Falcon did not say a word. Instead, he wiped the tears from his face and set Faith down. He moved her hand over her without much thought. A see-through rainbow-colored blanket of holy covered the girl.
“I see” said Volcseck. He hummed under his breath. “She passed on her power to you. Then perhaps there is still an opportunity to wash away the sins of this world. I will kill you and take the holy energy.”
Hardly paying attention, Falcon opened a space rift, and lifting Faith’s body with wind, pushed her in. He gulped as her corpse lay silently on the snowy mountain. The blanket he had put over her would ensure that she was safe and no wild animal could get to her.
He turned his attention back to the man who had taken so much from him. He wanted to hate him, to loathe every fiber of his being. The compassion that Faith had left within him made that impossible. Every time he felt the chaos rise, it was quickly put in check by the holy dwelling within. The chaos power wasn’t quenched, or snuffed completely out. It remained raging in his chest, but unlike before, the chaos and holy seemed to be working together, feeding off each other and growing stronger from the newfound harmony they shared.
The next series of attacks by Volcseck were sudden and precise. Falcon dug his hand into the ground and pulled the energy from it. His entire arm was now encased in a thick skin of earth. With it he blocked the attacks from the lance Volcseck had produced.
Seeing the bloodied weapon that had been used to murder Faith awoke a fire that stemmed from his chest and filled his body with untold power. The lance drove, tip first, at his chest. With the earth-encrusted hand, he took hold of it. Still gripping it, he released the earth and changed it into poison. The green ooze dripped over the flesh, and Falcon felt it vibrate and wheeze as it dissolved into nothingness.
Volcseck’s eyes grew wide as he released his lance. The small part of it that was still intact fell to the ground, emitting the sickening stench of rotting flesh. The veins and arteries running through it beat a few more times, and like a dying heart, its falls and rises dwindled. A moment later it’s thumping ceased.
You’ll be able to hold sway of chaos, but all the elements, even the ones you’re not particularly gifted with, like poison, darkness, and mind. The balance that holy provides will allow this. Faith’s words rang inside him. She had been right. The elements that had once proved a struggle now were second nature. As easy to control as moving his hand. He didn’t think about it, he simply did it.
A gush of water rose from the ground, keeping him high in the air. Two tornados, one of earth, the other of fire, raged around him. The power of wind kept their ferocity constant.
Volcseck did not seem fazed by his opponent’s mastery of the elements. He came at Falcon with fierce determination.
Falcon readied himself; this was to be the ultimate challenge. This time, he was ready to face it head-on.
~~~
Senses still reeling, Keira weaved between the massive legs that continued to come her way. She had blocked the attacks time and time again, and her aching arms were beginning to complain. The truth was that she simply couldn’t continue to intercept the blows. Each one sent her stumbling ten feet back.
“The end be near!” cheered Melousa. She brought her fists together. Her veined muscular arms came down.
Keira did a triple backflip, landing clear out of the queen’s grasp. The opponent she was facing was a master of raw power. There was no strategy, no tactics. She did not need them. Her thick skin and inhuman strength made such things completely unnecessary.
Other warriors might have cowered before such a fearsome foe but not Empress Keira. She saw Melousa’s strength as her greatest weakness. She relied too heavily in it. It was this overreliance that Keira was hoping would lead to Melousa’s downfall.
With the sight her cub provided, Keira made out the faint blur of the large woman studying her. The empress and the queen moved in for an exchange.
Keira barely grazed Melousa’s hand and moved aside, letting the woman fly forward with her own momentum. While the queen staggered, Keira brought two fingers onto her opponent’s neck. Before they could make contact, Melousa regained her footing and blocked the attack, forcing Keira to move back yet again.
If only she had been blessed with Melousa’s freakish strength, she could have ended this duel long ago.
Melousa pressed once more. Punch after punch was deflected to the side by the empress. Keira kept waiting for a sign that her foe was tiring. A loss in power, heavy breaths, or an obvious slowing in the movement. The queen, fueled by anger, seemed to be getting stronger by the second. Each attack forced Keira to use up more and more of her waning stamina.
A swinging kick moved toward Keira’s head. She dodged to the side. Sticking to her strategy, she redirected the leg to her right. As she did, Melousa jumped in the air, throwing her other leg up. The empress did not have time to react. The hard sole rammed her chest.
All the air in her body left her at once as she was thrown clear across the hall. She crashed into the wall, webbing the marble tile into countless fissures.
Had it not been for the years of training she had undergone, the hit would have surely knocked her out cold. But Keira was a warrior, and this was not the first time she had been dealt such a crippling blow. She slowed her breath and ignored the pain bubbling up within her.
The quick footsteps of the queen, who seemed to be certain of her victory, thundered toward her.
“Yer be dead!”
The kick came in so close that Keira’s hair stood on end. She ducked under the leg and brought up both her fingers, digging them into the back of the queen’s knee. The big woman screamed as her leg gave out. Keira roller her hand into a fist, careful to leave the middle knuckle a few centimeters ahead of the rest. With all her might, she pressed the knuckle directly into the end of the purple bicep.
