Shadow Found

Tan knows the victory is short lived. Par-Shon knows how to obscure their shapers, and they could hide anywhere. When Tan discovers Par-shon shapers within the kingdoms, a dangerous and wild elemental is released. As Tan tries to defend his bonds, he learns the terrible history of this elemental, one that the draasin would hide from him. Tan must find a way to protect the elementals, stop the serpent of fire released by Par-shon, while understanding the reason that mysterious Chenir would chose now to send a delegation to Ethea.

Tannen Minden sat at a long, faded oak table, leaning forward as he waited for the instructor to arrive. Only a week in Ethea and already he longed for the forests of Galen around him. Had he been able to find Amia, he wouldn’t have bothered coming to this lecture, but he struggled to find her the last few days and when he did, she seemed anxious. How much of the anxiety came from the strange and massive capital city and how much from losing everyone she knew?  

After how the lisincend destroyed his home of Nor, he understood that anxiety well. 

He rubbed his neck. The aching he’d felt since reaching the city throbbed with more intensity this morning. At first, he thought it the change in altitude—Nor sat much higher than Ethea—but now he wondered if it had to do with the connection he’d made while there. Could the distant sense he still had of the draasin be giving him the pain?

The girl at the end of the table glanced at him again. She had brown hair cut short and a thin face. A green dress several sizes too large draped over her. A thick book rested open on the table in front of her, but she kept looking up from it to him. 

Another boy, built like a blacksmith, sat down the table. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, as if he feared looking around too much. Tan watched him, waiting for a crack in his focus, but none came. He wore a thick wool jacket dyed a dark blue and his hair was cut short. His skin was deeply tanned.

And then there was a man near the window. He stared out, fingers drumming across the stone as he stared through the opaque glass. He shifted from one foot to another, his boots the only part of him visible beneath the long gray cloak he wore. Even his head was covered, hiding his face. 

As far as Tan knew, these were all students at the university. And he was older than each of them. 

Since arriving in Ethea, Tan had seen people from all over the kingdoms. It had surprised him how different each style of dress was, and he hadn’t been here long enough to know where each style came from. Amia might, since she was one of the Aeta, traders given the freedom to wander without concern for borders, if only he could find her.

Like usual, no one spoke. Tan had attended few classes since arriving in Ethea. When they had first reached Ethea, Roine encouraged him to attend as many as possible, especially those with an earth-sensing focus. He remained convinced Tan could become an earth shaper, but how would he ever even sense anything within the walls of the university? At least in Galen, the trees and grasses and life around him gave him something to sense. Here, all he sensed was the vast expanse of stone that comprised the university.  

The girl looked up at him again. Tan frowned at her and she looked away, burying her face in her book once more. 

He didn’t want to be here. Not only this room, but in this city. This had always been his mother’s dream for him, never his. If he had his choice, he would have remained in Galen, climbing the hills around Nor. 

The man near the window stopped drumming his fingers on the window and turned to face them. The hood of his cloak fell down to his shoulders, revealing curly brown hair. “This is all who choose to attend?” His voice sounded low, thick and gravelly.

The girl pushed her book aside, closing it slowly. The thick boy turned to face Tan. 

Now that Tan could see the man’s face, he saw he was older—much older than Tan. Not a student, then. The man grunted and looked around the room, flinty eyes stopping on each of them before they settled on Tan, widening slightly as they did. His nostrils flared briefly as he sniffed.

“A waste of time,” he muttered. He flicked his gaze to the boy. “You. Where in Ter are you from?”

The boy blinked and swallowed. “Keoth, sir.”

The man grunted and the corners of his eyes twitched. “Keoth? Does that make you a farmer or quarryman?” 

The boy’s back stiffened slightly. He looked at the man, unblinking. “Farmer, sir.”

The man sniffed, his nostrils flaring again. His eyes narrowed and he pursed his lips as if he might say something, but then he looked over to the girl. “And you. Where in Vatten are you from? Too slight to be a fisherman’s daughter. A weaver?”

The girl glanced at her book and then looked up and past the man, nodding as she did. 

The man shook his head, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “And then there’s you,” he said, turning to Tan. “You’re too old to be a new student—” he regarded Tan’s age with derision “—but I haven’t seen you in other classes.”

“I’ve only been—”

The man cut him off with a wave of the hand. “From your build, you could be from Ter or Vatten, but you don’t have the right coloring. Your hair is too dark for Nara. That leaves Galen.”

Tan nodded. The way he spoke of Galen put Tan on edge, his tone making it seem like he wished he could exclude Galen from the kingdoms. Already, he didn’t like this man.

“Not many come from Galen anymore. Fewer will come now that Incendin attacks.” The girl sucked in a quick breath and the man turned to her. “The rumors are true. Best not to hide from them. You empower them with your fear. Besides, there’s no reason to fear Incendin here in the university. You’re safest surrounded by our best shapers.”

“But their shapers—” she started in a whisper.

“Are no different than me. Fire works no different than earth.” As emphasis, the stone around the window peeled away briefly before folding back into place. Tan’s ears popped as it did.

