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My head throbbed, like I was being kicked repetitively. My side ached, my wrists felt raw, my vision was blurred, and I didn’t feel right. I slowly took in what I could of my surroundings.
There was a pole behind me, to which my arms were tied. I was standing in some sort of pot or bucket as well, which didn’t make much sense until I considered the fact it was filled with water.
Being soaked by my sister was different than being submerged, even partially. Without being able to light up, it was like a piece of me wasn’t working, or wasn’t there at all. It was like taking away sight or a limb. Even the ropes binding me were soaked, and I was stuck.
I was dimly aware of the thugs talking to each other and laughing at something. I longed for the chance of a rematch, but as my head kept throbbing, I doubted the odds were in my favor.
“Fera!” My head jerked up at the sound of Mira’s voice, and the world seemed to spin around me. I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, opening them again to look for Mira with my vision still out of focus.
The thugs had clearly grabbed her as soon as she came out of the water, and had already managed to tie her hands behind her back. She was shivering in her still wet clothes, and looked both panicked and angry, a combination that couldn’t be good.
The thug I took to be the leader, the one with dark hair and a scar, tossed something back and forth in his hands. As my eyesight slowly improved, I saw something that looked like a chunk of glass. Mira must have been successful in gaining the crystal.
“So what’s this then? Must be pretty valuable to leave your sister up here alone.” he said, clearly trying to bait Mira into a fight. I was glad that it didn’t work and Mira managed to keep a calm head, or as calm as you could be in a situation like this.
“It’s a family heirloom. Plenty of sentimental value, but no monetary. You can have it if you let us go,” she said. I was surprised at how easily the lie came from her. That crystal was no family heirloom, and there was no way we were letting them have it.
“Nice try. We aren’t stupid enough to let you go,” he responded with a smirk, stepping within a foot of her. She gave the slightest flinch at his proximity, but held her ground. “Contrary to what you think, we’re not fools.”
“Really?” Mira asked, attempting a smirk of her own. I was proud of how confident she was coming off. I wasn’t sure how long she could keep up the bravery.
“If we were fools, do you think we would know to keep your sister in water? Lucky for us, there was a cart passing by that looked a little too heavy. It’s much lighter now. Thanks for that storm last time, by the way. If it wasn’t for that, we wouldn’t have known how to keep her at bay.”
“And how do you expect to keep me at bay? Have you thought of that, genius?” Mira retorted. I heard the slightest waver in her voice and willed her to keep going.
“Well, the smartest thing would be to take this, wouldn’t it?” he asked, stepping back and holding up her Relic. “As long as you’re not close to the lake, we’re fine.”
“How did you – Give that back!” Mira yelled, straining against the thug who held her.
“Give you back something that gives you a clear advantage? I don’t think so. Pick pocketing, very useful skill.”
“Why haven’t you killed us?” I asked. They seemed to hold a grudge, and yet all they were doing was keeping us here.
“Fera!” Mira called. “You’re all right! Wait, are you all right?”
“I’m standing in water,” I told her.
“Aside from that. Did you hit your head or something?”
“Well, I was fighting, then I was in the lake, and then I was here and you were there,” I said, trying to recall exactly how I had gotten tied up and finding only a blank memory.
“Sorry to break up this touching sisterly reunion,” the leader said, “but I’m quite interested in some information you two could give us.”
“We’re not going to tell you anything just because you’re threatening us,” Mira snapped.
“Well, I love a good trade as well as anyone else. How about we trade information? I’ll tell you something, and you tell us some things,” the leader suggested, tossing the crystal to the man with the rattail, who stuffed it into a sack.
Mira held her tongue, and the leader took that as an acceptance. “Good. Someone paid us to make sure you didn’t get here.”
“Who?” Mira demanded.
“What I want to know, is why.”
“Well, since we don’t know who paid you –”
“You should. People don’t hire folks like us without a good reason. And dumb, wealthy girls like you don’t just make enemies. Well, fire might.” He gave me a look I didn’t like. “But they wanted both of you, not just her.”
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “The only reason you haven’t killed us is because of our enemies?”
“Girlie, we’re here for some easy money and the payback is a bonus. We’re thieves, not murderers.”
“So what’s your plan now, leave us tied up here for your employers?” Mira asked.
“Wouldn’t that be lovely for you. No. It’s only full payment upon delivery.”
A rustle came from the bushes. As the thugs looked towards the sound, Mira gave me a panicked look. The wind picked up, blowing leaves around the ground.
A section of the bushes suddenly gave way. Tied to a pole, I could only turn my head as pieces of thorny bush flew towards us. Small bits of branches and thorns whipped across me and I felt scratches sting across my cheek.
I heard Mira gasp and looked to where a crowd of people, had come through the bushes.
“Thanks for softening them up,” one of them said.
The scarred thug stepped towards the crowd. “I take it your boss sent you. Well, girls caught, job done. Just give us our money and we’ll be on our way.” He held out his hand.
“Where’s the Crystal? No Crystal, no money,” the stranger, who had to be an air elementalist, said.
One of the thugs clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed they weren’t going to steal the shard for themselves. The scarred thug signaled to the one with the rattail, who pulled it out of the bag and tossed it to the air elementalist.
The man handed it triumphantly to one of his buddies, and handed the thug a small bag jingling with coins.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” the thug said, with a nod.
“I should have seen this coming,” Mira said, sounding more angry at herself than anyone else. I tried to ignore the throbbing that continued in my head.
