The Water Ruptures

by D. K. Holmberg

  Seeing Master Irina like that made him wonder if perhaps what he’d seen in the vision had been real. That shocked him, especially as what he’d experienced had seemed too impossible to believe, yet what other explanation was there for the fact she was lying motionless on the ground?

  His shaping had attacked her.

  Tolan crawled over to the corner of the room where the barrier was. As he reached for it, he found it missing. He reached through, grabbing his cloak, stuffing the bondars into his pocket, and reaching for his pouch. He was surprised to find his books were still inside.

  The only benefit to having these was the opportunity to continue to study the runes that marked each of the elementals, even though he thought he had fully memorized them at this point. He had spent enough time with them.

  When he crawled back to the chair, Master Irina still hadn’t moved.

  He didn’t know whether that was a good thing or not. It was possible her lack of movement meant she was far more injured than he knew. And if she was, what would the other Inquisitors do to him?

  They would blame him.

  Tolan nudged her with his foot. She moaned, but she didn’t get up.

  He made his way to the door, expecting it to be locked, but it pushed open.

  He frowned. Had the barrier that had been around everything—including his belongings—also surrounded the door?

  He peeked out into the hallway.

  There was no movement. Nothing.

  He made his way back to the chair. He could leave, but if he did, it was far more likely the Inquisitors would search him out again. At least here, he could wait and see what Master Irina might do once she awoke. How much of what had happened within his mind would she remember? How much of that had been real—and how much of it had been nothing more than a vision?

  He didn’t have to wait for long. She began to moan again and sat up slowly, leaning back on her hands, looking around the room before her gaze settled on him. There wasn’t the same laziness within her gaze as there normally was.

  “Ethar?”

  “Yes?”

  “What did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything.”

  “You did… something.”

  Tolan met her gaze, and he wondered whether she would be able to identify what he’d done. For that matter, Tolan wondered if he would be able to identify what he had done. As far as he knew, the only thing he’d done was resist her barrier.

  And what would she say if he told her?

  Why should he be afraid? He’d fought off a spirit attack and had managed to survive.

  There was value in that, and perhaps she might acknowledge it.

  “You were trying to shape my mind,” he said.

  “I was not.”

  “I felt the effect.”

  “No. I’ve been trying to release your mind.”

  “Release it from what?”

  “From the trappings you have holding it.”

  “What trappings?”

  “Whatever trappings your parents and the Draasin Lord placed upon it. It seems they also placed some sort of protection. It is interesting,” she said, getting to her feet. She was unsteady for a moment before managing to hold herself upright. She looked around the room before her gaze settled on him again, seemingly noticing the cloak and the pouch. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “I think you’ve held me long enough.”

  “I am the Grand Inquisitor. I will decide how long you are held.”

  “You have accused me time and again of something I have no part of. And I’m done with it. It’s time for me to return to my classes.” He started to stand but she wrapped him in a shaping, forcing him down.

  Tolan reacted, and the same shaping he’d performed inside the vision, the wedge that had carved through her barrier, formed, and he slammed through the shaping she was trying to wrap around him. It cut through it, and she staggered back a step.

  He didn’t think he had reached for the bondar, but now they were close to him, it was possible he had. He was tired and weakened after everything he’d been through and didn’t think he would have enough strength to fight her off if it came down to it. Besides, he didn’t have the same level of knowledge as Master Irina to oppose her in any realistic way.

  “I just want to return to my studies.”

  “Do you think you can?”

  He met her gaze, and as he did, the door opened. The Grand Master stood within it. He wasn’t a large man, but he was imposing, and power radiated from him. It was shaping power, a combination of each of the elements, all swirling together, forming a powerful shaping.

  How was he feeling that?

  He was usually aware of shaping, but never aware of particular elements being used within a shaping. This was different, and as he paid attention to it, he could feel the nature of the elements within the shaping.

  What had happened within that vision?

  His parents had been there, and he had seen bondars being made, and he had seen the way the shaping had been used to create them. He could remember those shapings almost as if he had that knowledge stored within his mind.

  It was much like the book he’d read through with Master Minden.

  What had he seen in that vision?

  His parents had given him a warning, but what sort of warning was it?

  “What is taking place here?” the Grand Master asked.

  “Shaper Ethar has decided the Inquisition is over,” the Grand Inquisitor said.

  “Is it?”

  The Grand Inquisitor looked at him. “We have held him for nearly thirty days.”

  “Much longer than you agreed to, I seem to recall.”

  “You are not one of the Inquisitors,” the Grand Inquisitor said, shooting a look in his direction.

  “Must I be an Inquisitor to recognize the aberrancy within this? We both know this is highly unusual.”

  “Everything about this is highly unusual,” she said.

  “Including your response. I doubt a student shaper would be able to withstand an Inquisition for as long as this if he wasn’t telling the truth. It’s time for this to be over.”

