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

  Tan sighed and glanced at the window. Another reason for him to wish he was out of Ethea and back in Galen. At least there, he understood how things worked. As long as he didn’t upset the manor lord—or his son—he was fine.

  Maybe he needed to find Amia and see if she would leave with him.

  Finally, he shook his head. Standing here changed nothing. “I need to get going,” he decided.

  Tan started out of the room, and the girl trailed after him. She kept her dress bunched in one fist to keep it from dragging on the floor. The books were pressed against her chest. A single lantern lit the musty, narrow hall outside the room. Rough stone shifted with strange shadows. Even here, Tan had little sense of anything.

  “So what are you?” the girl asked as they reached a stair leading down.

  He paused and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

  She sniffed. “Well, you’re here, right? So what kind of senser are you?”

  He nodded. “Earth senser.”

  “From Galen?”

  He nodded again.

  The girl frowned for a moment and then shrugged. “I’m a water shaper. Pretty common in Vatten, you know.”

  He didn’t know but didn’t say anything as he continued down the stairs. At the bottom, a door led out into a wide courtyard. Grass and a few trees grew tidily here, though the center of the courtyard was cleared. There, stones were set in a circular pattern.

  The girl said something but Tan missed it. Pressure built in his ears, the sensation familiar to him. Someone performed a shaping nearby, and a powerful one at that.

  The sudden rumble of thunder followed by a loud crack of lightning made him take a quick step back. Tan had felt this shaping before.

  When it cleared, Roine stood at the center of the clearing. Dried blood smeared on the top of his brow from an open wound and he held a slender sword clutched in his hand. He took a deep breath and then collapsed.

  CHAPTER 2

  A Warrior and a Return

  Roine lay unmoving, splayed across the circular stones, his face turned toward the sky. Tan rushed over and knelt next to him. Roine breathed slowly, the sword resting next to him with the tip pointing to his leg. When Tan reached to move it, the girl grabbed his arm.

  “Don’t! You can’t touch a sword like that.”

  Tan turned and looked up at her. The worry on her face made her look older than she’d looked in the small classroom. There, she’d seemed younger than Bal. “A sword like what?”

  She nodded toward Roine. “I never thought to see one. I didn’t think any warriors still lived.”

  “This is Roine, the king’s Athan.” As he said it, he realized how little the answer explained. Roine was much more than only the king’s Athan. He was Theondar the cloud warrior, gifted with the ability to shape all the elements, and thought dead for decades.

  The girl crouched next to him and set the stack of books carefully on the ground. She reached toward the silver band around Roine’s finger that marked him as Athan. “One of the Athan. Of course, they’d be warriors.” She looked up at Tan. “Do you think they’re all warriors?”

  He shrugged. “I only know Roine. And why can’t I touch his sword?”

  She stood and kicked it away from Roine, keeping the tip away from his leg. The silver sword clattered against the stones. Markings, like those that had been on the golden box Roine had used to find the artifact hidden in the mountains, worked along the surface and glinted in the cloudy light.

  “A warrior’s sword. Only those able to shape all the elements can carry a sword like that. To anyone else, protections worked in the blade would be dangerous.” She paused, eyeing the sword. “My grandfather told me how an Incendin shaper tried taking one from a fallen warrior.”

  Tan looked down at the sword, thinking of how Roine had given it to him to wear before he’d gone to fight Lacertin. What would have happened had he actually tried to use the sword? “What happened to him?”

  She shook her head. “Grandfather never actually said. Only that the Incendin shaper wouldn’t be touching anything anytime soon.”

  Tan suppressed a shiver. He’d never tried to use the sword after Roine gave it to him, but what if he had? What would have happened to him?

  Had Roine known what might happen?

  Tan touched Roine on the shoulder. His chest rose steadily, but blood continued to pool from the wound on his forehead. The scent of ash and char radiated from him. His face seemed paler than when Tan had seen him a few days ago.

  “Roine!” He tried shaking him, but Roine didn’t move. “Theondar!”

  He hissed the name silently, but the girl still heard him and looked over at him. Theondar, the name of a warrior long thought dead, one of the last great warriors of the kingdoms. Tan hadn’t known him as Theondar when they first met, but his mother had. She’d known him when she had come to the university. Now she was gone and it seemed there was so much he would like to know about her.

  Roine grunted and then blinked slowly. He turned and looked up at Tan. He sniffed softly and let out a long breath. “Careful how you use that name. Especially here, Tannen.”

  Tan swallowed. Roine said his name much like his mother used to say it. “What happened?”

  Roine pushed himself away from the stones, standing slowly. Tan expected them to be singed by the burst of lightning Roine used to travel, but they were unmarked. “A minor skirmish. Nothing more.”

  “You went to Incendin.”

  Roine tilted his head and nodded once. “After what happened with Lacertin—”

  At the mention of the name Lacertin, the girl sucked in a quick breath.

  Roine looked past Tan and at the girl as if finally seeing her. His eyes hardened, his face darkening quickly. Roine’s sword seemed to jump into his hand. “Who are you?”

  Tan looked over at her. Again, she seemed small, as if the dress she wore swallowed her. “Elle Vaywand,” she said quickly.

