Bound by Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 2) Read online

  CONTENTS

  Copyright

  Chapter 1 - The Master Shaper

  Chapter 2 - A Warrior and a Return

  Chapter 3 - A Lost Language

  Chapter 4 - Shapings

  Chapter 5 - The Value of Shaping

  Chapter 6 - Possibilities

  Chapter 7 - Past, Present, and Future

  Chapter 8 - Heat and Fire

  Chapter 9 - Chasing Fire

  Chapter 10 - Escape

  Chapter 11 - A Daughter’s Duty

  Chapter 12 - Needs of the People

  Chapter 13 - The Gift

  Chapter 14 - The Archives

  Chapter 15 - Another Voice

  Chapter 16 - The Draasin Answer

  Chapter 17 - A New Shaper

  Chapter 18 - The Demands of Fire

  Chapter 19 - Master’s Plan

  Chapter 20 - Search for Healing

  Chapter 21 - An Offer of Help

  Chapter 22 - Flight

  Chapter 23 - Restored

  Chapter 24 - Finding the Aeta

  Chapter 25 - A Fall and a Surprise

  Chapter 26 - Shaping and a Friend

  Chapter 27 - Spirit Shapings

  Chapter 28 - Return to Water

  Chapter 29 - Escape from the Aeta

  Chapter 30 - Finding the Mother

  Chapter 31 - Epilogue

  Author

  Other books

  Bound by Fire

  By D.K. Holmberg

  Copyright © 2014 by D.K. Holmberg

  Published by ASH Publishing

  Cover art copyright © 2014 Rebecca Weaver

  Book design copyright © 2014 ASH Publishing

  Disclaimer: The book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  If you want to be notified when D.K. Holmberg’s next novel is released and get free stories and occasional other goodies, please sign up for his mailing list by going here . Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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  www.dkholmberg.com

  CHAPTER 1

  The Master Shaper

  Tannen Minden sat at a long, faded oak table, leaning forward as he waited for the instructor to arrive. Only a week in Ethea and already he longed for the forests of Galen around him. Had he been able to find Amia, he wouldn’t have bothered coming to this lecture, but he struggled to find her the last few days and when he did, she seemed anxious. How much of the anxiety came from the strange and massive capital city and how much from losing everyone she knew?

  After how the lisincend destroyed his home of Nor, he understood that anxiety well.

  He rubbed his neck. The aching he’d felt since reaching the city throbbed with more intensity this morning. At first, he thought it the change in altitude—Nor sat much higher than Ethea—but now he wondered if it had to do with the connection he’d made while there. Could the distant sense he still had of the draasin be giving him the pain?

  The girl at the end of the table glanced at him again. She had brown hair cut short and a thin face. A green dress several sizes too large draped over her. A thick book rested open on the table in front of her, but she kept looking up from it to him.

  Another boy, built like a blacksmith, sat down the table. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, as if he feared looking around too much. Tan watched him, waiting for a crack in his focus, but none came. He wore a thick wool jacket dyed a dark blue and his hair was cut short. His skin was deeply tanned.

  And then there was a man near the window. He stared out, fingers drumming across the stone as he stared through the opaque glass. He shifted from one foot to another, his boots the only part of him visible beneath the long gray cloak he wore. Even his head was covered, hiding his face.

  As far as Tan knew, these were all students at the university. And he was older than each of them.

  Since arriving in Ethea, Tan had seen people from all over the kingdoms. It had surprised him how different each style of dress was, and he hadn’t been here long enough to know where each style came from. Amia might, since she was one of the Aeta, traders given the freedom to wander without concern for borders, if only he could find her.

  Like usual, no one spoke. Tan had attended few classes since arriving in Ethea. When they had first reached Ethea, Roine encouraged him to attend as many as possible, especially those with an earth-sensing focus. He remained convinced Tan could become an earth shaper, but how would he ever even sense anything within the walls of the university? At least in Galen, the trees and grasses and life around him gave him something to sense. Here, all he sensed was the vast expanse of stone that comprised the university.

  The girl looked up at him again. Tan frowned at her and she looked away, burying her face in her book once more.

  He didn’t want to be here. Not only this room, but in this city. This had always been his mother’s dream for him, never his. If he had his choice, he would have remained in Galen, climbing the hills around Nor.

  The man near the window stopped drumming his fingers on the window and turned to face them. The hood of his cloak fell down to his shoulders, revealing curly brown hair. “This is all who choose to attend?” His voice sounded low, thick and gravelly.

  The girl pushed her book aside, closing it slowly. The thick boy turned to face Tan.

  Now that Tan could see the man’s face, he saw he was older—much older than Tan. Not a student, then. The man grunted and looked around the room, flinty eyes stopping on each of them before they settled on Tan, widening slightly as they did. His nostrils flared briefly as he sniffed.

  “A waste of time,” he muttered. He flicked his gaze to the boy. “You. Where in Ter are you from?”

  The boy blinked and swallowed. “Keoth, sir.”

  The man grunted and the corners of his eyes twitched. “Keoth? Does that make you a farmer or quarryman?”

