“What if they haven’t?” Tolan asked.
“You said that the elementals were under attack the last few years.”
“They have been under attack, but my mother hasn’t been a part of it that long. I don’t know much about her, but I know that much. She’s been in Terndahl, organizing the Inquisitors. I recognize those simple truths.”
“So, she hasn’t been here that long, but there is something else she has been a part of.”
“Finding a new way to trap the elementals.”
It had to be tied to that, but why?
His mother had known how to break bondars. She had come out into the waste with that knowledge. She must have gotten it somewhere. Breaking the bondars, separating that power, came from some source.
They had inadvertently helped his mother bring a solution to a different problem. That might explain her eagerness when he’d fought her. She must’ve known that regardless of what happened to her, she would be safe.
And here she was. Safe, as she believed.
“I still don’t know what happened to the Draasin Lord,” Tolan whispered.
“Do you think she could have forced him into one of the bonds?”
“I don’t see how. The draasin is so tangible. So physical. I can’t imagine her being able to do anything like that.”
“How is that any different than the other elementals?”
Ferrah looked out across the grassy landscape where the elemental stood. Standing where he did, there was something quite solid about him. It was almost as if Tolan could imagine him being real.
Still, the draasin was different. He had to be.
Didn’t he?
All these times that Tolan had focused on trying to free the elementals, he’d experienced the draasin a few times within it. When he’d been at the Keystone, focusing on the draasin, there’d been a sense of energy. There’d been a sense of the draasin. He had no idea how something like that, a creature of such power, could be forced into a bond, but that had been what happened.
He realized what Ferrah was saying. The draasin was fire and yet, the draasin was still an elemental. Perhaps the solid nature of the draasin was only a construct, the same way this elemental took on a form that was a construct.
If the others had forced the Draasin Lord into the bondar, they would have access to considerable power.
It wouldn’t be limitless, at least not he thought. Perhaps none of the elementals were limitless in this land. The Draasin Lord would need access to power and a way to connect to it.
Tolan would have to free him.
He would have to find him, first.
Which meant he had to stay and fight.
He reached into his pocket, pulling out the orb bondar. He shaped into it, pushing each of the elements outward, filling it with power. When he was done, he handed it to Ferrah.
She looked over at him, a question in her eyes. “What is this?”
“This is me giving you the bondar.”
“I see that, but what are you doing?”
“I think you need to return to Terndahl.”
“I’m not going without you.”
“I think you have to. For us to be successful with what we’re doing, you have to go back.”
“Tolan—”
“I need to stay here so that I can make sure they’re not going anywhere. You need to gather others who can come and fight on our behalf.”
“Fight?” She swept her gaze out over the waste. “What is there to fight? They aren’t able to cross the waste.”
“Not yet, but how much longer do you think that will last?”
“Tolan, they would have to travel a great distance. We had you and your warrior shaping. They won’t be able to use anything like that.”
“I’m not so sure they won’t.”
“You have to think about what you’re saying. We can’t fight on behalf of these elementals.”
He smiled sadly. “I think that’s exactly what I have to do.”
“Terndahl needs us. The Academy needs us. We can study what took place within the waste, but you know that there isn’t anything we need to do. We can protect Terndahl. If your mother is here, then she isn’t there. We have to be prepared for the possibility she might return.”
Tolan nodded. “This is how I’m preparing. I’m doing everything I need to in order to ensure she can’t harm anyone within Terndahl again. I’m doing everything I can to ensure she can no longer harm other elementals.”
He held the orb out for her, but she still didn’t take it.
Ferrah watched him, holding his gaze, saying nothing. “What are you saying? You want me to leave you here?”
Tolan looked over at her. That wasn’t at all what he wanted, but it might be what he needed. With everything they had been through, and everything he suspected was still to come, he worried she would have to stay behind. This wasn’t a fight in which she wanted to take part.
It was more that Ferrah didn’t believe. She was a skilled shaper, and she was powerful in her own right, but without her believing in what they needed to do, Tolan worried she wouldn’t participate in the way she was needed.
“You can alert the Grand Master. You can let Master Minden know what we have encountered. You can tell them what happened here.”
“And then what?”
“And then—”
“I know you intend for me to remain there. Is that your goal for me? Do you want to keep me out of this?”
Tolan looked over at her. “Do you want to be a part of it?”
“I want you to want me to be a part of it.”
“Ferrah—”
She turned away and looked out over the waste. Her arms crossed over her chest and she stared into the distance. Tolan could practically feel the anger seething from her. “You continue to choose the elementals over everything else.”
“That’s what makes you mad?”
“I understand when you’ve been doing things on behalf of your mother, but in this case, everything you’ve done has been because you believed you need to. You continue to side with the elementals.”
