“Partially, when you become more experienced with this magic, you will no doubt use it more naturally, as you have been with the other elements. Until that point, it is useful to remember the emotions that caused you to use this power as it may help you to recreate it. You must try and combine the elements one by one and if you succeed, you will need to force them from you, it’s the only way to create the protective shield.” Kiræ nodded again and took a deep breath, then she looked at Tom who smiled reassuringly.
“I’m right here Kiræ.”
“You have to be,” she replied grinning, “I literally can’t do this without you,” they laughed and she turned back to Brean, “I think I’m ready.” He nodded and she closed her eyes. The feelings surrounding Tino’s death came rushing back to her as she saw him fall, bloodied and limp again and again in her mind. The anger, the fear, the loss, the overwhelming urge to protect.
The emotions were drowning her, she needed to take control, she needed to make this magic work. Kiræ took another deep breath and she felt Tom squeeze her hand. She held the emotions at arm’s length while she began to search for the elements. She found them easily, it was like second nature to her now, and considered how to combine them. Merging two elements was easy, she had done it so many times before, she was barely aware when it happened.
But now, now she needed to combine all four, she was hesitant, wondering how difficult it would be. Kiræ decided to start easy, she combined air and water, nice and safe, then she attempted to nudge fire towards them. It didn’t go well, fire and water didn’t like being near one another, she felt pressure inside her, they were pushing against one another and against her. Her head began to ache but she kept trying, determined to make this magic work.
Kiræ was pushed backwards and lost her hold on Tom’s hand as the wind was knocked from her. She opened her eyes and stared up at the starry sky, coughed and sat up slowly. She noticed Aurora being pulled to her feet by Draogo in the cave mouth and that Tom wasn’t where she had left him, he was sprawled a few feet from her, also coughing. Brean had remained by the fire, a knowing look on his face.
“How far did you get?” he asked, as if already knowing the answer.
“I had water and air combined, fire was…less cooperative.”
Brean smiled, “I did warn you this wouldn’t be easy.”
“I’ll say,” Tom said, dusting himself off, “I thought we had outgrown being thrown around like ragdolls.”
“Apparently not,” Kiræ replied smiling, “maybe you should try?” she suggested.
Tom looked at Brean, “If I don’t have this magic, should I still be able to combine the elements?”
Brean nodded, “Elementa magic allows you to combine any and all of the elements and use them in their base forms, but Elementa’s Praesidium and Validus allow you to transform the elements into a much more powerful force.” Tom nodded and held out his hand to Kiræ, who took it and squeezed.
They sat back by the fire and Tom closed his eyes, he decided to take a different approach to Kiræ, he combined air and water and then attempted to coax earth towards them. He found there was still resistance as there always was, but as far as he could tell, it wasn’t the same as if he’d been coaxing fire. It took some time, he even changed tactics and brought the air and water combination towards earth. Eventually they seemed to overpower it and he had three elements combined.
He exhaled slowly as he finally tried to bring fire into the mix. It didn’t go well; fire was determined not to be a part of the group, no matter how much he tried to bring it towards the others, or the three elements to fire, it pushed against them. He felt his head ache, as it had when Kiræ attempted the task, he considered pushing harder but knew that would only result in more bruises. After what felt like hours he released the elements and opened his eyes, shaking his head at the same time.
“How did you do?” Brean asked curiously.
“I managed to combine air, water and earth, but fire just wouldn’t cooperate.”
“Yes, it is a pesky little element,” Brean glanced over at the mouth of the cave and saw Aurora being helped to her feet again. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t think Aurora has been overly successful either.” Brean smiled as the twins turned to look towards the cave mouth. “How are you feeling?”
“Exhausted,” they chorused.
“Should we call it a night?”
They shook their heads, “We’re not that tired,” Kiræ said quickly, “I’m sure we can try again.” Tom nodded and Brean smiled fondly at them.
“Kiræ, why not have another go.” She breathed deeply and decided to try an alternative approach. Both her and Tom had left fire until last, so this time, she would put it first. Fire and air merged easily, as they always did, then, thankfully, earth joined them just as easily, which left water, flowing round her playfully.
She took another breath and began to move the three combined elements towards it, she instantly felt resistance, but it wasn’t the same as when fire resisted. Water was ultimately less chaotic than fire and it usually joined with air with minimal prodding, she hoped, this would be the same. She didn’t force anything, she simply held the water as she continued to edge the other three towards it, she felt a moment of pressure, her head ached dully but something told her if she continued, the outcome would be different from before.
Kiræ didn’t know how long she sat there, inching the elements towards one another, but eventually, somehow, the invisible barrier gave way and water flowed round the others and began to merge with them. Kiræ heaved a sigh of relief and felt the strange vibrations coming from the four combined elements.
Now she had them, she had no idea what to do; as if sensing her puzzlement Brean spoke, “You must command them to protect,” he said quietly so as not to startle her. She recalled the emotions once again from Tino’s death and commanded the elements to protect her. Nothing happened. She commanded, ordered them to do what she wanted and when still nothing happened she begged and pleaded but they remained in their original combined state and refused to listen to her.
