A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Well, there has been some activity, but it’s a midnight market for a reason.”

  “Because they don’t want the Society to be aware of what they’re selling.”

  “Maybe that’s part of it, but dular are accepted here.” He shrugged. “It’s more what they’re selling. That’s why they want the cover of night.”

  “Why don’t we get down there and see what’s going on,” Jayna suggested.

  She followed Topher, her gaze drifting along some of the other vendors, each of them selling items much like the others, but each one also unique. Distinct. Each vendor had enchantments, but they were of their own particular persuasion—power that would be tied to the vendor itself, and to the way they structured the enchantment. For Jayna, there was something intriguing about coming to a place like this; there were so many different opportunities to uncover the power that was here, and to try to understand what exactly the vendors created. But that wasn’t the reason she was here tonight.

  At the end of the street, there was a larger stand than the others. One of the vendors had turned it into something like a platform, a stage for him to stand upon, calling out to the people navigating through the market. There were more people here than Jayna had anticipated, all of them hidden by the darkness of night, concealed by the shadows.

  Not the vendor standing atop the stage, though.

  “Is that—”

  “Rosal.” Jayna nodded, looking up at him. “That’s Rosal.”

  8

  The stage Rosal stood upon looked to be made out of the sides of the wagon that contained his items. The platform folded down, propped up with two wooden posts that gave him a place to maneuver, and he strode back and forth across it, calling out to the crowd. His jacket was unbuttoned down to the middle of his chest, revealing far more skin than most of the vendors, and his breeches were snug. His black boots gleamed with the light of the three lanterns shining up at him from the surrounding grounds. He had attracted a considerable crowd, several dozen people now pressing in upon him, and two others stood behind Rosal, who looked to be taking in money and trading the enchantments.

  “I didn’t know he was a dular,” Jayna whispered. She just shook her head. “Wonder why he concealed that from me.”

  She watched him, getting close enough to listen.

  “All of you are here for the same reason,” Rosal was saying. “All of you are looking for something new and impressive. You have come to the end of your search!” He paused in the middle of the stage, his hands held to either side of him and raised up to the sky. It reminded Jayna a little bit of the Celebrants of Asymorn. “I bring you something different than the others. Why create sparks when you can create fire? Why lose memories when you can make fantastic new ones? Why create storehouses when you can show the gods your power?”

  Jayna scooted closer. Topher stayed with her, as if he needed to protect her. She twisted the dragon stone ring on her finger as she approached, looking up at Rosal as he shouted out to the crowd.

  “What I bring to you is something that has not been seen in Nelar before. A simple trigger, and you can find the night alight with color.”

  He held out a small enchantment. It was little more than the size of a bean, and it rested in the palm of his hand. A few snickers from the people gathered around him elicited a smile from Rosal.

  “Now, I know what you must be thinking. This doesn’t look like much. You’ve seen enchantments that are covered with intricate patterns and others that look like exquisite carvings or artwork designed to hold power. What can this tiny enchantment do that the others cannot?” He leaned forward, sweeping his gaze around the others. Jayna shifted so that she hid slightly behind Topher, not wanting Rosal to know she was there, not wanting him to see her any sooner than necessary. She wanted to know just what he was up to and what he believed was possible.

  “He’s right,” Topher said, leaning back and looking over his shoulder at her. “It doesn’t really look like much.”

  “It’s all part of his pitch,” Jayna said. “He’s got something up his sleeve.”

  The way he described it, though, left her questioning just what he intended. What did he have that he thought would actually impress the gods?

  Rosal held up the small enchantment, pinching it between his thumb and first finger. The faint lantern light didn’t illuminate all of it, leaving it looking dim and small. Even that was probably part of Rosal’s intention.

  “Now, when I show you what this can do, there will be some of you who will question the purpose behind it. There will be some of you who begin to ask why I would even bother with something like this. To that, I would say this has many uses, and I will share them with you. First, a demonstration.” He grinned as he swept his gaze along the crowd. “This is but the smallest enchantment I have. I have others, many others, and some of them quite a bit larger.” He squeezed the enchantment, closing his eyes for a moment, then tossed it into the sky.

  They didn’t have to wait long.

  The enchantment exploded in a burst of colored lights.

  It was a series of sparkling yellow and green and blue, and it crackled in the sky for a moment before fading completely.

  “Oh,” Topher said.

  Jayna could only stare. After what had happened the night before, and the way her home had very nearly been burned down, seeing Rosal working with fire left her unsettled. At least she could move past the idea that she'd been attacked by some follower of Gabranth, or worse—one of the Celebrants of Asymorn.

  It couldn’t be a coincidence.

  She grabbed Topher, pulling him along with her. “Come on.”

  “What are we doing?”

  “We’re going to get close enough to have a few words with him.”

  “Why? Do you want some of those?”

