Taming the Elements: Elwin Escari Chronicles: Volume 1 (56 page)

Hulen knelt down beside her. His thick thumbs began to wipe at her cheeks. The compassion in his dark eyes made her cry even harder.

“We’ve lost,” she said. “We can’t do it without her.”

“All is not lost yet,” Hulen said. “We still have the boy.”

“So what? What does it even matter anymore? This is all his fault. Had he just … He could have…”

“No child,” he said in a soft voice. “You do not mean that. You are upset. All is not lost. We must have hope that the Forger is still in control.”

Hope? She looked down at the parchment, crumbled in her fist. Without Mother, there was no hope. The black savants had won.

Son of Bain,

Again, you elude my grasp. I must say, this time you have even impressed me. You almost managed to kill a trained black savant on your own. Instead, you have more corpses of the innocent to be lain at your feet.

I have acquired the Madrowl boy and the Life witch, called Jasmine Lifesong. I will deliver them to King Bain in your stead.

Must they too perish before you rise to your destiny?

Cross the Tranquil Sea to the nation of Alcoa, and go to a city named Turney Fay. There you will seek out a man named Tavier at the Fighting Chance Tavern. Come alone. Anyone you bring with you will be destroyed. Their blood will be on your hands as well.

You have spat on my generous offer to see you safely to your father without bloodshed, and you have seen the consequences of your defiance. I am not without mercy, but do not test me further.

We will await your arrival. But do not tarry. We will not wait for too long.

Zeth Lifesbain

Chapter
32

Hope

Elwin looked at the sword lying on the cobblestone street. The curved blade broadened toward the tip and had a heron just above the hilt. He had never asked Feffer what the blade was called. Feffer would know. He knew more about being a soldier than Elwin ever would.

Now Feffer was gone.

Why had he ever left Feffer? Zarah was better trained than Elwin. She didn’t even want his help. She had admitted as much. Why hadn’t he let her handle Fasuri? If he had, Feffer wouldn’t have been taken.

He kicked a loose cobblestone, and the rock flew past Feffer’s sword and fell into the small crater. It sunk a pace into the road and spanned two paces across. This must have been where they had captured him. Feffer never would have left his sword if he had been able to fight back.

Elwin bent over to pick up the blade by the hilt, then turned to look at the wreckage along the wide street in front of the Hammer Forged Inn. Amongst the rubble of splintered wagons were the scorched corpses of two soldiers and several horses. Black-robed figures laid on the street as if sleeping, but young faces stared upward with unblinking eyes.

His gaze settled on a girl with blue eyes. Her golden hair spilled out of her cowl, and she had small freckles on her pale cheeks. Dried splatters of blood stained her chin above a ruined throat.

Beneath him, the cobblestones began to spin, and the sword felt heavy in his hand. He dropped to his knees beside the girl and let the sword clamor to the road next to him.

How many had died because of him?

“Elwin,” a gentle voice said in front of him.

He looked up to see Zaak standing in the alley beside the inn. His face looked hard, but his eyes held a hint of moisture. “We have much to discuss.”

Elwin’s voice broke on the first word, and he didn’t try to stop his tears. “All these … children. Feffer and Jasmine. This is all my fault.”

He hid his face and felt tears wet his hands. The sobs came in uncontrollable fits that stole his breath. Something squeezed his shoulder, and he flinched to see Zaak kneeling over him.

“Elwin,” Zaak said. “What happened here is not your fault. This was Bain. I have seen him do far worse during my time in Alcoa. You cannot blame yourself. Alright?”

“If I would have gone with Zeth, he—”

“He would have still killed as many of our people as he could. Bain’s undead army is already moving across our lands, Elwin. Had we not ventured north to find you, we would not have known of the skeletal warriors in our midst.”

Elwin wiped his tears. “What do you mean?”

“We were attacked on our way here, and our northern post has been destroyed. King Justice has called the majority of our elementalists back and prepared the defense of our gates to receive an attack. Had we not come to find you, we might not have learned of this until it was too late. Now, we have hope.”

“Hope?” Elwin said in disbelief. “How can we have hope? Jasmine and Feffer were taken. If I don’t go to Bain, he will kill them. I know he will. My home … Bentonville. You don’t know what he’s capable of. I—,” his voice broke, and he swallowed. “I have to go to Bain.
Alone
.”