Fear gripped her, what if she couldn’t ever make this magic work again, what if more of her friends were killed because she couldn’t protect them. Panic rose within her and a bright light filled her; the elements had changed. She tried to force them out, to protect them and she was thrown backwards for her efforts, having the wind knocked from her a second time.
“Are you kidding,” she coughed.
Brean chuckled, “Am I to believe you were successful?”
“Partly,” she said pulling herself into a sitting position, she sent an apologetic smile to Tom, who was mimicking her actions. “I managed to combine all four and I think they changed, something inside me went very bright.”
“It sounds like you definitely made progress, but I think perhaps it’s best to stop for the night.”
Aurora collapsed next to the fire and sighed heavily, “I don’t think I’ve ever blacked out so much in my life,” she said disappointed.
Draogo smiled, “These things take time, you’ll get there.”
Aurora snorted, “Can I have that in writing?”
Kiræ put an arm round her friend, “Sounds like you’ve had as much luck as us,” she said squeezing tightly, “I think I’m going to be like the living dead in the morning.”
“Which probably means you should be getting back to your dormitories,” Brean pointed out, “don’t worry, you’ll all get there eventually.”
Bælana 4
“So you had her but you lost her?” Bælana said slowly to a cowering Ziqua, “you’ve disappointed me again.” She rubbed her temple as a slight throbbing began and Ziqua mumbled something incoherent. She stopped and eyed him sharply, “what did you say?” Ziqua lowered himself further to the ground and remained silent, “speak!”
Ziqua looked up at her; she stood before him, her hair was tied neatly back and her deep green dress flowed around her.
“The warriors in
Diapanm did not know her full importance Empress, by the time I had informed them, she had already escaped.” He lowered his head again and stared intently at the decorative rug he was kneeling on.
Bælana ground her teeth in annoyance and began to pace the wood panelled room, clenching and unclenching her fists in frustration, something crackled round her like static energy. She paced for several minutes, running through events in her mind while Ziqua remained silent and submissive; she stopped, stared at the pathetic creature on her floor and rubbed her temple.
“Organise the warriors, and inform them of our ‘friend’.”
Ziqua got to his feet and nodded. “We will find her Empress,” he growled respectfully, “and we will kill her.” He bowed and hurried from the room in fear.
Bælana sat in a large chair, closed her eyes and breathed deeply in an attempt to remove the throbbing in her skull. “You might as well show yourself Malum,” she said absentmindedly, eyes still closed.
“How long have you known I was here?” a smooth voice asked.
“Since you arrived,” she replied opening her eyes as the tall man sat in the chair opposite and smiled at her.
“You seem to be in some discomfort,” he noted and she pulled her hands from her head.
“Just a headache,” she replied offhandedly, “most likely from having to deal with idiots.”
Malum shook his head, “You already have a large number of mingual to control, I think you should be careful, too many can have,” he paused and cocked his head slightly, “damaging effects.”
She smiled at him but it was insincere, “Thank you for your concern Malum but I’m fine, and I can handle my servants.”
He placed his hands in front of him apologetically and leaned back in his chair, “I see you are busy trying to find someone who doesn’t exist.”
Bælana snorted, “Doesn’t exist? Don’t even try it, she does exist, the mingual have seen her, they’ve fought her!”
“Is she really who you think she is?” Malum asked mysteriously.
Bælana opened her mouth to reply, then shut it and eyed him suspiciously, “Don’t even bother,” she said smiling at him, “your manipulative tricks don’t work on me.”
Malum smiled back, “It would seem so,” he replied rising from his chair, “then I had better leave you to it, I wouldn’t want you thinking I was trying to influence you in any way.” Bælana smiled as he shimmered slightly then vanished, always so manipulative, she thought as she started to rub her aching temples again, those tricks won’t work on me.
Chapter 22
Kiræ sat in the Great Hall with her friends, staring at the white flakes of snow as they fluttered past the window. There were only a couple of weeks left until the end of their first year and Sir Nyme had made it clear that they were expected to continue training regardless of this fact and of the weather. Despite it being one of their rest days the group had decided to train throughout the morning to get used to the conditions and were now huddled round steaming mugs of tea.
Kiræ was not looking forward to their magical training in this weather, especially at night but Draogo was insistent that Aurora should continue her attempts to shape-shift. Kiræ had cursed him silently but had agreed to continue training outside to be near Aurora; she was thankful they could at least create a fire to keep them warm. So far none of them had been fully successful with their new magic. Aurora, although she was able to sporadically access dragon attributes had failed to fully transform and only Kiræ had been able to combine all four elements.
Aurora had decided for the moment to keep her ability secret from the others, at least until she was able to master it and the twins had agreed, knowing what it was like to be burdened with something you couldn’t control. Kiræ daydreamed, not for the first time, about Draogo transforming into a beautiful, majestic dark blue dragon and felt a stab of jealousy towards Aurora that was instantly replaced by guilt, she sighed loudly.
“What’s wrong Kiræ?” Keolan asked and she turned away from the window.
“Nothing,” she said forcing a smile, “I’m just not overly happy with losing the feeling in my fingers.” Keolan nodded in agreement but Tom stared at her suspiciously and she knew he could tell she was lying.
