“You can feel it?”
“A spirit shaping requires there be access to the person’s mind. When you layer this particular shaping over your mind, you protect yourself from anyone else being able to use it upon you.”
“Would it protect from the Inquisition?” This came from somewhere in the back of the room, though Tolan wasn’t able to tell who it was.
He glanced at Carson. “A shaping like this would defend against Inquisition,” Tolan said. “But then, we haven’t had an Inquisition that involves students in many years.”
“What’s the point of shaping like this?” George asked. He had some talent with spirit. “If we don’t know we’re going to be spirit shaped, then how would we even be able to defend ourselves?”
“There was a time when shapers constantly kept their minds protected, using a shaping like this to defend themselves from spirit shaping.”
“Hold it all the time?”
He looked over at Carson. “The other possibility is that when you know that you’re going to be near a spirit shaper, you would use a shaping like this in order to protect yourself.”
He stopped in front of Jons, a bearded water shaper, and probed again. This time, there was a bit of weakness.
“You need to add more fire,” he said.
“You can tell that?” Jons asked.
“There’s enough of a barrier that I can feel the resistance you’re using, but there’s not so much that you have completely defended yourself. Continue to practice as much as you can.”
“How can we practice it we don’t know where the deficit is?”
He needed to finish with the class. Find Jersan and Kelvin. As he looked at Carson, he couldn’t help but feel as if this delay was going to be too much of a problem.
“You can have George or Velthan help you with that,” Tolan said.
“I can use spirit, but I won’t be able to tell them where they need to continue their work,” George said.
“Sometimes letting them know whether or not the barrier is effective is the most important piece,” Tolan said.
He stopped at Velthan and probed. There was a hint of power there, and the other man was holding onto a shaping, but it wasn’t complete. “You need to add more wind,” he said.
“I am adding wind,” Velthan said.
“You are, and I can feel it, but what you need to do is focus on a little bit more of the wind, and twist it within.” He used spirit again, shaping the knowledge into Velthan’s mind. As he did, he focused on trying to ensure he understood the steps involved. He needed Velthan to get this right. “Do you see the difference?”
Velthan nodded slowly. His shaping began to form again, and there was a better mixture of each of the elements. When he pulled it down upon his mind, Tolan attempted again to use a shaping. This time, there was more of a barrier.
“Very good,” he said.
“Why do you suddenly want us to know how to protect ourselves?” George asked.
He could see Carson watching him, and Tolan suppressed his frustration. It was time to be done with this. “Because you’ll all be in danger if you don’t.”
With that, Tolan stepped out of the spirit classroom and dropped to the lower level.
He hurried through the Academy and headed toward the first-level students section.
It was a place he rarely went. Most of the time when he was in the Academy, he stayed within the spirit tower, or the library, and very rarely went into the other towers. He paused, focusing on spirit, and pushed outward. There was no sense of anyone there. Which meant they were likely in one of the other towers.
Tolan headed back to the main level, but paused. He pushed upward, focusing on spirit, using that to detect where the first-level students were. He didn’t have enough strength to do that so he borrowed from the power of the rune, using that to tap into the Convergence.
As Tolan probed with spirit, he detected an awareness of them. They were within one of the towers. Of course it would be the earth tower.
Tolan headed toward the earth tower, hurrying up the stairs, and from there, he paused at the classroom. He pulled the door open just a little, enough to hear the instruction. When he had come as a student, his experience here as a first-level student had been difficult.
Master Shorav instructed today, as he often did, and he was talking about elementals. At least his description of the elementals had grown far more accurate in the time since Tolan had been a student.
“Now, those of you who need to take a golan, come up to the front of the class. As I tell you each time, these bondars are delicate. They are not to leave the classroom.”
There was a gentle murmuring, and the students all headed toward the front of the room.
Tolan stepped into the classroom and Master Shorav locked eyes with him, a deep frown creasing his brow. Tolan shook his head slightly.
He swept his gaze over the students. He used a shaping of earth and wind, masking his presence.
Tolan used it specifically so Master Shorav would understand what he tried to do, but then he started to push out with spirit, letting it sweep over the students. By probing them in this way, he searched for something that would explain what he had seen in Telfair. He searched for anything that might explain whether or not there was anything from Kelvin. He found him near the front of the classroom, grabbing a bondar, though he doubted Kelvin would even need one.
Tolan pushed on him, using a shaping of spirit.
He didn’t detect anything.
It bothered him that Velthan had been shaped. It meant Roland had been there when they had been there.
Jersan sat at the same table as Kelvin, looking somehow younger than Tolan remember, both of them working on the shaping that Master Shorav had asked of them. Kelvin seemed to loom over him as they worked with spirit. It was a simple shaping, one designed to demonstrate turning stone into dust. It was one of the earliest shapings Tolan had attempted, though he had failed each time that he had tried.
