Elemental Trial, page 26
“Vulcan here has been telling me something very interesting,” Lukas held up his arm and I saw the glint of three shards buried beneath his skin. “Though I haven’t collected all of them, there is another way. You concede the crown. Give me the shards you’ve collected so far and I’ll let your friends live.”
Of course that was his offer. Had I expected anything less than an underhanded trick?
“You’re going to let him do this?” I yelled at Vulcan over the bubbling roar of lava. “You’re letting him trick his way into the crown?”
Vulcan—from here nothing more than red eyes set within a black shadow draped in lava—stayed silent. Seemed I wasn’t getting any help from him. I could attack Lukas, but that would put my friends in danger. I had to try one more thing before I gave up hope completely.
“I told you what Onora plans to do,” I said to Lukas, slowly circling closer to him. “She really does have a weapon of some kind. It’s deep in a cavern at the bottom of the tombs. She wanted to use my power to help take care of it, but I know it’s not anything good. If you become king, she may use it against you. But if we faced her together—”
“I know what she’s hiding down there,” Lukas said. “I helped her find it.”
I was struck off guard. “You helped—then what is it?”
“An abomination.”
I jumped as Vulcan spoke, his deep, rumbling voice hammering in my eardrums and sending tremors down my spine. It sounded strangely familiar, but for a moment I couldn’t place from where.
“That thing she hides is simply the means to an end.” Lukas countered Vulcan. “Like so many things are. You don’t understand, Riley, this isn’t a negotiation. You give me your shards. Or…”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Onora and the others close in on my friends. Where was Jasper?
“I’ll give you five seconds,” Lukas said, holding up a hand and bringing a finger down. “Five…”
I couldn’t do it. Though it went against everything in me to let me friends stay in danger, giving in to what Lukas wanted would make it so much worse. This wasn’t just about beating Lukas and getting the crown. It was about keeping everyone else safe. If I truly wanted the strength to defend those I loved, then I had to trust that those I loved had the strength to defend themselves. At least long enough for me to put an end to this trial.
“Two…”
“You can’t have my shards,” I said.
A growl wrenched itself from Lukas’s throat. “Wrong answer.”
He dropped his hand. Onora yelled something. Her fighters advanced.
I saw a flicker of movement along the rim of the caldera.
Then Mitch’s lion form leapt down behind Onora’s soldiers, slamming into them with all the gusto of a WWE wrestler.
Onora spun. Her soldiers yelled in panic and started to scramble, but no sooner had they focused their attention on Mitch then Tricia attacked from the other side, leading a pack of her own shifters into their now-exposed flank.
Ari caught on. I heard her yell, “Attack!” to Iris and the Outcasts as more of Mitch and Tricia’s former convicts leapt from where they’d hidden among the rocks.
“Looks like this isn’t over yet,” I said to Lukas as he stared at the battle in shock. Through with the niceties, I used the distraction to blast him away from Vulcan and buy me time. If I could just speak with Vulcan and get him to understand the situation—
I turned and froze. I suddenly felt no bigger than an ant, my breath caught in my throat.
Gone was the man Vulcan, draped beneath the blanket of lava. Instead a dragon waded through the lava toward us. His rich black scales looked thick as steel walls and were interlocked like shields. His serpentine neck swayed back and forth, keeping his head as big as a car firmly locked in place, his diamond-hard eyes fixated on us.
I clenched one of my legs to try to stop them from shaking. “Vulcan…”
“I am he, Vulcan the Forger.” The words spewed forth from the cavernous chest, rumbling from a place deep within. The fighting behind me—all my friends in danger—temporarily faded to background noise as every survival instinct forced me to focus on this new—this impossible—threat.
“Have you come bearing the proper shards?” Vulcan rumbled to me.
“I…I…” I couldn’t seem to get my tongue to work. I swallowed, squeezed my eyes shut for the length of a long breath. He was just another paranormal being. Not a dragon…Well, he was a dragon—No! Not a dragon…
“I don’t have them,” I said.
