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

  You wear our armor. The nymid fell silent for long moments. We know you, He Who is Tan. There was a pause. You released True Fire.

  We did. The Daughter felt their pain.

  He sensed sadness from the nymid. They felt much. If we had known, we would never have agreed to the plan. They were not to have suffered. Once we knew, there was nothing that could be done.

  They are free now.

  The nymid seemed pleased. You have done well. Why do you call?

  We must reach the artifact. Tan sent an image of the object at the center of the pool.

  That is protected by the Mother, the nymid said. Only one blessed by the Mother can touch the object.

  Blessed by the Mother? We can’t pass even this barrier. Tan created an image of the pillars for the nymid.

  The barrier is weakened, the nymid said.

  It may be weak, but we still cannot pass. What is it?

  A bargain. And one made freely. There was a pause. Nearly freely. And made to protect these lands, this place.

  Why? Tan asked.

  There was something more to what the nymid had agreed to than simply protecting the artifact. He got no answer.

  The nymid were silent for long moments and Tan worried they were done speaking with him.

  What would you do with the object?

  We protect it from Twisted Fire.

  Twisted Fire cannot reach the object. We protect it well. The Mother protects it well.

  There is one among Twisted Fire who is powerful. We fear that in time he might succeed.

  Tan sent an image of Fur and his battle with Roine.

  The nymid seemed to consider. That cannot happen.

  No.

  We have protected the object for countless cycles. Those who created the object saw its danger and tasked us with watching over it.

  Why?

  It provides great power.

  What does the object do?

  Only the Mother knows for sure.

  Tan decided to try a different approach. Did releasing the draasin weaken the barrier? The sputtering pillar of fire had him wondering how much of this he had caused.

  It is possible. True Fire did not remain to participate in the protection.

  What effect will that have? Can Twisted Fire now pass through the barrier?

  You reason well, He Who is Tan, the nymid said. And may be correct. The object must not be possessed by Twisted Fire.

  Let us protect it.

  The nymid fell silent for long moments and Tan again thought that they had broken off communication. He turned to Amia, uncertain, when he heard the nymid’s soft presence once more in his mind.

  You may pass. The armor granted you will allow you to move through the barrier, but know that the object can only be possessed by one blessed by the Mother.

  The nymid receded from his mind, leaving him. He shook his head, clearing the sensation, though felt none of the pain as he had with the draasin. Fatigue nearly overwhelmed him, leaving him weakened as Roine after a shaping.

  “The nymid state I can pass.”

  Roine had come behind him. “We can?”

  “They said I can pass. I think that means just me. I’m still protected by the armor they granted me during Amia’s rescue. They said it will let me move through the barrier.”

  Roine looked at the water streaming from the ceiling and forming the faintly glowing water pillar. “You still will not be able to reach the artifact.” Roine pointed toward the silvery pool. “I’ve been considering what that liquid represents. If each pillar represents one of the elementals, or is one of the elementals,” he continued, though his tone seemed unconvinced, “together they form this barrier so immense I can’t pass. It’s a protection unlike anything I could have imagined. It might be enough to protect the artifact from the lisincend.”

  Tan considered Roine a moment. “Were you going to use it?”

  Roine looked toward the center of the silvery liquid where the artifact hung suspended, unmoving. “I don’t even know what it does. But I think we’d have to try.”

  “You said great power is trapped inside.”

  Roine nodded. “And I could do much good.”

  “More than the ancients who created it?” Tan asked. “Why do you think they hid it? Why create such elaborate protection?”

  “I don’t know. Few records of that time remain. They suggest the ancient warriors knew a time would come when this artifact would be needed.”

  Tan frowned. “They saw the future?”

  “Perhaps a prophecy,” he said. “Perhaps nothing so exotic. Many of the ancient shapers were scholars first. Many spent their time studying the world around them.” He looked at Tan. “Many used their ability to speak to the elementals in their studies.” He stared at the pool of silvery liquid. “Though much of their records survived, not everything did. Most who know of this artifact think the ancient warriors anticipated a time when its power would be needed.”

