Changed by Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 3)

by D. K. Holmberg

What else was there? He wanted Incendin to leave the kingdoms alone. He wanted the lisincend to pay for what they had done to his family and Amia’s. And the archivists to suffer…

  But those weren’t all his thoughts.

  He wanted time with Amia. He wanted to learn about his abilities. And though he thought about vengeance for what the lisincend had done to him, more than that, he needed to protect the draasin from Incendin. Asboel may not fear the lisincend, but Tan did. As often as Asboel had helped him, he needed Tan’s help now.

  A soft voice seemed to sigh.

  You have bound to the Eldest.

  Tan nodded. Asboel would be disappointed in what had happened to him.

  Perhaps he should die rather than see how Asboel would react.

  Time passed in silence. In that time, water swirled around him. It began to burn against his arms, as if the salt in the water threatened to peel back his skin.

  Pain surged in his mouth and throat and lungs. His mind went cold. Silence and blackness surrounded him. The water elemental would not heal him.

  And then he heard a voice.

  You will be restored.

  He opened his eyes. Green glowed around him. Not the elemental he expected.

  Nymid?

  He Who is Tan.

  How are you here?

  A face appeared out of the water, coming close to him. You came to water. All is connected. All is restored.

  Why?

  Udilm did not wish to restore He Who is Tan. Twisted by Fire. Nymid know him. The Eldest vouched for him.

  Tan blinked. The Eldest. He knows?

  He knows.

  Pain tore through him.

  The sensation was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. The closest comparison he had was plunging through an icy stream in the middle of winter, but even that wasn’t cold enough. This was more like the frozen cold that held the draasin in the place of convergence.

  He screamed but no sound came out.

  His body spasmed, his back arching violently.

  Everything hurt. Agony raced through his stomach. His chest tightened, squeezing as if the weight of the ocean pressed upon him. Even his eyes hurt.

  Worse was the pain in his head. Wave after wave of pain raced through his mind.

  The sensation was unrelenting. The only thought he could clearly come up with was that the nymid tortured him, but the thought left him. The pain pounded through him, rolling through his body over and again. Tan was aware of nothing other than pain.

  And then it eased.

  He opened his eyes. Light filtered through to him. He felt drained, but no longer did the rage wrack his mind. No longer did anger seethe through him, threatening to boil from his skin.

  Had the nymid healed him?

  Nymid?

  The response came immediately, louder than it had been. He Who is Tan.

  The voice sounded like a shout deep in his mind. He struggled to shield himself and without intending to, he wrapped a shaping of air around his mind to protect himself.

  After it was done, he realized what he had done and released the shaping slowly. You healed me.

  Swirls of green shimmered toward him. A face appeared within it, forming the features of the nymid he had seen before. You were restored.

  He wasn’t sure how to ask the question he needed to have answered. What did I do? How can I keep it from happening again?

  None are meant to draw the power of the Mother within them.

  I only tried to protect those I care for.

  The Daughter. The Eldest.

  Tan nodded. His head ached, but less than it had before.

  He had vague memories of the anger working through him following the transformation, but he remembered what he had done, how he had simply destroyed the Incendin shapers.

  We would not have restored you otherwise.

  Tan swam in place, letting the water pull on him. There was a certain warmth to it that tingled across his skin. Shame worked through him at what he had done—and what he had nearly done. Could Amia ever forgive him?

  What am I?

  The nymid seemed amused by the question. You are He Who is Tan.

  I am not a shaper, not like those of the kingdoms.

  The nymid’s face twisted. Tan couldn’t tell emotion from the nymid, but there seemed a sense of confusion. You are the one the Mother chose. And you are needed.

  It was Tan’s turn to feel confused. The Mother?

  Water pressed upon him and he slid against something soft, sticking him in place.

  Sand.

  Light filtered through the water. His chest started to burn, but differently and in a way he had felt before.

