The Five Elements (40 page)

For a brief moment, Aaron thought that was it. That Shanna would laugh or at least giggle, then they'd run to each other, meeting halfway before exchanging stories about everything that had befallen them. But Shanna's smirk did not blossom into a full smile, but instead faded into an expression neutral, dispassionate, and—Aaron felt a wrenching in his gut—pained. For the first time, he noticed the blood staining the front of her robe and just how ashen her face looked. Also, he noticed that she was not entirely alone. Set close at her other side was a machine that in too many ways resembled Ansanom's extraction engine.

"I knew this place from before," she said. "I found it after you let me go."

Aaron's excitement at their reunion, already fading, plummeted at her words. He remembered their ordeal in the Underkeep all too well. Evidently, so did Shanna. "I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean for you to… it's just that… I couldn't hold on. I'm sorry."

"Oh, Aaron," Shanna said. Her head turned in that way that always made his heart flutter. The smirk almost returned to her lips. "I don't blame you." Shanna turned her back to him, so that she faced the depression. "I didn't know what it was at first. I thought it was just some stupid place where people used to do… whatever. But now… now, I know what it is."

"What do you mean?" Aaron asked, his own curiosity inching him forward. A sudden stare from Shanna, shot from over her shoulder, stopped him in his tracks.

"Don't come any closer, Aaron." Thunder rumbled overhead.

"Shanna," Aaron said, choosing his words carefully, "I don't know what Erlek told you—"

"You know about Erlek?"

"Yes. He's dead. We—I—killed him."

Shanna's gaze drifted back to the emanation of power. "Yes, I know. Erlek deserved to die. I would have killed him myself, but… . He used the Elements to destroy our home, Aaron. He was an evil man. I should have killed him. But, now, at least he's gone." Shanna turned. "Erlek wanted the Four Elements. But only because they are a key that unlocks an even greater power. He may have wanted the Four Elements, but he was always only ever interested in the Fifth."

Aaron's gaze narrowed. "Elsanar mentioned a fifth Element, but he never did more than that. When we told this to Ansanom, he claimed to know nothing about it. In fact, he tried to force information from us when…" Aaron swallowed. The memories were still too fresh. His pause gave Shanna the opportunity to smile knowingly. She knew what the Fifth Element was. He saw in her face that she would tell him whether he asked or not. He chose to ask. "What is the Fifth Element?"

Shanna spread her arms wide. "Everything around you. The rock beneath our feet. The sky above us. The falling stars we used to wish upon from the top of Graggly's Tower." She stepped away from the glowing depression, her voice taking on new enthusiasm as she went on. "It is the birds we—I—used to try to hit with a sling. The whales we spied from Regrok. The leaves on the trees and the wind sweeping through our hair and the waves of the ocean. The Fifth Element is everything, Aaron. Everything!" She paused, looking out over the edge of the mountain. "And, now, it's mine."

"Yours?" Aaron was still trying to digest her words when her last statement bubbled up to the top of his thoughts. Erlek may have started this, but Shanna meant to finish it. "This isn't right, Shanna. You don't know—"

"Don't know what I'm doing? I know
exactly
what I'm doing."

"Shanna, if you're right about the Fifth Element, if it is what you say, it's more fundamental than how you described it. It's energy. Earth energy. You're right, it's what Erlek wanted. But it's not what he was truly after."

"What? Why do you say that? He wanted the Fifth Element. I know he did."

"Yes, but if that was all he wanted, why construct this engine?"

Shanna glanced at the great metallic thing. "How do you know about that?"

"Because Erlek was working with someone who had one just like it."

"Do you know how it works?"

Aaron turned away. Not because he meant to discard Shanna's question, but because, finally, the pieces were falling together.

"Answer me!"

The ground beneath Aaron's feet shook so that he felt compelled to turn to her.

"Shanna, how did you learn you were a descendant of Tarn Galangaul?"

That stopped her from saying anything.

"It doesn't matter. After the attack, we fled from the city. Ensel Rhe and I. We were pursued, Shanna, by dogs. They were led by a master. They were trying to kill me. They almost did."

Shanna screwed her face in a look of puzzlement. "Why would anyone send dogs after you?"

