The ravine was still cold and dead. There were a few bodies draped nearby, fallen, pierced by arrows and swords. The strike team limped their slow way back through the trees, numbers sadly diminished. Serath and his Earth partner, Nikolai and Sabah and their partners ? half the strike force dead, bodies carried as best as the injured remainder could manage on makeshift litters. Devin could feel the blood still running sluggishly down his arm where Xavier had cut him; he could feel the ache in Paola?s knee where Kaja had kicked her and almost dislocated the joint.
Despite weariness and drain, there was no other way to cross the ravine than the way the strike force had come ? on a bridge of Air, supported this time by Paola and Devin alone without Nikolai?s aid. Even with his eyes closed, Devin knew it was Rukiya who touched his shoulder when she passed with Serath?s litter, knew it was Paola who leaned in to brush sweat-soaked hair from his cheek and place a kiss there instead before she crossed. Walking, guided, by Jacques, since she was concentrating just as fully on the task of keeping the bridge intact.
It was left to Faraji to guide Devin across the level, unseen surface. Shaking with effort, strength leaching away, Devin couldn?t do much but collapse to hands and knees on the other side of the ravine. Paola?s fall was a mirror of his own; Jacques bent to try and help her up while Rukiya and the remaining Earth talked quietly over how to get them all back to the camp and home. It was then that Faraji struck.
Madness had been flaring, red-lit, in Faraji?s mind for months, since he was passed over as Guardian in favor of Devin. When Xavier had tentatively searched for those who would ally with the Chaotics, Faraji had been one of the first to jump at the chance. Every plan, every strategy ? it had all been relayed on. Xavier should have won! Devin should have died. The thought was an echo in Faraji?s mind, along with its companion. If Devin died, Faraji would get his chance to be Guardian.
What Devin felt first wasn?t pain. It was a shock of cold that lanced between his ribs high on his left side, followed by a surge of liquid warmth. Only after that was there pain ? too much pain. He screamed, and across from him, Paola screamed as well, unholy echo to ring through the dead trees. But the paired screams turned uglier, filled with liquid bubble, when Faraji jerked his sword from Devin?s lung. The wounds inflicted by metal on Devin opened in turn on Paola through their bond.
Turning, trying to rise, to reach for his sword, Devin clawed for power, for his Element, for any resource available. He staggered and fell back to his knees, blood rushing copper through his mouth, and he could feel Paola experiencing the same vivid reactions, the despair. Faraji was laughing, and the world seemed to move too slowly. Jacques was only just turning to see what had happened, Rukiya and the Earth were looking across with startled eyes. There was a gleam of light on crimsoned steel, and Devin saw splashes of his own blood hitting the ground to be soaked into the hungry earth.
When Devin?s eyes lit white, Faraji laughed again and pulled back his sword ? because what Fire Elemental would burn? He had forgotten that it was not Devin he faced, not alone. Not when the battle-bond was singing between Devin and Paola and tying them closer than lovers. Turquoise suddenly kindled and merged with the inferno around Devin, mirrored by a lash of air woven with fire that surrounded Paola. Jacques swore and reached for his weapon, trying to reach Faraji, trying to kill the madman.
Fire and Air reached Faraji first. They fed upon one another, spiraling, whirling ? and when the energy began to consume him, Faraji screamed in startled horror. It lasted only a second, less, before there was nothing left of the mad Fire to scream. As quickly as the threat was removed, Fire and Air vanished. When Jacques turned around again, his swearing only increased in volume. Devin and Paola were sprawled, bleeding out their lives, on the dead branches and leaves of a once-living forest.
That was the image that had Devin sitting bolt-upright in bed, pale and shaking, even two months later. Paola?s face, bloodied, scraps of dirt and leaf-mold showing dark against pale skin gone too white by far. The fading of vivid turquoise from her eyes while he tried to crawl toward her, to reach her, and found he was too weak to do more than stretch his hand across the earth. The sorrow and despair and then, worse, the resignation that had echoed through their bond to lash at him ? emotions that even now, long after the bond had faded, cut him like knives in his dreams.
Devin still didn?t know what Jacques, Rukiya and the Earth had done to keep them alive, to get them back to the camp. He?d woken almost a week later, and only then to find that Paola was still in a nearly comatose state. Their bond had been strong enough to wound her, but as it faded she no longer had the resource of his strength to help her heal. It had taken her much longer to recover physically.
He couldn?t speak for mentally. Not any longer. Not with no bond between them, or the way his dreams turned inevitably to nightmares. He?d been closing himself off again, pulling away. Layers of confidence and near-arrogance during the day to turn aside questions while in the evening and at night he withdrew. He hadn?t danced in the roda since the battle, hadn?t even drawn a circle.
Instead, Devin drove himself in other ways. Serath?s family had been devastated; Devin kept them supported, until Elasha was able to once again take up her duties. As Guardian he had crossed the Elements time and again and always, always turned away when someone asked where Paola was, how she was doing. With a tri-metal amulet in his hand he had reached into the heart of the Fire Realm and called up the wards that lay neglected before tying the White Fire back into place. There was a single flame that would not extinguish in the residence of each Elemental who had died during the battle. The new owners of those residences would always have that much light.
He fell into bed exhausted each night, pushing for dreamless sleep; in the dead hours, the nightmares returned. Now, once again, he was shaking and breathing as if he?d just run a race. Hands raked back through the hair that had fallen into his eyes, and Devin finally rose. In the moonlight his eyes were a shade between brown and black ? daylight wouldn?t brighten them. When he paced through the kitchen and touched a skillet lightly, they only darkened. Remnants of laughter and a hint of spice on the air ? his hand fell and he walked outside.
