Tolan shrugged.
“To be honest, we have spent considerable time studying, trying to understand whether it is the elementals themselves or whether it was simply our shaping. The Keystone was a connection to an ancient power, and that ancient power could have many different forms. Some suspect it simply allows us to connect to the element bonds more effectively, while others wonder if perhaps the truth is something different.”
“Such as reaching the elementals.”
“Possibly, though even that seems unlikely.”
“Why is that?”
“There is a difference between what you might find here and the rogue elementals we have encountered that have escaped. The rogue elementals are more violent and agitated. What we found here seemed almost subdued. Controlled. And, I suspect you noticed, they weren’t allowed to leave the park. There is something that confines whatever we do here. Considering what we know of the elementals, such a confinement should not be possible.”
Tolan hadn’t considered that, but it made sense. The elementals were trapped here. He had been thankful of that when he had felt as if he were freeing the draasin. If it wasn’t the draasin, then he had some hope that whatever it was he had done, whatever shaping he had created, had not really freed anything.
“What do you think the purpose of this place was?”
“It’s hard to know what the ancient shapers intended. We have many examples of their shaping, but oftentimes they are difficult to understand. This one, so close to the Academy, is intriguing in its power. Much like the sense of the Convergence is different in its power.”
They fell into silence. Tolan watched the Grand Master for a long moment. “Are the rumors true?”
“Rumors have a way of often coming from the seeds of truth.”
“About a traitor within the Academy.”
The Grand Master looked around before turning his attention back to Tolan. “Unfortunately, we believe it must be. Not only have these attacks on Amitan suggested the Draasin Lord has increased his activity, but the attacks on the Selections made it clear they knew when we were starting our search.”
“What does that mean?”
“For you? Nothing more than you continuing your studies. I think you should not attempt to return here, though. It will be dangerous for you.”
“Why?”
“There will be changes, Shaper Ethar.”
“What kind of changes?”
“When the Draasin Lord attempts to infiltrate the Academy, we must take action. That means Inquisitors.” He took a deep breath, and Tolan had a sense the Grand Master didn’t care for that. “You need to remain close to Amitan or you will draw the attention of the Inquisitors. That means not visiting this place, and not pursuing your search for the Keystone.”
“I don’t have any intention of searching for the Keystone,” he said.
“Good. You already have found two places of considerable power that help protect Terndahl and the Academy. It’s unusual for someone so young and so early in their training to discover these sources of power. I would caution you not to continue looking for others. And avoid the Inquisitors if you can. Focus on your studies.”
The Grand Master flashed a smile and focused on a shaping, and with that, he disappeared into the sky faster than anyone Tolan had seen before.
He remained in place, looking around the park, worried it would be a while until he could see it again, before heading back toward the Academy.
9
As they headed to their fire shaping session, Tolan saw the first of the Inquisitors.
They were dressed in black cloaks. All wore serious expressions. Some carried swords. He counted five on the way to class but suspected there were more.
Ferrah pushed him. “Don’t stare.”
“When he said they were going to come to the Academy, I knew we’d see them, but I didn’t…”
She shoved again. “Keep moving.”
Tolan let his gaze linger as he looked at them but forced it away. Staring would only draw their notice, and he definitely didn’t want that.
A faint haze hung over the fire-shaping classroom as Tolan entered, taking a seat near the back. It took him a moment to realize the haze came from a shaping, leaving smoke swirling around the classroom, filling it. Master Sartan stood near the front of the room, his hands pressed on his desk, and a shaping radiated from him. Probably this shaping, Tolan decided.
Ferrah took a seat near the front of the class, pulling her notebook open in front of her, her pen ready. Others continued to file in, and Tolan was thankful he wasn’t the last to have arrived. On the first day of their second-level shaping lessons, he didn’t want to be the last one to arrive.
Jonas joined him, flopping down in the chair and looking over at him. “Where have you been?”
“All over the place,” Tolan said.
He had stayed mostly in the library since meeting the Grand Master, deciding the best use of his time was to try to understand the Selection. He might not be able to find the traitor—and now the Inquisitors were here, he doubted he needed to—but he could understand that. He still hadn’t uncovered anything about the Selection that would help him understand it any better than he already did. And maybe he wouldn’t be able to understand any better. The books Master Jensen had dug out for him had not been very helpful. Tolan had been reading through them, trying to understand everything he could about the nature of shaping, but all he was left with was a sense that shapers from that time, at least those who had made notes and left them behind, had a very different understanding of shaping than what the master shapers of today did.
From what Master Minden said, that present knowledge of shaping was better, though Tolan wasn’t completely convinced. Maybe it was better, but it was just as possible their understanding of shaping was just evolved. That didn’t make the shapers of before any less talented. They had to be talented, especially as they had been the ones who had started the Academy.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been digging into your concern about the Grand Inquisitor.”
Tolan shook his head. “I’m not even sure where I would start, but there is a traitor at the Academy. The Grand Master admitted as much.”
