Chased By Fire (Book 1) (24 page)

“Even if we reach it before him, what makes you think we can escape with whatever we find?” Tan asked.

Roine’s eye twitched. “We just have to get to it first.”
 

Amia pointed down the valley, along the trail of her shaping. How much farther before they reached it? If Fur escaped and followed them, how much longer would they be able to outrun the lisincend? The hounds?
 

Roine cleared the remains of the fire, carefully burying it. Then they all stood and started down the shore of the lake. The sun overhead was warm and comfortable and a softly blowing breeze drifted across the water and down through the valley.
 

Tan watched Amia as they walked. She showed no emotion, but Tan didn’t know how she could feel anything other than loss, the same emotion he struggled to suppress. Maybe once they found the artifact they’d be able to mourn.

They stopped a few times, once to eat and another simply for rest and drink. They drank freely from the water of the lake and found it cold and invigorating, and were able to continue onward with faster steps after each stop.
 

When the sun dipped below the horizon and the moon began to peak above the trees, Roine readied them to stop. Tan was thankful for the break and ready for rest. From what he sensed, they were barely halfway along the length of the beach and probably another day’s walk until they reached the end.

An explosion thundered through the valley far behind them followed by a roaring cry.

Roine sighed. “We shouldn’t rest yet.”

“What was that?” Amia asked.

“That was Fur. He is free.” The fatigue in his voice was clear. The effort of the search drained him more than he admitted.
 

Tan shivered, wondering what would happen the next time Fur reached them.

They walked through much of the night, crashing late, with the nearly full moon that had been lighting their way now slowly dipping out of view in the night sky. The air was crisp, cool, and each breath was visible. The lake lapped quietly upon the shore, soft murmurs that almost seemed to speak. A faint glowing slid across the middle of the lake could be reflected starlight, but Tan chose to believe the nymid still watched.

Tan caught Roine looking at the lake, his features slack, before shaking his head. Tan suspected he reached out to the nymid, trying to sense them, to speak to the elementals. And they didn’t answer.

He wondered how it was that he could speak to them. He didn’t struggle as Roine did trying to reach them. To him, it was as easy as thinking.

Another thunderous roar split the night, echoing around them. The sound came as they crossed a small stream. There had been dozens of similar streams, some wider than others, that fed into the lake, and they were forced to wade through this stream rather than jump over it. A plume of flame shot high into the sky, briefly lighting the night like the lightning had the night before. A call for help, he suspected, though wondered if that were true.
 

It was not much later when he heard the harsh, painful call of the hounds. At least half a dozen different cries echoed through the valley. He listened for them, sensing the trees around them, but couldn’t tell how many hounds prowled the forests.

When they couldn’t walk any further, Roine motioned toward a natural shelter where the trees pressed against the waterline, leaving branches exposed, arching up and over the ground, forming a shelter. Inside, the ground was dry and firm, almost as if the rain from last night had missed this spot of land.

Tan plopped down next to Amia. She looked at him and smiled and he stared into her dark eyes, unable to look away. She held his gaze and then slid herself back, resting her head on her arm and staring at Tan before finally closing her eyes. Her breathing slowed almost immediately.

“You should sleep, as well,” Roine said. “I will take watch.”

Tan looked up at the warrior standing under the woody arch staring into the night. “You need it as well. You well rested is more important than me.”

Roine looked back at him and slowly smiled. “You think so?” He turned to stare at the night again. “I can get by on little sleep. I suspect that you can’t. Not yet. Rest while you can.”

Tan didn’t have the strength to argue. Lying next to Amia, he drifted quickly to sleep. He dreamt of faintly colored creatures swimming around him. He felt safe, watched, and when he awoke, there was the memory of distant conversation in the back of his head.

It was dark when he awoke and Roine still stood in the same spot, staring into the night. Tan moved quietly, careful not to disturb Amia, and stood next to Roine. His eyes were closed though he opened them as he approached.

