A Fading Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  He used what he knew about the element bonds to pour more power into her. It exploded through her, reconnecting her to the element bonds. Tolan maintained that connection, trying to tie it together.

  He thought about what he had experienced when he had delved into the bonds, the way that power had existed there and the way he had been forced to try to add spirit to the Guardians. In doing so, he had changed the Guardians, but he hadn’t changed the bonds.

  Tolan continued pulling on that power, letting more of it flow outward from him, into Master Minden. It was an enormous draw of energy. There was so much power within it that he could barely hold on. It took everything to maintain that connection and hold on to the energy of what he was doing.

  Tolan felt it as it shifted her, restoring her connection to the element bonds.

  She took a deep breath.

  When she did, she called upon more power.

  She was drawing it off him, drawing away the energy he held onto, and drawing on everything that he was gifting to her. Tolan made no effort to resist. He wanted her to have as much power as was possible.

  The more he let that energy flow outward, the easier it was to do so. He shifted that connection over to her, sealing it with spirit. She was bonded once again to that sense of spirit.

  Tolan took a deep breath. He held onto her hand, squeezing for a moment, waiting to see if she might come around. It seemed to him that she should, that there should be something that would change for her. As he focused on that power and energy within her, he could feel that some aspect of her had improved.

  “What did you do?”

  Tolan looked up at Master Wassa. “She had been separated from the element bonds. I reconnected her to them.”

  “It’s not possible to be separated from the element bonds.”

  Tolan shook his head. “It is.” An idea came to him, something that he hadn’t even considered until now. “I need to try something. Let her know I need her help when she comes around.”

  “Master Ethar, I am not certain she will come around. We have been shaping her for days now, and there hasn’t been any change.”

  “I think there will be. When she comes around, let her know that I need her help.”

  Tolan hurried from the room, looking for Ferrah.

  If I had been able to connect Master Minden to the bonds, what would happen if I tried something similar to Ferrah in the land Beyond? What if I did something to myself? Perhaps even to the elementals?

  If it succeeded, they might be able to stop Roland and his plan—whatever it was.

  20

  Tolan made his way through the water tower until he could reach the entrance to the hospital ward, and he rested his hand on the door for a moment. He stepped inside and could feel that something was different. The hospital within the water tower was quiet and almost calm.

  The hospital ward was rarely busy. With shaping energy, most people recovered quickly. Water shaping, especially with a master shaper much like Master Wassa, meant that they were able to restore shapers if they injured. Rare cases required a different touch, though he had seen several instances where Master Wassa wasn’t able to help everybody who came through the hospital.

  Master Minden was the only person here.

  She rested on a cot near one of the stone walls. A plain metal table rested near her bed, several jars with medicinal herbs filling them set atop it. A thick, tan wool blanket covered her, and her head rested on a pillow. She was quiet. She breathed slowly and steadily, but her color looked better than it had when he had been here before.

  Tolan pulled up a chair, looking around the hospital and seeing that he was the only one here. Master Wassa must have been elsewhere, possibly teaching or even fetching supplies. He often preferred to be the one to gather his own supplies, as if he didn’t trust that responsibility to anyone else.

  “Master Ethar,” Master Minden said without opening her eyes.

  Tolan shuffled his chair closer to her. “You’re awake.”

  “Resting,” she said.

  She rolled her head over to him and opened her eyes. The milky film over them made it difficult for him to know what she was looking at. It cleared for a moment but then returned. Tolan pushed out with a hint of spirit, mixing with water, pressing it through her as he strained to detect whether there was any injury remaining within her, but found nothing.

  “Master Wassa wasn’t sure that you would come back around,” Tolan said.

  “Because he works primarily with water,” she said.

  “Do you know what happened?”

  “I know what I felt.” She shifted, rolling onto her side so that she could look at him. “A tearing. It was strange. Sudden. It happened so quickly that I couldn’t react.”

  “You were separated from the element bonds.”

  “And were I any other shaper, it might have killed me.”

  Tolan hadn’t considered that. “Why would it have killed you?”

  “A shaper pours a part of themselves into the bond as they shape. If they aren’t able to withdraw quickly enough, it could be dangerous.”

  “I could feel how you were separated from the bond, and I reconnected you.”

  “I felt it,” she said. She rested her head back, closing her eyes for a moment. “I could feel how I was floating. It was as if I were disconnected.”

  “Disconnected?”

  “From the bond, certainly, but perhaps in another way as well. It’s possible that I was disconnected from myself.”

  “I wondered what might happen to me when I enter the bonds and whether or not I could get trapped there,” Tolan said.

  “I suspect the bond itself offers a level of protection. More concerning would be whether you were stripped free outside of the bond.”

  “You think that could happen?”

  Master Minden looked at him. Her eyes cleared for a moment again before the milky film returned. “I don’t know. I fear it, though.”

  “I’ve been trying to discover what Roland has been after. I protected the other element bonds.”