  Jayna considered it. In addition to the small enchantments the girl had given her, having something like the sparkling light Rosal created might be a welcome distraction, especially against dark magic. She could easily imagine how the Celebrants of Asymorn would handle something like that. They embraced dark and dangerous magic, and these were unique enchantments. But that wasn’t the reason she wanted to have words with Rosal.

  “It’s the kind of magic he’s working with,” she said. “I’m starting to think I wasn’t the target.”

  “You think Rosal did this?”

  Jayna frowned deeply. “Not him, but . . .”

  She saw figures moving in the shadows around the wagon, converging on Rosal.

  She stared at him.

  She tried to catch Rosal’s eyes, but he was focused on the crowd in front of him, his attention more on those whom he would sell to than anyone else. She leaned toward Topher.

  “Something’s going to happen,” she whispered.

  Topher glanced over to her, frowning. “What do you think is going to happen?”

  She shook her head, turning to focus on the people converging on Rosal, though wasn’t able to tell much of anything.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”

  Jayna twisted the dragon stone ring, and started to pull on power. Cold immediately began to work up her hand as she connected through the Toral ring to the Sul'toral power Ceran granted her. There was an edge of darkness along the borders of that power, but she skimmed across the surface of the power she could access. She tried not to think about that dark energy, nor about how she had once drawn on it.

  Rosal reached into his pocket and took out another enchantment. “If you would like, I can demonstrate a larger one, but this one requires a bit of a commitment from you. What I’m looking for is for you to share your interest with me.” He waited, and several of the people surged forward, getting closer to him. “As you can imagine, creating enchantments like this incurs a significant cost. It takes quite a bit out of me. But I do it for you,” he said.

  Jayna pushed on Topher, shoving him up the side of the crowd. “I need you to watch out,” she said.

 
“What is it?”

  She nodded to the figures moving around in the shadows. “Go and alert Eva. We might have something taking place here.”

  Topher frowned as he stared into the darkness, and Jayna gave him a little push—not hard, but enough that he started forward.

  She was left to watch Rosal alone.

  He was certainly a compelling salesman, and the enchantment had its own sort of charm, something about it that she recognized as appealing. Still, she worried what else he might be up to, and worried about whose attention he might’ve drawn.

  Somebody obviously wanted him for his enchantments.

  It was possible that, despite what she thought, Rosal had been responsible for creating the enchantment someone else had used on her that had very nearly burned her home down.

  She nudged her way forward, sliding between the crowd, and as she got close, somebody shot her a look, pushing on her.

  Jayna reacted, using a hint of power from the dragon stone ring, pushing back.

  The man cried out.

  “Just give me space,” Jayna muttered.

  By the time she reached the platform where Rosal paraded along the front, he had turned his back to her.

  “Rosal,” she said.

  He turned slowly, then looked down. When he saw her, his eyes widened slightly. “Jayna? What are you doing here?”

  “I would ask you the same—”

  An explosion thundered through the market.

  It was a massive burst of power, filled with heat and energy and fire.

  It was not much different from the explosion that had ripped through her home. The power that came with it threw Jayna back, and she staggered for a moment until she caught herself and spun around, looking for the source of the explosion.

  She couldn’t see anything.

  She reached for the power within the ring, holding on to it. Cold worked up her arm as she held that magic, hating that she had to use it this often. Even though she couldn’t see anybody, she knew better than to sit by while power continued to explode.

  She spun back to Rosal. “What’s going on?”

  “I . . .”

  Another explosion thundered, this one even closer than the last.

  Jayna grabbed for Rosal and pulled him off the platform, forcing him closer to her. He staggered for a moment and then jumped down to land on the ground next to her.

  Everything around them was chaos. People shouted and merchants started running, some of them leaving their wares behind. Others attempted to pack up their belongings, but were not quick enough. The ongoing explosions continued. Each individual one was not all that large, though they were large enough to carry the energy of the heat and flame that she had felt in her home.

  “They found me,” he whispered.

  “Who found you?”

  “It’s . . .”

  He didn’t get a chance to finish. There was another explosion, this one nearby. The power thundered through the back of the wagon. Jayna reacted, hurriedly tracing the magic ball spell she'd learned from the spellbook and creating shielding. It wasn't complicated. It was merely a reaction, Jayna’s way of calling upon her power, however briefly. As she latched on to that energy, letting it flow through her, she pushed against the explosion.

  Rosal wasn’t nearly as lucky.

  She had wrapped him around part of the barrier, but had not managed to secure him quite as completely as she intended. As the explosion eased, he was torn free of her grip, and tossed to the center of the market.

  Jayna looked up. A dark-robed man strode forward, holding on to a strange purple item in his hand. Power radiated from him.

  Dark magic?

  This didn’t look like one of the Celebrants of Asymorn, but she had no idea who this was or why he was here.

  Jayna stepped in front of him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “Get out of my way, unless you wish to die.”

  Jayna shook her head. “I’m afraid that sort of empty threat doesn’t work on me.”

  “Empty?” He raised the purple item, holding it toward her. “Whoever said my threat was empty?”