The boy’s eyes widened, the most reaction Tan had seen from him. The girl smiled and pulled her book up to her chest, clutching it to herself. 

“A skilled shaper can hold back the fire shapers of Incendin, and isn’t that why you’re here?”

The Master shaper dismissed Incendin’s fire shapers so quickly, but Tan knew what they were capable of. He’d seen their destruction firsthand, had witnessed how they destroyed his home as if it were nothing. “It’s not only fire shapers to fear.”

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly and a tight smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So, you are from Galen.”

Tan nodded.

“Don’t scare the others with stories. The truth can be awful on its own.”

Had he not lost everyone he knew to those stories, Tan might have been more forgiving of the comment. Instead, other than Cobin and Bal, only Lins Alles survived and Tan had no interest in seeing him again, not after seeing him working with the lisincend. And he hadn’t seen Cobin or Bal since reaching Ethea. For all Tan knew, they’d gone somewhere else, away from the danger of the capital. Knowing how Cobin was an earth senser, Tan would understand him not wanting to return to Ethea. Likely, he wanted to get as far from Incendin as possible to keep Bal safe, someplace like Ter, where there would be other earth sensers and where the threat of attack was minimal.

And Lins? If Tan saw him again, he didn’t know what he would do. He’d spent years fearing his temper; now he wanted nothing more from him. After helping the lisincend, had he gone to Incendin? Or had he faded into obscurity within the kingdoms?

“You don’t think we should fear Incendin? After what they did?” Tan asked.

The man sniffed again. He kept his hands in the pocket of his cloak and fixed Tan with a hard gaze. “Their attacks have grown stronger, it is true, but the barrier protects us from a more direct attack.”

“The barrier didn’t keep the lisincend from passing through. The barrier did nothing to stop my home from being destroyed.” 

Tan realized he’d raised his voice and took a calming breath. 

The girl looked from him to the man standing at the front of the room. The smile faded from her face, and with it, all the color in her cheeks. Her wide blue eyes made her look younger than Bal. 

The other boy simply stared at the man. He didn’t look over at Tan, as if taking his eyes off the shaper at the front of the room would get him into some sort of trouble. 

The man leaned forward, resting his hands on the table as he stared at Tan. A dark expression flashed across his eyes. “You speak of rumors as if they are true. Few enough know of the lisincend. I would like to know how you learned about them.”

Tan shook his head. He should leave. There was nothing this man would teach him that he wanted to know, but he was new to the university and he owed it to his memory of his mother to at least try. “I’ve seen them.”

The man laughed. “Then you would be dead. Instead, you sit here and argue with a Master of the university.” He paused and started to turn before catching himself and turning back. “Had the lisincend attacked, there would be little to slow them until they reached Ethea.”

“Only a warrior shaper,” Tan answered.

And even Roine had almost not been enough. Had not the draasin—the great winged fire elemental—come when Tan called, what would have happened with Fur and the other lisincend? Tan wouldn’t have survived, but more than that, they would have captured the artifact, the one thing that might be able to help the kingdoms push back Incendin. 

“There no longer are any warriors,” the man said. “So be glad you have not seen the lisincend.”

“The ashes of my village would say otherwise. And if you need further convincing, seek out Roine. Ask him what happened to Nor.”

Tan started to stand. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to the Master anyway. He would have to come another time, perhaps find another earth shaper to learn from, though Roine said the Master instructing this class was more skilled than most. 

“Why would one of the Athans have been in Galen?”

Tan sighed and looked up, wishing he were back in Galen, back beneath the trees and following some unknown trail as it wound into the mountains. At least there, he knew what to do. He could sense his way along, so he knew where he needed to go. In Ethea, surrounded by all these people that he didn’t understand, he never felt fully sure of himself. 

But if he could learn to be a shaper—an earth shaper like the Master—wouldn’t he take that opportunity? It required his allegiance to the king, but shapers were gifted with much power, abilities he’d only glimpsed while traveling with Roine. How much better would it be if he could do some of the things he’d seen Roine do?

“Serving the king,” Tan answered. “And protecting the kingdoms from Incendin. More than that, you’ll have to ask him.”

“And you claim you encountered one of the lisincend while with Roine?”

Tan nodded.

“Where is it now?”

“Two were killed. Fur might still be running back to Incendin.” Or eaten. Tan hoped the draasin had caught him but suspected Fur might have been strong enough to escape and survive. If he did, how long did they have before Incendin sent more of the lisincend into the kingdoms? 

If he dared embrace the connection with the draasin, he might learn, but doing so meant pain and fear. Regardless of how it had saved them, the great fire elemental was dangerous to Tan.

The Master shaper blinked. “You faced more than one of the lisincend?”

Tan nodded again.

The Master studied Tan for a moment, gray eyes seeming to stare through him before taking a shallow breath. Without another word, he turned to the door and hurried out, pulling the hood of his cloak back over his head as he went. 

Tan frowned. What had just happened? 