  “You added spirit to the Guardians,” she said.

  “I did.”

  “I can feel it,” she whispered.

  “Somehow, he was trying to use that disconnect. I don’t really understand how, or why, only that something was wrong.”

  “Or perhaps it was as it needed to be.” She looked over at him. “I don’t know whether what you have done will make a difference or not.”

  “I don’t either,” Tolan said. “I’ve been working to understand the Convergences and Roland’s interest in them, but I feel as if there’s aspects that I still don’t fully understand. He attacked the Convergence first. At least, he had my mother attack the Convergence first.” Tolan squeezed his eyes shut, thinking about the memories he had of his mother. There was nothing within that connection that told him what she had been after. If only there would’ve been. Maybe then he could have found a way to stop Roland more quickly. “Then he went after the element bonds. That seemed significant as well, though I don’t know why. I don’t know what he wants.”

  Master Minden rested, staying quiet for a moment. After a while, she started to sit up. “Help me, will you, Master Ethar?”

  Tolan helped her sit and she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. Her milky gaze searched around the inside of the hospital ward. “I suspect you have tried to better understand the Convergences.”

  “I have spoken to the Draasin Lord about them. He tells me that they are connections to not only the bond, but to the Great Mother.”

  “The elementals have always had an interesting spirituality to them. I suppose that is their connection to the element bonds and how they have bridged them in a way that others have not.” She smiled. “Perhaps there is something more to it, though. Perhaps they truly know the Great Mother, understanding her in a way that we cannot.”

  “Why couldn’t we?”

  “I suspect that if we were to tap into
the Convergence more deeply, we might get to know the Great Mother. Perhaps when you have stepped into the bonds, you have felt something else there. Maybe a presence that would suggest to you that there is something more.”

  Tolan frowned. When he had gone into the bonds, he had not felt anything that would reveal anything that suggested the Great Mother. He had felt the power of the bonds but nothing more. Nothing that would reveal some other energy that would explain a certain spirituality to the elementals. Perhaps that was a failing on his part. Had he gone looking for it, maybe he would have found something there.

  “I trust that you will resolve the issue,” she said.

  “If it’s all about the Convergences and how he can somehow access that power, then I still don’t quite know the answer. It seems to me that whatever it is should be more obvious.”

  “You are too focused on what you know about the way the world is within Terndahl. You need to pay more attention to the way the world is outside of Terndahl. What have you uncovered?”

  “The elementals in the Beyond are different,” Tolan said.

  “You have said that,” she told him.

  “I’m not sure why, though. It seems to me that I should know that. Given what we have been through, it seems to me that fact is important. The only problem is I don’t really know why it is important.”

  “You have spent considerable time within Terndahl understanding the elementals and the bonds, along with the power that exists here. How much time have you spent trying to understand the power in the Beyond?”

  Tolan shook his head. “Not enough. When I was there, I suspected that there were answers available to me, but getting to them and knowing what existed there involved reading journals that I didn’t have time or the understanding to do.”

  “Time, perhaps. Understanding?” Master Minden shook her head. “I doubt that is true. You have experienced far more than most, Master Ethar. I suspect that you would be fully capable of finding the answers, but having the necessary time is absolutely the issue.”

  “When I return, I need to have others with me.”

  “Is that what you believe or what the Grand Master would have you believe?”

  “I don’t know,” Tolan said, looking down at his hands. “When I faced Roland before, he would have had me at a disadvantage. Out on the waste, separated from the element bonds, I couldn’t get enough power in order to connect to those bonds and ensure my safety. If I faced the same situation…”

  Tolan knew what would happen.

  He had been lucky, at least to a certain extent, to have escaped the last time. If it were to come down to it again, he feared what would happen to him. He feared what happened to any who came with him. If forced to battle Roland without the necessary power, Roland had enough knowledge to defeat Tolan and any who accompanied him.

  More than that, Roland was far more willing to be ruthless.

  Maybe that was Tolan’s disadvantage. Perhaps he needed to find the same level of ruthlessness as Roland.

  Tolan wasn’t willing to do that, though. He wasn’t willing to use the elementals and force them into a bondar, simply so that he could defeat Roland.

  Which meant that he would have to find another strategy.

  The elementals in the land Beyond.

  That seemed to be the key to stopping Roland. That was the one thing Roland didn’t have the same control over.

  He might force the elementals into the bond, but could he do anything else?

  Tolan suspected that Roland didn’t have a connection to those elementals. Because of that, he believed that he had an opportunity to overpower Roland.

  He just had to find a way to connect to those elementals.

  Master Minden held his gaze. “It seems you have come to an answer.”

  “I’m not so sure if I have or not. It’s something that Roland wouldn’t be able to do, though. And it would help me understand that land.”

  It would be a start. That was what Tolan needed at this point, a way to reach for the understanding of those lands, to know whether there was anything within the elementals that would provide him with answers. Master Minden was right. He needed to better understand those lands. He needed to know the difference between Terndahl and the land Beyond. He needed to know what had driven Roland. Only then did he think that he could figure out what Roland’s next move would be.