  Power ripped through her.

  It was unrestrained, uncontrolled power.

  Perhaps sorcery, or perhaps only a powerful enchantment.

  But the dragon stone ring didn't constrict around her finger.

  It wasn't dark magic.

  Had Jayna not been holding on to the barrier, drawing on the power of the dragon stone ring, his power might have torn her apart. She watched it as if it happened slowly, as if time had stood still. The enchantment rippled. Power started to pour outward, flowing from inside of the enchantment, and then rolled away from the man holding on to it, though it didn’t roll in a complete circle, the way so many other enchantments exploded. This one was directed, almost as if he could aim it at her.

  The burst of energy that shot out of the end of the purple enchantment targeted her, and when it struck her magic ball, it bounced off, thankfully leaving her unharmed. She had to call upon more power, using the energy within the ring to withstand the attack, but she realized she had already connected to it, and it helped her to resist his strike.

  As the blast cleared, the man looked down at his enchantments.

  “My turn,” Jayna said.

  She created a quick spiral of the snake spell, twisting it in a rapid movement, and released a burst of power. It streaked away from her, toward the man, but he had turned, and her attack missed.

  Jayna readied the starburst spell, when another explosion sounded nearby.

  She had to protect herself.

  Yet another explosion thundered, and it caught her from behind.

  She staggered, falling forward, and fell into the remains of Rosal’s wagon.

  She rolled to her side, anticipating another attack, but it never came. All that came was the pain from the injury she’d sustained from the attack. She lay there for a moment, trying to gather herself, and realized she didn’t have the necessary time to do so. She had to get moving.

  She scrambled to her hands and knees, sweeping her gaze around. All around her the strange purplish fires blazed, flames crackling all throughout the market. The effect of the fire had ripped through many of the stands, though some looked to have been targeted specifically, whereas others were still intact, the structures untouched. The woman who sold the memory bowls had her wagon remaining upright, and she hurriedly packed up, stuffing her bowls back into a massive bag. The family that had sold different items had disappeared, as had the enchantments they had brought to sell.

  Even though some places were in better shape than others, there was a feeling of devastation all around the market. Jayna looked around, trying to get to her feet, trying to chase after the man who had attempted to attack Rosal, but she didn’t see any sign of him.

  There was no sign of anything left here, other than destruction.

  Suddenly, there came another explosion—a loud, thunderous blast.

  Jayna was tossed off her feet, and she grabbed her head, covering her ears, but it passed. Everything rang. She looked over. It had come from the direction of the family, where the little girl had made her enchantments.

  Another explosion came from the same place—similarly loud, and similarly potent.

  Jayna kept her hands covering her ears, squeezing out the sound.

  Somebody had triggered those enchantments.

  All around her, she was aware of the power bursting, different enchantments that rocketed as they were triggered.

  She had to get out of here.

  Somebody screamed not too far from where she stood. She stumbled forward, using a blast of power from the dragon stone ring to clean out some debris in front of her, and the blast somehow activated several different enchantments. A series of sparks exploded around her, and Jayna unleashed the starburst spell. She needed to force those sparks of power away from her.

  At least she got to see what all of these different encha
ntments could do.

  She found a woman lying half underneath a fallen wagon. She had bright red hair like Jayna’s own, and her leg was bent at an unfortunate angle. Obviously broken. Jayna lifted the remains of the wagon, sliding it back, and helped pull the woman out.

  “Easy,” Jayna whispered.

  “My leg . . .”

  “I know. Your leg is injured. You’re going to need some healing.”

  The bleeding was heavy though.

  Heavier than what the woman would be able to survive.

  Jayna had seen wounds like that in her travels after having left the Academy, and recognized that profuse, persistent bleeding; eventually the woman would bleed out.

  She checked her circulation, and could tell her heart raced—perhaps from fear, but perhaps also from blood loss.

  She had to stop it.

  Jayna needed to use a healing.

  She laid the woman flat and hurriedly placed markings around her, tracing them across the surface of the stone street. She put one at her foot, one at her head, and then reached across, setting her hands on either side of the woman. The different markings were designed to contain the flow of energy Jayna would use, and her hands were placed in such a way as to push power out and let it flow to create the necessary healing waves. Jayna had to hope she understood the magic well enough so she could help this woman.

  If she failed, the woman would die. If she did nothing, the woman would die. The only way this woman would live would be if Jayna helped or a sorcerer arrived, though that was much less likely.

  She took a deep breath and focused.

  Jayna had to push away all the noise from the chaos around her, focusing only on the power within her. Since stealing the spellbook from the outpost, Jayna had studied it diligently. Ceran had taught her some magic she hadn't been able to learn at the Academy, but the spellbook was an opportunity to learn more traditional magic.

  And this one had quite a few different healing spells.

  She had memorized them as much as she could, thinking she might need them at some point, though she hadn’t anticipated needing them so soon.

  Now she had to focus on the healing spell.