Fortress Of Fire (Book 4)

by D. K. Holmberg

  But this time was different. From what she’d said, the last time had been because her elemental died. This time, the bond was stolen from her.

  “You have to know a shaping that will heal,” he said to Vel. “You’re a water shaper once bound to udilm!”

  “Water can’t heal spirit,” Vel snapped.

  Water might not be able to heal spirit, but maybe spirit could. Was there anything he might be able to do?

  He took his mother’s hands. They were already growing cold. She trembled, the convulsions coming more frequently now.

  I will need strength. Zephra needs me to have strength.

  He sent the request to all the elementals he could: Asboel and Honl, to the earth and water that he couldn’t reach well here, and on to the lesser elementals that he didn’t expect to respond, saa and wyln.

  Strength flooded into him and Tan pulled on it, drawing it toward him as he focused a shaping while pulling on spirit. He filled himself with power, drew all that he could of spirit, weaving into it the shaped power that he’d summoned. It was immense, more than he’d ever attempted before.

  This time, he would have no connection to follow. Unlike with Amia and the elementals, where he could track along the connection they shared, what he did now would have to come entirely from him. He didn’t have the skill or experience, but Zephra didn’t have time for him to gain what he needed. He had done something like this before except ara had guided his shaping that time.

  Tan pushed the spirit shaping onto his mother. Her back arched and she sucked in a breath, but nothing more.

  There was a barrier, as if she blocked him. With a surge, Tan pressed through it, using the draw of spirit to guide him. Water shaping washed from him, and he used that to probe her injury. Earth and wind mixed in, even a touch of fire. All helped him understand her injuries. Then, like a distant gust of wind, he sensed what was wrong.

  The connection to ara felt like a jagged shard in her mind. Tan pressed through it, pushing along the connection like he had so often done with the connections he shared with Amia and the elementals, and came to the severed end.

  Could he heal this? Could spirit let him seal it off?

  Doing so would separate her completely from ara. Would his mother want to live like that? Could she live like that?

  Maybe there was another way. Might he be able to reestablish the connection? Ara may not respond to him the same way it did to Zephra, but Tan could reach the elemental, even severed as this was.

  With a spirit enhanced shaping, he sent out a request to ara. Then he waited.

  Nothing came.

  There had to be more to it. How did he know which of the elementals to call?

  The same way he reached Asboel and now Honl. He needed the elemental’s name.

  Asboel responded differently than Enya. Honl was different than other ashi elementals. If he ever learned enough of the nymid, he might bond there as well. Maybe one day, he would understand the earth elementals enough to bond. The name was the key.

  “I need his name,” he said to his mother.

  Her eyes fluttered. Her mouth opened. No words came out.

  But he heard it anyway.

  The name drifted to him, faint and playful, conjuring up an image of a face to match: Aric.

  The name went out on a spirit-strengthened wind shaping. This one had force and direction and floated through the jagged separation, at first unanchored, simply waving in the wind. Then it was drawn, as if summoned, pulled toward something.

  Tan readied a shaping of spirit and wind. If he were right, he would need both to fix the connection. Then he met resistance.

  Wind fought him, a mixture of ashi and wyln and ilaz. Even ara, Aric now bound to the Utu Tonah or another, fought against Tan. Had Tan been healing anyone else, he might not have been strong enough. He might have given up, receded for a different fight. But this was Zephra. This was his mother.

  Zephra had lost the wind once. He would not be the reason she lost it again.

  Calling on spirit, Tan shaped through the elementals strengthening him and pressed out with even more spirit than before.

  Aric.

  The wind elemental hesitated. As it did, Tan sensed what he needed to do. A shaping of added wind and, surprisingly, water. This pierced through the wind elemental.

  Something changed. The elemental floated free for a moment, and then Tan shaped it again, drawing it toward the broken connection.

  Aric gusted toward her willingly. Tan used spirit and air and bound them together, sealing the broken connection. Wind suddenly swirled around his mother in an agitated storm.