Melousa staggered to her feet, keeping a wary distance from Keira. She stretched her arms and legs, trying to regain a sense of composure. It was obvious she hadn’t expected the counterattack from a foe she had thought to be defeated.
The young empress used this time to steady her breath. Her chest ached, her arms were beyond fatigued, and her vision connection with Maru was growing increasingly blurrier. If only Draiven or Aykori were here. Her connection with them was so strong that seeing through them was like not being blind at all. Maru was just a cub, though, and her connection with her was still a work in progress. Despite the handicaps, Keira grinned. She had hurt the queen. There was something even all those mountains of muscles couldn’t protect. Pressure points.
Melousa seemed to have regained her usual confidence, because she stood straight and said, “It be over for yer, Little Empress.”
If Keira thought the Orian warrior had been lethal before, she had not seen anything yet. With a gut-wrenching shriek, she came down on her like a force of nature. It was unlike anything she had ever faced before.
She parried the first attack, only to have a leg swept out from under her. She front flipped. A muscled elbow brought her back down to the ground. Quickly, she summersaulted back to her feet. The elbow came again. She retreated. The knee flew at her face. Keira retreated once more.
Keira swallowed hard as she realized that there was nowhere else to run. She had been herded into the corner of the hall, like a hog led to the slaughter.
The queen came down on Keira, continuing the hard-to-read attacks. A fist made it past her guard, forcing itself into her gut. Keira slumped forward. She would have crumpled to the floor had Melousa not gripped her thick fingers around the blind girl’s neck.
“Time to die!” Melousa tightened her hold and lifted her victim so that they were face to face.
The gunk of Melousa’s stench filled Keira’s nostrils. She felt her neck bones moments away from caving in. She tried to breathe, but her windpipe had been completely closed. Shoving her panic to the back of her mind, she ran her fists into the side of Melousa’s neck.
The
grip loosened, and Keira inhaled the breath her body had been searching for.
Despite the searing pain she felt, the empress scrambled to her feet and took off after her stumbling opponent. The queen was gripping her neck and closing and opening her eyes quickly, no doubt trying to regain the focus of her vision. Keira had no intention of letting that happen. She attacked the other side of the woman’s neck.
It was the blinded Melousa’s turn to panic. She swung wildly, searching for an opponent she couldn’t see. If she had only stopped and listened, she would have heard that Keira had just crouched under her flailing arms. The princess rained down a volley of hits, each connecting on a pressure point. Soleus, Achilles tendon, hamstring, inner thighs. Every part of Melousa was fair game.
The queen retaliated, swiping her hand down. Keira, however, remained on the move. If Melousa attacked from the right, she came from the left. If the hit came from above, Keira sidestepped.
“Arghhhhh!” screamed the queen, after Keira had delivered a precise hit to her knee.
Fuming with anger, Melousa tumbled to the ground. Keira wasted no time in throwing herself over the Orian’s arm and gripping it. It might have been freakishly muscular, but Keira knew that providing pressure at the right spot would…
Snap!
There was another pained yelp from the queen.
Wasting no time, the empress pounced on the left arm. She gave it the same treatment as the right.
Crack!
Keira stepped back, looking down at the heaving queen.
Melousa spit with rage. “Yer be nothing. I will kill yer. Kill yer!” Sweat ran down her face and chest.
The empress kept her tone calm. “So you like to break necks, do you?” She took one glance at the void wielding Rohad sprawled across the floor. Her neck was twisted in an unnatural arc. Latiha’s body, too, was beyond mangled. Every part of her body seemed to be pointing in a different direction.
“Let’s see how you like being given the same treatment.”
Melousa’s eyes widened. “I only be doing as I was told. I cannot be at fault!”
“You came looking for a fight with an empress, and you got it.” She kept her voice conversational as she moved behind the queen.
Melousa tried to stand on wobbly legs.
Knowing full well that any advantage given to her foe could prove deadly, Keira pounced on the woman’s back. Her arms wrapped around the queen’s neck. Melousa fell on her back, crushing the air out of Keira. Nonetheless, the empress tightened her grip. The large woman’s gurgling sounds rang in Keira’s ears. It almost sounded as if she wanted to speak.
“I have heard enough of you.” Keira made one last monumental contraction. Melousa’s legs shot up as she kicked in one last, futile struggle to break free. A minute later it was all over. The thick gargles had given way to a sullen silence.
Grunting, the young empress pushed the dead weight off her.
Maru rushed over to her. Keira took the cub in her hands and held the furry creature close to her throbbing chest. As she sobbed quietly, a bittersweet feeling settled in. She may have vanquished her foe, but it had come too late. Latiha was dead. No amount of victories would ever bring her back.
Chapter 35
The two Nakatomi girls sat inside one of many finely-decorated halls of the mansion. The fire blazed in the chimney, filling the room with a woodsy scent.
“I told you to stop climbing the house, didn’t I?” Five-year-old Aya looked down at Selene, who had a nasty cut on her left palm. Even at her young age, Aya had become something of a mother figure to her younger sister. It came naturally, especially since both their parents were almost always away from home in council meetings.
