Elemental Flame (14 page)

A few of the Lycans, still in human form, snarled but Bastien asserted his mental influence again. I nodded to the leader. "The Lycans won't hurt you. My name is Samantha."

I expected them to tell me their names. What I didn't expect was for them to drop to their knees and bow. To me!

"
Chérie
," Bastien said beside me. "You have a strange influence on others, no?"

I glanced at him and blushed. "I have no idea why they're doing that. And for the Goddess's sake, put some pants on!"

He laughed. "I do not think the Goddess is offended by her creation,
ma chérie
. And neither are you."

"Is it really you?" one of the smaller Boggarts looked up from where they bowed. "Are you the one they say will slay the Dragon?"

"
A
h
…no, no, no," I said, waving my hands. "I'm not going to slay him. See, he's a prisoner. I want to
save
him."

That statement confused them. "But he will destroy us!" one of the other Boggarts said. "He will burn us again and none will survive."

I could see I had a lot of bad Dragon baggage to wade through. I glanced at Bastien as one of his Lycans brought him a folded pair of jeans. No underwear. Eh, probably better that Lycans go commando. I pursed my lips. "Listen to me, he won't burn you. Not if I can save him. But I need your help to find a Cairn. That way I can bring him through it and you can all go back home." I clapped my hands in joy.

I got a lukewarm reaction. "Samantha," the nasal one said. "We were told by our Queen to remain here. To remain safe. Until Samantha slew the Dragon."

This wasn't going the way I wanted it to.

Bastien finished dressing and I looked. Yes I did. I'm in love but not blind. The jeans were soft and holey and fit…well…perfectly. Just like Crwys's jeans always did. "Little monsters," Bastien said as he clasped his hands together. "You cannot stay in hour home. You make our young ones have nightmares."

They looked at each other. I didn't think they understood. I waved at them to get their attention. Time to change tactics. "Okay. I get it. You're scared of the Dragon. So help me remove him from your home by helping me find a Carin. Can you do that?"

"Oh," several of them said. Nasal held out his hand. "You will slay the Dragon. Come slayer."

Bastien snorted. I kicked him.

The Boggart moved past me to the left and I followed him a few steps before I called back, "You all have to come and leave the Lycans alone. Or they will eat you."

That lit a fire under their ugly little butts. The entire population of Boggarts followed us through the woods. Us being Bastien and I, since it appeared he wasn't going to leave my side. I was sweating through the thick moist air of the swamp and cussed a few times when my boots went down to my ankle in muck.

I knew the Cairn the moment I saw it. A large circle of toadstools in the middle of a clearing. I could also feel its Arcane Magic touch my own. My fingers tingled as the Boggarts made an outer ring around the toadstools. This gateway into
Alfheim
was so different than the one I'd traveled through in Savannah, Georgia. Not just in the way it felt, but the way it looked. I knew Cairns took on the personalities of the Faeries who made them.

I heard and felt Grey on the edge of my thoughts just as she, Ivan and Dharma burst out of the swamp and into the grove. Grey continued moving until she was beside me and brushed her head against my thigh. Ivan and Dharma stopped opposite me and I noticed Ivan leaning heavily on Dharma. It took a few minutes before everyone saw the Boggarts.

Dharma whistled. "That's a lot of Boggarts."

"Ivan," I said. "Go back to the car and rest."

"I'm fine."

"Dharma—"

"I tried that already," Dharma said. "If he drops from exhaustion, I'm leaving him for the alligators."

I didn't like the way Ivan looked. He was standing at an odd angle, and I could see the gaunt look to his face from where I stood.

The speaker for the Boggarts turned to face me. "Samantha will slay the Dragon now."

"Oh wait," I held up my hand. "No slaying Dragons. I already said that's not going to happen."

"But it will!" several of the Boggarts said with happy cheers, even though they all remained in a circle.

"You might wanna fill us in?" Ivan said. "We've been following the bike trail on foot ever since wolf-man there left us behind that chain." He pointed at Bastien as the Lycan moved to my right. I also noticed Dharma giving Bastien a serious once over.

I didn't really blame her.

"I knew you would find us," Bastien said as he crossed his arms over his chest. When he looked at me, his eyes softened and he lowered his voice. "You know what the nature of the cop
diable
is, no?"

"Yeah," I nodded "I know what he is. And I know where he is. He didn't leave me, Bastien. He didn't abandon me."