  Roine took a step forward and winced, closing his eyes for a moment. “Vatten?”

  She nodded.

  “Weavers?”

  She nodded again.

  “How do you know Tan?”

  The flurry of questions caught Tan off guard. Not just that Roine had appeared in the courtyard, but the way he questioned her. “I don’t know her. We met earlier today.”

  Elle nodded. “Master Ferran’s class.” She had grabbed her books again and cradled them against her chest, clutching them tightly. Her long dress dumped around her on the ground.

  Roine shoved his sword into its sheath and rubbed his fingers over his temple for a moment. Pressure built in Tan’s ears. The bleeding slowed. “Ferran?” He looked at Tan. “He would be good for you to learn from. A strong earth shaper. You would do well to listen to him.”

  “I’m not sure he cares too much for me.”

  Roine grunted. “Ferran doesn’t care too much for anyone. But he’s skilled, and that’s what matters. He’s as likely as anyone to draw your sensing into shaping.” Roine turned to Elle. “Why were you in Ferran’s class?”

  She blinked before answering. “My grandfather told me to learn as much as I can about each of the elements.”

  Roine frowned. “Grandfather?” His brow furrowed as he considered something. “Elton Vaywand?”

  Her lips tightened and she nodded.

  “I knew him. Powerful water shaper.”

  Elle swallowed but didn’t say anything.

  “What happened to you?” Tan asked. “Why were you in Incendin?”

  Roine considered Elle a moment before answering. “In the caverns, there was something Lacertin said. The king asked me to investigate, so I went.”

  “By yourself?”

  Roine shot Tan a look. “I’ve been by myself a long time, Tannen. Most of the time, actually. This is the first I’ve been back to Ethea in years.”

  “What did you find?”

  Roine shook his head once. “Not much. Incendin is quiet, and that worr
ies me. This side of the barrier is not. A village claiming their crops were burned. Charred cattle near the border. So far, no people lost.” He glanced at Tan. “Which we’ll have to discuss later.”

  The draasin. Tan didn’t know where they were, but the remnants of the connection tugged at the back of his mind. Like an itch, it irritated him. He still worked on learning how to ignore it.

  “Then how were you hurt?”

  Roine shook his head. He nodded toward the far end of the courtyard and started walking. Tan and Elle followed alongside. With each step, Roine seemed stronger. Blood oozed from the wound on his head, but less than it had. “Stupid. After I crossed the barrier, I made my way along the Incendin border and got too lax. A pack nearly caught me.”

  Elle gasped again.

  Tan glanced at her. She seemed to know quite a bit about Incendin. How much of it was from stories her grandfather told her, and how much from her studies? Could he learn more about Incendin here? If he had to face the lisincend again, he would need to know what worked against them in the past.

  And then there were other things he’d like to understand better. The nymid and how he could speak to them. The draasin and what it meant that he could talk to them as well. And if he could speak to two of the great elementals, could he speak to others? Would golud or ara answer him?

  Pain pulsed in his head and he rubbed it.

  “Barely escaped. By that time, I’d learned enough to return,” Roine went on.

  “What’s happening with Incendin?”

  With Roine gone, Tan hadn’t learned anything more about Incendin. Or about the artifact they’d risked so much to bring to Ethea. As far as Tan knew, Roine had given it to the king. From there, he had no idea.

  “Nothing. The barrier holds.”

  They reached a high stone archway at the edge of the courtyard. A dirt path led away from the arch until it reached a low wrought iron wall. Beyond that, the city opened up, spreading away from the university.

  Master Ferran crouched against the wall, watching them. The cloak he wore in class covered all parts of him, leaving only his face exposed. A curious expression pinched his lips as he studied Roine, as if trying to determine if what Tan had told him was true.

  Roine nodded to him, an amused smile parting his lips.

  Master Ferran nodded back and then stood, moving slowly into the city.

  “The barrier didn’t keep the lisincend out the last time,” Tan reminded him.

  Roine stared after Master Ferran before shaking his head. “And Lacertin is to blame. It was never meant to keep our shapers from crossing, and certainly not Lacertin.”

  Tan frowned, wondering what Roine meant.

  “Only those of Incendin, those twisted by whatever they did to create the lisincend, and the hounds are excluded by the barrier. Their regular fire shapers might be able to cross, though they never have.” Roine nodded toward the city. “I will find you later, Tannen. There is much we have to discuss. For now, mend fences with Ferran. It’s important you learn whatever you can.”

  With that, Roine hurried away, leaving Tan standing next to Elle, wondering what to do.

  He turned, considering returning to the classrooms. There would be another lecture today, though it would be with a different Master shaper—not an earth shaper. Today was Master Ferran’s day, but he hadn’t given much of a lecture. Partly that had been Tan’s fault, but there seemed something angry about Ferran.

  “How do you know him?”

  Tan turned to look at Elle. She watched Roine as he passed through the gate to the university and beyond until he disappeared completely from view. Only then did she shake her head, her short hair bobbing slightly, and turn back to face Tan.

