Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (21 page)

“
Hawkins, it's time to go,” Sarah whispered, jaw clenched. The
atmosphere in the room turned ugly as men began rising from their
chairs, making fists and blocking exits. Sarah reached out and
roughly shook Ezra's shoulder, snapping him back to his
senses.

His eyes darted around the room. “We're not
getting out of here unnoticed,” he said quietly. “And probably not
until they've dealt with...that.” Ezra gestured to the man being
backed up against the bar counter as men slowly advanced on him,
murder in their eyes. “We can escape in the confusion afterward.”
Sarah made a sound like she disagreed, but Ezra pressed on. “Mat,
can you see what's going on in that room? Or get us some sound? It
could be important.”

“
We are not getting involved with a water-seer, Hawkins,” Sarah
hissed hotly, fingers digging into his shoulder.

“
Please!” Ezra begged. “The more information we know about
water-seers and the others the better prepared we can be; the
closer we can get to really understanding them! We're in no more
danger right now than anyone else in this room, aside from your
friend over there. What are research teams for if not
this?”

Sarah leaned back in her chair, stunned by
the passion in his voice. Mat made a few noncommittal noises then
sighed. “All right Ezra, I'll get a beam on the little window back
there and patch you in. Can't see inside, but you should be able to
hear what's going on.”

“
Thanks, Mat.” Ezra said, staring down the grain of the table.
Sarah shook her head and finished the last of Ezra's cider, turning
to glare broodingly out the window.

“
...her hands on him mama?” Kelly's voice suddenly came through
the communicators, almost hysterical. “Make her stop papa, she's
hurting him!”

“
Hush child!” Mrs. Wellward snapped, “she'll help your brother,
you'll see.” Kelly began to weep quietly

Tables and chairs scraped across the floor
as more of the inn's angry patrons moved to ring in the doomed man
at the bar.

“
Yes, I can see how this would be beyond the skill of a local
medicine man.” The water-seer's calm tones came through over the
little girls' crying. “He will be dead within the week.” She said
it with no feeling - no anger or compassion - just stating a fact.
Sarah shivered as she watched the rain run down the
glass.

“
Oh please, you must help my Daniel. Please lady seer I beg
you!” Mrs. Wellward's desperate voice cried.

“
There will be a price,” the seer said. “You know
this.”

“
Yes, yes anything my lady! Just save him, please!”

“
For the life of one boy, given back beyond his time, I will
take...” the calm, passionless voice paused as if considering. Ezra
held his breath. The con man tried to inch away from the angry mob,
kicking a stool at an assailant as he scrambled up onto the bar. It
was caught and set harmlessly aside.

Something almost satisfied entered the
water-seer's voice. “The girl.”

Sarah swore softly under her breath. “What
does she...” Ezra began, feeling the blood draining from his
face.

“
She will travel with me for as long as she is fit. She will be
expected to rise before me in the morning to prepare for the road.
I will suffer no backtalk or lazing about. I will see to it that
she is fed and watered, provided she does exactly what she is told
when she is told to do it. She will not need any possessions or
trinkets to accompany her, as we have a long way to travel and will
be moving quickly. I will see to her dispensation if I find her
services...wanting. I'm sure she'll fetch a fine price at the
marketplace in Eastpoint if there are any problems.”

Virtual
slavery
, Ezra thought numbly,
with sale into actual slavery if Kelly
disappoints her
.

“
They wouldn't...” Mat gasped in shock.

“
Mama no,” the girl whispered, terrified.

“
Surely... surely you can't mean... there must be something...”
Mrs. Wellward's voice was hopeless and forlorn, a woman faced an
impossible choice.

“
I
have named the price for the boy's life. You have until I leave in
the morning to decide.” Sounds of movement, then the door opened a
crack, only to be slammed shut again.

“
Ungh,” Mr. Wellward's grunt sounded defeated, as if his
dearest hopes had been shattered. Mrs. Wellward made a horrible
whimpering noise as she began to weep again.