  The boy’s back stiffened slightly. He looked at the man, unblinking. “Farmer, sir.”

  The man sniffed, his nostrils flaring again. His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips as if he might say something, but then he looked over to the girl. “And you. Where in Vatten are you from? Too slight to be a fisherman’s daughter. A weaver?”

  The girl glanced at her book and then looked up and past the man, nodding as she did.

  The man shook his head, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “And then there’s you,” he said, turning to Tan. “You’re too old to be a new student—” he regarded Tan’s age with derision “—but I haven’t seen you in other classes.”

  “I’ve only been—”

  The man cut him off with a wave of the hand. “From your build, you could be from Ter or Vatten, but you don’t have the right coloring. Your hair is too dark for Nara. That leaves Galen.”

  Tan nodded. The way he spoke of Galen put Tan on edge, his tone making it seem like he wished he could exclude Galen from the kingdoms. Already, he didn’t like this man.

  “Not many come from Galen anymore. Fewer will come now that Incendin attacks.” The girl sucked in a quick breath and the man turned to her. “The rumors are true. Best not to hide from them. You empower them with your fear. Besides, there’s no reason to fear Incendin here in the university. You’re safest surrounded by our best shapers.”

  “But their shapers—” she started in a whisper.

  “Are no different than me. Fire works no different than ear
th.” As emphasis, the stone around the window peeled away briefly before folding back into place. Tan’s ears popped as it did.

  The boy’s eyes widened, the most reaction Tan had seen from him. The girl smiled and pulled her book up to her chest, clutching it to herself.

  “A skilled shaper can hold back the fire shapers of Incendin, and isn’t that why you’re here?”

  The Master shaper dismissed Incendin’s fire shapers so quickly, but Tan knew what they were capable of. He’d seen their destruction firsthand, had witnessed how they destroyed his home as if it were nothing. “It’s not only fire shapers to fear.”

  The man’s eyes narrowed slightly and a tight smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So, you are from Galen.”

  Tan nodded.

  “Don’t scare the others with stories. The truth can be awful on its own.”

  Had he not lost everyone he knew to those stories, Tan might have been more forgiving of the comment. Instead, other than Cobin and Bal, only Lins Alles survived and Tan had no interest in seeing him again, not after seeing him working with the lisincend. And he hadn’t seen Cobin or Bal since reaching Ethea. For all Tan knew, they’d gone somewhere else, away from the danger of the capital. Knowing how Cobin was an earth senser, Tan would understand him not wanting to return to Ethea. Likely, he wanted to get as far from Incendin as possible to keep Bal safe, someplace like Ter, where there would be other earth sensers and where the threat of attack was minimal.

  And Lins? If Tan saw him again, he didn’t know what he would do. He’d spent years fearing his temper; now he wanted nothing more from him. After helping the lisincend, had he gone to Incendin? Or had he faded into obscurity within the kingdoms?

  “You don’t think we should fear Incendin? After what they did?” Tan asked.

  The man sniffed again. He kept his hands in the pocket of his cloak and fixed Tan with a hard gaze. “Their attacks have grown stronger, it is true, but the barrier protects us from a more direct attack.”

  “The barrier didn’t keep the lisincend from passing through. The barrier did nothing to stop my home from being destroyed.”

  Tan realized he’d raised his voice and took a calming breath.

  The girl looked from him to the man standing at the front of the room. The smile faded from her face, and with it, all the color in her cheeks. Her wide blue eyes made her look younger than Bal.

  The other boy simply stared at the man. He didn’t look over at Tan, as if taking his eyes off the shaper at the front of the room would get him into some sort of trouble.

  The man leaned forward, resting his hands on the table as he stared at Tan. A dark expression flashed across his eyes. “You speak of rumors as if they are true. Few enough know of the lisincend. I would like to know how you learned about them.”

  Tan shook his head. He should leave. There was nothing this man would teach him that he wanted to know, but he was new to the university and he owed it to his memory of his mother to at least try. “I’ve seen them.”

  The man laughed. “Then you would be dead. Instead, you sit here and argue with a Master of the university.” He paused and started to turn before catching himself and turning back. “Had the lisincend attacked, there would be little to slow them until they reached Ethea.”

  “Only a warrior shaper,” Tan answered.

  And even Roine had almost not been enough. Had not the draasin—the great winged fire elemental—come when Tan called, what would have happened with Fur and the other lisincend? Tan wouldn’t have survived, but more than that, they would have captured the artifact, the one thing that might be able to help the kingdoms push back Incendin.

  “There no longer are any warriors,” the man said. “So be glad you have not seen the lisincend.”

  “The ashes of my village would say otherwise. And if you need further convincing, seek out Roine. Ask him what happened to Nor.”

  Tan started to stand. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to the Master anyway. He would have to come another time, perhaps find another earth shaper to learn from, though Roine said the Master instructing this class was more skilled than most.

  “Why would one of the Athans have been in Galen?”

