Servant of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 7)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Elle appeared, sliding on a rainbow of mist. She wore a damp, white dress and her brown hair was pulled into a braid behind her head. Her sagging shoulders pulled back as she saw him.

  “The shaping has grown more powerful,” Tan noted.

  Elle glanced toward the sea. Water followed her and created a long lens in front of her eyes. “I don’t understand it. Water claims another each day.” She turned back to Tan, and the shaping of mist returned to form the platform she stood upon. “We now have five bonded shapers, Tan. There hasn’t been more than one or two in generations.”

  “The same is happening in the kingdoms,” Tan said. “We’ve had shapers bond to wind and water, and that’s in addition to those that had already bonded.”

  “Why?”

  Tan shrugged. “Maybe there’s not a reason.”

  Elle glared at him. “There’s always a reason. Why would the elementals suddenly begin bonding?”

  “Perhaps it’s fear of Par-shon. Maybe there’s something else that we don’t understand.”

  “Our shapers are stronger than they were, too. Ley was never much of a strong shaper, but he’s managing to help control water in ways that I’d only seen those at the university do. He thinks to reach water as well.”

  “You don’t think he will?”

  “It’s possible,” Elle said.

  Tan listened to the sea, focusing on the ways that the waves crashed along the shores. Water pulled on him, drawing him out, pulling him away. It was the effect of the shaping, he knew, but it was compelling and more powerful than he would have expected from Doma.

  He shared the same questions as Elle. Why would the shapings have changed? And why would the elementals begin to bond? Could it really be simply about Par-shon, or was there another reason, something that he hadn’t yet seen? Maybe the elementals granted their strength, knowing that without shapers, Par-shon would overpower places like Doma.

  “You’re preparing something different,” Elle said.

  “Is it so obvious?” Tan asked.

  “I’m not sensing you, if that’s what you’re asking. But I see it in the way that you’re watching the water. It’s like you’re calculating the cost.”

  “We need shapers, but we also need to maintain these shapings. They are important. If we can push Par-shon from our shores, I think we have a real chance at holding them away.”

  “And then what?” Elle looked to the north, toward Chenir and where Par-shon gathered. “If we can push them off the shores, then what? How long will it be before they attack again?”

  “Elle—”

  She shook her head. “No, Tan. Will we be like Incendin has been all these years? Will we have to maintain our own Fire Fortress, pushing against Par-shon, always afraid that they might attack again? We’ve seen what happens when you’re constantly at war. Look at Incendin. How have their people been affected from their time facing Par-shon? Would you have the same for Doma? For the kingdoms?”

  “I would rather have peace.”. Without any real peace, he would always have to remain vigilant. He would have to serve as Athan, wandering as Roine had once done, unable to settle and unable to find happiness of his own. That wasn’t the life that Tan wanted, and that wasn’t the life that he deserved. After everything they had been through, shouldn’t he have an opportunity to have peace? “If we can push back Par-shon, I will eventually have to face the Utu Tonah. I don’t think another can do it. But I need time to understand how.”

  “Tan,” Elle began, “you sacrifice so much and you think you must do all of this alone, but you’ve never been alone. Don’t you see what’s happening here? Even if we do as you suggest, even if we manage to push Par-shon away, the shaping is no better than what Chenir does.”

  A thick cloud began to form overhead. Honl appeared, coalescing from the cloud of smoke into the form of a man. He stood before Elle and Tan and nodded to the mist.

  “She is young, but she is wise,” Honl said.

  Elle gasped. “What is this?” she asked. She reached toward Honl and her hand passed through him. Her mouth remained open and her eyes were wide.

  “This is my bonded elemental of wind,” Tan said.

  “How is it that I can see him? How is it that I can hear him?”

  Tan studied Honl. He looked fully formed, as if whatever he had spent his time doing had given him a chance to take on all the elements of his new shape. “He is something more than ashi now,” Tan said.

  There was texture and layers of color to his face that hadn’t been there the last time that Tan had seen him. “For you to have peace, you must bind it,” Honl told him.