“That is my call to make, child.” Zaak’s eyes hardened.

“No one else can die because of me.”

Zaak studied Elwin for several minutes. By the time the large man spoke, Elwin felt as if he had been weighed and measured for auction. “Jasmine believes in you, and I trust her judgement. More importantly, I made her a promise. I cannot surrender you to Bain. Too much depends upon you for it to ever come to that.”

“No,” Elwin stood and backed away, crossing his arms over his chest. “Nothing depends on me. I’m a farmer’s son. Ask Zarah. I’m just a country bumpkin. She’ll tell you.”

Zaak stood and pointed to the hilt of his sword. “Jasmine has told you about touched weapons?”

Elwin’s eyes settled on the massive blade. It had eloiglyphs etched into the hilt sticking above Zaaks shoulder and more running along the scabbard. So did his armor. Elwin had learned a few, but these were all foreign to him. Though, some of them matched the markings at the Stones of Seeking.

“Yes,” he said.

“This sword is not just touched. It is an artifact of power. It offers me advantages beyond even a touched weapon. With this in my hands, I can wield the Elements in a way. But, I can also sense them being tamed around me.” He paused and leveled his gaze on Elwin for several moments. “I felt your tamings this afternoon, and I still cannot make sense of what you did. Jasmine told me of your abilities, but I did not quite believe it until that moment. You have already begun to fulfill the prophecies. I would wager, the dragonkin are already beginning to become restless in their slumber.”

Elwin looked away from him. “I didn’t want any of this.”

“Look at me.”

Zaak’s eyes had hardened once more, and his jaw was tight.

“Much has been placed on your shoulders, but you do not have time to sulk like a child. I will not be able to train you in the Elements, but you must be ready. But we will have time, I think. Turney Fay lies far to the east where Alcoa meets Kalicodon. We have many months of travel before we reach the City of Two Nations. I will continue your sword training on our way to Alcoa.”

Zeth had said to come alone, but Elwin felt a spark of hope. No. Elwin shook his head. He would not see anyone else die because of him. Once his essence regenerated, he would leave. That would be best for everyone.

“We are coming, too,” Daki stepped out of the shadows of an alley with Taego trailing him.

Zaak half turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “Daki is it? I suspected you would.”

“I will be coming too, Father,” Zarah said, coming out of the alley. “Someone will need to see to Elwin’s training in the Elements. He has yet to learn the lift or dousing, and his lightning hurl needs a lot of work.” She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and set her jaw as if to argue.

“You will come,” Zaak said.

“I …,” she said as if to protest and stopped with her jaw hanging open. “I will?”

“I do not have the soldiers to send you back to the castle, and I will not send you back without escort. When we reach Alcoa, I will leave you in the king’s care while the rest of us venture to Turney Fay. As soon as I find a moment, I will begin to draft letters to announce our intentions in his lands. Alcoa will wish to know there are black savants hiding in one of his cities.”

She opened her mouth as if to argue but paused for some reason. When she spoke, her voice was calm. “I have thought on this, Father. Lower Turney is ruled by Kalicodon. What if they are aiding Bain? Is it possible the tribes have betrayed Alcoa?”

Tharu appeared at a light run and stopped to whisper into Zaak’s ear. Both of their gazes went to a house with a collapsed roof. It was the same building Fasuri had crashed into.

He rubbed a hand through his beard and shook his head. “That is a matter for another time. The sun will set soon, and we still have dead to bury. You go inside and wash up. I need to speak with Elwin for a moment.”

“But Father, I—”

“Go.”

His voice never rose, but Zarah flinched at the word and closed her mouth. She stuck her chin into the air and turned toward the inn, walking as if it had been her intention all along.

Zaak watched her open the door to the inn without expression. When the door closed, he turned to Elwin and said, “Come.”

Elwin turned to follow him and Daki did as well. Zaak spared the Chai Tu Naruo and Taego a momentary glance but said nothing. Elwin didn’t look at the bodies as the walked passed the wreckage from the battle. Zaak stopped in front of a building with a small garden. The peach tree had started to bloom.

