Endless Night (15 page)

Y
ou know
what you must do.

The voice of the lizard drifted into her mind with such clarity and such volume that Ciara almost needed to grab her head to press it out.

I can’t hurt my people.

You must heal them, ala’shin.

But I’m not ala’shin.

Then you will fail.

To her left, Fas approached. His eyes had changed color, taking on the darkness that she understood to be Tenebeth. Others approaching had the same. It was her father who troubled her the most. Hadn’t she learned that he had trained to resist Tenebeth? What had happened to him that he would fail?

His j’na rose and came toward the earth slowly.

A part of Ciara knew that if he managed to connect, darkness would stream from the j’na much like it had streamed from the shaper who had attacked her.

Without thinking about it, she took a step and sent her j’na to the ground.
Snap
.

The sound rang out. The people—her people—converging on her slowed.

She didn’t want to hurt them, but if they reached her before the draasin, she ran the same risk as when the shaper had attacked. Of those drawing near, only Fas and her father could shape, but that didn’t mean the rest of them weren’t dangerous, especially as she had no interest in harming them.

Another step.
Snap.

The draasin-glass tip surged with color, but this time it was a bluish-white light. Immediately, the light began flowing from the end of her spear. Clouds parted over her and fingers of light streaked through.

Ciara hurried forward, suddenly understanding what this pattern did. It would not harm her people, but if she managed to work it successfully, and if it were bright enough, she might be able to burn the effect from them. Tenebeth had not bothered them here before, so could she scare him away?

Three more steps. With each one, the clouds parted more. Now she was bathed in a bright shaft of sunlight. It beat on her back, shining hot overhead. If it was going to happen anytime, it would have to be now, under the light of the sun and before Tenebeth managed to pull the clouds together again.

Someone lunged.

Ciara danced away, tapping her j’na.

Another person tried reaching her.

Again she danced, this time barely avoiding capture.

More steps, each accentuated by a loud
snap.

Light poured from the end of her j’na.

Someone grabbed one of her feet. Another hand reached for her arm, but thankfully it wasn’t the arm holding the j’na.

The draasin roared overhead.

Flames spilled through the remaining clouds, parting them, but the draasin herself cast shade upon the ground.

Ciara slammed the j’na once more, this time with as much force as she could.

With a massive
crack
, something akin to thunder exploded from the end of her spear. There was a flash of light so bright that she was forced to close her eyes. Even the draasin took to the sky, climbing back into the air once more.

The pressure on her leg eased, as did that on her arm.

“Ciara?”

Her father’s voice pierced the confusion around her, the familiar warmth back in his voice.

“Father,” she said, going to him. He stood alone, with nearly two dozen others nearby blinking slowly, as if clearing sleep from their eyes. His j’na rested against him, and she noted that the shaft of the spear had blackened, leaving the shapes that he’d once carved into the side obscured. Would he even be able to use it anymore, or had the attack damaged it permanently?

“How is it… how did you?”

She wished she had more of an ability to know whether Tenebeth still influenced him, but maybe it was enough that her father seemed happy to see her.

As the draasin’s shadow drifted overhead, his gaze went to it. Ciara watched, waiting, but there was nothing more to his eyes than the usual brightness. When he turned his attention back to her, a troubled expression passed over his face.

“What happened here?” she asked softly. She moved so that she could keep not only her father in view, but the others as well. If she were attacked again, she wasn’t sure she could stop them or if she could even repeat the pattern she’d just done, but she wanted a warning, if nothing else.

Fas stood outside the circle of others. Once a strong man, the weeks that she’d been away had changed him, lessening him in many ways. His face had a gaunt quality to it that it hadn’t before, with his eyes nothing more than dark hollows. The strength that he’d carried himself with had faded, leaving him like bones beneath his elouf. He glanced at her but pulled his eyes away quickly, unwilling to meet her gaze for long.

“What happened?” her father said. He seemed like the others, as if in a daze, slow to respond. “I don’t know what happened. Darkness touched my heart and my mind. I can… I can feel it there, the remnants of it.”

