Read Online Fortress Of Fire (Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg - Free Book Online Page A

scared, too. The thought of losing you terrifies me.”
    She hugged him back and rested her head on his chest. “And now you want to find out what Incendin plans.”
    “The alternative is worse. If we wait—if there’s something to the fires burning atop the Fire Fortress—we need to know. And Roine can help.”
    “He’s too busy with the minutia of running the kingdoms.”
    “Then the other shapers. But I’m the only one who speaks to the elementals. There’s a reason the Great Mother gave me this gift. I can’t simply choose not to use it, not if I can keep others safe from what happened to me.”
    That had to be the reason he’d been given the ability to speak so easily to the elementals. From Asboel, Tan had the sense that there was a reason he’d bonded to the great fire elemental. From the nymid, he had the sense that there was a reason he and Amia had been brought together.
    “What of my gift? I used to think the Great Mother blessed me to help the People, but now I have no people,” Amia said.
    They fell into silence, neither of them with answers.
----
    T he knock on the door startled him. Tan jumped to his feet and hurried to the door, pulling it open. His mother stood on the other side, her dark hair streaked with highlights of gray was pulled in a tight bun. Her gaze slipped past Tan to stare into the room, coming to rest on Amia. She sniffed silently.
    “Mother? What time is it?”
    “Time to begin your lessons,” she said. “Come.”
    She started away without waiting for Tan or saying anything to Amia. He glanced back to see Amia nod but felt the sadness through their connection. Then he hurried out after his mother, taking only the time to grab a light cloak to protect from the evening chill.
    His mother made her way down the street. The buildings here had not seen the same destruction as elsewhere in the city. Most were made of aged and faded brick and stone, though some were painted wood. A chill hung on the air and a few gusts of wind swirled around his mother’s feet, almost as if ara worked playfully with her. Light burned in a few of the open windows, enough to see occasional shadows. Tan noted that saa flickered around the flames, as if drawn to them. He could almost see the lesser elemental, not only feel its presence.
    When they reached an open area, Zephra grabbed his arm and, without a word, leapt to the wind with a quick shaping.
    Tan had traveled with his mother’s shaping before, but this time it was different. A face of ara flittered in and out, as if spying on Tan. As he watched, it seemed the face took on the same shape each time. Could she have bonded a single elemental much like he had with Asboel? He thought she spoke to all the wind elementals, but maybe that wasn’t the case.
    “Where are we going?” he asked as they traveled. Wind buffeted him, leaving him cold, nothing like when he traveled with Asboel. Then, he had the heat of the draasin’s spikes, the warmth of his back, the solid connection. He had none of that now.
    “After what happened earlier today, I’m taking you someplace where you can’t harm yourself while you learn.”
    “I think I have enough control to keep from hurting myself.”
    “Fine. Prove it.” She released his arm.
    Tan tumbled from her, the protection of her shaping leaving him spiraling toward the ground. Wind streamed past his face. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He screamed, fumbling through the terror and chill as he reached for ara and failing. The wind elemental ignored him.
    A patch of green came toward him frighteningly fast. He covered his face, praying to the Great Mother. Tan reached for golud, thinking to soften the ground, and tried for a shaping. This failed, too. Before crashing, he tried one more shaping, one of fire, attempting to press a burst of flame and steam away from him, but nothing seemed to work.
    Then he slowed, landing with nothing more than a soft thump. His mother danced to a landing, giving him a