The Five Elements

by Scott Marlowe

  "The flows are new," Engus said at her side. "Anaktoa has sensed our approach and has awoken. I must tell the others." The dwarf turned to go, but stopped at the last moment. He fixed his stare on Shanna. "Erlek is a dangerous man, Shanna. Watch and ward yourself." Then he went to rejoin his dwarves and tell them of the volcano's activity.

  No sooner had he disappeared belowdeck than the airship sprang to life. An aft bell clanged, summoning the airmen to their stations. Shanna heard the shouting of mates and the stamp of booted feet rising from below. Moments later men spilled out from gangways and the deck became a scene of controlled chaos.

  Shanna made herself small, trying to find a place where she'd remain out of the way but also where she didn't have to surrender her vantage point. Seen from this high up, the molten rivers were beautiful as they cut across the landscape. Cauldron Mountain, Erlek had called it. Anaktoa, to Engus Rul. Despite the increasing glow from the molten rivers, it remained too dark to see the mountain itself. That didn't stop Shanna from painting its image in her mind.

  It was tall, taller than the airship's current elevation, and massive, with slopes dark and hot with lava. Its top was a witch's pot of steaming, bubbling liquid. Aaron had shown her its picture—or one very much like it—in one of his books. Aaron had shown her lots of things like that. He was always carrying books around, most of them filled with words and formulas that made her head ache to look at them. But there was always one book in his stack filled with hand-painted pictures of the most wondrous places: river-carved valleys, spacious canyons lined with evergreens, meadows punctuated by rocky outcroppings and wildflowers. Someday, we'll go there, he had told her. He said it mostly to cheer her up, when she was feeling down. She knew full well she was never going anywhere except to that miserable, stinking hole where she helped Nora make the soap. But Aaron's pictures and the way he described the places they depicted always made her feel better anyway.

  She let out a heavy sigh. She wondered where Aaron was and what he was doing. She hoped he was safe and hadn't spent too much time mourning her death, for he must think her gone, drowned after the whirlpool had sucked her in. She wished there was some way she could get a message to him, to tell him she was alive. But even if a means existed, she had no idea where to send it. Back to Norwynne perhaps. By now, they must be taking stock of the damage, rebuilding. Aaron was probably there, helping with the cleanup and architecting the restoration if Shanna knew him half as well as she thought she did. Aaron was doing just fine. She was sure of it.

  Erlek appeared on deck and headed straightaway for her position, cutting through the airmen with little effort, many of whom had stopped to take in the rivers of flame below.

  "We are here, then," Erlek said, making no effort to hide the excitement in his voice. "Cauldron Mountain."

  Shanna peered over the side again, following the line of flaming rivulets to where she presumed the mountain must lie. Still, she didn't see its great peak. She said as much to Erlek.

  "You have not seen a true mountain because there is none to see. Cauldron Mountain is no mountain at all, not in the common sense of the term. It is a caldera. Once, it was as you no doubt imagine it. Called Karak-Tur, it was great, towering, magnificent. But the earth called to it. It answered with fire and destruction. The whole of the mountain was wiped away, leaving only a depression in the land to mark its presence. Look, there!" Erlek pointed to a spot that was utter blackness, but where, at the edges of that spot, the largest of the flows originated. "That is Cauldron Mountain. It appears the bowl of it yet remains empty. The Element of Fire is ours for the taking." Erlek called across the ship to the captain. "Fast ahead! We land there!" He pointed again, as if anyone could see precisely where he was indicating.

  The captain shouted something that was not to Erlek's liking, for he let out a snarl in response. Right before storming off to the steering deck to confront the man, Erlek said to Shanna, "Go below. Gather what you might need for a short trip. Meet me in my chamber." Then he was off to test his will against that of the captain, leaving Shanna alone.

