Seal of Light (The Endless War Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  There are other ways to reach the elements, the draasin reminded her.

  He perched on the edge of the tower. The draasin would have terrified the others had they seen him. Alena had considered revealing him, but chose not to, not wanting to risk causing more fear. But he might be needed during the attack. There was something about the fire elemental that Tenebeth feared, but she didn’t know what or why, and neither did the draasin.

  She didn’t know them either.

  “We have to find who influenced them,” Alena said. “They’re out there, and the attack is near.” The steady rumbling of thunder told her of that.

  “Does it matter? Our warriors have a spirit stick.”

  “There are others who shape in Atenas would can’t use a spirit stick,” she reminded Yanda. Those were who she worried about now, finding some way to help them so that they could be protected. Without the ability to shape each of the elements, the spirit sticks were useless. “Unless there is some way to hold the other elements inside the stick.”

  “What was that?” Yanda asked.

  She looked over at the water shaper. Alena needed someone like Cheneth, someone who might know the runes better than she could, to help. “If we can trap the elements in the spirit stick, those who can only shape one element might be protected. We could set it up so that they trigger the shaping.”

  “Do you know the right runes?”

  Alena shook her head. “Damn, but I wish for even one of the scholars. Eldridge would know, I bet.”

  “Eldridge? The Eldridge? As in the bishop?” Yanda asked.

  Alena bit back a laugh. What would Eldridge think of his name getting tossed around like that? He liked to hide from the fact that he had a history, and that he had power that others within the College didn’t, but so many knew about him that it defeated it.

  “Yes. The bishop trained with me.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. It was more that the bishop had trained her, rather than training with her.

  “He might know what we need,” Alena said.

  “There are other scholars here,” Yanda said.

  “Can you find me the senior scholar?”

  “They won’t like the idea that they’re summoned.”

  Alena nodded. The scholars liked thinking that they were the equals to the Order, and in many ways they probably were, only that wasn’t the case in Atenas. Alena had often wondered why they had remained such a presence in Atenas for that very reason. “They might not like it, but I need their expertise.”

  Yanda left her alone on the top of the tower. Alena stared, wondering how much time they had before the Khalan arrived, or worse, Tenebeth. Not enough, she knew. The wind whipping around her told her that power moved through her, as did the regular rumbling of thunder.

  Holding onto spirit, she pressed the shaping through the city, searching for evidence of the Khalan who had influenced the two warriors. Several were dead because of it. She needed to find them before the attack could return—and before worse happened.

  You do not need spirit to find Voidan.

  Alena considered the draasin’s words. How would you have me find Voidan?

  I can feel it. When you connect more thoroughly to Fire, you will discover it as well.

  Could she used the draasin’s connection to the darkness to help her learn what happened? The hatchling was not large enough for her to ride, not as those who had attacked Ter from Rens all those years ago had been, but she didn’t need to ride him. She could travel on the wind, or use the warrior shaping to carry her where she needed to go.

  Can you show me?

  The draasin snorted, steam rising into the wind before getting carried away. He flicked his wings, fluttering them slightly as he did, and tipped his head down. Follow me, Alena.

  The draasin rarely used her name, and when he did, she knew to listen. She suspected that he would eventually share his with her. The connection between them was different than the connection she had with the other draasin. This hatchling wanted to work with her, wanted to help, almost as if he were meant to. Perhaps he understood what she had sacrificed to help see him into the world, or maybe it was tied to the fact that she had helped feed him, nurturing him in those first days.

  When he took to the air, she followed, letting a shaping of wind guide her. She had to add fire, countering the cool effect of the wind, so that she could travel smoothly after him, and was surprised when he circled higher and higher into the air. Soon all of Atenas stretched out beneath her. The city was massive, the largest in Ter, and the Tower of Atenas rose up from the center, more befitting of a palace than a true place of learning, but then, Atenas and Ter were ruled by the Order, so it made sense that the Seat of the Order was the center of the city.

  What do you want to show me here? Alena wondered.

  You must sense Voidan. From here, you can feel the influence, not only within your city but beyond the borders as well. There is much power here.

  I understand that he must be defeated.

  You cannot defeat Voidan, Alena. You must stop thinking of that as an option.

  Lachen had said much the same, and Alena hadn’t really understood. But the draasin seemed as if he needed her to understand. I can’t, or I shouldn’t?

  Are they different? the draasin asked. Voidan is a part of this world. Were it removed, power would disappear from the world that should not.

  You think that Voidan should stay?

  Not in the same way as the other elements, but darkness is as much a part of the world as the light. Creation follows destruction. They are a part of the same continuum. Without one, there cannot be the other.

  You want there to be balance.

  It is not what I want. The powers that bind this world need that balance. Without it, the world itself would change.

  That is why you brought me here?

  You needed to see what those who would use the power of these lands cannot. You needed to see that there is more than only the potential for destruction, but also of creation. A balance. You must help maintain that balance.

