Rise of the Elder

by D. K. Holmberg

  “There is something like a memory here. I don’t know how to explain it any other way, but here… here there is our story, that of our people before we went to Elaeavn, leaving the trees for the shore.”

  “Can Luthan See it?”

  She shook her head. “Luthan’s gift works a different way. Following his Saenr, he was granted greater vision, allowing him to See what others could not. Mine has never been my strength.”

  “You’re a skilled Seer.”

  She nodded. “Skill is not the same as strength. Luthan has both. I have skill, but not the strength. Here… at the heart of our ancient home, my skill changes, allowing me to See in ways I could not in Elaeavn.” She took her cup off the coals and turned to him, sipping it carefully. “When I look back, I can see the first clans, watch as they founded their home here. If I stare long enough, I think I can even See the time they left the Aisl, when they went to the shores and founded Elaeavn.”

  “Is it difficult to look back like that?” Rsiran thought about what it was like when he Traveled. Sliding didn’t weaken him the same way anymore, but Traveling still did. Would it be the same for Della with these visions?

  “There is always difficulty in spending too much time looking back and not enough looking forward. It becomes easy to lose yourself in the past. That is the risk, and I force myself to pull away from that, though it is not always possible.”

  “But if you stay here—”

  “Remaining in the Aisl gives me the chance to continue to learn. There are others with the strength and skill to look forward and to See what might come, but there aren’t many willing to look back. Once I leave here, I’m not certain I will have the same capability.”

  “You’ll be missed in Elaeavn.”

  “You can always find me here, Rsiran. Besides, this is the true home of our people. Before there ever was an Elaeavn, and before there ever were the Elvraeth, we had the Aisl. Perhaps it is only right that at least some of us return.” She took a seat and motioned for him to join her on one of the other chairs. “That is not why you came here, though.”

  Rsiran shook his head. “I went to the Forgotten Palace.”

  “Where you keep your prison.”

  “There are cells there, but I don’t know that I’d call it a prison.”

  Della took a drink of her tea and breathed out through the steam. “What else would you call it, Rsiran? They were built to hold you—or one like you—and now you use them to hold the Hjan.”

  “I wanted to know if there was anything that I could learn about the metal they used. The man I have detained told me to talk to the forgers.”

  Della nodded. “How else did you think that Venass managed to create not only the implants, but the shadowsteel devices?”

  “I thought my father was involved, or the other smiths they abducted, but the way he spoke made it seem like these forgers are valued, like they wanted to be a part of Venass.”

  “It is unfortunate that we lost Josun Elvraeth. He would have answers. Perhaps not all that you wanted, but answers, nonetheless.”

  “Do you think Galen can find him?”

  “Galen is skilled, but I’m not certain he will be able to capture him.” She glanced at him. “That’s what you asked him to do, isn’t it?”

  Rsiran sighed. “Galen is an assassin, Della. I asked him to do what he trained to do.”

  “You haven’t learned anything about Galen. He might serve as assassin, but the man is much more than that. He could be an ally, but you choose to use him like a tool.”

  Rsiran clasped his hands together in his lap. “What would you have me do? By taking him from Ilphaesn, I’ve already put the peace between the council and the guilds at risk.” It was already a tenuous peace. Until Rsiran returned the crystal, it would not hold.

  “Work with him. There is much he can do to help. We may have lost Haern, but Galen might have answers even Haern would not have been able to obtain.” Rsiran leaned back in the chair, and Della smiled. “Don’t pretend you don’t have some way of tracking him. I believe that you’ve taken to slipping your lorcith coins into other’s possession?” She pulled a small piece of lorcith from her pocket and held it out to the light. The coin glowed softly, not as much as a larger piece of metal might, and one Rsiran hadn’t realized she knew he’d given her.

  “You knew?”

  Della chuckled. “Of course I knew.”

