by PT Hylton
A bolt shot from the sky and struck the street not five feet away from the tub of seawater Dahlia had abandoned there.
Not bad. That was the closest he’d ever come to a small target.
But one lightning bolt wasn’t enough. Not even close. If he wanted this to work, he’d have to strike the same spot dozens of times.
Another lightning bolt hit ten feet away from where the first had touched down. A bit farther than he’d hoped, but still pretty damned accurate when it came to wielding lightning.
Before he could call down another bolt, the wall to his left began to quiver.
“Oh, shit!”
The wall sank downward, melting back into the street, and a moment later it was gone. A grinning Stone Shaper stood in its place.
“Invading our city with your damn storm magic,” the man growled. “I’m going to rip you to pieces.”
Dustin pointed his staff at the man and fired. The energy hit the Stone Shaper, knocking him flat on his back.
Dustin shook his head. “You loved storm magic when Dahlia did it. That’s a double standard, and I won’t tolerate it.”
A group of five more Stone Shapers ran toward him, and his jokes were immediately forgotten. Thankfully they fell before they reached him, victims of Benjamin, Syd, and the Storm Raiders hot on their heels.
“Everyone all right?” Dustin called to them.
Syd grimaced. “We’ve lost three already.”
Olaf’s voice came from the other side of the wall on Dustin’s right. “Bring that wall down or I’ll chop off your damn arm!”
A moment later the wall quivered, then disappeared into the road. Olaf stood over a fallen Stone Shaper, sword at his throat.
“Get out of here before I change my mind!” he yelled.
The Stone Shaper stumbled to his feet and sprinted into the darkness.
“Glad to see we’re all back together,” Dustin said. “I need your help. There’s no time to explain, but I need to concentrate. Keep the Stone Shapers off me.”
Clemens stepped up beside him. “You got it.”
Dustin planted the tip of his staff on the road and once again called the lightning.
A bolt struck near the tub. Then another. And yet another.
As he worked, he sensed the battle around him. He felt the heat coming off Benjamin’s fireballs and heard the clang of Syd’s twin swords, but he didn’t open his eyes. He kept calling lightning bolt after lightning bolt, hoping Abbey saw.
“Oh, you son of a bitch!” Olaf screamed.
The cry was filled with such fury that Dustin couldn’t help but open his eyes.
Clemens was down, clutching a wound in his shoulder, and Olaf was charging the Stone Shaper standing over him.
“You hurt my friend,” Olaf yelled as he ran. “Now you will burn!”
He raised his sword, and suddenly the blade was on fire. He swung the flaming sword, but his opponent quickly conjured a stone shield.
Olaf was unfazed. He struck again, this time plunging the fiery sword into the man’s neck.
As the Stone Shaper fell, Olaf turned toward the Arcadian blacksmith. “Benjamin, did you see that? I did it! Can you believe it?”
Benjamin’s eyes widened in surprise. “Honestly, I can’t. Nice work!” He paused, cautiously watching the flaming sword. “Just be careful with that thing, okay?”
Dustin once again closed his eyes and called lightning.
He had no idea if this desperate gambit would work. For all he knew, Abbey and her team were still inside the palace looking for a woman who wasn’t there.
He didn’t want Dahlia to escape, and he couldn’t abandon his crew to chase her, so he called the lightning.
****
“What do we do now?” Elliot asked.
“Damn good question,” Abbey said. “All I know is we’re not going back to that ship until we find Dahlia. Let’s start by—”
A massive flash of lightning lit the sky, interrupting her.
Hekla whistled. “Your Storm Caller friend is putting on a show.”
“Yeah,” Abbey answered, “but how long can he keep it up?”
The Stone Shapers were warriors. They wouldn’t remain panicked over the storm magic for long. Soon they’d regroup and begin organizing, and then The Foggy Day would have no choice but to retreat. Abbey was already considering the thought that they’d be left behind and have to flee the city on foot. Not the ideal option, but to take down Dahlia? Hell yeah, she’d do it.
