Darkness Rising (The Endless War Book 2) (14 page)

“There’s nothing particular about what is taught,” she said. “He learns to appreciate a certain sensitivity to the elements.”

“So that he can reach for more?”

Alena hesitated. What did Oliver know?

The guild had always proven themselves to be intelligent shapers, and inquisitive. They had to be in order to understand something as obscure as healing, using water to help the body recover in ways that others could not; even those with water shaping ability struggled to accomplish what the guild managed.

She glanced at the wall of books behind Oliver and wondered if there might be something more. Were they more like the scholars than they let on? Scholars within Atenas were different from men like Eldridge and Cheneth, at least as far as she remembered, but maybe not all of them were. What if there was more to the scholars than she realized?

“I don’t know what you’re suggesting,” she said.

Oliver sniffed. “No? You did not seem all that surprised to see Jasn heal our friend.”

“What do you know, Oliver?”

A dark smile spread across his face, stretching his heavy cheeks. A shaping of water built, settling around them, sealing everything else out. She wondered why he would need such precautions here.

“Enough to know that there are mysteries to the world that even the scholars have yet to answer. Enough to know that there are powers in our world that I can’t explain.” He leaned toward her and lowered his voice. “But there are others who can. Others to whom those mysteries are
not
mysteries, who walk down paths I can’t fathom.” He hesitated, letting the words settle for a moment, then he leaned back. “From the look on your face and the way your heart races, I can tell you’re not one of them. Eldridge might be closer, and whoever leads you closer still, but I think you still don’t know nearly what is needed. There is a darkness coming to our lands, Alena Lagaro. I can
feel
it, even if I don’t know what it means.”

Alena felt her heart flutter. Oliver’s words reminded her so much of what Cheneth said, but why? “What do you know, Oliver?” she asked again.

He shook his head slowly. “Probably nothing. But the guild recognizes that the world changes and that with change comes pain. We must do what we can to heal that pain. And you’ve taken Jasn Volth from us, a man who would help more than you know.” He sighed. “You have made him nothing more than a soldier when he could be so much more.”

Oliver lowered the protective shaping and tipped his head toward her, stepped back into his room, and closed the door in her face.

T
he barracks felt
different than the last time Jasn had been here. Then, he’d left with questions and uncertainty, not knowing what to do about Lachen’s request of him or about what he’d discovered of Alena. There had been frustration as well. How much time had been spent trying to coax Alena to teach him, as if he should need to force her?

Even in the short time he’d been away, much had changed. Mostly it was within him. Not only had he come to understand that he could speak to the elementals, even if he didn’t know what that meant, but that Katya might still be alive.

What did that mean for him?

The past year he’d spent trying and failing to die. Now that he learned she might still live… Had Lachen known? Was that the reason he’d brought him to the barracks? If so, he could have simply
told
him, unless there was more to the reason of Lachen bringing him here, and Jasn wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

The change wasn’t only within him. He’d been gone for barely more than a week, but the barracks itself had changed. There was a darkness about it, and the air stank of blood and fire. Alena had warned him about what had happened, but he hadn’t been certain what to believe when it came to her. The buildings and the trees around the barracks didn’t look any different, but there was a sense here that had been absent before. Maybe it was only he who had changed.

Jasn stepped out from the edge of the trees, leaving the cool of the forest as he approached the buildings. His eyes were drawn to the nearest draasin pen, the one that contained the smallest draasin, and he was surprised to see the pen destroyed. The pens were made of circular stone walls, completely enclosed, and had been fortified with earth shaped into them. They had been strong enough that he could think of no way for them to be damaged. This pen had crumbled, as if the stone of the pen had been squeezed together, leaving a pile of rock.

Had the draasin been inside?

It was a measure of how much
he
had changed that he wondered. When he’d served along the border of Rens, he’d cared about nothing more than getting revenge for what had happened to Katya. That meant attacking the draasin, even if there was nothing he could really do.

He made his way toward Cheneth. Regardless of what he decided, whether he would work with Alena or he would do as Lachen asked, the scholar led the camp. He had been the one to explain the purpose of the elementals, even if Jasn wasn’t ready to hear it. Jasn had seen there was more to Cheneth than he let on, and he wanted to understand what that was.

“He’s not there.”

He paused and turned to see Bayan watching him from between a pair of buildings. She was a slender woman, dark hair pulled back behind her head. Her short sword hung at her waist, though she carried it less comfortably than most of the order. “Where can I find him?” he asked her.

