Fortress Of Fire (Book 4) (14 page)

T
he distance
from the edge of the trees to Asboel, nearly enveloped by shapings, did not seem that great, but resistance hit him as soon as Tan set foot into the clearing. Grasses twisted and twined about his ankles. The ground trembled. The air felt thick and hot. All of it was shaped.

With a roar, he pressed a shaping out through the sword, severing what worked to trap him. He managed to make it another dozen steps before another attack came. It was as if the ground and plants and air all conspired against him. Tan spun, slicing with the sword, pushing out with a shaping he drew through the sword, but they came quickly.

The trees
.

It was Amia’s voice and it drifted through his mind, almost as if slowed by the shapings, as well.

Tan glanced to the trees. At first, he saw nothing. A flash of color in one of the treetops caught his eyes. He focused his attention there, briefly ignoring the attack thrown at him. Fire. He was certain of it. When the shaper used fire, he sensed it.

Tan raised the sword. Using earth, he sent a lancing shaping through the sword toward the shaper. Had they been anywhere but this strangely shaped garden, his shaping would likely have simply destroyed the shaper. Instead, it merely knocked him back. That contented Tan.

The shaping attacking him—attacking Asboel—shifted. No longer did fire work through it. Whatever attempt they made using spirit changed, lessening with the absence of fire. Tan shifted his attention to wind. With the connection he’d formed with Honl, Tan thought he might reach wind next, but the shaping eluded him. Whatever wind blew through here kept Honl back. The grasses continued to spiral up his legs. The shaking ground trembled beneath him, threatening to topple him. If he fell, he suspected the grasses would quickly manage to hold him in place.

Can you find them?
he asked Amia.

I can’t.

They want to sever the bond. They want Asboel.

The ground shook again, throwing his attention away from Amia. With an angry stomp, Tan sent a shaping through the earth, plunging deep as he reached for golud. Would the earth elemental even respond out here?

Stop!

He sent it as a rumbling fashion as he always did when speaking to golud, a demand upon the elemental. The trembling paused and he heard a startled gasp nearby. Tan focused on where he’d heard the shaper and sent a blast of fire through the sword. A grunt rewarded him.

Two shapers were slowed. That left wind and water.

Tan ran toward Asboel. This time, the grasses left him alone. He slashed at them with the sword as he ran. Wind coalesced in front of him, but he pressed a shaping of fire and earth against it, the warrior’s sword augmenting the shaping and burning the shaping away. The air became heavy, filled with moisture, and Tan pushed back with fire, burning away the water shaped in the air. Had he more skill, he might have removed the water from the air, but he didn’t know how.

Then he reached Asboel. The heat that usually radiated from his massive sides had eased. His breaths came slowly. Tan touched his side, moving past the thick spines on his back. Asboel lifted his head and twisted to look at him with golden eyes that had gone dull. He shook his head once and tried to growl, but nothing came from him but steam.

The attack changed.

The shapers switched their focus from Tan and moved back to Asboel. Water and wind swirled around him. Fire added with it, and then earth. Whatever brief success Tan had in slowing them had failed.

They drew on spirit. It pressed
into
Asboel.

Tan felt the pain of the shaping through the connection he shared with Asboel. It was there, deep and buried, agonizing to the draasin.

Is there anything you can do?
he asked Amia.

I’m not strong enough, not after…
She didn’t need to explain. She’d spent too much strength simply trying to find the draasin
. Can you stop the shapers?

They’re too skilled and I don’t know where they are. They stopped focusing on me. They’ve nearly finished what they intend with Asboel.

He had no idea what they intended by breaking the bond, but it could not happen. It would leave Asboel vulnerable.

And if Amia couldn’t help, Tan had to do it himself.

That meant pain. Possibly more than he could tolerate, but if he didn’t, Asboel would be lost. For all Tan knew, another could assume the bond.

Incendin. One of the Doma shapers.

Fur.