  Tan shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  “Don’t you? The Mother chose you for a reason.”

  Honl made a swirling motion in the air, pointing toward the sea and then south, toward Incendin. “I have been contemplating this,” Honl said. “Incendin is most familiar to me. Their lands, a place of fire, have long pushed outward. Now these lands do the same. You would have earth and wind follow.”

  Tan nodded.

  Honl seemed to smile. “The shaping is right, but also is not. You must take that shaping, you must bind it, and bring everything together.”

  “Honl,” Tan started, revealing his name without meaning to. He winced, hating that he had. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Honl seemed unconcerned that his name had been shared and he smiled again. “The Mother will guide you, Maelen. You must trust. I know what I must do. Your kingdoms must be a part of this.” He drifted through Tan, leaving him with a strange sensation where the elemental had touched. Tan sensed excitement from Honl, almost an eagerness. “He would have enjoyed this hunt, Maelen, but he is still with you. Never forget that.” Honl started toward the sky and looked down to Tan. “I will reach ara. Zephra is needed. Theondar too.”

  “For what?” Tan asked.

  But Honl had already disappeared.

  Tan turned to Elle, but she stared after the wind elemental, her face wide with amazement. What had Honl meant that he would have to bind the lands together? What had he meant that the shaping was right, but also not? What had Honl detected that Tan had missed?

  He studied the sea, listening again to the power of the shaping and how it pushed out and away from the lands. The shaping would keep Par-shon from the shores. It was powerful, the combined effort of all the Doman shapers. Much like the shaping in Incendin, it would hold Par-shon away. Chenir could do the same, as could the kingdoms, but Elle was right. Shapings like that would not bring them lasting peace.

  For that, they would have to stop Par-shon. They would have to stop the Utu Tonah.

  Could the shaping change?

  Tan considered what Honl suggested. Bind it.

  Binding each of the massive shapings would be powerful, but changing the shaping was risky—and something that he wasn’t sure would even work. Worse, if it failed, they would be exposed.

  But if it worked, they might do more than simply keep Par-shon away. They might have a way to finally defeat Par-shon.

  27

  Border Meeting

  The edge of Incendin was a barren place, radiating the heat of the land but with less intensity as was found in other parts of the country. The plants were different along the border as well, the deadly and dangerous poisonous-barbed plants thinning to nothing more than thorny bushes. Tan stood on a rock ledge, looking down at a narrow strip of water, a river whose name he didn’t know. All along the river, life flourished. Bright greens and splashes of color from blooming flowers contrasted with the emptiness of Incendin, as if the plants wanted to bring more life to the land.

  Standing where he was, Tan could sense the distant drumming of Chenir. There was the tingle of the barrier, nearly complete and creating a real impediment to crossing into the kingdoms. Doma was there, connected through the water.

  Tan found it strange that he’d never stood in this spot, a point where each of the nations came together.
There was power here in a way that surprised him. If only the others would recognize it.

  He waited. It was all that he could do. Elle knew of his plan and worked to try to convince the others of Doma of its merit. Through Kota, Tan hoped to reach the Supreme Leader, but he wasn’t certain that it would work. Honl had claimed to call to Zephra, but Tan had used the summoning coin just the same. And he had called through the fire bond, requesting both Cora and Fur to come to him. Tan wasn’t sure that they would answer, but he had to try.

  Zephra reached him first. She landed with a shaping of wind that barely disturbed the ground, fixing him with a curious expression. “I received your summons,” she said.

  Roine followed almost immediately after.

  “Thank you for coming,” he said to them both.

  “I told you that I would listen.”

  “I didn’t expect your elemental to take the form that he did,” Roine said.

  Tan suppressed a smile. He wondered what Honl had done to convince both of them to come. “You were able to hear him?”

  “Hear him?” Roine said. “Tannen, I could see him. What did you do to him?”

  “I kept him from kaas,” he answered.

  Roine breathed out. “We are finishing preparations with the barrier. We don’t have time to be answering summons like this. Tell me, why did you summon me? The elemental would not answer, but said that you would explain. I didn’t know where to find you until your summons.”