  “After you disappeared when Danis attacked the city…”

  “I don’t disagree with placing a way for you to find me. Any of us you might care about, really. I presume you did the same with Galen?”

  Rsiran nodded. The coin he’d used with Galen had a hint of heartstone worked into it, enough that Rsiran could detect it from a distance. He didn’t want to risk not finding him again, especially if Galen somehow managed to find Josun.

  “That is good. I can See that you need to find him,” she said.

  “When?”

  “Soon.”

  “Do you See Josun?”

  “He is a Slider, much like you. I See nothing when it comes to him. Luthan doesn’t, either, so there would be no point asking him.”

  “Luthan can See something when it comes to me.”

  “When he focuses on those around you. It is the same for me, Rsiran, but that doesn’t paint a very clear picture and requires that I know who might be with you. With Josun Elvraeth, I don’t know who else might be with him. I don’t know who else to attempt to See.”

  “What do you See with Galen?”

  Della leaned her head against the back of the chair. “With Galen, I See that he risks himself once more and that he is in danger. Besides, I believe you have overlooked a potential ally.”

  “You already told me that I needed to find a way to work with Galen.” Rsiran wasn’t sure how he felt about working with him, especially without Haern. Would it be too hard and make him think of his friend too often? But Galen had skills they could use, especially as they faced others of Venass. He had nearly defeated Rsiran once, so it was possible Galen would be able to stop Josun… or maybe he could even help incapacitate Danis.

  “This is not about Galen. This is about others who might be interested in working with Elaeavn.”

  He frowned. “Who?”

  Della leaned forward, fixing him with a heated stare. “The same allies you took Galen to see.” When he frowned, she went on. “From what I can See, it’s time for you to return to him.”

  Chapter 26

  Rsiran emerged from his Slide in Asador, making a point of appearing near the docks, not wanting to draw attention to himself. This was the same place he’d brought Galen when he’d Slid him to Asador, at least near enough he should be able to detect him.

  Standing in the street, with the dark night overhead and the steady lapping of waves against the shore, it was enough to almost make him think he was back in Elaeavn. He checked the knives he’d brought with him, wanting to have an adequate supply in case he did find Josun, and checked the heartstone alloy chain he’d brought as well. This was one of his own creations, slightly different from the Elvraeth chains Josun had used on him, but ones that might be strong enough to hold Josun. Testing them himself, they didn’t prevent him from Sliding, but as Jessa had reminded him, he was a more skilled Slider than Josun. At least, he hoped that was still true.

  The city was alive in ways that Elaeavn was no longer. There was the hum of activity along the docks that mixed with the waves, a crowd of people wandering the streets, music that drifted from open doors of taverns, loud enough he could hear it easily from where he stood on the street. Tall buildings loomed above the streets, creating shadows he suspected Carth would have appreciated. The occasional cry of gulls swooping overhead pierced the night.

  Rsiran focused on lorcith and heartstone. Within Asador, there were hundreds of items made out of lorcith, but fewer of heartstone. That was the reason he’d chosen to plant a coin with a hint of that metal on Galen. Along with his connection to
the metal, he thought that he should be able to detect the heartstone, or possibly even the lorcith knives that he’d given Josun.

  There came a flicker of lorcith somewhere nearby.

  Rsiran readied a pair of knives and Slid.

  When he emerged, he noted shadowed figures outside what appeared to be a tavern. One of them turned toward him, lorcith sword blazing from beneath a cloak. The shadow flickered.

  Sliding.

  Rsiran pushed on his knives, catching one of them in the leg and continuing to push until he fell. If they weren’t Hjan, he would see them healed and apologize later. If they were Hjan, then he’d be thankful that they were incapacitated and unable to chase him.

  Once the man was down, he Slid to him. Even in the light from the thin crescent moon, Rsiran could tell that the man had deep green eyes and a jagged scar along his cheek.

