Unbroken (First of the Blade Book 6), page 13
“That’s just it. I don’t think it is the man I knew. But everybody has different aspects to their personality, I suppose, and even Master Liu, for all his mentoring, gentleness, and compassion, must’ve had a violent side to him.”
Or perhaps it was just that, freed from the other aspects of him, this fragment had taken on a different darkness. Or maybe it was nothing to do with any of that. Maybe the only reason that Master Liu was struggling with her was that he had been turned into a fragment and had been bound to some dark creature and forced to battle.
Imogen focused on the power she was holding down, keeping Master Liu trapped, and didn’t know if Eleanor would be able to help her. Rebecca had been the one to guide her before, and Imogen hoped that Eleanor knew enough to be able to offer her the same measure of help, but if she didn’t, Imogen thought that she was going to have to try, regardless.
“Do you think it will be the same sort of substrate?” Eleanor asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe stone, actually,” Imogen said, looking over the pile of rock. “Mostly because that was what it was bound to. Maybe Aneadaz, assuming Aneadaz is the one responsible for this, knew what he needed, and recognized what it was going to take in order to hold him. Regardless, I need to get rid of this fragment. I can’t keep holding on to it, as this power is lingering inside of me in a way that leaves me uncomfortable.”
“We will release it,” Eleanor said. She picked through the rubble, then frowned. “Maybe we don’t take a fragment of this creature.”
“I’m not sure that is for the best,” Imogen said. “He struggles against me. I keep trying to calm him using my sacred patterns, patterns that he taught me himself, but nothing is working with him.”
“Well,” Eleanor said, “I suppose you can let him go. If he wanders off, then we capture him again.”
Imogen wasn’t quite as convinced as Eleanor that she’d be able to hold on to that power again. She had needed to draw upon a considerable amount of energy in order to trap Master Liu in the first place, such that if she were to release him, and if he were to wander away, some part of that power might not return to her as easily as Eleanor thought.
So instead of letting it go, she maintained her hold over Tree Stands in the Forest. This pattern felt different than it had before, enough that Imogen wondered if she had to give it a different name. It wasn’t a single Tree any longer. Now it was as if she had created a grove of Trees. Maybe there was a grove sacred pattern she could call on, as it had been effective, and if she were forced to use it again, she wanted to have some way of conceptualizing it in her mind, because that seemed to be helpful for her.
“Well?” Eleanor asked.
“I’m afraid of letting him go,” Imogen said.
“If it is a fragment of Master Liu, and if he is a sacred sword master, then you should treat him with the measure of respect that he deserves, shouldn’t you?”
“You don’t know him.”
“It’s not about needing to know him,” Eleanor said. “I know what it’s like to be revered among a people.”
Imogen arched a brow at that. “You know that?”
“Well, I was not revered among my people,” Eleanor said quickly, and a slight flush came to her cheeks. She paused near a pile of boulders that had constructed the stone monster before, and looked as if she wanted to lean down and look at them, but she paused before turning and facing Imogen. “When the Koral lands were intact, and when the temples were still there, we had those who led us.”
“What did you call them?”
“What?”
“You had to have a term for them. We called the leaders of the sacred temples sacred sword masters, and so I am sure you had a title for them. I’m just trying to understand.”
“I fail to see why it matters,” she said.
“Because they are a part of my people,” Imogen said softly.
There was a rebellion inside her as Master Liu, or the fragment of him, started to struggle. He worked to break free of her, forcing Imogen to hold on to him in a way that she had not had to with the other one. That one had been easier for her to maintain, using only a single Tree. This one struggled against even the entire grove that she had in mind. Imogen could feel him fighting and straining, and she began to think that she might lose her hold over him.
“I suppose that’s true,” Eleanor said, and she nodded, mostly to herself. “They are your people. We are your people. You are my people.” She tapped her foot, and her fingers twitched, forming a pattern that Imogen couldn’t quite identify, but she suspected it was some shaman power. “I keep forgetting that. But you do not, do you, First?”
“I have to keep that in mind at all times,” Imogen said.
“You are better than all of us.”
Imogen snorted. “Well, we know that’s definitely not true.”
Eleanor scowled.
“I’m not better. Different. For a long time, as I’ve told you, I was a part of my people. Prideful. Arrogant. Well, I suppose that hasn’t changed entirely, but I was of the belief that I was in the right, and that sorcery and magic deserved to be destroyed. When I failed, the first time that I had ever failed at anything, and I left my people and my sacred temple, I began to recognize that the world was not as I had been taught. I opened my eyes and was forced to open my mind, and it was then that I began to grasp concepts I had not before. So when I did return, I was an outsider. But not. Does that make sense?”
“You aren’t an outsider,” Eleanor said.
“When I returned to the Leier, I was. Oh, I had power, and I knew the sacred patterns, and I could do things that others could not, such that they believed I was above them, but I was still an outsider from my viewpoint. I valued things the Leier did not. And I recognized truth the Koral did not. Do you see?”
