Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1) (22 page)

The seer sprung up from where she had been
thrown to the floor, a clean hole marking where the Mat's shot had
gone straight through her bicep. She had somehow managed to jerk
away from what should have been a clean head shot. Her strange eyes
widened as she rapidly scanned the area in front of her, locking on
the hole in the window just as second clap of thunder rang out. She
flung herself to the side as her leg was swept out from under her
by the force of the bullet's impact, sending her sprawling to
ground. Before Mat could fire again, the water-seer pushed off the
floor with all four limbs, sailing through the air and out of sight
of the window.

And directly into the astonished crowd. They
all went down in a tangle of arms of legs.

“
I'm incoming, get out of there!” Mat cried to them urgently.
Sarah spun, grabbing her chair and hefting it through the window.
Ezra sheathed his sword in a practiced motion and bounded over his
own fallen chair, then lurched to a stop. The wheels in his head
were spinning, putting things to together, forming an
idea.

“
Hawkins!” Sarah yelled, one hand on the windowsill, her other
reaching out to him. “Let's go!”

Ezra took a step away from her, glancing
nervously over his shoulder toward where the water-seer had
vanished into the writhing mass of bodies. The idea clicked into
place. He licked his lips, spun, and sprinted across the room.

“
Hawkins, what are you doing?!” Sarah screamed after him. “Get
back here!”

A man suddenly flew through the air in front
of him. “...off of me you trash!” He heard the water-seer snarl
from somewhere inside the throng of toppled humanity. “They're
getting..” another body went sailing over the bar in Ezra's
peripheral vision “...away!”

His hand closed on the door handle and he
wrenched it open. Light, fast footsteps sounded close behind him,
and he was afraid he was going to have a heart attack as his mind
leaped through calculations. How many bodies had been between his
own and the water-seer's? Panic was rapidly replaced by relief as
he caught the steady stream of curses Sarah was muttering under her
breath. Ezra swept his gaze around the room. Mrs. Wellward was
staring at him in horror, clutching a small, pale boy to her chest,
tears still streaming down her face.

Kelly stood frozen in place, eyes bright
with tears that she apparently could no longer shed, whimpering
noises caught in her throat as her breath came very quickly and
shallowly. Ezra smiled ferociously.

Sarah stopped cursing, but Ezra knew that
was only because it was taking all of her energy to glare at him.
He had a history of being glared at. He could sense it.

Two long strides carried him through the
room. He swept up the little girl, still stiff as a board, a human
statue. A third step and he lifted his foot to kick down the door
leading outside.

Sarah caught him before he could fall. It
was a very well made door. She let out a disgusted snort and flowed
past him, deftly unlatching and opening it in a highly undramatic
exit. Ezra smiled sheepishly at her, following as she rolled her
eyes and stalked out into the rain. They sprinted around to the
front of the inn just in time to see Mat come careening down the
street in the skiff, kicking up waves of mud and water as he banked
toward them.

Mat's wild eyes darted toward the building,
broken window gaping at them. He blinked at Ezra, then scowled at
the little girl shoved under his arm. “No,” Mat said firmly.

“
We don't have time for this, and you know what happens if she
stays!”

Mat's eyes turned pleading. “Ezra, we can't.
Bad things happen. You can't save everyone.”

Ezra scowled and squared his shoulders
belligerently. “But we can save her.”

“
Girl shows a little interest and you think she's begging to be
carried away from it all.” Something almost like amusement danced
behind Sarah's eyes as she hopped into the skiff. “Gal's
gonna
love
this.”

Mat shook his head angrily. “Struck me for a
thundering idiot,” he muttered, “get in. We'll figure something
out.” Ezra nodded and had barely gotten on board when Mat hit the
accelerator, knocking Ezra to the floor of the skiff. They barreled
off into the night, thrusters kicking up a wave of mud and water
from the street below.