Bayan took another step forward, studying his face as if he were some puzzle she needed to solve. “I don’t know. He’s been gone since…”

She turned in the direction of the fallen draasin pen but didn’t finish.

“What happened?”

“I’m not certain.” Bayan studied him. “Where have you been?”

Jasn had known the questions would come. He’d left the barracks after learning of Alena’s ability, after healing Thenas, and there would be those who wanted to know why, especially since he had passed the first trial. Were he to stay, there would be other tests until he was raised to full hunter, but even after all that had happened, Jasn wasn’t sure he wanted to be promoted to that level.

“Atenas.” There was no point lying to Bayan, especially if she knew the truth about Alena.

“Why Atenas?”

Jasn sighed and started toward the draasin pen, curious about how it had fallen. Bayan fell in beside him. “You know what I did before I came here?”

She laughed darkly. “You haven’t hidden yourself quite so well as you would think.”

Jasn glanced over at her. “I hadn’t intended to hide myself at all.”

“So you didn’t care if anyone knew you were the Wrecker of Rens?”

Jasn closed his eyes a moment. It was a title he hadn’t wanted, but also one he had claimed. With all the destruction he’d caused Rens, didn’t he deserve such a title? “I came to get away from that.”

Bayan watched him. “Why? You were the reason Ter claimed so much land along the eastern border. Why leave?”

Jasn grunted, tipping his head toward the debris. “It would seem that I had much to learn.”

They stopped outside the remains of the pen. The stink of the dead draasin hung in the air. Some of the stones were stained red, and Jasn almost imagined the creature crushed beneath the weight of the rock. If what Alena said was true, the creatures had come here willingly, allowed them to bind them in stone, but he still didn’t understand
why.
And now one of them had died because they remained here, so close to so many who wanted them dead.

“The stories about you—”

“Are mostly true,” he said, not lifting his gaze off the rock. He could feel the way the stone had been squeezed, as if earth had heaved together simply to crush the draasin. It would have been a horrible way for the creature to die.

“How? I mean, how are you still alive?”

That question had plagued him for the past year. At least now he had answers, even if he didn’t fully understand them. Why would the elementals care enough about him to keep him alive? What was he to them?

More than that, Alena spoke of how she communicated with the draasin. As far as he knew, he’d never spoken to the elementals of water, never had the sense that there was anything there other than the fact that he couldn’t die. Every attack left him healed, or allowed him to heal himself, something those within the guild like Oliver claimed shouldn’t be possible. Even here, while in the barracks, he’d used his ability to heal himself when the draasin had attacked him. That it had been deserved didn’t make it any better. Worse, he now wondered if Alena had somehow asked the draasin to attack. Had she known what he could do? Was it some way of testing him, of finding out what he might be, or did she simply want him gone? She hadn’t denied the fact that she wanted nothing to do with teaching him. Now, at least, he understood why.

“I left Atenas and the healer guild to go to the front,” he said finally.

“You… You’re a
healer
?”

“Was, I think. I trained with Oliver.” With the way Bayan sucked in a breath, he knew she recognized his name. Most did. “He would have had me remain with him, to continue to study in Atenas, but after…” He shook his head. What did it matter if he told Bayan about Katya? What did it matter if she still might be alive? The hurt was still there. If she lived, why hadn’t she returned to him? “After something happened, I decided that I was no longer fit to be a healer. I took an assignment with the order along the front and was there for”—he counted the months—“a long time. Long enough to gain a reputation. Long enough that when I was summoned to return, I knew it was time to leave.”

“That’s how you’re here? You impressed the commander enough that you were summoned to learn here?”

Jasn swallowed. It sounded horrible to him when he thought of it that way. Maybe that was the entire reason that Lachen had brought him here. Did it matter if it was? Not to him, not really. Staying on the front and continuing his attempts at dying or coming here and learning what might kill him. Both were the same.

“That is the reason.”

He touched the stone, finding a piece with the strange symbols marked on them. Wyath had shared some of that knowledge with him, but Jasn still wasn’t strong enough to replicate it.

Footsteps thundered toward him, and Jasn turned to see Calan approach. From what Jasn had learned, Calan had been one of the very first instructors, even before Alena, which meant that he’d likely come to the barracks at the same time as Wyath. Had Cheneth been here then as well?

“Where is she?” Calan demanded as he approached. His hands were crossed over his chest.

Bayan shuffled to the side next to him. “She’s not here, Calan. As I told you before, I don’t know when she’s returning.”

“Don’t know or won’t tell me?”

