Elemental Shadowed by Helen Scott
15
Kai
The clang of the gate falling echoed in my head again and again, along with the news that Tessa had died. Dres and I had made our way back to the palace, and he had explained to the queen what had happened. To say she was unhappy was an understatement. That wasn't my problem though, oh, no. My problem was that my head wouldn't stop repeating those words.
The gate clanged in my head once more.
Dead.
Clang.
Dead.
Clang.
It was driving me mad.
"Why don't we spar to take your mind off... things?" Dres asked.
The damn zephyr was too observant even without his ability to read minds. I would never let him into mine, it held too many secrets for me to risk it. Even so, he seemed to know me better than most, and he knew I was agitated. I gave him a sharp nod and followed him down to the ring that was allocated for us to use our powers in.
The expression on his face from when he almost fell blinked across my mind. I'd never seen the other man look so terrified. Why he ever thought we would tell anyone of his slip up was beyond me, and if they all thought Tessa shit gold, then I didn't know why he doubted her ability to keep a secret. It was all too much for me to keep up with. All I knew was that I was barely keeping myself under control and needed to go back to Agartha soon.
"This would be a lot easier if you just admitted that you cared about her," Dres said as we stepped into the ring.
"Why the fuck would I care about her? She's a tool, the key. The only reason I'm even taking notice of her is because she is supposed to be the one thing that can save all of our lives." I was lying through my teeth and he knew it.
"Whatever, little flower," Dress called out as he took up a fighting stance.
Little flower? He knew that was an insult to my people. The man was purposefully trying to get me riled up, I knew it.
I'd let him have it, but not yet. For now, I'd batten down the hatches and prepare for the oncoming fight. We might just be sparring, but that didn't mean we held our punches all that much.
Neither of us had bothered to change. There was little point. It wasn't like enemies would wait for us to slip into something more comfortable before attacking.
Besides, we were in Atlantis. Their water was amazing for getting stains out of clothes. It was one of the few trade deals that Agartha had with them, laundry services in exchange for some of our plentiful farming land. We would grow whatever they asked for and even let a few select Atlanteans stay in Agartha to make sure that we were keeping up our end, which was why there were some Agarthans that lived in Atlantis to work with them on the laundry situation.
I flicked my wrist and a chunk of the ground sprang up, almost knocking Dres off balance. I wasn't fast enough though, because the jerk just flew over it. He and I were equally matched when it came to our manipulation abilities. Air and earth; we were in harmony and also forces that pushed against one another. Just like Finn and Griff were able to cancel each other out but also had similar abilities.
A tiny tornado sprang up in front of me, and I knew that if I wasn't able to react fast enough then it would have me on my ass. As I flipped a piece of rock up to shield me from the winds, I couldn't help but remember when I'd seen Griff and Tessa sparring the other evening.
At first, I thought he'd seriously hurt her, and my temper flared enough that I'd even opened the door to the room, but then I saw her trick, and the moment went from something that was just combat practice to something much more intimate. It was like the two of them had been resisting each other for too long, and just like a crack can spell doom for a dam wall, so did the small kiss that she placed on his lips.
I shook my head, trying to clear the confusing thoughts, but all that seemed to happen was a trip even further down memory lane as I remembered kissing her in the kitchen back at our house in her realm. The way she had said my name as I held her hands above her head was still burned in my ears.
Part of me couldn't help but wonder what things would be like if I'd followed my body's demands that night. Would I be down there with them? Could the ancient magic of the temple tell who had claimed her and who hadn't?
I knew she'd fucked both Finn and Griff, and for some reason it didn't piss me off. The only thing I knew was that I was much too tempted by her.
Another gust of air came, but this time I wasn't fast enough to deflect it and it knocked me on my ass. I landed with an oomph and a curse.
"Your head is stuck on Tessa. Get it back in the fight, or I'll win much too easily." Dres offered a hand to help me up.
I batted it away and manipulated the ground to push me back into standing. He was right. I pushed Tessa as far away from my mind as possible before I reached into the ground with my magic, sensing all the loose gravel and dirt I flung it all upward. There was too much there for Dres to block all of it, and though his dark eyes glared at me, I couldn't help but grin with satisfaction as he spat some dirt onto the ground.
Using my magic felt good. It had been much too long since I'd used it to any great extent. Even in the origin realm I had kept my use of it to a minimum, only utilizing it when it was absolutely necessary, like when we'd been heading to the portal.
The air around me cooled, and I knew the trick that Dres was using now; the idiot was going to try and suffocate me. A quick tap on my necklace and I had my bubble in place. The others always forgot that my people were the engineers. Without us the four realms wouldn't have ever known each other existed, which would have probably been for the best in truth, at least then we wouldn't have been able to try and kill each other.
"Dresden Cain," a voice called from behind us just as I was about to blast him with rocks again.
The two of us turned to find one of the palace guards standing there holding a scroll that could only come from the kingdom of Hyperborea, you know, since they were the only ones who used scrolls. Most of the other realms were a little more modern than that.
