Chased by Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 1) Read online

  Tan frowned. “My father was a strong earth senser.”

  Roine frowned again. “Is that what he told you when he taught you to sense?” Tan nodded. “I understand now how you were able to follow the hounds in the first place. Or how you discovered the lisincend trail by the Aeta caravan. I’m not a particularly strong earth shaper, but I’ve at least tracked lisincend before.” He patted Tan on the arm. “Nothing weak about your sensing, Tan.” He laughed. “I think your mother knew. Probably why she wanted you to go to Ethea.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “That’s how it begins, at least for me. First a strong senser. If strong enough, you can learn to shape.”

  “A shaper? I don’t think I’d ever be strong enough for that.”

  Roine laughed again and looked out to the lake. “You spoke to the nymid. Not many shapers can claim the same. I think with training, you could be a powerful shaper.”

  Tan looked out at the lake, at the swirling green floating across it. “Like my mother?” He wished there had been time for him to learn more about her shaping. Now that he knew, he had so many questions.

  Roine nodded. “The gift is handed down through generations, some stronger than others.”

  “But my mother was a wind shaper.”

  “And your father was an earth senser. If you choose to go to Ethea, you could learn much about your ability. In time…” He shrugged. “It’s possible you could learn to shape.”

  Ethea again. This time the suggestion was different. Could he really learn to become a shaper? Could he pass up the opportunity to try? But doing so meant paying the price with service, and Tan still didn’t know if that’s what he wanted.

  “Why the nymid?” he asked. “If I’m an earth senser, why can I speak to the nymid?”

  Roine took a deep breath. “You’re asking the wrong person. None remain with the ability to speak to the elementals, but from what I know, it should be paired with your ability. Not always; the archivists claim some speak to the elementals and never shape.”

  More reasons for him to go to Ethea. Tan wondered if his mother told Roine how he didn’t want to go. Could Roine answer his questions but chose not to do so?

  Roine closed his eyes. Pressure built with his shaping, releasing as a wave washing away from them.

  Tan did the same, sensing the forest, and felt it closer this time.

  “We should leave,” Roine said.

  Tan crawled back under the branches and moved to Amia, shaking her gently. Her eyes fluttered open and she jerked back quickly.

  “Time to go,” he whispered.

  She looked down the shore with a flash of fear. “Are they—”

  Tan nodded once.

  Amia looked at Tan a moment and nodded. She pulled herself to her feet a little stiffly and once back outside the shelter she stretched, working her legs and arms quickly. She frowned, looking at the lake.

  Roine stood with a nervous energy. “Can you still follow it?”

  Roine led them along the edge of the lake, always a dozen or more paces ahead of them, pushing them at a faster and faster pace. After a while of walking in silence, Tan turned to Amia. “Roine thinks I could become a shaper.”

  She looked over to him and tilted her head, pressing her hair out of her soft face as she watched him. “And you don’t want to?”

  He thought of his father answering the summons from the king without question. Of his mother, and how much she’d changed after his father died. “I don’t want to owe my life to anything.”

  Amia looked at him and frowned. “I was five when I was discovered. My people inspect each newborn, always searching for one blessed by the Great Mother. As I said, most are feelers, and they thought me the same. This would have been enough for me to follow my Mother.”

  Roine slowed to listen. “You know with the newborns?” Amia nodded. “Is this something your feelers can detect?”

  Amia nodded again. “What we have is different than you. You work on the outside, on the world around you. We work on the inside. This is our gift from the Great Mother.”

  “When did you know?” Tan asked Roine. “When did you know you were a warrior?”

  Roine laughed softly. “I was wind senser first. That is how it works. First a senser. Then a shaper. It was only later I learned I was a warrior.”

  “Is that how you knew my mother?”

  Roine nodded. “We studied together. Zephra was always so powerful. She had a command of the wind none matched, even the Masters.”

  Tan wished he would have known that part of his mother. “And you knew when you were five?” he asked Amia.

  “My Mother always suspected something was different. When I was five, we met another family and with them was another blessed by the Great Mother. She was able to see what my Mother could not. She taught me the earliest of my skills.” She looked to Roine. “We don’t have a place like your university. We must learn to understand our gifts on our own. It’s not always easy.”

  “Learning shaping with a guide is difficult. Without…” he shook his head. “You’ve done well to learn what you have.”

  Amia looked around. “I’ve wondered why the Great Mother blessed me. Maybe had some other been chosen, my people would still be safe.”

  “Or not. Perhaps the Mother knew what she gifted,” Roine suggested.

  They walked in silence for a few moments. “Why don’t the kingdoms have spirit shapers?” Tan asked.

  Roine looked at Amia before answering. “The answer requires a greater understanding of shaping in general,” he said. “The kingdoms have known shapers as long as we’ve existed, long before the separate nations united. Shaping was part of the reason they came together. The university has long studied the origin of shaping, though for a different reason.”

