Element Wielder (The Void Wielder Trilogy Book 1) (18 page)

The soldier dismounted his horse and bowed before Lao. “Excuse me, sir. General Draknorr requires your presence immediately.”

“Tell him I’m busy!” roared Lao.

“Many pardons, sir.” The quaking soldier faced the ground. “He’s quite angry that you came to Asturia without approval. He—”

Lao’s drove his sword through the man’s neck. “I’ll see you again, holy wielder.” He shifted his attention to Aya. “As for you, traitor, you’ll get your wish. That poison will follow its course and you’ll be dead soon enough.” He laughed. “Don’t worry, though. You won’t be alone in death for long. I’ll be sending Falcon to join you soon. Then you can be together like you always wanted.”

Lao’s words echoed in Aya’s head as he rode off: “You, Falcon, the holy wielder, the Asturians, you’re all dead.”

Chapter 30

How am I still alive?
It was the first thought that came to Aya when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was lying on the ground suffocating to death.

“Good morning,” said Faith, as she quietly entered the plain room. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better,” said Aya. “It no longer hurts when I breathe.”

“That’s good. I was afraid the poison might have caused some permanent damage.”

“I don’t understand. Lao said that Cidralic alone possessed the remedy for the poison. How did you come upon it?”

“I didn’t. I retracted the poison from your body.”

“Retracted? That sounds like it would hurt,” said Aya, with a pained expression.

Faith let out a soft giggle. “It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’ve done it before for spider and snake bites. Although yours was by far the most complicated procedure I’ve ever done.”

“So what exactly is a retraction?” asked Aya.

“It’s a process in which I suck out the poison from the body. It seems easy to the naked eye, but it requires a lot of focus.”

“That’s amazing. How did you learn to do that?”

“I taught myself.”

“Yes of course,” said Aya, realizing how dimwitted her question must have sounded. Faith was the only holy wielder in the area, probably the only one in Va’siel. Of course she had had to teach herself everything she knew. Aya couldn’t imagine having to learn to water wield without the guidance of a proper instructor. “Well, thank you for helping me. I was convinced I was going to die out there.”

“Don’t mention it. I can tell you are important to Falcon, and I wouldn’t want him to lose another friend.”

Seeing Faith now, it was easy to understand why she and Falcon were such good friends. Talking to her didn’t feel forced, it came naturally. She wondered if this was how it would feel to talk to her sister, if only she hadn’t lost her all those years ago.

“What was Falcon like,” asked Aya, trying to get her mind off the painful memories.

“You asked the right person,” Faith replied, as she changed the last of Aya’s bandages. “I remember everything from our childhood together. You wouldn’t believe some of the things he got me into.” Faith took a seat on a small painted chair. “One time, he wanted to go into the forest and catch a Lance Squirrel. Of course, I said no because those frightful little things are full of spikes. Well, Falcon didn’t care and he went out looking for one. When he came back his entire face was covered in spikes. The scars took over two months to heal. Everyone called him ‘Needleface’ for a while.”

The image brought a smile to Aya’s lips.

Faith beamed. “And there was this other time when we were about six….”

~ ~ ~

Falcon waved at Sheridan, who ran toward him and the mayor as soon as they set foot back in Asturia.

“I know you want to hear how the meeting went, but there was no meeting,” said Falcon. “Lao never showed up.”

“I know.”

Falcon ran his hand through his hair as worry settled over him. “How could you possibly know that?”

Sheridan proceeded to tell him everything that had occurred in his absence.

Falcon balled his hand into a fist in a futile attempt to suppress his anger. How could he have been gullible enough to fall for Lao’s trademark trick? He should have known better; after all, decoy traps had always been Lao’s favorite strategy.

“Where’s Aya?” asked Falcon.

Sheridan pointed at the small cabin. “In there.”

Falcon rushed into the mayor’s home. A wave of relief washed over him as he heard Aya’s giggles. He followed the laughter to the same room where Faith had healed him earlier. He knocked on the door and waited.

“Come in,” came a soft reply.

