The Spirit Binds

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Really?”

  “I knew there was a war, but then, everyone knows that, but we also believe the Draasin Lord has studied at the Academy.”

  “That’s what everyone said.”

  “I just don’t really know anything about that time.”

  Part of that might have come from the fact he hadn’t been a shaper before coming to Amitan, but part of it might’ve come from the fact he’d grown up on the border of Terndahl, far from the capital. Ephra was far enough away that it was difficult for the people there to feel as if they were a part of anything. They didn’t have the same connection to the rest of Terndahl, other than the occasional visit from shapers from the Academy. Even those visits were infrequent.

  “I don’t know what it was like here, but I know in Par, we were targeted.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s probably tied to how Par was once a place of power long before even Amitan. I’ve told you about the archives there and some of the records we have. All of that is a place of considerable power and knowledge. Most who survived the last attack thought the Draasin Lord wanted that ancient knowledge because it would somehow grant him a way to release the elementals more easily.”

  What kind of knowledge would be there? Would it be any different than what they had at the library in the Academy? It would be surprising for the master librarians to leave that untouched. They would want access to it, if only so they could ensure the Academy had all the knowledge of the elementals.

  “That’s what you’ve been trying to research.”

  “That, and whether there was anything more to the power I suspected—and now know—existed.”

  “Have you thought about returning?”

  “Leaving the Academy?”

  “Not leaving the Academy but taking some time away to see if you can uncover anything. Now you know there’s a place of Convergence here, have you thought about returning to Par and the seeing if there’s something similar there?”

  Ferrah shook her head. “I won’t be able to return and see what we have until I’m a master shaper.”

  “Why?”

  “Because that type of knowledge is restricted to our master shapers.”

  “It doesn’t have to be restricted to your master shapers,” Tolan said.

  “I know it doesn’t, and now I have a better understanding about what to look for, I think I might be more successful in finding it. But…”

  “But what?”

  “I’m uncertain,” she said. “I just don’t know whether I should pursue it.”

  “I worry we’ll need to before all of this is over.”

  “Because you think the Inquisitors intend to use that power?”

  Tolan nodded. “I’m sure of it.”

  Worse, from what he’d been able to determine, they would be successful. Regardless of what he might try to do, and how he might intend to stop them, he had a hard time thinking there would be anything he could actually do that would restrict them from reaching the power of the Convergence.

  They sat in silence for a while longer, and after a bit, Ferrah got up. “Are you ready to return?”

  “Return to the Academy?”

  “No. Return to Ephra. Yes, to the Academy. It’s not like we don’t have studies we need to be working on.”

  He took a deep breath, letting it out in a slow sigh. He wasn’t sure he wanted to return and deal with his studies. He’d spent so much of the day in the library, and even after leaving, he’d gone with Jonas to a tavern to share a pint of ale, despite having no real interest in doing so. He had done it because he had wanted to be with his friend, and there had been enough strangeness for him and Jonas ever since he had gone through his Inquisition that he wanted to do whatever it would take to restore and maintain that friendship.

  “I don’t know.”

  “You might not, but I do. Get up.”

  He let her pull him up, climbing to his feet at her insistence and following her toward the Academy. Neither of them spoke much as they went, and yet, it remained a comfortable silence. That was something he’d always had with her. There was never any real strangeness between them.

  When they reached the main Academy building, they jumped down from the Shapers Path and made their way back into the Academy.

  Ferrah glanced over at him from time to time, watching him as if he might try to run. For his part, Tolan only smiled, making a point of following her but not saying anything.

  Inside the Academy, the main hall was empty. There weren’t any students meandering through here as they often were, though it was late enough that he hadn’t really expected any to have been around. He caught sight of one of the master shapers but made no effort to catch up to them. Tolan wasn’t sure what he’d do—or say. The master shapers didn’t necessarily interact with the students that often outside of their classes.

  By the time they meandered back up to the student dorms, he was beginning to feel tired. He probably should’ve headed back a while ago, but as Ferrah had said, he’d taken to sitting on the Shapers Path, enjoying the solitude he found there. Perhaps that was a mistake, but it allowed him to collect his thoughts and figure out what he wanted to do, but it also allowed him to connect to the elementals in a way he found more difficult when inside the Academy.

  Inside the dorm, they bypassed the excitement often found in the second-level dorm. There were games played, a mixture of some people playing dice while others played a board game, most of them boisterous and loud. There were others who simply sat in a corner, talking. There came the distant sense of shaping, power bursting from various people as they practiced in the area reserved for such things. A few people even tried to study, though Tolan had no idea how anyone would be able to study in a place like this, with as much chaos as there was. He certainly wouldn’t be able to, which was why he spent so much of his time in the library and part of the reason he grew so irritated when others didn’t honor the solitude that should be found within that space.

