If the commander was part of what was taking place, they were even worse off than he realized. There was no other shaper with near the strength, or skill, as the commander.
“Well, balls,” Oliver said.
26
Ciara
There are four types of elementals: fire, water, wind, and earth. They match the elements commonly controlled. We have not seen a spirit elemental, but that does not mean one doesn’t exist.
—Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln
When Ciara could see the forest, the draasin started a gradual descent back to the ground. She watched from the draasin’s back, wondering if they would encounter the dark shaper again. Had he waited for her? Regardless, she needed to return to find Cheneth. If for nothing else, she needed to ask about his relationship with her father.
No sign of attack came.
Ciara relaxed, leaning against the hot spikes of the draasin, settling between them. The wind had shifted as they flew, going from the hot of Rens to the cooler air of Ter and the mountains. The mist she’d seen when they flew from Ter returned, though it didn’t stream over the draasin with the same intensity as it had when they’d raced for safety.
As they neared the clearing, the draasin sent an image into her mind.
It was the clearing, shown in reds and oranges, and two people stood waiting, looking at the sky. Through the image the draasin provided, she couldn’t tell who they were, but the draasin didn’t seem concerned, which made it likely that they were shapers she had encountered before.
Closer to the ground, Ciara could make out the features of Jasn Volth and the dark-haired draasin rider.
Stormbringer!
She hadn’t even considered that the woman would be angry at Ciara for summoning the draasin and taking her from Ter. If this was her draasin, then she shouldn’t have.
But did the draasin really belong to anyone?
The elemental banked again, turning her wings so that she drifted to the ground, passing through the illusion with a tingle that rolled through her.
As soon as they landed, the woman hurried forward and stopped in front of the draasin.
“Alena,” Jasn Volth said.
The woman tipped her head for a moment, then turned her attention to Ciara, ignoring Jasn Volth. “What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Ciara said.
“Alena!” Jasn Volth said again.
“Not now, Volth. This girl rode off with the draasin. I would like to know how. And why.”
Ciara patted the draasin. “Thank you,” she whispered to the elemental.
The draasin tapped her tail on the ground as if acknowledging her. Once Ciara was off, she made her way to the edge of the stone and curled up, wrapping her tail around her haunch.
“How were you able to ride the draasin?” Alena asked.
Ciara took her j’na and set it into the ground. Even with the soft tap, light surged from the draasin-glass tip. “I summoned her.”
“Summoned?”
Ciara nodded. “That’s why I came to your lands. I need to learn how to master summoning the draasin from Cheneth.”
Alena glanced at Jasn Volth. “Cheneth doesn’t know how to summon the draasin.”
Ciara thought about what her father had said. Cheneth had trained others of Rens, had created the ala’shin. If that was what she was to be, he would understand what it was that he had done for her people. And what it meant for her.
“He knows more than you realize,” Ciara said.
Jasn Volth barked out a laugh.
“What did you do to the draasin?” Alena asked.
“What do you mean? I didn’t do anything to her.”
“She’s… she’s changed.”
Ciara looked over at the draasin and the way that she curled up, tail wrapped around her. She seemed no different than when Ciara had first seen her. If anyone had changed, it would have been Ciara, not the draasin. “Nothing other than defend her against Tenebeth.”
“He came for the draasin?” Jasn asked.
“His servant. The dark rider appeared when I came…” Ciara flushed. “When I came here to practice summoning.”
“What dark rider?” Alena asked.
“The one who claimed the draasin. The one defeated in Tsanth.”
Jasn sucked in a sharp breath. “Thenas? He lives?”
“I thought you said he was destroyed. I thought the attack—”
“I thought the same. Are you certain it was him?” he asked Ciara.
“I didn’t recognize him, but he claimed this was his draasin. He controlled a dark power and wanted to take her with him.”
“How is it that you survived?” Alena asked.
Ciara took a deep breath and tapped the j’na on the ground with a sharp strike. Light surged from the end of the spear, and the draasin lifted her head as if waiting to see what else Ciara might do. She pointed the spear toward Alena. “This dissipated the darkness.”
There was a part of Ciara that still didn’t know how she had managed it. She had used nothing more than a summoning pattern and her spear to fend off a shaper of terrible power.
That was why she had returned. She needed to know what else she might be able to do with the power she possessed and why she possessed any power at all.
“Did you know that she could do this?” Alena asked Jasn.
“I haven’t exactly been watching her studies with Cheneth, if that’s what you’re asking. Cheneth has his own secrets, and we aren’t always a part of his plan.”
“No. And that’s part of the problem, isn’t it? Cheneth continues to run off, doing whatever he thinks needs to be done, leaving the rest of us with uncertainty, not knowing what exactly he intends.”
Alena turned her attention back to Ciara. “Where did Thenas go?”
“I don’t know. He chased us for a while, but the draasin flew faster than he could travel.” For that, she had been thankful. If the shaper had managed to keep up with her while she was on the draasin’s back, she’d have had no way to use her j’na, no way to defend herself.
