Taming the Elements: Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1 (4 page)

“Nothing is ever as it seems, old man,” Lana said. He felt a surge of power from her, then abruptly he could move. He flexed his essence against hers to no avail. She had him.

“Sit,” she said as if commanding a hound.

Jhona wanted to defy her, but his legs seemed too weary to hold his weight for much longer. He leaned against the wall and lowered himself to the ground. When concentrating, Jhona could feel her hold on his essence with his mind’s eye, but he could sooner reach the moon than touch his power.

Taken
… he thought.
How could I let myself be taken?

She held him like an iron vise. How could he have been so foolish? He had not even thought to feel for an attack on his essence from behind. Zeth had been his primary focus. She was draining him. He could feel his essence emptying.

“Bain’s soul is already lost.” Jhona had not meant it to be a question, though she had answered as if it had been.

“Not yet,” Lana smiled. “But when he learns of his wife’s
and
brother’s betrayal …”

She leaned in and began patting his head and caressing his hair.

He jerked his head away. “You are lying. It is why he has refused me these last few tendays. He knew that I would sense him.”

Her laugh was full mirth. It made him think of Athina.

“No matter,” she said. “You would have known soon enough.”

“But you are not Athina. She was always the best of us all. I can understand how your envy of her would lead you to such a path. Why did I not see it before?” Jhona shook his head. Despite it all, he felt pity for her. “Do you think Bain will love you now? With Athina out of the way? You are a fool.”

The power of Air surged into her swing, and her hand connected with his face before he could flinch away. Pain wracked his senses, and the hallway went dark.

When he opened his eyes, his ears rang and his vision was slow to focus. The stone floor felt cold on his side. Soldiers in black and red livery stood a few paces away speaking to Lana. He struggled to sit upright, and his back ached at the motion. Deep crimson spittle dropped to the floor from his lips.

Lana turned to regard him with a cool stare.

“Where is she?” Jhona asked.

She stalked toward him and looked down her nose at him. “I did not have enough time to get the guards and lesser savants in place to stop her, but no matter. By nightfall, we will track her in the shadow realm. There will be no escape. You have caused yourselves pain for nothing.”

She made it. With the pendant, they would never find her. Jhona smiled at the thought.

Lana’s mirth vanished, and she knelt to look directly into his eyes. “I warn you. Do not mock me again, old man.”

Jhona took a deep breath and said, “I have to thank you.”

She winced at his words, and he felt the laughter in his throat before he could stop himself. The motion made his jaw ache. He could not say why he laughed. Maybe it was the look of confusion on her face. Maybe it was that he had lost his freedom to two of his former pupils, his own brother’s companions. Maybe he had a concussion from being thrown against the wall like a child’s toy. He could not say. But now that it came, he could not be rid of it. Leaving from his gut, the laughter took over like a disease. His stomach ached and his back began to spasm from the motion of it, but he could not stop.

Her voice was like ice. “I warned you not to mock me.”

His laugh turned into a cough, and spittle flew from his mouth and hit Lana’s face. She stood and raised her arm as if to strike him, but Zeth grabbed her arm before she could swing.

“Do not be so hasty. If he dies, he cannot talk. Another blow to the head might destroy his wits. What are left of them.” Zeth turned to Jhona. “Save yourself the pain, and tell us where she is going.”

“Thank you,” Jhona said once more to Athina. It was still an effort not to chuckle. A few escaped as he spoke. “When Athina first came to me, I couldn’t believe my little brother would do the things she claimed. The plan to attack Alcoa, our cousin and his childhood friend, that he was looking for gifted children to build an army. And the possibility that he was losing his soul. I just couldn’t believe it. So I have to thank you …
I know now that I choose well to help Athina. You will never find her.”

He closed his eyes and let the coughing giggles take over. Turning his cheek, he leaned his face against the wall to feel the cold of stone on his skin. It took some of the sting away from where Lana had struck him.

“What are her plans?” Lana demanded.

He kept his eyes closed. Though the laughter finally subsided, he kept smiling. He could sleep if it was quiet for long enough.

“You will talk.” He could feel the heat in her words. “By the Seeker you will talk.”

He felt the sickening power of Death enter her. He was not sure how, but he had not felt the vileness on her until this moment. Power flowed off of her and began to cover his skin. He opened his eyes to see a black fog rolling over him. Darkness enveloped him.

Pain.

He felt as if his flesh melted and fire entered his lungs. It choked him and shook him. He heard a scream in the distance and his throat burned.

Moments stretched into an eternity. Then as abruptly as it began, the fog and pain vanished. It took him a few heartbeats to realize he was still screaming. He clenched his teeth and wiped at his arms to brush away the lingering pain. He expected to see his flesh melted away, but there was no trace or hint of damage to his skin. The air around him felt cooler than it had before the fog.

Lana loomed before him. “Tell me what you know.”

He forced a smile onto his face, met her gaze, and laughed at her. This time his laugh was deliberate. It held no mirth, but it made her unleash her fury in truth. Maybe this time she would kill him. Either way, he counted this day a victory. Athina had escaped.

The darkness covered him once more.

A lone figure stood atop the tallest balcony of the palace, looking down at the night-covered city of Alcoa. The terrace provided a vantage like none other in the known world.

