Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Release me to where?” Ley asked. “I saw you with that shaper. Should I really believe that you intend to simply let me go?”

  “You saw me with nothing of importance,” Voldan said.

  “I heard you,” Ley said. He gasped as the bands of water slithered more tightly around him, holding him so that he barely seemed to move. “Others will know of your treachery. You aren’t the hero of Doma at all.”

  Voldan smiled. “No. I’m no hero, only another shaper who wants to learn. I would think that you’d discovered that from your friend. Why else do you think she went to the kingdoms? Why else betray her people to go to the university?”

  “She betrayed no one. She returned to Doma.”

  “Indeed. Should I believe that was her choice? I seem to recall the rumors I’ve heard of the draasin and a man able to control them. Then there was the appearance of your friend. Should I think that only coincidence as well?” Voldan shook his head. “I think it not. Whoever she is, she’s come to Doma not by choice, and she hides the reason that she’s returned.” Voldan smiled. “Who do you think the Lord Commander will believe, me or a shaper returned from the kingdoms who has killed one of her own people?”

  “She’s killed no one,” Ley said.

  He gasped again. Elle sensed the way the bands tightened around him. Much longer, and Ley wouldn’t be able to take a breath.

  “Not yet,” Voldan agreed.

  She had to do something. If she didn’t, Ley would be suffocated, tortured by a water shaper who was supposed to protect Doma. Elle didn’t understand why Voldan had betrayed them, but it was clear that he had. And everything that he’d reported to Brist was now suspect. How many of those shapers were in Doma already? How many more were coming?

  Ley sunk toward the ground.

  Elle called to Nimala. Please help me, she begged. Then she dropped the shaping.

  The sudden change was startling. Elle hadn’t realized how much the veil was hiding her. Wind blew around her with more fury, whipping her hair and dress. The waves down below crashed louder and with an angry urgency.

  Voldan sensed the change and turned to her. His eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have returned.”

  “And you shouldn’t have betrayed our people,” she said.

  Voldan laughed. “Do you think that you can do anything to stop me, Shaper Vaywand? Do you think that you have learned enough while you were in the kingdoms to be able to keep a true Doman shaper from attacking?”

  Elle called on the mist, thankful that Nimala answered, and sent her shaping slicing through the one holding Ley. He dropped and didn’t move.

  Elle prayed that he still breathed but would have to check on him later. Voldan’s demeanor changed. He stepped toward her, raising his arms, his hands clenched into fists, and he pounded them down.

  Water slammed against her. Elle didn’t know how else to describe what hit her. She couldn’t see anything that would explain the force pounding against her, but there was no doubt that it was water. Without the connection to Nimala, she might have been thrown back, possibly over the rocks looming too close behind her. Somehow, she managed to stay fixed in place.

  “You might be skilled, but I’ve got years of experience working with the waters of these lands. Do you really think that a shaper trained in the kingdoms would be able to stop me?” Voldan asked.

  She pushed against him, using her connection to masyn and Nimala. The elemental responded, her shaping responded, and she forced Voldan to take a step back. Elle used all the strength that she could summon, drawing on whatever stores of shaping energy she possessed, calling to masyn and asking for help from the elemental.

  Voldan stood in place, arm outstretched as he redirected her shaping. A smile came to his face as he seemed to sense her growing weaker. She might have the help of the elemental behind her, but Voldan was right that she lacked experience. She barely even knew the extent of her ability. How could she expect to stop him, the most gifted shaper within Doma?

  He forced Elle backward. Her foot caught on the broken ground and she stumbled. The water shaping holding Voldan faltered. His mouth turned into a victorious sneer as he took another step toward her.

  “You will be my reward,” he said. “A sea bride, somehow bound to one of the elementals.”

  Focused as he was on Elle, he missed seeing Ley sneaking up behind him. Using a fist-sized rock, Ley slammed it into Voldan’s head. The shaping failed, and he stumbled. He turned his eyes up to Ley, and Ley brought the rock down with a sickening smack again.

