the trio.  She darts back into the woods, the only question in her mind whether she’ll use the opportunity to cash in on the bounty or simply to kill Jaras.

*              *              *

Di grunts and groans as she drags her legs, wondering what’s become of her guardians.  “They always leave me so far behind!” she whines to herself as she crawls to a stop, stooping to catch her breath.  The uneven terrain is much harder to hike than the main pathways.  She finds a fallen log and sits, sweat dripping off her face.  Looking to the sky, she’s crushed to find the sun has barely risen.  The day is going to be a humid nightmare for her.

Hearing the familiar sound of leaves and twigs crunching and cracking, Di turns around, disappointed her guardians have already come back for her.  She usually has more time to rest before being verbally whipped back into hiking.  However, she realizes the emerging figure is a stranger, and she freezes in place while the young man marches through the area.

The man spots her as he nears and offers a gentle grin. “You’re a little young to be out this far on your own, aren’t you?”

Pouting, Di contests, “I’m almost fourteen. I can take care of myself.”

“Ah, older than you look!” he exclaims with a smile.  “I’m older than I look as well, so I know how that goes.”  Bowing, he extends a hand and introduces himself. “My name is Ares.”

Keeping a careful eye on the stranger, Di shakes his hand.  “Di.”

“So you go by Di?  That’s amusing.”  Di frowns at the strange comment as his grin turns mischievous.  “You know, there are some people who have been looking for you for quite some time, Di.  Would you mind accompanying me back to Satari?”

The girl’s eyes widen as she rips her hand away.  Numbed by fear, Di tries to get to her feet but only manages to fall backward over the log.  In desperation, she does the only thing she knows to do.  In the highest pitch sound she can muster, she shrieks and cries out, “EEERRRRRRRAAAAAAAA!!”

The cry rings all throughout the forest, and it takes mere moments before her guardian bursts onto the scene, positioning himself between Di and the newcomer.

Ares barely twitches a muscle.  Laughing aloud, he looks behind Era to Di.  “
This
is your guardian?”

Era stays on guard, trying to determine the unarmed stranger’s intentions.  He glances to where Jem is hiding nearby, ready to engage if needed, but he holds off from signaling her.  “What is it you want?” he demands.

Ares merely shrugs in response.  “This could be interesting.  I think I’ll let things play out as they are.”  He turns to leave, but he glances back and says with a grin, “You’re headed to Canterin, isn’t that right?  You’re in for a real treat when you arrive.”  With that, he hikes back into the forest.

Perplexed by the encounter, Era lowers his guard as Jem reveals herself.  All three watch after Ares until he disappears.

Di pants to catch her breath, and Era looks her over.  “You’re okay?”  She nods.  “Who was that?”

“I have no idea.  I was resting on this log when he just walked up and started talking.  At first he was nice, but then he said there were people after me and he wanted me to come back to Satari with him.  That’s when I screamed.”

“He didn’t try to hurt you?”

“He didn’t touch me.  He never even drew a weapon.”

Jem stops watching after Ares and beckons for the team to keep moving.  “We’ll figure it out later.  Let’s go,” she orders in a hushed voice.  “No more falling behind, Di!”

“Quit leaving me behind, then!”

Jem shushes the girl and leans close to her partner. “So much for Fire.  What good is she if someone can just walk right up to Di like that?”

Era shrugs and releases the sword into his pouch.  “To be fair, we weren’t exactly watching her.”

“So what?   She’s clearing the way.  We shouldn’t have to be as cautious.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Era comments with amusement.

“But if that guy was after Di,” Jem wonders, “why would he leave without-”

Her thought is cut off by a violent gust of wind that sweeps Era off his feet.  He rolls uncontrollably until slamming into a tree trunk.

“Era!” Di shrieks as the wind dies.  Silence again fills the area, and Jem seizes the opportunity to grab Di’s wrist and dash toward Era.  However, she’s immediately yanked backward by Di, and the two flop to the ground face-first.

