The Earth Elementalist was stronger than I thought.

  Which I should have assumed if he was the one controlling the basilisk, but my experience with Elementalists was that most of them could only affect what they could touch. Hyer, the Griffon back on the Mage’s Bane, could increase airflow to power the ship’s sails on a calm day, but that was a Griffon. Most people didn’t blink an eye if you told them that they were as strong as a Dragon. Especially if you were talking about their Air Elementalist abilities.

  “STARNA!” I changed directions and ran towards her. We were going to have to double up because I wasn’t going to be able to get close to my opponent without some help. The easiest person for me to help was Vin, but if I moved down the mountain, the two Elves would gang up on our mage. She was good, but I doubted she was that good.

  A short wall of ice formed between me and the falling mountain. It wasn’t very thick and shattered almost immediately, but it slowed down the rockslide enough for me to get clear of it.

  Two more rock spikes shot out of the ground, one of them slashed into the side of my right thigh, but it wasn’t deep and on the outside, so it wasn’t dangerous, just uncomfortable. The thing about taking on so many other people’s wounds was that my concept of hurting had been dulled substantially.

  The fact that the rockslide hadn’t turned into a wave and chased me as I moved laterally and then back up the side of the mountain told me that the Earth Elementalist wasn’t at the master level of power, which gave us a much better shot of winning.

  Rocks the size of my head shot through the air at me. While my uncle had been able to absorb Lagrev’s magical attack and turn it back at the mage, I had no experience with using my Sineating that way and getting hit with one of those rocks would be enough to knock me out if I was lucky. Finael was probably throwing those rocks around hoping for a quick kill, but that showed me just how little actual combat experience he had. He was going to burn through his magic before I got to him at the rate he was using it.

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  The other Elf didn’t have to worry about his magic reserves. An Elementalist was only channeling their environment and bending it to their will. As long as they could keep up with the mental exhaustion, they could use their powers indefinitely, like I could. Most Elementalists I’d encountered preferred to throw their biggest move at the beginning, then let their allies mop up. It was an easy way to quickly give your side an advantage, though it also made the Elementalist useless for most of the rest of the fight.

  Ice shattered beside me again as Starna made another ice wall to cover me.

  “STOP MOVING!” Finael screamed as he pointed his staff at me and fired another head-sized rock from the end of it.

  I barely had to twist to dodge it as I kept moving towards him.

  I was starting to wonder how my opponent had thought that he was ready to fight in the field. It was obvious after every time he did something and it didn’t end the fight that he was getting more upset with us. It was like he expected us to stand still and let him wail on us until we died.

  The ground rumbled underneath me, testing my balance as I kept moving. The Earth Elementalist was still throwing some of his power at me, but it wasn’t enough to be dangerous as long as I didn’t forget that he was there.

  “SEC!” Starna’s voice cut across the battlefield. “DOWN!”

  I didn’t bother to ask her why. I just trusted that she wasn’t going to get me killed, so I dropped to the ground. I had to roll out of the way of a rising sharp rock spire as the Earth Elementalist threw one more parting shot at me before realizing that he needed to throw everything he had at my companion.

  I’d been a little sensitive to magic before. With my ability to take things from other people, I could feel just about anything they could and I’d siphoned the tingling sensation enough times to recognize that there was a big spell behind me. I spared a glance at her just as she brought her hands down.

  More magic than I thought she was capable of controlling surged towards our enemies.

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