Flame Caller (23 page)

“
That’s exactly why we
need you. You hold this group together.”

He had wanted to say that his
grandfather was the rug that held the room together but he doubted
his grandfather would get the pop-culture reference.

“
We can’t do this without
you,” Xander said. “We just don’t have enough of us
left.”

“
I’m not talking about me,
boy,” the elder replied hastily.

He coughed again and Xander feared the
man would be overcome with another fit. Every time his grandfather
was overcome with a coughing fit, there was a greater chance he
wouldn’t recover. They were fighting against the clock but Xander
knew he couldn’t force his grandfather’s hand. Whatever he had to
say, he would say in his own time.

The cough faded as quickly as it had
come and his grandfather was able to continue shortly thereafter.
“We’re tough but we’re too few. We can’t stop the Fire Warriors
alone.”

“
Who else is
there?”

His grandfather smiled softly and
Xander knew they had reached the crux of the conversation. “The
Elemental.”

Xander shook his head and looked up
for sympathy from his aunts and uncles. They seemed stunned, though
he couldn’t tell how much of that was from his grandfather’s
comment and how much was due to the violence of the situation they
had just survived.

The elder man’s hand flashed up and
slapped Xander across the cheek. “I’m dying. I’m not senile. Quit
looking at them like I’ve lost my mind.”

“
The Elemental is a myth,
Grandpa,” Xander replied as he returned his gaze to the old man.
“They’re not real.”

“
And you know this how, oh
wise boy who just finished going through puberty?”

Xander frowned but didn’t really have
a response.

“
Where do you think we
came from?” his grandfather asked. “Or a better question would
be—where do you think the Fire Caste came from? You think it was
some strange mutation that just happened to occur right in line
with a prophecy that’s existed for generations? You think it
started with one guy who could start a fire, who had a kid who
could start a fire, who had a couple kids who could start a fire,
and so on and so on?”

Xander hadn’t really considered where
their enemies had originated. He had fairly willingly accepted that
they just were.

“
Our powers came from
somewhere. It wasn’t just chance. It didn’t just happen by
accident. Someone made us Wind Warriors just as much as something
made the first of the Fire Warriors. They may have grown because
they had kids, just like we did—just like how you got here—but they
started with a big group of Fire Warrior clans all around the
world.”

“
Then where are they?”
Xander replied angrily. “Where is the Wind Elemental, if it really
exists? And why have we been fighting and dying while it did
nothing to help?”

“
She. I always thought of
the Elemental as a she.”

Xander clenched his fist in
frustration. He knew his grandfather wasn’t senile. Whenever he
gave a nonsensical response like he just had, he was trying to
diffuse Xander’s rashness.

“
She’ll help you, Xander,
if you let her,” his grandfather continued when he saw Xander
relaxing again. “You just have to find her.”

“
Where? No one’s seen her
in generations. That’s why she’s a myth now. If no one’s seen her,
how am I supposed to find her?”

His grandfather sighed sadly. “If I
knew, I would have found her years ago.”

Sammy rested her hand on Xander’s
shoulder and he was glad to feel her warmth coursing through his
shirt and soaking into his sweaty skin. Her presence also gave rise
to another concern.

“
If we have an Elemental,
doesn’t that mean that they do too? Even if I find the Wind
Elemental, wouldn’t I still have to contend with a Fire
Elemental?”

“
You’re putting the cart
before the horse, boy,” his grandfather laughed. “A second ago you
didn’t even believe in the Elemental. Now you’re thinking about
what you’re going to do after you find her. Maybe you should start
looking for her first.”

Xander wanted to push for more
information but his grandfather was consumed by coughs. He was able
to roll onto his side by himself this time but Xander saw the
splash of bright red blood fly with the spittle from his
lips.

“
Grandpa,” he said,
rubbing his grandfather’s back. He doubted it did anything helpful
but he couldn’t think of anything else. He hated the feeling of
helplessness.

“
I’m okay,” he croaked as
he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.

Xander looked to the others and saw
their shared concern. They were all helpless as they watched an
amazing man waste away before their eyes.

“
Help me roll onto my
back,” his grandfather asked.

“
I think it’s better if
you stay on your side, in case you start choking again.”

“
I didn’t ask what you
think, Xander. It won’t matter now how I’m facing. I’d rather look
up at the sky when I go. Now roll me over.”

Begrudgingly, he rolled his
grandfather onto his back. Xander wiped away the tears in his eyes
as he clutched the old man’s hand tightly.

“
Find the Elemental,” his
grandfather said quietly, his voice barely over a whisper. “Promise
me you’ll find her. She’ll know what to do.”

“
I will,” Xander cried.
“Anything you want. Just don’t die. You’re all I have
left.”

“
I don’t have much of a
say in that. Not anymore.”

His grandfather gestured for him to
lean closer so that he could be heard.

“
Be safe, boy. There are
plenty of people that are going to try to stop you. Don’t ever give
up. You’re the last chance the planet has to survive.”

“
I won’t,” he
sobbed.

“
I love you, boy.” His
grandfather’s words were accompanied by a quiet sigh. The old man’s
hand went limp in Xander’s and the younger man had to clutch it
tightly to keep it from slipping to the ground.

