The Spirit Binds Read online

  Tolan had to be careful.

  He formed a barrier around his mind, but was that even enough? What if she had some way of overpowering his mental barrier? What if her connection to spirit shaping was such that she could work past everything he might be able to do to protect his mind?

  And why had he only now begun to question?

  That last thought worried him most of all.

  There was nothing to be done but to continue to observe, to be vigilant, and to be ready.

  For now, he would participate in this Selection, and he’d do whatever it took to try to understand what was involved, if only so he might know the kind of things the Inquisitors had done.

  10

  Standing next to the Grand Inquisitor, Tolan wondered whether or not he should be worried about her intentions. He tried to push those thoughts out of his mind, knowing nothing good would be served by doubting her, at least not here, and certainly not so close to her, where she might be able to somehow uncover what exactly he was thinking.

  “You will pay attention to the shaping,” she said.

  Tolan nodded. What other choice did he have but to pay attention to the shaping? The door to the great hall they stood in opened. The room was enormous, lit by lanterns hanging from the walls, and a subtle shaping energy radiated from the Grand Inquisitor, enough that he wondered whether she was doing that for his benefit or for the Selection.

  A line of potential candidates approached. There had to be a dozen, possibly fifteen, and he scanned the two lines forming, looking for any familiar faces other than Tanner. As Tolan had suspected, Tanner submitted himself for testing, though he wondered if that was helpful or not. Tanner had presented himself twice before and failed both times. While Tolan didn’t know if his sudden ability to now shape fire would make a difference, he doubted it.

  Where was the young girl he’d seen? She might have only been in her mid-teens, but she was strong with her shaping ability, and the kind of person he could easily imagine passing. He glanced over at the Grand Inquisitor, noting the deep concentration wrinkling her brow and the shaping building from her.

  He focused on that. If nothing else, he should pay attention to the way she shaped, prepared for the possibility there might be something within her shaping he might be able to uncover.

  It was mostly spirit which Tolan wasn’t surprised by. He figured she’d be using a considerable amount of spirit in her shaping, and the longer she did, the more likely she would turn that toward the approaching candidates, and when she did, he wanted to be ready for what she did to them.

  “There was another candidate I encountered,” he said, glancing over at the Grand Inquisitor. “I’m surprised she’s not here.”

  “Not all candidates have presented themselves.”

  “Isn’t that surprising?”

  “Should it be? Some realize they won’t pass and don’t bother to present themselves for Selection, while others who never will pass present themselves each time. They are no different from each other.”

  The idea there would be some who might be able to do well at the Academy but did not offer themselves troubled him. Perhaps that was just as well, though wasn’t the point of the Academy to train those who might best be able to serve Terndahl? If they didn’t come, and if there was no opportunity to uncover what those shapers might be able to do, it seemed to him the Academy would be lessened in some ways.

  The door closed and the Grand Inquisitor stepped forward. Her shaping continued to build, sweeping away from her, power radiating with it. Tolan focused on the nature of her shaping, searching for anything within it to help him understand what she was doing. It was powerful and seemed to be simply a burst of spirit, but the longer he focused on it, the more he found other elements buried within. It seemed almost as if she were using spirit as a way to try to mask what else she was doing.

  He doubted it was coincidental.

  She claimed the Grand Master had tested her himself.

  The shaping continued to build, and rather than thinking he needed to question her motives, he focused instead on the nature of her shaping and the way she used it. If he could uncover anything, it would be far more valuable than trying to determine whether or not she was trying to conceal something from him. Perhaps this was little more than another test. She’d already told him she would show him various shapings, and she’d been the one to have demonstrated the shaping used to remove the damage to the rest. It wasn’t as if she intended to keep that from him.

  “You have all presented yourself for a Selection. There will be several aspects to the Selection, but you should know it will be difficult. In coming before us, you have presented yourself as interested in training at the Academy. As those who have trained before you can attest, the Academy is not for any who do not have the necessary fortitude.”

  The words were different than she’d used before, and with each sentence, another shaping rolled away from her, slowly sweeping out, washing over them. Through it all came the sense of spirit, a surge of power almost designed to force others away.

  That wasn’t quite right.

  As Tolan focused on what she was doing, he realized there was something within the shaping, the way earth and wind mingled, fire and water, all of them blending together, probing into each person’s mind. As it did, he could feel something deep within him.

  Strange. There was something like a reverberation, much like there had been when they had been shaping earth and water out on the street. This time, spirit was not just a complementary element; it was the more significant element. In using the shaping as she did, it pushed deep within each individual, and the other elements were the complements, giving her an opportunity to dig deep into them, to probe and see if there was anything there that might be uncovered.

  As it did, he recognized what she was doing. The power fluctuated, pulsating, and bounced back.

  But not from all of them.

  Only a handful.

