Serpent of Fire by D. K. Holmberg Page B

against the rocks. A challenge, Maelen?
    Tan smiled sadly and touched the draasin’s side. If only there were times for games. Heat bloomed from Asboel, creating a soft cloud of mist around him.
    There will be many challenges ahead , Tan told him . I only hope that we are both strong enough to face them.
    As I’ve told you before, Maelen, you will never hunt alone.

11
Elemental Education
    T he next day came sooner than Tan would have liked. He had awoken groggy and still weakened from the attack the night before—and powered by a purpose: He needed to find the traps scattered throughout the kingdoms and remove them.
    Tan found Ferran in the halls of the palace, again escorting the group of children. He glanced at Tan and nodded. Tan hadn’t seen him since they had removed the trap and still didn’t know whether Ferran had found his bond again.
    “Are you…?” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the question.
    Ferran tipped his head toward Tan. “The bond has returned. It is different, I think, but there.” He shuffled the children into a room along the hall.
    Tan caught a glimpse of what was behind the door. Three others were inside, and he recognized only one, a wind shaper named Alan. The university might have been destroyed, but that didn’t mean there weren’t teachers willing to guide potential shapers.
    “Different in what way?” he asked Ferran.
    Ferran pulled the door closed and rested his hand on the handle. “The golud have a…” He paused, his brow furrowing as if he struggled to find the right word. “A fervor that was not there before. They would see me searching for more of these devices.”
    “I will find them,” Tan said.
    Ferran arched a brow. “You don’t need to search on your own. There are others able—and willing—to help you, Athan. What if there are others of Par-shon hiding?”
    Tan didn’t want to tell him that he had learned where some of the traps would be hidden, or how he had gotten the information. A part of him was embarrassed about shaping the Par-shon Rune Master to acquire the knowledge. He recognized the need, and his anger had driven the desire, but having a night to sleep had calmed him and given him a different perspective.
    Now that he’d had a chance to think, the idea of using shapers not bound to the elementals made sense. They would be able to recover the traps without risking the same as him. “Thank you, Ferran.”
    The earth shaper reached over and settled a broad hand onto Tan’s shoulder. “You are strong, but you don’t have to work alone. There are others who can help, who want to help. You have not been a shaper long, but others of us have faced this, and worse. We understand what is at stake.”
    Ferran watched him a moment and then returned to his duties with the children, leaving Tan, feeling troubled, staring at the spot the master had occupied. If even Ferran—a shaper able to speak to the elementals—didn’t fully understand that Par-shon was worse than Incendin, then how would other shapers?
    “You summoned last night.”
    He turned and saw Roine watching him. Today, he wore a long navy cloak pinned at the neck. It seemed that each time Tan saw him, he dressed more regally. Would there come a time when Roine would not wantto give up his place as king regent? They had found potential heirs, but there was no way of knowing which should rule. For now, that responsibility fell to Roine.
    “Par-shon shapers were in the kingdoms,” Tan said.
    Anger flared across Roine’s face. He guided Tan down the hall without another word, turning into a servants’ corridor before shaping opening a door that led to a plain room. Tan took it in: a circular table pushed almost to one wall, a pitcher of water resting atop it; three slatted wooden chairs forming a circle around the table; an ornate tapestry hanging from the wall was the only evidence of finery in the room.
    Roine pulled out one of the chairs and plopped into it, his clothing making him