The Ephemeral Card emitted a bright blue flash, and Keon-hee called, "Undeneh!"
Traders like Evidd knew Card lore better than anyone, except perhaps the five grandmancers of the Elementis Achaici. He was right about Keon-hee being the Sorceress of Water. The newly-hatched Ephemeral Card bonded with Keon-hee's water pistol. In front of their eyes, the pistol grew long, flowing fins. A large fish tail and the torso of a fish-scaled woman sprouted from the hands Keon-hee kept clenched around the pistol's grip. The barrel protruded from the fish-woman's mouth, double the original length and crusted with pearls and suckers.
Keon-hee propped herself up on one knee, while the fish-tailed woman fitted herself in place over her shoulder. Keon-hee aimed.
She pulled the trigger.
The lesser Nightmare stood no chance against Undeneh, the second-to-highest Card rank of the water element. The pressurized blast from the pistol barrel ripped through its monstrous flesh, stripping it from the bone. It washed the pus-colored blood and pink mucous membrane clean. As the shreds of Nightmare peeled out of existence, one by one, human bodies knitted themselves together with water and magic. Men, women, and children, as naked as the Undis, dropped to the floor. Asher squinted through the maelstrom, trying to determine if the humans were dead or alive.
Keon-hee fired again and a tsunami exploded out of Mareh Trading Post. The massive wave rolled over the streets and buildings, its crest taking out the top two-thirds of the bell tower.
Without the Nightmare's dampening aura, the subsonic rumbling of the wave and the destruction of the market district could be heard for miles. The screams began about the same time the bell and clock crashed to the ground, spewing gears, cogs, and bolts like bullets.
"What's going on?"
"All this water!"
"Is it from a Nightmare?"
"Look out!"
"Run!"
Amid the pain and the grief, some of the luckier townsfolk, who hadn't been washed away or crushed by demolished adobe and clockwork, stared apprehensively up at the sky, holding out their hands to the rain falling from a clear, starry night.
Asher couldn't afford to worry about them. The rain fell right through the decimated roof of Evidd's shop, soaking his clothes, adding pounds of weight to the worn denim. He picked up his saber and prepared to spring.
The Nightmare woman pushed her dripping, bleached hair back. "How did she do that?" she demanded of a thoroughly drenched Evidd in an angry, nails-on-chalkboard screech. "With only an elemental power, she brought back the dead!"
Unfortunately, she heard Asher splashing toward her. She fluidly bowed out of the way.
Almost.
He felt the resistance as his blade sliced into her mask. A sizeable chunk went flying. The Nightmare stumbled back, landing abruptly on the wet floorboards. She threw out her arms for balance, revealing a very appealing human body clad in a leather bikini. Asher took a moment to appreciate the thigh-high armored boots and gravity-defying breasts before speaking.
"Looks like that kid saved me a lot of trouble," he said. The falling rain hissed as it landed on his smoking saber. He narrowed his eyes at the Nightmare, who held her broken mask in place with one hand. Whoever she was, she either couldn't survive without the mask or she didn't want to reveal her identity. A growl built up in Asher's chest. "Now, I want an answer or I'll remove a lot more than just your mask."
The folds of her cloak settled around her. She looked at him, cornered, silent.
The attack came from a different quarter.
A burst of water shot by his right ear, strong enough to bulldoze through the adobe wall behind him, close enough to leave a cut that wept scarlet down his cheek. Slowly, aware of the Nightmare's hidden eyes tracking his every move, he turned.
"No way," he muttered. "The dumb kid! She can't even control it!"
Keon-hee was unconscious. She dangled by one arm, the toes of her sandals skimming the floorboards, which were awash in several inches of crystalline water. It poured in rushing waterfalls out of the ruined building, flooding the rubble-strewn streets below. Undeneh, having seized control of both the haenyeo and her water pistol, leveled a helmeted, visored glare at Asher – which meant that of the three other people in the room, he was the strongest in terms of magical power.
No sooner had this thought crossed his mind than the Nightmare lady activated another Black Hole Card.
"The city will be destroyed by the flood before the girl regains her power," she said. Already, she was nothing more than her broken mask and swirling cloak. She threw his words back at him, mocking him. "It looks like the two of you have saved us a lot of trouble."
"Hey! Wait, you punk!" Asher struck at her but encountered only wisps of shadow that dispersed like ash.
While his back was turned, Undeneh made her move. She spread her fins like wings, shooting a continuous stream of water at lethal velocities from the pistol barrel protruding between her lips, and used her thick tail to launch herself through the biggest hole in the roof.
Shaking his sopping hair out of his face, Asher stared up at her. She hovered like a vengeful cloud, silhouetted by the bitten-cookie moon and its drifting crumbs, while the rain came down in sheets and the shaken and uncoordinated Vigilante Corps tried to evacuate the district.
