Cloud Warrior 05 - Forged in Fire

by Holmberg, D. K.

  “I don’t want to risk myself any more than Father did,” Tan said. The revelation made him feel closer to his father – and to the Great Mother, as well. Maybe they were watching over him together. “But I know what will happen if we do nothing.”

  “As do I,” Zephra said softly.

  They sat for a moment in silence. Tan felt the soft pull of the wind on his arms, alternating from the cool of ara to the warmth of ashi, almost as if Aric and Honl battled for control of the room. The fire crackled softly, the gentle sense of saa working within the flames. Tan was reminded of the need to learn more about saldam and inferin, but for now, his connection to Asboel and his ability to draw upon saa would be enough.

  “What of Elle?” he asked, breaking the silence.

  His mother tilted her head as if listening to someone speaking in her ear. “I have not been able to reach Doma safely,” she said.

  “I thought that’s where you’ve been the last week.”

  “No. Incendin.”

  “Incendin isn’t the real threat,” Tan said. “They’ve been battling Par-shon for longer than we know. Maybe as long as the lisincend have existed. It’s because of Incendin that we haven’t seen the threat of Par-shon before now.”

  “Yet Incendin has still felt compelled to attack the kingdoms.” She raised a hand to cut him off before he could speak again. “Incendin is the reason your father is gone, Tannen. They are the reason many shapers have lost those they care about. Without the barrier, we’re weakened and we don’t yet have the strength needed to raise it again. We need time and we need to watch Incendin, to be ready for what they might do next.”

  “So there is no word out of Doma?” he asked.

  “None that I can reach.” She smiled at him, the same smile she had used when he was a child to soothe him. As much as she might recognize that he was now a warrior shaper, there seemed a part of her unable to view him as anything other than her child. “But Doma has been fine for generations. Elle will be fine.”

  Tan thought about Vel, about how the water shaper had been taken from Doma, his bond forced from him in Par-shon, and wasn’t so sure. “I should go—”

  His mother raised a hand. “Theondar wants you to focus on Incendin, Tannen. The kingdoms need that from you. We need the warrior.”

  “But Elle…” he started but didn’t know how to finish.

  “Even you have agreed that Elle is safe with the udilm. She has returned to Doma.”

  Tan couldn’t help but wonder if that was true. Had he not learned what Par-shon was capable of doing to those bonded to the elementals, he would have felt that Elle was fine, but how could she be safe if her bond could be stripped from her? What if she wasn’t one of the lucky ones, people like Vel and Cora, to survive? What if Par-shon already had taken her bond?

  His mother patted his arm. “When it is safer, I will reach Doma and find her. She is safe, Tannen. Don’t worry.”

  The soothing words did nothing to stop his worry.

  4

  Elemental Bonds

  The shapers lantern in the lower level of the archives provided a steady white light, parting the shadows and leaving the dark gray stone walls appearing almost black. Tan sat in the heavy wooden chair that he’d brought down, staring at the walls rather than the book he’d chosen. At least the walls didn’t reveal tales of when the elementals were captured and used. Harnessed, as the ancients called it.

  He had thought the practice confined to certain elementals, but from what he could tell, all of the elementals had been harnessed. This book, the one with a rune for water on it, spoke of harnessing the lesser elementals, referencing their use as justifiable. Of the so-called greater elementals, only the draasin had been captured with an attempt to harness them, though less to use them than for the need to control them.

  Was that how the ancient scholars managed to create such skilled shapings? Had they forced the elementals to guide them, much like Par-shon forced the bonds today? From what Tan could tell, there wasn’t all that much difference between the practices, other than the fact that Par-shon made no comments about doing it for the benefit of the people.

  Tan set the book aside and stood, glancing at the row of shelves. Other volumes were there, stacked along the shelf, but he didn’t want to go through them and find more evidence of the way the ancient scholars used the elementals. He had thought those shapers able to speak to the elementals, but what if that had not been it at all? What if they had simply forced the elementals to work with them?

  He turned away from the archives and closed the door with a shaping. He considered a visit to Cora, but he would only slow down the healing. The last time he’d stepped in to try and help, the shaping had been much more complex than he could even fathom, leaving him simply staring while they worked, unable to even help hold the initial shaping. Tan could tell that in the short time she’d been working one on one with the First Mother, Amia had grown more skilled. More confident. There was a sense of purpose he felt through the bond, as well, that hadn’t been there before, more than simply the desire to help. He would not take that from her, not as she was finally starting to regain that part of herself.

  Instead, he turned away from the shelves and used a shaping to open the door to the tunnels beneath the city.

  He trailed his hand along the damp stone. Down here, in the bones of the city, nymid mingled with golud. Tan didn’t understand why the elementals had remained after everything that had been done to them by those ancient shapers, unless they were still bound to the city in some way. But this was a place of convergence. It made little sense that they would be forced to remain here. That meant there were still so many things he didn’t understand.

  Honl, Tan called to the soft wind blowing through the tunnel.

  The wind elemental swirled around him, sending the light of his flame flickering. Tan let saa take control of the fire and stabilize it so that he didn’t have to hold the shaping and could focus on Honl.

