A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

“It sounds like you can imagine it.”

  “Well, I can, but that doesn’t mean I want to. Who would have been foolish enough to place an enchantment on bloodstone?”

  “Somebody who doesn’t know better,” she said.

  “You know, when I saw you the last time, I talked about there being powers in the world,” he said.

  “You did,” she said.

  “Not too many people know about those powers. If they do, they don’t really care. Most people think about sorcery, or the dular, or even the El’aras.” He shook his head. “What they don’t think about are some of the more ancient powers.”

  “What ancient powers do you know about?”

  “More than I care to,” he said. He backed down the alley, moving away from her. “Be careful,” he said.

  “Will you tell me if you find any word about these stones?”

  “I can tell you what I find, but I don’t know if it’s going to help.”

  “I’m trying to keep them out of the hands of others who will use them in a dangerous way.”

  “There is no safe way to use one of those stones,” he said. “Your best bet is to destroy it.”

  “Can it be destroyed?”

  “Anything can be destroyed.”

  Jayna watched him, trying to decide what she might say, before shaking her head. “Send word.”

  “To the outpost?”

  “To the Wicked Pint.”

  Matthew frowned, but nodded once before slipping away down the alley, leaving her alone, watching where he’d been.

  She squeezed the bloodstone, and when she did, she noticed a bit of power flowing in it, a hint of energy, and knew Matthew was right. The bloodstone did have power, and wherever it came from, whatever it was, she had to find a way to keep it out of the hands of those who would use it for darker purposes.

  She didn’t know if she could destroy it though.

  Surprisingly, it didn't take much for her to think of ways she could use that kind of power. With what she had to deal with, how Ceran intended to use her, she might need to.

  She might need something like the bloodstone and the power it possessed to successfully stop the darkness, if that’s what it came down to.

  16

  Jayna found Eva sitting in the living room, staring at the fire, her hands clasped over her lap, and for the first time in a while, no bottle or glass of wine resting near her. Topher moved in the kitchen, making preparations and flashing a grin at Jayna as she entered.

  “Did you find anything?” Jayna asked Topher.

  “Not much. You wouldn’t believe some of the places Eva knows about. She brought me all over the city, and some of those shops are terrifying.” He laughed as he said it, which left her thinking that whatever supposedly terrified him hadn’t really been so frightening. “Some of them have really interesting items. I think if I can regain some of my ability, I’d have a place to sell my wares and wouldn’t need to go into the market.”

  Jayna nodded slowly and took a seat across from Eva. She pulled the bloodstone out of her pocket and held it in the palm of her hand.

  “Have you ever heard of a bloodstone?”

  Eva looked at the massive stone she had stolen from Rosal’s father’s home. In the firelight, it seemed to glisten, catching the reflected light, practically glowing with some internal energy that radiated outward. “You decided upon a name?”

  “I ran into an old friend of mine—well, an old friend of my brother’s—and he knew about it. He calls it a bloodstone. He says it’s one of the ancient powers.”

  Eva shook her head. “It seems like it should be familiar, but . . .”

  “I just thought I’d ask.”

  “You thought you’d ask me?”

  “You have a different kind of knowledge than I do,” Jayna said. “Sometimes, at least—when you remember it.”

  Eva sniffed and turned her attention back to the flames. “I didn’t learn anything in the city about any of these enchantments. Or that bloodstone. That’s what you wanted me to do, isn’t it?”

  “I think we need to find something,” Jayna said. “There has to be some activity here.”

  They would have to draw out those willing to attack because of the bloodstone.

  “None of the contacts I have know anything.”

  “Then we’re going to have to look beyond your contacts.”

  Eva leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest, and stared at the crackling flames.

  Jayna got up, heading to the kitchen, and looked over to Topher. “You need to go back to the dular. We have to figure out who was responsible for bringing these into the city.”

  “Is there anything in particular you want me to ask them about?”

  “You’ll have to be careful. If my friend is right, then this is incredibly valuable—and dangerous. There might be some who know about them and will do anything to get one.”

  “So you don’t want me to take one with me,” Topher said, grinning.

  “If you were to take one with you, you’d become a target.”

  “That’s why I asked,” he said, laughing again. “I figured as much.” He offered her a tray filled with sliced meats, cheeses, and bread. “I figured you were hungry. Well, I figured Eva was hungry, and since you came back, I thought I could help you, too. The two of you often get caught up in what you’re doing and forget to eat. You buy things on the street, and you never know the quality of that food.”

  “This isn’t from the street?” she asked.

