An earth elemental.
Surprisingly—or perhaps, not surprisingly—he recognized immediately where they were.
Outside of Ephra.
“You brought me back to my home.”
“If I go any farther, it risks exposing my presence, but this is where you are needed.”
“Why am I needed here?”
The same images he’d had before flashed again into his mind. With each one, he could feel the elementals disappearing, though how would there have been so many free elementals to begin with? On this side of the mountain, there was no sense of free elementals as there was in the land his parents occupied.
But then, there wouldn’t be. They couldn’t be free—not really. The Trackers would chase, as would the Inquisitors. The elementals would be trapped and forced into the bond. Perhaps all those times they had experienced rogue elementals had been something else. Not rogue at all, but free.
“Serve the Draasin Lord,” the draasin said, his voice rumbling.
“And by that, you mean the elementals.” The draasin locked eyes with him and Tolan knew he would do what was asked. How could he do anything else? “What about you?”
“I will return and wait for you to succeed.”
“Back to the mountains?”
“Back to where I was.”
“You weren’t in the mountains?”
“I came to you out of need.”
“You don’t stay near the others.”
“The others call themselves the Draasin Lord, along with the followers of the Draasin Lord. There is no reason for me to be there.”
“Other than they seek the same things.”
“They do, but they do it through a different means.”
“You don’t support them?”
“They are supported, but don’t need my support.”
“Who supports them?”
“The others.”
Once again, images flashed through Tolan’s mind, one after another, and with them came images of the elementals. They were who the draasin referred to. They served his parents and the followers of the Draasin Lord.
“You don’t mind that they refer to themselves as the Draasin Lord?”
“Why would I mind?”
“Because they’re stealing your title.”
“I’d rather have them draw the attention than me.”
Tolan found himself smiling. “You’re using them.”
“I’m not using them. I’m allowing them to do what they’re already doing.”
Tolan chuckled. “You’re using them. That’s okay. I won’t tell them.”
The draasin stared at him for a moment before flapping his massive wings and taking to the air. With that, he disappeared. There was a moment of disappointment for Tolan, but it passed. He shouldn’t be disappointed he didn’t have more time with the draasin. He’d already been granted far more than almost anyone ever was. And he knew what he needed to do, if not how he needed to do it. Find the Keystones. In order to do that, he needed to reach the place of Convergence.
Tolan looked around, debating what the right strategy would be. From here, he could travel close to Ephra, and if he could skirt around the city, he could avoid notice, and then he could reach the Shapers Path.
Instead of going anywhere, he decided to focus on the sense of the elementals here. This was a place where they’d either escaped before or had always been free. Having been on the other side of the mountain, and the lands controlled by the Draasin Lord, he thought he could use what he had learned in order to see if he could free elementals.
What would happen if he released the elementals here? They were near enough the border of Terndahl that it was possible nothing would happen. Perhaps the elementals would drift out over the waste. If they did, then they might be safer. What he wanted was to see if there were free elementals. To find that, he would have to search for them. It was far easier to do it in the park near the Keystone, but then, he had used the bondars.
Focusing on earth and fire, he thought of hyza. At first there was nothing, but a sense of earth drew him. He continued his focus and felt an echo of power. Pushing more into his shaping, he held onto that sense of earth, letting more and more awareness flood outward.
Earth began to emerge. Tolan watched. There was a violence to it as it rumbled, dragging itself clear of the ground.
Oshal.
It had been here. He had done nothing to free it.
The elemental surged, tossing Tolan off his feet. He went rolling, trying to scramble back, but the elemental lunged toward him, using some strange combination of whatever power it possessed. In doing so, it sent him staggering off his feet again.
“I’m here to help you,” Tolan said.
The elemental shifted its focus to him. As it did, the earth tossed him.
He held his hands out, trying to soothe the elemental, but it didn’t respond. It was almost as if it was ignoring him. Given what had happened to the elementals, the way they were forced into the bonds, he thought that might be the case.
Could he try something different?
What had he detected with his vision of his mother? She had been using a shaping that had soothed the elementals. If he could somehow soothe him, he might be able to coax oshal into calming.
It had been spirit, but spirit was one element Tolan didn’t know how to shape nearly as well as the others.
He had to try. Focusing on shaping, trying to stay away from oshal as it rumbled, tossing the earth, he strained to reach the connection to spirit. It was a different sense for him than others. With the other elements, reaching his shaping was a matter of embracing the connection within it, but with spirit, it was almost like submitting. He didn’t have any other way to describe it than that. He remembered how it had felt when he was in the middle of his vision, during his Inquisition. Could he reach for it?
Tolan attempted to submit.
The ground rumbled around him and the power of whatever the elemental used threatened to overwhelm him. He staggered back, trying to stay clear of it. In order to focus on what he needed to do, and on submitting to spirit, he needed a moment to clear his mind. Running from the power of the earth shaping made it difficult to do that.
There had to be some way to hold onto his connection to shaping in order to get ahead of the elemental.
