Serpent of Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  “He can still be arrogant,” Tan said.

  Zephra laughed. “I think he would actually take that as a compliment. And there is a different between arrogance and confidence. Like you, he straddles it well.” She sighed and turned back to the crater. “Why are you here, Tannen? You could not have known that I come here, so what brought you back to Nor?”

  Tan glanced over at the pile of earth traps and the stones that he and Vel had recovered from the stream. He didn’t worry about his mother being tempted to use them, but did worry that she might tell Roine. And Roine had asked that he store them in the lower level of the archives. Likely his mother had seen them, so he couldn’t tell her anything but what he’d found.

  “Par-shon and their traps,” he said.

  “What of them?”

  Tan made his way to the pile of stones. He grabbed the topmost stone, one with a faded rune etched into it. Green moss had worked its way into the etching of the stone, burrowing deeply into the rune and giving it a dark, brackish tint. He handed the stone over to his mother and gave her a moment to study it.

  “What is this?” she asked. “This can’t be Par-shon. This wouldn’t confine the elementals. And whatever is written here…” She trailed off and her breath caught. She tipped her head to the side and Tan suspected that she spoke to Aric, her bonded wind elemental. Without forcing himself into the conversation, he had no way of knowing what they said to each other.

  “You see my concern,” Tan said.

  “I see that this was made centuries ago. The skill to make this type of rune hasn’t been seen since—”

  “Since I was in Par-shon. They had runes like this carved into the walls. They use runes like this to trap the elementals.” He pointed to the twenty-foot-long rods made of the dark metal, each covered with runes much like the one on the stones. The only difference was that the Par-shon runes were newer.

  “This is not a trapping rune.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what these runes are for, but they do not trap the elementals.”

  Tan took the rocks and piled them into the shape that he’d found them on the stream bed. Made in that shape, the runes added to each other, creating something greater than they were when separate. “This is the shape that I found them in the stream. Vel thinks these are binding runes, but not to bind to people. He thinks they bind the elementals to the land.”

  “Vel said that?”

  Tan nodded. “There is more, Mother. When I chased the Par-shon shapers last night—”

  “I heard that you went alone. That is dangerous, Tannen, not the least because the kingdoms need all the shapers we have. We can’t risk you putting yourself in danger without knowing what might be out there.”

  He resisted the urge to tell his mother that she shared the opinion with Cianna. It would likely only serve to inflate her opinion of Cianna. “When I chased the Par-shon shapers,” he went on, “one survived the attack. She was what they call a Rune Master. It was her responsibility to place runes on these traps, as well as to assist the Utu Tonah with placing the bond.”

  “From what we know of Par-shon, such a person would be quite high ranking,” his mother mused.

  From the Rune Master’s memories, Tan suspected she ranked somewhere below the Utu Tonah, but likely not much lower. That she would have come—that the Utu Tonah would have sent someone like her to the kingdoms—told him how valuable the traps were. It made him fear what else might be planned for the kingdoms.

  “She had much knowledge of runes. From her, I was able to learn even more than what the First Mother had managed to teach.”

  “You used spirit.”

  “You think I shouldn’t use whatever abilities I have when facing someone who would do me harm?”

  “We cannot become worse than those we fight, Tannen. If we do, what does that make us?”

  He smiled, appreciating that she used much the same argument that he had been making.

  “Did you shape her as well?” his mother asked.

  Tan hesitated. “She killed herself before I had the chance,” he lied. He hated that he did, but after seeing Zephra’s reaction, he didn’t want to share what he had been willing to do. There was a part of him that regretted it, knowing that it made him no better than Althem, but he had needed to understand what the Utu Tonah planned for the elementals.

  His mother nodded. “Yet you learned what she knew.”

  “I used a spirit sensing for that. I had to know where to find the traps. I used that as an opportunity to understand what she knew of the runes as well. It gives us an advantage if we know what they are planning. You have seen how difficult it will be to stop Par-shon. We need every advantage.”

