Cloud Warrior 05 - Forged in Fire

by Holmberg, D. K.

  Sashari raced alongside, Cianna sitting atop her back. It had not taken much to convince the fire shaper to assist. Tan had not expected it to.

  “The two of us?” she had asked when he approached her.

  “Theondar cannot send any others to help Doma,” Tan said. “He rebuilds the barrier.”

  “I should be there,” Cianna began. “You disagree, but the barrier kept the kingdoms safe for many years.”

  Tan didn’t know what to think about the barrier yet. He remained unconvinced that it would do anything to stop the Par-shon bonded, much like it had done little to stop Incendin at the end.

  “Do you really think the two of us will be enough to push back Par-shon?” Cianna went on.

  “As I told Cora, it won’t be the two of us. We will have all of the free elementals to aid us.”

  Cianna had grinned and slapped her hands together. “You think the elementals and two shapers enough? You might be as stupid as I once thought, Tan.”

  “You understand the risk?” he asked. He couldn’t have her come otherwise. There was a real possibility that they might not return.

  “I understand the bond,” Cianna said toward the sky. “And I understand what you must do. I will help.”

  Vel had come to him as he reached the university and the shaper’s circle. “You will take me with you,” he said.

  Tan hadn’t seen him since returning to Ethea. The water shaper had been traveling with Zephra, helping her scout through Incendin. In the time that he’d been returned from Par-shon, he had changed. Not only his clothing, though he was now better dressed, but the wild and agitated expression in his eyes was gone and he carried himself with confidence.

  “Are you certain you would do this? I don’t have the support of Theondar,” Tan said.

  “Theondar is not my king. Doma is my home. I heard what you saw when you were there. If there is anything I can do, I will go with you.”

  “Vel, even with the help of the elementals, we might not survive this.”

  Vel smiled and that slightly insane twinkle briefly returned to his eyes. “Tan, I was dead once already. Your coming to Par-shon gave me renewed life.”

  Cianna had looked at Tan and shrugged, so Vel came with them, now sitting behind Cianna. Her orange hair swirled around her, giving her a wild appearance. She had chosen a tight maroon shirt and leggings to match, both similar in color to Sashari.

  Where is Enya? Tan asked. The continued absence of the young draasin worried him, especially with Par-shon attacking in Doma and now Incendin. They set traps for the elementals, and if they could reach her, they could force her to bond.

  She remains safe.

  The draasin were connected by the fire bond, similar to what Tan and Asboel shared, but different in some ways, as well. This was how Asboel knew where Enya would be found. Are you certain? If Par-shon manages to obtain one of the draasin to bond—

  They will not have Enya, Asboel said. Nearby, Sashari snarled and flames leaped from her mouth, matching Asboel’s intensity.

  They soared high over the Galen mountains as the sun began to rise over the horizon. Tan stared down at the mountains, wondering when he would next see the place of his birth. How long ago had it been when he thought he would never see anyplace beyond Galen? How long ago had it been when he thought he would never leave the mountains? Now he couldn’t imagine any other life. He might never have learned of the elementals or his ability to shape had he not left.

  Can you help? Tan asked. If we need to reach the other elementals, will there be anything that you can do?

  You are the one chosen by the Mother, Asboel said. There is some connection between the others, but it is not the same. For this to work, you must be the one to do it.

  They were three shapers, two elemental draasin, aided by wind and the free elementals, but it still seemed insignificant, barely enough for a much of an attack, but Tan only intended to drive Par-shon away from Doma. Hopefully they hadn’t the time to build any real presence yet. And once Doma was freed, they would find a way to work together with Incendin. They would have to.

  Asboel skirted the edge of Incendin, keeping them over the mountains. Tan pressed through the draasin sight and saw the ground below in shades of orange and red, flashes of color that reminded him of what he had seen when nearly transformed into one of the lisincend.