When the sense of the elemental rumbling toward him changed again, Tolan darted off to the side. He gave himself a moment, staring at the elemental. Oshal was little more than a stack of rocks, and when he had experienced it before, he hadn’t noticed it was as quick as it was—or as powerful. Then again, maybe it was only powerful in this location.
Somehow, he needed to find a way to soothe the elemental.
He focused on the memories of the images that he had from when he had relaxed and allowed himself to reach for spirit. It was there, somehow, and all he had to do was reach for it.
It came to him slowly.
Tolan pushed out with spirit. He focused on his intent for the shaping. As he did, it struck the elemental.
Soothing.
That was all he wanted. He wanted to calm the elemental, to send a wave of relaxation through it, and then he could figure out if there was another way to work with it.
Rather than soothing the elemental, it seemed almost as if he’d aggravated it.
That hadn’t been the intention. Perhaps he didn’t have nearly as much control over shaping spirit as he had thought. What had happened during the vision of his mother when she was shaping spirit? Tolan had been aware of it and had felt the nature of the elemental and how they’d responded to it. He needed to do something similar.
Pulling on that power again, he summoned it from deep within him. It came slowly, and once again, he sent it pushing outward, reaching the earth elemental. As he did, it paused.
That was more than what had happened before.
He needed to use that.
This time, when he sent his connection to spirit, he twis
ted it, focusing it toward the elemental and trying to add his intention behind it. He needed oshal to know he wanted to help it rather than harm it. He wasn’t trying to force it back into the bond.
That was why the elemental was fighting. It was afraid Tolan would try to force it back into the bond.
“I want to let you stay free,” he said, hoping he could shape spirit into the words. If he could do that, then perhaps the elemental would understand him. Without being able to do that, it was possible the elemental wouldn’t have any idea what he meant or intended. “The draasin wants me to help you.”
This time, he sent an image through the shaping, trying to do the same thing the draasin had done for him, giving him an understanding of what he was doing. That sense came slowly, and as it did, he pushed a little bit more. Tolan put more of an image into the shaping, sending through his request to the elemental.
“Please. Relax or others will discover you.”
That, as much as anything, was his fear. If shapers from Ephra discovered he was here and that there was a free elemental, there was a real danger they might come and try to suppress the elemental and push it back into the bond.
The elemental began to ease. Pushing out another shaping, the elemental began to slow. The violence began to abate. No longer did it try to toss Tolan off his feet.
He watched, waiting to see if the elemental would do something else, but nothing more came. Approaching slowly, he made his way toward the elemental, holding his hand up. Shaping flowed from him and he held his breath, fearful he was making a mistake. If the elemental decided to harm him this close, there would be nothing Tolan could do to prevent it.
“I don’t intend to push you into the bond,” he said again. “Let me help you.”
It was easier to put the spirit shaping into the words the more he tried. The elemental responded, almost as if he understood him better when Tolan used spirit mixed with his shaping.
And here he had thought it was a simple thing to speak to the elementals. It wasn’t simple at all. Not all would understand. It required more than he had been doing before.
“You don’t have to go into the bond.” He was nearly up to the earth elemental. Power radiated from it, and this close, Tolan could feel the earth rumbling beneath his feet. It was deep and powerful and tinged with a hint of anger.
He sent a soothing shaping through the elemental again but had no idea if it would even be effective. This close, the elemental seemed more receptive to him. Pushing out another shaping, he let it flow into the elemental, and once again, there came the sense of relaxation, as if the elemental was finally beginning to ease.
“How are you free? How have none ever encountered you?” That was the part of the elemental he had to understand. “Why not travel where it would be safer?”
There came another rumbling and increased agitation, and Tolan realize he’d asked the question while shaping. It meant the earth elemental understood him.
There had to be some way to understand it. He had been aware of elemental emotions before, and he had spoken to the draasin—though the draasin seemed to be something different than most elementals. Older. More powerful. Possibly more intelligent. Could he somehow have used spirit in order to allow a communication from the elemental?
Rather than pushing a specific message, Tolan shaped spirit. He didn’t force it on the elemental. He held it there, layering it around oshal, trying to use it so he could feel the emotions from the elemental and so oshal would know his.
Despite the earth elemental’s power and size—it towered above him, a finger of rock that seemed impossibly high—the primary emotion he suddenly felt was fear. It was terrified to be forced into the bond.
How could those ancient shapers have thought it was a good idea to force the elementals into the bond? If they were as scared as this, they would have had to have been aware of it, and yet they had done it. The draasin’s visions had shown him the people of that time had been connected to the elementals in a way that should have allowed them to know forcing them would cause pain.
What had the draasin said?
They had been friends.
How could they have done this to their friends?
“I won’t harm you,” he said.
Earth rumbled, a steady sort of sound, and Tolan breathed out, letting out a spirit shaping once again. As it left him, heading into oshal, he pushed out his desires. Not to trap the elemental. Not to harm it or force it into the bond, but to leave it free. To help the elemental.