  Zephra looked around the clearing where Nor once had been. “And you would still have the kingdoms work with Incendin, even after what they did here? You would work with their shapers? The hounds? The lisincend?”

  Tan nodded slowly. “If it will keep us safe, we will have to.”

  “I’m not convinced that we can.”

  Tan took another look around the clearing. The lisincend shaping had leveled everything he had known, but like the ground around the clearing, he had moved on. Life had moved on. And now he had found a different purpose than he had before, one that his mother had wanted for him when they were still in Nor. But if he could change what had happened, if he could have avoided the loss of an entire village, of all the Aeta who had been lost during the attack, wouldn’t he do it, even if it meant that he might never have learned what he could become?

  “I don’t think we have much choice, Mother. Whatever else we do, we need to prevent the destruction that Par-shon intends for the kingdoms. I can’t help but think that means we must work with Doma—”

  “The kingdoms have always worked with Doma,” his mother interjected.

  “And Incendin.”

  “After everything that they have done?” his mother asked. “After this?” she demanded.

  Tan glanced at the earth traps, staring at the runes on them. Then he looked at the pile of stones, placed long ago into the stream, likely meant to bind the elementals to the land. The elementals had been harnessed, forced to serve the ancient shapers. Maybe that was part of the reason they had been silent for so long. But after everything that the kingdoms had done, the elementals were still willing to work with them.

  How could Tan be any different?

  His mother’s eyes suddenly went distant and she reached into her pocket, pulling a summoning coin from it. She held it on her open palm, staring at it for a moment. “Alan summons,” she said.

  The rune for wind blazed on the coin. Had he remembered his coin, he would have felt the similar summons. “We should go.”

  “Not we, Tannen. Me.” She prepared her shaping, intending to leave him there.

  Tan readied a shaping and made a point of meeting his mother’s eyes. “I am Athan to the king, Zephra, and a warrior shaper. I will join you.”

  For a moment, she looked as if she wanted to argue, but she stopped herself. “You will not care for this summons, Tannen, but come. See what you think the kingdoms should do.”

  14

  Fire Attack

  The summoning coin guided them along the edge of the mountains, pulling them to the south. They flew over the rising peaks of the Gholund Mountains, massive pine trees flashing a dark green beneath them, until they reached the flatter and starker land of Nara.

  Nara was much like Incendin, except some life existed here. Stunted and twisted trees grew, drawn toward the sun. Desert flowers bloomed. Spiked plants thrust their needles all around. A dry riverbed was the only sign that water occasionally flowed here, rushing through after the rare rainstorms that washed over Nara. Cianna called Nara beautiful, and Tan knew the draasin agreed with the sentiment.

  Tan’s mother glanced at him as he followed her. She couldn’t outrun him any longer, not with a shaping of wind. As a warrior shaper, able to bind all the elements, he no longer struggled to keep pace.r />
  “Tannen, you will not allow what you desire to override what must be done,” she said over the rushing sound of the wind. Her words were shaped to carry to him.

  “And you won’t assume the worst,” he countered.

  She tipped her head. Tan didn’t know if it was in agreement or if she placated him.

  They found the summons near the border of Nara and Incendin, but couldn’t tell how many shapers had summoned them. As they approached, Tan recognized the reason immediately. A shimmery heat veil hung over everything, one that Tan recognized. The steady howl of hounds echoed. Fire shaping raged, countered by powerful shapings of wind and water.

  “Mother—”

  She ignored him and darted forward on a shaping of wind, augmented by ara.

  Tan focused on what he could sense, attempting to reach for the fire bond, but he failed. He was too agitated to focus as he needed. Another sense, different than the hounds and the lisincend, pulled on him. It took a moment for Tan to recognize the kind of power he felt. There was elemental strength here somewhere, but Tan didn’t know which. Probably fire, but even that he wasn’t completely sure of.

  Having kingdoms’ shapers attacking Incendin would not serve either side, not when the real enemy was Par-shon, but how could Tan keep them from fighting without harming either side?

