Servant of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  The pack raced along with them. They encountered other shapers from Par-shon, but not nearly as many as they had before. The hounds continued baying, their near constant and steady call continuing to distort the effect of the Chenir shapers. Each time elementals were freed from their bonds, Tan summoned them, calling them to help. Most answered.

  Would other shapers answer? The rune in his pocket glowed, but he couldn’t expect anyone else to follow him here, not this far into Chenir, where Par-shon had completely laid claim to the lands. But Tan had no intention of ousting Par-shon. He might not be able to do so on his own. With the elementals, he had a better chance, but what he wanted was simply to reach his mother and find a way to rescue her. If he could do that, then he would be able to attempt the next part in his plan.

  The awareness of other shapers came to him through the bond with Kota. Tan reached over and patted her. I will take to the air. Let us hunt.

  Kota snarled and raced forward.

  With a shaping of wind and fire, Tan jumped into the air, shooting high above the ground. Connected to the hounds, he was able to sense what they sensed and could tell where they encountered other shapers. Elle stayed closer to the ground.

  A pocket of five shapers approached the leading edge of the hounds. Tan streaked toward them, using all of the elements, drawing not on his own strength, but that of the elementals around him. He would save his own strength, hold it back in case the elementals were drawn away. He landed amid the shapers as they battled the hounds.

  It was the first time Tan had actually seen the hounds attacking, at least in this form and as elementals. They worked together, moving as if connected by the fire bond, or likely something of earth, leaping around the shapers. These shapers were talented, and all had bonded more than a single elemental.

  As Tan arrived, they turned their attention to him. Within moments, they began shaping a pattern intended to separate him from the elementals. He’d known this shaping before and had survived it in the past.

  Tan raised his sword and sent a shaping of spirit at the nearest shaper. Bonds were separated from him, and the elementals were freed. He turned to the next shaper and did the same. Again, the Par-shon bonded fell.

  Three remained. They cornered Tan, ignoring the hounds.

  That proved to be their mistake. The hounds came at them from behind, all snarls and teeth. When they turned, Tan sent his shaping after them, having no regrets for doing so from behind.

  They fell forward, sprawling onto the rock, as the shapings struck.

  The hounds pounced and finished their attack. Tan felt only a fleeting recognition of the fact that he felt no remorse at their passing. They would have done that much and worse to him. He had yet to learn what they had done to his mother.

  Maelen.

  The call came from Kota, and there was urgency mixed into it. Tan sensed her through the bond and leaped to her on a shaping of lightning, landing next to her. At first he wasn’t certain why she had summoned him. Her hackles were raised and her stubby tail pointed straight back from her. She sniffed at the air with her wide nostrils, swiveling her head as if to search for more shapers.

  Then Tan realized why she’d called him.

  Above him, Elle faced nearly a dozen shapers. Par-shon shapers had realized that the hounds couldn’t reach them in the air. The hounds could leap and nip at them, but they were elementals of earth, not meant to be in the sky. Elle fought with more skill than Tan would have suspected her capable of, holding them back with a swirling mist of thick green water.

  The shapers pushed back with incredible strength, their own water shapers drawing Elle’s effort away and sending it streaming back toward the ground.

  Can you shift the ground? Tan asked Kota.

  I don’t know.

  Try, he suggested.

  Tan took to the air and pulled on a shaping of the combined elements, drawing through the sword as he did. The sword blazed brightly. He pulled on the strength of the elementals around him, borrowing from the hounds but also from unnamed elementals of earth that had returned to Chenir when released from their stolen bonds. Tan sensed the damp, heavy air of wyln, and there was the heat of saa. The nymid, through the armor they had lent him, gave him additional strength.

  Tan shaped, striking three of the bonded with his first attack. As he did so, the other shapers turned away from Elle and began to focus on him. He pulled upon his connection to the elementals, drawing more, and demanding more as he shaped the next three shapers. That left five. They surrounded him, but now Elle had recovered enough, and she wrapped her shaping of water around them in such a way as to separate them from the connection they had with their elementals. Using spirit, Tan severed the bonds placed on them. As he did, he summoned the elementals to him.