“Good. You’re up.” He didn’t turn and but tossed a dark bundle to Tan. “Try this.”

Tan grabbed the bundle from mid-air and shook it out. It was a shirt, dark green like Roine wore, and the fabric was soft, supple. Tan touched the large hole in his shirt from the blast that should have killed him, running his finger along the singed edge fibers, and decided to pull the shirt Roine gave him overtop the one he wore. Luck, perhaps. Or something else.
 

“Thanks.” Tan rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He still felt tired, though felt better for the small amount of sleep he had managed. “You should rest now.”

Roine shook his head. “They near.”
 

Tan didn’t need him to explain who he meant. Instead, he closed his eyes as Roine had done and let his focus wander as his father had taught him years ago when first learning to hunt. He felt along the water’s edge to the trees, listening for any disturbance. Down the shore, within the trees, and closer than he would have expected, Tan sensed the void. Lisincend.

Opening his eyes, he nodded. “We should go then,” he agreed.

Roine frowned at him. “Your mother thought you just a senser.”

“An earth senser.” Tan shrugged. “Not very strong. And usually not very useful. Helps with hunting, but not much else.”

Roine chuckled. “Weak? Great Mother, if you think that’s weak, then I’d hate to think what you consider strong. I have to focus most of my energy to learn what you gathered in moments.”

Tan frowned. “My father was a strong earth senser.”

Roine frowned again. “Is that what he told you when he taught you to sense?” Tan nodded. “I understand now how you were able to follow the hounds in the first place. Or how you discovered the lisincend trail by the Aeta caravan. I’m not a particularly strong earth shaper, but I’ve at least tracked lisincend before.” He patted Tan on the arm. “Nothing weak about your sensing, Tan.” He laughed. “I think your mother knew. Probably why she wanted you to go to Ethea.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s how it begins, at least for me. First a strong senser. If strong enough, you can learn to shape.”

“A shaper? I don’t think I’d ever be strong enough for that.”

Roine laughed again and looked out to the lake. “You spoke to the nymid. Not many shapers can claim the same. I think with training, you could be a powerful shaper.”

Tan looked out at the lake, at the swirling green floating across the lake. “Like my mother?” He wished there had been time for him to learn more about her shaping. Now that he knew, he had so many questions.

Roine nodded. “The gift is handed down through generations, some stronger than others.”

“But my mother was a wind shaper.”

“And your father was an earth senser. If you choose to go to Ethea, you could learn much about your ability. In time…” He shrugged. “It’s possible you could learn to shape.”

Ethea again. This time the suggestion was different. Could he really learn to become a shaper? Could he pass up the opportunity to try? But doing so meant service to the king, and Tan still didn’t know if that’s what he wanted.
 

“Why the nymid?” he asked. “If I’m an earth senser, why can I speak to the nymid?”

Roine took a deep breath. “You’re asking the wrong person. There are only a couple scholars in Ethea who still claim to speak to the elementals. From what I know, it should be paired with your ability, though some speak to the elementals and never shape.”

More reasons for him to go to Ethea. Tan wondered if his mother told Roine how he didn’t want to go. Could Roine answer his questions but chose not to do so?

Roine closed his eyes. Pressure built behind Tan’s ears as his shaping built, releasing as a wave washing away from them.
 

Tan did the same, sensing the forest, and felt it closer this time.

“We should leave,” Roine said.

Tan crawled back under the branches and moved to Amia, shaking her gently. Her eyes fluttered open and she jerked back quickly.
 

“Time to go,” he whispered.

She looked out down the shore with a flash of fear. “Are they—”
 

Tan nodded once.
 

Amia looked at Tan a moment and nodded. She pulled herself to her feet a little stiffly and once back outside the shelter she stretched, working her legs and arms quickly. She frowned, looking at the lake.

Roine stood with a nervous energy. “Can you still follow it?”