  Ferrah held onto his hand, pulling him through the door and back to their quarters. Tolan ignored Draln as he made some inappropriate comment about the two of them, as if they would find any quiet or privacy within their dorm. It was one of the problems of being a second-level student. There wasn’t any privacy. By the time they reached the third level, at least they were given semiprivate rooms, and there was a hope Tolan would have an opportunity to have more privacy with Ferrah. For now, there wasn’t that, which meant they had to find places to sneak off to.

  “Just ignore them,” Ferrah said.

  “It’s not as easy as that,” Tolan said.

  “Considering everything you’ve gone through I think this would be the easiest thing for you to ignore.”

  He glanced over at her, grinning. “Are you sure? Maybe I don’t want to be associated with you.” He grinned as he said it, and she threatened to pull her hand away, but he held onto it, pulling her closer to him. When they got into the room, they found Wallace and Jonas, both of them sitting quietly. It surprised Tolan that Jonas would be here sitting by himself, though Wallace often was alone.

  When they entered, Jonas glanced up, setting his book off to the side. “There you two are. Sneak off again?”

  “We weren’t sneaking anywhere,” Tolan said.

  “Sure, you weren’t. You know, I thought Tolan would want to avoid the rumors about him, but I guess these are a little bit more entertaining than having people talk about his Inquisition.”

  “Jonas—”

  Jonas threw his hands up, leaning back on his bed and away from Ferrah. “Don’t threaten me with a shaping just because you ran off with your boyfriend. It’s not like we need to be all that creative to come up with what the two of you might have been doing.”

  She stormed off to her bed and took a seat.

  “Thanks for that,” Tolan said.

  “Why? Are you ashamed of what you’re doing?”

  “By what we’re doing, I presume you mean sitting quietly ou
tside?”

  “Quiet? If that’s what you’re doing, then I think you’re doing it wrong.”

  “Thanks again.”

  Jonas smiled. “Did you hear?”

  “Did I hear what?”

  “Oh. I suppose while you were out sitting quietly, you must have missed that we’re getting the opportunity to go on a Selection again. From what I understand, since we were brought on the last one, something made it so we were better able to accompany this one.”

  Tolan breathed out. “When?”

  “I don’t know. The Grand Master sent out the message.”

  Jonas reached into his pocket, pulling out a scrap of paper. He handed it over to Tolan who unfolded it. Much like Jonas had said, it was a message that the second-level students would be sent with third-level students and a master shaper to participate in a Selection.

  “How are they doing that if they don’t have the Inquisitors?” he asked, glancing over at Ferrah. She had looked up, and he could tell there was a troubled expression on her face.

  “There’s the Grand Master, and from what I understand, there are several other spirit shapers who are going along to participate. Hey. Why do you look so annoyed?”

  Tolan folded the paper back up and handed it over to Jonas. “I’m not annoyed.”

  “You could have fooled me.”

  He forced a smile. The fact of the matter was that he was annoyed, regardless of how he might say it to Jonas. Going on the Selection would force them to leave the city, which was something Tolan didn’t want to do right now. He wanted to have a better understanding of what the Inquisitors were after, and he didn’t think he’d be able to do that by leaving the city. They needed to be here, if only so they could uncover what the Inquisitors were planning next—and more importantly, who they served.

  “I’m just thinking about the testing,” Tolan said.

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about it. That’s the other thing.”

  “What other thing?”

  “All of the second-levels are getting tested before we leave.”

  3

  Once again, Tolan sat in the library, though this time he made no effort of looking down at his book, not bothering to see if there was anything he could uncover from the text he held in front of him. How could he come up with anything now?

  His mind twisted, worried about the testing. Soon enough, it would be his turn.

  When he had passed the first-level test at the Academy, that had been more accidental than anything. He hadn’t known what he was even doing, and it was more a matter of chance. The second testing would be an intentional test, but he worried he wouldn’t be able to pass.

  The consequences of failing meant he’d remain a second level. He’d be an advanced second level, and because of that, wouldn’t be in the same classes as those first levels who were promoted, but it would still be a setback. For him to do what he wanted, to continue to gain an understanding of the Draasin Lord and the Inquisitors, he needed to be permitted to participate, which meant he needed to be as high a level as possible.

  “How long do you intend to sit here?”

  Tolan glanced up at Master Minden, and he smiled. “We’re to be tested.”

  “Of course, you are. You can’t remain a second-level student forever.”

  “I’m nervous.”

  “You fear you won’t pass?”

  “I know I have the necessary knowledge with shaping. It’s just…” It was hard to explain to someone who was as skilled a shaper as he knew Master Minden to be. How could she understand what it was like to not have much ability with shaping? She probably had always had incredible shaping ability, something he had only recently begun to acquire. He could imagine she had been someone like Draln, coming to the Academy with the ability to shape multiple element bonds.

  “What have you learned about the Selection process?” she asked.

  “Why?”

  “Humor an old librarian,” she said.

