A Fading Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  It didn’t require much. He could probe easily and send that connection out through each of the elements and detect the shapers who were here. As he waited, Kerry was the first to attempt it. Tolan wasn’t surprised by that. She had a willingness to try things that some of the older Inquisitors did not. It was part of the reason that he would be able to rely upon some of the younger Inquisitors.

  “I feel them,” she said. She glanced over at James—not Thomas, Tolan realized—and frowned. “There have to be a dozen. Possibly more.”

  “What does the old man intend?” James asked.

  Tolan started to smile. “I’m not so sure that the Grand Master would be thrilled with you referring to him as an old man.”

  “Well, he is old,” James said, resting his hands on his prominent belly. He started to smile, and it changed so much of his demeanor, making him appear less irritable.

  When he did that, Tolan could almost imagine that he could be friends with an Inquisitor, or at least friendly.

  “We should go,” Thomas said. “The summons had an urgency to it.”

  It was like the summons Tolan had received. They weren’t able to get an absolute understanding as to what the Grand Master wanted from them, but they could feel an urgency, along with the location. It was the reason that he had hurried.

  The three Inquisitors turned, heading away, and Tolan waited until they were gone before taking Ferrah’s hand and following them.

  “I can tell you don’t care much for the other two,” Ferrah said.

  “Which two?” Tolan asked, glancing over at her. The gentle breeze coming through the park tousled her red hair, and though she didn’t gather it behind her, she somehow managed to keep it from getting into her face.

  “The older two. You always had a soft spot for Kerry,” she said.

  Tolan shot her a look. “A soft spot?”

  She shrugged. “Not that I could blame you. She is quite lovely. That is, if you’re after an Inquisitor.”

  “I most definitely am not,” Tolan said.

  “I saw the way she was looking at you.”

  Tolan frowned, looking ahead where the Inquisitors had disappeared. “I’m not so sure Kerry was looking at me in any way.”

  “Maybe you didn’t see it, but I did. It’s a woman’s intuition.”

  “Not a shaping?” Tolan asked.

  Ferrah patted his hand. “Not a spirit shaper, Tolan.”

  She pulled away from him and headed toward the center of the park.

  Tolan followed after her, shaking his head. He had always found Ferrah to be challenging, which was part of the reason that she appealed to him so much. There was simply something about the power she possessed and the intensity that she had, along with her mind, that he valued.

  When they were first students at the Academy, he’d met her early on. Her and Jonas, though his old friend Jonas had decided that he couldn’t handle some of the things Tolan had begun doing. Perhaps due to his success, or perhaps because of something else. Tolan never really understood, and he didn’t push at it, either. There was no point in doing so. They had fallen out years ago.

  When he reached the pond at the center of the park, he saw a dozen shapers. Many of them were master shapers, though not all. In addition to Velthan, there were several other senior-level students.

  The Grand Master looked over at them. He was small, thin, and with his wire-framed glasses had something of a delicate appearance. He was dressed in a deep forest green wool jacket with matching pants. Tolan noticed that the embroidery along his jacket and pants seem to be worked in shapes that looked like runes, though he didn’t know if power was embroidered into it. It was possible that it was; perhaps the Grand Master had added some power to his clothing through the runes. It was something Tolan would have to consider.

  “Now that we are all here,” he said, leveling his gaze on Tolan for a long moment. “We may begin. I called you here today so that we can try to understand what has been done to the earth bond. Many of you are connected to earth primarily, but all of you are connected to earth in some fashion.” He swept his gaze around the shapers. “We have spent considerable time working at the earth bond, trying to gain an understanding as to what has been done to it and whether there is anything that we can do to modify it. Unfortunately, we have failed separately. It is my hope that by coming together, we might find an answer.”

  Several of the master shapers nearest the Grand Master began murmuring and the Grand Master raised his hand, silencing them with no more than a look.

  “I have spoken to all of you individually, and I understand your hesitation and your concerns. That is why we are here. We are close enough to the Academy and the power that it possesses”—Tolan noticed that the Grand Master did not mention the Convergence, which didn’t surprise him, as there were quite a few of the shapers who were here who wouldn’t necessarily know anything about the Convergence—“so we can feel free to try whatever we think might be successful in helping us reach for the bond. As it is, we know there is a taint. What we must do is cleanse the taint and ensure that the other bonds are not affected in the same way.”

  “Is there any suggestion they might be?”

  The question came from Master Sartan, the master of fire who had been at the Academy since Tolan had first come. Master Sartan had been one of the first who believed Tolan had an ability to reach fire, something Tolan still appreciated. Master Sartan could be harsh, but fire could also be harsh and passionate. It was what made fire so powerful.

  “Master Ethar has been trying to determine whether we must be concerned about the other bonds, but as far as I know, he has not found anything.” The Grand Master looked past the other shapers, and his gaze settled again on Tolan. There was a stirring of spirit that came from him, a hint of something that was designed to urge Tolan to speak.