Her father claimed the ala’shin could learn to use their power without the focus, but Ciara still needed the j’na and couldn’t image a time that she wouldn’t.
“He’s gone,” Alena said, shaking her head, “but if he’s still out there…”
“Cheneth needs to know. We need to be more vigilant,” Jasn said.
Alena nodded.
“Why did you ask what I did?” Ciara asked. When Alena didn’t answer, Ciara pushed. “When you appeared, you said I had done something to the draasin. Why did you think I had?”
“Because she’s changed. She was reluctant before, but she’s not anymore.”
Ciara looked at the draasin. There hadn’t been anything reluctant about her. The draasin had helped her, had saved her, had answered her summons. “Why was she reluctant?”
“She feared what happened to her. She feared the darkness returning and didn’t think anything could be done to prevent it.”
“And now?”
“She’s seen what you were willing to do. She hasn’t—or won’t—share with me everything that happened, but she… she trusts you.”
“She saved me.”
Alena breathed out. “I think you might have saved her. And, possibly, even more than you realize.”
27
Alena
How does nobelas fit within the known structure of the elementals? It is poorly understood and seems to hold sway over the others. There have long been rumors that nobelas can heal other elementals, but this could mean it is nothing more than an extension of water if that is the case.
—Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln
The male draasin was watching over the egg when Alena returned, and looked up.
You have found her.
She was never missing. She answered a summons.
The draasin snorted. Summons. So they return.
Who?
&
nbsp; The riders. Too much time has passed since they were last seen.
You knew of this?
Not me, but others.
Alena grabbed the egg. Heat pressed on her, and without any real ability to shape, she couldn’t protect herself, not as she needed to against the egg. But maybe she wouldn’t have to for much longer. If this worked… Now that the draasin had returned, Alena had a sense of hope that it might work.
She still couldn’t believe it. The girl had done something Alena had begun to think was not possible. She had reached the draasin. Not by shaping, or speaking, but by her summons. More than that, the draasin felt that the Rens girl protected her. It took Alena awhile to realize it, but the draasin saw safety in her.
How?
When Cheneth returned, she would have to find out, but the blasted man had been gone for too long. First, he had claimed he would remain in the barracks, that he couldn’t risk traveling, and now he had gone, leaving them without his guidance at a time when they needed it. And if Thenas had returned, if he had attacked, it was possible that he would again.
Do you think she will help? the draasin asked.
Alena sighed. She still didn’t know. The female had not answered, and maybe she wouldn’t answer Alena, not anymore. There seemed a bond formed between the draasin and Ciara, something Alena had never seen from the draasin before. Another thing Cheneth might know more about, if only they could find him.
It’s time that I try, she said.
She had grown weak. She felt the way her shaping ability leached out of her. Even Volth seemed to notice, and though he attempted to maintain a strong front, she sensed through their connection the toll it took on him, too. He fought the effect of the draw from the egg every bit as much as she did.
Outside the pen, darkness swallowed her.
Alena moved silently, thankful for the moonless night. Clouds drifted across the sky, thick with the coming rain. The last one had been more heavy than most, and if another like it came, she didn’t want to be out in the open. At the least, she wanted to reach the pen deeper in the forest.
Shadows moved around her, and she paused. Alena didn’t dare pull on earth to shroud her. Doing even that much shaping would weaken her more than she could tolerate.
She waited. Nothing more stirred.
Moving more carefully, she continued into the forest.
Every so often, she stopped, convinced she saw something else moving, but each time all was still. Her imagination, nothing more.
She should have warned Volth what she intended. He might have helped. Maybe that was the reason she hadn’t said anything to him. She needed to prove to herself that she didn’t need help, and certainly not from him. Knowing herself a capable and skilled shaper was all that she had. With that gone, Alena didn’t know what else she was meant to be. That was why she was determined to separate the connection to the egg.
And then… then she would work with Cheneth to see what more she could do to help defeat Tenebeth. She could return to her hunts with Calan. She could resume teaching. All were things that she could not do while the egg pulled on her.
At the edge of the clearing, she stopped again. Was that movement, or was that only the wind? She felt vulnerable in a way she hadn’t since before she first learned to shape, and exposed in a way that made her jump at every sound. If she only dared shape even a trickle of fire, she wouldn’t have to worry about the darkness, but that would not only be more than she could risk, but it was more than she could tolerate.
She waited, watching the see if the shadows would move again, but they didn’t.
You come late, Lren.
This is the only time it would be safe.
Behind the shielding she’d placed—and Jasn had fortified, she had not failed to note—she heard Sashi snort softly. The night is never safe, Lren, not as you are.
It was progress that the draasin seemed concerned about her. In the time since Sashi had returned from Tenebeth, she hadn’t shown any real worry, nothing like Alena knew the draasin to feel normally.
It is safest to move the egg. You must help with this.
Sashi hesitated. Alena feared what might happen if the draasin continued to refuse. Would she be able to survive another day? Another week? Longer?
