The Shape of Fire Read online

  “You don’t sound as if that’s good news.”

  “Because we lost that knowledge as well,” Tolan said softly.

  Tolan got to his feet, and he motioned for Velthan to follow him. They headed out of the office. The master shaper at the Brasth Academy waited for them outside, almost as if he were expecting them to come out.

  Tolan probed quickly, borrowing from spirit, wanting to know if perhaps the shaper had known that they were going to emerge.

  There was no sign of that.

  No spirit. No sense of any other elements that the master shaper might be using.

  Then he had simply been waiting.

  Tolan tipped his head in a polite bow to the older man. The master shaper had long black hair, a thick beard, and eyes that seemed almost too close together. As far as Tolan had been able to ascertain, the older man was a moderately powerful fire shaper, though Tolan didn’t know if the man had any additional ability. He hadn’t trained at the Terenhall Academy, either. That wasn’t a knock on him, only that Tolan wasn’t familiar with the man because of that.

  “Your list of students was quite extensive,” Tolan said. “I think you have presented an excellent list of candidates.”

  The shaper smiled. “When would you like to begin?”

  “Whatever they are ready. Have them present themselves in whichever room you think will be most beneficial.”

  “What can I do to assist you?”

  Tolan offered a hint of a sad smile, trying to be as placating as possible. “Unfortunately, when working through a Selection for the Academy, it must be completed by a member of the Academy. I’m sure you understand. Your Academy must have similar processes.”

  The man bobbed his head quickly, his shaggy hair wobbling as he did. “We have our own process, though nothing quite as rigorous as what I’m sure you put the shapers through,” he said.

  Tolan just smiled.

  He followed as the master shaper guided them through to a lower level.

  When they reached that level, he motioned for them to go through a narrow door, which opened into a small room. Walls of stone surrounded him; the mortar in the cracks already showing. It seemed to Tolan that it wouldn’t be difficult to add a hint of earth to it in order to fortify the stones, but none of the shapers had thought to do so.

  Even though he had never trained at the Ephra Academy, Tolan knew that they had taken pride in the Academy building itself. It had once been a more prestigious place, a place that had been a part of a land that had existed long before Terndahl. At one point, according to the records Tolan had found, Ephra had sat on a crossroads; a place of power. He never really understood much more than that, as the records weren’t clear. Even within Amitan, the records weren’t clear enough for him to be able to determine just what had once taken place.

  A table had been shoved to one end of the room, and rows of chairs filled the rest of the space. The master shaper turned to Tolan, an expectant expression on his face.

  “We will have to move the chairs,” Tolan said. “Otherwise, this room will be satisfactory.”

  The master shaper nodded and quickly began to move the chairs off to the side before leaving Tolan and Velthan alone in the room.

  “This?” Velthan asked.

  “We don’t judge.”

  “I knew some of the outlying Academies were not nearly as prestigious as what we have in some of the larger cities, but—”

  Tolan turned to the wall, ignoring him. He pulled upon earth, sending it coursing out. He used the earth bond, tapping into that great storehouse of power, and let it flow up along the walls, solidifying the bones of this Academy. As he worked, he removed the mortar, smoothing the walls, and even increasing the ceiling height so that it didn’t seem quite so low. When he was done, he turned to Velthan, who stood with his mouth agape.

  “What was that?”

  “A shaping. I thought that I would give them a little assistance. They don’t need to suffer here just because they don’t have the same talent that we have in Amitan. Terndahl is Terndahl,” Tolan said.

  “That was powerful,” he said.

  Tolan tapped his waist, where he had a sword strapped to his side. “I had help.”

  “What kind of help?”

  “A bondar.”

  Before he had the opportunity to say anything more, the door opened and the first of the candidates began to stream in.

  Almost immediately, Tolan knew they would be unlikely to be of much use.

  Many of them were older. Whereas older students weren’t necessarily any less capable, it was unlikely for an older student to pass the Selection. They typically had already gone through several cycles, and though they wouldn’t remember it, they had failed each trial. From Tolan’s experience with those Selections, it suggested that they would never find the necessary ability.

  There were some who were younger as well.

  Those were likely to be too young. There was a pretty tight age range of students who qualified for the Academy. Tolan didn’t think it was intentional, but he had noticed the pattern of students who passed through the Selection.

  It didn’t take long before all of the candidates presented themselves. There were a dozen.

  “This is probably all the shapers they have at this Academy,” Velthan whispered.

  “Possibly,” Tolan said, though having looked at the records, he knew exactly how many students were here.

  “In Ephra, we only sent those who were—”

  “This is not Ephra,” Tolan reminded him.

  He turned to the candidates, smiling broadly. He used a shaping of spirit as he addressed them.

  “All of you have been presented as potential candidates for the Terenhall Academy of Shaping. It is considered an honor to join the ranks of Terenhall Academy, though those of you who do not pass on must not feel as if you have failed. It may simply not be your time.” He smiled. His way of presenting a Selection was different than others, and though he had gone through the process many times, he didn’t think that it made sense to torment the candidates the way that some other Selectors did.

