Of course, it did. Master Irina would have expected him to try. Even if he were able to shape stone, it was possible he wouldn’t be able to get beneath the barrier.
He sat back, reaching for his connection to fire, and let smoke twirl around him. He imagined the various smoke elementals, first esalash and then shiron, and allowed the smoke to dance, twisting in front of him. He was able to control it, having the smoke spiral around. Tolan tried to urge it, sending it toward the barrier, but it always bounced off.
Tolan shifted his focus, thinking of saa. The elemental was that of flame, and it burned, a flickering that hovered in the air before him. He smiled at it. There was beauty in the fire. Flames had always appealed to him, drawing to him, and stories of the draasin had always seemed both terrifying and amazing. Having seen a draasin—at least, what he imagined to be a draasin—he still found the creatures to be amazing and terrifying.
The flame swirled, flickering, creating a gentle sort of heat pulsing into the air. Though he knew he would be able to draw upon it more strongly with the bondar, the fact he was doing this shaping on his own left him feeling proud. Maybe he didn’t need the bondars as he had always believed.
What of a more complicated elemental?
He shifted to hyza, thinking of that elemental, and let that power flow. As it did, it grew, the small foxlike shape forming and prowling around him. Tolan sat and stared as the elemental circled him. Heat radiated from it, crackling in the air. The effort of shaping hyza was much more than it took with the other elementals, and he couldn’t hold onto it for long. As he released it, the elemental sent a strange pulsing back.
He shouldn’t be strong enough to be able to draw an elemental on his own, but there had been something real. Surprisingly, he felt lonely with the elementals gone.
Could he call upon something smaller?
There wasn’t much that was smaller. He tried reaching for fire again, but he was tired from everything he had already attempted.
Even if he could reach a shaping that would allow him beneath the barrier, he still didn’t know whether he wanted to. What he wanted more than anything was to be able to reach the earth.
He took a deep breath, focusing on the ground in front of him. He thought of jinnar, the earth elemental he had the easiest connection to, though not the only earth elemental he was able to summon. He had some experience with other earth elementals, and it was possible he would be able to reach for more than jinnar. Jinnar was a useful elemental, powerful enough that it would cause the ground to rumble, but not so powerful that he worried about losing control.
Without the bondar, he didn’t have any reason to worry about losing control.
He steadied his breathing, focusing, thinking how easy it had been to reach for fire by summoning the elementals.
The stirring began to build within him.
It was a strange sensation, a feeling that his stomach was unsettled. As it came to him, he reached for it.
All he needed was the ability to tap into that power. Once he did, then the elemental could do the rest.
It faded, leaving him empty.
Another failing.
And yet, he had begun to feel the stirring. That was the first step. If he could manage to do that more effectively, he could reach for the elemental.
He took another deep breath and had started to focus on the ground when words written in the books Master Minden had lent him began to flash through his mind.
He lost his focus, but he didn’t care. There wasn’t any reason to maintain his focus if he was able to do something else.
What was in those books that he could use?
The first Grand Master of the Academy had written one. Tolan had looked through it enough to know there was information he could use. He searched his memories, but he came up with nothing.
What of the book from the first Grand Inquisitor?
It was a different style, a philosophical approach to shaping, and in that one, he thought there should be something he could remember, but it too eluded him.
He sighed deeply and sat back. Strangely, it was the memory from the book of Master Minden’s ancestor that came to him most of all. He thought about what was in there, the comment about how to access each shaping, reaching for some deep part of the shaper. As he thought about it, it seemed to him it was describing his technique of shaping, not that which the master shapers at the Academy tried to teach him.
He thought about what had been written in that book about earth.
Earth was a difficult element only because it was so massive and extensive, and reaching it meant you had to connect yourself to earth. Each shaper was a part of something greater—the earth bond—but each shaper had that power within themselves, and once they reached it, they could draw upon the power of earth and command it.
That was what the master shapers would teach.
The book Master Minden’s ancestor had written described something different with earth. There was power to it, but that power came from the shaper. It was innate, rather than a part of the earth bond.
Tolan wondered if that was why his ability with shaping was so different. Was it because he didn’t reach for it in the same way?
He focused again and, rather than thinking of the elemental, he focused on that stirring within him. He thought about the connection he had to the stone, and he thought about the way he felt when jinnar or whatever earth elemental he was trying to shape came into existence. There was a sense of satisfaction, a sense of rightness, and a sense it was meant to be. All he needed was to reach that sensation and he could shape earth.
Not to control it. To be a part of it. To use it. The same way the elementals used that power. All in service of the bond, but not using the bond.
Power built from deep within him, and he felt the connection to earth.
It was different than any shaping he had felt before. This was earth. This was that natural power. And this was enough that he thought he could reach through it.