“I won’t deny that.”
“Why?” She looked over at him, and tears streamed down her cheeks, staining her face.
“Who else will?” Tolan asked.
“The elementals don’t need anyone to fight on their behalf. You’ve seen how powerful they are. You of all people should understand that.”
“I of all people should understand that the elementals do need our help because there isn’t anyone else who is able or willing to do so. Ferrah, I’m not trying to upset you, I’m just trying to—”
“You’re just trying to do what you think is necessary.” She shook her head ruefully. “That’s always the way it is with you, Tolan. You do what you think is necessary.”
“Is that something that I should be ashamed of?”
“I just want you to do what you think is necessary for the Academy.”
What she was saying was something else. He could hear it in her words, even if she didn’t say it outright. She wanted him to do what he thought was necessary not so much for the Academy, but for her.
As Tolan stood in place, feeling the occasional burst of power, knowing it came from elementals near him, he couldn’t do nothing. How could he? Everything he was able to feel suggested to him that his mother was a part of what had taken place here. Everything within him screamed that the elementals needed help from whoever his mother worked with.
If he didn’t help, who would?
Then there was the Draasin Lord. Tolan didn’t know much about him, but having that brief moment to connect to the Draasin Lord and getting a sense of the enormity of the creature, the power that flowed within him, he couldn’t help but feel as if the Draasin Lord needed his help. Something within him needed to be unlocked, the same way something within Tolan had needed to be unlocked.
The elementals were beings that deserved freedom. They were beings that deserved respec
t. No one was willing to offer them that. That was why Tolan was willing to fight.
All of that, he considered, and thought about how he could express it to Ferrah, but he didn’t know the right way to do so. Instead, he drew upon a shaping of spirit. He wrapped it within his mind, swirling it around, and pulled out that knowledge, pushing it across to Ferrah.
Her eyes widened slightly when the shaping struck, and she watched him, saying nothing. There wouldn’t be anything for her to say.
When the shaping cleared, she remained standing with her arms crossed over her chest, looking over at Tolan. There was still a question in her eyes, but it was one that Tolan didn’t have the answer to.
“That’s why?”
“I just wanted you to know.”
“You think that I needed you to shape me for me to know that?” She took a step toward him, pushing him on the chest. “I’ve known that. You’ve tried to hide your feelings from me, but I’ve known that, Tolan. I can feel it even without being able to spirit shape. I’ve known you ever since you came to the Academy. I just want you to recognize the reason you’re doing this is because you think you have to for the elementals.”
“I do recognize that.”
“And by doing it, you’re abandoning others who could use your help.”
“Why does it have to be like that?”
“Because it…” Ferrah turned away and looked down at the ground.
Tolan had no answer for her, only more questions.
He didn’t feel as if either of them was going to be satisfied by the outcome. He didn’t want to lose her; having Ferrah here with him in this land was what made it easier for him, but at the same time, he had to stay. He could feel he needed to be here.
“Take the orb. Go back to the Academy. Let the Grand Master and Master Minden know what we’re doing.”
“There isn’t a we here,” she said.
“Ferrah…”
“I want there to be,” she whispered.
She looked over at him, holding his gaze. She studied him for a long moment, and he could almost imagine she was reading him, using spirit to try to know something deep within his mind, but then it passed. With a burst of power, she took to the air and headed out over the waste.
It left Tolan standing alone.
He felt isolated in a way he didn’t even within the waste.
He looked out, feeling the vague sense of Ferrah departing, wishing there was something he might be able to do to call her back, to tell her what he was thinking, to even get her to understand everything he was going through, but what else was there to say?
He turned his back on the waste and headed toward the grassy landscape.
With each step, he took a breath. He’d left the orb with her, though he had another empty one. He might need to fill it with power if he needed to draw on more than himself. He’d already encountered other attackers—elementals or shapers using the orbs—who had been influenced by his mother and were acting on her behalf, so he would either have to help them, freeing them from whatever influence she had over them, or he would have to fight them.
Fighting elementals was a losing proposition. Tolan was a skilled shaper, and here, connected as he was to the elements, he wouldn’t have nearly as much power as he would have access to in Terndahl.
He strode forward, heading toward the wind elemental, and prepared himself.
With each step, he tried to come to terms with what he needed to do. He tried to come to terms with what had happened, but with each step, Tolan wasn’t sure he had any better answers than he’d had before.
He found the wind elemental not far from the edge of the waste.
Wind stirred around him, picking up as it kicked at his cloak. It was a strange illusion, the way that the elemental made it seem almost as if the cloak was alive, something unnatural and separate from him.
“She’s gone,” he said.
“Why?”
