He had no intention of really going back to the dorms if there was a potential for attack. The dorms were isolated, and it would be all too easy for them to be caught within the dorms.
It was better to stay out in the open, and when it came down to it, it might be better to stay out in the city rather than risk going back to the Academy.
Ferrah watched him, seeming to calculate what he might do. He didn’t even know what he might do.
Finally, she stretched out her hand, waiting for him to take it. When he did, he jumped, wrapping himself in a shaping of wind. All the practice had made it easier and he landed, using the spiraling column of air to hold him up, cushioning his landing.
They came to the ground in the courtyard outside the Academy entrance, and once they were there, Tolan hurried toward the door.
Students made their way through the halls in clusters of two or three, and the occasional single student. All seemed oblivious to the presence of the shaping Tolan so easily detected.
And why should he detect it?
What if that was the message?
Could he have been viewing it wrongly? He’d been looking at it as if they were trying to send a message to other spirit shapers and rather than that, what if they were trying to send a message to him, a notification they knew he was here?
That didn’t seem right.
Tolan started down the hallway toward the Grand Master’s rooms, ignoring other students, and when he reached the Grand Master’s rooms, he knocked.
He worried for a moment that it would be like the last time he’d come here and that the Grand Master would be gone. Instead, the door came open with a flourish and the Grand Master stood on the other side, but he wasn’t alone.
The Grand Inquisitor was with him.
“Shaper Ethar? Is there a reason for your visit at this time of night?”
“I…” Tolan wasn’t quite sure how much he should say. Likely, the Grand Inquisitor had already learned he could detect spirit, and there was no questioning that the Grand Master knew about his ability. “I detected a shaping out in the city.”
The Grand Master cocked his head to the side. “You did.”
“I did. I feared it was a message from the Inquisitors.” He said the last in a hurried way, glancing briefly down the hall in either direction, worried others might realize what he’d said. As he said it, he realized how foolish it sounded. Could he really believe he had to be the one to notify the Grand Master that the Inquisitors might be there?
“I’m afraid you have it wrong, Shaper Ethar,” the Grand Master said.
“I do?” If so, he was relieved.
“It wasn’t a message from the Inquisitors. It was a message for them.”
“Why would you be sending a message to the Inquisitors?”
The Grand Master watched him for a moment before shaking his head. “Now is not really the time for this discussion, Shaper Ethar.”
Tolan looked past the Grand Master, turning his attention to the Grand Inquisitor. What was he missing? If the rest of the Inquisitors returned, he had little doubt what would happen. They would come after him again.
“But what I saw—”
“Was their task. If they discovered the disciples, they would give chase.”
Tolan stood motionless for a moment, feeling helpless. This was about more than just the disciples. And the Grand Master had already told him that. “Is this your way of restoring the Academy?”
“I’m afraid it’s complicated.”
“It doesn’t have to be,” Tolan said.
The Grand Master studied him, taking a deep breath, and he seemed to be preparing to say something, but he caught himself.
“Perhaps it would be best if you returned to your rooms,” he said, glancing from Tolan to Ferrah.
Ferrah grabbed his arm, trying to pull him with her. Tolan didn’t want to go. He didn’t want to deal with this. He didn’t want to have to wonder what sort of things the Inquisitors might do to him.
But then, the Grand Master had warned him, hadn’t he?
The steady sense of the shaping continued to fill the air around him. It came from everywhere, a steadily building pressure he couldn’t ignore.
So far, there had been no response, there had been nothing that would suggest the Inquisitors would respond to the summons, but Tolan had to believe they would. If this was a message for them, then it wouldn’t be long before they responded.
He had a couple of choices. He could stay and be ready, or…
Tolan didn’t want to think about the or.
“Come on, Tolan,” Ferrah whispered.
He cast another look at the Grand Master before tearing his gaze away and following Ferrah down the hallway. The Grand Master’s door closed behind him, shutting Tolan off from him.
“I can’t believe they’re welcoming them back.”
“Why wouldn’t they?” Ferrah said. “What did they do, really?”
“They attacked me!” He realized he was talking too loudly and lowered his voice. “You know what happened.”
“I know what happened, and they know what happened, but this is for the good of the Academy. Is it for the good of the Academy to lose those who help with the Selection?”
“You sound like you’re siding with them.”
“It’s not a matter of siding with them or not. It’s a matter of understanding that things aren’t straightforward. It’s not neat and tidy.”
“I never said it was.” It seemed almost as if she didn’t understand, and that troubled him as much as anything. Ferrah had always tried to understand.
“We should do as he suggests and get back to the dorms.”
Tolan listened to the sound of the shaping. The steady rhythm of it hadn’t changed, and as he focused on it, as he realized he could feel it but no others could, he debated what he should do—if anything.
“You go back. I’m going to stop in the library for a minute.”
“Why the library?”
“There’s just something I want to check on.”
“Promise me you won’t do anything too foolish?”