  He turned to Tan. “I told you our shapers were once much more potent, more powerful, than they are today?” Tan nodded. “The scholars have searched for the reason it changed. The simplest explanation is that the abilities were simply watered down over time.” He paused, running a hand through his hair. His eyes were drawn and though he had refused sleep, his sagging shoulders and slowly returning limp revealed his need. “We know little about the earliest shapers other than that their shapings were strong and crude. Not until we started seeing warriors did shapings become more complex. Incredibly so. Most of those early warrior shapings can’t be replicated.”

  “Where did the first shapers come from, then?” Tan asked.

  Roine shrugged. “Some think the earliest shapers were simply born to it as they are today. Others wonder whether shaping was a gift from some of the older elementals.”

  “Like the nymid?”

  Roine nodded. “Like the nymid, but older.”

  “But why do only the Aeta have spirit sensers and shapers?” Tan asked.

  “They haven’t always. The ancient warriors, those who created the artifact and the compass, could shape spirit too. But what changed?” He looked out over the lake. “I can’t answer that. Probably the same reason few still speak to the elementals. But none know that answer, either.”

  They fell into silence as they walked, following the lakeshore. They crossed several small streams, each flowing down from the mountain as it joined the massive lake. In the distance Tan became aware of two things. The first was that the end of the valley grew gradually closer. The base of the huge mountain shadowing their path loomed finally near. The other was that a large river ran down from the nearby slopes, wider than any of the other streams, and cascaded noisily as it flowed into the lake. They would have to cross the river to continue along their path.

  A harsh cry behind them made him jump. Another of the hounds answered the cry, baying in response. Tan closed his eyes, stretching out his senses and listening, sensing the lisincend presence in the forest, following closer than the last time.

  Roine quickened their pace.

  The river loomed before them, blocking their way. The river looked to feed muc
h of the lake by itself. He looked up the river, searching for a good place to cross, but there was none. They would either have to swim or hike upriver a long distance to find an easy place to ford.

  Roine looked back, his face slack as he sensed. “We don’t have time for this.”

  “Can you do anything?” he asked.

  Roine shook his head. “I’m too weak from before. This is too much for me even when rested.”

  “You could blow us across,” Tan said.

  Roine shook his head. “Too inexact. I may send us out into the lake. There’s only one way I can travel with precision and you would not be safe.”

  “What is it?”

  Roine flickered his eyes up to the heavy clouds in the far north as an answer.

  Tan followed his eyes. A Cloud Warrior, shapers who could walk the sky. Of course Tan wouldn’t be safe. “Then we have to swim.”

  Roine shook his head. “Fur is closing in quickly and the hounds have our scent. We need to buy ourselves some time. We can’t do that swimming this river.”

  Roine paced up the river a ways, quickly disappearing from view. Amia looked at Tan and then out to the lake. He knew what she asked.

  The nymid.

  “I don’t know,” he began. Tan looked out into the lake, not sure with the growing light where the nymid would be, and simply let his mind go blank. He gathered himself, drawing in as much concentration as he could muster, and sent a thought out toward the water.

  Nymid. We need your help.

  Tan staggered, dizziness and fatigue hitting him. Amia placed a reassuring hand upon his arm to steady him. He tried to keep his mind calm as he waited, uncertain his request would even be heard. Would he need to get into the water? Would it have been easier?

  He Who is Tan.

  The thought tickled at the back of his mind, making a soft connection, but Tan heard the words clearly.

  Nymid. Can you help? Twisted Fire follows, and we cannot cross the river.

  Tan was aware of conflicting thought. Nymid anger and repulsion of the lisincend was mixed with curiosity.

  Twisted Fire must not have the Daughter. Or He Who is Tan. There was a pause, as if the nymid considered. What can we do?

  Tan pictured the river as it entered the lake in his mind, sending that forward as a thought. We must cross. And we must slow Twisted Fire.

  The Source, the nymid said.

  There was a long pause and Tan thought they had broken off communication. Finally a response came.

  We will help.

  Tan opened his eyes. The water near the river began to glow with the distinct light of the nymid. Could Amia see it as well? She watched Tan with a curious expression, not turning or following his gaze. The water began to part, peeling back, slowly receding to reveal a sandy path.

  You may cross.

  “Roine!” he shouted, but needn't have.

  Roine appeared behind Tan, looking at the water with a mixture of surprise and awe.

  “We should hurry,” Tan said. “I don’t know how long this will last.”

  Roine only nodded as he started across, staring at the watery edges that rippled to each side of the pathway. “The nymid?”

  “Yes.”

  “You were able to call them from shore?”

  “Yes.”

  Roine looked back then, pausing as he passed through the strange path and stared at Tan for a moment before shaking his head and hurrying through. The water was wide, over five hundred paces here, and when they reached where the other shore had been, the water simply slid back into place as if it had never been disturbed.

  Move forward now, the nymid said.

  After they had moved a little away from where the river met the lake, the river surged, growing wider, deeper.

  Thank you.

  Do not thank. Purge Twisted Fire.

  Tan nodded. When the Daughter is safe.

  The nymid seemed to smile but said nothing more. Their answer was in the widely flowing river now flowing rapidly into the lake, turbulent and frothy.

  Roine stared at the water, his face unreadable, before turning to Tan. “It looks like you bought us some time.”

  Amia smiled at him, her mouth and eyes tight. She turned to the water and spoke aloud. “Thank you.”

