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We ditched Darius as soon as we could. I insisted. For one thing, we’d both upheld our ends of the deal, and the best he could do about the road markers was tell us where the oldest district in the city was. He didn’t know which was the oldest. For another, he thought I was acting paranoid.
“I swear,” I’d said. “I feel like we’re being watched.”
“You just think some guards are following us. We’re free and clear,” he’d said.
Fera wasn’t much support. “Are you sure it’s not that stalker?” she’d asked.
“It’d better not be, or I’ll kick him.” A shiver had run down my spine. “This feels different. Hostile.”
“Are all water elementalists as nervous as you? ‘Cause if they are, I need to rethink my idea to hire one. I need someone more daring, like a fire elementalist.” He’d flashed his dimples at Fera, and she’d given him an appreciative look.
For a third thing, Fera was far to comfortable flirting with a con artist for my liking. So I insisted on saying goodbye, and led Fera off into Allivin, praying that Darius’ directions to the old district were accurate.
Then it was just a matter of finding the right road marker.
***
WE WERE RUNNING OUT of time. We’d found more road markers than we anticipated, and unless we found the right one soon, we’d have to wait a whole day to search again. Why did they have to set it up so that it could only be found during evening? And what if after all this time, someone had already discovered it by accident? Allivin was a big city. It could happen.
Together we raced around a corner and were rewarded with another way post. I stopped and bent over, breathing heavily. Running around for an hour had not been good for my energy levels. I looked up at the post with blurry eyes. I wanted to throw up.
“Come on,” Fera gasped out. “We – we gotta keep looking. Can’t . . . can’t waste time. Phew!” She fanned herself. “I think I need to sit down.” She plopped down with a thud on the dusty ground.
I forced myself to stand up straight, wincing at the stitch in my side. The wolf scars were aching every time I breathed. Legs complaining, I strode over to the road marker and inspected the western side. There were directions, obviously, and none seemed to say something bizarre. Tiredly I ran my hands over it, trying to feel if there was a secret switch or anything. I found nothing.
Exhaling, I slumped to the ground. My head was buzzing. This one was a dud too, and we didn’t have the strength or time to find another one. I rested my head against the marker and fought back sobs. We didn’t have time. The Wind Tribe could be right behind us. Our parents had an arrest warrant out.
Tears started rolling down my cheeks, dripping off to splatter the ground. We were sunk. There was no exact location and we didn’t know what we were looking for and – and –
A small sound dimly reached my ears. I blinked a couple times to clear the tears away and opened my eyes. The stones at the bottom had grown damp, and they suddenly shimmered and vanished.
No way . . . I would never insult our luck again. “Fera!” I called, my voice sounding hoarse. “Fera!” After a heartbeat there was a groan and footsteps as she rushed over. She knelt down with a grunt.
“What is – oh. Nice going, tear face.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled, scrubbing at my face with my sleeve. “I – I can’t help it.”
Fera patted me on the shoulder. “Yeah, I know. I also know hugging to console you will get me splashed. Now get this thing already.”
I reached into the opening and felt around until my hand found a curl of paper. The second I touched it something felt wrong. The parchment wasn’t as crumbly or thick as the others. Fera gave me a light as I pulled it out and showed it to her.
She frowned. “Um, that’s Kanish.”
I swallowed. “Maybe . . . maybe . . . um . . .” I shoved the sheet at her. “You read it.”
With an eye roll she took the sheet and read it out loud. “Hello fellow water elementalist. Clearly, you discovered the secret of the road markers like I did. All of them have this chamber that can only be opened by water and the presence of its elementalists – so I found mine in the rain.
“I have no idea why strange lines were left in here, but I recognize the ink of my people. In case you meant to find something, here are the lines:
“Head north without delay
Remember your guide or pray
The only Oaklander tree
Will help set power free.
“I’ve no idea what that means, but maybe you do. If so, good luck, if not . . . well, then I’ve got nothing left to write.
-Birk, 580CC.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “Five hundred and eighty CC?” Fera nodded. That was an awfully long time ago. Well over a few hundred years.
I swung my pack around and pulled out the parchment with all the other clues we’d found and set about scribbling this last one down. “I think you can put it back,” I said. “Just in case another water elementalist does find this spot.”
Fera put the paper back in with a face. “You and your nutso people.”
“They’re not –”
“This guy wrote ‘fellow water elementalist’. They are your people!”
“If you weren’t my sister, I’d slap you,” I snapped, jamming the parchment into my bag a little too roughly and ripping the corner. Fera stuck her tongue out at me as I did up the buckles and swung it on my back. “Come on,” I said, standing up with a wince. “We should find an inn and head north in the morning.”
She looked at me. “Will any place be open?” The streets were dark, and practically deserted.