“You know me.”
“Which means you can’t make that promise.”
He smiled at her. “That’s not what it means. It just means I won’t.”
Ferrah hesitated, and he had a sense she might not leave him, and if she didn’t, he would have to be more reserved in the questions he had for the librarians. He wanted to know if serving as a librarian would protect him from the Inquisitors.
Ferrah patted his arm and then continued down the hallway.
Tolan took a deep breath, letting it out with a shaky sigh. He stood in place for a moment, letting the sense of a shaping sweep over him. It was powerful and overwhelming, the kind of shaping he knew to fear. There was something buried within that shaping that suggested danger. Maybe it was nothing more than his imagination, but the longer he focused on it, aware of the sense of the shaping, the more certain he was that he detected it accurately.
As he watched the others around him, students making their way along the hallway, it was abundantly clear no one else detected the same thing Tolan did. And perhaps that was for the best. It was better for them to remain unaware of what was taking place, almost a peace in that.
It was at times like these that Tolan wondered how much easier it would have been to have remained blissfully unaware of everything he’d experienced. These students understood the danger of the Draasin Lord, but they also felt there was a real danger to the elementals, and they believed the way Tolan had once believed, that there was reason to fear the elementals. How much easier would it have been to have remained ignorant of the fact the elementals posed him no danger? He couldn’t help but think it would be far better.
Reaching the library, Tolan paused at the doors. Were there answers in here?
No more than there were anywhere else. All of this left him feeling empty, hollow, and although it shouldn’t, he still couldn’t shake
the fact the Grand Master welcomed the Inquisitors back, despite knowing what they had done to him.
Tolan pushed open the door, stepping inside. It would be better in the library, better not to be aware of the shaping, and at least within the library, he could cut himself off from shaping elsewhere. The only shaping he would be aware of here would be his own—and that of Master Minden.
The library was quiet.
There were a few students here, but not as many as there would have been earlier in the day. He looked around, searching for which of the master librarians were on duty, and was surprised Master Minden was here. Next to her on the dais was another of the master librarians he didn’t know all that well. Master Hevon was young, at least for a master librarian, and still had dark streaks within his hair rather than complete gray. He bent over the pad on the dais, writing with a furious sort of scrawl.
As he came into the library, Master Minden looked up. She barely hesitated before getting off the dais and beginning to wander along the edge of the library, looking at the shelves as if that was all she had ever intended to do.
Tolan joined her. “The Grand Master tells me they’re calling back the Inquisitors.”
“Shaper Ethar. I’m not sure that is much of your concern.”
Tolan blinked. “Not my concern?”
“There are many things the Grand Master must consider.”
“But you know what happened.”
“I do, much as you know there are things you must ignore.”
Tolan wasn’t quite sure how to take that. What sort of things did he need to ignore? Was she trying to tell him he had to ignore the fact the Grand Master was calling back the very people who’d attacked him? She knew what he’d gone through, and she as much as anyone understood the way he had a connection to the elementals and that the Inquisitors would try to harm that in some way.
“What are you suggesting I do?” he asked.
“I believe the Grand Master has made that suggestion, too.”
He frowned. “You think I need to leave.”
“Does it have to be spelled out for you? You are bright, Shaper Ethar. Otherwise I wouldn’t have suggested a path of study for you as I have.”
“Why?”
“Because there are answers to be found outside of the Academy.”
“What happens if they’re not the answers we want?”
“How do we decide what answers we want?”
“I don’t know.”
“I suppose that’s as good a response as any. We don’t know, not until we go and search for those answers. In the case of what you have been through, and what fate you believe is out there for you, you can’t know.”
“But it means I—”
“Again, it means nothing other than you going in search of information.”
“You want me to go. You always wanted me to go.”
“Don’t make this any harder than it needs to be,” she said.
“Why?”
The master librarian tipped her head to the side. As she did, a soft shaping built from her. It was faint, barely more than enough to pick up the edges of, but it was there. When it dissipated, it rolled away from her, heading along the hallway and out into the main part of the Academy. It was spirit, at least as far as he could tell, though he wasn’t sure how she used it or why such a shaping would be necessary now.
“Have you wondered at the nature of the shaping you detect?”
“It’s a spirit summons.”
“Is that all you think it is?”
“I don’t know what else it might be.”
“It is a spirit summons, and yet, there is more to it. When you are better trained, it’s possible you will have a better sense of what exactly you are detecting within a shaping like this. For now, I would suggest you trust the Grand Master and others know what they are doing.”
“Even if that means they’re bringing back those who might be seeking power for themselves?”
“Again, I would suggest you trust the Grand Master. But even if you don’t, there are answers you can find for yourself, but only if you’re willing to look.”
“Outside the city.”
She bowed her head to him. “Unfortunately, when we look for answers, it often takes us to difficult places. In this case, you must take a dangerous journey. Only you can do it.”
