Free Prelude to Fire: Parts 1 and 2 by D. K. Holmberg Page A

by tensing as he walked, he felt everything as a constant jarring sensation. Jayna kept her arm around him for support, but she wasn’t able to do much more than stabilize him.
    “Why the palace?” she asked as they neared the outer wall.
    “I told you. There’s someone I need to see.” If Ilianna had come to the university, maybe she had returned to the palace where he could find her.
    “But the king is sick.”
    Lacertin nodded. “He is.”
    “You’ve seen him?”
    “I’ve spoken to him since I returned.” Jayna sucked in a breath. “It did not go well,” Lacertin admitted.
    “Wallyn says that whatever causes his illness is unlike anything he’s seen before. It’s more than a wasting illness.”
    If Lacertin had any doubt about Jayna’s potential before, he did not now. For a master water shaper to speak to a student so honestly about what he had done for the king, it meant that she was more skilled—or at least had the potential to be more skilled—than most other water shapers.
    “I don’t know about that. I wasn’t able to do much other than wake him,” he said.
    They stopped at the outer wall to the palace. A pair of shapers stood guard, but moved aside when they saw Lacertin. For a moment, he was surprised, but then he realized it wasn’t him that they stepped aside for, it was Jayna.
    “You shaped the king?” Jayna asked as they passed through the doors.
    “I needed to speak to him.”
    “But you said yourself that you don’t have much skill with healing.”
    “And I don’t.”
    “Then why risk the king’s safety? No offense, Lacertin, but I sensed the shaping that was used on Master Veran. You have strength, but it wasn’t a very careful shaping.”
    Lacertin grunted, leading her toward the garden outside the palace, choosing the most direct route toward it. Jayna gawked at the shapings around them, each made to resemble a part of the kingdoms, and each so difficult that none today could replicate them. Lacertin had been through here often enough that he no longer stared. From the way the guards had simply let Jayna pass, he had thought that she’d been through here many times before, but maybe that wasn’t the case.
    “Not a careful shaping, but I did what I needed to keep him alive.”
    They reached the front door and Lacertin drew on a shaping to open it. Even that much effort taxed him to the point where he had to lean more heavily on Jayna.
    The inside of the palace had even more activity than before. Servants hurried along halls and up stairs now guarded by a pair of shapers. Lacertin suspected they were meant to keep him out. His suspicion was confirmed when they eyed him as he entered. The air carried a thick, medicinal scent that was even stronger than before. Lacertin searched for Bren, but saw no sign of him.
    “I don’t think they’re going to let you pass,” Jayna whispered.
    Lacertin didn’t recognize either of the shapers, but there was no doubt that was what they were. One man stood with his arms crossed over his thick chest, his bald head beaded with a sheen of sweat. The shaping coming from him was like a constant pressure to Lacertin. The other shaper, a woman as wide as the other was muscular, frowned at him. From the soft tug of air moving through the palace, he suspected she was a wind shaper.
    “That’s fine,” he said.
    He started forward, forcing Jayna to keep her arm around him. As he passed the shapers, he felt them focus their shaping on him. He pushed it away, drawing on more strength than he should have needed. His legs wavered for a moment and Jayna propped him up to keep him from falling.
    “Thanks,” he whispered.
    “Was that necessary?” she asked.
    Lacertin shrugged. “Ask them.”
    They reached the end of the hall. Lacertin could still feel the shapers’ gaze on his back, but there came no additional shaping directed at him. A good thing, because he wasn’t sure he had the strength needed to fend them off again.
    A wide stair