  Asboel saw signs of activity, of Incendin cities Tan had no names for. Amia might have known, but he could not have asked her to come, not on this journey. She understood what he needed to do, and that was enough, her last request to him ringing through his mind like a shaping: Return to me.

  Asboel began to descend toward the ground as the mountains sloped away. Water glistened in the distance as the Doma peninsula stretched away from Incendin, dipping out toward the sea. White capped surges were visible through Asboel’s eyes as lighter colors of red.

  Do you see anything? Tan asked.

  Nothing but land, Asboel said.

  That made Tan nervous.

  Tan stood on Asboel’s back, unsheathed his warrior sword, and formed a traveling shaping as if he was going to jump to the ground. Instead of pulling it to himself, he directed the shaping down, letting it strike near the base of the mountains where they stretched out into the plains of Doma.

  A single shaper attacked where Tan would have landed.

  Tan pulled a shaping through the sword, using earth and spirit, and targeted the earth shaper. His history with the bow gave him the ability to aim and he wasted no time sending the shaping streaking toward the shaper.

  It struck in a burst of white light. The shaper collapsed to the ground.

  Asboel roared his pleasure and breathed a streak of fire.

  They continued inland and Tan used the shaping again, sending it streaking toward the ground. It struck with a burst of lightning. In that moment, Tan saw two earth shapers.

  This time he was ready, at least for one. He shaped earth and spirit, and a sense of relief came from the freed earth elemental.

  The other shaper used that moment to attack. He shot into the air, somehow using his earth elemental to travel. Tan aimed an earth and spirit shaping at him, but missed.

  The shaper smiled and sped toward Tan, who still stood atop the draasin.

  Tan jumped, using a shaping of air and drawing on Honl to keep him from falling. The shaper passed below him, bouncing off Asboel. The draasin snapped at the shaper, catching him with a flash of fangs and releasing him to fall.

  Asboel snorted, and Tan landed on his back. As he did, he realized that the earth shapers weren’t the only Par-shon bonded shapers hiding. Cianna and Vel battled a pair near them. One, a fire shaper likely bonded to saa, battled Vel. The other seemed to be a wind shaper.

  Tan hadn’t been certain how Vel would handle a fight. He worked with tight control using a water shaping against a bonded fire shaper who ultimately had more strength. Fire pressed ever closer to him.

  Cianna managed better. Connected as she now was to Sashari, she used the bond with the elemental, clinging to her spikes, and sent shaping after shaping after the Par-shon wind shaper. Much longer and she would overwhelm him.

  As the fire shaping reached Vel, Tan sent a lancing shot of fire mixed with spirit. It struck the fire shaper and he dropped to the ground. Tan wrapped him in wind, not wanting to be the reason another had to die.

  Cianna had no such compunction. Sashari twisted and snapped, catching the wind shaper with her jaws and shaking him.

  Sashari banked toward Asboel. “How many others do you think there will be?” Cianna asked across the distance.

  Vel sat behind her, water shaped into a buffer that protected him from the heat of the draasin spikes. His face was drawn and the eager expression in his eyes had faded.

  “We’re only along the border,” Tan said. “I suspect we’ll find quite a few more as we near Falsheim.”

  “You think for us to continue to battle them this way?”

  “Not if w
e want to survive,” Tan answered. “We need to draw them away from Falsheim.” If they could pull Par-shon toward Incendin, they might be able to trap them, to use Incendin to help.

  “And you think the Incendin shapers will be ready to help?” Cianna asked.

  Tan hoped they would. It would depend on what Cora had managed to do.

  “What of your cousin?” Cianna asked. “You have not found her yet?”

  “I don’t even know if she’s still alive,” Tan admitted. “She’s been silent since for the last few days. When we were here before, I couldn’t reach her.”

  Sashari roared as if understanding what that meant. Cianna stood and stared to the east, toward Falsheim. “Then we will avenge her,” she said.

  * * *

  They were further inland, near the village that Tan had covered with sand, when he used the traveling shaping again. The landscape seemed different, bleaker in some ways. The once vibrant colors he’d seen growing from the fields surrounding the sea had faded, almost as if the rock itself faded.