And if she wouldn’t help, was there any way she could use Ciara’s ability? If she could call to the draasin, to summon them to her, would it be possible to summon with a purpose?
Another must not be called, Sashi said. Leave them where they are.
You mean your homeland.
I mean where they are. The ala’shin may summon, but she has been chosen for this purpose.
Ciara?
The ala’shin. She may summon, the draasin repeated.
Why? What is it about her that you respond to?
The Mother has chosen her. She has much light burning within her, as well as the potential for darkness. It is the balance that the Mother seeks.
Is that why Tenebeth wants her?
Voidan wants all who can speak to the elementals.
She said she summons, that she does not speak.
Summons the draasin, but she speaks to another.
Did Cheneth know of this? Alena decided he probably did. That was probably the reason he was so willing to work with the girl. And then what? If she spoke to another elemental, and it wasn’t the draasin, why did Alena detect a distinct connection between Ciara and the draasin?
You do not know what it was like, Lren. You cannot understand the fear, the loss of control, no longer being able to access the power of fire and of the Mother.
Alena stepped forward, passing through the shielding. Sashi stood on the other side, her bright eyes blazing like candles in the night. Her tail twitched with the agitation that she felt speaking about what she’d experienced. Alena knew she had suffered, but she didn’t understand the extent of what the draasin had gone through.
You’re wrong. I know what it’s like losing the power you once had. No longer able to control fire, or earth, or wind, or water. That’s what has happened to me with the egg. It has bonded to me, pulling the strength of fire from me. That destroys me. In time, it will destroy another if it doesn’t destroy me first.
This one is destined to be powerful.
That is what I’ve heard. But he can’t be powerful if he does not hatch.
Lren, you don’t know what you ask of me.
I do know what I ask.
Do you? Do you understand what is required with the hatchlings? They must feed.
Then provide the food for the hatchling.
Such feedings will draw him. He seeks the youngest, those unable to protect themselves. Voidan will claim any that hatch.
Alena took a deep breath, finally understanding what Sashi feared. I will do what I can to prevent it. And you have seen what Ciara is capable of doing.
She still didn’t know how Ciara managed to use that strange spear of hers to fend off Thenas. Even without the touch of Tenebeth, Thenas had proven to be a powerful shaper. Stopping him when he had a dark power added to his strength… that impressed her more than she wanted to admit. In her current state, there was nothing she would have been able to do to stop Thenas. That a girl, and one of Rens, had managed to hold him off with nothing more than a spear…
But she hadn’t held him off with only a spear. She used something like shaping, though she reached the elements in another way. Could she be taught to shape?
The ala’shin is talented, but raw.
Then we will work with her, Alena promised. We will do what we can to guide her and give her the skills she needs to keep you and the other draasin safe. And she will help protect the hatchling, but she won’t have to do it alone. I will be there.
Sashi withdrew from her mind for a while. Alena had the sense that she considered the suggestion before she slipped forward once more, coming to the forefront of her mind.
If we do this, I do not know what repercussions you might face, Sashi said.
I need to separate from the draw on me.
It’s possible that there is no separation.
Alena swallowed. If that was the case, then forcing the egg to hatch would only hasten whatever was happening to her. She didn’t like the idea of that, but then, she also didn’t like the idea of Volth getting dragged into her stupidity.
I understand.
Sashi snorted.
Alena carried the egg over and set it in front of the draasin. Sashi curled her tail around the egg as if attempting to protect it. Heat built steadily from her, burning like a forge fire, hot enough that Alena had to take a step back. The draasin continued to get hotter and hotter, and the egg began to glow.
This may take some time, Sashi said.
What is it that you’re doing?
Feeding the hatchling.
Feeding?
The young must feed on fire first, and then they must eat.
The heat continued to emanate from Sashi, and her body took on an orange glow that pushed back the darkness of the night. Without the shielding around the pen, the flames would be visible from a great distance. Even with it in place, Alena feared the glow might be seen from the barracks. If not seen, then certainly another sensitive to fire might be able to detect it.
If she still had the strength of her connection to fire, she might try to modify the shielding to hold the flames within it, but she could barely shape anything at this point. Even if this didn’t work, Alena knew her time with the egg wasn’t much longer. She needed to be separated from it.
Heat built. Now the draasin appeared to have flames leaping from her sides. The scales on her hide glowed with orange and red and greens.
The egg began to take on the heat from the draasin, as if absorbing what the draasin did.
In that moment, she felt a relaxation on the pull from the egg. For the briefest moment, she thought she might regain the ability to shape. And then it was gone.
Alena continued to watch, praying that this worked. If it didn’t, she would perish. That didn’t bother her as much as she thought it should. She had come to the barracks knowing that what she would learn would be dangerous. She didn’t want to die, not like she’d heard that Volth had wanted to when he’d gone to Rens, but that had been the reality when facing the draasin. Even with her ability to speak to them, there was no guarantee she would be successful, especially when she had to make it appear that she helped in the hunt. So far, she had been lucky. Perhaps finding the egg had been the end of her luck.
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