Successor

by Rae Miles

  The crook of the axe catches on the staff, the force of the blow jolting my arms and shoulders so hard my knees almost buckle. Adrenaline fires through my veins, and drawing from the energy of the chaos around me, I shove back as hard as I can. A burst of power erupts from me in another wave, throwing the outlander away from me. He regains his footing and lunges toward me, and I swing my staff as hard as I can, smashing into his jaw. I don’t wait to see if he stays down.

  My gaze lands on a pair fighting on the ground with Tavahni on her back. Not wanting to hit her with a charge, I run over and bring my staff down hard on the outlander on top of her. The strike lands in the middle of his back, and he rears up in pain.

  He yells and lunges for me. I swing the staff down again, this time connecting with his face. Blood erupts from his mouth, and he falls unconscious over Tavahni, pinning her down. She grunts as he lands but gives me a grateful look.

  I reach to move him off her when something hard slams into my side. Pain radiates through my torso, and I tumble over the other side of Tavahni and the outlander. Lasula stands a few feet away with a staff clenched in her hands. Menace contorts her face, her eyes full of complete and utter hate.

  The pain in my side is excruciating, pulling at my concentration and allowing the sound waves to fill my vision. I fumble over fallen bodies as I crawl backward, dropping to one of my elbows and aiming my hand at Lasula. The waves intensify, blurring my vision to near blindness. A frustrated grunt escapes my throat, and I struggle up on my hands again to put some distance between us.

  “You are a disgrace to the elemental line.” She stalks toward me, stepping over Tavahni and the other bodies in her way. “It comes as no surprise. You are a useless half-blood with no control.”

  A glance over my shoulder, and I spot a staff laying on the ground ten feet away. I keep moving backward, glaring at Lasula through the clutter in my vision. “You betrayed your clan to side with a murderer who doesn’t give a damn about you.”

  Images flash through my mind: Ryka on the ground with a knife imbedded in her abdomen, Lasula’s face after it happened, and the dead look of apathy in her eyes.

  I add, “Then again, you don’t give a damn about anything. If anyone’s a disgrace, it’s you.”

  She swings her staff and I lurch back, narrowly missing a blow to the face. My ribs throb, and I scramble to my hands again. Almost there…

  “You will never have the true power of an elemental. The Link is wasted on you!”

  My hands finally land on the staff, and I yank it in front of me to block Lasula’s blow just in time. She drops to her knees, straddling me, and uses her weight to force my staff down toward my neck. I growl in the back of my throat, using every ounce of strength I have to keep her from crushing my windpipe.

  Her face contorts into a mask of insane rage. A sound more animal than human erupts from her. “It should have been me!” she screams in my face, pushing down on my staff with her full weight. “I should be the elemental, not a half-breed weakling like you!”

  With as much strength as I can manage, I shove up as hard as I can with one hand and pull the other out from under my staff. Lasula’s weight shifts to the side, and I thrust my hand up, the heel colliding with her jaw. Her head snaps back, her staff slipping to the side, and I shove mine straight up into her face, smashing it right into her mouth. She screeches, and I aim my hand at her torso as pressure builds in my chest. It releases a moment later, and the wave throws her clear off me.

  I push myself up as she gets to her feet and rushes at me, her mouth bloody and her eyes wild. I lift my hand to shoot a charge at her, but she stumbles to a sudden stop in her tracks, her body stiffening and her eyes going wide. She stares at me, her blood-slicked lips quivering as small grunts escape her throat. A moment later she drops to her knees and pitches forward, revealing an axe sticking out of her back.

  Tavahni stands behind her, her chest heaving. I drop to my back with a relieved huff, taking a second to catch my breath. Tavahni comes to me, grasping my arm and pulling me up.

  “Are you hurt?” she pants.

  “I’m fine,” I say, but my side is killing me. A few ribs may be cracked. I scour the mass of bodies, the fight still raging. “I have to get to Ren. He’s not strong enough to take out Taustin.”

  Tavahni scans the crowd and points across the clearing. “There.”