Falcon opened the door. His jaw-dropped when he saw both Aya and Faith. It was weird seeing them together, talking and laughing as if they had known each other forever.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure that you were fine, Aya.”

“It’s no interruption,” said Faith, standing up. “Besides, I was about to leave. Goodbye, Aya. It was nice talking to you.” Faith stepped out, leaving the lingering scent of peaches behind her.

Falcon sighed and took a seat on the now vacant chair. “Sheridan told me what happened.”

“Sheridan didn’t witness everything,” said Aya, sitting up on the bed. “You should have seen Lao. He was a totally different person from the one we grew up with. I saw a fire in his eyes. It was frightening.”

Falcon remained quiet. The situation sounded awfully familiar. Like Lao, he too had lost control of his emotions at one point and turned on Aya.
Are Lao and I really all that different?

One thing he was certain of, though: Aya was right. Lao had chosen his side. He wasn’t going to repent for his actions. His attack on Aya had proven that. Next time Falcon came upon Lao, he would make him pay.

~ ~ ~

The following day Falcon found himself out in a hunting party with Aya, Faith, and Sheridan. With all the recent rebuilding they had done, they’d had little time to hunt, and meat was running scarce.

He took a step forward, and an instant cacophony of noise followed. Behind him, Sheridan made as great a ruckus as him, perhaps more.

In sharp contrast, Aya and Faith moved as if they were part of the forest, every step quiet and graceful. They both held similar-looking bows in hand. Aya’s bow and arrows were a sea-blue color, while Faith’s bow and arrows were a shimmering white. With Falcon and Sheridan creating chaos behind them, though, they had no opportunity to put their weapons to work.

“Hemstath, it looks like this isn’t your first time doing this,” said Sheridan. “You hunt in these woods often?”

“Oh, not me,” said Faith. There was a tone of surprise in her voice. “I don’t hunt. I don’t even eat meat. I’m a vegetarian.”

Sheridan stopped in his tracks and stared at Faith. He had a stricken expression across his face.

“Do you need to rest?” asked Faith. “It looks like you’re about to throw up.”

“No, I’m fine,” said Sheridan, recovering. “It’s just that I’m having a hard time understanding why would you submit yourself to that kind of torture? I can’t imagine going a week without a luscious, tender, mouth-watering, thick piece of beruda steak.” Sheridan licked his lips as he spoke.

“Leave her alone,” said Aya. “She can eat whatever she wants. Faith, I do have one question.”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t eat animals, why did you learn how to hunt them?”

Faith picked a walnut from a nearby tree and tossed it to a nearby squirrel. “There’re many wild beasts in the forest. Sometimes they wander into the village and take our cattle. One winter a pack of wolves killed most of our herd of berudas. I’m the best tracker we have, so I went out and found the poor souls.”

“And killed them?” interrupted Sheridan.

“Actually, no,” said Faith, looking shocked that Sheridan would even suggest killing vicious wolves. “I left food out for them. If they’re not hungry they don’t come into the village.” She held up her bow. “Father always insists I bring this in case I’m attacked.”

“Oh, I see,” mumbled Aya.

“I have an idea,” Sheridan said, out of the blue. “We should split up so we can cover more ground. Falcon and I will hunt to the west, and you ladies can take the north.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” said Falcon, realizing why Sheridan had suggested the split. He and Sheridan were obviously the two weak links of the group. With them around they would never find any animals. “We’ll meet back here before sunset.”

“Sure,” said Faith. “Follow me, Aya. I know a good spot.”

Falcon kept an eye on them until they disappeared into the woods.

“That was embarrassing,” moaned Sheridan. “Since when are women better hunters than men?”

“It’s not a competition. Besides, Aya has gone hunting with her family every summer since she was a little girl. She has plenty of practice. And Faith has roamed these woods since forever. I’m sure she knows them inside and out.”

Sheridan yawned. “It’s still embarrassing.”

“No use complaining,” said Falcon, resting his hand on his sword. “Let’s see if we can find anything to eat.”

