by K W Quinn
“Is this the famous skill of the Mistwalker?” Jedrek sneered. “This is what generations of my people have been afraid of?”
Cass didn’t rise to the taunting and focused. He wanted to snatch the mocking words right out of Jedrek’s mouth, pull the Air right out of his lungs. The violence in the urge kept him from trying it. What if he couldn’t stop?
He pulled through the relics, reaching deep into his magic. He couldn’t conjure a tornado or a gale-force wind without hurting everyone in the park. He needed precision, and he didn’t have enough practice at that. He tried to find a gap in the Rowans’ resistance.
Andy and Dez stood back-to-back, throwing bolts of Water and Fire. Charly led the witches in a formation, chanting and encircling the fighters. Reyah pressed her back to Cass’s, protecting him from rocks with her blades and fist. Marv had to be somewhere close by because the twins were dodging swords of sand as well.
Jedrek laughed and swung the crystal around, moving Earth into blockades and spears of his own. Cass blew them out of the way as fast as he could, but he was losing ground. Everyone was crowded around him now, a tight circle facing out, attempting to fight off the onslaught of Jedrek’s attacks.
“It’s too much,” Andy said, shouting over the crash of the rocks.
Dez wasn’t just pressed close for comfort; she was leaning on him heavily. Her legs trembled.
“Love, I’m—” she started before slumping to the ground. Water splashed uselessly to the ground halfway to its targets.
“Dez, are you—” The words died in his throat. He heard Charly scream. Dez’s head turned slowly toward the sound.
“Give it all you’ve got, love,” she said. Andy nodded, hands fluttering around her, looking for wounds.
“I’ve got to get you out of here.” He tried to lift her, but her hands were like claws, grasping his calf.
“No. You’ve gotta help them. Help all of them.” Dez shook, and Andy felt scared in a way he hadn’t in a long time. Not since he’d watched his ash-waste of a father go after his mom.
He stood and pulled at the relic in his pocket, felt Dez clinging to him, heard the crash of rocks and screaming. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his hands. Fire filled him, and Light pushed against his skin. The relic pulled at him, and he sucked in a lungful of dust, but inside him, it all burned. Fire and Light and rage in every space inside of him. He was not going to let anyone else suffer.
His eyes snapped open, and lightning from a stormless sky crashed into the Earth.
Marv desperately wanted out of his suit. It was necessary to display his authority for negotiations, but now it was just in the way. He needed to be able to move his arms more freely. He had enough limitations in this fight as it was.
He couldn’t lift any of the rocks his father created. Silt and sand were his weapons. The fine dust created by rocks crashing together gave him fuel. He tried to protect Cass. He tried to shield Reyah. He wanted to guard Andy and Dez.
He didn’t want to attack his family. Not his sisters and, even after everything, not his father. He was on the defense, but using dirt to stop rock was exhausting. He wasn’t cut out for fighting. He was getting too tired. He was going to make a mistake.
With a growl, he turned and formed a needle-sharp line of silt from the river, feeling the foreign bits of shell and sediment. He spun it as fast as he could and began drilling at the rocks his sisters were throwing.
His teeth were clenched tight, and tears prickled in his eyes, but he pushed forward, flicking his wrist with each step, getting closer to his targets. His sisters. No, his targets were the Boulders.
The weight of his makeshift whip dragged his arm down, pulling him off-balance. As he struggled to right himself on the ground, a rock smashed down near his hand.
He blinked, the dull throb of the impact radiating up his arm. He twisted his shoulder to try and stand, but his hand wouldn’t move. He looked again at the frayed edge of his shirt cuffs.
The rock pressed down there, crushing his wrist. His hand was completely trapped beneath it. He couldn’t feel it at all. He brought his free hand around, pushing at the anchor and dodging more flying projectiles.
“Cass, need you to—” Amel’s voice was cut off as a rock connected with his temple, and he crumpled to the ground. Cass heard Charly’s shriek of rage over the chaos of the battle. The witch was no longer leading the formation. He had turned and was focused solely on Jedrek, hands moving as quick as a hummingbird, forming Spells in the air.
