Taming the Elements: Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1 (47 page)

“You … you struck me.”

“You are pathetic,” the man said. “Living on a farm has made you weak.”

Elwin heard the door to the inn open.

His Poppe exited, carrying a large broadsword. “You get away from him!”

The man smiled. “I will make you an offer, Son of Bain. If you leave with me now, I will let the peasant live. If you resist me, I will destroy all that you hold dear.”

His Poppe had slayed trolls and evil wizards, surely he could defend Elwin against one man. A thought in the back of his mind nagged at him, but nothing coherent came to the surface.

“I am not going anywhere with you,” Elwin said.

Poppe took a step toward them. “I said back away from the boy.”

The man held his hand in front of him, palm facing upward. Red embers appeared and disappeared around him and a small ball of flame appeared above his palm.

Elwin blinked. How had he …? The question vanished in the next moment.

The man threw the ball of flame toward his Poppe. Time seemed to slow. He could see the ball of fire expanding as it flew toward his grandpa. The sword fell from his Poppe’s hand and moved toward the ground as if through water. Both Poppe and the man moved the same speed as the falling sword.

Elwin could see a smile in the man’s eyes as he watched the flame move toward Poppe. His grandfather covered his face with his arm and turned away from the growing ball of fire.

When the flame hit Poppe’s side, it made a loud noise, then burst.

The intensity of the blast hit Elwin in the face, and he closed his eyes against the heat. He felt his body moving through air, until a solid surface slammed into him. It took him a moment to realize he was laying on the ground.

He pushed himself to his feet and looked all around, but Poppe was no where to be seen. The front of the inn was missing and the roof was on fire. Where his grandfather had been standing was the broadsword. The man stood between Elwin and the blade.

Dark eyes followed Elwin’s gaze to the sword.

The man smiled. “Go on, then. Take the sword, farmer.”

Elwin did not hesitate. He walked wide of the man and grabbed hold of the sword. It was lighter than it had looked, but it did not feel awkward. He was sure that he had held it before. But that did not make sense. His Poppe rarely let him in the private dining room where he had kept the sword. And he would never have let him hold it.

As the man in the black robes walked toward him, Elwin held the sword in both hands and broadened his stance. This, too, had a familiar feel.

“You are too weak to strike me down, farmer.” The man dropped to his knees and threw his head back, exposing his throat. “Let me make it easier for you.” The man closed his eyes.

Elwin looked at the man’s pale neck, where his life vein pulsed. Elwin could hear his own heart beating. He gripped the hilt in both hands and held the sword high.

He could hear a woman singing somewhere in the distance. Her voice was louder now. Elwin could hear her words lulling him.

Sleep my weary child,

Rest your eyes for a while.

My love shall always endure.

So, your heart must stay pure,

There is nothing you need fear,

Mother will always be near.

Sleep my weary child,

Rest your eyes for a while...

Elwin dropped the sword.

“No!” The man’s eyes opened, but the whites were gone. He turned his head toward the singing and shouted, “This is my realm! How are you here?”

The man’s face contorted into a look of rage, and the void of night looked into Elwin’s eyes. “You
will
be mine Son of Bain.”

The sun vanished from the sky, and his surroundings faded away. But worst of all, he could no longer hear the woman singing.

Elwin held his baby girl in his arms, while Zarah napped on the bed. There was a wooden bassinet next to the bed. The white bedding with pink trim matched the blanket he had wrapped around his sleeping baby.

Both of his ladies slept soundly. The thought gave him a feeling of peace.

He needed to put Asa down, but he didn’t want to wake her. Asa needed her midday nap. Soon, he wouldn’t have a choice. Within the hour, there would be a White Council meeting. An emissary from Alcoa had arrived and wished to discuss the terms of the alliance with Justice, under the new ruler.

Bain Solsec was his name.

The name seemed familiar to Elwin, but he couldn’t quite place it. King Alcoa had died without producing an heir. Some mystery surrounded Alcoa’s death, but the emissary was to shed light on this as well. For the first time since the founding of the great nation, a man not of the Alcoan bloodline ruled Alcoa.

Elwin had never met King Alcoa, but for some reason this saddened him. Maybe, it was because he realized the importance of family now that he had one of his own.

He watched his wife from the balcony. Now that Asa was here, she couldn’t get enough rest. Her face was as smooth as the day he had met her, five years prior. They had to get permission from the king to marry, since he was not of noble birth.

If not for his ability to tame the Elements, he would have likely never received permission. But then, he would have likely never met Zarah. Or if he had, it would have been as a soldier. Like Feffer, he would have been recruited all of those years ago.

But unlike Feffer, Elwin doubted he would have become a thief-catcher. With Wilton’s disappearance, Elwin had been surprised Feffer had wanted to become one.

Elwin often wondered what had become of Wilton. For Feffer’s sake, he had inquired about Wilton. His squad had been sent to a northern island that had been raided by an unknown enemy. They were never heard from again. A few months later, without explanation, the enemy left the Island Nations altogether. Later there had been a search for bodies. None were ever found.