Below the guarded rail, lights escaped broad windows in rows of shining arcs. As the eye moved away from the tall spires of the castle toward the noble’s houses of the inner city, the arcs became dots of white against a black canvas. Moving beyond the gates into the outer city, the lights turned to congruous rows of lights that parted the darkness to reveal taverns, inns, and cobblestone stretching as far as the eye could see.

Alcoa, the capital city of the Alcoan nation, spanned over thirty miles across. This night, every inch of the city would be alive with people.

From the vantage high above the city, the citizens of Alcoa seemed little more than dark masses moving as one, but the sounds of merriment reached the balcony in echoes of loud music and raucous laughter. The same sounds had reached this balcony countless times before.

Two hundred twenty-seven rulers had stood upon its terrace, watching the city below. King Thirod Alcoa, the fourth of his name had ruled the greatest city for a decade to the day.

A tall man of regal posture, Thirod leaned against the balcony and watched his city in quiet anticipation. Any moment, the night would become alive with the Artificers’ firework display. He had hired them to celebrate the evening.

As if on cue, every known color burst into the sky as the artificers released their fireworks with intricate explosions. Bright arcs and balls carved pictures into the night’s black canvas. Next, a yellow crown as large as his castle exploded into existence. Alcoa recognized the tribute to his patronage, as would his subjects.

A sequence of explosions followed, displaying a variety of iconic images. A circle divided into equal quarters of red, brown, white, and blue held a yellow rose bud at its center. As old as his nation, this was the symbol of Alcoa and the Sacred Order.

The moment in which the last spark of the symbol faded, the next explosions settled in the form of two right hands clasping forearms. This was another tribute to Alcoa and the peace he brought to the lands. Upon gaining the throne, Alcoa had forged a treaty with his neighboring nations. Where his father had failed, Thirod the fourth had succeeded. He smiled at the thought.

Under the Treaty of the Sacred Order, the world now knew peace. Every nation had signed it, even if some of those signatures had been persuaded to the point of coercion. Ten years this day, all Life loving people had known a world free of war and pain.

As the clasping hands dissolved, a great sword cut into the sky. In place of the hilt, balancing scales jutted out on either side of the handle. This symbol came from the island nation of Justice across the Tranquil Sea. Despite the distance, the small nation had been Thirod’s strongest supporter, pulling the rest of the Island Nations into the treaty.

Following Justice was the symbol of Kalicodon, a fist grasping a snake’s head. This nation had been the most difficult to attain. The tribes of Kalicodon refused to abolish slavery. In truth, slavery was as much a part of Kalicodian society as elementalists were a part of Alcoa’s. The tribes of Kalicodon made slaves of one another as one tribe conquered the other. In time, slaves could earn their freedom in the pits, where they made slaves fight one another in an arena for sport. Yes, it seemed barbaric. Thirod would never tolerate such acts within his own kingdom. But allowing an ally to keep customs and traditions was not the same as advocating slavery. His father could not see this truth.

Thirod shook his head. Several symbols had flashed in the sky, but lost in his thoughts, he had missed them. Cheers reached his ears from the streets below. His people had not missed the display, and that was what mattered. This festival was for them. They needed to feel the reminder of the peace he had given to them. Tonight at the height of summer, they celebrated peace and Life.

His people would sing, dance, and drink the Summer Solstice away in both the inner and outer city. He had chartered every inn and tavern to give free drinks to all for the celebration. The lowliest of his people would enjoy the vibrance of Life as much as the highest this night. They needed this, so he owed it to them as their benefactor.

This was his kingdom.

People of many nations had come to his city and his lands seeking many things. His was the most vast and powerful kingdom in the known world.

Alcoa took a deep breath and smiled. “This is my doing. Father, even you would be proud.”

“Would he be proud?” A deep voice spoke from behind him.

Alcoa opened his essence to the Elemental power of Air. He spun into the room, preparing to tame a lightning hurl, but he stopped upon seeing his intruder.

“Bain?” Thirod whispered.

A ghost stood before him. Had he gone mad?

Bain wore black, leather armor with a dark cloak made of silk. The symbol upon the man’s chest made Thirod gasp. A black fist clutched a red dragon. Such symbols were bad omens or scrawled on the doors of the condemned houses of plague victims. This was not the Solsec family crest, but he could not mistake his childhood friend. Bain rested a casual hand upon the hilt of a scimitar.

“Bain,” Alcoa said. “I thought—”

“You thought I was dead,” Bain said.

Thirod had sent Bain into an unwelcoming land in search for artifacts of power. All these years, he had thought his friend dead. Bain, his closest friend, was alive! Thirod released the power he held and felt the Air push back into the room.

With arms wide open, he approached Bain. “I had given up hope.”

Bain took a step backward and raised a hand to halt Thirod’s approach. “There are events, which we need to discuss.”

“Yes,” Alcoa said, gesturing toward the balcony, “perhaps we should sit.”

“I prefer to stand for the moment.” Bain’s smile held no mirth.

Something didn’t feel right. Then a thought occurred to Alcoa. “How did you get past the guards and my wards? Even in times of peace, they are always in place. I can still feel the Elemental wards in tact.”

Bain smiled. “I have learned many things over the past seven years.”

“Why have you only just come to me? And like this?” Alcoa said. “Where have you been?”

“I found something valuable on my last mission.”