Which way would the woman have gone? Maybe they should head straight back to the ship, or—
Another bolt of lightning split the sky, coming from the same direction.
Something about the lightning bothered her, but it took her a moment to figure out what. Then she got it.
“Hang on. Dustin doesn’t use lightning in battle. He absolutely sucks with it.”
Elliot nodded toward the area the lighting had flashed. “Then what the hell is all that?”
“Two possibilities,” Abbey said. “Either it’s Dahlia’s doing, or Dustin is trying to send us a message. Either way, we need to get over there.”
They walked toward the lightning, following a narrow road. Abbey hadn’t exactly mastered the layout of Ammaas, but she thought they were heading in the general direction of The Foggy Day. It certainly wasn’t the most direct route, or the one she would have thought to take.
As they walked, the lightning flashes became more frequent and more powerful.
“If that’s Dustin trying to tell us something, he wants to make damn sure we understand,” Hekla said.
“Yeah.” Abbey was beginning to worry. What if the lightning flashes were Dustin calling for help?
Something in the road ahead caught Abbey’s eye. A group of figures stumbled toward them. It was hard to get a count, but then lightning flashed and she thought she saw six individuals.
“Look alive, people,” she said, raising her sword.
The group had spotted them too, and they rushed forward. Lightning flashed again and a female voice cried, “They’re with the Raiders. Kill them!”
Fannar hadn’t said a word since leaving the palace, but at that he charged forward, snarling as he ran. The others followed closely behind.
Abbey reached a Stone Shaper who had formed his stone into an axe. She ducked his swing and stabbed him in the stomach. He fell with a cry of pain.
Abbey looked around and saw that her friends had taken care of the others in the group. All but one—the woman who’d ordered these men to attack.
“Hello, Dahlia,” Abbey purred.
Dahlia had been crouching before, trying to make herself small, but now she stood to her full height. “Hello, Arcadian filth.”
“Aw, you remember me,” Abbey said sweetly. But the joke felt hollow.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Dahlia said, “I thought for sure you’d kill me at some point during the journey to Gren.”
“I’m here to make up for past mistakes.” Abbey raised her sword.
It was odd, the way Abbey could only see her silhouette. Then the lightning flashed and she lit up for a moment before fading back to a vague shape in the darkness.
“I’m not going to try to bargain with you,” Dahlia said. “Not this time.”
“Good. It wouldn’t help.”
“I will ask one question, and then you can do your worst. What’s the one thing you know about me?”
Abbey responded immediately. “That you’re a cold bitch who uses powerful people to enact her plans and then makes sure they take the fall when things go wrong? That you are so overconfident that I’ve been able to sneak up on you and stop your plans three times now?” She paused. “Oh, sorry. I guess that was two things.
“No.” Dahlia’s voice sounded different than usual. More manic. “It’s that I’m a survivor. Every time you stopped me, I came back stronger than ever. You killed my captain and stole my ship, and I responded by coming at you with a Barskal
l armada. You drugged me and held me captive, and I surprised you by escaping. Forty-eight hours ago I was your prisoner, but now I’m partners with the Chief of the Stone Shapers.”
“It wasn’t a surprise, Dahlia. I knew you were going to betray us. It was only a question of when.”
“All I’m saying,” Dahlia said, “is you shouldn’t bet against me. You should at least consider joining my cause. I always come out of these things okay. I’m the Queen of Storms.”
Abbey barked a sharp laugh. Her voice dripped with venom when she spoke. “You’re not the Queen of Storms. You took storm magic, something that was given to our people to help them survive, and you used it to hurt them.” She took a step forward, sword raised, and continued, “You’ve seen what I can do. I ride the winds. All you’ve done is take a beautiful gift and twist it for evil. That ends now. You’re not worthy of the title ‘Queen of Storms.’”
“Is that so? Then come and take it from me.” Dahlia planted the end of her staff on the road, her eyes turned blueish-green, and the wind began to blow.
It took Abbey a moment to realize the significance of what was happening. Dahlia was stormcalling without seawater.
