Elemental Awakening

Chapter Eight

Talon lay in his bed, in the room that he shared with David listening to the clinking of the stones that he was working with. His hands were folded on his chest and he was staring at the ceiling thinking of his future with Lamasuli. Would they be able to have a child right away? Or would they have to decide to dance again at the next spring festival. He just hoped that if it was to be that they have a family right away that he would be able to raise his child unlike his parents. He didn't blame them for letting his grandparents raise him, he just wished that he knew them better. He rolled over the ask David a question. "So I'm guessing that it went well?"

"Very well…she's going to dance with me."

"Then what are you working on now? I thought that you already gave her a gift." Talon asked noting the necklace that David was crafting.

"Well your traditions are fine and all, but I would like to bring some of my former home with me. In the dreaming world we give girls jewelry, and I want to place this on her neck." David held the necklace up for Talon to see. It was intricate with four strands inter linking to make a spider web design with a stone beaded at each interconnecting cross piece. In the dim light of the room it sparkled and reflected more light than it took in.

"How did you get it to shine like that? It looks as though it has its own light." Talon was amazed and wished that he could do something half as nice as that.

"I spoke to the fire with in the stones. They cannot spark but they will illuminate her face." David started working again on the piece threading stones and wire as he concentrated on speaking to the fire with in.

"My daggers aren't like that but they are made for each person. The one I made Suli was the first that I used a stone on. It was like I was possessed by the dagger while I was crafting it." He sighed and laid back down to try to catch his sleep. He knew that it was futile but he needed his rest after all the work from the day, and the expected festivities to come as the sun set in its cradle.  

"You were; it is how you know that it's going to be attached to her." David said distractedly as his hands worked furiously on the necklace. Talon wondered if the necklace had him in its grasp like the dagger held Talon so many months ago.

"Hmmm that's a way to think about it. Well right now I need to sleep, need my energy to dance tomorrow." Talon felt sleep just at the edge of his thoughts, like a shadow that light could not penetrate till it was too late. Then he realized that he was dreaming. Violent dark and shadowy dreams that took him to the very heart of darkness, he felt as though his soul was being scorched in the noon day sun.

When he woke the next afternoon he was drenched in sweat and Lamasuli was sitting on the edge of his bed and she looked as though she had been crying. "Oh my love what is the matter?"

"You wouldn't wake…You screamed out in your sleep as though the dark had possessed your soul. David couldn't wake you and I couldn't wake you. We were so worried."

Talon was confused, it felt as though he had just closed his eyes, but he felt that something was truly wrong. "Did I miss the festival?" he had to know what day it was. Something was wrong and he felt dread in the room. “The nightmares.”

 "No it will be starting soon though. We don't have to go if you don't want." Lamasuli adjusted herself on the bed so that she could lean down and kiss Talon. He returned the kiss sweetly and ran his fingers through her hair.

"No, I want my life to start with you today." He sat up in the bed and made to move to get out and get ready. "You will dance with me this evening, and you will dance for me when the sun rises and we are in our house." Talon pinched Lamasuli's side eliciting a giggle from her. "Go put on something pretty for me." He laughed as she stood to go do as she was told.

"You may have this one, but you are going to learn who the boss between me and you is." She laughed as she walked through the door to get ready for the festival. Talon sat on his bed for a few moments more he stood up as David walked in the room to get ready himself.

"You worried us all" David tossed Talon's direction as he pulled his shirt over his head. He selected a white linen shirt with a laced up collar.

"I can't even remember my dreams." Talon stepped over to his trunk and pulled up the lid to look through his nicer clothes. He found a brown s**t that was the same color as Lamasuli's eyes, and thought that that would be perfect. Next he found a pair of leather britches that were tanned and softened with soap weed. They felt like butter across his skin. The britches were the same cut that they used for dessert travel and battle, but the material was so fine that they were obviously only good for village use. The britches fit perfectly around his waist and were loose on his legs to trap air to his legs for insulation against heat and cold which the dessert was known for. He selected a pair of sandals that he knew he would only wear up to the farm basin. They were neither good for dessert travel or working the soil. Sandals were merely to get a person from ones hive house to the rest of the village, but that was okay, during the spring festival no one covered their feet. You were expected to dance barefoot on the soil after you sowed your seeds. The dance of the spring festival was to cover the seeds and infuse the soil with your happy energies so they would sprout and grow faster.

"What do you think?" David asked as he turned one time in his clothes.

"I think you might win her heart. What do you think of mine?" Talon was genuine in his compliment.

"Very nice. Why try so hard when you know Lamasuli is already yours?"

"I have to prove that I'm worthy of her hand to the entire village. Can't have one of the future council members dancing with a cackle." Talon referred to the wolf like predator that the nomads had to worry about when they were on migration and followed his response with a laugh and both the men walked out the door to meet their partners on the basin floor.

