Ash

Beckoning large stones up from deep under the ground, I laid them out in a line around me. Perfectly round stones, like small cannonballs. I bent and hefted one in my hands. There was no way I would be able to hit the elementals from this far away. But the power that rolled and frolicked through my veins told me otherwise. Not only was it possible, but it was expected of me. If the storm continued to rage with the elementals powering it, hundreds upon hundreds, even thousands, of lives would be lost.

That was unacceptable.

I threw the first stone and it shot through the air like it had indeed been released from a cannon. Sailing across the water in a blur, it missed the Sylph in the middle of the hurricane by mere inches. She dodged and ducked, and that brought her attention to me. I already had another stone in my hand and threw it down at the Undine. But the elemental riding the waves was warned and ducked out of the way, diving below the water. In another time, I would have been afraid that I’d blown my cover. But that strange power that I called to me made me confident beyond anything I’d ever felt before.

I wasn’t sure if that was good or not.

I held a hand out, palm facing down, and the sand under the ocean raced upward. I wrapped the fine granules around the Undine and pulled her under the waves. I couldn’t drown her, but I could keep her away from the fight for a time.

The waves slowed but didn’t stop altogether.

The Sylph, though, was not deterred. She rushed at me, her features becoming clear as she drew close. She was one of the younger daughters of the old queen, Aria. No doubt cast out when she caused problems with the new young queen, Samara. Not that it mattered. I would have to deal with her either way, regardless of her bloodline.

The hard way, no doubt. I picked up the rocks at my side until I held two in one arm, and one in the other. I threw them in rapid succession and the Sylph dodged the first two. The third caught her in the head as she hovered right over the edge of the cliff. She let out a cry and fell, her long silvery white hair flying out around her like a broken doll falling from a shelf.

The storm did not abate. I knew it would take time. Time for the elements to realize they were no longer being driven.

Leaning into the wind, I pushed my way to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

A hand snaked up and grabbed my ankle, jerking me off balance. “You bastard. I’ll kill you, you piece of shit Terraling! Weakling!”

I was in open space for a moment being flung out over the water before I was grabbed from behind, my one forearm engulfed in Norm’s three-fingered paw. “Got you, friend.”

He yanked me onto solid ground, but the Sylph hadn’t let go of my ankle, which meant she came with me. We hit the ground at the same time and I scrambled to get on top of her, to pin her hands down and knock her out. The last thing I needed was—

I tried to draw breath but the air was sucked away from me. I didn’t slow in my rush to her, though already I could feel my head spin from lack of breath as the oxygen was compressed out of my lungs, collapsing them. I climbed on her and slammed a fist into her chin. Her eyes rolled and I sucked in a big breath of air.

Typical elemental. She’d been raised to believe she was powerful, but had never been trained to fight with her hands. That was part of the secret of the Enders. That was why we were successful so much of the time. We were trained to fight where the normal populace, even the leaders of our realms, were not. In fact, they were encouraged not to.

And a good thing, too. I sat back on my heels and behind me, Norm yelped. I spun in a crouch. Two Sylphs floated above our heads, dressed in the white Ender leathers of their people. I swept my cloak back so they could see my Ender’s vest. Slowly they dropped to the ground and approached me. One of them snapped his fingers and a bubble of air slammed down around us, blocking the raging storm.

“Ender Ash, you saved us some time,” he said. I recognized him.

“Not intentionally. I am on my own hunt, Ender Rio.” I’d met him a few times, but I would not call him a friend. The other Ender was young, and I didn’t recognize him.

Rio nodded and dropped to a crouch beside the Sylph I’d taken down. “Who is it you seek?” He pulled a knife out and cut the throat of the young woman as though he were cutting a loaf of bread. I didn’t flinch, but Norm let out a cry.

“Why did you kill her? She was pretty,” the Yeti whispered.

Rio didn’t even look at him and I kept my back to Norm. I could not explain to him that this was the only way to stop a banished elemental from destroying the world. It was impossible to know which way an elemental would swing when they were cast out.

Banished, and then we were sent after them. It seemed . . . counterproductive. Then again, there weren’t that many banished elementals until recently. “I seek the old Terraling queen. She tried to kill our king, and deceived our family.”

He straightened. “I’d heard rumors of Cassava losing her mind. It makes me nervous to see her son courting Samara.”

My heart seemed to freeze in my chest. No good could come of this news. “Raven is courting Samara?”

His eyes locked on mine. “By your words, you see it is not a good thing, too?”

I shook my head. “He was working with his mother. If I could kill him, I would.”

“Shit,” Rio wiped his knife on the dead girl’s clothes and put it away, “I must go, then. I can still stop Samara. She trained with me before she was raised to be our queen.”

“Wait,” I put a hand on his forearm, “Raven can control your mind. He has power over Spirit. If you go in bold, he will stop you.”