Lightning flashed, striking the ground. Cass heard screaming. He thought it might be Andy’s voice. The thought sliced through his composure.
Cass opened his mouth and let loose a guttural scream of rage and frustration. The Air crackled, and the sound of rushing water filled the clearing. A wall of Water, muddy and thick with the debris of the flood, surged over the river’s bank and rushed forward. It quickly formed into a wall around where Jedrek stood.
Jedrek raised his hands, and a shell of rock covered him. The Water crashed around him. Everyone was soaked by the splash. Cass whipped the debris up into a ball of Air and threw it aside.
Jedrek erupted from his shell and raised both hands. “Give in, you pathetic excuse for a warrior. You can’t stop this. You can’t stop me.”
“Nikkie, Nessie, help me!” Marv shrieked. Cass swiveled his head to see Marv straining to pull his feet free of mud that was slowly sucking him down into the ground. One of his hands was pinned to the ground, and muck was slinking up his wrist.
“You have no right to ask for help now, you traitorous slacker!” Jedrek shouted, pushing his hands forward. The mud rose around Marv’s knees, encasing him. “You deserve to die with the rest of his scum. No one challenges me and lives. Not even you.”
Cass shuddered at the coldness in Jedrek’s voice but turned to face Marv. He concentrated on feeling the water in the mud, trying to pull it away from the Earth.
Charly was still whipping Spells from his fingertips, standing over Amel’s body. Reyah was tensed at his back. Andy and Dez were holding hands, pressed close to Reyah.
Marv’s voice rose higher. His arms were both trapped now. “Please, Nikkie. Please.”
Torn
Reyah had spent her whole life training to fight, but nothing could have prepared her for this. The Elements raged around her, but she stuck to Cass’s side. Or back. She felt useless.
She should have been with the other Sharks, fighting the ranks of Earth that poured out of the forest, pressing in from every side.
Vines sprouted from the ground to grab at the arms and legs of those on the front lines, thick with thorns and barbs. Reyah watched her people slash with blades and reach for the Naturals and Ags who attacked from the foliage.
Cass was trembling. She felt his fear and guilt and anger all surge through her, bright and sharp as glass. While she tried to protect him from attacks, she also tried to push support and strength into him. She wasn’t sure their bond worked that way. But she still tried.
Marv struggled in the sludge that was surrounding him. Reyah wanted to rush and try to dig him out with her hands. What else could she do? Where was the wild dragonkin magic now?
She squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn’t the place for pity or selfishness. Cass needed her to stay close. He was her priority. If he failed, nothing she could do would make a difference.
Looking around the perimeter, Reyah watched the Sharks fall and fight. She wanted to run to them. Instead, she focused on the flying debris, imagining each time that it was an Earth attacker.
Somewhere, the witches were screaming out their Spells. Rocks and roots flew toward Reyah, but she deflected them all, pushing her need to be everywhere at once into each stroke.
A vibration in her chest, like a stirring in her lungs, began to travel down her arms. It grew stronger, shaking her bones, electric under her skin. It crackled around her and into her blades, light spilling out around her.
She moved behind Cass, mov
ed her arms with his. Sparks flew from her fingers and splashed off her skin. Everything slowed down, like bubbles in honey, and she moved through it.
Cass could feel the Water in the mud, but he wasn’t strong enough to pull it out. He brought his strongest gust of Air to dry the mud so Marv could break himself free, but even that failed. Desperate to save the friend that had saved him, Cass moved forward.
The twins stepped closer to their father, closing ranks. The ground shook. Cass heard the screams of witches. He pulled harder at the river, blasting Water at the mud that clung to Marv’s shoulders now.
Cass saw Andy’s lightning bounce off the twins as they raised shields of Earth. Reyah turned to face them, throwing daggers faster than Cass could follow, but the twins moved in unison, pulling rocks up to shelter them.
