A voice floated to him like a memory. Maelen.
A knot formed in Tan’s throat and a tear ran from his eye before burning away. Asboel? Can it really be you?
The sense of Asboel drifted closer as if following the fire bond. When he appeared, he did so on a surge of flame, taking something like the shape of the draasin, but completely of fire. You have grown, Maelen. You have done well.
I… Tan fumbled for the words. What did he tell his bonded?
Nothing less than the truth.
I miss you, friend.
Asboel seemed to snort. As I told you, I am fire, and have joined fire, but why have you come? Why do you stand within the bond?
There is something that I don’t know how to fight. I came for answers and understanding.
You are gifted by the Mother, Maelen. You have all the answers that you need.
Tan formed an image of the darkness and the way that it had attacked the elementals. He pushed this through the fire bond, not certain whether he could connect to Asboel in the same way that he once did, but wanting to try. With everything that he’d experienced, the one thing that he had wanted the most was to have his connection to Asboel. He had knowledge and had guided Tan to an understanding of his purpose that he would never have reached on his own.
You have never needed my guidance, Maelen.
Tan swallowed again, pushing down the lump in his throat. How long would this last? How long could he stay and speak with Asboel?
Do you know what this is? Tan asked, sending the image to Asboel.
The fire around him shifted, burning hotter for a moment.
This is what you face? Asboel asked.
Two of the bindings have failed. The third remains, but I do not know where it is or what they do. Even if it does not fail, this… darkness has escaped and attacks. Asgar nearly died. Other elementals as well.
They would not have died, Maelen.
The darkness wanted to destroy them.
Not destroy. Control. Asboel seemed to move and swirled toward Tan on something that reminded him of his great wings. Tan could almost imagine sitting atop the draasin and flying with him as they hunted, memories that he cherished. This is an ancient power, Maelen. One that should not return.
We know nothing about this power. I don’t know where it came from or how to stop it. When the bindings failed, part of it escaped. We have managed to defeat it briefly, but it’s still out in the world. I fear what will happen when it attacks again.
Asboel didn’t say anything for a moment, and Tan wondered if maybe the connection to him had faded. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to maintain the connection within Fire, or even whether Asboel really was present. Could this be nothing more than a vision? Or maybe Fire spoke to him, using Asboel as a way to reach him.
But Tan chose to believe that it was his friend.
If two of the bindings have failed, maintaining the third only delays what will come.
How can I stop this?
There is no stopping, Maelen. That was the purpose of the bindings.
What is this power? I know it as darkness, but what is it, exactly?
Those who came before you called it by many names, but the most common was Nightfall. His power is enough to rival the Mother.
I thought the Mother was the only source of power? She is the source of the elements, and the bonds, and spirit.
The Mother is strong, Asboel agreed. But there are others of equal power, perhaps greater. They do not care for the presence of man, and they do not care for the elemental connections to the Mother. Nightfall would steal those connections, if he could.
How can the connection to the Mother be stolen?
Asboel swirled close to him, the touch of the flame burning along Tan’s skin, leaving it nearly raw, but no pain came with it. You have seen. If you saw Asgar attacked, and others, then you have seen how Nightfall would take these connections.
Tan remembered the way the darkness had nearly overwhelmed Asgar, and how it had claimed Kota. The same way that it had claimed his mother, and the other shapers, given strength by Marin’s spirit shaping.
Or had it been spirit?
Tan had assumed that was what she used, but what if she accessed a different power?
Are there connections to Nightfall the same as there are to the Mother?
Nightfall is not like the Mother. The Mother lives on through everything she has created. The elementals. The shapers. The bonds between them. Nightfall prefers a direct touch upon the world.
Can shapers draw from Nightfall?
Such a thing is dangerous, Maelen. You are a Shaper of Light.
So I have heard. I don’t understand what that means.
That means that you exist with the Mother’s touch upon you. Nightfall cannot claim you.
Tan thought about what Honl had suggested to him, the guidance that he’d given when Tan had managed to reach him. Find the ancient gods and he would understand. Tan had found the Incendin god Issa, but he wasn’t sure that was what Honl had intended. Instead, through Issa, Tan had reached Asboel and learned about Nightfall.
Is Nightfall a god?
Asboel appeared uncertain about how to answer. Nightfall is power, much as the Mother is power. I do not know if this makes him a god.
Tan didn’t either. Are there others?
There are no others like Nightfall.
But Honl suggested I understand the ancient gods. Do you know if there are others besides the Mother and Nightfall?
Asboel swirled around him and then faded again. I do not know. If so, they would have come before.
Before what?
Before the bindings secured Nightfall from this world. If they have failed, you must find a way to replace the bindings. You must suppress Nightfall.
How? How were the bindings placed?
Fire does not have that answer.
Fire. Not Asboel. Had he been wrong? Was this not really Asboel as he had hoped?
Asboel? he asked.
The draasin swirled in the flames and then faded. Maelen.
Was this really you?
The draasin are Fire, Maelen.
That was no answer, but then, it might be the only one that Tan would get.
