Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga

by D. K. Holmberg

  A shaping built, sharp and painful. Ley felt it, too. Both turned to the north. The fire shaper shot toward them on a pulsing flame, somehow flying above the ground with as much skill as the draasin or the winged lisincend.

  Elle grabbed Ley’s hand and they dove into the water.

  Its icy touch took her breath away. Ley shaped a bubble of air around her first, then did himself. He flicked his eyes toward the surface and swam slowly, moving carefully so he didn’t create a wake or ripple.

  Ley motioned toward the surface. Elle shook her head, not understanding. He pushed through the bubble of air around her, his face nearly touching hers. “I need to see what’s out there.”

  “Why? You think you’re a strong enough shaper to face down one of Incendin’s fire shapers?” she said.

  “We need to know what we’re seeing.” He pulled his head back from her air bubble, separating with a soft pop.

  Ley reached the surface and poked his head forward. Elle waited for him to swim back down to her but something grabbed him the shoulders and jerked him free of the water. His sharp scream pierced the bubble of air surrounding her.

  Her heart hammered. She couldn’t let Incendin get Ley. But what could she do?

  Nymid, please help. It’s my fault he’s here. Grant me the strength to get him back.

  Elle pushed her head out of the water. Chaos swirled around her, but she only saw Ley.

  The fire shaper stood along the shore, a fistful of Ley’s hair in one hand and his shoulders held firm by the other. A pained look burned in his eyes when he saw her, and he sent urgent pressure through his gaze for her to turn away.

  A shaping built. If Elle did nothing, Ley would be killed by fire.

  “No!”

  She lunged just as a massive wave carried her up, amplifying her momentum with a massive wave. Elle reached Ley as the shaping peaked, grabbing him from the shocked fire shaper and tearing him from her grip as the water receded, pulling them both back toward the river.

  The fire shaper recovered quickly, creating the same lancing finger of fire she’d used on the trees earlier. It streaked toward Elle.

  She had no time to react. She did the only thing she could and squeezed Ley behind her. At least he could be protected.

  The shaping struck her in the chest and sent her tumbling back into the river. Water splashed around her in a spray of mist, surrounding her in a cool embrace. Pain shot through her chest. Each breath came painfully slowly.

  Ley pulled her down. At least he would survive.

  As the cold washed over her, Elle welcomed it and welcomed the way it felt as it flowed through and around her. The nymid had failed her. Udilm had failed her. Now at last she would be claimed by the water, drowned as she deserved for abandoning Doma.

  Elle let out her breath. Ley pulled on her arm, trying to shape the air bubble around her again, but there was nothing he could do that would save her now. At least he could be safe.

  At least take him to safety, she begged of the nymid.

  9

  Water tugged on her with increasing force, creating a current that hadn’t been there before. It flowed south, cold from the melted snow from the northern mountains, and burned against the pain the shaper had shot through her chest.

  Ley’s grip failed and he was pulled away. Elle was barely aware that he floated away. If he reached the sea, he might find safety long enough to escape. Would he know enough to find help? Once, Elle would have thought that meant asking the shapers from the kingdoms, but she wondered if it really meant searching Doma for those strong enough to still fight Incendin, to find those more like him. He had minimal strength shaping, but he hadn’t been afraid. He had known what he needed to do. If only more could be like that. If only Elle could be like that.

  Perhaps she didn’t deserve the water’s blessing. Maybe that was why the elemental failed her. Water swirled around her, the sweet fresh water mixing now with the salt of the sea as the river carried her out and away from Falsheim.

  If only she had mastered shaping—or her connection to the elementals—enough to extinguish the flames roaring over Falsheim. Doma had suffered enough over the years, the torment of Incendin taking too great a toll on the people of Doma. It had been the reason she was willing to go to the university at first, but that had changed somewhere along the line. She had changed, from the girl who wanted to learn as much as she could so she could help her people, to the girl who wanted nothing more than to spend time reading in the archives. Not reading, not really. Hiding.

  It was because of her—and others like her, other shapers who had gone to the kingdoms to learn and never returned, shapers like Sarah and the long-lost Zephra—that Doma continued to suffer. If only they had been strong enough, Doma might not have been tormented by Incendin all these years. Maybe they would even have managed to build again, to reconnect to the udilm.

  Elle realized she was still drifting, the river dragging her along, but without the speed it had pulled Ley. Maybe he’d shaped his way to freedom and safety. At least Elle could hope for that.

  But she wasn’t dead. Not as she’d expected to be after the fire shaper had attacked. She tried to look at her dress, but the murky water obscured it, keeping her from seeing clearly through it. Stranger still, the water felt colder the longer she was trapped beneath it.

  Elle swam, kicking her legs until she reached the surface. If the nymid and udilm wouldn’t help, she would see the destruction of Falsheim, even if there was nothing she could do.

  The water lifted her and, in a magnificent spray, she landed on her feet along the shore. She was partially surprised that she was still alive, and searched for the shapers. At first, the sky was absent of everything but clear sky. Then the winged lisincend appeared, shooting fire from long arms.

