Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga

by D. K. Holmberg

  Elle knelt next to him. “Where? Where are you from?”

  He blinked and struggled to take the next breath. Elle wasn’t sure if he would take another.

  “Where?” she demanded, gripping the burned remains of his shirt.

  Had she any ability to heal him, she would have used it.

  His breath sighed out from him. “Par…”

  Then he said no more.

  10

  Elle coaxed Nimala into assisting with a shaping of water. Without the masyn, the shaping would not have worked, but with Nimala’s help, water washed up and over Falsheim, extinguishing the flames burning around the city. She would look later to see what had happened behind the walls. There was something else she needed to do first.

  She found Ley wandering along the shore, staring out at the ocean. The swelling around his eye was better. His clothes were tattered, as if the rocks had tumbled him, leaving him stripped of any protection.

  “Elle?” Ley ran toward her when he saw her and grabbed her arm. “How are you still alive? I saw the fire shaper—what she did—how are you still here?”

  Elle glanced down at her dress. Since surviving the shaping attack, she hadn’t given it much thought. There wasn’t much she could have done about her clothes anyway. “I told you. I speak to water.”

  Ley glanced over to the sea. “But if you speak to water, why did you wait for so long to save yourself? You would have been able to escape before they captured you!”

  The masyn hadn’t been bonded to her. They might have helped, but now there was a connection. She only had to reach for it. “Well, it’s not always easy.”

  Ley waited for her to say something more. When it became clear that she wouldn’t, he laughed. “It’s not always easy for me, either.” He turned and looked back at Falsheim, as if realizing that the flames that had burned along the outer wall had only now stopped. His eyes widened and he glanced from Elle to the city. Then he shook his head. “What now?”

  Elle stepped to the edge of the water. She had given that quite a bit of thought on the walk down to the shore. For so long, she had wanted nothing more than to return to the kingdoms, to find Tan—to find the answers to questions that he posed, but now she wasn’t certain. Could it really have taken nearly losing her homeland for her to realize that it was her homeland? Doma, not the kingdoms. She could learn to shape at the university, but there were things she lost by going there, connections that were absent. Now she understood why the greatest Doman shapers never stayed in the kingdoms. They were the ones who returned, who did what they could to protect their land.

  And there was much she could learn here. The masyn needed to teach her. The connection was there, easier every time she used it. She knew nothing about this elemental, one that seemed found in the spray off the sea, or the turbulent swells of water, and in the storms that blew in from the sea. Tan had shared a connection with the draasin—he must have, or why else would the draasin have helped him bring her to Doma?—but she didn’t know if it had been anything like this. There was knowledge and comfort in the connection she shared with Nimala, only Elle didn’t know if the connection would remain when she left the water of the Ormt River. Would her new power fade then?

  Such a simple question, but given what she’d seen, not a simple answer.

  “I’ll need your help, Ley. Doma will need your help,” she said, stepping toward the water. The udilm had once protected Doma, keeping her safe. They were still there, just beyond the shores, but she couldn’t reach them. Maybe no one could anymore. But masyn had answered. The strange water elemental had helped. The water shaper said others would come. Elle would have to be ready, help the others get ready.

  “Not the kingdoms?” he asked.

  Elle traced her fingers through the turbulent water. A hint of green-tinted froth followed her finger. “The kingdoms are not home. Doma is home.”

  II

  Deceived by Water

  11

  Elle Vaywand stood at the top of the wall surrounding Falsheim, wishing she could speak to the sea elemental udilm. Wind gusted in from the white-capped waves, sending a spray of salty mist over her face she didn’t bother wiping away and leaving her long, thin dress damp. This close to autumn, even the warm midday sun pushing through the dark gray clouds overhead didn’t dry the moisture out of her dress as it once did.

  “Do you sense anything?” Ley asked her.