  “You will be subjected to three trials. They will happen within your mind.” Tolan swept his gaze around the room. “You may not share your trials with any others. Your experience is your own. As you experience those trials, a certain number of you will not pass beyond the first. Others will not pass beyond the second. And still others will not pass beyond the third. Any who remain after the third trial will be invited to accompany us to the Terenhall Academy. You may choose to withdraw from your Selection at this time, but once the trial has begun, there will be no withdrawal.”

  Tolan waited. It had been his experience that very few withdrew from a Selection.

  There was pressure from the master shapers of each Academy to encourage their shapers to present themselves. This was no different.

  No one moved.

  He prepared the first spirit shaping.

  “The first trial will begin.”

  This one was the easiest. It was a matter of layering spirit upon their minds, showing them images of what they might be able to do and how they might be able to shape. It was a matter of showing them something they longed for.

  He waited.

  Several of the students quickly shook off the shaping, recognizing the hidden message within it, and how it was nothing more than a shaping and not real—so they were expected to withdraw from it. Others did not. They were the ones who didn’t have the necessary potential.

  Tolan nodded to Velthan, and he made his way through and pulled away the five students who had passed the first test.

  Tolan quickly added a hint of spirit, releasing the remainder from the shaping and wiping their minds so they wouldn’t remember their Selection, before sending them away.

  He smiled. “The five of you who remain have done well. The next test will be something different. You will find that you will face a challenge that you have never experienced before. You must
overcome this challenge, and when you do, you will move on to the third and final test.”

  He layered the spirit shaping upon them.

  Someone gasped, but for the most part they fell silent. Occasionally there would be a murmuring. Moments stretched into minutes, which stretched even longer. This was one of the harder parts for Tolan. Waiting was difficult.

  He often wondered what it was like when he had been Selected. He had struggled through his own similar spirit shapings, and though he never had the ability to shape on his own, he had found his way beyond, surviving the Selection.

  Finally, one person emerged from the shaping.

  She blinked, dropping to her knees, and looked up at Tolan and Velthan.

  The others continued to murmur.

  “I don’t think they are coming out of it,” Velthan said.

  Tolan shook his head. “I don’t either.”

  He had given them as long as he ever had and shifted the spirit shaping, wiping it away and clearing the memory of the Selection from them.

  Velthan helped the four who had not passed this level out of the room.

  It left him with one candidate.

  He used a simple spirit shaping.

  As he probed, he found what he needed. It was a way of touching upon potential, along with how well the shapers would be able to reach that potential, though there was no guarantee that they would be able to control it. The student was skilled and capable, but she was not as confident as she would need to be.

  With a twist of spirit, Tolan erased her memories as well.

  Velthan returned, noting the student down on the ground, then he looked up at Tolan. “None have passed?” he whispered on a shaping of wind.

  “Not here,” Tolan said.

  “When do you want to leave for the next Academy?”

  “There is only a short time before we must return. Why don’t we get moving?” Tolan paused, nodding to the master of the Academy, who had stood near the back during the testing and watched. In some Academies, the masters were more involved, though he had seemed content to watch. “Thank you for giving us the opportunity to work with your students.”

  “You didn’t find any?”

  Tolan smiled. “None that are ready this year. I’m sure that they will be the next time that we come.” He sent out a soft shaping of spirit, just enough to soothe the master of the Academy a little bit; to soften the slight insult from the lack of selected students. “You are doing well with them.”

  The master shaper glanced behind him. “I’ve always felt that it’s a shame they can’t recall that they’ve been tested,” he said. “Of course, I understand the reasoning. We can’t have them feeling as if they won’t be able to succeed at all.”

  It was more than that, though Tolan didn’t say it. It was easier to let the master shaper believe that it was all about keeping the students from feeling as if they couldn’t succeed. Mostly, it had to do with keeping the shapers within their own communities, within their own Academies. And, were he honest, it was mostly about tradition.

  After gathering their belongings, Tolan guided them back out of the Academy and used a shaping of wind and fire to carry himself up and above the city. Velthan followed him, joining him up in the air, and together they soared high overhead until they reached the Shapers Path.

  They followed along the Shapers Path, making their way quickly.

  As they went, he felt something strange.

  At first, he wasn’t entirely sure what it was.

  He detected power.

  It came far from the north, in the direction where he had gone searching before. The power he detected didn’t seem to come from the elementals, though.

  Had it been the elementals, he suspected that he would have felt it in a different way.

  Instead, Tolan recognized a source of power.

  Shaping power.

  He frowned, pausing as they made their way along the Shapers Path, stretching out to see if he could detect anything more, but even as he did, he could find no awareness of additional power.

  “What is it?” Velthan asked.

  Tolan shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure,” he answered.