“Is it still there?” Ciara asked. If Tenebeth still tainted him…

“I don’t think so, but… but I don’t know how it reached me. I should have been protected.”

“Because you studied in Hyaln.”

“Not there, but taught by one who did.”

Who would that have been? “I met Olina. The draasin that we summoned took me to her.” She had thought the draasin had taken her to some random place, but the elemental must have known where she needed to go and what she needed to learn.

“I do not know Olina.”

“One of the wise of Hyaln.”

He nodded. “The wise. You would be better served studying with one of the enlightened.”

“I am.” When he frowned, she explained, “She sent me to Ter. To a man named Cheneth.”

“Cheneth.” He repeated the name in such a way that she knew he recognized it. “And he taught you to call the draasin.”

“He’s taught me nothing. He won’t work with me. I’m left in the mountains, repeating different patterns, and with each one I summon something different, never the same elemental twice.” The frustration she’d been feeling bubbled up from deep within her. Had Cheneth
actually
taught her, she might have reached the draasin sooner. Maybe before she had been attacked by the shaper. Instead, Ciara was lucky to have escaped.

“Nothing. I would say that you have learned more than nothing, Ciara S’shala. If you can summon more than one of the great elementals, then you need to continue your studies.”

“I’m needed here. I need to help my people.”

Her father smiled at her sadly. “You have, Ciara. Without you, we would have remained under his touch. We’re free now. You have done more than I could have hoped.” He sighed. “Share our water. Sit by our fire. Then you must continue to learn, because what attacked us here is greater than our small village. Greater than all Rens.”

* * *

T
he fire crackled
inside the cave, giving off a steady warmth that pushed back the growing chill of the night. With the Ter cloak she wore, Ciara found herself not needing the heat of the fire, not as she once would have. The bowl of fella-leaf stew that she ate had a familiar taste, mostly leaves with only a hint of water added. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply.

Voices bounced softly off the cavern walls, a familiar sound. In the village, you were never really alone. Even the curtain separating her father’s space from others did not do much more than mute the sounds.

“It was Fas, wasn’t it?” she asked her father when he finally settled onto the thick shepa hide next to her. “He brought it into the village when he returned.”

“I didn’t think so,” he said. “But now? Now I don’t know, Ciara. With the darkness…”

She didn’t need her father to confirm it for her. She had seen the darkness in his eyes and the change that had come over him. But why would Fas grow weaker while the shaper grew stronger? He could shape water, so why was he not affected the same way?

“It was Fas,” she said.

“You’re probably right.” He stared blankly at the fire for a moment, as if still trying to clear the effects of Tenebeth from his mind. With a shudder, he turned away. “We haven’t seen fire… or the sun… since you left.”

“I didn’t know that mattered.”

“We know so little about what matters. Darkness is a force unlike any other.”

“Where did he come from? Why attack now?”

“I think you’re asking the wrong person, Ciara. Cheneth might know.”

Ciara didn’t think even Cheneth knew why Tenebeth attacked now. Did the elementals?

If she could ever consistently reach nobelas, she would have to ask.

“What is nobelas, Father?”

He pulled his gaze from the fire. “Nobelas?”

His tone answered the question for her. He didn’t know.

“Nothing. I thought that maybe…”

“I’m not enlightened, Ciara. Stormbringer, I’m not even one of the wise.”

“If you didn’t study in Hyaln, how is it that you know about these things?”

Her father sighed. “I didn’t grow up in the village. When I was younger, I knew a different home.”

“You said you were pushed away from your home by the attack.”

“The attack. Yes. It sent me away, and many others. A city near the border, one where we didn’t have to suffer for want of water. So different than the life we lead now. But this is peaceful in its own way.” He sighed again. “A man came to the city as it fell to Ter, searching for those with particular skills. These would save our people, he claimed. The people of Rens would be needed, if only we were willing to listen and learn and forgo the homes we knew.” His eyes went distant as he stared into the fire. “He taught me my first pattern, a way to summon power, to call the draasin. There were others, all of them taught to do the same. This man named us ala’shin and told us we would need to train others.”

