The Five Elements (25 page)

She woke hours later. As she lifted herself from the haze of sleep, she noticed Mirna remained in her chair, though she was done with her mending. She found the woman staring at her, her expression a mask, emotionless. Shanna looked away, but still she felt Mirna's gaze on her. There was something in the woman's eyes that made Shanna uncomfortable. Keeping her gaze averted, she made a display of yawning, then swung her legs over the edge of the cot. The moment her feet touched the floor she noticed how stable the airship felt. The storm had passed. Shanna risked another glance at Mirna. Whatever she'd seen—or thought she'd seen—was gone now.

"What time is it?" Shanna asked. She saw they'd burned through at least one candle, though Mirna had lit more. It was an unaccustomed luxury. Back home, Shanna often had to make a single candle last a week or more.

"It is night." Mirna stood. "Master Nee has requested you attend him the moment you wake. He felt you would need what sleep you could get for what lies ahead and bid me not wake you."

Shanna spied a nearby washbasin. It was empty, but there was a bar of soap, a towel, and a stoppered flask full of water that Shanna used to fill the basin and wash. Once she was done, she started towards the door. "Let's go." Mirna followed without a sound.

They found the door to Erlek's cabin unguarded. Inside, he was alone. Seeing the man reminded Shanna of those locked away somewhere below. She scolded herself, renewing her vow to go find them at the first opportunity. They needed to know she was still thinking of them. More importantly, that she hadn't forgotten them and that she would free them. Never mind that, aloft as they were, there was nowhere to go. Nevertheless, Shanna resigned to at least find and visit them the moment she left Erlek's cabin.

The savant stood to one side, before the table where the Element of Earth lay. His back was to them. Mirna, as if responding to some unspoken command, bowed and, without turning, left. She quietly shut the door behind her.

"Earth," Erlek said immediately, "is the most powerful of the Elements. Fire does not harm it, air merely disperses and relocates it, and water only turns it to mud whereupon, when dry, it returns to its original state."

Not sure how to respond or even if she was supposed to, Shanna remained quiet.

"Water," Erlek said, "is the most powerful of Elements. While fire may turn it to steam, it is only a temporary state change. Air bothers it little, while earth is permeated and turned to mud." Erlek turned to face her. "And so on. Do you see the flaw in what I have said?"

Shanna thought for a moment. "No."

"I have claimed the same supremacy for two different things. I spoke of water's effect on earth and earth's on water. On one hand, water was dominant. On the other, earth. So which is it?"

Again, Shanna took a moment to think. "Neither."

"Yes." Erlek moved to the chair he had occupied during their last visit. "Good." He sat. "In our world, the elements coexist together in a strong balance. Though one may gain dominion over another for a period of time, no element can truly ever destroy or rule another. This is law."

"What about when you put a fire out with water?" Shanna asked. "The fire is gone."

Erlek nodded. "True. But is it gone for good? It might not spring up in that same place, but it will elsewhere, given time. Fire is energy and energy cannot be destroyed. Here." Erlek sprang from the chair to move to the desk where a sheet of parchment was laid out. With deft movements, he sketched something with a charcoal pencil, then motioned Shanna closer. Shanna moved as close as she needed to in order to see what he had drawn, but no closer. She saw four symbols: a triangle, a circle, a set of lines drawn slanted and parallel to one another, and last, a second triangle, this one turned upside down with a line drawn through it. Each of the symbols was drawn roughly equidistant to the other and arranged so that Erlek next drew lines connecting each with every other one so that all combinations were satisfied. "Each one of these glyphs represents one of the elements. You see, there is balance amongst them. A powerful unity. These lines I have drawn, they are the bonds connecting them. They cannot be severed."

Erlek continued talking, but Shanna wasn't listening. She
did
recognize the symbols. Deep below Norwynne, where great doors opened to a hall whose floor sparkled with gemstones and, beyond, the chamber where she'd seen the glyphs. Thinking back to that episode, she'd found the room and its contents thoroughly unremarkable. But now, as she looked at the drawn symbols, the entire affair took on new significance. Still, what was so important about that place? Shanna had no intention of asking Erlek, nor would she tell him anything about it. For now, she had to know more. She returned her attention to the savant.

