Seal of Light (The Endless War Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Why do you look like you just discovered your first shaping?” Jasn asked.

  “Because I know what we must do.” Jasn waited for Cheneth to explain. What he said next sent Jasn’s stomach fluttering. “We need to attack the Khalan.”

  10

  Katya

  Why would there not be summoners of light? There have long been known shapers of spirit, the closest we have found to the light. Have the Khalan—the greatest summoners of Hyaln—discovered a way to summon light as well? Perhaps there is hope for control.

  —Lren Atunal, Cardinal of the College of Scholars

  The edge of the forest carried a trail of shadows. Katya didn’t consider herself a superstitious person, but there was something about the cool that came from standing in the shadows of the forest that left her unsettled. She had none of those feelings when in Hyaln, regardless of the fact that there she knew the Khalan attempted to observe everything that happened there.

  “You appear uneasy,” Olina said.

  Katya studied the thick trunks of the trees. There had been a time when she trained within the barracks that the trees had become almost comfortable for her, but that had faded as soon as she departed. “There is darkness here,” she said.

  “There is darkness everywhere. You should not fear it.”

  “I should not, but that doesn’t change the fact that I understand the power that Tenebeth possesses.”

  “Good.” When Katya arched her brow at Olina, the old woman went on. “We can’t hope to defeat Tenebeth if we don’t understand him. If my time in Tsanth did nothing else, it demonstrated that there is no need to fear the night. Darkness is a part of life and creation, much as the light. It is the balance we must restore, not the removal of the darkness entirely.”

  “Tenebeth is more than only the dark,” Katya said. Those who had studied Tenebeth knew that he was something more than only the darkness, but there hadn’t been anyone willing to openly study Tenebeth in many years.

  “Yes. Tenebeth cares for destruction nearly as much as the darkness itself. You must be willing to oppose the destruction, but find within you the power of light that matches with the dark.”

  Katya shook her head in annoyance. For some reason, returning to these lands made her feel less confident as if taking the mantle of Katya once more had made her the student that she had pretended to be while serving in the barracks. Somehow, she had managed to suppress that feeling when she had been here before.

  Did you? Is that how you became entangled with Jasn?

  Entangled. That didn’t seem to be the right way to phrase the connection that she shared with him, but then, Katya no longer knew how to describe it. She had allowed herself to feel more connection to him than she should have. That was what had made departing difficult—and necessary. Perhaps that was why the summons came when it did for her to return. Perhaps the Varden had sensed her commitment waning.

  There was no difficulty with your commitment when you were in Hyaln.

  Katya wished the voice would stop harassing her. It plagued her, driving her mad.

  “Why did you wish for us to stop here?” she asked. She sensed nothing here other than the forest.

  “There is a change here. I do not know what it means.”

  “And one of the wise is able to detect such changes now?”

  Olina offered only a slight smile in response.

  In the days that she’d traveled with Olina, Katya began to suspect that she had additional abilities beyond what she admitted. Perhaps she was not a shaper, but she must have some connection to the elements based on the comments that she’d made. Could she be a summoner? Not Enlightened. There would have been no reason for her to leave Hyaln were she one of the Enlightened. But what?

  Katya stretched her senses out, searching for anything that might have triggered Olina’s interest in this place. She possessed shaping ability with each element and was Enlightened as well, giving her the capability to use both earth, water, and spirit as she searched for connections. Earth demonstrated most of the living creatures around her: birds perched in trees, squirrels running along branches or burrowing in the ground, the fox that trailed them, almost as if it hunted them, and even the distant sense of a village, one of many situated along the Gholund Mountains. Nothing else. No awareness of shaping.

  But earth could be masked. That had been a surprising trick that she’d learned in the barracks. Katya hated admitting that there were shapers with knowledge that they didn’t possess in Hyaln, but there were a few things that she had picked up from Alena, and that was one.

  Water was different. Few knew to mask the sense of their heartbeat, the flow of blood through their veins, even the heat from their body were she to reach with fire. Katya detected none of it.

  With spirit, she was able to detect beyond that, searching through voids that should not be there, and reached for others. There was nothing.

  Olina watched her as she sensed and shaped, her lips pressed together almost disapprovingly.

  “You’re one of the Wise. Tell me if your draasin detects anything,” Katya said.

  Olina swung her cane around and tapped it into the ground. As she did, she tipped her head to the side. A summoner as well, then, but perhaps more, especially given the number of rune traps worked along the length of her cane. Katya hadn’t noticed them before, and since she hadn’t, she suspected that they had been hidden from her.

  “Nothing now, but there was something here before,” Olina said.

  “What do you detect, old woman? Is it Calan?” Worse would have been were they to detect Tenebeth, though wasn’t that why she had come? Wasn’t the reason that she’d been willing to return with Jasn to Ter because she knew that Tenebeth must be defeated?

  “Old? I think you forget yourself, Enlightened.”

