Changed By Fire (Book 3) by D.K. Holmberg

Author:D.K. Holmberg [Holmberg, D.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2015-01-29T00:00:00+00:00

15

The Effect of a Shaping

Tan sat on the cooled rocks that had once formed the ring of the fire pit, chewing on a piece of still-warm hare he’d pulled from the nearby spit. After shaping and speaking to the draasin, he felt not only exhausted but famished as well. Amia stood across from him. Every so often, she would glance at him with worried eyes and then look away. She couldn’t hide the concern that flowed through their shaped connection; Tan felt that acutely.

The First Mother looked around at the rest of the Aeta. Her eyes had a weariness to them that hadn’t been there before. Like so many of the others, soot and ash stained her clothes. Somewhere during the attack, she’d struck her head. Dried blood crusted on her forehead and she winced occasionally as if experiencing the pain anew.

All around him, the Aeta seemed in a daze, but something felt strange. Tan scanned the Gathering, looking for what bothered him until he realized what it was. It looked as if the wagons were readied to move, but that meant uprooting the Gathering. How long had it been since the Aeta had moved from this place?

“Where are the others?” Tan asked the First Mother. “What happened to the Brother?”

There were other spirit shapers when they had been here last. Now, Tan didn’t sense anything from them. Perhaps they were as exhausted as he felt, drained after the battle with Incendin.

“They are gone.”

A pained expression worked across Amia’s face. “I’m sorry we couldn’t be faster.”

The First Mother coughed and touched her head. She blinked slowly, swallowing. A soft pressure built as she made a shaping, then she released it slowly, sweeping it out and across the rest of the Aeta. “They are not dead. Not yet.”

“If they’re not dead, then where…” Tan sucked in a breath. “The Incendin shapers took them?”

The First Mother nodded. “Five fire shapers came. Five of the People were taken.”

Could they be after spirit shapers again? Was that why Amia was abducted from Ethea?

“Were they all shapers?” he asked.

The First Mother hesitated, as if uncertain whether she should answer. “All. They had differing strengths, though none were as gifted as the Brother.”

Tan’s heart sunk. Incendin would try to create more of the twisted lisincend using them. One was frightening enough, what would it be like with more? “We need to save them,” Tan said.

The First Mother stared toward the trees. “They are gone. There is nothing you could do.”

Tan considered the wreckage of the Aeta Gathering. “I could have done more. Had I been stronger… better prepared…”

“You did more than you should have been able to do,” the First Mother said. She considered Tan for a moment. “How did you contain them? The fire shapings. What did you do?”

As she watched him, intensity returned to her eyes. Tan had the distinct sensation that he needed to be careful with what he told her. The problem was, with as tired as he was, he no longer cared about caution with the First Mother.

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