Ethan was doing better against Yori but not good enough. The islander was slowed by his injuries, but that only put the two fighters on an even level and didn’t give the younger man a clear advantage to finish the fight. He added a few more knicks and cuts to his opponent, but Yori’s two blades were hard to keep track of, and Ethan took just as many wounds as he gave out.

Natasha still watched from a distance. Her eyes shifted from Sera and Brittany to the paladins, to Ferres standing a hundred feet away, his loaded crossbow still searching for a target. But her focus always returned to Ethan. Each time he took a cut, she felt it in her heart, and each time he defeated an attack or returned an injury, she felt a thrill of success. So, when he performed a daring move to punch his sword hilt forward between Yori’s wide blades, she nearly cried out with joy as she saw the warrior’s nose crunch under the strike.

The islander’s stance crumbled as he dropped one weapon, took several stumbling steps backward, and dropped to one knee. Ethan reveled in the apparent victory and slowly approached the foe, his sword protecting his right side from the left-handed weapon Yori still held. But the crafty veteran wasn’t done, and when the younger man was ten feet from him, he exploded into motion, leaping up from his crouched position.

Ethan tried to swipe at him, but Yori’s left-hand weapon was wide and kept the strike at bay. His right hand was not empty either, having drawn a long dagger from his boot. He thrust the weapon at Ethan, and the young man had no defense. Natasha screamed as the wicked blade sunk deep into his gut, and fire leaped to her hands and arms.

The woman felt the heat in her body and shrugged off her cloak without thinking, allowing the flames to rage on her bare arms unhindered. Yori glanced over his shoulders at the grieving woman, having already guessed an emotional connection between the two, but he did a double-take when he saw the fire goddess striding toward him. He left the dagger in Ethan and scrambled away from the powerful woman. He couldn’t scramble far enough.

Natasha raised her arms and expelled the fire from her in a rage-filled cry. A jet of flame streaked toward the defenseless warrior, blowing him from his feet in a concussive explosion. None of his clothes caught fire, but all his exposed skin burned as the fire entered his soul, nearly burning the life out of him. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.

Natasha spent a few moments regarding his limp body before motion turned her head. Ferres was now foolishly pointing his weapon at the supplicant, sensing he now had a foe that wasn’t standing right next to a friend. The woman scowled at him and snapped fire to both her hands again. Ferres nearly soiled himself at the frightful image, hastily aimed his crossbow anywhere else, fired, and then ran for his life.

The flames left her hands when the threat disappeared, and she pulled her emotions back to the source of her newfound control. Ethan was still conscious when she rushed over to him, but she didn’t know for how long. By not removing the dagger, the vicious wound wasn’t bleeding as much as it could, but there was still plenty of blood. As powerful as she suddenly felt, Natasha knew she could not save his life. “Help!” she cried. “Someone, help!”

Gerhold was struggling with several wounds, and his attacks were coming slower and slower. Luckily, Quarton couldn’t focus his strikes solely on the knight because Celaina couldn’t be ignored. The older woman didn’t have the strength of either man, but she had been as skilled as any paladin during her prime, and that ability hadn’t faded much. She was only a couple of weeks removed from having defeated an assassin going after the dagger, and she wouldn’t give in here. Her short blade wasn’t much of a match for Quarton’s longsword, but it was more than enough to keep him distracted and unable to devote the necessary attention to either of his opponents to finish them. The enforcer identified Gerhold as the more significant threat and thus sent most of his attacks against the older man, but he wondered if he shouldn’t just finish the woman quickly to remove the distraction.

Celaina could sense the younger man was shifting his feet to square up an attack routine against her more effectively, and she baited him into it, exaggerating the strength of one of his blocks and stumbling to her left away from Gerhold. Quarton took the opening, changing the angle of his weapon for a moment and thrusting his sword tip at Gerhold. The knight had to sweep his blade quickly before him to deflect the jab and still had to take two steps back to ensure he wasn’t skewered, placing even more distance between him and his wife.

Quarton accepted the parry, allowing his blade to be swept to his left and spinning with it. He took another step toward Celaina as he turned and brought his longsword down in a tremendous arc on what he assumed would be a prone opponent. But Celaina was not still stumbling and waited on the balls of her feet. Still, she could only barely lean back away from the strike and dove in after it, her short sword slicing into Quarton’s side. She had to leap back just as quickly as the big man brought his weapon back, but it only hit air.

The wound on the fallen paladin was superficial at best, but it slowed him down, and his daring move to try and separate the couple now put one on either side of him. Quarton was forced to turn his back toward Celaina, as Gerhold was still the better fighter and must have recovered his footing by now. The woman smiled as she leaped back in but faltered at the last moment as searing pain shot through her back.