"…important you know this and understand. Your mind must be attuned to the world around you. You must accept a great deal on faith alone, for we haven't the time to start with any sort of formal training. The Elements will respond to a spirit that is one with theirs. That in itself is enough to invoke them. But it is not enough to control them."

"How do I control them, then?" Shanna asked.

"Through courage, faith, determination… discipline of the mind and an acceptance of your place in the world. Some of this may seem abstract to you now. We will explore these concepts and more over the next two days."

"Why only two days?"

"Because that is all the time we have before reaching Cauldron Mountain. There, we will find the Element of Fire. You must be ready to use the Element of Earth by then, for you will need its power to free the other. Now, enough of that. One thing at a time. Come. Stand and face the Element."

Shanna did so. It remained wholly unremarkable. A simple clay bowl. She'd stood close to it before, but this time was different, for Erlek next asked her to reach out and touch it.

"Hold it if you like," he said.

Shanna took a deep breath. Her heart set a thundering tempo in her chest. Then she reached out with both hands. As her fingers neared the edge of the bowl, a tingling sensation permeated her fingertips. Goose bumps flew up her arms and a chill swept across her skin. She shuddered, then pulled her hands away.

"You have nothing to fear," Erlek said, looking on. "The Element is yours to command."

Shanna took another deep breath and tried again. This time, when the sensation returned, she let it sweep through her. Then, resolute, she touched the Element. Nothing happened. No flare of brilliance, no burst of light. Not even a vibration. Nothing. It felt cool to the touch and smooth. Neither sensation was terribly unusual, for it was an earthenware bowl, after all. Not for the first time, Shanna thought that perhaps that was all it was: a simple piece of crockery, destined to hold someone's soup and not control one of the forces of nature. She cast a sidelong glance at Erlek, wondering if she might find him laughing at the joke he'd played on her. She wondered at just how stupid she looked right now, so full of hesitance over touching a piece of kitchenware. But there was nothing but seriousness and curiosity in the man's face. Then, also, there was the tingling she felt at its touch. That much of it was real regardless of what other possibilities her mind thought up. Shanna returned her attention to the Element. She swallowed, taking long, deep breathes in a vain attempt to slow her rapidly beating heart. Then, before procrastination prevented her from taking action any longer, she picked it up. Held in her hands, it felt no different than any other bowl. Perhaps thinner, more fragile, its weight thoroughly unimpressive. The tingling sensation running from the bowl and into her fingers persisted, neither increasing nor abating.

"Hold it steady," Erlek said as he drew close enough that his presence lifted the hairs on the back of Shanna's neck. "You have a head start in its mastery. I see that already. Your attunement is much greater than I had hoped or imagined. It is no wonder Elsanar…" The last seemed no more than a silent muse given voice as the man's speech tapered to a whisper and then silence, leaving the thought unfinished.

Shanna hardly noticed, for only one word of his had piqued Shanna's interest. "Attunement?"

"Yes," Erlek said from over her shoulder. "Attunement is about balance and harmony. It is, at its most fundamental level, a synchronicity between an individual and one's self. Sorcery and those who claim mastery of the psyche spring from this idiom. But there is more. We each possess a quantifiable amount of energy within us. This energy can be tapped into, drawn forth, manipulated, even made material. But it is finite. How could it be anything else? We are but mortals. Therein lies the greatest limitation of sorcery and its ilk. Oh, they practice Joinings, make their staves, and do such and such with repositories of energy, but always there exists limitations to such things. The energy of Uhl, however, the power of the earth, is without limit. If one could attune themselves to such power… . Of all those who have tried, only the druids ever succeeded. The founders of their Hierocracy recognized right away the inherent dangers of possessing power without boundaries and so they instilled their own. Thus was born the Druidic Oath, a sacred trust and, even more, a promise to serve the earth and never to abuse it. No mere pledge, they wrapped their energies and each individual's attunement into the Oath, so that anyone who took and then broke it would find their attunement altered, changed so that they were rendered powerless."

"Is that what happened to the elementalists?" Shanna asked.

"The elementalists sacrificed their attunement with the earth for something greater: attunement with the Four Elements."

