Water Shaper (World Aflame) (2 page)

With a sigh, he set the mail back on the baker’s rack. He didn’t know if the family would ever come home again, but the symbolic gesture of leaving everything as he had found it would be appreciated, he was sure.

Bananas in hand, Xander walked back toward the front of the house. He paused as he neared the front door. Sitting on an end table near the door was a small, stuffed teddy bear. His breath caught in his throat as he picked up the stuffed animal, feeling the coarseness of its fur and the hard stitching at its shoulder, as though it had been sewn back together more than once.

He held the bear in his hands and stared at its inky black eyes. His mind swirled with conflicting thoughts. In one instant, the realization once again struck him that this destruction was in some part his fault. Immediately afterward, the thought was replaced with the realization that some little girl was without her home, her food, and her teddy bear. Those were all the reasons he wanted to defeat the Fire Elemental—to bring a sense of normalcy back to the lives of all those who had already lost it. Gently, he set the teddy bear back down on the end table and said a silent prayer that the little girl to whom the bear belonged was safe.

With his prayer complete, he stepped into the bright sunlight and kicked off the ground, flying quickly into the air.

He passed over the roofs of the village, shaking his head as he saw some of the rooftops struggling to be seen beneath the wall of mud that had slid down the side of the nearby hill. The hill itself looked like someone had sheered free the side of it, slicing down to the stone and letting the dirt and grass slide free. Despite the destruction it caused, Xander knew it would have been amazing to watch.

Passing over the top of the ruined mound, he glided toward another hilltop nearby. Against the lush green of the grass, Sean and Jessica stood out as they sat on the crest of the hill. They had their backs to Xander as he approached but quickly turned when their hair whipped wildly in the strong breeze he created.

“Find anything good?” Sean asked with a smile. He rubbed his portly belly affectionately. “Fat kids got to eat, you know?”

Xander landed lithely on the grass beside them and tossed them each a banana. Jessica caught the fruit but frowned at its condition. She delicately prodded the squishy exterior of the banana and looked up unapologetically toward Xander.

“This is all they had?”

Xander shrugged. “Power’s out in the town. Everything worthwhile is already spoiled.”

“Don’t worry about her,” Sean said, glancing over at the blond woman. “She just hasn’t reached her quota of complaining for the day.”

“I will punch you, Sean,” Jessica said. “I dated Xander, and I’d still punch him in the head if he got lippy.”

Sean patted the ground beside him, ignoring Jessica’s less-than-idle threats. “Pull up a seat and join us for a while. You’ve been flying nonstop since we left Iceland. You’ve got to be exhausted.”

Xander sat down heavily beside his best friend and smiled at the pair. “Strangely, I’m really not. I’ve actually never felt better.”

Jessica arched an eyebrow in concern.

“Don’t give me that look,” he replied. “I’m not kidding. It feels like being up in the air revitalizes me. Each breath seems to wash away any feeling of being tired, sore, or worn out. It’s…”

“A bunch of metaphorical bull crap,” Sean replied with a smile. He pointed to the banana in Xander’s hand. “Now eat, unless you’re going to tell me that the wind cures your hunger pangs, too.”

Xander’s belly rumbled at the mention of food. “No, apparently I still need to eat.”

He swung his legs over the side of the peak and let them dangle. The edge of the hilltop was stone and dropped steeply toward the slime-covered rocks below. The lakebed beneath their feet had obviously only recently drained. Large, bleached-white rocks poked through the film of algae that coated the edges of the bowl-shaped depression. Intermixed with the algae, they could see glistening, silver-scaled fish laying on the rocks and baking in the strong sunlight. The scent of rotten fish rolled up past their noses and threatened to steal their appetites.

The algae and large stones eventually gave way near the center of the lakebed, where the bowl flattened into a huge slab of limestone. A large fissure ran the length of the limestone sheet, dropping away into the darkness of the earth.

“Where do you suppose we are?” Sean asked as he stuffed the bruised banana into his mouth.

“Sao Miguel,” Xander quickly replied.

Both Sean and Jessica turned inquisitively toward him.

“It was on an envelope in one of the houses,” he explained.

“Is that in the Caribbean?” Sean asked. “It sounds Spanish.”

“Portuguese, actually,” Jessica corrected. She tried unsuccessfully to run her fingers through her knotted blond hair. “It’s one of the islands in the Azores.”

It was Xander’s turn to look confusedly at Jessica.

She frowned at their curious looks. “Just because I’m a sorority girl doesn’t mean that I’m stupid. I probably paid way more attention in class than either of you jokers.”

“She’s got me there,” Sean replied with a smirk.

“Finish up,” Xander said as he popped the last of his banana into his mouth. “We’ve got to get going soon.”

“How much further do you think it is?” Sean asked.

Xander stood and looked out over the lapping ocean waves that caressed the island’s shore. He could feel the tug in his gut growing stronger the further they flew. They had been following the pull—toward an Elemental, Xander assumed—since they left Iceland, and he had never felt the draw more clearly.

“It won’t be too much further now.”

Sean stood and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. For a moment, he looked out over the endless horizon of ocean that surrounded them.

“You nervous?”

