Light of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 10) Read online

  Light of Fire

  The Cloud Warrior Saga

  D.K. Holmberg

  ASH Publishing

  Contents

  1. Another Hatching

  2. Preparing For War

  3. Calling to the Wind

  4. The Ancient Gods

  5. Search for Fire

  6. Finding Issa

  7. Unwanted Help

  8. The Return to Alast

  9. Shaping the Light

  10. What the Utu Tonah Knew

  11. Search for the Mistress of Souls

  12. Another Plan

  13. The Third Binding

  14. The First Barrier

  15. A Servant’s Help

  16. Search for a Friend

  17. Reaching the Barrier

  18. The Other Side

  19. A Shaped City

  20. An Elemental Mistake

  21. Decisions

  22. All the Bonds

  23. Those of Norilan

  24. The Order of Warriors

  25. A Warrior Falls

  26. A Warrior Rises

  27. The Changed Bonds

  28. Return to the City

  29. The Barrier Falls

  30. Shapers of Darkness

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  Copyright © 2016 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover by Rebecca Frank

  All rights reserved.

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  1

  Another Hatching

  Tannen Minden sat with a book folded open in his lap, the flames from the hearth crackling nearby and the lizard named Light in her familiar spot, curled up around his neck with her tail wrapping around him. At least she didn’t lick him this time.

  At a soft cooing sound, he lifted his eyes. Amia cooed at their daughter, Alanna, smoothing the silky golden hair that was so much like her own. The dark blue eyes, though, they were Tan’s.

  “You should get some rest,” he told her. “Let me hold her a while.”

  Amia reached between the chairs for his hand and smiled. “You have other things that you’re working on.”

  As if to encourage him, the lizard licked his face.

  Tan patted her on the head.

  In the month since they had survived the attack on the bindings, a sort of quiet peace had returned. Tan and Amia had come back to Par, if only because this was where he would find the Utu Tonah’s collection of journals, and Tan had decided that he needed to understand what the Utu Tonah knew about the bindings and what that had to do with why he had come to Par. They were related, he no longer doubted. And in some ways, Tan worried that he should have taken more time to understand why the Utu Tonah had attacked. Had he done that, would there have been a way for the two of them to work together?

  Par was not home for them, but in some ways, it was more home than any others that they had. Here, Tan had formed a different set of friendships but also had a responsibility to the people—people that he still didn’t know well.

  “Have you found anything?” Amia asked.

  Tan tapped the journal on his lap. A small stack rested next to him, all rescued from the tunnels beneath the city that stretched in the shape of the binding. Tan hadn’t determined whether the binding required the tunnel, or whether it simply followed the same path. There were others, dozens and dozens of other journals, that he had left in the small room beneath the tower. Now that he knew how to find it, and could shape his way to it, there was no need to bring them up until he was ready.

  “More descriptions of the elementals. When he started, he had an appraising view of the elementals,” Tan said reluctantly.

  Admitting that the Utu Tonah had done anything that might be of value was difficult for him, but how could he deny that he actually learned from the man? The descriptions of some of the elementals that he experienced through the bonds, but had no names for, surprised him. The Utu Tonah had made it almost his duty to document the elementals, detailing their relative strengths, commenting on how they could be used, and even in which lands they were found more prominently. From what Tan could tell, the Utu Tonah hadn’t realized the elementals had varying levels of strength based on which land they could be found, but that seemed minor compared to what he had discovered.

  “You don’t need to learn about the elementals,” Amia reminded him. She moved Alanna so that she could look over at Tan, and she almost seemed to smile.

  Tan couldn’t help but smile back, but even as he did, there remained a heaviness within him, an edge of worry tied to the attack that they had only barely survived. Another attack would come, and he had to be ready. Only, he wasn’t sure what he needed to know. And he still didn’t know how much Alanna had been affected by the attack during Amia’s pregnancy. They hadn’t seen any evidence of lasting changes, but he didn’t think Alanna could have experienced something like that—even before she was born—without something having changed.

  Light claimed that Tan was a Shaper of Light, though Tan had not yet determined what that meant. And he now understood that he could reach into each of the element bonds, connecting to them in a way that he had only thought possible with fire. Using the bonds, he had the potential to draw upon and shape much more energy than he could on his own, even more than he could when drawing upon the elementals.

  Then there was what he had managed with spirit.

  Tan still felt the connection to spirit, and it was deeper and stronger than what he had possessed before. Always before, he had been able to reach into something like a pool deep within him and draw upon spirit from there, but now, that pool reached beyond him, extended to everything around him, much like the other element bonds. The power present through spirit overwhelmed him when he began to think about it.

