The Spirit Binds Read online

  Tolan remained silent. His connection to spirit was something he kept to himself. It was for the best. He didn’t want his friend to know he had the potential with spirit, much like he didn’t want others to know it. As far as he was concerned, it was one element he could keep secret.

  The advantage he had was that it allowed him to defend himself from spirit shapers, though from what he’d determined using the other elements, it wasn’t only spirit that helped protect his mind. There were other ways of doing so, and they involved the elements he was most familiar with.

  “What do you think they’re going to do this year?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “With the Selection. What do you think they’re going to do?”

  “I guess I haven’t given it any thought.”

  “It was always the Inquisitors who ran the Selection. Now we only have a few Inquisitors, at least few the Grand Master feels remain loyal to the Academy, who will run the Selection?”

  Tolan held his friend’s gaze for a moment before turning and looking around the library. It was something he should have considered before. Losing the Inquisitors would potentially weaken the Academy. That as much as anything would benefit the person the Inquisitors served.

  If Tolan had only been stronger, he might have been able to capture Aela, and then they might’ve had an opportunity to find out who exactly she served. They hadn’t been acting on their own. He was certain of that, but who was the real threat?

  “I don’t know. I know the Grand Inquisitor remains loyal.”

  “As far as we know,” Jonas said with a hint of a smile.

  “I don’t know that it’s something we should joke about,” Tolan said.

  “Who’s joking? I don’t know if the Grand Inquisitor is loyal or not, but what I do know is that she could potentially spirit shape the Grand Master into making him believe she was loyal. For that matter, she could have spirit shaped all of us. What if none of us know who to trust?”

  “Well, to begin with, some of the students have potential with spirit, so they wouldn’t be able to be spirit shaped.” At least, not easily. Tolan had some experience with the power of the spirit shaping and how it could be augmented and recognized that as much as he might try to resist the shaping, it might not even matter. “And then there’s the fact the Grand Master can shape spirit.”

  He didn’t feel that was too much of a secret to be sharing, and Jonas needed to know, if he didn’t already.

  “I know we don’t really need to be worried about it,” Jonas said. “I just can’t help but feel as if the Academy is somehow different. Maybe weaker. I don’t really know. Whatever it is, it leaves me uncomfortable.”

  “I think it’s supposed to.”

  “And now we’re supposed to deal with the threat of the Inquisitors. Shapers who can torment us.”

  “The Academy will keep us safe,” Tolan said.

  “For how long? Eventually, if we continue to pass, we will be made master shapers, and then we will be expected to go out into the world and face the threat of the Inquisitors.”

  “You won’t be alone,” Tolan said.

  “I know there will be other shapers who will fight alongside us if it comes down to it, but… I guess I’m just surprised the Inquisitors have been working with the Draasin Lord.”

  “I don’t think they’ve been working with the Draasin Lord,” Tolan said.

  “Right. They oppose the Academy. They infiltrated it—successfully. And then they attacked. What is that other than an attempt by the Draasin Lord to grow stronger?”

  There wasn’t much Tolan could even say to argue. When he had returned to the Academy, he had done so knowing there wouldn’t be much he could say when it came to the Draasin Lord. Now he understood who—and what—the Draasin Lord really was, he didn’t think he could or should say anything. Eventually, others would have to learn the truth about the Draasin Lord, but given what he’d been through, he didn’t know if he was the person who could reveal that.

  “If you’re worried about passing, maybe you should spend a little more time in the library, too.”

  Jonas sat up. “I think after talking to you, I might be more content staying a second level. That way, I don’t have to worry about facing the Inquisitors.”

  “You would rather stay a student than continue to progress?”

  “Maybe.” Jonas grinned. “Besides, some of those first-level students are quite lovely. I think they might be most impressed by my shaping ability.”

  “Right. And then they won’t be impressed when you fail to progress.”

  Jonas wrinkled his nose. “You know, I hadn’t thought about that. Maybe I do need to pass, if only to continue to impress the younger classes. You don’t have to worry about that, what with you and Ferrah, but some of us…”

  Tolan forced a smile. He often didn’t know what to say around Jonas when it came to his relationship with Ferrah. He knew Jonas had been interested in her when they’d first arrived at the Academy, but it wasn’t reciprocated. He and Ferrah, on the other hand, had a similar interest in many different things. Theirs was a relationship that had grown naturally over the time he had known her. Despite that, he felt uneasy. He was never sure quite what to say to her when it came to the elementals. So far, she hadn’t shared any concern, but eventually, he feared she might. How could she not when his view of the elementals was so different than her experience had been?

  “Hey,” Jonas said, tapping the table. “I wasn’t saying that to upset you.”

  Tolan shook his head, forcing a smile. “That’s not it. I just was thinking about the testing again.”

  “You really don’t need to worry. There aren’t too many people in our level that I think are a sure thing for passing, but you’ve become one of them.” Jonas leaned back in the chair, looking around the library. “Why don’t we get out of here? We can head out into the city, maybe stop and have a mug of ale in one of the taverns…”

  “How about I meet you in a little bit?”

