Born of Water

Born of Water Chapter 40

Chapter 40

FIGHTING THE CURSE

High above, a dark speck circled in the light of the midday sun.

"It's coming," Zhao warned them, sensing the arrival first by the Curse's wingbeats.

Ria looked up, trembling in fear, in anticipation, in hope.

The climb down from the Temple of Winds had gone quickly. The illusions only worked in one direction, so had not hampered their descent. But it had taken two long days to reach the river and another to choose a spot. In the end, Darag, Ty, and Niri decided on a wide pool below a small waterfall. The forest pulled back enough to give them room to move, but was close enough to provide shelter.

Every time Ria had looked as they set up camp, Niri was watching her. It got so that Ria's skin tingled. It had felt like Niri was waiting for Ria to go ahead and summon the Curse. Her hands shook.

"Let's wait two days so that we have a chance to recover," Niri had said that night to Ria's surprise. Relief flooded through her, replacing the dread.

For the next two days, Niri and Darag had drilled Ria and Zhao on using their skills and calling the other elements. Darag had showed Zhao how to call Earth, so that he would know what it was like. Zhao only managed to make a stone roll a few inches before he fell over, feeling ill for several hours. Ria empathized. She remembered what it had felt like to touch death.

They had also fought each other. Ria tried harder than ever fighting against Zhao. In their final standoff, she threw a fireball at him that blazed like a star. It was bright enough to blind. Instead of defending himself, Zhao caught it and tugged the power to form it out of Ria's control. Ria gasped as Zhao made the flames swirl with heat as they reached back for her. She doused it with mist from the river, then looked for Zhao to launch another attack. He wasn't there.

Ria had searched the stream bank, jumping with one foot sliding into the river when Zhao tapped her arm. He appeared beside her, wearing a grin.

"I figured out how the illusions work!"

Ria had rocked the boulder under his feet, sending Zhao tumbling into the stream. It hadn't diminished his delight in the least.

Then on the morning of the third day, Ria had walked alone to the center of the clearing surrounding the stream. Her heart fluttered in her chest as she stood watching the water a moment and tasting the air with its pine scent. Carefree clouds danced across the blue sky. With barely restrained tears, she reached out her spirit and touched a group of flame-colored flowers that edged the shallow pool. The plants bowed as if caught in a breeze. Then the flowers burst from the dangling stems, rising on updrafts. Ria had changed them into crimson butterflies. After that, her knees gave out.

Now the black dot overhead hovered so that it was lost to the sky. Out of the sun blindness, it dropped like a stone, coming so fast Ria could not see what form it took. The Curse plunged to the ground, striking where Ria stood. Or where it thought Ria stood.

The illusion Zhao had created disappeared the instant the Curse's open claws found air and then water. The Curse landed haphazardly in the deep pool Niri had held back all morning. Trumpeting in confusion, it changed from a giant eagle to a dragon as it reared out of the stream.

Niri was quick to thicken the water, pulling at the Curse's struggling bulk. It shot fire at the watery bonds. Then, sensing more than seeing, it spat fire at Niri where she waited under the trees. Ria dashed them away from Niri and Ty, sparing Niri the pain of touching fire.

The Curse's wings beat the air to help it gain ground against the sticky water. Zhao thinned the air. The Curse's form slumped back to earth, its wings finding no purchase to rise against. Angry now, it thrashed out a tail striking anything in reach. Rocks exploded. The debris fell back on the Curse as if the ground itself fought it as well. Darag would not waste such an easy opportunity to inflict damage.