  “And you think that time is now?”

  “The kingdoms have fewer and fewer shapers. Without this, we might fall. Perhaps to Incendin. Perhaps to someone else, but our greatest weapons have grown scarce.”

  “Why don’t you think I’ll be able to reach it?”

  “The pool of silver. If that’s spirit, you won’t be able to reach it.”

  “But I can,” Amia said.

  Roine shook his head. “I’m not sure you can. What if you need to be able to use all the elementals to reach the artifact?”

  “If we don’t, the lisincend will try. Fur will try.”

  A conflicted expression passed across Roine’s face. “I thought only you would be allowed to pass through the barrier.”

  Tan turned to Amia. “Everything the nymid did to help me, they did because of you.” He thought he finally understood. “They know you, don’t they?”

  “They knew my Mother,” she answered quietly.

  “They pulled us to them,” Tan said, remembering the presence after Roine had sent them on a shaping of wind. “Did your Mother ask them to help?”

  Tan couldn’t remember. So much had happened when they first faced the lisincend that he couldn’t be sure. Had she stepped into the stream? Could she have communicated with the nymid?

  Amia shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  “She could speak to the nymid?” Roine asked.

  “She nearly drowned when she was young,” Amia answered. “She, like Tan, was saved. It was then that she learned to speak with them.”

  “Where?” Roine asked. “This same lake?”

  Amia shook her head. “I don’t think so. You called the lake a place of convergence, a place of power. My people would have felt that power and simply stayed away.” She shook her head again. “But there are many rivers and streams feeding this lake. The nymid follow the water.”

  “Could she speak to any of the other elementals?” Roine asked, looking at Tan.

  Amia shook her head. “She felt as you did. That the great elementals were gone.”

  Tan looked at the pillars forming the barrier. “No. Not gone.” Of that he was certain. “Please, will you help?” he asked Amia.

  She looked at the artifact where it hovered above the liquid. A fleeting concern flickered across her eyes and then was gone. She nodded.

  They neared the pillar of water when they heard a low humming of energy, so different than the rush of water. Tan removed the shirt Roine had lent him, exposing his burned and ruined shirt beneath. Hope surged through him when he saw a very faint glow from the shirt where he’d rubbed the nymid armor upon him so many nights ago.

  Wrapping his arms around Amia, he backed toward where he felt the barrier. Each step slow. Deliberate.

  Roine watched. Tan felt a shaping build that went skittering back as it hit some unseen wall. Roine’s face flashed in irritation and he rubbed his temples roughly.

  The barrier parted like thick mud. Resistance eased slowly with each step. Amia kept herself stiff as
he held her, protecting her as much as he could with his body and praying she would come through the barrier unharmed.

  And then, suddenly, the resistance disappeared. Tan went flying past the barrier, holding Amia in his arms.

  They fell in a tangle at the very edge of the silvery pool. Thick liquid burbled softly, almost murmuring to them. The edge of the cloak Amia wore—his cloak—had dipped into the liquid. She pulled it out, shaking the liquid from the cloak, but it would not come off.

  Where it touched the cloak sizzled. Hazy shimmers of steam rose from the cloak.

  Tan rolled back and Amia went with him. “How are we going to get through that?”

  “Not ‘we.’” Amia started to pull off her maroon pants and bright blue shirt.

  Tan flushed and looked away. “What are you doing, Amia?”

  “What must be done.”

  He felt her quickly building a shaping as pressure behind his ears. There was no subtlety to how it built, and it was not gentle. The energy raced to a peak, searing into his head, stabbing through his skull with needles. His ears felt like they would explode.

  Tan looked at Amia. She stood, breathtaking.

  Facing away from him, she stared at the pool of silver liquid, nude. Tan couldn’t look away. Her pale skin nearly glowed from the energy she shaped. The ends of her hair curled outward, as if pressed by the energy swirling through her.

