“Pact?” I gasped the question.
She sighed, “You don’t even know that? I take it back, I’m not impressed at all. Are you familiar with the modern term word lawyer?”
I whispered, “Yes.”
She nodded, “Elementals are not warm and fuzzy creatures, or our friends. They are alien, immortal, and capricious. Before the non-interference rules, the elementals used to mess with us all the time. All those stories of the wicked and capricious faery, or you may be more familiar with the tales of demon summoning, and demon deals? They’re all stories of elementals of course, neither faery nor demons truly exist.
“You see, they are word lawyers, they never lie in their deals, but they will and do mislead with the truth, and their pacts have more loopholes in their favor than the cleverest lawyer could fathom. Even with the non-interference rules they now have, that doesn’t count if a sorcerer or sorceress asks for help, or knowledge. You see, by asking they sacrifice their free will, and it is no longer seen as interference.
“Then the untrustworthy bastards force you into a pact. They offered me knowledge for a few favors. A thousand years later, and I’m still in bondage to that pact. To be fair, I was young and foolish when they made me an offer, and they did give me knowledge, and therefore power, in the bargain.”
She turned to Aitheria, “Let me guess, you’re here to block knowledge of him, and to prevent other elementals from offering him power and knowledge. I imagine that would be inconvenient later on?”
I was confused, my head also hurt. Aitheria didn’t reply to Anise’s words. What did any of this have to do with me?
She sighed and spat out in disgust, “Not you boy. The creature inside you, the elemental of air that shares your life and is entwined with your human soul. You see, if you made a deal for power, and did it as badly as I did, the elemental would be bound to that pact even after you died, and his and your soul broke apart. Elementals have one very long lifetime, an eternity if not killed. It would have been bound for its entire existence.”
I felt… betrayed as the words sunk in. Aitheria wasn’t here to guard me, but the elemental inside me, which was apparently me too… at least until my mortal life ended. Which was very confusing.
Two souls that shared the same mortal life, one of them that should never had a mortal lifetime.
“Why?”
Anise said coldly, “I don’t know how it ended up bonded to you. Most likely your mother made a careless pact as well, and had no choice but to allow it. Perhaps it was just curious about our lives, or bored, or… who knows? I just know the elemental I have a pact with hates the elemental inside of you. Apparently, he’s much more powerful than the lord I serve in bondage, and he saw this as an opportunity to kill his better. If you die, underground for instance, the elemental of air would be completely screwed, and powerless to fight back.”
I felt a surge of fear and horror at the thought. Although that explained a lot, like why I was so scared to go below ground.
It must have shown on my face, because she patted my hand in mock comfort, “Don’t worry Ben, your human soul will be just fine, and reborn in time. That’s how this crazy world works you know. That’s why I’m willing to die rather than go on and serve any longer. My soul will go on, and the pact will be stricken in my passing. I’m afraid you’ll have to die either way.”
She didn’t sound very afraid, or even a slight bit guilty. But then, I wasn’t exactly the soul of empathy when I killed my enemies either. Still, I didn’t start this fight. If it could be called a fight at all. I was sure I was lying here quite fiercely.
She laughed, and I realized then that she was in my mind, which for some reason scared me more than the specter of death. Her laughter was a sound frighteningly devoid of emotion.
“Is all that true?” I asked Aitheria.
Aitheria didn’t reply verbally, but I could feel her in my mind, and I knew it was true. I also knew she would know how the elemental got inside me, and why, but she also couldn’t tell me that, so I doubted I’d ever find out. It was a mind screw.
Did she love me, or the elemental inside me which would share this mortal life’s memories with my human soul after my death? Did it truly matter? I found myself unable to think badly of Aitheria, true or not. But it was undeniable, without the elemental inside me, we never would have met in the first place. That thought hurt me worse than the way my head pounded to the beat of my heart. There was still so much I wanted to know.
