Seal of Light (The Endless War Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  I will lead.

  She started forward again, and this time, with Reghal following her, each step brought power forth so that her skin burst with it. She focused on the pattern that she held in her mind, holding the intent solidly there as she worked the summons, letting her body, her being, all of her, serve as the j’na. Every so often, Reghal would nudge her, push her forward with a little more speed, and they made a steady circle around the perimeter of the tower.

  The shadows began to coalesce inside the ring that she created. Even as she did this, she understood that it would not be enough, that simply sealing Tenebeth and the shadows within the tower would not be enough, but this was what she was meant to do. Others would help with the rest. She had to trust that they would.

  Another step, and another.

  Power surged against her, but Ciara was the j’na and light came from within her. She refused to allow the darkness to slip past and refused to allow success to those who would summon it.

  Another step, and the first ring closed.

  Ciara felt it surge and hold.

  They were not done. She didn’t know how many more passes she would have to make but knew that they were not done.

  She allowed herself a moment to look out and see how the battle fared. Talyn was out there, still breathing fire and still pressing back the shadows. The other draasin remained safe, protected somehow by what Jasn had done. Shapers of Ter and those Cheneth had pulled back from Hyaln had joined as well, but they were not enough.

  The summoners of the Khalan overwhelmed them.

  Her summoning—her light—faltered.

  If they failed, then she would fail.

  Reghal licked her leg again, and a wave of relaxation washed over her. You must remain focused on what you can do, Little Light.

  She turned her attention away from the battle. That was not hers to fight. This… this was what she could do to help.

  With another step, light surged once more through her.

  45

  Jasn

  I must hold onto it. That is the key.

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  From where he stood, Jasn could tell that the Khalan were coordinated, much like the warriors of Ter had been when they attacked in Rens, but they pulled on more power, using their summoning as they drew upon multiple elementals all at the same time.

  Most carried spears or staffs, something that would focus their summons, but not all carried a focus. Those were the most dangerous, he knew.

  Ciara had disappeared, and given the way that darkness thickened around the tower, he suspected she had something to do with that.

  Now that he’d done what he could to help the others… now he had to fight.

  Not as the Wrecker, but as the warrior, the summoner, the rune master, and the Enlightened. Perhaps even Wise, with his connection to water. He was all those things.

  And not the Wrecker?

  Wasn’t he the Wrecker as well? That was as much a part of him as the healer and the others.

  He laughed to himself. Since leaving Rens, and since deciding that he no longer wanted to die, he’d been trying to convince himself that he was something other than that person, and struggling. But he didn’t have to be someone else. That was who he was, a part of him, no different than the others.

  Surging forward on water and a summons, he joined the fight.

  When he’d fought before, he’d always used shaping, and then his connection to water, but had never consciously used what he’d learned from Hyaln. This time as he attacked, he sent out a summons, mixing it with the runes held on his sword, adding spirit to lock the summons to him so that the Khalan didn’t disrupt them. Atop all of that, he pressed through his connection to water, letting it sweep out from him in a flood.

  The Khalan he encountered could not withstand the combined attack.

  Jasn moved through the field, flowing on his connection to water, striking down one dark summoner after another. Distantly, he was aware of others nearby, shapers of Ter or those of Hyaln, and even the draasin soaring over head, but he focused only on what he could do and the way that he could use his power.

  The attack brought him near the tower.

  Lachen fought there, facing almost a dozen Khalan by himself. His draasin attempted to help, diving toward the Khalan, but something kept them safe as if the draasin collided with a barrier of darkness.

  Lachen was forced back, pressed toward the tower.

  Sweeping toward him on a shaping of water, Jasn raced toward Lachen.

  With a combination of water and a summons of wind, he added his shaping of spirit, pressing through the runes on his sword, and tore through three of the Khalan before they could react to him. Lachen nodded to him and together, they attacked.

  Others of the Khalan converged.

  “I never thought that I’d get to fight alongside the commander,” Jasn said with a grunt as he struck down one of the Khalan. He’d wrapped himself in water, adding a buffer of spirit, and found that this combination protected him from the dark summons that the Khalan attempted.

  “Reminds me of when we’d hunt together for wolves,” Lachen said.

  Jasn smiled. A dozen, possibly more, Khalan surrounded them. That should be more than he could withstand, but with Lachen at his side, he actually thought that he might be able to take them on.

  Using water, he sent it out in a flood.

  The Khalan’s attempt to block him failed.

  Jasn and Lachen surged forward, both of them attacking at once. Together, they overwhelmed the Khalan, striking them down. Other shapers joined them, but this was a battle only Jasn and Lachen fought.

  Water struck, and Jasn mixed spirit and the stored power from the runes on his sword. The Khalan fell before him.

  Then the fighting eased.

  He looked at Lachen. Sweat poured from him, and the ground around them was littered with fallen Khalan. A few warriors of Ter were there as well, and a man Jasn had seen in Hyaln. So many dead because of this.

  “Jasn—”

  Lachen didn’t get a chance to finish.

