Endless Night (9 page)

C
iara remained hidden
in the trees. Shadows stretched around her and the stream ran nearby. As had become her practice, she focused on the water flowing through the stream first, trying to gain an awareness of water, thinking if she managed to master the element, then she could understand what she needed to do with the summoning.

Her j’na rested on her knees. The end of the staff had blunted, but not as much as she would have expected with all the striking she’d done, sending it into the rock over and over. Each time she did, she wondered if the spear would crack and break, but it never did. It was possible that the patterns her father had placed upon the length of the spear protected it.

She thought of him often. Were she to return to Rens, would he offer to teach her what she needed so that she could understand how to summon the draasin, maybe help her master how to summon the other elementals? So far, she had managed to summon elementals, but there was still no consistency to it and no control. The lizard—and Cheneth—seemed to think she could learn that skill, but she wasn’t certain. It was as if each time she attempted to recreate a pattern she had done before, something shifted, preventing her from repeating it.

How long had she been at the barracks? More than a week. And then two weeks in K’ral before that. Over a month since she’d last been in Rens. And in that time, so much had changed for her. Not only her understanding of things, but the realization that she might really be more than simply a water seeker. She might not be able to call it like Fas or Eshan had managed so easily, or even like her father, but there was the hope that what she did might give her even more potential. If she could reach the elementals, creatures like the draasin, or earth, or wind, or even the lizard—maybe
especially
the lizard—then what else might she be able to do? Only, everything required that she remain in Ter, studying with Cheneth. But so far, he had not done much to teach.

With a sigh, Ciara stood and made her way over to the stream. She took a long drink before standing, not missing the constant thirst that had been her companion in Rens. She missed the heat of the sun, though, and the dry air. Here, everything was moist, including the air.

Returning to the clearing where she had attempted every summons, she paused to consider what she wanted to try. Attempting to call the draasin had been unsuccessful. It was as if the pattern she’d used to draw the draasin was different than the one she remembered in her mind. Maybe it wasn’t the pattern, though. Maybe it had more to do with the fact that she didn’t summon the draasin in Rens. It was possible the location mattered as much as her actions.

The first steps had proven to be the hardest. Ciara tried to fix an image of what she wanted to summon in her mind and used that image to strain for the memory of what she had summoned in the past. So far, she had summoned enough different elementals that she thought she should be done finding new ones, but that hadn’t proven to be the case. Even within something like wind, there were slight variations that told her there were differences. The temperature, or the force of the wind, or even the way it touched upon her skin. All told her she hadn’t managed to consistently reach the same elemental.

Earth. That would be what she summoned today.

She could think of five different earth elementals she had summoned so far. The first had been while in Cheneth’s home. The others had all come here. One had been so powerful that it had nearly split the ground beneath her feet. Had she not released the summons, she suspected she would have been thrown into a deep chasm. And without the lizard to heal her, she doubted she could survive a fall like that again.

Thunder rolled distantly, and she glanced at the sky.

Storms, but thunder didn’t necessarily mean rain. Not in Ter.

The Ter shapers used lightning to travel. Cheneth had traveled with her on a similar shaping. Now when she heard thunder, she looked up, wondering who might be traveling and where they might be heading. This time, she saw thick dark clouds in the distance, and the thunder rumbled again. Perhaps it meant rain after all.

The Stormcallers of her village would have had a fit had they the chance to call to the rain in these lands. She’d not been here
that
long, but there had been two rains, one heavy enough that she might once have called it a great storm. Now she wondered if that was even true.

If the storm came while she was out here… She would just have to start back to the camp before that happened. But first, she wanted to try the summons. Likely she would fail. She doubted she would manage to summon the elemental that she intended.

A subtle shifting of earth. That was all she wanted. There had been one elemental that seemed to have limited strength, but her second attempt to reach it had resulted in her calling the extra powerful elemental. She had hesitated to try again, but maybe she couldn’t hold off any longer.

The first step. That’s all she had to take.

It was hardest because she struggled to hold the form in her mind. Once she began, the pattern essentially flowed from her, almost guiding her without giving her much choice. She only had to step, tap, and step.

Could she draw on the weaker earth elemental?

She tried thinking of it and took the step.

When her foot struck, she flicked her j’na, sending it to the stone with a sharp
crack.

The sound
seemed
right. Sometimes the sound of the j’na against the stone mattered as well. She hadn’t managed to master the difference, but there
were
differences to the speed, or the angle, or even how long she held on to the shaft of the spear, either muting the sound or amplifying it.

She took another step.
Crack.
Another.
Crack.

As she took her steps, Ciara made a point of holding the thought of the earth elemental in her mind. If she could reach for it, if she could only repeat the pattern she had used before, she would have more confidence that she could reliably do this. Even once. That was all she wanted.

The pattern took on its own form. Was it the same? Ciara didn’t know. Thinking too much about it was distracting, and she’d learned she would fail if she tried. Instead, she had to allow herself to move in the pattern, to let it draw her.

Step.
Crack.
Step.

Her feet slid forward, knowing the steps, the sound of the j’na striking the ground filling the air. Would someone else hear it? Would they know what she did? She thought the camp was isolated, but what did she really know about anything of Ter? It was possible they were near a Terran city.

Ruthlessly, she returned her concentration to the task at hand.

Step.
Crack.
Step.

She felt a deep rumbling. Was this the same as what she’d done before? Was this the gentler elemental she’d worked with before?

Wind started to pull on her cloak, biting through the thick layers.

She had to ignore it. Focusing on the wind would only have her draw wind to her when she wanted earth.