  Tan sighed and looked up, wishing he were back in Galen, back beneath the trees and following some unknown trail as it wound into the mountains. At least there, he knew what to do. He could sense his way along, so he knew where he needed to go. In Ethea, surrounded by all these people that he didn’t understand, he never felt fully sure of himself.

  But if he could learn to be a shaper—an earth shaper like the Master—wouldn’t he take that opportunity? It required his allegiance to the king, but shapers were gifted with much power, abilities he’d only glimpsed while traveling with Roine. How much better would it be if he could do some of the things he’d seen Roine do?

  “Serving the king,” Tan answered. “And protecting the kingdoms from Incendin. More than that, you’ll have to ask him.”

  “And you claim you encountered one of the lisincend while with Roine?”

  Tan nodded.

  “Where is it now?”

  “Two were killed. Fur might still be running back to Incendin.” Or eaten. Tan hoped the draasin had caught him but suspected Fur might have been strong enough to escape and survive. If he did, how long did they have before Incendin sent more of the lisincend into the kingdoms?

  If he dared embrace the connection with the draasin, he might learn, but doing so meant pain and fear. Regardless of how it had saved them, the great fire elemental was dangerous to Tan.

  The Master shaper blinked. “You faced more than one of the lisincend?”

  Tan nodded again.

  The Master studied Tan for a moment, gray eyes seeming to stare through him before taking a shallow breath. Without another word, he turned to the door and hurried out, pulling the hood of his cloak back over his head as he went.

  Tan frowned. What had just happened?

  So much about Ethea was strange. The last time he’d seen him, Roine tried offering suggestions about the university and promised to help in any way he could, but as Athan, he had other responsibilities. Tan hadn’t seen Roine since their second day in Ethea.

  The thick boy got up slowly and made his way to the door after the Master. He left quietly, making his way down the narrow hall and out of sight.

  Tan sighed and started to leave. A gentle tug at the sleeve of his jacket caused him to turn.

  The girl stood looking up at him. She barely came to his shoulder. Up close, her short brown hair looked uneven and ragged, as if she’d cut it with a dull knife. One hand gripped a handful of fabric, holding her dress off the floor so she didn’t trip. The other held a stack of books she somehow didn’t spill as she pulled on his sleeve. A serious expression furrowed her brow.

  “Is what you said true?” Her voice sounded less meek than when she’d spoken to the Master shaper.

  Tan nodded.

  “You saw one of these creatures?”

  Tan stiffened. “That’s what I said.”

  “You said it was Fur?”

  Tan frowned. “You know of him?” The Master shaper had been right that few knew of the lisincend. At least in Galen, he hadn’t heard of the lisincend before they attacked, and Galen shared a border with Incendin.

  The girl swallowed, her head bobbing in a nod. “My grandfather—” She took a deep breath and met Tan’s eyes. “My grandfather fought in the Incendin war. Barely survived. When I was younger—” Tan snorted and she frowned “—he wouldn’t talk about it. I knew he lost friends during the war. But as he’s gotten older, his mind started to wander. Sometimes he speaks about the nightmares he saw. Only one of them ever had a name. Fur.” She shivered, as if a breeze suddenly gusted through the window. “Always said his name in a whisper, and usually after having too much wine. He’s real?”

  Tan understood the reaction. Nearly dying at the hands of the lisincend did that to him. “He’s real. And as terrifying a
s your grandfather said.”

  The girl shook her head. “He never said much other than a name, but not much scared him. A water shaper—and strong, too—so anything of fire that frightening…”

  Tan nodded, remembering the way Fur had nearly burned away the lake. Had the nymid—the water elementals at the heart of the lake—not been there, Fur might have been strong enough.

  “You plan to study at the university?” she asked.

  The sudden change took Tan aback. He nodded.

  “You’re older than most students,” she commented. “You know, most come to the university when they learn they’re sensers. If you can sense the elements, some learn to shape as well.”

  “I never wanted to come in the first place,” Tan answered.

  “Never wanted to come? Why wouldn’t you want to come? Don’t you care to learn if you can be a shaper?”

  Tan took a deep breath before answering. He’d never cared before. Not that he didn’t think the idea of shaping sounded impressive, just that he didn’t want to commit to what came with it: service to the king like his father—and his mother, he reminded himself—bought by learning. Service that claimed his father’s life fighting Incendin.

  But he’d seen what the lisincend would do. He’d seen the lengths they went—the mindless destruction they inflicted. How could he refuse to help if he had the ability?

  “There’s more to it than wanting to be a shaper,” he said.

  She looked at him skeptically. “What more can there be? Either you want to learn or you don’t. And if you’re here, it means you have the ability to learn.”

  “How did he know you’re from Vatten?” Tan asked, changing the subject. He didn’t know this girl at all, and here she was, pressing him no differently than his mother had.

  “How can you not know?”

  He shrugged. “I can’t tell where anyone is from.”

  She laughed, the sound smooth and light, betraying a cloud that came over her face. “You should probably learn, especially if you’re going to stay here. Everyone is like that Master. Once they figure out where you’re from…”