When Wilton and his entire squad had disappeared, Elwin hadn’t wanted Feffer to follow in his older brother’s footsteps. Nothing Elwin had said could deter Feffer. But the streets were safer now with Feffer patrolling them.

Elwin pushed those thoughts from his mind and looked down at Asa. He almost wished she would open her brown eyes, just so he could see them. Her hair was too short to determine what color it would be, but the little she had was light colored like his. She had her mother’s nose and his high cheek bones.

Asa Escari was beautiful.

Elwin walked around the bed and eased her into the bassinet. She stretched when he released her, opened her eyes for just a moment, then fell back to sleep. Her lips curled into a brief smile.

He walked over to the balcony and leapt off, taming Air before he fell and flew above the castle. His destination was a spire facing the River Serene on the other side of the castle. He reached the balcony he needed within moments. The doors were open to provide a pleasant view for the emissary.

Elwin landed just inside the room next to the redwood table, long enough for a few dozen people. Even though the light of the sun gave the room ample light, several dozen candles burned in the crystal chandelier that hung above the table’s center. The lacquered chair at the head of the table was larger than the rest. A small crown had been carved from the wood atop the chair. White tapestries lined the walls with the symbol of Justice embroidered in red, a sword with the hilt replaced by balanced scales.

He had been the first to arrive. Elwin did not think that he was that early. Jasmine had always beaten him to meetings. Perhaps she was indisposed with greeting the emissary.

As the balcony doors slammed closed, he felt a trickle of power. It was Air. A veil had been concealing several black robed figures in a circle around the room. All but one had their faces hidden behind hoods, a man standing next to the table.

He had pale skin and long dark hair. At first, Elwin thought his eyes were black, but they were a deep blue color. The man looked familiar, but he could not place his face.

“What is the meaning of this?” Elwin said.

“I have been searching for you for some time,” the man said. “I am Zeth.”

The name had a familiar tone. “Do I know you?”

“Resist him,” whispered a woman’s voice in his ear. He looked to the black robed figures behind him, but they were too far away. Where had the voice come from?

“You do not know me,” he said. “But I know you, Son of Bain.”

Elwin heard a ringing in his ears, and he remembered the image of a burning inn. It looked like the Scented Rose. But that wasn’t possible. He had just seen his Poppe’s inn at the Summer Solstice Festival last month.

“Why did you call me that?”

“Your bloodline has a greater purpose, Son of Bain,” Zeth said, “which means, she has a greater purpose as well.”

Another veil was released. Next to Zeth, a black robed figure appeared, holding Asa. She was still wrapped in her white blanket with pink trim. Her eyes were closed.

How had she not woken up?

Zeth pulled a knife from beneath the folds of his robes and touched it to the top of the blanket, near Asa’s throat, “The blood of his blood shall Awaken them, and the dragonkin shall rule the land once more. Are you familiar with this line?”

Elwin felt his muscles tense.

He could hear a voice singing. Zarah always sang the tune to Asa, but it wasn’t his wife’s voice.

Sleep my weary child,

Rest your eyes for a while …

It sounded as if the woman was in the room. None of this made any sense. Was he dreaming?

He pushed the words of the song from his mind. “Give her to me, now, or I will destroy every one of you.”

Even as he said the words, they sounded
wrong
. Not that he was making an idle threat. He had only trained for five years, but he knew that he
could
destroy them all. But he only wanted Asa back, safe in his arms.

“Come now,” Zeth said. “That is no way to speak to an emissary. We are here to speak of a truce. Do you wish to insult an allied kingdom?”

Elwin took a few steps toward Zeth.

“Stop, right there.” Zeth brought the steel of the knife to touch the skin of Asa’s neck.

Elwin stopped walking, but his heart became like thunder in his chest. He could feel the Air surrounding every figure in the room. He could feel Water from the moisture of last night’s rain around him. The stones beneath their feet held the power of Earth, which he could tame to crush them all. The heat of the sun lingering in the air could be tamed to engulf them all in flames.

Asa’s eyes lulled open. For some reason he couldn’t rationalize, he did not want her to see the knife.

Elwin opened his essence to Air, Earth, Fire, and Water, allowing them all to flood into his essence. He began to tame Air to hold the knife in place. As he did, the light in the room became brighter, far beyond the incandescence of the chandelier’s capabilities. He had to squint to see.

“No!” Zeth’s voice became deeper than was possible, “He is mine. I almost have him.”

The woman’s voice spoke, “He will never be yours.”

The intensity of the light became too great for Elwin to see anything. He covered his eyes for fear of being blinded.

“Asa!” he cried. “Give me my child! What is happening?”

Then, a blanket of warmth covered him, and a feeling of calm washed over him. He could no longer feel any power in his essence. Arms surrounded him and picked him up, like he was a child. It felt as if strong arms carried him, and he couldn’t remember what had been so important just a moment before.