Taming the Elements: Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1 (2 page)

Chapter 1

It Begins

Every heroic tale has but a hint of Truth, hidden by the ages. With the passing of time, the defeated is always the Villain, as the victor is ever the Hero. Their story is told and retold with each generation losing Truth with each telling.

Hero and Villain inexorably obstruct the other’s path by acting in his own nature—a nature that is formed by a life rarely revealed in full. Tales of their actions may survive the test of time. But feats of strength are weighed and measured as good
or evil by an unbalanced scale.

Thus, stories are made by partial observers.

The Villain arises in the land of plenty, bringing hardship and pain. The Hero is wrought by the struggle to defeat the Villain’s malevolence. As well, the Villain’s malice reaches its paramount in desperation to destroy the opposition, the Hero. Nations and castles rise and fall, as kings and queens are drawn to the cause of his or her own choosing.

The great cycle is told and retold by the victors without kindness to the Villain, the catalyst for this great tale. Yet it is a rare epoch, indeed, when a Hero is born without a grand Villain in the making. Thus begins the tale. Perhaps, Truth may be revealed by impartial observers.

Betrayal.

The word stuck in his thoughts as the man sat upon the rocky beach. The tide lapped at the shore several paces in front of him, sparkling in the noonday sun.

Behind him loomed the Curst Mountains with their brown and grey jagged rocks jutting into the sky between lush evergreens. One could stand upon the shore, staring at the massive stones and never see the mountainside for what it truly was.

After centuries of lying empty, he had been the one to find Abaddon’s castle. Thick spires wrought from the mountain’s rock stretched toward the sky in natural formations. Its grand halls had been formed by taming the Elements called Earth and Fire in an age far removed from most memories.

The reef spanned miles up the shore, giving further protection to his castle. A ship could be within a mile of the shore and see nothing more than a mountain. And the reef kept ships from coming within five miles of the shore. Only those well versed in the location of the castle would dare traverse Abaddon’s Reef, making this an ideal respite for a king not wanting to be found.

Now, he alone held the secrets of its power. It was his destiny to hold the world in his hands. He alone could remake the world as it should be.

Bain closed his eyes.

He could feel the crash of the powerful tides against the shoreline. The Elemental power of Water made war with the Elemental power of Earth. There was a beautiful peace in this struggle. A battle as old as time and life raged right before him. These powers balanced one another.

Bain looked back out at the waters. The tides would push closer to him, winning the present battle only to lose the next. The sounds of the tide breaking the shore should have soothed him. That was why he had come here.

But it couldn’t. Not this day. He had known upon seizing power that betrayal would be inevitable.

“Seizing power always starts with betrayal,” he told the empty beach. “Mine and others yet to come.”

The beach may have been empty, but he was never alone. Bain was well aware that He could hear him. That He was always listening, even if He remained silent. Bain looked down at the pendant resting on the crest of his leather breastplate. The armor had been touched with the powers of creation, created by taming the Elements. The pendant and his crest were one in the same.

The symbol was that of a black-gloved hand clutching a red dragon with the palm facing upward. Its long, sinewy head protruded between the hand’s middle and forefingers. The dragon’s head rested upon the tops of the fingers, eyes closed as if sleeping. The dragon’s long, spiked tail wrapped around the small finger, like a snake around a tree.

Without touching the pendant, he could
feel
the power within. Powers that were his to command.

“Soon. So very soon, it will begin.”

Bain stood and felt the cool breeze bounce across the surface of the ocean and touch his face. It too held power. The power of Air was the first he had known. He could
feel
it with his soul, his essence. Relaxing his thoughts as he had done a thousand times before, he opened his essence and allowed the power of Air to enter him.

The salt in the wind became more crisp, and he could sense every ripple in the breeze around him.

Bain
tamed
the power in his essence and manifested his desire. His body rose into the sky like a bird with no wings. Wind rushed by, roaring in his ears as he ascended. He turned north and west toward the capital city of Alcoa.

This time he would be the tide. Soon, the world would know Bain of Solsec.

Athina tried to ignore her racing heart as she glanced around her chambers one last time. The stone walls seemed darker in the dim light. She only had the lanterns on the southern wall lit, giving enough light to see her canopied bed at the center of the room.

The northern side of the room had an open doorway with darkness beyond. Drawers to clothing chests laid open; otherwise, her room was tidy. She had been forced to maintain pretenses until he had gone. Tapestries depicting battles from the Shadow Wars hung on every wall. Her bookshelf on the western end of the room had every tome in place. Her wooden writing desk on the opposite wall had ink and quill upon the upper-right corner and a blank parchment, ready for scribing.

Everything had its place. But she no longer did. Summer solstice, a month from now, would mark seven years she had lived in this dank castle.