“I don’t know. I’m sure she’ll be happy to speak to you when she returns—”

Calan cut her off by shifting toward Jasn. “And you. Where have you been? You haven’t been in the barracks since”—he frowned—“since my foolish student thought to attack the penned draasin. He said you worked together with Alena to keep him from killing the beast before he ran off. Bastard hasn’t been seen since.”

“There’s nothing to learn from a dead draasin,” Jasn said. Where had Thenas gone? “That is why I’m here, isn’t it?”

Calan grunted. “Not from these,” he said. “Where have you been? Were you with her?”

Jasn wondered why the animosity between Calan and Alena. The last time he’d seen the man, Alena had helped him, or at least she’d made it seem like she was helping him. The draasin hadn’t
really
been killed, not like Calan had thought.

“Not with her. I was called back to Atenas.”

“Called back? Your assignment is here. Who could call you back—”

“The commander.”

Calan’s mouth pinched into a tight line. “The commander. It’s about time
this
commander takes an interest in the barracks. I can’t say that I’ve been too happy about the way we’ve been staffed. Not nearly enough warriors sent here to learn, and far too many scholars.” He glanced at the pen. “What did the commander ask of you?”

Jasn hesitated, debating his answer. “He wanted to know how my training went.”

Calan looked over. “Indeed? He takes that much interest in you?”

“We knew each other once.”

Calan nodded and scratched at his chin. “Not many claim to know the commander. He rose quickly through Atenas, always impressing the order with his skill. I’m not too fond of the idea of one his age leading, but he seems to have done well.”

Jasn didn’t want to say anything that might be critical of Lachen. It was possible that he wasn’t the only person Lachen had asked to serve as some sort of spy in the barracks. Even Thenas was a possibility, though he didn’t seem the type Lachen would use for that purpose.

“What do you need Alena for?” Jasn asked.

Calan turned his attention back to the pen. “She was there when it escaped.”

Jasn glanced over at Bayan, but she stared at Calan though she made a point of not meeting his eyes. “When what escaped?”

Calan waved a hand. “The creature in the forest. The one you and Thenas argued over. Ifrit and I decided it was time for us to remove that creature from the barracks. One that size is dangerous and too close to the camp. Alena found us and offered to help.”

“She helped you destroy one of the caged draasin?” She hadn’t mentioned anything about that, and it was the sort of thing that Jasn would have expected her to at least comment on.

“Not destroy. But after she left, the creature escaped.” Creases in his brow deepened at the comment. “And Ifrit was hurt. Tarak has managed to keep her alive, but only barely.” Calan hesitated. “You were a healer, from what I understand.”

Jasn nodded carefully.

“You will find Tarak, offer your help.”

Jasn blinked. He hadn’t come to the barracks to resume his service as a healer, but so far, that seemed how he’d spent much of his time. He’d left Atenas to get away from that duty. After Katya was lost, he couldn’t remain, not in his previous role. “How did the draasin escape?”

“That’s what I want to know from Alena. She was the last to secure the bindings on its wings. I need to know if she secured them completely.”

Jasn felt Bayan tense and sensed the way her heart fluttered for a moment. She knew something, even if she didn’t tell Calan. Did she know about Alena? She had served as her student for many years, so it made sense that she would, but Alena hadn’t mentioned anything about Bayan’s inclusion.

If what she suggested was true though, Bayan would have potential to speak to elementals. Could that be the reason all were brought here?

“Alena would have secured the chains,” Jasn said.

“Yes. I’m certain that she would.” There was a hint to his tone that told Jasn that Calan wasn’t completely convinced. Jasn would have to warn her.

Though, what did he owe Alena? Nothing, as far as he was concerned. But he
did
want to know what she might know about the elementals, and he
did
want to learn if he could really develop the ability to speak to them more than simply allowing their power to work through him. More than that, he wanted to find Katya, and working with Alena—the last person to have seen her alive—seemed like the only way he could do that. He would protect her. For now.

Jasn turned away from the pen and started toward the healer. Bayan watched him for a moment, and he felt the way her eyes lingered on his back, the heaviness to her gaze. She was another person he had to understand. Bayan knew something, but maybe not everything. She could be useful, especially if Alena hadn’t shared her secret with Bayan. That gave him a certain kind of leverage.

There was another reason to want to work with Bayan. If she was Alena’s student at the same time as Katya, she might know something about what happened. Maybe not the same as Alena, but she might have a different understanding of events or had heard rumors. Jasn could use that.

Whatever else he did, and whatever else he learned in the barracks, he wanted to know what had happened to Katya. And if she lived, he
would
find her.