Whisper of War and Storms (Heirs of Elydor #1)

Chapter 17

17

MEV

I could hear voices which meant no one was dead. Yet.

Sitting on my makeshift bed, I ran a finger along the blanket. Kael had called it silken fern. Apparently weaving leaves into blankets at will was another one of his talents.

They can project whispers over long distances. Can levitate for short periods.

The idea that I could do those things was ridiculous. How often had my mother attempted to teach me her ways? Meditation, visualizing exercises, journaling… nothing had worked. I just wasn’t psychic. I’d always been amazed by my mother’s abilities, and that whole time, my father was an immortal who could wield air magic.

Wait a minute. Did that mean…

Can you hear me?

What in the ever-living hell was that?

It was as if the voice was just beside my ear, but at the same time, nowhere.

Mevlida?

I wasn’t imagining things. Someone had just whispered my name. Without thinking, I stumbled out into the waning daylight.

I halted immediately at the sight of Kael and his beautiful companion. And then I realized he wasn’t frowning. Or snapping at me to get back inside. Or fighting with Lyra. In fact, he was actually smiling at me.

“You heard me?” Lyra’s voice, the same one in my ear, was soft. Melodic.

“That was you?”

“Indeed.”

I’d heard her. How was that possible? It was as if she’d been standing next to me in that hut. Not only that, it was as if hearing that voice was the most natural thing in the world, as if she’d always been meant to communicate this way.

Once, for Halloween, my mother’s seamstress friend made me a beautiful belly dancer’s costume. The pants were lavender chiffon, and I remember wearing that outfit for weeks. That’s what Lyra’s clothing reminded me of, though hers were pale blue. The pants were so thin I could almost, but not quite, see through them. Her top was silk, the scooped neck lined in delicate silver embroidery. She wore a lightweight, flowing cape fastened with a silver clasp, and her head was adorned with a delicate circlet of silver and crystal. Her soft leather sandals made no sound as she moved gracefully toward me.

The overall effect was ethereal, like she was part of the sky itself.

Reaching me, Lyra inclined her head as if in reverence. I glanced at Kael who watched us closely. I wanted to ask him what she was doing, but no words came out of my mouth.

“Princess Mevlida. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”

Her head lifted.

What was I supposed to say to that?

“Um.” Not a good start. I’d pretend I was at one of those fancy Boston museum dinners. “The pleasure is mine. It’s Lyra?”

Her eyes were pale blue. And kind. Although she looked maybe thirty, if she were a human, faint lines appeared when she smiled. I wondered how old she really was.

“Indeed.”

“How did you do that? Talk to me in the hut?”

“I will show you.”

“Lyra has agreed to train you,” Kael said. “We’ve come to a tentative agreement.”

“Tentative only,” Lyra said, looking at Kael as if he were a wayward child. I could attest to the fact that he was anything but, sitting behind him on Stormbreaker these past few days. “Because you are?—”

“Lyra,” he warned. I knew the tone well.

“I will say it until my dying breath, Kael.”

“Say what?” I asked her pointedly, ignoring Kael’s scowl.

“That his stance on keeping the Gate closed is wrong. His hatred of humans, wrong. Kael only believes such things because?—”

“Because I have no mother, courtesy of them,” he ground out.

I had a feeling Lyra was going to say something different. I raised my hand, as if in class. “Excuse me? Them? Maybe say that to me directly?”

Kael glared at me and promptly stalked off.

“I’d ask if he’s always like this, but I already know the answer. Apparently, there’s an even worse version of him. I saw him try to kill you.”

“Kael would never kill me. Though he did delay me. I’ll admit he hid you well.”

I watched him head toward his horse, unsure if Kael planned to offer Stormbreaker comfort, or the opposite. Their bond was obviously very strong.

When I turned back to Lyra, she was studying me. Heading toward the fire, Lyra seemed to move as if she were almost floating. I’d never met someone so elegant before. I’d seen her fight, though. She was more than just a beautiful woman in an outfit that would win every costume award at a Halloween party.

And yet… this wasn’t Halloween. And certainly no party.

