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

  Do you attack? Have you come to my city?

  Not his city—Nor was gone, destroyed by the lisincend—but Ethea was all he knew now.

  There was a grunt and a sense of fire. We hunt. It is the way it must be.

  Tan stared at the flames. Could the draasin be in Ethea?

  Is that why he spoke to them so easily?

  But if they were here, it meant Amia’s shaping no longer held.

  If only she were here—but at least she might be safe. Wherever the Aeta had gone, at least it was away from Ethea, away from the Incendin shaper who tried to attack. Away from the draasin. And maybe she would find the help she needed with the shaping.

  Tan pressed a sensing through the connection to the draasin. It felt thready, nothing like the overpowering sense he’d felt of it when he first came across them at the lake. But there, distantly, he felt the distant sense of Amia’s shaping.

  It surrounded it, pressing against it like an invisible barrier, though remained solid.

  The draasin did not hunt man.

  Is that why you called, Little Warrior?

  He formed an image of Ethea in his mind, sending with it the flames rising from the city.

  This is not you?

  Another grunt mixed with surprise.

  And then a deep anger unlike anything Tan had ever felt.

  The draasin fell silent and Tan wondered if they would answer. He focused his thoughts, trying to frame what he needed to send in a way the draasin would understand. There are those who will hunt the draasin. They fear you are too dangerous.

  They may hunt. The draasin’s tone had changed, growing angrier.

  They are dangerous.

  The draasin snorted with annoyance. A flash of an image came to Tan’s mind. Was it flying?

  Dangerous to draasin? There is little in this world we fear.

  Would you fear warriors?

  The draasin went silent for a moment. We… are familiar with the warriors.

  Tan rubbed his head as he argued with the draasin. The draasin haven’t been seen in this world for a thousand years. There are other creatures of much power now. You have met Twisted Fire. They are the most feared creatures of this age.

  Tan couldn’t ask the draasin to hunt the lisincend, but could he coax them into it?

  Moments of silence passed. Tan sensed the something different from the draasin, almost like a conversation he could not quite hear. And then its attention turned back to him.

  The draasin laughed bitterly. You are clever, Little Warrior. But you are not wrong. Twisted Fire must be hunted, and for reasons you cannot fully grasp. You will come to us and we will hunt them together.

  How will I find you?

  Before the draasin could answer, another explosion rocked the city.

  Tan jerked around. This explosion was closer to him. And behind.

  Something pulled at his sleeve. It was then Tan realized Elle still stood next to him, looking at him with a troubled expression. Her hair was pushed back behind her ears and her brow wrinkled. The expression made her look older.

  “Tan!”

  She was shouting.

  “What?”

  “Haven’t you been paying attention? The city is under attack. We should get out of the streets until the Masters get it under control.”

  He blinked, noticing the noise and the chaos all around him. The throngs of people hurrying through the streets had turned, veering away from the university. Some shouted as they pressed forward, but most went silently.

  Over it all, he heard a horrible cry.

  Tan had never heard a sound like it before. The sound was pained and terrible and filled the air. Fire leaped above the street, shooting straight up like a fountain. Steam hissed with a continuous whistle.

  Elle pulled on his sleeve again. Her face looked pale and sweat beaded on her skin. “We need to get somewhere safe. There’s too much fire…”

  “It can’t be the draasin,” Tan said. Whatever else, he believed the draasin would not do this. They were predators—hunters—but they wouldn’t needlessly attack the city.

  But they were the only remaining great elementals of fire. How could he presume to know what the draasin would do?

  “Doesn’t matter what it is,” Elle said. “We shouldn’t be here. Can’t you sense it?”

  He frowned.

  As he started to ask what he should be sensing, he realized what it was.

  Fire built around them and the temperature in the air rose. Tan had felt something like it before, but that had been when he rescued Amia from the cage of fire. This was the entire city.

  Could it be the lisincend?

  If so, how many lisincend were out there?

  More than just the temperature was growing. A shaping was taking hold around him, making his head throb with its pressure.

  What could make a shaping like that?

  Unless… could the Masters be fighting back? If so, Tan had nothing to fear. They would drive back the Incendin shapers and the city would be safe.

  But what if it wasn’t? Tan might have the capacity to learn to shape, but he hadn’t learned enough about it. He had no control. If he were caught near another shaper—caught like he and Amia were trapped in the archives—would he be able to do anything that might save them?

  Probably not.

  He was foolish to run toward the fires and the shaping. “Where can we go?”

  Elle pulled him forward. “Come. There is a place I know.”

  She led him across the city, far from the palace and the university and into a section Tan had never visited. At one point, she paused, leaning against a faded wooden building as if she might faint. She swallowed hard and offered him a weak smile before continuing through the city.

  The flames engulfing parts of the city seemed a distant and weakened thing from here. Fewer people were out on the streets and those who were moved quickly and with a purpose, much like Elle now did. Tan noticed their dress was simpler here; this must be where the locals lived.

  They reached a series of steps leading down from a squat stone building.

  She pointed. “Come.”

  Tan hesitated. “What is this?”

