The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point (16 page)

“You guys don’t have to hang out with us all the time. I’m sure your friends are feeling left out,” she whispered to Evan and Cynthia, who were closest to her.

Evan laughed, and Cynthia scoffed. “You’re my friend too, and they’re welcome to join
us
,” Cynthia whispered back.

“Yeah,” Evan agreed fervently.

They seemed sure, so Phoebe didn’t press the matter. They settled down on the lowest tier where Evan and Cynthia squashed her in between them, and Dorian went to stand by Cassius. Apparently, they were the last to arrive, because as soon as Dorian stood beside him, Cassius began speaking.

“Welcome to the Annexus and the beginning of your training. Today you will not be participating, only watching. You will see demonstrations of what you’ll be able to do when your training is complete.”

Phoebe hadn’t noticed until that moment that they were sitting just in front of a group of particularly giggly girls. She could hear one of them whispering. “Look at him; he looks even better up close,” the girl said wistfully. Phoebe hoped she wasn’t talking about Cassius. She respected the man to be sure, but to think of him like
that
was just weird. This girl’s voice cut through her. There was something about it that Phoebe distinctly didn’t like. She realized she was being a little judgmental, though, so she put the thought out of her mind. Cassius stepped back to the opposite side of the room, and Dorian moved forward to speak.

“We are going to start our orientation today with the elves. Now, whether you will be training with them or not, we are going to show you what goes on here. For those of you who have grown up here, I am sure you won’t mind suffering through introductions.” His voice was harder, but Phoebe could tell it was just because he was addressing a large crowd.

The girls behind her were whispering again. “As long as he keeps talking, I don’t think we’ll be suffering.” This comment made Phoebe’s stomach twist in anger. They were talking about Dorian! The girls started giggling. Phoebe wasn’t sure why, but it was getting on her nerves. She turned to see who was behind her and saw that there were only three girls sitting there. How could only three girls make that much noise? A girl with long, blond, curled hair and a haughty look on her face appeared to be the leader of the three and the one so obviously infatuated with Dorian.

“Now these,” Dorian said, indicating the figures behind him, “are the five High Masters of the elves and as such will be your instructors, as will I.”

“Where do I sign up?” the girl with blond hair said once again followed by an outbreak of giggling. It seemed Phoebe was not the only one getting irritated by these girls; Cynthia and Evan both turned and glared briefly at them. Phoebe was sure she was the only one, though, who felt like ripping the blonde’s face off and stomping on it.

Dorian introduced the elves, and they each stepped forward in recognition of their names. “This is Brine, Piper, Brolan, Lorne, and Cole. We do have a large population of elves here, but the High Masters will take care of most of the training, with the others stepping in to assist and help with tournaments.”

Phoebe studied each of the elves as they stepped forward. Brine was the tallest of them with red hair and a scar on his left cheek. Piper was the only girl and also the shortest, with long, shining blond hair and pale skin. Brolan was broad-shouldered with dark eyes and black hair. Lorne had blond hair and limped slightly when he stepped forward. Cole had shining blue eyes, brown hair, and an exceptionally slender build. They all looked only a few years older than Phoebe, but she had a feeling they were much older than they appeared. After all, she was almost positive a position such as High Master required a lot of time and work to achieve.

Dorian paired off with Piper, getting ready to give a demonstration. “We are going to show you what training here can accomplish. For the first demonstration, I will not use any magic. We will square off simply on skill alone.”

“Like he would even need to use magic to beat that old rag.” This statement from behind Phoebe was once again followed by giggling.

Thunder sounded threateningly outside. What was going through her about those girls, she didn’t understand. She had dealt with girls like that all through her school years back at home, and it had never bothered her before. Still, with every passing comment, she was getting closer to violence.

She turned her attention back to Dorian and Piper as the other elves filed off the floor to join their group on the tiers. Dorian turned to Piper, and they each crouched into defensive positions. Phoebe felt the tension in the room as the two sized each other up. This wasn’t the first time they had scrimmaged, but Phoebe could tell neither one knew what to expect out of the other. Dorian was focused completely on Piper, taking in her every twitch, waiting for her to make her move. Phoebe could just faintly feel Piper’s concentration; she was as focused on Dorian as he was on her.