“I know what you are trying to tell me,” Eleanor said. “You’re trying to remind me that it is only through the sword and shield—”
“It’s not the sword and shield,” Imogen said.
For a long time, that was how she had believed they would become a single people, but even in that, sword and shield meant that they were still separate. They were still identified as Leier and Koral. And even in her own mind, there were too many times when Imogen viewed them in that way, though she knew that wasn’t the right strategy. When she did that, she created a separation that was not and could not necessarily be there. What she needed instead was to view them as a single people. Much like needing to come up with a different term for Tree Stands in the Forest that created a grove, she needed to come up with a different term for her people.
Maybe she should talk to the people.
“As I was saying,” Imogen said, and she had to hold on tighter to Master Liu inside her, “it is not about the sword and shield. It is about our people, and what we are, and who we are. I can see that, and I can feel that, and I sometimes wonder if perhaps we all forget what we are meant to be.”
“And what is that?”
“We are meant to be one. As we once were, and as we should be again.”
Eleanor was quiet for a moment, though her fingers were tapping, but then even they went still. “The high shaman,” she said. “That is what the leader of each of our sacred temples was called. The high shaman. When I was young, the high shaman came to me and told me I had potential.”
“Was there only one per temple, or was there one in all of the Koral lands?”
“Each temple had its own high shaman. Some were exalted more than others, though. Mostly because of knowledge. We wanted to learn from each of them, as each high shaman had something unique that they could teach, something unique that they could explain, and something different that we could learn. I’m sure it was the same with your sacred temples.”
Imogen smiled tightly. “You would think so. The general before me, Derashen, was renowned for having studied at more than one of the sacred temples. When I was younger, I believed it made him a better leader, and a better swordsman. I thought that if he could learn from so many masters, he had to know much more.”
Imogen smiled tightly. She unsheathed her blade, which elicited a slight start from Eleanor. Imogen slipped through a series of patterns, all variations on Petals on the Wind, using her blade.
“Each of these is the same,” Imogen said. “Yet they were named differently. In my sacred temple, it is Petals on the Wind. I don’t know what it’s called in some of the other sacred temples, as the sacred sword masters are gone.”
“So they all knew the same patterns, but they taught them differently?”
Imogen nodded.
“How?”
“As I’ve come to learn, the sacred patterns access something more.”
“Of course,” Eleanor said.
“But it’s how they access it. Most of the sacred sword masters never expected their students to ever learn to reach that power. I don’t even know if the sacred sword masters themselves were able to reach all of that power.” When she had sparred with Master Liu, she had not known if he had ever learned the truth about his power or if there was something else that she might have uncovered from him. Unfortunately. “But they each taught it. And the students learned, so when General Derashen went to the different sacred temples, and he learned the different patterns, he was simply learning different approaches to them.”
“Thank you,” Eleanor said.
“For what?”
“For not keeping something of your people from me.”
Imogen smiled tightly. “We are one people.”
“I know, but as I have said, it is still difficult.”
Imogen nodded, and she understood. It was still difficult. For everything that they had done together, there were so many things that they had done apart, and so many times that they had been enemies, battling one another, killing one another, that despite their traveling together, there had been times when it hadn’t been as easy as it should have been. As the Heart had grown, and more Leier had joined them, as well as the few Koral who had not been slaughtered, the difficulty had resurfaced, making it harder and harder for them to unify their people.
“Why don’t you help me with this fragment? And perhaps Master Liu will be able to teach both of us something.”
“I know that you want to contain him in an enchantment. And perhaps that’s correct, but I do wonder if perhaps there is another way.”
“I don’t know what he will do if we set him free, or how he might be used.”
“What about the Porapeth fragment?”
“Well, that’s embedded in me,” Imogen said. “At least, it seems like it is. I don’t know how much Benji gave me of himself. There may be nothing more than a shard of power inside of me, but it might be more than that. It might be that he deposited all his power in that fragment and gave me far more than I can even know.”
“Has he told you?”
“I’ve asked,” Imogen said. “But Benji, if you remember, likes to talk in riddles, and he likes to let me find my own way, my own path, so I don’t know if he’s ever going to tell me the truth. And even if he tells me something, it may not be the truth, as he would likely view what he needed to do and say as some lesson that he wanted to provide me with.”
“Perhaps he is the true sacred sword master.”
“Or the high shaman,” Imogen said.
Eleanor smiled. “I would’ve loved to learn that kind of magic.”
Imogen frowned. “And you should.”
“How? You have said that he is gone.”
“Benji is gone, but his fragment remains.” Why hadn’t she thought about this before? Her people could benefit from the knowledge of the Porapeth. Maybe there were things that Imogen could not understand but that Benji could teach. Lilah had gone off to work with Abigail to learn and had not returned to their people, but that didn’t mean that there weren’t things that Imogen could try to coax out of Benji, lessons that she could teach to others. “I hadn’t even thought about it, but I should have. When he was alive, Benji used to do different things, draw upon different magic, than what I ever understood. And I wonder if you and the other shamans might be able to learn from him and what he once knew.”