Her father took a deep breath. “Others. I tried teaching others, but none were able to master the patterns. Over time, it no longer mattered. We settled here, and the Ter attacks eased until they were no more.”

“The nya’shin. That’s who you tried to train?”

He nodded. “Out here, ability with water was prized. The other villages focused on it as well, and the nya’shin became the seekers. We have survived here, Ciara.”

“Maybe survived, but not lived.”

“What is life when Ter attacks? What is it when draasin destroy your homes? The ala’shin learned to summon draasin to fight on their behalf. They gave us time, but only to escape. And now they do not answer the summons. Did not,” he said, his gaze going to the entrance of the cavern. Outside in the night, the draasin perched somewhere on the rock.

Ciara could
almost
sense the connection but knew at least that the draasin had not left her as the other had. “Why did they stop answering?”

“They have lost, Ciara.”

“Lost what?”

“Don’t you understand what is happening?”

“I understand that our people cower in caves, suffering, while the people of Ter attack. I understand that you knew much more than you ever shared, knowledge that could have saved us. And I understand that I’m now mixed up in something I can’t begin to understand.”

“But you must. You must try to understand it. And we don’t cower. We survive. If we make it through this season, we will survive the next. And the next. There is nothing we can do to overcome these attacks.”

“But Ter—”

“Has shapers. They attacked because they thought the draasin controlled by Rens, and they were controlled, only not by Rens.”

Ciara didn’t think she understood. How
could
she understand what he described? “What did you mean when you asked me if I understood what was happening? What
is
happening?”

“This is a war. One between powers greater than man. A war for control of the elementals. And if the darkness comes, I fear it means the war is nearly over.”

C
iara slept fitfully
, finding the hard stone of the cave much less comfortable than she once did, especially now that she’d grown accustomed to something as soft as the stuffed pallet Cheneth had granted her. Dreams intruded upon her sleep, some filled with flickers of light and shadow, almost as if they fought.

Once, when she awoke, she thought that another was in the cavern with her. She focused on water, straining to know if someone was near, but there was no one other than her father, and she didn’t need water to know that. His slow, labored breathing told her so as well as anything.

Ciara drifted back to sleep. In the morning, she awoke but didn’t feel fully rested. She made her way out of the cavern and back onto the still-cool rock to find the draasin perched atop the tower. She considered a summons, but part of her wanted to climb to the draasin.

The last time she’d attempted that climb, she’d nearly fallen. Had Fas not been there, she
would
have fallen. This time, there would be no Fas to catch her.

She started up the side of the rock. It was nearly sheer, with only a few handholds, but there were natural cracks in the rock, and she dug her fingers into those as she worked her way higher.

About halfway up, fatigue started to set in, but she ignored it. She
would
make it up this time. If she didn’t… she wouldn’t think about what would happen if she didn’t. Hopefully the lizard would reach her and heal her if she fell. Jasn Volth wouldn’t be able to help. He didn’t even know she was here.

She ignored the flush that worked through her as she thought of Jasn Volth. The man was strong, and a powerful water shaper, but he was of Ter. And he had a history with Rens that he hadn’t shared with her.

Ciara continued the climb. Pain in her fingers with each movement became a steady throbbing and finally numbness. Blood stained the rock as she climbed, and she ignored it. Once, her foot slipped, but she pressed her grip even more tightly into the rock, and she caught herself.

Then her hand grabbed an edge. She heaved herself to the top.

She’d made it. And by herself.

The draasin was perched on the lip of rock, long tail wrapped around the stone for support. Had Ciara even seen that during her climb? If she had, she might have climbed along the draasin’s tail. But no, that would be cheating in a way.

“Why are you up here?” she asked the draasin.

She didn’t expect the elemental to answer. Summoning an elemental was not the same as how she spoke to the lizard. An image came into her mind, one with flashes of orange and reds, bright colors that told Ciara about the way the draasin viewed the world.

“You came for what you could see?”

The draasin didn’t answer.