Vulcan’s head quirked up, my interpretation of him cocking an eyebrow. “Then you are just like the shifter. Neither of you have completed your given trial. Would you argue—as he has—that you deserve the crown regardless?”
I was all too aware of Lukas getting back to his feet. I had seconds, maybe.
“Neither of us should get it.” The words rushed out of me. “I know I didn’t complete the trial. He didn’t either. Neither of us deserves it.”
“Typical.” Lukas laughed, seemingly not thrown off by Vulcan’s true appearance. “But your false nobility won’t help you.”
He took a step toward me. “I’ll remove you from the equation. You, then the vampire boy. Without any competition, there can be no other ruler. Even Vulcan has to agree with that.”
I didn’t think he would, but Vulcan wasn’t speaking up and Lukas still stalked toward me, shifting to his wolf form.
“This time I won’t hold back,” he snarled. “I’ll rip you to pieces and let the volcano burn your remains—”
It happened so fast.
One moment, Lukas was looming toward me, his wolf form breaking free. The next, his human form returned, his expression shocked as the edge of the lava pool collapsed. Perhaps Vulcan’s voice had shaken the rock free. Perhaps the lava beneath had eaten away at the support. Regardless, Lukas teetered off balance, arms grasping air, before he plummeted over the edge.
It happened so fast.
One moment I stood in front of Vulcan, the next I was throwing myself over the edge and catching Lukas’s free hand, jerking him to a stop inches before his feet touched the lava. My elbow felt like I’d dislocated it; my shoulder socket screamed. I tried to dig my toes into the rock and they caught in one of the cracks, halting my slide forward to join him.
“Why…?” Lukas’s voice was barely a whisper above the breaths of the volcano and the sounds of fighting. “Why did you save me?”
The scene of Lukas playing with the children flashed through my mind. Had that really been enough to change my mind? Or was he right and I was weak and wasting the chance of ridding the world of him?
“No idea,” I grunted. “Now don’t struggle and maybe I won’t drop you.”
I drew on my magic, filling my arms and legs with power. The tiger deep within stirred. I blinked and its semi-corporeal form manifested beside me.
“A little…help,” I gasped.
The tiger growled in a way that made me feel he was chastising me. “You got yourself in trouble again?”
“Yeah, yeah,” I wheezed.
The tiger’s fiery mouth grabbed my collar and pulled me back until Lukas’s arms were draped over the edge, then his torso, then he was safe, rolling himself the rest of the way onto stable ground.
The tiger vanished with a parting growl of annoyance. I lay there, panting from my sudden burst of exertion. What had I done? My friends were fighting for their lives to buy me time to stop the very guy I’d just saved. I must have lost my flippin’ mind.
A blue light mingled with the surrounding hues of orange and black. I sat up to find my forearm glowing. A fourth shard had etched itself beneath my skin, interlocking with the rest.
“You have gained the shard of strength,” Vulcan rumbled.
“I don’t understand,” I said, still staring in awe at it.
“Do you not?” Vulcan said, amused. “Strength, like the qualities the other shards represent, comes in many forms. For you, it was the strength to love your enemy, even when he would not have done the same for you.”
“It’s too perfect,” Lukas snarled.
I scrambled to my feet and he got to his, swaying a little. His skin looked raw, his face twisted into a vicious sneer. “Yet another thing you have handed to you. That isn’t strength. That’s weakness! You were too weak to let me die!”
His hands shifted to claws. “I’ll teach you, once and for all, why that’s wrong.”
I was already stepping back, ready, as he leapt.
Vulcan’s tail slammed down between us, breaking us apart. “Enough!” he bellowed. “Only one has proven herself worthy of the crown.”
Vulcan’s nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath. Lukas’s arm glowed. He reeled back in shock as the shards were pulled from beneath his skin and disintegrated.
“You are no longer required here.” Vulcan gave a powerful flap of his wings and Lukas went flying toward Onora’s soldiers.
