Endless Night
Page 27
Have we weakened Tenebeth at all? If there are others who access his power, and if they are the reason that he escaped, any victory that we have is temporary. Nobelas has proven that it can heal even those tainted by the darkness. The ala’shin must find a way to summon others, and must maintain the connection if we are to succeed. I fear we will be too late.
—Rolan al’Sand, Enlightened of Hyaln
Ciara returned to the barracks with reluctance. She hated the idea of leaving Jasn behind, especially not knowing what he might face, but she understood it was something he felt he had to do alone. Only then could he return to the barracks, if he did return.
Why, then, did she feel she’d left a part of herself with him?
The thought was foolish. She shouldn’t have feelings for a man of Ter, especially one who had been given the epithet the Wrecker of Rens, a story she still needed to hear and understand, but she couldn’t deny the way she felt when he gazed at her with that hot, intense stare.
The draasin carried her across the sea. Cool air streaked over its spikes, spraying her with a fine mist that she chose not to wipe away. Through the mist, she felt connected to water, almost more than she would otherwise. Sitting atop the draasin, she felt a similar connection to fire, and to the wind blowing across her face, and could almost imagine the same connection to earth. To reach them, she suspected that she would only have to imagine the summons. The j’na strapped to her back still served a role, but it had changed.
The flight took her back over Rens, over the waste, and she searched for her home, but not with the same fervor she once would have. With the summons, she could call the draasin, ride to Rens. She was no longer separated from her home as she had been. Cheneth and Olina might call her ala’shin, but she was a rider.
Ciara still didn’t know what to make of that.
Or what to make of the connection she shared with the lizard. The sense of Reghal was there in her mind. All she had to do was call it forth, let it fill her, and she would know what he was thinking, would know where to find him. Strangely, he managed to follow her across the sea, almost as if he could fly, but she didn’t think that was possible. Reghal still kept secrets, but they had bonded. Ciara would understand what that meant, would explore why they had bonded, but first she would return to the barracks.
From her hot homeland, the ground changed, growing a brownish green. A distant river ran through, and a massive city sprawled to the north. She wondered if that was Pa’shu or one of the other great Rens cities that were no longer Rens but Ter now. Question for another time.
Then the Gholund Mountains swept up, rising high into the sky, dark greens from the densely needled pine trees and thick oaks growing through the forest. The draasin swooped to the west, circling toward the barracks before finally landing in the clearing far outside the camp.
She jumped down and patted the draasin’s side. Sashi was what Alena called her. Perhaps she should as well. In Rens, sa’shi meant wound and scar, a strange combination, but maybe one that fit. “Will you remain, or will you fly free?”
Ciara no longer feared that she could summon. The movement and the connection was there in her mind, all she had to do was imagine the summons and the power returned. In some ways, it was similar to how she reached Reghal, but not quite the same.
Sashi sent an image to her, one that resembled Alena, and Ciara understood. “She will know we’ve returned,” Ciara said.
The draasin curled against the stone building, settling her wings around her. Ciara waited, making certain Sashi rested comfortably before starting toward the barracks.
The sense of Reghal followed her, and she wasn’t surprised to note that he appeared almost like a flickering motion in the trees, as if chasing her.
You don’t have to hide, she said to him.
Not from you. But there are others.
Ciara smiled at the idea of a shy elemental but would not force him to come out. He had saved her enough times that she didn’t want to pressure him to do anything but what he was comfortable with.
Once down in the barracks, she was met by Cheneth, as if he had been waiting for her. He hurried toward her, reaching her as she stepped out of the forest. “You’ve returned. Did you manage to bring Jasn to—”
“He’s there.”
Leaving him had been harder than she expected. There was a connection between them, even if she wasn’t entirely sure what would come of it. Probably nothing. Jasn Volth still searched for his lost love. That was the reason he’d gone to Hyaln in the first place.
Cheneth sighed. “I wasn’t certain you would survive the crossing. I feared Tenebeth might attack.”
“He did.” Ciara explained what had happened with Thenas and how they had defeated him. She left out the part with Reghal. That didn’t seem appropriate to share. Besides, having his presence in her mind now kept some of the loneliness at bay.
“You have survived more than what most would have,” Cheneth said. “And now there is something else I must ask of you.”
The inside of the stone building was different than the residences of the camp. Within the building, Ciara felt the pull of earth, the connection to a deeper power. Elemental power. She had the sense that were she only to summon, that power would answer her.
Chains curled around the dark shape of a woman and she writhed as Ciara entered, thrashing against the bonds. Both the chains and another power that Ciara couldn’t see held her in place. Dark energy radiated from her but struck an invisible barrier and went nowhere.
Alena stood watch along one wall. Her eyes were hollowed, deep pits that showed fatigue in the lines around them.
“Who is she?” Ciara asked.
Alena barely moved. “Her name is Bayan. She was—is—one of my students.”
“Like Jasn?” Ciara asked.
“She was never quite like Jasn. She couldn’t speak to the elementals.”
“Then why would Tenebeth want her?”
“She had another ability. She could detect what someone else shaped, and the intent, more discreetly than any other shaper I’ve known.”