  “I am the Grand—”

  “I am the Grand Master of the Academy. You have one of my students, and it’s time this is over.”

  The Grand Master nodded to Tolan and motioned for him to follow.

  Tolan breathed out a sigh of relief and followed the Grand Master. They made their way along a narrow hallway. Several other Inquisitors were standing there, watching, and the Grand Master ignored them, continuing to lead Tolan past them.

  When they reached the end of the hall, a narrow staircase headed upward. Tolan trailed behind the Grand Master up the stairs and around the corner before realizing they were once again on the main level of the Academy. He hadn’t known where he was, but there apparently was some sort of lower level to the Academy, a series of cells, and now he was out of it, the Grand Master paused, turning to him.

  “You will find there will be many questions asked of you.”

  “I’m sure of that,” Tolan said.

  “You will also begin to question yourself. You will wonder what you did to deserve the Inquisition. There was a time when many shapers faced an Inquisition, and it wasn’t nearly as uncommon. The Grand Inquisitor seems to recall those days far too fondly.”

  The Grand Master hesitated, looking along the hall. At the end of it, the Grand Inquisitor appeared, and she stood for a moment before disappearing. There was a part of Tolan that feared she would grab him again and force him into another Inquisition. If she did, he wondered if he would ever be able to escape it.

  “She fears what she doesn’t understand,” he said.

  “Why would she fear me?”

  “Because she doesn’t understand you,” he said.

  “What is there to understand?”

  “The nature of your shaping is different. She noticed that the very first time she met you. And it troubled her. Sh
e doesn’t understand why you should have different shaping, only that it isn’t anything like what most within the Academy have.”

  “That was why she brought me down there?”

  “No. She brought you there because she wonders whether you are a part of what is taking place all around Terndahl.”

  “What is taking place around Terndahl?”

  The Grand Master looked at him for a moment, studying him, and then shook his head. “I don’t think I should share that with you, Shaper Ethar. You have been involved in enough as it is. If I reveal more to you, we run the risk of you getting involved in additional activities you should not. It’s better this way.”

  “Thank you,” Tolan said.

  “If only I were able to rescue you sooner. I tried, but as she said, I don’t have any influence when it comes to an Inquisition. It’s something of a marvel she allowed me to bring you with me as it is.” He patted Tolan on the shoulder. “Go and get some rest. At this point, I think you need it.”

  Tolan watched him disappear down the hallway. He took a deep breath and looked around the main level of the Academy. It had been so long since he’d been here, so long since he had been out of that room, anywhere but in that darkened space, surrounded by the walls and the shaping power the Grand Inquisitor possessed. Although he was tired, he didn’t want to return to his room. Not yet.

  Going back meant answering questions. He wasn’t sure he was ready for the questions he’d get, and more than that, he wasn’t sure he was ready to face the people who would be asking them. There would be Wallace and Jonas and Ferrah. And then there would be the others, those who may or may not have been questioned about him, but those who would have already made up their mind about his guilt.

  He started off, pausing at the library for a moment, glancing inside and seeing Master Minden making her way along the rows of shelves. She hesitated, almost as if aware that he was there, and turned slightly toward the doorway. He caught a momentary flash of her milky white eyes, but then she continued onward.

  That had to have been imagined. There was no way Master Minden would be able to detect him from this far out. There would come a time when he would return to the library, when he would see what else he could learn about spirit now he’d had that strange connection within the vision, but now wasn’t the time.

  What he needed was to get away.

  He headed out of the Academy building and reached the grounds outside. From here, the sun shone down on him, a gentle breeze gusted, reminding him of the visions, and he let out a sigh, allowing himself to relax. Now he was here, he felt as if he finally could relax.

  Tolan made his way toward the distant park. He wandered through the trees, letting his connection to earth stretch out, feeling the way the roots of the trees twined together. Farther from him, near the center of the park, was the pond. He found himself drawn toward it, compelled to make his way toward that body of water, and when he stepped up to the shore, there was a sense of peace.

  He focused on the water. Could he shape it?

  He didn’t have a bondar, but maybe he didn’t need it. In the vision, he’d been able to reach water, connecting to it, and had used that to layer upon his mind. Right now, all he wanted was some way of layering a protection upon him, a relaxing sweep of healing power, though that might be too much to ask.

  The connection to water came to him quickly.

  It was familiar. He did what he’d done in his vision, reaching for that deep part of him, connecting to the sense of moisture in his mouth, the blood in his veins, and feeling power swell up from deep within him. As he did, he reached for the water, pulling it into a spiral.

  It reacted, spinning slowly in place. The spiral rotated around and around, and then he held it, spinning it out, forming a platform.

  These were all shapings he had been forced to try during his water shaping sessions, but never had he been able to do them. He went through a few other water shapings, each of them increasingly complex, and when he neared the end of the series of water shaping that he’d never managed to do before, he took a step back, breathing out.