7
Unwanted Help
“What did you experience when you saw Issa?” the San asked Tan.
The San had led Tan back up from the lower level and stopped near the entrance to the Fire Fortress. Light hung around Tan’s shoulders, clinging to him in such a way that her tail wrapped nearly entirely around his neck.
“What was I supposed to experience?”
“You are the Maelen. When you came searching for Corasha, I knew that you sought Issa.”
Tan didn’t know what to say. Did he tell the priest that he hadn’t spoken to Issa? That he had spoken to Fire, and to the memory of his now-dead draasin bond? Would the San care, or would he still claim that Tan spoke to Issa?
“Then why show me the others before taking me to Issa?”
“I could not be certain you were ready.”
“And your testing, and the shaping. They proved that I was ready?”
The San smiled. “I suspected that you already reached farther into fire than most. Not only Fur and the lisincend made the claim, but there are others that know of such connections and recognized your presence.”
Others. Did he mean the elementals, or was there something else that the San knew?
“Then why did you put me through the rest?”
“Hearing about a thing and knowing that it is true are different, don’t you think, Maelen? I had to know whether you truly understood fire. Otherwise, you would not have survived what I had to show you.”
“And the testing? The chains?”
“None have ever removed them so quickly.”
“That’s my ability to shape.”
The San shook his head. “We have had others able to shape come through, but they still had to learn to submit to
fire. You already understood that.”
Submit. That was what Tan had understood when he first learned to shape fire. Control with fire was an illusion. You worked with it, guided it, but you were never in control. “And the shaping?”
“That was selfish,” he said casually. “I wanted your voice added to the others.”
From here, now that they were back above the ground, Tan could feel the pull of the shaping working through the tower, radiating away from it and spilling over the Sunlands. His voice remained a part of the shaping, carrying a part of him out into the waste and beyond, mixing with the voices of the other shapers who had held the shaping before him.
“How many do you take to the flame?”
The San tapped his hands on the book and met Tan’s eyes. “Other than myself, none currently alive in the Sunlands have ever touched Fire.”
He said it in a way that made Tan think that the San understood exactly what Tan had experienced. “Then why me?”
“You are of fire, Maelen. I have never met anyone so closely bound.”
“Not only of fire. I can shape the other elements. I have bonded other elementals.” And now, he didn’t even have a bond to a fire elemental. Since Asboel’s death, he wasn’t sure that he would ever gain another bond to fire.
“Perhaps the others,” the San agreed. “Were you to remain in the Sunlands, you could be a Servant of Issa, and one day, you could be San.”
“I already serve Fire,” Tan said.
The San nodded. “That is why you could reach the flame, Maelen.”
The stood in silence for a few moments. “Where is Cora?”
“Corasha seeks knowledge for herself, Maelen.”
“She is… she is unharmed?”
The San frowned. “We would not harm another Servant of Issa.”
“Perhaps not you, but what of the lisincend?” The last time that Tan had seen Cora had been shortly after defeating the Utu Tonah. At that time, there had been a slight tension between her and the lisincend, though he hadn’t learned why that would be.
“The lisincend follow Fur’s lead.”
“That is no answer.”
“That is all that you need.” The San guided him to the main entrance to the Fire Fortress and stopped. “Did you find the understanding that you sought?”
Tan didn’t know. He had found what Incendin called Issa, and realized that it was the same as Fire. Not a god, at least, not anything like what he considered the dark power that had been unleashed. Fire was a part of the Mother, an extension of life possible through her creation. Perhaps the same would be said about the other gods that Amia had known about.
“I found understanding,” he said.
The San hesitated before tapping the book he held between his hands. “You stood within Fire, Maelen. Few have ever stood so close to Issa.”
“I stood within Fire,” Tan agreed.
The San handed his book to Tan. “This is the Book of Issa. I have kept this copy since my first days as Servant. Take it. Understand how you can best serve Issa.”
Tan took the book. The cover had faded, leaving nothing visible, and he folded it open, flipping through the pages. Words written there were not in Ishthin as he had expected, and he couldn’t read them.
“I can’t read this.”
“Old Rens,” the San said. “You must study to understand Issa.”
That was one thing that Tan didn’t have time for, but he smiled and held onto the Book of Issa carefully. “Thank you for this.”
“When you are ready, you can return to the temple. You will be welcomed as a Servant of Issa.”
Tan nodded. A part of him wished that he could remain. There was something about the priest, a sense that reminded Tan in some ways of Asboel and his faith in fire, and the power stored within fire, but there was too much for him to do, for him to understand, to remain in Incendin and the Fire Fortress. Perhaps when everything settled—and if Tan survived—he would have time to return, and then… then he might be able to focus on his connection to fire.
Outside the Fire Fortress, the heat of Incendin pressed upon him. Night began to settle, and he stared up at the sky, seeing a twinkling of early stars. A hot wind gusted across the waste, carrying the presence of Ashi, the wind elemental present here in Incendin, and reminded Tan of Honl.
What now? Light asked.
