Eventually, she saw it. She flinched, drawing back her hand. “It looks a lot like elf-shot,” she said.
Tam peered at it. “Smaller though and not as dark.”
“So, you’re sure it’s safe to touch?”
Tam shrugged.
Kaetha rolled her eyes. In Meraud’s thoughts, she had worn what must have been the Water stone so that it touched her skin. The stones could give me the power I need to save Pa. I can’t have less courage than Meraud. She reached towards it, trying to keep her hand from trembling. As her fingertips brushed against its smooth surface, she froze.
Tam smiled at her. “You’re not dead,” he said.
“No,” she said, laughing. She held up the Earth stone in the sunlight so that she could clearly see the veins of green and rusty red across its pale grey surface. “I wonder how long it’s been since it has felt air and sun upon it.”
“Who knows?” said Tam, looking out across the moors as if something were troubling him.
“Tam?”
“Hm?” He picked up the stone from Kaetha’s hand and turned it over. “It’s strange. I feel no power in it.”
“So why should I? Perhaps the Calliack really does underestimate humans. If the story you told me is true, she took this power from those Fiadhain, making it impossible for a Fiadhain to sense it, thinking that meant that no one could.”
“Well, now’s the time to test whether or not you can.”
“How?”
“You must learn to harness its powers for yourself, just as you have been doing with your gifts of Fire and Air.” He placed the stone back in her palm. “Baukans can move earth, rocks and growing things, manipulating them, changing their shapes.”
“I’ve seen humans do that too, ones Chosen by Earth,” she said, feeling a pang of grief mixed with guilt as she thought of the Order.
“Just try,” said Tam. “Draw on the stone’s power and focus. If Meraud can do it, why can’t you?”
But she had an advantage over Meraud. In hearing the elemental names, she realised that she could form connections with the stones using her Air magic, as if each stone had a mind and thoughts of its own. Holding the Earth stone, she closed her eyes and searched for its power. Thoughts of mountains soaring into the clouds came to her mind and she knew their strength in her as if she was part of them. She felt a distant beating, a chaos of drums, vibrations coursing through the ground towards her. Not drums, hooves, she thought, realising she could feel the movements of a far off herd of deer. As she stretched out her mind, sensing the life growing up from the ground around her, she breathed in the scent of damp, earthy roots and the warmer fragrance of leaves, bark, grass and flowers, touched by the sun.
“Alright,” she said to herself as she walked over to where she believed the Air stone to be buried. “Time to give this a try.” Stretching out her hand, she concentrated on the grass, earth and rock at the foot of the great, looming stone. For some time, nothing seemed to happen and she shot Tam a worried glance. Then the earth began to tremble and her hand shook. Several small stones twitched and then blades of grass bent like hair being flattened, the ground beneath it opening up. With a crumbling sound, the earth yawned open then grew still.
A thrill shot through her as she reached for the second stone. It was the same size and had the same arrow-head shape as the Earth stone but this one was a little warmer to the touch and its colouring was different, a paler grey, almost white, with twists of clear crystal running through it. Tam grinned at her but before that, she thought she’d seen something else written on his face, an odd mixture of pride and fear. She wondered if the Air stone might help her see into his thoughts where her natural Air magic could not.
“You’re good at finding hidden things,” said Tam.
“First there was you,” she said.
“Aye.” He smiled at her, a real smile that lit up his eyes. Just as Kaetha thought how she had never seen him look like that, his features settled back into their usual pensive frown.
She went to where she sensed the last Fire stone, hovered her hand over the ground and, faster this time, the earth parted and retrieved the stone.
“Oh,” she said in surprise.
“What?”
“This one feels hotter.”
“That would make sense.”
Kaetha inspected it. The charcoal grey stone was flecked with white, similar to elf-shot, only this stone was also marbled with strands of gold which glimmered bright in the sunlight, it looked burnt, ashy and fiery all at once. “Do you believe in destiny, Tam?”
He didn’t answer.
“I feel that now I have some real chance of getting Pa back. I think that’s why the stones called to me. Why I found them. Do you think I should let myself hope?”
“I think that you can do more than find your father. The use of these stones may be the only way of getting justice for those who’ve been persecuted, people just like you. With their power, you might take the Water stone back from Meraud, protect people from her.” There was a feverish intensity in his eyes before he looked away. “Stop the stone’s powers being misused.”
“I wish I— Perhaps I won’t be able to. Her power may still be stronger than mine.”
“You won’t know unless you—”
“I don’t want to think about it. Not right now,” she said, turning from him. “What’s important is finding Pa – saving Pa. That’s what I’m meant to do.”
“And what if someone else, someone without your noble intentions, gets hold of these stones?”
She looked down at them nestled in the palm of her
