The Five Elements (36 page)

"Kill me and you'll never find the last Element!" Erlek screamed into the wind.

"I don't care!"

Fire sprang to life all around her, surrounding her in a sheath of twisting flame and death.

Shanna's approach was matched step-for-step as Erlek backed away from her.

"Why did you kill him? Why did you have to kill any of them? You didn't have to!"

"But I did! I did what had to be done! Look into your soul—look!—and tell me you think differently!"

Erlek's back came up against one of the Empyrean pillars. His eyes, darting back and forth, searched for some escape. The sitheri struggled to return to him, but their every step was hindered by gale force winds. Erlek pressed himself against the pillar, every bit of distance keeping him alive a little longer. "Kill me and you'll never know the Elements' true secret! You'll never find the last!"

"I don't care about the Element of Water!"

"No! Not water!" Tongues of flame just licked the sweat from Erlek's brow. "Not water!" He closed his eyes, the features of his face squashed in anticipation of the pain. His mouth never stopped moving. "Water is the fourth! But there is another! There is a fifth! The Fifth Element!"

Shanna stopped. "You're lying," she said. "There are only
four
Elements. Even I know that."

"No." The edges of the savant's jacket smoldered. The oculars of his mask twisted as the flames melted them. "There are five: Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and one more. It lies at a place called Crusus Kirth. Crusus Kirth, where once stood the place you knew as Norwynne Keep!"

The wind and flame assaulting Erlek diminished just enough for the man to exhale a full breath. His next words came out in a flood.

"It required awakening. In the days of old, places such as Crusus Kirth were tended by the druids. It is a Nexus—a place of power where brims the very power of Uhl. But such places require rejuvenation, sacrifices. Life to restore life. Don't you see? It was the only way. The blood of Norwynne's people returned life to Crusus Kirth. Awakened it! Now, it waits only for the return of the Four Elements, for it was there they were created long ago by the elementalists." Erlek paused to take breath. "I have a machine…"

The winds died further. The flame diminished to a flickering around Shanna's person.

"Yes?"

"Come with me to Crusus Kirth," Erlek said, his words running across dry and blistered lips. "Come with me and all will be explained."

Shanna let the Element of Fire dry the tears from her cheeks. This wasn't the end. The deaths of those who'd been taken prisoner and either slaughtered or used up would not go unanswered if she waited just a little longer to kill Erlek. She'd have her revenge. If she let Erlek live just a little longer, she'd have everything.

The winds evaporated. The flames disappeared.

"Take us there, then," she said.

Erlek bowed. His eyes, full of fear, anger, and something more sinister, never left Shanna's.

"Of course. But first, I have a rendezvous to make."

F
LAMING DEBRIS FELL LIKE RAIN around Aaron, Ensel Rhe, and Serena while heat from the furnace that Wildemoore had become blasted their backsides. Aaron, who huddled on the ground with his arms over his head, dare not remain so a moment longer, for in that microcosm of a moment right before Ansanom's manor had exploded, he'd seen the houndmaster coming for them.

Coming for
him
.

Still
coming, Aaron saw as he raised his head to see that the blast had done nothing to slow the houndmaster's advance.

Aaron pushed himself away from the others, who were unmoving, and tried to rise. But quivering legs would not support him, and his whole body shook as echoes of the explosion coursed through him so that he had to crawl on hands and knees. There was nowhere to go. Ahead, tongues of flame from Wildemoore's burning wreckage licked the sky. Behind, twin embers from beneath that terrible horned helm burned into him. Aaron need not turn to see those eyes, for he
felt
them, singeing his skin, burning him, causing him pain. So much pain he almost found himself unable to do anything but writhe upon the ground. He managed to roll to his back though, just in time to see the demon with his butcher's blade standing over him. Ember eyes flared, and Aaron, unable to stand the pain any longer, cried out.

Pain.

He realized he’d not truly experienced it until now. Pain wasn't a simple cut or bruise. It wasn't the name-calling he'd endured, or the bullying, or even the isolation of not fitting in. Real pain was watching someone you loved slip away without being able to stop it from happening. Real pain was seeing your home laid waste, witnessing the deaths of so many, then being chased across Uhl for reasons that made no sense. Real pain was betrayal. Aaron had endured all of it. He had survived, but only because of others. Now, those others were gone or debilitated. There was nothing separating him from what came next. Nothing except for the charm given to him by the witch, Ursool.