  Alena rode on the current of wind, letting it flap against her cloak and her thick dress. From here, the cold in the air had less of a bite, and she could almost imagine that nothing threatened the city and that the Khalan were not coming in another attack.

  I understand.

  I am not certain that you do. The draasin tipped his wings, and they nearly touched her. He rolled onto his side, exposing his soft belly to her as he did, twisting his long neck so that he could more easily see her. You seek to destroy. You want vengeance for what they did to your people, but you cannot have vengeance.

  That’s not what I want.

  The draasin flicked his wings, and a gust of heated air struck her. Alena held herself in the shaping of wind, keeping from tumbling from the sky. As she did, she glanced at the ground.

  They flew over the city, this time reaching an outer portion of it. Night grew long and darkness attempted to blanket the city, but shafts of moonlight pressed through clouds, giving some light. From here, she could make out the dark outline of the tower, and the line of buildings down in the city, and not much else. She could feel pressure against her, though, a sense of power that pulsed in the city. This wasn’t shaped power, she was certain of that, but she didn’t have an explanation about what she felt.

  Is that who I’m searching for? she asked the draasin.

  There is a summons to Voidan. You must be careful and find compassion when anger comes to you.

  A hint of fear fluttered in her belly at the warning, and she redirected her shaping, letting it carry her to the ground. She followed the focus of power that she detected from up here, letting that guide her. As it did, she found herself tracking toward the outer edge of the city, streaking away from the buildings and the people near the heart of the city, and toward someplace familiar: the toss yard.

  Alena held out her sword as she landed. Power pulled through it, sending a bright white lig
ht away from her, filling the yard. Through the power she held within the sword, she felt the summons to the darkness and made her way toward it.

  Near the middle of the yard, she found him.

  “Jef?” she said.

  31

  Ciara

  I must give myself over to the darkness. I can find the balance afterward.

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  Ciara watched Jasn as he disappeared toward the shadows. What was he doing? Did he think that she couldn’t protect herself or that she needed him to protect her?

  Can you turn back toward him? she asked Talyn.

  The draasin snorted and started to bank. As she did, the tendrils of shadow stretched around her. If she weren’t careful, they would reach her, and they would be trapped.

  Ciara focused on the summoning that she needed. Without the j’na, the summons was not as easy, but then, she wouldn’t have been able to use the j’na in her summons while riding atop the draasin.

  “That fool,” Cheneth muttered. “Doesn’t he recognize the trap?”

  “What trap?”

  Cheneth waved his hand around him. “All of this. The Khalan have created it in a way to trap us. The shadows… I wonder if they even know that we’re here, or whether we triggered something on the way.”

  Ciara brought her hands together again and again, each time sending waves of light out. Doing so kept the shadows at bay, but she no longer could see where Jasn had gone.

  “Where did he go?” she asked.

  Power built from Cheneth. The old man was a more skilled shaper than he had ever let on. Still, he hadn’t been able to teach her how to summon, not nearly as well as the Khalan had managed to teach her. That alone worried her.

  “I don’t detect him.”

  Ciara continued bringing her hands together. Each time that she did, the same white light flowed from her. As it did, she felt connected to it in some way and no longer even needed to bring her hands together to complete the summons. With a j’na, it would have been easier to direct the summons. Without it, she released it in a wide band, and it splayed out around her, pressing back the shadows until they were no more.

  Land appeared beneath them.

  “Cheneth,” she said, pointing below her.

  “Stars,” he whispered. “They drew us in, didn’t they?”

  “Should we turn back?”

  “We’re here. I’d like to know how many we might have to face,” he said.

  Ciara nodded. She didn’t think that she could withstand another attack, but she hadn’t expected to withstand the last one. For what they faced, she was willing to make the sacrifice needed to stop Tenebeth.

  It was more than that for her. Anger still simmered within her at what the Khalan—and Shade—had forced her to do. She wanted revenge.

  In that way, how was she all that different than Jasn?

  She pushed the thought away. There would be time for considering that later. With a whispered direction to Talyn, she guided the draasin down to the ground, and they climbed off.

  The landscape reminded her in some ways of what she’d seen near the tower. Clouds hung low, creating something of a fog that hung over everything. The air held a dampness to it, and a hint of bitterness that reminded her of when Shade had first attacked in the barracks. A strange heat radiated from everywhere, and she formed a quick summons to realize that it came from deep beneath the earth.

  “This has to be the Khalan,” she said.

  “I think so as well,” Cheneth said.

  “What now?”

  “They would have some sort of structure. They would have to have something like what we had in Hyaln. We need to find where they would be.”

  Ciara wondered how foolish it was for them to chase the Khalan alone, just the two of them. Cheneth might have skill and she could summon, but what did they risk going here by themselves?

  Find Jasn, she said to Talyn.