“
No, papa, no,” Kelly breathed. She began sobbing again, her
voice rising in hysteria. “Please mama, I'll be good, I'll do as
I'm told and never talk back and help with-”

She was cut off with a strangled sound. “Be
silent, girl, and thankful for your brother's life.” The seer's
cold voice was a quiet, harsh reprimand.

Ezra felt his fingernails biting into his
palms and realized his hands were clenched into tight fists. “We
can't let her-”

“
Change what you can, Hawkins,” Sarah interrupted him. “And
accept what you can't.” Her face was pale, knuckles white where she
gripped her mug.

“
Bad things happen.” Mat recited his mantra, resignation in his
voice.

They heard more movement in the room, and
Ezra felt hope rising within him. Surely they would come to some
other arrangement. Surely they couldn't do that to their own
daughter. There was a brief rustle of clothing, perhaps the sound
of a hug, then Mr. Wellward came back into the room, head bowed as
he rubbed at his eyes and shut the door behind him. Ezra stared at
the big man in mute horror.

“
She'll probably-” Mat cleared his throat. “She'll get to see
the world, Ezra. Just like she wanted. Water-seers go all over,
they're welcomed everywhere.”

“
As a slave.” Ezra felt numb as he whispered back. “She'll see
the world as a slave.” He wanted to scream in
frustration.

A gasp came through over the sound of Mrs.
Wellward's grief, then a deep, ragged breath being drawn. “There,”
the water-seer said in her infuriatingly calm voice. “I'll collect
the girl in the morning, after I've rested. Please see that she is
fed and ready for travel. We won't be stopping until we've reached
the skyports at Eastpoint. I will review her performance upon
arrival and either keep her on or put her up to auction. I will
need-”

A gunshot rang out in the bar, pulling
Ezra's attention back to what was happening in front of him. The
gangly man had jumped up onto the counter, his bandages pooling
around his feet, greasy hair hanging limp over his wild eyes. The
crowd that had pressed him was suddenly scrambling back, angry
mutters hushed. In his hand he held what looked like an antique
revolver. Jenna Haldis leaned heavily against the counter beside
him, red hair mixing with blood as she clutched her shoulder and
made piteous, mewing sounds.

“
Everyone, just stand back!” he snarled at the crowd. “You'll
stand back if you know what's good for you!” Ezra felt Sarah tense
beside him.

“
His head's obscured behind the wall,” Mat reported in a
clinically detached voice. “There are too many people around him
for a safe shot without visual, and the freaking contact is between
me and his legs. I have no shot.”

“
Yes,” the man sneered, “I posed as a wind-scarred because
that's what you trash would understand.” He drew himself up,
posturing grandly. “However! I am actually from...” he let the
tension build with a dramatic pause, “the Forbidden City!” He
brandished his pistol in the air. Out of the corner of his eye,
Ezra saw Sarah slowly drawing her gun from its hidden shoulder
harness. “You thought us a myth, a tale to frighten your children
at night. But we are real!” His voice shrilled harshly. “Real! And
we will have our vengeance!” His gaze was lit feverishly as he
scanned the room for an appropriate target of said vengeance. It
finally came to rest on the girl at his feet. She stared up at him,
eyes wide with terror and glistening with tears, slowly shaking her
head in disbelief. “Behold the might of our technology!” He pointed
the gun down at Jenna Haldis as she tried to squirm
away.

The water-seer chose that moment to re-enter
the room. Everyone, including Sarah, Ezra and the lunatic with the
gun, turned to stare at her. She glanced up, unfazed, all-blue eyes
calmly taking in the situation. The madman began to reorient the
weapon on her, eyes gleaming with hatred. “You strucking-”

That was as far as he got. Faster then Ezra
would have believed, the cloaked woman had crossed the room and
vaulted onto the counter, a blur of blue and gray. Her hand flashed
by the cup of water she had filled earlier, knocking it over and
pulling the liquid that remained along with her, forming it into a
blade as she streaked toward the lanky man. With a flick of her
wrist, the water lashed out, cleanly removing the man's thumb and
trigger finger along with the top of the gun. He gave voice to a
strangled shriek as she closed on him and lightly touched two
slender fingers to his throat. Instantly the man made a choking
sound, his body going rigid. With just the two fingers still
resting just above his collarbone, the seer lifted him as if he
weighed nothing. Some part of Ezra's mind cataloged the information
away, noting that his life expectancy would be dramatically reduced
if a water-seer ever touched him.

