Seal of Light (The Endless War Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Making no effort to mask her shaping, she drew through her sword, pulling on a surge of spirit. She had shaped it often enough in the time since the attack on Atenas that she knew how to reach spirit easily, just as she knew how spirit would affect her when she did. Out of irritation with the commander, she sent a surge of spirit at him.

  With others that she’d used spirit on, drawing through the sword as if it were the same spirit stick that Oliver had received from Cheneth, she had no difficulty in using it. Against the commander, he simply smiled and waved away the shaping so that it fizzled out as if it was no more significant to him than if she were a novice shaper attempting her first shaping.

  “You’ve restored the city well enough without me. I wasn’t needed for that.”

  “Maybe not needed, but it would have been helpful having you around. The city was just attacked by Tenebeth—”

  He held his hand out to her. “Not Tenebeth, at least not yet. But the more that they summon, the greater the likelihood will be that it can escape.”

  “What do you mean that he can escape? Commander—I have seen Tenebeth attack!”

  “You have seen those possessed by its power. So far, it has not been released into the world enough for it to do much more than that, but the time is coming, and soon, where we must fear Tenebeth fully returning.”

  Alena glanced at Oliver and Yanda, but neither of them spoke. Like so many others, they were intimidated by the commander, but as far as Alena was concerned, he was just another shaper. She had been in the barracks long enough to know that there were many shapers of greater ability than her. Wyath could out shape her when well. Calan also. Now Jasn Volth. What did it matter that the commander could? It was best that he could out shape her. She’d rather have a commander with skill shaping than one who was too weak to lead, and most agreed that the commander was anything but weak.

  “I don’t understand what you’re saying. Haven’t we seen that Tenebeth has already been unleashed?” Alena asked.

  “We have seen those with so much pride they believe they can control it. We have seen a hint of its power, the barest shadow. We have not seen Tenebeth. If it is released, none of us will be strong enough to stop it.”

  Alena focused on the hatchling in her room and recognized that he was awake and aware of what the commander had said. Even the draasin agreed.

  19

  Eldridge

  There has been a setback. There cannot be another.

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  The stone curled in a strange way, practically smoking, steaming like a volcano. Eldridge stood over it, shaping the wind as a buffer and using his elemental connection to protect him even more. He marveled over how Lauren managed to twist the stone, using a shaping that would have impressed those in Atenas. Then again, he’d long ago learned that there were many things that Atenas didn’t believe possible, but that he had seen time and again. The barracks were a testament to that.

  “What does it do?” he asked.

  “It holds earth,” she answered, lifting the steaming bowl and offering it out to him.

  Eldridge shook his head. Even holding onto wind, he doubted that he would not be burned by the still-smoking stone. He had known Lauren had talent but hadn’t realized that she was this talented. “So you say, but how does it hold earth?”

  Lauren frowned at him as if annoyed at his unwillingness to take the bowl from her. Eldridge could only shrug. “Do you see these marks?” she asked, pointing on the inside of the bowl.

  Eldridge leaned forward until he could. “Those are runes.”

  Lauren sniffed. “Runes? These are elemental marks. Each one marks a different way to call the elemental of earth. They are attuned to it for some reason, like the marks call to it.”

  Eldridge frowned and reached for the bowl before realizing what he was doing. Surprisingly, it didn’t burn him, in spite of the fact that it still smoked. He had seen marks like this in the barracks and had learned from Cheneth how to make some of them. Others had more of a knack to it, but he had some skill. Wyath had shown particular talent with that, as had Jasn, but then Jasn had demonstrated talent in many ways. He suspected Cheneth understood but had never really explained all that he knew.

  Damn that man! He had sent—sent!—Eldridge back to the college on a specific task to find others who might be able to help them in the days ahead, and what had Eldridge done since returning but rekindle a friendship that had been lost years ago. Knowing what he did, and knowing that the darkness could inhabit others, he knew there wasn’t time to waste on friendships, but why then did he feel compelled to work so closely with Lauren?

  There were things that she had discovered that he could use. That was what Eldridge told himself, even if it weren’t entirely true. He hoped that it was, and hoped that he would be able to take something from the college and return with it to Cheneth, wherever that damned man had gone.

  “Because they do call to it,” Eldridge said. He traced a finger just above the runes, not quite willing to touch them. There was power in them, though he didn’t know quite how they managed it. “We’ve used them…” He trailed off before telling her too much. Not that sharing with her that he had used the runes would matter, but there weren’t many who knew about the barracks, and he didn’t want to reveal what he knew yet.

  “The bishop knows of the elemental markings. Why am I surprised?” Lauren asked. She brushed a strand of hair back from her forehead, twirling it around her finger. “Then you know that there are ways to use these to hold the elementals,” she said.

  “Hold? They augment, but don’t hold.”

  Lauren shook her head. “They hold. Watch.” She took another piece off her bench, this time a long length of metal twisted at the end and made a few marks along the side of it with a crystal-tipped pen.