Tan took a deep breath, but before drawing the connection to Asboel to the forefront of his mind, he reached deep within himself and found the connection to spirit. Each time he found it, it became easier. Tan pulled on this connection, hoping to protect his mind as he plunged through it to Asboel.

Then he reached for the draasin. The pain was immediate and unbearable.

He sunk to his knees. The grasses wrapped around his ankles and legs, reaching for his wrists. He ignored them, unable to focus on anything other than the pain.

Tan steadied his breathing. With the connection to spirit, he pushed toward Asboel.

The pain intensified. He retched, heaving on the grasses. Somehow he managed to keep from falling forward.

Was he wrong? Would this not work?

Distantly, he sensed the increased shaping the Doma shapers worked. The pain intensified. The bond felt like a fragile, frail thing. In spite of the pain, he had a vague sense of Asboel, but it was distant and weak.

Then the pain stopped. The bond severed.

Tan fell to the ground.

In that moment, he pressed through the spirit inside him, reaching for Asboel. A barrier tried to stop him, but Tan knew Asboel. This was his friend,
his
bond. Spirit surged and Tan poured it into the draasin.

Asboel.

The name came from him in a shout. Pain and nausea rolled through him, nearly more than he could tolerate. No answer came. Had he been too late?

Asboel!

Tan pressed everything that he could into the shaped connection, praying to the Great Mother that he could protect his elemental bond. His friend.

Maelen.
The voice boomed in his head and came as a satisfied sigh.
I warned you this place is dangerous.

Are you…

Tan couldn’t finish. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know if Asboel would die from this attack. The shapers had known about the connection they shared, they had known
how
to attack Asboel.

It will take more than this to end me.

The shapings began wrapping with more intensity around Tan. Grasses cut into his legs and arms. Wind pressed against his face, smothering him. The earth rumbled. With enough time, it would split open and swallow him.

Next to Tan, Asboel struggled to stand, but the earth held him. With a roar, the draasin spouted fire in violent arcs around the clearing. It skirted Tan, not touching or burning him, but it freed him from the shapings. The ground steadied and wind eased.

Tan rose to his feet and held his sword in front of him. The effort of reconnecting to Asboel had weakened him. He could shape, but it would not be with much power or strength. Anything he would manage would require the elementals.

Asboel continued to shoot flames around the clearing. Rage filled him and he sniffed the air as he searched for the shapers. The draasin pawed at the ground. His wings unfurled and flapped, sending a hot breeze circling around him.

The change in the air was welcome to Tan.
Honl.

The wind elemental swirled around Asboel, coming to pause in front of Tan.
Did I not warn you?
the wind elemental asked.
Danger, I said. Fire nearly lost. These are dark lands.

Can you help?

Honl hesitated and swirled around Asboel.
Fire is weak. I will try.

A gust of warm wind split away from them, driving toward the line of trees. Asboel continued to shoot flames around him, but Tan could tell that what Honl said was true. The draasin was weakened.

Cool air mixed with the warm, and Honl was blown back. The elemental fluttered toward Asboel, circling around his spines and using the warmth of his body, but something had changed about the wind elemental.

Danger,
Honl said.

The shapers stepped away from the trees, becoming visible for the first time. They wore simple brown leathers that blended into the shaped garden, nothing like what Tan usually saw on Incendin shapers. They approached slowly, a concerted effort, one mixing all the elements, though this time not in an attempt to reach fire, but simply to overpower the elementals and Tan.

Asboel and Honl had failed. He pressed through the ground, reaching for golud with a rumbling request for help, but the earth elemental did not answer this time.

Go,
he urged Amia.
Find safety.

There was no answer.

Had she been hurt? He scanned the clearing, looking for a sign of her, but there was nothing. There was nothing Tan could do against four powerful shapers. All his energy had been spent trying to heal the bond with Asboel. At least the pain in his mind was gone. Reforging the connection had healed that much at least.

Asboel, I am sorry.

Maelen.

The great fire elemental roared. Fire shot from his mouth but was pressed back by a shaping of wind and water. Earth pulled at the draasin’s feet, confining him again.