  Tolan nodded. “I have been pursuing Roland throughout Terndahl. So far, I have not found any additional influence like we have with earth. I remain concerned he intends to influence other bonds, but we have not found any evidence to that.”

  “No other evidence other than what he has done to earth,” Master Shorav said.

  Tolan looked over at him. He was a large, muscular older shaper, powered by the earth bond. He had always been hard on Tolan. “Other than what happened to the earth bond. Though I’ve searched throughout Terndahl, I haven’t encountered any other similar influence as what we found within the earth bond.”

  “Why would it have to be within Terndahl?”

  Tolan looked over. Kerry shrugged at him, meeting his gaze. She had dark eyes that tried to hold him, and he could feel spirit flowing out from her. It was subtle, almost more subtle than what he anticipated from her.

  “Just because he has attacked Terndahl once before doesn’t mean that he would have to do so again,” she said.

  “Correct,” the Grand Master said. “Which is why Master Ethar will be exploring the lands Beyond.”

  There came a steady murmuring.

  The Grand Master watched Tolan, locking eyes with him.

  Tolan said nothing. He had avoided going to the lands Beyond until he had convinced the Grand Master that he should. Doing so would have been an abandonment of his classes, but it also would have been potentially dangerous. Those who knew about the lands Beyond understood the danger inherent in that place.

  “He should not go alone,” one of the Inquisitors said, though Tolan wasn’t able to tell who it was.

  “He will not,” the Grand Master said. “But greater numbers will only draw greater attention. Which is why I will encourage Master Ethar to keep his visits to a minimum.”

  Tolan nodded.

  To a minimum meant him and one or two others.

  He could tell by the way Ferrah pressed up against him that she intended to be one of the others. Though she couldn’t necessarily shape in the lands Beyond, using a bondar, she would be able to store power which could be released there.

  He took her
hand, squeezing it. The tension within her eased.

  “Now that we have that settled, I am going to ask everybody to focus on their respective elements. I will hold the shaping together, and if this goes well, we might be able to use this shaping in order to undo what has been done to the earth bond. If nothing else, perhaps we can gain a greater understanding.”

  They formed a circle.

  It seemed a formal arrangement, though Tolan had never found any real power in shapers taking up position like that. Each of the shapers began shaping their prominent element. Even the Inquisitors were drawing upon power, summoning their primary element of spirit. Tolan waited. He could reach each of the elements, and though he was the Master of Spirit, he didn’t necessarily think that he was bound to spirit in any greater way than he was to the other elements. He viewed them equally, though he did have an understanding of spirit that was more than he had of the other elements.

  As soon as each of the shapers began pulling upon the connection to the element bonds, including those who were connected to earth, the Grand Master started a shaping of spirit.

  Like the Inquisitors, the Grand Master had been given Tolan’s gift of knowledge. That gift allowed him to know the connection to spirit that Tolan’s mother had possessed; the same connection that she had been given from Roland. Tolan had even gifted some of the knowledge that he had taken from the shared connection between himself and Roland, though that hadn’t been nearly as much as what he knew Roland possessed. There were limits to just how much he had been able to send across the bond.

  The Grand Master connected them, weaving his spirit together, and power began to build. Tolan began to understand why he had chosen this place. There was something about the park that drew out even more energy, even more power.

  He could feel it rising from beneath them. It was connected to the Convergence within the Academy, but it was also connected through the runes marked upon the Academy. And it was tied to the elements, the element bonds, and even the elementals.

  He could feel the elementals joining the shaping.

  Connected here, the elementals wanted to be a part of it. They recognized the need to help cleanse the earth bond. Several different elementals joined, though they were shimmers behind the circle of shapers. Jinnar, saa, hyza, ulind, trathe, grold. Elementals flashed briefly before fading, adding their connection and their power.

  Tolan wondered how many were aware of it.

  The Grand Master watched him, locking eyes with him, and Tolan realized what the Grand Master wanted from him.

  He needed Tolan to tap into the elementals.

  That was his strength.

  He could latch onto that, draw from that power, and as he did, he could find some power that might add to the shaping. The Grand Master continued pulling the shaping, spiraling it around them, creating a pattern.

  Tolan used his connection to the elementals, binding it to spirit, and then toward earth. He could feel the way earth pressed through him, the connection to it potent but altered. Tolan was aware of how that earth sense was there, the power that existed, and he was aware of the tainted nature of the element bonds.

  It irritated him. It flowed against him, a strange sense that filled him with agitation, and it was one that seemed difficult to grasp. He struggled with it, pushing through the earth bond, trying to grasp for more power than he could otherwise. Yet as he did, he failed to come up with anything more.

  He needed additional power.