In the moonlight he reached, in the moonlight he called, and in the moonlight he finally released control held too tight for too long. Flames danced and licked over and through his form, the shell barely more than formality. Red and gold and white the flames played, and swallowed saltwater from the skin of his cheeks.
Despite weariness and drain, there was no other way to cross the ravine than the way the strike force had come ? on a bridge of Air, supported this time by Paola and Devin alone without Nikolai?s aid. Even with his eyes closed, Devin knew it was Rukiya who touched his shoulder when she passed with Serath?s litter, knew it was Paola who leaned in to brush sweat-soaked hair from his cheek and place a kiss there instead before she crossed. Walking, guided, by Jacques, since she was concentrating just as fully on the task of keeping the bridge intact.
It was left to Faraji to guide Devin across the level, unseen surface. Shaking with effort, strength leaching away, Devin couldn?t do much but collapse to hands and knees on the other side of the ravine. Paola?s fall was a mirror of his own; Jacques bent to try and help her up while Rukiya and the remaining Earth talked quietly over how to get them all back to the camp and home. It was then that Faraji struck.
Madness had been flaring, red-lit, in Faraji?s mind for months, since he was passed over as Guardian in favor of Devin. When Xavier had tentatively searched for those who would ally with the Chaotics, Faraji had been one of the first to jump at the chance. Every plan, every strategy ? it had all been relayed on. Xavier should have won! Devin should have died. The thought was an echo in Faraji?s mind, along with its companion. If Devin died, Faraji would get his chance to be Guardian.
What Devin felt first wasn?t pain. It was a shock of cold that lanced between his ribs high on his left side, followed by a surge of liquid warmth. Only after that was there pain ? too much pain. He screamed, and across from him, Paola screamed as well, unholy echo to ring through the dead trees. But the paired screams turned uglier, filled with liquid bubble, when Faraji jerked his sword from Devin?s lung. The wounds inflicted by metal on Devin opened in turn on Paola through their bond.
Turning, trying to rise, to reach for his sword, Devin clawed for power, for his Element, for any resource available. He staggered and fell back to his knees, blood rushing copper through his mouth, and he could feel Paola experiencing the same vivid reactions, the despair. Faraji was laughing, and the world seemed to move too slowly. Jacques was only just turning to see what had happened, Rukiya and the Earth were looking across with startled eyes. There was a gleam of light on crimsoned steel, and Devin saw splashes of his own blood hitting the ground to be soaked into the hungry earth.
When Devin?s eyes lit white, Faraji laughed again and pulled back his sword ? because what Fire Elemental would burn? He had forgotten that it was not Devin he faced, not alone. Not when the battle-bond was singing between Devin and Paola and tying them closer than lovers. Turquoise suddenly kindled and merged with the inferno around Devin, mirrored by a lash of air woven with fire that surrounded Paola. Jacques swore and reached for his weapon, trying to reach Faraji, trying to kill the madman.
Fire and Air reached Faraji first. They fed upon one another, spiraling, whirling ? and when the energy began to consume him, Faraji screamed in startled horror. It lasted only a second, less, before there was nothing left of the mad Fire to scream. As quickly as the threat was removed, Fire and Air vanished. When Jacques turned around again, his swearing only increased in volume. Devin and Paola were sprawled, bleeding out their lives, on the dead branches and leaves of a once-living forest.
That was the image that had Devin sitting bolt-upright in bed, pale and shaking, even two months later. Paola?s face, bloodied, scraps of dirt and leaf-mold showing dark against pale skin gone too white by far. The fading of vivid turquoise from her eyes while he tried to crawl toward her, to reach her, and found he was too weak to do more than stretch his hand across the earth. The sorrow and despair and then, worse, the resignation that had echoed through their bond to lash at him ? emotions that even now, long after the bond had faded, cut him like knives in his dreams.
Devin still didn?t know what Jacques, Rukiya and the Earth had done to keep them alive, to get them back to the camp. He?d woken almost a week later, and only then to find that Paola was still in a nearly comatose state. Their bond had been strong enough to wound her, but as it faded she no longer had the resource of his strength to help her heal. It had taken her much longer to recover physically.
He couldn?t speak for mentally. Not any longer. Not with no bond between them, or the way his dreams turned inevitably to nightmares. He?d been closing himself off again, pulling away. Layers of confidence and near-arrogance during the day to turn aside questions while in the evening and at night he withdrew. He hadn?t danced in the roda since the battle, hadn?t even drawn a circle.
Instead, Devin drove himself in other ways. Serath?s family had been devastated; Devin kept them supported, until Elasha was able to once again take up her duties. As Guardian he had crossed the Elements time and again and always, always turned away when someone asked where Paola was, how she was doing. With a tri-metal amulet in his hand he had reached into the heart of the Fire Realm and called up the wards that lay neglected before tying the White Fire back into place. There was a single flame that would not extinguish in the residence of each Elemental who had died during the battle. The new owners of those residences would always have that much light.
He fell into bed exhausted each night, pushing for dreamless sleep; in the dead hours, the nightmares returned. Now, once again, he was shaking and breathing as if he?d just run a race. Hands raked back through the hair that had fallen into his eyes, and Devin finally rose. In the moonlight his eyes were a shade between brown and black ? daylight wouldn?t brighten them. When he paced through the kitchen and touched a skillet lightly, they only darkened. Remnants of laughter and a hint of spice on the air ? his hand fell and he walked outside.
In the moonlight he reached, in the moonlight he called, and in the moonlight he finally released control held too tight for too long. Flames danced and licked over and through his form, the shell barely more than formality. Red and gold and white the flames played, and swallowed saltwater from the skin of his cheeks.