  “I’ve learned the Selection seems to be tied to a spirit shaping determined to uncover…”

  Tolan wasn’t exactly sure what the spirit shaping was designed to uncover. He had thought it was tied to learning about whether or not he’d be able to spirit shape, but then, that wasn’t necessarily true, either. And it didn’t seem solely based on someone’s ability to shape. He wasn’t able to shape prior to his Selection, and yet he had somehow passed it. Then again, he had been spirit shaped when he was younger, his mother thinking to conceal from the Academy his ability to shape, trying to prevent him from being brought in and somehow twisted.

  Unless that wasn’t her intention at all. Could his mother have known about the Inquisitors?

  That would make far more sense. He could see her trying to protect him, spirit shaping him so he wouldn’t draw their attention, hiding from them his ability to spirit shape. Then again, in doing so, he’d have lost something else. Would she have known that? Would she have even cared?

  “Yes. You have seen the Selection is meant to uncover something. What that something is remains to be seen.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “The Selection has changed over the years. What I know and what the intent behind it might be have changed along with it. Regardless of my interest, I don’t know there is any way to know.”

  “What happens if I don’t pass?”

  “There you go again doubting yourself. What have you done in the time you’ve been here?”

  Tolan chuckled. “Probably more than I was supposed to do.”

  “And who determines what you are supposed to do? You speak as if there is something you were meant to accomplish—or not accomplish, as the case may be. And perhaps that is true. Perhaps you did have something you were meant to accomplish in coming here, or perhaps you get to decide what you are meant to accomplish.” She smiled. “Either way, you have proven yourself, Shaper Ethar. It’s time you stop doubting yourself.”

  “You’re only saying that because you want me to train with you.”

  She studied him for a moment. “Do you remember when I took you to the hall of portraits?”

  “I remember it.” What he remembered even more was that the hall of portraits was some sort of test he had passed. It was much like when he had been tested to pass between the first and second level.

  “Do you remember what you saw there?”

  “I saw the elementals. I saw portraits of times long ago.”

  “You saw things very few people are able to see. It tells me you have a connection to the elemental powers flowing through this world that very few people have.”

  Tolan looked around the library before turning his attention back to Master Minden. The library was mostly empty, though there were a few other students here. Wallace sat alone. One of these days, Tolan would have to figure out what Wallace was doing, and what sort of things he worked on, but that day wasn’t today.

  “We’re at the Academy. Everyone here has that connection to the elements and the elemental powers.”

  “Everybody here has a connection to the element bonds, and to shaping in general, but as common as it’s become, it still is not quite what I was referring to. What I’m getting at is that you have a different connection. It’s that connection you have proven over the time you’ve been here. You have proven it to the point where you have forced yourself into conversations no student of your level should have been a part of. You have learned things about the Academy and the power existing here that no others of your level have known. And you have become a part of the Academy in a way no other students of your level have managed to do. So, for you to say everyone has that connection, you of all people should know that is not the case.”

  “Is this all your attempt to convince me I will pass?”

  “I don’t have to convince you that you will pass, Shaper Ethar. It has to come from within you. I’m merely making an observation.”

  “What’s involved in the testing?”

  “Now you wo
uld have me defy tradition and share with you the secrets of the testing?”

  “I don’t want to defy anything. I just was—”

  Master Minden chuckled. “Sometimes, convention can be unnecessary. Knowing a thing and being able to do a thing are very different. In this case, you knowing the nature of the test doesn’t mean you will successfully complete it.”

  “I thought you’ve been trying to tell me I’d be able to do so.”

  “Was I?”

  Tolan met her gaze. “Weren’t you?”

  Master Minden smiled at him for another moment. “You ask about the nature of the testing, and here’s what I can tell you. You will be asked to prove yourself in a way you have already done. In doing so, you will find either you have the necessary strength and knowledge or you do not.”

  “That’s pretty vague.”

  “And yet, I’ve told you everything you need to know.”

  She reached across the table to pat his hand. As she did, shaping built from her, and he recognized the nature of it. It was spirit, and it was designed to put him at ease. As it washed over him, he noticed a wave of relaxation, and he smiled at her. That relaxation was meant to help calm him, and he was thankful she was willing to do that for him. Still, since he was also a spirit shaper, the shaping didn’t do nearly as much for him as it would to someone else.

  Maybe that was the point. It was another way of reminding him of the fact he didn’t necessarily need for her to reassure him. He had abilities of his own, and he had developed them in the time he’d been here, learning not only how to shape, but also discovering his connection to spirit.

  As she left him, he was by himself once again. He sat there for a long time, staring mindlessly, his mind beginning to work through the various possibilities, thinking through the shaping he’d be asked to perform, trying to come up with everything that might be asked of him. He went through all of the shapings he’d been taught, thinking through them, planning how he might approach them when tested. As Master Minden had said, he didn’t know how to shape when he’d arrived at the Academy. And he’d practiced with these shapings, working with them to the point where he was comfortable—and even confident—he’d be able to do them when asked.