Lamasuli dressed in the room that she shared with Cleo, Mazy, and Wendy. She put on her white gown that Talon had bought her but added a yellow silk rope belt to loop through the scabbard of the dagger that Talon had made. The dress has yellow embroidery that trailed down the front to pool in an elaborate design at the hem, the cut was to fit her willowy frame and accentuate the curves that she did have.  The sleeves were long and loose to trap the air around her arms, and they had the same embroidery around the cuff. Mazy and Cleo wore matching tunics with suede britches, they were fitted for a woman, and the color set off their skin tones. Wendy borrowed a dress from Lamasuli, but had to have it fitted to accommodate her full figure. Wendy felt ridiculous in the dress because it hugged her hips and the neckline swooped down to expose a portion of her generous chest.

"I need a kerchief for this thing…I feel naked with so much of my skin showing." Wendy was exasperated with the dress and felt vulnerable. "Does anyone have a scarf or something that will match this color, maybe a pink or lavender?" she kept tugging at the front of the dress trying to bring up her body but the waist was so clingy it would keep falling down.

"No we don't have anything, besides we're trying to get you married off any way. How are you going to get a man to dance with you if you cover everything up?" Mazy laughed at Wendy's discomfort.

"Fine let's just get going, the more I think about this the more I'm going to get frustrated and not join in the fun. And I have to water the farm." Wendy slid on a pair of sandals and headed out the door with Cleo and Mazy giggling behind her. Lamasuli followed the younger women and up the hall till she saw Talon and her breath caught in her chest.

She knew that he was attractive, but when he took the time to dress up he was magnificent. He really should have been a warrior instead of a blacksmith. His shoulders were wide and muscled from swinging the hammer, his waist was narrow and tucked into his hips to give his whole frame a more shadowing appearance. Lamasuli knew that she could love this man for the rest of her life. She could tell by the look that he was giving her that he felt the same way. She walked up to him and looped her arm through his. They walked up the tunnel to the farm in comfortable silence.

David didn't see Dankiyet for several minutes after he got to the farm. He was standing next to the gazebo keeping the fire for the food at the right temperature for the best flavor and moister retention for the vegetables and meats. He had to concentrate on the task because it was so delicate to keep the balance. To his left David heard someone gasp he quickly brought his head up to so what caused the outburst. As he did his eyes locked on Dankiyet and she was stunning.

The dress hugged Dankiyet's form like a second skin. The skirt belled out and just touched her bare toes. The belt shone in the starlight and fit her hips perfectly. In David's distraction the fire leapt to a life of its own and evaporated everything that was on the stove top instantly. Several people rushed back because the instant heat scorched their skin. "Oh my god sorry!" David quickly tried to fix the problem that his laps in attention caused. Luckily no one was hurt. "Crap now I have to start over on a new batch."

"Did I distract you master elemental?" Dankiyet cheekily teased David as he scraped the burnt food off the grill top.

"Uh…yeah, you should know better than to come around a man on fire looking like that! I might not be able to control myself and gobble you up." He stopped scrapping long enough to chide her back.

"Set your flame and have one of the other warriors mind the cooking. The dancing is going to start soon" Dankiyet told him as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from his task.

"Hey do you have this?" he shot the question over his shoulder to one of his house mates named Akka.  Akka took up the cooking utensils and had his sister Ahnie, also a member of the warrior house to get wood because they would have to manually keep the temperature. "Thanks mate." David called back as he was pulled into the throng of people that had bags of seeds and happy faces. Everyone was waiting for Ashfoot to say her blessing and let the festival begin. There was a band waiting in the gazebo to start playing so that everyone could start planting and dancing.

Ashfoot climbed the stairs to the gazebo to make her announcement. All the people in the crowd fell silent as Ashfoot drew her breath to project her voice. "The Gods of this land are proud of us! And we give thanks to the elementals for being here and placing the preparations for this festival. There is a darkness awakening in the dessert, and we should all prepare. Let it be known that the Blue moon houses a force in this world that means to strike us down. The monster that houses the energies of the Blue moon was once a man. He is the head of a swarm that intends to wipe the earth clean of all living things. Tonight may be the last night that we can relax unless this monster has already seen us. We must be vigilant, and not take too long in our revelry. Plant and Dance and hurry to make ready for a war.

"We have known that the Elementals have come early for a purpose, that purpose is our defense. The monster in the dessert knows that they are growing in their strength and he will not let them become too strong before he will try to attack. But tonight we dance!" Ashfoot left the podium with anxiety over the crowd. She motioned for the band to start playing and that she was finished. The tension in the crowd began to ease as the music picked up and conversation started. The group broke up into smaller groups and spread over the entire farm. Each small group had a bag of seeds and each bag was assigned to a certain section of the farm to keep the young plants from stealing nutrients from each other.

"She must have had the same vision I did." David commented to Dankiyet as he picked up a hand full of seeds and started dropping them in the trenches that Cleo had opened for them all. He slowly kicked dirt over the seeds to cover them up as Dankiyet did the same in her row. "So when does the dancing start" David changed topic.

"Hmm as soon as our bag is empty and our rows are full we can dance. Everyone goes their own pace." She looked up and smiled at him and his heart jumped. Why is she being so nice to me right now? He thought. She has been avoiding me and rejecting me since she found me.

"So what gives? You haven't exactly shown your love for me over the past few months, what has been different lately?"