  Tan dropped to the ground and unsheathed his warrior sword. Fatigue from the night before still weakened him, though this was more a true weariness than any sort of shaper’s fatigue. Sleeplessness would catch up to him as much as to anyone; elemental energy couldn’t help with that the way it helped with his shaping.

  He focused on what he could do. His mother pulled on wind, using ara to lift the veil shimmering around the attack. Through it, Tan saw flashes of dark fur streaking through the heat. It had been months since he’d seen the hounds, but even now, they still terrified him. They were massive creatures, much larger and leaner than the mountain wolves that prowled around Nor, all wiry fur and sharp fangs. Heat radiated from them, much like it did with the lisincend, creating a shimmering blanket that obscured them.

  With a sharp shaping of earth, he snapped at the hounds. Not enough to kill; there was no need to kill the hounds, just scare them away. A loud howl came and two of the hounds turned and ran. Three more followed the shaping and turned on Tan, running toward him.

  With another shaping of earth, he grabbed at the hounds, pulling at their legs. The ground softened and the hounds sank into it, slowing them as they chased after him. Tan held the hounds with the shaping, refusing to release them.

  Kingdoms shapers continued to attack. The heat veil remained in place, difficult to see through. Something moved within, but Tan couldn’t see what it was.

  He also couldn’t shake the sense that elemental power was part of this. That surprised him. As far as he knew, no elementals worked with the lisincend. The draasin despised the way the lisincend had twisted fire, drawing it into themselves and becoming something both more and less than the shaper they had been before. Saa wasn’t found with as much strength as Tan sensed here, even in Incendin, making it unlikely to be that elemental.

  Could this be another elemental of fire? But why would an elemental aid the lisincend?

  Tan could think of possible reasons, but none really made much sense. Saldam and inferin were likely stronger in Incendin, strong enough that Cora had bonded Saldam. He’d never seen inferin, but the fire elemental was likely in Incendin as well. The heat of the land, in spite of the twisted lisincend living there, would draw fire elementals. Even the draasin were drawn to Incendin.

  Zephra swirled around the shimmering heat, shaping with ara, but she couldn’t get close enough. Something held her back. The other wind shaper, Alan, worked with her, attempting to pull away the heat. A water shaper by the name of Nolan worked to draw moisture from the air, but here along the border, it was too hot and nothing but steam rose around them.

  A blast of heat suddenly struck Nolan in the chest, knocking him to the ground.

  Alan shot toward him on a shaping of wind and caught him as he fell. Zephra faced the shimmering heat, no longer supported by Alan. Against the fire shaping of the lisincend, she was not strong enough. Eventually, his mother would fail.

  Tan had to help. He pulled a shaping of fire and air, water and earth, and mixed spirit into it. He shot toward the cloud of heat on a bolt of lightning, streaking toward the middle of the shimmering heat veil, and landed in the middle of it.

  Heat and fire pressed upon him. He expected twisted fire, but there was none, only elemental fire that he’d detected before, and not from an elemental that he recognized.

  With sudden certainty, Tan knew that this wasn’t Incendin.

  He couldn’t see the shapers holding the connection to fire, but they had to be there. And if there were elementals involved, that meant Par-shon.

  Tan let the fire wash over him. Flames didn’t hurt him, at least not elemental fire. He focused on the connection to fire, straining for the fire bond. Earth shaping rumbled through the ground, but there hadn’t been an earth shaper among the kingdoms’ shapers.

  Using the fire bond, he added a sensing of earth to track the shaper even though it left him open for discovery by Par-shon. Strangely, he sensed no shaper.

  Fire surged again and this time, Zephra barely managed to hold it off. Alan swirled wind and ara created a cyclone overhead, drawing heat and flame high into the sky at Zephra’s command. If Tan did nothing, they would destroy whatever elemental was here.

  Mixing fire and spirit, Tan attacked. All he wanted was to subdue.

  Nothing happened.