  What had Par-shon done here?

  As he sent his shaping to the ground, this time there was only a single earth shaper, and Tan managed to separate him from his bond quickly. Once he was gone, other hidden shapers appeared and took to the air to attack.

  This land has changed, Asboel said. They claim too many of the elementals.

  What does it do?

  They withdraw too much. It changes the land, Asboel said.

  A half-dozen shapers attacked at once. They split, three coming after Tan and Asboel, the other three going after Cianna, Vel, and Sashari. As they attacked, Tan realized that these shapers had more than one bond.

  Warn Sashari, he said.

  He started a shaping of earth and spirit to strike the nearest shaper, but it would not be fast enough. Asboel was forced to bank, exposing his underbelly to the shapers. He felt the shaping explode from them, more quickly than Asboel would be able to react.

  Tan jumped on lightning and air and caught the shaping before it could strike Asboel. He turned it to the ground. Another shaper attacked, and the other. The three of them would be too much to simply incapacitate.

  You must hunt, Asboel snarled.

  Tan wouldn’t be able to separate the bonds, not if he wanted to survive.

  Distantly, he saw a shaping strike Sashari. Asboel roared.

  The Par-shon shapers shifted their shaping to Asboel again. They feared the draasin, not Tan.

  It was time they feared him.

  Pulling on all the elements and adding spirit, he shaped through the sword until white light streaked toward the shapers. They each dropped. He readied another shaping, hitting the three shapers attacking Sashari at the same time.

  Tan jumped back onto Asboel and they caught up to Sashari. He looked over at Cianna and Vel… but Vel was gone.

  “What happened?” he yelled.

  “We twisted to avoid the shaping,” Cianna explained. “He couldn’t hold on.”

  Tan reached through Asboel’s sight and looked for any evidence of Vel. He saw the bodies of the shapers but not Vel.

  After everything that he’d been through, it seemed a cruel twist of fate for Vel to return home only to die.

  Tan signaled for Asboel to land. Sashari followed him to the rocks overlooking the sea. This too, was different than the last time he’d been here, almost as if udilm rebelled against what the Par-shon had done to Doma.

  Do they know? Tan asked Asboel.

  Some have been captured, forced to bond. That is all I can tell.

  Udilm once bonded regularly to Doman shapers. Was it because of Par-shon that they stopped?

  He sensed Asboel’s hesitation. When the bond is taken, they are forced to act in ways that go against the Mother. The udilm can be violent and angry, but they are peaceful as well. I sense they are not offered peace when forced to bond, only violence.

  Asboel looked toward Falsheim. Through his eyes, Tan could see it in the distance. It glowed with bright light, fire coming from the elementals raging along the walls.

  Why do they use fire?

  It attempts to push away fire. I cannot tell why, Asboel said.

  What had Cora told him about how Par-shon trapped the elementals? They required a series of runes, each binding to the other, designed to hold the elementals. Perhaps the flames racing along the wall in Falsheim could be one shaping. What if the shaping he’d found in Incendin was another?

  We need to go, he warned Asboel.

  You were going to cleanse this place of the those who would force the bond, Asboel said.

  And I will. But there is something else at work here.

  Yet Tan couldn’t leave Vel. They hadn’t found his body, which meant he might still be alive.

  Tan crept to the edge of the rocky overlook and stared down at the water. Could he have made it there? He was a water shaper, so it was possible that he used a shaping of water to reach the sea before crashing into it, but if that were the case, where had he gone?

  To find him, Tan would have to speak to the udilm. The last time he’d attempted it, he’d nearly drowned. He prayed it would not take a similar experience to reach them this time.

  I will return, Tan said to Asboel.

  Then he leapt to the air on a shaping of wind and shot himself into the water.

  23

  To Water

  Cold water met him, sucking the breath from his lungs. The last time he’d been immersed in water like this, he’d nearly been transformed into one of the lisincend. He had called to the udilm, but they hadn’t answered. The nymid—always the nymid—had answered him, saving and restoring him.

