by Quinn Loftis
“We will protect you and yours while you endure this spell,” Nasima said.
“Are you sure, Nasima?” Dhara asked.
“It has been too long since the light elementals have worked together,” the wind elemental replied. “We only recently started hunting together, and it obviously weakened us. I don’t believe our mates could have been taken if we’d been using our powers together all along.”
“Three hundred years, to be exact,” Alaric told her. “If Dhara takes my oath, then the truth of that night will become known to her. But if she shares it with us, she will be even weaker.”
“It is a price I’m willing to pay. We cannot move forward with a positive future if we do not know our past.” Dhara looked at the three other elementals. Her green eyes were full of determination and conviction as she addressed them. “Can I count on each of you to do whatever I am unable to do for all those under my care?”
Each stepped forward.
“I give you my word by the power of my element. I will protect all that is yours,” Nasima said and bowed her head.
Aviur spoke next. “I, too, give my word by the power of my element. I will protect all that is yours.”
“I give you my word by the power of my element. I will protect all that is yours,” Kairi said and then added, “It is with one accord that we make this oath with you.” She held out her hand, and a ball of water suddenly appeared. “If we should willingly choose to disregard our oath, may we be stripped of our power.”
Aviur lifted his hand producing a flame, and Nasima opened her hand revealing a tiny tornado whirling round and round. They each held their hands out until the tips of their fingers touched and then began to chant in a language Tara had never heard. The three elements suddenly joined together creating a swirling ball of fire, wind, and water and then exploded in a shower of sparks.
“It is done,” Kairi said.
Dhara turned to Alaric and placed her hand over his heart. Her palm began to glow as she spoke softly, again in a language Tara didn’t recognize. Alaric’s features pinched as the light grew brighter and the words flowed faster from the earth queen’s mouth. Suddenly the light began to move up her arm in swirling designs. They looked to Tara as if they might be letters of some ancient language.
As soon as Dhara stopped speaking, the light dissipated and the writing on her arms vanished. She stumbled back but caught herself before anyone could steady her. “I’m okay,” she said, holding up her hand.
“I wish you would not have done that, Queen Dhara,” Alaric said in a sad voice. “I owe you a debt. I will help right this wrong.”
“You owe nothing,” Dhara said, shaking her head. “You bore this burden for centuries. I took it willingly. But your help will be needed and appreciated. Now…” She paused as she steepled her fingers under her chin. Her eyes roamed around the room as if searching for something. If she was somehow any weaker, Tara couldn’t see it. “Now it is time to see what was stolen from us.” Dhara closed her eyes and appeared to focus inward. The earth queen did not acknowledge any sound or movement from the room.
“What’s going on?” Tara whispered to Elias.
Kairi must have overheard the question. “She is reliving what happened to Alaric all those centuries ago. Once all the knowledge of that night is revealed she will share it with us. Then we will know how to proceed.”
Tara nodded. “So we wait, basically.”
The water elemental queen smiled, and humor was in her eyes. “Yes, child. We wait.”
3
Do I still have my breasts? That was the first thought that went through Shelly’s mind when she was once again able to think. At some point, the pain had stolen her consciousness. But because life apparently hated her, she was again cognizant of the fact that she was burning. Was it a little ridiculous to be worried about her breasts? Probably, but no matter how small they were, they were all she had, and she damn well didn’t want them burned off. Tara would have told her she had an unhealthy fascination with her breasts, kind of like the one she had with Tara’s impenetrable hymen. The thought of their running joke surrounding Tara’s imperviousness to pain almost made Shelly chuckle.
As the heat and flames continued to burn, Shelly realized the pain had either lessened a bit, or she was growing desensitized to it. Or perhaps all of her nerves had been burned to the point there simply was no feeling left. Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to complain.
Forcing her mind to focus on something other than the pain, Shelly tried to get her brain to tell her eyes to open. The effort was as fruitless as it had been the first time she’d tried. Shelly felt as if she’d lost all control of her body.
“What isss that?”
