Serpent of Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  “What was this kaas?” Cora asked.

  Tan shook his head. “I didn’t see it.”

  Cora snorted. “You cannot see most of the elementals, Tan. The draasin are unique in that those not bonded can see them. The others? They require the bond to see and understand.”

  “Kaas, I think, is different. It is powerful. The shaper nearly overwhelmed me.” Cora’s eyes widened slightly. She had traveled with him when he had tried finding Elle, and she had been there during the battle with the Utu Tonah. A single shaper would not be able to overwhelm a warrior shaper, and certainly not one bound to the elementals.

  “There is more, isn’t there? You keep something back.”

  Tan sighed. “There’s more. When I shared what happened with the draasin,” he made a point of not sharing Asboel’s name yet, especially if she hadn’t learned it from Enya, “I sensed fear from him. Enya knows fear from everything that she’s been through, including being shaped and forced to attack, but the others are different.”

  “Even Enya’s fear is not the same as what I might fear,” Cora said. “There is a casual arrogance to it.” She hesitated, studying Tan. “Why would the draasin fear this kaas?”

  “He said they are creatures of earth and fire, much like the draasin are creatures of fire and wind. They are some sort of serpent-like creature and were supposed to have been banished from these lands long ago.”

  Cora’s eyes widened slightly. “You speak of a child’s tale.”

  “You know them?”

  She began pacing, moving between the trees and occasionally glancing up at the sky, where Enya circled. “Not by anything more than myth. Nothing more than a story, told to our children. I doubt there’s any truth to it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  She paused and turned her attention to Tan. “What I will tell you is a story of my people. Long ago, when the sun first blessed our lands, a great serpent was said to swim just beneath the surface of the sand. This serpent swallowed the sand and rock and everything that it came across and then spit it back out. The Sunlands were barren. A lost land. Nothing could live where the serpent crawled. Nothing dared attempt to live where the serpent called its home.” She looked over at Tan. “Then King Ashiss, First of his Name, came to claim the Sunlands as his own. He brought with him his mighty sword Inless and rode across the sand on a beast of fire, searching for the serpent. They battled for one hundred nights before King Ashiss emerged victorious. The serpent was weakened, and scared, and sent from the Sunlands, but cursed them as he did, leaving them forever burnt.”

  Cora shook herself and turned back to Tan. “That is the story of the Great Serpent. A myth, told to children of how the Sunlands came to be. We are stronger because we can face the serpent and because we have lived in spite of the curse.”

  “Well, if the draasin are right, and the serpent is real.”

  “It is but a fable, and in it, the draasin were not responsible for chasing the Great Serpent from the Sunlands. That was King Ashiss.”

  Tan wished there was a way to know how to stop kaas, and how to help the draasin find the hatchling, and how to stop Par-shon….

  So many things needed to get done, and Tan felt that he was at the center of it all. And now, he’d damaged the artifact, the one thing that would have given them a chance at success.

  “What can I do, Tan?” Cora asked.

  Tan stared up at the sky, at Enya moving steadily through the clouds. “You need to understand your bond. Gain her trust. And then I will need your help hunting the kaas.”

  Cora met his eyes and nodded.

  “We will have to bring our peoples together, Cora,” he said. “Not only to protect ourselves from kaas, but to defeat Par-shon and the Utu Tonah. I don’t think either country can do it alone.”

  “I think that you have the harder task of convincing your people.”

  “Mine will be challenging,” Tan agreed, “but you will have to get the lisincend to work with us.”

  “They have not attacked.”

  “Not yet,” Tan said.

  “And they obey the king. Do not fear the Changed.”

  Tan grunted. “Are you certain that they obey the king fully? We’ve seen different sides of them, I think. My home was attacked by the lisincend. My people. They attacked Ethea, bringing fire down upon our people.”

  Cora’s brow furrowed. “There are some differences with the winged Changed.”

  Tan inhaled deeply. “And we will struggle to find common ground if they attack. We need to be able to work together.”

  She tipped her head toward him. “I will do what I can. I have a different place now that I’ve returned. Much of my influence has slipped. But I will try.”

  Tan nodded again. “That is all that I can ask,” he said.

  Cora leapt to the air and onto Enya’s back. With a breath of hot flame, Enya circled again and then turned away, flying quickly to the south before fading from view and leaving Tan debating what he needed to do next.

  20

  Teaching Spirit

  The next afternoon, Tan made his way back toward the archives. He needed to know if the Incendin story about the king was real, and it was the only place he thought he might find something useful. Now that he’d started the process with Incendin, the next step was dealing with Chenir, but it was too early.

  Tan paused and considered the runes marking the entrance to the archives. They had been there for centuries, but now, Tan thought about what he’d seen of runes over the last few days. Always before, he had assumed that they simply marked that golud was here, but what if there was a different purpose to them? What if the runes did more than simply mark golud’s presence? What if they were something more like what Par-shon used, and held golud in place?

  Tan ran his fingers over the runes, wondering if he would ever know what the ancient scholars intended. Had the elementals offered themselves willingly? When they had found the artifact, the elementals had been there as well. Then, it had seemed they chose to remain, that they were there voluntarily. All but the draasin. But what if he was wrong? What if there was something that the ancient shapers had done that had forced the elementals to remain?

