Rootbound (The Elemental Series, Book 5) (20 page)

“Larkspur?”

“Hello, Scar.”

His tongue flicked out and he looked past me to Shazer and Bella. “What are you doing here? And why aren’t you coming in through the front door?”

“I need a different way in, one Fiametta doesn’t know about. She’s not happy with me right now.” I looked around him. “This would do nicely, I think.”

He snorted and shook his head, the horns that curled back over his neck brushing against the top of the tunnel he’d made. “Then perhaps I should not let you in. The queen has been our champion since you left, keeping us safe. Allowing us to stay behind when you would call us to battle.”

His tongue snaked out again, and his eyes narrowed. I took a step. “The world was in danger, and you turned away. Don’t think I feel sorry for your scaly ass.”

So maybe that wasn’t the best way to deal with him when we needed his help, but when the Firewyrms had declined to stand with us in the battle against Orion and the demons, I’d been shocked. I’d saved them once, and as far as I was concerned, they owed me.

A snarl rolled out of him. “You know nothing, Elemental. When you left, our people were healthy, and we had a future ahead of us. When the demons were loosed, the sickness they spread,” he shook his head, “it wiped our numbers down to only a few. If we went to battle, we might have been completely wiped out.”

Shame flickered and died before it ever took root. I shook my head. “You mean like the rest of the supernaturals who fought when there were only a few left? There are species that are extinct now, and those who are on the cusp of it. Do not bemoan to me that you only had a few numbers. Everyone was in the same position, and yet they came. You did not.”

He hunched his shoulders and I raised my hand. “It is the past already. No more. Will you allow me to use this entrance?”

The pause was heavy and weighted with things unsaid.

“Please don’t bring the mountain down on us.”

“I would never—” I clamped my mouth shut, rephrased my words and tried again. “I will do my best.”

He snorted softly, but retreated, allowing us access to the opening. “I will let you in for the good you did before. If not for that, I would never allow you to step foot in here.”

I glanced at Bella and gave her a quick nod. She slid from Shazer’s back, and pointed a finger at me. “Do not even try to tell me to wait for you.”

“Would never dream of it.” I stepped into the tunnel. I knew when I could win an argument with her, and when I would have my reasoning handed back to me in pieces. This was one of the latter times.

Scar waited patiently, his scales lighting up the darkness like a giant firefly. I opened my mouth to ask him a question about the feel of the Pit and Fiametta’s current state of mind, and closed it just as swiftly. He was not the friend I remembered. I could almost see the change in him, as if it were imprinted on his scales.

As Bella stepped in I looked back to Shazer, his body silhouetted by the bright blue sky.

“Not a chance in hell will I step in there.” He flicked his head once. “I will be close by.”

“Good enough. Keep an eye out for us.” I put a hand on Bella, stopping her. “Close the opening.”

Her eyes widened. “Do you think that’s wise?”

“I trust Scar enough to see us through this. And if anyone notices a giant hole in the side of the mountain, whatever surprise we might have will be lost.”

The concern on her face was obvious, but she did as I asked. Peta whispered in my ear, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Why didn’t you do it?”

The thoughts that had woven through my mind during the previous two days finally came to light, and at last I was able to grasp the idea firmly.

“I don’t know if it’s possible, but what if the person who controls the stones can detect those who use elemental powers nearby? And if he can do that much, perhaps he can tell who those people are that use them.”

“It isn’t Talan.” Peta tightened her hold on me. “I know you don’t trust him, and I don’t understand what he is doing, but I know he would not want to harm you.”

I wanted to believe her, but the reality was that she hadn’t been with him as his familiar in a long, long time. People changed with time and the harsh realities of life.

I was proof enough of that.

“Unless I have to, I won’t use my connection to Earth or Spirit again. Already it may be too late. The thought didn’t come to me until now.”

Bella finished closing the opening and the darkness tightened around us. She hurried to my side, and took hold of my hand. “Don’t let go.”

I smiled at her. “Never.”

Hand in hand, as though we were children afraid of the dark, we followed Scar through the tunnel.

The Firewyrm was quiet, except for the sound of his long claws scraping along the floor. He led us in a looping spiral downward, the heat rising with each step until sweat ran down my cheeks, drying before it could drip off the edge of my jaw.

Bella wasn’t doing much better. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair stuck to her skin wherever it touched her.

It wasn’t long before we were deep within the mountain, the feeling of it all around us, pressing down.

Reminding me all too closely of my time trapped.

Buried and forgotten.

I shivered, fighting the roll of nausea that whispered through me. I would not vomit, I would not. My guts heaved and I shook at the effort to keep my food where it belonged.

Scar stopped in front of us, and his body rippled, as though he were suddenly inundated with ants, and the faintest lines of pink rolled over him.

Worm shit and green sticks.

Someone was using Spirit on the Firewyrm, instructing him.

And the intention behind the command was anything but friendly.