“Because you shouldn’t. I don’t know what you think you might have uncovered with her, but I doubt it’s anything nearly as exciting as what you have imagined. Besides, did you see them?”
He nodded, not needing to ask what he meant. “I think we’re going to see a lot of them.”
Tolan turned his attention to the front of the class, where Master Sartan was beginning to take a seat. That indicated the start of his lessons, and Tolan was not interested in upsetting him. Most of the time, Master Sartan was accommodating to him.
“Today we are going to talk about smoke,” Master Sartan said.
Someone groaned off to the side of the class
Master Sartan smiled slightly. The smoke began to thicken. “You don’t believe working on smoke is beneficial?”
With the rising haze in the classroom, Tolan couldn’t tell who he was directing the question to. He could barely see the end of his table now and he coughed, hurriedly covering his face with his jacket so he didn’t breathe in the smoke.
“Many people feel fire alone is a weapon, and it is, but there are aspects to fire few people think to utilize. We’ve gone through steam, and how that can work with water, the two of them surprisingly much stronger than what they would be otherwise. Today we are going to go through smoke, and we will spend the next few weeks mastering it.”
“The next few weeks?” Jonas asked near him. “I’m not sure I have the patience for spending a few weeks on something so simple.”
“Is that right?” Master Sartan’s voice came from much closer than he had been before. How had he snuck up on them so easily? “Most feel summoning smoke is easy, but they would be mistaken. There is nothing simple about summoning smoke in this manner. In fact, when you learn to master smoke, you will find the
shaping is far more complicated—and subtle—than many of the other shapings you might attempt. Now, if that is about all from you?”
The smoke around Jonas cleared enough for Tolan to see his friend nod. They had to be careful. Master Sartan was an incredibly gifted fire shaper, and with the smoke being his creation, it wouldn’t be surprising if Master Sartan was completely in control of clearing it up. He might even be able to see through it, unlike the rest of them.
Master Sartan’s voice came from a different section of the room. Tolan wished he were able to see him more easily, but the haze made seeing anything far too difficult. “You will find controlling smoke is difficult, but partly because you expend far more of yourself when you do this than you do with fire. Fire is focused, direct, whereas smoke is everywhere. But it is that reason that smoke is far more powerful. You can use it to obfuscate, concealing, but you can also use it to incapacitate.”
The smoke thickened once again, and several people around the classroom began coughing. As Tolan had his arm covering his mouth, he wasn’t breathing in nearly as much as he would have otherwise, but still he took in a mouthful of smoke, much more than he wished he did. He could see the value in a shaping like this. It would be incredibly powerful, and it would provide the ability to hide.
“Today I would like you to focus on creating smoke around you. Nothing more than that. The shaping is a matter of focusing on flame but twisting it in such a way that you are constantly tamping it down, forcing the heat to dissipate. Not only are you asked to form a flame, but you’re also asked to quiet the flame.” The air suddenly cleared. Master Sartan stood in the center of the classroom. “Which is why smoke is one of the most difficult shapings for students to master.”
He made his way to the front of the class, and once there, Master Sartan took a seat and reached into one of his drawers, pulling a tray loaded with bondars out and setting it on his desk.
More people than usual got up from their seats and went to grab a bondar. Jonas was among them. When he returned, he glanced over at Tolan and shrugged. “If he said this was one of the more difficult shapings, I figured I might as well have some assistance with it.”
Tolan reached into his pocket, thinking of what elemental might be beneficial. He had some ability with forming smoke already, though that was tied to both shiron and esalash. Both were smoke elementals he had some experience with, though not enough experience to be able to control them. He glanced over at the bondar Jonas had borrowed, and he saw a marking upon it that he recognized.
“Can I borrow that?” Tolan asked.
“Don’t you have your own?”
“I do, but I’m not necessarily able to pull it out while in class,” Tolan whispered. He worried Jonas’s voice had carried too far. He didn’t want—or need—others to know about his possession of bondars. The first had been hidden since he initially came to the Academy, but the earth bondar was something else entirely.
Jonas handed him the bondar and Tolan took it, rolling it in his hands for a moment. He held it out, focusing on shiron. That was the marking he’d seen on the bondar, and he had enough experience with the elementals and recognizing the patterns that he identified the one that would be beneficial.
Focusing on the marking—Tolan didn’t know whether it was a rune or not, though had long ago realized it didn’t matter—he imagined what he could of shiron.
With this elemental, he didn’t want to have complete obfuscation of everything and let smoke fill the room. That would be the role of esalash. He wanted to create a small band of smoke. That was something shiron was more suited to.
He continued to focus, holding the image of the elemental in his mind, and slowly—far more slowly than what he was accustomed to—smoke began to appear. A sense of stirring started, and with that, he latched onto it, connecting to what he could imagine of the elemental, using that knowledge to help him focus on shiron. As he did, he tried to call to the elemental, to guide it. He didn’t want the elemental to burst into view. All he wanted was enough of an appearance that he would be able to demonstrate smoke for the day.