"We don't have much time left before things will change vastly out of our control, why don't you just enjoy tonight?" Dankiyet replied.

"Yeah, so all of this is supposed to be some kind of gift for me?" David stopped tossing seeds to stand and confront her over her change of behavior. "You feel sorry for me or something? You just going to give in just like that to keep the elemental happy?"

"Oh gods! Why do you have to make something special so difficult? David enjoy tonight! Because if you don't then I'm going to march back down that tunnel and leave you dancing by yourself!" Dankiyet yelled at David.

As Dankiyet threw her last handful of seed down in frustration the music stopped playing and a roar rose up over the rim of the volcanic basin. The stars started to wink out one by one and all four of the elementals fell to the floor holding their heads and writhing. The red moon finally was cloaked as a swarm of insects descended upon the village. All the revelers scattered into the access tunnels of the farm basin, except for the elementals and their companions. The swarm surrounded these four groups and began to match their humming into the rhythm of spoken words. The companions of the elementals could understand what was being said as the elementals themselves began to convulse in seizers.

YOU WILL SUBMIT TO THE MASTER OR YOUR CORPSE WILL FEED OUR SWARM!>

The humming and buzzing became more insistent as the swarm became thicker. Each individual insect lending its body to the one entity that is the swarm. The swirling grew tighter and tighter blacking out all light in the basin cutting off the four small groups of people from each other and the rest of the world. Dankiyet held on to David trying to ease his ridged muscles and calm his body, her touch was gentle and he relaxed some. Mazy held onto Cleo to keep her contorting muscles from breaking her back she was bent so harshly. Magrotin held Sui down as his air powers raged out of control in his pain, nearly lifting Magrotin and himself off the floor. Parespine whom was closest to Wendy when the swarm descended held the young woman to her trying to relax her muscles and quiet her screams.

YOU WILL SUBMIT!> the swarm circled tighter and tighter leaving the air that the groups were breathing superheated and thick. The vibration of so many insects left even the non-elementals feeling dizzy and disoriented. YOU WILL BECOME DUST IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT!> the swarm sounded as though they were growing more and more angry as they drew in again, wings and legs brushed faces and arms, and stung where they made contact.

David suddenly broke as he drew his hands down from his ears; his eyes opened and glowed with the green of his flame. He slowly rose from the ground, the insects moved away from him. David walked into the swarm away from Dankiyet leaving her in her own isolated hell of flying insects. Dankiyet screamed for David to comeback thinking that he submitted to the will of the swarm.  She began to weep for him and all the people that she could imagine he would kill for the swarm. Then all of a sudden a brilliant white light was seen in the haze of moving bodies. It grew and it touched her face. She felt a searing heat coming from the light and heard David's voice in her head. (Run! I can't hold it back much longer) Dankiyet tried to protest that there were too many bugs around her to move when she realized that they had cleared away from her and were being drawn to the light. Dankiyet stood and ran as fast as she could to the tunnel entrance with the rest of the companions that stayed with the elementals.

Once inside the tunnel she found her father and clung to him as the ground shook with an explosion. Parespine, Mazy, Magrotin and Dankiyet all fell to the floor as the heat washed over them. When the dust settled the four of them stood up to look out the tunnel to see what had happened to their elementals. Their eyes roved over the basin to find the four elementals all standing grouped together in the center of the basin standing on what had been the beautifully constructed gazebo but was now just a pile of rubble. All the insects had been consumed by the explosion that the four elementals had created with their combined energies and focused on David's fire. The elementals slowly walked back to the tunnel entrance with exhaustion on their faces.

Sui started. "He saw us. He knows where we are, and he isn't going to stop until we are dead or under his control." Then he walked down the tunnel to the warrior house.

"We can all hear him now, not just David…David was easy to start with for him because when he came here he was full of sadness and anger, but you have been good for him." Wendy said as she looked at Dankiyet then headed the same direction as Sui. Cleo merely rumbled her agreement in her way with the earth. Their companions followed them down to see to them. Magrotin left to find Lamasuli to tell her that the siege was over for now and that she and Talon needed to see to their charges.

When David followed the group in, he embraced Dankiyet and cried into her neck. He pulled her to the ground as he fell to his knees sobbing. "He's evil" he choked out as Dankiyet lightly rubbed his back to comfort him. As the last sobs wracked his body he lifted his head to tell her what they had all seen as they lay tortured on the ground. "He dug into our minds, it kind of connected us. That's how I knew to talk to the rest to develop a plan." He described how they were trapped in their own heads for what seemed an eternity. The four of them were in their own hell, sharing in the pain of being ripped to shreds for the illusion felt so real. They could hear each other screaming and were reaching for each other to try to escape. David finally found the way to connect and weave the threads of their elements together to triumph over the swarm.

Dankiyet and David sat in the tunnel entrance till the first rays of dawn began to creep over the rim of the basin. They saw the destruction that the swarm of insects left. Anything that was edible was gone; chairs food, the gazebo, and all the seeds. The village was going to go hungry this year if they couldn't figure something out. Dankiyet pulled David up and led him down the tunnel to the house that Ashfoot had secretly set up for them, knowing that they would become a couple.