  Voldan dropped. His shaping failed completely. And Ley crumpled to the ground next to him.

  “You are no sea bride,” he said to Elle, and then he passed out.

  18

  After checking on Voldan and realizing that he no longer breathed, Elle left Ley sitting propped against the rocks and started to descend toward the water. She didn’t mourn Voldan, not if he had betrayed Doma.

  Voldan had to have some way of crossing the bay, one that was faster than the Xsa ship that she and Ley had taken. A series of rough hewn steps carved into the wall, and she zigzagged down toward the water. She held onto her shaping of water, afraid to release the connection for fear that she would not be able to grab it again if needed.

  On the shores, she found what she had hoped for. A small fishing boat, much like the one she’d stolen from Ley’s father, was moored along the rocks. With a shaping, she and Ley could use it to cross the bay. If the weather held, they should be able to reach the other side quickly. Then they would need to get a warning to Brist, have him ready the fleet, but if there were shapers already within Doma, that might not be enough.

  And somehow, they would need to help Xsa.

  Rock tumbling to the shore caused her look up. Ley carefully descended the stairs and when he saw her, his face lit up.

  “You’re safe,” he said.

  “You should still be resting. After what you’ve been through—”

  He grabbed her hand. “Had you not been there…”

  “I’m sorry you had to do what you did.”

  “I’m not. Voldan was going to hurt one or both of us. He left me with no choice.”

  Elle didn’t know what the repercussion of losing Voldan would ultimately be for Doma. Without his experience, what would become of the Doman people?

  “We need to return to Falsheim,” she said. “The Lord Commander needs to know what happened.” For the first time, she said the title without a hint of sarcasm. It was too bad he wasn’t there to hear it.

  “Will he believe?”

  Elle wondered. “Ophan can’t be the only place where this happened. There will be shapers in other places, and we will need to do what we can to find them.”

  Ley nodded. His furrowed brow told Elle that he remained troubled.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Where did they all go?” Ley asked.

  Elle looked up the face of the rock, knowing what Ley meant. The villagers who’d died hadn’t been the entire village. There would be more, but where were they? “We’ll notify Brist, and then do what we can to find them,” she said.

  Ley swallowed and squeezed her hand. “Thanks, Elle.”

  They stood for a moment and then she walked him to the boat. She didn’t dare wait much longer before attempting to return to Falsheim. The city could be attacked again at any time, and she wanted to ensure they were safe and would do anything to make it happen. But first, she had to cross the bay. The connection to masyn should grant her the strength she needed to make it across. And if it didn’t, Ley would be able to help.

  She tapped the hull of the small fishing vessel and forced a smile for Ley. “At least I’ve found a replacement for your father.”

  He paused, and then he shook his head. “This won’t do at all. The paint is too new.”

  Elle laughed and climbed inside as Ley pushed the boat away from the shore and climbed in. She formed her shaping and pushed them back toward Falsheim, hoping
that it wouldn’t be too late. With Voldan having betrayed Doma, Elle would have to help Doma.

  She would now be the shaper counted on to keep the people of Falsheim safe, but was it even possible to find safety?

  III

  Salvaged by Water

  19

  Elle Vaywand sat on the hard wooden bench across from the Lord Commander of the Doma fleet, her fists balled as she tried to keep from wrapping him in a water shaping. Something needed to push sense into him. If her words couldn’t do it, she wasn’t above using water shaping to accomplish the same thing.

  “I find it hard to believe that Voldan betrayed all of Doma. Are you certain that was what you saw?” Brist asked. He sat in a high-backed chair behind a long table that held nothing but an oil lantern. It sent a thick trail of smoke toward the ceiling. Maps adorned the wall behind him, with pins marking the fleet, most scattered through the ocean rimming Doma. Elle counted significantly fewer pin than there had been before, and wondered if some of the fleet had been lost. Brist wouldn’t share the secrets of the fleet with her, though. She was only a shaper, after all.