  She spent a long second staring down the steps. After she had taken a deep breath, she looked over her shoulder. “Safety. Come on.”

  He shook his head. “Not until I know why you brought me here.”

  She shifted her weight. Her eyes mirrored the action, turning from the steps to the flames in the city and then to Tan. Hot air pushed on them as if practically burning the moisture from the air. Tan’s skin felt dry and tight and his mouth felt like he’d finished running up the mountains in Galen.

  Elle sagged slightly and leaned against the wall for support. “I had another reason for coming to the university, Tan.”

  “Another reason?”

  “Most come here to learn shaping, and I wanted to learn that as well, but there was a different reason for me.”

  Tan frowned. “What other reason did you have?”

  Thunder rumbled distantly. “Not here. Let’s get down to safety first and I’ll explain.”

  She turned back to the door. Tan heard a click and then a squeal as it opened. Faint light spilled out. Elle disappeared into it.

  He stood for a moment, debating whether he should follow. What did he know about Elle? What did he know about anything in this city? So far, he’d come across Masters from the university who seemed more concerned about who he knew than about teaching. He’d met archivists who seemed to work with Incendin, and he’d followed a shaper into the city.

  There was more going on than he understood—more than he was meant to know. He was meant to live in the mountains, to be surrounded by streams and trees and the gusting winds of Galen. Instead, all that had been taken from him. While Amia had been with him, he hadn’t felt alone. Now that she was gone, he felt more isolated than ever.

  Another explosion rumbled through the city, this one closer.
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br />   Fire flared against the sky. Again, Tan was reminded of the way flames had shot upward as they formed the fiery prison the lisincend had used to hold Amia. Flames continued fountaining upward, sending heat and bright light into the once-darkened night.

  A shape swooped through the darkness.

  Tan saw it as little more than a shadow, but he felt it moving in the night. Heat and fire radiated from it, but nothing more.

  A terrible cry erupted from the darkness, a sound like nothing he’d ever heard.

  Tan shivered and ducked down the stairs and after Elle.

  She waited, brow furrowed and a worried look upon her face. Color had drained from her cheeks, leaving her pale. “What was that?”

  Tan shook his head. It couldn’t be. He would have known if it were, wouldn’t he?

  “Tan?” Elle repeated.

  He swallowed and closed his eyes. His mind formed the image of the creature he’d just seen, a creature he’d last seen chasing the lisincend through the mountain passes. A creature he thought would not hunt near Ethea.

  Tan took a deep breath. “It was the draasin,” he said.

  Behind him, someone gasped.

  CHAPTER 17

  A New Shaper

  The small room had barely enough space for the tiny wooden chairs. Elle sat on one, her chair tipped onto only the back legs, and she balanced that way, staring blankly at the wall. Sweat dripped along her brow. Stone crumbled, spilling out from walls and through slatted boards overhead, layering dust with each additional explosion that rocked the city above.

  Since he’d been in the room, Tan had heard at least two more explosions.

  The painful cry of the draasin had not returned. Neither had any sense of the draasin, no matter how hard he tried to reach it.

  Tan didn’t bother Elle. Instead, he looked at the other person sitting in the room. He’d seen her before. In spite of a single lantern spitting pale, flickering light, he recognized the auburn hair trailing behind her head in a braid. Pale skin seemed even lighter than when Tan had chased her through the city. He had little doubt this was the same shaper he’d seen before. “I know you.”

  The woman stared back at him, watching him intently. The ends of her hair curled slightly, as if fluttered by an unseen breeze.

  “You came through the university. You’re a shaper.”

  The woman turned to look up at Elle. “You shouldn’t have brought him here.”

  Elle turned and looked at her, her face pained. “I had to, Sarah.”

  Sarah frowned. “Had to? You had to do nothing but stay at the university and learn. Had you done that, you would eventually become strong enough to shape. And then—”

  Elle leaned forward in her chair. “You know why I’m here. I’m still not certain why the elders sent you.” She tipped her head toward Tan. “I found what we wanted. The reason I came to the university.” Her voice lowered to a whisper.

  “Where?” Sarah’s tone changed, becoming interested. “In the archives? The archivists grant you access?”

  Elle shook her head. “Not the archives. They hoard their books on the elementals.”

  Sarah sniffed and nodded. “As it has always been.” She sighed. “Then what? What have you learned?”

  Elle nodded toward Tan. “He hears them.”

  Sarah frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Tan looked from Sarah to Elle. Sarah watched him, studying him with renewed interest. Elle looked as if she might vomit.

  “When I first met you, I told you how I studied the elementals.”

  Tan nodded. “You thought studying them would help you learn to shape faster.”

  Elle inhaled deeply. “I told you about my grandfather… about how he was a water shaper.”

  Tan nodded. Roine had recognized the name of her grandfather.

  “Your friend—the Athan—assumed I was from Vatten because I spent much time there as a child with my grandfather.”

  Tan frowned. “You’re not from Vatten.”

  She glanced at Sarah before shaking her head. “I’m not. I only claimed Vatten as home to come here to study.”