  Tan tried another attempt. This time, he mixed earth to fire and spirit. Again, nothing happened.

  The attack turned toward him, fire raging because of shapings and well mixed with elemental power. Earth attempted to toss him into the air, but Tan held steady on a shaping augmented by Honl.

  Using his warrior sword, Tan twisted the attack, drawing it toward the ground, letting fire crash into the earth. Powerful elemental forces opposed him and he was unable to detect—or sever—the bonds.

  He drew on each of the elementals, pulling that power through the sword, and mixed spirit with it, merging and binding them into one. With this, he pulled through the sword until light streaked from the end. Tan aimed it toward the fire shaping. As it struck, something seemed to absorb it.

  Tan pushed more energy into it, pressing harder. Again, it failed.

  Was there a spirit shaper here? Was that why he wasn’t able to detect the shaper?

  Honl, Tan urged. Nymid. I need your help. Seal off this connection to fire.

  Honl swirled around him with an agitated movement. Kaas will be angry.

  Kaas?

  Fire. That is the elemental you face.

  I don’t know kaas. But we need to stop the attack. It seems I’m not able to do it on my own.

  We will help, He Who is Tan, the nymid answered.

  Had Asboel been with him, Tan might be better equipped to handle a new elemental, but he didn’t want to summon Asboel, who was hunting for the hatchling. Never before had the lack of elemental connection been an issue. Tan had always managed to use the shaping ability to keep himself safe, or had used the elementals to assist him, but they weren’t strong enough against whoever he attacked now.

  Honl and the nymid slipped away. Tan had the sense of them attacking on his behalf, and he added shapings of his own to aid them. Distantly, he sensed ara working with Honl, likely Aric helping with Zephra.

  Then Honl came gusting toward him. I cannot, Tan. Kaas is too powerful.

  Tan frowned. Asboel!

  He sent the call, but as he did, there was another attack. This time, the fire threatened to close around him. Tan strained against it, summoning all the strength that he could. He held onto the fire bond, using it to track the source of the shaping, and found the source.

  There had to be a shaper guiding the elemental, but Tan couldn’t det
ect them. He could only think of one thing to do, so he drew on spirit, shaping it deeply, and sent it in the direction of the attack.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Tan drew on the other elementals within him and bound them together to aid in the shaping. He pulled through the connection he shared with Amia, using her strength with spirit, again borrowing her knowledge.

  When his shaping struck, there was a sense of pressure. It faltered. The fire around him eased and the rumbling in the earth began to fade. The flames stopped first. Earth eased after.

  Tan continued to press, pulling through the sword, augmenting his spirit shaping. Runes etched along the blade began to glow with steady light. With even more effort, he drew through the sword, demanding more strength.

  The resistance faded even more before finally faltering completely.

  A burst of flame exploded around him.

  Had Tan not been protected from fire, the furious energy of the flame might have harmed him. As it was, he was aware of the heat, but there was nothing in it that would—that could—harm him.

  He now stood on one end of a crater, one that reminded him all too much of Nor. Loose stone and sand spilled toward the center. The ground around him was scorched and blackened, leaving a trail where fire had been.

  The air had fallen still. Honl still pulled at his hair and his shirt, but weakly. He sensed damage to the elemental, but couldn’t tell what had happened. Asboel had been harmed before, injured during Par-shon attacks, but he’d never known the wind elemental to take harm, though Tan knew that it could. His mother had lost her first bond in such a way, a loss that had devastated her, had nearly kept her from ever shaping consistently again.

  What of the nymid? He sensed them weakly as well, misting slightly in the air. Tan drew them toward him, using a shaping of wind and water that didn’t rely upon the elementals, and the nymid closed upon Tan, wrapping around him.

  What had happened?

  Tan still didn’t fully understand why his shapings hadn’t worked as they had before. Pulling each of the elements together and binding them with spirit should have worked to stop the attack. There had never been a Par-shon shaper that had withstood that shaping before, so why now? What had changed?