  And then she took a step forward.

  “No!” Tan lunged toward her.

  He couldn’t reach her in time. Her foot touched the surface of the thick liquid and she sank softly into it. Amia did not cry out or make any sound.

  Instead, Tan felt a surge in the energy she shaped. She stepped forward, deeper into the strange pool. As she pulled her foot from the liquid, the thick substance clung for a moment before oozing away, dripping back into the pool.

  Her skin was unharmed.

  His tension eased, if only briefly.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she walked forward. The dark liquid soon reached her knee, then her thigh, and then rolled over her rounded buttocks. Still she pressed forward, never faltering with her steps. The energy she shaped never waned. Soon the liquid reached the middle of her back. She still had a dozen paces to reach the artifact.

  Tan couldn’t look away. When it reached her neck he felt a flutter of fear, and, without meaning to do so, sent a warning thought. Careful!

  Amia faltered. As she did, she sank a hand’s width deeper into the pool. The energy she shaped fluttered at the same time.

  The energy of her shaping roared through his mind again, nearly so painful as to blur his vision. She took another step forward.

  He struggled to find calm, to focus on his breathing, to simply watch her, afraid that he might unintentionally startle her again. When the liquid passed over her eyes, Tan almost looked away.

  And then her arm reached from the thick liquid and grabbed the artifact.

  She clutched it and turned, sliding forward. Tan felt a triumphant surge from her.

  Slowly she made her way back. At first only her arm was visible. The thick liquid covered even the top of her head. Then, slowly, her eyes were free, then her face, and then her neck. With each step, the silvery liquid clung to her before oozing away, leaving her unmarked and unharmed. Tan stared unabashedly as her bared breasts were freed and then her belly, and then, slowly, her thighs and legs. She stepped out of the pool, the last of the liquid dripping from her, and fell forward into his arms.

  The energy she’d been shaping disappeared suddenly. Tan felt it as a pop in his ears. She held the artifact in one hand, her knuckles white, and shivered.

  Tan carried her away from the pool and grabbed her clothes, quickly helping her dress. She was unable to help much, weakened from the effort of whatever she had done to tolerate wading through the pool.

  Amia smiled weakly at him. “Did you like watching?”

  Tan flushed but did not look away. Through their shaped connection, she’d know how he felt anyway. “Yes,” he answered.

  She laughed and handed him the artifact.

  It was a long cylinder, about as long as his forearm, and covered in the same carvings and shapes as the golden box and Roine’s sword. Unlike the box, it was not gold. Rather it was nearly black, almost as if made of the same silvery liquid Amia just walked through. It shone dully, absorbing the light of the cavern rather than reflecting it.

  Tan helped Amia to stand and she wobbled toward where Roine stood watching, a stunned expression to his face. Tan wrapped his arms around Amia when he felt the barrier and surged through it more confidently this time, knowing that they would come through unharmed.

  Roine reached for the artifact. Tan handed it to him and he took it slowly, reverentially. He stared at it, trying to understand the wording written into the strange dark surface.

  “So many years,” he whispered. Roine looked up at them. His eyes were haunted. “I’ve spent so many years searching for this. Many were lost. And now I hold it in my hands.”

  “What now? What will you do with it?”

  “I don’t know. I think once I would have tried to use it. Now,” he shrugged and ran his free hand through his hair. “Now, after seeing what the ancients did to protect it, I don’t think I dare. This must reach Ethea and King Althem.” Roine looked to Amia. “How were you unharmed?”

  “I am blessed by the Great Mother.”

  Her comment mirrored what the nymid had said. “What now?” Tan asked.

  “Now we return to Ethea, somehow keeping ahead of the lisincend and the hounds.”

  Tan laughed. “Sounds easy when you say it.”

  Roine laughed and started to say something more, but an explosion overhead interrupted him.