Was this what the draasin had wanted? It seemed almost as if it had wanted him to be aware of the elementals in a different way.
It was more than the Keystone. It was more than a place of Convergence.
Somehow, he had to get back into the Academy. He needed Master Minden.
“Stay safe. I will do what I can to protect you and the others.” As he said it, he knew it was true. He would help the elementals.
The earth rumbled, power rolling through him, and it turned.
As it did, Tolan thought he heard a faint word whispered at the back of his mind, a rumbling sound deep and grating, like stone shifting. “Thanks.”
It might be nothing more than his imagination, but he smiled, nonetheless.
The elemental left, making its way from Ephra, away from shapers who might find it and attempt to harm it. Tolan hoped freedom would last.
He had spent enough time with oshal. It was time to return. He didn’t think he had enough strength to search for additional elementals, but that wasn’t the point. He had to find what the Inquisitors had done—and find a way to stop them.
As he made his way through the forest, meandering between trees, Tolan came to the place where he had first seen hyza. The ground was no longer blackened and charred as it had been, but the trees that had been here were gone. Their burned husks remained, little more than that, and a wide swathe of forest had been cleared. He made his way through it, casting a glance to the city in the distance, and veered around it. There was a brief temptation to head back into Ephra, to make his way to what had been his home, but he ignored it.
Instead, he headed toward the Shapers Path. He headed toward Amitan.
Reach the Convergence. Then he could find what the Inquisitors had done. And then he would free the elementals.
21
Heading back the city was an act of difficulty. Tolan was careful not to travel too quickly, not wanting to draw the wrong kind of attention. He still didn’t know if his parents and the other disciples might come after him. How long would it be before his father realized he’d decided to leave?
Tolan thought he had a bit of a break before his father realized he’d escaped, and even then, it might take them a while to decide whether to return. Was Tolan reason enough for them to come after him?
He moved carefully, and yet, even as he went, the sense of the elementals was there, all around him. Perhaps that was the message he was supposed to take, that there were so many elementals around. The draasin certainly seemed interested in showing him that, but when he reached the Academy, what was he going to find?
Now he was heading back, he had to focus on what was there.
The Inquisitors. That’s what was there.
Returning to the Academy meant encountering the Inquisitors. It meant trying to prepare for whatever the Grand Master had asked of them by returning. And it might mean trying to find a way to free the elementals without the Inquisitors knowing what he was doing.
He knew he needed to do what he could to help the elementals, but to do that meant he would have to face the Inquisitors and pit himself against the Academy.
Was this what the Grand Master had wanted? Was this what Master Minden had wanted?
He didn’t know.
When he reached the outskirts of Ephra, he paused. From here, his old home was near enough that he could practically feel it calling him back, and yet, Tolan had no interest in returning. Ephra had not been his home in quite some time. Even
when he’d gone back with the Selection, he hadn’t felt like he belonged. It was almost as if he was out of place.
How much of that was because of his parents? He’d never blamed them for it before, but learning they were somehow tied to the Draasin Lord, he did blame them now. It was their fault he’d been taunted by those who’d once been his friends, but it was about more than that. They had blocked off his understanding of shaping, preventing him from knowing what he could and should be. Had he not gone to the Selection, he never would have uncovered his potential.
That as much as anything angered him.
From here, he could reach the Shapers Path near Ephra. That was what he planned on. But when he looked over at Ephra, he realized something was not quite right.
There was a strange sense within the city.
Why should that be?
It took him a moment, but he felt something akin to the sense he’d when near the waste.
He hadn’t been here in a while, not since the Selection, and even when he’d been traveling with the disciples, he’d been moving quickly enough that he’d not spent any time considering his former home. Now he was here and looking upon the city, he could feel for himself that something was not quite right.
Despite himself, Tolan felt a draw into the city. As he wandered between some of the outer buildings, little more than farmhouses, he paused, looking around. He would be a little bit out of place. He was wearing his cloak from the Academy, and it called attention to him, but that could not be helped.
He had no goal in mind. He just wandered. His path took him along familiar streets, and at one point, he found one of the nearby streets that would have brought him back toward his childhood home, but Tolan ignored it, turning away. The memories he had were not what he had thought. They might’ve been happy memories—at least at the time—but they were missing something. The truth.
As he meandered, there came another sense, and this one was from where he would have found Master Daniels’ workshop. He chose not to go in that direction, either. As much as his parents, Master Daniels had deceived him as well.
A part of him was tempted to go toward Tanner, to find his old friend to check on him, but he decided against it. If he did, it would only draw attention to the fact he had come to the city. If anyone came looking for him, they would know he had been here, and he did not want anyone he cared about to be harmed. He wasn’t sure about how Tanner viewed him any longer, but he preferred to keep with his view of the friendship, the memory of the person he’d been.
The Wind Rages (Elemental Academy Book 4) Page 23