  Strangely, they all stood blankly, and he wondered what they experienced. What had he experienced when he’d first come to the Selection? Had it been something like this? He recalled something, but perhaps it was this. He’d been so focused on the fact he was here, and even when he’d returned, when he’d been a part of the previous Selection, he hadn’t paid as much attention to the various aspects within it. Now he was standing alongside the Grand Inquisitor he was far more a part of it than he had been before.

  “Some of you will find your desire to proceed has waned, and some of you will find you aren’t able to continue onward.”

  She nodded toward him.

  With a start, Tolan realized what he was supposed to be doing. There were many of the shapers who had not yet come around.

  He went to them, guiding them, walking them to the door. It opened, and the gray-haired shaper helped escort each of the students away. Unsurprisingly, Tanner remained, though when he’d been here before, Tanner had persisted through several of the levels. Then again, the shaping at that time seemed different.

  “You must be prepared to face your fears, and you must be strong in order to overcome them. The Academy trains only the best, and in doing so, we must ensure we have the best potentials.”

  The shaping shifted. Rather than holding on to the other elements, now she pressed only spirit. The shaping was different, a twisted type she touched upon each of the individuals. Tolan missed what she did the first few times, but by the time she got to the fifth person—Tanner, he realized—he was able to detect the nature of what she was doing.

  It was layer upon layer of spirit, and it pressed upon a specific part of his mind, deep and distantly buried within him. It spiraled, twisting through his mind, almost as if trying to burrow within it.

  What was she trying to accomplish, using the shaping like that?

  Perhaps nothing other than reaching deep within him, but then, Tolan remembered the nature of the shaping he’d experienced. It had been a test. That shaping had forced him to confront a
n elemental, and though he’d been terrified of it, what had he done?

  Nothing other than chase that power. It was the same as what he’d done ever since heading to the Academy. He’d not been nearly as afraid of the elementals as he should have been, and now, confronting it again, but this time from the other side, he still didn’t know if he’d done the right thing.

  One of the potential candidates fell. It was a young man, only a few years younger than Tolan. He was muscular, with a build suggesting a predilection toward earth. He began to convulse, and the Grand Inquisitor turned her shaping. Tolan had no other way to describe what she did other than that. In turning it, she eased back on spirit, and the convulsing began to abate before ending altogether. She frowned, shaking her head. Tolan went over to him, lifting him—forced to use a bit of earth in doing so—and escorted him to the door with the others. That left four shapers, and the Grand Inquisitor continued to hold onto her shaping.

  As he paid attention to what she was doing, Tolan began to realize why the sequence worked the way it did. If she would’ve gone with this shaping first, it would have required far more concentration than he suspected she had, forcing her to split her spirit focus. The very first shaping was generalized with the wash of spirit used in it. That was what she utilized in order to prevent anyone from recalling the nature of their shaping.

  This one was nearly entirely spirit.

  Another of the candidates fell. This was a young woman with deep chestnut hair, and she collapsed, lying motionless. As he made his way over to her, he noted the slight twist the Grand Inquisitor used was similar to what she’d done with the last person. That twist was what he suspected concealed the nature of the shaping, keeping her from recognizing what had been done and from recognizing she’d presented for Selection.

  When another fell—still not Tanner, Tolan was somewhat relieved to note—he focused more on the Grand Inquisitor rather than the fallen. As she twisted her shaping, he recognized what she was doing. The shaping itself was not complicated. It was the nature of the twist, the way she turned toward the end, inverting in a certain way, reminding him of what he did when he created the shaping around his own mind.

  Hurrying this person over to the door, he scrambled back, curious as to whether he'd uncover the same thing when the next person fell.

  He waited, but neither Tanner nor the other—a woman nearly the same age—did fall.

  The Grand Inquisitor continued to hold onto her shaping. She poured more and more strength into it, letting it flow outward, and he waited for her to release that hold. While waiting, he also waited for Tanner and the other woman to collapse, but neither of them did.

  Eventually, the Grand Inquisitor released her shaping.

  After a few moments, Tanner blinked open his eyes. The other woman did as well, and she and Tanner shared a look before turning their attention back to the Grand Inquisitor.

  “The next step will be the most difficult for you,” she said.

  Tolan wasn’t sure what she would do this time. He didn’t remember anything beyond the first parts of it, and now he was here, now Tanner had seemingly passed as much as he had, it was possible he’d still fail. Though he didn’t want his friend to fail, he wasn’t sure it was safe for Tanner to be at the Academy until they figured out what was taking place with the Inquisitors. Maybe it would be best for him to fail, and for him to come to the Academy another time when the business with the Inquisitors was resolved. For now, it might be best—and safest—for them not to bring new students to the Academy.

  “Now you must decide whether you want to be a part of the Academy.”

  Tolan glanced over at the Grand Inquisitor. He didn’t recall that being a part of his Selection, and maybe it was because it hadn’t been part of his. The option of choosing not to join the Academy had not been there. He had been told he needed to be a part of the Academy since he’d presented himself for testing.