  I spot the two men. Taustin has his long knives drawn while Ren uses a staff to block his strikes. Blood seeps down his side from his injured shoulder. He’s coated in dirt and sweat. From here I can tell his energy is severely waning. He won’t last much longer.

  Ignoring the sharp pain in my side, I snag my staff from the ground, and we rush into the fight. We block errant staffs and arms in our path, each of us knocking a few outlanders on the head or back as we go.

  I’m about five yards from the men when Taustin kicks Ren in the side, dropping him to his knees. Taustin draws his arm back, knife in hand, and I’m slammed with déjà vu.

  The killing swing.

  Blood soaking the ground.

  His eyes never wavering as life left them.

  Energy surges in my chest and down into my stomach. My arms vibrate with enough intensity to shatter glass, my legs weightless under me. The Link sounds off in my head.

  It screams. And so do I.

  “No!”

  A blast erupts from me so violently it feels like it tears me apart, pulling me with as it shoots out in a massive white wave. The force of it knocks everyone to the ground. It hits the trees, shaking them like a gale force wind and detaching thousands of leaves from their branches to rain down on us like a storm. It’s quick to dissipate into the woods with a reverberating echo, and the remaining silence is deafening.

  Every inch of my skin is charged, my blood on fire with the Link humming in my head. I hold my hand in front of me, and soft ripples of residual sound waves undulate from my fingertips.

  I can feel it now—raw power.

  I could undo every person here, just split them to their core until there’s nothing left. This land could be rid of every last outlander. They wouldn’t be able to stop me. The Laraek, all the known clans, would be safer for it.

  Taustin was wrong. I have the ability to kill.

  Adrenaline seeps into my veins, and I feel like I can fly.

  No.

  The Link. It calls to me in a whisper, so quiet I almost don’t hear it. It tries to quell the anger and hate in my heart, but it can’t touch them.

  This is not our way, it calls to me, just as faint as before.

  They deserve it! This will save everyone!

  It will destroy you, the Link insists, a little louder this time. It nearly destroyed Sianne.

  My breath catches in my throat.

  You lie. My mother was strong—a legend. The most dangerous enemies feared her.

  Sometimes the most dangerous enemy is oneself, the Link replies. If you cannot control what is within, you will eventually become the enemy.

  The ripples at my fingertips dissipate, and I lower my hand. It’s the same here as it is back home. Power consumes. People lose themselves to it, turn into different people they never expected to become. If it almost happened to my mother, what does that mean for me?

  This power is intoxicating, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. The pull of it is nothing like I expected, so strong that resistance is nearly impossible.

  Nothing is impossible, the Link whispers. Only implausible.

  The world goes silent, as if time stops. Maybe for a moment it does.

  Being an elemental—having this kind of power and not giving in to the darker side of it—seems impossible. This isn’t a fate to wish for. It can’t be taken lightly. Only those with the strongest of wills can withstand the lure of such power. It will destroy the rest.

  I close my eyes. Am I strong enough to fight this?

  Look inside of yourself. There is strength there.

  I will my heart to slow
and wait for the tingling in my arms to subside. A cool rush flows through my chest and down my back. The Link has broken through the wall of anger and rage.

  Taustin was right about one thing. I had no idea what kind of power the Link possessed, what I would possess.

  But I possess the power. It does not—it will not—possess me.

  Breathe in. Breathe out.

  I am strong. My will is my weapon.

  It is the only one you need.

  It is all I need.

  Now fight.

  My eyes open and the world returns to me. Everyone is still on the ground, staring at me. Including Ren. Tavahni is a few feet from me, looking up at me with wide eyes. I reach my hand to her. She takes it, uncertain, and I pull her to her feet. After a moment she gives me a nod, and I turn back to Taustin.

  He stands with indignation etched into his face. “Is that it?” he yells, throwing his arms out. His knives are nowhere to be seen. “Is that all you are capable of?”