The door to the house stood open, and a lantern lit the common room. Hulen was inside, speaking his native tongue. By his tone, Elwin would have guessed every word to be a curse. When Zaak stepped into the home, Hulen’s mouth snapped shut, but his eyes threw daggers in every direction. Then he stomped out of the house. Elwin had to move aside to keep from being knocked out of the dwarf’s way.

“Come inside, Elwin. I want you to see this.”

The boards creaked when Elwin stepped inside, and the air smelled like rotted meat left in the sun. A hole in the ceiling brought a breeze into the small space, but it did little to abate the stench. He moved a few paces in and stopped when his eyes found the source of the smell.

Just inside the room beside a broken chair, a thin man was curled on his side. The skin around his face was stretched so thin, Elwin could make out the shape of his skull. The hands protruding from his sleeves were gaunt and mostly bone. His eyes bulged and protruded from his sockets.

Elwin had no warning before his stomach wretched. He didn’t open his mouth in time, and some of the it came out his nose. His eyes and nose began to water from the burn. Elwin’s legs were moving into the street before he had made up his mind to leave.

He sucked in the fresh air and almost wretched at the acid taste in his mouth. His breath wreaked of the spoiled remnants of the sweet, red fruit he had eaten earlier.

Daki stood in the street with Taego wearing a deep frown.

“Did you see that?” Elwin asked.

Daki nodded.

Zaak came out of the house and handed Elwin a flask. “Water.”

Elwin snatched it from his hand and took several gulps. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and didn’t bother to mask his anger. “Why would you want me to see that?”

“This is what we are fighting,” Zaak’s voice was hard. “The man you knocked in here, the black savant, he drained the Life out of this man to heal the wounds you dealt him. I’ve seen it before. This is why we can’t afford to lose. Bain cannot win. If he does,” Zaak gestured to the desiccated corpse through the door, “this is the type of ruler we will have over us. You cannot surrender to him.”

Elwin stared at the corpse through the doorway for a moment before he tore his eyes away. He didn’t want to go to Bain. But, he had no choice. “If I don’t go, he will kill Feffer. And Jasmine.”

Zaak shook his head. “You will go. But you will not go alone. It is time you started to believe in something beyond yourself. I am placing my hope in you, Elwin. As are we all.”

“What if I can’t do it? What if more people die because of me?”

“More people w
ill
die, Elwin. We are at war. Do not let those lives be given in vain. All that we do, we do for a purpose. We cannot lose hope.”

He looked back at the corpse and shuddered. Zaak was right. He could not trust Zeth at his word. The black savants could have already killed Feffer and Jasmine. Even if they were alive, Bain could kill them just to teach Elwin some sick lesson.

“Alright,” Elwin said at last. “I won’t surrender. But what will we do?”

Zaak’s eyes narrowed, and he gritted his teeth. “For starters, I intend to get my wife back. ”

Feffer awoke to the sound of men talking. Their tones were short and snappish as if arguing, but his mind would not quite make sense of the words. He didn’t remember drinking, but his head hurt beyond reason, much worse than the day after having drunk himself into a stupor with Gurndol and his squad. A metallic taste had dried to his tongue.

He tried to open his eyes, but the left eye would not respond and the other slow to focus. The sun stung his eye through thin trees above him. The ground beneath him felt solid, like a boulder, and he could hear the sounds of water crashing against rocks.

Closing his eye, he tried not to move for a moment, focusing all of his thoughts on listening. Birds cawed not far away, and the voices began to blend into words.

“I was trying to catch his whelp,” a deep voice said.

“You were trying to kill his whelp,” replied another man. “Had you helped the lessers defeat Lifesong, the man would be dead. Were you frightened by him?”

The other man did not answer. After a moment the melodic voice continued. “If you were frightened, it would be understandable. He has defeated you before. Perhaps that ugly scar goes deeper than your flesh?”

“I was not frightened,” the deep voice said through gritted teeth. “Zaak Lifesong cannot fly, but his whelp was getting away. How could I have known the son would intervene? You told me his gifts were not developed. He moved like King Bain and struck me with a firestorm that knocked me through a building. Had I not drained the peasant inside the hovel of his life force, I would have died from my wounds.”