"Because the ones who sent them thought I was you. They weren't really trying to kill
me
. They were trying to kill
you
."

"What are you talking about, Aaron? If this is some sort of trick—"

"No! It's not a trick. Don’t you see? It all finally makes sense. Erlek was the one who attacked Norwynne. Ansanom hired the assassins. But
they
summoned the dogs. After all this time, they're still hunting the elementalists and their descendants. They thought I was one of them. Probably because I was Elsanar's assistant. But, you…" Aaron saw that he had Shanna's attention, at least for the moment. "They wouldn't have noticed you. You wouldn't have caught anyone's attention. You were—"

"Nobody?"

"No! That's not what I was going to say. You were hidden from them. Inconspicuous. They wouldn't have known about you. So instead they sent the dogs after me."

"Aaron, what are you talking about?"

Aaron wasn't listening. "They wanted me—you!—dead. When Erlek attacked, there was too much confusion or else they knew I'd fled, so they summoned the hounds. I always assumed it was Erlek who'd sent them, but I was wrong."

Aaron saw that none of this was making sense to Shanna and that she was quickly running out of patience.

"Aaron, I have no idea what you are talking about. You keep speaking as if I know who 'they' are, but—"

"The druids."

Shanna went silent.

"'They' are the druids, Shanna. They've had unfinished business with the elementalists for five hundred years now. They must have learned how to alchemically prolong their lives just like Erlek. Prolong their lives so they could wait."

"Wait for what?"

Aaron took in a breath and held it. He exhaled slowly. "For Erlek to find the Elements. They couldn’t find them themselves, but they must have known Erlek was searching for them. While Erlek spent his time looking for the Elements, the druids searched for Tarn's remaining descendants. They must have killed them, one-by-one, until you were one of the only ones left. Of course, they were trying to kill me, which would have then left only Erlek's apprentice. Once Erlek had the Elements, they'd kill him, and Erlek too. But they would have needed someone close. Once Erlek's apprentice had all four of the Elements, it would be far too dangerous to just…" Aaron stopped. He looked at the dark splotch front and center on Shanna's robe. "Shanna, what happened?"

Shanna looked down, inspecting the stain. As she lifted that part of the robe, Aaron just saw the paleness of her skin through the knife slit at the center of the fabric. "Mirna happened, that's what. She tried to kill me."

"She was one of them, too, then. A druid, or a servant of theirs. What happened to her?"

Shanna inhaled sharply. "She's dead. She tried to kill me—to stop me!—so I killed her instead." There was sadness, perhaps remorse, in her tone.

"Shanna—"

"She wasn't the only one," she said in nearly a whisper. Her whole body slumped then, and in that moment she suddenly seemed more vulnerable than Aaron had ever seen her before. "I didn't want to Aaron, but they wouldn't stop. I told them to just go away, but they came here, just like you, and tried to stop me."

It was Aaron's turn to express confusion. "Who tried to stop you?"

Shanna didn't say anything right away. Instead she turned her gaze from him to stare out across the fiery sky. The winds whipped her hair about her face. She grabbed hold of it, keeping it still with a single clenched fist. "I always thought I was meant for the Underkeep. That someday I'd be as worn out as Nora, walking around with a hunch and a limp and burns from the hot oils she used to make me stir. Everyone would know I was there, making their soap, but no one would ever visit. When I went aboveground, no one would look at me or even thank me. They did it to Nora and so they'd do it to me too." Shanna, letting go of her hair, allowed the wind to whip it about her face as she bowed her head. "They killed Nora, Aaron. Threw her to the ground and stuck a spear in her. There were others…" A pause. "Corrin. Erlek sucked him dry. Used him up. I didn't know what they were doing to him, I swear, but I found him after." She shuddered. "Poor Corrin," she whispered.

"Shanna…"

"I'm sorry, Aaron. I warned them, but they wouldn't stop." She sighed, looking not outward now but inward. Ruins of the keep were there, limned in flame, but there was nothing else. "I warned them."

Aaron followed the line of her gaze, not entirely sure at first what he should be focusing on. He had to blink and look twice before he realized what was missing. Ellingrel. It was gone. No, only obscured, Aaron tried to tell himself. Yet there stood what remained of Lord Vuller's keep. Right next to it, rising into the sky, should be… Aaron's knees went weak. The Tower wasn't there. Aaron turned to Shanna. "What happened to Rufia and the other apprentices? What happened to…?" Aaron, remembering all of the people who'd come to the Tower seeking refuge, looked on Shanna with a look of horror he made no attempt to hide.

