Wind Warrior (11 page)

He easily turned the ball on the next Fire
Warrior, striking him in the back and sending the warrior sprawling
into the mud.

The rest of the Fire Warriors scattered as
Xander continued his assault. From the corner of his eye, he saw a
ball of flame soaring at him. A flick of his wrist turned the
blowing wind into hurricane strength, which easily deflected the
fireball. He turned the wind on the Fire Warrior that attacked him,
sending him tumbling end over end into the woods.

“
Stop right now!” a voice
yelled from across the park.

Xander turned to the sound and found a
warrior holding his grandfather by the throat. In his other hand,
fire roared between his fingertips. Xander could see the anguish on
the old man’s face and knew that even the hand that held him in
place had to be hot enough to burn his flesh.

“
Turn down the wind or I’ll
burn the old man to the ground.”

The smoldering white in Xander’s eyes faded
and the wind that whipped his hair about receded into his body.

“
What do you think you’re
doing here?” Xander asked, holding his arms out wide in a show of
surrender.

“
We’re claiming what’s
ours,” the Fire Warrior replied.

“
By killing the Wind Caste?
I may be new to this but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it
works.”

The warrior laughed derisively. “And you
think we should, wait another sixty years until you finally decided
to have the decency to die? Lord Balor might have waited for this
old man and his crew to pass on but you’re something different. We
won’t wait for any longer before we take what’s rightfully
ours.”

“
It’s not yours,” Xander
replied. “It’s still mine! I just found out that there’s this whole
world that I never knew existed. I just found out I’m something far
more special than just another slacker college student. I’m not
about to give that up just yet.”

“
You can’t stop us. Wind
feeds the flame, remember? The best thing you could have done would
have been to die when Sammy tried to kill you. Now you’re going to
die and she’s going to suffer for her failure.”

The mention of Sammy ignited a flame in
Xander’s chest. There was no reason why he should be so willing to
protect her when she had clearly betrayed him, but the moment the
warrior threatened her, he felt himself grow dangerously
defensive.

“
Not if I take away your
fuel,” Xander growled.

A bubble appeared around the Fire Warrior’s
hand. When Xander jerked both his hands backward, the air was
sucked out of the bubble in jets of pressurized air. Without the
oxygen to feed his flames, the fire on the warrior’s hand
disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“
What did you—?”

The warrior couldn’t finish his sentence as
another bubble appeared around his head. Sammy had wondered if he
could truly pull the oxygen from the bubble when he had her
trapped. At the time, he wasn’t sure it was even possible, much
less if he could have done it to her as a punishment. In this
instance, he felt significantly more confident and justified.

The air escaped the bubble in an audible
gush. The Fire Warrior gasped for air that no longer existed in the
personal vacuum around his head. His lungs screamed for relief as
the oxygen was pulled from them as well. Three seconds later, as
the lack of oxygen reached his brain, the Fire Warrior released
Xander’s grandfather and pitched forward, unconscious. Xander
released the bubble before he hit the ground, making sure that the
man lived while also making sure nothing blunted the impact as his
face struck the ground.

“
Who’s next?” Xander yelled
to the few remaining warriors.

In response, they turned and ran into the
woods, not eager to fight the newly minted Wind Warrior.

When he was sure it was safe, Xander rushed
over to his grandfather’s side. The old man propped himself up on a
knee with his hand pressed against the ground. Xander slipped his
grandfather’s free arm over his shoulder and helped him to his
feet.

“
Can you walk?”

His grandfather nodded. “I’ve been through
worse. Are any of them still around?”

Xander looked over his shoulder and shook
his head. “There are some around but none that are in any condition
to answer questions.”

“
They’ll be back,” the
elder man groaned. “They’ll come back with even more Fire Warriors
and overwhelm us.”

“
What would you have me
do?”

“
We run, like we should
have done in the beginning.”

Xander shook his head. “You heard my dad. He
won’t leave White Halls.”

“
I know, Xander. I don’t
plan on taking him with us.”

Xander would have stepped back in surprise
if he hadn’t been bearing so much of his grandfather’s weight.
“Just like that? You just want to leave them to face the Fire Caste
alone?”

“
The Fire Warriors don’t
care about your dad and mom. They’re normals, not part of the Wind
Caste. It’s you and me that they want.”

Xander looked over his shoulder and down the
street. In the far distance, he could see the glowing porch light
of the house he grew up in. Everything he’d ever known existed in
that house and in this town. The thought of leaving White Halls
scared him to death.

“
Where will we go?” Xander
asked.

“
We’ll join the others Wind
Warriors. We’ll need to warn them that the Fire Caste has declared
war on our survivors anyway.”

“
The Fire Warrior mentioned
a name—Lord Balor. Does that name mean anything to you?”

“
No, but it wouldn’t, would
it? The Fire Caste didn’t even exist when I was doing most of my
work as a Wind Warrior. But we’ll keep his name in mind. I don’t
think we’ve heard the last of him.”

Xander’s gaze fell once again on the house
in the distance. Beyond their street, they could hear the police
and fire sirens screaming into the quiet night. Around them, the
few houses that existed on their rural street were coming to life,
with lights turning on in the windows of curious onlookers.

