Battle of the Elements

The pain had stopped after an hour or so but this woman never stopped with her spells. She would mumble simple words and end up manipulating my mind in ways I had never known were possible. She could search through my memories and pick them apart until I didn’t know if they were even real or just fabricated. What killed me the most in those few hours was when she started to reason with me; trying different words and perspectives until she eventually just tried to modify my opinion by delving into the most personal ways of my mind and searching through them and modifying them to her liking; but she could never change what I had thought of her, never.

“Damnit! Why are you so stubborn?!” The woman wasn’t calm anymore as her shouting rang through the room as her spell was repeatedly cut off by my own magic.

“I won’t let you see those. Those are the parts of my brain you will never touch.” I said between breaths, exhausted from the torture.

“Whatever. You won’t be able to fight forever.”

“No, she won’t.” Bridgette’s voice echoed through the room just as a giant ball of fire hit the red haired woman. Remarkably, it did nothing but make her flinch. The woman turned around, a look of pure fury and hatred on her face.

Bridgette stood at the large, rocky entrance with a huge smile spread across her face. On her left was Alex who looked at me with concern. On her right were Dane – staring at the red haired woman with pure disbelief and a sword in his hand – and Harrison – who showed no emotion whatsoever, his chest was heaving slowly and there was this intense look in his eyes.

I felt two hands at my feet and looked down to see a girl with large wolf ears, untying the rope that wrapped around my ankles. I looked to my side to see a tanned boy untying the ropes around my wrists. He smiled at me then went back to my wrists.

“Who are you?!” The woman screamed.

“Well, my names Bridgette. Nice to meet you. You seem to have one of our friends in your torture chamber, so if I could just grab her and the other children you took, we’ll be on our way” a wild look edged into her eyes and a somewhat dangerous-looking smile appeared on her face “if not, we can sort this out the fun way.”

The woman tapped her forehead and sighed “Don’t you see I’m trying to help?” she turned to the tanned boy at my side and gave a little shake of her head, then she waved her hand and he flew backwards into the wall, “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she whispered before mumbling something.

The kind looking boy erupted into screams. He squeezed his dark eyes shut for a moment, then opened them to reveal bright, yellow, bloodshot eyes. The girl with the wolf ears flinched but never looked away from the knots at my feet – but I could see panic in her eyes and her hands shook as they manoeuvred the rope faster than before.

Bridgette’s expression didn’t change as she hurled yet another fireball at the red-haired woman, who screamed – but not in agony, no this was more out of frustration – as the flames engulfed her, then waved her hand over her body and the flames went out. Then the woman gave a slight roll of her eyes and snapped her palm towards Bridgette.

Bridgette didn’t budge but Harrison was knocked off his feet and Dane dodged the attack by leaping towards the woman.

Dane sliced through the air with his sword and swiped at the now furious, crazy woman and missed her, cutting off a lock of hair in the process.

A low growl started behind me. I felt the girl’s hands freeze for a moment then, untie the last knot so fast I could barely see her fingertips. Then, as the last of the rope fell limply to the ground she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me away from the column. I felt something big shoot just past my back, heard a loud bang and heard a cracking, crumbling noise. I whipped my head around to see a giant wolf, its dark fur shining in the white light. It was standing next to what remained of the pole – which was only a few chunks of white stone – I heard it breathing, loud and heavy and it scraped it’s giant claws against the white – what I think was – marble floor, leaving dents in the carefully polished surface.

It turned around so that I could see its gleaming, wild, yellow eyes and huge, bared teeth. I felt the strong pull of the girl in front of me, she thrust be behind her as the wolf came barrelling towards us, it’s eyes fierce and locked onto its pray. Her giant, grey wolf ears set back flat against her raven hair and her grey eyes pointed straight into the beast’s. She slowly put her hand out in front of her in a stopping motion. The wolf slowed slightly when it reached about a meter away from us but never took his eyes off her. The girl bared her teeth - showing two, small fangs mixed into the rest of her human teeth – and growled. The wolf stopped completely as she said in a slow, clear voice “Jake, wake up. You’re fighting the wrong people, idiot. I don’t want to fight you today so for the love of the gods, wake up!”

“He can’t hear you.” The woman called from behind us while fighting off Bridgette’s failing attempt at throwing streams of flame at her and close encounters with Dane’s sword. Where

The wolf snapped at the girl and before she had a chance to dodge the attack, he lunged on top of her and the air was instantly filled with the wild snarls and growls as the two clashed on the marble floor. All I could see was a whirlwind of fur and teeth.

I took my chance, hopping up off the floor and running away from the two beasts. I saw the woman turn her eyes to mine and she flicked her hand at me and I froze. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything.