  Tan. You are troubled.

  I am trying to understand the bond between elementals.

  What is to understand? The bond is there. We share. It is as the Great Mother intends.

  Tan wished it were so simple for him. The Great Mother might intend for the bonds to exist, but did she also intend for people to choose to abuse them? What purpose would that serve? How would that help the elementals?

  Was ashi here when the draasin last flew freely?

  Wind has always blown, Tan. Without wind, there is no breath, no life.

  And ashi?

  He already knew that the nymid had once been considered one of the lesser elementals, but Tan had disproven that. Would the same have been true of ashi? Ara was felt to be the greater elemental of wind, but ashi was equally strong, blowing with much the same force, especially once Tan coaxed it. Ara was more fickle but less fearful than ashi. And then there was ilaz, the strange wind elemental found in Par-shon. Here too, though he had never spoken to ilaz, and a part of him feared it.

  Ashi was young, then. We are not so bold as ara.

  And the others? What of the other wind elementals, wyln and ilaz?

  The others have always followed ara.

  Tan wondered why that should be, though it was much the same with the draasin and fire. The other elementals followed the draasin—at least, they did when not forcibly bound and required to attack. When saa had attacked, Asboel had grown angry. The draasin might not be able to be hurt by a fire shaping, but something during the attack with Par-shon had injured him. Could the fire elementals hurt the draasin, or had it been the other shapers?

  Why can’t the young elementals bond?

  Tan thought he understood now that was the reason that the nymid had taken so long to reach out to shapers. They were a younger elemental, perhaps—as ashi said—not as bold as the elder elementals. It might be that it took time for them to choose to bond, or time to gain the necessary experience to bond.

  They must learn wind before they can
teach it.

  That’s why you bond? To teach?

  Ashi fluttered around him and settled near Tan’s face. The flame caught the wind elemental and made his translucency somewhat brighter, giving a sense of definition as they continued down the tunnel. The path leading up and into the dungeons of the palace veered off here, but Tan continued on. Up ahead were the doors he was drawn toward.

  Not only to teach, but to learn. When young, there is only the wind to learn. It takes time to master, but mastery comes. Then it is time to go beyond.

  Tan wondered if the same could be said about shapers. Would they reach mastery enough to be able to go beyond and learn? Would Tan ever feel such mastery that he would risk leaving everything he knew to bond to some unknown?

  He reached the massive arched doors hidden deep beneath the city. A single rune marked the center of the door, and Tan pushed a shaping of fire mixed with spirit into the rune. At least this shaping restricted who could open the door, though it kept the draasin in as much as it held others out. The door opened slowly, and Tan paused.

  If it takes mastery to learn, can the young draasin bond?

  Honl took a moment, making Tan wonder if the wind elemental even knew the answer.

  The draasin are different. Fire was not always so different.

  Tan’s sense of Honl faded. The elemental would still be there but wouldn’t impose upon the draasin hiding in the massive rooms beneath the city. Ashi worked with the draasin, but there was a sense of respect with a hint of fear mixed in as well.

  Tan pushed the flame forward, resuming control of the shaping from saa. He didn’t want to force the fire elemental to impose any more than he wanted to force Honl.

  The inside of the room had changed since Tan first discovered it. Then it had been bare, nothing but walls worked with golud-infused stone, the nymid lingering along the borders, seeping through the moisture crawling up from the depths beneath the city. Now, golud had receded, offering the draasin the solace of silence. With it, the nymid had gone as well. Both could still be found in the surrounding stone, just not in what the draasin now used as a den.

  Asboel filled most of the room. He shook his head, and turned to face Tan with eyes that nearly glowed. His great, leathery wings folded around him, making him look like some enormous barbed serpent.

  A large pile of pale, white bones were stacked in the corner of the room. A few rocks, one larger than anything Tan thought he could shape, formed a sort of arch, a way of replicating the den the draasin had lost when they were forced away from Nara. A pool of fresh water came up from the ground in another corner, no signs of nymid green within.

  Maelen.

  How are the hatchlings? Tan asked, standing at the door. He saw no sign of them, nor of Sashari, the other adult draasin. He wondered if Enya ever followed Asboel into the depths of the city, or if she preferred her solitude.

  She hunts alone, Asboel said.

  Their connection was different than it once had been, reforged with a shaping of spirit and mixed with fire after the Par-shon shapers attempted to steal it, and now Asboel seemed to know his thoughts without Tan intending to share.

  You know what I’ve been reading, Tan said. If Asboel knew his thoughts on Enya, then it was just as likely that he could understand everything.

  Not all. The connection is not that powerful. There must be intent. Asboel crawled forward. The ceiling of the room was high overhead, but still not high enough for him to stand freely. It was a den, and one that served as well as it could. His spiked neck scraped at the stone above. Without golud infusing the walls, Tan suspected the draasin would destroy the place. What you have shared burns within you.

  Tan grimaced at the choice of words. I thought those who came before me possessed knowledge that I do not.

  They did.

  Tan hesitated. But they chose to harness the elementals. The draasin.

