know, I know.” Anthony shook his head. “I just spoke to the mayor, and he told me–”
“No, you were right; they're from the Forbidden City.” Marcus swallowed hard, climbing to his feet and wracking his brain. “They called it... Sanctuary, or something, and they were talking about the things that are written in your books, like... 'space' or 'genetics', or... I don't even know, but that's not important.” He grabbed his brother by the shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. “They're going to steal the fire lilies.”
“The fire lilies? Why would they...” Anthony's eyes went wide in realization. “Because they were created by one of the Elements! That must be it! And they can't tolerate anything that they don't understand, all the stories agree on that, and they take or destroy–”
“Yes, the Elements, whatever. Listen to me; we need to get to the mayor right away and warn him.”
“Right.” His brother's hair bobbed as he nodded, spinning around to dash back up the hill toward the mayor's estate, Marcus close on his heels.
==
“I can't believe we broke in to Lena's house,” Anthony breathed, looking around, obviously terrified.
Marcus rolled his eyes. “We're trying to get the mayor's attention, remember? How are we going to do that if you're latched to my arm and whispering like a frightened child?” He shook his brother off, opening a door within the manor. “Mr. Ortega? Are you here?” They walked down the hall slowly. “Lena?” he called out. The stairs came into view, leading up into the house. “Okay, here's what we'll do. They might be... asleep or something, so I'll check upstairs while you look around down here.”
Anthony gulped and nodded his head. Marcus started up the staircase, calling for the mayor or his daughter. “Lena,” his brother whispered, creeping down the hall below.
“Use your voice, Anthony,” Marcus yelled down to him. There was a stumbling sound as his little brother tripped over something, and Marcus sighed. “Hello?” he called out, “is anyone home?”
Ten minutes later, the brothers were sitting on the front steps of the manor, sans Lena or her father.
“Where could they be?” Anthony moaned. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. “You don't think that they were already...” He gasped, striking his head with the palm of his hand. “What I said in the meeting! They must have realized that we were on to them and taken measures to control the situation. They could have–”
“Anthony,” Marcus muttered, cutting him off. “They don't think that we're on to them. I heard their captain say so himself.” He gazed out at the sky, the sun dipping ever lower behind the thick clouds forming up to the east. “Looks like we're in for more snow tonight,” he grumbled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “Just what we need. We can't raise the town without the mayor, and he could be anywhere.” He got up and stalked around, glaring back up at the house. “If only someone knew where they–”
“Garcia!” a brittle old voice yelled from down the road. Years of being scolded at by that exact voice snapped him to attention. A stick clattered loudly on the cobblestones, coming toward them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anthony spring to his feet as well. “What're you two layabouts doing up here. Causing trouble?”
“N-no, old Nan,” Anthony yipped.
“That's cuz I'm watchin' you two, don't you doubt it,” she growled at him, snapping her cane against the street. “And you!” She rounded on Marcus, grimace darkening her weather beaten visage. “Don't think I haven't seen you sniffing around little Lena like some kinda animal.” She jabbed him in the side, making him flinch back. “She's a good girl, and you stay away from her, you hear me?”
“A-actually...” Old Nan always had her nose in everyone else's business... maybe, just maybe… “I was looking for Lena now. You wouldn't happen to know...”
“Well she's not here!” the old woman roared. “She went down to the fields with her father, she did. And after just coming in from a hard day's work, too, while the rest of the town was lazing about in their big meeting. Not that the two of you good-for-nothins would know anything about a good day's work...”
Marcus laughed aloud, grabbing old Nan and kissing her fiercely on the forehead. She smacked him with her stick, spitting and cursing like a demon, but he didn't care. “Anthony!” he called, leaping off toward the city gate. His brother's footsteps sounded behind him, old Nan's curses fading away as they sprinted down the hill.
They were going to make it!
Fate
Marcus burst through the gate, breathing hard, eyes searching. He spotted the mayor and Lena just off the path... with Garren and several other travelers. All of them held the strange little boxes. What had Anthony called them? Guns. Marcus raised a hand to warn his brother, then cautiously approached the group.