  He sat up and pierced through the water’s surface. Bright sunlight shone down on him. A slow current pushed against him, rocking him back and forth. He turned, noting a shore on either side. Whatever river he had drifted into emptied into the vast expanse of the ocean far downstream.

  Tan dragged himself out of the water and sat along the nearest shore, staring at the water. He tucked his knees against his chest, letting the cool breeze dry him, pulling goose pimples out onto his skin. He shivered and smiled as he did.

  He dipped one foot into the water, making a connection to it. Pale green swirled in the water, nothing like the bright concentration of nymid he’d seen while still underwater. Thank you, nymid.

  Their response came slowly and quietly. No thanks are needed for one who serves the Mother.

  Tan inhaled deeply. I will serve.

  He had no idea how, but he would serve.

  20

  Bond Pair

  Daylight had faded by the time Amia found him.

  She touched his shoulder, waking him from a dreamless sleep. A cautious smile pulled at her mouth as she did. “Tan?”

  He sat up. His body ached and he stretched, trying to pull the stiffness from his muscles. His skin still felt raw, but not like it had when he had transformed. “You found me?”

  She handed him a roll of fabric. He took it and shook it open. A cloak. Not his own—that had burned when he nearly transformed—but one of the Aeta, and made of a thick green fabric. Tan pulled it around him, thankful for its warmth.

  She touched his arm hesitantly at first, but then she pulled up against him and kissed him. “The udilm healed you.”

  “Not the udilm. The nymid.” He motioned toward the river. “The udilm wouldn’t restore me. I must have been carried here by the current.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not sure what would have happened had I not made it upstream.”

  Amia stared at the water for a moment. “The river runs into the sea. You shouldn’t have been pushed up the river.”

  Tan watched it and realized she was right. “Maybe the udilm helped some.”

  The connection between them felt as it had before fire transformed him. Amia hesitated. “I didn’t know if it would work.”

  “Thank you for trying.”

  She turned her face up so he could see that tears welled in her eyes. “You were so different. I… I didn’t know if I could save you.”

  He pulled her against him, hugging her tightly. “But you did. Had you not believed I could be saved, fire would have…” He trailed off, uncertain how to finish. What would fire have done? It had changed him, twisting within him, but it was more than that. He had felt strength and power that he didn’t feel now. Fire gave him that.

  Now… now it was lost. He was nothing more than he had been before. Possibly less. Without the ability to shape easily, what was he?

  Amia rested her head against his shoulder. “You are Tan. You are enough.”

  She had heard his thoughts.

  He sighed. “What now?”

  “The First Mother planned to go to Ethea. You saved her twice. For that, she agreed to help the king.”

  “I need to find Roine and Lacertin. They fight Incendin and—”

  Amia shook her head. “Leave them to their fight. You have many skills, T
an, but you nearly lost yourself. You…” Amia stepped away from him and met his eyes. “What would you accomplish by going? What would you do the others could not?”

  What would he do? He couldn’t battle the lisincend, not like Roine. Had fire still consumed him, still worked through him as it had, he might have had a chance, though the lisincend had served fire for longer than he could imagine. And after what had happened, he feared fire’s pull. What would happen were he attacked by another fire shaper? Would he manage to protect those he cared about without drawing fire into himself, without twisting it like the lisincend did?

  More than revenge for what the lisincend had done to him, he knew there was another task for him, one that was more important. “I need to protect the draasin.”

  Amia’s breath caught. “How?”

  “I don’t—”

  Soft laughter interrupted what he was about to say. He tried again, this time to rebuke Amia, but it didn’t come from her. Concentrating, he realized it came from…

  Asboel.

  Maelen.

  A warm gust of wind swirled over him. Tan looked up to see Asboel drifting to the ground on a quick flap of his wings. Golden eyes studied him and seemed to see through him.

  Amia jumped back. “Did you know he was coming?”

  Tan turned back to look at Asboel.

