The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (41 page)

'With his wife,' Elena said briskly. 'Spending some much needed time together.'

We stood to leave.

'Catherine a word?' Elena arched an eyebrow, then nodded to the others to go on.

The door closed behind them, and I turned back to Elena with a sense of apprehension. The Sorceress had an impassive look on her face.

'I’m sorry that things appear to have not worked out well with you and Alek, but I expect you to uphold your end of the bargain. I’m not interested in any silly hysterics, so I trust you got them out of the way this morning.'

My face flushed hot. Anger swirled in my gut.

Staring at her coolly I snapped, 'I’ll uphold my end. I’ll need all the skills I can get for when I leave at the month’s end.'

Her expression didn’t change.

Damn it.
I’d thought that might get a rise from her. I stalked off.

When I arrived at the Griffons quarters everyone buzzed with excitement.

'Cat.' Kassie squealed, 'We can hear them.'

Loi and Sian beamed at me.

‘They’re rather elated to have caught up with you,’
observed Loushka.

OH.
It clicked. They could hear the griffons now. I felt a swell of delight. It was good to be back on even par with them all.

‘So, are you joining us today?’
I would enjoy Loushka’s company. And maybe she would have insight on what Alek’s problem is. I wondered if she knew about it. It felt like everyone I passed in the castle gave me looks of pity. Especially that overdone Countess—bitch.

‘No, Nesha and Tomiar will be with you. Kerak and I are going to visit Phroma and Ageip at Gredel’s estate.’

‘Sounds like fun,’
I gave her as genuine a smile as I could manage.

She seemed to register my mood.

‘You’ll be fine Cat, not to worry. And Alek will be waiting when you get back.’

I flushed red at his name and bit the inside of my cheek hard, to hold back tears. It appeared she didn't know. Not wanting to feel like a tattle tale, I gave her a nod and turned to help the others.

As we got ready, Elena noticed Audrey, she frowned.

'Nnelg!'

The little blue dragon appeared amongst us.

'Yes madam?'

'I need you to look after Audrey and Lucky today as they can’t come with us, will you accept this task?'

Nnelg swelled with pride at being asked by the Sorceress herself to do such an important task.

'Of course, I shall be certain to take good care of them both.'

We all hid smiles at Nnelg’s delight, and I fussed over Audi for a moment before telling her to go with him. She was more than happy to oblige and dashed off without a backward glance.

We piled onto the griffons and flew off. It took about an hour to reach the desired location and once we’d all climbed down, Elena spoke quietly with Rumal and Daron, who headed off on an errand for her.

I stood near Kassie, looking about.

'Where are we?'

The landscape here was very barren.

'We’re at the beginning of the Merrej desert.' Elena indicated with a nod, 'This way.'

Kassie studied the land around them. There were a few trees, with a small stream trickling behind them and before them began the desert, with ebony sand that glittered in the sunlight. The dunes were visible in the distance and she wondered what creatures lived in it.

We stood and waited for Elena’s instructions. The Sorceress walked around an area of sand murmuring to herself. Her long dark hair hung in a thick plait down her back, and it was the first time I’d seen her wear trousers. All of a sudden, the air felt strangely thick, and we looked about in surprise. Elena had her arms at her sides pointing toward the earth, and we could see the sand shift around her.

Loi felt her jaw drop at this example of Elena’s power. The sand smoothed out into a large circle that had a seat at each quarter. Just a low simple seat with no back, all made of sand.

'Come,' said Elena. 'Let us begin.'

They hesitated a moment then entered the circle. Each seat had a symbol inscribed in the sand.

They represent each of the elements Sian realized. She walked to her ‘water’ seat, 'Kassie, you’re across from me, Loi, you’re on my left and Cat, you’re on my right.'

Elena smiled and nodded in approval, 'Learn to recognize your symbols girls. It will be useful for you in the future.'

I stared at mine before having a seat, a triangle, easy.

'Now get yourselves comfortable. I am going to seal the circle so that we won’t be disturbed by anything and then I will talk you through the first exercise.'

Elena walked the circle three times, like Sian had done during that now infamous spell, chanting something in a foreign language.

Again the air swelled, and before our astonished eyes a bubble appeared around us. Clear and shimmering with hints of color breaking across it.

Sian gaped at this very visible, physical manifestation of the circle. Unable to resist she reached out a finger and touched it. The bubble resonated with a chime, tiny ripples echoing from her touch. The others looked at her shocked, but Elena smiled.

'It won’t harm you if you want to touch it. It’s only in place so we have peace.'

The Sorceress walked to the center of the circle and lowered herself gracefully to the ground.

