Wind Warrior (23 page)

Xander pushed himself to his feet before the
others caught up to him and walked unsteadily toward the house.
Reaching out, he grasped the police tape in both hands and tore it
in half.

His tennis shoes sunk into the muddy ground
that was still saturated from hundreds of gallons of water. Beneath
the smell of charred wood and broiled paint, he could smell a faint
underlying scent of sulfur. He had only smelled something that
pungent once before, when Sammy had cornered him in the abandoned
house.

Xander clutched his chest as a wave of
anguish washed over him. The Fire Warriors had been here—this was
their fault. The sulfur smell was their calling card, left there
for the Wind Warriors to find.

“
Hey, you can’t be here,” a
police officer called out as he approached the house. “It’s not
safe.”

Xander turned toward the officer and wiped
away the tears with the back of his sleeve. Seeing the sorrow in
his eyes, the police officer relaxed and dropped his hand from the
pistol on his belt.

“
Are you okay?” the officer
asked as he stepped onto the sidewalk. “Did you know the family
that lived here?”

“
They’re my parents,”
Xander replied, unwilling to use the past tense when talking about
them despite his burgeoning fears. “Where are they? What
happened?”

“
Oh, son, I’m so sorry. I’m
not sure I’m the right person to be talking to you about
this.”

“
Please,” he said,
pleading. “Please tell me what happened.”

The officer sighed. “A fire started in the
kitchen. Both your parents were asleep upstairs.”

Xander swallowed a threatening sob. From the
corner of his eyes, he could see the other warriors
approaching.

“
What happened to them?” he
said softly.

“
There was a lot of smoke
in the house. They… they never woke up. It was painless—they went
in their sleep.”

His knees grew weak and his grandfather
materialized by his side. Xander’s deep loss was reflected in his
grandfather’s face but the elder man kept a stoic visage in front
of the police officer.

“
I’m here,” his grandfather
whispered into his ear. “I’m here.”

“
I’m really sorry to be the
one to tell you,” the officer said as he removed his hat and ran a
nervous hand over his scalp.

“
Thank you, Officer,”
Giovanni said, shaking the man’s hand. “We appreciate your
help.”

The officer nodded at the men before walking
back to his patrol car. The engine roared as the officer turned the
key.

Xander felt a chill wash over him as the
engine rumbled to life. It felt like electricity pouring through
the muddy ground under his feet, coursing up through his legs
before spreading through his core. Goose bumps rose on his arms and
the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as though statically
charged.

He had felt something similar once before,
seconds before the Fire Warriors ambushed him and his grandfather
on the park bench.

His grandfather clenched his arms around
Xander tighter, holding him closer. “Not now. Not while the police
officer is still here.”

Xander’s tears quickly dried while he
glanced from side to side, scanning for the Fire Warrior. He could
sense Bart’s palpable fear, having faced this warrior before. The
fear Xander thought he’d felt was gone, replaced instead by an
overwhelming need for revenge.

The police car pulled away from the curb and
rolled down the road. Giovanni waved politely with a smile painted
on his face. As it turned at the end of the otherwise empty road,
the Italian dropped his hand. His grandfather released Xander, who
staggered away from the older man before finding his balance.

The trees around them bent as the wind
kicked up furiously. Xander’s hair blew first into his face before
the wind shifted directions chaotically, knocking the loose strands
of hair back over his forehead.

From the side of the house, a single figure
emerged. General Abraxas’ shaven head glistened in the afternoon
sun. His dark tattoos traced patterns down his cheeks before
disappearing beneath his thick armor and fur-lined cloak.

“
So these are the mighty
Wind Warriors?” the General mocked. “I’m not impressed.”

“
You did this,” Xander
growled. “You killed my parents. I’ll kill you!”

The power washed over and through him,
coalescing in his hand in an orb of maddeningly swirling air. The
wind was raw and untamed. When it launched from his hand, it surged
through the air with a primal force rather than the disciplined
technique he’d been practicing. The orb rocketed across the front
lawn, aimed directly at the warrior’s chest.

