Cycle of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 11)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Tan realized the pool had been drained.

  Had he done that while trying to stop them? Could he have spent the source of spirit?

  That left him with an uneasy sensation. If he could, and if the source of the Mother could be drained, then there was another reason for the disciples to test him like this. If they could force him to drain spirit, and if they could force him to expend energy like that, then they would weaken him.

  As he stood there, he realized that the pool gradually filled once more.

  Tan breathed out a sigh of relief.

  “The Mother returns,” Honl said softly.

  “I thought that they—”

  He hesitated.

  One of the disciples laughed softly.

  Tan turned and saw it was the lead woman. She watched Tan, her eyes dancing with a dark energy. Even as he had shaped her with spirit, freeing her from Voidan, she had summoned it back to her.

  Would he be able to stop them for good?

  In the past when he’d exiled Voidan, he had been able to keep it at bay. If they were able to be restored as quickly as this, did it mean that Voidan had grown in power?

  “You know what it means, don’t you, Maelen?” the woman asked.

  She stood facing him, breaking free from his shaping of earth.

  Tan wrapped her in another shaping of earth, this time adding wind and water.

  She remained confined, but Tan could feel her resisting, could feel the way her resistance bulged against his shaping. Much longer and he wouldn’t be able to hold her.

  Hating what he had to do, he darted toward her, sword outstretched, and plunged it into her chest. As blood bloomed around the end of his blade, a wicked smile crossed her face.

  Had he done what she wanted?

  “Why?” Tan demanded, withdrawing his sword and slamming it into his sheath. “Why force this? What do you think you can accomplish?”

  She laughed at him and met his eyes with defiance.

  “Where is my daughter?”

  “Maelen,” Honl whispered.

  When she didn’t answer, Tan leaned into her. “Why?” he demanded again. He pressed with his sword. It felt right destroying the darkness—destroying her.

  Her eyes glazed closed and she didn’t answer.

  “Where is Alanna?” he demanded.

  Honl pulled him away. “You can’t let Voidan destroy you.”

  “How?” Tan asked, turning away from the fallen disciple. His breaths came raggedly and the anger he felt still coursed through him. “How do I do that when they want only to destroy, and I’m forced to destroy to stop them?”

  “There is but one way, Tan. You have to keep the light inside you when it is darkest.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Tan said.

  “You can. That’s why the Mother chose you.”

  Tan swallowed. Chose. The Mother chose him, and his daughter was the Voice of the Mother. He needed to honor her, not do something that would shame her.

  “Come, Honl. Let’s repair the remaining seals. Then we will rescue my daughter.”

  24

  Tenebeth

  The air whipped below him as he circled on Wasina’s back. Far below, Tan saw the distant form of the island. It was massive and scarred, the surface resembling what Marin had tried achieving when she’d attacked in Xsa and in Vatten. The blackened surface was barren, even the sense of earth absent from it. Surprisingly, he felt the way the sea attempted to avoid it, waves moving around it, as if to touch the land as little as possible. The wind avoided it as well, steering clear so that no elementals were placed in danger by the emptiness that would be found there.

  That is where I must go, he told Wasina.

  Not alone, Maelen. You cannot do this alone. You have done what is needed alone; now you can have help.

  He had repaired all the seals alone, facing only a few more disciples, but he didn’t think he could bring others with him either. It risked too much.

  They will come to your aid regardless of whether you are willing to accept it, Wasina said.

  She was probably right. Which made what he needed to do all that much harder.

  If this fails, they will have to seal me to the island.

  Maelen—

  This is the source, Wasina. If I fail, and if I can’t rescue Alanna, they will have to do it. He opened his mind—and his connections—up to his other bonds. Not only to those bonded to him, but to the elementals that were nearby. The darkness cannot be allowed to escape. We have to do whatever it takes to suppress it.

  And we can’t lose you, Maelen.

  He realized something with her comment that he’d never comprehended before. The elementals feared for him the way that he feared for them. You will not lose me. Haven’t you and Asgar shown me that everything returns to the Mother?

  There are some things you cannot return from.

  Tan swallowed. He was ready to die if needed to save his daughter. He would sacrifice himself to save his family and those he cared about. But he wanted to believe there was something else for him, that his death would mean something were he to make that sacrifice. Falling and not having anything after… there was a certain terror to that.

  Then I will make certain I return.

  Wasina circled, making her way back to the tower in Par where Amia waited. He could sense her within his mind and knew that she felt much of the same determination that he did.

  When they landed atop the tower and he climbed down, she met him, her hands clasped behind her back. “Did you find it?”

  Tan nodded. “It’s where we were shown.”

  “What now?”

  He could tell she asked in spite of knowing how he would answer. That was one of the downfalls of the connection they shared. There were no surprises, not when it came to what they shared between themselves.

  “Now I intend to go get her.”

  “By yourself.”

  “I’ve already asked the draasin to seal off the island if I fail.”