“Something happened to me a few minutes ago,” Dahlia said. “Your little Storm Caller boyfriend was pelting me with hail, and I was standing in a small wooden tub of seawater. The water was leaking out, and I had an epiphany. I finally understood something he told me back in Barskall.”
The wind was whipped at them hard now. It was all Abbey could do to stay upright.
Dahlia continued. “He’d told me there was no secret to stormcalling without seawater. I finally understood what he meant. If I pretended I was still standing in seawater, it was almost as if I was.”
Lightning flashed again, and for one terrible moment, Abbey could see Dahlia’s face perfectly. She saw the hate in those eyes. She saw the glee in the woman’s face.
Abbey had never felt such wind. Beside her, Fannar fell backward, bowled over by the force of it. She increased her weight, making herself harder to move.
Elliot went down a moment later, then Hekla.
Dahlia and Abbey were the only two left standing.
Good, Abbey thought. It’s just me and her, the way it should be.
A bolt of lightning crashed, striking the building to Abbey’s right.
“You’ve been a thorn in my side long enough.” Dahlia’s voice cracked with the effort of speaking and stormcalling at the same time.
Another lightning bolt struck, this one hitting the building to Abbey’s left. But the force of the wind lessened as Dahlia’s power was divided between the wind, the lightning, and speaking.
Abbey took a step forward, struggling against the wind. Then another. Then a third.
Dahlia chuckled. “Stupid girl. Doesn’t know when she’s beat.” With the hand not holding the staff, she drew a dagger from her belt.
Keep talking, Abbey thought. That’s how I’m going to get you. She forced her left foot forward. Then her right. Then her left.
“Good, come to the Queen of Storms.” Dahlia smiled as she raised her dagger.
Hail began to fall all around Abbey, but she ignored it and concentrated on moving forward. With the sting of every piece of hail that struck her, she reminded herself that Dahlia diverting her power away from the wind was a good thing.
Soon, she was close enough that Dahlia couldn’t call lightning or hail without risking injury herself. It was just Abbey, Dahlia, and the wind.
One more step and Abbey would be within striking distance.
Suddenly, the wind stopped. Abbey stumbling toward Dahlia, the force she’d been putting into fighting the wind carrying her forward.
Dahlia lunged at her with the dagger, taking advantage of Abbey being off balance. It was a quick stab, and Abbey brought her sword up just in time to deflect the blow.
The Storm Caller stabbed again, moving more quickly than Abbey would have expected. Dahlia was clearly well practiced with the blade. Abbey was still off balance. She managed to avoid the dagger, but just barely.
Enough was enough. Abbey planted her back foot and steadied herself. When Dahlia struck for a third time, she was ready.
She parried the dagger, knocking it from Dahlia’s hand. Then she raised her sword and swung hard, sinking her blade into the Storm Caller’s neck.
Dahlia’s body hit the ground, and her head landed ten feet away.
For a moment, all was silent. Abbey stared down at Dahlia’s corpse. This woman had brought so much pain into this world, but now she looked like any other dead person Abbey had ever seen.
Fannar cleared his throat and spoke for the first time since consuming the seiderdrek. “All hail the Queen of fucking Storms.”
Abbey looked up and realized he was talking about her.
In the distance, she heard many voices.
“They’re organizing,” Hekla said. “We need to get back to the ship.”
Worry coursed through Abbey.
Elliot gave voice to her concerns. “Sounds like there are a whole mess of Stone Shapers between us and them.”
The lightning flashed again.
Abbey nodded toward one of the buildings. “We need to find a way onto one of these roofs.”
Elliot tilted his head. “Why the hell would we do that?”
“Because I trust Dustin,” Abbey said. “And I need you to trust me.”
****
“This isn’t good,” Syd said. “We need to get back to the ship.”
Dustin couldn’t disagree. The Stone Shapers were clearly over the shock of the storm magic now, and their attacks were becoming more organized. Benjamin, Olaf, Clemens, and the rest of the crew had done a good job holding them off so far, but how long would it be until the Stone Shapers pushed through? How long before they realized that all they had to do was destroy The Foggy Day?