We must be moving pretty
fast
, Ezra thought as he scrambled into a
seat, the rain pounding into his face with a stinging force. “It
feels like we're driving into a river,” he muttered into the
communicator, trying to wipe water from his eyes. “And going
upstream too...” Ezra trailed off, a fresh thrill of panic
spreading its wings in his gut. He whipped around to look back at
the inn, eyes wide. Water was flowing in through the window.
Streams converged on the ground into miniature rivers, racing up
the walls. Rain diverted from its course, funneling into the dimly
lit room through the shattered glass as if the house was breathing
it in, forcing it to defy the will of the storm, wind, and gravity
itself.

“
God, no,” he heard Sarah whisper.

A pulse shuddered through the rain,
radiating from the broken window and jumping from raindrop to
raindrop, faster than thought. Ezra heard the sound of millions of
droplets resonating for the barest of instants. He held his breath,
ready for whatever was coming next.

Nothing happened. The rain resumed its
normal course, a dull, pounding beat. Ezra let out a sigh of relief
and gave Mat and Sarah a shaky thumbs-up.

Then the building exploded. A geyser of
water blew a hole through the front wall and roof of the inn,
coalescing into a wave that bore the enraged water-seer out into
the empty street, a small flood of dirty water and humanity
spreading out in her wake. Ezra could feel her fury as she turned
toward them, just as Mat rounded the corner. She let out a scream
of frustration, thrusting her arm out in a sudden, vaguely martial
gesture, and Ezra thought he saw a handful of raindrops leap out in
their direction before the woman disappeared behind the
building.

“
Get down!” he yelled, throwing himself at Mat and Sarah,
driving their heads down and forward.

“
Hey, what are you-” Mat began, just as they heard what sounded
like a dozen gunshots go off to their right. Several small pings
sounded and Ezra felt a stinging pain in his right shoulder. The
gunshot sounds repeated on their left half a heartbeat
later.

Behind them, a section of the house they had
rocketed past was a mangled wreck where the raindrops had ripped
their way through. The same scene was repeated on the house that
had been to their left and just ahead of them. Ezra put a hand to
his shoulder. It came away slick with blood. He blinked at his hand
as the rain washed it clean. Those little water bullets had cut
him. Through his clothing. And his tactical body armor. Sarah's
face turned very pale as she stared at the injury. Mat audibly
gulped, then set the skiff weaving as he tried to coax every ounce
of speed out of it.

They cleared the edge of town in time to see
the water-seer crest the tops of the buildings, riding a growing
wave of rainwater. She surged after them, launching another volley
of raindrop bullets that never got close to reaching them. Ezra
anxiously watched her for a few moments, a cautious smile growing
on his face as he realized that they were pulling ahead. Sarah let
out a whoop of triumph and grabbed Mat in a fierce hug. Ezra sighed
with relief and slumped back into his seat.

Kelly had regained enough function by now to
start sniffling as the tears in her eyes overflowed.
“M-Maaaaamaaaa! Papa!” she wailed miserably. The girl began making
clumsy efforts to push herself as far away from her rescuers as she
could, still sobbing and keening at the top of her lungs.

“
So,” Mat's voice sounded distant in Ezra's ear. “The
girl.”

“
I
couldn't just leave her,” Ezra muttered in reply. “You heard what
was going to happen. It was just so... wrong.”

“
Not saying what you did was wrong,” Mat responded firmly. “Not
even saying that I wanted to do any different. But it was a bad
thing to do.”

Kelly's cries had turned hysterical as she
stared desperately into the darkness, back the way they had
come.

“
What are we going to do with her, Hawkins?” Sarah asked
gently. “Drop her at some village where she'll just be a runaway,
to be found by the water-seer later or left out on the street to
starve? Take her back to Sanctuary? What can we give her there?
She'll have to be hidden away, end up turned into someone's science
project.”

