Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga

by D. K. Holmberg

  “I don’t understand,” she started but cut herself off, remembering something that Voldan had spoken about with the shaper Elle had seen near Ophan. They spoke of bonds and shifting a bond from one to another. Could those who attacked Falsheim and Xsa somehow control the elementals?

  Merash sniffed again. “I see from your face that you do understand, Shaper Vaywand.”

  “Even were it possible,” she started, “how is it that your lands are destroyed?”

  Merash leaned back, pulling the mug of ale with him, cupping it between both palms. He looked down at it and swirled it, sloshing it against the sides of the mug. Occasional splatters struck the table. “When the land and sea that should protect you are turned against you, it does something to them. I don’t understand it, but it’s as if the heart of Xsa stopped beating. We had to escape or all would die.”

  “That’s why you bring your people here?”

  “Not all. The women and children. They must see that Xsa lives on.”

  “What of the men?” Ley asked.

  Merash fixed him with a steady gaze. “The men work the ships. We each have a role to play as we do what we can to save Xsa. Many are lost in our attempt to save even the women and children. Without the men, the others would suffer.” Merash turned his attention back to Elle. “So, tell me if your Lord Commander will allow my people to remain. Tell me whether you will be able to offer protection. If you can’t, then we must move on.”

  “Move on to where? The kingdoms?”

  Merash took a deep breath and finished the ale. “If we must.”

  Elle thought about what it must be like for Merash to contemplate with all seriousness moving his people to the kingdoms. How long had they been smuggling people into Doma? Long enough to fill a tavern like this with Xsa people, and long enough that the streets now were full of Xsa, many without homes. If they were allowed to remain in Doma, that was another thing that Brist would have to deal with. That many women and children couldn’t be allowed to simply wander the streets. And once the city became overcrowded, what then?

  But if the Xsa were to remain, was there any way they could actually help Doma?

  “You will have the protection of Doma, but there will be a price,” Elle said.

  Ley reached under the table and poked her leg. She focused on Merash, not needing to hear Ley question what she was thinking. If she could find a way to help Doma, she would, even if it meant circumventing the Lord Commander.

  Merash smiled at her and took another drink of ale. “A price? This is a bargain now?”

  “Isn’t it always a bargain?” Elle asked.

  Merash moved his mug around the top of the table and looked around the tavern. “You see how many Xsa are around here?”

  Elle didn’t need to survey the tavern to know how many were there. She’d already counted and added to those she’d seen in the street. “How many remain?” Elle asked.

  “The Isles suffer, Shaper Vaywand. Our ships remove as many as possible, but there is only so much we can do. Much has been sacrificed for these to escape.”

  “How many, Merash?” Elle repeated.

  “Another dozen ships. Maybe more.”

  “How many on each ship?” Ley asked.

  Merash flicked his gaze to Ley. “Depends.”

  “On what?” Elle asked.

  “Many things, but mostly it depends on how many are lost in the crossing.”

  Elle looked over to Ley and saw concern pinching the corners of his eyes. With Ophan destroyed and the remnants of the village missing, she suspected he thought about his missing family and friends. What would Ley do to get them back? For that matter, what would Elle do if she could have saved her village? Incendin had attacked it when she was young, and before she could shape, but wouldn’t she do anything that she could to save her family?

  “How many survive the crossing, Merash?” Elle asked.

  “A few dozen.”

  Elle thought about how many of the Xsa she’d seen in Doma and added another dozen ships to that. Even then, the numbers weren’t great. How could one nation suffer so much?

  “Now that you know the terms of the bargain, what do you require?” Merash asked. “What would the Lord Commander have of the Xsa to grant protection of the wall and your shapers?”

  Elle considered what she should ask for. To convince Brist, it would have to add value to Doma, but she could think of nothing that wouldn’t create even more strain on people who already suffered enough. She wasn’t willing to make them suffer even more.

  “A ship,” she answered.

  Merash frowned. “The Doma fleet exceeds that of Xsa. What use would the Lord Commander have with a single Xsa ship?”

  Elle smiled. “That is the requirement of the bargain. Do you accept?”

  Merash looked around the tavern, his eyes slowly moving past each of the Xsa, before turning his attention back to Elle. He tipped his head in a nod. “The bargain is accepted.”

  22

  Salt wind whistled around Elle, catching in her hair. When it had been shorter, she hadn’t minded the way it blew through her hair, mostly because it didn’t annoy her the same way that longer hair did. She grabbed it in a fist and twisted it, tucking it under the collar of her dress.

  “I swear I will cut it when we get back,” she muttered to herself, looking over the edge of the ship as it rocked through the steady swells along the coast of Doma.

  The Xsa ship captained by Merash moved quickly, hugging the shoreline as it went. Elle studied everything around her but saw no sign of anything unusual. Maybe Voldan had not lied about the coast being secured.

  “I like it longer.” Ley stared at the water rather than the shore, using a shaping to help speed the boat. His strength in shaping had grown in the past week.

  Elle wondered if he recognized that fact and what it meant. If Ley’s strength in shaping could increase, what would happen with her? She wanted to improve her control but still needed the emotional connection, requiring extremes for her to easily shape.