Quarton only glanced back, saw that she was on her knees and no immediate threat, and turned again to Gerhold. The husband saw his wife cry out in pain and could only assume the black-clad fighter in front of him had done it. He attacked with a vengeance, but Quarton was ready for him, and after a few moments of deflecting the vicious assault, the younger man was able to shift the fight back in his favor, and Gerhold was on his heels again. Despite the rage that filled him at the sight of his love wounded on the ground, the older knight knew he was no match for this fighter and needed a miracle to save him.

Sera gripped the axe tightly in both hands as the energy waves coursed through her. When she had killed the bloodhounds, there had been jolts of power as she had absorbed their physical energy. And, again, when she had killed the vulture, a wave passed through her. But those were nothing compared to this. Those had been animals with little connection to the human elements. When she had taken Larkin’s head, the power had been so immense it had knocked her unconscious, and she remembered none of it. Now, her body was better equipped to deal with the power, so she didn’t pass out, but she probably should have.

The young woman knew that most of Brittany’s strength had come from positions and chemicals, but that didn’t make her muscles any weaker or the energy she cultivated within herself any less powerful. Now that strength poured into her, augmenting the significant prowess she already had. She could feel power rising from the earth as well. When she had awoken after killing Larken and first acquiring the Elementals, stones had surrounded her, and now the rocks in the street began to coalesce around her as if she stood in a valley and they were drawn to her from gravity.

Beyond that, she felt her hands harden around the axe handle and her feet rooting themselves to the ground as if she were becoming a statue. The cries of her friends brought her out of the trance, and she flexed her limbs against the rigidity that was setting in. Stone dust fell from her like snow after standing still in a blizzard.

Standing slowly, her knuckles white as she clenched the axe, Sera looked around at the battle. It was too much to take in all at once, so she focused only on what was right in front of her. Gerhold was sorely pressed against a black leather-clad warrior she didn’t know. Without formulating a plan, she just turned and leaped. It was a distance of thirty feet, but Sera flew through the air as if shot from a catapult, aimed right between the dueling pair.

Quarton saw a flash of motion coming from above at the last second and pulled his attack short to lean back. With his arms in front of him, he had to release one hand from his sword to spread them wide as the axe swept down before him, inches from his nose. His broad chest stuck out a bit further, and the weapon sliced clean through the bindings of his leather vest, snagging a few buttons off his shirt as it sent his armor to the ground. Sera surprised herself with the ferocity of her attack, and with nothing of substance to stop her slice, the axe blade sunk deep into the ground, just missing Quarton’s right foot.

The small woman inserted herself so forcefully between the two men that both went reeling backward, Gerhold to the ground but Quarton only stumbling a few steps. Despite the blood pounding in her ears, Sera was aware that the big man to her right was still armed, and without the time to wrench her weapon from the ground, she turned to him barehanded. Quarton regarded this pint-sized warrior before him briefly, thinking that she fit the description of the young priestess Gerhold had given him, but she must be possessed by something. Before he could bring his sword back in, Sera was on top of him, pummeling his body with sledgehammer-like punches that stole the wind from his lungs and the strength from his legs. Her fists felt like they were made of stone, and he had no defense against them. She finished him with a spinning kick on his belt buckle, sending him flying thirty feet backward.

Part of Sera’s psyche wanted to pursue the stunned fighter, but the smell of blood was filling her senses, and a more primal part of her being yanked her back toward Gerhold and Celaina. She took several steps toward the older woman, and Gerhold pulled himself off the ground, trying to come to grips with what he had just seen his young pupil do.

“She’s bleeding,” Sera said, a husky rasp to her voice.

Gerhold shook the many questions out of his head and turned instead to his love. He couldn’t see any blood, but Celaina was in obvious pain as she lay crumpled on her side. Sera assisted by firmly grabbing the woman’s shoulders and rolling her on her stomach. A crossbow quarrel stuck in her lower back, almost deep enough to come out of the front. As the relatively small bloodstain around the wound filled her eyes, Sera knew this wasn’t the source of the smell that filled her nostrils. She had never met this woman before, and there was no familiarity with her scent. Plus, as painful as the wound looked, the woman should survive.

A cry for help pierced the fog that was slowly clearing from her adrenaline-riddled brain, and Sera turned again to see Ethan lying on the ground 20 feet away with Natasha frantically screaming for aid. The aroma of blood hit her again, and she covered the distance to the young man in a flash. Blood was everywhere, pumping from the deadly wound beneath the dagger each second. Sera’s love for this man helped her finally come completely down from her intense high, and she found a place inside the Elemental for all her extra energy. She needed a clear mind for this task.

“Watch my back,” the young woman said to Natasha before turning her complete attention to the man on the ground.