She took a deep breath.

“I have no choice,” she said aloud, knowing her resolve sounded weak.

She turned back to the bed. Its canopy was a bright turquoise. Thadia, her chamber maid, had acquired it for her because it was her favorite color. She would miss Thadia.

Athina took a deep breath and said with more force this time, “I have no choice.”

Travel supplies littered the top of her feathered mattress. She looked over her stock once more. Other than the pale, grey dress she wore now, she had one extra cream-colored dress split for riding and a green gown. The three tiny shirts and two swaddling cloths would have to be enough. She had a bulls-eye lantern with a tenday’s worth of oil, flint and steel, and a small bedroll.

The tenday’s supply of trail rations and a single waterskin would get her through the mountains. She had no room for a travel tent, and she doubted she could sacrifice the energy to carry it at any rate. The journey would be long.

Lastly, she had her coin purse. She had filled it only with her heaviest coins of Alcoan mint, platinum and gold and a few precious gems. The rubies and sapphires would all go to pay for her passage through the Stones of Seeking. The handful of remaining coins and diamonds would charter further passage, not leaving much for food or shelter.

She took a deep breath. “This will have to do.”

Taking her knapsack, she began to fit the materials into it.

The door to her massive chambers banged open, and she jumped from the sudden noise. A woman in a blue gown with flowing hair the color of the sun entered and closed the door behind her with the same force that had opened it.

Athina held her breath and glanced to the darkened doorway at the northern wall. No sound.

“Lana,” she gave her twin sister a scowl, “are you trying to wake Elwin?”

Lana stood in front of the door for a moment, her smooth features and beautiful face blemished by a scowl of her own. Even in the dim lighting, Athina could see her sister’s blue eyes narrow in anger.

Lana’s long strides brought her across the room with a dancer’s grace. She stopped an arm’s length away and stared at Athina with wide eyes. “You mean to go through with this then?”

It was more of an accusation than a question.

Athina felt her heart racing. No one was supposed to know. “How did you find out?”

“Thadia saw you setting aside the knapsack. When she asked me if I would need one too, I knew. How can you do this?”

“What would you have me do?”

“I would have you stay and let your son have the glory that he was born to.”

“I cannot.”

Lana’s voice was tight. “We will be a part of history. Do you not see that?”

She closed her eyes. “I will not sacrifice another son for Bain’s selfish ambitions. Donavin is only six, and already, he is becoming something I do not recognize as my son. And I can do nothing to stop it. I will
not
see the same happen to Elwin.”

“You cannot oppose Bain. No one can!” Lana snapped. “What would you do?”

She closed her eyes for a moment. Would her last conversation with her sister end in a fight?

“I am leaving, Lana,” Athina said, proud of the resolve in her voice.

Lana’s mouth opened to speak, and then it closed.

Silence.

The harshness in Lana’s voice stabbed like a dagger. “You would be a rabbit running from a dragon. Do not be so daft.”

“I thought of all people, you would understand.”

Lana took a step toward her. “I understand. I do. But what you speak of will get you killed, or worse.”

“I know the risks,” Athina said, “but I must go. I have already made some arrangements.”

Lana’s jaw poised open. Athina knew she had hurt her sister. She had mentioned leaving to Lana, but had made it sound more like in idea, rather than something she would actually do. She had told Lana nothing of what she had planned. The first fight over the idea of Athina’s leaving was mostly a shouting match that had not ended well.

“You kept this from me.” Anger and pain resounded in Lana’s voice.

“I planned on telling you today, but I did not want it to be like this.”

“Where will you go that Bain cannot find?”

Should she tell her? No. It would be better if she didn’t know. Not unless …

“You could come with me,” Athina offered. “Together we will be able to hide from him, even in the shadow realm. I have seen to that.”

“Eventually he would find us,” her voice cracked. “Do you really want to be hunted? And I do not even want to think about what he would do to you. You should just do as Bain commands. Even this conversation is treason.”

“Treason? After all that Bain has done … forced us to do? You would call my son’s salvation treason?”

“Bain will rule the world. He will remember those who stood at his side.”

“At what cost?” Athina said. “Bain is losing his soul. Can you not see he is not the same man I married?”

“He is not yet Death bound.”

“Perhaps not.” Athina shook her head. “Maybe not yet. But his thirst for power grows every day. He has gone to begin a war with his childhood
friend
and cousin. A man he has stood beside for over two decades.”

“Thirod Alcoa is weak.” Lana turned from her. “Bain will restore Elemental power to the world. The Guardians of Life have overreached for far too long. It is just a matter of time before the Awakening. Each generation produces fewer elementalists, fewer able to tame the elements than those generations before us. What will happen when the dragonkin rise with no one to stand against them?”