  She considered snapping at him and telling him that she had no interest in what he liked, but then that wasn’t necessarily true. Ley was her only friend anymore, and the truth was that she did care what he thought. He’d fought alongside her since they both had left Ophan and had risked himself to help her reach Falsheim, even though he hadn’t believed that the city was even in danger, and risked himself again when they’d made the crossing to Ophan.

  “I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell whether any shapers are hiding along the shore from here,” Elle admitted softly.

  Mist sprayed up over the edge of the ship and Elle felt the connection to the elemental within the mist. She hoped she’d be able to reach through that connection and check the borders for hidden shapers. If she couldn’t, then would she even be able to keep Doma safe?

  Ley rested a hand on her arm and smiled at her. “You’ll do what you can.”

  Elle gripped the railing. “I wish Voldan hadn’t betrayed us,” she said. Had Voldan still been alive, he might be able to help them, but then, had Voldan not betrayed them, would they even have this issue?

  “Doma is safer for the fact that you’re here,” he said.

  The ship caught a particularly large swell, sending them diving into the sea. Spray that Elle didn’t bother to wipe away splashed across her face. Ley staggered forward, losing his footing as he went, and Elle grabbed him with a shaping, pinning him to the railing. He grunted as she did but looked over his shoulder and smiled.

  As the ship righted itself again, Elle released the shaping. Ley managed to stand and grabbed the railing to stand next to her. “Maybe going with the fleet might have been safer,” Ley suggested.

  Elle suppressed a laugh. The Xsa ship was smaller than the usual ships of the Doma fleet, but there were advantages as well. They could sneak closer to the shore, but doing so put them at the mercy of the cresting waves breaking around them.

  “Can you sense anything?” he aske
d.

  Elle focused on the buzzing of Nimala in the back of her mind. Surrounded by the mist, the connection should come more easily. With focus, the elemental went from sounding like the soft swarm of flies to the louder sound of bees. She could reach through this connection and speak to the elemental.

  Are there shapers along the shore? she asked Nimala.

  The elemental remained distantly in the back of her mind, as if unwilling to answer. She tried again, this time attempting a shaping of water as she did.

  Nimala, are there shapers along the shore? Those like me?

  The elemental buzzed louder, surging with energy, as if she had been restrained before. Her voice boomed clearly. Not like you.

  Elle leaned over the railing and let the spray coming off the ship wash over her. If there weren’t shapers, then Doma was still safe, but for how much longer? Voldan had been speaking to another shaper, and she doubted that they would ignore Doma now that he was gone. But what was the extent of the threat?

  Are there those not like me on the shore? she asked, thinking of how the elemental had referred to the other shaper when she’d seen them the last time.

  There came a pause and then, There is another.

  Elle’s heart fluttered.

  “What is it?” Ley asked.

  She considered the shoreline but saw nothing that she could identify. With a shaping of water held between her hands, she created something like a magnifying lens, copying a shaping she’d once seen Ley use, and held it to her face.

  Ley did the same. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Neither do I, but the elemental says something is out there.”

  “Something?”

  Elle breathed out slowly. “I don’t know what it is. A shaper, maybe, like the one we saw when we found Voldan.”

  “What do you want to do?” Ley asked.

  For her to do her part and keep Doma safe, she needed to know whether there was a shaper present or not. And if there was, would there be anything that she could do about it?

  “I need to get to shore,” she said.

  They crashed through another wave. Ley held tightly to the rail this time so he didn’t get thrown. “You’re not swimming, Elle. The last time, we almost didn’t make it.”

  Elle debated arguing with him, but then another wave crested and slammed the ship back down. It was a wonder that Merash was willing to subject his ship to such torment, and another wonder that he continued to sail through it.

  “Fine. Then we need to find out where we can go ashore.”

  Ley looked as if he wanted to argue with her, but then carefully made his way toward Merash. The Xsa captain stood with a wide stance, surveying the sea. His jaw was clenched and he gripped the rudder like a fisherman afraid to lose a line.

  “Had I known this was what you demanded for the bargain, maybe I would have reconsidered. Might have been easier to sail around to the kingdoms,” Merash said as they approached. “Doman sea is choppy here.”

  Choppy seemed a bit of an understatement, but then Elle had grown up farther to the north, where the coast was better protected and the seas calmer. “Is there any place to put ashore?” she asked.

  Merash stole a moment to shoot her an incredulous expression. “Where do you suggest, Shaper Vaywand? There’s nothing but water and rock between here and the shore. Other than Falsheim, there’s no port along here until you reach Jornun to the north.” He turned back to the sea and shook his head. “No, for you to reach the shore, you need to shape yourself there.”

  Elle bit back an angry retort and made her way back to the railing but wondered if there might be a way for her to shape to the shore.

  Nimala, she called to the elemental. I need to reach the shore. Can you carry me? I must understand what’s on the shore and what they do to these lands.