“Now, step forward,” Vulcan said to me. The volcano rumbled again, the tremors feeling stronger this time. I tried to reassure myself that there was no way it was going to erupt. Not with Vulcan here.
I took a step forward and held up my arm with the shards. “I’ve done as the Courier commanded and found all four shards to forge the crown.”
“Indeed you have,” Vulcan said. “And the crown you shall receive.”
His serpentine neck arched back, his mouth opening. The surrounding air sharply spiked with the smell of sulfur and something akin to natural gas. A spark ignited deep in the back of Vulcan’s throat, catching on the breath he’d accumulated. A thrill of fear stabbed into my stomach. I took a step back, a cry of alarm rising on my lips.
Then Vulcan’s neck snapped forward and spewed a jet of flame that consumed me.
Chapter Thirty-One
“You are still filled with much fear,” Vulcan said.
I opened my eyes. I was crouched on the ground, chest pressed to my knees, my arm with the shards still outstretched. I was alive. I was alive.
That stupid Vulcan.
“No thanks to you!” I snapped. “You should tell me when you’re about to roast me alive…”
I trailed off, taking in my surroundings for the first time. I stood in the center of a swirling maelstrom of fire. I couldn’t see my friends or the battle or hear anything at all except for my own panicked breathing and the too-loud thud of my heart.
But even that faded away as I peered at the flames. I’d never closely examined fire before. Funny, considering I could summon it at will. To me, it was a purely destructive force, consuming, taking, taking, and taking until there was nothing left. My fire magic was no different; a smear of orange and red that did my bidding and nothing more.
But Vulcan’s…
I held out my free hand toward the wall of flames. His were a palette of colors swirling in tandem: aquamarine blues, sunset oranges, blood reds and stark whites. There were other colors too; purples and greens and sharp yellows. Colors that were more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. Colors of creation, as much as destruction.
“This is beautiful,” I whispered.
“It is what you will one day be capable of,” Vulcan said. He’d also surrounded himself with the flames, cocooning both of us together. “Should you survive that long.”
My moment of appreciating its beauty was snapped back to harsh reality. “Which won’t be long if Lukas has anything to say about it.”
“Lukas is not the only threat. There are many others. Some ancient, some new. You have completed another of many hurdles. But you have an even more challenging road ahead. There are those who will never accept your legitimacy, no matter how many times you prove yourself. Others who will pretend to follow along, but whose dissent will fester in the dark. Even some who will outright oppose your rule. If you are to succeed, you will need allies.”
“The Outcasts,” I said automatically. “They’ll have my back. Always.”
The swirling flames reflected in Vulcan’s eyes. “They shall. But you will need more. Stronger allies.”
I was about to ask who he was talking about when my right arm tickled. I looked down to find that a hand made of fire had reached from the churning flame wall and tenderly wrapped its fingers around me. The shards beneath my skin responded, their glow blending together until the light was too much for me to look at.
After a few seconds, the light faded. I blinked and a crown came into focus, perched in the open palm of my hand. Like the throne of ancients, I found the crown more than a little underwhelming. It wasn’t gold or glittering; it didn’t even look like something my high school would have given me in the one in a billion chance I got voted prom queen. It was onyx-colored, the metal infused with runic symbols like those I’d seen within the palace of the Dead City. But much like the wall of flame around me, there were more colors than first met the eye; unseen beauty if I just looked at it in the right light.
Then the crown turned to ash and vanished. My jaw dropped. “Hey! What gives—”
My arm glowed once more and there, beneath the skin, etched the small outline of a crown.
“It will be there for you when the time is right,” Vulcan said. “First you must take your throne. For good, this time. Against all odds, you must endure. If you do so, then these Dying Lands, as well as many paranormals, will thrive. If not…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence. I didn’t know exactly what would happen if I failed, but I knew it’d be terrible.
“I’ll try my best,” I said.
“Hm…” Vulcan’s deep rumble shook the ground beneath my feet. The walls of flame began to thin, allowing strips of the surrounding volcano to peek through. “I fear your best may not be enough. But it is all you have.”