At the same time, for the first time I feared what I might learn. Had my mother allowed me to be possessed by an elemental for power and knowledge? That didn’t sound right, but then I’d been five when she died, had I truly known her?
It probably didn’t matter how I felt about it, I doubted I’d ever learn the complete truth.
Anise started to pace as she waited for her elemental lord to show up. I supposed I would live a little longer than his arrival, no matter his decision. I closed my eyes and struggled to reach for power. Air magic, fire magic, it was all beyond my reach. I couldn’t even get enough magic to study the shield around me that Anise held so effortlessly. Maybe I should just take a nap…
Chapter 13
Friday, July 8th, 2016, 4:13 PM
My head was still a wreck. I’d slipped in and out of consciousness all day. To be honest, I felt a little relieved when the elemental lord arrived. I recognized him from the vision I’d had of Zale and the court.
“You would dare disobey and break the pact?”
Anise smiled coldly, “I haven’t disobeyed yet. You can either release me from the pact, and get what you want, or… you’ll lose me anyway, and your enemy will most likely rend you apart when I release him from this mortal shell, right here. Who knows, he may even kill you before you can kill me?”
The lord stormed in anger, and the wind picked up in the cave, but he didn’t attack. Maybe he couldn’t attack, not until Anise had truly betrayed the pact. Right now it was all just… speculations. I had to admit, I admired Anise’s bravery for doing this, blackmailing and threatening an elemental lord probably didn’t happen every day. I just wished she hadn’t had to hunt down my family to get out from under this pact.
Then again, Anise was just a pawn in this. I’m not sure I’d ever really forgive her, but the elemental lord was my true enemy. Or should I blame the elemental in my body for starting it all? My mind wasn’t working that well right now. I just knew there was more than enough blame to share around.
He stormed in anger, but he eventually relented, “Anise, if you do as I requested, you will be freed.”
She shook her head and made a disgusted sound as she waved a finger at him.
“No word tricks, be specific. You didn’t say when.”
He scowled, but finally said, “If you mortally wound this human, and send him over the edge so he dies underground, you will be free of the pact immediately upon his death.”
“Agreed,” she spat.
She didn’t even look at me. Air in the shape of a sword compressed to the hardness of steel and impaled my chest. It was actually so dense it was partially opaque and easy to see. The blade of air ran me through my heart bisecting it in twain, and then a great wind threw me backwards, over the side and into the main mine shaft.
I’d be dead in seconds, I was already dead with my heart destroyed, my brain just hadn’t gotten the message yet.
Then Anise’s shield on my body and mind dissipated as I fell below the earth, and I laughed as the power of fire was once again accessible and mine to wield. I had maybe two seconds before I hit the bottom of the shaft, and perhaps just as long before I expired from my heart being destroyed, more than long enough for a single act of will. I pulled a shield around me, lit the air on fire, and fire walked two miles straight up.
I’d like to say it was an act of kindness, to save the elemental’s life within me. That would be so heroic, a worthy reason to die. If I’d thought it out, I probably would have done it for just that reason, so tha
t Aitheria, who I loved no matter the truth, wouldn’t lose him.
But the truth was, my last act wasn’t heroic at all, it was one of determined revenge. It was even better than flipping them the bird or telling them to screw off. I didn’t follow their conversation completely, but if I died above ground I suspected both Anise and the elemental lord would die.
I was in pain, and angry as hell that I had to die for deals and games between others. So as I fire walked up into the air, I was only doing so in the hope my passenger would live to avenge both of our deaths, to bring justice for the death of my mother, and kill that sadistic son of a bitch lord of air. If the elemental within me truly would share this mortal life’s memories, I had no doubts he would do so.
I smiled when the flames died away, and I felt the sunlight one last time on my face as I continued to fall to the ground far below me. My biggest regret was I’d never see Sierra again. Then my mind finally gave out. Presumably, my body was dead long before it hit the ground.
