Sera opened her eyes slowly, confused as to why everything was still dark. She lay there, still for a few moments feeling out her environment. Cool air blew across her face, and the sound of wind rustling the few leaves leftover from last fall tickled her ears. The darkness around her also began to come into focus, and the textures of the clouds above became visible, illuminated slightly by the moon and stars behind them.

Light from her left caught her attention, and she turned her head to see the flash of lightning in distant clouds to the south, far enough away that any thunder was lost on the breeze. The ground was hard, too hard. She remembered standing on a rock, but now she was lying in a stone bed, seemingly conformed to her body.

Sera sat up slowly, looking around at the quiet campsite. She immediately saw Ethan propped up against a rock to watch over her, but he had fallen asleep. Memories of where she was and what had happened came back to her slowly, but when her deadly strike against Larken flashed across her mind’s eye, she jumped to her feet.

Her breath came to her in quick gasps, her senses on high alert. Everything around her was quiet. She looked where she had lain and saw an odd rock formation that had grown around her, like a silhouette of her body made of stones. She didn’t see Larkin’s body and guessed it had been moved. Her breathing slowed, and she put her hands down by her side, unaware that she had raised them in defense. Defense against what, she didn’t know.

As she regained her composer, she took stock of herself. She remembered taking several blows from their adversary, including getting knocked to the ground and into large rocks several times, but she felt good. She felt amazing. Sera flexed her knees and took a few tentative hops. Her legs were strong, and her shoulders and back were not sore or bruised at all.

The axe! She had the body Elemental inside her.

The more she woke up to her surroundings, the more her five senses came alive. Even though the light from above was slight, she could see exquisite detail in the landscape around her, and the few flashes of lightning from the south were like fireworks to her sensitive eyes. Smells came to her vividly on the breeze from early spring flowers and budding trees. In addition, she could sense where Ethan must have stashed the body on the fire’s far side. The aroma was intense.

Sounds came to her as well. She could hear the chittering and chattering of nocturnal animals as they continued the process of uncovering their winter stores and looking for food in the night. The more she listened and felt, the more she became overwhelmed by it. She understood a little of what Ethan must feel when he was consumed by emotion, but now it was the physical world imposing itself on her.

Sera took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She was a physic and an emerging faith healer. If anyone was equipped to handle the sensory overload that came from this Elemental, it was her. She prayed fervently for assistance, not so much reaching up to the Savior but reaching deep within herself. She found a center of power there, undoubtedly the Elemental. She felt how it went out along her nerves, muscles, and bones. It fed her physical nature with power, and she experimented with how she could dial it down. The response was immediate.

Sounds quieted. The chill bite of the breeze receded. Her hunger, for she hadn’t eaten in almost twelve hours, also faded into the background. Sera opened her eyes again, and it was a dark night once more, the features of her surroundings no longer as stark as they had been. With surprising ease, she reached within herself again and pulled at the power to strengthen her eyesight, and the effect was dramatic.

This, she could get used to.

Sera remembered how Ethan had complained that he felt he got the weakest of the Elementals and how nice it would be to have a perfect body. She could feel his pain now. Though perhaps he would not have been as equipped as she was to control this power so easily. He might have been overwhelmed with the enhanced sensory input and complained about that too.

As she continued to play with her body’s interaction with the Elemental inside her, a sound came against the wind. It was distant, but it came from the north, in the face of the southwestern breeze, and it was hard to be sure. After a few moments, Sera could isolate it. Howls.

Bloodhounds!

She shouted sharply back toward her traveling companion and the cold fire. “Ethan! Wake up!”

The young man stirred instantly, having not intended to sleep, and was not in a comfortable position leaning on the rock. “Sera! You’re awake. I was so worried about you.”

“Later,” she said. “Where is the axe? Where is my sword?”

“The axe is there,” he pointed as he stood, stretching to get the crick out of his back. “I don’t know about your weapons.”

Sera saw the axe lying by the cold fire along with Larken’s sword and shield. “We need to start the fire!”

Ethan looked at the cold embers and then at the young woman giving orders. “Why, are you cold? I didn’t want to leave you to get more firewood.”

