Destroyer (The Elemental Series #7)(63)

       
         
       
        

I nodded. "Yes."

Bella clutched at me. "Lark, how are we going to get out of here?"

"I can get us out," I said, "and I have to bring the rest of the flames into check."

My sister sobbed into my shoulder. "I prayed that the mother goddess would send you to save me, Lark. I heard her voice. She said you were coming, that you would never fail me."

I took her by the hand. "We have to go now." I pulled on the power of the earth and pushed the sand into solid stairs. We raced up, taking them two and three at a time, Bella cupping her small belly with one hand. Peta was ahead of me. "I can calm the flames too, Lark."

"Do it," I said as I held my hands out, running, putting out the flames everywhere we went. The warmth of the fire was a sensation that made me want more of it. The power was seductive, more so than either Spirit or Earth. We reached the front doors and I doused the flames on them as we stepped out. Peta raced ahead of us, going to the flames farther in the Rim.

Flint ran up the steps and caught Bella in his arms. "Goddess, I thought I'd lost you."

I put my hand on his arm once more. "You must take the flames into you, don't try to put them out any other way."

He twisted to me. "That is madness; that is the way to die!"

"It works." I shrugged because it probably was madness. I wasn't a fool to think the rules of using elemental power would suddenly apply to me now. I'd always done the impossible. Now was not the time to start thinking otherwise.

Flint frowned and I opened my palm, showing him the flames as they danced on my skin. "It is the only way, Flint."

He kissed Bella, and let go of her hand. "I hope you are right." He turned and strode off to the other side of the Rim. The flames still fought us, but it was at least possible to put them out. The hours ticked by and then they were all extinguished and we were exhausted, dirty, sore and still a lot of people were pissed at each other.

The flames may have been gone, but the anger between the two elemental families was still hot.

Bella sat in the middle of the Rim, holding her growing belly. Her older daughter, River, was beside her, a stance that was all protector. I watched her movement, the way she held herself. "You've been training with the Enders?"

"Those that are left." Her tone was cool. She didn't trust me, for very good reason, but I couldn't feel bad about it. I'd done it to protect her. Another drop in the bucket of my understanding about Cassava, Raven, and Talan. Damn it all. I drew a breath.

"I believe Viv is going to bind you all to the Rim. Don't leave; it is the madness which takes the banished that she is using against us. It's why the Salamanders are struggling." I crouched down to Bella while I spoke. "You have to send Flint and the Salamanders back to the Pit." 

"The Pit doesn't exist anymore." Flint walked up beside us as filthy as everyone else, and yet he was still obviously their leader. The other Salamanders looked to him, their eyes shining with trust and loyalty.

"The place exists, even if you can't truly live there. You need to go back until this thing with the false mother goddess is dealt with."

Bella closed her eyes and nodded. "I agree. We can't have this fighting amongst our two peoples."

"And if the flames come again?" Flint bit the question out, anger clearly on his face.

Bella held a hand up to him as she opened her eyes. He helped her to her feet. "Then I will call for you. You must keep your family safe, and you can't do that if they are losing their minds. I can't keep my family safe if they are losing their minds, either."

A shudder slipped through him and he bowed his head. "I do not want to leave you."

A sense of urgency tugged at my feet. Already my time here was done and I had to leave. "Peta, let's go."

The snow leopard raced across the open stretch of the Rim to me, shifting at the last second into her housecat form as she leapt up into my arms. I caught her and she moved quickly to my shoulder. I looked around for Cassava. She was off to one side, quiet, watching, a hood pulled up to shelter her face.

I realized that Bella hadn't seen her. I arched an eyebrow and Cassava shook her head.

I turned back to Bella and caught her in a hug. "I will always come for you, Belladonna. Do not doubt it."

She clung to my shoulders. "I love you, Lark. Whatever it is you are doing, come home when it is done."

I let her go, and strode toward Cassava, shepherding her out of the Rim. Raven had said traveling by Spirit couldn't be done directly in and out of the elemental homes. That it was a fail-safe to keep Spirit Walkers from causing too much damage.