Alek watched as she examined things, interested in seeing what caught her attention. It felt almost reckless to be so close to her with no-one in the immediate proximity. When she turned back to ask him something about the beetle she’d found, he reached out to pull her close, pleased when she started to glow. It was an easy way to tell how she felt, until she learned to conceal it. Every day the girls developed more skill with handling their energy, but until then he’d enjoy watching her visual barometer. She made some pathetic attempts at protesting when he wrapped an arm around her, tipping her chin up.
Alek chuckled at me when I objected; curse my silly energy reaction. He seemed to recognize the different shades now. While I wasn’t about to admit it to him, at least not verbally, I was quite ready to throw my go-slow oath away. Heck, might as well try before you buy, thought my rational voice in a teasing tone. Mmmm, now that’s a good thought. My energy flared out brighter when he kissed me.
Elena had a surprise for them when they arrived at the training circle the next day. 'Today we are going to practice attacking and defending. On each other.' The girls froze, staring at Elena with alarmed expressions.
'Isn’t that dangerous?' Loi asked dubiously.
'Only if you do not defend yourselves,' Elena replied. Then she chuckled. 'I don’t think you will be able to do any damage to each other as you’ll be hesitating. But you’ll get over that and by then be prepared to attack and defend yourselves adequately. It’s the best way to learn, probably not unlike your Jujitsu.'
They kept up their dubious expressions.
'Besides, I can heal any injuries you incur,' she smiled brightly at them. 'So you will be fine.'
What she didn’t mention was that she could heal our injuries once back at the castle, due to the preparation involved. Nothing makes the flight back to the castle seem eons longer than it is than a decent injury. If you happened to cause said injury, you got to spend the ride back feeling like an utter bully.
'I’m so sorry,' I said for the eighth time.
'Seriously, Cat, shut-up. This is part and parcel of the training and I get that. But right now my back is really stinging and I’d love to hurt you. So shut-up!'
I flinched at her tone. Elena split us into teams, Loi and I facing off against Sian and Kassie. We’d won, thanks to Loi’s clever idea to create a tunnel through the ground through which I’d then directed a hard stream of fire, singing a good layer of skin off Sian’s back in the process. I’d call it payback for her nearly drowning us, but a burn like that is pretty vicious. Daron shot me a cold look when he helped Sian down. All the guys had issues with it, even though it was the third session of the week. Only two days until our rest day, I couldn’t wait. So far this week I’d had my feet broken by Loi when she buried my legs, not realizing that the area contained mainly rocks. Kassie electrocuted us when she pulled in a storm with Sian’s help; the look on Alek and Sabyn’s faces when they saw our hair that evening had been classic. Loi broke her leg when Kass dropped her from a decent height and we’d all received numerous cuts, bruises, scrapes and burns. It certainly proved Elena’s healing gift, but you weren’t sure whether or not to be grateful. Grateful, because it didn’t hurt anymore and you were fine, not so grateful as it meant the following day was physical training. Then there was the other kicker we’d discovered through injuring one another. We could sense each other’s pain through our gift. Being Elementals means we really are linked, making the ride back feel that much longer.
At the castle Elena whisked Sian off to our suite, the three of us following right behind. It fascinated us to watch Elena’s gift, we crowded close. Before our eyes we watched the skin heal and at the same time the stinging sensation we all felt, thanks to our link, vanished. Sian relaxed straight away. We settled down to dinner in our room. It became a habit after our Elemental training because we were too exhausted to dress for the Great Hall. Yakov, Elena and the men joined us, making them enjoyable evenings.
'What did Sian do?' Yakov deadpanned after seeing her back. Everyone laughed when I blushed, apologizing again.
Dinner flew by, it seemed far too soon that Alek kissed me goodnight. I kept my arms locked around his neck while I grumbled. 'I don’t want to go to sleep, ‘cause tomorrows not the rest day and I’m tired.'
'Awww, kitten,' he teased, chuckling when I narrowed my eyes at him. Kitten had never been a pet name I’d envisioned for myself. 'But we get to practice sword fighting tomorrow then you girls get to annoy Iggy in the afternoon.'