  Tan started to stand. Could Elle be from Incendin? There was no reason Incendin wouldn’t have shapers of water or air or earth. “Where are you really from?”

  A mixture of emotions worked on Elle’s face. “The kingdoms aren’t the only place with shapers, just the only place where shapers can come to study.”

  “Elle?”

  She shook her head. “Incendin is known for their fire shapers—”

  “You’re not from Incendin.”

  “The Masters screen for Incendin shapers. That’s why they pay so close attention to where you come from. That’s why Master Ferran spent the entire time in class harassing the rest of us to see where we’re from. Until the Masters are convinced you’re from the kingdoms, they won’t teach you.”

  Tan thought about the experiences he had with the Masters and realized she was right. He hadn’t wanted to say anything to Roine, but other Masters hadn’t seemed particularly interested in working with him. Tan thought it had more to do with his age, but what if it didn’t? What if it was as Elle said and they needed to convince themselves that he wasn’t from Incendin?

  “If not from the kingdoms and you’re not from Incendin, then where are you from?”

  Elle leaned back and answered. “My grandfather was a water shaper. I’m a water senser. Vatten doesn’t claim the oceans for itself. There are other places known for their mastery of the seas, places where the people have lived on the water for longer than the kingdoms have even existed.” She sighed and her eyes closed.

  Water? Ocean?

  “Doma?” he asked.

  Elle nodded.

  Tan shook his head. “But… why? Why bother coming here? Why lie about where you’re from?”

  Sarah shifted in her chair and then stood, making her way to the door. She cracked it slightly and looked up the stairs into the darkness. Even with the door cracked as it was, the heat from the fire shaping pressed down the stairs and into the room. A low sound, like the beating of powerful wings, pulsed through the air.

  Tan struggled, ignoring the desire to reach for the draasin. For answers.

  Later. Once he understood what Elle was telling him.

  Sarah shut the door and turned back to him. “Because the university will only train those from the kingdoms. Once, they would train any who chose to come. The only price requested was service.” She sniffed softly. “You will learn.”

  Tan understood the price. His father had paid the price of service. His mother had gone to Galen to serve the king and pay for her education.

  “What does this have to do with why Elle came to Ethea?” Tan asked.

  “I came to learn shaping, but there was another reason. One that was as important for our elders.”

  Tan frowned. “The elementals? To learn to speak to them?”

  Elle nodded. “Once, the elders in Doma knew the udilm well. They guided our ships and our shapers controlled the wind and waves, giving us power over the seas. For hundreds of years, our people enjoyed prosperity because of udilm.”

  “Not only udilm. But ara too,” Sarah said. “They work together, often fighting, but with our shapers, we managed to coax the elementals to work together, to grant calm seas.”

  “And then something changed,” Elle went on. She took a shaky breath. “Many years have passed since our last shaper appeared.”

  “Once, our people had dozens of water and wind shapers,” Sarah continued. “Even some earth and fire shapers, though they were rare and they always were sent to the university to learn. Even some of our wind and water shapers came to Ethea, seeking to learn from the Masters here, hoping to discover if the kingdoms knew anything more of shaping than our shapers had learned from ara and udilm. Most who came stayed behind, built lives for themselves.”

  “That was how my grandfather came to live here,” Elle said.

  Tan didn’t need for
them to explain what happened. It was the same as had happened in the kingdoms. Over time, there had been fewer and fewer shapers. Even sensers became less frequent, leaving the kingdoms not only unprotected but disconnected from the elemental power that once defined the kingdoms.

  “None of your people speak to the udilm anymore?” Could the udilm have disappeared? Maybe that really was why the nymid were so strong.

  Elle shook her head. “It has been many years since any could claim the ability.”

  “And ara?” he asked Sarah.

  She frowned at him, as if debating her answer. Then she shook her head. “Ara has not spoken to Doma in many years.”

  “So I was sent,” Elle went on. “I have some ability to detect shapings. The ability is rare, but the elders thought it necessary for communication with elementals. They do not know for sure; none of them can speak to udilm. I was given everything we knew of the ancient language, taught to me from a young age like most from Doma, and told to see what I could find in the archives. Until you came, I hadn’t found anything of use. Only old conversations, but nothing about how to find the elementals or how to start the conversation. Most of that is stored in the restricted archives.”

  Tan thought of the book on the draasin he’d found, how it had been much the same.

  “And then I met you. You speak to not only one elemental, but two. And then you can speak to me.” The last came out as a whisper.

  Sarah turned sharply, studying Tan. “What do you mean he spoke to you?”

  Elle swallowed. Sweat still beaded on her forehead and now she trembled slightly. “I don’t know how to explain what he did. I hear his voice in my head. I can speak back. There is shaping involved, I think, but I don’t understand it.”

  “If you find the udilm, what would you do?” Tan asked. Of all the questions he had, that one seemed the most important. More so after hearing Roine speak of what he feared from the draasin, how he intended to hunt them. The elementals were… a part of this world, something to be observed and learned from, appreciated for their beauty, not hunted and destroyed.

  Elle laughed softly. “I hadn’t expected to learn enough to speak to the udilm, let alone think I would have to answer that question.”