Abraxas’ arm ignited in flames as he
laughed. With a wave of his hand, he batted the orb harmlessly
aside.

“
You can’t hope to defeat
me. Wind feeds the flames, or have you forgotten so
soon?”

Xander closed his eyes and tears squeezed
from the corners of his eyes. He heard a concerned yell behind him
but he ignored their warnings. This Fire Warrior killed his parents
for no other reason than to draw him out of hiding. That sort of
senseless brutality deserved the punishment Xander had in mind.

The wind built around him in a swirling
vortex. He could hear his grandfather yelling at him from a great
distance away but the roar of the growing tornado made his words
inaudible.

Chunks of grass and mud were pulled from the
ground by the swirling winds. He heard the fabric of his shirt tear
as the howling winds pulled at his body from all angles. With a cry
of anguish, Xander drove the tornado forward.

General Abraxas stood his ground with a
wicked smile that revealed his pointed teeth. He crossed his arms
in front of his face and both burst into flames.

The tornado struck him with a deafening
crash. Shingles from the house’s ruined roof cascaded onto the
yard. A support beam, weakened from the fire, cracked on the
porch.

Exhausted, Xander dropped to his knees. The
swirling grass and mud slowed until it seemed to freeze in the air.
At once, the debris collapsed into the yard in large, dirty
piles.

In the center of the chaos, General Abraxas
laughed again. He lowered his arms and Xander realized the man was
completely unscathed. He wanted to cry again. The Fire Warrior was
taking everything he had and brushing it aside. Xander’s hopes of
vengeance for his family were growing further and further away.

He forced himself back to a standing
position and let the wind build around him again.

“
Xander, don’t,” his
grandfather said from behind him. “He’s too strong.”

“
Listen to the old man,
boy! There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“
Then I’ll die trying!”
Xander yelled. He concentrated again and the winds grew stronger
around him. The energy pulled at his very essence, drawing its
strength from his core. It felt like he was draining his life to
fuel another assault.

“
I wouldn’t do that, if I
were you,” the General said. “Not if you want to keep your
girlfriend alive.”

Xander froze. The winds still swirled around
him but the power ebbed from him.

Abraxas reached around the corner of the
house and his hand closed around someone concealed there. With a
tug, he pulled Sammy to the front yard. Her hands were tied in
front of her with a leather thong. The General had the other end
tied to his belt, keeping her tethered to him. His hand was clamped
firmly around the back of her neck and she whimpered as the General
squeezed against her throat.

“
It’s a trick,” Bart said.
“She’s a Fire Warrior too. He wouldn’t harm her.”

Xander looked at the stern reservation on
the General’s face and panned to the pained fear on Sammy’s. He
knew instantly that this wasn’t a bluff. The General was more than
willing to kill her as a way to the Wind Warriors.

“
Don’t hurt her,” Xander
said. The wind around him died away.

“
Xander,” his grandfather
said harshly. “Don’t be a fool. He’ll kill you.”

“
Let her go,” Xander said,
ignoring the protests. “Let her go and you can have me.”

“
No,” Sammy said sternly.
The fear faded away on her face. “Your grandfather’s right. He’ll
kill you.”

“
Shut up, girl,” Abraxas
hissed.

“
I screwed up with you,”
she said. A small flame appeared in front of her bound hands,
burning through the leather thong. “I know that. But I can’t stop
thinking about you and I won’t let you throw your life away for
me.”

“
I told you to…” the
General began before Sammy drove her elbow into his gut.

He doubled over in pain but kept his grip on
her neck. As he righted himself, he jerked his arm backward. Sammy
was pulled from her feet and launched through the air. She slammed
painfully into a tree and slid down to the ground.

