Elemental Trial, page 22
“I see Lukas wasn’t lying about you being part fire elemental,” Onora said. “Then what I have in store should be no problem for you.”
Onora stepped closer to the nearest flow of lava and pointed at it. “I want you to move that.”
I gaped at her. Though the grasp on my magic was getting stronger every day, there were still some things I was pretty sure weren’t possible. After all, I’d never tried to control an element or magic that I hadn’t created.
“I can’t.”
Onora raised her hand and I flinched, waiting for the sting of a spell, but instead I felt the blanket of suppression she’d cast over my magic unclench just the tiniest bit.
“Don’t get any ideas,” she said. The guards behind her stepped closer, one of them shifting into a bear who towered over me. The other raised his hands, shining magic seeping through the ground and threatening to smother me if I made a wrong move. “I only gave you enough to do as I asked.”
“I already told you I can’t.”
Now I felt the sick bite of pain as Onora’s magic hit me. I gritted my teeth, taking a single step back before I forced myself to stop, to cease showing her weakness.
“You will try, or you and your friend will suffer the consequences,” Onora said.
Her magic released me from its grip and I took a steadying breath before straightening up and examining the lava. In theory, she was right. Sienna had told me once that magic, at least certain kinds of magic, were at their base just elements casters manipulated to their will. Lava was simply rock melted to such a degree that it basically became fire.
I raised my hand, coaxing the small bit of magic—barely enough to cast a weak spell—free from Onora’s hold. I focused on the nearest lava flow, imagining it bending to my will. Whenever I cast fire, I felt an intrinsic connection to it. A bond that kept me tied to the flame and one I could manipulate. Instead of that bond happening naturally, here I had to create it.
I focused harder. I reached out with my magic until it connected with the lava and then willed it toward me. The lava flow drifted just a bit closer. Or maybe that was my wishful thinking.
I dropped my arms. “Maybe if I had a bit more power…” I tried.
She smiled in a way that said she’d sooner cast herself into the lava than give that to me. She raised a hand. “Maybe if you had a bit more motivation.”
I swallowed hard and turned back to the lava, shame and anger burning in my throat. I hated being helpless. Hated being subject to this crazy faerie’s whims. I wasn’t going to pretend that even before discovering the elemental throne I was anything special—just a girl inadvertently drawn into a prophecy I had no clue about—but at least before I’d been able to do something. Fight back. Resist.
Breathe. Focus. I turned my attention to the lava. I spied a black, hardened piece floating on the top, almost in the shape I imagined Onora’s body would make if I pushed her in.
I drew my power out again, rationing it as best I could and weaving together a sort of connection, any connection, to the flames within the molten rock.
I pulled my hand in.
The lava shifted direction.
I blinked at it, elation rising in my chest. I knew for certain I’d done that. I’d moved frickin’ lava.
“Good,” Onora said. “But not enough.”
“Like I said, if I had more—”
“We’ll try again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next.” Onora walked past her guards. “You’ll practice until you can get it with the power I give you. Or until your friend gives up fighting for her life.”
She turned back to me. “I expect to see progress tomorrow. Oh, and don’t bother looking for an escape down here or in the tomb. There is none.”
And with those encouraging words she left, along with the changed back bear shifter. I looked at the remaining witch.
“You aren’t getting any help from me, so don’t ask,” he said.
I pinched my fingers together. “Just a smidge,” I said in my most feminine, simpering voice that I assumed every man was at least somewhat susceptible to.
The man’s scowl deepened.
Great. Either this guy was totally immune to charms of any kind, or I had absolutely zero feminine wiles. Both were possibilities.
I turned back to the lava and started again.
A couple hours later, sore and frustrated, I stomped back up to the tomb, my witch guard trailing behind me.
I’d gotten to where I could consistently control a little of the lava. I was sure with all my magic I could do more, but what really had me frustrated was why I’d even bothered. I should have resisted. Stalked back up to Onora and spit in her face, told her she could find someone else to do…whatever it is she was getting me ready to do.
Instead, I’d continued practicing. Because I had no other choice.
Helplessness sucked.
More than once my thoughts had turned to Jasper and the other Outcasts. Jasper had still probably been in the Crossroads Inn when we were taken. Surely he’d be out looking for us right now. And Ari and Lucinda had never been too far behind us. I had to hold out hope they’d get to us soon before…
I just had to hold out hope.
I glanced at the volcano in the distance. Even worse than putting Iris in danger was the other problem: the longer I was here, the greater chance that Lukas would get the crown. He’d probably left to fetch it already, somehow getting the other shards in the process. Jasper, I knew, would do whatever he could to stall Valencia, but not Lukas.
My witch guard bound the rest of my magic when we reached the tomb prison, before leaving me alone. I was surprised to find the doors left wide open, and no other guards. I was more surprised to find Iris inside, doing a series of stretches that would have made an eighties calisthenics coach proud.
“There you are!” She finished her stretch and looked me over. “Onora didn’t do anything to you, did she?”