Dres walked forward and accepted the scroll, returning the bow that the guard gave him even though he didn't have to. He broke the wax seal and unrolled the fragile paper, his eyes darting back and forth as he took in whatever was important enough for someone to not only send a note through from the embassy but to send it through with enough urgency for a guard to leave his post to track us down and interrupt our sparring match.
"Well?" I impatiently asked as I watched the eyes of my brother in arms get wider while his eyebrows seemed to get lower and lower until they no longer appeared to be separate entities from his eyes.
The other man was silent for much too long, which only made my gut twist with anxiety even more. Tessa being gone I could only handle because I knew she was safe with Griff and Finn, I wasn't sure that I would be able to handle whatever made Dres scowl like that.
Whatever it was, it was about to be added to the shit pile I'd been managing since we turned up in Atlantis, and it was starting to get out of control. Even though I tried to keep an even keel most of the time this shit was really starting to try my patience.
"Hyperborea is falling into civil war." The words dropped like lead balloons into the room.
"What?" I asked, making sure I heard him correctly even though I knew I had.
"Apparently, Vayne Driscoll is gathering forces for an all-out attack on the queen?" Dresden sounded like someone had just told him Santa wasn't real. I mean none of our realms had anything like Santa, but we understood the concept.
"Who the hell is this Vayne guy and what makes him think he has the stones to rule?" The sweat from our sparring was starting to dry on my skin leaving me feeling dirty and sticky, something I hated, which was hilarious given that where I came from that was pretty much the constant state of things.
"He is claiming he has the bloodline to rule and is going to undo a lot of the shit that has been happening while I've been away. It seems, the queen has instituted martial law and is threatening to just start executing people who break it. Vayne wants to overthrow the crown in favor of an electoral system, which would basically throw our government into chaos. The people are starving, and riots are happening all across the country. Nowhere is safe and no one knows who to trust. My aunt is begging for me to come home to help her protect our family and her children since her husband was already executed for rebellious thoughts."
"Rebellious thoughts?"
"You know we can read each other minds. It's harder to keep my people out of my head than you'd think. The only reason you keep me out so effectively is not only because you're from Agartha but also because I don't want to invade your privacy like that." Dres sighed and slumped down onto a nearby bench as though holding himself up at that moment was just too much to ask.
"So, you all know what everyone is thinking all the time, and the queen is now executing people who don't think she's fit to rule?"
"That about sums it up."
"Shit," I murmured as I wiped my face down with the edge of my t-shirt.
"Exactly."
"What can we do?"
"Fuck if I know." The fact that Dres cursed told me exactly how upset he was.
"We need something big, something that would unite your people and distract them from the shit storm the ruling class is about to unleash on them," I said as I sat on the floor opposite him.
"The only thing I can think of is taking the key to them. It might be able to stall what’s happening and save lives in the process while we run back up for whichever side is in the right."
"You think the queen might be right in executing people for their thoughts?" I asked, I couldn't help the surprise showing in my tone.
"I'm not saying that, but she might have her reasons, and we need to find out what those are before we blindly back a side."
Ever the reasonable zephyr was our Dresden. "Well, what if we go there and run interference until Tessa and the guys get back? Then they can come and join us?"
He shook his head. "I wouldn't be able to concentrate until I knew Tessa was safe. It would be better if we waited for them and then went, so long as the queen allows us to leave."
"I'm sure she will, especially if you make it seem as though the new guy, Vayne, wants to side with the one realm people."
"He might. I honestly don't know. I'd only ever heard of him in passing before this."
"The queen doesn't though, does she?" Dres shook his head. "Okay so use that, she's a known quantity, whereas Vayne could go either way. Listen, we know that the queen doesn't want Tessa to leave until she has whatever it is she's supposed to find in Atlantis, right? But if she finds it while she's down in that weird hallway with Finn and Griff, then we might not even have to justify leaving to the queen. Let's just hold out hope that our little minx finds it and we won't have to worry about it." I sighed, hoping that speaking the words would manifest it into being. I ran my hand through my hair as I looked at the ground just in front of my feet. What a shit storm this was all turning out to be.
"Our little minx?" Dres asked.
When I looked up he was smirking and had a single raised eyebrow. The rage that I was so used to immediately flared within me. I stabbed my finger toward him in the air. "Listen, zephyr, I didn't mean it like that, and you know it.”
"Oh, I think you did, little flower," he said with a shit-eating grin.
"Get back in the ring and say that," I snarled.
"You know I'd win, even if you weren't mooning over Tessa, so there's not much point in fighting again, is there?"
I growled at him. I didn't know what it was about Tessa, even just thinking about her, that brought my animal so close to the surface, but she did. The only thing I was more positive of was that I was going to kick Dres' ass in or out of the ring if he kept giving me shit. Neither of us wanted that, so as I pushed to my feet I stalked away.
"Going to go dream about your little rose?" Dres' voice called from behind me.
I flipped him the bird and continued out of the training area toward my room. The fact that I'd be thinking about Tessa whether I liked it or not wasn't lost on me. She'd weaseled her way under my skin, that much I was sure of, but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it. Whether I was happy about it or not though, I did hope she was safe and those two knuckleheads were protecting her.
