The Wind Rages (Elemental Academy Book 4)

by D. K. Holmberg

It was somewhere above him.

  He was aware of it, could feel it, and as he held onto the bondar, sending power out from it and toward the distant sense of the rune, he knew he would be triggering more than the rune. He would be triggering the protections the Grand Master had placed.

  There was no choice otherwise.

  Tolan forced a shaping into the rune.

  When he had tried before, he hadn’t enough power to use it. Perhaps it was more that he didn’t have enough control over shaping in order to use it. Either way, he recognized he was unable to use the power stored within the rune.

  And he still might not be able to.

  This time, though, he used a bondar, attempting to trigger the power within the rune with it.

  Energy flowed.

  It filled him, the power of the elements, mixing with the element bonds, mixing with him, and giving him a sense of something more. It was a hint, little more than that, and as it came to him, he felt as if there was something more to it.

  Tolan focused on the Convergence, shifting the shaping he was using. He sent it down into the Convergence. Power poured out from him, hitting the Convergence. He shifted the way he shaped and began to use the connection to the rune along with the power of the Convergence. Together, it gave him a greater sense of power and connectedness.

  Tolan felt overwhelmed, but refused to move. This was what he needed to be doing.

  A sense of something more—something greater—came to him, buried within the Convergence, as if he had always been meant to find it. Understanding and knowledge and connectedness came to him. In that moment, a flash of recognition surged through him.

  As it did, he saw the element bonds. He saw the people accessing them. He even saw the elementals.

  They were lost, trapped, and afraid.

  And he saw where they were trapped.

  Tolan held onto that knowledge, trying to hold it.

  Strangely, darkness swept toward them.

  Tolan focused on where the clusters of the elementals could be found. They were all along the edge of the waste. Could he use the Convergence to learn how to remove the Keystones?

  Another surge of knowledge struck him.

  Now he had to hope that knowledge stayed with him. At least he knew where he needed to go first.

  Before he could do anything else, a shaping exploded behind him.

  24

  Releasing his connection to spirit, Tolan instead focused on the doorway. He wanted to prevent anyone entering, regardless of who it might be. It didn’t matter who was coming. All that mattered was he needed an opportunity to hold them back.

  He used his shaping, forcing it against the door, sealing it, but there wasn’t enough power available.

  Was there another way to attempt this? He focused on the runes overhead and quickly connected to them. Having done so now more than once, he was able to connect to a greater magic. He pulled on it and pushed that energy against the door, attempting to seal it.

  There might be something more he could do.

  Focusing on the Convergence, he drew that out as well, adding to it.

  Tolan stood, holding onto that power. How long would he be able to maintain his connection like this? He didn’t know if he would be able to withstand an attack long enough to be of much use. There had to be some way of separating himself from the shaping, to hold it in place, but it wasn’t a technique he knew.

  “You’ve returned.”

  Tolan jumped, spinning, and realized Master Minden stood on the other side of the Convergence.

  “Master Minden?” Could she be the one responsible for the shaping? She had considerable talent, though he had never seen her use it to the full extent of her ability. He wouldn’t be surprised if she could somehow use shaping in such a way that allowed her to create a defense against people like him. “How long have you been here?”

  He hadn’t noticed anyone here when he’d first come, but there was only the one way in.

  “I’m surprised you returned as quickly as you did.”

  “You didn’t want me to.”

  “It’s not a matter of want. It’s a matter of needing to find your purpose, Shaper Ethar.”

  Tolan shook his head. “I was worried I’d betray the Academy by going with my father, and worried I would betray my parents by staying at the Academy.”

  He continued to hold onto power, pressing it against the door. Even as he did, he could feel his strength beginning to wane. This was an incredibly powerful shaping, and he didn’t have enough experience with similar shapings. Had he spent more time at the Academy, it was possible he would be better equipped to handle a shaping like this, but he hadn’t been able to properly study.

  “Most people don’t have such concerns. And yet, you aren’t most people, Shaper Ethar.”

  “Why are you here?”

  “I suspect I’m here for the same reason as you.”

  “The elementals?”

  “Is that why you’ve come?”

  “I needed to. There’s something happening…”

  “There’s always something happening,” she said softly. Her gaze lowered to the pool of silvery liquid. “I have visited this place many times over the years. There’s something peaceful about it, and when I’m here, I get the sense I can find myself.”

  “Why would you need to find yourself?”

  “When you have served as long as I have, sometimes you begin to worry you will lose your way.”

  “And what way is that?”

  Rather than answering, Master Minden began to make her way around the pool. When she neared him, she paused. “How long do you think you can maintain that shaping?”

  “You can feel it?”

  “You are using considerable power, Shaper Ethar, but you lack experience. Time will teach that, I suspect, though I begin to wonder if we have the necessary time.”

  “I was just trying to—”

  “Find yourself?”