Rather than focusing on an elemental, he focused on what he wanted of earth.
It was a request rather than a command. It was an idea. He imagined having the ground roll up around him, creating a seat for him to sit upon. He focused on his connection to the ground, to the earth he felt beneath him.
Everything rumbled. The earth lifted him into the air, holding him upright.
He had shaped. And he had done so without an elemental.
Or had he?
He didn’t know if jinnar was a part of that shaping, but even if it was, did it matter? Tolan wasn’t opposed to connecting to jinnar. He had wanted that elemental connection, and it didn’t mind it. Connecting to the elemental like that was worthwhile, only he didn’t think he’d used the elemental for this shaping. If he was right, it had come from within him.
Which made the shaping even more valuable than before.
Unlike other shaping, this one didn’t retreat when he released it. It maintained its position, holding steady, and the chair remained in place.
Could he remove it? Now he had brought it forth, the next step was to eliminate any evidence of what he had done. He focused on pushing back down, returning the earth to the way it had been. Once more, he was able to use that power from deep within him.
Slowly, the ground began to rumble, the shaping retreating and easing back into the earth, disappearing from view.
Tolan sat up triumphantly. Exhaustion swept over him.
He rolled over, looking at the place where the shaping had been, pleased to see there was no evidence of what he’d done. There would be nothing anyone would be able to see to reveal he’d been here.
Would they have detected his use of shaping?
From what he’d been able to tell, there weren’t all that many people who could detect shaping. He was one, but there had to be others like him. Even if there weren’t all that many, there had to be some way of shaping that would allow master shapers to detect that power being used around them. Tol
an took a seat on the chair, sitting and watching the door, and waited, counting the moments as he expected the door to open and someone—likely an Inquisitor—to enter.
No one did.
He looked in the corner, studying the barrier, but without any way of shaping beneath it, he didn’t think he would be able to rescue his belongings.
He had a victory, but it might be a hollow one, and without the bondars, what else would he be able to do?
Tolan lost track of how long he stared at the door, waiting for one of the Inquisitors to enter, constantly on edge. After a while, he gave up waiting and took another seat on the floor, focusing on shaping, and wondering if he might be able to find some way to reach the power of the other element bonds.
If he could, maybe there would be some benefit to his Inquisition.
16
The days passed and Tolan lost track of time. He considered scratching the count on the floor, shaping a record, but decided against it. What point would there be in reminding himself how long he’d been here? He was at the mercy of the Inquisitors, and while the Grand Master had visited him once, he had not returned.
The time spent alone here gave him an opportunity to continue to search to see if he had some way of connecting to the element bonds. The longer he did, the more he continued to feel the building power and presence of shaping from within him. It became easier to connect to fire and earth. He still hadn’t managed wind or water, though there was a faint stirring with each, enough that he wondered if it would be possible to eventually reach them.
Each day he was here, he continued to try different shapings. He practiced those he had learned about from Master Sartan and Master Shorav. None required a bondar, and while all had aspects of the elementals associated with him, in none of them did he feel as if he were using the elemental powers in order to reach for the shaping he attempted. What he was doing now was different than what he had done before—drawing now from within himself—and he began to wonder if he were finally reaching the element bonds the way he was meant to.
Strangely, he was still able to access the connection to the elementals. When he thought about them and only focused on each of the various fire and earth elementals, going through them in his mind as he shaped them into existence, he found it was increasingly easy to do so. He was able to keep them from emerging fully formed, drawing them forth just a little—enough so he could feel the connection to the elemental.
As he worked alone, he attempted several times to reach for the bondars, but had never managed to break through the barrier.
Having this time with nothing more than an opportunity to shape was helpful. It allowed him to focus. To run through shapings. To practice. It was something he had never done before.
Each day that passed, the Inquisitors came to him. With each passing day, Tolan managed to resist any sort of shaping. He was convinced they were trying to spirit shape him, but at the same time, he was also convinced that he was refusing to allow them to spirit shape him. He wasn’t sure why he felt so sure other than that he still had memories of everything that had taken place here. He didn’t think they were placing any thoughts or memories in his mind but began to wonder if perhaps he was wrong. Maybe their steady appearances were breaking down his ability to withstand their shaping.
After a week or more alone, Tolan began to wonder a different fear. What if the spirit shapings were allowing him to reach for shaping in this way? If so, then he should open himself up to them, to let them work their abilities upon him, to help him find more ways to shape. If he could reach for water and wind, then he would continue to progress through the Academy and might be useful.
After another week, the questions, allegations of working with the Draasin Lord, were unchanged and Tolan decided they hadn’t unleashed any shaping potential within him. His days were a blur. They blended together from sleep to alertness. Food trays were delivered to him, never anything exciting, and he ate and drank everything he was given, wanting to maintain his strength. He needed it for what he did when he was awake.