'To begin with I want you to close your eyes and slow your breathing. Take good, deep breaths and expel them completely. Allow any thoughts to drift through your mind, but do not focus on them. Let them drift away. When you have relaxed sufficiently I will talk you through raising your energies.'

Kassie nodded; sounds simple enough. She began to slow her breathing and felt her heart rate drop and body relax. Images and thoughts popped into her mind but she did as Elena had instructed and shooed them away as though they were as light and insubstantial as clouds.

Elena watched as the girls relaxed further and further into their seats and continued.

'I want you to become aware of your hands. With your mind's eye feel your way around and through them. Until you are intimate with them.'

Loi felt the tiny hairs on the back of her hands prickle as she traced over the skin in her mind, the creases and cracks, even the roughened edges of her nails. She focused her mind on them until she could see how the nails were woven together. Then moving inside, following the veins and pricking at the nerve endings. Her fingers jerked, and her muscles twitched as she tugged and probed at them.

It’s fascinating, she thought, I can truly see the insides and how my hands work. She pushed deeper until she came to the bones, seeing the cartilage between the joints and the tendons which fastened them together.

Elena smiled as she watched their hands twitch and the frowns they wore while they studied their hands.

'I can see you are aware of your hands, so I want you to focus on your heart. Your heart is an immensely strong muscle. Feel the blood rush into it and the sudden glow as it fills the blood with oxygen. Then feel as it pushes the refreshed blood back into your body. Once you are aware of this process, trace the blood down the major artery in both your arms to your hands. Watch the flow of blood as it comes rushing down your arms and around your hands, then back, as your heart draws it through again.'

Sian could feel the underside of her wrists fluttering with her pulse as she followed her blood down, around, and back up. It was refreshing to observe, as though she could feel each cell within her arms and hands sighing in pleasure as the freshly oxygenated disks moved past them.

Elena spoke again, taking care to keep her voice gentle, so as not to startle the girls in their meditative state.

'Now I want you to focus on your heart again but this time look past it a little. With your minds eye, see the color of your element swirling behind your heart. Loi, you should see a beautiful fresh green, Kassie, a vibrant yellow, Cat, yours will be a rich red and Sian, a lovely sky blue.'

I relaxed my mind further, relieved to have a deliberate reason to focus on something else. The sense of calm and peace within the circle was very soothing. Following Elena’s instructions I allowed myself to slip past my heart and was confronted with a swirling mass of ruby red light.

Wow, that was easy.
I hadn’t had to think of it, it was just there. I studied the energy as it spun, admiring the glints of lighter and darker reds, mixed amongst it.

Elena watched the girls as they slipped deeper into their relaxed states. Each of them glowed with the color of their element. A rush of delight, relief, and fear flooded through her. They were the ones she’d hoped they were. And that meant so many more things.

For one, a lot of work in little time, and two, the chances of them being in danger sooner rather than later.

She was determined that these Elementals would survive where the others hadn’t. It was vital that Jenviet be eliminated, as her powers grew stronger and stronger. Where and who she lifted these gifts from, Elena hadn’t a clue. But it made her a formidable enemy. Bringing her attention back to the girls before her, she led them through the remaining part of the exercise.

'Focus on drawing the energy down one arm to your hand. Then bring it across to your other hand drawing it back up that arm, so you’re creating a running loop of energy. Try to keep the energy running for as long as you can.'

That sounded more difficult. I focused on the energy mass and attempted to coax it in the right direction. It took a bit of urging, and I quickly realized I needed to stop trying to force it all down my arm. Some needed to stay where it was. After a little bit of work, I managed to move a portion of it down my left arm. My arm grew warmer, as though it were under a heat lamp. The sensation was unnerving.

I gritted my teeth as it reached my fingertips. Getting it to link to my other hand was more difficult. I could feel it sparking at my finger tips, but the gap between my hands seemed impossible.

Elena could see Cat frown as she tried to pass the energy to her other hand. She had done well so far. Her arm glowed red and tiny swirls of energy where spinning out and back, into her fingertips.

'Cat, relax, allow your body to let go of the energy. You can’t lose it; it’s a part of you. So relax, let it swirl out and turn your focus to your right hand. Your energy will follow your thoughts.'

I rolled my shoulders, keeping my eyes closed as I visualized what I wanted the energy to do. The link between my hands forged and the energy surged up my right arm, back to its place in the center of my chest. I felt a rush of delight as it completed its first full circuit. After I’d completed a couple more, I opened my eyes.

WHOA. I’m glowing red.
I literally saw the energy as it traveled down my arm, between my hands, and back up my other arm. It was fantastic to watch. Curious to see what the others looked like, I looked up, taking care to keep my energy continuing the loop.