The Elements Bond (Elemental Academy Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  His mother stood across from him, watching him. “What an interesting turn of events.”

  “You have me. Now let her go.”

  “I think she will prove useful a little while longer.”

  “Why?”

  “You’ve shown you’re connected to her. I have found connections can often prove useful in providing the necessary motivation.” She smiled at him, and there was a hint of darkness within it. “Don’t you agree?”

  “I don’t need the necessary motivation. All I need is for her to be freed. That’s all the motivation I need. If you free her, I will work with you. Willingly.”

  He said the last through gritted teeth, and she laughed. “Truly? I don’t know how willingly you will do anything with me, but I think that in time, you might change your mind.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Take him down.”

  The shapers dragged him, and Tolan didn’t bother to struggle. Instead, he focused on what he could sense. He could feel the energy around him, a crackling sort of power that echoed from all around. There was shaping happening outside the wall, shapings within the wall, power that slammed against power.

  His mother was here. That was the part of all of this he didn’t really understand. With her connection and her power, why remain here? Maybe she didn’t have any other choice. That didn’t seem right, either.

  The inside of the tower was stark. The walls were bare. There were no decorations. It was a solid building, and everything around him reverberated with the sense of earth and earth shaping. His gaze skimmed along the wall and he noticed markings all along the surface were familiar.

  He hesitated, and one of the shapers jerked him forward, forcing him to stumble. When he staggered, he fell forward, crashing onto the ground. He looked up at the nearest wall. A series of small markings were worked into the stone. Tolan recognized those markings. He had seen them before, though not in person. He had seen them within his vision. Hyza had shown him something exactly like it.

  The shapers jerked him back to his feet. Tolan staggered forward, stumbling as he tried to keep up with them. He reached for shaping, probing at the walls, searching for anything that might trigger an understanding. The nature of the runes was such he wondered whether they were used as runes—a way of focusing power—or were they used as a bondar?

  He was carried down a flight of stairs. The stone of the building started to press in upon him, leaving him with a heavy and empty sense. He felt that sense pushing on him. That had to be the effect of the runes.

  It was almost as if this place was trying to keep him from going deeper into it.

  They reached a long hallway and the shapers dragged him toward it, pulling open the door and throwing him inside. Tolan sank down to the empty ground, looking all around. It was a cell.

  This wasn’t the first time he had been imprisoned. He had gone through an Inquisition in which he had been held for far longer than any other student had been held before. He had suffered then, and though he didn’t care for it now, he didn’t struggle with it the way he would have if he hadn’t gone through the Inquisition.

  The first order of business was to try to get a sense of where he was, and whether there was anything he might be able to detect. If he could feel for Ferrah, then he would be reassured she was not harmed. He pushed out with spirit, using earth, drawing through the earth he was still able to detect. He probed, sending it out into the stone near him.

  Using spirit and earth in that way, connecting to the bond gave him a strange sensation. It was almost as if the tower awoke.

  Tolan continued to hold onto spirit, letting it flow outward, pushing with earth as well. The room did nothing to prevent him from shaping, and with the runes on it, he suspected he wouldn’t be able to blast through the walls anyway, so he didn’t even try. Instead, by focusing on what he could of the power around him, he could feel the energy here.

  The strange part of all of this was the way that it seemed as if the stone came alive. The markings within it filled him with a sense of that. There was a sense of power. He could reach for that power, and he held onto that awareness, drawing upon it. There was enough energy here he recognized, and he thought he could borrow from it.

  He needed to see if there was anything he could uncover about where his mother had left Ferrah.

  Reaching for that connection was going be difficult. Tolan had to try to hold onto the sense of energy within the building, and he probed, letting his awareness search beyond him. The energy was there, filling him.

  It was a strange sensation. As he held onto that power, letting it probe into the runes, he could feel the shifting. There was something alive about the building.

  Could that be what this was?

  He had no idea what his mother intended, but he wouldn’t put it past her to try to use him to awaken some earth elemental.

  He retreated, withdrawing his connection from within the stone. Rather than trying to probe all around him, he focused on what he might be able to detect out in the hall, and perhaps further along it. If he could track through that, then perhaps he might be able to discover where Ferrah was.

  Tolan let that sense of earth press beyond him. He added a hint of spirit.

  He lost track of how long he pushed out with the sense of the elements, straining against earth, struggling against the power of the building to find Ferrah. He drifted off, dozing. Each time he did, he realized he needed to maintain his focus. Eventually, he would start to drift again, his shaping of earth probing into the building deeper and deeper, almost as if he were forced to do it.

  Tolan awoke with a start, thinking about what he had encountered, about the way that his mother might be using him. She would be using him.

  She wanted him to rest.

  She needed him to delay, but why?

  She didn’t want him to find Ferrah. That was what he needed to do. Find Ferrah. Find a way to escape. From there, he would figure it out.