  More shapers were coming. Through his connection to the hounds, he could sense them. They might be able to fight the coming Par-shon attack, but one after another would wear on him and would be more than he could handle even with the elementals helping.

  Lightning crackled and Cora appeared, landing next to him on a streamer of fire. With a glance, she took in the fallen shapers, the hounds circling them, and Elle floating on a cloud of shaped water. “You summoned. I didn’t know that it would be for this.”

  “Where is she?” Tan asked, not wanting to use Enya’s name. Having one of the draasin here would be helpful, but also risky.

  Cora flickered her eyes to the sky. To the south and the east, a dark shape circled far overhead, and Tan sensed Enya as much as he saw her.

  “Have her be careful. Chenir summons the elementals, and Par-shon . . . ”

  “She will be careful, Tan.” Cora nodded toward Kota. “Impressive creature.”

  Kota bared her fangs and sat to Tan’s left, eyes fixed on the newcomer. “She is.”

  “Another bond?”

  He nodded.

  Cora shook her head. “You have all the fun, you know that?”

  “Talk to the hounds. See if they answer.”

  Cora’s mouth twisted, as if the thought disturbed her. “I’m not certain that the hounds and me are on the kind of terms that would allow us to work well together.”

  Tan wondered what she meant by that, but he let it drop. He’d summoned, but only Cora had answered. More and more Par-shon shapers were approaching, but even with three shapers and all the elemental help from the hounds, they still might not be able to get through to Zephra.

  “What of Fur?”

  Cora shook her head. “Fur will not come. He protects the Sunlands, and . . . ”

  She didn’t need to finish. This was Chenir. How long had Incendin faced Par-shon alone? They no longer needed to, but Fur was much like Roine in his reluctance to work with others.

  A massive shaping built, and Tan glanced up to see another bolt of lightning, followed by another.

  Theondar landed next to Tan, holding his sword and with a shaping prepared. A short, green cloak flapped in the damp air. Like Cora, he quickly surveyed the ground.

  Following Theondar was the Supreme Leader of Chenir.

  Now there were four warriors, the only four that Tan knew of who remained in these lands.

  “You found Zephra?” Roine asked.

  Tan tipped his head to Elle, who lowered herself to stand next to them. “She did. She senses where she is, but she’s too far into Chenir.”

  The Supreme Leader looked at the ground, at his lands, with his shoulders sagging. “So much is lost already,” he said.

  Tan faced him. “I warned what would happen. By withdrawing the elementals, you weaken the land. Without the hounds, I wouldn’t have made it this far.” Tan nodded toward Kota. “They’re able to disrupt what you do, the drumming and whatever else your shapings are, but they can’t restore these lands. You need to release your elementals. You need to shape earth to push out. Let Doma teach you, or Incendin, but it must be with earth. If we don’t, then whatever else happens, Par-shon will succeed.”

  “Wh
y earth?” Roine asked.

  Tan wasn’t sure how to explain, but it felt right. “Each nation has a predominant element, much like most shapers have a predominant element. Even warriors.”

  A pair of Par-shon shapers that had made their way too far ahead reached them, and Tan pressed out a shaping through his sword, knocking them down.

  “I need help if I’m going to reach Zephra,” he said to Roine.

  A pained expression crossed Roine’s face. “Tannen, if you can’t get to her, then no one can.”

  “We need her.”

  “I know, but we can’t risk you—”

  “You don’t understand, Roine. We need her to help lead the shaping of wind. That’s what the kingdoms must shape. Incendin has fire. Doma has water. Chenir, if they will do it, must shape earth. I think they can use their drumming and augment their shapings with that. That leaves wind.”

