What the Tide Brings

Chapter 45 - Kaelin - A Surprising Development

Kaelin battled with Arlen, slashing his scaled skin with her clawed fingers. She had managed to disarm him, using her magic to blast his shark bone sword into the water far beyond the battle. He had to rely on his own hands to fend her off. Admittedly, he had quite the advantage on that front, being much taller and much stronger than Kaelin.

When she got too close, he knocked her to the ground with hardly any effort.

As he stood over her flaunting his strength, he made the mistake of thinking she was harmless. While Arlen had her beat in physical prowess, she was much more adept at magic. That was the one failing of the Southern Clan; they didn't actively practice their magic. Moab had once called magic a coward's weapon, because you needn't face your enemy to defeat them. He said he preferred to be up close, to drive his blade or his claws into the flesh of his enemy and taste their blood in the water. The sentiment made Kaelin sick to her stomach.

Kaelin threw up her hand to make the rain swirl around his head. He stumbled back a step, swatting at the tiny drops of water that slammed into his face at such a speed as to feel like needle pricks. It wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was good for a distraction. He let out an annoyed shout and Kaelin took the opportunity to shove her foot into his stomach as hard as she could.

When Arlen toppled over backwards onto the sand, Kaelin scrambled to her feet. She held her hand up to call water from the ocean. A stream of water spiraled into the air and flowed toward her in a serpentine fashion. She flicked her hand and redirected the water's path to Arlen, who was writhing on the ground, still being pelted by the needle-sharp droplets of rain.

With a loud cry of anger, Arlen flung his arms out wide, ending the torrential downpour. He got to his feet, despite Kaelin's magic still pricking away at his skin. His features were turned down darkly. His eyes were solid black.

Arlen waved a hand at Kaelin's water serpent spiraling toward him; the length of it froze solid. He grabbed it out of the air and broke off a piece, which he then hurled at her like a spear.

She screamed as the shard buried itself in her shoulder.

Gasping for a breath, she gripped the spear of ice tight and yanked it with all her might. She collapsed down onto one knee and dropped the ice on the sand beside her. Blood poured from the wound, so she ripped a strip off the bottom of Liam's sweatshirt and wrapped the wound tightly, to keep it from spilling any more before it had time to heal.

Her eyes jumped to the ocean; it would be much easier to regenerate in water. If she could complete her transformation it would take no time at all.

As if sensing her thoughts, Arlen walked in a wide arc to stand between Kaelin and the waves lapping at the shore. "I don't think so, little fish."

Kaelin gritted her teeth, cradling her arm to her chest, and steeled her resolve. She would have to do this the hard way. And it was hard. She couldn't cast her magic as well with only one good arm, since healing took a lot more magic than these tricks that she was using against Arlen. He easily managed to deflect everything she threw at him.

Then, Arlen took a note from Kaelin and brought forth two serpentine streams of water, each one stretching out to one side of him. When he thrust his left hand forward, the stream on his left flew toward her and struck the ground like a whip.

Kaelin jumped back a step, startled. She didn't know he could do anything that advanced. Not only was he manipulating the water, he was hardening it just before it struck to make the blows stronger. Freezing water and creating rain, no matter how intense the downpour, were easy tasks. What Arlen was doing was masterful.

Arlen repeated the process several times, throwing out his water whips, but Kaelin dodged it each time.

The lines between Arlen's brows deepened as his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. Behind him six more streams of water snaked through the air. Each one took a turn to try to slash Kaelin, but she was too fast to get hit.