  When they reached the other Academy, Tolan slowed. He still felt that source of power in the distance. He couldn’t help but wonder why he should be aware of it. It was strange, and powerful. More than that, it seemed to him that it was a kind of power that he had recognized before.

  Could it be Roland?

  Not in Terndahl.

  He had to push that thought away. Even though he’d felt the strange elemental movement, it couldn’t be Roland.

  Ferrah was right—he had become obsessed. It was affecting him in ways that it should not. And he knew better.

  Tolan drew upon his connection to the elements and the elementals again and focused. He probed, reaching across the distance as he attempted to find the source of that power.

  Even as he did, he couldn’t come up with anything more.

  “Master Ethar?” Tolan ignored him for a moment. “Tolan!”

  Tolan looked over at Velthan. “What is it?”

  “We are almost there. Are you ready for the next Selection?”

  Tolan focused on the town in front of them. Renald wasn’t large, and the shaping Academy was small as well, and as they neared Tolan pushed out with his connection to spirit, sweeping it through not only the city but also through the shapers who were there. He didn’t need to go through the whole process of attempting to perform a Selection in order to know that they would not find anything here. He could feel it. The Selection would be a waste of his time.

  Still, it was the kind of time he had committed to spend. These were the Academies he had been sent to test.

  Turning his attention to what he detected in the north, he wondered if perhaps he might be able to search for something else, though. Perhaps when they finished with this Selection, he could see what else he detected out there. When he did that, he had to believe that he might find some other answer. Perhaps he might even find someone who could train at the Academy.

  Tolan turned to Velthan. “Let’s do this. Afterward, I have one more thing that we will need to do before we return to the Academy.”

  Velthan watched him, a strange expression on his face, thankfully saying nothing.

  5

  An energy struck Tolan, the sense of element power filling the landscape around him. It was unexpected in a village this size. He stood at the outskirts of the small village of Telfair. There wasn’t much to the village itself. Several dozen homes. A few businesses. Farms surrounding everything else. Not enough that he would expect much in the way of power.

  This was what he detected?

  He took a deep breath. Energy coming from the elements wasn’t rare, but from this village it was unexpected. There shouldn’t be many who could control the power of the element bonds out here. It was isolated compared to even Brasth and Renald, surrounded by nothing more than a dry, grassy plain.

  Periodically, a surge of power came from within the village. Given that it wasn’t very large, Tolan didn’t have to go far in order to detect the source.

  Could it be tied to what he had detected of the elementals before the Selection?

  He glanced up at the sky. A midday sun shone down, the heat coming off it not commensurate with how bright it was. This far to the north, the days were cooler and there wasn’t nearly as much heat as there would be farther to the south. Mountains loomed in the distance. Snow capped them, and if he stared long enough he could almost imagine that there was a feeling of power up within them.

  A dark shape circled near the mountaintop, and Tolan shook his head. The Draasin Lord shouldn’t be visible here, though his connection to the elements suggested it was him. He glanced over at Velthan. Would he see the Draasin Lord? It might benefit Tolan to give Velthan an opportunity to visit with the Draasin Lord, though he didn’t know if the draasin would allow it.

  Heading into the
village, he again glanced over at Velthan alongside him. His mouth was pressed into a serious frown. Every so often, he flicked his gaze all around him.

  “You can relax, Velthan,” Tolan said.

  “How can I relax here? We’re supposed to head back by now. I know you think that we should investigate this village, but I’m not as convinced.”

  Tolan shrugged. “We’ve got time until we have to return.” At least, he had time. There were faster ways to return to Amitan than they’d taken to get here. “You can relax. You can help here.”

  “With the Selection?”

  “The Selection. Just determining what’s in the village. When you use spirit, you can find that there’s more to the village. Focus on what you can sense.” For most connected to the elements and the bonds, understanding the nature of that power—sensing for it—was the first step. The next involved reaching into the power and using it. Velthan had proven that he was able to do both easily, though his talent with shaping suggested that he should be able to do more than what he had already.

  “I can’t sense anything. I might just be tired.”

  Tolan raised his hand, silencing him. “Don’t think about reasons you can’t. Think about what you can detect. Think about what’s here. There’s power here. Know that there is. Know that you can reach it.”

  Teaching was the entire reason Ferrah had assigned Velthan to come with him.

  “What do you detect?”

  Velthan steadied his breathing. At least he followed Tolan’s instructions for that.

  “I feel the people within the village.”

  “Good. That’s the first step. You need to focus on what you can detect, and embrace the sense of the village around you. The spirit that’s here. The power that exists around you. Do that and you will be able to know those who are here.”

  It was more than just embracing the sense of the village around him, but it was a start. Tolan could use his sense of spirit, opening himself up to the storage of spirit that pooled deep within him and using a connection to it, twisting it in a shaping of power. Using it in that way allowed him to press throughout the village.

  He counted the number of people here. He’d been working with spirit long enough that he no longer struggled to understand the sense of the village and the power that was here, as well as the sense of spirit that existed here.