  As she did, Eldridge felt the effect of her markings and how they pulled on the wind.

  Had it been a coincidence that she’d chosen wind or did she know of his ability with it? Other than Cheneth and those in the barracks, there weren’t many who knew of what he could do with the elemental. He might be known as a skilled wind shaper, but as far as most understood, he was not much more than that.

  Lauren tapped the length of metal and pointed it toward him. “See?” She ran her finger along the markings and wind pressed out at him in a gust. “I can release them the same as I draw on them.”

  She showed him the length of metal, and he realized that the markings were gone. Whatever she had done had released the elemental trapped inside.

  Eldridge stepped back from the table and started pacing, making his way slowly around her work space. “Earth and wind. How many elementals are you able to do this with?”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t come up with these markings. I found them in an old text from a few hundred years ago. They were symbols marking the elements. It didn’t take long to realize that they really marked the elementals. I think they each call to the elemental in a different way.”

  “Show me wind again,” he said.

  “Demanding, aren’t you?”

  “Would you please show me what you did again?”

  She shook her head as she reached for the crystal-tipped pen. “I don’t know that it matters. These markings call to the wind elemental,” she said as she recreated the markings.

  Each mark had a slightly different structure, and from what Eldridge could tell, each managed to call to the wind in a slightly different way.

  How does this call to you? he asked of it. An inkling of an idea started coming to him, but one that he wasn’t entirely sure how he would enact. He needed to know more and needed to understand.

  The wind fluttered slightly around him. They call on the wind.

  I see that, but how?

  There is one that draws.

  One? He had thought that they all would call to the wind, but was that not right? Do any of them call with more strength than the others?

  A pattern flashed in
his mind, that of three parallel lines with a slight curve at the end. He recognized the shape as one of those that Lauren had made on the metal.

  “Not the wind elemental,” he whispered.

  “These draw upon the elemental, Bishop. You saw that.”

  Eldridge looked away, turning to the bowl that still smoked. Would she know one for fire? What of water?

  “I saw that you released wind, but these are more than a rune marking the elemental. These mark all of the elementals.”

  “There is more than one elemental?”

  Eldridge turned his focus back to the table. He should have known that, shouldn’t he? When Cheneth had described the girl Ciara’s summoning, he had described the way that she had summoned multiple elementals, often of the same element. For that to be possible, she would need to be able to summon different elemental types.

  “Where is the book?” he asked.

  “What book? Bishop—you’ve been gone from the college for a long time. You can’t come back and simply demand answers from everyone.”

  “I need to know where you left your book of the elemental symbols.”

  “It was not my book.”

  “Lauren—”

  “Don’t worry, Bishop. We can find you the book, but you’ll have to return to Atenas.”

  Eldridge suppressed a sigh. Of course, it would have to be Atenas.

  20

  Shade

  When the Khalan broke with Hyaln, much talent in summoning was lost, but also much knowledge. Many of their greatest scholars left, abandoning traditional studies in search of the darkness. Both lost much when this occurred.

  —Lren Atunal, Cardinal of the College of Scholars

  The man stood over the draasin and unsheathed a long sword. Rune traps ran along the edge of the blade in patterns that Shade would not have expected to see outside of Hyaln, and certainly never on a weapon. The rune masters had never been willing to use traps on weapons before, and what he saw along the edge of the blade was more complex than the simple patterns learned by anyone not a master.

  Darkness had fallen, leaving shadows around them. Still, light burned along the edge of the sword, as if the rune traps themselves glowed. There was power held within the blade, enough that it would make attacking this man risky.

  The man raised his sword.

  “Wait!” Shade shouted.

  He summoned the wind, rising into the air, risking a moment to glance up, but Restain and Sevn were nowhere to be seen. Had they abandoned them when they thought he would be killed by the draasin?

  “Wait?” The man eyed him with a dark intensity, seemingly nonplussed that Shade took to the air.

  Did he think that Shade shaped? Some of the Atenas shapers—and Shade could only assume this man came from Atenas in spite of the impressive abilities that he’d demonstrated—were able to detect others shaping. What would he think of the fact that Shade didn’t shape, but summoned?

  “You have seen what this creature can do. You would have it spared?” There was an accusation buried in the question that Shade didn’t understand.

  “This creature can be useful,” Shade said.

  “Useful. They carry destruction and death. Better that we kill it now than let it free.”

  The attitude about the draasin made it certain that the man came from Atenas. With the war between Atenas and Rens, one that had been fabricated by the Khal to weaken both, the Khal had used the draasin against both nations.

  Shade had to admit that the ruse was clever. Pitting one against the other reduced the likelihood that either would have the focus to recognize the growing influence of the Khalan. Only Hyaln posed a threat, but even they were mitigated by keeping something of a presence within Hyaln, or they had. Further, by turning the draasin, they made it so that the wise were less effective. Ghalen really was a clever bastard. It would make it that much more satisfying when he surpassed him.

