Darkness Rising (The Endless War Book 2) Read Online Free Page B

Bayan’s shaping failed completely.
    The ground trembled and she fell, crashing into one of the nearby trees. Bayan went sprawling and landed, looking up with bewilderment on her face.
    A painful shriek echoed through the trees, and Sashi exploded from the pen with a surprising spray of earth and fire. A defiant shout went through her mind. With another streak of fire, she sprayed the ground before taking flight and shooting above the trees. She circled once and then raced to the south, quickly disappearing.
    She held on to the tree for a moment before going to check on Bayan. Her student looked up at her, eyes wide.
    “What happened?” Bayan asked.
    “Blasted Calan, that’s what,” Alena swore.
    “You…” Bayan swallowed, unsure what to say. “You helped it.”
    “I helped her , not it.” She stood, facing the trees as she felt Calan’s shaping build. Was the blasted man going to chase after Sashi? If he did, Alena would have no choice but to go after him and ensure that he didn’t harm the elemental.
    She waited, but Calan never went after the draasin.
    She started to relax, but then she felt another surge of fear and terror, but so quick and powerful that she couldn’t do anything. It mixed with a crushing sense of earth shaping. The smallest draasin struggled and then fell silent.
    No!
    The shout did no good. The draasin was gone.
    Alena fell to her knees, ignoring Bayan’s stare.

3
    Jasn
    The commander of the Order of Warriors remains a puzzle. He has proven capable and skilled, though he may have acquired his power by deception. Little is known about him, or where he travels when not in Atenas. I have tried to discover the answer but have found nothing.
    —Lren Atunal, Cardinal of the College of Scholars

    T he winds outside Atenas swirled , sending the scents of the city and her people fluttering toward Jasn. After the months spent studying in the barracks, time where he’d been surrounded by nothing by forest and streams and the draasin, it was a notable change. Why, then, did he find himself missing the solitude of the barracks?
    Since leaving his home, taken away by a scholar named Renis, he’d spent nearly all his days in Atenas. It was a city as much as it was a center of learning, the tower marking the place of study rising high above the horizon so that none could miss its presence.
    Jasn didn’t need to see the tower to know that Atenas was there. The tower itself was a marker, a place where those gifted with the ability to shape and control the elements could learn, but in many ways, it was more than that. Atenas marked the heart of the order, a place of power for the warriors, so it should be his home.
    Still, he hesitated.
    “Have you made a decision?” Lachen asked.
    It had been a week since he’d seen his old friend last, a week since he’d helped Alena heal the draasin and learned her secret, and a week since Lachen had shared his secret with Jasn.
    “You know I support the order,” Jasn said.
    Lachen smiled, though Jasn could tell it was forced. The smile never reached his eyes, not as it did when they were children. Then, Lachen had smiled easily and often. “The strength of the order is about to be tested. I need you to finish your training at the barracks.”
    “You need me to spy for you.”
    Lachen met his eyes with a shrug. “I said there would be a sacrifice. In the days ahead, all must make sacrifices if we are to survive.”
    Jasn sniffed, suppressing a surge of irritation. Why did he feel that he was being used by both sides? “I think we can both agree that I’ve already made sacrifices.”
    “You have. As have I.”
    A shaping built off in the distance; powerful, if he could detect it from here. Jasn listened to the draw of the shaping and realized that he sensed dozens of shapings, more than he’d ever been aware of during his time in Atenas before. Was he that much more sensitive to them because he’d been gone so long, or had he already learned so much