  “Not the elementals,” Tan finally answered, “but I need to know more about the Utu Tonah. Where did he come from before coming to Par? He knew about the binding when he came here, Amia.” That much, he had managed to determine. The Utu Tonah might not have called it the binding, but he knew Par to be a place of ancient power, one that he felt an obligation to protect.

  That, combined with his comment about his ancestors coming from the kingdoms, left Tan uncertain. Had he come from the kingdoms, had he been a shaper trained by the university, wouldn’t there have been some record in the archives, something that would give them an idea of who he might have been? But Roine claimed there was not.

  “He came to Par because of the binding. And if he knew about it, and wanted to protect it…”

  “You think that there might be others.”

  “I have to hope there might be.”

  “What if they’re like him? What if they force elemental bonds to gain strength? Would you still be willing to work with them if that were the case?”

  It was a question without a right answer. “I would want to know what they knew about the bindings,” he answered. “And maybe find out if there was any way to prevent this darkness from returning.”

  That was the compulsion that drove him these days. Ever since the attack, he knew he needed to find some way to prevent the darkness from returning. And ther
e might not be any way for him to succeed. Two of the bindings had failed, and enough of that entity had escaped that Tan didn’t know whether they could force it back in. And if they couldn’t, if that remained free in the world, it was only a matter of time before the next attack.

  Maelen.

  The call came through the earth bond, and he heard Kota’s voice searching for him. Since nearly dying, she had rebounded, as strong as before. Something remained off for her, and Tan hadn’t managed to determine what it was, only that he needed to help her find a way through it, much as he had needed to help Asgar find a way through his struggles.

  Come to the den.

  When Tan looked at Amia, she was smiling. “Go. I will stay here.”

  “You should come.” That was another effect of the attack. Tan didn’t want to be apart from Amia any more than necessary. He would stay at her side as often, and as long, as he could.

  She smiled. “I’m not sure that Alanna—”

  “I think she likes to travel. And I will keep her safe.” Better that they were with him so that he could keep her safe. If he left them behind, there would be that nagging worry about what might happen. Not that Amia couldn’t take care of herself—now that the pregnancy was over, her connection to spirit had returned, and was possibly stronger than it had been before—but the two of them together were more formidable.

  Amia stood, cradling Alanna closer to her, and nodded.

  The other reason Tan wanted her to be with him was that he suspected that soon enough, he would be pulled away, separated from his family. He would spend as much time with them as he could before he had to leave. Beyond that, he tried not to think about what would happen, about whether he would be able to return or if Alanna would grow up without a father, much as he had.

  Amia squeezed his hand but said nothing. Connected as they were through the spirit bond, she knew what he was thinking. As much as he would like to avoid those sort of thoughts, he couldn’t. They intruded when he had quiet moments with his family.

  Outside the estate, Tan lifted them on a shaping of wind, pulling the other elements to him, and adding spirit. This combination carried him quickly and without the same violent sense of movement that came from other forms of shaping. It was a shaping he didn’t fear his child experiencing. Not that Alanna seemed to mind; she giggled as they traveled, trying to reach for Light and grabbing her tail. Light licked Tan’s face, as if in revenge.

  They stepped away from the shaping and into the cavern. Kota had called him from the Records, the cavern Tan had managed to separate from the rest of the mountain while under attack, where the draasin eggs were found. She prowled through the cave, her head turning from side to side as she went, the hair on her back standing on edge.

  When Tan appeared, she stopped and pawed at the ground. The earth rumbled softly in response. Tan felt it as much through his boots as he did through the earth bond.

  What is it, Kota?

  The draasin, she answered.

  He surveyed the cavern but didn’t see any other draasin there. The hatchlings would be with Asgar and maybe Sashari, though she had taken to traveling to the kingdoms frequently enough that she was not often in Par, in the den that they had made for themselves. They grew bigger, now nearly as large as Kota. Much larger than Light. She had barely grown since hatching but had changed much.

  She licked his face. As have you.

  What of the draasin? Tan asked Kota, ignoring Light.

  She turned to the eggs and, with her nose, nudged three of them into a row.

  Tan frowned and realized why she had focused on them. The eggs began to hatch.

  “Three?” he said.

  You must guide them, Light reminded him.

  He needed to guide them, but they fed on the fire bond. How would he have enough strength to feed each of them? Would that run the risk of destroying fire?

  That is why you were called, Kota said.

  He glanced at Amia. “Maybe it will be better for you in the estate.”

  She laughed. “Oh, no. I’m going to be here for this. I saw how you handled the birth of Alanna.”

  Tan frowned. “But I was there for that.”

  “You made a face. Don’t think I didn’t see it. Or feel it through the bond.”

  “Only because I didn’t want you to suffer.”

  Amia laughed again, a rich sound that happened so rarely these days. “I’ll watch from the far wall if that will make you feel better, but I plan to watch,” she said.