  You healed her.

  This from ara. Not simply ara, but Aric. Tan could tell.

  She is Zephra.

  Aric sighed and the wind around Zephra eased.

  What will happen to her? Tan asked.

  The bond is restored.

  Will she live?

  Aric danced around her, floating first above her, then, on a captured breath, through her. She will live.

  Tan settled to his knees, relaxing next to his mother. His head pounded with the effort of what he had done, but not as it once would have. The elementals had gifted him with increased stamina. Tan still hadn’t discovered what the elementals received from the shared connection, but he trusted that one day, he would. Right now, he needed to rest. They weren’t done in this land yet.

  He rested. Vel leaned against a nearby tree, saying nothing. Both of his hands gripped his long beard. His eyes flickered around the trees, watching for imagined—or maybe not so imagined—threats.

  After a while, his mother began to stir. She sat up on her own. She looked from Tan over to Vel, staring at him for long moments, before turning her focus back to Tan.

  “How was this possible?” she asked.

  “Mother,” Tan sighed, relieved to have her back. “How are you?”

  “Better than I should be.”

  “What happened?”

  The bruises that had been on her face were gone, fading during one of the healing episodes, though Tan wasn’t certain it if was his doing or Vel’s.

  “I came to Par. I shouldn’t have.”

  “Did you know what was here?”

  She let out a shaky breath. “Nothing. Only that Incendin was known to attack the island. We’ve never known why.” She closed her eyes, and Tan wondered if she needed the rest or if she spoke to her elemental. “You weren’t the only one Theondar sent searching for allies. There have been stories, but we’ve never really understood. None from the kingdoms have made the journey. Only warriors or…” She trailed off and shrugged. “Others able to shape with their elementals. We’ve been too busy fighting Incendin.”

  Tan glanced at Vel. He seemed oblivious to their conversation, his eyes unfocused and staring straight ahead. Tan had expected him to ask for help restoring his elemental, but he had not. At least, not yet. In time. Maybe by then, Tan would have enough strength to do what he asked.

  “He says Incendin provides protection from Par-shon,” Tan said, motioning to Vel.

  His mother twisted and stared at the water shaper. For long moments, she said nothing. “You were dead,” she whispered.

  The Doman blinked. The hollow eyes looked over to Zephra, meeting hers. “Not dead. Stolen.”

  “We thought the sea…” She dragged herself to her knees and crawled to him, touching his hair and his face. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you. I thought it a vision from the Great Mother as I died.”

  Vel laughed. “A vision. Look at this,” he said, tugging on his beard. There was still an edge of madness to the sound. “And this is your son?”

  Zephra nodded. “This is Tan.”

  Tan shifted to watch them, feeling vaguely uncomfortable. “Who is Vel?”

  His mother looked over to him. “A man I knew once, long before meeting your father. When I went to the university to train, he remained in Doma. There weren’t many with his gifts. I was stationed along t
he barrier when I heard he’d been lost to the sea.”

  “And Father?”

  His mother closed her eyes. “Grethan knew of Vel, but Grethan… He was a wonderful man. Strong. He kept me grounded.”

  Tan swallowed as thoughts of his father rolled through him.

  “Where did you find him?” Zephra asked.

  Tan shook his head. “There is a place in the city. Walls of black obsidian. Runes marked upon the walls. It is a place of separation.”

  Her eyes widened. “How is it you didn’t lose your connection to the draasin?”

  “Not only the draasin,” Tan said. “I have bonded a wind elemental. And Amia.” She gave no reaction. “I could feel what they did, how they used the runes to separate me from them. They would steal the natural bond, transfer it to one of their shapers.”

  She shuddered. “How did you not suffer that same fate?”

  “Spirit.”

  She frowned. “But you shape spirit differently. That’s what she said.”

  “You were speaking to the First Mother.”