“So when do we get to come and watch you both train?” Tana asked looking at the twins.
“What do you mean?” Kiræ asked, “you’ve been training with us.”
Tana shook her head, “Magical training,” she clarified.
“We don’t really let people watch,” Tom explained feeling slightly confused.
“But you’re letting Aurora watch aren’t you?” Tana said accusingly and with an underlying tone of jealousy, there was a heavy silence.
“Aurora isn’t watching us train,” Kiræ said carefully.
“Then what is she doing?” Keolan asked also with an accusatory tone. The twins turned to look at Aurora, not knowing what to say.
Aurora shook her head, “I don’t suppose I’ll ever master the skill anyway,” she sighed heavily and Kiræ placed a hand on her arm.
“Draogo says you’re close, don’t give up just yet,” she said reassuringly.
“Draogo? Who’s Draogo?” Keolan asked.
Kiræ squeezed Aurora’s arm who took a deep breath, “Draogo is, well he’s the Dragon Lord,” she said. Keolan opened his mouth but she continued quickly, “apparently I have the ability to shape-shift into a dragon, and he’s trying to teach me how.” She stared at the table and waited for her friends to explode in anger for not telling them but it didn’t happen. She sat amidst a stunned silence and slowly she raised her head to look at her friends.
“You’re a dragon?” Tana almost whispered in awe.
“Well not really, I have the ability to become a dragon but I’m human, I was born human.” Keolan and Tana continued to stare, silent and amazed and she blushed, “please stop staring,” she said quietly jolting them out of their stupor.
“Sorry Ror,” Tana said shaking her head, “but I mean, that’s huge news.”
“I wanted to be able to show you all when I told you, but I haven’t managed to actually change yet.”
“Then how do you know you can?” Keolan asked curiously and Aurora bit her lip as she considered how to respond.
Tom came to her rescue, “She can use certain attributes in human form,” he said, “during the fight with the mingual I saw Ror’s eyes shift from blue to amber, and she gained strength, and I mean a lot of strength.”
“You know, I’m pretty sure I’ve been on the receiving end of that,” Keolan said thoughtfully.
“What do you mean?” Aurora asked.
“Early on in training, I thought your eyes changed colour and you seemed…different.”
“Different?”
Keolan nodded, “You were fast, you were strong, I’d never seen you like that before.”
“Sorry,” Aurora said sheepishly.
“No need to apologise,” Keolan smiled, “it’s just nice to know I wasn’t as bad as I thought.”
“Do you promise to show us when you can change?” Tana asked excitedly.
“Of course, if I ever manage it that is.”
“I don’t think it will be long,” Kiræ said, “I just hope Tom and I aren’t doing anything too delicate when it happens!” they laughed and the tension between the group evaporated, Kiræ smiled as the feeling finally returned to her fingers.
The twins and Aurora returned to the beach that evening to meet with Brean and Draogo; the two men were sat next to a roaring fire in the mouth of a cave waiting for them. Draogo nodded to the trio and gestured for Aurora to approach, while Brean walked towards the twins, the fire following him. They sat some distance from the cave on the cold sand that was thankfully sheltered from the gently falling snow.
“Are you ready to try again?” Draogo asked Aurora as she stood inside the dark cave, she nodded and moved as if to sit but Draogo held her arm preventing her from moving. “I think you should
try the process while standing.”
“And if I faint again?” she asked wanting to fold her arms in annoyance but unable to while he still held a firm grip.
“If you faint, I will catch you,” she stared at him defiantly for some time, then as if realising she couldn’t win she sighed and he released her taking a step back as he did so. Aurora breathed deeply and closed her eyes.
Kiræ watched, slightly entranced by the fire as Tom, eyes closed, attempted to combine all four elements. She was breathing slowly, mesmerised by the bright orange flames and the shapes that swirled and danced in the fires heart. She didn’t hear Brean speak her name or see Tom’s eyes snap open to look at her. Her eyes lost focus and she dropped Tom’s hand as the shapes in the fire began to mutate and change into shadow forms of people; she leant closer to the fire, breathing in the heavy smoke and watched as the shadows cleared and the people became all too familiar to her.
She was looking down on herself and Tom, they were stood in the corner of a large wood panelled room; a fire blazed in the opposite corner. Large oil paintings of unidentifiable people hung at set intervals along the walls and the sun streamed through the large windows next to them onto a heavily rugged floor. She could see herself talking to her brother but couldn’t make out the words. There were three doors around the room, the twins were stood by one of them which was already open and she assumed it was how they had entered. A second stood halfway along the wall to their right and seemed to have several bolts attached to keep it closed. The third was directly opposite them and was slowly beginning to open.
Kiræ heard Brean’s voice this time, sharp and laced with worry, the images in the fire vanished and were replaced by dancing flames. Suddenly brought back to reality Kiræ realised how close she was to the fire and sat back quickly, seeing the looks of concern radiating from Brean and Tom.
“What happened?” she asked feeling very confused.
“That is something I would like you to explain,” Brean said relaxing as he saw that Kiræ was unharmed.
Forgotten Magic (Elementals Book 1) Page 18