  Asboel lowered his head and rested it on long, sharp forelegs. His barbed tail wrapped around him. Knowledge has never equaled wisdom, Maelen. Gaining knowledge is easy. Wisdom takes time and experience. Unlike those who came before, you are well on the way to understanding.

  Tan thought that a compliment. I had hoped I could learn from them, but all I have seen are things I would choose to avoid.

  Then you already are wiser than your ancestors. There were many things done that should never have been. Mistakes were made, and all suffered for it.

  He sensed Asboel unwilling to share more than he had, and Tan wasn’t sure he fully understood, but maybe Asboel was right that he would learn in time.

  What of the hatchlings? I trust they are well?

  Asboel twisted toward the back of the room. Tan couldn’t see anything, so he borrowed sight from Asboel. There, hiding behind the rock, was a massive hole in the wall. Behind that, he saw shades of red and orange. The hatchlings.

  How did you make that?

  I asked of golud. The draasin might be few, but we are still respected.

  Tan laughed. You convinced the earth elemental to expand your rooms?

  They had little choice. The rock would have melted otherwise. There was a note of amusement in the draasin’s voice.

  Tan didn’t doubt that Asboel could melt the rock, but he didn’t get the sense that he would have done anything that would have endangered another of the elementals. That had been the reason for his rage when the Par-shon shapers attacked. Bonded as they were, controlled by Par-shon, elementals were forced to attack other elementals. Doing so was unnatural.

  He sensed Asboel doing something, calling to the hatchlings, and they crawled out from beneath the rock. They looked much like Asboel, though smaller. They had long snouts, and spikes rose from their backs. Thin, papery wings folded behind them. Tails that seemed too long for their bodies gave a sense of how large they would one day become.

  The hatchling closest to him snuffed, and steam rose from his nostrils. He had bluish scales and orange eyes that caught the flame Tan held suspended in the air. The other snorted, staying close to Asboel. Her scales were deep red, nearly maroon.

  Their spikes weren’t as stout as those on Asboel, and appeared sharp tipped. The nearest dipped his head toward the pile of bones and pulled one out and began chewing on it with a soft grunt.

  Tan felt something from them. It was different than with Asboel, but it was there, like a faded sense at the back of his mind. He wondered if he could summon that sense to the forefront of his mind, augment it with spirit, and be able to speak with them, much as he did with Asboel. Doing so might mean bonding them.

  Have you considered my suggestion? Tan asked.

  Asboel snorted. Suggestion? What you ask is not for me to choose.

  Our bond has proven valuable to both of us, Tan reminded him.

  Only because I have bound to Maelen. Others of your kind are not so willing to listen.

  I fear what will happen if there is no bond. If the draasin are captured, one will be forced on them. With a bond, at least there is help.

  Asboel lowered his head. The nearest hatchling climbed atop him and breathed a finger of yellowish flame at his ear. Asboel twisted and nipped at him, shrugging the hatchling off. Bonds are not as simple as you seem to think, Maelen. There are reasons the draasin have not bonded before.

  I thought there had been some who had bonded.

  Once, and foolishly.

  What happened?

  They thought to control the bond. Few understand. You do, or you would not have survived.

  Asboel said it simply, and Tan didn’t have any sense of boasting from him. There had been a real possibility that he might not survive the bond, especially given how powerfully Asboel spoke within his mind. Had Tan not managed to push him back, he might have been overpowered.

  Our bond formed only because I found you, Tan reminded him.

  You listened. You were strong enough to turn away, even then, little warrior.

  Tan smiled at the memory. It was easy to think of it in a positiv
e way now. Now he’d learned some control, almost like learning shaping.

  There is one who Sashari should meet. Let her decide.

  Asboel snorted again. Both of the hatchlings latched onto his pointed ears and yanked. Asboel shook his head, and they went flying back. She will consider.

  That was all that Tan could ask. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they needed to bond the adult draasin, if not for any other reason than to keep them safe. But he would not force it. Tan would not be like the Utu Tonah or the ancient shapers. Bonds must be chosen. It didn’t protect the hatchlings, but it was a start.

  Have they claimed their names? Tan asked. Naming for a draasin took time, he’d learned. Asboel found it amusing that humans were named at birth. Draasin had to acquire their name, much like Tan had acquired the name Maelen.

  They have barely begun to hunt. Names will come.

  Tan struggled with getting Asboel to feel the same sense of urgency that he felt about the Par-shon shapers. To Asboel, Par-shon was another place to hunt, however dangerous. Once the Utu Tonah claimed a draasin, he would become nearly unstoppable. He might not be able to be stopped as it was.

  Perhaps I will give them a name, as you gave me mine, Tan suggested.

  The nearest of the young draasin, the one with the bluish scales, spun in place, his tail smacking against the stone. He glanced at Tan and fire streamed from his nostrils, parting harmlessly around Tan. He laughed. The other young draasin remained by Asboel, hesitant around Tan.

  You are strong, Maelen, but you are not yet that strong.

  Tan frowned at the comment. Naming takes strength?

  Asboel clucked, a sound much like laughter. You still have much to learn, Maelen.

  Tan rested his hand on Asboel and took a steady breath. I’m afraid that I don’t have the time needed to learn what’s necessary. I want to keep you safe. To keep everyone safe.