She took a step away from that look. "I…" she started to say, but then fell silent. Remorse and regret played out across her features. She looked at Aaron, a silent plea reflected in her eyes. She'd stepped over a precipice, Aaron knew, but hadn't hit bottom yet. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe there was still time to throw her a rope. But with the empty space where Ellingrel once stood blotting out all other thought, he simply stood there and offered nothing.

It was Serena, who'd hung back listening, who caused Shanna's stare to sharpen as she came to stand next to Aaron. In an instant, Shanna's mood changed. Her features darkened, her lips grew tight, and her hands, hanging loose at her sides, clenched into fists.

"Who's this?" Shanna asked.

Aaron glanced sidelong at Serena. Aaron saw the trembling in her shoulders and in the line of her jaw. But she'd stepped forward to remind Aaron of why they'd come. She’d fought back her own fear to lend him what strength she had left.

"This is Serena," Aaron said. "She's—"

"Why are you here, Aaron?"

Aaron felt Serena's hand slip into his. The gesture did not go unnoticed by Shanna, whose stare darkened further. The ground trembled again.

Aaron took a deep breath. "We came to stop Erlek's apprentice. We—I didn't know it was you."

"I'm not Erlek's apprentice. I never was. So just go away. Go back to—"

"Go back to where? Where am I supposed to go, Shanna?
This
was my home. This was
our
home."

"No. This hasn't been my home for a long time. Erlek may have been an evil man, but he showed me who and what I truly am. I'll never go back to being what I was. I'll never go back to being nothing."

"You were never nothing, Shanna! Not to me!"

"What about everyone else?" Anger lit her face. "You don't know what it was like! How they looked at me! How they treated me!"

"There isn't anyone else, Shanna! You saw to that. Everyone is gone!"

"No, not everyone," Shanna said. "Some escaped. Go to them, Aaron. Please."

Aaron stayed put.

"You can't stop me."

Aaron swallowed. She was right. His plan had been simple: turn the pack loose, let them kill Erlek's apprentice just as they'd slain Erlek himself. Aaron felt the hounds even now, prowling the periphery, waiting to be summoned. But after what they'd done to Erlek… Aaron couldn't stand to watch them tear Shanna apart like that. He doubted how effective they might be against her, anyway. She was much more powerful than Erlek had ever been and would probably brush them aside as if they weren't there. Aaron suddenly felt tired, exhausted. So much had happened, and for what? He shouldn't have had a part in any of this. He was neither sorcerer, druid, nor elementalist. At best, he was nothing more than an alchemist.

"I know, Shanna," Aaron said. "I know I can't stop you. But I also know I don't have to. The druids are coming, Shanna. They're coming to finish things."

"How do you know that? Did you tell them where to find me? Did you bring them—"

"No! I already told you. They tried to kill me. Why would I help them? Ending this—keeping anyone from gaining control of the Elements—has been their purpose for five hundred years. That's why they're coming."

There was enormity in his words, a weight that settled on Shanna's shoulders and almost appeared to weigh her down. But she shook the effect off. "It doesn't matter. Let them come. You said it yourself. They no longer have any powers. They can't stop me."

"Yes, they can. We're standing on a Nexus, probably a very powerful one. The druids may have lost their powers, but they discovered a method to regain them. They were alchemists. They found a way. Erlek did. So did Ansanom. Shanna, this has already happened once. Five hundred years ago, the druids confronted the elementalists. They had the Elements and they were still defeated. The elementalists were once druids. If they were stopped, what chance do you have?"

That gave Shanna pause as she chewed at her lip.

"There's another way, Shanna," Aaron said. "Let them have the Elements. It's the only thing they've ever wanted anyway. Let the druids have them. End this. After that, they'll leave us alone. They'll destroy the Elements like they always wanted and then they won't have any reason to come after either of us. It will all be over."

Quiet, Shanna considered it. At least Aaron thought she did until, without warning, her features twisted in anger.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you, Aaron?"