Aaron's hand went to the tooth that still hung about his neck. By reflex, his hand shot away, for
it
was the source of his sudden pain. A shocked instant passed before he grabbed hold of it again. This time he ignored the sensation stabbing into him. He saw right away it was stained with blood.
His
blood, from the wound on his hand that still oozed. He'd touched the tooth down in the laboratory once he'd been freed and again as they'd run up the stairs to escape before the extraction engine exploded. But though the houndmaster had stood nearly this close to him before, the tooth had previously remained inert. The difference now was Aaron's blood coating the smooth, enameled surface and mixed with the dark stain that had already been there since he'd received the charm from Ursool. The witch had called the tooth a middling charm. Though Aaron had puzzled over the distinction before, only now did he grasp its full meaning. Blood was the activating agent and the tooth was a middling—a connecting medium—between two entities. Those two entities were Aaron and Krosus. But the connection had not been completed between them. Not yet.

Realization alone would not sway Krosus's sword and so his blade fell. Aaron scrambled away, just avoiding it. As the houndmaster readied his weapon for another attack, Aaron jumped into a crouch, then leaped at him. Holding the tooth like a knife, he slashed Krosus's unprotected thigh even as he squirmed between the demon's legs. Aaron kept moving, putting some distance between them before he finally stood. As he turned, he held the tooth up, elated and dismayed at the same time to see the demon's blood mixed with his own. Krosus's crimson eyes flared. The sword drew back and the hounds, who thus far had been content to let their master complete their task, grew unsettled. They were behind Aaron, cutting off escape. It didn't matter. Aaron wasn't running anymore. He held the tooth before him as if it were a knife and waited for whatever came next.

What came next was nothing. Krosus and his hounds stopped.

Aaron let out a slow breath, wondering if any sudden movement of his might undo what he had just done. He took another breath, realizing for the first time how thunderous his heart beat in his chest. Though several of the dogs pawed at the ground and whined with steaming breaths, there was no untoward movement from either them or their master.

"Put your sword away," Aaron said, testing the effect of the Joining.

Aaron saw the defiance. Though the tooth put the two of them on common ground, there remained a battle between them. Physicality had been removed. Witchcraft ruled now, as did the mind. Krosus resisted the command, but in this, a battle of sheer will, Aaron was the stronger. Krosus had no choice but to yield. He sheathed his sword. The dogs, with heads bowed and tails tucked, moved to stand in a crowd behind Krosus. Illuminated by the fires that still consumed Wildemoore, they waited.

Ensel Rhe and Serena had risen. They kept their distance from the pack as they approached Aaron.

"What has happened?" Ensel Rhe asked. The eslar's khatesh was drawn, but the blade hung in a tired, weakened grasp.

"I've taken control of the dogs and their master."

Ensel Rhe's silence expressed his puzzlement. Then, with the pragmatism of a soldier, he accepted the explanation and said, "Tell them to go away then."

"Yes," Aaron said. He'd send them so far away they'd spend the remainder of their existence getting there. "That's a good—"

"Tsk, tsk. A shame to leave such a valuable item just lying about."

The words slithered in from the dark, silencing Aaron and drawing the attention of everyone present, including Krosus and his hounds.

A thin-framed man clad in earthen robes appeared from beyond the halo of fire consuming Wildemoore. Erlek Abn Nee stepped down from a small flying contraption to set foot upon the scorched earth. He stood unmoving for a moment, arms held at his sides. Then the blaze engulfing Wildemoore flared, its light shining across the distance to illuminate the top of the man's balding head. His full attention was on something at his feet. Something which he stooped to pick up before he straightened and stepped forward into the light.