Roine led them along the edge of the lake, always a dozen or more paces ahead of them, pushing them at a faster and faster pace. After a while of walking in silence, Tan turned to Amia. “Roine thinks I could become a shaper.”

She looked over to him and tilted her head, pressing her hair out of her soft face as she watched him. “And you don’t want to?”

He thought of his father answering the summons from the king without question. Of his mother, and how much she’d changed after his father died. “I don’t want to owe my life to anything.”

Amia looked at him and frowned. “I was five when I was discovered. My people inspect each newborn, always searching for one kissed by the Great Mother. As I said, most are feelers, and they thought me the same. This would have been enough for me to follow my Mother.”

Roine slowed to listen. “You know with the newborns?” Amia nodded. “Is this something your feelers can detect?”

Amia nodded again. “What we have is different than you. You work on the outside, on the world around you. We work on the inside. This is our gift from the Great Mother.”

“When did you know?” Tan asked Roine. “When did you know you were a warrior?”

Roine laughed softly. “I was wind senser first. That is how it works. First a senser. Then a shaper. It was only later I learned I was a warrior.”

“Is that how you knew my mother?”

Roine nodded. “We studied together. Zephra was always so powerful. She had a command of the wind none matched, even the Masters.”

Tan wished he would have known that part of his mother. “And you knew when you were five?” he asked Amia.

“My Mother always suspected something was different. When I was five, we met another clan and with them was another kissed by the Great Mother. She was able to see what my Mother could not. She taught me the earliest of my skills.” She looked to Roine. “We don’t have a place like your university. We must learn to understand our gifts on our own. It’s not always easy.”

“Learning shaping with a guide is difficult. Without…” he shook his head. “You’ve done well to learn what you have.”

Amia looked around. “I’ve wondered why the Great Mother kissed me. Maybe had some other been chosen, my people would still be safe.”

“Or not. Perhaps the Mother knew what she gifted,” Roine suggested.

They walked in silence for a few moments. “Why don’t the kingdoms have spirit shapers?” Tan asked.

Roine looked at Amia before answering. “The answer requires a greater understanding of shaping in general,” he said. “The kingdoms have known shapers as long as we’ve existed. The university has long studied the origin of shaping, though for a different reason.”
 

He turned to Tan. “I told you our shapers were once much more potent, more powerful, than they are today?” Tan nodded. “The scholars have searched for the reason it changed. The simplest explanation is that the abilities were simply watered down over time.” He paused, running a hand through his hair. His eyes were drawn and though he had refused sleep, his sagging shoulders and slowly returning limp revealed his need. “We know little about the earliest shapers other than that their shapings were strong and crude. Not until we started seeing warriors did shapings become more complex. Incredibly so. Most of those early warrior shapings can’t be replicated.”

“Where did the first shapers come from, then?” Tan asked.

Roine shrugged. “Some think the earliest shapers were simply born to it as they are today. Other scholars wonder whether shaping was a gift from some of the older elementals.”

“Like the nymid?”
 

Roine nodded. “Like the nymid, but older.”
 

“But why do only the Aeta have spirit sensers and shapers?” Tan asked.
 

Roine shrugged. “They haven’t always. The ancient warriors, those who created the artifact and the compass, could shape spirit too. But what changed?” He looked out over the lake. “I can’t answer that. Probably the same reason few still speak to the elementals. But none know that answer, either.”
 

They fell into silence as they walked, following the lakeshore. They crossed several small streams, each flowing down from the mountain as it joined the massive lake. In the distance Tan became aware of two things. The first was that the end of the valley grew gradually closer. The base of the huge mountain shadowing their path loomed finally near. The other was that a large river ran down from the nearby slopes, wider than any of the other streams, and cascaded noisily as it flowed into the lake. They would have to cross the river to continue along their path.

A harsh cry behind them made him jump. Another of the hounds answered the cry, baying in response. Tan closed his eyes, stretching out his senses and listening, sensing the lisincend presence in the forest, following closer than the last time.