One brother, one who I assumed was Job, looked to the sky and with a nod, the sky opened up and rumbled.
“It’s a distraction!” I yelled.
A strategy formulated in my mind. My arms fell to my side and as I envisioned it, the Pue rapidly swallowed up the blue hue. It began to twist and turn, funneling around and around, with its peak coiling along the ground, gathering dirt and pebbles into its core.
A loud crack thundered over the horizon as lightning streaked across the sky. Job thrust his arms forward...the lightning barreled toward us. Adding force to my vision, I jerked my body sideways, both my mind and body working together to shoot the Pue out with all its might. The lightning veered to the left. I missed, but an anaconda of water caught it on the other side and as a conductor, charged it back to the source. Joshua threw himself in front of Job and the electrified water rebounded off his chest, driving it high above us.
With a swipe of his arm, the water erupted, plunging drops of electricity toward the earth—the ultimate acid rain. Another wave of water surged above us and absorbed each droplet as it fell, sweeping them away, back to the swimming hole. Skin sizzled on the other side. Pearle and André smiled, putting their arms back to their side.
The two remaining Pyre fought to keep control of their wind. Dad and Zack swallowed them up easily and quickly joined them to mine. The funnel gained speed, dominating the air, as it advanced forward. The dark clouds bent at its will and reeled into the core.
Then, from across the swimming hole, rocks of all shapes propelled toward us. A hue of grey deployed from behind our line, sucking them tightly together—their direction abruptly reversed and pelted against Job before he could redirect his strike.
Our wind tunnel was upon them. We directed it toward the trees with such power the wood groaned and creaked as their roots resisted being extracted from the dirt. When they finally let go, the massive birch, oak, and evergreens twisted up into the heart, picking up speed as they spiraled in the middle.
“Ready?” Zack yelled.
We nodded.
Together we yanked back. The funnel untied like a top and released its weapon. The sound of ripping green wood filled the air as branches tore and collided. The trees plummeted on top of the enemy—each flattening a few that weren’t fast enough. We cracked our hues back, imprisoning theirs in ours, and stood tall at the ready, waiting for the retaliation... None was forthcoming.
What we got was a cocky audience.
Braxton clapped his hands. “Well done, well done, but you know you can’t kill a Pyre.”
“I can’t, but they can,” I said, with a nod to our allies, not entirely sure who were pure Tov and who were Half Lights. “I can kill a Half Night and if not, injure some Pyres and put them out of commission for a while.”
The thunder rolled louder and the wind picked up speed, some catching in my Pue.
“Well, that is very resourceful of you, but you see, my dear...” He tapped his finger to his chin again, looking up. “Ninety five percent of us are Pyre, so how do you expect to win?”
Smiling without showing weakness, I retorted, “We simply have to keep you from opening the catacomb.”
“And how do you propose to do that?”
“Throw you back into the hole you crawled out of, one by one.” I quickly cranked my head to the side then back up. “Your turn,” I antagonized.
“Have you thought this through, Miss Gardiner? Are you willing to kill Nathanael to obtain your goal?” He smiled lovingly at his son. It made me sick.
It was a question I wasn’t sure how to answer. I faltered, looking between him and Nathanael, as a smile played around Nathanael’s lips, taunting me.
I looked back at Braxton. “Yes.”
With barely a push off, he leapt across the swimming hole. Dad, Pearle, Zack and Mora stepped in front of me just as his hooves hit the ground. The dirt vibrated, leaving a cleft imprint a foot deep—he was no longer Braxton.
It was an eight foot grotesque monster that stood in front of us. Its jaw protruded out by four inches at least, along with its forehead, and its skin rolled around the bones. Claws returned to where its fingers once were. The eyes were tar and seemingly seeped from the lids, then rolled back into themselves.
Its voice deep, low and slow, said, “We knew from Nathanael’s inability to tempt you it was going to be a long, drawn out process getting you to open the catacomb. So let’s begin!” Its claw lashed out and burrowed into my arm. Mora bolted around and held my waist while Dad and Zack secured its arms and spun around in the same direction. Its nails dragged along my skin, but Mora held tight. I screamed in pain—Dad and Zack pitched it back over to the other side.
In a split second, Dad had me in an embrace and his palm moved in a circular motion. In just seconds my skin was good as new. “There.” He turned instantly and joined the line.
All the Pyre and Half Nights manifested into a horde of miscreants, except for Nathanael. He stood in the same spot, not shuffling his feet, not moving. My eyes were quick to see who was where, and it was easy to tell who the Half Nights were. They were only as tall as their human self while the others were seven or more feet tall. The Half Nights would be our first targets and I was sure they plotted to ensure all Half Lights were theirs.
The clouds rolled in darker and darker. Lightning threatened. However, with that also came the untamed wind... That wind became our camouflage. The enemy wouldn’t know which was being commanded and which wasn’t, except those with that specific ability.
Braxton swished his hands across the front of him, causing evergreens sixty feet tall to break through the trees. A fireball followed each, igniting them on contact.
Pearle threw her hand up and caused water to raise thirty feet high. The trees pressed through it. Mora blew, her breath filtered over them, causing ice to creep along until each was coated.
Dad and Zack raised their fists and smashed them against the ground. The earth buckled and a core of rock was released. A wall rose and the ice-covered trees shattered against it.
The sky threw lightning at us with boom after boom. Mora and another moved with agility, absorbing the strikes before they hit their intended target.
All went quiet.
Suddenly the earth shook. We looked to our feet as pebbles trickled down from the wall with larger stones tumbling. Our protective shield swayed back and forth, then tilted much too far toward us. It crumbled slowly at first and with a final groan of resistance, the sound of a rock slide boomed through the air, echoing against the trees—we were exposed to the Pyre, not three feet in front of us. Nathanael and his brethren were still back on the other side, letting the rest do their bidding.