Xander shrugged. “I don’t think I was when we left the Wind Elemental and my aunts and uncles, but I’m getting that way now. There’s too much time to think when you’re flying for hours at a time.”

“Don’t worry, Xander,” Jessica chided as she stepped up beside them. “Thinking’s never been your strong suit.”

He arched an eyebrow toward her, but she offered a disarming smile. Xander smiled and held up his hand, bringing his thumb and index finger within an inch of each other.

“You’re about this far from being left on the island by yourself.”

The three of them laughed and, for a second, Xander was able to forget about all the weight of responsibility he was shouldering. Then, as their laughter petered off, it came crashing down upon him.

The Fire Caste was moving against the world, ready to burn all vestiges of humanity in an attempt to start life on the planet over again. His only hope at stopping them was to find both the Earth and Water Elementals, who would help him defeat the Fire Elemental that haunted
his every move. If that wasn’t enough, he also had to save his girlfriend who, aside from being a Fire Warrior herself, had been captured by the Fire Elemental so that she could become his new host.

All that pressure on the shoulders of someone who had once professed that if they made a bell curve of all college students, he would be at the peak as the most-average
one alive.

“Come on,” Xander said morosely. “Let’s not drag this out.”

Sean burped and patted his belly. “Isn’t there a rule where you’re supposed to wait an hour or something after eating before flying? I’m asking for your benefit. You guys should just be aware that I get airsick, just in case I wind up throwing up.”

“Ignore him,” Jessica said. “We’re ready.”

The wind whipped around the trio as the pupils of Xander’s eyes turned stark white. The effort involved in flying had quickly become subconscious after he absorbed the power of the Wind Elemental. The trio lifted off the ground with ease and floated higher as the island withdrew below them. They leveled off before Xander launched forward, pulling Sean and Jessica in his wake.

The Fire Elemental stood before the mirror and looked on in disgust. Its reflection showed the stringy, unkempt blond hair. It flickered slightly in the reflection as heat shimmered from its shoulders and head. The hair hung over its eyes, partially covering the smoldering red that had consumed the once crystal blue irises.

The face that had once been Sammy’s looked strained, with faint bruising beneath both eyes. The Fire Elemental had fought against sleep after taking its host, but the biological imperative caught up to it. It frowned, and the woman’s full lips turned downward at the corners. It didn’t like the idea of having biological imperatives. There was another imperative it had quickly discovered that both fascinated and disgusted it. It assumed the Fire Warriors conducted themselves in a similar fashion, but it had never cared enough to find out such frivolities.

Turning away from the mirror in disappointment, the Fire Elemental stormed out of the palatial apartment. It ran its hand along the wall, feeling the hard stone against the soft skin of the woman’s palm. That was, perhaps, the most disturbing thing it had experienced since taking its host. Though it knew it was still as practically indestructible as it had been as a dragon, it felt soft and vulnerable. With the woman’s short stature, it often found himself looking up at its servants, rather than towering over them.

As the Elemental opened the door to its apartment, a pair of bowing Fire Warriors stood outside. The two ornately dressed generals kept their eyes turned sharply to the floor until the Fire Elemental had passed. Only then did they stand and turn on their heels, quickly following the blond woman toward the spiral staircase that led out of the tall tower.

“
Tell me of your progress
,” the Fire Elemental said. Its voice rumbled from the woman’s throat in a tone that hardly matched the delicate features.

General Kobal stood a head above Sammy’s short height. His broad shoulders filled the narrow staircase directly behind the Fire Elemental as they descended.

“My legion is outfitted and ready to march to war, my Master,” he said.

“
Excellent. And you, General Geryon?
”

General Geryon ran a hand nervously across his short, blond hair. His hair was slicked back against his head with a combination of grease and sweat.

“The Fourth Legion is formed but undermanned, Master,” he said. “Many of my men were deployed in search of the Wind Warriors and few returned alive.”

“
My men
,” the Fire Elemental corrected. “
The Fourth Legion, like all the legions, is mine and mine alone.
”

“Of course, Master,” Geryon said. He bowed even as they walked.

“
Those that remain of the Fourth are ready to march?
”

Geryon cleared his throat and tugged at his leather tunic. “The men… they aren’t yet fully equipped. They’ll need more time.”

The Fire Elemental stopped walking, pausing on a landing between floors. It turned sharply on the shorter of the two generals. Despite the stare coming from an unintimidating figure, Geryon shrank from the intensity in the burning eyes.

“
General Geryon
,” the Elemental said, “
you offer me excuses at every turn. Don’t offer another.
”

With that warning, it turned and continued its descent down to the main level of the keep. It heard the heavy, booted footsteps of the generals following close behind.

“We’ve reviewed the battle plan, Master,” Kobal said. “The Third Legion is ready to accept the main assault. We’ve conducted reconnaissance of the city. Most of its towers and turret are in disrepair following the earthquakes. The sea has swallowed much of its Western seaboard. We expect minimal resistance.”

“
You please me, Kobal
.”

The stairs ended in a long hall that led to the throne room. In front of the wide double doors, a pair of guards stood stoically, their eyes fixed straight ahead. When the Fire Elemental and two generals approached, the guards stepped to the center of the doors and, pulling the heavy handles, opened the massive entryway.

“
Geryon, you have yet to offer your assessment of your mission.
”