  The staff in my hands feels natural now as I close the distance between us with slow steps. “I am capable of far more than you ever will be.” I stop a few feet from him. “I can show mercy.”

  He laughs from deep in his chest. Ren’s gaze is on me, but mine doesn’t waver.

  “Mercy is for the weak. Those who possess it are doomed to fail.”

  “It takes a strong person to show weakness. Only those with no strength refuse to acknowledge they have any. Make no mistake—I have the power to kill you. But that’s not the kind of person I am, and I refuse to become one.” I speak loud enough for everyone to hear. “Leave this place now, and your life will be spared. Refuse, and I won’t stop someone else from taking it.”

  He laughs again, shaking his head. “A poor excuse for an elemental. You fail to do what is necessary to ensure peace. It cripples you.”

  The corner of my mouth twitches. “At least I have room for improvement. But you’ll always be incompetent.”

  He stares at me in silence, a muscle under his eye twitching. He lunges at me so fast I don’t realize his hands are around my neck until I hit the ground. The fighting has resumed, and I gasp for air as Taustin squeezes my windpipe shut. My hands pull and pry at his, but they’re like steel bands cutting into my skin. His eyes are filled with a mixture of anger and sadistic glee, and his hot breath bursts across my face. My vision starts to turn black at the edges, and pinpricks of static seep into the rest.

  The Link whispers something, but I can’t hear it.

  My eyelids are too heavy to lift anymore. I let them drift shut.

  A loud crack sounds, and air comes to me in a rush. My eyes fly open with my gasp to see Ren standing over Taustin and me, a broken staff in his hand and a murderous glare in his eyes.

  Taustin heaves himself at Ren, and I slam my fists into his chest. The charge I expel sends him flying off me, landing him several feet away. My head lifts in time to see him scrambling toward me, like a rabid dog, and my arms cover my face to brace for impact.

  It never comes. Instead there’s a sharp grunt, and then all is quiet. I pull my arms down, and Taustin is on his feet with Ren in front of him. The broken staff sticks out of Taustin’s abdomen, red seeping down his vest and on his leggings. His gaze finds mine, glazing over as a stream of blood dribbles down his chin. His lower lip wobbles as he tries to speak, but no words come out.

  Ren grips the end of the staff and uses it to shove Taustin stumbling backward. And then…he’s gone.

  Stunned gasps sound all around me, and I prop myself up to see what happened. Without warning, the remaining outlanders break away from the Laraek and run into the forest.

  Retreating.

  A sharp breath. We won.

  Ren stares at the ground for a long moment, his chest heaving, then finally turns to me. I let out a shaky breath, and he comes over, pulling me to my feet and holding me at arms’ length. He touches his fingertips to my neck.

  “Are you hurt?”

  A breathless laugh escapes, and I reach up and grab his hand. My neck aches, and my ribs make it hard to breathe. But I’m alive and so is he. That’s all I care about.

  “It’s nothing I won’t survive.”

  He gives a deep sigh of relief and squeezes my hand.

  I look past him to where the Laraek are gathering. “What happened? Where’s Taustin?”

  He pulls me across the clearing to the others, all standing around a hole in the ground. The staked pit.

  With an incredulous glance at Ren, whose gaze shifts back to the pit, I edge closer and peer in. My stomach turns. The faint shape of a person lies at the bottom. The broken staff isn’t the only thing sticking through Taustin’s body now.

  I turn back to Ren, my eyes wide. “It’s over?”

  He nods, letting out a deep breath. Reconciled. “It is over.”

  My eyes start to burn. I bite my lip and Ren pulls me to him, wrapping his arms around me. I sink in and cling to him, reassuring myself he’s really okay. He’s covered in dirt and sweat, and the stitches in his shoulder have ripped out, but he’s here in my arms. The rest doesn’t matter.

  He pulls back enough to look me in the eye. “You are an elemental.”

  I laugh, exhausted. “Finally.”

  “How do you feel?”

  My chest warms at the humming of the Link in the back of my mind, and I smile. “Complete.” For the first time in my life, it’s true.

