Endless Night

by D. K. Holmberg

  “It would matter, Jasn Volth, because I should like to know why she came here. What information did she seek?”

  Jasn had been under the impression that Katya had been claimed by Tenebeth, but what if that wasn’t it? What if Katya had been someone else entirely?

  If that was the case, then everything he knew about her, everything that had happened between them, would have been a lie.

  6

  Jasn

  The more that I learn, the more that I fear what comes. The darkness has been released in the past, and from what I can tell, it required a great sacrifice to replace the seals that held it in place.

  —Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln

  After Cheneth departed on his shaping, Jasn stood in the trees for a while longer, debating whether he should even return to the barracks. It was a question he’d had many times before and each time, he decided to return. What alternative did he really have?

  He could go to Lachen and ask questions about what his old friend might know, but even that wasn’t likely to get him any closer to the answers he sought.

  No. He needed to remain here, at least for now.

  Were Alena well, he would go to her and continue to learn. Somehow he had to help her with the egg, only he didn’t know how. She was a skilled shaper and had already taught him more than he ever had learned about subtlety while in Atenas. He had come away from Atenas with brute strength and power with shaping, but none of the gentleness he detected when Alena used her skill. There were other instructors in the barracks, but could he go to Calan now, especially after he had made a point of opposing him when Alena was weakened and they returned with the egg? Or Jala? She was skilled but had a pair of students and had shown nothing but disinterest toward him since his arrival. What of James? An older man, but with skill that nearly rivaled Calan.

  Jasn didn’t think he could go to any of them, not until he knew who shared connections to the elementals. In some ways, he was new to the barracks, but in others he understood them better than those who had been there for years. Bayan hadn’t known about the elementals. And now she was gone. Cheneth claimed that others—Wyath and Eldridge—searched for her, but what if Tenebeth had claimed her as well? What would they be able to do, short of killing her?

  And that was no answer, at least not to Jasn.

  He needed to speak to someone who might understand what they were dealing with. That left Alena—and he detected her with the draasin—and the girl from Rens.

  Maybe Cheneth had been right. Maybe he did need to pay her a visit.

  When he reached Cheneth’s dorm, he stopped, his hand raised as he debated what he would even say to her. She had returned with them from Tsanth, but she had been frightened even then. And once she learned who he was, that he was the Wrecker of Rens, she likely wouldn’t even speak to him.

  But she knew about Tenebeth. He had seen that when they fought Thenas and healed the draasin. She hadn’t the countenance of someone afraid of what she faced, though she should have been. No, she wore an expression of resignation and determination.

  He knocked.

  When the door opened, she sucked in a sharp breath.

  Jasn stepped inside Cheneth’s dorm and sealed the door closed again with a shaping. The inside looked little different than the last time he’d been here. The desk had piles of books atop it. A fire crackled in the hearth. But a cot had been moved so that it was closer to the fire, and a lantern glowed softly next to it.

  The girl held out a spear and pointed it at him. “What do you want?” she snapped.

  There was fear in her voice, and as Jasn studied her, he realized that while she might have a youthful face, her eyes were those of someone who had seen much. Maybe not a girl, not with her rounded hips and full chest. This was a woman of Rens, and attractive at that.

  Jasn took a measured breath. “Cheneth suggested that I speak to you.”

  She pulled her spear back and bit her lip. “Why? What does he think to learn?”

  Jasn chuckled. “I don’t think he wants to learn anything. I suspect he wants me to learn. You’re Ciara?”

  She nodded. “Ciara S’shala.”

  “I’m Jasn Volth.” He waited, worried she might recognize his name—even though it wasn’t well known in Rens—but not wanting to ruin the chance to learn what she might know about Tenebeth.

  “Why have you come here, Jasn Volth?” She backed away from him, keeping her spear in front of her as she did. “What do you want from me?”

  “I need to learn about what we faced in Tsanth.”

  “The draasin.”

  “Not only the draasin,” Jasn said.

  “The rider. You think I might know something about the rider.”

  “I think you might know something about Tenebeth.”

  She tensed, and Jasn worried he might have ruined any chance he had to ask more questions.

  “I don’t know Tenebeth.”

  “Blighted stars, I hope not. But do you know of him?”

  Ciara tapped her spear on the ground. In the confines of the small dorm, the sound was loud and he winced. “Until recently I did not. What do you know of Tenebeth?”

  “Not enough. I had hoped…” He had hoped she might provide answers, but if she didn’t know anything more than he did, that wasn’t going to help. “How did you end up in Tsanth?”

  Her face flushed and she tapped her spear on the ground again. “The draasin took me there.”

  “You command it?” Alena spoke to the draasin, but she had never mentioned an ability to enforce her will on it, or ride it. What Ciara was able to do was… was like what Ter feared Rens capable of doing. “You ride the draasin in battle?”

  He looked at her spear in a new light. This was a weapon used to attack Ter. And if she attacked from above, riding on one of the draasin, there would be very little that Ter could do. Riders were the reason Ter and Rens were at war.