He sighed. How was he supposed to get Keon-hee out of that?
Evidd spoke from the floor. "It was too much elemental power too quickly. She advanced several control levels at once, so the Card reacted."
"So now what?" Asher asked.
"I give you Zinika," Evidd said tonelessly. He stood, the rain beading up in his mass of curls. "You summon her."
"Why should I trust you?"
Evidd didn't answer for a moment. His face had gained a few years, the normally warm brown of his skin slightly ashen. His woolen eyebrows lowered. "I – I owe you a debt. I want to pay it. That Nightmare tricked me. I have only myself to blame."
He pulled a red Ephemeral Card from his pocket, the inverted E embossed on the back resting on five power dots. Zinika, the highest-ranked fire Card. Evidd bowed over it, in apology, in supplication. "This store – our home – this is all that I have left of Nimua. I can't let Undeneh demolish it!"
Asher stared at him. Then his lips quirked up and he breathed a laugh. "Now," he said, and he snatched the Ephemeral Card from Evidd's hand, "that's the Ev I remember."
"Ash?"
Instead of answering, Asher planted his saber point-first into the swollen floorboards. He wouldn't need it with Zinika who, instead of utilizing a weapon, melded directly with her Card Master. There was a reason five-dot Ephemeral Cards were so rare and precious; together, Card spirit and summoner became a being of pure elemental mastery, one mind and one body.
Asher had never been one to shout complicated spells over his Cards. He put his hand, palm down, on top of Zinika, and silently asked for her help. The Ephemeral Card burst into flame, and the flame encased him from his toes to the tips of his hair. The heat burned through him, but it felt damn good. Shackled by his mastery, the raw power set about remaking his form.
Zinika, being female, did not need his height or his bulk; his whole body shrank to that of a child, while scads of darker hair burst from his skull to hang in skeins and tangles to his waist. He could tell that she approved of his dragon blood, though. Two small, spiral horns grew behind his pointed ears, and two leathery, delicate-boned wings erupted from his back. New clothes, formed of fire and smoke, dressed his remade body.
The world looked so different when he was this size, out of sync with his ego. Ephemeral Card spirits could see a broader spectrum of infrared and ultraviolet than most natives and aliens. The buildings, the trees, the people, and even the rain shimmered around him like burning coals and minerals.
Asher held out his hands and let Zinika's power – his power now – collect in his palms in two swirling, sparking balls of flame. Undeneh, high in the sky, snapped her head down. The pearl-encrusted barrel pointed straight at him, suckers slurping at the air.
"That's all for today," he said, disgusted by the boyish voice that issued from his mouth but knowing he could do nothing about it. He spread his wings and lifted into the air. "I know you can barely control what you've got. Time to go back to sleep."
Predictably, Undeneh chose to attack. Asher clenched his fists and the power detonated from his entire body. The firestorm blazed through the rain and engulfed Undeneh. A pillar of yellow fire pierced the clouds she had summoned, vaporizing them.
Undeneh surrendered without much more of a fight and shrank back into her Card. Keon-hee fell with the last of the rain, which, probably because Undeneh was usually a gentle, nurturing spirit, cushioned her landing. Asher emerged from the smoke and the steam unharmed. He caught the blue Ephemeral Card when it drifted toward him, noting the four power dots on the back, and then he flew down to Keon-hee, sprawled in a puddle, still unconscious.
He studied her for a few minutes. She had a pretty good body. Thank the gods she was too young to know it.
Then he looked down at himself, the smooth, flat expanse of his chest and stomach, the thick locks of dark hair that poured over his thin shoulders. The dragon claw, which usually rested against his sternum, tickled his navel.
"Gods, I look ridiculous like this," he grumbled.
Somewhere in the back of his head, he heard Zinika giggle.
I can't figure it out, he thought at her as Keon-hee stirred. How do I get myself into these situations?
Zinika did not have an answer beyond a feeling of deep amusement and affection. She released him at his command, brushing a fiery kiss on his cheek before she surrendered to slumber. He tucked her away, not one to pass up a free, high-powered Card.
He picked his way through the rubble, past the resurrected and bewildered humans waking from their nightmare, naked and wet and far from home. Cries rose into the damp air, of fear, surprise, and gladness. Family and friends reunited, holding each other while they cried and laughed.
Evidd, standing at the huge hole in his wall, did not join them. He kneeled as awkwardly as a very old man and come up with something out of the mess. A scrap of charred blue ribbon.
Evidd brought the scrap to his lips. Silent tears poured down his face.
..::~*~::..
Asher would have liked to leave earlier, but noon came and went before Evidd and Keon-hee met him on the dunes outside of Elidu. Evidd set his backpack down next to Asher's canvas seabag. It sank a few inches in the sand since it was stuffed with Card books and whatever else he had managed to salvage from his shop. Unfortunately, the shop itself had been beyond repair.
