The Soothing Scent Of Earth (Elemental Awakening, Book 2) (8 page)

He looked and acted
Gi
. But then maybe all the Alchemists looked and acted like one of the
Ekmetalleftis
branches;
Aeras, Nero, Pyrkagia, Gi
. If any were as successful as Noah, they were a cunning and devious lot. I was not the only one to have been duped, I was certain.

"How long did you trick them?" I queried, unable to stop myself from asking.

"I introduced myself as a young
Gi
thirty years ago. They were in turmoil, having just discovered their fertility problems. It was easy to fabricate a connection to a recently exiled and deceased family of
Gi
. In their desperation to cling to new
Gi
life they accepted the ruse willingly."

"And you looked the part, acted the part. How could they really tell?" I offered.

"Indeed." He didn't look ashamed at the fact that he had deceived them. "My instructions were to train as a physician, thereby I'd have knowledge and access to my medical records to keep the secret safe."

"How old were you when you got here?" I asked, a little surprised that he hadn't already been a doctor and looked only thirty-five now.

"Eighteen."

That would make him forty-eight. He didn't look forty-eight. Which meant Alchemists had indeed found the answer to a longer life. Isn't that one of their philosophies? Noah and the voice in the fire had said,
"May your life be blessed with longevity."
Even Theo had mentioned briefly in Auckland that the Alchemists had learned to use aspects of
Ekmetalleftis Stoicheio
and increased their lifespan, I think.

I sucked in a breath of humid air trying to clear my mind. This was a lot to take in. I wasn't sure
if I could reason it all out, but what I did know, was right now my safety was the most important thing. My continued escape from the
Gi
came first. But not at the expense of being handed over to the Alchemists to study.

I needed a plan. I needed to separate from Noah, whether he was on my side for now or not. Eventually I'd just be trading one prison in for another. The Alchemists were greedy, their only concern was furthering humankind. How much could they learn from me? From my DNA? From my body?

I most definitely did not want to find out.

"All right," I said resolutely. "You're an Alchemist. Do you know what I am, then?"

"You're important," he said, in an almost awe-filled voice. "One of a kind," he added. "We don't even know if someone like you has existed before. There are stories, but they could just be legend, fairytales the
Athanatos
tell their young when they put them to bed."

His eyes had glazed over; a zealot's response to a topic they worshipped beyond all reason. I didn't want to be anyone's object of veneration. It all sounded a little far-fetched and creepy, truth be told.

"Does my kind have a name?" I asked, trying to get Noah to focus again.

"
Aether
," he whispered, as though the word held power.

I was struck dumb. No other description for it. My mouth hung open, my eyes bugged out a little and my mind reeled relentlessly.
Aether
. I was an
Aether
, whatever that was. But to have a name at all was unfathomable.

I'd accepted I'd become a
Gi
, but I wasn't a born one. All
Athanatos
are born, so Theo had said. So how could I be one of them? Maybe this was the answer. Maybe
Aether
were something else entirely.

A scary open-ended thought. But still I was numb from the sheer wonder of having a name to call myself at last.

What if I had told Davos that was what I am? What would the outcome have been then? I needed to know more about what I was, what being an
Aether
was. Before I ever told another soul. But how to get that knowledge?

I stared at Noah, who still looked like he was in the presence of a deity inside a sacred place, not in front of a deli shop owner in a hollow within an enormous tree. Could I trust him? Could I use him for the trek through the forest, pump him for information, and then ditch him when we reached Manaus?

Not my usual modus operandi, but nothing was usual in my life, was it? I needed to adjust, to move with the circumstances. To adapt. On that thought, I decided my plan would be just that. Use the Alchemist doctor, then escape him. And decide what next to do then.

God alone knew what would come after Manaus, but one step at a time was my limit. I was still so weak, replenishing lost
Stoicheio
and recovering from my torture and mishandling under Davos' care. I needed a moment to regroup. Hopefully by the time we reached the city I would be fully healed and my
Gi Stoicheio
all topped up.

"Wow," I said, in way of offering at least some verbal reaction to his statements. I didn't want him knowing I was scheming mentally. "I'm not quite sure what to say, Noah."

"I guess it's a bit of a surprise for you," he reasoned. "We can talk more about it tonight. Now, I think we should get going. There are some berries over by the stream for you to eat. I'll let you have some privacy while you freshen up, and wait outside the entrance."

I nodded and watched him stand, kick dirt over the fire to smother it and then slip through the vines at the entrance, out into the waiting forest. I wished I had someone to confide in. I wished I could ask the Earth what it thought of all of this. But being so close to
Gi
land still, knowing the Queen's Guards wouldn't have given up yet, by any chance, I couldn't risk it. The Earth was there to sustain me, to tap when I needed the strength, but relying on it for more right now would be careless.

For the time being, like it has felt for so long it seems, I was on my own.

Thoughts of Theo coasted through my mind as I washed myself awake and prepared for the long walk ahead. What would he have said if he'd heard what I was? Would he have known what an
Aether
was capable of? Would it have made a difference, made it possible for us to be together and not be enemies? Would the
Pyrkagia Rigas
have approved?

A huff of a laugh left my lips. As nice as it was to dream, it also was a waste of time and effort.
My heart ached at the possibilities, knowing I was an
Aether
back in Auckland, could have brought. If I allowed myself to believe it would have made a difference, all that left me with was bitter-sweet agony.

Theo was dead, and finding out what I was called wouldn't change that fact.