Ciara stood on the edge of the rock overlooking this part of Rens. She could see the vast expanse of the waste, the rolling sand dunes that marked the edge of Rens and the beginning of the waste. Beyond the dunes was a massive crevasse. And from there… from there, Ciara didn’t know what exactly was out there. The draasin. She’d seen them while trying to survive when she accompanied the lizard. Water, enough for her people to survive. And other lands, perhaps Tsanth.

The tower of rock was where the nya’shin had always gone to search for water. It was a rite of passage in some ways, marking the transition between those who would be nya’shin and those who would not. Ciara had never made the climb completely on her own. But the view… the view was worth it.

She looked down from the rock and saw a few people making their way out of the caverns for the day. Even from up here, she recognized the steady beat of Fas’s heart. He must be watching her.

How would she get down? Normally the nya’shin would bring lengths of rope and rappel down, but she had forgotten. Climbing had been something that she’d done on a whim, and she had come unprepared.

“Can you fly me down?” she asked the draasin.

In some ways, she was surprised the draasin had remained overnight, but Ciara
had
asked if she would. That the elemental had complied was amazing.

The draasin lowered her head. Ciara took that to mean she agreed and climbed on. The creature jumped and spread her wings, soaring from the top of the rock as she circled down to the ground.

“I think,” Ciara began, looking around at the faces of the villagers who had come out, many now gaping at the draasin, “I think I need to return to Ter. Will you wait for me?”

The draasin didn’t answer and didn’t send any images to her. Ciara didn’t know whether that meant she agreed or that she didn’t. Either way, it didn’t matter. If the draasin left, she would be forced to remain with her people. Her father might be able to teach her, though she wondered how much she could actually learn from him. And if he couldn’t teach, she could at least be with her people and perhaps protect them if Tenebeth reached to them again.

If she went with the draasin, she
would
face Tenebeth again. That was the reason Olina wanted her to learn. There were others who would fight with her, if only she took the time to understand them. If her father was right, and if this
was
a war between the elementals, then shouldn’t she help if she could?

She climbed down and made for Fas. He started away from her before stopping and waiting in the shadows of Nisa Point. Once, she would have assumed he did it simply to avoid the sun, but she had seen the way that Tenebeth used him. Was Fas still tainted, or had her summons—whatever it had done—managed to expel the darkness?

“You haven’t spoken to me,” she said.

Fas looked to the ground, his shoulders slumped. “You know what happened.”

“No. I don’t know what happened. I think I know what happened.”

“I only wanted to help our people, Ciara. When we were attacked the last time, when the draasin came,” he started, pulling his gaze up and looking over her shoulder at the draasin. “I knew I wasn’t strong enough to do what we needed. I think… I think it sensed that about me. Offered me strength. Power.”

Ciara looked upon Fas with pity. He had sought strength and he had become so much less than he had been. “He offered me the same, but I refused.”

“Well, I’m not as strong as you.”

“You are!” Ciara said, anger rising in her voice. “At least, you were. Refuse him and he can’t take over your mind. Welcome him in, and… and you see what happens.”

“I thought I was helping our people,” he said again. He finally met her eyes. His brown eyes held sadness behind the hollows. “What will you do now? You ride the draasin. You command it.”

“I don’t command anything,” Ciara said. “I summon. The draasin answers if she chooses to do so.”

“That’s still commanding it.”

Ciara didn’t think they were the same but decided she wouldn’t argue with Fas. She didn’t need to. There was nothing she did that was about control. Even with the one elemental she could speak to, she had no control. She had tried asking—begging even—but that had gotten her nowhere.

“I need to know if you’re still affected,” she said.

Fas looked away.

She slammed her j’na into the ground. A burst of light erupted from it. “I need to know!”

Fas looked up, meeting her eyes again. “It’s gone. Whatever you did stole away my—”

“Your what? You think you had power? You were used, Fas. For whatever Tenebeth wanted with you.”

Fas blinked slowly. “You. It wanted you.”

She suppressed a shiver. That Tenebeth would chase her to her home, attack those she knew, simply to reach her. Did he really think that would convince her to work with him? Or did he think to use her too?

Ciara tapped her j’na once more. Another smaller flash of light came from it and she pointed it toward Fas. “My father will watch for his return, Fas. If you welcome him back to the village, I will know.”