  The draasin snorted and took to the air, fire erupting from her nose as she did. The remaining shadows parted before her, leaving nothing more than a faint streamer of darkness in the sky, like a storm cloud rolling in.

  Cheneth started forward, and Ciara followed. Reghal, I could use your help here.

  The elemental appeared in her mind and then appeared next to her on a flash of light. He nudged up against her and licked her leg. In some ways, he seemed smaller than he had before, but she suspected that was her imagination, something from the way the island seemed to her.

  “Such an amazing creature,” Cheneth said, watching Reghal as he licked her leg. “We are fortunate to have him with us in this fight.”

  Reghal pushed against her, and she smiled. There was a strength within the small lizard, one that she had noticed when he had first appeared. She didn’t think that she could do what was needed if he were not with her. In some ways, all the power that she had managed to reach had come from her connection to Reghal.

  This land is wrong, he told her.

  The land? What part of it?

  All of it. There is darkness here. It permeates everything.

  Ciara shifted her attention to the land and used a soft summons, the same one that she would have once used to summon Reghal, and listened for the echoes as it reverberated against her. As it did, she recognized what Reghal said. The land was damaged. Would there be anything that she could do to restore it, or was it beyond repair?

  Jasn Volth might know of some way to help. With his connection to water, she suspected that he would have been able to heal even the land.

  Is there anything that we can do?

  There is what we must do, Reghal said. This place is like the other, only more potent. Voidan grows stronger here. Can you not feel it?

  She could. Now that nobelas mentioned it, she could feel the effect of Tenebeth. When they had been near the tower, and when he had appeared during her summons, she had felt him, but not with the same strength that she did now. What she detected here was more powerful than even what she had detected when Thenas had attacked them. This was darkness, and shadow. A pure sense.

  She shivered. “We won’t be strong enough to withstand them here,” she said. “We need help.”

  Cheneth looked at her with disappointment on his face. “We need to find out how many there are.”

  “There are too many,” she said.

  “If we leave…”

  “Cheneth, this is not an attack that we can win. Not here, and not with only the two of us. We need to find Volth and find others to help. All the others who might be able to help.”

  Cheneth sighed and took longer than Ciara would have expected to nod. “We can go. Call your draasin, and we’ll head back. We could try Atenas. Gather those who remain there. Perhaps we can summon the Wise. I will do what we can to find those of Hyaln who remain.”

  “Cheneth—”

  She didn’t get the chance to finish.

  Something about the land shifted. There came a soft rumbling, one that echoed from deep within the earth and slowly rolled toward them. As it did, a shift in the shadows came with it. Suddenly, the shadows thickened, drawing in and toward them, moving almost as if alive. She had thought the same when they had been near the tower, but this was even more potent than before.

  You must go, Little Light. I will give you time.

  She looked down at Reghal. The lizard had started to glow. You can’t stay here alone, she said.

  This is what I am meant to do. Call to Talyn. Find the others who might help, and return. This is where the fight must be, but there are others who need your help now.

  I don’t understand.

  An image of a massive tower rising from within a city formed within her mind. Ciara had never seen it before but knew through the connection with Reghal that this was Atenas. What is there?

  Others who need your help. Others who will be needed to finish this. I will hold back the darkness, but you must hurry, Little Light.

  He licked her leg as she sent a summ
ons for Talyn.

  As the draasin landed in front of them and she climbed onto the fire elemental’s back, she wondered if it would be the last time that she would see Reghal and the last time that the lizard would lick her leg.

  Hold on, Reghal. I will return.

  I know, Little Light. I know.

  They took to the air and swept away from the island, quickly disappearing into the shadows surrounding it.

  32

  Alena

  There are other places, ancient and with much power, that still hold.

  —Lren Atunal, Cardinal of the College of Scholars

  As Alena circled around him, Jef smiled, no longer the wide, lopsided smile that she’d known when he taught students in the yard. This was almost a sneer. “In these lands, perhaps.”

  “But I tested you!”

  He tipped his head, one hand tapping along his arm. The foot that she’d always thought nothing more than a nervous twitch now took on a different meaning. “Did you? And did I pass?”

  Alena pressed a spirit shaping toward him and met resistance. She pressed harder, but still met the same resistance. Had she reached him and tested him? If she had not, it was possible that he was the reason that darkness was summoned. Could he be the reason that warriors had died?

  “Was it you?” she asked. Did you know? she sent to the draasin.

  I could feel his summons.

  Did you know it was Jef?

  That is the reason that I came.

  Alena cut off the connection. She made a slow circle around Jef, but he never stopped tapping his foot, and the wide smile never left his face.

  “There are many things that I’ve done. Interesting that Atenas has managed to shape with such power. I had never expected that. You were said to be delayed, and many of your shapers are, but not all. No,” he said, shaking his head as he eyed her, “not all. You surprised me, Alena Lagaro. I almost find myself wanting to show you what more you could be.”