Four Elements Book 2 - Fight and Feel

Part 51

It was only thanks to the low hissing sounds that Andie and the others heard the demons coming. Quick as a flash, Andie clapped her hands and held her arms out, bringing more light to the room. She looked up and Zorak was already gone. But demons were coming out of the doors surrounding them.

"Coward..." she muttered.

Or maybe he was just biding his time. That sounded like him. Let them squirm until they were too exhausted then swoop in and grab them.

"Andie, to your left!" called Isabelle.

She whipped around in time to see a demon lunging towards her. She raised her sword and swung it through the air, slicing the creature into dust. She turned around to strike another, her fear for Hannah changing into anger. Hannah was innocent. She wouldn't die. She couldn't. It wasn't right. So she threw all her feelings into her fire and blade, twirling and slashing whatever came her way. Bane was spinning and jumping around as though barely thinking about it. And, Andie thought, maybe he wasn't. He'd been training for so long, it would make sense.

Isabelle was using her staff to pelt ice shards at them, or else whacking them with impressive strength and precision. Jessica was almost as deadly as Andie, her whip cracking like the thunder outside. Emily was using her fans with equal efficiency, though she was struggling a little more because her smaller build made her body less strong. After a moment, however, it became clear that there were more demons coming than they could destroy. And they couldn't waste time fighting them. They had to find some way to speed things up. It wouldn't be long before Zorak intervened. Or Zarias, and the group would quite happily deal with neither if they could avoid it. Andie then got an idea.

"Can you guys hold them off?" she called to her friends.

"Why, what are you going to do?" Isabelle asked, firing a new salve of ice shards.

"We can't just waste time with the small fry. I'll get Hannah and we get out of here. If we're lucky we might be able to get out before Zorak and his son get involved."

Bane looked at her.

"Be careful. He'll be expecting you to go find her."

"Yes. But he won't be expecting what I'll do to him if he touches her," she said fiercely.

She kissed Bane briefly and hurried off.

Andie hurtled down the stone staircase. She had vague memories of when she had been brought here the first time, and thought she roughly remembered where the cells were. But at the foot of the staircase, there were three hallways, each going in three different directions. She paused, panting sightly.

Okay, Andie, think, she told herself. I don't have time to check them all, so how am I going to do this...?

She could just sense her friends, fighting above her. She bit her lip, hoping they could hold on. If they got hurt...

No, I can't think like that. They'll be okay. But that gives me an idea...

She checked the area for demons, saw none, and closed her eyes. If she could sense her friends, maybe she could sense Hannah, too. She opened her mind to her friends, identifying each presence, then the demons, and then listened for any other presence. After a few moments, it came. It was faint, but it was there. Her eyes snapped open.

"Hold on, Hannah..." Andie pleaded in a low voice.

She bolted to her right and hurried down the stone passage. Her footsteps echoed in time with her heartbeat and short breath. She turned a corner too sharply, slipped and fell to the floor hard. She stayed down a few seconds, stunned, her head spinning. She got up slowly, blinking and using the wall for support. Once the ringing in her brain had stopped, she set off again. Hannah was near, she knew it. She thought about calling out, but if Hannah was unconscious, it would only draw attention to her. So she pushed on in silence, ignoring the pain in her head and her side. At another turn, she paused, pressing a sweaty palm against the wall. Closing her eyes, she tried to catch Hannah's... energy, she supposed it was. It was stronger now.

Good, she told herself, her heartbeat accelerating even more. I must be getting close.

She kept her mind on her sister's trail and followed the passageway downwards. Her dream came creeping back into a corner of her mind. She saw Hannah's blank, unseeing eyes again. She shuddered at the memory, but pushed it aside. She finally reached another staircase at the foot of which she found another corridor leading to yet another row of cells. Andie thought back to how Bane had carried her out all that way, and felt a rush of affection and gratitude for him. She paused to catch her breath, and then jogged towards the door, the scene feeling similar to her dream and different at the same time. She pushed the door open, raising her flaming sword. Hannah sat in a corner of the room, tied and gagged, her eyes wide but somehow dry. When the sisters met each other's gaze, relief and love burned between them. Andie made to run towards her and hug her as hard as she could, when something made her stop dead in her tracks. She and Hannah were not alone in the room.

"Andie. I thought it would be you. I was so looking forward to seeing you again."

Of course... Andie growled bitterly. Of course Zorak would be waiting for me.

Zarias stayed in his chambers, trying to shut out the many sounds of blades and shouts echoing below him. Things were getting animated, it seemed. He couldn't decide what he should do. One the one hand, duty dictated that he aid his father, fight by his side, that he subdue the humans and aid him obtain their powers... But his reason was telling him an entirely different story. Since he had seen the little human being brought in, seen her widen scared eyes, he couldn't get them out of his head. He still saw the clinical logic in his father's plan, but his doubts had never been stronger. Adrianna had been one thing. She was almost his age, she was stronger both physically and emotionally. She was the incarnation of fire, so it was only natural Zorak had targeted her. But her sister was far smaller, far younger, and she had never been any part of the plan.

He knew he shouldn't have cared, that demons were ruthless and made no difference between what the target was and what wasn't. He shouldn't care she was just a little human. Was it because he'd seen her before and a small part of him saluted the courage she'd shown that night? Or was it the fact that wherever he'd looked at humans, the young were generally heavily protected? He wasn't sure. But he couldn't shake the feeling that using a child to get what one wanted was not right, somehow. His upbringing and his instincts were warring inside him like they never had before. But which should he listen to? His upbringing, on which he had based his entire existence for the past twenty years, or what he felt, which his father had always told him never to trust?

Although, his father had always told him that knowledge was power, and understanding what the first step to knowledge. So the next logical step was trying to determine why he was feeling so conflicted. He had never known anything else than what Zorak had taught him. Why was he suddenly questioning all that? Because the human world was so much more complex – and intriguing – than he'd ever imagined? Because for all the questions spinning around in his head, Zarias knew that much. And one thing he'd learned was that many humans believed that there was always a reason for everything. Which made him think there had to be a reason for him feeling the way he did. A shout echoed faintly somewhere above him. He looked up, then down to where he knew the cells were. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do.