  “For what?” Roine asked. “What purpose is there in using each of the elements to hold back Par-shon? They will continue to come. We need to get behind the barrier—”

  “That won’t work,” he said. He strongly felt that was true. “We can work together, push Par-shon off these shores—”

  “And if we can’t?”

  Tan sighed. “Then we will have failed. At least we will have tried. If we don’t do that, then the Great Mother will no longer look upon us with favor.”

  The Supreme Leader took in the way the land had changed, the effect that Tan sensed through his connection to earth. The connection was potent and filled him, granting him a clear sense of everything spread all around him. Tan could tell how much had been lost by withdrawing the elementals, much like Asboel had feared how much would be lost when Enya attempted to withdraw fire from Incendin. All of Chenir had changed because of what their shapers did. Did it leave their lands any safer? Did it leave the elementals any safer?

  “I need a distraction,” Tan said. “I will go past Par-shon. If Chenir releases their elementals, I can make it in to Zephra and back out without capture. But I need you to draw their shapers away,” he said to Roine and Cora.

  Roine glanced at Cora. For the old warrior, agreeing to work with Incendin was difficult. It had been difficult since Tan had first suggested it, but they had no choice. If they didn’t find a way to work together, then all of them would fall. Cora also struggled with the kingdoms, but she had spent enough time with Tan that she understood his motivation—probably better than others. She knew that he wanted nothing more than to see the elementals protected. He hadn’t hesitated when she had bonded to Enya, knowing that the bond would keep the draasin protected even a little longer.

  “You will help?” Cora asked.

  Roine nodded. “For Zephra, I will help.”

  “This isn’t about Zephra,” Tan said. Maybe at first it was, and maybe there was still a part of Tan that would attempt to reach his mother anyway, but he needed to get through to reach her to do all that he could to save the kingdoms. If they couldn’t stop Par-shon now, if they couldn’t figure out some way of pushing them back, they would have already lost. “We do this for each of our homelands. Work together, as we should have been all along.”

  They nodded. The shapers were getting close. Tan could sense them through the hounds. Not much longer, and they would be upon them.

  “Please,” Tan started, talking to the Supreme Leader, “your shapers need to change their focus. They can’t withdraw the elementals. They need to push out Par-shon. We can’t do that with what your people do.”

  The Supreme Leader watched Tan for a moment, and then he disappeared with a bolt of lightning.

  Kota, Tan started. Can you remain hidden and come with me?

  The hound shifted. Tan had no other word for it. She was there, and then she was not. Without his ability to sense her through the bond, he wouldn’t have known she was there.

  Can the others hide like this? he asked.

  As one, the other hounds disappeared from view. Bound to elementals, the Par-shon shapers might know they were there anyway, but it could limit their ability to easily find them. Anything that limited Par-shon gave them a chance.

  “Nice trick,” Elle said.

  “You be safe,” Tan told her.

  Elle pulled him into a quick hug and let him go. “You too. I can’t have my cousin go dying on me.”

  Tan forced a smile. “I’ll get her back. I promise.”

  Elle shook her head. “Not her, you dummy.”

  A pair of shapers appeared. Cora shot after them, and Tan sensed Enya joining the fight.

  “Go, Tannen. Save Zephra,” Roine said.

  He nodded, and as he readied a shaping that would take him away, he reached into the distant part of his mind where he could hear the hounds. Their steady rumble was there, filling his mind as he drew the sense of them forward.

  Hunt well.

  As one, the hounds bellowed with a roar that shook the earth.

  22

  Within the Hidden City

  The shaping pulled him deeper into Chenir. Tan didn’t quite know where to find Zephra, only what he saw from his shaping of Elle. He used a traveling shaping without spirit, letting it keep him above everything, but not moving so quickly that he couldn’t see below him. Kota raced across the ground. With each leap, she picked up speed, having no difficulty keeping up with him.

  Honl. Tan sent a request out to his wind elemental, needing every advantage that he could have. Asboel rumbled in the back of his mind, weak and thready, but there. The nymid armor kept him connected to water. Hopefully, with his elementals, he would be able to find Zephra quickly.