The supplicant nodded and stood, fire leaping to her hands again as she prepared to guard the two youths with every bit of strength she had. Quarton was just getting back to his feet when he met Natasha’s eyes. He made a half-hearted motion toward the trio, and fire filled his vision as Natasha hurled a ball of flame at him. Quarton dove to the side as the fire splashed into the dirt street behind him. He saw that the woman already had another attack ready and thought twice about a charge. He saw for the first time that both Yori and Brittany were down. The enforcer couldn’t tell the extent of their injuries, but neither was moving.

He knew he couldn’t leave this group, but he didn’t think he had much chance if he stayed. All of the threats he had been worried about were neutralized. The paladins were both wounded, and Ethan was bleeding out on the ground. He hadn’t expected Sera or Natasha to be much of a problem, but he had no desire to face off against either of those women now, much less both of them. Still, he had entered this conflict thinking he had controlled three of the Elementals, and now he had none of them.

His mind was made up for him as he saw Emoyen and Terrance running toward the battleground on the far side of the clearing between buildings. He had lost this battle, but there would be another one. He would be back with reinforcements. Quarton ran.

Natasha relaxed a little when the man left, but when she turned back to the pair at her feet, she saw two more armor-clad paladins jogging toward her. Flame leaped to her hands again as she raised them toward the newcomers. “Hold!”

Emoyen and Terrance didn’t need to be told twice, and they abruptly stopped. They didn’t know this Tallashite woman, and without her gray cloak, they couldn’t identify her as a supplicant, but they couldn’t guess what else she could be. And if the enemy could now wield fire as a weapon, the Elemental Order was wildly misinformed about the Supplanter’s strength.

“Stand down,” Gerhold called out. He didn’t know Natasha either, but he had seen her obey Sera’s orders and then attack Quarton. He could only hope that Sera and Ethan had found a powerful ally. “They are knights of the Elemental Order. They are with us.”

Natasha wasn’t exactly sure who “Us” was yet either, but she interpreted that these two were not a threat, and she looked down at Ethan again, willing the flames from her hands.

Sera ignored all the commotion around her and focused her attention on the man dying instead. She had to remove the knife, but the blood flow that would induce might kill Ethan on the spot. Instead, she fell into a healing prayer, once again not reaching above but from within herself. There she found the increasingly familiar Elemental and embraced its physical healing power. But nestled in that energy was something new, something Sera had never experienced before. It felt foreign to her, like a toothpick in a box of needles. It had strength but wasn’t natural and had only temporal power.

Then Sera knew what it was. Larken had drank an elixir before their battle, allowing him to heal from the traumatic wound Ethan had given him. Brittany must have consumed a similar potion before entering the temple, and its effect had not worn off. Since the brew was designed to bond with the drinker’s physical vitality, Sera had stolen it when she had killed her with the Elemental axe. Now she freely gave that energy back, channeling it through her healing touch and into the man beneath her.

The wound could not properly heal with the knife still inside it, so she finally pulled it free and instantly applied force to the gash. The pressure came not only from her hands but from the intense healing energy she poured into him. What should have been a wave of blood was only a tiny trickle, and Sera desperately hoped it wasn’t because Ethan had already bled dry.

But she knew that wasn’t the case. The priestess could feel his heartbeat beneath her hands, and when the strength of the mysterious elixir was spent, she continued with her more traditional healing methods, still augmented by the Elemental. Soon Ethan was breathing steadily; his eyes closed in a coma. He was stable but not out of the woods yet. Hours from now, when he woke up, he could tear the wound open. Sera felt she needed to stitch it closed, but when she lifted her hands, she saw only a vivid scar where the knife had entered. The power of her spell surprised even her. Still, she wanted to be sure.

Sera stood and then felt suddenly weak from the strength she had just given up. It would take a while before she felt comfortable walking around with Brittany’s considerable power inside her. She pulled a little at it now and steadied her legs again. Sera pointed to the pile of bags and satchels the group had left on the ground when Quarton and Brittany had entered the temple alone many minutes ago. “Brittany’s bag,” Sera said, her voice soft and melodious again. “Go get it.”

Natasha nodded, assuming the command was for her. She moved around the two paladins who had just arrived and looked down in amazement at the young man on the ground. They didn’t think he should be breathing with as much blood as they saw around him, but his chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm.

“What can we do?” Emoyen asked.

“Those two need help,” Sera said, pointing to Gerhold and the woman he was with.

Emoyen nodded, and she and Terrance left to attend to their fellow paladins. Natasha returned with the satchel in question, and Sera rummaged through it and found several vials secured in a straw-filled pouch. Looking at each, she found one that appeared the same color as her mentor had used. She popped the cork and sniffed it before taking a sip. As she felt the power surge through her, her augmented instincts identified it as what she was looking for. The formula was a little different, and it felt more powerful than anything Mistress Targhetta used and probably more dangerous, but Sera wasn’t worried about that.