“
No, I... I don't know.” Ezra voice came out weakly. “I just
thought... anything would be better than that. You saw how that
water-seer looked at people. Like... like she was pricing them out,
determining what they were worth and filing the number away. They
weren't people to her, they were just things, and she-”

“
We understand Ezra,” Mat said, glancing back at him seriously.
“But you know this kid can't handle herself alone, and we can't be
there to hold her hand. What about her family, huh? You think that
water-seer's just gonna back off 'cuz her prize got kidnapped? What
do you think she'll take from them now?”

Ezra's imagination treated him to an image
of the water-seer storming back into the inn and ruthlessly killing
the sickly little boy in his mother's arms. He shuddered. “I... I
just don't know.” He looked over at the girl as she wailed into the
night.

“
Struck it,” Mat continued, “we can't even take her back to the
wormhole; can't let her know it's there. And we're not taking her
with us, that is not an option.” His voice took on a faraway sound.
“Sanctuary's no place for an outsider.”

“
Just give me a second to think, okay? I'll come up with
something.” Thunder crashed as he stared out at the ground whizzing
by over the side of the skiff, illuminating the translucent,
glowing liquid spraying out into the darkness. Ezra blinked down at
the trail stretching out behind them. “Uh, Mat?”

“
That was fast,” Mat snorted, “this should be good.”

“
No, no, I mean, not yet,” Ezra stammered, then took a deep
breath. “Mat, where are the fuel cells for the skiff?”

Sarah gave him a confused look. “They're in
the same place they always are, a bank along the right...”
realization washed over her face. “Mat...” she said cautiously,
eyes still glued to Ezra, “how much fuel do we have?”

“
Oh, thundering blighted water-seer.” Mat's voice came back in
disbelief. “She must have hit our reserves in that attack. We've
got maybe another two hours. Tops.”

“
What can you tell us?” Ezra asked quietly.

“
Well, the good news is it's biodegradable.” Something hopeless
entered his voice. “And hey! So are our bodies! So when the
thundering seer gets through with us, at least we won't be leaving
a strucking negative footprint behind.”

“
That's not what we were asking-” Sarah began.

Mat made a cutting gesture. “I know,” he
sighed quietly. “We've been going pretty hard for a while now. Away
from the portal home, too. If we turn back now and beeline for it,
we'll still be looking at a five mile hike in this.” He gestured
angrily at the sky that was still intent on drowning them. “Blight
and thunder,” he muttered, struggling out of his waterproof poncho
and throwing it back to the shivering little girl. She flinched
away from it, then pulled it around herself in jerky motions, her
cries devolving into pathetic little hiccups punctuated with the
occasional heart-wrenching sob. “She wouldn't make it,” Mat
continued softly. “We'd have to detour toward Southedge, assuming
we can get past the crazy seer behind us. It'd take fuel, too.
Double our walk. Ten miles. Rough, unknown terrain. In the rain. In
the dark. Elementalist trying to kill us.” He directed his hopeless
gaze at Ezra and Sarah. “I just don't see how-”

A black wall rose up out of the darkness in
front of them. Mat swore loudly as he tried to pull the skiff away
from it, but only managed to slam them into the barrier broadside
instead of hitting it head on. The jarring impact threw a very
surprised Ezra out of his seat and clear of the ship, only to send
him rebounding harshly against what felt like solid stone. A huge
black shape hurtled out of the night, landing heavily on the
skiff.

Sarah had a gun out, trained on their
assailant and shooting before Ezra could catch his breath. Mat's
sword flashed in the darkness, darting for the giant's leg. It came
away missing the top third of the blade. Sarah's bullets didn't
even make the monster flinch. It rolled one massive hand and bands
of earth shot from the wall, wrapping around her waist and arms and
pulling her against the stony surface, pinning her in place. Ezra
found his feet and jumped up as the huge figure caught Mat's second
slash barehanded and threw him from the skiff with effortless
ease.

Kelly let out another terrified sob from
where she had fallen, somewhere behind Ezra. He glanced down,
surprised to see his own sword held ready in his hands. Lightning
flashed, and Ezra clearly saw the spire of gray stone protruding
from the crown of their assailant's head, smaller stones hovering
majestically in a loose circle behind it.