  “We will wait,” Tan said.

  “For what?” Zephra asked. Roine looked annoyed, but Tan’s mother seemed more curious than anything.

  He felt the hound coming before he saw him. Sitting atop the hound, riding with a terrified expression on his face, was the Supreme Leader. When the hound stopped, the Supreme Leader climbed off. He glanced from Tan to Zephra and Theondar.

  “This was you?”

  Tan nodded.

  “Why? You have already convinced me of the need to press out with our shaping. We are doing as you asked. Why send your hound to abduct me?”

  “This is yours?” Zephra asked.

  “He is not mine,” Tan said, “but he is a part of the pack.” He sent a deep thanks to the hound for bringing the Supreme Leader. He wasn’t sure if it was able to hear him. The connection was there at the back of his mind, but not as solid as it was with Kota.

  A shaping of fire crackled with energy, and Cora arrived with Fur.

  When the others saw Fur, they immediately formed shapings.

  Tan leapt in front of him, placing his hands out in front of them. “He is here at my request.”

  The others slowly released their shapings. Tan noted that Roine was the last to release his shaping. When they did, Tan stepped away from Fur and turned to the lisincend. “Thank you for coming,” he said.

  Fur snorted, and heat radiated from him. “Did you give me a choice?”

  “Didn’t I?”

  Fur laughed. “Between Issan coming to me, and then Corasha, that would have been enough. But then kaas demanded my presence here as well. Tell me, Warrior, what is it that you need? The Sunlands stand before Par-shon. You do not need to fear.”

  “The Sunlands is but a part of what is happening,” Tan said. “Doma shapes as well, and they are able to keep Par-shon away from their borders. But Chenir has fallen.”

  “Not completely,” the Supreme Leader said.

  “What is it that you want?” Fur asked, sniffing at the Supreme Leader. “Why have you brought us all here, at the corner of the Sunlands?”

  “Not only the Sunlands,” Tan said. “Each of you stands on your border. This is where all the nations come together, so this is where I would bring you to meet.”

  “Doma isn’t here,” Roine said.

  “Aren’t they?” Tan asked. “Do you see the water flowing down below? That river flows into Falsheim, reaching into the city. That is Doma.”

  Fur laughed. “You make bold claims, Warrior. Now, what is it that you demand now?” Fur looked over at the hound and studied it for a moment. He seemed to recognize that Kota prowled behind him and turned to her, his eyes narrowing when he faced her.

  “We need to fight Par-shon together. We have tried it separately, and each works to keep them from our shores, but now is the time to bring the fight here.”

  “Tannen—” Roine started.

  Tan waved him off. “The Sunlands shape fire, pushing away Par-shon. Doma does the same with water. Chenir has begun using earth, as have the kingdoms with wind. I thought that would be the key, that we could defeat Par-shon by keeping them from our shores, but that will only delay the fight that must happen. For us to find a lasting peace, we need to change our focus.”

  It was Fur who understood what Tan intended first. “You would risk all of us.”

  “There is a risk,” Tan agreed. “But if we don’t, then what will happen? Even if we manage to push Par-shon away from Chenir, what next? How long will it be before the Utu Tonah finds a new way to attack? How long before he finds a way past your shaping?” he asked Fur. “We need to draw them here, force them to face us, and use the advantage of our shaping.”

  “Tan, they outnumber us. Even you must have seen that,” Cora said.

  “They outnumber our shapers, but not the elementals. Why do you think that your shaping is working? Do you think that you exclude Par-shon simply by the strength of your fire shapers? Did that work, or didn’t it require the bonding of elementals? How much stronger are you now, Fur, now that you have bonded to kaas?”

  The lisincend was silent as Tan spoke.

  Tan turned to Roine. “You would close your borders, but what will happen when Par-shon comes from the sea? How will the kingdoms keep safe then? We’ve seen how they can reach beyond the borders, how they can trap our elementals.”

  “That was before the barrier,” Roine said.