Step.
Crack.
Step.

The rumbling beneath her took on a more violent form.

Ciara’s next step missed. The j’na slipped, colliding with the ground with a
snap
.

She caught herself, taking another step and flicking the j’na to the ground.
Crack.
But the next step was wrong. She
felt
that it was wrong, though didn’t know why she should.

She flicked her j’na. It hit the ground at a strange angle, the sense of wrongness intensifying.

The spear went flying away from her as if repelled.

Ciara scrambled after it, cursing. She had failed. Again.

Usually when she lost control of a summoning, the elemental slipped back to wherever it came from. This time, the earth continued to rumble deeply beneath her.

She was tossed, thrown away from the j’na.

Her arm struck the ground at an odd angle, and she heard it crack as much as she felt it.

Ciara cried out and reached for her j’na. If nothing else, then for comfort.

The ground continued to rumble. The wind that had picked up swirled around her nearly as violently as the rumbling earth. Sharp needles of rain fell.

Ciara tried moving but screamed when her arm got caught on the ground with another surge.

Stormbringer! Would she survive the waste only to suffer and die here in Ter?

And much like in the waste, this would be her fault. She had been the one who thought she could summon the elementals, who thought she could control them, who foolishly listened to Cheneth’s suggestion that she try. But there was no control, was there? Not with the draasin. Not with earth. And not with the lizard.

Where was the lizard? If he came, he could heal her. She’d seen it, had experienced him do it more than once, but why would he leave her now?

Nobelas!

She tried calling out, but the connection to the elemental did not feel natural, and she wasn’t certain she reached him the right way.

The ground continued to rumble. Wind tore at her hair, her clothes, her skin, forcing her to wrap her injured arm around herself, shielding herself as much as she could.

Likely it wouldn’t matter. The storm that came felt no different than a great storm of Rens. And when those struck, they were powerful. Too powerful to survive in the open.

A chill worked through her.

Something about the cold felt familiar. She had experienced it before, even if she hadn’t realized it at first.

“Look where you got yourself.”

The voice came from all around, a deep and angry sort of sound. Ciara shivered, trying to withdraw, but the pain in her arm prevented her from moving.

“I can see to it that you feel no pain,” Tenebeth said.

“Go away,” Ciara told him.

Laughter echoed in time with peals of thunder. “You don’t want me to go away. You summoned me, little nya’shin.”

Her heart skipped a beat.
Had
she summoned him? She didn’t think so, but what if she
had
? She possessed no control over her summoning and simply let the pattern guide her, so it was possible that her summons had been meant for Tenebeth.

But he wasn’t an elemental, was he?

Nobelas!

She cried out for the lizard but was met once more with silence.

Tenebeth laughed again, peals of thunder echoing him. “You cry out when you could walk the clouds proudly. You cower when you should stand tall. You could be so much, my little nya’shin.”

Ciara shook her head. “Leave me alone. I didn’t summon you.”

Tenebeth came closer. She felt it as the cold in the air grew sharper. Had it been that way when he approached her in the waste? Maybe, she decided, but she would have been too tired and sick and thirsty to notice.

“You think you didn’t, but I felt the stirrings within you. I felt the way you drew me. How could I resist when my little nya’shin sent her summons?”

Ciara tried pushing herself along the ground, working her legs across the rock, but pain shot through her arm as she did. She screamed, and the sense of cold washed over her, the pain easing, if only for a moment. Then it returned, as sharp and fresh as it had been. She screamed again, a sound the loud cracks of thunder drowned out.

“See how little you would have to feel? I can teach you, guide you through your skills. You would not be the first. Many summoners come to me. How could they not, when they receive no power otherwise? With each day, I grow stronger and soon you will lose your chance to join me.”

“The enlightened will teach.”

Tenebeth laughed again. “Enlightened. You think the enlightened know even a fraction of what I know? I am power. I am darkness. I am the beginning and the end. They know nothing but the light.”

Ciara shivered. Right now, all she wanted was the light and warmth, anything to send Tenebeth away from her, to force him to leave her alone. “Go,” she begged.

The sense of chill washed over her again, this time with increased intensity. Her body spasmed and pain shot through her injured arm.

Ciara kicked in the direction of Tenebeth but knew it would do no good. What use was there in kicking at the emptiness? What could she do against a power like him?

Rain continued to pelt her in sharp needles, so painful that she lost sensation of anything else. Her mind went blank. All she could remember was to push back against Tenebeth.

She kicked again. And again. Each time she did, Tenebeth laughed, punctuated by the heavy rain.

One more kick. This time, her injured arm struck something solid.

As numb as she was from the rain and from the pain she felt, she recognized the shaft of her spear. Ciara constricted her injured hand around it, letting the familiarity of the runes press against her palm. She tried to squeeze but had no strength.

If she could only twist, she might be able to put the j’na between her and Tenebeth.

The thought stayed in her mind, and she rolled.

Blinding pain shot through her with the movement.

But she got her arm free. Using her good arm, she grabbed the spear and held it out. The rain sheeted down, and she couldn’t see anything in front of her, but she could
feel
the chill in the air that Tenebeth created.

She thrust the spear away from her.

Laughter echoed again, but the chill receded.

She jabbed again. In her mind, she thought she saw a flash of light, either her spear or—more likely—a flash of lightning. She was in too much pain to be certain of anything.

The chill in the air receded even more.

Once more, she thrust with the j’na. Did the rain seem to be easing? The ground continued to rumble as it had with her shaping… No, not the ground. Thunder. A steady, rolling sort of thunder that filled her. The rain definitely slowed, no longer so painful.