  “And if they can’t do that? If they won’t?”

  Tan looked over at Wasina. She watched him with her large golden eyes. He had only to touch upon the fire bond and he would know her thoughts. Even as he did, he still didn’t know whether she would do as he asked. Would the other elementals?

  There was another way he could see his request completed.

  Tan focused on each of the element bonds. Shapers. I call upon your help. I go to face Marin, the Mistress of the Dark. She has abducted my daughter and seeks to free the darkness. This cannot happen. If I fail in my task, I ask that you place this binding—he sent an image of the binding that would seal not only him to the island, but Marin as well—over this place. With enough of you, there should be no way that she can escape. Please help with this. Help the elementals. Help the Mother. Help me.

  All the potentially connected shapers would now know what he wanted of them. If the rescue were to fail, he would see to it that they assisted him and did what they could to prevent Marin from freeing Voidan.

  “Tan,” Amia said, taking his hand. “I heard what you sent, but you will not be going alone. I won’t let you go alone.” When he started to object, she stood on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips. “She is my daughter as well, and I am going with you. We’re stronger together.”

  There was no use in objecting. Tan didn’t even disagree with her. He was a powerful shaper and connected to the element bonds, but he was even stronger when connected to her. “I’m afraid,” he said.

  “So am I.”

  “Not for me. For her.”

  “So am I,” Amia said again.

  25

  Maelen’s Call

  They reached the island atop Wasina. As they did, Tan noted the building pressure of shaping, the soft sensation in his ears. It was rare he noticed it these days. When he’d first been learning of his ability, he had noticed the sense of pressure constantly, that of shapers working around him, especially when he’d studied
in the university. These days, he no longer detected it in the same way, either because he had grown accustomed to shaping around him or because it was overwhelmed by the power he was able to draw. That he could feel it now made him wonder.

  Scanning the area around the sea, he realized the reason.

  Dozens of shapers had appeared.

  Not dozens, hundreds. Power surged from them, many with more than he’d ever detected. Elementals joined him as well, circling around the island, creating something of a buffer, pushing back the sense of the darkness that he detected.

  “They came for you,” Amia said.

  “I hope not.”

  “Why? You don’t want the help?”

  It wasn’t about help, not for him. This was about not wanting his friends and the other shapers to risk themselves on his behalf. “I hope they came for the elementals, and because their connection through the bond told them they should.”

  Wasina caught a current of wind and circled, soaring above the ground. As she did, Tan looked at each of the people who had come to help, each one a shaper he shared some sort of connection with. There were those from the kingdoms—Ciara along with her bonded draasin Sashari, Ferran with the earth elemental he had connected to, Wallyn with water, even Seanan and the other shapers who had been at the university with him. He saw representatives from Doma—Elle and a trio of water shapers. Chenir used their strange summoning shaping, tapping a call to the elementals, one that reminded him so much of how the disciple had called on the darkness when she had been captured, using that to free herself from the shaping he’d used to trap her. Incendin and dozens of lisincend, along with Cora and her shapers. So many, more than he would have expected to answer his call, though why should he not have expected otherwise? They had come to help the elementals. Even from Par, he counted the shapers who joined him, Elanne and Maclin and Tolman and Reyelle. All of them came, joining him. There were students scattered among them as well, though Tan didn’t know them as he did the other shapers. He could feel their connection to him and could feel the way they touched upon the bond.

  “They might understand how the elementals need them, but I think they came for you. You have saved them—all of them, Tan. That is your legacy.”

  There were elementals here as well, and not only the draasin. Wind and earth and water all joined with fire, the connection growing strong.

  Maybe they had come for him. Would that be so bad?

  If Marin succeeded—if Tan failed—then everyone would suffer. If the darkness were freed, if it were released upon the world, then everyone would suffer. What did it matter why they had come, only that they had. Perhaps that was the only thing that did matter.

  She will fight what I do here, Tan started, sending it through the connection of each bond. She will oppose this work. With your help, you can help contain her.

  What do you need from us?

  The question came through the bond, though Tan didn’t know who asked. It could have been any of them. Now that he’d connected the shapers to the element bonds, how would he know who he spoke to? And did it matter? They all wanted to help, and they all could help, if only he knew how.

  The memories that he’d been given, gifted to him from his time wading into the pool of spirit, told him what had been tried before. There had been many attempts to stop the darkness, many times where it had been suppressed, only to get released once more. Tan wished there was some way to suppress it for good, for them not to have to fear its release again. That was the peace he wanted not only for himself, but for Alanna, and for those who would come after him. They deserved that peace.

  The memories told him nothing about how to stop Voidan, only that it had been stopped in the past. There had been other shapers, and some with incredible skill, who had helped. He had detected those shapings when he had gone to the temple and when he had gone to the convergence in Par, and he had detected those shapings when he had been in Norilan, using his shaping to help bind the darkness.

