Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga

by D. K. Holmberg

  But she also needed to protect Doma. Could she do both?

  Nimala, she started, I need you to show me the shaper.

  Mist began to flow away from her, forming an ever-thickening fog. It began as dense clouds in the sky and then slowly descended. Elle sensed everything within the fog, as if it were an extension of herself.

  Through it, she recognized the trees, the grasses, and even the stream burbling nearby. She sensed the presence of the shaper and recognized when their attention turned to the layer of fog. A shaping, first of water and then of fire, swept through the fog, but Nimala held the mist together, wrapping the shaper within.

  At least now Elle knew where to find the shaper, but this wasn’t simply a water shaper like she’d faced with Voldan. This was a warrior.

  Elle felt herself trembling and struggled to control herself. Letting herself be scared of a shaper wouldn’t help the elemental, and it wouldn’t help Doma. This shaper might overpower her, but that didn’t mean there was nothing she could do.

  She started toward them, thinking to have Nimala wrap the shaper in bonds of water, when she had second thoughts. What if they weren’t alone?

  When they had attacked Falsheim the first time, there had been two. One had been a water shaper and one a fire shaper. Without the help of the lisincend—Elle still found it strange to think that way—she wouldn’t have been able to stop the attack. But when she found Voldan, there had only been one other shaper, except that wasn’t any sort of attack.

  Nimala, are there others out there like this one?

  The elemental pulled away from the mist and swirled around Elle. Something almost like a face appeared out of the mist. There are others.

  How many?

  Nimala separated into the mist before coalescing again. Many.

  Elle felt her heart stop. It really didn’t matter how many there were, only that there was more than one. Even one—particularly one able to shape both fire and water—would be more than she could handle. If there were others…

  Can you tell if they’re moving?

  Nimala separated into the mists again, leaving Elle alone for long moments. As she stood there, the day began to grow warmer. It was subtle at first and came on gradually, as if the sun was trying to burn off the fog. When Elle began to sweat, she realized that it wasn’t natural. This was a shaping.

  She started back toward the shore, walking this time rather than traveling on a shaping. Elle wasn’t sure whether she could create the same shaping without Nimala’s help. With each step, she began to feel more of the gusting wind on her back, but with each step, the warmth pushing toward her increased.

  Mist swirled around her again as Nimala returned. Some move. Others do not.

  Elle continued toward the shore. Which way do they move?

  Those who move travel south.

  Elle almost stumbled. South.

  That meant toward Falsheim.

  23

  The water shaping didn’t provide Elle with the same excitement as she floated above the grass, sliding along the blanket of mist. In fact, she felt nothing but determination. She had to reach Merash’s ship.

  And then she needed to reach Falsheim. Brist needed to know about the coming attack. They would need to prepare.

  But what could they do against that many shapers? Even two shapers had devastated the city; what would happen when there were three times that many?

  She slid atop the water, racing through waves, letting the elemental guide her. Nimala seemed to know where Elle headed and needed little direction from her. As they raced through the water, green-tinted mist spraying from the waves and the bright sun shining down from above, she didn’t see the ship at first.

  Had Merash brought them somewhere else?

  She hadn’t told him to remain close to the shore, and from his perspective, he would assume that she’d be able to find them, especially if he saw her shaping across the water as she did. But what if there was another reason she didn’t see him?

  As fear surged through her, her shaping intensified. Elle shot across the water, faster than the waves, streaking along with the water elemental.

  When she saw the ship, she nearly lost the shaping.

  The ship was intact, but the sails were furled. Water swirled around it in a tight spiral, as if the sea intended to swallow it. A quick shaping showed her the people on the deck, each bound with water.

  A shaper attack.

  Unlike when she was on the shore, she couldn’t turn away. Doing so risked Ley, and risked Merash and his crew, men she’d asked to come along. She couldn’t abandon them now.

  She came around in a tight circle, following the flow around the ship. This is udilm, isn’t it?