  “I don’t command the draasin,” she said. “I… I didn’t mean to end up in Tsanth. I wanted help, and my father—” She stopped and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter, not anymore.”

  “It matters,” Jasn said.

  “No. I am in Ter. Nothing else matters anymore.”

  She turned her back to him, but the tip of her spear remained visible over her shoulder, enough that Jasn didn’t dare take another step toward her.

  Coming here had been a mistake. She knew nothing.

  But Alena was injured, weakened from the draasin egg. Rather than feeling impotent, he should focus his efforts on helping her. At least there might be something he could do there.

  Then what? Wait for Cheneth to return?

  He hated this feeling.

  In Rens, he had always gone to the battle first, always pressed the attack. His inability to die might have given him an unfair advantage, but he had also been willing to do what he thought was necessary. What could he do now, when the thing they fought was insubstantial but more powerful than he could even imagine?

  He might want to fight, but where did he even start?

  7

  Alena

  How is it that the college knows what it does about Tenebeth? How is it that they have not intervened? Does Eldridge know more than he has let on?

  —Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln

  Alena crouched next to the deep blue scaled draasin egg, heat radiating from it like a massive fire. The egg remained attached to her, drawing fire shaping from her in a continuous stream. Nothing that she’d attempted had allowed her to separate from it.

  As she had hundreds of times since finding the egg, she studied it. The slight shimmering of the egg gave it almost a metal appearance. The dark streaks running along the sides—the wings, if what the older draasin told her was true—wrapped entirely around it, coming to a point near the base of the egg. And the heat. Always the heat, growing steadily hotter as it siphoned from her ability to shape.

  That pressure had eased as she brought the egg to the draasi
n in the barracks. Prior to that, she had nearly died. Had Jasn not done… whatever it was that he had, she would have died. Somehow, he had stabilized her. But in doing so, he had forced a connection to her such that she could almost detect his thoughts. That troubled her. Being tied to and dependent on anyone troubled her, especially since it was to Volth.

  The female draasin, Sashi, curled along the wall, watching her as she had since they had rescued her. Her mind had not fully returned, though she attempted to keep that from Alena. The other draasin in the pen, smaller and male, had shared his concerns with Alena. But he had also not hidden his surprise that they had managed to save Sashi from Tenebeth. The draasin had thought there was no coming back from that attack.

  You do not have to remain here with the egg, Lren. The male draasin crawled toward her, the top of his spiked head brushing against the stone of the pen. He didn’t hide his desire for freedom any longer, not as he once had. The draasin wanted to share with her, but they also had a desire to fly, and to hunt, which keeping them confined prevented.

  I know I don’t.

  Still you come. Each day you come, as if something would change without you knowing.

  She reached for the egg and traced her finger around the edges of color where the wings would separate. When they’d rescued Sashi, Alena had thought the egg would hatch immediately, that the draasin would somehow help separate the connection she shared with the egg, but that hadn’t been the case. The egg remained unhatched, the connection to fire intact, and her still dependent upon Jasn Volth to remain alive.

  I want to see that it’s safe, she said.

  Safe. Here in these lands, what is safe?

  This place is as secure as we can make it. More than it had been before. Cheneth and Wyath had seen to adding additional layers to the earth runes that held the structure in place, enough that another attack like what Ifrit and Calan had done would not destroy the pen, nor would it injure either of the draasin inside. As far as Calan knew, there was only the single draasin here.

  This is no den for a hatchling, the draasin said. This is no place to learn to hunt. You must find another before this one grows too large.

  The egg will grow?

  The draasin snorted. The hatchling will grow, Lren.

  When?

  Soon.

  So far, she had seen no evidence that the draasin would hatch anytime soon. She waited patiently, knowing there was nothing she could do to speed the process, but the connection to fire that the egg had formed… that pulled on her.

  Why does she not feed it? Alena asked. The draasin needed to be fed fire to survive and to hatch. That was why it had latched onto her fire shaping, but so far, Sashi had not done anything other than watch the egg.

  She remembers.

  Remembers what?

  Voidan’s touch. She fears that it will return. And she fears that it will reach the hatchling.

  But she’s healed. Tenebeth cannot reach her.

  Healed, yes, but his touch lingers. There is darkness in it, and she must learn to rid that last on her own.

  The male draasin flicked his tail and lowered his head to rest it on his forelegs, where he seemed to keep both Alena and the egg in sight.

  She touched the egg again, feeling the warmth that radiated from it as well as the connection she shared with it. They were bonded in a way, the egg to her, drawing off her but giving her nothing in return. More like a leech in that way. And she was lucky to live, from what Cheneth had told her. Other shapers had encountered eggs, but none had survived. She could almost find it amusing that the draasin eggs were as dangerous as the fully grown creatures, only in a different way, except for the fact that she was the one in danger this time.

  With a sigh, she stood and went to the female. Sashi avoided her, turning her head as Alena approached but making no move to snap at her. She was not bound in the earth chains like the draasin usually were when held in the pens. For that matter, the male draasin wasn’t bound in chains, either. Since Alena was there, she refused to keep them any more confined than was necessary.