They circled each other before finally, sensing an opening, Piper lunged. If it were not for her perfect vision, Phoebe would never have been able to see what was going on. They moved so quickly and seamlessly, it would have been a blur to normal eyes. She could tell the elves were extremely well trained, which meant Dorian was just as good. Neither one was triumphing over the other.

They fought hand-to-hand for several minutes. Phoebe watched closely, taking in their movements, committing what she could to memory so she could use it later. Then, as quick as a flash, a sword was in Piper’s hand. The tension in the room rose. Dorian ducked and dodged several swings before getting in position to pull his own sword out. The room filled with the screeching of swords colliding. Still the action continued; neither one had an advantage over the other. After several more minutes, a whistle sounded and Dorian and Piper broke apart, breathing heavily.

Piper walked over to sit with the other elves, and Dorian bent over to catch his breath. Phoebe was amazed. She had taken self-defense and a few martial arts classes, but she had never seen anyone move like that.

“Can you imagine the muscles he must be hiding under that shirt?” More giggling. Phoebe’s stomach clenched again, and her teeth ground together. A loud clap of thunder sounded outside, and Phoebe saw Dorian’s eyes flicker toward her, concerned.

One of the giggling girls noticed Dorian looking in their direction. “He can’t keep his eyes off you, Kali.”

“Well, of course not. I’m the prettiest one here.”

Cynthia snorted, unable to stop herself. It didn’t go unnoticed by the girls.

Kali’s eyes flashed. “Who are you?” she demanded.

“Cynthia, and you?” Cynthia replied roughly, turning to face her.

“Kali.” Then, as an afterthought, she motioned to the girls on either side of her. “And this is Kara and Beth.”

“That’s nice,” Cynthia said before turning back around. Phoebe felt a savage pleasure at seeing Kali’s face turn red at being ignored.

Evan whispered quietly in her ear. “The Cove. I told you they make life difficult.”

Phoebe nodded as her jaw stayed clenched. She understood now, but there was something more about this girl, Kali. She had to restrain herself from throttling her. She could understand being irritated with her, she could even understand wanting to slap her, but wanting to cause her more pain than that?
What’s wrong with me?
Phoebe searched the emotions around her, hoping she was channeling someone else’s rage, but was disappointed to find that it was only hers.

Dorian had finally caught his breath and drank a goblet of water that a gnome had brought to him. Standing back upright, he turned to address the crowd again. One of the other elves, Brine, stepped out to the middle of the floor.

“In this next demonstration, I will be freely using my powers in addition to the hand-to-hand combat. If you have powers to use in addition to combat, it can greatly improve your fighting style and give you an advantage.”

Dorian turned to face his opponent, this time moving in first to begin the fight. Once again they moved so quickly it was hard to follow as the two engaged in combat. Then Dorian turned and disappeared into thin air. Brine paused as he tried to sense where Dorian had gone. Phoebe concentrated; Dorian was stalking around to stand behind Brine. Dorian reappeared behind him and caught him off guard, but only for a moment. Within a matter of seconds, Brine once again was a force to be reckoned with.

Dorian lifted his hands up and Brine froze. Dorian drew out his sword, raised his hand again, and put the sword to Brine’s throat. Brine unfroze, and though this fight had been a lot shorter than the first, it was clear the Dorian had won. Brine was in no position to grab his sword before he would be killed in a proper fight. The crowd seemed to let out a collective breath that none of them realized they had been holding.

Phoebe was again impressed by the skill both fighters had shown. Dorian turned to the crowd, not needing to catch his breath this time since the fight was over in less than two minutes.

12. Recount

Dorian again addressed the trainees gathered on the bleachers in the training room. “For those of you who don’t know my talents, I can cloak myself in invisibility and freeze time. I can also speed up time, which causes explosions, but I didn’t use it here for obvious reasons.”