  She listened to the mist. Since bonding to Nimala, she had gained a different understanding of water. She could sense water, could reach through the spray coming from each crashing wave, and occasionally reach into the clouds, but she still struggled with listening through the depths of the sea. She heard it there, just on the edge of what she could detect, but the vastness of udilm’s domain was too much for her. The problem was she didn’t have the luxury of time to wait and learn when she would discover more of her abilities, not after the attack on Falsheim.

  “Nothing but the waves,” she said with a sigh.

  Ley cupped his hands around his eyes, using a shaping of water to look out over the sea. In some ways, he was a stronger shaper than her, though he could barely shape anything and had never spoken to the elementals. In others, he was as inexperienced as any shaper she’d ever come across in the kingdoms.

  “Brist wants you to—”

  “I know what Brist wants,” Elle snapped. The Lord Commander, the ruler within Falsheim now that the city had been attacked, Brist thought that he could use Elle’s connection to the elementals, especially since it had been so many years since anyone of Doma had managed to reach them. The only problem was that Elle wasn’t sure what she could do, or how it could help Doma.

  Well, that wasn’t the only problem. Some felt that she was too tied to the kingdoms, that her time in Ethea had created a bias. And she couldn’t deny that it had, only that it didn’t impact how she acted now.

  “Don’t get snippy with me, Elle,” Ley said. “I’m not the reason that this happened.”

  She sighed. “And neither is Brist. Only, he seems to think that I’m suddenly much more capable than I am,” she said. Or maybe he didn’t and it was his way of testing her. Either way, she didn’t care for it. “He doesn’t understand how the connection works.”

  “How does it work?”

  Elle turned toward the city, where the sloped slate roofs created an undulating appearance, even from where she stood on the wall. From the sea, the effect was more pronounced, leaving the roofline of the city appearing like swells of the sea. Few would be confused by it, but it was another layer of protection for Falsheim.

  The wall around the city had once blended into the sea as well, but the fires that had burned had changed it, leaving it charred and damaged. Now, there was no hiding the fact that Falsheim was here. Of course, once udilm had protected the city, preventing any outside attack. The udilm, and the protection they offered, were long gone, as were most of the Doma shapers, stolen by Incendin since udilm gave up their watch. For the most part, the only shapers remaining were either old and unwilling to fight or young and inexperienced like Elle. Neither left Doma in much condition to survive another attack. The only remaining shaper who had any strength was Voldan.

  As to how the elementals worked, Elle still hadn’t worked out what it meant that she had bonded an elemental of water, but one that was not udilm.

  “I’m still trying to figure that much out,” she finally answered.

  “Water helped when we were attacked,” Ley said.

  “Masyn helped, not all water,” Elle said, reminding him of the water elemental’s role. She might have bonded to masyn, but that didn’t make her anything of an expert. For one who had spent all her time while in the university searching through the archives for anything she could find on the elementals, it bothered her that she still knew so little. How could she never have even heard of an elemental like masyn?

  Ley frowned and followed as she started along the wall, making her way toward the narrow sta
ir that led back down into the city. “I don’t understand what that means. If you can talk to one of the elementals, why can’t you talk to all of them?”

  “I have talked to others,” Elle said.

  They reached the top of the stair, and she set her hand on the inside wall as she made her way carefully down. One misstep and she’d drop to the streets below, nothing but air between her and the ground, and Elle was no wind shaper. A thin, green film coated the stone on this side, reminding her of the way that the nymid appeared when she’d seen them underwater. That had been the only time she’d reached the nymid.

  “But it’s different. With masyn, at least I don’t have to nearly drown to reach them.” No, with masyn, and Nimala in particular, the mist continuously sprayed her and left her mind with a constant buzzing. It was too bad that she couldn’t speak to Nimala as easily as she seemed to hear them.

  Ley scrambled after her, not nearly as bothered by the narrow stair as Elle had been. “Udilm saved you. They saved the village.”