"Do you ever wonder why sorcerers choose such remote locales in which to build their homes?" he asked, gesturing with his free hand at the dark wilderness around them. His other remained at his side, cradling the urn that held the Element of Water. "Because there are places on Uhl imbued with a special connection to the forces beneath, above, and all around us. Nexuses, they are termed. Potent repositories of the energies which govern our world." Steel gray eyes studied what remained of Wildemoore Manor. "Ansanom built his home—which appears to have come to an untimely end—upon one such locale. He thought it might provide the spark his research needed. Perhaps it would have. But that matters little now.

"We met a handful of years ago, when Ansanom wooed me to his home with promises of knowledge. Useless knowledge, I might add, but he never knew that. Ultimately, when our business was concluded, I meant to kill him." He smiled, light from the burning fires reflecting from his fake teeth. "While I see you have taken care of that task for me, it falls to me to deal with the rest of you." Erlek's free hand, already slipped into his robe whilst he spoke, emerged holding a small vial. A flick of his thumb sent the vial's stopper spinning end over end to the ground. Then, without warning, he threw his head back and downed its full contents. When he was finished, he tossed the empty vessel aside. "Its effects are not long lasting," he said as a wave rumbled through the ground deep beneath their feet, "but here, at the Nexus of Simion"—Erlek's free arm extended from his side to lift to the sky—"with five hundred years of knowledge at my command"—winds came to life, swirling around him, lifting him—"the power of the druids is mine!"

Ensel Rhe was moving before Erlek's feet had left the ground, but it was too late. He made it three steps, then, as if leaden weights had been attached to his legs, he ground to a halt. In moments, it was all he could do to remain standing.

"'Tis a little known fact," Erlek said, "that the flesh contains an abundance of water. Made more dense, one might find themselves in a predicament similar to your own." Erlek laughed. In response, the clouded sky cracked with thunder and split with lightning. His gaze passed over Aaron as if he weren't there, moving instead to fix on Serena. "Shall you try your sorcery against me, girl? Eh?"

Serena's stance was neither one of challenge nor defiance. The girl was frozen with fear.

"I thought not," Erlek said, his gaze darting to Krosus and his pack. Lightning flashed across the sky as he spoke to them. "Finish your task and begone. Already, I tire of your slavering jowls."

As one, the pack's attention settled on Aaron. But neither Krosus nor the hounds made a move toward their prey. Aaron watched them with uncertainty, his breath catching in his throat as he wondered what they might do. When they did nothing, Aaron finally found his courage bolstered enough that he raised his voice to be heard over the rising howl of the wind. "They won't listen to you!"

"Eh? What's this?" Erlek's gray eyes settled on Aaron. "What's that you say, boy?"

Aaron almost blanched under that gaze as a splash of cold fear took hold at the base of his spine. The old Aaron would have succumbed to it. This Aaron clenched his fists and the mounting dread vanished as if smacked with a hammer. "They listen to
me
now."

"Really?" He wondered at that for a moment, but did not contest the claim. He shrugged. "I suppose it matters little. Once, it was you I thought important. The fact of the matter is that you are really not that important at all."

"Not that important? You summoned the dogs to hunt us down." Aaron remained unaware that it hadn’t been Erlek at all who’d summoned the hounds. "You destroyed my home! You—You killed my friend!" Aaron clenched his fists tighter despite the pain the wounds there caused him. He wanted to leap up, drag the man back down to earth, and pummel him over and over until he admitted that he, Aaron, was the most important person on the face of Uhl. Aaron had no such notion of self-importance, but why else would the savant have done all of those things to him? Even now, Aaron didn't want to admit he had known the answer to that question for some time. That it had all been a case of mistaken identity was too easy, too heartbreaking. But there it was. Erlek had done all he'd done because he thought Aaron was someone he was not. There probably hadn't been anyone even distantly related to Tarn Galangaul residing at Norwynne. How could Erlek, who'd spent five hundred years hunting down and finding treasures lost to the world, have been so wrong?

There wasn't any more time for conjecture on the matter as Erlek's free hand came up. Aaron started to step away, but he remembered the hounds so close behind and stopped. The hounds, whining, growling, and snapping, returned the stare he threw over one shoulder. They no longer looked at him with hunger in their eyes. Now, they looked at him in anticipation. Winds swirled around him. He felt his body lifting, turning. With all his breath, Aaron shouted at the pack to attack.