Chapter 2
DISCOVERIES
Ty’s footsteps had nearly reached the bottom of the staircase. Niri hurried down the steps as quickly as she could in the fading light. But there was no sound of the three when she reached the last step located in the depth of the lower city. Niri paused between buildings, her chest heaving as she leaned against the cool, damp stone. She tried to hear over her ragged breaths and pounding heart.
A lighthearted laugh echoed oddly from her right, sounding like an exotic bird calling suddenly in the night. Niri moved quietly off in the same direction, hoping she would be able to find her way back to the steps and the public complex before dawn. The sense of stolen freedom was gone now, replaced by purpose underlain with worry. Her spate of disobedience needed to end soon.
Niri could sense the sea more than hear it a few blocks to her left, paralleling the street she walked along. Considering that this was the lower part of the city and of less standing than the houses located on the cliff top above, the street was broad and clean. Ahead, it widened out to a small square containing a pool of water held within a low granite wall.
The pool had no fountains or ornamentation beyond a softening of the worn lip on its stone base, but the import was clear. Water was sacred, feared and loved, this close to the docks and the sea. Through the widened common, Niri saw a flash of darkness against the dull gray stucco of the houses. The word “back” drifted to her before being lost amid the empty sounds of the night.
The three were heading toward the docks, the girls still wishing to see Ty’s ship. How he explained that he didn't belong to one, as Niri was certain he didn’t, would be an interesting conversation to overhear.
The alleyways leading toward the harbor were narrow and dark and full of sea smells: salt and low tide, seaweed and fish. Niri barely noticed as she shortened the distance between the trio and herself, keeping easily to the shadows now in the darkened city. With any luck, when they stopped in confusion at Ty’s nonexistent boat, she would find a way of approaching and speaking to Ria.
At the intersection of the next street, Niri could see the girls hesitate as they peered ahead trying to find the way through the deepening night. Ty caught them at last, grabbing both of their arms in a quick lunge.
“We are going back. You aren’t children anymore and this is no place for the two of you.”
He was angry, his manner rough as he pulled the girls a step backwards. It frightened them, this sudden switch from innocent adventure to adult seriousness. Ria grabbed at Ty’s arm, pulling back while Lavinia tripped against her brother.
“You’re hurting me, Ty! Let me go!” Ria ordered. Only a lilt at the end betrayed her nervousness.
“That isn’t very nice, Tylee.” A low voice grated from the darkness.
Niri pushed herself deeper against the wall of the house she had stopped beside, hiding in the shadows of the colonnades while craning to see from where this new voice had come.
Ty stiffened, freezing in mid-reach to steady his sister. “I want you both to run. Get out of here and don’t stop until you get home. Don’t wait for me,” Ty whispered so low and fast that Niri could barely understand him. His pulse raced so quickly that for a moment Niri could sense the water in his blood pounding through his body, willing him to action. With deliberate slowness, he turned, peering into the darkness for the speaker.
Ria clutched her friend’s hand, ready to run. Lavinia looked toward her brother, unwilling to leave him behind. Balanced on the balls of his feet and looking for danger, Ty was the first to see the glint of the knife slicing through the air. He threw himself forward. His movement sent Lavinia a step closer to her brother and directly into the path of the hurled blade. Before Niri could shout a warning, the knife froze in midair. It hung arrested in motion as if it had struck home in an invisible wall.
The whole tableau paused: Lavinia reaching for her brother and realizing her fate; Ty losing his fighting form while the knife he had pulled from his belt fell toward the cobblestones as he reached for his sister, and Ria standing tall and unmoving, staring at the knife just inches away from her best friend’s head. But it was what no one else but Niri could see that held her spellbound. Power like lightning flowed toward Ria from the ground and air, amassing around her in a halo of potential.
The power emitted by Ria was immense and, though flung instinctively to protect her friend, was held by a firm mind. The aura of energy did not waiver or dim as it swirled around Ria, a thin tendril reaching out to hold the knife aloft. With terrified awe, Niri dismissed the idea that Ria was simply an Elemental like herself. There was no combination of known skills that could do what she had done. Besides that, Niri could feel Ria’s connection to power outside of herself, unlike the internal blood skills of Elementals.