  I need you to help with this egg, Alena said to the draasin.

  The elemental only turned her head again, pushing it against the stone, making a point of not looking at her.

  Please help the draasin.

  She attempted a shaping of earth to soothe the creature but decided against it. Anything like that might only anger her and make her suspicious when Alena needed her trust.

  Instead, she moved so that she stood directly in front of her, making a point of not looking at the massive jaw and sharp teeth protruding from her half-open mouth. One bite. That was all it would take. One bite and the draasin would destroy her. Only, Alena didn’t think that was what the draasin wanted.

  The egg needs a draasin to guide it through the final stages of hatching, she said.

  Sashi snorted. You fear, Lren, but your sacrifice would be worthy.

  It was the first time she had spoken to Alena since being claimed by Tenebeth, since Thenas had taken her and turned her into something she was never meant to be.

  I fear, Alena agreed. With each day, she sensed the way fire was pulled from her. Even with what Volth had done, he couldn’t stop it completely, only slow it. And what did that do to Volth? The water elementals kept him alive, but would they continue to grant him strength indefinitely? Eventually he might die as well.

  And she would not have him die because of her folly.

  What is it that you fear? she asked the draasin.

  Sashi swung her head around so that she could fix Alena with a hard, orange-eyed stare. The draasin do not fear.

  I know that not to be true. You are safe here. Voidan cannot reach you here.

  If you think we are safe in this place, then perhaps you deserve the fate the egg has chosen for you.

  Alena blinked. The draasin could be hard, and she had spoken to Sashi before, but this was beyond hard. This was cold. Callous, almost.

  A chill worked up her spine. Had they not healed her as they thought?

  If that was true, then Tenebeth would reach them here. He would know where they gathered and learn Cheneth’s plan for protecting those with the ability to reach the elementals. And he would learn what Cheneth intended for the elementals. Even Alena didn’t know all the details.

  You would sacrifice this egg because of your fear? Alena asked.

  The hatchling is safer in this form. Voidan cannot reach him here.

  There was a certain hesitation from Sashi, and Alena wondered if there might be something else she feared. But the draasin turned her head back to the wall, making clear that she would no longer speak.

  Alena turned back to the egg and stared, watching the way the egg pulled on her connection to fire. How much longer did she have? If she couldn’t convince Sashi to help with the egg, then Alena needed to start looking for another solution.

  But the only solution where she wouldn’t die involved destroying the egg. And she wasn’t sure she could do that.

  8

  Alena

  I have spent too much time away and must return. I have decided to take a collection of texts with me, but they are incomplete. Eldridge must return to the college to learn more, but I fear he must also be used in another way. With his connection to the wind, how can he not?

  —Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln

  Alena found Cheneth outside the barracks. The old man had a certain signature to earth shaping, and her ability with water revealed him as well, letting her know the way that his pulse beat steadily within his chest. There was a solid reassurance to him, Alena felt, thanks to how much knowledge he possessed.

  “Where have you been?” she asked more harshly than she intended.

  Cheneth’s gaze drifted to the north before he turned back to her and smiled. “I could ask you the same. None have seen you but for a few moments since your return. But I see the weariness in your eyes. I know what you’ve been doing.”

  Alena felt a f
lush work through her. There were other responsibilities beyond working with the egg, and other concerns that she needed to focus on. Her other student had gone missing. And Volth needed her to continue to work with him, especially now that he had managed to reach water and could speak with it.

  “I can’t leave the egg,” she said softly. “I’m no good to the barracks if I can’t clear the connection to it. I can barely shape, and dreams of fire consume me when I sleep. It’s as if I feel the draasin even when I’m not there.”

  “You rescued the female. She needs to care for the egg, Alena.”

  “But she won’t. And until she does, I have to do what I can.”

  A troubled expression passed over his face. “You speak to them. Convince her to help.”

  Alena let out a frustrated sigh. “I have tried. She fears what happened to her. Convincing her to help the egg is not as simple as setting the egg in front of her. I’ve tried that, and she only ignores it.”

  “Can you ask the other draasin to help?”

  She sighed. “I have tried that as well. He does what he can and offers his assistance, but he thinks the female only needs more time.”

  But that wasn’t all he thought, was it? He claimed that a darkness still haunted her. How could Alena help the draasin if she didn’t understand what troubled her?

  Cheneth pulled his glasses down on his nose and studied her. A shaping built, but she couldn’t determine what it was. With Cheneth, that was not uncommon. She had only learned he could shape like this recently. And now that she knew, he made little attempt to hide the fact, though he still obscured what he shaped.

  His eyes flashed, almost as if changing colors, but that sense faded.

  “You must do what you can for the egg and for the draasin. But Alena, if you cannot help it, you will have no choice but to destroy it.”

  “I know.” She swallowed the lump in her throat. “What of the girl we brought back with us? Wyath seemed to think there was something special about her.” Alena knew the people of Rens weren’t really responsible for the war with Ter, but Wyath seemed to believe this girl had the ability to be a warrior. Rens had shapers, but they had never shown any potential of the order.