  She sniffed. “Saved me? You mean by washing me up on the shores of a village that wouldn’t believe me? Leaving me stranded where I was forced to steal your father’s boat—”

  “At some point, you really have to replace that,” Ley said. “My father needs the boat to fish. Without it, he can’t provide for our family.”

  She glared at him. “Ask the sea to replace it,” she said and made her way down the streets of Falsheim. It should be easier for her now that she’d bonded to an elemental. She sensed Nimala deep in her mind and could speak to her, but more than that was difficult. It was as if the water elementals only wanted to help when it was convenient. How did those who’d bonded to udilm in the past find it so easy to perform shapings? How had they managed to keep Doma safe with so few? Now that she’d bonded an elemental, she should be able to help, only it didn’t seem like she could do anything.

  Ley stayed a step behind her, almost as if afraid of her irritation. Maybe he was. He’d seen her shape—he was one of the few people who had seen her do so with any consistency—and probably feared that she would turn it on him. At least he didn’t know that she couldn’t shape with any consistency, at least not yet. It worked when she was angry, or irritated, or scared—basically any time of emotional stress, she’d decided—so maybe she could shape him now.

  The uneven cobbles threatened to grab her feet as she stomped her way along. People passing on the street glanced at her but then turned away. She doubted that it was because they recognized her, or that she looked terrifying. Elle was too tiny to ever be imposing. Probably that was her problem. She’d always been small, much like her mother, now gone four years from a sea lung the healers couldn’t help. Of course, her size had been the reason the shapers who had attacked had underestimated her. Had they seen her as anything more imposing, she might not have escaped.

  “Where are you going?” Ley asked as she crossed the street.

  Falsheim was active and fairly large, but still nothing compared to Ethea. The capital of the kingdoms was a massive, sprawling place. The first time Elle had gone there, she’d felt lost and overwhelmed. Had it not been for the reason she’d gone, she might have returned to Doma then. But she’d stayed, and over time, the city had become more of a home than Doma. Comparatively, Falsheim was compact, squeezed between the sea walls, and designed to provide protection from the elements. Everything within the city had a practicality about it.

  “You said that Brist wanted to know what we found,” she reminded him.

  Ley looked down at her dumbly. “You said you didn’t sense anything.”

  “Well, shouldn’t I share that with Brist?”

  Ley hesitated while Elle continued on, finally racing to catch up with her. “Don’t you think it’s… I don’t know… foolish to harass the Lord Commander?”

  Once, she would have thought such a thing foolish, but then again, she had once thought that the Doma Lord Commander had half a brain. From what she’d seen, and the way that he used his ships and the shapers, she wasn’t sure that he did. He was too concerned with Incendin—but then, most in Doma were used to Incendin being the danger. She didn’t know anything about ‘Par,’ but that was where the shapers had come from.

  “I’m only doing what I was asked,” she said. Which, so far, had been very little. It was almost as if the Lord Commander didn’t believe she’d done anything to help Falsheim.

  She stopped in front of an unassuming building. It was made of stone and painted with thick blue paint to protect it from the constant salt spray that washed over the city. Even with the sea wall built around the city, the ocean tormented Falsheim. Builders had long ago discovered ways of sealing out most of the rain and the sea, but some still got through. This building was long and wide, filling nearly the entire block. A few slatted windows were shuttered closed. It was a rare day in Falsheim where windows were left open. Elle pushed open the door with a grunt and pulled it quickly closed behind her. She might want to annoy Brist, but she didn’t want to risk his anger any more than needed. After all, he was the Lord Commander.

  The room on the other side looked more impressive than the outside. Walls were covered with maps of Doma and Incendin; some even included Chenir. The surrounding sea circled everything. On the nearest map, pins were placed in various locations, though Elle couldn’t make any sense of the why.

  A large hearth spread across the far wall and flames crackled comfortably, sending as much smoke billowing out into the room as went out the chimney. A young boy likely half her age and probably still as tall as her stood next to the fire, tending it carefully. Ley hurried across the room to the fire and stood next to it, leaving Elle by herself.