  At least he’d sent the other men away. Elle didn’t need men like Thoras giving her any harder of a time than she’d already experienced. After surviving crossing the bay in a small fishing boat—twice—she felt that she’d earned some measure of respect, especially since she continued to be the reason Doma was protected.

  She fixed the Lord Commander with her best glare but doubted that would have any effect on him. He might live in a place where water shapers once were common, but Brist was a practical man. If he couldn’t see it, the problem didn’t exist.

  “I saw him talking to a shaper. I saw him try to kill Ley. Maybe that’s not enough for you,” she snapped.

  Brist pinched at his cheek, twirling one end of his bushy mustache while he considered her. “You must have been mistaken,” he said finally. “Voldan serves Doma, he does not attack—”

  “And I don’t serve Doma?” she asked, forcibly unclenching her fists as she fought back the urge to shape.

  “Elle—” Ley started, resting a hand on her arm. She shook it off.

  “No, Ley. The Lord Commander,” she started, spitting contempt into his title, “refused to offer his help when we saw Ophan burning. We had to sneak aboard a Xsa ship just to cross the bay safely. And now he refuses to believe that we saw anything of importance. It’s almost as if he enjoys putting Doma in danger.”

  Brist set his hands on the table and leaned toward her. “Careful, Shaper Vaywand. I have served in the Doma fleet longer than you have lived. I have been Lord Commander longer than you have known shaping.”

  Elle offered him an annoyed smile. “That’s not saying much, is it, especially considering that I’ve been shaping only about two months.”

  She started to stand but Ley caught her arm and held her in place. “Remember Ophan,” he said.

  Elle closed her eyes and shook her head slightly, sending strands of her brown hair into her face. It had gotten longer in the time that she’d been away from Ethea. Enough that she’d either have to cut it again or she would have to begin tying it back.

  She sighed, hating that Ley was right. She was letting her frustration get the best of her. The return across the bay had taken all the shaping control that she could muster, augmented by Ley’s ability, as well. He was a weak shaper—though he seemed stronger than when they first left Ophan months ago—but had a control of the water Elle still hadn’t mastered.

  The entire time spent making their way back to Falsheim, she’d stewed over what had happened. Had Brist only listened to her, had he only been willing to consider another opinion other than his own and that of Voldan’s, they might not have lost Ophan. Instead, now the village was gone, the villagers missing somewhere, and now Doma had lost its greatest remaining shaper, leaving only Elle as its protector from these shaper attacks.

  There were other water shapers in Doma, but most were like Ley. They had talent and some skill, but it had been cultivated on their own, without much education. Even Elle didn’t have much instruction with shaping. Everything of importance had come because of her connection to the water elemental, myast. Without the myast elemental Nimala, her bonded, she wouldn’t have managed to reach water so effectively, and even then, her connection was intermittent and unreliable. With shapers intending to attack, she would need to find reliability with her shaping and somehow learn to control it even when not surging with emotion.

  “Lord Commander,” Elle started again, making a point of saying his title with more respect this time, “we saw Voldan speaking to one of the shapers who attacked Falsheim.” She raised her hand when Brist opened his mouth to speak. “I know that you don’t fully believe me, but when have I lied to you? I want nothing more than for Doma to be safe. I will happily be proven wrong.”

  Ley, next to her, suppressed a snort and she resisted the urge to glare at him. Well, maybe she wouldn’t be happy to be proven wrong, but if it meant that Doma was safe, she wouldn’t be too upset.

  “What would you have me do, Shaper Vaywand?” he asked with a sigh. “Falsheim struggles with the number of people seeking refuge, and now you suggest that some are not Doman at all. We lose ships of the fleet nearly daily, leaving us less protected than our shores should be.”