"You two have saved the city from the Nightmares," he said by way of greeting. "Now it's time for me to move on. I'm going to start my business over in another town."
Asher looked at his friend's sad profile. "Yeah," he said, "but Ev, what if the Nightmares trick you again? You're vulnerable and they know it."
Evidd clenched his jaw, but couldn't seem to come up with an answer. Asher scrubbed a troubled hand through his hair.
Keon-hee unexpectedly spoke up.
"He'll be fine," she said. Then, without asking, she took the scrap of ribbon from Evidd, turned him around, and tied back his mass of hair with it.
He couldn't seem to find words for her, either, but he made no move to take out the ribbon.
Keon-hee smiled at him. "If your beloved Nimua still lives in your heart, she will keep you safe."
Asher suspected that Evidd was tearing up again. His friend wasn't hopeless, but he was damn close.
"Right, well, I'm all set, so . . ." He slung his seabag over his shoulder. He flipped the pair of them a wave and began to walk away, his long stride eating up the distance between them and the eastern highway. That new hire Elyk was waiting for him.
He hadn't gone more than ten steps before his dragon claw twitched against his shirt. Without warning, it flew up and smacked him right between the eyes.
"Dammit!" he snarled at it while it quivered angrily on its thong. "I know, I know!"
He turned. Evidd and Keon-hee stood together, staring rather forlornly after him. Even Sang-eo, resting in the small of its mistress's back, rolled a pitiful, doll-like eye at him. He bit back a sigh.
"Look," he said ungraciously to Keon-hee, "you can come along with me because you can use Ephemeral Cards, but I can't promise you that we'll ever find a way back home."
She looked at him with wide, seaweed-purple eyes, but she didn't interrupt him.
"All I care about is finding the man with the moon tattoo," he went on, uncomfortable with speaking these most private of thoughts aloud, but determined to get them out. She needed to know. "I'm going to chase the Nightmares until either I find him or they eat me alive. And another thing. If the Nightmares possess you in any way, I will kill you."
She seemed to absorb his words while the hot desert wind combed through her short hair. Asher didn't touch the dragon claw, but he felt it, heavy against his chest. They could fool him once, but never again.
"If you can deal with my rules, then you can come," he said. The sand shifted around his feet, dry and dusty. "If not, then I'm gone. It's up to you."
A shy smile spread across her sunburned face. "Mr. Asher, I will do my best to help you on your quest!"
All right, then. "Do you have any other skills besides the Cards? Anything that'll help out on the journey?"
"Yes!"
"Okay, what?"
"Fishing!" she said happily, while the blazing desert sun beat down on their heads and the miles of sand dunes glittered like gold and silver powder. "I'm great at catching fish!"
..::~*~::..
Asher . . .
Asher . . .
"ASHER!"
Present Day, Southern Craglands . . .
Asher tried to open his eyes, but they resisted. Then they sprang open. The stickiness extended from his hairline to his chin, a solid sheet of blood.
Keon-hee hovered over him, her tears splashing his hot face.
"Oh, Hananim, I was so scared!" she cried, sitting back so he could sit up. "I thought you were dead!"
He replied with a wordless grumble. His fingers explored the new dent in his skull, courtesy of Turbo Turtle. It felt like the bleeding had stopped, at least. So had the screams, which were the last thing he remembered.
He looked at Keon-hee. She looked back at him, holding her breath. A few more tears leaked out.
He whacked her right in her blue-haired head. "Stop crying!" he shouted at her. "What kind of wimp do you think I am?"
She hunched over, clutching her hair. "Ouch!"
"Firelord," said a gravelly voice.
Asher got shakily to his feet. He turned to face the headman, and his mouth dropped open.
The caravan was in shambles. New craters dotted the land, while wagons and tents and campfires looked as though they had been bombed by a rampaging dragon. The caravanners were scattered through the ruins, helping those too badly hurt to stand.
The headman smiled. "I don't mean to interrupt whatever the two of you were up to," he said, sarcasm dripping from every word, "but I think we should settle up your fee before you move on."
Keon-hee hung her head. Asher couldn't speak. He stared open-mouthed at the destruction, at the slip of paper the headman held out to him.
Fee for guarding caravan
minus cost for damages . . .
TOTAL DUE . . .
Asher swooned. Gods, I wish I hadn't brought this little brat with me!
A/N: I just can't seem to leave well enough alone, haha. I wanted to make Keon-hee sound a little more alien, so Sharkie has become Sang-eo.
Reviewer Thanks! St4r Hunter, you're the bestest of the best and I can't thank you enough.
Before you go, Dear Readers, please review! I truly hope you're all enjoying this, because that's why writers write. ;)
Ever Yours,
Anne