Marv’s voice was muffled now.
“It’s moving toward Amel!” Andy screamed, moving to stand between the creeping sludge and the witches.
“Surrender,” Jedrek called, hands grasped tightly around the crystal rod he dragged through the air, pulling the mud.
Cass closed his eyes and opened his mouth, filling his lungs with Air. He would blow out a storm to remove everyone in his path. His eyes snapped open.
He stared into Jedrek’s wild face. He clenched his teeth and whistled gusts of Air, trying to pull the breath out of the Mountain’s lungs, but Jedrek laughed, slashing his focusing wand.
Reyah stepped behind him, pressing her chest against his back. Her arms came forward, slipping under his until they moved together. The gold glow on her skin began to pulse.
Light was all around them, a glowing cocoon. No rocks or dirt reached them now. “Cass,” she whispered in his ear, nudging him with her chin.
The Mountain was so focused on his path of destruction that he didn’t see that his daughters were looking not at their targets but at each other. They weren’t attacking anymore, just defending.
Cass pulled gusts of Air to tear at Jedrek’s arms and face. It wasn’t enough. He wasn’t strong enough. Even surrounded by Reyah’s light, he couldn’t break through.
The twins shifted toward each other, then reached out and pulled the ground out from under the Mountain. Cass blinked at their sudden change in tactics, but he refocused on the Mountain now that he was on his knees.
Cass grabbed Reyah’s hands, and together, they moved through the forms to squeeze snow from clouds, only he was focused on Jedrek. Two fist-sized rocks crashed into the hand that held the crystal rod. Rocks began to encircle Jedrek’s legs. He shrieked but held tight to his relic.
Cass pulled together all his strength from Reyah and the relics. He pulled until he felt ready to burst. Then he squeezed the Water inside the Mountain.
Jedrek screamed in rage and pain, turning to face his daughters, but they moved their arms, bringing up the sludge from the river, pouring it into every crack in the barricade they’d built, mortar to seal the prison. Cass clenched his fists, and Jedrek struggled, veins bulging.
The crystal rod fell from his hand. He thrashed his head back and forth, blood trickling from his ears and nose. A line of mud slithered around his face, wrapping his head twice, serving as both blindfold and gag.
Cass squeezed, the cruel need to see this man break and bleed screaming in his head. Only the glow from Reyah’s skin stopped him. The light throbbed in rhythm with his pulse and Jedrek’s frantic grappling.
Cass exhaled slowly, releasing his Air and his magic. The Water inside the Mountain relaxed. Reyah clung to him, and the roaring in his ears slowly faded.
Jedrek slumped forward, but he was still breathing, bubbles forming in the blood dripping from his nose.
Cass stared at the Boulders, who stood silently at their father’s side, hands folded at their waists.
“We’ll wait,” they said together.
Cass nodded. Where was everybody? He turned to see Andy wiping the mud from Marv, who was struggling to sit up and cradling one hand to his chest. Dez slumped at his side, face drawn but smiling.
“Charly?” Cass called, moving to crouch next to Amel.
“He’s all right. Going to have a goose egg, and if I figure out which one of them did that, I’ll curse them for generations. But he’s fine,” Charly said, wiping gently at a trickle of blood from Amel’s forehead.
“The other witches?”
“Shaken but not broken. We’ll be busy with healing for a while, but we’ve pulled through.”
Cass stood and searched for Reyah. “Check on the Sharks?” She nodded and moved toward her fellow mercenaries.
Cass stepped toward the pile of rocks and mud that was holding Jedrek. “Thank you, ladies. I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.”
The woman on the right extended her hand. “I’m Anessa Rowan, and this is my sister Annika. We regret the nature of this situation,” she said carefully.
“We never wanted things to come to this,” Annika said. “We thought we had more time.” She looked at Marv and shook her head.
“Time for what?” Marv said, wiping mud off his forehead.
“A peaceful takeover,” Annika said.