The words caused Shelly to jump. At least she would’ve jumped if she’d had control of her body. As it was, she remained totally still. But inside, she jumped. Shelly had never heard such a strange-sounding voice. It sounded like a hissing snake, but it had definitely said words. That meant her ears were working, at least. That was good, right?
“It isss a girl, a mortal,” another hissing voice said, this one a little higher pitched than the first.
“She burnsss, and yet she livesss,” the first voice said. “Try and touch her.”
“Why ssshould I try and touch her? Why don’t you try and touch her?” The higher voice hissed.
Okay, how about no one tries to touch me. Shelly wished she could say the words out loud.
“I don’t want to be burned,” the deeper voice said.
“I don’t want to be burned either, you imbecccile.”
High hissy voice is getting an attitude.
“We ssshould tell our lord about her,” the deeper voice said.
No, no you should not. She didn’t know who their lord was, but nothing good ever came from hissing voices. Just look at Harry Potter. If these two hissing things were required to run off and tell their “lord” every time they came upon an unconscious burning girl, well, he or she was certainly going to be bad news for Shelly.
“You tell him, then. I do not wish to draw hisss attention,” high hissy voice whined.
See! Shelly wanted to shout. If you’re his minions and you don’t even want to draw his attention, then why in the ever-loving-world would it be a good idea to tell him about me?
“I don’t underssstand why the mortal doessn’t jussst burn up,” high voice said.
“If we knew we could touch her, then we could jusst eat her and forget about her. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about our lord finding out we didn’t tell him about her. Problem sssolved.”
Changed my mind! That’s the worst idea in the history of ever. Do NOT eat me! I’m not edible. No one wants to eat me, I promise. There’s no meat on me, and I don’t taste like chicken. I’m all bones and gristle. I probably taste like charred skin. Nobody likes charred skin. Why can’t I talk? She could hear, so her brain was obviously working. Why didn’t the rest of her work?
“What are you two doing here?” A new voice joined the others, only this one didn’t sound a bit hissy. It was gravely, as if it hadn’t been used in a while.
There was a scuttling sound and then a whimper. “We are on our way back to the ashen forest,” the high voice answered with a quiver.
Hissy sissy. Shelly chuckled to herself. At this point, what else could she do?
“Then be on your way.” Gravel voice huffed.
“We found this mortal,” the deeper hissy voice argued, sounding irritated that someone had given him a command.
“This level is not your concern, little demon. This one is mine.”
There was more hissing, but no words. It sounded to Shelly like a couple of cats showing their displeasure. Then there was the scuttling again, but soon it faded into the distance.
“You do not belong here, mortal,” the gravelly voice said, and Shelly thought she could detect a hint of pensiveness in the tone.
No dog feces dude, Shelly wanted to say. Nobody belonged in a burning bu
ilding, or wherever it was that she was burning. Am I in a burning building? The gravely dude had called the hissy ones “little demons,” and the hissy voice had said something about an ashen forest. None of that sounded to Shelly like she was in Kansas anymore. So where the bloody hell was she?
There was a growling noise and a curse. “That can’t be hellfire burning the girl. Hellfire cannot burn me.” The voice was silent for a moment then said, “Ahh … an elemental fire then. Fire from the upworld.”
Upworld? What did that mean? Am I hallucinating?
“Looks like I’m going to have to go topside, mortal. No one gets into hell for free. Which means someone owes me a payment.” The gravelly voice sounded way too pleased at the prospect of someone owing him. And did he say hell?
Was she in the actual hell, as in Hades, as in gnashing of teeth and burning for all eternity hell? It would explain the burning, that was for sure. But how did she die? And did she not even get to plead her case? Shelly knew she wasn’t perfect, but she’d only been alive for eighteen years. She hadn’t had enough time to make up for her wrongdoings. It must have been for all the times she’d lied to her mom and told her the vegetable soup was good but then flushed it down the toilet when she wasn’t looking. But was it a bad lie if she was just saying it to keep from hurting her mother’s feelings?
Then again, it could have been because of the flaming bag of dog feces she’d left inside Robert Busch’s car after school sophomore year. Granted, the guy deserved it. But Shelly was pretty sure it wouldn’t be considered a good deed.