  A man wrapped in shadows appeared, a man so dark that Jasn knew he had been corrupted by Tenebeth. It was the same as he’d seen with Thenas.

  Jasn recognized the beard and the deep eyes.

  “Nolan,” Lachen said. “I see that Tenebeth has completely corrupted you.”

  “Corrupted? I control this power, Lachen. You thought that you would prevent me from reaching this potential, but you have failed!”

  Shadows swept toward Lachen.

  Jasn shaped spirit and swiped at them. Lachen did the same, and the shadows dissipated. “Careful, Lachen. I’ve seen shapers like this before.”

  Nolan swiveled his head toward him. “You have seen nothing like me.”

  “No? Tenebeth has claimed others before. What makes you think that you control the darkness rather than the other way around?”

  Nolan strode forward, and tendrils of shadow streaked toward him, attempting to wrap him in bonds of darkness. Jasn swept his sword at them, knocking the shadows back, but he didn’t think that he’d be able to keep Nolan back for too long.

  He needed Ciara. She had been the only way that they had defeated Thenas, but she was busy with whatever it took to suppress the darkness around the tower. Somehow, they would have to do this themselves. But how?

  Nolan swept shadows toward them. This was no longer summoned but shaped.

  Lachen brought his sword up and shaped through it. The sword carried runes much like Jasn’s did, and as he shaped through it, Jasn detected the strands of spirit that he used in the shaping.

  Nolan smirked at him. “Amusing. Do you really think that your attempt with spirit will overwhelm what I control?”

  Jasn shaped through his sword, copying the shaping that Lachen used, pulling power through it that left the runes along the blade glowing. As he did, he unlocked the rune traps in the blade, fully releasing the power that he’d stored.
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br />   Nolan’s smirk faded somewhat.

  Lachen positioned himself to one side of the former commander, leaving Jasn on the other.

  Nolan unsheathed a pair of swords. Darkness streamed from the swords, flooding from them.

  Jasn attacked.

  He darted forward, using water and spirit and every bit of power that he could call upon. Lachen did the same, his movements more controlled and more skilled than anything that Jasn managed. Still, Nolan pressed them back.

  Nolan spun with the shadows, darkness flowing from his swords, twisting in a way that made it nearly impossible to follow. The shadows built around him and stretched away, shaped like extensions of himself.

  They weren’t strong enough, not against a shaper able to use the very darkness against them, not when even Thenas had been too much for them, and this was a man considered the greatest commander who had ever lived, even greater than Lachen.

  A shadow attempted to wrap around Jasn, and he sliced at it, cutting through it with his sword glowing with spirit. Another reached his arm, but he’d shielded himself with water and spirit, and it pressed back. Jasn hazarded a glance at Lachen and realized that he had fallen. One of Nolan’s swords raised to strike.

  Jasn leaped to block.

  His sword crashed into Nolan’s.

  It was the sword the draasin had once licked, one that had challenged him to even place the rune traps along the blade. As his sword caught Nolan’s, the dark commander’s snapped, breaking free.

  Nolan stepped back and tossed it to the side.

  Lachen looked at Jasn’s sword, his eyes going wide. He threw his into the air, tossing it on a shaping. Fire erupted, and there came a flap of wings, wind gusting against them from the powerful draasin that responded, and then his sword dropped back to him, the blade darkened much like Jasn’s had been.

  The commander stood, holding his sword out in front of him.

  Jasn joined him.

  Together they attacked.

  This time, they pressed Nolan back. At first, it was slow, each step a difficult one. But he retreated. As he did, Jasn realized that was what they needed. If they could force Nolan back, they could use the summons that Ciara called and hold Nolan in place. It was even possible they could separate him from Tenebeth.

  “Push him to the tower,” Jasn said to Lachen.

  “Are you sure?”

  “The seal. It can hold him.”

  Lachen didn’t argue and together, they forced Nolan back. Even with only one blade, Nolan was a terror. He used shapings and power to press against them. Had Jasn not had the training that he had, and had he not been wrapped in spirit and water, he doubted that he would have even this much success.

  The barrier practically glowed as they neared it.

  Nolan began fighting with more fury. Shapings slammed against them, and he had to toss them back, pushing and catching as many as he could. Each time he did, he tried twisting them back, using them to attack Nolan.

  But slowly, Nolan began turning.

  Jasn moved to block him, but the former commander was more powerful and more skilled. He fought with shaping, and summons, and with the power of Tenebeth.

  The sword rose, readying to strike. In that instant, Jasn knew that he wouldn’t be fast enough to block.

  Lachen yelled and rushed at Nolan, slamming into him, driving him past the barrier.

  Light flashed.

  Someone yelled again.

  Jasn fell to the ground.

  On the other side of the barrier, Lachen fought Nolan alone.

  They moved with terrible grace. Lachen was a skilled swordsman and summoned enormous power, but Tenebeth had corrupted Nolan, and the strength that he managed was simply too much.

  Lachen fell.

  Nolan’s sword came crashing down.