  Despite the savant's order, she continued to stare out into the night's darkness. She waited, and waited, until finally the clouds parted just enough so that moonlight streaked to the ground and, at last, she saw Cauldron Mountain. It was a great bowl, carved as if by a giant scoop. It was empty—Shanna presumed Erlek had meant of lava—though red-orange liquid bubbled up from all around it to form the streams and rivulets that ran across the land. The Griffin's progress was slow. Erlek continued to argue with the captain for some time, though they must have come to some compromise, for Erlek finally broke away and returned belowdeck. The moment he did the Griffin altered course to head directly for the great depression. An hour later, assaulted by a great abundance of smoke and the noxious odor of sulfur, the ship passed over the cauldron's rim. They maintained their distance from the ground. As they moved further into the bowl that distance grew even greater as the inside of the caldera sloped away. Wary of what might happen should they drift too near to its bottom, the Griffin held its altitude as it sailed for the centermost point of the depression. The air about them grew more heated, the aroma of sulfur more pronounced. Moonlight reflected from tendrils of steam that rose from fissures both great and small in the caldera's surface. Black rock, jagged and malformed, along with gray, sandy ash, lay strewn about everywhere.

  Only when they reached the center of the caldera did the captain give the order to descend further. The vibration of the airship's engine lessened as it was turned down. Men on the main deck scrambled about the pipes feeding the balloon, twisting cranks and monitoring dials. The pipes hissed as the Griffin began its descent. The airship halted with forty feet still to go. From the activity on deck, Shanna saw the captain meant to go no further. She took it as her cue to go find Erlek.

  He was in his chamber, the savant's lean frame wrapped tightly in a thick robe of earth tones. He'd traded his sandals for heavy boots and held a metal-shod walking stick in one hand. Shanna saw a robe similar to the savant's laid out on the divan. Erlek gestured at her to put it on along with a pair of boots. Both the robe and shoes were big on her, but not unmanageable. There was a satchel there—empty—that she swung over one shoulder. When she was finished, Erlek said to her, "Take the Element."

  Surprised by the request, Shanna just stood there.

  Erlek chuckled. "It is time, dear girl. Time to see what you've learned, if anything." He said the last with a certain sourness. "Go on. Take it."

  Shanna did as she was asked, lifting the Element of Earth from its resting place. The familiar tingle pulsed through her hands, down her arms, and into her core.

  "Once abovedeck," Erlek said, "we will descend from the ship into the caldera. The Element will remain safe at your side."

  He gestured to the satchel, and Shanna placed the device inside.

  "Once we stand upon the rocky surface, you will lead us into the volcano."

  "What?" Shanna wasn't sure he'd heard him right. "How?"

  "That, unfortunately, is something that remains to be seen. Have no fear, though. You have with you the Element of Earth. Look to it now for answers. Now, come." Erlek walked past her, unnecessarily allowing the metal end of his staff to fall heavy on the wood floor as he made his way abovedeck. The sitheri, who waited outside the room, waited for Shanna to follow their master. Shanna sighed, then she followed. The sitheri trailed at her heels.

  Engus Rul was there. The dwarf's accoutrements hadn't changed at all except that he now carried the axe, Soljilnor. It remained wrapped in canvas. His dwarves stood nearby, though by their casual dress and lack of armor it did not look as if they would be accompanying their lord. A hard-faced lot, their stares never left the savant.

  Erlek either hadn't seen the looks or simply didn't care as he went about examining a knotted rope that was secured to the ship and that hung out and over the railing. Shanna made the mistake of looking over the side, tracing the line of the rope as it sway
ed with the ship's motion all the way to the ground. Her head swooned from the distance.

  Engus Rul joined them. Together, they made a motley lot of five, including the pair of snakemen.

  "Soljilnor will better serve us with its head exposed," Erlek said to Engus Rul.

  "You said the axe will protect us regardless," the dwarf said.

  Erlek lifted his brow. "It will."

  "Then it stays as it is."

  There was a finality to Engus Rul's words that Erlek chose not to challenge as the savant stepped away. He motioned for the dwarf to descend first. Before he could, an airmen came forward, offering each of them a waterskin. Shanna slung it over her shoulder opposite the satchel. Erlek and Engus Rul each took one as well. The sitheri seemed to have no need. Without even a glance over the side, Engus Rul swung over the rail and, hand-over-hand, lowered himself. Several crewmen stopped at their duties to watch the dwarf go down until a deck officer shouted at them to get back to work. Others cast sidelong glances at the lot of them. There was little well-wishing in those stares. Shanna went after Engus Rul. She followed his lead, swinging herself over the railing without looking down this time. It made the effort easier, but only slightly.