I felt two, strong hands grip me from behind and haul me into large arms. I glanced towards Alex, his dark eyes were focused as he ran out of the caves until the spell wore off. Puffing, he said “Why did she take you?” he didn’t look at me as he said it.

Stunned, I said quickly “I was in the woods, I just needed time to think and then suddenly there was a wall when I got back and she lunged on me. I didn’t do anything.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully, as if processing what I just said. “Do you trust her?”

“Who?”

“Bridgette?”

I paused. Did I? I had only just met her and she hasn’t exactly done anything to earn my trust but… “Yes.” I said, then nodded as if to confirm what I had just said. “Yes, if she was up to something don’t you think she wouldn’t have risked her life to save me today? No, she wouldn’t do that.”

“How do you know? You only just met her.” He asked, his eyebrows knitting together in the middle.

I paused, “I…I just…know.”

Alex shrugged as if saying ‘fine’ and then stood up. Once he was up he held out his hand to me. I took it and smiled. He grinned back at me and for a few seconds it was like when we were kids, in the woods getting into trouble and when that trouble was nearest we would look at each other with these goofy grins and face it together – then again, back then the trouble wasn’t a crazy witch who kidnapped children, it was usually the servants or parents coming to scold us for doing something wrong.

Alex

Was she thinking the same thing I was? She hasn’t changed since we were kids – still kind and sweet but a little naïve – but there was something different now, something new. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind.

“So should we go back?” She asked.

I stared at her in disbelief.

“What?”

“You want to go back?”

“Yes! Don’t you?”

“No! Why would I want to go back in there?”

“Because our friends our there Alex!”

“They’re fine. They asked me to take you back to the inn. You’re the only one in this group who doesn’t know how to protect themselves!”

“I appreciate the thought but I don’t want you pity Alex. I can defend myself.” She pulled her hand from mine. She looked as if I had just slapped her across the face. Then she disappeared back into the caves.

I stood there for a moment, puzzled and angry, then I chased after her.

We reached the room again to find Bridgette doubled over beside Dane – who was sitting against the wall catching his breath with his sword in his hand – and Harrison stood in the centre of the room, staring blankly at where the woman – who was nowhere to be seen – had been.

Melanie was sitting on the floor beside Jake. They were laughing nervously together and Melanie shoved him playfully then said something like “I’ll always be the alpha, sheep-brains.” They both grinned at each other despite what had just happened and I felt a slight pang in my chest. They reminded me way too much of Titania and I when we were teenagers.

Bridgette

She had run away just as we were getting somewhere with her. I let out a grunt in frustration.

“Where did she go?” Titania said to no one in particular.

“She retreated.” Dane said after he finished catching his breath, he stood up and slowly put his sword back into its sheath.

Melanie and Jake walked over towards us.

“Are you ok Jake?” I asked, feeling a slight pain in my chest at the scratch marks on the two kids’.

“Yeah, I’m alright.” He said, moving his arm to put his thumb up and wincing.

“I can see that,” I said with a little humour, then my expression turned dark when I saw the huge claw mark scraping down Melanie’s arm. “Melanie, are you ok?”

She gave a small smile and took out a small handkerchief from her pants and wiped away at the blood trickling down her arm – destroying the handkerchief in the process. “Yeah, I’ve had worse.”

I gave a slight laugh, “Yes you have, Little Wolf.”

Melanie shrugged slightly and kept wiping her – now stained with blood – arm.

Alex walked towards us, “We better get going in case she comes back. We can talk when we get back to the hote-“

“No hotel. I know a person around here who can patch up Melanie and give us all a room. We’ve been staying there for a while. It won’t cost money and it’s probably a lot safer than going back to the inn.” I said.

“Sure. We’ll have to get our horses though.” Dane said with a flash of white teeth.

Alex rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Titania joined us with Harrison. She took me by surprise when she wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you Bridgette, for saving me I mean.”

“Uh, that’s ok.” I said, awkwardly wrapping my arms around her.

She pulled away and held me at arm’s length for a moment, then she did the same to Melanie. “Thank you as well. What’s your name?”

“It’s Melanie, but Bridgette calls me Little Wolf. You?”

“Titania, but my friends call me Titania.”

Titania

We eventually came to a small cottage in the woods where a skinny old man waited at the door. He had a straight face and the top of his head was bald. His hair had longs since greyed and he wore what reminded me of a fancy, navy dressing gown.

We got to the door and he greeted us with a nod but didn’t say anything until we were all inside. A woman sat in a rocking chair at the window, staring off into oblivion until she saw us and gave a big smile. She embraced Melanie then Bridgette.

“How have you been Mar?” Bridgette asked, smiling.