“Can’t you hear that?” she shouted at him. To her, it sounded like the hounds were only a hundred yards away, ready to burst over the hill to the north any second.

Ethan shook his head. “Hear what?” But a second later, he didn’t need to hear.

Sera’s estimation was correct, and the beasts crested the hill just to the north, only 75 yards away at most. Ethan followed her terrified stare and cried out as he saw the creatures. Half a dozen bloodhounds came racing down the hill. He had buried Larken’s body to the south under some rocks, and he knew they were now standing between the hungry beasts and their meal. Of course, the smell of blood only brought the monsters running. Once in the area of the kill, they would be willing to eat anything in their way.

Ethan quickly realized that the pictures he had seen did not do these enemies justice. He had never seen one in the flesh before, for fire effectively kept them away, so they didn’t bother towns or villages. If you were in the wild and had a fire blazing, bloodhounds wouldn’t come anywhere near you or your campsite. But the idea of starting a fire in the few seconds they had before the creatures were upon them wasn’t something Ethan entertained for long, and as the first few drops of rain fell on his tousled brown hair, he knew it would be a futile effort anyway.

Sera looked on with even more horror. Ethan saw hulking shapes, sprinting toward them on two legs, all hair and teeth, which was scary enough, but she saw with precise clarity as she hadn’t felt the need to soften her eyesight. They were each just under six feet tall and ran with human coordination. Like the crawners, they had massive upper bodies, but unlike the smaller enemies they had fought yesterday, the bloodhounds had the lower bodies to match. They were more feral creatures than the crawners, though, and did not have the sophistication to use weapons, but their clawed hands looked deadly enough.

Some people nicknamed them landsharks because they could smell blood from over a mile away, but it could have also been for their teeth. Sera flinched as a flash of lightning behind her shone a momentary spotlight on the charging creatures, the white fangs showing clearly in their open, canine maws. They looked as vicious as she imagined werewolves would be, but these were not fairytale creatures. These were real and only a few dozen feet from ripping her to shreds.

Sera thought her weapons were lying off to the left, up the hill a distance, but she had no time; instead, against better judgment, she lifted the axe from the ground. The weapon felt exceptionally light in her hands, and she reached deep into the Elemental to draw any extra strength she could find.

Though not sophisticated, the bloodhounds weren’t dumb. The six saw they could have a leisurely meal here if they took these two humans down quickly, and they broke off into groups of three to attack the figures before them more effectively. Sera glanced briefly over at Ethan to see that he had his usual longsword held tightly in both hands, and he charged to meet his group, preventing them from organizing any flanking maneuver. He was a few inches taller than the upright hounds and could attack them with his sword before they got close. He quickly struck down one, and the other two grew cautious.

Sera didn’t let the action to her left distract her, turning back to meet her enemies, all of whom towered over her by almost a foot and at least 100 pounds. She couldn’t attack from a distance or from above, so as they spread out to surround her, she surprised them by jumping forward, somersaulting into a ball, and slipping between two of them. Both creatures swiped down at her with their claws, but she was remarkably quick.

The move was almost too fast for Sera to control. The strength in her legs surprised her, and she used that power to quickly stop her roll, turn around, and swing an attack at the back of the beast on her right. Her axe cut deep into one of the legs surrounding her like tree trunks. Her foe howled painfully into the night air. The sky echoed back with more lightning, and the rain began to fall harder.

Sera didn’t waste time, standing quickly, and continued to whip the axe around her, cutting into their legs and torsos. At first, she tried to time her swipes and cuts with her footwork, remembering several routines Sir Gerhold would have her do with her sword to fight off imaginary attackers. But she was holding the axe with two hands and found she could spin and hack so quickly and powerfully that her routine was soon lost to reckless abandon.

In addition, with each hit, she felt a jolt of power surge up the shaft of the axe and into her arms. After each strike, the weapon felt lighter and her legs stronger. The subsequent attacks came even faster. Soon, two of her enemies were kneeling on the ground, their legs too mutilated to stand. Sera slashed one of them across the chest, cleaving its heart in two, and she swiped across the shoulder of the other. Each killing blow brought a massive jolt of power into her, but with the Elemental already firmly entrenched within her, she didn’t pass out but became even more alert.