  Light flashed again.

  When Jasn’s vision cleared, he couldn’t see either on the other side of the barrier.

  46

  Shade

  I have summoned, and the darkness has answered.

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  Shade marveled at the power cast around the field outside of Valahs. Were he only free, he would be able to participate, but the damn Enlightened held him trapped, confined in such a way that he couldn’t even perform a summons. That shouldn’t be possible, but there it was.

  Darkness flowed around him. All of the Khalan seemed collected here, battling. The fools of Hyaln and Atenas thought that they would be able to counter the might of the Khalan, but they would see how much they had lost by fearing the strength that could be controlled with the darkness.

  The woman shaped, attacking a pair of Khalan. He hated to admit it, but she was skilled. Many from Hyaln were talented—there was a reason so many trained there—but this still impressed him. When he’d first encountered her, he hadn’t thought her so capable. Something had changed for her, but what was it?

  Shade watched as a pair of shapers reached the base of the tower. He smiled when the Khalan converged, expecting them to fall… but they didn’t. Somehow, they managed to manipulate more power than he would have thought possible. Swords glowed, and Khalan fell before them, littering the hill near the tower. These two men alone would defeat all of the Khalan!

  Shade fought against his binding. If he could only move a finger, he might be able to free himself. With the right summons, he could unravel the shield holding him from shaping, and then he could be free and join the battle.

  As he fought, darkness itself joined the fight.

  Shade stopped fighting and could do nothing more than watch.

  Ghalen—by the double swords, he was sure that it was Ghalen—approached the two shapers and began to fight.

  When he did, it became clear that Ghalen didn’t summon. What he did was something other than summons. Could he actually shape the darkness? Was such a thing possible?

  He thought of what Cheneth claimed, that the darkness would control rather than be controlled. Watching Ghalen fight, he didn’t think that the case. He alone managed to fight back the shapers who had nearly destroyed all of the Khalan alone.

  How had Shade ever thought that he would be strong enough to face Ghalen? How had he ever thought that he might be able to challenge him for rule of the Khal?

  What he saw… that was more power than he’d ever seen.

  As he fought, a finger freed.

  With a quick summons, the rest of his bonds fell.

  The Hyaln Enlightened didn’t seem to recognize that he’d broken free.

  Shade ran, forming a summons as he did. The barrier preventing his shaping held and there was nothing that he could do about that right now, but he could summon, which meant that he could help.

  When he reached the hill sloping up to the tower, he paused.

  Darkness had changed Ghalen.

  The head of the Khal had always been powerful, but he had been in control. That was a cornerstone of the Khalan. Control the elementals, use that control to work on your behalf as you completed a summons.

  Could it be possible that Cheneth had been right? Had even Ghalen been corrupted by the darkness? Could it have assumed control of him?

  It had been years since he had seen Cheneth, and then both of them had gone by different names. Cheneth had been a friend and one who had refused to attempt reaching the darkness when Shade had wanted nothing more than to share what he had learned. He had warned him even then that power like that had consequences, but Shade had refused to listen.

  He hesitated, the summons that he worked faltering.

  The darkness that wrapped Ghalen was terrifying.

  Was this what he was to become?

  He stumbled and started to fall, but a strong grip caught him.

  Shade looked up and saw the Enlightened Cheneth staring at him, holding him easily.

  “That is what you warned me about, isn’t it?” Shade asked.

  Cheneth glanced past him. “That is Tenebeth,” he said in a whisper.
/>   Tenebeth. “I thought that was a superstition. That is what the Khalan teach.”

  “You think there can be control, but with elemental power, there is never control. Only cooperation. And with Tenebeth, there can be no cooperation.”

  Shade watched as Ghalen was shoved through a strange barrier of light.

  With a shudder, he released the summons that he’d started to form and staggered away from Cheneth.

  47

  Ciara

  I will destroy Hyaln. I will destroy Atenas. There will be no balance.

  —Ghalen, First of the Khal

  The pattern took on a life of its own. She stepped through it, holding the intent in mind, forming the constant flash of light in her mind. With each circle around the tower, she felt the barrier taking hold. It was nearly complete. She could feel that but didn’t know what would be required to seal it completely.

  A disruption to the barrier nearly stole her focus, but she righted herself and continued. As she moved through the pattern, she realized that two men fought on the other side of the barrier near the tower. One fought with a glowing sword, while the other was surrounded in shadows.

  Tenebeth claimed this other.

  She could help—she knew that she could—but doing so would disrupt what she did.

  Reghal bumped against her legs, pushing her forward.

  Ciara took another step, and another. The barrier held. She moved beyond a visual line of sight of the two men battling as she circled around the base of the tower.

  She hurried through the pattern. This needed to end. They needed to hold the shadows, hold the darkness, and then they would have to determine what to do next. Somehow they still had to call all the shadows back, and they had to trap them. A growing fatigue made her wonder whether she would be able to do anything to trap the shadows once this was done.

  Someone screamed near her. The fight raged close to the spot she would need to access to complete the pattern.