  At first, he thought there was no sign of her. A part of him questioned whether or not his mother was telling the truth, but there had been the comment about how she’d been traveling across the waste. With her control over the orb bondars, and the way they were used against the elementals, his mother could attack out on the waste. The elementals would draw on considerable power, and the orb would likely provide far more power than they would otherwise, infused with shaped energy.

  As he pushed outward with spirit, he found something. The faint sense was near enough that his mother must have chosen to torment him intentionally. It came from the other side of the wall.

  Tolan was certain it was Ferrah. He could feel his awareness of her, the connection to spirit. How could he alert her of his presence?

  A shaping would do it but shaping without having any way of letting her know that it was him ran the risk of her thinking she was under attack.

  Drawing from fire and earth, he added a hint of his own shaping to it. He mingled that together, using that to reach out into spirit. Then he sent it toward Ferrah.

  He hoped she recognized what he was doing. More than that, he hoped she realized he wasn’t trying to harm her.

  It was possible she would not even be awake. His mother might’ve kept Ferrah incapacitated. What better way to torment him even more?

  Probing, he searched for anything within her, but didn’t find anything obvious. He used his connection to the earth and fire bonds, trailing through the thready connection that hyza provided. It was faint enough, but through it, Tolan was able to draw on a sense of fire and connect to her.

  There was no injury.

  He pushed through the connection toward her, shaping at her with each of the elements, wanting only to provide a hint of power, enough to alert her.

  She awoke.

  Tolan?

  It’s me.

  What are you doing here? How are you here?

  This is a spirit shaping. How did she capture you?

  There was a moment of confus
ion for Ferrah, and Tolan struggled to keep track of what she had experienced.

  I don’t know. I was traveling across the waste. Something struck me. I came around here. I shouldn’t have left you. I’m sorry. I know you were only trying to help the elementals—

  I shouldn’t have let you go. He sent the knowledge of the attack, his experience with the elementals, toward Ferrah. He helped her to know what he’d been through, the experiences he’d seen, however briefly.

  She remained silent for a few moments after he said that.

  I saved the Draasin Lord.

  That’s good. I had a sense from your mother that she intended to use them against you.

  Has she spoken to you much?

  Not much. She came and I think spirit shaped me, mostly to ensure that I am me, I suspect.

  Tolan used his sense of spirit, pushing it through Ferrah. He needed to ensure his mother hadn’t shaped her in any way he needed to counter. He didn’t detect anything within her other than that his mother had been there, some sense of her presence within Ferrah.

  All he learned about his mother left him disliking her more and more. It was hard to believe he ever had fond memories of the woman. The only memories he now had were of what she had done and the terrible things she’d done to others.

  I don’t detect that she did anything to you.

  I don’t know that she really did anything other than try to prove she could. There was a moment where Ferrah paused. Tolan could practically feel her trying to gather her thoughts together. You shouldn’t have come after me. It’s dangerous.

  I wasn’t going to leave you to her.

  Now we’re both trapped.

  I intend to get out of here.

  She’s planning something. I don’t know what it is, but when she first captured me, she was talking to an older man. He was powerful. Nothing like I’ve ever seen.

  The one his mother served. The one the elementals feared. I’m going to get you out of here, but I don’t know what is going to take.

  I know you will.

  There was almost a sense of resignation within her tone.

  Tolan didn’t have to dig deep with spirit to know the reason behind it. Even though he’d come for her, and even though he was here, offering a way to safety, he could feel within Ferrah that she didn’t believe that there would be anything he could do for her.

  For this to be over—for it to be truly over, at least for him—he would have to stop his mother. The battle he detected with the elementals and anything else going on with her would be beyond him.

  This was not his fight. Ferrah was right. He did not need to be a part of it. After having seen the way the elementals had attacked, and the willingness and brutality from the other elementals, Tolan wasn’t sure he even wanted to be a part of it. The only thing he wanted to do was to get free from here.

  There’s something else you should know. The Grand Inquisitor is here.

  Irina?

  I saw her once. Briefly. She’s been beaten. Weak. But she’s here.

  What did it mean that his mother would keep Irina prisoner?

  Could they need her ability with spirit?

  The door opened, and two shapers stood before him.

  Both were large, not nearly as large as the massive man he had encountered when he was attacked with the elementals, but still quite large. Tolan probed with spirit, adding a hint of earth, and was thrown back.

  “Get up,” one of the men said.

  Tolan slowly got to his feet. His connection to spirit and the attempted shaping was fading. Before anything else happened, he needed Ferrah to know he was going to do whatever he could. He focused on spirit, struggling to reach for it one more time. Perhaps for the last time.

  He pushed through spirit. Connecting to Ferrah, he showed her an image of these shapers. I will come back for you.

  One of the men grabbed him before he had a chance to do anything more.

  They dragged him out through the hall, back up the stairs, and out into the sunlight.

