A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “It means it doesn’t come from the city,” she said. “There’s a difference. And if Telluminder doesn’t know about it, then it doesn’t exist.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “Now I will look into this a bit more closely, but I’m afraid I don’t have any answers.”

  Eva strode off down the street, leaving Jayna standing looking after her.

  She had to hope that maybe Topher might find something. With his ties to the dular, maybe he would have access to knowledge that they didn’t. Maybe. She didn’t put a lot of stock in the possibility.

  Somebody had targeted her, and she didn't know who.

  Maybe it was time for her to go and question Raollet.

  Once she did that, she would have to make sure there were no more followers of Gabranth, or Celebrants of Asymorn.

  Even though she understood the kind of power involved, Jayna still didn’t feel any more certain that she would be able to stop another attack against her.

  Jayna knew there were several possible suspects. She hadn’t detected anything from the Celebrants of Asymorn, but she suspected they were still out there. There was still considerable power that she had to worry about.

  But not just them.

  There were more mundane threats.

  And that was what she had to deal with now.

  She made her way through the streets until she found the section where Master Raollet had his shop. He had rebuilt it far faster than she had expected, which told her that he either had enchantments or sorcerers involved. Probably not regulated sorcery either.

  She pushed open the door, wishing that perhaps she had had Eva with her, but she would do this herself. Eva might be disappointed that she had come to challenge Raollet, anyway. She would have to handle this carefully. She didn’t have Eva’s way of convincing people to talk, but she had her own techniques.

  The shop was empty. The shelves were sparse, not filled with enchantments as they had been when she had been here before, and the windows were much cleaner. The air had an almost sterile odor to it. She found Raollet near the back of the shop, and his eyes widened the moment he saw her. He was an older man, thin, with something of a dignified appearance to him, despite what he sold in his shop.

  He lifted something, and she held her hand up, immediately calling upon cold, painful power through the dragon stone ring.

  “I don’t intend to challenge you.”

  He frowned at her. “You don’t.”

  “And I want to apologize for what happened before. I . . .” She looked around, then turned her attention back to Raollet. “I suppose I’m not completely sorry for destroying your shop to free the El’aras, but I am sorry for attacking you a second time.”

  He frowned at her. “Why are you here?”

  “I need to know if you are involved with any particular enchantments.”

  “I seem to recall you having the same question when we last interacted.”

  “And I seem to recall you sending thugs after me a few times.”

  “Oh, they are still after you,” Raollet said, almost absently.

  Jayna actually smiled to herself. “Honesty. That’s probably better. I’m looking into a series of explosions in the city.” Let them think that was all it was.

  “What kind of explosions?”

  “The kind that lead to cold fire.” She thought about what Eva had called it, but she didn’t want to prompt Raollet. “The kind that can destroy parts of the city.”

  He furrowed his brow at her. “Considering what I have gone through, and what you have put me through, do you really think I would want to destroy more of the city? I would think not. I want nothing more than to ensure this city thrives.”

  She snorted. He sounded sincere, which told her he was probably anything but. Telluminder had believed Raollet wouldn’t use enchantments like that himself.

  “Did you sell anything like that?” Jayna asked.

  “No.”

  “Would you tell me if you did?”

  He considered her question for a moment, and Jayna resisted the urge to pull upon the power of her dragon stone ring and target him. “Do you intend to threaten me?” he asked.

  “I’m just looking for answers.”

  “Why?”

  “Oh, I don’t know, maybe to make sure the city doesn’t burn down?” It was probably a bit more dramatic than she needed to be, but Raollet watched her, a different expression in his eyes than what had been there before.

  “You really do want to protect the city.”

  “Yes. That’s what I was doing when we interacted the last time.”

  His gaze finally softened. “I have nothing to tell you.”

  “Master Raollet—“

  “I don’t have anything to do with whatever enchantments you’re pursuing, Ms. Aguelon. Now, if you don’t mind . . .”

  He tapped something on his counter, then stepped aside.

  Two large, muscular men stepped forward. They moved with the strange grace that suggested they carried enchantments on them.

  “Really?” she said to Raollet.

  “Just leave,” he said, waving a hand at her. “And I won’t send them after you. For now. I can’t say that I won’t change my mind again.”

  Jayna glanced at the two men before shaking her head and backing out of the shop, all while holding on to the cold power of her dragon stone ring. The two men never attacked, but there was a part of Jayna that almost wished they had.

  5

  As she neared her home, she caught sight of something surprising. She stopped, standing in the middle of the street, looking in either direction before she frowned. The shaggy-brown-haired man in the distance was familiar, a face she hadn’t seen in years, and the face of someone she had once known well, though not as well as her brother had known him.

  What would Matthew be doing here?

  Jayna hurried forward, rounding the corner after him, and jogged up to him. He was heading quickly in the opposite direction, making his way toward the center of the city, away from the outskirts.