“...and I'm telling you, we won't do that,” Mr. Ortega was saying firmly to the traveler captain. “No-one has ever taken that many, not since the founding of Blessing nearly five hundred years ago.”
“I'm sure we can reach an agreement here.” The man gave a broad smile, spreading his arms wide and gesturing around the field. “With all of these flowers, wouldn't it be better to really make something of them?” He flourished one of the contraptions he held, and it suddenly leapt to life, creating a luminescent, floating ember lily seed pod. The pod cracked open, sprouting more quickly than any ember lily ever had, twisting and growing right before their eyes.
Lena gasped reached a tentative hand for the gently rotating lily, only to have her fingers pass right through it. She pulled her hand back, looking down at it in confusion as Garren let out a hearty laugh.
“Just an image, my lady, just an image. But think of it! The things we could offer you, the things you could do! Ships to go wherever you want! Tools that never break or need repair, that can cut or push or pull a hundred times better than anything you have today! The town of Blessing will be called truly blessed for a hundred years to come!”
The mayor stared at the image of the ember lily still floating in the air. He shook his head. “No... no, the stories say that these flowers were a gift from Fire herself. A blessing, given to us by her own hand. We can't just–”
“Surely you don't believe that,” the captain scoffed. “Come now, a mystical fairy that plants flowers?” Lena's father winced at the words, looking miserable. “I'll respect your religion, but please try to be serious. What do you want for the flowers? I'm willing to be very generous.”
“Mayor Ortega,” Marcus said softly, eyes keeping track of the travelers, “if I might have a word with you?”
The mayor turned to him, blinking in confusion. “Marcus? I thought you'd be asleep after that night watch. What are you doing out here, boy?”
“Ah, the young man from the meeting, wonderful.” Garren gave him a winning grin, clapping a friendly hand on his shoulder. “What do you think? Are these flowers a gift from some kind of god?”
Marcus was taken aback. He glanced at his brother, who nodded emphatically. He looked to Lena. She met his eyes, expression troubled. His gaze drifted to the travelers, holding their strange contraptions, watching him with their hard eyes.
Here before him was proof that the Forbidden City was real. They had things that made the unbelievable possible, but they were certainly just men, nothing more. They had conquered nature with ingenuity. He could believe that. But the Elements... living personifications of nature... could he believe in that?
“I don't know,” he admitted. “I-I mean, the flowers are special, but… they've always been here, and the Elements are just children stories. They're not–”
“You see?” The captain cut him off, giving the mayor an exasperated look. “You would sacrifice all of this, a better life for every person in your town, for a child's story. Can you really, in good conscious, do something like that?”
“No, but,” Marcus continued quickly, “just because they aren't magical doesn't mean that they're not–”
Mr. Ortega silenced him with a wave of h
is hand. “Fire,” he said in a low voice, “may just be a myth. But that doesn't change anything.” He turned to face Garren, expression stern, unyielding. “I'm sorry, Mr. Garren, but I think it's time for you to leave.”
Marcus turned to grin at his brother.
“And there's nothing I can do to change your mind?” the captain asked with a small, sad smile on his face. The mayor shook his head, and the man’s smile turned mocking. “Then I'm sorry too.” He raised his voice, sounding bored, speaking to his men. “Take them.”
Everything exploded into action. A man grabbed Marcus's arm and twisted brutally as another took hold of Lena. She screamed, trying and failing to pull free.
The mayor bellowed in rage and lunged at Garren, only to have the vigorous man deftly sidestep and lash out with casual precision, striking Mr. Ortega's head and dropping him to the ground, unconscious.
Anthony snarled something and the traveler reaching for him jumped back, clutching his hand. Marcus saw him flex his fingers, a few droplets of blood falling to the ground at his feet. “Got a fighter here,” the man chuckled, “and a little knife to go with him.”
Marcus stared at his brother in shock. Where did he get a knife?
Garren made a soft chiding noise. “Armed resistance,” he sighed, shaking his head. “And here I thought we could all be civilized.” He looked up, locking eyes with Marcus as