I blinked several times as the realization dawned on me. "You're keeping my pain levels up, aren't you?"
His violet eyes hardened ever so slightly. "Yes, that is one of the things you need to learn to do. Your enemies can't fight you if pain cripples them. I am going to teach you how to keep them hurting. It's ugly, but necessary, and part of that lesson is feeling it yourself, knowing where your breaking point is." He rolled his shoulders.
Peta shook her head. "Talan, you are not giving her any reason to want to stay. You hurt her, you humiliate her, you knock me out and you have imprisoned us both. There is no reason not to keep fighting to find a way out, you idiot."
I was glad she spoke because I was struggling just to breathe past the shuddering pain in my body. The last time I'd hurt this badly was when I'd still been blocked from my connection to the earth, when every time I tried to use it, I was slammed with an agony that threw me to the ground.
Worm shit and green sticks. That was partly what Cassava had done to me-she hadn't just blocked me from my power, she'd made the pain too. The realization nearly took me to my knees. I wanted to ask him if he'd trained her too, if he was the source of Cassava's abilities. I didn't get a chance because he answered Peta.
"All right, I will give you more incentive to willingly stay with me to train."
He turned to the water pouring through the ceiling and passed his hand through it. Slowly, the water darkened, multiple colors spreading and painting a picture of a place I knew very well.
"The Rim … how is that possible." I limped forward, my anger with him momentarily forgotten under what I was seeing. The images wavered and danced with the rushing water, but it was my home.
And it was in utter chaos, people were running, fists were flying. Elementals were on the ground, flat out, while others fought over them. "What the hell is happening?"
I touched the figure of my sister, Belladonna, as she stood in front of not one group of people, but two. The Salamanders-fire elementals- had come to live in the Rim after their home in the Pit had been destroyed. By the look on my sister's face, things were not going as planned, though I'd been gone less than a day. Her hands were above her head, and even though her betrothed-Flint-who was the new king of the Salamanders, stood with her, the elementals around them were obviously agitated. Flint had his mouth open and clearly yelling, but I could hear nothing.
Behind them both, fire erupted in the trees. Flint spun and the fire was gone, and then the images faded into water again.
"That is not incentive to stay, but to leave!" I wanted to yell at him, but big breaths in and out were too hard.
He said nothing, only raised his hand again in the water. This time the image was that of the Deep. All around the pristine city circled human warships. Finley stood in front of them, her hands raised, her face grim.
"She's going to kill them," I whispered and again put my hand into the water as if I could stop her.
Talan ran his hand into the stream, and again, the image changed. The Eyrie this time, the glittering silver and gold spires reaching through the low-hanging clouds. No snow on the ground, and there should have been this time of year.
Samara, Queen of the Sylphs, stood with a small child in her arms, openly weeping. But she was alone.
"Where are all the Sylphs?" I stared, unable to comprehend what the hell was going on. I didn't even look at Talan now. I just stared at the water waiting for him to change the scene. And change it did.
An explosion rocked a human city and flames shot into the air along with bodies, vehicles, and debris. Again and again, the city was hammered with bombs dropped from high above. I stepped back, shaking my head slowly. "These are lies."
"No. They aren't."
The sadness in his voice turned me to face Talan. The sorrow on his face was clear as a summer's sky.
"This is not happening," I whispered.
"It is. And it is why you must train, Lark. Time is slipping away; the world is coming apart at the seams and you must be ready to mend it."
Already my mind raced with possibilities. Where would I go first? Belladonna and Flint could probably hold down the Rim, but Samara needed to be protected if all her people had left her … the question there was why? Or had she sent them away? Then there was Finley … if she started a war with the humans, what then? Fear and the need to get moving flickered through me.
I was not created to stand still when others suffered.
I lifted my eyes to Talan's, hating that I had to let him win. "How long before the worst happens, then? How long do I have to train?"