“Di!?” Jem scowls as she looks up, but she finds the girl’s feet entangled by roots and undergrowth.  Di looks down in a panic as she realizes what’s happening.  The roots and plants at her feet are winding around her ankles, getting tighter as they move up her legs.

Jem backs away from Di, much to the girl’s bewilderment.  “Jem!  Where are you going? 
Help me!
”

“I
am!
” Jem counters as she carefully scans the trees.

“Ew… ew… ew ew ew!” Di shrieks as the roots envelop her.

Jem continues to strain her eyes to find a culprit, and she sees motion as someone steps out from behind a distant tree.  Before she knows it, an intense wind again fills the area, its source clearly the person who just revealed himself.  Jem ducks low, but the focused wind is too intense, and she skids backward uncontrollably.  Fortunately, Era reaches out and catches her.

“Thought you were down,” Jem says with relief.  “Roots have Di!”

“Roots!?” Era exclaims.  He jumps to his feet and starts to dash to the girl, but the wind again knocks him backward.

Finally, the two figures fully reveal themselves.  Shem and Jaras walk to Di, who by now is entangled from head to toe.  Both have swords drawn, and Shem’s is a peculiar one: its handle and hilt are abnormally large.  “One down!” Jaras exclaims as he mercilessly delivers a sharp kick to Di’s side, eliciting a painful scream.  “See, Shem?  Aren’t you glad you ran into me?  I told you I had a lead on them!”

“That’s him,” Era affirms.  “The one who attacked me.  Not sure who the fat guy is.”

Jem grits her teeth. “Come on, Di!  He’s not holding the roots anymore!” she half-whispers, hoping the air shaper will escape.

“Doesn’t mean she isn’t still tangled,” Era points out, watching as Di fights in vain to break free.  Clenching his fist in anger, he calls out, “She’s just a kid!  Fight me instead!”

“I’m not a kid,” Di grunts.

“You!” Jaras declares in an enraged tone, gripping his bandaged shoulder.  “You got me last time, but this time I have help!”

Jem leans close to Era.  “So again,
where is Fire?
”

“Hopefully on her way,” he mumbles.

Turning her attention back to their opponents, she says, “One wood user, one air maker.  Think we can handle that without her?”

Era grins.  “You know, at first I was hoping for a day
without
a fight, but this is exciting.”

Jem rolls her eyes.  “Just don’t rush to free Di.  That hunter knows your trick, so they’ll be watching for it.”

“You got it!” Era yells as he charges forward, screaming a battle cry as he clashes blades with Jaras just in front of Di.  While they’re exchanging blows, Shem turns and takes aim at Jem, who is circling around the group.  He plants his sword’s hilt into his palm and unleashes another torrent of strong winds at the girl.  She cuts behind a tree to evade the primary focus of the forceful gale and, when he cuts off the wind, Jem seizes the opportunity to dash around and lunge at Shem.

However, the hunter twirls his sword in his palm and unleashes a torrent of a different nature.  A flood of water erupts into Jem as she approaches, and she slips to the ground as Shem continues to douse her with a merciless current.

Shem stops the flood, allowing Jem to hack and cough the water out of her lungs.  “Get her!” he calls out, and the two perfectly time a shift such that Shem slides in just after one of his partner’s strikes.  Suddenly finding himself in a spar with Shem, Era’s confused hesitation allows the hunter to go on a merciless assault.  The husky but skilled hunter continuously strikes at Era while stepping forward with each blow, forcing Era away from his partner.

Jaras plants his hands on the ground, digging his fingers into the soil before Jem can recover.  As she tries to stand, she finds herself suffering the same fate as Di, struggling in vain as the roots and plant life enwrap her legs.  She hacks at them with her broken dagger, but she’s only able to hold them back for so long before the plants overwhelm her.  Jaras takes care to bind her arms to her side before placing additional layers of entanglement around her.