Everyone laughed, knowing full well that if he had used that talent they would now be mopping up pieces of Brine from all over the room…which, on second thought, probably shouldn’t have been all that funny.

“Now you have seen how we teach you to use your talents to their fullest ability as well as what can be accomplished by training with the elves. Before you leave this room today, you will see what proper training and study can accomplish for your Elemental powers.”

Sapphire had long since curled up and fallen asleep in Phoebe’s lap. She hadn’t even noticed that Bree had also clamored over and was now sleeping beside Sapphire. Phoebe looked over at Evan, and he smiled at her.

“What can I say? He likes you. Looks like you’re going to have to get used to us hanging around,” he said, grinning as Phoebe rolled her eyes and smiled in return.

For the next hour and a half, the students listened to Dorian and other instructors explain what they could expect in training. It seemed like the basics: the rules and guidelines for using their powers inside the Haven and against each other, how they divided teams up for training and practice, etc.

On and on it went, with pieces of parchment being handed to each student. Most folded the papers up small enough to stick in their pockets and would probably never look at them again. Phoebe pocketed hers as well but with every intention of reading every line meticulously later. Still, even with all the information she wanted to know, after a while it was difficult to keep her attention from wandering, and time slipped by unnoticed as she took in her surroundings and the people in them.

Eventually, movement of a body across the room recaptured her attention, coupled with the observation that everything out on the floor had, without her notice, been moved somewhere else. She turned her attention back to Dorian, who had walked to the far side of the room and was now standing with his eyes closed. He raised his arms as a breeze stirred through the room. Within seconds, the breeze became a fierce wind, and Phoebe had to squint her eyes. Through the narrow slits of her lids, she saw a massive tornado beginning to form. The two companions in her lap awoke and clamored into a pocket on the jacket she was wearing. A full-fledged tornado was wending its way across the room and heading straight for them. It got closer and closer, and when it was less than ten feet away, Evan sheltered Phoebe under his arm as she closed her eyes.

The wind stopped and she looked out from under Evan’s arm. In place of the tornado, there were two shimmering shields. One was blue and one was green. Dorian walked back across the room. He was beaming. Both shields then disappeared once the threat had passed. Phoebe returned to an upright position, and Sapphire and Bree poked their heads out of her pocket.

“Now you have seen not only what I can do, but also what our Masters of Earth and Water can do.”

He had done it on purpose. He had sent the tornado toward them in order to evoke Ethan and Phoebe to use their powers. Ethan looked stunned. As far as Phoebe knew, that was the first time he had used his gift. She was happy for him; she knew he had been doubting his place here. Everyone around them was whispering, and now and then someone would stand up to get a better look at them. Phoebe could feel her cheeks turning red from all the attention. She would very much have liked to hide back under Evan’s arm.

Kali was behind them looking utterly unimpressed. She huffed before saying quietly to the other girls, “Like I couldn’t have done that.” Phoebe’s anger flashed again, so did the lightning.

Dorian turned back to the crowd at large. “Now, I don’t want any of you to worry. I know many of you are not in the First Order and are worried that you are unimportant. I don’t want any of you to feel that way. Every single person here matters, and no matter how you feel about your power, we will teach you to get the most out of it and to be an asset to our army. I believe lunch should be ready soon in the dining hall, if you all want to follow me down there. I will hand out your schedules after you’ve finished eating.”

The tiers around Phoebe groaned as people got to their feet and started to follow Dorian out of the room. Phoebe hurried forward a few steps to walk with him.

“That was amazing. How long did it take you to learn to fight like that?” she asked, falling into step beside him. The others hurried ahead a few paces to hear Dorian’s answer.

“Only a couple years of hard study. Of course, you all will be training at an accelerated rate, so it probably won’t take you as long.”

“Is it just Ethan and Phoebe who will be accelerated, or everyone?” Evan asked.

“Now that Phoebe and Ethan are here, everyone will be accelerated in order to be ready to go to battle when necessary.”