  “Death, yes, but they can be useful,” Shade said.

  The man frowned. “How would you use a creature like this?”

  Shade sensed that he had to be careful with his response. He took a tentative step toward the draasin, but the creature remained immobile, held by the stone chain. If he could coax the man into not killing the draasin, and if he could turn one as powerful as this creature, he would have a mighty weapon. But he had to prevent the sword from piercing the blasted creature’s brain. With as many runes along the blade, it would likely be enough to kill it.

  And he had thought the shapers of Atenas ignorant. Many within the Khalan did. If they mastered rune traps, and if they had discovered a way to kill the draasin, they would be dangerous.

  If the Khal did not know… Shade would not be the one to share. Not unless it offered him advantages.

  But first, he had to keep the creature alive.

  In the darkness of night, it was easier to hold the intent using darkness firmly in his mind. Shade used a soft summons, one that would barely do more than allow him influence, and sent it in a trickle toward the man. The summons met resistance, and Shade pushed harder before it finally settled.

  He took a step forward, holding the summons with a steady tapping of his fingers. Not enough for a shaper to recognize—and someone with enough competence to take on the draasin would have to be a skilled shaper so he would have to be careful not to approach him too openly—but enough that he could exert some influence, in much the same way as the Enlightened managed to exert theirs.

  “The draasin can be tamed,” he said, choosing his words carefully. Would an Atenas shaper believe him? Perhaps with enough pressure from the darkness, and enough of an influence, he might be able to coax him into believing anything that he wanted.

  “Others have made the same claim. They were wrong.” He stared at Shade with intensity, but he lowered the sword. That had to be a start.

  What other would he have known about that would have attempted to tame the draasin? Had Atenas reached the point where they would have attempted it? Not only rune masters but now trying to replicate the wise…

  Someone from Hyaln helped them. That could be the only answer.

  More than ever before, Shade needed to keep not only the draasin alive, but he needed to understand what the man might have learned.

  Where were Sevn and Restain?

  If they were here, he could focus more on pushing with the darkness. He wouldn’t have to worry about the shaper recognizing what he did, and resisting. Shade would be able to use the darkness with more force. Turning someone required subtlety; it was hard to forget the memory of being forced to do anything, but if you went slowly, and if you eased into it, you could exert enough influence that they would never know they were turned. That was what he had discovered with the darkness, the reason that he was the only one who had ever managed to use it in such a way, the reason that he had succeeded with everyone that he’d attempted to turn. Nearly everyone, but that would soon change.

  “Then they didn’t know the proper techniques,” Shade suggested. “There are ways to calm the draasin so that you may—”

  “I know the calming techniques,” he said.

  Pressure built from him, a sense that Shade recognized as earth and water mixed together. Without holding onto the summons as he did, he might not have known what the man used. As it was, he was shocked to learn that the man did know the calming techniques for the draasin. These were not simple shapers as they suspected, not if they were able to use it in such a way on the elementals. These were powerful—and dangerous—shapers.

  “There are other ways to calm the draasin,” Shade said. He would have to show him something for the man to believe him. What did he know about calming? He understood some of what was taught to the wise, but most of it was kept restricted from the rest of Hyaln until the person had proved themselves capable of handling the responsibility with the draasin. It was something that he had never had much experience in, which made his turning of the draasin using the darkness that much sweeter, tying hi
m more deeply into the Khalan.

  “What other ways?”

  At least he had the man’s attention. That was a start.

  “Try adding less earth and more water. As you do, you’ll need to mix fire—”

  “Fire only enrages them.”

  Shade shook his head. This much he knew to be true, even if he could not shape it himself. “Fire seduces. You must mix the seduction into your shaping. If you don’t, there is no control.”

  Thankfully, the man slipped his sword back into his sheath and leaped off the creature’s back. “There is no control when it comes to the draasin.”

  “There is always control. You just have to learn to exert it.” Shade stepped closer. The man was older than he expected. Given the raw power and the way that he moved, he had expected him to be younger, and perhaps his youth was the reason the Khalan had not heard about the strength of these shapers, but this man had to be older than Shade. Gray streaked through his thick hair and peppered his beard. His eyes were hard and showed the lines of experience.

  How long had they underestimated Atenas?

  The question sent a chill through him. Was this the reason that he had failed with the woman? He had found her here, outside of Rens but clearly training with Atenas. If she were trained by them, and they had a level of knowledge that the Khalan did not understand, he could have done nothing other than fail.

  “Try the shaping,” Shade suggested. “Less earth and water, with enough of fire to seduce.”

  He crossed his arms, waiting.

  The man’s shaping shifted, and Shade felt the change in the air. Shade held onto the summons for the darkness, letting it continue to wash over the man, hoping that by holding onto it, he would be able to detect the man’s shaping. Thankfully, that appeared to work.

  Adding a touch of fire to his summons, he used that to detect the man’s shaping, holding onto the way he sent it through the draasin and trying to detect the draasin’s response.