The elementalist cocked her head to one
side. “You say you're from the Forbidden City? Extraordinary.” She
regarded him as if he were a particularly interesting insect. “I
don't believe I've ever killed one of you before. I wonder what
your life is worth. Tell me, are you alone?”

Abruptly the man let out a gasp, the ability
to breathe returned to him. Ezra almost felt sorry for the failed
con man, clearly thrust into a situation he could not handle. He
had claimed credit for a tragedy and taken advantage of a village
too shocked to do anything about it. Without a doubt, he was a
monster, but before the indifference of the water-seer, he was less
than a bug. The man looked wildly around the room, but no-one would
meet his frantic gaze. His eyes shifted past Ezra and landed on
Sarah, desperate hope lighting them. Ezra could almost hear the
thoughts clicking together in the man's mind. She was brave and
clever! She had stood up to him, figured it all out! Someone like
that might even find a way to save him, someone like that
could...something evil slid over the his features, a crazed smile
spreading across his face. Ezra glanced back to see Sarah's eyes
widen as she realized what was going through the doomed man's head.
“Oh, struck me,” she whispered in horror.

“
Them!” he shouted as loudly as he was able, gesturing directly
at Sarah and Ezra with the bloody mess that was his hand. “Those
two came after me! From the Forbidden City!”

The water-seer turned
toward them, deep blue orbs singling them out across the crowded
room. Her eyes narrowed on Sarah, frozen with her gun halfway out
of its shoulder harness. She released the madly cackling man and,
almost as an afterthought, flicked her hand, sending out a scythe
of water that neatly slit his throat. Blood sprayed. A woman
screamed. The seer blurred as she flitted through the crowd, cloak
snapping every time she changed direction, no more hindered then if
the room had been empty.
So fast!
Ezra barely had time to think as he rose, motions
feeling sluggish, reaching for his sword.

Sarah, however, was ready. Leaning back in
her chair, she kicked the table onto its side between them and the
fast approaching elementalist, getting her gun clear of its holster
and shifting into a shooter's stance. There was a hiss and the
table split in two, a stream of liquid arching whip-like away from
it, still anchored to the seer's fingertips. Sarah's pistol barked
three times. A spurt of blood trailed from the water-seer's leg as
she bobbed and wove, dodging the second shot and catching the third
in a shield of water that quickly froze around the bullet, trapping
it in place. The ice immediately melted back to liquid, snaking out
and wrenching the gun from Sarah's hand. The elementalist's face
lit up with a triumphant smile.

Then the tip of Ezra's sword bit into her
face. The blade effortlessly slashed up through her nose, nicking
her left eyebrow. She jerked back, but Ezra's body moved forward
instinctively, pressing her with a follow-up thrust perfectly aimed
at her exposed throat. A dull shock ran through the blade and up
Ezra's arm. It felt like he had stabbed a wall. A thin trickle of
blood ran down the water-seer's hand, a millimeter or so of the
sword's tip embedded in her palm where she had barely managed to
catch his attack. Her lips spread in a feline smile as her tongue
languidly licked at the blood running down her face, her hand
wrapping around the sword's tip. Slowly, inexorably, the seer began
to twist the weapon from Ezra's hands. He felt a measure of the
hopeless panic he had seen in the dead man's eyes as he struggled
to hold on to his blade.

The water-seer's shoulder snapped abruptly
to the side, twisting her body away as another crack of thunder
rattled the windows. Or maybe that wasn't thunder this time...
“Crap, she's still up,” Mat muttered.