  She scanned the room until she found Brist. The Lord Commander was not a large man, and he stood with a wide-based stance he’d acquired from decades spent on ships. He kept his hair shorn close to his scalp but had a thick, bushy mustache that he twirled while staring at one of the maps along the far end of the room. Elle noted that the map included only the tip of the Doman peninsula, showing more of the sea than other maps. A few islands dotted the map, places like Xsa and Incan, where few of their sailors ever reached.

  A few other men stood around Brist but gave him space as he studied the map. Each man wore the typical thick Doma cloaks, designed to protect from the wind and the rain. Most wore short swords sheathed at their sides. Elle doubted any had ever been unsheathed. Not a lot of good it would have done them when the shapers had attacked anyway. None bothered to look over as Elle entered.

  Ley shot her a warning look as she made her way up to Brist.

  It took the Lord Commander a few moments to even notice she was there. The others standing around him glanced at her disdainfully, and Elle returned the look in kind. Most didn’t understand why Brist tolerated her. Elle wasn’t sure that she had the answer either, other than the fact that there had been a few who had seen her shaping and had seen what she’d done to help Falsheim.

  In some ways, she’d traded the frustration she’d felt with the village council in Ophan for the frustration of the war council in Doma.

  She cleared her throat and Brist turned slowly to her, his gaze remaining on the map for as long as possible before tearing away. “Lord Commander,” she said, dropping her head in a proper bow.

  He grunted with a restrained laugh. Maybe it hadn’t been quite as proper as Elle assumed.

  “Shaper Vaywand,” he said. “You have returned. Tell me that you’ve seen something of our enemy.”

  “I’ve returned,” she agreed and then fell silent.

  Brist waited for her to say something more, but when she didn’t, his expression darkened. “What have you found?”

  “Nothing. The sea is clear.”

  “Clear?” he asked. “We have word from Xsa that they are under attack. Nothing from here,” he said, tapping to an island on the map, “or here, but there must be some reason that Doma was attacked. It can’t have only been Falsheim.”


  Elle followed where he pointed, but didn’t recognize the lands he indicated. She hadn’t been taught to navigate the sees. As a senser, she was expected to learn whether she could shape, and to use that to determine whether she could reach udilm. Navigation was left to those without such abilities.

  “I can’t see Xsa from the walls, and I haven’t sensed any other attacks.” She’d seen Xsa ships, a steady stream of them in and out of the harbor, but nothing of the men upon them.

  “We need to look to Incendin,” one of the men said.

  Elle glared at him. “Because Incendin attempted to infiltrate Falsheim?” she asked.

  “Perhaps you have forgotten, Shaper Vaywand,” he began, saying her name with an edge of distaste. Most within Falsheim knew her grandfather, a man they had respected and revered, but a few—men like Thoras here—felt that going to the kingdoms to learn to shape diminished them somehow. “How they have stolen our shapers. How our lands have been weakened by places like Incendin and the kingdoms when our few remaining shapers depart to go to learn.”

  “Where would you have them learn, Thoras? Our shapers are ignorant compared to the brilliance that is the kingdoms’ shapers.” This came from a deep voice coming from the back of the room.

  All eyes turned. A tall, slender man leaned against the wall as if hiding there. Elle sensed him shaping. All within Doma would recognize the last great Doman water shaper and the man most attributed to saving Falsheim.

  “Voldan,” Brist said. “When did you return from your survey of the north?”

  Voldan stepped away from the wall and approached, moving with a sliding sort of walk that reminded Elle of the way the waves rolled in from far out on the sea. Voldan had learned from her grandfather, back when Doma actually had shapers able to teach, back before Incendin stole those with the potential to be something more. His eyes swept over the men standing behind the Lord Commander and came to rest on Elle. Her ears popped and she knew that he had performed some sort of shaping that washed over her, though she could not identify what it was.