“I just wanted to see the baby birdies,” said Selene. She pouted her lips. “You’re not telling Mom, are you?”
Aya’s heart softened. She could never quite say no to that face. “Fine. But don’t do it again. This time you got off easy. If you fall again, there’s no telling how hurt you could get.”
“I promise I won’t.”
“You better not, my little sparrow. I would go crazy if anything happened to you.” Aya ran her hands through Selene’s strands of hair. She pulled her in and held her close. Minutes later the young Nakatomi was sound asleep. Her soft snores mixed with the crackling wood in the fireplace to create a symphony of harmonious music.
She wiped away the line of drool that had begun to make its way down Selene’s mouth. Leaning in close, she planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Selene mumbled at the intrusion in her sleep. Aya moved back, warmth filling her as she took in her sister’s peaceful features.
Selene’s hateful eyes bore down on Aya as she came at her from above.
The water wielder moved to the side, sending the dark wielder hurtling past her and into the cave wall. The dark energy she had condensed around her hands bore into the earth.
“You cannot take this from me. I will rule all. All. All. All!” cried Selene. She was ranting now. Long forgotten was that calculating empress. The one who examined every angle of a situation with the coldest and most cunning of minds. Being close to her sister had awoken something within her, a part of her humanity that was supposed to have been extinguished long ago.
“You must kill the water wielder!” said their father. His voice was high and demanding and reminded Aya of the many times he had punished them as children for breaking one of his overly strict rules. It could have been something as trivial as forgetting to close the door, or failing to fully understand an elder manuscript. The punishment was always the same. Three hours on their knees while they recited the broken rule nonstop.
Heat flushed through Aya’s body as she wielded a slab of ice on her father’s mouth. He mumbled and pulled at the obstruction as he shot her a hateful glare.
Aya turned her attention to the only Nakatomi she cared for. “Selene. Don’t listen to that man. I’m—”
“It’s Blood Empress!” shrieked her sister. Her hands dangled uselessly by her side. She twirled them, creating two dark whirls around her. “It’s time for you to experience the power of a true dark wielder.” Out of the vortex they emerged. Two small children, a male and a female, with sickening features glared back at her. Upon closer inspection, Aya realized that they weren’t children at all. More than anything, they appeared to be puppets, though there were no strings attached to them. They walked in unnatural, jerking movements. Moist skin hung from their drooling fangs. They were both small, about three feet tall, but that didn’t make them any less intimidating. The boy had a crooked nose. The girl had long, red ponytails that seemed to have been dipped in a glass of oil. Her blue dress had blotches of grime and blood on it.
The male pounced at her. Aya fired a water burst at him. Before it could connect, something wrapped itself around her arms. She looked down to the sight of spider webs. What the—?
The girl opened her mouth, spewing another gush of spider webs. This time, the sticky substance covered her entire face. She tried to break free, but the hold was too strong.
Something whizzed at her side. Aya listened for its trajectory. A millisecond later she hopped over the attack. The male puppet’s kick missed by a hair, which was lucky. With the little visibility Aya now possessed, she noticed that blades were attached to the male’s hands and feet. One wrong move could very well mean the end. But then again, one right move could liberate her.
Aya purposely stumbled to the ground, feigning a loud scream of pain. As she had expected, the boy wasted no time in pressing what he thought was his advantage.
The blade of his right arm came toward her head. Aya jerked to the side and brought her arm up. The end of the blade cut clean through the web encasing her hands.
Now free, Aya pulled off the webs on her face. She expected it to come off easily, but she only managed to get enough off to regain her vision.
Selene grunted in frustration. She moved her arms and flickered her fingers.
She’s controlling them
! mused Aya, shocked. She had never heard of such an ability.
She didn’t have much time to register the strange power, because the girl once again opened her mouth, shooting a stream of thick webs.
Cursing under her breath, Aya flipped to the side.
It only took a quick observation of the patterns of their attacks for Aya to realize that the puppets were trying to back her into a wall. She had no intention of letting that happen. She condensed her power. Blades of ice shot from her hands. Like ninja stars, they impaled the boy.
Amazingly, the ice seemed to have no effect. He came at her, cackling, with blades atop his small head.
Of course. I have to get the caster. Weaving between web shots and blade attacks, she rolled across the ground and sent a zigzagging flurry of water coursing through the ground. Earth shattered as the water broke though it and slammed into the young girl.
Selene’s body flew through the air. The second she made contact with the wall, her puppet creations disappeared in puffs of smoke. Webs and a scent of death were the only things that remained of their short time in the world of the living.
Aya barely had time to celebrate her small victory. With a hammering heart, she crossed the distance of the room.
She skidded to a halt as Selene recovered, surrounding the entire area around her in a blob of darkness.
She’s calling on those dark creatures. I have to stop it. Aya formed a mass of clear water before her. Both girls grunted and huffed as they stood face to face. The only thing that prevented their hands from touching was the raw energy they were putting on display.
Heir of the Elements Page 30