“
I know you want to say
goodbye, Xander. Make it quick. We don’t want to be here when the
Fire Warriors come back and I sure don’t know how to explain this
to the police. We need to hurry.”

His parents stood on the porch when Xander
approached. He wasn’t surprised to see the tears gleaming in his
mother’s eyes. His father’s tears, however, startled him. His
father didn’t bother concealing his emotion and instead let the
tears roll into his beard.

Xander felt a tightness growing in his chest
as he climbed the few porch steps. He had returned to the house to
angrily confront his family about their lies. Knowing the truth and
knowing the danger it represented, he suddenly found an uncanny
bond with the parents that had tried so hard to keep him protected
from the truth.

“
I’m sorry,” he sobbed as
he reached the porch.

His father shook his head before wrapping
his arms tightly around Xander’s back. Xander buried his face in
his father’s shoulder. He felt his mother’s arm wrap around his
back and she joined the two men.

When they finally broke their hug, his
father wiped his eyes. “All I ever wanted was to keep you from this
life. This,” he said, gesturing to the scorched and smoking ground
in the park, “it’s just the beginning for you. Promise me
something, Xander. Promise me you won’t let it consume your life.
You deserve so much more than spending the rest of your life being
a Wind Warrior.”

He placed his hand on his father’s shoulder.
He wanted to say something reassuring but couldn’t find the words.
In the end, Xander settled for a simple nod of his head.

He embraced his parents again, fighting
against the strange sinking sensation in his gut. Their farewell
seemed far too final for his liking.

“
I’ll see you guys again
soon,” Xander said but his words felt hollow even as he said
them.

He could see his parents’ reservations
reflected in their eyes as he spoke. They didn’t seem any more
certain of his words than he did.

“
We have to go,” his
grandfather said from the base of the steps.

Xander half turned toward the older man. In
the distance, he could hear the sirens of approaching police and
fire vehicles. He was far more concerned about the sounds he
wouldn’t hear, like the Fire Warriors returning to finish what they
began.

With a sigh, Xander turned back to his
parents and embraced them one last time.

“
You can come with us, you
know,” he whispered into his father’s ear.

His father shook his head. “Our lives are
here now. The world you’re going into has no place for normal
people like us.”

As they broke their hug, Xander turned
toward the stairs. His mother clung to his hand a second longer
before regrettably letting him go. Xander took the steps quickly
and joined his awaiting grandfather.

“
Take good care of him,”
his father said reproachfully to his grandfather. “You keep him
safe.”

To Xander’s surprise, his grandfather didn’t
offer a scathing retort but instead nodded in agreement.

The pair of Wind Warriors walked away,
turning down the street that led back to the park. Xander stole a
glance over his shoulder and saw his mother leaning heavily against
his father’s shoulder.

“
I’m worried about them,”
Xander said.

“
I know,” his grandfather
conceded. “I am too. I’m going to have another warrior come watch
them for a while, just until I’m sure the Fire Caste is going to
leave them be.”

He stole one last glance over his shoulder
and thought about all he was sacrificing by leaving. He wasn’t sure
he’d ever see his parents again. Jessica, for all her faults, had
been a close friend for years. He wouldn’t have the chance to say
goodbye to Sean, who had been his quirky best friend since they
were children. All he could do now was pray that they remained safe
long after he left.

“
They’ll be safe,” his
grandfather said, as though reading his thoughts.

“
I know,” Xander said. “I
just get the feeling I’ll never see them again.”

His grandfather sighed. “I hope you’re
wrong—I really do.”

Xander held his breath as he and his
grandfather flew over the puffy white clouds. The dense gust of air
that carried them felt like traveling on a pillow. While the ride
itself was comfortable, the fact that it didn’t appear that
anything was holding them aloft left Xander feeling highly
unnerved.

They passed quickly through the air. The
wind stung Xander’s eyes, causing tears to streak down his cheeks.
From the intermittent breaks in the clouds, he could see mountains
giving way to wide expansive plains. In the distance, far beyond
where the plains ended, rivers merged into a giant river delta that
fed into the ocean.

The pair passed the time in forced silence.
Neither had the urge to speak—not after their recent attack at the
hands of the Fire Warriors. His grandfather’s throat still bore the
scorched finger marks from where he had been held. Even had they
wanted to talk, however, it would have been impossible. Every word
was stolen by the roaring wind as soon as it left their mouths.

Xander used the time to retreat into his
thoughts. Despite being angry at her betrayal, his thoughts
invariably fell back to Sammy. He had seen the handiwork of the
Fire Warriors firsthand and knew the ruthlessness that they would
use to get what they wanted. Logically, he knew that he should have
killed her in the house when he had the chance. Logic, however,
lost time and again to the strong emotions running through his
heart. The connection he had felt for Sammy could easily be
explained away as the connection they shared between the elements.
It would have been easy to tell himself that it wasn’t love that
drew him to her—it was the evolution of the elements from wind to
fire. He was made to fuel her power, which is why he was
inexplicably drawn to her time and again.