“I’m surprised you didn’t,” the man said, gesturing towards Mira. One of the air elementalists crossed over to her and took over holding her for the thug. As her captors changed, she tried to break free, but was unsuccessful.
“You knew we were out pacing you, since we had directions and the key,” Mira said. “You knew we’d get to the Crystal first, so to buy yourselves time, you hired these guys to slow us down. It would be flattering if it wasn’t so annoying.”
“And of course, the rematch of our first encounter was an added bonus to the payment,” one of the thugs said.
“Just one flaw in your plan,” Mira said.
“And what’s that?” The air elementalist had a smug grin, which soon vanished.
The water in the lake beside Mira started to rise, drawing everyone’s attention. I was amazed, my eyes darting between my sister and the water as it started to form a shaky pillar.
I had never seen her even try move water without moving her body as a conduit. From what I knew, only fire elementalists could do anything with their powers when still, and even then, it was little more than ‘spontaneous combustion’. By the faces of those around us, this wasn’t normal.
Then Mira’s display of power blew up in her face. In all our faces.
With a loud pop and whoosh the pillar of water exploded. Everyone yelled in confusion and anger as they were splattered. I gasped as the cold water hit me, and almost missed Mira’s next words.
“Now, Fera!” she yelled. All the attention shifted to me, the Wind Tribe and the thugs prepared for my part of the plan, whatever it was.
There was only one problem. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.
Mira threw her weight forward and broke free of the man holding her. Arms still tied behind her, she summoned a wave of water that pulled her into the lake. With a splash, she was gone.
Some of the air elementalists made their way towards me.
The ground suddenly lurched underneath me. For a moment I thought the pot was moving on its own, before I felt the water slosh around my legs. I realized that Mira was pulling the water towards her, bringing me along with it.
The jerky motion caused my vision to darken, closing in rapidly around the edges. All I could hear was a ringing in my ears.
My vision returned alongside a shock of cold water. Something cold slipped against me and suddenly my limbs were free.
I tried to kick out and head for the surface, but my cloak tangled around my legs and the weight dragged me farther down in the lake. My lungs burned from holding my breath.
Something latched onto my upper arm. I rushed through the water. My head broke the surface and I gasped in the air. A gust of wind froze my face and stuck hair in my eyes.
The sky was full of spinning leaves, the Wind Tribe creating strong gales that made the water choppy. Mira let go of me and smacked two of them with lake water. I didn’t know what the Wind Tribe intended to accomplish, seeing as we were in the water.
I noticed just in time that someone had pulled out throwing knives that were flying in the wind towards us.
I dropped below the surface, narrowly avoiding an unwanted haircut from a flying dagger, and started towards the shore.
As much as I hated water, I had figured out how to do a paddle in case of an emergency. I was pretty sure this counted as one, and silently thanked Mira for making me at least learn how to float, despite how many times I’d threatened her.
I kicked out against the bottom of the lake and shot onto shore, water rolling off me.
It took a few flicks of my wrist to cause them to ignite. I filled my hands with fire and tried to avoid random objects being hurled in my direction. I guessed they had run out of knives.
Shards of ice shattered against the shore as Mira tried to fight back. None of the ice daggers made contact with our enemies, but knowing Mira I doubted she had intended them to. I had the opposite intentions with my fire.
I spotted the member of the Wind Tribe from before, hiding behind his friend. Would have thought he was just another coward if I hadn’t recognized the tattoo under his eye.
“We have the crystal, let’s go!” he shouted. Fallen leaves filled the air, the world nothing but oranges and yellows and browns. I burned them out of my face in time to see the last of the Wind Tribe vanish in the hole in the bushes. I threw fire after them, but they were already gone.
I turned to the thugs, as ice daggers landed in the ground at their feet. Mira had more ready, hovering around her. “That was a warning shot,” she said.
The thieves exchanged a look, then all of them bolted.
I threw enough fire to singe the back of one of their shirts. Mira launched her ice daggers. They hit the ground in a straight line behind them.
“And don’t come back!” I shouted.
A small wave rushed towards the shore, carrying Mira. I snuffed out the few patches of fire, before collapsing on the ground next to Mira. I spread out on my back, dizzy and breathless.
“Are you all right?” I asked her. She was soaked to the skin, which I knew didn’t bother her as much as it did me, but her skin had turned frighteningly pale.
“Just tired,” she panted. “And mad. All of that, and we lost.”
I rolled onto my stomach and pushed myself up slowly into a sitting position. The pounding in my head had lessened.
I scanned the area. My satchel and Mira’s backpack still lay where the thugs had tossed them. I doubted there was any food or money left behind. The ground had turned to a muddy mess, and by lying on it, Mira and I had covered ourselves.
By the spot where we had made our fire the night before, there was something that looked like a weirdly shaped, mud-covered stone.
I crawled over to it and picked it up. I carefully wiped off some of the mud, revealing the familiar surface of Mira’s Relic. I smiled. The thieves must have dropped it.
“Catch!” I tossed it to my sister, who was still lying down with her eyes closed. She didn’t move, and as a result was hit in the stomach with it.
She scowled at first, then gave me a grateful look when she realized what I’d given her.
I was just starting to think that maybe we were lucky, maybe we were going to make it out okay, and maybe, just maybe, we could get the Crystal back.
Then I heard a noise from the bushes. Mira and I were on our feet in a second, exhausted but still willing to fight. The ground seemed to spin under me as I stood. Mira stumbled a bit as she rose, although I don’t think she knew I noticed.
A single guy came running out of the bushes, looking ready to fight, and I resisted the urge to light the bushes on fire out of spite as I recognized him as our follower.