  She had last seen him before the Academy. She’d sent word about Jonathan, looking for anything Matthew might know about his disappearance, but he’d never responded and she hadn’t been able to find him since.

  She watched him as she followed.

  Matthew was a skilled thief, a colleague of her brother’s, which meant that together they had been incredibly skilled. She didn’t think she could keep up with him if he were sneaking through the street, but at the same time, she also didn’t want to reveal her presence too soon. If she could watch him secretly a little while, maybe she could see what he was doing in the city.

  She rounded another corner, trailing after him, then lost him.

  Jayna stopped, turning carefully, looking along the street again. She reached for power within the dragon stone ring without even meaning to, and began to call that energy up through her—energy she knew she could wash outward and sweep around the cobblestone street, then use that power to detect what Matthew had done and where he had gone. But she didn’t see where he’d gone now, and though she turned in place, there was no sign of him.

  She started along the street, moving carefully, keeping out of the center of the road, though in this part of the city the streets were fairly narrow, making it difficult to move without drawing attention to herself anyway. Any single person along the cobbled road was visible.

  This had been where Matthew had disappeared. She was certain of it.

  As she hurried along the road, she didn’t see where he would have snuck off to.

  She turned a corner and still didn’t spot him. Jayna paused, turning back in the direction she’d come from.

  Matthew was there.

  He watched her, a grin crossing his face. He was a little taller than her, with an athletic build and a quick smile. His shaggy, brown hair looked no different than it had the last time she’d seen him, yet something about him seemed different. He had a gray cloak
draped over his shoulders and a long dagger sheathed on his hip.

  “Were you following me?” Matthew asked.

  Jayna took a step back, holding on to the power within the dragon stone ring, and frowned at him. Maybe this wasn’t Matthew.

  He watched her, suspicion in his crystal-blue eyes, but no sign of recognition.

  “I just thought you were someone I knew.”

  He frowned at her, cocking his head to the side. “Who did you think I was?”

  Jayna watched him and knew she was right. This was Matthew. There was the same dimple in his chin, the same slight twinkle in his eye, and the same tension she always saw from within him. For some reason, she was now aware of something else that she hadn’t been when she had been around Matthew before. He had a connection to something more. Power of some sort.

  She didn’t know what it was, but she was certain she detected it. Maybe it was something he tried to conceal. Could Matthew have enchantments on him?

  Her brother certainly had used enchantment over the years. He had made no attempt to conceal the fact that he would use any and all enchantments he thought would help him succeed with his missions, such as they were. Why wouldn’t Matthew have them? Enchantments were easy to acquire in Nelar—if you had the right amount of coin.

  But it was more than just having one on him. He was using it.

  That was something different. She detected an activated enchantment, one that flowed with power.

  “Matthew Veran.” He reached for his dagger, and Jayna shook her head. “You don’t have to do that. I’m not a threat to you.”

  “Who are you . . .” His expression shifted as he looked at her, something in his eyes softening before widening. “Jayna?”

  She flashed a smile. “It’s me.”

  He looked around, glancing in either direction, and shook his head. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you a long way from the Academy?”

  “Long enough,” she said. She realized he wouldn’t know. Very few people would’ve known she had left the Academy.

  “I have an assignment.” The lie came to her easily. Certainly more easily than explaining the truth.

  “An assignment . . . You’re here on behalf of the Society.”

  She smiled tightly. “Something like that.”

  “Where are the others? You can’t have been out of the Academy for all that long. Which means you have to have one of your masters with you.”

  She resisted the urge to scowl at him. “They’re somewhere around here,” she said, waving her hand.

  “Would you have time to talk?”

  She grinned at him. Matthew was about five years older than her, though he always liked to pretend he was much older than that. He’d been something like a second brother to her, which made it even more surprising that he hadn’t recognized her at first. Could she have changed so much in the time she’d last seen him? Jayna didn’t think so. Char had recognized her, but then again, Char had last seen her only a year ago. Jayna hadn’t seen Matthew in several years.

  “Are you sure you can do that?” she asked, looking at his cloak, then at his dagger. He looked to be on a job.

  “Of course I can.”

  “I know just the place,” she said.

  She motioned for him to follow. They were near enough to the Wicked Pint that she figured they could go and have a seat. It wasn’t that she liked the tavern better than any others—she preferred the Able Angler and the people who worked there a bit more—but they were closer to Robert’s tavern: he owned the Wicked Pint. It might be a more fitting place for someone like Matthew anyway. He didn't necessarily care for niceties, like those found at the Able Angler.

  “You know, there are other places we could have gone that are closer to where we were,” he said, waving his hand behind him.

  “There are, but none of them are quite as cozy as this place.”

  “I never took you for the cozy kind,” Matthew said.

  Jayna shrugged.

  They reached the Wicked Pint, and she pushed open the door. It was no later than midday, and the inside of the tavern was mostly empty. One other patron sat alone in the back, a plate in front of him, a mug of ale next to him, and he barely glanced in their direction when they came in.