The last of the bloodhounds backed away from her as she turned, having only received a minor cut to its stomach. But Sera pursued, leaping high into the air toward it, higher than she would have thought possible so that her weapon naturally went up, over her head, and then back down in a vicious chop that split the bloodhound’s skull in two from top to bottom.

Sera landed lightly on her feet, her breath coming easily and not the slightest bit tired. She looked over at Ethan, who had quickly taken down one of the hounds, but the other two were dancing on either side of him, preventing the young man from giving either of them his full attention. Without thinking, Sera lifted the axe over her head and threw it in another overhead chop. The beast with its back to her caught the blade’s edge between its shoulders and fell, howling in pain.

Ethan pivoted away from the dying beast and focused on the other, who was no match for the skilled swordsman when he wasn’t flanked, and it fell to the massive sword after only a few seconds of concentrated attacks. Sera ran up to her latest kill, wrenched the axe free, and finished the job. She looked up at Ethan and smiled. The young man took a step back at the sight of his friend with blood splattered on her face and a look of death in her eyes.

“Maybe you shouldn’t use the axe anymore,” Ethan said cautiously, worried she might come after him next.

Sera reigned in her adrenaline – or tried to. Before, she had easily reached into the center of her power and controlled the strength within her. Now, that energy was more animalistic and brutal, not easily tamable. The smell of fresh blood was all around her, and it drove her crazy. The hunger she had quelled earlier now rose with a passion that almost had her dive down and feast on the dead bloodhound at her feet.

But Sera fought that urge. Taking a few calming breaths, she said a quick prayer and domesticated the wild beast inside her. After a few heartbeats, she could blink away the bloodlust in her eyes and return Ethan’s concerned look. “Yes,” she replied, “you’re right.” Sera was still wearing the sheath for the weapon, and after wiping off the blade on the wet grass, she stored it securely on her hip. However, she could sense the fight wasn’t over. More howls came to her sensitive ears, and soon Ethan could hear them too. The blood from six eviscerated bloodhounds didn’t exactly drive other land sharks away. It was more akin to throwing chum in the water. Without fire, they might have to fight every bloodhound within ten miles.

Though, as the rain increased in intensity, making a fire even more of an impossibility, it also inhibited the winds’ ability to carry the blood sent out into the countryside. At least, Sera hoped that was the case. Still not knowing where her weapons were and not thinking they would be strong enough to fight bloodhounds anyway, Sera returned to the cold fire pit and found Larken’s sword and shield. When she picked them up, they were comically oversized for her, but they felt just as light as her usual weapons, and after a few practice swings, she felt comfortable.

This time, two groups of bloodhounds came running into view, five more from the north again, but an additional four ran toward them from the east. “I’ll take these five,” Sera said confidently, and Ethan didn’t feel like arguing. Instead, he stepped past her and ran toward the charging quartet to ensure they couldn’t surround the pair. It looked like one of the bloodhounds was trying to angle to the north to go around Ethan, but the young man cut it off, slashing at its left leg and then spinning back to the three that would now be behind him. But there was only one.

Worried that the other two might have slipped past him, Ethan screamed and charged this lone hound with a ferocity that startled the primitive creature. It swiped its claws, but Ethan batted them away and scored a hit, cutting deep into its side. It dropped to the ground, and the blacksmith hammered down on its head, splitting it in two.

After a few frantic moments, Ethan found the other two hounds. They hadn’t run past him to get at Sera but veered south instead, picking up the scent of Larken’s body, and thought it would be an easier meal. Ethan ignored them and spun back to the bloodhound he had only injured. This one tried to get at Sera, but its new limp slowed it considerably. And as the young woman fought off her own group of creatures, lightning flashing periodically to capture still pictures of her dealing death to anything in range, her large shield not letting any attack through, the injured beast wondered who it wanted to fight. Ethan ended the decision-making process for it by hitting the beast from behind, his sword tip bursting through the doomed creature’s chest.