Tan didn’t know. Honl had suggested learning about the ancient gods, and he had. Now that he knew of this Nightfall, what did it mean for him? Knowing the ancient term for the darkness did nothing to help him understand what he needed to do, but maybe it would be enough for him to find answers. If he could use that term and learn more… maybe he would discover enough that he could find a way to stop him, and then… then he would have to replace the bindings.
But where?
The only thing that he could come up with involved returning to Ethea, and to the archives, but he did not have time to spend in the archives. Could he trust the returned archivists to help?
Yes.
The comment came through his connection to Amia, faint and faded from their distance. She trusted the archivists, even if Tan did not. In that way, she was much like him and his trust of Incendin. She did not trust that Incendin would not harm them, while Tan had forgiven and moved on. And the archivists, at least those who served now, were Aeta. Amia shared a connection to them, and there was no questioning the fact that they shaped spirit.
Tan patted Light on the head, and she stuck out her long tongue and licked his cheek. With a shaping of each of the elements, he reached the university on a bolt of lightning and landed in the shaper circle.
The stone of the shaper circle buffered his landing, and he stepped into the university plaza. The walls of the university rose high around him, stout now that they had been rebuilt with golud’s assistance. Shaping flickered around him from each of the elements, and with varying strength, and Tan smiled. Shapers of the university would finally return.
Back in Ethea, Tan knew that he needed to let Roine know that he’d come. Using the summoning rune, he sent a shaping through it, alerting his friend to his presence. On his way from the university, a familiar voice caught his attention.
“You have been away for many months.”
Tan turned and saw Master Ferran standing near one of the doorways. A line of children waited behind him, pushing into the opening to see out. When they saw him, some started murmuring, and Tan caught one saying, “Athan.”
“Ferran,” he said with a smile. “I have been away, but trust that I’ve been busy.”
“But not on work for the king.” Ferran used earth to shape his way across the distance between them.
“You know why I had to go,” Tan said. He unconsciously touched the hilt of his warrior sword.
“There are rumors, Tan, that say you went to Par-shon to rule. Is that true?”
“That is true.”
Ferran frowned. “I thought that you might deny it.”
“Defeating the Utu Tonah granted me the right to rule. I didn’t want that right, but I was reminded that if I didn’t, someone else would come along and take away that choice. But I have made certain that Par-shon is no more.”
Ferran crossed his arms over his chest. He had grown more solid in the last year, almost as if his connection to earth strengthened him, building him up. “You defeated their ruler, but you didn’t destroy their people.”
“No, but the Utu Tonah had invaded Par,” Tan started and briefly told him about the elementals. As Tan spoke, the children began pressing up against Ferran, and he shaped them back without bothering to look. Tan smiled as he finished describing Par. “How do your students do?”
Ferran looked at them and the hard expression that he’d been wearing faded, replaced by something that was nearly fondness. “They continue to grow, Athan. There are some who shape quite strongly. Much stronger than we have seen in many years. There is one wind shaper who I think can rival Zephra in time.”
Tan thought about Molly and the fact that she had demonstrated incredibly powerful fire shaping already. What did it mean that powerful shapers had begun to reappear after years of dwindling skill? And now many had regained the ability to speak to the elementals.
“Any who have shown potential to speak to the elementals?” Tan asked.
Ferran rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “That is the most surprising, Athan. There is one I am certain speaks to the elementals, but it is water, so I am of little help. Wallyn works with him, though I do not think Wallyn has fully embraced the idea of speaking to the elementals. Another seems to have a connection to fire, but again…” Ferran shrugged. “My ability is not with fire, unfortunately. But there is one, Nally, who shapes earth in ways that I haven’t seen,” he said, lowering his voice as he did. “I suspect that she reaches earth but if she does, it is not to golud.”
Tan reached into the earth bond. Through this, he detected the powerful connection that Ferran had to earth and the connection to golud deep beneath the ground. There was no doubting that the elemental was bonded to Ferran. He shifted his focus to the students, looking at them, wondering if any of them pushed against the earth bond. Surprisingly, five of them did. Three were boys, one taller than the rest with shaggy brown hair, but none of them pressed strongly against the bond. Were they only sensers, or would they learn to shape as well? Then there was an older girl, one who barely touched upon the earth bond, and Tan doubted that she would ever be much more than an earth senser. That skill could be honed, but he doubted that she would gain enough strength to really shape earth.
But the last, a girl who could be no older than seven or eight, pressed deeply upon the bond. Through it, Tan felt the way earth swirled around her. Not only the bond but an elemental within the earth bond. This girl—Nally, he assumed—not only spoke to the elementals, but it appeared that she had bonded.
Can you tell? he asked Light.
She is within the bond. And she has forged the connection.
Tan retreated from the earth bond, allowing his connection to fade. The students in the university had as much potential as those that he’d found in Par. The connection that Nally had to earth reminded Tan in some way to the strength that he’d seen from Molly. Molly might not have bonded yet, but he had the sense from fire that it wouldn’t be long before she did.
Light of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 10) Page 5
