Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(77)

“Ride!” he roared at me.

I jerked the reins to the side, and my horse jumped into action, only to rear and stop so short I nearly fell as black uniforms flooded to one side and a river of commoners came in from the other. I heard Adria scream and tried to wheel around to look for her, but an arm wrapped around my waist, and I screamed, too, as I was pulled from the saddle.

“My queen!” Zeph shouted in my ear, and I stopped yelling. He dragged me back against a building, crowding me behind him and yanking Adria’s wrist. He tossed her behind me and turned, sword drawn, ready to defend me.

But they weren’t there for me. The horses bolted, and I could see the fighting. The uniformed Trifectate soldiers were hammering the common men, and it was brutal and bloody.

“What’s going on?” Adria yelled, crying on my back.

“Stay down!” Zeph yelled.

My stomach dropped. The wind kicked up, and the soldiers fought harder, cutting down the commoners and executing them in the streets. I watched one soldier not far from us slash a man’s throat. The man dropped as a river of blood poured out of his wound, and his eyes searched upward, looking for something. An answer, maybe.

The soldier lunged and impaled a man on his sword, running him cleanly through until the red-stained blade came out the other side. He jerked it out again, but his victim wasn’t dead. The man lurched forward with a knife in his hand, and the soldier hacked at his arm. The heavy sword bit deeply and something cracked; the soldier had a hard time pulling his blade free.

When he did, blood sprang up like the world had spun upside down, catching in the wind and bursting in a red spray.

I didn’t realize I was crying until Adria put her arms around my shoulders, hugging me from behind, and when I felt a shudder, it wasn’t her.

The soldier left the man to fall to his knees in his own blood and moved on to his next victim. This man had two knives, and he was fighting valiantly. He was fast, but his back was turned and he didn’t see the soldier coming.

The man turned, and my heart stopped. No matter how little I had seen it in recent years, I would never fail to recognize my brother’s face.

“Rian!” I screamed before I could help it. “Rian! Rian! Rian!”

Zeph whipped around and covered my mouth.

I didn’t even feel the threads this time—it was too fast, like a tide swamping me, and my love for my brother—my fear at seeing him threatened—took over. I curled my fist, and the dirt of the road sprang up, whipping around Rian to slam into the soldier. More and more dirt and rocks and mud welled up like a wave, and in seconds the soldier was flat on his back like he had been buried in the middle of the road.

Rian stopped for one moment and met my eyes, and then he turned back and kept fighting.

The rush of power left me, and the last thing I was aware of was hands, or arms, or something trying to hold me upright, and failing.





Dragon of the Desert

“My queen.”

Waking felt the way a chick in a shell must; there was a world outside I was aware of, but I saw only darkness until I could pierce through.

“My queen.” Zeph’s voice helped.

I blinked, and the world was moving sideways. It took me a moment to realize he was carrying me, and we were moving, but the effect on my stomach was the same. “Please, put me down,” I begged him, and he obeyed.

Falling to my knees, I vomited into grass on the side of the road. Adria caught my hair and twisted it away, and I saw her pale, tearstained face.

We were close to the beginning of the Royal Causeway. I tried to stand, but my stomach wrenched again and I fell down, vomiting and shaking. When I was done, I leaned against her, and to my shock, she put her arms around me.

“My queen—” Zeph said, not finishing his sentence.

I nodded, using his hand to struggle to my feet. “Yes. Where’s Theron?”

“He didn’t come back,” Zeph told me. My breath caught. “Yet, my queen. We must get you to the castle.”

“Only if you go back to look for him the second we arrive,” I said.

“I can’t leave you unattended, my lady.”

“For Theron, you can,” I told him.

“Let’s get you back, and we’ll discuss it. May I carry you?” he asked.

Shaking my head, I walked, Adria to one side and Zeph to the other. I felt dizzy, though, and incredibly weak, and within a few steps Zeph picked me up anyway and started striding so fast Adria nearly had to run to keep up. For once, she didn’t complain.

The closed gates opened for us and snapped shut behind us again. Adria stopped in the courtyard, but Zeph kept on going, walking fast to my chambers. He shouted for someone to fetch Kairos. “There are few men I trust to watch over you,” he said. “Your brother is certainly one.”

With a sigh, I nodded, and in moments I was back in my room, laid upon my bed. A fleet of ishru came in, wetting cloths in cool water and wiping my face and neck and hands. Zeph turned away as they opened my robes to check if I was cut or bleeding.

They covered me up, and moments later Kairos arrived, rushing to me. I heard Osmost shrieking outside. “Go,” Kairos told Zeph. “I know why you called me.”

Zeph nodded sharply and left, and Kairos sat on the bed, taking my hand.

The moment the door closed I gripped it. “Kai, Rian—Rian was there; you have to make sure he’s not hurt!”