That’s true. Iggy had been trying to best one of us ever since Kassie’s demonstration with him. He had yet to succeed.
Cat pouted at his words but they appeared to appease her a little. At the mention of Iggy a smile tugged at her mouth. Actually I think it's Cat’s turn tomorrow, can’t wait to see her kick his ass. He wrapped his arms tighter around her back, savoring the kiss until Loi started to tease them.
I threw a pillow at Loi when I got into my bed. 'Thanks a lot.'
'Some of us want to sleep, Cat. You two could have been at it all night.'
I smirked. 'No, that’d be Kassie.'
Sian and Loi laughed hard when Kass clambered over the top of her bed to mine, walloping me with her pillow. 'But. It’s. True.' I protested between thumps. She gave in, laughing. Kass used her gift to extinguish the lamps, I fell asleep moments later.
Loi dreamt a weird dream. She stood in a vast swamp the mud thick and stench strong. Her feet were firmly stuck. She wriggled hard to try to loosen them, but it seemed to make them more stuck. She reached down to pull one up when a force grabbed her by the throat and squeezed tight.
Chapter Thirty
I woke the instant I felt Loi’s silent scream.
'LAURA!' Kassie screamed.
'Cat, light!' roared Sian. Something was seriously wrong, we all felt it. The terror and an awful sensation of Loi weakening.
I flared my energy out. 'HOLY HELL WHAT IS IT?'
Sian gaped at the creature that had Loi by the throat against the wall then blasted it with her energy.
'Shit!' Her energy pinged off. 'It’s shielding!' Noticing Nnelg cowering beside Audi, she yelled at him. 'Get Elena. Get everyone!'
The dragon vanished.
'Loi, get your shield up.' Kassie circled the creature warily, an expression of revulsion and fury on her face.
Loi focused hard while her vision began to blacken, visualizing her energy expanding out, under the clawed grip. Relief washed through her when she managed to take a breath. The strange reptilian creature hissed in anger, slamming her again and again, against the wall while she struggled to keep her shield in place. The girls hurled bolt after bolt at the monster. Loi sensed its shield begin to weaken. It turned and threw her to the floor.
I grabbed Loi by the arm, pulling her behind me then Sian, Kassie, and I moved toward it. The freakiest looking thing I’d seen yet. Its head looked similar to a crocodile, with a long snout and jagged teeth, but its body was human-like in form. Covered in scaly skin, its hands were strange curled claws. It hissed at us then opened its mouth and spat. We jerked our shields up, the nasty brackish scum that splattered over them dissolved away. I could feel the acidic properties in it and shuddered. Kassie gave me a hard look then began to concentrate an intense wind tunnel, directly onto the creature. I knew what she wanted and focused my energy.
Fear streaked through Sabyn as he sprinted for the girls’ room with the other men. Nnelg had burst into their quarters, screaming that a koratil attacked Loi and the girls couldn’t stop it. They’d bolted from their quarters and met Elena and Yakov racing down the turret stairs. When they reached the suite Elena extended a hand, the doors wrenched open, exposing the chaos within.
Kassie had it pinned against the wall and Cat shot it with a bolt of fire. It shrieked when its shield dissipated, exploding with a loud thud, remnants splattering everywhere.
I stood panting, while staring in shock at the bloody remains strewn about. My brain wasn’t up
to making sense of this. Being wrenched from a deep and much needed sleep to been thrown into a sudden intense fight bewildered me. I didn’t know what to do.
Sabyn pushed past Kassie, Sian and me, scooping Loi into his arms. I then realized her throat bled from several nasty gashes.
Elena hurried forward to attend to her while we were led away.
'Where are we going?'
Yakov looked at Cat. 'You are being moved to your official quarters. It’s earlier than intended but this suite is in no state to be used now.' He expected more questions but she just nodded, allowing Alek to lead her onward. After he saw the girls settled in, he headed to Elena’s suite.
'Are they okay?' she demanded when he entered.
'Yes, just in shock. Will Loi be okay?'