The wall of fire vanished completely and I found myself standing in the center of the caldera. The battle between the Outcasts, former convicts, and Onora’s fighters still raged with full ferocity behind me.
“Riley!” Jasper, face covered in ash, fingers coated with blood, had stopped in the middle of the fight to stare at me. At his back, Lukas’s wolf form stalked a semi-circle around him. Ari and Sienna drove back some of Onora’s soldiers while Mitch and Tricia held off Onora herself.
I held up my arm and gave a slight nod. Jasper nodded back. The meaning was clear: we were done here.
“The completion of your destiny awaits,” Vulcan said. “Now you must leave. I will return to my resting place to slumber until I’m needed again.”
He arched his head back again. I braced myself for another unannounced bath of flames, but instead of toasting me, Vulcan spurted a thick stream of fire into the sky with a tremendous roar. The volcano shook and this time didn’t stop. Rocks cascaded down the sides of the caldera, nearly flattening some of the fighters. Almost instantaneously the battle ceased as everyone seemed to realize there wouldn’t be much point in fighting if they were all pancakes.
“Run!” Ari barked.
The two sides split in opposite directions as though they’d coordinated it beforehand. Mitch, the former convicts, and the Outcasts, led by Jasper, all scrambled toward me as multiple cracks split the ground. Ash rained even more thickly from the sky. I turned back to Vulcan to ask if he could maybe please not move the entire volcano until we were off it, but right as I did a surging wall of lava washed from the waterfall and swept over him. My last glimpse of him was his draconic eyes peering at me from beneath the shroud of molten rock as he sank beneath the surface of the pool.
“Keep going!” I pointed the first of Mitch’s convicts toward the side Jasper and I had hiked up. “Down that way! Hurry!”
“Move your butts unless you want to be deep fried!” Mitch barked. “Let’s go go go—”
“What do you think we’re doing!” Tricia said. “Taking a vacation?”
I turned and spied Jasper through the throng of fleeing paranormals. He hadn’t moved with the others, remaining to face off against Lukas.
If I knew Jasper—and I liked to think I did—he’d try to hold him off until everyone else was gone. Which of course wouldn’t leave him any time to escape. Typical.
“Riley, no!” Iris tried to grab me as I ran past but I brushed her off. The ash was so thick it was becoming difficult to see. I coaxed a nearby mass of lava to grow even hotter, the sudden blast of heat it expelled shoving the larger flakes out of my way just in time for me to see Lukas lunge at Jasper. My heart briefly stopped, but Jasper dodged aside, sharp nails swiping across Lukas’s flank. It didn’t appear to do much but the two of them backed off from one another, waiting for another opening to attack.
I held my hands at my side and reached out, pooling lava at my feet and then directing it around Jasper and toward Lukas. He leapt back, snarling.
“You will never be my queen!” he growled. “No matter what that dragon says, no matter what any prophecy proclaims. You may have the crown but you’ll never have the throne. You and those Outcasts are dead!”
I felt a welling growl of power rise within me and, totally unprompted, my fiery tiger burst forth and charged at Lukas. He barely had time to leap safely away before my tiger circled around, seeming intent on getting revenge for one of the dozen terrible things Lukas had tried to do to me.
Behind Lukas, Onora had stopped fleeing with her group of paranormals. A smile curled on her face, sending unpleasant chills up my arms. Apparently, Lukas’s ceaseless intent to kill us had encouraged her because she began heading back toward us.
“Jasper,” I said. “In case you haven’t noticed, now would be a very good time to go.”
Jasper looked from me to the ever-widening cracks in our footing, to the two powerful paranormals bearing down on us.
“Even I know my limits,” he said.
“Glad to hear it,” I said. “Now let’s go.”
I tried to rein my tiger magic in and was surprised when it listened, drawing back into me like a sheathed sword. I barely had time to feel its annoyed growl before the ground split, an enormous lava-filled fissure opening between Jasper and me. Jasper didn’t waste any time but leapt across it—