  It was a single-minded task, with just herself and the rope for the minutes it took for her to reach the ground. There were knots tied into it in intervals. Her feet found purchase at each of them, lessening the strain on her arms, though the robe Erlek had provided with its wide sleeves and extra weight was an added hindrance. She wondered why she was even wearing it or why she hadn't taken it off before she'd started down the rope, but it was too late now. If nothing else, it eased the rope's strain along her thighs. Then she was down. Having both feet planted on solid ground never felt so good. Drenched with sweat as much from her effort as from the heat, she took a few wobbly steps, realizing it might take some time to regain her land legs.

  Above them, the Griffin listed but generally held its position as the snakemen and finally Erlek came down. The moment the savant's feet touched the surface he moved with purpose. He said nothing to the others. The clank of his heavy staff grinding into the volcanic rock both presaged his passage and prompted them to follow. The sitheri trailed behind with Shanna. Engus Rul brought up the rear. The savant’s gaze swept the landscape as he led them on a meandering walk through the rough, black rock of the volcano's bowl. Contrary to the smoothness Shanna thought she had seen from above, the terrain stretching out before her was a chaos of disruption and upheaval. Erlek led them around jagged outcroppings, down into gullies where pungent smoke escaped from slits and holes in the rock, and back up onto a black sweep of irregularity that stretched all the way to the other side of the caldera. Ash, gray and sandy, littered every crevice and nook. The whole scene drained Shanna’s spirit and infected her throat with a dryness that several swigs from her waterskin did little to relieve. The place stank too, sulfur hanging heavy in the air so that Shanna soon found her breathing not only labored, but forcibly too shallow to sustain such exertions for much longer.

  Good thing that just as it seemed Erlek meant to take them on a tour of the entire locale, he stopped. He stood a short distance from a jagged formation that lifted into the sky. Though at first glance it looked the same as all the other outcroppings they'd passed, this one did have a singular difference: at its base the rock had the beginnings of an opening. A shallow depression in the rock face, it was further distinguished by what almost looked like a walkway leading right up to it. Shanna knew it was impossible and probably only a coincidence that it appeared so, yet here they had hiked along it at least for a short ways to get to the formation. The savant walked down the remainder of the trail, almost to the wall, when he turned and said to Shanna, "Expose the Element and come forward."

  Shanna looked at the others. The sitheri offered nothing, but stood aside to let her pass. Engus Rul's face bore an expression of intense concentration that softened only slightly as he offered her a nod of encouragement. Shanna allowed herself a moment to let out a deep breath, then she reached into the satchel to draw forth the Element. The moment her fingers touched the bowl, she felt the power stirring within it. It was both similar and different than before. There was the usual vibration of energy, but it pulsed now with a strength she hereto had not felt. She almost pulled away from it. She'd come this far, though. She knew she'd go the rest of the way. Using both hands, she pulled it free. It looked no different than before: just a simple, earthen bowl only slightly wider than the span of her two hands. Taking slow steps, with the Element held before her, Shanna approached Erlek.

  "Now", the savant said, "your brief tutelage hits a head, eh? You must let the energy of the Element flow through you. Through you and into the rock face. It is as simple as that. The one Element knows the other is near. We must hope that it is enough." Erlek stepped aside. "Concentrate. Let the energies come forth, focus them, and open us a pathway into the bowels of Karak-Tur."

  Shanna cast a sidelong glance at the savant. "We're going into the volcano?"

  "Yes! Now, concentrate! Focus! Embrace your destiny and lead us forward!"

  Shanna wasn't entirely sure what Erlek was asking of her, but she returned her attention to the Element and to the rock wall and tried to focus her thoughts on both of them. The Element felt alive in her hands. The strength of its pulsing had increased, its rhythm matching that of her beating heart. Its energy coursed through her, first only along her skin, but as she allowed herself to relax, it permeated deeper. Still, Shanna had no real idea how to manipulate or control it. "I don't know—" She cut herself off, unwilling to expose her ignorance to Erlek. It didn't matter. The savant knew something was wrong.