  Elle hadn’t expected Brist to be so offended by the fact that the Xsa Isles were shipping women and children into Doma, sneaking them into the city for protection, but that had been the first thing the Lord Commander had latched onto, like a suckercrab to rocks. And like the suckercrab, she could barely pull his attention away. He was so fixated on the question of whether Xsa attacked Doma that he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—hear what she had to say about Voldan, and that was the most important thing she had for him to hear.

  “Voldan claimed that our borders were safe,” she said, trying to speak as patiently as she could, as if speaking to a child. It felt like she repeated herself, and that didn’t help her frustration, either. “We have seen now that Ophan was not safe. How many other villages suffer the same as Ophan?”

  “But Voldan said—”

  Elle stood and leaned toward Brist. “Voldan betrayed Doma,” she said again.

  Brist looked over his shoulder to the maps hanging there. Elle followed his gaze, noting the map depicting Doma. They had a small nation, but they were surrounded by water, leaving the barest borders with Chenir to the north and Incendin to the west. Mountains separated them from Incendin, and the Atran Swamp separated much of the north from Chenir.

  Elle didn’t worry about what would come through the swamp or across the mountains. As far as she knew, Chenir had never attacked and Incendin had been quiet since the strange winged lisincend last appeared. But their borders along the sea… they were vulnerable there.

  “If Voldan betrayed us, how will we know?” Brist asked softly.

  “We have to search. You will need to take shapers with the fleet.” Brist turned away from the map. “If there are shapers hiding, the only way we might know is with other shapers,” she said.

  “Shapers can hide?”

  In answer, Elle called her frustration she’d been feeling with Brist and used it to draw on a shaping of water, asking that Nimala aid in her shaping. The water elemental responded, and Elle guided the shaping using what she’d seen before, masking herself.

  “Sea Father!” Brist gasped. “Is that how they attacked Falsheim the first time?”

  She released the shaping and sat back down. Finally, it seemed that she was getting through to him. “You must have been around shapers who could do that before,” Elle said. “My grandfather, or Velthan…”

  “I’ve never seen a shaper shade themselves like this. Can all shapers do it?”

  Elle glanced over at Ley, who shook his head. “Not all.”

  Elle wondered if he would be able to learn the trick. Ley considered himself a weak shaper, but he managed intricate shapings, often more impressive than anything th
at she could do. She had learned to guide their boat through the water because of his shaping.

  Brist stood and rocked from one foot to the other as he studied the maps, the motion reminding Elle of every lifelong sailor she’d ever met, tapping a finger to his chin as he considered the maps. “What of the kingdoms? You spent some time there. Can they help?”

  “I’ve been away from the kingdoms for months,” she started, “but the last I was there, they suffered from Incendin attacks as well.” Not only Incendin, but whatever had driven the draasin to attack as well. Remembering the destruction in Ethea, she doubted they would be of much help.

  Brist crossed his arms over his chest, pinching his mouth in a frustrated frown. “Incendin remains a danger to us as well. The fleet brings word of movement along the Saliand Bay,” he said, pointing to a position on the map far to the south. “But no word has come through the passes.” His finger swept upward, motioning toward the mountains that separated Incendin from Doma. “As you know, we’ve stationed a squadron of men along the pass, but only had a single shaper to spare. Voldan claimed that Nolan was skilled enough to hold the pass himself…”

  The Lord Commander turned back to her and Elle frowned. Something had changed for Brist. She’d never been told about the fleet’s movements, or about what was being done to protect Doma from attack. She didn’t know Nolan, but if Voldan claimed he was skilled, was he really as talented as reported?

  But it wasn’t Incendin that she feared. They were frightening, and her people had been attacked often enough by Incendin over the years that she should worry about what they might do, but Incendin shapers and the lisincend were something that she understood, if only vaguely. These shapers were something else entirely. She didn’t understand them, and barely knew where they had come from, but understood that not only had Doma suffered, but Xsa as well.