  You were damaged, Asboel told him.

  The nymid restored me.

  Asboel snorted. Steam streamed from his nostrils. So I have heard.

  I am sorry.

  Asboel lowered his head until he met Tan’s eyes. You still have not learned what you have done, have you, Maelen?

  And what have I done?

  We are bonded to each other. It happens rarely. Few bond with the pure spirits. Impure frequently bonds, though I think that has not happened for many years.

  What does it mean that we’re bonded?

  Asboel snorted again. Only the Mother knows. There is always some purpose. Mine is likely to protect you. Yours would be to explain what has changed in the millennia since I last hunted these lands.

  Tan didn’t think that was his only purpose. The nymid had seemed interested in him protecting the draasin. I haven’t explained anything that has changed.

  Asboel tipped his head back. You have explained Twisted Fire. That is enough for now.

  They are a danger to you. They seek to serve fire in your stead.

  Fire would not allow them to serve.

  Tan wasn’t so certain. After feeling the effect of fire as it worked through him, fire didn’t seem to care who served, so long as it was allowed to burn. The difference for the draasin was their control.

  Why did you come?

  You were in danger. When udilm sent word…

  You came for me?

  You are like the hatchlings with your questions.

  A vision of the other draasin came through the connection he shared with Asboel. Through the vision, he saw the two eggs Asboel had clutched in his talons had been set onto a heated stone. The other draasin—the female, though Tan didn’t know her name—perched over them. Days or weeks passed and then the eggs began to crack. Two small lizards crawled from the eggs.

  Hatchlings? They are safe?

  What would happen if Incendin discovered the hatchlings? Would they try to twist them and shape them into something they were not? Would they try and destroy their elemental connection?

  And what did it mean for the world that the hatchlings existed? Amia’s shaping would not be in place for them and, if what he suspected about the shaping was true—that Amia had only managed to shape the draasin because they were in a place of convergence so close to the Great Mother—there would be no way to duplicate it. The draasin would be free to hunt as they pleased, guided only by Asboel.

  How long before the draasin became the hunted once more?

  Asboel twisted and his tail twitched. The hatchlings are well cared for, Maelen.

  Twisted Fire—

  Will not harm them.

  Tan wished he could believe that to be true. They have taken those who can shape spirit.

  This time, Tan sent an image of the Aeta, pushing to Asboel what had happened when the Aeta attacked, how they took the Brother and others of the Aeta able to shape spirit.

  There is one who fears enough spirit will enable Twisted Fire to accomplish what they seek.

  Asboel seemed to frown and dipped his head toward the ground. I do not fear them. Do not fear for me.

  Tan met Asboel’s eyes. In them, there was great experience and power, so much that Tan couldn’t imagine the depths of what Asboel understood about the world. Yet he did not understand the lisincend—particularly the twisted lisincend, Alisz.

  I cannot help but worry for your safety. That is my burden with the bond.

  Asboel stared at him for long moments, his tail twitching. Then we will hunt them together.

  There seemed a weight to the comment that Tan didn’t fully understand. Perhaps it had to do with Asboel offering to hunt with him, or maybe it was the acknowledgement that he didn’t fully understand the lisincend.

  He turned to Amia. The Daughter must return to Ethea.

  Amia glared at him. “No—I will go with you.”

  Tan frowned. “How much of that did you hear?”

  She pressed her hand against his chest. “I hear you clearly. More clearly than ever before. And there is another who answers, though the voice is distant and faint. There is something else,” she started, frowning at Tan. “I’m not sure how much I fully understood.”

  “He wishes for me to hunt the lisincend with him.”

  Amia’s eyes widened. “You can’t… you were just healed by the water elemental and now you want to run back to attack the lisincend? What happens if you draw in fire again? Will the nymid save you again?”

  “They have to be protected. I can’t let the lisincend attack.”

