Two more men, the ones who had thrown the spear from the ledge above them, began raining down an onslaught of arrows. Jade quickly threw her arm out and formed a floating rock barrier to protect her and Kai’s heads. She pointed her other hand at the earth above them, and the ground rumbled and rippled beneath the men like waves on the ocean. The men cried out and stumbled, grappling for purchase as they fell seventy feet down the mountain and stopped at Jade’s feet, bleeding but still breathing.
“What do we want to do about these guys?” Aidan called. Kai and Jade turned to him, his foot on the back of one of the men and his hands holding the necks of the remaining two. All three were unconscious.
Jade didn’t bat an eye. “We need to keep one for questioning. Someone sent them—look at those weapons. The others have seen too much.” She cocked her head, examining the two wide-eyed, sputtering men on the ground, vines still choking them. “Kai, can you deal with them?”
Kai nodded. While her powers of coercion were only temporary, manipulating the raiders to leave and forget the encounter would give the elementals some time to clear the area in case anyone came looking later.
“Here you are, sweetheart.” Aidan dropped the men he was holding in front of Kai.
Jade looked back at the two men she held within her vines and, with a flick of her wrist, released the one with a wet stream darkening his pant legs. He would be the easiest to break. He tried to crawl away as she prowled closer, but she waved a finger and a large spike protruded from the ground behind him, narrowly missing his hand. Jade reached down and hauled him to his feet.
“Why are you here? What are you looking for?” Jade hissed and slammed the short man against a tall boulder nearby. Rain and spit flew from his mouth as he choked.
“Just—thieves—” he said between gasps.
“That’s a lie,” Aidan said, stalking up behind her. Flames danced in his eyes and hands as he came up and gripped the man’s arm. He cried out in agony, and Jade’s nose wrinkled at the smell of burning flesh. “Those weapons you have are military grade. There’s no way a common thief could get their hands on them. Who are you working for?” Aidan asked again as he released the man’s arm. He left a blackened handprint behind.
“Alright—alright!” the man whimpered. “Hired by—by the king’s guard—” Jade loosened her grip on him so he could speak. He took in short, shuddering breaths, ice falling from his hair as he shivered violently.
“The King of Karstos? King Sebastian?” Jade asked.
The man nodded. “He—he sends his guard out, I guess. I don’t know—we’ve never seen him. The soldiers, they found us and—and gave us weapons. Told us to loot every camp and traveler till we find it.”
“Find what?” she pressed.
“They’ll—they’ll kill me—” He shook his head, eyes wild with fright.
“Maybe you should have thought about that before you took a job hurting innocent people,” Jade snarled and jerked her wrist. A hundred small, sharp rocks jutted from the cave wall he leaned against, digging into every inch of his back. Blood trickled down the stone and mixed with the rain. He howled in pain and struggled to move, but she tightened her hold.
“It’ll only get worse from here, brother. You better answer her,” Aidan said.
“They said—we’re looking for some knife—with a big ruby on the handle. That’s all I know!” he pleaded.
A knife? That’s what all this was for? How disappointing.
Jade looked at Aidan, and he nodded. They wouldn’t get anything more from this piece of filth.
Before she let him go, she turned back to the thief one more time. “How long have you been doing this?” she asked, her voice like stone.
He swallowed, still shaking against the rocks scraping his skin. “A—a year.”
“And how many people have you killed in that year?”
His eyes widened. “I—I don’t know!”
She shoved him harder into the wall with her forearm, making him scream as the pointed rocks gouged his skin. “Try harder.”
“I’ve—I’ve lost count,” he gasped.
“Jade…” Kai’s voice came from behind her. A warning.
This man deserved to die. They all did, for the suffering they caused innumerable people. All in search of some weapon for the king. But she and the others had decided long ago to protect humans, to not take a life unless it was unavoidable.
She gritted her teeth and let go of the man, watching with disgust when he slumped to the ground and sobbed, streaks of blood and torn flesh sticking to the sharp rocks behind him. She turned away as Kai took her spot and knelt in front of him, speaking her soothing words, working her powers to make him compliant.
Jade tuned Kai out and tried to calm the rolling rage inside of her. Rage at the thieving murderers, at the Karstos military forcing them to do these things, and at the desperate king behind it all. She realized with heart-wrenching clarity that this was not the earth she wanted to wake up to—just as corrupt and dangerous as the one she had left.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
