Born of Fire (The Cloud Warrior Saga Book 8) by D.K. Holmberg Read Free Book Online Page B

marks, and Tan found the surge of earth within each as he touched them. This bond was different than the forced bonds, wasn’t it? Different than what they used with the runes?
    Maybe it was not. Could that be why Marin and Elanne were angry with him? The runes they had possessed were different than the ones that the Utu Tonah had placed on his body. They had been fashioned into jewelry, or clothing, and set in ways that may not have been the same.
    He didn’t know.
    Anger had motivated him, and the memory of what the Utu Tonah had done. The people of Par-shon had used the forced bonds of the elementals, hadn’t they? What if there was a different answer than what he understood?
    Tan reached a small clearing and noted a tall windmill that pulled water from a well. On the blades of the windmill were marks that he recognized as for wind. He wouldn’t be surprised to find a mark for water as well.
    And he did. On the long drain leading to a hook for the bucket was a mark for water. Tan traced it, feeling a reverberation within him that signaled a connection to water, but different than anything he had experienced.
    Were these the marks of people who had used the elementals?
    Yet, they were also unlike the marks the Utu Tonah had used. Not only for the fact that they weren’t placed on an individual person, but also because they were a different shape and drew from another sense of power. These were older and, in some ways, more like the runes that he’d found in the kingdoms.
    Marin had referred to him as an outsider. Tan didn’t deny the fact that he was, and had thought that being an outsider brought him a greater understanding of the elementals. Maybe it did. Maybe his connection to the elementals was the right one, and everything that he saw here was wrong. It was possible that these elementals were trapped, forced by the runes to serve in ways that they would not have chosen, but it was also possible that these were simply markers of power that drew upon the energy of the elementals. If that were the case, then it meant that at some time, Par-shon knew how to work with the elementals.
    He could destroy the marks, much like he had destroyed the runes worn by the leaders of Par-shon, but what if he was wrong?
    He needed more information before deciding.
    There were few people in Par-shon he trusted, but could he reach the elementals themselves?

    * * *
    T he fire in the hearth flickered with a vibrant energy. Saa flowed through the flames with more strength than the elemental would have managed in the kingdoms. There, saa was little more than a flicker of energy, the barest spark of life. With enough influence, saa was drawn to the flames and could be used to maintain a fire, but the elemental had none of the same strength that Tan had found here in Par-shon.
    Amia sat in a large and ornately carved chair facing the fire. The chairs were much more decorative than any he had ever possessed, and Tan felt a little strange sitting in them, almost as if he claimed the title that he didn’t want. Amia, though, appeared much more at ease, lounging with her legs propped onto a pair of pillows and a notebook spread across her lap. The colorful dress she wore spilled out around her, and her deep blue eyes danced around the room.
    “Are you sure that you detected the elementals?” she asked.
    “I thought so, but it was different. These weren’t runes, Amia, not like they used in the branding to seal the elementals to themselves.”
    “What if there was another purpose?” she asked.
    Tan shrugged. “Then I would like to know the purpose. If Asboel were still with me…”
    He couldn’t finish. Asboel knew things that other elementals did not. Mostly that was because of his age. The draasin had lived so long, and had seen the world in different ways than so many others, that he had a unique perspective. Most of the time, that perspective had helped, but there were times when the past conflicted with the present and Asboel