“How?”
“To be honest, I don’t know. I think that we can start with trying to understand his fragment, and his power, and trying to understand what he might be able to show us, and from there, we may be able to convince him to teach.” She focused on the part of Benji that was within her, but holding on to Master Liu made it difficult. She could still feel a bit of Benji there, that strange Porapeth power that was slowly incorporating itself into her the longer it was there, but it wasn’t quite as prominent as it had been before. “I should warn you, though, he can be a pain in the ass.”
“The best teachers often are.”
Imogen smiled. “We will do it your way. We will see if releasing Master Liu and trying to keep him somewhat controlled will provide us with any answers. Will you stay nearby?”
“Of course I will,” she said. “And I might have something that will work to help with this. Now, it may involve a little challenge, but I think that if we focus on the power that he has, and what he has demonstrated, we should be able to find a way to contain him so that he doesn’t wander off. At least until you figure out a way of connecting to him.”
Eleanor searched through her satchel, picking out different enchantments until she had a pile of them in her hand. Imogen didn’t know which of the enchantments Eleanor had chosen, and she didn’t know why certain ones were valuable to her over others, but she trusted Eleanor. Besides, Eleanor was not wrong. If Imogen lost control over the fragment of Master Liu, the simple strategy was to use her Tree Stands in the Forest again and contain him in place so that he did not escape.
As the fragment pushed against her, she had to wait. She felt power straining against her, struggling to get free, and though she didn’t think that he was going to break out of the containment that she held, she did still worry that there might be something that would force Master Liu beyond her, to the point where she had to find a way to hold him more than she had so far.
“If we’re going to do this, I would like to try it soon,” Imogen said. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to hold on to him.”
“Of course,” Eleanor said. “I’m doing my best, and trying to hold on to it, and I can feel something there.”
Imogen frowned, focusing on the power, trying to understand if there was any way to keep Master Liu in place, but she didn’t know if she could do that much longer.
Then Eleanor stopped, pausing in front of Imogen. “There’s a ring around you. It should contain a magical entity, so you need to stay inside of it.”
“So I need to battle with Master Liu?” Imogen said.
“Well, I’m hopeful it will not come down to a battle, but if it does, then you cannot break the barrier.”
“Or he escapes.”
“Or he can escape,” Eleanor said. “To be honest, I don’t know if this is going to hold a fragment of that kind of power. If it is as potent as what we have seen”—she glanced back at the pile of rock—“then it might not hold regardless. But I think it will.”
The circle of enchantments was probably five paces across. Not that large. If it did come down to some battle with Master Liu, Imogen wasn’t going to have much space to oppose him.
And once she released the Tree Stands in the Forest, she was going to have to be ready to react and contain his power, and she would have to find a way to hold on to it long enough that he did not push past her hold.
She focused, looked over at Eleanor, and then nodded. “Well, here goes.”
Then she released Master Liu.
Chapter Sixteen
The fragment drifted out of her.
It was a strange feeling, as she felt the separation. Releasing her hold over Tree Stands in the Forest—the grove of it—was a relief. Imogen took a deep breath, and it surprised her how much effort it had taken to hold on to that sacred pattern for as long as she had. She had been keeping it intact, keeping it inside her, and trapping it, but now…
Now she didn’t know if she would be able to regroup and hold on to Master Liu. She worried that if it came down to battling with him, something worse might happen.
She didn’t want to destroy the fragment. She didn’t want to absorb it, either. Doing so felt like walking down the path toward dark sorcery, and she wanted no part of that.
“Well?” Eleanor asked.
“He’s free,” Imogen said. “But he hasn’t taken form yet.”
There was a faint, almost translucent energy that swirled around the circle, and much like Eleanor had said, the barrier held Master Liu’s fragment in place so that he could not fight his way out. Thankfully.
Imogen focused on it. She waited.
Slowly the fragment began to take shape. At first it was little more than a whisper of light, standing like a slender branch stretching upright, but gradually arms began to extend out, legs split off, and even a head formed. Then the details began to emerge. Imogen could see Master Liu’s eyes, his prominent nose, and a cloak that covered him. He turned, holding a blade.
Where did the sword come from?
Seeing her, Master Liu lunged.
His blade struck, and Imogen reacted, immediately forming Tree Stands in the Forest, but she felt the power of Master Liu’s blade slicing through her sacred pattern.
She twisted off to the side and hurriedly unsheathed her own blade, not sure if she would be able to use it against some sort of magical weapon.
She flicked her gaze over to Eleanor, who had backed away from the circle.
“What’s he doing?” Eleanor asked.
“Well, it seems Master Liu is trying to fight me.”
Imogen braced herself, and she turned toward the fragment of Master Liu. He was still not fully formed. He was silvery in appearance, though with streaks of darkness working through him. It left Imogen wondering if perhaps some part of Master Liu remained corrupted by how he had been used to darken the stone monster.