  Tan sighed and touched each of the eggs. They were warm, and heat seeped from them as they began to hatch. What did it mean that so many of the draasin were hatching at once? The world had gone nearly a thousand years without the draasin, and then Tan had helped pull Asboel, Sashari, and Enya from the ice. Since then, four more had come into the world. Five, counting Light, but she was something other than a draasin. And Asboel had died.

  Asgar, I will need your help, he said.

  The draasin seemed to snort through the fire bond and then appeared in the mouth of the cave within moments, blotting out the light that streamed in from outside.

  What is it, Maelen?

  Your den is about to get busier.

  You think I can raise more?

  Tan smiled and patted him as he approached. I think that you will need to help me, friend.

  Asgar snorted, steam washing harmlessly over Tan, before he flicked his tail in agreement.

  Focusing on the first egg, Tan listened to the fire that burned within it. Regardless of what he did, the egg would hatch, but like the others, it needed his help. The egg needed him to guide the hatchling into this world. The draasin would normally be responsible for the hatching, but Asgar wasn’t strong enough, and Sashari claimed she could not. Enya… Enya wasn’t yet ready for such a task. That left it up to him.

  Tan reached into the fire bond and layered that connection onto the egg.

  There was an awakening.

  It had already been there, burning softly and growing stronger, but now that Tan added the touch of the fire bond, it surged even stronger, reaching for him.

  He had experience with hatchlings and knew that he needed to push fire into the egg, into the hatchling, and slowly added it, building the flames around the egg, through the egg, steadily. The cracks in the egg began to widen, spreading as the hatchling within started to push, clawing its way out. The fire that Tan fed was absorbed, drawn into the hatchling, taken more and more, so that Tan had to switch his focus to the fire bond, drawing strength from there.

  The hatchling poked free of the egg, and Tan helped separate it, freeing it. As he did, he continued to tie the connection to the fire bond, adding more and more flames to the hatchling, until the draasin began to feed upon it without Tan’s influence.

  He sighed and stepped back, letting the small hatching make its—his, he realized from the spikes on the tail—way out of the egg. The hatchling looked up at Tan and blinked bright yellow eyes. Within the fire bond, Tan recognized the awakening.

  Lifting the draasin, he smiled as Light licked him. This one was not nearly as large as the first hatchling. That one would grow enormous, likely as large and possibly larger than Asboel in time, a rival to Asgar. Streaks of deep blue and crimson ran along his side. He took a few deep breaths and breathed out a hint of steam.

  He is healthy, Asgar said.

  Why three at one time?

  If you do not know, then none of us can. The Mother must have chosen, decided that the draasin must finally soar again.

  The draasin have needed to soar for a long time, Tan agreed.

  He thought to spend more time with the hatchling, but he didn’t have the opportunity.

  The second egg hatched much like the first. Tan was careful, not wanting to draw too much from the fire bond so that they each had enough fire to feed upon, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. The second hatchling pierced the egg, a sharp talon clawing along the egg until Tan peeled it away. The small draasi
n climbed free. She was tiny, much smaller than any of the others, even smaller than Light had been when she first hatched.

  The third egg began to shake.

  This was different than what happened with the first two, and with either of the others that Tan had been present for.

  Reaching into the fire bond, he pulled it toward the egg, sending some of the strength into the hatchling inside. Doing so meant that he diverted from the other draasin, taking away from its feeding, but Tan called on the fire bond, asking for strength to aid in this, and was rewarded by a surge of energy from Fire.

  Tan diverted more fire into the hatchling, but the shaking continued.

  Amia touched his arm. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Light jumped from his shoulder and slithered toward the egg, wrapping herself around it, as if holding it intact. She began to glow, a soft white light that poured from her, much as it had from Tan when he had been so deeply connected to spirit while trying to save Amia.

  You must heal this one, Light said.

  As I did with you?

  This will be different.

  Tan frowned and pulled on the fire bond, but also reached for spirit, that deep pool he now knew how to tap. Through spirit, he pressed gently on the hatchling, probing the egg, searching for what had happened to it. He sensed nothing.

  What of water?

  Tan pulled on the water bond, drawing through it, clinging to fire and spirit as well, and sent this shaping washing over the egg. He still couldn’t tell. Earth and wind added, mixing together as they swirled around it. All the elements combined, adding to the draw of spirit.

  Light glowed even brighter, forcing Tan to squint and shield his eyes from it.

  The shaking of the egg began to stop.

  Tan felt a shift as if whatever had been taking place within the egg had finished, and the element bond shapings slipped over the egg, over the hatchling inside. The hatchling began to draw upon the different bonds, feeding much like it would on the fire bond, but did so before even fully hatching. Only the spirit bond was left untouched, other than for the fact that through spirit, Tan could sense how the hatchling fed.