His strength began to fade, and the shaping that he held together began to sag. Tan focused on the fire bond, clinging to the sense that was Asboel within it.
Is the Mother pleased?
There was a moment of silence, a moment where Tan wasn’t sure if the memory of Asboel would answer. And then, distantly, he heard him.
You have done well, Maelen.
Epilogue
Fur’s words had stuck with Tan.
Tan sat atop Asgar, not bonded to the draasin, but enjoying flying with him. Since stopping the Utu Tonah, he no longer had to reach for the fire bond; it simply burned through him. Within it, he sensed Asboel, even if he could not speak to him as he had. Knowing that he was not gone completely gave Tan a sense of peace.
Sitting behind him, Amia squeezed him.
Riding Asgar was different than riding atop Asboel, but the draasin shared many of his father’s traits. He had a steady and powerful sweep with his wings. The heat rising from his back reminded Tan of when he’d first ridden Asboel, as did the careful way that Tan needed to keep his attention focused on what the draasin was doing. Over time, he’d grown comfortable with Asboel and had barely had to pay attention while riding.
Sashari soared next to him, with Cianna riding atop her. On the other side, Enya flew, with Cora on her back. The other hatchling trailed them. She had gotten larger and was nearly the size of Enya now.
They flew over white-capped swells of water, racing toward Par-shon. Asgar clutched the body of the Utu Tonah in his talons. Tan would show Par-shon what would happen if they forced another bond. There would be no replacing the power void that now existed in Par-shon, at least not with another like the Utu Tonah.
“Are you sure this is safe?” Amia asked.
The moment that he’d sensed Par-shon shapers, when he’d freed the bonds from the Utu Tonah, had told him what needed to be done. There could be no further attacks. The trapping of elementals would stop. The forced binding of elementals would stop.
“You don’t have to come,” he said.
She laughed. “The People are safe. Soon Lyssa will be able to replace me.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
Amia squeezed him again. “There might have been a time when I wanted to be the First Mother, but that is gone. I would have a different role.”
Tan glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled. She leaned forward and kissed him.
They reached the edge of Par-shon and moved quickly through. The last time he’d been here, the land had been barren as it led up to the city. Now Tan understood why that was the case, that the trapping of the elementals had caused the land to change. In the time since he’d severed the bonds, the land had already begun to change. Color and a sense of life had returned. In time, even Par-shon could be restored.
“What do you intend?” Cora asked, using a shaping of wind to augment her words.
“I intend to show Par-shon that they will not attack again.”
Cora grunted. “Fur won’t know what to do if he doesn’t need to maintain the shaping.”
“He can focus on serving the people of the Sunlands.”
“Do you think that he ever stopped?” she asked.
Tan shook his head. Perhaps Cora was right. Fur had done everything that he could to keep his people safe. Through it, he had risked everything, including himself, but it had given Incendin a chance for safety. Now, Tan would see that it was no longer necessary.
The draasin continued inland. As they did, Tan began to feel the draw of the palace at the heart of Par-shon. Darkness radiated from it.
As they neared the city, Tan glanced at Cianna and Cora. “Are you ready?”
They both nodded.
With a powerful shaping, he leapt from Asgar’s back, carrying Amia with him, and traveled into the heart of Par-shon. Tan landed in the courtyard outside the palace. It was a place he had only seen but never visited before.
The draasin circled above, ensuring that he would be safe.
Runes were set into the walls of the palace, working all the way up the sides. The pressure they exuded attempted to prevent him from shaping, but he had held onto his shapings, and he was connected to the elementals. There was nothing that Par-shon would do to prevent him from shaping.
Using spirit, he destroyed the runes set into the walls. They exploded with a thunderous crack. Tan made his way into the palace, ignoring the surprised stares of the people he passed. Most were servants, dressed simply in white gowns. At each rune, Tan paused, destroying it as he made his way through the palace. He reached the stairs that led up and paused at the second level.
“This is where they tested me,” he said.
“Do what you need,” Amia said.
Tan hurried down the hall and threw open the door. Inside, the runes were as he remembered, set throughout in some unrecognizable pattern. With a shaping that required him to pull on each of his connections, he shattered these runes as well, leaving the testing room no more.
Then Tan made his way back into the hall and up the stairs. At the top, a heavy woman wearing a floral dress skidded to a stop in front of him. Her eyes widened, and she looked away from him, bending her neck in a bow.
Tan recognized her. “Garza.”
Tan sensed her and felt no bonds remaining. He would leave her unharmed.