  “And what will happen when they find a way past the barrier?” Tan asked. “The lisincend found ways beyond the barrier; what makes you think that Par-shon will not as well?”

  He turned to the Chenir Supreme Leader. “And you have lost much already. Your people were willing to withdraw beyond your borders in the hope that there might be safety in the kingdoms.” Fur snorted and Tan shot him a hard glare. “You have agreed to fight. All that I ask is that we change our focus.”

  “To where?” Zephra asked.

  Tan tapped his foot. “Here. We will bring Par-shon here. Use the shapings to drive them, and then,” he took a deep breath, “then I will bind them.”

  “You do not have the capacity to understand the shaping of fire,” Fur said with a sneer.

  “I can join the fire bond and can hear the guidance of the elementals. Tell me, Fur, how could I not understand your shaping?” He turned to Zephra. “You have seen my connection to wind. Know that I can handle that shaping.” And then to Chenir. “The hounds may be new to earth, but they are strong. I trust that you sensed that as you traveled here?” The Supreme Leader nodded slowly. “Then know that I can work with earth.”

  It had not taken much to convince Elle that he could work with water. After speaking to masyn as he rescued Zephra, she believed that he could.

  “What will happen when you bind the shapings?” Roine asked.

  “Then we will draw on the one thing that the Utu Tonah cannot reach: spirit.”

  * * *

  The shapings washed toward him. Tan hadn’t been sure that it would work, but once Fur agreed, so too had the Supreme Leader. Only Roine remained skeptical. Tan had to suppress his surprise that it was Fur who agreed to his suggestion first, but in some ways, that made sense. Incendin had faced Par-shon the longest. They knew the limitations of the shaping that they used, and Fur knew the extent that Incendin shapers had gone to prevent Par-shon from reaching their shores. Incendin had been willing to sacrifice their best shapers to keep their people safe. Why not take a chance at finally stopping them completely?

  Tan stood at the intersection of the four n
ations, feeling first fire and then water as the powerful shapings washed over him. Earth came as a distant rumble of thunder. It would reach him in time. Only wind hadn’t joined. Tan worried that Zephra or Roine resisted, though they had agreed to discuss it.

  Tan waited for the other summons he’d made, the other request to Honl. He wasn’t sure that the wind elemental would respond anymore, not as he once did, but he needed help with what he planned, and there was only one way that he suspected that he would reach it.

  As the cloud of smoke appeared, Tan tensed. Would Honl have done as asked? Would he bring Amia to him?

  She stepped free from a thick cloud, and then Honl appeared in his human form. Amia nodded to him. “Thank you,” she said.

  “No thanks are needed, Daughter,” Honl answered. The wind elemental looked at Tan. “You have convinced the others?”

  “All except wind.”

  A troubled look crossed Honl’s face, making it even darker than it had appeared since he’d begun taking on his form. “Zephra knows what I have told her.”

  “But Theondar rules in the kingdoms,” Tan answered. “He needs to lower the barrier, and doing so risks exposing the kingdoms. He still thinks that he can keep everyone safe by staying behind the barrier.”

  “You could remove it,” Honl suggested.

  Tan had considered that, but doing so would force Roine, and Tan suspected that it needed to be a choice freely made. Without that, it would feel no different than the coercion used by Par-shon.

  “Theondar will understand. You will need to see to that,” Tan said.

  Honl tipped his head, looking very human as he did so, and then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

  “Only you?” Amia asked.

  “Not only me. The others have different roles to play. This is ours.”

  She touched his hand. “What do we need to do?”

  Tan took a deep breath, drawing elemental power into him. Kota remained nearby, mostly to watch over him, much as Asboel once had. The connection to Honl was intact, more prominent in his mind than it had been in weeks. The sense of water surged through him, filling him with awareness brought to him by the nymid. Only fire was absent. Tan missed the connection to Asboel. Could he even form the shaping that he needed without the draasin? Should he have attempted to bond another before now? Asgar might have been ready for the bond. If not Asgar, then possibly another of fire. Saa had always answered him; perhaps he could bond to saa?