If Tenebeth was creating some sort of army, having abilities like that would be valuable.
“She was with Volth when he found the draasin egg,” Alena said.
Jasn had told Ciara only a little about what happened then. The ground collapsed and he had fallen, nearly destroyed by the weight of the city above. Had he not managed to shape earth around him, he wouldn’t have survived. There was more to it—Ciara could tell he’d held something back from her, but she had no idea what that might be.
“Can you help her?” Alena asked. “Like you did with Thenas?”
“Thenas is dead.”
Alena barely reacted to the news. “Can you help her?”
Ciara considered the woman watching her with dark eyes, bound by stone and the Stormbringer only knew what other shapings. Could she help her? She wasn’t certain whether she could. But she needed to try. If draasin could be brought back from the connection to Tenebeth, shapers should be reachable as well.
She took a step, tapping her j’na. Light surged from the end.
Bayan writhed on the ground as if burned.
“When I make the first pass, you will need to release your shaping,” Ciara said.
Alena stepped out of the shadows and nodded.
Ciara started with the pattern, stepping and striking her j’na to the ground. Each time she did, light surged from the end of it, flowing through the draasin glass.
She made the first pass and Alena dropped her shaping.
Bayan struggled against the chains, darkness flowing out from her. There was not the same power of control Thenas had possessed, but still she summoned Tenebeth with what she did.
Another strike of her j’na.
The steps seemed off, and it took Ciara a moment to realize it wasn’t the steps, it was her ability to use the j’na in the pattern.
She focused on the summons, creating the image of
what she wanted in her mind.
Step. Crack. Step.
Power surged within her and flowed out from her, much like the darkness flowed from Bayan. Ciara continued making a steady pattern around Bayan.
As the energy built within her, she paused and then released it, letting it flow from her and into Bayan.
Light enveloped her.
The woman gasped, her back curving as she convulsed against the chains. Light and dark warred, but the power Ciara had called overwhelmed what Bayan possessed.
But not enough. Ciara couldn’t call as much power as she needed to free Bayan.
Reghal, she sent. Can you help?
This time when she summoned, there was a powerful connection to the nobelas lizard. With a soft pop, Reghal appeared and danced into the light, climbing onto Bayan. He started to lick her face, her arms, everywhere exposed skin was found. Ciara continued her summons, adding what she could to what the lizard did for Bayan.
The darkness faded completely.
Reghal glanced up at her. You are ala’shin.
Then he disappeared again with another pop.
“Is she…” Alena started.
Ciara watched the other woman, searching for signs of the darkness, but there were none. Her skin had lost the touch of shadows and her eyes had taken on a deep brown shade. She no longer thrashed against the chains. Instead, she breathed easily, steadily, and finally opened her eyes.
“Alena?” Bayan whispered.
“I’m here,” Alena said, rushing forward.
“What happened?”
“You were…” Alena glanced up to Ciara before answering. “You were attacked. You’re better now.”
Bayan let out a long sigh. “So much pain and darkness,” she said. “I don’t know what happened. How did I get back to the barracks?”
“That’s a different story.”
“I think I remember… some.” Bayan looked past Alena and met Ciara’s gaze. Her eyes widened. “You’re the one they want. The one they fear,” she said in a whisper. “You’re the reason they summon.”
Book 4 of The Endless War: Summoner’s Bond
Those who fight the darkness have scattered as the ancient power grows stronger.
When Ciara is abducted by summoners of dark power, they seduce her with lessons on how to summon the elementals, an education she never received in the barracks. Only a distant part of knows that she must find a way to escape before they manage to turn her to their side.
Alena has gone to the Seat of the Order to help stop the threat uncovered there, but she discovers the threat goes deeper than any realize, and for her to succeed and free the order, she may have to destroy it first.
In Hyaln, Jasn finds an old friend, but she is not the person he remembers. Hyaln offers to teach, and he discovers strength that he never believed he possessed, but it still might not be enough, as they discover they fight not only the threat of darkness, but those who seek to control it.
The penultimate book in The Endless War series.
About the Author
DK Holmberg currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
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Also by D.K. Holmberg
The Endless War
Journey of Fire and Night
Darkness Rising
Endless Night
Summoner’s Bond
The Dark Ability
The Dark Ability
The Heartstone Blade
The Tower of Venass
Blood of the Watcher
The Shadowsteel Forge
The Guild Secret
Also in the world of The Dark Ability
The Painted Girl
The Binders Game
The Forgotten
The Cloud Warrior Saga
Chased by Fire
Bound by Fire
Changed by Fire
Fortress of Fire
Forged in Fire
Serpent of Fire
Servant of Fire
Born of Fire
Broken of Fire: September 2016
Light of Fire: November 2016
Others in the Cloud Warrior Series
Prelude to Fire
Chasing the Wind
Drowned by Water
Deceived by Water
Salvaged by Water
The Lost Garden
Keeper of the Forest
The Desolate Bond
Keeper of Light
The Painter Mage
Shifted Agony
Arcane Mark
Painter For Hire
Stolen Compass