  As his breath left his lips, he connected to the wind. The stirring from deep within him reverberated with the wind, echoing with it, and he sent a soft swirling breeze twisting around him.

  He could shape.

  The power came from within him and not from the elementals, and yet… When it had come down to it, when he had needed to protect himself, to use shaping to defend his mind, he had called upon both his connection to shaping—and the elementals.

  Could it be that he somehow had a way of using both?

  He stood at the shore of the pond for a long time, feeling the caress of the wind, the earth beneath his boots, the warmth of the sun, and even the soft murmuring of water as it headed toward the pond. It was the reason this place had been built, a way for student shapers to connect to the elements, and he understood it in a way he had never understood it before.

  Tolan lost track of how long he stood there. The sound of voices in the distance tore him from his reverie and he drifted toward the trees, hiding within them, wishing he had some shaping that could mask him. There was a way of hiding within a shaping, but it was one he didn’t know.

  He remained hidden as the students made their way through, unaware of his presence. They were all first-level students, and he recognized them because Velthan walked among them, talking loudly, shaping building from him, but also from the others.

  The last thing he wanted was to encounter Velthan as the first person upon leaving the Inquisition.

  Tolan drifted back through the trees, heading out of the park in a different direction, and wound through the streets. There was an energy here, a vibrancy, and he had been aware of it before. As he walked, he realized he could feel it from everyone around him. Every so often, he paused to watch some of the carts roll past or to listen to the shop owners shouting at people making their way through, trying to cajole them into coming into their stores. At one building, the sound of music drifted out, a combination of strings and a flute and a sweet voice that hung above it all. The song tugged at him, pulling upon some hidden part of him. He stood in the doorway for a while, listening and saying nothing. Several others made their way past him, heading into the tavern and grabbing drinks, but Tolan wanted nothing to do with that. All he wanted was to listen to the music.

  During a break in the music, he tore himself away and continued to wander through the city. That same energy surrounded him.

  The longer he went, the tenser he began to feel. He would have to return to his room eventually, and he knew he was avoiding it. Returning meant facing questions. Questions meant explaining what had happened, though others would already know. Tolan hadn’t decided how much he wanted to share with others, but as he went, he decided it didn’t matter. Let people think the Grand Inquisitor had questioned him about his involvement with the Draasin Lord. He had come out of the Inquisition without any consequences. That should be answer enough for his guilt.

  Only, he knew all too well that regardless of whether he actually was, they would think him guilty.

  He reached the edge of the city, and he looked out toward the forest along the rolling road that led into Amitan. Every so often, he would glance up, feeling shaping high above, and he would listen to the passing of others upon the Shapers Path. Blooms of power reverberated, various shapers working throughout the city, and he finally found himself drawn back toward the Academy. It was near dark when he reached the doors, pausing for a moment before heading inside. He walked slowly, pleasantly surprised that the hallways were mostly empty. The few people here didn’t glance in his direction. If they did, would they stop and stare?

  The doors to the library were thrown open, and he paused. The desks inside the library were empty, no students sitting around them. Master Kelly and Master Minden sat up on the dais, and Tolan took a deep breath before heading inside. He walked slowly toward the back of the library, reaching into his
pouch and withdrawing the books. When he neared the dais, he slid the books across to Master Minden.

  She looked up. There was a tingling sensation he attributed to a shaping, and then it faded. “You are done with these?”

  “I figured I should give them back to you before anything else happens to me.”

  “What else do you anticipate happening to you, Shaper Ethar?”

  “I was brought in for an Inquisition.”

  “So I heard.”

  “These books raised particular questions with the Grand Inquisitor.”

  “Why would these raise any questions with the Grand inquisitor?”

  Tolan shrugged. “She accused me of siding with the Draasin Lord.” There was no point in denying the accusations against him, and Master Minden didn’t seem as if she cared.

  “Seeing as how you no longer face the Inquisition, I presume you have been deemed reliable?”

  “I don’t side with the Draasin Lord.”

  “No. I would never have suspected you did. Had the Grand Inquisitor only come to me, I would have shared with her that you had borrowed these volumes from the library under my purview.”

  “I appreciate that, but I don’t think she was interested in whether or not I was actually guilty of her accusations.”

  “That’s unfortunate.”

  Tolan shrugged. “I’m not sure that matters.”

  “Why wouldn’t it matter?”

  “She’s the Grand Inquisitor. She is the one who Selected me. And she gets to decide what role the Grand Inquisitor plays.”

  Master Minden stared at him for a moment, her gaze lingering. “Did you discover anything?”

  A small smile spread across his face. “I think so.”

  “And what is that?”

  “That I no longer need these books.”

  She laughed softly. “I suppose you have had them for long enough. There are other volumes we have at your disposal, Shaper Ethar. I have not returned the rest.”

  He smiled to himself. “I would like the opportunity to continue reading them if the invitation remains.”