I sat back on my heels, kneeling in the soft leaves at the side of the stream and stared at the fluorescent lichen almost blindly. My mind slowly emptied, as my body entered a numb kind of hypnotic state. I had some answers. I'd been seeking them from the day I woke in a pit of dirt. But there were still so many questions.

And now I had enemies on all sides of me, and no one to trust. No one like Theo.

I brushed a tear away before it could travel too far down my cheek. Feeling morose would only lead to depression. I was not safe enough to crumble yet.

I stood up, dusted down my forlorn looking baggy trouser-shorts and straightened my sheet top.  Walking the streets of Manaus looking like this would be interesting. I'd stand out like a sore thumb. Making a change of clothes the first thing I needed Noah to source me. Blending in on the streets of the city until I could figure out what to do next was essential.

I'd have the
Gi
Guards after me and the Alchemists. I would have to hide.

The enormity of the task ahead hit me as I emerged from the hollow. My hand brushed the bark of the tree giving thanks, as my mind whirled in terror of what was coming.

One day at a time. Hell, one step at a time. It was all I could do for now.

Noah was leaning against the multi-layered trunk of a Banyan Tree. He pushed himself off as soon as he saw me. With a business-like nod of his head he checked his compass and then indicated the path we needed to take.

I was stronger today, so we made good progress. But probably not enough to alter Noah's estimation of how long it would take us to reach Manaus by foot. We stopped by a little tributary to a larger river and ate berries and nuts for lunch. The Earth whispering which foods were safe and which were not. Practically handing over the nutritious fare with a swish of a branch or the parting of bushes.

I spent the time thinking of questions. Tonight I would hound Noah and find out all I could. I didn't want to scare him off, make him clam up, so I needed to ensure my questions were pertinent and didn't give my motives away. Asking outright what the Alchemists had in store for me was not going to endear him to an inquisition. Plus I needed my breath for the hike, even partially recovered and having more strength didn't mean it was an easy walk.

The Earth helped where it could, making the ground beneath my feet soft, devoid of sticks or stones that could cut my skin. It parted bushes, moved branches, but the rainforest is a dense place to be. Even the Earth couldn't change that, nor would I want it to. So, most of our time was spent climbing over fallen logs, ducking under hanging vines, navigating streams and wider rivers. Pressing through those parts the Earth was reluctant to unsettle.

The odd snake hissed at us, the Macaws squawked. Insects scurried, spiders spun their webs. And all of it we had to avoid. Even being
Athanatos
did not make us immune to poisons. Hell,
Gi
had learned to channel the multitude of toxins in many of the plants and animals of this forest to use as weapons.

By late afternoon I was exhausted. All over again. And this time Noah didn't have a hollow scouted out for us, shielded with
Stoicheio
to hide us from those who undoubtedly searched for our trails. We opted for a copse of mixed trees, some palm-lik
e Oenocarpus and Babassu. At least we knew we'd have some fruit with our meal this evening.

Noah went in search of some fish in a nearby river and left me in charge of collecting the stone fruit from the trees. He'd given me a knife to cut the bunches down, but he'd forgotten how in tune with the Earth I actually was. If I was an
Aether
, why was Earth so familiar to me? What did
Aether
command?

The fruit fell soundlessly to the leaf strewn floor where I gathered it in seconds next to our makeshift camp. With little else left to do I decided to prepare wood for a fire. Finding dry kindling is an enormous undertaking in a rainforest, but if you know where to look it's not so bad. Off the ground twigs sheltered by overhanging leafy branches work best, and with the Earth guiding me I had a pile of dryish firewood ready to burn.

But no way to light it.

I set the kindling and dried lichen from a tree in position and sat back waiting for Noah.

Seconds turned to minutes, which turned to half an hour. And then, worryingly, a whole hour had passed. He'd been quick getting fish the night before. An uneasy feeling settled in my stomach. I stood up and started to pace, my fingernails finding themselves between my teeth.

I'd made four circuits of our camp when I knew we were in trouble. Surprisingly, or not, the Earth hadn't whispered a warning at all.

Six burly
Gi
Guards entered the clearing from all directions. My heart stopped beating. I couldn't see Noah, but I was sure he was being detained - or worse - somewhere else. This would not be the entirety of the Guard sent to retrieve me. The Queen wanted me too badly to send only half a dozen. Bile rose up my throat, and my heart kicked back into gear with an adrenaline rush, on the thought of why she needed me so much and the consequences of her desire.

They were dire consequences. Horrific. Appalling. Unacceptable.

I sucked in a shaky breath of air as the Guards and I stared off at each other, me turning frantically in an almost circle to keep them all in my line of sight. Them standing there, hands on pistols, green glowing from their eyes. The message crystal clear:
Don't fuck with us,
Princess.

Why no warning?
I whispered to the Earth, but didn't get a reply.

Even below par, like I am now, I am a force to be reckoned with. The Earth and I are a tight team. For it to ignore me now, would take the
Basilissa
herself, or a large number of
Gi
. I was so screwed.

Panic made my body tremble, my breaths coming too quickly to be healthy. I couldn't go back. I just
couldn't.

I moved closer to the fire, thinking some of the wood could be used as a weapon. Then remembered the knife Noah had given me, over by the fruit. I glanced towards where it lay, and watched defeated as a Guard reached down and picked the weapon up casually, flipping it over in his hand. The others chuckled darkly.

My mouth went dry.

Firewood. I'd use the firewood, then. And hopefully some confusion with the help of the Earth.