“I don’t know I can provide the Grand Master with what he wants.”
“How do you know unless you go?”
“Because it involves my parents.”
“Are you so certain?”
He tipped his head, looking at her. “Are you saying it might not?”
“I’m saying the information you’re after might not be quite as straightforward as you believe. There is bound to be more to it than you have uncovered.”
“And if there’s not?”
“If there’s not, then you return.”
“What if they try to—” Tolan lowered his voice, looking around, but the library was mostly empty other than the other librarian. One student sat alone in the corner of the room. Tolan noticed it was Wallace. He seemed to be in the library nearly as much as Tolan and Ferrah. Though they shared a room with him, they still didn’t know all that much about him. He remained quiet, reserved, somewhat of an enigma. “What if they spirit-shape me to force me to do what they want?”
“What has your experience with spirit shaping been so far?”
“Not good,” he said.
“How many shapers have managed to spirit-shape you?”
“Well, not all that many.”
“You are touched by spirit, Tolan Ethar, and for someone who has been so touched, it grants a certain protection. If you had better control over it, you would not need to be as concerned, but even without control, even as you are, there is protection to you with spirit. Embrace that.”
“How?”
“Do as you always have done.”
“And what’s that?”
“Let the shaping guide you.”
14
For the second time that night, Tolan found himself outside, wind swirling around him, the sense of shapings all around. For the most part, it was spirit, the sense of the Grand Master and the Grand Inquisitor and whatever they were doing to call back the Inquisitors, but there were other shapings mixed in, some from within the Academy, but others outside in the main part of the city.
Amitan was a place of power, a place where shapers collected, and over the years, more and more shapers had remained, giving the city a certain sense of power that emanated from it. There weren’t many other places within Terndahl quite as powerful as Amitan. It was the seat of the Academy, which made it special, but it was also the seat of Terndahl, the capital, and a place of much power.
Tolan focused on what he could detect all around him, letting those shapings swirl and flow over him and trying to work through what the master librarian had just suggested to him. It was the same as what the Grand Master had wanted, and in the case of Master Minden, he suspected there was more to it than she shared. He didn’t know her well, but well enough to recognize she had some motive.
He should return to the dorms to give word to Ferrah, perhaps even Jonas, about what he was going to do, but maybe it was best to simply go. He didn’t know if he would have the necessary stomach to do what was needed if he went back and told his friends. It was possible Ferrah—or even Jonas—would try to talk him out of it, and at this point, Tolan no longer thought he could—or should—be talked out of what needed to happen.
Leave the city.
Could he really be contemplating leaving?
More than that, he had to find out if there was some way to follow the shaping sense he suspected came from his father or the other disciples of the Draasin Lord. If he managed to find it, he would have to convince them he posed no threat if his father wasn’t present.
All of it seemed far beyond what he as a student could do. It was more than he thought he should do.
Ye
t, his father was out there.
It was still hard to come to grips with the fact that his parents had left him, abandoning him so they could go in service of the Draasin Lord, and in doing so, they had abandoned him to a life of danger. Not only had he been put under the charge of Master Daniels, someone who he now understood served the Draasin Lord in a different and dangerous way, but he’d been subjected to the comments and rumors their disappearance had created. Life in Ephra had been hard.
Tolan tried to pick out individual shapings, but as he listened to them, there was nothing he could detect. There had to be some way to reach the disciples, but after spending the last few weeks feeling that strange shaping sense throughout the city, when he wanted to uncover it, he couldn’t.
“Figures,” he muttered.
There was something else he could do. If he couldn’t find that, at least he could focus on the spirit shaping the Grand Master and Grand Inquisitor were using. As he focused on it, he detected the rhythm within it. There was something more, something he hadn’t picked up on before. Perhaps he should have been aware of it sooner, but then, his connection to spirit wasn’t nearly as profound as the ones who were shaping this.
They’d used the spirit rune.
How had he not noticed it before? Hadn’t he left a hint of shaping overtop the spirit rune? The reason he had done it was so he would be able to detect anyone shaping, but then, if it was the Grand Master—and the Grand Inquisitor, he had to admit—their understanding of shaping spirit was so far above his, it would be easy for them to mask the fact they had done so. How did he expect to be able to uncover anything when they were shaping with it?
He should be pleased with the fact he was even aware of them shaping. Ferrah had not been. The other students within the Academy didn’t seem as if they had been aware of it. It was one meant only for the Inquisitors.
Or perhaps not.
Tolan wished he had a better understanding of the nature of the shaping, but until he better understood spirit, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to know what they were doing.
Using a burst of wind and fire, Tolan shaped himself up to the Shapers Path, landing on it. He wandered along it, veering toward the outer edges of the city, following it. He had traveled it enough that he was able to recognize its presence without seeing it. It was a surge of a presence pushing against his awareness, almost as if designed to do so.
The Wind Rages (Elemental Academy Book 4) Page 15