So much about Ethea was strange. The last time he’d seen him, Roine tried offering suggestions about the university and promised to help in any way he could, but as Athan, he had other responsibilities. Tan hadn’t seen Roine since their second day in Ethea.

The thick boy got up slowly and made his way to the door after the Master. He left quietly, making his way down the narrow hall and out of sight.

Tan sighed and started to leave. A gentle tug at the sleeve of his jacket caused him to turn.

The girl stood looking up at him. She barely came to his shoulder. Up close, her short brown hair looked uneven and ragged, as if she’d cut it with a dull knife. One hand gripped a handful of fabric, holding her dress off the floor so she didn’t trip. The other held a stack of books she somehow didn’t spill as she pulled on his sleeve. A serious expression furrowed her brow.

“Is what you said true?” Her voice sounded less meek than when she’d spoken to the Master shaper. 

Tan nodded. 

“You saw one of these creatures?”

Tan stiffened. “That’s what I said.”

“You said it was Fur?”

Tan frowned. “You know of him?” The Master shaper had been right that few knew of the lisincend. At least in Galen, he hadn’t heard of the lisincend before they attacked, and Galen shared a border with Incendin. 

The girl swallowed, her head bobbing in a nod. “My grandfather—” She took a deep breath and met Tan’s eyes. “My grandfather fought in the Incendin war. Barely survived. When I was younger—” Tan snorted and she frowned “—he wouldn’t talk about it. I knew he lost friends during the war. But as he’s gotten older, his mind started to wander. Sometimes he speaks about the nightmares he saw. Only one of them ever had a name. Fur.” She shivered, as if a breeze suddenly gusted through the window. “Always said his name in a whisper, and usually after having too much wine. He’s real?”

Tan understood the reaction. Nearly dying at the hands of the lisincend did that to him. “He’s real. And as terrifying as your grandfather said.”

The girl shook her head. “He never said much other than a name, but not much scared him. A water shaper—and strong, too—so anything of fire that frightening…”

Tan nodded, remembering the way Fur had nearly burned away the lake. Had the nymid—the water elementals at the heart of the lake—not been there, Fur might have been strong enough. 

“You plan to study at the university?” she asked.

The sudden change took Tan aback. He nodded.

“You’re older than most students,” she commented. “You know, most come to the university when they learn they’re sensers. If you can sense the elements, some learn to shape as well.”

“I never wanted to come in the first place,” Tan answered.

“Never wanted to come? Why wouldn’t you want to come? Don’t you care to learn if you can be a shaper?”

Tan took a deep breath before answering. He’d never cared before. Not that he didn’t think the idea of shaping sounded impressive, just that he didn’t want to commit to what came with it: service to the king like his father—and his mother, he reminded himself—bought by learning. Service that claimed his father’s life fighting Incendin.

But he’d seen what the lisincend would do. He’d seen the lengths they went—the mindless destruction they inflicted. How could he refuse to help if he had the ability?

“There’s more to it than wanting to be a shaper,” he said.

She looked at him skeptically. “What more can there be? Either you want to learn or you don’t. And if you’re here, it means you have the ability to learn.”

“How did he know you’re from Vatten?” Tan asked, changing the subject. He didn’t know this girl at all, and here she was, pressing him no differently than his mother had. 

“How can you not know?” 

He shrugged. “I can’t tell where anyone is from.”

She laughed, the sound smooth and light, betraying a cloud that came over her face. “You should probably learn, especially if you’re going to stay here. Everyone is like that Master. Once they figure out where you’re from…”

Tan sighed and glanced at the window. Another reason for him to wish he was out of Ethea and back in Galen. At least there, he understood how things worked. As long as he didn’t upset the manor lord—or his son—he was fine. 

Maybe he needed to find Amia and see if she would leave with him. 

Finally, he shook his head. Standing here changed nothing. “I need to get going,” he decided.

Tan started out of the room, and the girl trailed after him. She kept her dress bunched in one fist to keep it from dragging on the floor. The books were pressed against her chest. A single lantern lit the musty, narrow hall outside the room. Rough stone shifted with strange shadows. Even here, Tan had little sense of anything. 

“So what are you?” the girl asked as they reached a stair leading down. 

He paused and looked at her. “What do you mean?”

She sniffed. “Well, you’re here, right? So what kind of senser are you?”

He nodded. “Earth senser.”

“From Galen?”

He nodded again.

The girl frowned for a moment and then shrugged. “I’m a water shaper. Pretty common in Vatten, you know.”

He didn’t know but didn’t say anything as he continued down the stairs. At the bottom, a door led out into a wide courtyard. Grass and a few trees grew tidily here, though the center of the courtyard was cleared. There, stones were set in a circular pattern.

The girl said something but Tan missed it. Pressure built in his ears, the sensation familiar to him. Someone performed a shaping nearby, and a powerful one at that. 

The sudden rumble of thunder followed by a loud crack of lightning made him take a quick step back. Tan had felt this shaping before.

When it cleared, Roine stood at the center of the clearing. Dried blood smeared on the top of his brow from an open wound and he held a slender sword clutched in his hand. He took a deep breath and then collapsed.