  “I had to know. Most of the ancients shaped much like you. They could bind the elements together, twist them, and form a semblance of spirit. It was not true spirit, but served much the same. Somehow, the understanding of that shaping was lost over time, not the ability. The ability to shape spirit—to truly shape spirit—has always been rare. The First Mother thought that was all you would be capable of doing.”

  “She thought I came at spirit shaping too late,” Tan said.

  “That’s what she told you?”

  “Because she was unwilling to see that I’d already formed a connection with spirit. That was why Amia’s bond has been so solid. We are shaped together, spirit to spirit. It was because of her I learned to reach for spirit.”

  His mother let out a frustrated sigh, her eyes drifting to stare at the sky. “I’ve been a fool,” she said softly. “I feared that she shaped you, that were unwilling to protect yourself around her. Instead, you have shaped each other.” She sat staring for long moments at the clouds before turning and taking his hands. “Can you forgive your mother?”

  “If you will give Amia a chance. That’s all I ask.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “Somewhere safe. Away from here.”

  Tension eased from Zephra. “Spirit. And did you mix it with the elements?”

  Tan nodded. “How did you know?”

  “The ancients. There are some works that reference what happens when mixing spirit with all of the elements. It creates a powerful shaping, something unlike any other.”

  “He destroyed the runes,” Vel said.

  His mother studied Tan. “When the runes were destroyed, what happened?”

  “I could reach through the connections I’d formed. Like I did with you, I used spirit to heal the connection, to bind us back together.”

  “Had he not been here, Zephra, you would have died,” Vel said.

  She sat quietly, watching both Tan and Vel, but finally got to her feet, wiping her hands down her legs as she caught her balance. She took a moment to spin a finger through her hair, fixing the black hair into a tight bun atop her head. Strength had returned to her eyes. Tan understood now where it came from: ara filled her.

  “You haven’t said what you found when you came,” Tan said.

  “No.”

  There was something to the way she said it that gave him pause. “Why?”

  “I wasn’t certain I should tell you before.”

  Tan frowned. “And now?”

  His mother smiled tightly. “I should not have doubted you. That was my mistake. I have made many, but that might have been the greatest.” She touched his heart and his forehead with the tips of two fingers. “You are what the kingdoms has needed for generations. Perhaps centuries. You have struggled to find someone to teach you, to help guide you in your shaping, but the answer is that there simply is not anyone able to show you what you need. For one like you, there might never have been another able to provide much more than guidance. You are a warrior, Tannen. A true warrior.” Pride filled her voice. “As to why I’m here, I followed a trail. I wasn’t certain what I would find, if anything. When they caught me, I don’t think I was the target. There are other elementals of ara captured. I can sense them.”

  “What did you find?”

  “A Par-shon shaper near the kingdoms. I didn’t think he’d realized I saw him. Now, I know I was mistaken. I didn’t know what he wanted or why he was there.”

  “Where?” Tan asked, already suspecting he knew the answer.

  “Nara.”

  Nara. When Tan closed his eyes and focused, he could sense Asboel in Nara. The draasin was there, healing, slowly recovering from the attack only days before. The shaper had likely intended to draw the draasin away.

  Had it really only been days? It seemed like forever. And the draasin hatchlings were still missing, taken by Incendin. Strange that Incendin might be the safest place for them right now.

  “He knows of the draasin. The shapers attacked him once before. They must have learned where he is.” Asboel had been lucky to escape with his life the first time when he’d faced four shapers. What if the Utu Tonah sent more? A dozen? What if the Utu Tonah went himself?

  Vel shook his head. “How many draasin survive?” Vel looked from Zephra to Tan. “You’ve already told me that only a very old draasin can bond.”

  “He is safe.” The connection to Asboel remained strong. He was safe. Distant, but safe.

  “But what of the very young?”