  Our foreheads touch and we close our eyes, breathing each other’s breaths of relief.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “You’re looking much better.” I sit next to Leila on her bed.

  She’s wide awake, propped up with her hands across her stomach. There’s color in her cheeks, too. She smiles. “I definitely feel better. Kirahl is a miracle worker.”

  My brow quirks up. “Yes, she is.”

  I can think of a few other things to call Kirahl. I’m still not happy she gave in to Ren’s demands to heal him so he could follow us. Seems he was quite convincing. In the end though, it all turned out okay. I can’t be too angry with her, considering how quickly Leila has recovered, not to mention the miracle salve she used to dull the pain in my ribs. The woman has talent.

  I glance at my hands in my lap, unable to look at Leila. “I’m so sorry, Lei. You should never have been put in that position.”

  “Hey.” She nudges my back with her knee. “Don’t you dare blame yourself.”

  “They went after you to get to me.” My throat tightens and my voice cracks. “When I think about what could’ve happened to you—”

  She reaches over and takes my hand, squeezing it. “But nothing did happen to me. I’m all right.”

  I squeeze her hand back. “Do you remember anything?”

  She shakes her head. “Not really. Bits and pieces. I guess some good came out of this traveling sickness. Otherwise I’m sure I’d be chock full of PTSD issues later.”

  I sniff and nod at her hair. “At least your hair was the worst of it.”

  She grimaces, lifting her hands to her uneven blonde layers. “I can’t believe I don’t remember that.”

  “You were pretty far gone. I don’t think you would’ve noticed if a semi ran you over.” Better if she doesn’t know how close she came to losing more than her hair.

  She shakes her head, anger in her eyes. “Asshole. He deserved what he got.”

  I run my hand through her hair. “It’ll grow back.”

  “Do you have any idea how long it took me to grow it that long? I’ll have to wear a wig until it’s decent again.”

  “I don’t know,” I say, assessing her hair. “I think you could pull off a pixie cut.” She absolutely hates that hairstyle.

  She narrows her eyes, glaring at me. “Screw that. There’s no way I’m having hair shorter than Jason.”

  “Who knows? He might like it.”

  She swats her hand at my cheek, but I lean out of reach and grin.

  “Okay, wig it is. We’ll find you
a good one when we get back.”

  She settles into the bed a little farther. “Any idea when that might be?”

  Drawing a breath, I hesitate a moment. “Today.”

  She frowns. “So soon?”

  I look at my hands in my lap and shrug. “There’s no reason to wait.”

  “Ev…” Her words are understanding and careful. “There’s no rush. We can wait one more day. It won’t make a difference back home.”

  Earlier I told her about what happened last night, including when I turned back time. When she found out the redirection had finally happened, she responded in her usual fashion with “About damn time.” She asked how we’re going to explain our absence of a few weeks once we get back home. I told her how each plane has its own separate timeline—something I learned from the Link. We’ll be able to return home to the same time we left from, and it won’t affect what’s happened here.

  “I know.” I manage a smile and look at her. “It’s just easier this way.”

  “Have you talked to him?”

  “Not since last night.”

  After the fight was over and we returned to the village, anyone with serious injuries went straight to Kirahl. After making sure Leila was safe and back on the tonic, I helped Kirahl tend to the others. She had me replace Ren’s stitches, which was a first for me, but he didn’t seem to mind. He sat patiently as I cleaned him up and sewed his skin back together. He kept his hand on my knee the entire time. We exchanged a few words, though it was mostly me telling him he was an idiot for not staying in the village. He didn’t say much to argue, but I knew he didn’t regret it.

  “Apparently he’s feeling better. He went back to the clearing with some of the scouts. I guess they’re planning to bury the bodies and salvage anything they can.” I push at my cuticles with my thumbnail.

  Leila reaches over and squeezes my arm. “He’ll be back.”

  Tightness forms in my throat, and I take a deep breath and clear it. “I need to touch base with the elders.” I shove off my knees and stand, smoothing my palms down my legs. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”