  The rock around the ceiling fell toward them. A sudden swirling wind tossed debris around the cavern, whipping the leaves and branches of the shaped forest. Then a crack of lightning split the sky overhead, shooting through the rock to end nearly at their feet.

  When the dust settled, Tan heard a hard cry.

  “Theondar!”

  Nearby, Roine closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hand clenching into a white-knuckled fist. “Lacertin,” he said softly.

  33

  Chased by Fire

  They cowered back from another surge of swirling dust and flying rock. Roine clutched the artifact in his hands. Tan felt the sudden building pressure of Roine shaping.

  Roine tried to use the artifact.

  A powerful blast of wind hit them, pressing them back. Roine turned to Tan. “Take this,” he said, handing the artifact to him. “I’m not strong enough to use it. You must protect this, get it to Althem. Tell him I sent you. Go! Do whatever it takes.”

  Tan took it from him carefully, holding the ancient device gently. “You don’t think you should—”

  Roine cut him off. “No. If Lacertin defeats me, he must not have the artifact. The other shapers can help, but only if you reach the capital.” Roine looked over his shoulder and into the buffeting wind now growing with a dry heat as well. “Take this too,” he said, unbuckling his sword and strapping it onto Tan’s waist. “I will not need it for this.” His eyes were intense, fierce, and flashed with a hot anger.

  “Roine,” Tan protested.

  “Tannen!” he said. “Now is the time when you must serve your king. Take the artifact and get yourself and Amia out of this cave. Head for Ethea.”

  He turned away from Tan and called into the blowing wind and dust, standing within the chaos as if unfazed. “Lacertin! Have you come to answer for your treason?”

  The wind died briefly and a tall, lean figure stood surrounded in shadows. He was dressed all in black and seemed to crackle with lightning. “Treason?” Lacertin repeated and laughed. “Strange that you would be the one to make such an accusation.”

  “You have hidden yourself for nearly twenty years. Now you choose to make your allegiance known?” Roine asked.

  Lacertin laughe
d. “Hidden? No. Prepared, Theondar. Now I am ready to take what is mine.”

  “It was never yours!” Roine roared. He raised his arm and a streak of lightning seemed to jump from his hand, racing toward Lacertin. The other warrior made a simple gesture and the lightning turned, arcing overhead, and leapt from the cavern harmlessly.

  “Theondar,” Lacertin chided. “How little you have learned.”

  Roine raised his other arm and Tan felt the rapid buildup of energy and then a blast of wind and water shot toward Lacertin. Lacertin waved his hand in front of him and this seemed to part, splitting and sparing him, leaving him unharmed.

  “Time, it seems, has not changed some things,” Lacertin spoke. “You never were very creative with your shapings.”

  He flicked a finger and Roine went rigid, his arms held to his sides. Roine’s mouth worked to speak or scream, but no sound came out.

  Another flick and a wire-thin streak of flame raced toward Roine. It swirled around him, pressing toward his flesh. Sweat beaded on Roine’s face with the effort of pushing it back. Flame inched closer and closer. Lacertin laughed.

  “At the least I should thank you for finding this. You saved me much searching.” He looked around the cavern. “I must say the ancient warriors, though, were creative. This,” he said, waving his arm around him, “is impressive. I would ask you how you managed to reach the artifact, but you seem predisposed.”

  He smiled, watching Roine struggle. The flame sank closer to his flesh.

  Roine closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Tan felt the huge surge of energy followed by an explosion. The fire circling him disappeared. His arms were free. Hatred dripped from his gaze as Roine opened his eyes.

  Lacertin only smiled.

  “Theondar. Perhaps I should give you a bit more credit.”

  Roine shook his head. “I would rather you underestimate me.”

  Lacertin took a step forward, still cloaked in shadows. “The device. I will have it.”

  “You will not be able to use it,” he said. “It was crafted by the ancients and only one with their gifts can access its power. For all that you may be, even you are not gifted like the ancient warriors, Lacertin.”