I waved a tired hand. “No. Well, she didn’t torture me, if that’s what you mean.”
I briefly explained what I’d been up to. Judging by Iris’s perplexed expression, she had about as much clue behind what Onora was planning as I did.
“This whole thing’s whacky.” She lowered her voice. “They’re not even guarding us anymore. Leaving the door open. Letting us wander everywhere. It’s like we’re…guests. But, you know, at a really terrible hotel.”
“Probably a power play,” I said. “Onora knows we can’t escape. She’s proving just how much control she has over us. She even showed me her army.”
Iris’s expression darkened. “I saw. The one Lukas is helping train, right?”
“Yes. Do you think…” I checked outside the doors but Iris was right; Onora really had left us alone. “What do you think the Conclave’s chances are against that?”
“If they’re well-trained? No idea. The Order has forces that can face them.”
“That many?”
“I think so,” Iris said. She didn’t sound certain.
I was so exhausted that even the ratty, ergonomically terrible bed we’d been given was starting to look good, but I couldn’t rest. There was no telling how long this false freedom Onora had given us would last. We needed to have another look around while we had the chance.
“Can I…I think I should go with you. If you don’t mind,” Iris said when I told her what I planned to do.
I looked at her, shyly waiting for my answer like a single word from me had the power to destroy her. And in that moment, I realized it did. I’d had that power all along. And yet my earlier anger and mistrust toward her meant almost nothing in the face of what we were now dealing with. Iris was here. She was with me one hundred and ten percent. And there was almost no one else I’d rather be with through this.
“Of course,” I said.
Iris beamed. She wiggled her fingers. “I still haven’t broken the binding on my magic either but getting a sense of what we’re up against can’t hurt when we finally make our move. Onora and her guards will find out that we’re still deadly, even without magic.”
I completely believed her.
Onora was right. There was no escape.
Every main path was blocked by a number of guards. Those that weren’t looked positively treacherous to walk, switchbacks snaking up the nearly vertical rock faces. If climbing up them didn’t kill us, someone below would spot us and finish the job. There was a single narrow river sluicing through the rock one level above us, but after my stunt with the water bowl I knew we wouldn’t be allowed that way.
The only remaining pathways were below us, and unless there was a secret passage Onora had missed, I didn’t have high hopes we’d find any means of escape that way. Not one that Iris could survive, anyway.
“No wonder Onora’s having Lukas train them,” Iris said. She’d gingerly crouched, testing her bad leg, by the edge of the cliff overlooking one of the stone platforms. The group from this morning had been replaced by another group, nearly as large. Sure enough, Lukas was in front again, barking orders that the group followed with precision.
“I saw them working by themselves a little earlier,” Iris said. “They were using techniques at least five years out of date. The Order phased them out at least two years before that.” She pointed at one of the paranormals nearest us. “And this woman? I saw her this morning, trying to hold a dagger. Like, trying to figure out which end she was supposed to point toward her enemy.”
She looked at me, a mixture of disgust and pity on her face. “These aren’t fighters, Riley. They’re civilians. And if I had to guess, if they had a choice, they wouldn’t be fighting at all.”
“Maybe they’re fighting because they want that choice,” I said, not believing I was arguing this.
“Maybe…But if this is Onora’s plan, to train them into some army strong enough to beat the Conclave and Order, she’ll be in for a rude awakening. Even with their numbers they wouldn’t be able to take on Lukas’s Pack. They wouldn’t be able to take on even Mitch and Tricia’s criminals.”
Watching them suddenly made me sad. I motioned for Iris to follow me, not wanting to see anymore. “I’m going to check below. Maybe there’s something I missed this morning.”
Iris groaned as she stood and limped after me. She cast one final look back. I saw her shake her head.
Sure enough, I’d missed something.
The path Onora had taken me on that morning had only led to the downward spiraling slope, but we took a slightly different way and now stood before another cavernous opening. I double-checked there were no guards around, then glanced at Iris. She raised an eyebrow at me. “Well, it’s Onora’s fault for giving us free rein.”
I agreed. But we didn’t want to spend more time exploring down here than necessary. There was no question we’d be in big trouble if we were caught.
Moving as fast as we were able, Iris and I took the path down, the light from the tombs waning and the orange glow from the lava below taking over. I noticed Iris panting before I realized how much she was sweating. Once again, the heat felt pleasantly warm on my skin, a blanket I’d missed since that morning. The smell of sulfur was thick in the air, the heat searing the inside of my nose.
Iris covered her mouth. “I’m not sure how much farther I can go.”
Up ahead, I could see the tunnel open to a chamber. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Iris stepped to one side where she blended with the rock and I hurried forward, staying low until I reached the cavern. It looked nearly identical to the one this morning—the walls aglow with lava flowing in rivers from the direction of the volcano.
Only this one was occupied.
A round, fleshy orb sat inside a miniature caldera that’d been carved off to one side of the lava river. I watched lava flow into it, around the base of the orb, then out again, a constantly moving flow of heat to baste…
I had no idea what.