I shrugged. “We’ll just have to ask nicely.” Fera’s expression said she didn’t want to ‘ask nicely’. Scowling I grabbed her arm and marched off down the street, not caring how uncomfortable it was for my sore body.
***
“CLEARING. STOPPING. Now.” Fera ripped her way violently through the last few trees and flopped backwards onto the grassy ground. I slipped after her and sat down in a much more dignified fashion. As soon as evening had started to fall, we’d gotten off the road and found ourselves lost. We’d been walking for over an hour trying to find a decent spot to camp for the night.
I shivered in the cool night air. Autumn was well and truly here, with the leaves all brown and red and falling. It was pretty, just not good for travelling unprepared. I pulled the cloak around me tighter. I hated it, but it was warm.
Fera rolled onto her stomach, singed a section of dirt, piled some fallen leaves and twigs, and lit it into a tiny fire. “I’m not the only one hearing a river, right? Please don’t tell me this quest has made me paranoid.”
I moved closer to the fire and shook my head. “Unless we suddenly have twin telepathy, no. I can hear it too.”
She sighed. “Great.” I gave her a dry smile. “Food,” she decided, sitting up and opening her bag. We each took our small portions and ate. “So,” she said through a mouthful. “Why north, all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Change things up for the last leg? Maybe the only Oaklander tree is that way.” Oaklanders were rare trees, looming up to two hundred feet tall, they required earth elementalists to be planted, and were rumored to live forever. “Still, perhaps the sudden change will throw the Wind Tribe off. They might assume we’re heading further east.”
“Not as much as you might think.”
Fera and I jumped at the sudden voice. A shadowy figure stepped out of the trees, a nasty smile on his face and the firelight throwing sinister shadows. There was more rustling. I looked behind and saw more young men, surrounding us.
I reached out blindly for Fera. “You’re – you’re those thugs from before,” she stammered. “Why – how –?”
“That’s not important,” the scarred one sneered, cracking his knuckles. “And we’re going to enjoy this.”
There are times when being a twin has immense advantages. Fera and I knew each other almost better than we knew ourselves, and it showed as we fought as together, predicting each other’s every move. I rose to my feet, lashing out in one direction as Fera threw fire in the other.
The lighting tricked my eyes, and the first shot went wide. Halfway through a second strike and someone crashed into me from the side. I stumbled under their weight and nearly fell. Fera let out a shriek and it suddenly went dark, the only light coming from the stars and moon.
I kicked the man off of me and spun about wildly, throwing out a ring of water that had very little force behind it. A second later there was a flash of light as Fera briefly lit herself on fire. Water accidentally hit her, and now steam was curling about, obscuring things even more.
I sidestepped a stone flung at my eyes and tried to remove the vapour, but only succeeded in pushing it up. I couldn’t control vapour. No water elementalist really could. There was a whack on my back. A hand clamped roughly on my upper arm. I yelled and tried to pry the fingers loose before twisting enough to kick him in the stomach area.
There was a grunt and the hand slackened enough for me to break free. Flashes of fire were making my eyes hurt.
I caught a glint of something metallic and instinctively sent a jet firing towards it. Unfortunately, Fera had the same idea and our fire and water collided, exploding in a blast of steam. It rolled over everything, covering shapes.
Desperately I tried to get rid of it. It curled upwards, condensing like clouds and blocking out almost all of the sky’s light.
Water swirled around me. If I could just – A fist landed in my side, knocking the air from me. I stumbled, and for a brief second, I lost control. My ears popped and then it was raining; a thick, torrential downpour.
Fera let out a scream. “I’m wet! I can’t light up!” There was a chorus of laughter. Already I was soaked to the skin. One of the men filled his hands with fire. I stretched out my hands but the rain wouldn’t stop. Another punch connected with my side.
I struck out blindly and received a great crack on my shoulder. Fera was shrieking, unable to do anything, and I was too disoriented to get a hold on the rain. I could hardly tell one person from the next, and the air was too thick to breathe.
A sudden blinding flash jetted through everything. It rammed into one of the thug’s shoulders and he went flying to the ground. Everything fell into a lull. Another flash and a tree was smoking. There were curses. “Blasted storm!” They grabbed the guy on the ground and hauled him away, running back into the woods and vanishing.
I took the chance to calm the rain and at least stopped it from falling. The clouds were a different matter. Mist lingered in the air. I felt bruised all over.
“Nice going,” Fera said. “I’m soaked, but at least you scared them off.”
I turned to stare at her. “I scared them off? I thought you did!”
“Um, hello?” She flicked water droplets at me. “I’m all wet! I can’t conjure a spark! And it’s your storm!”
“I didn’t intend for it! Plus, how the heck could I do what happened? It had to have been you.”
“It wasn’t.” She glared.
I was starting to get frustrated. “It wasn’t me.”