  He pulled on the lorcith sword, sending it sailing across the street and out of reach. He didn’t know how much the other would be able to pull on it, but he wasn’t willing to risk one of them having control over the metal the same way he did. He struck the man on the top of his head, knocking him out.

  Another shadow appeared, separating from the darkness. The moonlight cast a faint glow upon a woman’s skin. She approached cautiously, appearing only as he knelt over the unconscious man.

  Rsiran had never known Venass to use women, but it didn’t surprise him that they would shift their tactics, especially now that he had started coming after them.

  “You won’t succeed,” she said. She had a hint of an accent, and eyes that weren’t green at all, possibly a faint blue, though it was difficult to tell in the night.

  “I disagree,” Rsiran said.

  He grabbed her and the man and Slid them to the cell within the Forgotten Palace, separating them. Rsiran paused long enough to focus on the man’s implant, and pushed, deforming it as he had the Hjan who was still in the nearby cell. When finished, he Slid to the woman but didn’t find an implant on her.

  He hadn’t been able to find an implant on Danis, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have one. He had to have some way to augment his ability.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  She watched him with anger flaring in her eyes. “This will not hold me,” she said.

  “I will take away your power, one by one if I have to.”

  “Better to kill us all rather than risking us coming after you.” She stood with her arms crossed and glared at him.

  Rsiran waited for her to lunge and attack, but she made no effort to do so. “You’re not even of Elaeavn. Why do you support them?” he asked. He kept knives ready in case he needed to attack, but she simply stood.

  “Support? I came only for death.”

  “Then you’ll stay here, wishing for death.”

  Her eyes flashed with anger. “I think you’re mistaken.”

  “I understand enough.”

  She smiled darkly. As she did, Rsiran realized the temperature in the cell began to climb. The wall behind her took on a soft glow, the song within the lorcith shifted.

  “What are you doing?” Rsiran demanded.

  “Demonstrating how little you know, Elvraeth.”

  Rsiran laughed bitterly. “If you think that I’m Elvraeth, then you’re the one who knows little.”

  Heat continued to rise. The wall began to bulge. If Rsiran did nothing, the cell would fail.

  He pushed on one of his knives. As he did, it began to glow, and slowed before reaching her, falling harmlessly to the ground.

  “You will fail—”

  Rsiran pushed on three knives with more effort than he normally would, and sent them streaking toward her, no longer interested in trying to keep her alive. Why did it have to come to killing?

  Two began to glow as they streaked toward her. The third struck her in the chest.

  As it did, the heat dropped quickly. The wall began to cool. A smile formed on her face.

  Blood pulsed from her chest and congealed quickly. He considered whether he should check on the other captive, but that man had been Elaeavn born. Sliding back to Asador, he paused on the street outside the building he’d nearly entered.

  What were they protecting and were there others?

  Rsiran Slid around the street, searching for the possibility that he might find more of the Hjan. When he didn’t encounter any others, he paused, and looked up and down the street.

  There came another flicker of lorcith, this time from within the building.

  He readied his remaining knives and Slid across the doorway.

  Rsiran almost froze.

  Josun was bound to a wall, his head hanging low. A few others lay unmoving on the ground near him. Galen turned toward him, a dart held lightly in his hand. His eyes widened at Rsiran’s sudden appearance.

  How had Galen succeeded when Rsiran could not?

  Rsiran quickly cut Josun free from the wall and slapped the cuffs and chain he’d forged onto his wrists. Josun didn’t move. “What did you use to catch him?” Rsiran asked.

  “Slithca.”

  His mouth twisted in an expression of disgust, thinking of how slithca had once been used on him. He remembered all too well the way that it had poisoned him, preventing him from Sliding, all so the Forgotten could Read him.

  But used on Josun… that might have been the only way that Galen could stop him.

  He scanned the room, noting the dark-haired woman near the back. Not Cael, and not of Elaeavn from the color of her eyes, or the low cut to her dress.

  Maybe he didn’t know Galen at all.