  Even after everything he had learned, he felt he still knew nothing.

  Tan hurried down to the lowest level of the archives. Behind the door marked with spirit, he would find the tunnels leading beneath the city and to the draasin. Tan left that closed for now. A combination of his fire bond and earth sensing told Tan that Asgar and Sashari were there, resting. He turned to a different door, one that led to little more than a place of study.

  “I thought that I’d find you here.”

  Roine took a step out of a shadow so Tan could see him. The first time Tan had learned of this part of the archives he had come with Roine.

  “Why are you down here?” Tan asked.

  Roine stood. He’d brought a small stool from somewhere, and it tipped over as he stood. “There is too much… pomp… for me. I would rather others deal with it. I’ve always been more comfortable with serving in a different way.”

  Tan smiled. “You’re the king now, Roine.”

  “King Regent. And I will gladly hand over the title when we find an heir.”

  “You’ve found an heir.”

  Roine laughed. “That’s the problem. We have several heirs. I’m not sure who should assume the throne.”

  “Amia will teach Lyssa.”

  “And Ferran leads the university with the others. I would not have expected Ferran to step up and teach, but he seems almost compelled to do so. He tells me that he needs others to understand what it has taken him decades to learn.”

  Tan smiled. The strange drawing sensation he’d felt the day before still pulled on him, but he didn’t know why. There was a pull to the elementals that wasn’t normally there, almost as if they wanted him to move, if only he’d listen to where. It wasn’t a summons, not like there had been the night golud had summoned, but it was diff
erent than what he was accustomed to feeling from them.

  “You think he intends to teach how to reach the elementals?” Tan asked. If so, it would be one less thing others would expect of him.

  “I don’t know if it’s possible, but it’s been centuries since we’ve had shapers able to speak to the elementals. First there was you, and now Ferran and Cianna.”

  “First there was Zephra,” Tan said.

  “Zephra.” Roine said her name with a familiarity and warmth. “She still challenges me, you know that, Tannen?” he asked. “When I first met her, when we first were in the university, she was strong and skilled and so maddeningly stubborn. I had talent with each of the elements, but Zephra, she had true mastery when it came to wind. It always frustrated me that I couldn’t compete with her.”

  “And now?” Tan asked, wondering where Roine was going with his comments.

  “Now she remains maddeningly stubborn,” he admitted, “but I appreciate that quality much more than I did before. And I see much of it in you.” Roine smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “You are much like your parents, a combination of each of them. Your father would be proud and your mother… well, she is proud.”

  “I’m not sure my mother can see me as anything other than the boy.”

  “I don’t think any mother can see their children as anything but that. That doesn’t mean that she does not respect the skills you have gained, or that she does not feel that you’ve earned what you’ve been given.”

  Tan wished his mother could show him, and that he didn’t have to hear it from Roine. “Why did you come down here, Roine?”

  “Truthfully? I wanted to get away. I haven’t learned why Chenir arrived when they did,” Roine arched a brow at Tan, as if asking whether he’d learned the reason for the visit, “but I needed a chance to get away someplace quieter. Besides, I wanted to see what you hid down here. I thought that I might find answers. Instead, well, instead I’m left with only more questions.” Roine turned toward the door with the rune for spirit. He touched it, running his hands over the rune. “I’ve wondered for a while now, how is it that you opened this before you mastered spirit?”

  “That’s not a secret that I’ve kept from you,” Tan said.

  “You’ve kept other secrets from me?” Roine asked with an amused smile.

  Tan hesitated before answering. Now wasn’t the time to tell Roine about meeting Cora, or about what had happened with the artifact. That would come later. “Did you share everything that you did with Althem?”

  Roine tapped the door. “Not everything. At least, I don’t think that I did, but with Althem, it might not have mattered what I thought I was hiding. He took what he wanted.”

  “Not all spirit shapers are like that,” Tan said.

  “No, I don’t think they are.”

  “Amia would see the Aeta learn the right way to shape spirit, the right way to use their gifts. There is much strength in spirit. Understanding.”

  “Is that what spirit has brought you? Has it brought you understanding?” Roine asked.

  Tan grunted. He still wasn’t sure how he was intended to use spirit. Most of the time, he used spirit to strengthen his shapings, but there was a role for pure spirit. Amia used it in ways that made her strong. The Aeta had survived for the last thousand years because they had managed to stay unified by their connection.

  How would he use spirit? Had he been given the ability to use it simply to strengthen his other shapings, or was there some other reason?

  “Spirit has given me my bonds,” Tan said. “It has helped me maintain them. Without spirit, I think the Par-shon would have stolen my connections when I was there. They did not plan for spirit shaping, but they know of it now, Roine.”

  “That’s the other reason I’ve come,” Roine said. “You should know of the other attacks. Doma has managed to deflect a few more. There is a water shaper leading them,” he smiled as he said it, “and I’ve sent Vel back to help. So far, they haven’t come with any real strength, not like before, but it’s only a matter of time before Par-shon attacks in force.”