“I’ve been well dear, I’ve been well.” She looked at Melanie and took her hand “What happened to you dear?”

“Jake turned.” She said casually.

Mar led us into the kitchen. It smelled of chocolate and baked goods, and it had a medical kit set out on one of the wooden benches. She led Melanie to one of the cushioned chairs and started rubbing creams on the cut and wrapping it with bandages. When she was done she turned to us for the first time since we had come in. Her blonde hair was tied back in a messy ponytail and her green eyes were kind. She smiled at us “You must be guests. My name is Mar, the man you saw outside is Hank. Feel free to stay here for as long as you wish. We have a few rules here when it comes to guests.” She gestured to the wooden wall. It had a small sign nailed into it that said:

Guests must obey the following rules:

Do not disrespect the owners of the house or the other guests whilst inside the property.

No violence (Unless during training)

Whilst living here you must work/train for your food

You eat what is given to you or you don’t eat at all

I nodded. The rules were pretty basic and I had no issue with any of them. Mar smiled “Good to have that sorted. Now, Melanie are you still capable of training?”

Melanie looked up from her arm with a smile “Wouldn’t dream of anything else.”

Hank walked into the kitchen and didn’t give us more than a second glance and a grunt. Melanie stood up and went through a door that I hadn’t noticed before. It was made of stone and had a sword engraved into it. She pushed the door open and went into the dark room. Winked at us then gestured for us to follow her.

Hank led us into the room. It had dim lighting coming from the one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. On the wall were rows upon rows of different swords, knives, bows and more. Dane ran his hands over one of the swords, it had an engraving on its blade like a snake running along the edge of the blade. Melanie was standing in the middle of the room. Her face was tense and she held a katana firmly in her right hand. Bridgette stood beside me with a dagger clutched in each hand.

She had a ghost of a smile on her face as Hank seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of us. “Everyone,” he said firmly, “get a weapon from the wall. Your training is about to begin.”

I saw Dane clutch the snake sword in the corner of my eye and immediately reached for one of the bows and a sheath of arrows. Alex had picked out a sword from the same wall as Dane. Harrison was holding a single dagger in his hand and Jake had a large stick in both hands.

Hank continued speaking once everyone had a weapon. “Now that you all have your weapons we can begin, I am your trainer. My rules here are: Don’t kill anyone, don’t ask stupid questions and never back down. Any questions?”

No one said anything.

“I will attack you. You will fight back. Try to live. Go.” And the light busted with a flurry of sparks. The room was pitch black for a moment before the light was magically replaced and switched on. Hank was gone. I heard the sound of a fist against jaw and something clattering to the ground. I spun around to see Harrison on the floor, his dagger a foot away from him. Another sound – a clash of metal on metal – I spun around to see Melanie slashing the air with her katana gracefully and Hank dodging her quickly before he lunged himself at Bridgette. He threw a straight punch at her but she batted it away and threw a punch in one swift move faster than I could see. Hank swooped down and under her. He landed near Jake whose stick clashed against the ground just before Jake lifted up into the air, came back down behind the old man and did a high kick. His foot crashed against the man’s back and Hank stumbled forward a step. Jake tried yet another kick but Hank whipped around and grabbed his foot, twisted, and sent Jake to the ground. Alex lunged at Hank, connecting his fist with the man’s jaw. Melanie stepped into the fight without her katana and sent her heel into Hank’s shin – but something happened. I saw his shin go a dark, metallic colour as her heel connected, then, as she took her heel away, the colour disappeared and he punched her in the face. She was sent backwards against the wall and didn’t get up.

I turned to Dane – who had appeared by my side as soon as the attack had begun – and whispered in his ear “Distract him for a moment.” I signalled to Bridgette and she ran to my side with Jake. “What is it?” She asked.

“He’s using magic. Dane is going to distract him. While he does that I need you to throw one of your fireballs.”

She shook her head slightly, her eyes never leaving Hank and Alex “That will kill him, Jake can throw a knife with great aim. He can pin Hank to the wall.”

“That will do.” I said quickly as I looked at Dane.

Dane nodded as Alex was flung across the room. Then he bombarded Hank with his sword – missing on purpose.

Bridgette whispered to Jake and handed him her daggers. In a matter of seconds two daggers flew through the air, catching Hank’s clothes and jerking him against the wall, pinning him there as the daggers sunk into the stone walls.

Melanie was there in an instant, putting the tip of her katana to hanks throat. Alex stood up and gave Dane a pat on the shoulder before we all gathered around Hank.

Melanie remained straight faced – but I swear I saw the corners of her mouth twitch – as she stood still as a statue with her katana pointed at hank. Jake was smiling with victory and Bridgette high-fived him. I smiled to myself as I thought to myself, you just helped take him down.