'Yes. All healed. She’s fine now.' She sunk onto the seat at her dressing table, her beautiful face creased with stress. 'How did this happen? It shouldn’t have been possible.'
He stood behind her, gently massaging her neck. 'I don’t know.'
Elena put a hand to her head, leaning back to look up at him her eyes troubled. 'Thank goodness we began training them immediately. If we had lost our Earth Elemental.'
'Hush.' Yakov interrupted her. 'Don’t do the ‘ifs’ Ellie, there’s no point. They’re safe in their quarters now. We can arrange for increased security.' She nodded and stood, he pulled her close enfolding her into his arms.
'Should we cancel the ball?'
He shook his head. 'That’s not possible now, it’s too close.'
'But what if she strikes again?'
'We won’t let her. We’ll have more troops in place. You’ll set up extra traps to warn us.'
She nodded against his chest then sighed, the stress ebbing out of her. He felt her chuckle and looked down. 'What?'
'Do you think Nnelg spotted you?'
He laughed. 'I don’t think so, but that wee cretin nearly made my heart stop.'
She laughed with him. 'Certainly unexpected.'
Waking in a new suite felt strange and we didn’t get any time to explore. Elena woke us early, making it apparent that we had to treat this just like any other day. We stumbled about while we got ready, mumbling to each other, all of us too tired to talk. When I sat back on the bed I’d slept in to pull my boots on, I looked around.
This suite made the last one look tiny in comparison. The bathroom alone was almost as big as our previous suite. The room divided into four, each bed tucked into one of the corners. After a quick examination, I realized the walls could be extended, so we each had our own room if we wanted. Complete with our own dressing table, armoire, and seating area. It was impressive but I felt a little lost, not having the girls so close. At least now we could link with each other, that way we still felt near to one another.
The guys escorted us to breakfast, leading us to the library afterward. Elena, Yakov, and the Lieutenants waited for us, all looking serious. Elena greeted us then got straight into it. 'Last night was an unfortunate incident that shouldn’t have been possible. The creature that attacked you was one of Jenviet’s, we thought we had things in place to stop it.'
We stared at them and each other in stunned silence. I knew I shouldn’t be shocked that she wanted to kill us, but we’d never even seen this woman. It felt strange to know that someone out there truly wanted us dead. Seeing as we had no questions Elena continued. 'We have ordered the return of the Centaur Cavalry. The Lieutenants, along with selected members of the General Guard, will move to sleeping quarters on the second floor.'
She mustn’t have told the Lieutenants this yet because Rashid and Patel looked surprised but nodded. Iggy however, turned a dark red. 'What? That’s ridiculous. I can’t possibly.'
Elena cut him off with a sharp look. 'It is necessary, Ignatius.'
Undaunted, he went on, 'But these Elementals are supposed to protect the heir. It is not our responsibility to protect them. What’s wrong with them that they are so weak?'
Yakov glared at Alek and Daron when they both shifted in their seats at Iggy’s outburst. Stay put, he growled at them in his mind. Trust Iggy to have an issue with this. The four girls stared at the Lieutenant with dark eyes, their energies smoldering around them.
'The girls are learning to master their gifts, Ignatius. By the end of the month they will be skilled enough to not need protection. But until then it would be ridiculous to allow them to be harmed. I don’t expect any more complaints.' Ellie kept her voice even, though her eyes flashed with annoyance. She dismissed the room and the girls went with the men to sword training. Yakov felt sorry for them this morning, they looked bewildered and exhausted after last night. Soon they’ll be able to relax a bit, once they have the skills they require.
The rest of the week was hard. We fought against each other singly and in pairs, each of us determined to learn what else we could do with our gifts. Kassie could now capably lift herself and anyone else into the air. It just took a full explanation from Elena for it to click. The trick was to realize that because air is essentially everywhere, it isn’t about the weight that you lift, rather how much air you draw around it and how you space the molecules. Like with all new things there were a couple of practices that didn’t go as intended, although they only resulted in bruises.