When he was awake, he attempted to shape. When he was sleeping, he was dreaming of shaping—and elementals. They danced in the forefront of his mind, like the pages of the books he couldn’t quite reach. Rather than only fire and earth, the two elements he’d practiced with when awake, all of the elementals danced across his mind. The only one that didn’t was spirit.
When the door opened again, after a time that Tolan suspected was several weeks into his capture and Inquisition, he looked up to see the Grand Inquisitor.
She took a seat across from him, settling down and motioning for him to rise. “You have been here longer than I expected.”
“How long did you expect me to be here?” His voice came out hoarse, and his throat hurt. How long had it been since he’d had any water?
“I thought perhaps you might last a few days, but never this long.”
“How long has it been?”
“The better part of a month.”
A month. What must his friends be thinking? Rumors had to be going through the Academy about him. It would be just like being back in Ephra. He would be different. Separated. When he had come to the Academy, it was a chance for a fresh start, an opportunity to find himself, and regardless of his inability to shape, he had relished that opportunity. Discovering the use of the bondars had given him a chance to fit in, even if that chance was different than he wished it would be.
Now he would be back to people talking behind his back. There would be whispers, and some people would avoid him. Others would be like Velthan, throwing it in his face. Tolan expected Draln to be one of them and hated that he feared the kind of comment Draln would make to him.
“Why have you kept me here a month?”
“Because you haven’t told the truth.”
“You accuse me of serving the Draasin Lord. There is no truth in that.”
“I think there is far more truth in that than you realize. I’ve begun to suspect you were spirit-shaped, only you were done in such a subtle way as to hide the fact you serve him.”
“How could I ever have served the Draasin Lord? I grew up in Ephra.”
“A place on the border of the waste.”
“I’ve been to the waste.”
“I’m sure you have.”
“All students go to the waste. I walked upon it the same as everyone else. I was cut off from my shaping ability the same as everyone else.”
“The reports I’ve heard are that you ventured farther than anyone else.”
Tolan shook his head. “That doesn’t mean I serve the Draasin Lord. It only means my shaping is so weak, I don’t have the same connection as others do. I have less to fear.”
“Yes. I imagine you were taught to say such things. I have ways of unlocking hidden shaping.”
“If you have ways, then why haven’t you used them?”
She glanced behind her at the door. Who was she looking for?
“Why are you keeping the Grand Master from visiting me?”
“What makes you think I’ve prevented him from visiting?”
“He came once, and he hasn’t come since. He said he was trying to free me.”
“The Grand Master knows better than to interfere with an Inquisition. Such a thing would not look good to those who observe them.”
“I don’t care about how things look. You’ve kept me here for a month. I’ve done nothing.”
“During the time you’ve been here, we’ve had no further strange events.”
Tolan frowned at her. “What kind of strange events?”
“The kind that have been occurring ever since your arrival at the Academy. I find it interesting that your confinement has coincided with this silence.” She leaned toward him, pressing the tips of her fingers together, her eyes locked on him in an icy stare. Power built from her, a shaping, and it started toward him.
Instinctively, Tolan pushed out, wrapping himself in a barrier of fire. He had practiced this
in the days he’d been trapped here, and he used a faint shaping, little more than a trickle, making it so it would be invisible. He’d practiced working on shaping so the heat would be pressing upon him rather than outward so anyone else wouldn’t detect the nature of his shaping. That last part had been the trickiest, and the more he’d worked on it, the more he’d taken aspects from what he’d read of the elementals to help him.
The shaping struck his fire barrier.
Tolan felt it when it did. It was a strange sensation as it washed over him, parting around him.
Strands of her shaping mixed with him, and while holding onto his fire shaping, Tolan could detect what those strands were. Within them, he thought he could reach for more.
Master Irina sat up. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“That shaping. Where did you learn it?”
“From Master Sartan.”
She frowned, shaking her head. “Master Sartan would not have taught you such a technique. I felt nothing other than my shaping splitting. I should not have been aware of even that other than I was trying to see whether you were doing anything to actively work against me.”
“Why wouldn’t I actively work against you?”
“Because I am the Grand Inquisitor.”
“Who has kept a student at the Academy captive for a month.” He knew he should be careful with her, but he was growing tired of simply sitting by and letting the other Inquisitors question him, the same series of questions coming over and over, no different than before, never satisfied by his answers. Tolan was tired of fearing the arrival of the Inquisitors, terrified he might say something that would lead them toward another line of questioning. He was tired of sitting on this chair and in this cell.
He wanted out.
The Water Ruptures Page 19