  Falsheim wouldn’t survive another attack. It had barely survived the last.

  Elle ran toward the city walls, but she couldn’t move with any speed. If only the water would carry her as if on the current.

  With that thought, water surged out of the river and lifted her, sending her forward on a thin film that streaked toward the shapers. A greenish tint smeared across the water.

  Nymid?

  Elle didn’t expect an answer. The nymid had only answered her when she had nearly drowned. There would be nothing now that she was standing in the open alongside the river.

  Twisted Fire attacks, Child of Water. You should return to the water.

  Elle heard the voice as if speaking to her through the spray. It sounded muted and faint, but it was definitely there, though different than it had sounded before. In spite of the fact that she raced toward shapers determined to destroy her homeland—and it was her homeland, regardless of what Vina and the others might claim—she smiled.

  Twisted Fire can’t be allowed to destroy Doma. Isn’t there anything you can do?

  Elle reached a bend in the river and slid around, almost as if she were on skates sliding across the ice. The shaping of water carried her forward much faster than she would have managed on her own. There was no question to her that it was shaped; the only question was whether she had shaped it. She had no sense of the shaping, though. Either she shaped it unintentionally or the elemental truly assisted her.

  This is you, isn’t it?

  When the elemental spoke again, it was closer. You seek to protect and heal when you should seek safety. I will help.

  Elle almost stumbled. The nymid had said ‘I.’

  Who are you? she asked.

  I am of the masyn.

  Elle nearly stumbled. Not nymid?

  The nymid are water. Udilm are water. Masyn are water.

  An elemental, but not the one she thought. What are you?

  A misty spray of water splashed around her before reforming the pad of water she slid upon. Elle realized that she’d seen it before. This had been what had helped save the village Ophan. This had been what had saved her after she’d spoken to the nymid. Masyn, not the udilm. Not the nym
id. An elemental she had never heard of before.

  Do you have a name?

  The masyn seemed to hesitate. Names are blessed by the Mother.

  She had reached an area of flat ground that sloped up and away from the river. The massive storm wall that surrounded Falsheim stretched high up from the ground, arcing around the city, providing protection from the storm swells that would come from the sea. This close, Elle saw brackish green growing along the dirty gray stone. The Incendin fire seemed to burn the stone, and the rock cracked under the strain of the heat and flames. Along the open area, the fire shaper sent streamers of flame. Most missed the wall.

  Where was the water shaper? If he came, there was little that Elle could do to keep herself safe. She’d seen the strength of his shaping, the way that he’d used such exquisite control of the water to wrap her in bonds. With him attacking, water might destroy the city it had once protected.

  Elle turned toward it. Help me stop Twisted Fire, she begged of the elemental.

  There was no response.

  A shaping built behind her. Elle spun, certain the fire shaper would attack her again. Instead, it was the water shaper. Water dripped from his dark leathers and his pointed beard looked slicked down. He studied her with a new interest in his eyes, tipping his head to the side as he considered her.

  “You were not so capable when I last saw you. Could it be that you have discovered…” He shook his head. A shaping of water wrapped around Elle’s legs and pulled her feet out from under her, knocking her to the ground. She hit hard, striking her head, and her vision faded for a moment. When it came to, the water shaper looked down at her. “If you’ve found your bond, then perhaps I was mistaken about these lands. He will be quite interested to learn that.”

  Elle pushed back, reaching for a handful of sand. She tossed it at him; it sprayed across his face. He wiped it away with a tight shaping of water.

  “That… was a mistake. This will not be comfortable for you.”

  Elle crawled to her knees. “This hasn’t been comfortable for me since you attacked Ethea,” she snapped.

  Everything that had happened to her had been Incendin’s fault. They were the reason she had gone to the kingdoms in the first place. They were the reason she had fallen ill, forcing Tan to take her to the udilm for help. They were the reason Vina and the others had treated her the way they had, fearing the repercussions of Incendin shapers. And now Incendin was the reason Falsheim would fall.

  The water shaper laughed. It was a harsh and angry sound, grating against her ears. “You think that we attacked—”

  He didn’t have the chance to finish. A thick bolt of white hot flame shot toward him. The water shaper must have sensed the shaping building because he twisted toward the shaping of fire and mixed a massive shaping of water that created a buffer around him.

  Elle marveled again at his skill. Even in Ethea, there had not been shapers with such strength.

  Another attack came, this also from above. Flames, aimed toward the shaper rather than Falsheim, streaked to the ground. The water shaper ducked and rolled. This time, she saw clearly how the attack originated from the winged lisincend.

  Elle stood, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. She was exposed and a target, but that hardly seemed to matter. The lisincend attacked the shaper.

  But why?

  The water shaper tried wrapping the lisincend in a shaping. The lisincend flipped its wings and tore through the shaping as if it was nothing. Heat radiated from it, creating something like steam. Elle took a step back, closer to the cool water. The lisincend glanced at her and then turned its attention back to the water shaper, seemingly dismissing her.

