Fortress of Fire by D. K. Holmberg

Author:D. K. Holmberg [Holmberg, D. K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2015-04-09T04:00:00+00:00

13

Green in Incendin

Amia stared into the distance. Across the barren rock, there was heat and fire and death. They had both been through Incendin, though Amia’s trek through those lands had been different than Tan’s. The last time she’d really been to Incendin, she had nearly died. The hounds had chased her and her people, and the lisincend had followed.

“I’m not certain that I can go,” she said.

Tan took her hands, pulling her around to face him. “I’m not sure I could shape you back to Ethea, but maybe Honl can carry you most of the way. There’s much you could do in the kingdoms. You could gather the Aeta. They will need leadership. I’ll return when I can. Asboel needs me.” Tan let his awareness of Asboel’s pain rise closer to the surface of his mind. With it came the searing sense of agony. Whatever had happened to Asboel left Tan unable to reach the fire elemental.

Amia closed her eyes and nodded. “I need you. I don’t know if I can do anything for the People. Not by myself, and not without you.”

“I wouldn’t ask this for any other reason but Asboel—”

She kissed him on the lips, silencing him. “I understand. It’s the same as what you were willing to do for me.” She rested against him for a moment. Tan savored the sense of her, the way her body pressed into him. “How will you find him?”

Could Honl help? Honl, can you help me find Fire?

The wind elemental swirled toward them. Tan realized that he could see him better the longer they shared a connection. Would he soon be able to see him clearly?

I cannot, Honl answered.

Tan waited for him to explain more, but he didn’t. If the wind elemental couldn’t help, could Tan reach for him with earth sensing?

He stretched out with his senses, using the skills his father had long ago taught him, attempting a shaping like he’d seen Ferran use. Tan had to focus, using his connection to the earth through sensing, but managed to add to it, to twist it into the shaping he intended. Even with the shaping augmenting him, he couldn’t sense Asboel.

He let out a frustrated sigh.

“Let me try,” Amia whispered. “You’ll have to help. For this to work, I think we’ll both need to shape spirit,” she said.

Tan took a deep breath and focused on the elements. He shaped each together, weaving them as he did when shaping spirit. Amia shaped at the same time, but frowned at him.

“I don’t think it will work like that. Whatever you do when you shape spirit is different when you do that. This shaping must come from you.”

“I can’t—”

“You’ve always shaped spirit,” she said. “Like the other elementals, it’s within you. Had it not been, you wouldn’t have survived the pool.”

Could he shape spirit without binding the elements? What had it taken for him to shape wind and earth? He needed focus. With wind, he’d learned to focus on his breathing, to use that to connect him to what he intended.

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