  A dark smile pulled on the corners of Rsiran’s mouth. “A foul thing, but probably necessary for him.”

  Galen nodded toward the cuffs that Rsiran had forged, still clutching the dart in his hand. “Those will hold him?”

  “They’ll hold most Sliders.”

  “Most?”

  “They won’t hold me.”

  Rsiran started to Slide, ready to carry Josun to the cells, when Galen called after him, “What are you going to do with him?”

  He paused and glanced over his shoulder at Galen. He should kill him and be done, but he already knew he wouldn’t. “I haven’t decided. But he’ll answer for what he did.”

  Rsiran Slid.

  He emerged within the Forgotten Palace. Lorcith flared against him, pulsing with a steady rhythm that had changed since he’d been there only moments before.

  Rsiran looked down the hall. A body lay unmoving outside the cells. He dragged Josun with him, and checked.

  Mara.

  Her neck was slit.

  The door to the cells was open, and Rsiran glanced into each, finding them empty. Even the woman was gone.

  What had happened here?

  Josun started to stir, and he dragged him into one of the cells. The palace might not be safe for holding him, but he could use the lorcith in the walls to reduce the suppression that prevented him from reaching the implant. Rsiran focused on the heartstone implanted in Josun’s head. With the lorcith in the walls, he reached it and began to push and pull, slowly deforming it. Now that he had done it several times, changing it was easier.

  The metal began to pry free, slowly moving away from Josun’s mind, separating from him. Rsiran debated cutting through his skin and prying the metal free, but that wouldn’t do anything more than what he did changing the implant.

  Then a thought occurred to him. Was there a way to change it so that it could help them?

  Rsiran focused on the metal, listening to the soft song of the lorcith.

  He began to push, folding it in a way that resonated with him, not with Josun. Rsiran wished that he knew what this did, but he trusted the heartstone to work with him, much as he trusted lorcith to work with him. Listening to the song of the metal allowed him to coax it into a shape that would do what he needed.

  Josun screamed suddenly, and his body thrashed.

  Rsiran continued pushing, not sure what effect this had on Josun—and
not wanting him killed—not yet, not while there was still so much for them to learn from him.

  The song shifted, the indication that he was done.

  Rsiran stopped pushing.

  Heat started building.

  He’d felt it before, and didn’t hesitate, Sliding free from the cell, dragging Josun with him.

  Outside the cell, three people faced the door. They looked different from others he’d seen. Could these be the forgers he’d heard about? Somehow, the woman he thought he’d killed stood in the lead.

  Rsiran pushed on his knives.

  Two struck, and the Hjan fell.

  The woman turned. Her face seemed to glow, her dark eyes flashing in anger. “You were mistaken not finishing this, Elvraeth.”

  “You won’t take him back alive.”

  “Do you think that I want him alive?”

  Rsiran hesitated. “You don’t?”

  “That bastard attacked me, and thought to do other things to me,” she said, touching the side of her face. “Why would I want to let him live?”

  “You’re not with Venass?”

  Her face soured. “Venass,” she spat, saying the word with a strange accent to it. “The Hjan seek only darkness and death. That is what they brought to my country when they attacked.”

  “What country is that?”

  “Nyaesh.”

  Rsiran hadn’t heard of Nyaesh, but if there were others like this woman, others who could control the temperature around them… they would be a powerful resource fighting Venass.

  Unless even they hadn’t managed to stop Venass.

  Why else would this woman be here, if not for the fact that Venass had destroyed her home, and her people?

  “Release him, Elvraeth, and I might let you live.”

  Rsiran glanced to Josun. “I can’t do that. He’s hurt too many I care about too often. And he’s stolen something I must recover.”

  “I’m sorry, Elvraeth, I must see him dead. Only then can I return home.”

  With that, she attacked.

  Considering that he’d thought her dead only a short time before, she moved with more speed that he would have believed possible for someone without obvious enhancements. How had he managed to stop her the first time?