Broken World Book Two - StarSword by T C Southwell Page B

said, "Teach me."
    "Ah, better,
humble one. I am Shyass, wind of the mountains. Know me now?"
    "Shyass, wind
of the mountains," she repeated.
    The wind
chuckled, ruffling her hair with a playful gust. She realised that
the wind soul was a playful being, and probably teased her, as
winds were apt to do when people tried to make use of them.
    "Help me," she
pleaded.
    "Why else am I
here?" the wind whispered. "Why else would you call? Why else would
I answer, blessed of Life? What need have you of me?"
    "I need to be
free."
    "So, this I
understand. None should be tamed or caged. I enjoy the playfulness
of men, who stretch cloth before me and bid me serve them."
    "I ask a
favour, nothing more," Talsy assured it.
    The wind
chuckled again. "I do not mock you, humble one. I grant your
favour, but how would you?"
    "How would I
what?"
    A breeze sighed
in her ear, tickled her and raised her nape hair with fingers of
cold air. "Be free."
    Talsy pointed.
"The door."
    "Ah, open, yes.
Free the wind, blow the door, crush the men."
    "No harm."
    "Harm, say you?
You are not me, blessed of Life. Find you a corner, be very still.
I shall quit this place, the door I shall kill."
    Talsy
understood the warning, if little else, and walked over to Kieran.
"Come, we must sit in the corner, out of harm's way."
    The warrior
gazed at her with deep doubt. "What have you done?"
    "The wind's
going to blow down the door."
    "Oh great. And
what about us? That's a damned spirit you're dealing with. It
doesn't know about flesh and blood."
    The wind
whispered, "Fear not, friend of forests, Shyass has touched the
skins of men aeons gone. Flesh is known to me."
    "Did you hear
that?" Talsy asked Kieran.
    "All I can hear
is a sort of rustling."
    "Well, don't
worry, she knows about flesh. We must sit in a corner."
    "I don't know
that this is such a good idea."
    "Just do it,
okay?" Talsy gripped his arm and dragged him from the bunk. "You
want to get out of here, and I've summoned the wind to help us. The
least you can do is show a little appreciation. Not everyone can do
this, you know."
    The wind
chuckled, tickling her cheek. "Friend are you, foolish one, fear of
me is good."
    Talsy ignored
the teasing and pushed Kieran into a corner. He sat on the floor,
and she joined him.
    The wind rose
to swirl around the room, gathering speed as the temperature
dropped. The air seemed to swell, pressing against her eardrums
until she held her nose to pop them. Still the wind gathered speed,
spinning faster and faster, drawing more of itself into the room
and filling it with whipping wildness. Dust leapt off the floor in
little spirals, and the wind burnt her eyes, forcing her to squint.
She turned her head away and gasped as she found nothing to breathe
in her lee, forced to turn back and inhale the rushing air. A soft
moaning whistled along the walls and rose to a howl as its force
increased. The wooden bunk flew across the room and smashed against
the far wall, and the splinters joined the swirling madness, flying
around the room.
    Talsy ducked
her head and clasped her hands over it, wondering if Kieran was
right after all. He pressed her back into the corner behind him,
holding her to him with one arm. The wind tugged at her clothes,
yet not that strongly, and none of the wooden shards came near
them. A minor tornado filled the room now, made visible by the dust
and debris that spun in its vortex, a thing of amazing beauty,
deadly and wild, swaying as it danced in the centre of the floor.
The howling rose to fluting notes and a faint scream of power. The
wind that pressed them back into the corner was hard in its
savagery, yet gentle in its care. Talsy shivered, for it was as icy
as the mountain snow whence she had summoned it, and streaks of
frost formed on the walls.
    The wind
changed, and she gasped as the air was sucked from her lungs. The
tornado rushed at the door with all its spinning fury, in a
movement too fast for the eye to follow and too sudden for the mind
to