  This is udilm, Nimala answered.

  Would she be able to do anything to save the ship if udilm was involved? She had to admit it was possible that she couldn’t. Even if she could help Ley and the Xsa, she might not be able to save the ship from udilm swallowing it.

  A pained cry from the ship carried across the water.

  Elle couldn’t wait any longer.

  She turned her shaping and shot toward the Xsa vessel. A trail of mist led her, the faint green of it making something like a wake through the water. As she neared, still clutching the water veil that protected her, she was heaved into the air.

  Elle tumbled for a moment before realizing that udilm had thrown her.

  Gaining control of the shaping was a struggle. She managed to right herself as she fell toward the water. Nimala!

  The elemental caught her. Elle pulled on the shaping of water, raising the blanket of mist above the sea, trying to keep udilm from reaching her.

  Even were she not visible now, the mist floating above the water would be.

  She was nearly to the ship. Ley sprawled across the deck, his hands pinched behind him. His forehead was bloodied and Elle couldn’t tell if he moved. At least he seemed to be breathing, but for how much longer?

  At first, she saw no sign of the shaper. Then, near the stern, where one of the Xsa was wrapped in rope as if tangled in fishing line, she saw who she sought. Both of them, because Merash kneeling on the deck, staring defiantly at a small woman standing over him. Streaks of blue ran through her black hair and she strode across the deck of the ship.

  As Elle swooped toward the ship, the shaper raised a hand.

  The sea swelled again. This time, Elle was prepared for it and wrapped herself in a shaping of water aided by the connection she shared to Nimala. The water elemental pushed back the raging sea, and Elle stood inside something like a vortex that threatened to suck her under. The masts remained visible, but nothing else.

  Nimala, Elle said, begging through the connection for help. If she couldn’t save herself, there would be nothing that she could do to stop the shaper, and nothing she could do to save Ley and the others.

  The mist formed something like a wall around her, protecting her. Surging through this, Elle shot through the vortex threatening to pull her under, angling toward Ley.

  She had to time everything right or she would either miss the ship altogether or she would crash into it. Nimala created the faint green blanket that she rode toward the deck, letting her feet touch down quickly as she landed near Ley.

  Elle wrapped the veil of water around her, pulling it tightly. She included Ley in the veil and leaned to check on him. He breathed, but his breaths were ragged. Can you help him?

  In answer, the water elemental washed over Ley.

  He gasped and shook for a moment. The gash on his scalp mended together, as if knitted by a seamstress. Only, unlike a seamstress, no scar remained when it was finished.

  Ley rolled over and blinked at her. “Elle? You shouldn’t be here. There’s a shaper—”

  Elle silenced him with a finger over his lips. “I know there’s a shaper. I saw her.”

  “A massive wave crashed onto the ship, nearly capsizing us,” Ley began. “Merash was swearing and trying to right the ship, but th
en another wave crashed. She attacked. I think Merash lost one of his men.” Ley sat up and swallowed. “I tried, Elle, but she was too strong.”

  The shaping swirling around the ship told Elle the truth of Ley’s statement. Then there was the other shaping, the vortex that had nearly pulled her under. If she was able to manage both at the same time, there might not be anything that Elle could do to stop her.

  “Where is she?” Ley asked. “Is she… is she still here?”

  Another scream filtered through the veil and Elle stood to face the stern. “Not for much longer.”

  “Don’t do anything foolish,” Ley warned.

  Elle took a breath. “Only what’s necessary.”

  As she started toward the stern, she released the veil. Holding it required energy that she didn’t want to risk. Her only hope was that the shaper would be weakened by the effort of maintaining such a powerful shaping that involved the ship. That might give Elle a chance to overpower her.

  If not, then she prayed she could find another way to stop the shaper.

  The veil dropped and the ship came into focus.