  Asboel lowered his head to meet his eyes. The massive spikes on his back steamed slightly in the cool air.

  The Daughter speaks truly, Maelen. You are barely healed from the transformation. Twisted Fire can wait. Grow stronger. Learn. Then we can hunt.

  Tan clenched his fists. There isn’t time—

  Asboel snorted. Time? I have spent a millennia trapped beneath the ice. There is always time.

  But Twisted Fire!

  Asboel looked from Tan to Amia. Ancient knowledge shone in his eyes, more wisdom than Tan would ever know. Come, Maelen. I will return you to your home.

  * * *

  Tan sat atop Asboel. Amia sat behind him, gripping his shoulder. She would not—or could not—touch the spikes on Asboel’s back.

  Wind whistled past him. Translucent faces of ara occasionally flashed by and Tan studied them, wondering if he would ever speak as easily to ara as he did to Asboel. Mist swirled around them as Asboel flew, practically shrouding the draasin in a fog. It reminded Tan of the smoke hanging over Ethea, the remnant of draasin fire.

  Amia clutched his shoulder but said nothing. Asboel said nothing either, guiding them quickly toward Ethea.

  They crossed over high, peaked mountains. Far below were thick green pine trees rolling over the mountains. It took a moment to realize they flew over Galen.

  Asboel claimed he took Tan home, but Galen had been Tan’s home. Ethea was no more home to him than Nor could now be. He had no real home, but at least he had Amia. And once his mother returned from Incendin, he would have a semblance of a family again, especially if he could find Elle.

  Amia squeezed his shoulder and slipped an arm around his waist. “Did you feel it?”

  He craned his head around to see her and frowned. “Feel what?”

  She stared down toward the ground. Her brow furrowed as she studied something distantly. “As we crossed into the kingdoms. Did you feel it?”

  Tan blinked, slowly understanding. “The barrier.”

  Amia nodded. “We should have felt it when we passed into the kingdoms. Always before, I fee
l it like a tingling on my skin. I didn’t know if it was different when flying.”

  Tan thought about what he’d felt before when traveling with Asboel. When he crossed the barrier on Sarah’s—his mother’s really—shaping, he had felt the tingling. And then when returning to the kingdoms with Asboel, he had felt it again. This time, he felt nothing.

  The barrier had fallen.

  21

  The Last Visit

  Tan held onto one of Asboel’s spikes and leaned toward the ground. He stretched out with earth sensing, listening as his father had taught him years ago. Even then, he had felt the barrier, though he hadn’t always known what it was he sensed. Over the years, its presence had been a comforting thing. When he stretched out through the forest around him, he could reach the barrier and stop, knowing nothing dangerous could reach him with it in place. Ever since the hounds had crossed over into Galen, that had changed. The barrier was still there, but the sense of safety had disappeared.

  Now, even the barrier was gone. What did it mean that it fell now? Lacertin had been instrumental in creating it; did he know that it had fallen? Would he know what it meant that it was gone?

  We must hurry, Asboel.

  The draasin’s tail twitched. Now you wish to return home?

  Through the connection, Tan pushed through what he could sense of the barrier. Doing so was difficult. Putting words to a concept like sensing and shaping—especially of one of the elements the draasin couldn’t use—felt nearly impossible. Instead, he shifted it, turning it into something the draasin could appreciate and drawing on his experience changed by fire to do so.

  He sent Asboel the sense of heat glowing along the border, and then removed it, as the barrier no longer existed.

  I am familiar with this creation. It does nothing to hold back the draasin.

  It was not meant for the draasin. It was meant to hold back Twisted Fire and ones like it.

  You fear that it is gone?

  I fear why it is gone.

  Asboel snaked his head around so one golden eye could look at Tan. When he straightened out, his wings flapped with more intensity.

  They raced through the sky. The fading sun fell beyond the horizon, the sunset prolonged by their flight. Amia held tightly to him. Worry drifted through the bond between them.