After everything they had been through, they would fall here together. Tan would not have the chance to be with Amia. And Roine would never know what happened.

He sighed.

With the last of his strength, he formed a shaping of all the elements, binding them together. Doing this nearly took everything he had remaining. Tan pushed this energy into the sword. Runes glowed along the surface, burning brightly. Then he dipped into spirit and added this.

Bright light lanced from the tip of the sword.

Asboel roared. Honl swirled with renewed energy.

Other shapings erupted around them. Fire bloomed from the north. Earth rumbled toward him, different than the other earth shaping. Wind gusted, cool and refreshing, reminding Tan of the winds of Galen.

The rune coin in his pocket burned.

Now, Tan.

It was Amia. She wasn’t gone.

Ours?
Could it be possible? Could the kingdoms’ shapers have found them?

The shaping focused on Tan and the elementals shifted, turning away from them. It was the opening he needed. Tan pointed the sword toward the nearest shaper. If these were Doma shapers, twisted by the First Mother, they deserved a chance at redemption.

“Stop!” he shouted.

One of the shapers turned back to him. A shaping of wind built. Tan wouldn’t be able to stop it, not without harming himself. Wind began to swirl, pulling on him.

Tan reluctantly turned the sword toward the shaper. Was there nothing he could do? If only he could remove the First Mother’s shaping on him, he might be saved.

The wind shaping built. Tan couldn’t wait any longer. He sent the combined shaping through the sword. Light shot through the wind shaper, tearing him apart. The wind ceased.

Another shaper turned toward him. With a rumbling, rolling motion, the shaper sent earth toward him. The ground began to split. Tan pointed the sword and the blinding white light tore through the other shaper as it had through the first.

The remaining two shifted their attention back to Tan, who said, “Please. I don’t want to—”

He didn’t have the chance to finish. The shapers attacked at the same time, mixing fire and water in a swirl of steam.

Tan couldn’t react in time. He pointed the sword toward the water shaper, but his effort faltered. All the shaping strength he had failed.

Asboel leaped in front of him, absorbing the shaping. He roared and fell silent.

Tan felt another shaping build but couldn’t see anything. Asboel blocked his view. Massive power built, culminating in an attack. Tan leaned against Asboel, waiting.

Nothing came.

Asboel?

Maelen.

Are you injured?

It is temporary,
he said.

Asboel shifted, slowly dragging himself to his feet. As he did, Tan held his breath, uncertain what he’d see when Asboel moved. What had happened to the shapers?

Asboel settled himself in the middle of the clearing again, curling his tail around himself. He took deep, contented breaths that matched what he felt through their bond. Heat again radiated from his sides. He would be fine.

“Nice of you to finally choose to introduce me to the draasin.”

Tan turned. Cianna stood, staring at Asboel. Her fiery orange hair stood out from her head. She wore a black shirt and pants that clung to her, making her look like an Incendin shaper. She turned to face Tan. “This is what it took, though?”

“What,” he began, barely able to catch his breath, “what happened?”

Cianna shrugged and glanced to the trees. Amia leaned against the trunk of one. As he watched, he realized the leaves already began to wilt. The green in the grasses around his feet faded. “You summoned. She found us.”

Amia had brought them here. Not only Cianna, but the other shapers sent by Roine.

Tan let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks for coming.”

“What was this?” Cianna asked.

“Doma shapers, I think. The ones twisted by the First Mother.”

“What did they want?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. They tried severing my connection to the draasin.”

Her eyes widened. “Didn’t know that was possible for a shaper to do.”

“Neither did I.”

“Just shapers? Seems like they moved around an awful lot of power.”

Tan started toward the edge of the clearing and Amia. “You think they can speak to the elementals?”

Cianna glanced at the ground. “That one. The fire shaper.” She pointed to a body lying motionless on the ground. “Had it not been for Alan, I’m not sure I would have been able to stop her. Now, that could just be Incendin training, but I’ve seen a few Incendin fire shapers in my time along the border. Seems that whatever she did was more than simply a fire shaping.”