"You sure?"

I boiled down what I knew into a few sentences, letting Bastien know Crwys needed my help.

He listened, though his expression remained the same. When I finished, he lowered his arms and offered me his hand. "Come. We talk,
chérie
."

"Bastien we don't have time—"

"We talk."

"Sam," Dharma said. "Do we have a plan yet? Finding this live Cairn could work to our advantage. If you still want to try and bring Brendi here."

"I have an idea," I held up my hand. "Just give me a minute." I didn't take Bastien's hand, but instead put both of my hands into my back pockets.

Bastien's shoulders lowered and he moved ahead of me through a path in the woods, something I hadn't seen immediately. I followed him until we weren't in earshot of the Cairn anymore. When he stopped, I stopped. And when he didn't say anything, I opened my mouth to start. "Bastien—"

"Drachen…" he said, with his back to me. "Are complicated monsters,
chérie
. They care for nothing but destruction, control, domination and self-fulfillment."

The description he just gave me didn't sound at all like Crwys. "Known a few Dragons have we?"

"None. But we learn about them, same as we learn about every other enemy to our world. There is one thing Drachens and Lycans have in common." He half turned from his waist up to look at me over his shoulder. "We love only once, unless that love passes into the Summerlands without us." Now he completely turned and came to me. He stopped, inches in front of me and put his hands on my shoulders. His warmth bled through my shirt. His gold eyes met mine. "He has loved,
chérie
. Have you seen it? He still pines for her, in the deepest places of
le couer
. I can hear the song of his mourning. His song of loss weighs on him."

I searched Bastien's face. I knew Crwys had loved before. He'd told me this at least a dozen times, and I'd always thought he shared this with me as some kind of warning. But, of course, I'd brushed it off. But now, with the swamp so quiet, Bastien's presence so close, and the pack's link just a thought away, I wondered exactly what kind of warning it was.

"You are choosing to risk your life for something you may never fully possess."

I shrugged his hands off and took an unsteady step back. The heel of my muddy boots sunk into the ground. "This isn't the time for this conversation, Bastien. I'm not sure if there ever will be a time."

"I have never loved,
ma
chérie
," Bastien said.

"That's too bad. You should try it." My heart beat kinda fast as he took another step. He stood above me, and his bare chest and overwhelming man presence inspired a whole lot of interesting thoughts. Until I thought of Crwys. In pain. A golden arrow in his chest. "No. Stop. Back off."

But he didn't back off. In fact, he moved fast and pressed his lips against mine before I could make another move. I stood completely still for a few seconds, unsure of what to do. On the one hand, it was a good kiss. And the wounded parts of me, the parts pining for affection, wanted this. On the other, this was a Lycan and could go from big and handsome to big and
hairy
pretty fast. But on the last hand…

I finally put my hands up and worked them between us, pressing against the warmth of his chest until I could get enough leverage to—

Bastien flew backward a second before I heard the link.

The link was severed and the pain of that abrupt end sent a sharp knife between my eyes. Bastien was in wolf form in seconds and tearing back through the woods. I scrambled behind him and started in the direction of the compound just as I heard Grey.

Sam! The Cairn!

I changed direction and headed toward the toadstools instead of the compound. I could feel the air charging with magic the closer I got. I could also hear screams and growling. I called my Elementals and they appeared with me. My Gnome charged out ahead with her axe as my Salamander became a fire bolt and wove a path through the trees.

When I got back to the clearing of the Cairn, I stopped in my tracks. Flashes of light in all the Elemental colors illuminated the woods. Hooded figures dashed between trees as they fired off red bolts of magic. Some of them were aimed at Dharma and Ivan hiding behind a large clump of trees. The two of them were protected by a sphere of protection, visible as the oppressor's fire lit up the otherwise invisible shield. Dharma was giving as well as she was getting. It looked to be a stalemate.

My Gnome attacked the closest hooded figure, catching it in the back of the legs with her axe. The guy yelled out and when he went down on his knees, all manner of leafy, viney things shot out of the loamy earth and wrapped itself around his neck, his face, his arms and his legs, and pulled him
into
the ground where his screams came to an abrupt end.

Sweet Lady!