  Tan hesitated. Wasn’t it Fur after the hatchlings? Wasn’t that what Honl had shown him? But if Incendin didn’t bond to elementals—if they didn’t know how—what if Incendin didn’t actually want the hatchlings, but only wanted to keep Par-shon from bonding them?

  Asboel! He pushed out with a shaping of spirit, shouting to the draasin. The hatchlings are in danger!

  The connection to Asboel came slowly, as if clawing its way back to the surface of his mind, as if his sending woke the draasin. That was the only reason Tan could think that Asboel hadn’t known of the danger he’d been in while in Par-shon.

  Maelen. Twisted Fire has the hatchlings. They will suffer for what they have done.

  Twisted Fire, Tan agreed, but not as you know it.

  He sent an image of what he’d learned, of the runes and the stolen bonds and what he’d nearly lost. Asboel didn’t respond at first.

  You think they seek the hatchlings?

  Tan didn’t know, not with certainty. And he feared what would happen if Asboel came.

  We must hunt together or we will both fail, Tan told Asboel.

  Frustration surged through the bond with Asboel. I will wait for your return.

  Tan turned to his mother. “How did you escape?”

  “I was never captured.”

  “But the bond. They separated you from your elemental.”

  Zephra looked toward the city barely visible in the distance through the trees. “I followed one of the shapers here. That was what Theondar asked. But it was a trap. There were others.”

  “You managed to fight them off?”

  She closed her eyes and sighed. “Not me. That was his sacrifice.”

  The translucent face of Aric fluttered around his mother, and Tan understood what had happened, how Zephra had managed to get free. The wind elemental had sacrificed for her, willingly separating so that she could be free.

  “I shaped myself here. Several of their shapers were lost in the attack, but there was one who lived. Fire shaper. Powerful. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  The anger that had surged when he had learned what happened to Amia returned. “He will know. They will know they failed.” He thought of Nara, of the draasin there, and of the Utu Tonah, determined to bond the draasin. How powerful would he be if he managed to bond to one of the draasin? What danger would that pose for the kingdoms? “They know of the draasin, and I know where they wi
ll go next.”

  25

  RETURN TO THE KINGDOMS

  The wind shaping carried them quickly across Par-shon. Zephra allowed Tan to guide it, drawing on his connection to Amia to draw them in the right direction. From what he could tell, she was safe for now. Considering the bonded shapers found in Par-shon, Tan didn’t know how much longer that would be the case.

  Questions plagued him as they made their way toward Amia. How long did they have before the Utu Tonah reached Incendin? How weakened were the Incendin defenses? Would the kingdoms manage to hold back Par-shon?

  That they needed to rely on the strength of Incendin as a defense terrified Tan.

  Aric and Zephra lowered them to the ground in a swirl of dust and air. The land was rocky and desolate here, nothing like further inland, where the city was found. Amia came out from behind a pile of rock when Tan landed.

  “You found her?” she asked.

  Tan motioned toward his mother. “She was injured, but we found her.”

  Amia performed a shaping that built with a sharp pop. She turned to Tan. “And you healed her.” She frowned, tilting her head. “But you didn’t heal only her. I sense what you did. There was spirit—”

  Zephra stepped in between them. “If you’re done shaping me?” she snapped. She glanced at Tan and her tone softened. “Amia, I have not treated you as you deserve. I can tell what you mean to Tannen. When this is over, I would like to make right the way I’ve treated you.”

  Amia glanced at Tan. “I would like that, Zephra.”

  His mother nodded. “Now. We need to return and warn the kingdoms. Theondar will need to understand the threat Par-shon poses. We’ve focused so long on Incendin that we haven’t considered the possibility that there might be other power that could threaten us.”

  “You return,” Tan said. “I need to help the draasin.”

  His mother opened her mouth as if she would argue, but she studied him a moment, nodding slowly. “You think you can reach the draasin in time?”

  “I have to. The Par-shon shapers bound to elementals can work together. This allows them to separate the shaper from spirit, from the bond. They nearly managed this once with the draasin.”