As Ty’s knife clattered to the street and his fingertips touched the outstretched hands of his sister, four men walked into view from the shadows. They stopped and stared at the three, talking swiftly with gestures most often in Ria’s direction. Unaware that the threat was not gone, Ria gave a slight tremble as the strings of magic dissipated into the night.
Niri’s surprise wore off as the men took another eager step forward toward the three youths. Lavinia stood wrapped in her brother’s embrace, while they both anxiously glanced between Ria and the approaching men.
Niri pulled at the water coating the buildings and stones of the road. She flung the moisture into the air creating an instant thick mist as confounding as day turned night. The sudden fog shielded the trio from the men, but the safety it brought was illusory. It would only take the men a moment to decide to wade through it and find their way across the intersection.
If she was an Earth Elemental, Niri could have built a wall from the stones of the road. The wish flashed through Niri’s mind with an old ache. Water was a weak element to control, as she’d learned during her years in the Temple. Shoving the old shame away, she rushed forward to where the three stood still as rooted trees.
“This way, quickly!” she instructed.
Niri tossed back her cloak and herded the three ahead with open arms, feeling like a farm girl driving wayward geese. Overcome by what had occurred, the three obeyed the authority in her voice. She swept them forward down the street, knitting the mist behind into a thickness that confounded all senses. Without thinking, Niri wove through the streets and alleys, making a random pattern of turns that led them further away from the assailants.
At the mouth of a narrow alley, Niri paused. No footfalls sounded above the wash of waves. The mist lay still, undisturbed by anything trying to move through its blinding bulk. Now that the immediate threat the unknown posed was gone, Niri worried about the greater one coming.
“You have to leave,” Niri said as she looked skyward.
“What do you mean? We need to go home.” Ria spoke first, her chin tilting up as she recovered her composure.
Ty’s eyes narrowed as he looked Niri over where she stood with cloak open over her white robes. But it was Lavinia who recognized her first.
“You’re the Priestess from the ceremony.”
Concern chased by fear filled Lavinia’s face as she stepped toward Ria. Ria paled, crossing her arms tightly as she leaned away from Niri.
“No,” Ria moaned, tears welling in her eyes as she shied away. “I will not go with you. I’m not like you!”
“I’m not taking you to the Church, child. You are right. You aren’t an Elemental. You are not like me, and you need to leave now or it will mean your life.”
Lavinia and Ria clasped hands, seeking comfort in one another.
“You will not harm her!”
The anger in Ty’s voice pushed Niri back a step. Ty was ready for a new fight. But this time it was against her.
“It isn’t me she needs to fear,” Niri tried to explain.
“No, it is the Church, all of you!”
Lavinia stared at her brother in surprise.
“Yes.”
The a
ssertion knocked Ty’s reckless anger back a fraction. Niri paused, fretting. Time was passing. She did not know how to make them understand quickly enough.
“What do you mean, I’m not like you?” Ria asked into the tense silence.
“I heard you speak earlier of being happy not to have been chosen today. You thought the Church would want you. Do you know what you just did?”
Dying hopes filled Ria's eyes with tears. “I stopped the knife. I am an Elemental.”
Ria's voice wavered, drawing out an ache in Niri she had thought long buried. Niri reached toward the girl. Ty stepped between them. Withdrawing her hand into her wide cuffs, Niri stared at the darkness and stones.
“There are worse things than being an Elemental. There is another gift, one of magic. It isn’t spoken of ... the Church has outlawed it.”
“I don’t understand. I’m not an Elemental?” Ria asked, confused.
“The skills I contain are in my blood. I can only control water, and my ability cannot grow beyond the strength with which I was born. Magic is different. You tapped into the life force, the power of all living things. Your abilities are beyond ... I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Ty snapped.
Niri stared him down, answering, “I don’t know because anyone who has ever used magic has been killed as soon as they were discovered.”
Lavinia and Ria gasped. Ty’s disbelief slowed him only for a second. He stepped forward.