  Katya flushed. Did Olina know how old she really was? Few did, but then, few understood how serving as one of the Enlightened lengthened her life and lent her a vibrancy that others did not have. Cheneth would have to be nearly one hundred, making Katya’s fifty years almost nothing. That was part of why taking on a new name appealed to her. With each name, she was able to create a new identity, and with each one, she felt younger.

  “This is not Calan, and this is not Tenebeth,” Olina said, seemingly ignoring the fact that she had riled Katya. Maybe she didn’t know how old Katya really was. That was a secret she wished to keep from Jasn as well.

  “Then what?”

  “Something else.”

  Olina tapped with her cane, pausing every so often as she did to look around the clearing.

  Katya waited.

  The sun seemed to descend rapidly, with clouds falling over it while Olina continued her path through the trees, disappearing for long stretches at a time. Too late, Katya realized that it wasn’t the sun, and it was not clouds.

  Shadows fell.

  She shivered, reaching for a shaping but failing.

  Katya’s heart hammered. How long had it been since she had failed to reach a shaping? She had been little more than a student at the time, still trying to master the basics within Hyaln. For this to happen now…

  “Olina!” she hollered.

  The old woman didn’t respond.

  Katya hurried in the direction where she’d last seen Olina, but the old woman was nowhere to be found. She attempted to reach for her shaping again, but again failed.

  Her racing heart now flipped in her chest. She hadn’t known that it was possible to separate someone from shaping, but that was the only answer that made sense. And if Tenebeth—or whoever served him—had managed to separate her from shaping, what else would they be able to do?

  Katya continued to search for Olina, but with the thickening darkness, she knew that she would not find her. Worse, she knew that Tenebeth would claim her and there was nothing that she could do to stop it, not without her ability to shape.

  The air began to cool, settling around her like a fog. The pine scent of the forest beg
an to fade, replaced now with a stink that reminded her of ash and rot before even that began to fade. Katya tried again to reach for shaping but again failed. Whatever approached had somehow managed to deflect her ability to shape.

  She still carried a sword.

  The sword was a remnant of her time in the barracks, a weapon that she’d taken to carrying much like the warriors in Atenas carried swords. It might not be the sword that she had carried—that she had left behind and didn’t know where it had ended up—but it was one that she had crafted when she returned to Hyaln.

  Along the blade were rune traps that she’d placed. Within each of the traps was the energy stored from a dozen different runes, each designed with a different purpose and placed upon the sword not by her, but by a true rune master.

  She unsheathed it, the metal ringing like a song, and stood with it held ready. Katya might not have the same swordsmanship that others within Atenas had developed—she had not been in the city long enough to really master the sword—but she had studied enough that she was proficient. With the runes upon the blade, that was all she needed.

  The cold air continued to press in on her.

  Mixed with the change in temperature was the darkness as it slowly settled around her. Katya sliced at it in frustration, angry that she had no way to shape, and was surprised when the sword seemed to part the darkness.

  Katya frowned.

  She sliced again, and again the darkness parted before her sword.

  As she readied for another, she realized that the rune traps failed each time she did. Already two of the traps were depleted. She might manage to chase of some of the darkness, but at what cost?

  Katya continued into the trees, searching for Olina. The old woman had to be here, didn’t she? Unless she had been taken by whatever brought the darkness.

  Another concern settled through her, and she didn’t know if it came from the darkness or from herself. What if Olina had betrayed her to Tenebeth?

  What did she know about the other woman? Olina had disappeared from Hyaln years ago, long enough that few knew her. Most accepted it because she was one of the Wise, but what if she had disappeared because she had ties to Tenebeth and to attempts at freeing him?

  Katya’s foot got caught in something, and she shook it to free herself. Was it a root? A hole in the ground? When she couldn’t get herself free, she poked toward her foot with the sword and managed to finally get her leg out and jerked forward.

  She hurried along before falling again. This time, she wasn’t able to get up.

  Katya poked toward her foot as she had the first time, but nothing released her.

  She looked at the sword. The rune traps were emptied.

  Kicking her foot, she couldn’t get free. She was trapped, powerless, and with the backup energy stored within the sword now depleted.

  Worse, she could feel the darkness as it closed around her.

  11

  Alena

  Scholarship is a means to an end. Why have we been given this power if not to use it?

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  Debris littered the toss yard. Hunks of dirt piled off to the sides, and large pieces of stone were stacked along one corner inside the walled yard set on the edge of the city, far enough away from both the tower and the rest of the city that any shaping that went awry here wouldn’t harm others. The air stunk of fresh earth and a hint of smoke, the effect of the shapings used here. Alena strode through the middle of it, floating on the barest hint of wind, not wanting to drag her feet through the mud as she surveyed the young shapers arrayed in front of her.

  This was the hope of Atenas?

  They were young, and some were skilled. She had seen the way a boy named Mica had tossed earth with nearly as much force as shapers with a decade of experience, but there was no real refinement here, nothing that would provide protection, and protection was what they needed. That, and time. Unfortunately, both were in short supply.

  “You need to maintain your control for longer,” she said. “Feel the way the shaping flows through you. There is power, but there must be control, or others will suffer when you blast them with your shaping.”

