Kiss the Sky

7

I rubbed my aching throat, my heart racing, but there was no time to stop and recover. Slade was still grappling with the other elemental, using sharp pieces of the broken deck to attack it from all sides. I’d never seen him use wood before, only stone and metal, but there was little of that available on the ship and he must have had to improvise.

Auric burst out of the water, floating high into the air as if he was flying, and relief shot through me. He blasted an elemental across the deck and into the ocean, while Slade slammed the other one down against the deck. I rushed forward and used fire on it to take it out, while Jasin seared the ones in the sea. Slowly the elementals dipped back under the waves, retreating from the battle.

When they vanished, Jasin plummeted from the sky and collapsed on the deck in human form, the momentum ripping another hole into the wood as he rolled to a stop.

“Jasin!” I called out as I rushed over to him, worried he was injured from the fall or the battle. I reached his side and turned him over, but he only gave me a weary smile.

“It’s nice to know I’m still your favorite.”

“Hardly.” I wasn’t sure whether to smack him upside the head or kiss him senseless, which was pretty normal with Jasin. Instead I sat back on the deck beside him, exhausted after using my magic. No wonder the men trained every day to build their control and their fortitude. If I was ever going to get better with fire, I’d need a lot more practice.

Slade kneeled beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder. “Are you all right?”

I nodded and leaned into his strong touch while gazing across the ship. Our deck was a mess, the wood torn up and splintered, with a few gaping holes in it. There was so much water on the deck, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the elementals or if the ship was taking it on. “I’m fine, but our ship isn’t.”

“I might be able to fix that,” Slade said, his stony eyes surveying the deck.

“We have a bigger problem,” Auric suddenly called out, drawing our attention.

Off the starboard side of the boat a massive wave was forming, created by the remaining water elementals. It was easily as tall as the ship. And it was coming right for us.

5

Kira

I

gaped at the giant wave speeding across the ocean, which would engulf our ship in only minutes. “What do we do?”

Jasin hefted himself up to a sitting position with a groan. “I’ll have to face them again.”

“You can’t.” I grabbed his arm to hold him back. If he couldn’t even stand, how was he supposed to deal with the elementals?

He shrugged me off. “What other option is there?”

“We run,” Reven said.

Auric began filling the sails with air to speed us away, while Reven controlled the water currents around the ship. Slade assisted by tying ropes or adjusting the sails, while I tried to give Jasin some of my strength with the touch of my hands. It didn’t seem to do much, maybe because I’d worn myself out already too.

And the giant wave kept coming closer.

“We can’t outrun it,” Auric called out after a few minutes, the wind whipping at his golden hair. “We have to brace for impact!”

“Get below deck,” Slade told me and Jasin in a firm tone.

“Not a chance.” Jasin forced himself to his feet, leaning heavily against the mast.

“Then protect Kira. She’s the most important thing on this ship.”

Slade’s overprotectiveness sometimes got on my nerves, but I didn’t have time to argue that I could take care of myself. Not when the massive wave would hit us in mere moments. “We need to work together,” I said. “That’s the only way through this.”

Reven faced the approaching water with his head high. “I’ll hold back the water as best I can.”

“I can try to put a bubble of air around us,” Auric said.

Slade rubbed his beard as he considered. “I’ll reinforce the ship. Make it stronger so it won’t break apart under the wave.”

“Kira and I will blast those elementals,” Jasin said.

It wasn’t a perfect plan and we’d likely all be sent to the bottom of the ocean, but it was something. It gave me strength knowing that even if my mates squabbled in their free time, they came together when it counted.

“Here it comes!” Reven yelled, as he braced himself against the railing. He cast a determined look at the wave and held it back as it came toward us, but all he could do was slow it down. If he’d had his dragon form maybe he could stop it, but there were too many elementals controlling this water.

The enormous wave crested over the ship, raining saltwater down on us and blocking out the sky. Fear gripped my throat as Auric raised his arms, causing the water to slam against an invisible wall around us. Slade bent down and rested his palms on the wood and metal of the deck, while the ship begin to creak and groan.

The wave drenched the entire ship with a great crash and sent it careening to the side, but Auric and Reven’s magic kept us dry. Water buffeted their defenses relentlessly, and the two men were forced back while our small bubble of safety shrank.

From the view around us, we might as well have been completely underwater. Maybe we were, with the way the ship was lurching, making it hard for us to stand. I lost my footing and crashed into Slade, but he caught me and held me against him, as if he could protect me with his sheer size and willpower.

The wave didn’t seem to end and I could tell my mates were losing the battle, as was the ship, which splintered apart under the pressure from the water. But then the elementals appeared through the wave, their glowing eyes giving them away.