  “If you choose to join the Academy, you will find your training is difficult. We will push you, and though you will become a far greater shaper than you are at this point, there will be challenges, and you will find it is much more difficult than anything else you have ever attempted.”

  Tolan couldn’t take his gaze off the Grand Inquisitor. The idea she was giving them this flexibility surprised him.

  There was a shaping mixed with it, though.

  The words were meant to distract, almost as if she intended to keep anyone who might be aware of the spirit shaping from detecting it, but Tolan could feel it. It was subtle, far subtler than anything else she had used, but with that shaping, he recognized the way she layered her touch upon them.

  She held the shaping in place. If they chose the wrong way, he recognized what she would do. She’d twist it, inverting the shaping, and they would forget everything that occurred. Their minds would be wiped, and everything they had experienced would disappear.

  “I want to train at the Academy,” Tanner said.

  The Grand Inquisitor pressed her shaping forward, but she didn’t invert it. That was odd. Did she leave the shaping in place so she could add to it at any given time?

  “I choose to train at the Academy,” the woman said.

  Once again, the Grand Inquisitor did the same thing with her shaping, turning it ever so slightly, enough that it was twisted, bound to their mind, and all it would take would be a hint of another twist and it would be forgotten.

  It was something he would have to ask her about when this was all done, but now was not the time.

  “Gather whatever you need, and we will depart.”

  They headed toward the front of the hall, and Tolan glanced over at the Grand Inquisitor. “I don’t remember being offered an opportunity to leave.”

  “I wanted to prepare them. It was one more test.”

  “What sort of test was this one?”

  “It was a final test, and I added a hint of knowledge of what they might experience. I gave them the opportunity to turn away from the threat of the Draasin Lord”—Tolan cringed at the idea the new members of the Academy had to fear the Draasin Lord—“and they were given the opportunity to choose anything else. In this case, they both chose to join us at the Academy to continue their training.”

  “Did you think they would choose otherwise?”

  The Grand Inquisitor turned her attention to him. “Considering everything they had encountered, I didn’t know. That was why I thought it was prudent to give them the alternative. Given what they had experienced, and the danger they had come to know, I thought it was reasonable to offer that option to them.”

  What would Tolan have done were he given that choice? Having passed the Selection, would he have chosen to return?

  It was better not to even think about it.

  “What do we do now?”

  “Now you will be the one to guide them back to Amitan, and I will be off to Par.”

  Par meant Ferrah, and if there was anyone who he wanted to make sure was safe, it was her. He didn’t like the idea of anything happening to her, but more than that, he wanted to be there if she were to confront any of the spirit-shaped people.

  “I can see what you’re thinking,” the Grand Inquisitor said.

  “You can see it?”

  “I’m not shaping you, if that’s what you think.”

  “I wasn’t thinking it, actually.”

  “You are concerned about your particular friend. And I can assure you nothing will happen to her.”

  Tolan cocked his head to the side. “I’m not sure you can assure me of that.”

  “Nothing will happen to her.”

  “Other than the fact she might be attacked by people like this.”

  “We don’t know the Inquisitors managed to reach them in other places.”

  “Considering how long they were gone, I think it’s possible they traveled throughout Terndahl, using their influence.”

  The Grand Inquisitor frowned. “Unfortunately, it’s possible.”

/>   “Which means you might need my help.”

  “I think I can manage.”

  “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I’m sure you didn’t, but as I said, I am sure I will be able to manage quite well. Now I know to be concerned about this, my preparation will be different. That is my assignment. Your assignment will be to escort them back to Amitan. You will ensure they get settled within the Academy, and from there, you will wait until the rest of us return.”

  Tolan stared at her for a moment, wishing there was something he could say, some way he could encourage her to allow him to go with her. If she was going to Par, and if there was anything he could do to help Ferrah, he wanted to do it. He didn’t want to be left behind and wanted to offer her whatever help he could.

  At the same time, that wasn’t his place. He was a third-level student. He already had enough difficulty with his position from what had happened, and even if he thought he might be able to risk pushing the issue, he wasn’t sure he should.

  Tolan just nodded. What other choice did he have?

  When Tanner and the other young woman—someone he had apparently met once before by the name of Bryn—returned, he had fallen into some sort of silence. They both carried a bag, Tanner having one he slung over his shoulder while Bryn carried one that was smaller but looked to be packed full.

  “Are the two of you ready to make the journey to Amitan?”

  He glanced at the Grand Inquisitor, but she said nothing. She only watched him, as if waiting for him to make a mistake, but in this case, Tolan was determined not to make one. He would do what was necessary to fulfill his obligations.

  Tanner nodded, as did Bryn.

  They made their way out of the Academy building, through the city, none of them speaking. When they reached the outskirts, the distant sense of the Shapers Path, Tolan paused. The Grand Inquisitor hadn’t followed them, and it troubled him a little bit that she’d gone off on her own, leaving him to wonder what she was doing and where she was going and whether there was anything he might have been helpful with.