elemental 01 - whirlwind by Larissa Ladd Read Free Book Online Page A

struggled through the corridor of wind that shifted around him, trying to push him further back.
    He lifted the sword and continued to frighten away the birds that, in spite of their service to their air-aligned mistress, had enough self-preservation to want to avoid the fire. He kept low to the ground, to keep the wind from lifting him, and began slowly moving towards Aira, who was trying to move backwards in spite of her challenging look. He didn’t know how he would go about getting to the woman so high above him, but Aiden told himself he would find a way. He avoided the birds and considered how to scare some sense into Aira, whose attitude was making him angry. He growled lowly to himself, thinking she had no idea of the dangers she was really facing among the fully-developed elementals in the world. Some of whom would be very interested in either killing her or forcing her into an alliance. Her cavalier attitude was getting on his nerves and, in spite of the fact she was clearly a strong elemental, he was in full possession of his abilities; he had to be able to get the better of her.
    They stood at a stalemate, Aira’s avian defenders avoiding the fire he held in his hands, though they had taken up posts surrounding her. She was still out of his reach though. If she would let up on her flight for even a moment, she would be at his mercy. Aiden knew he needed a way to distract her. He shifted the fire-sword into one hand and directed his attention into the other, quickly forming a small but potent flame in his palm. He shaped it slowly, and then when it was exactly what he wanted it to be, he threw it in her direction.
    Aira’s attention wavered, and the wind she had been directing at him disappeared abruptly, Aira’s hand guiding it at the fireball to direct it away from her. She hadn’t entirely been expecting the quick attack and took her attention off of her flight as well as her adversary. She fell toward the ground, barely catching herself before she hit the dirt. Aiden rushed at her, intending to scare her without actually harming her. He wielded his sword as if to strike and called the fireball back toward him, dispersing the birds once more. He was a few feet from her before she managed to marshal her focus once more. She held out her hands, and his fabricated strike was cast aside by an intense gust of wind that pushed him away from her, dragging his feet through the dirt with speed.
    Before either of them could think of a way to get the advantage, they were interrupted by a stentorian shout. The wind cut off abruptly, and Aiden looked behind him to see Lorene and Dylan both approaching. He could see the anger on the old woman’s face as she made her way more quickly than he would have thought she was capable of. Dylan, in contrast, looked disappointed rather than angry, with a faint hint of amusement in his eyes. Lorene stopped her headlong pace as she approached, her jaw set, and Aiden suddenly knew why his Nana had called the old woman the most formidable water elemental she had ever met.
    The depths of her green eyes, staring at both Aiden and Aira, held the mystery of an ocean, and he felt the energy crackling around them. “I don’t know what the two of you were fighting about, but you will both stop it right now.” She said sternly, scowling from one to the other. In moments, the world had gone dark, and Aiden looked up to see enormous rainclouds overhead. Aiden was on the point of apologizing when the rain started to fall, utterly extinguishing his sword in an instant and soaking everyone to the skin a moment later.
    Aira recovered before he did, and she approached her grandmother, her body language showing her to be truly apologetic. He saw her speaking, but couldn’t hear the quiet words over the beating rain. Dylan stood at the old woman’s side, taking in the power the woman had shown in such a stunning exhibition. It was rare for water-aligned elementals to be able to summon rain so