Streamers of smoke began to swirl. Tolan held onto those streamers, trying to thicken them. As he did, he sent them swirling around himself.
Shiron listened and cooperated.
It wasn’t that the elemental obeyed. Tolan never had the sense he was commanding the elementals, not when he attempted to use his shaping in that way. Rather, he had the sense he was guiding them, asking them to join him, and when they cooperated, they were able to work together.
Perhaps it was all in his mind, and if it was, he didn’t care. Whatever it took to help him be able to shape was all that mattered.
“Okay. Now you’ve proven you can do it, can you let me borrow it?” Jonas said.
Tolan released his connection, and the smoke continued to swirl around him. He handed the bondar over to Jonas and focused on the elemental. This was the part he still needed practice with. He didn’t know if he was actually calling an elemental or not, but dismissing the shaping—or the elemental, whichever it was—was the hardest part for him.
Thank you.
There seem to be a slight stirring within the smoke, but then it started to dissipate.
“Who taught you to shape like that?” Master Sartan asked as he approached Tolan.
The smoke had faded, leaving nothing around him.
“I was just doing what you instructed,” Tolan said.
“That is not what I instructed.” He motioned around them, and Tolan looked around the room before seeing what Master Sartan meant. Most of the other students were attempting faint wisps of smoke, nothing quite like what Tolan had done. He had convinced shiron to swirl around him, creating a haze covering him. Would the same thing have happened had he focused on esalash? It was possible it would, though he hadn’t wanted to strain for that much elemental power quite yet. It was better to connect to them cautiously, rather than rushing in.
“I don’t know. I must’ve seen a shaping like that before.”
“That is an interesting level of control,” Master Sartan said. “Many students never master that degree of control.”
“What degree?”
“Where they cover themselves. You were using smoke to hide within.” He cocked his head to the side, staring at Tolan for a moment. “Or were you not aware of that?”
“I didn’t quite know what I was doing. That’s the problem.”
“Perhaps.” He frowned a moment longer before making his way through the classroom.
Jonas elbowed him. “Now you’re getting on Master Sartan’s good side? Pretty soon you’re going to be his favorite.”
“I have a hard time believing I could ever be his favorite.”
“I don’t know. He seemed awfully impressed by your shaping. Although, I have to admit, seeing as how you were able to shape the way you were compared to everyone else, it was impressive. Look at everyone else’s shaping. No one is doing anything quite like what you managed.”
Tolan looked up at Ferrah. If anyone would be able to do anything similar, it would be her. She was a skilled shaper and already had some talent with fire, so it wouldn’t surprise him to see her able to control fire and shape exactly the way Master Sartan had wanted.
Except Ferrah was struggling, or at least seemed to be. She had smoke, but not as much as Draln had managed. He could practically see the tension within Ferrah. It was the rigid way she sat, her stiff neck, and the occasional glance around her that told him just how agitated she was.
“So, what’s the secret?”
“You just have to do as he says,” Tolan said.
“I’ve been trying to do that, but all I managed to do is create sparks in my hand. And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want us to light ourselves on fire today.”
“Not today, but maybe on another day,” Tolan said, forcing a smile.
“Is there anything you can suggest that will help me shape the way you did?”
“I don�
��t know. I just focused on smoke.”
“Focus on smoke,” Jonas muttered, squeezing the bondar as he pointed at his hand. A flicker of flame appeared there and immediately began to dissipate, smoke streaming off of it. Jonas was doing what Master Sartan had instructed, but the instructions didn’t fit with what Tolan knew to be necessary to create smoke.
The connection between his shapings and the elementals was almost enough for him to go to the Grand Master. The moment he did, Tolan suspected he would be treated differently. Already he was treated differently enough because of everything he had been through. He didn’t want more reason for people like the Grand Master to treat him any differently than anyone else. More than that, he wanted to stay at the Academy and his studies.
“We can practice more after class,” Tolan whispered to Jonas.
“I’m going to have to. If he said this is a shaping all must master before they leave the Academy, you know what that means.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It means it’s part of some testing.”
“Do you think it could be?”
“You heard what he said the same as I did,” Jonas hissed. “Honestly, Tolan, sometimes I don’t feel as if you pay attention.”
He sighed and turned his focus back to the front of the class. Eventually, they would end the lesson and Master Sartan would begin talking about elementals. At least, that was the way lessons had gone before.
This time was different. As everyone either finished or gave up, Master Sartan got to his feet. “Everyone join me on the peak.”
Tolan and Jonas shared a look. “The peak?” Jonas whispered.
Tolan shrugged. They filed out of the classroom, Draln and his buddies the first to make their way up the stairs, following after Master Sartan. Tolan slowed and Ferrah joined them, her jaw still clenched with her frustration.
“How did it go?” Jonas asked. “I nearly burned my hand, but Tolan here was able to create some sort of smokescreen all around him. He became Master Sartan’s favorite in the process, though I’m not surprised. Some of the things he’s done with fire have been—”
The Water Ruptures Page 11