  Tolan glanced at the door. “Something like that.”

  “And did you?”

  He shrugged. “I… I don’t really know.”

  “That’s good. It would be unfortunate if you claimed you knew yourself before you were ready.”

  “I don’t know what that means.”

  “That is also good.”

  “Are you going to force me to return?”

  “It doesn’t appear anyone forced you to return.”

  “I came for understanding.”

  “To the Convergence?” Master Minden asked, once again lowering her gaze to the silvery pool. As she did, Tolan noted a shaping slipping away from her. There was power in that shaping, and as it drifted from her, she continued to hold onto it, letting it slip deeper and deeper into the Convergence. She didn’t appear to do anything drawing upon that energy, and instead, just poured it out.

  “It was where I thought I might gain the understanding I needed.”

  “Then why are you holding onto the shaping?” She spoke softly, but there was power in her words. She knew exactly what he was doing, and if it were anyone else, he might have been more concerned, but something about Master Minden had always been friendly.

  “I don’t know who’s coming.”

  “I suspect if you were to use the power you’re holding, you’d be able to identify them. I could tell you it is the Grand Master and the Grand Inquisitor, along with several of the master shapers.”

  Tolan’s heart sank. It would be difficult to explain to the Grand Master why he had come to the Convergence again.

  “I was under the impression you and the Grand Master were on good terms.”

  “I think we are.”

  “You think? You aren’t certain?”

  “Well, after having left, I worry I won’t have done what he wanted me to do.”

  “And he wanted you to infiltrate the disciples of the Draasin Lord.”

  “That is what he wanted.”

  “You returned, which tells me you decided otherwise.
”

  Tolan said nothing, continuing to hold onto a shaping.

  “Or perhaps you made another choice.”

  “I…”

  She smiled at him. “Twist your shaping as you would invert it when you protected yourself from the spirit shaping. Once you twist it, you can find that you will knot it, and when you do, you can separate the shaping.”

  “What?”

  “I didn’t think I would need to repeat myself with you, Shaper Ethar.”

  Tolan focused on what she had said. He twisted the shaping and then inverted it, much the same way he did when protecting his mind. This time, rather than focusing on himself, he focused upon the door. He forced it into a knot, and then withdrew.

  The shaping held.

  Tolan took a step back, releasing the power he held.

  “Why did you help me?”

  “Not all of us view the world the way the Academy views it.”

  “But you’re a part of the Academy.”

  “As are you, Shaper Ethar.”

  “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

  “What has your experience been with the elementals?”

  “They aren’t what others believe.”

  “And how is that?”

  “They’re not dangerous.”

  “Oh, they are dangerous, but they’re dangerous because of what shapers have done to them.”

  “They’re afraid of the bond,” Tolan whispered.

  “They are.”

  “You know?”

  Master Minden turned to the Convergence. Her shaping poured out from her, heading into the silvery pool. “When you come here and have an opportunity to draw on power, you begin to recognize there is more to the bonds than most would believe. I have visited this place many times throughout my life. Each time, I’m painfully aware of the way the elementals suffer within the bond.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Their being forced into the bond ages ago was felt to be for their benefit, a way to protect them, and yet, it was a mistake.”

  “Why can’t others see that?”

  “Others have seen it over the years, and those who do will begin to understand there might be another way, but still others fear losing the strength the element bonds provide. With the elementals within the element bonds, power has grown beyond what it once had been. Most fear to lose that power.”

  “We’re losing something else. The Inquisitors are using that power again.”

  “And how is that, Shaper Ethar?”

  “Ephra is going to fall to the waste.”

  “Do you think it’s only Ephra?”

  Tolan glanced down at the Convergence. He had a memory of what he’d seen, the places where that power had been, and yet he didn’t know any other places where it needed to be released. “It’s not?”

  “Unfortunately, it is more than just about Ephra.” She glanced toward the door. “Most view the disciples of the Draasin Lord as violent and seeking to free the elementals to rule them.”

  “I don’t know if that’s what they want, but they aren’t afraid to use the elementals to attack.”

  “Their release must be done carefully.”

  “They’ll still be used.”

  “Do you think the elementals can be ruled by someone?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Unfortunately, it is possible. And yet, the ones who have used the elementals in such a way are not the disciples of the Draasin Lord.”

  “Who is it?”

  “The Academy.”

  “Are you saying—”

  “I’m saying that while many others view the Academy as protecting us from the disciples of the Draasin Lord, unfortunately, we must protect ourselves from the Academy. We must protect the Academy from doing what it has done all these years.”

  “That’s why you’re here?”

  “Change must happen from within. There is much good within Terndahl.”

  “I…” Tolan wasn’t sure what to make of what she was telling him. And yet, it fit with the same things he had been thinking about. Somehow, he had to find a way to be both the student at the Academy and the son his parents had raised. As difficult as that might be, he couldn’t help but think he could find a way to do both—and not betray both.