My Salamander set one of them on fire. The guy became a human torch as he ran around the woods, setting dried brush on fire. Luckily, my Undine went behind him and doused those flames just as quickly. My Sylph attacked the one gaining ground on Dharma and Ivan and blasted him backward into a tree.

"There's an Elemental Witch here!" someone shouted.

"Kill the Elemental!"

And then
I
became the target.

-
Fight!-

I raised my hand and summoned a sphere as fast as I could, made up of all the Elements but powered by my own energy as I pulled it from the earth beneath me. Their blasts of magic bounced off the red, sparkling exterior as I zeroed in on something to my right.

A tall man with broad shoulders, also dressed in one of the dark hoods, stepped out of the woods and stalked directly into the center of the Cairn. When he pulled a long, gnarled staff from inside his cloak and raised it, I realized what he was about to do. I recognized the staff was rowan wood and if he stabbed the middle of the Cairn, he would effectively shut it down. For good.

"NO!" I shouted and at that moment I lowered that shield, wrapped up that power and fired it directly into the bastard's chest. I got the distinct impression he didn't see that coming because he flew two times farther than my Sylph hurled his target. The staff clattered to the ground, and I dove into the Cairn and grabbed it.

"Sam! Don't touch it!"

I wasn't sure whose voice that was. But I heard it just as I reached for the staff. Another hand got to it before I did and snatched it away. Light blinded me as the edges of the Cairn lit up and the toadstools twinkled as if sprinkled with stars.

"Get her out of there!"

Someone grabbed me, wrapped powerful arms under my shoulders and lifted me off my feet. I was in the air and yelling out until we landed on a soft, if not damp, patch of loamy dirt. I caught my breath as I looked up into Bastien's face. He had blood splattered across his nose and cheek. He was sweating and breathing heavily. His canines were sharp and his eyes were still that of a wolf.

And he was naked.

"Êtes-vous bien?"

I stared up at him as I heard and felt the crack of something hitting the ground close by. A crisp, burnt odor filled the air as smoke moved above us. Someone cried, followed by the sound of running. Wolves growled and raced past as someone screamed.

I nodded to Bastien's question and tried to get up.

He kept me down as he sniffed the air. After what felt like hours, he moved back and gestured for me to stay down as he rose up like a prairie dog.

"Sam?"

That was Dharma's voice. I pushed myself up on my elbows, and then turned to my left side so I could peek up over the top of the grass line. That's when I saw it, lying prone and still just a few inches from where we hid in the grass.

A Boggart. The very one that spoke to me. His body was little more than a shriveled husk, his eyes burned away to staring hollows. Smoke drifted up from the charred remains, adding to the thickening fog around us.

A look to the other side of me and I saw another one. And a third. And as my horror made me braver, I moved up on my knees and spotted more of the corpses around the Cairn, until I was standing and looking at the smoking outer ring that had once been a circle of living, breathing creatures.

The toadstools were gone, shriveled away to nothing more than ash. And in the center of what had once been a Cairn, stood the gnarled staff. The grass around it was gone, and in its place remained a tough, glassy covering of obsidian.

"I…I don't understand," I heard myself say. "I…I had the staff."

"Yes. You did," said an all too familiar voice to my left. I whirled and spotted Edmund Blackwood by the edge of the obsidian Cairn. Still wearing his cloak and looking a bit mussed, though his hood was off and nestled at his shoulders. "That was quite a powerful spell, Miss Hawthorne. I see you've learned to incorporate your new Arcane talents with your Elemental ones. I find that interesting."

I balled my fists so hard my nails dug into my skin. "What the hell are you doing?"

He shrugged. "It's our job, isn't it? To prevent the Other Worlds from sneaking into our own?" he held out his hands. "You can't be upset about these wretched creatures, can you? They were little nightmares. The givers of bad dreams and fear."

"That didn't give you the right to murder them," I said through a tight jaw. I felt Bastien beside me, his presence reassuring.

"I didn't need a reason," he smiled. "But then, I'm not the one that held the staff."

When he glanced to his right, I looked at my left. Dharma was there, and I sensed Grey just as she came to me.

"Where is Ivan?" I stared at Dharma as she stumbled toward me, tripping over the Boggart bodies. "WHERE IS IVAN?"

Tears cleared lines down her dirt-smeared face. She held her left arm with her right. I saw blood. I smelled it. She'd been hit. But that didn't stop me from moving to her and grabbing her shirt. "Where is he?"