  As Roine paused, Tan realized he should have checked on Elle before now, especially since she’d helped him with Doma, and then the Utu Tonah, but he’d been distracted, and he’d thought Doma safe.

  Then again, he hadn’t needed to help Doma. Elle had managed fine.

  “Incendin was attacked as well,” Roine continued. “Zephra continues to scout throughout Incendin. They have managed to push back Par-shon because none have come with much force, almost as if they’re simply trying to distract them.”

  Cora had said nothing of the attacks. Why was that? “And when they attack the kingdoms again?”

  “Other than the attack that you detected,” Roine began, “there have not been any others.”

  That they knew about. With earth shaping, they could obscure themselves. Tan didn’t think that it would be as easy to do, not with the elementals now aware of what Par-shon did and alerted to report to Ferran or to Tan, but it was possible.

  “The real attack is coming,” Tan said. “Either that, or we will have to bring the fight to Par-shon.”

  Roine sighed, running his fingers around the rune on the door. “Which is why I’m determined to see us protected. The kingdoms must remain safe, Tannen. The barrier kept us safe before. It can do so again.”

  “That was no real safety, Roine. We lived in fear of when Incendin would attack again. We struggled to keep our people safe, never knowing when or where the next attack would come.”

  “We survived. As we will this time.” He looked over his shoulder at Tan. “Can you show me how you shaped this open?”

  Tan wanted to say something about how the kingdoms shouldn’t close off the borders, how they needed to find a way to work with Incendin, and Doma, but Roine wouldn’t listen. Tan could rarely sense him, but what he picked up now was the clear sense of the king regent’s determination to save the people of the kingdoms, and Roine knew only one way to do that. It was the way that he had been taught, the way that the kingdoms had managed to remain safe when he was Athan.

  Only… Tan didn’t think that way would work, not when the threat wasn’t just against the people of the kingdoms, but of the power that united the lands, the elementals that lived with them. Should they not have equal concern for the elementals?

  Saying anything about the elementals would only close Roine off. Instead, he turned to the door and touched the wood, running his fingers along the rune. “You have to bind the elementals together,” Tan said. “More than that, I can’t really explain.”

  “I use a shaping with each of the elements when traveling,” Roine said.

  “This is different. You’re not trying to pull the shaping down to you as you do when traveling. With this, you’re simply holding it within your mind. Drawing the shaping together and then letting it join.”

  Roine shaped. Tan felt it as pressure deep in his mind, pushing against his ears. Creating the shaping was not one that Tan could explain, not one that he could really demonstrate. When he’d done it, it had been mostly chance, not any sort of real intent. It had come accidentally, but once Tan recognized it, he’d managed to learn to reach deeper within himself and find a shaping of true spirit. Could Roine do the same?

  The shaping released with a frustrated sigh from Roine. “I can’t seem to make it work.”

  Tan thought to try a different approach. “Wind is strongest for you?”

  Roine nodded. “You know that I was a wind shaper first.”

  “Can you tell when I’m shaping wind?”

  “Of course I can.”

  “Can you sense where the shaping goes?” Tan asked. From what he could tell of other shapers, that wasn’t something others could consistently do. Sensing the source of a shaping had been how Tan had realized that what he did was different. He had drawn upon elementals first, only later learning to shape on his own.

  Roine frowned. “I’m not sure I’ve eve
r tried.”

  “Pay attention to what I do,” Tan suggested.

  Roine arched a brow at him, a hint of a smile pulling on his upper lip. Tan couldn’t help but think that he’d changed much since first meeting Roine. Then, he’d barely known that he was an earth senser, only learning that he could shape while working with the warrior.

  Tan pulled on wind. He drew the shaping through him deliberately, holding onto it so that Roine could sense what he did. He let the shaping build, growing stronger and stronger, until wind began whipping around them. Tan held it.

  Roine nodded. “I sensed how you shaped.”

  Tan eased back on his shaping. Without intending to, elemental power had augmented his shaping as it so often did. “Now, water. You have strength in water?”

  Roine chuckled. “More than fire.”

  Tan pulled on water. It was different than with wind. With wind, he had to focus on his breathing and draw from the wind that whispered through him. Water pulsed through him like the blood in his veins, filling him with life. Tan drew on this shaping and held it. When Roine nodded, he bound the two elementals together, holding wind and water.

  They were not complimentary, not like fire and air or water and earth, but they came together. To this, Tan pulled on earth, feeling it in the stillness of the ground beneath his feet, in the solidity of the stones around him, drawing it into him. With this, he connected to water and wind, twisting all of them.

  “I think I see…” Roine began.

  Tan pulled on fire. As always, fire came easiest, barely a thought and it exploded to life. Saa was drawn to fire, adding to his shaping, and Tan allowed it, making a point of pulling fire into the rest of the shaping, drawing them together and twisting them tightly.

  “Can you see how they bind?” Tan asked. “Can you see how each element is equal?”

  Roine’s shaping built suddenly and with power. Wrapped as he was in each of the elements, Tan could sense how Roine shaped. There was something about how he attempted to mix the elements that wasn’t quite right.