There were no more talking, hissing, or growling voices to distract her. And now she had new information to worry her … or possible auditory hallucinations containing ideas she’d made up. Regardless, either was cause for worry. Hells bells. Shelly sighed to herself. Why was that even a saying? If this was hell, there were definitely no bells.
The burning continued, and Shelly wished she could cry. A good cry didn’t fix things, but it sure as heck made things clearer, washing away the haze caused by the anxiety. Alas, there were no tears, not that she could feel anyway. There was nothing but the burning and the growling voice on repeat in her mind saying “into hell.” She was pretty sure it was not a good sign to be burning alive while someone mentioned hell at the same time. Shelly had never wanted to hallucinate before, but she dearly hoped she was hallucinating now. Maybe she was in a coma in some hospital, and this was all just in her head. That would be nice, wouldn’t it? When you’re weighing your odds against hell, she was pretty sure any other circumstance would be an improvement.
Ra was tired. No, he was beyond tired. He was bone-deep exhausted. Everything felt heavy, even his limbs. The only thing greater than his exhaustion was his thirst. He might just kill for a drink of water. When he’d reached the fourth level of the underworld, he’d found it was pitch black. He couldn’t even see his own hand a foot in front of his face. It was as if his eyesight had been ripped away. He took a step forward, letting his feet drag on the ground, hoping he wasn’t about to walk off a cliff. When he didn’t feel the edge of a ledge, he moved forward again. Then again and again. After ten steps, he started to walk without dragging his feet but kept his steps slow.
“A little help would be appreciated,” he muttered. This time, there was no internal response from his ancestor.
The darkness didn’t abate. Ra kept moving, but he had no idea if he was walking in a circle or actually making progress toward the pathway to the next level. He started counting, trying to keep track of time. Ten minutes passed. Then he began to hear whispers. At first, the noise sounded like hissing, but it gradually grew louder. Eventually, he began to make out words.
“Welcome, brother,” a voice said, and it sounded so close to his ear that Ra lashed out with the dagger in his hand. There was nothing but air.
“We’ve been waiting for you,” another voice said, this time in his other ear. Ra swung his sword around, but again there was nothing. The voices laughed. It sounded as if there were dozens around him.
“Do you think those weapons will help you?”
“Mortal weapons have no power here, little king.”
“You are home now. You can join your ancestors.”
“Welcome to hell!” They all yelled as one. Ra took off running. The voices followed, shouting jabs at him. He was panting hard, and his heart felt as though it were going to pound up out of his throat.
“Run, mortal,” the voices yelled. “Run like the prey you are, and we will chase. We will hunt you for all eternity. You will tire, but there will be no rest. You will beg for something to drink, but there will be nothing to quench your thirst.”
Ra sheathed his weapons and pushed his palms against his ears. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t outrun the voices. As they continued to call out to him, his fear grew. He slowed to a fast walk. Suddenly, something pushed him hard from behind. He stumbled forward but caught himself before he fell. Again, he pulled his sword and lashed out. Still, he felt nothing.
“We can taste your fear. We love it!” The voices roared. “You should be afraid, mortal. You should bow at our feet and tremble. Nothing can save you from us. Your ancestors lifted Osiris high and devoted themselves to him. And like them, you belong to us.”
Ra was shaking his head. He raised his sword and turned in a slow circle. He listened intently, trying to determine the location of his enemy so he might anticipate the next blow.
It came from his right, shoving him hard. Before he could hit the ground though, he was pushed from his left, throwing him back in the opposite direction. Then something plowed into his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He tried to suck in air, but his lungs didn’t cooperate. Ra forced himself to hold his weapons because he knew if he dropped them, he would be helpless.
As if his attackers could read his mind, one spoke. “You are helpless without those toys.”
