And then there was Jaren, who held sway over all four of the elements.
“What a-are they —” Tipp’s whispered question was cut short when, from one second to the next, the cavern exploded with light.
But not just any light.
Caldon’s arms were outstretched like a conductor directing an orchestra as he pointed to the wall sconces spaced around the cave, the flames growing higher until they shot away from the limestone, numerous fireballs soaring through the air — and straight toward Jaren.
The crown prince raised his own hands, the water at his back surging out of the river and enveloping him, snuffing out the inferno as the flames struck.
But then the queen stepped forward and wiggled her fingers, causing even more river water to rise and surround Jaren, pushing what was already there inward until he could barely be seen behind the mountain of liquid.
Kiva clutched Flox tight enough for the creature to give a disgruntled squeak, but she couldn’t soothe him, too afraid that she was watching Jaren drown inside the body of water.
It soon became clear, however, that Jaren knew what he was doing. With an outward thrust of his hands, the water erupted, bursting into millions of droplets that splattered his family, all the while revealing that he’d remained untouched by the attack, not a hint of dampness on his body.
And that was when the real battle began.
Mirryn flung out a hand, and Jaren made an oomph sound as he was flung violently backwards into the air, but he used his own wind magic to come to a stop over the middle of the river. An ear-splitting sound echoed around the cave before he could return to the bank: a stalactite ripping from high above them at Oriel’s command and plummeting like a deadly spear. It didn’t faze the still-hovering Jaren, who clapped his hands together, causing it to shatter into limestone dust that fell harmlessly into the water below. But he then saw it for the distraction it was, since at the same time, Caldon shot another round of fireballs his way, while Mirryn made a circling motion with her hands and Jaren became caught in a mini tornado, spinning uncontrollably.
Kiva was certain that Caldon’s fire was going to scorch Jaren, especially since the crown prince seemed to reach for his water magic but the river didn’t rise to his command — instead, it was buckling under the weight of whatever the queen was doing, as if she was pressing it into the earth, keeping it from coming to Jaren’s defense.
Suddenly, Kiva couldn’t breathe. She thought it was from being so anxious over what she was seeing that her lungs had stalled, but then all the fires in the room spluttered into pitch-blackness, and she realized that Jaren had caused this — that he’d purged all the air from the room to free himself from his sister’s tornado while also snuffing out Caldon’s flames before they could strike him.
It was clever — so very clever. But Kiva couldn’t fully admire his strategy. Blind, suffocating, and alarmed by the same choking sounds from Tipp and Naari beside her, along with the distressed Flox, she was only keeping from full-blown panic because she knew Jaren would never allow any harm to come to his family — or to her.
Sure enough, within seconds, she was sucking in fresh air again, and with it, fire burst back into existence — not only along the walls, but also at Jaren’s fingertips, remaining there just long enough for him to thrust it like a javelin toward his cousin.
Caldon ducked the attack, the fire slamming into the limestone behind him in a roar of sparks. A second javelin from Jaren had Caldon scrambling to summon a shield of fire to absorb the flames, which he managed just in time.
“You’ll have to try harder than that!” the rakish prince goaded.
Jaren didn’t have a chance to respond, because his other family members were still sending their own attacks his way. Wind was buffeting his clothes and hair, but it didn’t lift him off the ground, making Kiva realize he was nullifying whatever Mirryn was trying to do. At the same time, water was rising again, forming the shape of a serpent similar to the one from the River Festival last night. The snake moved to strike at Jaren, and he pointed a finger not at the beast, but at the ground near where he stood, an almighty crack sounding as a section broke away and rose to shield him from the brunt of the attack. But what Jaren didn’t see was Oriel’s sneaky move, the young prince directing camouflaged vines to crawl along the ground and wrap around his brother’s ankles. With one quick hand gesture from Oriel, Jaren’s feet were yanked out from beneath him, his earth shield all that kept the queen’s snake from engulfing him as he wrestled now with the creeping plants that were moving swiftly up his body, trapping his limbs and squeezing the air from his lungs.