  Do not thank.

  Tan was sure he was the only one to hear the nymid’s response.

  28

  A Greater Elemental

  The angry roar let them know when Fur reached the river, now far behind them. A loud and angry hiss followed the cry of frustration. The lisincend tried to heat the water, to blast its way through the barrier.

  “Do you think it will work?” Tan asked.

  Roine shook his head. “Too much water in that river, especially after what the nymid did.”

  “How far do you think Fur will have to go to cross?”

  Roine shrugged. His shoulders sagged, though somewhat less since they had passed through the nymid path, and his limp was barely noticeable. “Not sure. Depends on how wide the river is farther upstream. We probably bought half a day.”

  Tan and Amia shared a glance, neither speaking much. They walked quickly, mostly silently, along the lake, coming across several smaller streams but each passable. The lake was a spider web of the small streams, all coming out of the upper mountains and all leading to the huge lake in the valley.

  “What is this place?” Tan asked as they crossed another of the small waterways.

  “I’ve been trying to understand that since finding you. With the nymid’s presence and control of the river, I think I understand. Truthfully, I never expected to see a place like this in person.” He looked at Tan. “The scholars would call this a place of convergence. I’ve known they exist…just never thought to see one. They’re rare. Focused energy, natural strength, and rich in the elementals.” Roine looked at the water as he spoke. “It’s also why I struggled finding you. These natural convergences mask themselves, protecting the power they store, protecting their guardians. That makes the nymid’s help all the more surprising. It also tells me that these nymid are more powerful than I’d thought.”

  “And there are other places like this?”

  “There are, though they can’t be mapped. Any attempt to try always fails. No one has ever understood why.”

  Amia smiled. “Perhaps the elementals that guard them are even stronger than you think.”

  “Perhaps,” Roine agreed.

  “And this…convergence…is tied to your artifact?” Tan asked.

  “It would explain why the artifact can’t be found without the compass. Why it’s so difficult to trace. And provide protection for the artifact, as well.”

  Amia closed her eyes and tracked her shaping. “Still along the lakeshore,” she said. “Beyond the lake…I can’t tell clearly.”

  Roine continued forward, saying little as the day progressed. They stopped briefly to eat a lunch of fruits gathered from some of the nearby trees before continuing. They passed many more small streams. The water grew colder with each one they passed.

  The far edge of the lake loomed nearby when Tan saw the first evidence of ice upon the lake. The water was calmer here, and had grown much colder, but even then he hadn’t expected to see ice forming on the surface. When crossing the streams, Tan started to hope they could jump them, no longer wanting to wade through icy water. Some of the smaller feeder streams were completely frozen over.

  “This shouldn’t be,” Tan finally said. “We’re too low for this much cold. Even the mountain doesn’t have snow until much higher on the peak.”

  Roine took a hesitant step out on the ice of the lake. It groaned and creaked under his weight, but held. He backed off the ice, stepping back upon the cool shore, and looked down the lakeshore. “Not much further.”

  With each step, the ice thickened. They no longer had to wade through even the widest of streams, able to simply walk across. Ice stretched across the lake all the way to the far shore, faintly visible in
the distance. Ahead, the rocky mountain jutted up, pointing toward the sky like a finger as it framed the lake. A few trees dotted the slope, but for the most part it was too steep to support their growth.

  As night neared, they would be forced into a decision. Would they camp along the edge of the lake, hoping they had enough distance between them and the lisincend, or did they press on, into the night, exhausted?

  Amia suddenly veered out onto the ice.

  At first Tan simply watched her go, figuring curiosity drove her forward, but she continued out onto the ice, venturing farther and farther from shore. She didn’t look back to see if anyone followed.

  “Amia?” he called after her.

  She did not answer, did not look back.

  Tan started after her, his first steps hesitant. The ice groaned with his weight at first and he froze, listening for any sound that it was not tolerating him. Nothing came.

  “Amia!” he called again, taking another hesitant step forward.

  Finally she looked over at him. Her eyes were drawn and her brow furrowed in an expression of concern. She turned and continued onto the ice, heading toward the center of the lake.

  With as warm as the rest of the lake had been, how stable could the ice be that far out in the lake? He ran toward her.

  Tan was perhaps twenty paces from shore when he heard Roine yell. “We don’t have time for diversions!”

  Tan shook his head. “Amia—”

  Roine followed them onto the ice and paused.

  “What is it, Roine?”

  Roine looked up, though pointed down at his feet, toward the ice. “This ice is shaped,” he said, puzzled. He strode forward, quickly catching Tan.

  “What do you mean it’s shaped? Recently?”

  Roine shook his head. “I have never seen anything quite like this,” he said. “This is subtle and powerful. Not until I had stepped out onto the ice could I feel the difference.” He looked at Tan. “And it’s immense. Old.”

  “How can you tell how old it is?”

  “Shapings carry certain qualities, textures, that reveal much about the shaping itself. If skilled, you can learn the identity of the shaper, how many shapers were involved, the age of the shaping, or more. Sometimes much more. Something like this has so many layers I can’t sense them all.” He shook his head. “This is amazing.”