  The shaper stood only a few paces from her. Surprisingly, Elle was taller, but the woman’s lined face told her that she had years on her, years when experience with shaping mattered. That had been how Voldan had overpowered her.

  “Interesting,” the woman said, waving her hand in a tight spiral around her head. “I had heard there weren’t any bonded remaining here.” She cocked her head as water began to form around Elle, wrapping her arms and binding them to her sides.

  Can you help with this? Elle asked Nimala.

  The elemental pushed against the shaping, freeing Elle.

  The other woman smiled. “Perhaps you will be useful.”

  Then she attacked in full. Shapings of water crashed at her from each side, slamming into Elle. She did the only thing she could think of and raised her hand over her head and shaped, drawing the water sent at her into a protective shell around her, sealing herself inside.

  The woman stalked toward Elle, studying the shaping. With a flick of her wrist, Elle’s shaping shattered, splashing to the deck in a spray of mist.

  The shaper stepped into the mist and smiled. “Udilm answers to me, but you don’t speak to udilm, do you?”

  Elle stood and crossed her arms over her chest. “I have spoken to udilm.”

  “Have? Then you do not speak to them now. A pity. A bonded would be useful as we understand these lands. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. We will claim them all the same.”

  The woman took another step. The mist from the destroyed shaping hung in the air, mist Elle drew power from. She pulled on Nimala and the elemental swirled around the other shaper, this time wrapping her in strands of translucent water.

  The woman’s eyes widened as Elle’s shaping took hold.

  “These lands are protected by more than udilm,” Elle said.

  The woman began to writhe, and a shaping built from her that Elle doubted she would be able to restrain. She held the shaping, at first asking Nimala to help, and then begging. The elemental held as long as she could, but the other shaper drew on the power of udilm, drawing as much strength as Elle could shape, pulling with experience that Elle didn’t have.

  Her shaping began to fail.

  Elle staggered back a step, the effort at holding the shaping taxing her. With everything she knew, even with the help of the elemental, she wasn’t strong enough to withstand this.

  A smile split the woman’s face as she saw Elle weakening.

  Then a long blade stabbed through her chest. Her eyes widened as she clutched the sword, but her fingers fell away from it and she dropped.

  Merash stood behind the fallen woman and wiped his blade on her shirt. He nodded to the men untangling themselves from the rope and they each lifted the woman and carried her toward the railing.

  “Wait!” Elle said.

  Merash hesitated. “You want her to remain on board?”

  Elle swallowed, hating what she had to say but knowing that it needed said. “Make sure she’s dead. Water… water can heal.”

  Merash looked down at the woman and nodded.

  Elle turned away as they lowered her to the ground, not wanting to see them stabbing her over and over. She heard each one, though, and knew the sound would never leave her.

  24

  The sea calmed after the shaper died, as if udilm was pleased. Maybe it was different than that, Elle decided. If the elementals were forced to bond, it might only be that udilm was finally free. But there would be others, she knew, especially if so many shapers remained along the shore.

  When Merash and his men finished cleaning the deck, scrubbing the bloodstains from the slain shaper, he approached her, eyeing her differently than he had before. “Your return was fortunate,” he said. His voice was hoarser than it had been, and he had a long cut along one of his arms that he squeezed together.

  Without saying a word, Elle took his arm and called on Nimala. The elemental seemed to know what to do and water washed along Merash’s arm, binding the wound closed. He pulled it back and rubbed where it had been, shaking his head as he did.

  “You hadn’t seemed like much of a shaper before,” Merash noted.

  “Then why were you willing to help?”

  Merash glanced at two of his crew, who wound rope and worked on resetting the sails. “The men needed something to believe in, you know, Shaper Vaywand? The Xsa have suffered much over the last year. The attacks came slowly at first, but we don’t have anything like your shapers. Our magic is different than yours, and not enough to stop them, only slow the attack.”

  Elle wondered what kind of magic the Xsa might possess. “You thought taking them up the coast of Doma would give them something to believe in?”