  She wasn’t sure what to expect. Elle had never really asked the water elemental for anything like that before, but if Nimala could carry her, she wouldn’t have to swim. There were stories of water shapers able to surf atop the waves, but then again, those shapers had bonded to udilm. Would bonding to the masyn elemental give her the same possibility? Could she even travel on the mist?

  After a long pause, Nimala answered. Water will carry.

  With that, the mist around her changed. It congealed in a shimmery sheet that extended away from the ship. Elle stared at it, trying to understand what the elemental did, before deciding she needed to trust it. She started over the railing.

  Ley grabbed her and pulled her back. “What are you thinking?” he demanded.

  “The elemental will carry me to the shore.”

  He looked past her, toward the rocky shore, seeming to miss the platform of mist created by the elemental. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

  Elle looked down at the green mist. “No, but I don’t know of any other way to find out what we need to know, do you?”

  Ley reluctantly released her arm. “Elle… be careful,” he said.

  She forced a smile that was more confident than she felt. Stepping over the edge meant trusting the elemental to support her, and she wasn’t completely certain that would work. Then she had to rely on her ability to shape, and whatever help the elemental would give, if there really was someone along the shore. If she was wrong about any of it… she might fail. More than that, she might die.

  But if she did nothing, then Doma remained in danger. The depths of Voldan’s treachery would remain unknown. Elle couldn’t simply do nothing.

  Holding her breath, she stepped over the edge.

  The blanket of mist formed by the elemental held. Elle felt it undulating beneath her, drawn by the waves and pulling on the strength of the mist spraying around her, but she stood easily, with no sense that she might be tossed off.

  She loosed an excited laugh. For the first time, she felt as if she had a special ability, one that others who shaped water couldn’t match.

  She stepped forward and Nimala made certain the mist remained beneath her. A wide smile crossed her face. Could she move more quickly?

  Elle shaped the water behind her, pushing herself forward. She glided along the surface of the water, moving up and down over the waves. The shore gradually grew closer and the ship more and more distant. Ley remained alone on the deck, staring out toward her with his hands cupped in front of his face. If only she could carry him like this!

  Still, she didn’t move as quickly as she’d like. Could she pull as well as push?

  With a modification of the shaping, she practically flew across the water. She sensed Nimala’s approval in the back of her mind, and for some reason, the shaping barely required any strength from her, as if she borrowed from the elemental herself.

  Then she glided onto the shore. Foamy spray splashed around her and she considered releasing the shaping, but she held it, wondering if it would work on land. Elle floated a step above the ground, hovering on the shimmering green mist.

  Where is the one not like me? she asked Nimala.

  The elemental began guiding the shaping, pulling Elle forward. As she did, Elle wrapped herself in the shaping she’d learned when hiding from Voldan, creating a veil overtop her. The water elemental fed into this shaping as well. The muted sound of the waves crashing told her that it held.

  The sandy beach led to a wide, grass-covered field. Trees dotted it, some burnt or rotted as if Incendin had attacked here, but they were too close to Falsheim for Incendin to have risked an attack.

  Nimala slowed her as they neared a stream. Elle stepped off the shaped blanket of mist and searched for signs of another. As she did, she sensed shaping near her but saw nothing.

  Where are they?

  There is one unlike you near the water, Nimala said. Udilm is bonded.

  There’s a water shaper bonded to udilm nearby?

  If that was the case, Elle doubted that she would be strong enough to stop them. She was a new shaper, and her connection to Nimala was good, but even Voldan had nearly overpowered her. In
time, she would learn enough to control her shaping, but she needed that time. Right now, she was still too inexperienced. Even Ley knew more about shaping than she did.

  Not a shaper like you.

  Elle frowned at the comment. If they’re not a shaper, how are they bonded to udilm?

  The bond was forced, not chosen.

  Elle gasped before catching herself. Hopefully the veil around her muted the sound.

  A forced bond. That had been what Voldan had been talking about when he spoke to the woman about getting a bond. He had expected to bond to one of the water elementals, but it wasn’t one chosen by the elemental.

  The idea horrified Elle.

  That’s what you mean that they’re not like me?

  They do not control water on their own. It is stolen power, Nimala said.

  What the elemental didn’t say was that they still controlled water. And if the power of udilm was behind them, they would control it with great strength.

  Is that why the sea is angry today?

  Udilm wars against itself. Free elementals battle the bonded.

  What would an elemental battle be like? She always assumed the elementals got along peacefully, or that they simply didn’t coexist in the same space. That was why there were elementals like nymid and masyn. They were found in different places than the udilm. From what she’d read, it was the same with fire elementals. Saa and inferin and the draasin all served a different purpose. What happened when the elementals fought?

  Could Nimala be drawn into it? Elle was too new with her connection to the elemental to know what that would mean to her.

  Can udilm attack masyn?

  Nimala’s answer came hesitatingly. Such a thing is possible, the elemental said.

  If that were the case, then Elle had to be even more careful than she had first realized. She didn’t want to risk anything happening to Nimala. She didn’t know all the reasons for the bond, but it seemed to her that she needed to do what she could to protect the elemental. She couldn’t do that if she placed her in danger.