The ocean around them boiled angrily
and seawater sloshed onto the canted island. Dark clouds gathered
overhead with flashes of lightning dancing across the
sky.

Xander didn’t bother looking up when
his aunts and uncles cried in surprise. A towering wave slammed
into the higher end of the upturned island and a deluge of water
coursed through the cobblestone streets and poured like waterfalls
over the fallen blocks of stone. The young Wind Warrior cradled his
grandfather’s head to keep it out of the draining water. He ignored
the frigid water that soaked through his thin pants. He rocked the
elder man’s body as he cried, his sobs lost in the crashing of
thunder.

The planet seemed to cry out in pain
at the loss of the oldest of the Wind Caste.

They buried his grandfather in a grave
covered in marble stones. He was buried alone, since the cairns for
Bart and his parents had been swallowed by the ocean.

Xander had cried as he carried his
grandfather’s body to its new resting place, but by the end of the
haphazard funeral service, he had run out of tears. His sadness was
replaced with anger and thoughts of revenge. The words of his
grandfather—telling him to fight the Fire Caste for the benefit of
mankind instead of personal vendettas—were pushed to the back of
his mind.

“
What will you do?” Thea
asked in a surprisingly compassionate tone. “Will you find the Wind
Elemental?”

Xander sorted through the rubble that
had once been his house and scavenged what clothes and personal
belongings he could retrieve. He shoved them unceremoniously into
his backpack until it was straining against its zippers.

“
Eventually, but I have
something to do first.”

“
You can’t hold this anger
in your heart,” Giovanni offered. “Your grandfather would have told
you the same thing, if he were here.”

Xander threw his bag onto the ground
and turned sharply toward his aunts and uncles. “But he’s not here,
is he? No, he’s dead. Just like my parents. Just like Bart and
Robert.” He threw his arms up in disgust. “Open your eyes for once.
You’re going to give me some Yoda crap about how I should be a
better man than the Fire Warriors but guess what? I’m not. I’m not
better than they are. They want us dead because we’re standing in
their way. Well, if they want me, I’m going to oblige them. I’m
going to find them and I’m going to kill every one of
them.”

“
Xander,” Sammy said
softly, stepping to his side.

“
Don’t,” he said, brushing
her outstretched hands aside. “Just don’t right now,
okay?”

Sammy bit her bottom lip. “Don’t push
me away, please. You can’t just go rushing off, hunting down Fire
Warriors.”

Xander laughed hysterically. “No, of
course I can’t. I forgot that you wouldn’t want me to harm any of
your kind.”

“
My kind?” Sammy replied
angrily. “I’m here with you, aren’t I? Not with them. God, you’re
starting to sound like Patrick.”

The Irishman shrugged but refused to
leave, despite Alicia’s urging that they all give the young lovers
some time alone.

“
Maybe he’s not all
wrong,” Xander retorted, though he immediately regretted his
comment as soon as the words left his mouth. He didn’t really
believe that. He was intentionally being hurtful and he knew
it.

Sammy nodded but he could see the
tears glistening in her eyes. She stoically raised her chin and
refused to let them fall. “Fine. You want me to leave? Is that what
you want?”

Xander shook his head. “No, I don’t. I
don’t know what I want right now.”

“
Think about it, Xander,”
she continued. “Remember the monster that I saw behind my… in the
Fire Caste’s cavern? What if it’s the Fire Elemental? Have you
considered that it could be pulling all the strings? The Fire
Warriors aren’t evil. Even your grandfather knew that. If it is the
Fire Elemental, then it’s guiding their actions. They don’t deserve
to die.”

“
I hate to break the news
to you, lass,” Patrick interrupted, “but neither do we. If they are
being controlled by the Fire Elemental, then we’re doing them a
favor by putting them down like dogs.”

“
Especially Lord Balor,”
Thea added.

“
You can’t,” Sammy
responded vehemently. She stopped as she saw the odd looks at her
sudden outburst.

“
Behind your what?” Xander
asked skeptically.

“
What?” she
asked.

“
You said, ‘behind my’ and
then you stopped yourself. Behind your what?”

Xander stared at her reaction. He had
been willing to accept her concern for the Fire Warrior’s safety
when they were in White Halls. He knew that despite her betrayal,
she still had a deep connection to the people with whom she had
grown up. Her reaction, especially to the mention of Lord Balor,
seemed beyond the normal level of concern. It could be a form of
brainwashing, he presumed. Spend enough time among evil people and
you stop seeing the evil they do.

Sammy looked away nervously. It was
confirmation enough to Xander that she was hiding
something.

“
Sammy?” Giovanni
asked.

“
Behind your what?” Xander
repeated.

“
Behind my… my… my clan’s
castle,” she stammered.

“
She’s lying,” Patrick
said.

“
Shut up, Patrick,” Xander
demanded of the Irishman, though his eyes never left his
girlfriend. “He may be a jerk but he’s also right. Tell me the
truth. Why are you so opposed to us going after Lord Balor and the
rest of the Fire Warriors?”

She muttered something inaudible as
the first tear fell from her eyes.

“
What did she say?”
Patrick asked callously.

“
Shut up, Patrick,” Xander
ordered.

“
Because he’s my father,”
Sammy yelled as she turned sharply toward the aunts and uncles.
“And it was ‘behind my father’s throne’.”