I felt cool air in the shape of feminine hands on my face, and I wasn’t in pain at all anymore. I was expecting some kind of afterlife, or… something. But Aitheria’s presence on my lap was undeniably a surprise, the full sized Aitheria, or the shrunken me, either way.
I opened my eyes and took in the surrounding storms, clouds, and open air, which we gently floated in. There was no gravity, no land, no up or down, just air, storm, and blue sky in every direction. I saw a few other elementals far in the distance, but none close by.
She said softly in her beautiful choral voice, “This is what this place really looks like, I wanted you to see it the way I do this time.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, wondering how I got here, and why.
She smiled and answered that silent question, “I told you your soul was mine didn’t I?”
As soon as my eyes widened she laughed, “Just kidding, mostly. Or did you forget we were soul mated? Yes, Ben, I was there to guard Diantherius, the son of Liantherius and second most powerful air elemental that currently exists. But… you are my soul mate, it is your soul that resonated with mine, that I joined with, and which joined with mine.”
I absorbed that for a moment, and caressed her back. It wasn’t physical, no more than any other time before, but it was deeply intimate, two souls connected and touching. I was also highly confused, I couldn’t imagine that this happened very often. Yet, it felt right to be here with her. I was also… relieved, and ashamed that I thought I was merely the tagalong, or just an afterthought earlier.
She continued, completely ignoring my self-castigating thoughts.
“Dian pissed off his father. He objected to the treatment and the meddling with humans, despite the so called non-interference agreement. Liantherius got tired of his son’s arguments, and in a moment of pique, told him if he like mortals so much, he should try being one for a lifetime. Then he bonded his son’s essence to your soul, and he was forced to share your life.
“Liantherius did in fact have a pact for knowledge with your mother. Though she was horrified to find out the true price, she didn’t have a say, or really any way to stop it short of killing you. Binding your souls had a secondary effect Liantherius didn’t expect, it changed your soul so you could control air as well as fire, and the change is permanent, so in your next life, you’ll be born with both elements again, just without the hitchhiker.”
I frowned, “I thought you couldn’t tell me anything?”
She smiled, “Technically, you’re dead, which means you aren’t mortal right now, which means I can interfere to my heart’s content. Where was I? Right, your soul was changed. Then shortly after that, the lord who is an enemy of Dian’s, decided to take this opportunity to end Dian. I imagine he’s regretting that right about now, Dian is probably tearing his soul to pieces, one strip at a time right now.”
Aitheria shuddered, and then took a deep breath, “So that’s when your mother made a second pact. When we both realized how much danger Dian was in, and by extension you, we forged a pact together.”
She was giving me all the answers I’d ever wanted, and my head was spinning.
“A pact with you?”
She nodded, “Not for knowledge. She swore she would do anything to keep Dian and you safe, including sacrifice her own life, and I agreed to do everything I could to make sure you came out the other side of the elemental battle intact.”
I smiled, “I love you Aitheria, even if that didn’t work out so great. Me being intact I mean.”
She caressed my face, it felt like a warm breeze and love all at the same time.
“How do you know that? I did say technically dead didn’t I? Anise was right, we elementals are word lawyers, all of us. That pact allowed me to interfere when it comes to keeping you alive. Right now while I keep your soul safe, thanks to our bond I can hold you from moving on to the spirit world, I’m also busy fixing your body on the mortal plane. It should be done… right about now.”
I froze in shock as what she just said sunk in my already overloaded thoughts.
She leaned in and kissed my forehead, and I felt myself falling asleep.
She giggled in her choral voice, “I hope you don’t have any more questions, because technically, I’m about to not be able to answer them.”
Chapter 14
Saturday, July 9th, 2016, 1:32 AM
I felt different when I woke up, and not just because I was lying face down at the bottom of a ravine. I suppose the pact only allowed her to interfere to keep me alive, and not move me somewhere else, like a bed. It was also late at night, one thirty-two in the morning. It’d taken her a long time to fix my body, but then besides being impaled through the chest, I’d also fell two miles and bounced down the side of a mountain into a ravine and landed face down on the bottom.