  “Chance,” Tan answered. “He came to my village looking for something.” Or someone. Tan hadn’t known at the time Roine sought his mother—a powerful wind shaper he knew as Zephra—only learning later what his mother had been. “I helped him find it.”

  The answer seemed vague enough.

  Too vague for Elle. She frowned at him and pulled her arms more tightly around her books. “That’s all you have to say about it?”

  Tan shrugged. “What more do you want to know?”

  She laughed as she followed him back into the courtyard.

  A few other students stood near the trees off to the side. None dared get too close to the stone circle, but it didn’t matter. Tan didn’t know any of the other students. Being close wouldn’t help him recognize anyone. Not when he only knew Elle and Amia.

  “You traveled with one of the king’s Athans. And a warrior, at that! You really have to ask what more I’d want to know?”

  Tan hesitated. “You sound like it was something exciting, like a story in one of your books.” He pointed to the books she clutched tightly in her hands. “I nearly died traveling with him. Had it not been for—” he caught himself before revealing too much about the elementals “—what Roine did, I would have died.”

  “It must have been pretty important to get Incendin’s attention. And to have the lisincend attempt a border crossing.”

  Tan looked over at her and frowned.

  Elle only shrugged. “The border has held for the last twenty years, keeping the Incendin shapers away. The border is the one thing my grandfather would talk about, and he spoke with pride of that shaping. Without it, the Incendin war would have continued and others would have died.” She looked down at her books. “And I’m not reading any stories. I’m not a child.” Her petulant voice nearly put lie to her statement.

  “Then what are you reading?” Tan only wanted to change the subject, to talk about anything other than how they found the artifact. Roine hadn’t wanted many people to know about it; as far as Tan knew, only the king had been informed.

  Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “You wouldn’t care.”

  Tan laughed. The way she said it reminded him so much of Bal. Hopefully, she and Cobin had made it safely out of the mountains, away from the hounds and the lisincend. Hopefully, they had found a quiet place to settle where Cobin could let Bal grow up, away from the threat of Incendin, and where he could raise his sheep and farm in peace.

  “Why wouldn’t I care?”

  “I saw the way you looked at them. You’re just like most people who come to the university. They don’t think the archives hold much value. Everyone wants to become a shaper, so they follow the masters around.”

  “Like most people? You can’t have been here long either.”

  She glared at him and tried to pull herself up straighter. “I’ve been here nearly a year. I came after my grandfather…” She trailed off and looked away, trying to hide it as she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye.

  Tan recognized the defiance in her, the desire to be someone more than what she was. It was different than how he’d felt in the year after his father had died. Then, all Tan wanted was familiarity, to spend his days as he would have were his father still there, doing anything to remind him of the man he’d lost. It wasn’t until he’d gone with Roine, when he’d decided to help Amia and her people, trying to rescue them from the lisincend, that he finally began to forget what had happened. It was when he realized there were things worth fighting and dying for.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He pointed toward the books. The way she clutched them to her chest told him that whatever she was reading was important to her. “What are you reading about?”

  She bit her lip, as if trying to determine whether she’d answer him. Finally, she pulled the books away from her and showed him the cover.

  Tan leaned closer and looked at the cover of the topmost book. Worked in leather dyed a deep blue with the shape of some symbol etched into the leather, he recognized the lettering around the symbol as the ancient language. He’d seen it on the golden box Roine used as a key to find the artifact and the lettering around the cavern where they’d finally found it. The symbol itself looked familiar, though Tan didn’t know why
.

  “What is it?” he asked. “I don’t read the ancient language.”

  She snorted. “Grandfather always told me there weren’t many who did. Most felt it unnecessary.” She laughed. “He always sorta clung to the old ways.”

  “Old ways?”

  Elle tapped the front of the book. “I’m a water senser like my grandfather.” She said it with a hint of pride. “He wasn’t able to help me shape but told me if I learned about the udilm, it might help me learn to shape.”

  “This book teaches you how to speak to the elementals?”

  If that were possible, why didn’t more people reach out to them?

  The nymid seemed willing to work with him. Had it not been for them, he would have died. Amia would have remained trapped by the lisincend. And without the draasin, the lisincend would have captured them both.

  “I don’t think it works quite like that,” she said. Her eyes lingered on the cover. The finger of her other hand traced the outline of the symbol, running around it. “I don’t think you can learn to speak to them. Either you do or not. My grandfather said the ability to speak to the elementals has been lost over time. Some still can, but there aren’t many.” She looked back at the book. “I never learned if he could. Some of the things he said… the way he spoke made me wonder if he’d spoken to the udilm. Might be why he went away after the war.”

  “My parents did, too. It changed them.”

  Elle nodded. “Most said my grandfather was a different person before he returned. I never knew him any other way. And now he’s gone. And with him, anything he might have been able to teach me. Even if he could speak to udilm, that wouldn’t help me become a shaper.” She sighed and met Tan’s eyes. “But if I can read about the elementals, try to understand how the ancient shapers were once connected to them, maybe it will help me learn to shape.”

  “Does the library have any books on golud?” If Elle were right—if the elementals could help teach shaping—could the earth elemental teach him to shape?