  Now he needed to reach the udilm. How had he managed the connection before? It was more than simply calling to water, more than letting it wash over him. It had taken a near drowning before.

  Tan let the rest of his breath leave his lungs and sank toward the bottom of the sea.

  Black water swirled around him, cold and heavy, pressing on him. Flashes of color streaked at the edge of vision. Pain filled him. Much longer and he would die.

  Udilm, he called. Answer He Who is Tan!

  Speaking with water required him to send in great rolling waves. Udilm was different than the nymid. The sea was vast and unforgiving, the power of the waves crashing constantly overhead.

  The udilm’s answer came slowly, but it came. You should not have come.

  You would choose the bond? You would choose Par-shon over Doma?

  There is no choice to those captured.

  Water swirled around him and the blackness faded slightly, leaving the outline of a face. Tan stared at it, feeling a surge of anger. There is always choice. You can choose another bond as you once did. There is one with me who once had bonded udilm.

  The great water elemental shook, the water becoming agitated. Many have been lost.

  More will be lost if we fail, Tan said. This is why I come.

  You have come for the Child.

  Tan hesitated. His feet touched the rocky bottom of the sea. He was distantly aware of the cold and the darkness around him, but it was vague. Instead, he focused on the udilm, needing to reach them, needing their help. Not only might they know where to find Vel, they might know where to find Elle.

  You know of the Child? Have the udilm bonded her?

  She was not meant for the sea.

  The where is she?

  You must ask the others.

  Others. What other elemental would Elle have found? The nymid would have told him if she had bonded to them. And udilm had restored her. Why wouldn’t udilm have bonded her?

  What of Velthan? He used his full name, though water would have a different way of calling him. Vel had once been bonded to udilm, but Par-shon had severed the bond, had stolen it when they captured him.

  Udilm once knew him, but he is gone. He abandoned water.

  Not abandoned. Had it separated from him. Stolen.

  The udilm swirled around him, massive and
powerful. Tan sensed irritation and anger, but it matched what surged through him.

  The others will be sent from these lands. That is why I have come. That is why the Mother allows me to speak to you. You will help, Tan demanded. You will protect these shores once more. Anger at what Par-shon did, how they used the elementals, gave his words power.

  You would command the udilm?

  Tan considered his answer carefully. Commanding the udilm was different than simply asking them for help. When he’d transformed, he had asked for help restoring him, but they had refused. They felt he had sacrificed too much. But now was not the time for gentle choices. Now was the time for strength and action.

  I would command, Tan decided.

  The udilm swirled around him, pressing on him with the weight of the entire sea. Tan stood there, shaping earth and air to hold himself in place, pulling fire through him to keep from the frigid change in the water. Udilm continued, surging over him with wave after wave of massive power. Tan still remained.

  Enough!

  He added a shaping of spirit. Water subsided, the waves easing.

  You will help, Tan said. Find the Child. Find Velthan. Restore him if you can. Protect the shores. Resist the bond. I will do all I can to assist you.

  The sea calmed as udilm no longer attempted to pound over him. There was no sense of agreement, but he would take the silence.

  Tan shaped water and tested the draw of the elemental power. Pulling on the udilm, he shot himself free on a streak of shaping.

  Chaos greeted him.

  The ground bulged over Asboel, holding him in place. Sashari lay stunned on the ground. Cianna attempted to hold back a dozen shapers, but he sensed her growing weary.

  Tan roared. He freed Asboel with a snap of earth augmented by his sword. The draasin snarled, lashing his tail through the shapers, knocking four down, and then he pounced, crushing them beneath him.

  The others reacted, shifting their attention to Tan, hanging on a wave. Tan pulled on the udilm, commanding the elemental to sweep over the shapers. As the wave crashed down on them, he lifted Cianna to the air on a shaping of wind, directing Honl to keep her safe.