Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (36 page)

“
Mat, Sarah, there are two men following you. I don't think
they want to have a friendly chat, either.”

“
Well, that was fast,” Sarah chuckled. “Think we should set up
an ambush over here, or try losing them in the ruins?”

“
I
don't have anything against these people,” Mat hissed. “I'd just as
soon lose them. There's nothing to be gained by
fighting.”

Ezra crossed to the opposite side of the
bell tower. He caught a glimpse of Sarah's pale hair in the burned
out city below. “Just keep going that way,” he said, quickly
calibrating his controller. “You're coming up to a square. Walk
around the fountain and I'll pick you up. They won't see
anything.”

“
Understood,” came Sarah's response.

Ezra watched them closely, waiting for the
right moment... there! He engaged the wormhole just as Mat and
Sarah walked through, cutting it a fraction of a second later. Mat
looked around the bell tower in appraisal. “Nice,” he sounded
genuinely impressed. “You realize that after this mission report,
Blair's going to lock you in a lab until every active team has one
of those thingies, right?”

Ezra grinned. “At least someone appreciates
my genius,” he murmured as he returned his gaze to the scope, still
focused on the blackened square they had just vacated. The two men
stalked around the fountain then stopped, looking around furtively.
His grin grew. “Oh yeah, that's going to throw them for a loop,” he
said, tone heavy with satisfaction.

“
You're going to clever us all to death one day, Hawkins.”
Sarah rolled her eyes.

“
Hey,” Mat interrupted, cutting off whatever snarky quip Ezra
was working up to. “What's up over there?”

Ezra swung his view back around to the other
side of town. A man dressed all in black and gray was practically
sprinting from the gate to the house Bert had entered a few minutes
ago. Ezra got a bead on the window and switched settings to
broadcast to the whole team just in time to hear Bert yell, “What?”
The door to the house flew open as Bert half dragged the other man
over to the tavern.

“
Bert, what are you doing?” Ernest asked calmly.

“
Tell him what you told me,” Bert demanded of the unnamed
man.

The man gulped, then stammered out, “Well,
uh, sir, we've been keeping watch on the roads and passes to New
Liberty, just like you said, sir. We saw two people come down the
road earlier today, but they seemed harmless enough.”

“
Skip to the important part, you blighted idiot,” Bert looked
around furtively, as if expecting to find someone watching
him.
Then again
,
Ezra supposed,
it's not paranoid when it's
true
.

“
Yes sir.” The scout swallowed hard again. “Word came down that
they left the city, sir. B-but sir... the Besmirched who's headed
out here... sir, i-it's...” he trailed off, as if trying to work up
the nerve to say the name.

“
Who?” Ernest asked, “They sending one of Jonus's little
lieutenants? Or maybe old scar-face himself? Can't say that I'd
mind getting to take him out of the picture...”

Bert cut in abruptly. “It's Val,” he hissed,
eyes wide with terror. “Valerie Estavon is coming to Helena.”

Ernest's face drained of color. “Val,” he
whispered hoarsely. “Val's coming here?”

“
We have to call this off, Erny,” Bert whispered urgently.
“We're in way over our heads. Against some other kissed, sure,
but... Val's a monster.”

Ernest held up his hand for silence as he
visibly worked to calm himself down. The two men who had trailed
Mat and Sarah came skulking back, looking disturbed. “We didn't get
em,” one of them growled. “They vanished into thin air. Like some
kinda thundering magic trick.” He spat on the floor.

“
You didn't tell us we was chasing blighted spirits, Bert,” the
other man man said, looking back over his shoulder, clearly
spooked. “Right in the middle of the old square, middle of the
strucking day. Right where we originally planned it all. It's a bad
omen, I tell you. We should just-”

Ernest silenced them all with a glare. “Too
many people around here. Get the struck back inside, you two.” The
surly men looked at each other and nodded, heading warily back to
the house. Ernest turned to Bert. “Everything proceeds as planned.”
His tone brooked no dissent. “Your men had better find those two
blighted 'merchants', and you tell 'em to do it quick and dirty. No
funny business.”

“
Y-yes sir,” Bert stuttered out, then turned and fled the
tavern.

“
I
want to know if Valerie Estavon so much as sneezes funny on her way
here, you got that?” He fixed his gaze on the wilting scout, who
threw him a hasty salute and left out the back door. “We're too
close to screw up now,” he muttered ominously to no-one in
particular.

Ezra sat back from the railgun. “Well,” Mat
started philosophically, “I'd say that there's something going on
here.”

“
I'd say it's something we don't have any business getting
involved in,” Sarah shot back.

“
I
don't know...” Mat scratched his chin stubble. “I might be catching
whatever it is that makes Ezra crazy, but I think we should stick
around and see what happens.”

“
Are you out of your strucking mind!?” Sarah took a deep
breath, lowering her voice. “If Valerie thundering Estavon is
showing up in Helena, I want to be on the opposite side of the
planet. This reeks of politics and you know it!”

“
Come on, Sarah. These people are trying to help themselves, to
get out from under the thumb of the Besmirched. The least we can do
is see how it all goes down. Plus, if Val gets offed in an ambush
out here, Blair's going to want to know.”

“
Um... who's Valerie Estavon?” Ezra asked politely. “Is this
the same Val that Arn the Fist was talking about?”

Sarah glared at Ezra for a few seconds, then
sighed and said, “Valerie Estavon is the leader of the Besmirched
in North America, possibly the world. She is one of the five or six
most personally powerful fire-kissed that we know of.”

“
Would she be capable of starting that fire?” Ezra's tone was
quiet, still polite and reserved.