That had to leave a mark.
My power felt the same, the reach of my spheres, but I felt more in me, and less at the same time.
Less, because Diantherius was no longer in my body, I was… alone for lack of a better explanation. And although my power draw was the same, I didn’t have as great a capacity to hold air magic as I’d had before. I wasn’t all that worried about it though.
More, because now I could feel the full pack bond, I could feel the fire that bonded our emotions, but also the steadfastness of earth. I never thought I’d betray the pack, but now I was sure it was all but impossible because of the earth magic. I didn’t mind, it felt right.
It was strange, but it was apparent my blindness to earth had been a side effect of Dian’s presence. Though I had no idea how or why, it was obviously true. I probably also wouldn’t feel terror if I went into a basement, but then it still wouldn’t be a wise idea to cut myself off from the power of air like that.
“You’re still here?” I sent to Aitheria.
Aitheria laughed in the vaults of my mind, “Of course.”
I nodded, “I’m happy you are, I just figured Liantherius would have another assignment for you, now that his son was no longer in danger.”
She smirked, “You forgot what I told you, didn’t you? Soul bonds trump oaths of loyalty. I may leave, for short times if his need is dire, but he can’t force me to leave you at all.”
I was happy for a moment, thinking this was finally over. But then I remembered the elemental part was only half the equation. I reached out for information. Anise was dead, killed by the elemental lord before Diantherius turned him into soul strips. But I couldn’t get any information at all about Raymond and Manny. Would they want revenge? Or had they left Chicago when their mistress died?
Crap. There was no way I was lucky enough for option two to be correct. It was time to get back to the pack house. I surrounded myself in air and ordered it to take me home…
Sierra pounced as soon as I appeared, and kissed me hard, passionately, and for a long blissful interlude. Then she took a step back and slapped me hard enough that I fell on my ass. It hurt, a lot. My shield was very sensitive to my will,
and was very ineffective against my mate as a result.
I looked around, and it appeared as if everyone was annoyed at me. Except maybe Caroline and Tara. I was surprised they were there, and they both looked rather amused at my plight, but not angry themselves. I pulled the info because I was too afraid to ask. Of course, Tara had come out to fix the wards, and Caroline… she’d just been worried she couldn’t reach me all day yesterday.
I suppose I couldn’t blame them, I’d basically panicked that they were all going to get hurt or die in the crossfire, and had sacrificed myself. Sure, it worked out, but only after I was tortured and killed.
That was a really strange thought.
“Sorry, I… panicked when the wards were going down, I didn’t think we had a chance, and figured better just me facing her in that case.”
Tara crossed her arms, “Did you forget about the inactive secondary wards? That was part of the plan, Selene and Carrie could have activated them after Anise got here.”
I frowned, “Maybe. Anise’s reach was almost a quarter mile, that means she could have locked down the magic in the area before even getting close to the house. She was old, smart, and canny. Umm, if I stand is anyone else going to hit me?”
Sierra snorted and helped me up, “Was?”
I nodded, “Anise is dead, and the elementals are out of the picture, but her two helpers are still alive. They might have cleared town but I kind of doubt it.”
Caroline smirked and echoed my own earlier thought, “You aren’t that lucky.”
I gave her a look, but she wasn’t intimidated at all. Damn it, all these women knew they could bully me. Of course, that was also a good thing, I didn’t want my friends afraid of me.
“Are the wards fixed?”
Tara nodded slowly, “Yes, and I stayed just in case, since you were missing. They also said they felt the ally bond break, for about six hours. Which as you can imagine made the house rather tense, and upset your mate. What happened?”
“Yeah, technically I died for a while. It’s a long story.”
Sorcerer: Elemental: Power of Air (Book 5) Page 7