  Tolan struggled with how long he’d been out, having lost track of the time. It didn’t seem as if it had been that long, but he couldn’t help but feel as if it might have been longer than he thought.

  There was a sense around him of energy, and as he looked around the top of the tower, he felt the power here. Tolan drew on earth and fire, preparing them. Preparing himself.

  Whatever else might happen, he had to be ready for his mother. He didn’t see her and pushed out with a sense of spirit, testing for where she might have gone. She would have to be somewhere nearby.

  He could feel a sense of her.

  Tolan looked all around the top of the tower. It was possible she masked herself, hiding within a shaping. As he held onto the sense of spirit, using that as well as the other sense of elements, he didn’t see where she might have been.

  He focused on each element, moving through them one at a time as he attempted to determine if there was anything he might use to his advantage.

  There was nothing.

  The men stood there. Tolan waited for them to say something. At this point, he wanted them to say anything.

  No one spoke.

  Tolan looked around, searching for anything else.

  Neither of the shapers held onto him anymore. They had let him go and he remained motionless, pushing out with each of the elements.

  The sense of earth was strongest. Tolan held onto it, aware of it, probing with his sense of earth as he searched for anything that might explain what his mother intended for him. All he needed was to better understand what she might do. He feared how she intended to use him.

  A powerful shaping burst from high overhead.

  Tolan looked up, noticing a dark shadow.

  For a moment, he thought it came from the Draasin Lord, but the shadow looked different. Not only that, but it felt different. Tolan had been involved with the Draasin Lord, ensuring he returned safely to the land beyond the waste.

  It was a draasin, though.

  Tolan couldn’t take his eyes off it. The creature circled, powerful. Heat radiated from it and the darkness swirled, circling around and around before coming to a crashing landing on the top of the tower. Tolan had to back away from the heat coming off the draasin.

  Dark scales glittered in the sunlight. Spikes, different than those on the Draasin Lord, protruded, angry and hot. Eyes bright as the sun shone at him.

  This was the draasin from the image he’d seen. This was the draasin the Draasin Lord had seen.

  They stared for a long moment, and then everything shimmered.

  It shifted.

  When it did, a man stood across from Tolan.

  He blinked, the suddenness of it overwhelming and jarring.

  The man strode forward, a black cloak that reminded him of the scales he’d seen on the draasin draped over his shoulders, sweeping across the ground.

  “You must be Tolan Ethar.”

  “Who are you?”

  The man’s voice was rough, ragged, almost as if he had been screaming.

  Or burned.

  It was difficult for Tolan to know which it had been.

  He watched the man, questions filling him.

  He approached Tolan, heat radiating off him.

  “Who am I? The better question would be who are you.”

  “You obviously know who I am. You’re working with my mother.”

  This had to be the one who led her. The one the elementals feared.

  “Perhaps.” The man looked at the other two shapers, nodding briefly. They bowed at the waist, bending over before turning and departing. “What do you see?” he asked Tolan.

  Tolan shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Not from there. Come with me.”

  Tolan joined him at the edge of the tower, looking down. As he stood there, he stared, focusing on what was far below him. He could feel the energy, but he wasn’t able to see anything. There was the sense of power batteri
ng at the tower. Every so often it struck, leaving the tower itself vibrating.

  “Now what do you see, Tolan Ethar?”

  “I told you, I don’t see anything.”

  “Then open your eyes.”

  There was a sense of power here. He could feel that power, and he was all too aware of the nature of it and how it filled him. He focused on that sense, looking down below as he did, noticing the energy coming off the elementals as they attacked from below.

  “What do you think I should see?”

  “Your mother assured me you were far better connected to the powers of the world than this. I must admit I’m a little disappointed. I would’ve expected that you would have a greater understanding of what’s taking place here.”

  “Which part? The part where my mother came looking for bondars that can confine these elementals, or the part where this land is separated from the element bonds? Or the part where these elementals are attacking this tower?” Tolan pushed out with a hint of spirit, probing the man.

  He thought he understood why they had wanted to capture the Draasin Lord. Tolan’s coming across the waste had created a challenge. He snorted. It was beginning to make sense.

  “We caused trouble for you, didn’t we?” he asked.

  The man frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is that you want to position yourself as a draasin. Perhaps as the Draasin Lord.”

  “Am I not a draasin?”

  Tolan probed with fire again. He held onto the connection to the fire bond, that faint but thready connection he had through hyza, and he was aware of how it worked within him.

  With that connection, he recognized and understood that there was nothing here. There was a sense of fire, and there was a sense of energy, but Tolan didn’t believe that fire was real. He didn’t believe that anything this man showed him was real.

  The only thing he was certain of was that there was a connection to spirit.

  Could he be an elemental like the others?

  “You aren’t a draasin. The draasin take one form.”

  “The draasin you know takes one form. What can I say but that he is a lesser creature?”