  In that way, with the memories and the remnants of shapings that had lingered across the land, he realized that these shapings were something like what Incendin used, the massive fire shaping that he had once been a part of. Each shaper had had added their voice to the seals over the years, giving them more and more strength, until now the seals were something else.

  Much like with the fire shaping in Incendin, which Tan didn’t think that he would be able to recreate, that even with the skills he possessed, he wouldn’t have the time or patience to make what those shapers had done, he didn’t think he would have the ability to do anything more than what the ancient shapers had accomplished when it came to the seals. So much had already been tried. He might be a different shaper, and he might be connected to the bonds, but he didn’t necessarily know more than those shapers.

  Tan realized that he would not be able to do anything more than those shapers either.

  It had been arrogance for him to believe that he might be able to do anything more than suppress the darkness. Even the elementals had been trying to tell him that he would be able to suppress it, but nothing more than that. Why would he think that he could do anything more?

  He’d been foolish, that was why. Overly confident in not only his ability, but in how he was different to the Mother. Wouldn’t she have shown him a way to stop the darkness if that was the intent? It wasn’t the intent. That was what he had to know.

  He might not be able to defeat the darkness, but he could defeat Marin. He could keep her from hurting others. And he could rescue his daughter. Those were the things he would do.

  Form this, he sent through the bonds.

  Tan created the image of the bindings, only this time, he added a piece to it, one that hinted at the elementals and gave a hint of the power that his friends possessed. He wasn’t certain whether the knowledge was his or borrowed from the Mother, only that it felt right.

  Taking Amia’s hand, he jumped from Wasina’s back. Be strong, friends.

  The draasin snorted, flames leaping across the sky. Water and wind splattered him. Deep below the water, the earth rumbled. And shapers pulled on the power they possessed.

  Tan and Amia streaked toward the ground. This would be their fight, but they were not alone. Tan didn’t think he’d ever been alone, not really, when facing off against the various forces he had opposed over the years. This felt different, though. There was a sense of finality to this, in that if he managed to succeed, they would finally be able to rest, and that those he cared about would know true peace. The world had changed and he had been the harbinger of it, guiding it, something that he felt a certain pride in.

  He took a breath, and power filled him.

  It felt willingly given, the elementals and the element bonds surging power through him. Tan leaned on the connections to the bonds, reaching through them, letting that awareness fill him. Power and light exploded from him, and through him, out of Amia.

  They landed.

  The ground here was hard and hurt even through his boots. With each step, he pressed shapings out, driving them through his boots, forming a binding with each step. Tan feared that if he didn’t, he would be subjected to the pain of whatever strange darkness that Voidan wanted to push upon the world.

  “It feels… like Norilan,” Amia said. Her words were muted, almost hollow, as if the absence of shaping sucked everything from them. Likely it did, including the life from her.

  “Norilan had a memory of what it had been,” Tan said. “This is everything missing. This is more like what had happened in Chenir when they called the elementals away.”

  “There is still life here,” Amia said. “They may have wanted to pull life away, but they can’t do that, not when the Mother lives so strongly. Feel the earth. It’s still there, beneath your feet. Without the wind, we wouldn’t be able to speak. Water flows all around this place as well, another sign of life. And the sun burns overhead, fire if there was any.”

  Tan had to smile. Leave it to Amia t
o recognize the key when it was in front of him.

  Marin might want to destroy everything, but doing so was impossible, especially while the Mother existed.

  Tan continued pressing his shapings. With each step, he modified the ground, letting the bindings hold so that he could return some of the missing life. Elementals bubbled up as he did, coming through his connection and filling him even more. Tan called to them, asking for the elementals to join him, to return to this place, feeling that it was necessary to weaken Marin.

  They walked, taking their time, remaining hand in hand. From above, Tan hadn’t noticed whether there were any buildings and now that he was here, he suspected there would not be. Construction meant creation, and Marin was about destruction.

  Where would he find her, though? She would have to be somewhere on the island, but it was a massive place, large enough that it would take him hours to walk around.

  Maybe he didn’t need to walk around it.

  Hadn’t he seen the key to the island when he’d been in the pool of spirit?

  There was another source of power here, one that was similar to the Mother, only the opposite. Darkness lived here, bubbled up here, and was contained here. All he had to do to know where to find Marin was focus on where he detected the darkness.

  It came to him like a wound. The darkness was a void on his senses, a pain that he wanted nothing more than to remove, to alleviate. He could feel the source of it and started toward it, dragging Amia with him. She came willingly, her face a flat mask, no emotions evident. He didn’t need them to know how she suffered here. The simple fact of this place’s existence bothered her.

  Tan squeezed her hand.

  “I am fine,” she whispered.

  “We can’t be fine while we’re here,” he said.

  “That’s not it. It’s Alanna. I don’t know how she can hold out against the pain I feel here.”

  Tan smiled and patted her hand. “She is stronger than either of us in spirit. And I don’t think she is alone. Her bonded would have come with her, connected to her.”