They had a piece of rock sitting on the table in front of each of them, and all of them were trying to shape at it, using the connection Master Shorav had demonstrated and trying to use whatever they could in order to be able to break the rock.
He focused on spirit, using that as he swept over Jersan. He didn’t detect anything within his mind, either.
He had to try again. He focused, sweeping spirit through. As he focused on Jersan, he felt a twinge. It was subtle, but it was there, buried within the back of the man’s mind.
Tolan focused on that and he probed again, letting more power flow from him. He used each of the other elements, combining them, thinking that what he needed to do was not only peel away what had been done to him, but also to offer a layer of protection over Jersan’s mind.
While doing so, he stripped that shaping free. It was a subtle shaping, barely more than a thin layer, but as Tolan began to focus on it, he could feel the energy of it and could feel the edges and peel them away.
Jersan suddenly looked up.
He sat motionless.
Tolan worried that if it was related to Kelvin—something he increasingly felt was likely—he needed to be careful. He pushed a hint of spirit shaping against him, wanting to protect him but also wanting to keep him from speaking up.
Within that shaping was an instruction for him to keep working on earth. Tolan shifted his attention to Kelvin. He focused on spirit, but also on each of the other elements. Much like he had done with Jersan, he probed, using his knowledge of the element to sweep through him.
There was a barrier. It was similar to the barrier he’d been teaching the other students, though there was an aspect to it that was far more potent than what he’d been demonstrating.
The more that he probed, the more he recognized that there was something within Kelvin’s mind. Only, as he probed, he realized that what he was detecting wasn’t even real. It was a shaping he couldn’t penetrate. For something like that, he suspected it would take a bo
ndar.
He focused his effort in a different direction. If there was a bondar, then he needed to figure out the source of it. He turned his attention to probing all along Kelvin. If he had a bondar, it would be on him.
He pushed, sending out a probing from each of the elements. It happened slowly, gradually, and he did so cautiously so that if Kelvin was alert enough to recognize that somebody was trying to do something, he wouldn’t realize what Tolan was doing.
At first, Tolan didn’t feel anything, but the more that he pushed, the more that he began to detect something.
Resistance.
It was a bondar. The bondar was dangerous. There was power within it. He continued to probe, letting power flow away from him, toward what he detected, and he pushed again.
There was resistance.
Something was trying to protect the bondar.
Tolan focused on the rune for earth before deciding to focus on the runes for each of the elements. Because of the runes around the Academy, he could tap into the Convergence even from a distance. There wouldn’t be many people who would know how to do that. The Grand Master could. Master Minden could. Maybe a few of the other master shapers could tap into the power of their particular element.
Tolan could tap into each of them.
Power filled him.
There was danger in it, and that danger was that somebody who was connected to power would recognize what he was doing and would turn toward him.
Much like Kelvin was turning toward him now.
He pushed.
Rather than waiting, he used everything in his power and pressed outward, letting that power slam into the bondar Kelvin held. It overwhelmed the protection he held, and the bondar shattered.
It came as a soft hiss, but Tolan could feel the energy that shifted and the way the bondar dissolved. It was similar to how the runes around the buildings within Telfair had dissolved.
Kelvin changed. Everything about him started to ripple. It was strange how it happened, but his appearance shifted. Even knowing that it was possible Kelvin had used a powerful shaping, and even knowing he was more than what he seemed, watching the shaping shatter—the rippling change right in front of him—was surprising.
Tolan stared, trying to comprehend what he was seeing.
That was a mistake. Kelvin lunged forward.
But then it wasn’t Kelvin.
It was Roland Var.
22
Roland looked much as Tolan remembered. He had dark hair, lean features, and power. It was the power that Tolan could feel most of all, almost as if Roland wanted Tolan to be completely aware of just how powerful he was. He tried to focus, readying his own shapings, but Roland loomed in front of him.
The man was supposed to be dead. Tolan had seen him die. Had been the one to watch as he’d tumbled from the tower and landed below.
As Tolan stared, Kelvin—Roland—barreled toward him.
Tolan used fire, wanting to draw on earth but defaulting to the element he could trust.
Roland was thrown back. He used a shaping of spirit, lashing out.
Not at Tolan. Instead, he used spirit on all of the students.
Of course he would use spirit. Without a bondar, it was all he could use. It struck each of them. They all turned toward Tolan, preparing to attack. Master Shorav was the only one who did not.
Thankfully, Master Shorav must have recognized something was taking place and had protected himself, but now Tolan was going to have to figure out what Roland was after. Tolan drew upon the power of spirit, calling through the rune and through the Convergence, and he swept it outward, slamming through each of the students, undoing what Roland had done.
Roland used that moment of hesitation and crashed into Tolan before escaping from the room. The collision knocked Tolan back, and the contact seemed to allow Roland to use more power against him. Tolan tried to protect his mind, shielding himself with each of the elements, wrapping them around himself. A shaping bounced off him.