  Jonas shrugged, climbing from his seat. “Your choice.” With that, he headed out of the library, leaving Tolan alone. It was something he was far too familiar with these days.

  2

  The city stretched out below him as Tolan sat on the Shapers Path, enjoying the way the city looked at night. From here, the glittering of thousands of candles in windows, the smoke drifting up from an equal number of chimneys, and a faint breeze drifting through the air all connected to him. The longer he sat here, the easier it was to feel a connection to the elements—and the elementals. He had taken to sitting on the Shapers Path at the edge of the city, looking down upon Amitan and simply staring at it, thinking eventually, he might have answers. For whatever reason, answers never really came to him.

  “You’ve been coming here almost as often as you go to the library.”

  He looked up and smiled. Ferrah approached. With her pale skin, she practically glowed in the darkness. She took a seat next to him, leaning toward him. A shaping built from her, a mixture of wind and fire, and it swirled around him.

  “I was just coming up here to look upon the city.”

  “You’ve been doing that a lot lately.”

  “Have I?”

  “Most nights.”

  “How do you know I’ve been doing it most nights?”

  “I don’t have to be a spirit shaper to know what’s on your mind, Tolan Ethar.”

  He let out a heavy sigh. “I think back to when the Inquisitors were attacking. There’s something more to it, I think. Someone who led Aela, though I don’t think the Academy is looking for them.”

  “You don’t need to worry about them anymore.”

  “Don’t I? They’re going to return, Ferrah, and when they do, we need to be ready.”

  “The Academy needs to be ready,” she said.

  “And we are a part of the Academy.”

  “Right. A part. We aren’t the entirety of the Academy. We don’t have to take care of t
his all by ourselves.”

  He knew that, and she knew he knew, but her reminder was meant as a way of reassuring him, though she couldn’t know it wouldn’t completely reassure him. He had been through too much with the Inquisitors for that to work.

  “We still don’t know what they’re after.” It was some way of pulling the power of the elementals, but different than what he’d experienced. By placing the Keystones, they had created something more—and more dangerous.

  “The Grand Master will figure it out.”

  “Will he?” He looked over at Ferrah. “The Grand Master didn’t know how they used the elementals to create the waste.”

  That was still something troubling him. Not so much the nature of the waste, though that was troubling, but more the fact the Grand Master and others within the Academy didn’t understand the reason for it. How could they have not seen it before?

  Tolan had drawn for Master Minden what he could remember of the runes used by the Inquisitors to pull the free elementals away, and she’d been researching, but she’d not uncovered anything yet. If anyone would, he knew it would be her.

  “Why do you think this is your task?”

  At least she no longer questioned what he thought his task to be. Ever since returning to the Academy after facing the Inquisitors, Tolan had known what he needed to do. He needed to better understand the elementals and how he could connect to them, and he had begun to realize they all needed to be freed from the bonds, though he wasn’t sure how to go about doing that. It might be tied to the Keystones, though there might be more to it, too.

  “I have a connection to them,” he said.

  It was as simple as that. The connection meant he was the one who could do this, and because of that, he knew he had to do it. Even if he wasn’t sure what that would involve.

  That connection came from him, but it came from the Draasin Lord—the real Draasin Lord, not the one everyone feared. Having ridden the draasin and knowing the power of the elemental, he felt an affinity for it, and he understood more about the elementals and what they’d been through.

  They sat in silence for a little while, nothing more than the wind gently blowing around them. There came an occasional sound from down in the city, but this high above it, the city was mostly silent. It was late enough that there wouldn’t be much sound even if they were down on the streets, and yet, if he focused, Tolan thought he could uncover some of the chaos within the city.

  “Tell me about it again,” Ferrah said.

  Tolan smiled. He knew what she wanted to know, and even thinking about it, trying to come up with how he’d describe it, was difficult. How could he explain the way the elementals had appeared to him? It was difficult to even know.

  “There was power there,” he started. “I don’t really know how else to describe it, other than to say it existed. There was an incredible sense of each of the elements, but it came not just from the bond, but from all around.” He thought about it for a moment. “Close your eyes.”

  “Why?”

  “Just do it.”

  As he watched her, Ferrah shrugged and closed her eyes as he had asked. She was always so lovely, and he thrilled at the idea she was willing to be with him here, that she would sit with him, and yet, he couldn’t shake the feeling it would all end, that she’d eventually decide she didn’t want the dangers that came with his connection to the elementals, and eventually she’d decide to pursue someone else. It wasn’t as if Ferrah didn’t have options.

  “What do you feel?” he asked.

  “Feel?” She started to open her eyes and he shook his head.

  “Sit here and tell me what you feel.”

  Ferrah took a few breaths, her eyes still closed. “I feel the breeze on my cheeks, pulling at my hair.”

  “Good. What else do you feel about the breeze?”

  “What else should I feel?”

  “When I feel the breeze, I feel the currents within it. It stirs, swirling around us, eddies of various currents tugging at my hair and my clothing. If I focus, I can even make out which direction it’s trying to shift.” It was strange connecting to the wind that way, but it felt right, too. As he focused on the wind, as he listened to its stirrings, he couldn’t help but notice the connection to it.