  Merash met her eyes. “If they saw Doma at peace, they would believe that our people will be safe here.”

  Elle considered the coast. From here, it looked peaceful and calm, but she trusted her elemental and believed the coast was unsafe. She might have seen only two shapers, with one remaining on shore, but there were others, and they moved toward Falsheim. Elle didn’t know how long they had before the attack came, but an attack would come, of that she was now certain. And there wasn’t anything she could do to prevent it.

  Like Xsa, they needed to get their people to safety, only there was no place for them to run. There weren’t enough ships to carry them north to Chenir, or around to the kingdoms. She doubted there was time to make the crossing over land. That meant staying and fighting but they were no match for shapers able to use the elementals.

  It was the reason Incendin had posed such a challenge for all those years. They would come with fire shaping and steal Doman shapers. When Doma had water shapers bonded to udilm, Incendin at least couldn’t attack unimpeded, but it had been years since the last bonded shaper lived in Doma.

  “What now?” Elle asked.

  Merash looked past her, studying the rocky shore. “What did you find?”

  She considered lying to him. What did it matter if he believed that Doma was safe, even if he believed it for a little while longer? But she wouldn’t do what Voldan had done. She wouldn’t deceive in the same way.

  “Shapers.”

  “You saw them?”

  “I saw one. Fire and water.” She had thought the shaper must be a warrior, but after realizing the way that elementals were bonded, she wondered if that was the case at all. Could bonding to elementals give them their shaping ability? If that was true, the shaper she’d encountered would have been bonded to both water and fire.

  “You returned rather than facing the shaper?” Merash asked.

  “I’m not sure I could have stopped that one on my own.” His eyes narrowed and he glanced back at the spot where the woman had died. “It wouldn’t have mattered if I could. There are others, and they move toward Falsheim.”

  Merash grunted with a pained sigh. “What will you do?”

  “I need to
return and prepare the city.”

  “How many shapers are like you in Falsheim?” Merash asked.

  “Like me?” Elle repeated and Merash nodded. “There are no others. We have other shapers, but their abilities are weakened. Those like me have been lost over the years.”

  “Then you will fail,” Merash said simply. “I’ve seen the damage Par-shon inflicts. Their shapers move stealthily, and even our fastest girls can’t stop them. If there are no other shapers like you, you’ll be outnumbered.”

  He sighed as he looked at his crew. “We will have to draw as many as we can from the city. We can head north—”

  “Do you think north is safer?” Elle asked. “You saw how violent the sea was around the shores. What if they have other shapers bonded to udilm along here? Will your ship be able to make it through?”

  “We have to try.”

  “Or you could stay and fight.”

  “You ask the Xsa to stay and fight. You have one shaper of any strength, and you’ve said many shapers come toward your city. We’ve already suffered and we’ve already died by their shapings.” He shook his head. “No, I think the Xsa will not stay and will not fight. You might be capable, Shaper Vaywand, but you can’t do what you suggest all on your own.”

  Elle glanced over her shoulder. Ley leaned on the railing. He rubbed the spot on his head where he’d been injured. Water had healed him, leaving the skin completely intact, without any sign of the injury, but that didn’t mean Elle had managed to heal the memory of what had happened to him. Like Ley, Merash rubbed at his arm.

  Merash’s remaining crew worked at their regular jobs. Occasionally, one of the men would look over at her and then quickly look away, as if frightened by her. Elle had never been frightening to anyone, but like Merash, they had memories of old injuries—only theirs had more to do with what had happened to their home and their people. She couldn’t ask them to fight if they didn’t want to.

  She stretched a hand out to Merash, who grasped it. “I will ask the seas to remain calm for you, Captain,” she said.

  He opened his mouth as if wanting to say more, but clamped it closed again. Instead of speaking, he simply nodded. “Maybe you don’t warn udilm,” he said with a smile.