  Were the Incendin shapers and the lisincend at odds? Elle had no idea how Incendin worked, only that from what she’d seen during their attacks, they’d always been led by the lisincend. What if the shapers no longer wanted the lisincend to lead?

  The division might help.

  Elle reached the water and plunged just beneath the surface, ignoring the jarring effect of the cold. It became easier each time she submerged. Spray struck her. Masyn. Please help me, she asked again. The connection had been there, almost easy the last time, but then something had changed. What had it been? Had it mattered that Elle had asked its name?

  The elemental didn’t answer. Elle felt the familiar discomfort from holding her breath too long. She started toward the surface when she felt a shaping bubbling around her, heat striking the surface. Elle kicked down, pulling herself below the surface, so that she could see out. There, on the edge of the river, appeared to be the Incendin fire shaper. Heat pressed into the water, as if she intended to boil it away.

  Masyn, I need your help. Please. If I’m a Child of Water, please help.

  There was a sense of something swirling around her. Elle didn’t know if it was real or imagined.

  The heat intensified. She didn’t think the fire shaper could really boil the river, but she could likely make it so uncomfortable that Elle had to swim to the surface.

  How could she reach the masyn again? And not just any masyn, the one that she could connect to, the one most interested in speaking to her. Was it about names? Did that matter to the nymid?

  I am Elle, she said.

  She couldn’t hold her breath much longer.

  Pressure built around her as the shaping intensified. Elle strained, holding on for as long as she could tolerate. Another moment, then two, and then she had to start for the surface, the Great Mother knowing that she couldn’t hold her breath any longer.

  Pale green splashed in a mist around her suddenly, drawing her back down into the depths of the river. It was cooler than the water near the surface, and not simply dirty, but tinted with the masyn. She recognized it this time.

  A face appeared out of bubbles in the water, shimmering a faint green, and seemed to consider her. The Mother has named me Nimala, the water elemental told her.

  As the elemental spoke to her, there was a distinct sense of a shaping. Then the pressure left Elle’s chest, as if she no longer needed to breathe. She floated, staring at the masyn. Can you help me stop the shapers, Nimala?

  You are a Child of Water. You have the strength you need.

  If only that were true. I do not know how to wield it. Can you help me with that?

  Nimala smiled. I will help.

  A connection formed between Elle and the masyn, a bond. As it did, Elle felt the power of the water around her. With a thought—a shaping, really, from the pressure she felt—water surged up and out of the river in a violent spray.

  Elle followed the surge, coming to stand on the shore. The fire shaper was gone.

  The lisincend still circled, flying with less energy than she’d seen before. It swooped, circling the water shaper, who now stood on the edge of the river, one foot connected to the water. Would the water shaper use the power and water of Doma against the lisincend? If he did, should Elle help?

  Why did it have to be one or the other? Both had attacked her home. Neither should remain in Doma.

  The sense of the water elemental, Nimala, was there, like a constant thread pulling on her. She pulled on that connection, dragging the water up and into a powerful spray that she sent at the lisincend. As she did, fire struck the water shaper, sending him tumbling away from the river. Her water struck the lisincend, knocking it to the ground. Elle pulled on her shaping, using it to drag the lisincend into the river. Water hissed and boiled before overwhelming the creature’s heat. The river carried the fallen lisincend out to the sea.

  The water elemental still moved, crawling toward the river. Elle remembered how he had shaped her, wrapping her in bands of thickened water. She did the same, trapping him to the ground.

  He looked over at her. His face and neck were burned, the skin split and cracked, peeling back and oozing with a thick stench. Still, an amused expression crossed his face. “You have found your bond,” he said. “He will be pleased to learn.”

  Elle st
ood over him, holding with as much strength as she could manage to the shaping pinning him to the ground. She had little control; if he managed to get away from her, there would likely be little that she would be able to do to stop him.

  But he didn’t look like he was going anywhere. One leg twisted strangely. The other was as burned as his face and neck. His breathing came raggedly. Blood burbled to his lips. Were she more skilled, she might be able to heal him, but that would require a shaping she didn’t know. Elle wasn’t sure she even wanted to heal him.

  He coughed and his smiled widened, almost as if he could read her thoughts. “I could teach you, but I don’t have much time remaining.”

  Elle planted her hands on her hips and made a point of facing him. “You won’t attack Doma any more.”

  He let out a wheezing laugh. “Not I. But these lands are no longer safe. Now that Incendin is weakened, he will come. Once he learns of the bonds, he will claim them.”

  Elle watched him. Each breath seemed weaker than the last. In a few moments, he wouldn’t breathe again. Something about what he said troubled her.

  “You’re not from Incendin,” she said.

  His head rolled weakly to the side. He blinked and looked up at her, the film of death already beginning to cloud them. “Incendin will fall like so many others have fallen before him. This little stretch of land will be among them.” With an apparent force of will, he rolled his head toward the river, staring at the steadily flowing water. “You should be pleased. As one of the bonded, your suffering will be over soon.”