Era panics at the sight of Jem being overtaken.  In desperation, he resorts to his trick to bring a quick end to his fight with Shem.  As soon as their blades meet, Era leans back and releases his sword, allowing Shem’s blade to pass by.  As he stands and prepares to attack the off-balance warrior, he’s met with an elbow to the gut, followed by a sweep kick that knocks his feet out from under him.  Era barely manages to roll out of the way of a high kick to the head, and he scrambles to back away.

As Shem and Jaras approach Era, another figure emerges from the brush and charges Jaras with rage.  Fire slices at the surprised hunter, cutting across his arm as he barely brings it up to defend himself.  Before she can strike again, Shem knocks her away with a blast of wind, forcing the small mercenary back toward Era.

Fire trembles with hatred at the sight of Jaras, but her thoughts are interrupted by Era joining her side.  “Fire, you’re-!” is all he’s able to exclaim before Fire’s clenched fist meets his face.  The strength of her blow is enough to send him stumbling to the ground.

Rubbing his cheek, Era looks up at Fire in disbelief, but before he can object she points at him and yells, “Found you again, you filthy rat!”

Wincing from his wound, Jaras furiously scowls.  “Trying to steal my reward again!?  I’m going to carve you up, Fire!”

Fire’s nostrils flare as she sets her sights on the man who nearly killed her.  “You’re not leaving here alive, Jaras.  I promise you that.”

Era stands, rubbing his sore jaw.  ‘
Girl’s got a nasty punch,
’ he complains to himself while trying to piece together the current situation.  He draws another earth sword from the ground.

“Stay where you are!” Fire orders.  “Once I take care of these two, you and the other targets are mine.”

It dawns on him she must be trying to trick the other two.  “Ha, like you can take me out so easily!” he banters.  “Your punches feel like getting slapped by wet noodles.”

“Is that why you haven’t stopped rubbing your cheek?” Fire asks, annoyed.

“Sucker punches don’t count!  I’ve beaten you in two fair fights, now, and I-”

“You have
not
beaten me in a fair fight!” Fire screams in anger, turning away from Jaras.  “I’ll be glad to show you if you keep insisting.”

“Bring it on!” Era counters, momentarily forgetting the real enemy.  “I’ll take you on anytime!”

Jaras curses Fire’s untimely arrival.  “Forget the target.  Let’s double-team Fire and knock her out.”

Shem leans toward Jaras and says, “The earth shaper will set his friends free.  We have the advantage, so let’s push it.  How is your arm?”

“Fine,” he grunts.  “I’ll take the backstabber, then.  Let’s move.”  As they approach, Fire and Era stop bickering and turn their focus toward the two.

Jaras charges Fire with his sword drawn, and she happily meets him directly with her dagger.  “Unlike the targets, I can
kill
you,” she taunts between blows.  Jaras scowls in rage as he places more force behind his strikes.

Shem, meanwhile, stops well short of engaging Era’s blade.  He takes aim again, this time unleashing a wave of fire that his target dodges at the last second.  Era retreats and looks back at the scorched earth, mystified by his use of a third element.  He tries to work his way toward Di, knowing her shield would prove useful, but Shem is wise to his maneuvering and blocks his path with a wall of flames.  Era pulls back in frustration, wondering how he’ll manage Shem without a shield.

‘
Wait… a shield!  Can I do that?’
Not wasting time, he scrapes his sword on the ground, pulling more dirt into it while he runs to avoid Shem’s blazing inferno.  Soon enough, his sword is bulging to the point he can barely run.  Heaving it up into the air, he shapes the mass to form a large shield.  He rests it on the ground in front of himself, already fatigued from carrying so much weight.

The shield meets its first test as Shem unleashes a powerful blast of fire into the wall of earth.  Era holds onto the mass and concentrates on keeping its shape.  Much to his relief, the shield withstands the blast without difficulty.  Confident in his new protective wall, Era heaves it off the ground and charges at Shem, mostly off-balance as he tries to keep the heavy dirt aloft while moving.  Shem shifts strategies and unleashes a concentrated water assault at Era’s boots.  His feet slipping, the earth shaper has no choice but to plant the shield once more and duck behind it.