  A few of the younger students snickered. Alena shifted her focus to them and pulled on a shaping of wind, wrapping it around them briefly. Nothing more than the barest hold, but enough that they would remember where they were and what they were here to do.

  “Focus allows control. If you are not focused, you will never have control.” In any other circumstance, she would have chuckled at the fact that she used the exact same words that had been used when she came to Atenas, only then, it had been a woman named Peral who taught the students, taking time to work with the youngest. As Alena gained station within the Order, she had often wondered who Peral had angered to force her into such a position. Now that Alena had the same role, she wondered who she had angered.

  It was the commander’s fault that she was here. After he had helped save the city from the shadow shapers—and before he disappeared—he had asked her to help get the rest of the city ready, but ready for what? There had been no further attack, and she kept waiting for Lachen to return so that she could understand what they were to do next, but the blasted man never did.

  Alena glanced at Jef. He helped herd the students to the side, making a space for them to practice. The man was much more patient than Alena and seemed to teach because he wanted to, not because he had been told by the council that he had to. The idea of wanting to work with these students, and wanting to spend so much time trying to explain the basics to them, when few would ever be able to master it, was difficult for her to believe.

  “Each of you focus on the ground in front of you,” she said. “All you’re trying to do is lift a section of the earth. You aren’t to throw it, and you aren’t to bury your classmates.” She glared at a young girl named Ameli, who flushed. The other children snickered again.

  Alena stepped back and let them practice. That was all there was for her to do. Set them on the way toward understanding and get out of the way. They needed to experience shaping, at least those with any potential, and all of the students here had some potential.

  Jef made his way over to her, that same lopsided grin spread across his face that he wore all the time. “You’re getting better with them,” he said.

  “Better?”

  Jef shrugged, tapping his foot in the nervous way that he had. “Wasn’t that you were so bad before, but you lacked for passion.”

  Alena’s frown deepened. She’d never been told that she lacked for passion before. “I’m only doing what the commander said,” she told him.

  Jef bobbed his head. “What’s he like? The commander? Never met him myself, but he’s said to be a powerful shaper.”

  “That doesn’t begin to describe him,” Alena said.

  How could she describe a man who exuded power? In some ways, Lachen reminded her of his childhood friend Jasn Volth, but when she’d last seen Volth, he hadn’t nearly the strength that Lachen possessed. He was a skilled shaper, and he could speak to water—and was essentially unkillable because of that—but there was nothing like the energy radiating from him that she felt when she was around the commander. He had dispatched the shadow shapers with such ease, shapers that Alena had required the spirit stick to withstand.

  “Maybe you can introduce me to him next time you see him,” Jef said.

  “I don’t think that I’m the person to introduce you. I barely know him myself.”

  “He placed you on the Seat!”

  Alena nodded. Damn him for doing that, but Lachen had. That had been part of what Cheneth had wanted in sending her to Atenas, but that had been when they knew the council compromised. Now the council had been decimated, leaving only Wansa, the commander, and now Alena alive. Others would be found, but the commander wanted to take his time to replace those who had been lost, and Wansa was in no rush, partly because of the spirit shaping that had consumed her before Alena strippe
d it away.

  “It’s not the honor that it seems,” she said.

  “Don’ know about that. I’d think it’s quite the honor to serve the Order. That’s why I teach the younglings, you know? Need to give back, make sure that the Order is positioned for us to be successful in the future.”

  Alena stared at the students, watching them as they shaped earth. Some did so with significant strength, and as she watched them, she felt a surge of hope for the future that she didn’t feel while walking through the city. The attack had nearly destroyed Atenas and had nearly torn down the tower. Had it not been for what she suspected were elementals woven throughout the stone of the tower, they would have succeeded. And then what? Atenas would fall. What would stand before the shadow shapers then? Who would stop Tenebeth?

  “You’re doing a good job, Jef,” Alena said.

  He smiled and bobbed his head, shuffling back from her in a strange sort of movement. “Doing the best that I can. Teaching ain’t easy, but each of us learned somehow, didn’t we? Pass that down, and it makes us stronger.”

  Alena felt a flush of guilt over the fact that Jef was so willing to work with the students and she had to be forced. Were it not for the commander telling her that she needed to help train them, she wasn’t sure that she would have continued. When she had returned to Atenas, the Seat had assigned her to work with them, but that had been a way to push her away and keep her out of the tower. Lachen made it seem like teaching was the most important thing that she could do.

  One of the students managed a surge of earth, and a huge rent tore in the ground.

  Jef went running toward them, laughing as he did, quickly countering the effect of the shaping, smoothing out the earth again.

  Thunder rumbled distantly, and lightning crackled.

  Alena glanced toward the tower. Lightning and thunder on a cloudless day like this meant a warrior’s return. That wasn’t an uncommon occurrence—there were dozens of warriors who came and went from Atenas, especially now in the days after the attack—but what was uncommon was for her not to detect the shaping used.