He held her gaze for a moment before looking down.

Ciara turned away, disgust roiling through her. How could she have ever thought that she wanted to pair with Fas? Even Eshan would have been better.

Threatening Fas might do no good. She might want to know if he welcomed Tenebeth, but would she? Her father would have to find some way of reaching her. And if the village were attacked again, Ciara would have to convince Cheneth and the shapers to help. She was lucky that nothing more had happened when she came alone. As it was, she had nearly been overwhelmed.

As she searched for her father, she saw faces she had grown up with. Usa, who had always baked for the entire village. Vend, who helped with the shepa. Old Lyssa, one of the council. Even Damas, once a nya’shin and now nearly as old as her father. All looked at her strangely, almost as if she were an outsider.

Ciara didn’t realize the reason until she had nearly reached the draasin. She
was
an outsider to them now. Dressed in clothes and boots of Ter and riding a draasin, she was no more a part of the village than Cheneth would be were he to have come.

Even if she wanted to remain with the village, she doubted she could.

Knowing that made her decision easier.

Her father waited for her near the draasin. Ciara considered who else in the village she might want to see but decided they might not want to see her.

“You will return to your training?” her father said.

Training. That wasn’t what she would call it, but if that made her father feel better about where she went, then she would leave it at that. “I will return to Cheneth,” she said. “I can’t stay here any longer.”

“No, my daughter. You have moved past this home.”

“You could come. With what we will face, you could help.”

He smiled sadly and looked upon the draasin. “When Fas fell and you attempted the summons, that was the first time I had tried—truly tried—since before you were born. I was ala’shin, but the draasin no longer answered my summons and had not for many years. But you… you are destined to be ala’shin. Perhaps more than that if you really can summon more than the draasin.”

“I can’t do anything consistently,” she said. “When I try, the summons doesn’t work.”

“But you reached the draasin.”

The draasin turned her bright eyes on Ciara. Through the draasin’s sight, she had a sense of the way the draasin saw her, awash in bright red and orange light, almost burning with flames. She blinked, and the vision faded.

“I reached the draasin this time, Father. But the next? Or the time after that? I might call to earth. Or wind. Or water. And each of them has many ways to answer.”

Her father tapped his j’na softly on the ground. It made a healthy smack, nothing like the sickly sound that it had when Tenebeth had influenced him. “When I first learned to summon the draasin, I was told that it mattered less about the pattern, less about the sound my j’na made, and more about what I felt inside. The j’na and the pattern only focused that power.” He smiled. “The one who taught me claimed that some could eventually learn to summon without ever touching the j’na to the ground, without ever taking a step in the pattern. All I had to do was focus on the energy that would come from them, and I could unleash it myself.” He tapped his j’na again. “I never managed to learn that technique. None of us did. I do not know if it is even possible, but I think that it must be. And you, my daughter, have the potential to learn it.”

He pulled her into a hug. He smelled of heat, and sweat, and so much like her father. She would miss him, but he was needed here, with the people, to protect them if Tenebeth came again.

“You will summon me if he returns,” Ciara said.

“I will try.”

She turned to the draasin and fixed an image in her mind of the Ter camp. The barracks, as they called it. The draasin lowered her head, and Ciara climbed onto her back. “Who taught you?” she asked her father.

Her father hesitated, and a tight expression pulled the corners of his eyes and mouth. “He was a young man, but even then, he understood things that others did not, and he warned us about the war. Without his warning, more of Rens would have fallen. He came from a place he called Hyaln, a place of learning, and he called himself Cheneth.”

Ciara laughed softly to herself. That explained why Cheneth knew so much about Rens, but why hadn’t he told her he knew her father?

“Listen to him, Ciara. He might not teach the way that you want, but there are lessons there nonetheless. You can be great. I knew that about you from the very start. Learn what you can. Help your people. All of them.”

He stretched his hand to her and she took it, squeezing for a long moment. When she released it, she whispered to the draasin, “Let’s return.”

Then the draasin took to the air.

Ciara watched as her home became smaller and smaller before finally disappearing from view.