“A coup,” Anessa corrected. “We were waiting for the right time.”
“People were dying while you were waiting for the right time,” Marv hissed.
“Violence isn’t the way to bring peace,” Anessa retorted.
Cass stepped forward and held up his hands. “Hold on. What exactly is going on here?”
“We are now the acting heads of the Earth Conglomerate,” Annika said.
“And we’d like to negotiate terms for a peaceful resolution,” Anessa added.
It was a nice fence. Tall and watertight. Must have been sung. Min rolled another loop around the area where his group of resistance fighters was waiting.
Just inside the fence, in the shadow of the Dome, Juji paced the lines, eyeing the guards in the distance. From here, they were basically invisible, just shadows near the fence. The Dome was still far enough away that they weren’t considered a threat, and Min was going to keep it that way. The Mountain wasn’t dumb enough to leave it vulnerable, even while the rest of the fight was happening far above them.
The Helio had a head for strategy, and Min knew how to work around the intricacies of probability. If they couldn’t make a plan work, no one could. So, after getting this bunch of rebels washed over the top of the fence, Juji and her friends were left to drip-dry here behind the Dome.
Min didn’t get wet on purpose, not for anything less than an actual emergency, so he’d just rolled through the front, letting magic and inspiration guide him between guard patrols. It was almost too easy, easy enough that he could now ignore the cold sweat that gathered in the small of his back, making him cranky.
“How long has it been?” Juji asked. Again. It was a good thing she was so pretty and strong. Min blinked long and slow to conceal his rolling eyes. Humans and their short, little lives.
“I haven’t been watching the clock, pretty lady.” He pushed himself up in his chair.
“I thought Fae had an intrinsic understanding of time.” She rested her fists on her hips and arched a dark eyebrow at him.
“And I thought I’d be spending today eating cake, but here we are.” Min tugged his beanie down. She scoffed but stopped staring holes into the Dome’s walls.
“I feel useless,” she mumbled.
“Nope. Not at all. We’re the big heroes. Gonna lead a big line of grateful captives to freedom and not even break a sweat doing it.” He shifted in his chair. Nervous sweat didn’t count, not that he was about to mention it anyway.
“But some of these people are actual criminals, not just unfortunate captives. What about them?” Juji asked, voice low as she leaned over Min’s chair.
“To be honest, I’m gonna grab the moms and go. Let the bureaucrats sort out the details later.”
“Your big line of captives is two ladies?” Juji crossed her impressively muscled arms.
“
Well, not just the moms. Innocence is a complicated thing, and real innocence has nothing to do with the law. Let the Conglomerate say whatever they want, but morality doesn’t bend for ink on paper.”
“You’re judge and jury now?”
“No, I’m a muse. I read souls like you read subtitles. The innocent will be coming with us today. The rest I’ll leave for the Earth.”
Andy watched Marv slough off mud and trudge after his sisters, cradling his shattered hand. Cass and Reyah followed. Off to solve the problems of the world.
Andy scooted back to where Dez sat and grabbed her hands. It scared him how easily she let him pull her into his arms.
“So, that’s done, then?” Dez whispered.
Andy nodded against her hair, arms wrapped around her. “Let the fancy pants sort out the details. The Mountain is inside a little hut over there, and the Sharks have cleaned up the Earth.” Dez shivered in his arms. “How about you? How are you holding up?”
A soft sigh was her only answer. Her hands trembled in her lap. The park was unrecognizable. Mud and rocks were everywhere. Trees lay splintered across the park. Water trickled back to the banks of the river.
Witches stepped through the wreckage, calling out orders. Elementals that Andy didn’t recognize clustered around the Mountain’s prison. And Dez, she just sat, curled in his lap.
“I feel like burnt toast, myself. Burnt toast that’s been run over by a truck and dragged through the mud.” Andy rubbed small circles on her back. “On the other hand, I summoned lightning, so that’s something.”
“I can’t feel the Water,” Dez said. The words struck Andy like the shivers that wracked Dez’s body.