  Ferrah was quiet for a moment. “It seems to swirl a little bit.”

  “Add a hint of shaping to it. Don’t actually shape the wind but use it to help you trace it.”

  As her shaping built, he could feel it. It was steady, gentle, and she had a deft touch with it. Ferrah might be the strongest shaper of their level, and at the same time, she also had the best control of anyone at their level.

  “I feel it,” she breathed out.

  “Now reach beyond the wind.” Tolan had closed his eyes, feeling for the wind, doing the same as he’d instructed Ferrah to do. “Feel where you’re seated, and beyond that. Reach out around you. Use earth, let your sense of it fill you.” From up here, the connection to earth was different than when standing within the forest or even within the city. There, he had a very distinct connection, a more immediate one. Above the city, there was a shifting pattern to what he could detect of earth. Not only was it in the buildings, the sense of the stone having been drawn out from the ground, but it was the nearby forest, the tug of life surrounding the city, the towering trees creating a rim of protection, mingling with the ground, giving their strength to the rest of the world.

  As he sat here, connected to earth, he could feel more than just that. He could determine the people within the city, the animals in the forest, and the sense of everything. It was subtle, and took incredible concentration, but he could do it without even shaping.

  Ferrah, on the other hand, used a gentle shaping touch. It was much like what she had used when connecting to wind, and hers stretched out from her, far greater than he’d have been able to do. As it did, it radiated toward the ground, washing over it, almost like a rainfall.

  “I feel the city. The streets. The cobbles. People walking along them.”

  “How about beyond the city?” Tolan whispered, not wanting to say anything at this point.

  “Beyond the city, there are trees. Small shrubs growing up between the trees. A fox wandering. An owl perched on a branch.”

  “Now feel the lanterns. The smoke in the chimneys. The dying heat from the day.”

  She added a fire shaping, and much like she did with earth, she pushed it out from her, letting it stretch, rolling away. She was quiet for a moment, and after a bit, she breathed out. “I feel it. Candles. Crackling flames in the hearth. Coals that no longer burn but are still hot. The smoke.”

  “Now feel for water. Barrels filled with it. The reservoir beneath the city. Streams feeding it all around us. Blood pumping through the veins of thousands of people.” That last was one of the strangest realizations he had when it came to water, but he thought it was one of the most significant. He’d always believed water needed to be around him in order to be used, but it was within him, and within everyone.

  Once again, Ferrah shaped, and as before, her shaping stretched out from her, drifting slowly, this one looser, flowing downward before stopping.

  “I… I feel it.”

  “Good. This is how we are connected. All of this is shaping, but it’s also all tied to the elementals. Think of fire,” he started. “The lanterns sitting in the homes represent something like saa. The heated coals would be chaar. And then the smoke, the power of ifran, all tied to the elementals.”

  It was something Tolan could feel, and he knew that, but at the same time, there was something of an emptiness all around them. Partly, that came from the fact the elementals weren’t found where they once would have—and should have—been found. No longer did the elementals flow the way they should. They were confined, trapped because of man’s desire for their power. Despite that, his interaction with the elementals suggested to him they recognized their role in granting that power, and the elementals themselves didn’t r
ebel against it, no longer angry about how men used them. Then again, Tolan wondered if the elementals had ever been angry with the way men used them.

  “Why did you want me to feel that?”

  Tolan opened his eyes and found Ferrah looking at him. “That’s the power of the elementals. Imagine that but multiplied. That’s what it was like on the other side.”

  Ferrah sat silently. “You really know how to impress a lady.”

  “I wasn’t trying to impress you.”

  “That’s disappointing.”

  “Not that I won’t take it as an added benefit,” he said, pulling her toward him, wrapping his arms around her and holding her against him. She was warm, and he felt that connection between them, sensing the heat, the awareness of the fire burning within her, the water flowing within her veins. Having been connected as he was to the world, it was easy to detect these things, far easier than it once had been. She rested her head on his shoulder, and they sat like that for a while.

  “I worry about you,” she whispered.

  “Why?”

  “Eventually, I fear you’ll decide to leave the Academy.”

  “I chose to return to the Academy.”

  “This time. What happens when you’re given another option? What happens the next time?”

  “I don’t know there’ll be a next time.”

  “When we’re dealing with the Draasin Lord and the Inquisitors, I fear we’re headed toward something we haven’t seen in Terndahl in quite some time.”

  “What do you think we’re headed toward?”

  “War, Tolan.”

  Could that be what they were dealing with?

  Then again, what else could it be? He’d seen what the Inquisitors were willing to do. They had been willing—almost eager—to use the kind of force not seen in Terndahl ever since the fight with the Draasin Lord. And he’d seen the way the disciples had eagerly attacked. The violence had been on both sides.

  Tolan sat up.

  “What is it?” Ferrah asked.

  “I just realized I don’t really know anything about the war with the disciples of the Draasin Lord.”