'Better a bruised butt than a broken one, Cat,' Sian grinned impishly. I scowled at her while I eased down to the ground.
Elena had Kassie and Loi practice shielding, using their energy rather than the physical manifestation. They’d picked it up quickly while Sian and I struggled to keep ours in place.
'Your gifts are better used offensively,' Elena explained reassuringly. 'You will be able to do it with practice, but Kassie and Loi will likely always be better at it. That’s why it is imperative that you stick together in a fight.' We nodded. She’d been repeating that since the incident.
The evening before the rest day should have seen us all feeling euphoric, instead we lay sprawled on our beds in our quarters. It did feel strange to walk up the turrets to the third floor. Everyone looked at you differently. The third floor was solely reserved for those of the Thalian line, Elena and her family, the Griffon Guard and us, the Elementals. Now it felt real. I wasn’t sure if it was the change of rooms, or that thing trying to kill us, but now it all seemed very real. 'Maybe that’s why Iggy hates us.'
'What?' Loi tried to sound interested.
'Because we’re the Elementals. According to everyone we’re at the top of the food chain. So maybe that’s why he hates us.'
'Top of the food chain?' Kassie snorted. 'Tell that to that thing that tried to eat Loi.'
'It tried to kill me, not eat me.'
'The end result is pretty similar.'
Sian got up, standing in the middle of the room where we could all see her. 'It feels weird doesn’t it? Being told then beginning to realize you have an immense gift. It’s very strange.' She stroked our emblem, embedded in the table in Kassie’s corner. It was embedded in every wall and door in our quarters and most of the furniture. Elena had explained about it the second evening we spent in here. The emblem was a large circle of gold split into quarters by two narrow strips of gold. Each quarter contained a polished cabochon stone that represented an element; it started at the top right with a deep green tourmaline for Earth, then went clockwise to Air, a golden citrine, then Fire, a dark crimson ruby, and Water, a bright blue sapphire. Elena also commissioned a piece of jewelry for each of us with a stone representing our Element. I’d chosen an amber ring. The ring was silver and very simple. I lifted it to the light, staring through it again. Pieces of leaf appeared to sparkle like gold within the amber.
'Meh. Enough.' I hopped up.
'Where you going, Cat?' Kassie called out.
'To find Alek.'
'What, are we not good enough for you?' Loi teased.
'Yeah sorry, Loi, you just don’t kiss as well as he does.'
They laughed while I stepped into the corridor, closing the door behind me. I k
nocked at the guys quarters down the corridor. That makes the rooms sound close but in reality the corridor was l-o-n-g. If you did laps of the floor you’d get fit very quickly, or die trying.
The door opened, Alek looked at me in surprise. 'Cat! I thought you were going to sleep?'
'Can’t, I’m too bored to sleep.'
'That doesn’t make sense,' he said, laughing and ushered me in. I looked around with interest; a very similar style to our quarters, but they each appeared to have separate rooms. 'Where are the others?'
'Rumal and Daron are downstairs in the Great Hall and Sabyn went for a night flight with Tomiar. We thought you’d all gone to bed.'
'The others might have by now, but I’m bored.'
That perplexed Alek, he led Cat to his room. Settling on to the couch together he pulled her back into his arms. 'What do you mean by bored? Wasn’t this week hair-raising enough for you, literally?' The results of Kassie’s thunderstorm had been impressive. He felt her sigh.
'That’s not what I meant. I mean I’m bored with training and fighting. It’s all we do.'
Well that’s true and they hadn’t really seen much of Elion, or anywhere else for that matter. He kept forgetting they were new to this world. 'What if I promise you something completely different on your day off this week?'
Cat twisted to look at him. 'How different?'
'We’d have to get the griffons to leap, to get there and back.'
'Really? It wouldn’t tire them out too much?' She looked excited now.
'It’s one of the places we first began practicing leaping to, they’ll be fine.'
When I woke in the morning I raced around getting ready leaving the others staggering about in my wake. 'Slow bloody down, Cat,' Kassie growled, I stuck my tongue out at her.
The Arrival: An Epic Fantasy Romance Page 30