Something hissed right in front of his face. Like lightning, Ra slashed forward with his dagger. This time, he felt the satisfying pressure of flesh against his blade, which was followed by an equally satisfying violent scream. Ra brought his arm back down for a second blow, but the thing had already retreated. The smell of putrid, burning flesh hit Ra’s nose, and he gagged. Definitely a demon. Ra’s mind began to clear as his fear was pushed back by the confidence that he could fight back. He wasn’t helpless as the demon claimed.
“You are nothing!” A demon screeched at him, but it lacked the conviction he heard earlier when they were taunting him. “All you will ever know is darkness and torture. We will keep you here, tormenting you for all time.”
“Darkness,” he mumbled to himself. There was something wrong about that. What was he not remembering, and when had he forgotten? It’s almost as if he’d forgotten everything but his name.
“Your fear feeds us, stupid mortal. We will rip your entrails from your body and, still, you will not die. We shall cut off your limbs, one by one, and you will bleed, but there will be no oblivion to take you under.”
Ra wasn’t really listening anymore. He was too focused on the fact that he’d forgotten everything, and there was something wrong with the darkness. His fear fed them. Was that how they got their power?
“Hear me!” The demon bellowed.
“Shh,” Ra said. “I’m thinking.”
“Did you just shh me?” The thing sounded so shocked Ra might have laughed if he hadn’t been desperate to figure out what the hell was wrong with his mind.
“Nobody shhs me!” The demon roared with a violent snarl.
Ra felt a breeze across his face, but nothing touched him. The demon cursed, and Ra felt the breeze again. The beast was trying to hit him, but it could no longer touch him. Ra’s lack of fear was weakening them.
“You cannot get out,” one of the demons hissed. “Soon, you will realize that, and the fear will overtake you until you cannot breathe.”
“You can’t see, stupid pharoah. You will simply roam, stumbling, tripping, and looki
ng like the dumb human you are, getting nowhere.”
“Can’t see?” Ra muttered. That wasn’t right. Ra didn’t have to be in the darkness, ever. He was literally part of the light because it burned inside of him. The fire of an elemental king of light was a part of his very being, given to him by the elementals. That’s what he had forgotten. That’s what his fear had ripped from his mind.
Ra called on the fire that lived in his soul, and his body was engulfed in the flames. The demons screeched and yelled and whimpered as they retreated into the shadows. Ra looked around and waited, but none of the demons dared approach. Surrounding Ra was a vast open landscape. He started to jog, and he could feel the demons keeping time with him, though they never crossed the line from the shadows into his light.
After a while, a few of the braver demons reached a hoof or a claw into the light, but it singed them, and they pulled back quickly.
Finally, ahead of him, Ra saw the pathway leading up the side of the mountain to the next level. The closer he got to the exit, the harder the demons pushed against the edge of the light.
“No!” They screamed as one, and the sound was so loud and high Ra thought his eardrums might burst.
When his foot finally hit the bottom of the pathway, Ra felt something trying to block him. He was pushing forward but wasn’t making any progress. He shoved the flames out further, allowing them to engulf his sword and dagger. He slashed out with his sword. Once again, a demon screeched as Ra’s blade made contact. The force holding him back melted away, and he surged forward. Amongst a chorus of screams and curses, Ra ran without looking back.
The pathway turned sharply and switched back. It wasn’t as steep as the one going up to the fifth level, but it was definitely longer. There was another switchback and then another before he finally reached the third level of the underworld. He pulled the fire back in, and this time there was no darkness. Instead, Ra saw a city burning down around him. He turned and realized the pathway from which he’d just emerged had disappeared. The burning city was behind him and in front and on all sides. Tall buildings were wrapped in flames, and black smoke billowed into the grey sky. And this was the level on which his ancestors resided? Ra coughed as toxic air hit his lungs. He covered his face and crouched low, but he still found little breathable air. The atmosphere was going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, to get through this level. He looked around, wondering where his ancestors could be in the simmering ash and dancing flames. But he guessed since they were dead, it really didn’t matter. They had no need to breathe, and if they were burning, well, they were in hell, so what else did he expect? He just hoped they would know something about Shelly and how he could get her out. Although Ra knew he could get into the Underworld and navigate it, he had no clue how he was going to take a mortal human out of the Underworld.