I did a quick look around. I was still alone, and I needed a closer look.
I moved closer to the orb. An uncomfortable feeling had taken hold of me and I couldn’t shake it, no matter how much I assured myself that there was no immediate danger. This fear was deeper, a resonating, primal urge that awakened the part of my mind that told me to run as far away as I could the other direction.
I closed my eyes for a count of ten, opened them, and breathed steadily until I could force my legs to stop quaking.
Then I stepped closer.
The orb moved.
It wasn’t the lava pushing it. It wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me.
No, the thing moved. The round edges of it expanded and contracted, a lung taking a breath.
Despite the suppression magic covering me, I felt my tiger’s warning growl rumble deep in my chest. It was weak, but it was awake, and it was on edge.
I should have left right then. There were so many things wrong about this thing, even if I couldn’t explain why. I should have listened to what my brain was telling me to do and back out now.
Instead, I reached out a trembling hand, feeling the pulsating heat from the surface of its fleshy skin.
I pressed my hand against it.
Trespasser!
I leapt back as though scalded. I checked my hand but it was unmarred. The voice had been real, though. It’d sounded exactly like the one who’d spoken to me in my dream.
“Trespasser?” I said, taking another step back and looking up. I had no idea where the voice had come from. Surely not from the orb in front of me. That’d be impossible. That’d be…
“Who are you?” I asked.
Trespasser! The voice bellowed again, followed by a roar that echoed inside my skull. No, not just my skull, an actual roar ripped through the cavern from somewhere close by, shaking the walls and casting charred pieces of stone from the ceiling into the lava river below. I jumped back as hissing lava splashed at my feet.
“Riley!”
Iris had made her way down to the cavern. She shook even worse than I did. Her face was coated in dripping sweat as she frantically gestured at me. “Someone has to have heard that! We need to go!”
I knew she was right. I knew I was pushing my luck as it was already. But even as I backed up toward her, I spoke to the air, “Who are you?”
Nothing answered. There was no roar and no voice in my mind. The fleshy orb didn’t even twitch. Had it been my imagination? A trick of the heat?
I nearly jumped out of my skin as Iris’s firm grip wrapped around my upper arm and pulled me back into the relative coolness of the tunnel. Her breathing was ragged like the air had singed her throat, and I suddenly snapped back to my senses, feeling terrible I’d pushed her to come fetch me.
“What were you doing?” Iris demanded. “Why did you touch that thing?”
“I don’t—I’m not sure. What is it?”
Iris pushed me ahead of her and we began quickly trekking back up to the tombs. “I have no idea, and I don’t want to know. Onora might have let us wander around, but you can bet she’ll still punish you if we go somewhere we’re not supposed to. And I can guarantee this is somewhere we’re not supposed to.”
She was right. And I may have just discovered the reason Onora wanted me to learn how to control lava. The way the lava had flowed around the orb, the way it almost seemed to baste it…to incubate it…She wanted me to use my powers on that thing. I was sure of it.
“Hey!”
Both of us froze as a guard appeared at the entrance of the tunnel. I braced myself in front of Iris as he jogged down to us. His hands glowed as he pointed them at us like a director pushing us to get off the stage. “You’re not supposed to be here! Get out, right now!”
Iris and I wasted no time in letting him usher us the rest of the way out of the tunnel. The cool air of the surface felt like being dunked in ice water. Iris began to shiver.
“Don’t tell anyone about this, you hear?” the guard said. His eyes flicked fearfully around as though there was someone waiting to turn him in. “You don’t rat on me, I’ll make sure Onora doesn’t punish you for wandering where you’re not supposed to.”
Iris and I both gave jerky nods and started back toward our prison tomb. Iris rubbed the sides of her arms, and I wanted nothing more than to reach over and warm her with some of my magic.
“You shouldn’t have touched it,” Iris said, her voice low and afraid. She shook her head as though trying to convince herself to not be so frightened. “I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t something to mess with. Sorry I yelled at you about it.”
“No, it’s okay.” Through the break in the stone walls I spied the volcano in the distance. Lava spurted over the lip of the caldera. That deep, booming voice repeated over and over in my head. “I don’t know what it is either, but I know it means trouble.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
The strange artificial light of the Dying Lands was growing dim by the time we made it back to our tomb. Iris’s shivering had started to subside but her limp was back.
“I have to rest it,” she said, grimacing. She furiously rubbed the sides of her arms again. “And find some way to warm up. How did you stand the heat?” she said almost jealously.
“It’s called being part fire elemental,” I said.
Iris rolled her eyes. “Of course. Silly me.”
There were some children play fighting on the stone platform across from us. My breath stilled as I spotted Lukas among them, evaluating the group with a shrewd eye. He still hadn’t left? I figured he would have been halfway to the volcano by now. Maybe he hadn’t figured out how to get the other shards, or maybe with his new alliance with Onora he didn’t feel the need to even try getting the crown.