  If it was about trying to start a war between his land and Terndahl, Tolan needed to know what resources Roland would have access to so that he would know how to counter them. That seemed to be crucial.

  Unfortunately, it seemed to Tolan that would be difficult, as well.

  “Will you be well enough?” he asked.

  “You have already done what you need in order for me to recover,” she said.

  “When you are feeling well enough, and when all of this is over, I might need for you to come with me to the land Beyond. I’ll need your expertise to understand the journals that are there. The other books. To see if you can answer anything that we have there.”

  “You have my help, Master Ethar.”

  “First, I want you to get better,” Tolan said.

  Master Minden stood up, and a hint of earth shaping came through her. “I think I’m well enough to move a little bit. Though it might be a little while before I can be of much use in your pursuit. Be careful, Master Ethar. I have a feeling that we still don’t know the extent of what is taking place. Those answers are difficult, and until we have them, I will fear that you might find that he has the upper hand.”

  “He has it for now. I’m going to make sure that doesn’t remain the case.”

  Tolan helped Master Minden out of the hospital ward, and they headed down the hall. When they reached the hall of portraits, she paused, looking at the paintings. “There are answers here,” she said.

  “That’s what the lizard wants me to believe, too.”

  “You don’t believe those answers are here?”

  Tolan took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I don’t really know. Not anymore. The paintings reflect a time long ago. They reflect the way the world was when shapers knew shaping in a way that we don’t. They reflect a time when they knew the elements and the elementals in a way that we don’t. I suppose that matters, but I’m still not entirely sure why.”

  Master Minden glanced over at him. “The portraits represent a time when the world was different. A time before the element bonds were connected the way that they are. Perhaps even a time before the waste. If you search for answers, it’s possible that you will find them here.” She turned her attention back to the portraits. “Now I think it’s time that I rest. For you, Master Ethar, I think it’s time to continue your search for understanding.”

  21

  The land Beyond was cool, and there was a hint of wind that gusted through here, leaving a tracing of energy on the air. Tolan had brought his warrior sword; the bondar that he’d formed to grant him a connection to each of the element bonds. It was more powerful than most of the bondars that he had been around, and only partly because it had been his own work. Tolan breathed it in, focusing on the elemental power that existed. The ground was the vibrant green that he had come to associate with the land Beyond, though the lack of elementals, and the strange lack of connection to the element bonds, struck him significantly. The dark tower loomed in the distance, and it was the only presence that radiated any power to him. Everything else seemed an absence to his senses.

  “I still can’t use that shaping,” Kerry said, looking over at him. She was dressed in a black cloak covering her dark jacket and pants; the uniform of the Inquisitor. “I can see that pattern that you place into that warrior shaping, but I can’t recreate it.”

  “In this land, it’s going to be even more difficult for you to recreate it.” He nodded to the distant tower. “We call this place the land Beyond, only because it’s beyond the waste, but everything here is a little bit different. The connection to the element bonds is absent.
It’s why Ferrah—and others who are dependent upon the element bonds—need bondars here. Those of us who can shape naturally don’t.”

  Ferrah watched him, but the irritation in her gaze was reserved for Kerry.

  “Why haven’t we explored these lands?” Kerry asked.

  “Because of Roland. At least recently. Before that…” Tolan shook his head. “We didn’t know what to make of these lands and the strange elementals that are here. They are different than our elementals. You will see.” Tolan turned away, and Ferrah followed him.

  Ferrah held onto his hand, squeezing it. “Are you sure you want to do this?” She skimmed her gaze all around them.

  “We need to know whether or not it will work.”

  If he could forge a connection between Ferrah and the element bonds, then he might begin to understand the elements in these lands better. That was what he needed now.

  “Are you ready?” Tolan asked Kerry.

  “What am I supposed to be ready for?” She turned back toward him, standing at the edge of the tower. The sky was a dark smear of gray. Every once in a while, thunder rumbled. The wind whipped around him, though there was no sense of energy within it that suggested elemental power would be present. Tolan thought he could and should be able to detect something, but as he felt for that energy and power, the elements evaded him.

  “I’m going to attempt to connect Ferrah to the element bonds. If it works, then I’m going to try the same with you.”

  “And if it doesn’t work?” Kerry asked, glancing over at Ferrah. He could feel the irritation between the two women, though he didn’t know if it was through spirit or just from their general dislike of each other.

  “If it doesn’t work, then none of this will have mattered.”

  It would mean that something about this land was inherently different.

  He had no idea why that should be. His experience with shaping, with the elements, the elementals, and even element bonds, told him that there should be nothing that dramatically different.

  Even though the elementals in this land may have wanted to be separated, Tolan had a hard time thinking they truly wanted to be separated from the bond. There was some other reason behind it. If he could come up with that answer, he could shape more effectively here when confronting Roland.