They spent the rest of the evening roaming the woods. They saw a few squirrels and land birds from afar, but all of them scattered before they got too close. By the time sunset snuck up on them, they had nothing to show, save an empty meat bag.

“I wonder if the girls had any better luck,” said Sheridan as they arrived back at the meeting place.

“I’m sure they did just fine.” The girls weren’t anywhere in sight and Falcon took a seat on a large moss-covered rock.

Even though he failed to catch anything, he had enjoyed the hunting trip. It was a nice change of pace from the killing he had been exposed to lately.

“Hey, Hyatt. Wield up a nice campfire while we wait, will you? You might enjoy freezing into a block of ice, but I don’t.”

“Sure,” said Falcon. “But we’re going to need some wood.”

“That’s no problem.” Sheridan took off into the forest.

A minute later he ambled back with a generous pile of logs and sticks in his arms. He stacked them next to Falcon.

Where does he get all that energy? wondered Falcon.

“There,” said Sheridan, throwing himself down next to his pile of wood. “Now, do your thing.”

Falcon waved his hand. Nothing happened. That’s weird. Again he pushed his arm forward but no fire came out.
Why can’t I wield?

“Er…Hyatt…. I wanted that toasty fire today, not tomorrow.”

“I’m doing it but nothing is happening.” Falcon crouched under a giant clawed hand that swiped where his body had been seconds before.

“What in the world was—” started Sheridan, but something rammed into him and knocked him down before he could finish.

From the corner of his eye Falcon made out a large figure looming over his partner. The dark shadow brought its gigantic claws down toward Sheridan.

Still in all fours, Falcon dashed toward Sheridan. He reached out and pulled him out of the way a moment before the thing impaled Sheridan through the stomach.

The creature’s claws dug into the forest floor, and it wailed into the air as it struggled to pull its claws out of the hard ground. With the creature momentarily trapped, Falcon got his first good, clear view of it.

It was massive. More than three times the height of a full-sized bear, it stood on two stubby hind legs. Its body and snout were covered with sharp metal scales. Four large, drool-drenched tusks, followed by dozens of smaller fangs, glimmered in its mouth. At each end of the monster’s hands were three curved claws that extended over three feet in length.

“What is that?” said Falcon, regaining some of his composure.

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to slow it down with my space wielding before it breaks free.” Sheridan brought his hands together.

But the creature did not slow down. Instead, it broke loose and turned toward Falcon. It gazed at him with wild eyes. Thick drool dripped on the forest floor below it. Then, without warning, it lunged at him.

Falcon rolled out of the way at the last minute. The creature went straight into the mossy rock that had served as Falcon’s chair moments ago.

But then the scene got even stranger. The creature rolled into a ball inches before making contact with the rock. The spiked sphere slammed into the large rock, shattering it into a thousand pieces.
How did that beast turn into a spiked ball like that?

“I can’t space wield!” announced Sheridan.

Falcon’s heart stopped as he realized what was going on. The creature, somehow, had the ability to nullify their wielding abilities.

“If we can’t wield then we’ll just have to rely on our weapons,” shouted back Falcon, gripping his broadsword. Sheridan took out his sword, as well. Both wielders took a defensive stance. “We’ll attack it together when it comes around.”

The creature, still in ball form, rolled toward them. Rocks, trees, and bushes turned to dust as it spun through everything in its path.

Falcon shuddered at the thought of what would happen to him and Sheridan if the animal slammed into them.

“Get out of its way!” cried Falcon. “The sword will do nothing to it in its current state.” But right before the creature reached them, it unrolled itself, returning to its original form.

Falcon swung his sword. The sword bounced off the thing’s thick skin. He tried again, swinging even harder. Once again the weapon ricocheted.

“This is useless!” said Sheridan, retreating away from the beast. “We haven’t even dented its armor.”

With piercing, angry red eyes, the scaled being gazed down at Falcon.
That’s it!

“The eyes are not covered,” said Falcon, with renewed vigor. The creature swung its scaled arm down on him. Falcon sidestepped the attack and jumped atop one of the hands. From there he raised his sword and leaned toward the thing’s face.