Ethan ran tentatively across the suddenly muddy landscape as the spring rain shower began to take shape. When he got to Sera, she was just finishing off her third kill. Two of her enemies had also run around her for the easier pickings on the slope to the south, though now that four bloodhounds were fighting over the meal, and as large as Larken had been, it wouldn’t be enough.

“Should we?” Ethan asked, raising his weapon toward the group. After being soundly defeated by Larken, he appreciated how effective his fighting skill was against these primitive beasts, but he was also a little concerned for Sera. Obviously, she was more than capable of holding her own in a fight like this, and Ethan knew it mostly came from the Elemental that was now living inside her. How much more should they feed that power? Ethan felt he had done well in this fight, controlling his passion. Even his protective nature toward Sera was subdued, though he had just put three beasts at his back to take the one he thought might be going for the young woman. But Sera couldn’t have that kind of control already, could she? Was it wise to push her much harder this soon?

Their answer was made for them as they heard a sharp “twang” from behind. Ethan turned briefly but then saw one of the bloodhounds rear up in pain as an arrow pierced him in the back. Ethan’s eyes went back behind him again to see an archer in dark clothing nock another arrow and let it fly. The young man’s neck wasn’t fast enough to follow the flight, but he saw a second bloodhound howl in pain when his head spun back to the left. A third arrow soon went into the first creature who had turned from its meal to see what attacked, and this shaft took it full in the face.

The other injured creature must have had its heart pierced by the lone arrow as it fell to its knees, struggled for a moment, and then collapsed to the wet ground. The other two bloodhounds lifted their faces from the disgusting meal for the first time. One of them took the fourth and final arrow in the eye, while the other ran in fear, figuring it had enough to eat this night.

Sera and Ethan wanted to relax with the bloodhounds dealt with, but their nerves stayed on high alert as they turned fully to regard this new combatant. Sera could see him clearly in the low light, but several flashes from behind them illuminated the archer so Ethan could make him out as well. He could have been a brother to Larken, tall, dark skin, with blonde hair. He wasn’t as tall as the dead man behind them, nor as big. As he placed the bow on his back, the string looping over his quiver, they saw he had two swords, one on each hip. Neither were as long as Larken’s had been, each slightly longer than Sera’s old sword, but they were curved and looked like twins. They also saw the point of a spear over his right shoulder opposite the quiver.

“Well met,” he said, almost shouting to be heard above the weather. “Is there only the two of you?”

“We’ve been waiting as instructed,” Ethan said cautiously, determined not to blow their cover this time. According to the scroll they had read, tonight was the last night they had to show up. “We had one guest,” he motioned over his shoulder toward the remains of Larken, hoping the body would be unrecognizable, “but he came with questions and no weapon.”

The archer nodded, guessing, as Ethan wanted him to, that not all four of the thieves had been successful and that it was only the three of them. “My name’s Yori,” he announced, keeping his distance.

Ethan and Sera introduced themselves as well. Yori took a particular interest in Sera. He had likely come upon them while they were still fighting, and her ferocious style brought forth several questions, but Ethan was slowly figuring out this scenario.

The Supplanter had sent out four people. Yori and Larken were from the same group, or at least the same country. The assassin and probably the thief sent after the fourth weapon were likely from the same assassin’s guild. The Supplanter wouldn’t have wanted to deal with four different organizations, but if he dealt with only one, there was the chance that the assassin’s guild or the group these foreigners belonged to might double-cross him. If they had all four weapons, they could sell them or keep them and begin their own claim for religious dominance.

“I found a cave only a few minutes from here,” Yori said. “We can spend the night, dry off, and then start out in the morning. That is unless you want to wait here for the night.”

The lightning was becoming more frequent as the minutes dragged on, and it didn’t appear the rain would let up any time soon. The storms that came through the pass to the south were legendary, and while they were only on the northern edge of this cell, they didn’t want to stay in it much longer. After gathering a few things from around the fire, Ethan and Sera followed their new friend, hoping they could get some answers.