“You will not ...”
“Do you think I mean her any harm? With what?” Niri tossed open her cloak to show her plain priestess robes and unadorned belt holding no knife or bag. “I am not the one to fear. If I was, would I be chasing after the three of you at night, alone?” Niri slashed her hand between herself and Ty. She gestured toward Ria.
“You used magic, which isn’t allowed by the Church. You have unleashed the Curse, the Church’s way of tracking and dealing with those who use magic, and it is coming for you right now. You must leave tonight if you hope to survive until dawn.”
“I’m not leaving. I don’t want to leave. I want to go home to my family.” Ria said, leaning forward as if to be sick or faint.
“Are you certain?” Lavinia asked in desperation, glancing between Niri and Ty. “Are you sure she used magic and is not an Elemental? She could be strong Air and Earth combined, couldn’t she?” Lavinia asked, voice trailing off as she realized what she'd said. She was arguing that her friend was an Elemental, trying to convince a Priestess of this fact.
Niri looked from Lavinia to Ria. Studying the pale girl, Niri could only feel the draw to Ria like iron to a magnet. It was the same feeling she had toward anyone with Elemental skills. She'd never met anyone with magic and didn't know if the feeling would be different.
Ty saw her doubt and gave her a cold smile. “You can't and we are going home.”
“Would you risk her life?” Niri challenged.
Lavinia held Ria’s hand, her other against Ria’s back where she stayed bent over, drawing shallow breaths. “Isn’t there anything else we can do? Some way to be sure?” Lavinia asked, cutting through the stalemate between Ty and Niri.
A thought occurred to Niri.
“There is some way you can tell, isn’t there?” Lavinia asked with relief. Ty hesitated.
“There is, but I need some basalt. There must be a shop down here in the lower city that sells ... ingredients for homemade blessings?” Niri asked, trying not to cast judgment on something that she found herself in need of.
Ty replied, “Yes, I can take you to it. But I don’t think it will be open this late.”
“No, I cannot go. They will recognize me and no one must know I’ve left the public complex.” Niri spoke without thinking and then froze, wishing she could undo her words.
The three teenagers looked at her sharply. Ty sneered at her. “You snuck out.”
“Yes.”
“But you don’t want anyone to know, so you can go back?” Ty asked, looking at her as if she was something distasteful.
“Yes,” Niri replied again, but the certainty died in her voice. She hadn’t thought of not going back.
“Then I will not trust you alone with Ria," Ty replied.
It left only one option. All eyes turned to Lavinia. “But those men,” Lavinia stammered.
“They were after me, not you,” Ty said gruffly as he unbelted his sailor’s knife and put it around her waist. The knife along with the admission drained the blood from her face. The questions in her eyes resolved into one expression. With a look, Lavinia begged her brother not to make her do this.
“You know the store, right?” he asked without meeting her gaze.
Lavinia nodded stiffly. Niri thought for a moment she would cry, but she bit her lip and seemed to rally.
“Any basalt will do. Get it and meet us back at the pool near the bottom of the stairs. Do you think you can find it again?” Niri asked as they walked with her to the mouth of the alley.
Lavinia nodded. “Yes, if I don’t get lost in this fog.”
Niri gave her half a smile. “The fog won’t bother you.”
Lavinia’s mouth formed a small 'O' as Niri pulled back the mist to form an open tunnel. Ty peaked at Niri from the corner of his eye. With a push from her brother, Lavinia silently slipped down the street. Her slim figure clothed in the dark blue dress quickly disappeared in the darkness.
Niri waited a moment before closing the mist behind Lavinia. Ty made a gesture as if to stop her as his gaze looked after his vanished sister. The anger fell from his features, leaving him looking worn and tired.
Time passing tightened Niri's spine like a bowstring. She reached out her mind into the mist and the city. The tiny fountain pulled on Niri’s awareness like a pebble compared to the weight of the sea nearby. With a shift of will, the mist parted.
“We should go to the pool and wait for her,” Niri said.
Ty gazed uneasily at her before he stepped forward and drew Ria against his side, the side furthest from Niri.