“
ang on!” I tightened my hold on Bella and dove toward the wall on our right. Connecting with the mountain, I pulled the power of the earth around me and opened the stone face and shoved Bella in. “Stay there. I can’t protect us both.”

“Wait!” She held a hand out, but stayed where I’d put her. “Lark, duck!”

I spun and dropped to my belly as Scar’s tail flung over my head. His eyes were full of tears as he stared at me. “I cannot stop myself, Lark. I’m sorry.”

He lunged again, his mouth wide, his fangs as big as my forearm. I rolled to the left, and one of his fangs nicked my right shoulder. A searing pain sliced through me, the same fire that had been the lava whip against my bare skin, the same burn that had nearly killed me. I grounded myself to the mountain and let the strength of the earth keep me on my feet though I swayed as though poisoned.

I spun my spear off my side and pointed it at him. Though it was puny looking next to his mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, he paused.

“Scar, fight it.” I didn’t lower the spear.

“I can’t,” he said, his voice the same soft gentle voice I’d known before. He lunged so fast there would be no dodging him. His mouth was wide, tongue flicking the air.

Peta leapt from my shoulder, shifting in mid-air.

Taking my place.

Protecting me with her own body.

“NO!”

Scar’s mouth snapped shut, reflexes kicking in the second Peta touched the inside of his mouth as though he were a crocodile. She disappeared, as he clamped down, as if she never was.

Peta was gone and along with her went any coherent thought passing through my mind.

Screaming, I ran at him, driving him back with each sweeping pass of my spear. He dodged me as if I were nothing. Over and over again I attacked, and he didn’t even blink at my attempts. My spear bounced off his thick hide, not because it wasn’t sharp, but because I wasn’t strong enough to actually make it pierce.

Who cared if I saved the world, if I saved Ash even, if I lost Peta?

I tapped into both Spirit and Earth, weaving them together into a deadly mix of power. The two elements raced through me, firing my blood, feeding my strength and reflexes. I ran at the side wall, ran partway up, and leapt off twisting in the air, landing on top of Scar’s back. He bucked and writhed under me, but I clamped my legs tightly and kept my seat.

Bella waved from the ground. “More Firewyrms.”

Peta, I had to get Peta. I had to believe she was not dead, that somehow she was okay. I couldn’t feel my bond to her, my panic and fear driving away all thought, all consideration except to save her.

I raised my hand and the tunnel behind us collapsed. I had to buy Peta time. I had to buy myself enough time to save her.

I lifted my spear over my head, let Spirit and Earth strengthen my muscles beyond anything I’d ever felt, and drove the blade down between two of Scar’s vertebrae. He dropped under me, paralyzed, but not dead. I yanked my spear out, slid off him and ran to his mouth.

Bella was tugging at me and I pushed her back. I dropped my spear and grabbed Scar’s mouth to yank it open. “PETA!” Nothing. “Don’t make me come in there, cat.” My voice wavered, the false anger barely keeping me from losing my mind. Shaking, I held his jaws open, holding the weight of them above me. I would hold them as long as I had to. “Bella, can you see her?”

Her hands were on my arms. “Lark, she leapt into his mouth to save you. We have to go. She is dead.”

I shifted my hands so I could stand on his bottom jaw and hold the top up with both hands. “Peta, please.”

Bella tugged at me, and my heart tugged in the other direction. Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to concentrate on the bond between Peta and me. I would know if she was gone. I would.

A tiny flicker of gray and white at the back of his mouth caught my eye at the same time I felt her heartbeat inside my own body. “She’s alive. Bella, please.” I looked over at my sister, and goddess love her, she never hesitated.

Bella dropped to her knees and crawled inside Scar’s mouth to the back. She scooped up Peta and crawled back out, covered in slime. And blood. I dropped Scar’s mouth and held my hands out. Bella gave Peta over to me. “Lark, she’s hurt but alive. I’m not sure I can say the same for us if we don’t get the hell out of here. The Firewyrms are almost through the rock.”

Scar moaned. “The small pathway to the left. It will take you to the throne room. The one you used before. Do not worry about me. I will heal.”

I put a hand on his nose as we passed, unable to hate him. Manipulation, how far had it gone in my world? Was everyone I’d known touched by Spirit?

We slid into the small tunnel as the other Firewyrms arrived. Bella scooted ahead of me and I clutched Peta to my chest, feeling her life flickering unsteadily. “Bella, we have to stop. I have to heal her.”

I sat up, hunched over in the narrow tunnel. The dim light that came from the end we’d entered was not enough to see Peta’s injuries. Not that I needed to. I held her tightly to me and let my energy flow into her body, using the bond between us first. She let out a pitiful mew, raised her head and then let it lower again.

Gathering Spirit, I wove the element through her body, feeling the wounds in her belly where Scar’s teeth had pierced. Carefully I put her back together until the injuries were nothing but a faint memory. I slumped where I was, exhausted. Bella sat beside me. “Lark, you can’t face Fiametta like this.”