“Um, that’s because it was me.” The two of us jumped and spun around. I quickly dried Fera off and she lit herself on fire.
“Oh great,” she grumbled.
I folded my arms. “You,” I growled. “What are you doing here? You’re following us again!”
He looked at me. “I’m helping!”
I scowled. “Thanks for reminding me.” I moved my hands sideways and a wave crashed through the trees to slam into him. “That’s for following us.” I sent another wave. “That’s for the money.” A third wave. “And that’s for the food!”
By the time I was done, Fera was laughing and he was on the ground, dripping wet. “I told you he’d better not be near water,” I whispered to her. She laughed harder.
He just blinked at me. “Seriously?”
“Just be glad I don’t walk over and kick you,” I snapped.
“Can I?” Fera asked excitedly, stepping forward.
I put my arm in front of her. “No. I’ve decided to be civil now.”
“You might’ve but I haven’t.”
“Fera.”
She looked at me sideways and I shook my head. She sighed and folded her arms. I relaxed a little bit. Our follower looked between us. “So . . . can I get dry now?”
I glared at him. “No.”
Fera grinned. “I thought we were being civil.” I stared her and she grinned wider.
I ground my teeth. “I hate it when you do that.” I flicked my hand and dried the guy. He gave me a smile and I gave him the evil eye. I did not trust him in the slightest. “Now. Why are you here?”
“I thought it was obvious since I said it.”
“Okay, I’ll rephrase it,” I said. “Why are you following us again? We made it very clear we don’t want your help.”
He frowned. “You act like I’m trying to be creepy about it. I’m harmless.”
I looked at him. “You haven’t told us your name.”
“And you hit a guy with lightning,” Fera pointed out.
“Yes, but – wait . . .” He looked between me and Fera. “I hit him?” We nodded. He exhaled slowly and raked a hand through his tawny hair. “Oh gods . . . I did not mean for that to happen. I just wanted to scare them off, not actually hurt anybody!”
“You hit a guy with lightning,” I exclaimed. “You could have killed him!”
“It was a bad shot,” he defended. “I couldn’t aim properly – you guys were in the way. I was trying not to hit you.”
“Oh, so now it’s our faults?” Fera growled.
He winced a little. “That is not what I said.”
“That’s what you implied,” I said. “So, go away.”
“If you’ll just let me explain –”
“No.” Fera’s voice had a hard edge, and I was worried she’d started throwing fire. I didn’t want to get into a fight with this guy. “Get lost.”
He was looking very annoyed now. “You two are the most stubborn and infuriating girls I’ve ever met. Listen for a minute and I can –”
I stormed towards him. “Fera told you our answer. We don’t care what you have to say – especially not when you remain anonymous. So unless you drastically change, go away!” I resisted the urge to shove him.
His hands clenched and I saw little electric sparks jump along his knuckles. A shiver ran down my spine even as he noticed and calmed himself. “Look, I – I’m sorry –”
“Oh, yes, sorry fixes everything,” I said dryly. “Just leave us alone!” I spun around. “Come on, Fera.”
She frowned at me. “Mira, it’s dark.”
“I don’t care –”
“Oh for crying out loud.” He marched between us, looking exasperated. “I came here to tell you to go home. They won’t be the only ones looking for you.” He pulled out a sheet of paper and let lightning crackle in his hand. “See? Your parents want you back home. Now you’ll have to deal with people responding to this and the Wind Tribe.”
“We’ve become aware of those. We don’t need you showing up to tell us what we already know.”
“Oh, because you’ve been doing so well on your own?”
“Yes, actually. You’ve been completely useless!”
“I just saved you!”
“You could’ve just as easily killed us!”
He clenched his jaw. “Fine. Be pigheaded. I’ll go.” Under his breath he added, “This is what I get for playing the hero.” He looked at both me and Fera in turn, and I couldn’t figure out what his expression meant. I folded my arms and glared at his back as he walked away.
He looked back, once, subtly, as he went back into the forest. I waited until I couldn’t hear the sounds of him anymore before walking over to the firepit and sitting down. I was sore all over.
Fera sat down beside me and started a campfire. “Can I be the one to attack him if he shows up again?”
“Only fair.” I exhaled slowly. “I should have slapped him.”
She raised her eyebrows. “I thought that was my job. You don’t hit people.”
“You know me,” I said. “And I don’t know how much longer I can keep relatively calm.”
“Well, this should be over soon, right?”
“Right.”
“And then we’ll be home and there’ll be none of this danger and stuff . . .” I decided not to tell her that might not be the case. “Oh, let’s just get some sleep.” She lay down and curled up. After a minute I followed her example and stretched out on my back.
What would happen when we found the shard? We’d go back home, certainly, and then what? It might not be over. If we had to spend the rest of our days protecting it . . . I tried to tell myself that wouldn’t happen. Eventually I drifted off to sleep.