She tipped Ethan’s head back, and his lower jaw opened naturally. After pouring a few drops onto his tongue, the young man coughed but then reflexively swallowed, and soon she could pour several large gulps down his throat, leaving about half of the elixir still in the vial.

“Stay with him,” Sera said, looking up to see Natasha hovering over them. “You don’t need to touch him; just make sure he doesn’t have some kind of violent reaction. Call me if he moves.” The supplicant nodded and knelt beside her emotional anchor, worry for him still plastered on her face.

Sera got up and jogged over to the other four people in their ever-changing group. Under the older woman’s guidance, Gerhold was about to remove the bolt from her back. “Wait,” she said quickly. “Allow me.”

“Celaina is quite skilled in the divine healing arts,” Gerhold said. “Even on herself.”

“Still,” Sera said with a smile. “I can help.”

Gerhold shrugged, removed his hand from the bolt in his wife’s back, and instead used both hands to hold her tight. After placing the half-filled vial on the ground, Sera grabbed hold of the shaft with one hand and put the other flat on the woman’s back so the bolt protruded through the gap between her thumb and forefinger. They had already torn away part of the woman’s undershirt from beneath the breastplate’s straps, so Sera had her hand on bare skin. With a moment of mediation, the young woman pulled hard and quickly closed the gap in her hand when the shaft came free. Tossing it aside, Sera promptly placed both hands over the wound and poured more of the Elemental’s healing power into her.

Celaina jolted from the pain but quickly relaxed as the warmth of this young woman’s energy surged through her. “I’m quite skilled,” Celaina mumbled to her husband, repeating his claim of a second ago, “but I am nowhere near this good.” She chuckled briefly and then closed her eyes in sleep. Sera kept at it for another minute and then released her hands, happy to see the wound was closed with only a red sore where the bolt had entered.

She turned to Gerhold, still holding his wife firmly. “Thank you,” he said.

It was only then that Sera saw this woman – Celaina, he had called her – meant something special to him. She shook her head, discarding her many questions, and retrieved the vial from the ground instead. “Have her drink this when she stirs.”

The knight took the drink but recoiled as the aroma of the uncorked bottle wafted up to him. He tentatively gave it another investigated sniff. “This is vile and unholy.”

“It will work,” Sera insisted and stood up.

Emoyen also rose and walked with Sera a few steps from the couple. The female paladin introduced herself, and Sera did likewise. The younger woman didn’t go into a lot of detail about what had happened over the past ten days, but she said enough. Sera identified who Natasha was and then pointed out Yori and Brittany. Yori didn’t appear to be dead.

“We need to get you off the street,” Emoyen said. “The Supplanter has many followers in Brighton, and we saw Quarton fleeing just before we arrived. He will be bringing reinforcements.”

“We should go to the keep,” Terrance said, standing to join the conversation. He knew Emoyen outranked him and would be in charge of this situation.

She shook her head. “No. The enemy will look for us there. We need to go somewhere safe that they don’t know. I have the perfect place.” She looked at Terrance. “You take the islander back to the keep, and I will take the rest of these people somewhere safe. Most of them are wounded and need time to rest.” She turned back to Sera. “You have the Elementals?”

The younger woman walked back to the axe in the ground and, with a tremendous heave, pulled it from the street and secured it back on her hip. “The sword is still with Ethan,” she said, “and the spear is on Yori’s back. I don’t know where the last one is.”

“The dagger is with us,” Gerhold said. He could see the weapon strapped to his wife’s leg.

“The weapons need to go back to the keep,” Terrance challenged, knowing that Emoyen would have to agree.

“The weapons stay with us,” Sera said. She made a wager that Gerhold would have already told them that Ethan had the Elemental inside him. “Ethan is in a fragile state now. If you take the sword from him, it might kill him. Plus, the enemy can sense the presence of the Elementals when they get close,” Sera lied. “If they go to the keep as we expect, they will know you have them inside, and there will be a war.”

Terrance looked hard at Emoyen, unable to argue with what Sera said, and she certainly looked like she should know what she was talking about. Emoyen shrugged, acting as if she wanted to agree with Terrance but couldn’t. “We will keep the weapons safe,” she said. “When we know what the enemy is planning, we can decide how to protect the Elementals permanently again.”

Terrance didn’t like it, but he knew he had to follow orders. After Emoyen collected the spear from Yori, Sera used some of her healing prayers to coax him back into consciousness so Terrance could guide him back to the keep. The rest of them followed Emoyen back into the city. Gerhold, injured though he was, held Celaina in his arms, and Sera, surprising no one, carried Ethan.