  The inside of the Wicked Pint was small. She called it cozy, but that was perhaps a generous term. The walls were all paneled with wood, and the smooth floorboards underneath their feet were faded, bowing in certain places where they had been trampled upon over the years. Tables staggered throughout the room had been occupied the night before, but now they just made the place look and feel empty. The air hung with the stale odor of ale, though a hint of the scent of meat and bread lingered, enough to make Jayna’s mouth water.

  “You weren’t kidding when you said cozy,” he said.

  She guided him to a table in the back and she took a seat in the corner, sweeping her gaze around the inside of the tavern before settling on Robert. He was a dark-haired man about her age, with a quick smile and a quick laugh. He hobbled over. Ever since the attack and being possessed by the dwaring, he had a limp. Every attempt the sorcerers had made to heal it had failed. Something had changed for him then.

  Something had changed for all of those who had been attacked.

  Jayna didn’t know the extent of the changes—Char hadn’t shared that with her—though she knew there was something. You couldn’t be possessed by dark magic for as long as they had and not face some alteration. Even Topher had changed a little bit, though she wondered how exactly he’d been before all of it happened.

  “Didn’t expect to see you here again so soon.”

  She shrugged. “I ran into an old friend.”

  “Old? He don’t look that much older than me,” Robert said, grinning at Matthew. “And seeing as how you haven’t been in the city that much longer than our boy Topher, I can’t imagine your friendship is that old, either.”

  “He’s not from around here,” she said.

  He smiled. “Well then, you’re in for a treat. You’ve come to one of the best places in Nelar. Let me get you a plate of food and a mug of ale, and I’m sure you can relax. Maybe you’ll even come back here with more of your friends.”

  Robert hobbled off.

  “You’ve got a boy named Topher?” Matthew asked, smiling at her.

  “He’s a person I helped.”

  “I imagine,” Matthew said.

  “Not like that,” she said.

  “What is it like, then?”

  “It’s like nothing. What are you doing here?”

  Matthew chuckled and leaned forward, resting an elbow on the table as he looked over to her. “You know, I’m starting to wonder the same thing about you. What are you doing here, Jayna?” He looked around the tavern. “You bring me to a place like this, which doesn’t really scream the Society to me. Typically, the Society stays in the outposts, and doesn’t really venture out into the city much. At least, not this city.”

  “I’m on assignment.”

  “Some assignment.”

  “It’s not so bad,” she said.

  “Really? Well, then I’m on assignment too.” He grinned at her, leaning back. “And mine isn’t so bad either.”

  “What’s the job?”

  Matthew flashed a crooked smile. “Who said there was any sort of job?”

  “The only reason you’d be here was if there was a job pulling you here. What is it?”

  Matthew shrugged. “Can’t say that I’m at liberty to discuss those things. You know how it is.”

  “I know how you want it to be.”

  “No. You know how it is. Jonathan would have told you that.”

  “That was about the only thing Jonathan ever told me,” she said.

  “Don’t act like that.”

  “I’m still looking for him.”

  When she had last seen Matthew, she hadn't known about the mark of Gabranth. Maybe Matthew would know something about that. Her brother had certainly kno
wn something.

  Matthew took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I haven’t heard any word about him in a while,” he said.

  “You were his closest friend. How is it that you don’t know what happened?”

  Matthew shrugged. “He didn’t include me on the job.” He looked up and Robert brought over a mug of ale for each of them, setting them down on the table.

  “Food will be out in a little bit. Figured you needed something after the night you had last night. The man you were with was putting them back.”

  That wasn’t surprising. The only thing that had surprised her was that she hadn’t noticed at the time. “You’re telling me.”

  “He had those strange sculptures too.” He shook his head. “Haven’t seen anything like that before. But you were most impressed by them.”

  Sculptures?

  “What sort of sculptures did he have?” she asked Robert.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t take much time to look at them. You know how it is. I didn’t want to get involved between the two of you. Seemed like you were having a moment, such as it was.”

  Matthew leaned back again, smiling at her.

  Just what she needed. Her brother’s friend to hear about her having a moment with some strange man.

  And to be honest, she hadn’t had much of a moment. She’d only thought she could share a few pints of ale with Rosal, but maybe that had been a mistake.

  “Thanks, Robert. Could you give my friend and me some privacy?”

  He winked at her and turned away.

  “It sounds like your social life has changed quite a bit since you came to Nelar. Of course, you’ve grown up. You didn’t look anything like this when you were younger.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that.”

  “Take it however you want. I’m not trying to hurt your feelings, Jayna. You’ve turned into a beautiful woman.”

  It was strange hearing Matthew say that, but stranger still that it felt brotherly in a way.

  “You still haven’t said anything about the job you’re on,” Jayna said.

  “Neither have you.”

  She shook her head. “You know, there was a time when I thought you and Jonathan were charming with the way you would sneak around, sharing your secrets, always having something going on you didn’t want to reveal to anyone else.”