  Though he was connected to earth, and to the earth bond, he wasn’t able to draw enough power on his own. Even by borrowing from the elementals, Tolan couldn’t feel nearly enough.

  He had to borrow from the shaping that surrounded him. He twisted the spirit connection the Grand Master used, taking control of the shaping. He ignored the Grand Master’s brief protestations, and as he summoned that power, he held onto it, filled with that energy. It surged through him.

  Then he poured that power into the element bonds. When he did, he felt a tingling energy. It was strange and it rippled against him, but he could feel that something was off about the bond. Tolan shifted, pouring power into each of the other element bonds, moving from fire to water to wind.

  He did so rapidly and noticed shapers gasping behind him. The power he borrowed from them was considerable, but he needed to understand just what had happened to the earth bond. He needed some way to grasp what had taken place here, and he felt as if he were close to knowing.

  The answer seemed to be there. It seemed to be just at the edge of his understanding.

  Tolan pushed even more power through, alternating from one to the other, rotating through each of the bonds until he paused, reaching earth again.

  As he pushed through the earth bond, he thought he had an answer. He thought that the understanding would be there, that all it would take would be to call a little bit more power, but then it faded.

  The shaping around him collapsed.

  He looked at the others.

  Many of them had dropped to their knees, unable to keep standing. Only the Grand Master and, surprisingly, Kerry remained standing.

  “What happened?” Tolan asked.

  The Grand Master shot him a hardened look. “You decided to take control over my shaping.”

  “It was necessary. I needed to know if there was anything that I could find out about the bond.”

  “That is not why I summoned you here,” the Grand Master said.

  Tolan took a deep breath, shaking his head. “I know that it’s not the reason you summoned me, but I felt as if I were close. All I needed was another moment.”

  Even if he would’ve had another moment, Tolan didn’t know if it would have been enough. He had cycled through the different element bonds, attempting to reach for the understanding as to what he needed to do in order to restore earth, but he hadn’t come up with the answer.

  Now he didn’t know if he ever could.

  “You manipulated my shaping. I intended to use that shaping so that we could try to cleanse earth.”

  Tolan shook his head. “It wasn’t going to work,” he said. Several of the other shapers began to get up. Ferrah was among them, and she looked over at Tolan, confusion on her face. She looked exhausted. The effort of the shaping that they had used must’ve been considerable, probably more than what Tolan should have borrowed. Other shapers getting to their feet shared the same look of confusion, one that left him thinking that perhaps he might have made a mistake. “I could feel what you were doing, and it wasn’t going to cleanse earth.”

  “I needed more time. Some things need subtlety, Master Ethar. Other things need brute force. In the case of what you did, you turned subtlety into brute force.”

  “Some things need both.”

  The Grand Master watched him for a long moment. “Did you find any answers, at least?”

  Tolan sighed. “Unfortunately, no. I cycled through the different element bonds, trying to feel for the differences between them, to see if there was anything that might explain how this was different than the others, but I didn’t find any.”

  “The next time, I expect you to allow me to lead the shaping.”

  Tolan looked around as the other shapers gradually got to their feet, and he nodded.

  He needed to be careful. He shouldn’t have pushed so hard.

  That was the reason he set himself apart from other shapers within the Academy. A gentle shaping of spirit came from the Grand Master. With it came a message, a whisper shaped into Tolan. For you to get along with other shapers, you must work with them and not against them.

  Tolan held his gaze for a moment before finally turning away.

  2

  The inside of the spirit tower was quiet, and Tolan called upon the energy of spirit, using as much as he could to send it out through the room. He swept it toward the Convergence, drawing upon it so he could maintain a greater connection to spirit. He probed, but as he did so, he realized that he couldn’t reach for the full str
ength of the spirit bond that he thought he needed. In order to do what must be done, to confront Roland the way that he believed would be necessary, he would have to have control over the spirit bond. For now, he simply did not have that.

  The first of the students began to arrive, a shaping of water and wind carrying Grace to the spirit tower. She was younger, had mousy brown hair, and always seemed a little disheveled. Despite that, or perhaps because of that, she was an incredibly gifted shaper. In some ways, she reminded him of Ferrah when she had first come to the Academy. Ferrah had been incredibly powerful from the very beginning, connected to each of the elements, and had used that connection to grow more rapidly than almost anyone else.

  “Master Ethar,” she said, taking a seat surrounding the rune at the center of the room. She spread out her belongings and Tolan realized that she had a bondar for earth with her. It was one of the newer styles, a bondar that had been created since his father and those within the free elemental village had revealed the making of them, and it would allow her to reach the earth bond much more effectively.

  “I didn’t realize that students were using bondars outside of the classroom,” Tolan said, getting up from his desk and joining Grace.

  She looked down, pulling it to her, rolling it in her hands. “Master Shorav suggested we each have a bondar with us to practice the earth. It’s gotten difficult to use, you know.”