Syd put a hand on Dustin’s shoulder. “I hate to say it, man, but I’m going to anyway. We need to depart.”
“Yeah.” Dustin knew Abbey would understand. Hell, she'd probably yell at him if they didn’t leave. That had been the plan, after all. If anyone could make it out of town on foot and meet them at the rendezvous, it was Abbey.
“Glad we’re in agreement,” the captain told him. “Now I need you to call in the heaviest fog of your life, and we’ll load everyone back onto the ship and get the hell out of here.”
Dustin nodded. “Viktor, I need you.”
Syd was already organizing the crew and initiating the retreat to the ship’s boats. She worked quickly and efficiently, keeping back just enough people to hold off the Stone Shapers a bit longer.
Viktor appeared with his three Barskall Storm Callers close behind him.
“I need your power,” Dustin told him. “We’re calling in fog.”
Viktor responded by putting his hand on Dustin’s shoulder. The others touched Viktor, creating a human chain of stormcalling power.
Dustin took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Then he paused, because instead of concentrating on the power, he was suddenly thinking of Abbey. Of how she’d respond if Captain Syd or anyone else told her to leave him behind.
She simply wouldn’t allow it, and he knew it.
“Change of plan,” he said to Viktor and the other Storm Callers. “Follow my lead.”
Dustin exhaled, then inhaled, drawing the power. As it always did when he stormcalled with the Barskall, the power initially made him dizzy. He quickly acclimated and began to shape it.
“This isn’t fog,” Viktor remarked. “It’s something quite different. In fact, if fog is stillness, one could call this the—what’s the word?—opposite.”
“I know,” Dustin replied.
He was calling the wind. Calling it from the direction of the palace and drawing it toward himself. It blew hard, slamming into his face and body with a relentless fury.
“Dustin, what are you doing?” Syd shouted over the gale, but he ignored it.
The Stone Shapers stumbled about in the wind, but they were still moving toward Dustin and the others. He couldn’t keep this up much longer.
Then he saw them gliding over the buildings. Abbey led the way, holding the hands of Elliot and Hekla. Fannar held Hekla’s hand, and Gideon held Elliot’s.
They soared through the air, riding his wind.
As soon as he saw them, he slowly released his grip on the power, decreasing the force of the wind. Abbey must have increased her weight too, because she descended and touched down not ten feet in front of him. They landed hard, all five of them tumbling to the ground.
Abbey leapt to her feet and marched toward Dustin. She raised an index finger. “That was really stupid. You should have left.”
Dustin couldn’t hide his smile. “I know.”
She grabbed him in a quick hug. “Thank you.”
“Um, Dustin?” Syd’s eyes were on the Stone Shapers behind them in the streets. “Fog now?”
“Fog now,” Dustin agreed.
He closed his eyes, and a moment later a fog as thick as a wool sweater settled over Ammaas.
The Storm Raiders grabbed each other’s hands and made their way to the ship’s boats that would take them back to The Foggy Day.
Abbey leaned close to Dustin’s ear. “Dahlia’s dead. We won. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Epilogue
Elliot crouched in the crow’s nest of The Foggy Day listening to his crewmates talk below.
“It was like the tale of Petur of Pon,” Hekla said. “We were flying through the air holding hands like a bunch of damned fairytale children.”
“Sorry,” Olaf interrupted. “Who is Petur of Pon?”
Hekla set down the line she’d been tying and put her hands on her hips. “You don’t know the story?” When he shook his head, she turned toward the other end of the deck. “Gideon! They tell the story of Petur of Pon in Gren?”
The Stone Shaper’s blank expression was the only answer she needed.
“Of all the uncultured... Never mind, I’ll tell it to you now.” She gave Olaf a serious look, as if she were about to convey important information. “Petur was a boy who’d been cursed by his wicked stepmother to never grow up. He recruited other children to join his fight against the evil Storm Raider Captain Huck.”