Tolan had no idea about the purpose of the shaping, only that he could feel the sense of it as it tried to work through him. He fought, struggling against that shaping. It swept over him. It washed back into the room, and it went through each of the students, attacking them again.
Tolan got to his feet and started to push on the students despite knowing he needed to figure out what Roland was doing. Shorav would have to manage on his own until he figured it out.
He stormed out of the room, closing the door and hurriedly sealing it off, using a shaping of each of the elements. He had no idea how much strength the students had. They were all first-level students, but some of them would be powerful. He knew how much power some of his classmates had had when they’d been first-level students. Ferrah had been incredibly strong, as had Draln. For shapers like that, it wouldn’t take much to be able to overwhelm the shaping around the door. He tapped into the runes, using the Convergence, and closed off access to the room.
He would come back later.
Roland raced down the stairs ahead of him.
Tolan drew upon a shaping and used water, turning the stairs to ice, letting Roland slide. He tried to curve the ice up to create a barrier, but Roland blasted through it.
Tolan shaped himself forward, using fire and wind. There should be nothing but an opening down the stairs, but he struck a solid section of stone.
He pushed with earth, but that wasn’t strong enough. Instead, he used fire, wind, and water, mixing all of them together, and he peeled away the shaping Roland had created. When he reached the main level of the Academy, he saw Roland heading along the hallway.
Tolan ran. Chasing after him, he began catching up to him.
Something was wrong.
A shaping.
Roland was far too gifted with spirit to be captured like that. Roland wanted Tolan to believe he was catching up to him.
This wasn’t Roland at all.
Tolan pushed outward, focusing on what he was able to see—what he was really able to see. There was a sense of Roland running through the halls, but it shattered as he swept forward with each of the elements.
He spun, turning his attention.
What if Roland had gone toward the Convergence?
The Convergence had been attacked within the Academy once before, and Tolan wouldn’t be surprised if that was what Roland was after, but as Tolan focused on it, he didn’t detect anything like that at all.
Tolan felt the presence of Roland somewhere else.
The library. It was a strange location.
Why go toward the master librarian section?
Tolan reached the staircase leading up, taking the stairs as quickly as he could, his movements augmented by shapings. Using a combination of wind to lift him and a hint of earth to push him forward, he could move much more quickly. This time, he didn’t even attempt to suppress the gust of wind swirling around him.
At the top of the stairs, he paused. There was a sense of power on the other side of the wall near the portraits.
Tolan stepped forward, drawing upon the energy from each of the runes; drawing upon the power of the Convergence. When he threw the door open, he was prepared to unleash it, uncertain what he might be able to find but knowing that there was something here.
Roland stood at the end of the hall.
“You were dead,” Tolan said.
Roland smiled at him darkly. “Was I? What if I wanted you to think I was dead?”
“You were dead. The elementals claimed you.”
The other man merely smiled at him. “You know how long it took me to find a way across that blasted waste? Every time that I tried, I met resistance. The waste truly is a fantastic barrier, and it has kept so much from getting into your land. Unfortunately, you revealed the key. The power has been here all along. Now I just have to bring it there.”
“I didn’t reveal anything.”
“When you were there with your mother, I touched your mind. Do you think that I could not
?”
That attack was still prominent Tolan’s memory. He remembered how his mother had gifted him knowledge and information, a way of shaping spirit that Tolan wouldn’t have known otherwise. He remembered the way that Roland had controlled his mother, using a power over shaping that Tolan couldn’t comprehend at the time. Despite the gift that his mother had given him, he still could not. He still struggled to understand and believe what he had done to his mother.
It had connected him.
Tolan could only stare. Roland was an incredibly powerful spirit shaper, so Tolan couldn’t doubt that the other man had discovered some way to access his thoughts and mind. It was how Roland had controlled his mother all those years. It was how he had controlled so many people who had served him.
“You can only shape spirit.”
“I can only shape spirit, but others can use each of the other elements, and because of the knowledge your mother brought me I uncovered the secret of the bonds. Spirit allows me access to those elements. My time here has given me a chance to see just how effective my change has been. Soon, the other bonds will be the same.”
Tolan pushed outward with each of the elements, but there was resistance.
Roland pushed against him.
The man was powerful, and he drew upon the energy of whatever bondars—or spirit connected to the bonds—that he could. He managed to combat the shaping Tolan drew upon. Tolan used the energy of the runes, that of the Convergence, and was able to summon strength in that way, but Roland countered him.
“I’m not so helpless,” Roland said. He seemed content to remain standing in front of Tolan.
What did he hope to accomplish?
There was power within the portraits here. Tolan had seen it and had felt the nature of that power. Master Minden had shown him that power.
It had come from the portraits, and the shaping within them, and it had come from the knowledge and understanding the ancient shapers possessed.
As he stood in front of the portraits, Tolan realized Roland drew upon a power that Tolan couldn’t even understand. That power flowed along the portraits, and outward, through them. Tolan had to intervene.
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