“
I... I don't know,” Sarah admitted. “Maybe. We don't have any
way of finding out though...” Her voice trailed off as she stared
out into the distance. “And yes Mat, you're right,” she continued,
sounding defeated. “We need to see what happens here. If by some
miracle these people manage to take out Val, we would need to know
about it.” Her hand shot out and grabbed Ezra by the collar,
pulling him up to eye level. “I don't know what thundering god of
misfortune you pissed off, Hawkins, but I would take it as a
personal favor if you would keep your blighted bad luck to yourself
in the future. I am tired of the interesting missions you seem to
find.” He fell to the floor as Sarah let go and slumped down next
to the railgun. “I'll keep watch, you two amuse yourselves or
something.” The steady stream of outside sound abruptly cut off as
the scope was switched from public back to private listening. Mat
shrugged, removing a small bolt thrower from behind his neck and
beginning to dismantle and clean it.

Ezra looked around, then
spotted his copy of
The Will of the
Elements.
Picking it up, he flipped to the
first verse of the first chapter, sat down and started
reading.

In the beginning, there was the Mother.

She looked out through the heavens and
longed for companionship. And so She brought forth Her children.
They loved Her and danced together at the beginning of all things,
and this was good.

The Mother looked upon Her children and
smiled, for they were of Her and filled with the purity and
goodness that was known only to them. And She said to them, “My
children, I am going to sleep now. Keep watch and wake Me when the
time is right.” And so She slept, while Her children danced across
the world.

Then there came the Father god. And He
looked down upon the sleeping Mother, and called unto Her children.
“You are shapeless and without form!” He cried to them, and they
knew it to be true. “I shall name you the Elements, and thus
increase that which you are. Come, and let Me show you the beauty
of things that could be, so that when your Mother wakes, She shall
be glad.” And the children loved their Mother, so they did this
thing.

The Father god turned to stalwart Earth,
most steady of the Elements. “To you I shall give the bones of the
world, that you may solidly support the beauty which is to come.”
And thus Earth was bound, shaping the deep places and holding the
world.

Next the Father turned to gentle Water, most
soothing of the Elements. “Yours shall be the domain of life,
nurturing the beauty which is to come.” And thus Water was bound,
flowing and shifting in a slow dance with Earth.

Next the Father turned to clever wind,
swiftest of the Elements. “Yours shall be the air and all that is
within it, giving hope to the beauty which is to come.” And thus
Wind was bound, and joined Water and Earth in their dance, touching
lightly upon each to be held by neither.

Next the Father turned to passionate Fire,
most beautiful of the Elements. “Yours shall be the blood of all
things, giving warmth to the beauty which is to come.” And thus
Fire was bound at the heart of all things, licking forth to dance
with Water, Earth and Wind, lovely to behold.

Next the Father turned to mighty Lightning,
greatest and eldest of the Elements. And Lightning looked upon his
brothers and sisters and despaired. “What shall You give me,
Father?” he asked. “Shall You bind me as well, shackling my feet
and stilling my tongue, so that I may neither dance nor sing nor
wake the Mother when the time is right?” And the Father god was
wroth with anger, for bold Lightning had seen the truth of all
things. “I shall take my own place in the heavens, to watch over my
siblings and wake them when the time is right.” And thus Lightning
did leap to the heavens, unbound and free, dancing through all
things and sounding his voice to those who would hear.

Then did the other Elements too despair, for
it was as clear-sighted Lightning had said. “Now shall you see the
beauty which is to come!” the Father god declared, and from each of
them He took a piece, and breathed into it, until He had made all
manner of living things upon the world. And the Elements saw this,
and though they were bound and mute, their dance slowed and their
voices dimmed, they loved the beauty that had come. Then the Father
god reached into each of them, and though the world was full of
beauty He did create one last thing, a creature in His own image.
And when he had breathed life into man and woman, He spoke to them,
saying, “See this world of beauty I have created for you! All of
this is yours, from the birds of the air to the fish of the sea, to
all manner of beasts upon the ground. The Elements themselves bow
to you, for you, My children, are the greatest of all.” And the
Elements saw that they had been tricked and enslaved, and their
fury was great.

Ezra stopped. This all seemed suspiciously
like... propaganda. He flipped to the end of the thick tome, finger
tracing to the last line.

...thus have these words been passed down to
the Voice of Thunder from the lips of Lightning Himself, that we
may know of them and rejoice.

Ezra smiled wryly. Funny that the religious
text of a fanatical cult of people with the power to control
electricity would have nothing but good things to say about their
element. One thing still bothered him though...

“
Hey Mat,” Ezra said softly, trying not to disturb Sarah. “You
remember when I was talking to Gaav about his religion on the walk
home?”

“
Yeah, a little,” Mat responded absently, focusing on the
trigger mechanism in his hand. “Why?”

“
Remember when I asked him about other religions? He said that
he had only ever heard of one, the Sons and Daughters of Lightning,
and that
The Will of the Elements
was their holy book.”

“
Yeah, so?”

“
Well, how many religions are there in Sanctuary, if you had to
guess?”

Mat frowned. “Dozens, I guess. Maybe
hundreds. Everybody brought something with them at Founding.”

“
Don't you find it a little odd that in our little city of
maybe a million people we have at least dozens of religions, and
yet out here, with billions upon billions of people, there's only
one that anyone's even heard of?”

“
Not that surprising, Hawkins,” Sarah murmured, “when you
consider that the people pushing the religion can literally smite
you with lightning if you don't convert.”

Ezra bowed his head in acknowledgment of
Sarah's point. “But the stuff he was saying about his god, or
whatever, protecting and nurturing people...” He brandished the
tome in his hands. “That's not the kind of stuff that's written in
this book.”

“
Maybe you haven't gotten to the good parts yet,” Sarah said
with a snort.