  If he did, he would be deceiving the Academy, but also ran the risk of deceiving the disciples of the Draasin Lord, and the fact he had returned to the Academy might be perceived as him having done so.

  Was that the fate he wanted for himself?

  “Will you tell the Grand Master why I did this?”

  “Do you want me to?”

  He could talk to the Grand Master himself, but worried if he took the time, he would lose the knowledge he’d gained coming here. He would lose the chance to undo what the Inquisitors had done. And he would fail the draasin.

  “What has he told you?” Master Minden asked, as if knowing his thoughts.

  “He?”

  “The draasin.”

  Tolan stared at her. “How do you know?”

  “You have his touch upon you. It’s subtle, but most definitely there.”

  “He is… amazing.”

  “There are only a few alive who have been allowed to see him. You should consider yourself blessed for the fact he opened himself to you.”

  “I don’t know why he would have.”

  Master Minden smiled at him. “No? I can see quite easily why he would have. You have proven yourself, Shaper Ethar. You have demonstrated you don’t fear the elementals. You have demonstrated an open mind, and because of that, you have shown yourself to be something the draasin respects.”

  “I think I know how to help Terndahl,” he said.

  “Good.”

  “I can’t do it from here.”

  “I suspect you cannot.”

  “If the master shapers catch me, they might prevent me from doing what I need to do.” He hesitated. “You could help.”

  “I am but an old woman now. Perhaps in my younger days, when I was stronger, I might have posed more of a challenge, or perhaps were things different, I might…” She smiled. “It doesn’t matter, not as it once did.”

  “How am I supposed to escape?”

  “Spirit.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Then let me help.”

  She turned once again to the Convergence, and as she did, she focused a shaping upon it. It built steadily, a rising sort of power, and flowed into the Convergence. As it did, she pulled it out and held onto the power of the shaping. She waited, watching Tolan, and he had a sense she expected him to do something similar. Was he capable of doing it?

  He focused on his shaping of spirit, squeezing the bondar, but she shook her head.

  “You must do it. Only you.”

  Tolan released the bondar and used a sense of spirit. He pushed that into the Convergence and the energy reverberated, filling him. With it, he followed the direction of Master Minden’s shaping and used that to help him. She nodded, and they turned to the door.

  “Now, sweep it outward, and do so with force and intention.”

  “What sort of intention?”

  “You are looking to dissuade them from following.”

  “I don’t want to harm them.”

  “Did I say anything about harming them? Had he not called the Inquisitors back, this would be much easier, so I believe we can blame his pride for what is to come.”

  Tolan smiled to himself, though he wasn’t sure how attacking the Grand Master would end for him. “Isn’t there another way out of here? You weren’t here when I came.”

  “You wouldn’t be able to leave the way I arrived.”

  He frowned at her, thinking that a strange comment, but brushed it aside. He instead focused on the shaping, thinking of his intention, and decided his intention was to simply explode outward, to blast the people on the other side of the door, knock them out before they were aware it was him. With the power of the Convergence, Tolan had to believe he co
uld do it.

  He hesitated, then he pushed out a shaping.

  There was a sense of resistance as he did, and when it struck the others on the opposite side of the door, Tolan continued to push. It continued to meet resistance, and he drew more and more from the Convergence. At first, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to succeed, but the power overwhelmed the others on the far side of the door, and then he exploded through.

  Nothing else moved.

  Tolan swept out with his sensing, using earth and spirit, and was able to determine there was no movement on the far side of the door.

  Master Minden pushed out her shaping, drawing spirit from the Convergence, and she pushed a little harder than Tolan had. As she did, it slammed into something on the far side of the door that he couldn’t detect.

  “I added a touch to ensure you have adequate time to get out of the city.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Do what needs to be done, Shaper Ethar. And then, when you are done, return to me.”

  “What if it’s not safe?”

  “I think you will find it is perfectly safe. There is much you still need to learn, and I think I must teach what I can.”

  Tolan nodded. She started back around the Convergence, leaving him, and he approached the door. He had knotted off the shaping, but as he approached, he could feel the shaping begin to separate for him, a little at first, then a little bit more. As it did, he pushed the door open, noting the fallen forms of a half dozen shapers, the Grand Master and Grand Inquisitor among them. None of the masters from each of the element towers were there, and though he recognized these others, he also found there were those he didn’t recognize. There were no Inquisitors among them.

  Tolan hurried back up the stairs, stepping through the door and closing it once again. He sealed it with a shaping, attempting to delay, just a little bit more, anyone who might follow him. When he was done, he made his way around the edge of the library. He looked around, curious if there were any students here, though unsurprised to find there were none. As he stepped out into the hallway, there was a temptation within him to go and find Ferrah, to tell her where he was going and what he needed to do, but that could come after.

  For now, he needed to take the action that would give him the opportunity to return.