Tolan swallowed and glanced toward the waste. “She disagreed with what I felt was necessary.”
“Why?”
Tolan sighed. “Ever since I learned about my connection to the elements, I’ve known there was something more. I have spent most of my time trying to understand what that something more is and what it means for me. I worked to try to grasp just what I can do, the way that I can call upon power, and I’ve tried to recognize truths that have been shown to me.”
The elemental watched him, twisting his head, and Tolan had to look away.
“In this case, she doesn’t understand what I have come to understand about the elementals.”
“What they like?”
It seemed almost too much for the elemental to string the question together. The sense that something was off for him was strong and growing stronger.
“The elementals of my land?”
The wind elemental nodded. “Them.”
“Are all elementals in this land like you?”
“Yes.”
“And all take on human form?”
“Not human?”
Tolan probed with the wind and spirit. It was different than he detected from Ferrah.
“I don’t know.”
“This me.”
“How do you determine how you look?”
The elemental frowned at him. “How you?”
“It’s just how I grow.”
“Not different.”
“The elementals in my land are unique. Each of them is bound to the element in a different way. Some like you are bound to a heavy gusting of wind. Some are bound to the steady breath of wind. Some are tied to other aspects. Each seems to be connected in a different way.”
“I see it.”
“Perhaps when this is all done, I could show you.”
“Wonder,” he said.
“What it would be like to see the elementals?”
“Beyond.”
Tolan stiffened. That was the same way that the other elementals had described it. “Have you not been able to cross the waste?”
“Tried. Separation hard.”
Tolan frowned. The waste was meant to protect. That was what he had been told. It was what he had come to believe. But protect from what? Was it to protect these elementals? Or was it to protect the free elementals from this side of the waste?
He didn’t know. He believed the waste was designed to ensure the safety and stability of Terndahl. After having seen the power that existed within it, that was the answer he had come up with, but perhaps that wasn’t quite the case at all. What if there was another reason for the waste?
“It’s not so different on the other side.”
“Attack us?”
“In a way,” Tolan said.
“What way?”
“There aren’t many that are free.”
“No?”
“The elementals on the other side of the waste are bound within the element bonds. It changes them. We were told they were done that way to protect them.”
“Told.”
Tolan nodded. “I don’t know if it’s true or not.”
At this point, Tolan didn’t know if anything he had ever been told about the elementals was true. The only thing he truly understood was that there was power in the elementals, and there was something he still did not fully understand, but he was determined to try to do so.
“Not different.”
Tolan looked over the wind elemental, feeling the uneasy sense from him, the stirring as the wind whipped around him. There was a question within the elemental, and as Tolan could feel it, as he was aware of that stirring sensation, he recognized the agitation within the elemental.
“I suppose not.”
They stood in silence for a long time, neither of them saying anything, neither of them moving. Tolan focused on what he could detect. There was energy within this land, and while it was different, it was also familiar.
It was power. There were no element bonds, at least not he could easily reach. There had to be something. It wa
sn’t as if the element bonds could suddenly disappear. The elementals were tied too tightly to them for the element bonds to fade like that. There was something about this land that separated them.
Could it be the waste itself?
Perhaps that was the key.
Whatever it was, Tolan thought he had to try to understand. To gain that knowledge, to recognize what it would take, he would have to better understand everything that existed around them.
The wind elemental stirred. “Moving.”
“How do you know?”
“Feel it.”
Tolan closed his eyes, focusing on the sense of the elements, probing outward with earth and wind and fire and water, mixing with a hint of spirit.
The wind elemental was right. There was a sense of movement.
Why, though?
Perhaps it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was it was time for him to do something. It was time for him to better understand.
It was time to find who his mother worked with. It was time to help the elementals. And it was time to finally stop his mother.
17
The dark sky spread overhead, making it difficult for Tolan to see anything clearly. He strained against the darkness, trying to come up with an answer as to where he was and what was out there, but as he looked into the darkness, he wasn’t able to make anything out.
There was a sense of power out there. It was subtle and not much more than that. As he detected that sense of power, he tried to focus on the source of it, looking for answers, but he wasn’t able to see anything. At this point, Tolan thought that not finding anything might be safest. The moment he came across something, he worried it would be dangerous. There was enough power out here he had to be concerned by it.
The wind elemental was near him, swirling around. Tolan thought about what he was going to need to do. He thought about what he could do.
There were shapers out in the distance.
Not only did he need to try to figure out a way to separate them from their power—and he suspected the power was the bondar—but he needed to figure out what they were after.
His mother was active, but she wouldn’t have been active for all that long. If Tolan was right, then she had never spent considerable time here.
The Elements Bond (Elemental Academy Book 7) Page 18