THE ELEMENTAL CHRONICLE

Twenty Eight |

Twenty Eight |

  He charged me, and I stumbled backwards, falling onto my butt. He stopped, standing above me, a cocky smirk on his face as he looked down at me. My heart hammered—I had not seen this side of him before. There was a wild look in his face, a slight breeze circling around him that suggested he was enjoying this very much. 

My eyes widened, "What?"

"Fight me," he repeated, squatting down to my level while uncuffing his sleeves and rolling them up slowly, "I will not say it again."

I took a small and stood. When he didn't back up, I took a large step back. He could not be serious within such words. My body shook and I held my breath. I couldn't fight the heir prince—even if he was not the heir to the throne, he was an excellent fighter. He could kill me as easy as taking a breath or flexing his wrist.

"I can't," I mumbled, the words sounding more like defeat than I wished.

His head tilted with amusement as he pulled off his jacket to continue rolling up his sleeves in a suggestive manor, "Why not?"

I could laugh if I didn't feel like crying, "For one, I don't want to. And for another, I could have no possible chance against you!"

He backed up a few steps a frown on his face, "If you do not try to understand your abilities then you will have no chance against anyone. You will be murdered in the tournament and then your brother will be murdered if the queen thinks he lied to her."

My fingers curled into tight fists, "You're trying to get a rise out of me."

"Of course I am," he replied, raising a hand, "Our powers surface with emotion. Anger, desperation, fear. They are all the same to our abilities—they come to protect us when we cannot protect ourselves. It is then that we can begin to master them."

My gaze dropped, shame filling me, "I can't."

He said nothing for a moment, then turning on his heels he began to walk away. I looked up, watching as he went with a tang of confusion and disappointment. Once he reached the tree line he stopped, turning back to face me. He placed on hand on the large tree before I could feel the air shift. Magic rose from him, his blue eyes glowing. I heard the echo of a bang before I watched the tree fall. I flinched as it did, slamming down onto the forest floor with a heavy noise. Above us, leaves rustled with unease and I could feel anger fill my heart.

"What was that for?" I demanded.

He smirked, "Are you angry now?"

"A little," I snapped honestly.

He nodded, "It should. As an earth elemental, any disrespectful act against nature or against a life should fill you with rage. Is that not why you went to that dying village?"

"I went because no one was trying to save them."

He moved to the next tree, "You went because you love to defy your brother's orders at each turn. You know nothing about our politics and yet you pretend to know better. Well then, this is our politics too. How many trees will have to fall before you act?"

Another fell and I flinched hard, "Enough of this!"

"Then do something about it," he laughed.

My body heated as frustration filled me and I threw out my hands, "I can't!"

Hot magic filled my body, moving up my toes and then out towards the tips of my fingers. I let out a wild cry. It was sudden that we were both thrown back in opposite directions. My back slammed into a tree, but it did not hurt as it should have. Erik let out his own grunt of pain, clearly whatever tree he hit did but more than it should have. I landed on the ground softly, my eyes fluttering as I came to realize I had landed on a large patch of moss. In fact, it had covered the tree I had slammed into as well. Pushing myself up, I looked over to where Erik had been thrown. There was no moss on his side, just hard ground. And in between us, filling up the entire clearing was—

"Mushrooms?" he called with confusion.

He was right. A sea of different looking mushrooms from here to there.

"Porcini, morel, blewit," I recognized, "chanterelle, stropharia."

Then my eyes fell to a single mushroom in the middle of the clearing. The only one of it's kind and the only one dangerous in this sea of harmless mushrooms. A single mushroom with a pale yellow cap and a creamy stem. A death cap.

I swallowed hard as he slowly walked through the clearing, and reached my side.

"Are you hurt?" he asked concerned.

My eyes didn't leave the death cap, "No."

"Mushrooms?" he mused, "I suppose we'll have to train elsewhere but good news, it looks as if you are an earth elemental. A powerful one at that."

I looked at him slowly, "I guess so."

"You don't seem happy."

Silence was my friend here. I had nothing to be proud of because I knew these mushrooms were not my work. The only thing I had done was summoned the moss and that I knew for sure. When I had cried out, I had briefly sensed something else. Something's magic had blown up between us, and that's when my own magic appeared at my back.

My eyes moved to the forest around us but I could sense no one now. That death cap was a clear message—a warning. But I was not sure if it was towards me or towards the heir prince but whichever it was meant for, it was clear this place was no longer safe.

"We must return to the castle now," I said quickly.

He tilted his head, "I suppose we should. How long for these to clear?"

I shook my head and began walking in the direction of the horses. Erik scrambled to catch up to me, and when I looked back at him he had a scrape on his hand from hitting the tree. I stopped, and my eyes narrowed, guilt filling me.

"Don't worry about me," he smiled, "I'm alright."

My face heated, "Stupid. I'm only worried that the queen will kill me if you're hurt."

He chuckled at that.