Free Cloud Warrior 05 - Forged in Fire by D. K. Holmberg Page A

sword would be enough.
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    T he First Mother greeted Tan at the door to the small room holding Cora. “She should not be disturbed,” she said.
    “I won’t disturb her,” he said.
    The First Mother grunted and started past him, moving to the back room. She was confined here, not allowed anywhere else in the city, and would not be allowed outside the city to reach the gathering Aeta. Tan grabbed her arm and stopped her.
    “You’re calling a Gathering.”
    The First Mother looked up at him. “Theondar agreed to provide safety.”
    “That’s not all this is about.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Are you so certain it is not, Tannen? You can shape me so well?”
    Tan shook his head. “You know I cannot. Don’t think you can manipulate Amia—”
    She shot him a look. “You think that I manipulate the Daughter? Surely your skill with spirit is strong enough now that you can see I do not. I seek only to provide guidance.”
    “You want her to return to the People.”
    The First Mother leaned on the wall and sighed. For the first time, Tan realized how weary she seemed. “I have always wanted what is best for the People.”
    Tan released her arm and she started away. “Did you know about Par-shon?” he asked.
    It was a question that had troubled him. If the First Mother had shaped the Doma shapers, if she had compelled them, would she have known the reason Incendin wanted them? But more than that, connected as she was to spirit, shouldn’t she have recognized how the elementals suffered?
    “I knew that Incendin suffered. Much of it caused by their actions, but not all. And I sensed how they would do anything to protect their people. It’s a sentiment I shared with them.”
    She continued down the hall and turned into the room at the end.
    When Tan entered the room, he found Amia standing over the bed, hands on either side of Cora as she performed another spirit shaping. Cora lay motionless, no different than the last time Tan had seen her, only her cheeks were a little paler. The only difference was her hair. If anything, there was more color to it than before.
    The window was open and a cool breeze blew in, carrying with it the sounds from the street below. That it was cool told Tan that ara infused the wind rather than Honl and ashi. He wondered why that would be.
    Amia had been shaping constantly since their return from the Aeta, focusing on Cora with a renewed intensity. Even during his time in the archives, he had sensed that from her.
    Amia sighed and stepped away from the bed. “I need more strength,” she finally said. “Working with the First Mother has helped, but I’m not strong enough. There’s something there, but it’s so deeply buried. I feel that if we can only reach it, I can draw her out, bring back the shaper she once was.”
    “There might be a way to augment the strength of your shaping,” Tan said, thinking of the way the First Mother seeming increasingly frail with each day spent shaping. Amia must be feeling a similar toll.
    She arched a brow at him. “I will not use the artifact. That’s more temptation than any person should have.”
    “Not the artifact,” he started. Amia’s thoughts reflected those that he’d had while in the archives. The artifact could help, but it was too powerful for any shaper to attempt to use safely. “But there’s something else we could use that can augment shaping.”
    Her eyes lowered to the sword at his waist. “You want me to use the sword?”
    “I’m not sure that you can,” he said. “But I can. You can reach through our bond and use the strength of the sword, use my spirit reserves if needed. Maybe you’ll be able to finally heal her.”
    Amia stared at the sword for a long moment before finally turning to Cora. “What you suggest will be dangerous. For both of us.”
    From her willing tone, Tan suspected that Amia needed the success of healing Cora more than she realized. “We can try. If anything begins to go wrong, we can sever the