The Will of the Elements
Book One:
Wind-Scarred
A Novel by Sky Luke Corbelli
Copyright © 2011 by Sky Luke Corbelli
Wind-Scarred (The Will of the Elements, Book 1)
Copyright © 2011 by Sky Luke Corbelli (www.skylukecorbelli.blogspot.com)
Cover design by Michelle Corbelli (www.mcorbelli.wordpress.com)
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be sold or given away without the author's consent. Thank you for respecting the hard work that went into the making of this story.
This is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and happenings herein are the products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author.
To my beautiful wife, without whom this never would have left my head.
Contents
Prologue:
Sunset
Chapter 1:
Secrets and Secretaries
Chapter 2:
Please Step Outside
Chapter 3:
Surprises and Sheep
Chapter 4:
Hidden Hallways
Chapter 5:
Ambushed
Chapter 6:
Trouble with Tasers
Chapter 7:
Irritation, Interrogation, and the Truth
Chapter 8:
Visions of the Past
Chapter 9:
A Brief History of Everything
Chapter 10:
Good Times with the Guild
Chapter 11:
First Dates and Other Elusive Creatures
Chapter 12:
The Gang's All Here
Chapter 13:
The Apples of Arborlen
Chapter 14:
Hand Picked
Chapter 15:
Lets Get Dangerous
Chapter 16:
Celebrate Good Times, Come On
Chapter 17:
Furious Foxes
Chapter 18:
JaM Productions
Chapter 19:
Circles Within Circles
Chapter 20:
At Least It's Not Raining
Chapter 21:
Demons in the Dark
Chapter 22:
Tavern Talk
Chapter 23:
Whatever the Storm Blows In
Chapter 24:
Forbidden and Flowing
Chapter 25:
Dark and Stormy Night
Chapter 26:
The Calm Before
Chapter 27:
Pleading the Case
Chapter 28:
Working Hard and Hardly Working
Chapter 29:
A Daring Escape
Chapter 30:
Always Look On the Bright Side
Chapter 31:
Chalkboards
Chapter 32:
Proof of Concept
Chapter 33:
So Sharp You'll Cut Yourself
Chapter 34:
Conspiratorial Emotions
Chapter 35:
It Burns Us, Precious
Chapter 36:
Hidden Dragons
Chapter 37:
Pretty Pictures
Chapter 38:
Robert Ralson
Chapter 39:
Bombshells
Chapter 40:
Flame On the Horizon
Chapter 41:
Welcome to Helena
Chapter 42:
Tower Defense
Chapter 43:
Ear to the Ground
Chapter 44:
Pursuit
Chapter 45:
In the Beginning
Chapter 46:
Providence
Chapter 47:
Freedom
Chapter 48:
You Are Not Prepared
Chapter 49:
Complications
Chapter 50:
Static On the Wind
Chapter 51:
Reunions
Chapter 52:
There's No Lair Like Home
Chapter 53:
From a Clear Blue Sky
Chapter 54:
Was It Good for You Too
Chapter 55:
Imagine Meeting You Here
Chapter 56:
Heroic Last Stands
Chapter 57:
For a Job Well Done
Chapter 58:
The Big Man Himself
Chapter 59:
Hobbies
Chapter 60:
The Road Goes Ever On
Prologue
Sunset
It's so beautiful. Ezra stared out the viewport window, looking down at the Earth. Clouds swirled through the atmosphere with a stately beauty, the blue and green of the planet spread out beneath them.
He shook his head in wonder, glancing around at the other passengers aboard the Millennial Legacy. His parents sat with a few of the other science Legacy families, chatting. How anyone could ignore the view was beyond him. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity!
He turned back to the window, pressing his face up against the transparent super solid, trying to catch a glimpse of Sanctuary far below them. Flickering flames from the engines danced into view. Ezra frowned, staring. If he looked at it just right, he could almost imagine that the fire actually was dancing. There! That... that looks like a woman, a woman in the fire...
Something glimmered off in the distance. Ezra glanced up, and his jaw dropped. Highlighted against the backdrop of space, just a few klicks away from their shuttle, the space elevator cable was glowing. What might have been lightning was coiled around it, slithering up behind them like some kind of gleaming serpent. As he watched, it caught up to the ship and bunched into a writhing mass of energy.
"Mom? Dad?" Ezra took a step back, eyes fixed on the orb of power. It felt like it was watching them, somehow... waiting...
The ship shuddered. The lights in the cabin flickered. The lightning struck.
Ezra yelled, stumbling back as the beam of energy reached mindlessly for the ship. The window flashed white... and a wall of fire blocked Ezra's view.
He jumped forward, eyes searching. It looked like the flames from the engine had leapt up, catching the bolt of lightning, holding it back. But... that was impossible. It didn't make any sense. Fire... fire couldn't move like that.
"Ezra!"
He turned to see his father holding out a hand for him. He took a running step toward his family, casting one last look back at the battling elements.
And the lightning broke free.
With a bone-shaking thump, the fuel compartment went up, ripping the hull apart. Metal shrieked in agonized protest. Ezra was tossed to the floor like a toy. Everything spun as he squeezed his eyes shut.
“Mom!” he yelled, but hardly made a sound. He tried to suck in a deeper breath, to call out again... but there was no air.
Because you're in space, he realized. Probably only being kept alive by the dispersing atmosphere of the cabin. His eyes flew open. He saw the Earth below him, through the wreckage of the shuttle. His body rotated, spinning freely, and the orbital station came into view, sitting serenely atop the space elevator, only a few klicks away. The docking port was just beginning to extend toward what was left of the ship. He continued to spin past. His lungs burned, his vision tunneling a
s his oxygen-deprived body began to shut down. Ezra took one last look down at the Earth, beautiful and pristine and perfect.
And something moved.
From the guttering fires of the devastated ship, an angel spread her wings. Her skin was like velvety smoke, her hair the deep red of a burning coal. She smiled, reaching out toward Ezra.
I wonder if everyone sees something like this when they die, he wondered as slender arms wrapped around his neck and back, pulling him to her warm embrace, sheltering him beneath wings of light and heat. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. He returned her smile, letting his eyes close, surrendering to the inevitable.
Suddenly her mouth was pressed to his, breathing life into him. His lungs expanded with air and his eyes fluttered open. He caught one last glimpse of the angel falling away, tied to the still-burning corpse of the ship, a look of divine peace on her face, her arms spread as if releasing him...
==
Ezra Hawkins woke with a start. Outside, the sun was just beginning to dip below the Barrier Mountains that surrounded Sanctuary. “That's what you get for falling asleep while watching the sunset,” he mumbled savagely to himself.
He leaned back in his chair, yawning as he stretched his lean frame. He ran a hand absently through his curly, dark brown hair. His eyes wandered over the virtual console in front of him, lighting as he went over the results of his most recent simulation. Every test passed, all well within his margin of error.
A fierce smile spread across Ezra's face. He uploaded his flight trajectory into the test glider, locking in the last piece of his brilliant plan. Everything was set, and no bad dream or remembered terror was going to spoil it for him.
Tonight, he was going to see the world.