Bridgette

She’s coming along pretty well, I thought to myself as I wandered through the garden. Mar and Hank were farmers. They grew their food and barely ever went near the nearby villages. I had met them last year with Shane. We had been running from some of the locals when Mar saw us and stepped in the middle of us and the locals. She had used her magic to hypnotise the men, then, after they had gone, she had invited us inside and after a while they made yet another alliance.

I had been going for walks a lot lately. Although lately they had ended with girls vomiting, being kidnapped and men holding knives to my throat, but they had been nice for most of the time none the less.

Melanie was walking to my left and Jake was on my right. We were walking past the cabbages when Melanie stopped suddenly and spoke for the first time since the walk had begun- the girl was always trying to seem serious and deadly but I had always known she was full of excitement and life – “Bridgette,” she said, staring at the front porch where Titania stood with Alex, “you know I’m not one to question your choices – because most of them are reasonable and smart – but,” she paused, “why her?”

Jake had crouched beside on of the tomato plants and was picking a few of them. He wouldn’t make eyes contact, as if he had been thinking the exact same thing – they had obviously been speaking about it with each other.

I paused for a moment. “I just know.”

“But why are we risking our lives for a girl who can’t fight, can’t control her magic and discards who she really is?”

I tapped my finger to my chin, “Hm that sounds familiar.”

Melanie rolled her eyes, “I just don’t see what’s so great about her. She can’t even fight.”

I gave an exaggerated sigh “You need to understand that someone’s power lies in their head” I touched my head, “Not in your fighting skills. Real strength lies in one’s head. That’s why I’m so strong.”

Jake smiled as he popped one of the cherry tomatoes into his mouth, “You do have a very large head.”

I shot him a glare then turned back towards a smirking Melanie, “What I’m trying to say is that, even though she’s not strong, she has a lot of potential and I want to harvest it.”

Melanie nodded, “So… in a way she’s kind of like me?”

“In a way, yes. But she’s got something you don’t.”

“What’s that?”

I paused for a moment, not really knowing how to say it, “She has a huge destiny.”

Melanie didn’t respond for a moment. I could see her thinking it out in her head, working it out until she finally asked, “How do you know?”

“I just know.” I said curtly.

“You seem to know a lot of things.”

“I’m a smart person.” I shrugged.

“So, why does her destiny matter?”

“It defines her power.”

She stayed silent.

“If a magician has an important destiny, they have stronger powers. The larger the destiny, the more powerful the elemental – or whatever they are.”

Melanie shrugged, “Speaking of Shane-“

“I didn’t mention Shane.” I said, caution edging into my voice.

“Well, I was thinking about him—“

“Why were you thinking about him?”

“I just was!” she said, her cheeks were turning a lovely shade of red.

I gave a slight smirk – she had always had a sort of crush on Shane, like a schoolgirl crushing on a senior she had no chance with – but said nothing.

Melanie rolled her eyes, “Anyway! Speaking of Shane, where did you see him last?”

I paused for a moment, not sure how to break it to her that he was in one of those terrifying labs and was probably going to be there for years because his power is so rare. “I don’t know. He just told me he was away on business and I had to take over his work. That’s all I know.”

Melanie shrugged, unsatisfied but understanding that she shouldn’t ask any more questions.

Jake stood up and walked towards the house, muttering things that I couldn’t hear.

Titania

Alex and I sat next to each other at the dinner table. Mar and Hank sat at the heads of the table. Melanie and Jake sat next to each other but didn’t talk, Bridgette sat beside Jake and Dane sat on my right. Harrison was eagerly asking Mar about how they lived out in the forest alone. I poked at my food – Mar had made chicken, carrots, peas and gravy – and listened to Harrison and Mar. I began wondering how Harrison had broken into all those food stores. He was strong, but not strong enough to break doors or windows. He wasn’t gifted in fighting and as far as I was concerned, didn’t have a lot of allies.

Alex nudged me gently with his elbow. I looked up at him. You ok? He mouthed.

I smiled and nodded. I just wasn’t feeling well enough to eat, I didn’t want to disturb him. I gave a smile in return and went back to his dinner.

That’s when I noticed two grey eyes across the table were looking at me. I looked at Melanie, she didn’t react. Then, as if waking from a sleep, she blinked and snapped her eyes away. She left the dinner table and ran towards the front door. Bridgette did the same immediately afterwards, along with Jake, Hank and Mar. Dane, Alex, Harrison and I all looked around the table, puzzled, before I felt something strange. I felt a pull again. I ran towards the pull and ended up in the front doorway. And all I saw was a woman with red hair and crazed eyes.