"But—" Shanna thought for a moment. "How can
I
be attuned to anything? I'm not—I mean, I was never—"

"The bond of attunement is a complex one. It exists on a mental, physical, even a metaphysical level. You, as I have said before, are a child of the elementalists. Something of what they were exists within you. To delve any further into this would require more time than we have. Now, you are to begin your training."

Guessing at what Erlek desired of her, Shanna pulled the Element of Earth closer, so the rim of it just touched her chest. "How do I… invoke it?" she asked, hoping she used the right terminology.

Erlek chuckled as he moved away. "I cannot yet allow you to do such a thing, for doing so would draw our enemies to us like a moth to a flame."

Shanna turned on him. "Then how am I supposed to—"

"Make no mistake, we are hunted. For now, flying so high and at such speed, we remain elusive and undetected. But, invoke the Element, and you broadcast to the world our locale. That is something we do not want. Not yet. As for how you are to learn to control the Element… For now, put it down, and come here to the desk."

Shanna did not obey right away. She remained where she was, the Element of Earth held close. She did not want to put it down. This did not go unnoticed by Erlek.

"Part of our arrangement," he said, "involves you doing as you are told, does it not?"

The man's tone allowed no rebuke, and so Shanna returned the bowl to the table. But she did so slowly. Even when it was no longer in her grasp, still her fingers lingered along its rim, absorbing the strange tingling sensation as if it were a drug. Finally, she broke away from it and went to the desk as instructed.

"Sit," Erlek said as he hovered over the opposite side shuffling papers.

Shanna sat.

"I have a lesson planned for you."

She immediately stood up. "You have a what?"

"Sit!"

Shanna did.

"Your thought process—your way of thinking—must be honed. We have little time with which to work. You already possess the physical capacity to invoke the Element. You would have felt nothing from it if you did not. But your mental and spiritual faculties are matters we need address. Here I have written a number of problems." Erlek thumbed through a small stack of papers. "I do not expect you to solve every one of them, but each should help shape your thought process." He selected one of the sheets, then put it down in front of Shanna along with a charcoal pencil. "Examine what I have written carefully. Write your answer beneath each problem. You may begin." Erlek started to walk away, but then he stopped and turned to her with a narrowed gaze. "You
can
read, can't you? And write?"

Shanna almost said 'no' to both. She wondered if she did if Erlek would then proceed to give her a lesson in those more rudimentary subjects. She glanced at the paper in front of her. There were short sections of text with space between each. The bottommost lesson, which took up the bottom third of the page, was made up of labeled diagrams with lines and circles and several blocks of text Erlek had headed with the word 'posits'. Better to lie, she thought, to tell him she'd never been taught either skill. Better that than have to work on Erlek's lessons. If not for her pride, she would have. "Of course I know how to read and write."

"And mathematics? You know the subjects of algebra, numerical analysis, and probability?"

"Of course I do," Shanna said, lying this time. "I was top of my class… before you destroyed the classroom."

Erlek accepted her response with a nod. "Then begin."

Shanna read through the problem: 'A farmer has thirty chickens and cows'. Shanna looked up from the paper in confusion. "What do chickens and cows have to do with anything?"

Erlek had moved to sit upon the divan a short distance away where he'd just begun thumbing through a book. He did not look up as he spoke. "The chickens and cows are simply part of the logic problem."

It seemed all the explanation she was to get. Shanna started reading the problem again. 'A farmer has thirty chickens and cows. Together, they have seventy-six legs'. She didn't read the rest, for at that moment her mind was filled with the image of a great monster, part-cow and part-chicken, with a farmer's head and seventy-six legs. She almost giggled. If not for Erlek's presence she would have. Of course, she realized, if not for Erlek's presence she wouldn't be sitting here reading about chickens and cows. She looked over the other sheets Erlek had left on the desk. The problems written there were all of a similar nature, though some had diagrams with lines and circles and small numbers written here and there. She didn't see how any of this was going to help her use the Element. It was a waste of time and stupid, too. If Aaron were here, she'd slip him her papers and he'd have them solved in no time. Aaron reveled in such things. He'd run circles around Erlek, solving the old man's stupid logic problems and probably coming up with a few of his own that'd leave Erlek scratching his bald head in confusion. Shanna smiled at the thought of it.