With a waft of her hand, similar to Kael but slower and more graceful, she stoked the fire.

“Wind?” I asked, assuming that was how she’d done it.

“Aye. Come,” she said, indicating I should stand next to her. “You clearly have the ability to wield air, and I suspect you’ll be quite powerful given your lineage. And that you could hear me, without training…” Lyra pointed to my hand. “Lift it and close your eyes.”

I did as she asked.

“Take a deep breath. In and out. Calm your breathing and your mind. Listen to the sounds around you. Feel the breeze. Note where it originates and which direction it is heading.”

This was something I could do well. In BJJ, managing energy and maintaining composure during rolls and competitions were crucial. I would think identifying wind patterns to be similar to understanding an opponent’s movements to anticipate their moves.

“Consider the air. Is it a gentle breeze? A gust? Or is it still? Feel it, fill your lungs with it. Then slowly move your hand and attempt to push it toward me.”

I did as Lyra said and tried to move the slight breeze toward her. It was faint, but that electricity I’d felt the other times was there, as if it simmered beneath the surface rather than coursed through me.

“Good. Do it again. Keep your eyes closed. Concentrate on the air and your steady breathing.”

I did it again. And again. Twenty or thirty times more, and finally Lyra asked me to open my eyes.

“Look at the fire. Imagine putting it out with air.”

“I hate to put bad ju-ju out there, but isn’t there a big difference between my little wisps and putting out the fire?” Since she’d stoked it, our little campfire had grown and was now spitting and crackling and… no way I could put it out.

“Not really. Just in the amount of energy you use. Everything you need to do it, and more, is already inside you. Just keep breathing, feel the air around you, but this time, instead of moving your fingers and hand, reach behind you as if gathering all of the air there and send it forward. Visualize putting it out.”

I reminded myself I already knew how to harness energy and move with purpose. And tried to lean into the… rightness of it all. When I felt ready, I reached behind me and directed the flow of air which seemed to respond to my command. I could feel the “electric” current, the subtle shift as it moved forward. It wasn’t about the force I used but aligning my intention with the element, just as I had learned to align my movements with my opponent’s energy.

Where there had just been a fire, none existed. The gust was not only strong enough to put it out, but I also swept up every leaf in its path, sending them swirling into the air. If there had been anything else between me and the fire, it wouldn’t be there anymore.

“You will learn to control it better, but that is an excellent start, princess.”

“Mev,” I corrected her, not wanting us to be so formal.

“Guess I’m the only one you like calling you princess, huh?”

I hadn’t seen him approach, but at the sound of Kael’s voice, I spun around, wanting to see his expression. Wanting, dammit, his approval. Clara would be appalled that my red-flag tendencies toward men translated to immortals too.

Which reminded me…

“Kael,” I asked him, realizing I could have asked Lyra too, “am I immortal here?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t ask that already.”

I waved my hands in the air. “Was a little busy meeting my air-magic instructor and, you know, putting out fires.” I still couldn’t believe I’d done that.

“Of sorts.”

It was Lyra, and not Kael, who answered. Because, you know, he hated giving straight answers. I hadn’t worked out the reason just yet, but I assumed it had something to do with him maintaining his “man of mystery” mystique.

Unfortunately, it worked. Was damned irritating though.

“What does that mean?” I asked her, watching as Kael moved toward our hut, constructing—with his hands—a second structure.

“It means that some human children have no magic at all and age normally. Others do have magic, like you, and their aging slows down in direct proportion to their abilities. Judging by the fact that you put out that fire, a skill that can takes years for some Aetherians to develop, after essentially just learning you even had the ability… I would say you are demi-immortal. That you will live for many centuries.”

I was going to faint.

Only once in my whole life had I ever fainted, and I didn’t even remember that. My mother said I’d been sick, and the two of us were arguing, and I went down like a sack of potatoes.

So I had no idea if I was actually going to faint. I only knew that everything seemed to be spinning suddenly. My vision blurred, and I felt as if I would throw up. I put out my hands to catch me, heard a deep voice in my ear and then… nothing.