From where he stood, Xander couldn’t see her
moving. His worry turned to a searing rage. His eyes turned white
and the wind roared around him. The power came from somewhere
beyond him, like he was tapping into the fundamental nature of the
elemental power.

“
Sammy!” he
yelled.

“
Enough of this!” Abraxas
said.

He raised his hands and the ground around
Xander erupted in a cyclone of flames. They built into a pillar,
swirling madly around him. The heat was oppressive, stealing the
very oxygen from the air. Xander’s clothes smoked as they
threatened to ignite.

A bullish figure broke through the side of
the burning pillar and knocked Xander free of the flames. He and
Bart both coughed as they collapsed onto the ground, their skin
blackened from the soot.

Bart rolled off him as Xander climbed to his
feet. His grandfather and Giovanni had already engaged the General.
Giovanni flew by the Fire Warrior, buffeting him with gusts of
wind. His grandfather shot wind at him like spears, trying to
pierce through his thick armor.

The General brushed the assaults aside. As
Giovanni passed by again, Abraxas’ hand shot up and grabbed the
Italian’s shirt. He flung the Wind Warrior aside and Giovanni
crashed into the ground before rolling out of sight around the side
of the building.

Seeing Xander back on his feet, Abraxas
turned his attention back to the young warrior. A flaming sphere
grew in his hand, burning from blue to green to red to virtually
white. When the orb was practically too bright to look at any
longer, the General pulled back his arm to throw.

Something triggered deep inside Xander,
something primal and powerful. The wind surged within him far
stronger than he had felt before. It saturated his body with energy
until he felt unable to contain its purity. His eyes flashed a
blinding white as he lost himself in its enveloping embrace.

The General launched his flaming orb and the
wind leapt from Xander’s body in response. The two elemental forces
collided with enough strength to shake the ground. Sparks mixed
with driving wind, sending shards of flames in all directions—like
a firework exploding between them.

With the fireball destroyed, the power
withdrew from Xander, leaving him weakened. His breath was ragged
and his limbs felt heavy. His head sagged toward his chest. With an
effort, he looked up in time to see the General throw a second orb
of flame.

Xander raised his hand to deflect it but
lacked the energy. He could do nothing as it spiraled toward
him.

Just before the flame struck him, Bart threw
himself in between Xander and the assault. The orb struck him in
the chest and he fell limply to the ground.

The ground beneath Xander’s feet shook as an
earthquake rocked White Halls. He dropped to his knee for support
as the shaking threatened to knock him from his feet.

The house shook violently. Wood creaked and
shattered. Broken glass rattled in the ruined home. With a
thunderous crack, the foundation split and the house caved in on
itself. Clouds of dust and debris spewed across the front yard,
engulfing the warriors.

“
No!” he heard his
grandfather yell from somewhere in the concealing smoke.

A bright red beam filled the air,
illuminating the dust like lightning within a cloud. A single
scream split the air before falling silent.

Xander was overwhelmingly exhausted. He
lacked the energy to push himself up from his knee. Bart lay on the
ground in front of him, smoke still rising from the wound on his
chest. He couldn’t see any of the others, though he strained to
find a silhouette through the choking dust.

“
Grandpa!” he yelled before
being overwhelmed with a coughing fit. “Giovanni!”

A figure stepped through the smoke. Xander
looked up hopefully but his hopes were crushed as he saw the dark
armor and tattooed face of General Abraxas.

“
They won’t answer your
calls,” he said. “No one’s left to rescue you.”

Xander was crestfallen. He rocked back on
his knees until he sat on his feet. He placed his hands on his lap,
knowing that he had nothing left that could harm the General.

“
Get it over with,” he
muttered.

“
With pleasure.”

The General raised his hands and a swirling
maelstrom of fire grew between his palms. The ball grew beyond the
size of his hand, expanding until it was over a foot across. Xander
could feel the intense heat and he flinched involuntarily away from
the flames.

“
Your time is over, Wind
Warrior. Long live the flame.”