  "Concentrate!"

  Shanna kept her focus on the Element. "I am concentrating!"

  "Not enough! Focus, girl, focus!"

  Shanna did, but still nothing happened. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing!"

  Erlek stamped his staff onto the hard rock. "It is as I thought, then. You lack the mental discipline."

  "No, I don't! I only need a moment—"

  "One moment will make no difference. Your mind is too feeble, too simplistic. I am ruined. Ruined! And, as for you…"

  Shanna felt the man's contempt soaking into her.

  "Perhaps soap making is indeed your lot, after all."

  "No!"

  She wasn't going back to that life. If this was it, if this was her moment to once and for all take control of her destiny, then she was not going to let it slip away. She concentrated like never before, letting the energies course into her, through her, and, different than before, back into the Element. She discarded Erlek's logic problems and disciplined thought processes. Those things were not her. She was willfulness, anger and passion, daring and bravado. She was all those things and, now, master of the Element. She felt it, as if this thing she held in her hands had always been a part of her. Then, just like that, the Element of Earth came to life.

  Energy surged from it, slicing through the hardened lava to burrow deep into the volcano. It happened so fast, so suddenly, Shanna was shocked when she saw the Element of Fire—phantasm-like—burning right in front of her. It was flame and heat and a burning so intense that it melted away fear and caution. There was something of herself in that dazzling vision. Something she knew she'd been missing all of her life. Shanna reached deep into Anaktoa. The Element of Earth did the rest, widening a path deeper and deeper into the earth. It took only a moment, then it was done. Where before had been a solid rock wall was now a great, dark opening.

  Shanna heard the dry chuckling of Erlek's laughter rise above the hiss of steam, dust, and smoke billowing from the opening she'd made.

  "Good! Good!" He clapped his hands together once. "Excellent work, my Tool. Excellent work!"

  He brushed past her, stepping through the cloudy expulsion and into the opening without hesitation. The sitheri followed, leaving Engus Rul and Shanna alone.

  "I am bound to Erlek by the w
ord given unto him by our former lord," the dwarf said to her as he shrugged still-wrapped Soljilnor from his shoulder. "You bear no such shackles." Engus Rul fixed her with that weighty stare of his. "See to it that he never leaves this place." Then, holding the axe across his body, he too disappeared into the earth's subterranean darkness. Shanna took a moment, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out before she returned the Element of Earth to the satchel. Then she followed the others.

  The path was an irregular chute of jagged rock. Shanna was instantly glad for the heavy boots she wore. Too bad Erlek had not also provided her a helmet, for her head connected with the ceiling more than once. Each impact was accompanied by expletives she'd been advised in the past never to say again. After the second such outburst, she used her hands to feel in front of her, ducking her head more than necessary as she focused on the noise of the others' passing ahead of her. Just when she was ready to ask Erlek why he hadn't brought any torches, she spotted a light ahead. Very faint at first, it soon glowed bright enough that she saw Erlek and the others' shapes limned in red. The light was the purest form of scarlet she'd ever seen.

  Catching up, Shanna left the confines of the shaft behind to enter a chamber aglow with the fires of Anaktoa. Bubbling lava pools and flows were at either side of them. The path the Element had cut went right through the center of the chamber, the very earth hardened, lifted, and shaped to form a straight runway through the maelstrom. The heat was intense. Shanna felt it licking out at them and wondered why it did not melt their flesh, scorch their bodies to ash, or disintegrate them to nothing. She half-expected any one of those things to happen to Erlek, who was the first to stride out onto the path. But the savant was safe. Shanna held a hand to her forehead and, while she was sweating from her exertions, her skin was not hot or even warm to the touch. Her first thought was to look to the Element, but it was Earth, not Fire. The only other explanation was the axe, Soljilnor. That realization caused her to take a step closer to Engus Rul, for she'd no desire to have her flesh seared from her bones.