He continued onward, finally reaching the room where he had first met the Utu Tonah. Inside, more runes were set into the walls, each one intended to separate shapers from their abilities. Tan shattered them all. The last was atop the throne near the back of the room. The people standing around it all stared at him. None made any attempt to attack. Tan had expected some sort of resistance, but there had been none. It was as if Par-shon had expected him.
“The Utu Tonah is dead,” Tan said. “No more elementals will be forcibly bonded. If any bonds are formed, I will see that they are shattered.”
The faces of those gathered in the room stared at him. Tan made a point of meeting each person’s eyes. No one spoke.
Finally, a man stepped forward. He had dark hair and a narrow face. His eyes were heavy and sunken, with dark rings around them. His shoulders sagged, as if carrying weight that he was unaccustomed to supporting. He bowed to Tan.
“You have returned,” he said.
Tan recognized the man. He had met him when he had first come to Par-shon. An earth shaper, but one who had been almost fair with him. “Tolman,” Tan said. “Your Utu Tonah is gone.”
“When the bonds faded, we knew that he was,” Tolman said.
“The draasin have returned his body. You may do with it as you like. As I have said, whoever takes his place will not force bonds.”
“As you wish,” Tolman said.
Tan glanced at Amia. He had expected more resistance. Roine had warned him against coming, suggested that he bring more with him, support in case Par-shon was not as weakened as Tan suspected, but Tan wasn’t willing to bring any more than he had to into Par-shon. Allowing Cianna and Cora to come with him was his concession to Roine’s suggestion.
“Do any shapers remain?” Tan asked. “Trust that I will find out if they do.”
Tolman nodded to a younger boy standing near the back, and then motioned to an older man who was probably a few years older than Tan. Both stepped forward with heads bowed. “These, and then Garza.”
Tan reached out with a sensing of earth and detected Garza watching from the door. She didn’t come any closer, as if afraid to do so. “Would they learn to control their shapings without the bonds?” Tan asked.
Tolman tipped his head. “It will be as you wish.”
Tan frowned, trying to understand if they were stalling, but he found nothing that would make him think that there was anything more than what he saw. He started to turn, letting Amia know through the bond that they would leave.
He hadn’t known what to expect, but certainly not this. Had the Utu Tonah controlled them so completely that they didn’t know
what to do now that he was gone? If so, he felt sorry for these people, sorry for what they had experienced.
Forgiveness is your greatest gift, Amia sent to him.
“What will you have us do?” Tolman asked as Tan turned away to leave
Tan paused. “Do?” he repeated. “I would have Par-shon find peace. I would have you understand that your elementals should be respected. I would have you not live in fear.”
Tolman tipped his head. “It will be as you wish.”
Tan spun back to face him and crossed the distance between them. “What are you getting at, Tolman? Why do you keep saying that it will be as I wish?”
Tolman frowned. “You don’t know?”
Tan shook his head.
“Then why did you return?”
“To give warning. To ensure that no others are treated as I was treated. Why do you think that I returned?”
“Because you defeated him. You are now the Utu Tonah.”
* * *
The Cloud Warrior Saga will continue! Subscribe to my newsletter to be the first to hear about the next release.
* * *
If you enjoye the Cloud Warrior Saga, check out the first novel set in a new series: The Dark Ability.
Exiled by his family. Claimed by thieves. Could his dark ability be the key to his salvation?
Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears.
Forbidden from Sliding, he’s apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he’s banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.
Though Rsiran tries to serve obediently, to learn to control the call of lorcith as his father demands, when his life is threatened in the darkness of the mines, he finds himself Sliding back to Elaeavn where he finds a black market for his blades - and a new family of thieves.
There someone far more powerful than him discovers what he can do and intends to use him. He doesn’t want to be a pawn in anyone’s ambitions; all he ever wanted was a family. But the darkness inside him cannot be ignored - and he’s already embroiled in an ancient struggle that only he may be able to end.
About the Author
DK Holmberg currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
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Also by D.K. Holmberg
The Cloud Warrior Saga
Chased by Fire
Bound by Fire
Changed by Fire
Fortress of Fire
Forged in Fire
Serpent of Fire
Servant of Fire
Others in the Cloud Warrior Series
Chasing the Wind
Drowned by Water
Deceived by Water
Salvaged by Water
The Dark Ability
The Dark Ability
The Heartstone Blade (February 2016)
The Tower of Venass (March 2016)
In the world of The Dark Ability
The Painted Girl
The Durven (The Forgotten Part 1)
A Poisoned Deceit (The Forgotten Part 2)
A Forgotten Return (The Forgotten Part 3)
The Painter Mage
Shifted Agony
Arcane Mark
Painter For Hire
Stolen Compass
The Lost Garden
Keeper of the Forest
The Desolate Bond
Keeper of Light
Servant of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 7) Page 24