  The wind elemental drifted toward him on a cloud of black smoke, coalescing into the form that Honl had begun to take. He traveled along with Tan, moving with the same ease that Kota managed.

  “You have bonded another, Tan,” Honl remarked. “She is powerful. The timing might be early, but I think that you have chosen well.”

  Tan grunted. The ground streaked past him. Through Kota’s senses, he saw no sign of other Par-shon shapers. Tan wouldn’t have stopped if he had. He needed to be drawn into the battle with the hounds and the other shapers. There might not be enough to fully battle Par-shon, but all Tan needed was time. Enough time to reach his mother and pull her free.

  “I don’t think she gave me much of a choice.”

  “You named her. There was choice in that.”

  Tan scanned the ground. Was that a tent in the distance?

  Kota raced ahead to check on what Tan had seen.

  “There was a choice,” Tan agreed. “But she deserved a name.” Honl moved to float in front of him, facing him. The elemental’s features had become more pronounced, making it so that Tan could pick out clothing and what appeared to be a cloak flapping in the wind behind him. Tan smiled at that. “You saw how she created the pack?”

  Honl tilted his chin. “She has followed you since you healed her. I think the bonding was inevitable. The Mother chose well with her, I think.”

  “How much is the Mother, and how much is chance?”

  Honl shrugged.

  “What if I never would have answered the summons to the lisincend? The hounds would have remained twisted, drawn away from fire.”

  “Yet you answered the summons. Was it not kaas who summoned?”

  “On behalf of Fur.”

  Honl’s smoky face pulled into a smile. “Was it Fur, or was Fur influenced by kaas?”

  Tan sighed. “Does it even matter? Would I have done anything different? The hounds needed to be returned to the fire bond.”

  “Is that still what you think that you did?”

  Tan frowned. “That is what I did.”

  “They are of earth, Tan. You brought them to the fire bond, but you did so with earth. Why else do you think that it took such strength to heal them?”

  “But they were of earth before I healed them.”

  “As are all creatures.”

  Tan’s shaping slowed. Kota had found someth
ing and was circling around a wide wall of rock. The fur on her back was raised. Whatever she’d found had made her uncomfortable.

  “Are you implying that I created the hounds? That they’re only elementals because of me?”

  “Not at all. The crossing that created them was between hyacan and isaln, but so long ago that the elementals that led to their creation no longer exist. They were joined, but it was incomplete. That is why fire remained twisted, and why they were never able to fully join into fire.”

  “Then what are you saying?” The Honl since he’d been healed was so different than the one Tan had first found, the ashi elemental that had been afraid to get too involved in fighting Par-shon. He seemed more aware but was able to share knowledge that Tan didn’t have access to otherwise.

  “You think that you only sealed the hounds to the fire bond, is all. You did much more than that, Maelen. You brought them back to earth as well.”

  Kota suddenly howled.

  As she did, Honl drifted apart, moving in cloud form toward the hound. Kota remained hidden, but her thunderous cry would be heard for miles. She pawed at the ground, and as she did, a shaping failed briefly before reforming. For a moment, there was a walled city, with heavy stone buildings within. Then it was gone.

  This was where his mother would be. Par-shon had an entire city hidden, obscured by a shaping of earth. Without Kota, Tan would never have found it.

  If there was enough strength to hide the city, there would be powerful shapers here.

  Tan wasn’t sure that he would be strong enough to reach the inside of the city, let alone find a way to reach his mother, but he would try.

  Kota, can you disrupt the shaping and find whoever is masking the city?

  I will try, Maelen. There is strength here.

  I know. Are you not strong enough?

  She roared again, and this time she leapt to the air, coming down with her front paws digging into the earth. As she did, the shaping flickered again. Kota didn’t wait and jumped again, roaring with the motion, dropping down to the ground once more. Each time she jumped and crashed to the ground, the shaping revealed more and more of the city.