Pearle leapt forward and locked eyes on the ones closest. They were unable to resist her and their strength diminished with every blink. The rest of us pulled forward.
From either end of the Pyre’s line, André and Dad projected their hands out. A fire line ignited, dividing both sides. For me, a wave and a thought had the water rise behind the Pyre, screening Nathanael from my sight. A slice peeled away.
With a flick of their fingers, André and Zack tossed wind-kissed flames toward the water, and as each touched it, they turned to ice. The fire danced in the middle of each crystal, feeding off the air encased within it.
All our hues lashed out, capturing the fire crystals, and with a simultaneous tug, we launched the droplets of fire against the backs of the Pyre. As each exploded, they were greeted with a wisp of wind, ultimately saturating them in flames. Roars and growls permeated the air. They scattered, most diving into the swimming hole.
We retook the line. It made me nervous with the Braxtons sitting on the sidelines. It was like waiting for the last shoe to drop. It really bothered me that Nathanael didn’t turn.
“Mora, why isn’t Nathanael turning?”
“My guess would be because you would be less likely to engage him in the battle as his human self,” she said, crying.
“They would be right,” I said sadly.
There was no time for comforts. We needed to keep the upper hand. Mora and I smiled tightly and nodded. My mind’s eye rose the water, and with a thought, the Pue snapped like a whip, shattering the water and spreading it into fine, sharp, two foot long spikes.
“Let me help you,” Mora said, and with a blow off her hand, the daggers froze in midair, accelerating toward their prey. On impact, they caused some to yelp while others fell to the ground. One of Nathanael’s brothers moved around him so quickly he was blur, and deflected the rogue ice picks back at us. It had to be Joshua. Zack leapt forward and plucked the shards from the air with such speed we didn’t see his hands move. He smiled and held them out to me. “Miss.”
Lightning shot across the sky as Job, I was sure, reached for it. My Pue discharged right at him and he stumbled back from the potency of the hit, giving me a split second to snare and cradle a spark. A drop of air ignited it. It turned end over end in the Pue until a fire storm blazed with the air as its lifeline. Joshua was my target.
I took aim, then hesitated... Job and Joshua stood side by side; there was no way to tell who was who if they weren’t using their donums to give me the slightest clue.
Braxton stood cowering at Nathanael’s side, talking in his ear.
Sorry, Nathanael, you’ve given me no choice. I hope Joshua saves you.
He, after all, was the enemy.
The fire storm sped directly toward Nathanael and my heart burst. One of his brothers jumped in front of him and threw it back.
Thank you, Joshua
.
With a whip, the Pue swept across the landscape and entangled around Joshua’s legs, flipping his hooves out from under him. He landed on his back with a boom as I redirected the fire storm, mobilizing it toward him. He sat up and the impact was severe against his chest—he roared as it exploded on contact. The Pue fed it and drenched him in fire.
Up until that time, the battle had only enlisted a select few, but my move against Joshua enlisted all of them, including Nathanael and he advanced at a high speed.
We moved back and quickly regrouped, but before we got organized, someone had me by the arm and swung around to be caught by another hand, then another, until they moved me quickly back behind the line.
“Hey!” I protested and found myself staring at the backs of our allies, along the edge of the trees.
I tried to step through, but they immediately squished shoulder to shoulder, blocking me. “Let me through!” I insisted.
A very skinny man turned his eyes to me. “No, we need you safe, until its time.”
Shoving against them, I huffed, “I can fight!”
A softer voice came from somewhere. “Saydi, we can’t chance it. We need to keep you safe.”
Then it dawned on me: That’s what they meant when they said, ‘the Pyre had to be weak before they could allow the catacomb to be opened,’ meaning I was to be kept completely away from the battle.
Peeking between the heads I could, my Pue hovered just above the fire, feeding the flames. With the sun almost gone, it threw shadows over everything, making the hideous creations even more threatening. I willed the Pue to revolve around and collect fire slowly so it didn’t attract attention. When it grew to a good sized fireball, I turned an eye on the front line, hoping to get a chance to use it.
My chance came when Dad and Braxton moved into my sight. The fireball had a clear path, and with a quick vision, it zoomed at Braxton’s head.
Nathanael’s face stepped into view.
Before I could scream, my feet left the ground. The next thing I knew darkness surrounded me among the trees, and the sounds of the battle wafted from the clearing, a ways away.
Are you trying to kill me?
A dark figure approached. I gulped, the battle noises disappeared. My blood slugged through my veins with each beat, slowing every motor skill. The figure stepped closer and the way he walked told me who it was.
In the beginning of the battle, I believed I was sparing him for as long as possible, but in reality, I didn’t want to die at the hands of the man I loved. For the second time in my life, I was paralyzed with fear. There would be no way to fight him one on one and it wouldn’t be long before the rest came.
I looked to the ground and waited for the blow.
The steps moved softly, not quickly. They shuffled up to me, not barged. His breath was on my ear. “We really have to work on that.” He chuckled lifting my chin. “Hi.”
It was impossible to define what I was feeling, since everything mashed into one big pot. I think I nodded.
“Saydi, we don’t have time for me to explain everything, but let me just tell you, you have good aim,” Nathanael said.
Blinking was good. It meant I was still alive. My armor clamped down on my emotions, hiding them.
He sighed as I closed my mind to him. “There were things I kept from my father and...you.” He kissed my head. Surprised at it his affection, I stumbled back and put my hand up.
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay... I deserve that. I’ll explain, but there isn’t much time. They will be looking for you.” He talked quickly and quietly. “To make a long story short, I’m able to duplicate myself, which is what I did when I could feel the evil seeping from the plane. I realized the business trip was a setup.”