  “Well, it is, but I found higher-quality sources.”

  She took a seat at the table, resting her elbows on it, and rubbed her hands together. She needed answers, but wasn’t exactly sure where to go for them. As far as she could tell, everything was connected. The merchant Rosal had stolen from. The bloodstone. The men who’d attacked him. Even the fear Ceran had of somebody coming to the city and orchestrating another attack that would lead to a release of one of the twelve followers of Sarenoth. Everything seemed interrelated.

  “I’m going to have to go to each of the merchants,” she muttered to herself.

  “What was that?” Topher asked.

  She looked up at him, holding his gaze, before shaking her head. “Nothing. Why don’t you check with the dular, see what you can find, and meet me back at the Wicked Pint later this evening?”

  “What about Eva?”

  “Seeing as how you went with her earlier today, maybe she’d be willing to go with you this time.”

  Eva stared at the fire and didn’t look up. “I wouldn’t count on it.”

  “You can’t just stay here and drink all afternoon.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Not if you don’t want me to break all of your remaining wine bottles.”

  She looked over, glaring at Jayna. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “I would dare, and you know it. Just go with Topher. Keep him safe.” She looked up at Topher, winking. He smiled at her. “The two of you can cover more ground, and probably find more information than either of you can on your own. All I need is to get a little bit of a lead. If we can figure out who knows something about the bloodstone, then we can track down where it came from, and who might be targeting us.”

  “They’re not targeting us,” Eva said, turning her attention back to the fire. “They’re targeting that young man you brought here.”

  She needed to talk to Rosal and find out what he knew.

  “They’re only targeting him because they think he has more bloodstone.”

  “Then convince them you have more of the bloodstone.”

  Jayna frowned. Maybe that would be what they would need to do, but not yet.

  She was still convinced she could find information. She needed to know which of the merchants had brought bloodstone into the city. Then she had to discover whether those merchants were responsible for the attacks.

  She grabbed a few more pieces of meat and cheese off the tray, stuffing some bread into her mouth
, and chewed while contemplating. “I’m going back out.”

  “You just got here,” Topher said.

  “I shouldn’t stay. If you can check with the dular, I’m going to check with the merchants, and like I said, we can meet back up.”

  She cast a long look at Eva, worried she was going to linger here, but Topher made a motion for her to leave.

  Maybe he really could prompt Eva to go. He’d gone with her before, after all, and regardless of Eva’s frustrations, she’d tolerated Topher.

  Jayna closed the door and veered toward the perimeter of the city. Finding the merchant section should be a relatively straightforward task, but once she did, how was she going to find information about the bloodstone?

  She paused for a moment, focusing on the Toral ring. She hadn't pushed power out through it to try to signal to Ceran in quite a while, but perhaps that was a mistake. Given what she had uncovered, and how power might be used by the twelve followers Ceran wanted her to watch for, he should know.

  But as she attempted to push power through the ring, there was nothing. No response. Maybe Ceran would respond later. She had to hope he would.

  She closed her eyes, squeezing the bloodstone, pushing power out from her, then used the dragon stone ring to direct her. There had been a bit of reverberation in the ring, and this time, it came to her more clearly than before.

  Jayna slowed as she reached the merchant section. It was closer to the eastern side of the city, the opposite side of the forest, and facing the main part of the kingdom. From here, the main road led back to the capital, but not far from here in the other direction, it reached a river, and she could travel to Dron or Birin or any of a dozen smaller cities that surrounded the kingdom.

  The merchants in this part of the city were set up in large caravans, and most of them had come through here at one point or another, setting up their wagon train, either to trade or prepare for departure. Many caravans were crammed into the narrow road, making it difficult to escape. Jayna weaved through and squeezed past them, moving as quickly as she could, while also pressing out through the dragon stone ring, feeling for the pressure that would suggest some hint of power coming from the bloodstone.

  Jayna found one merchant lowering the windows of his wagons, and she headed over to him. He had a pointy, black mustache, dark hair, and a forest-green hat tipped forward on his head.

  “Excuse me,” she asked, getting close to him. “I have—”

  “I’m not trading any longer,” he said.

  “It’s not a question about your trade, but a question about those who’ve been trading around you.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at her, frowning. “What do you want?”

  “I’m looking for a merchant who had a specific item with them.”

  “I’m afraid I can’t help you. I’ve only been in the city for the last week. I’m getting ready to head out, making my way to Mostern.”

  “That’s a long journey,” Jayna said.

  “Long enough. And now that my wagons are ready, it’s time for me to depart.”

  “I just wondered if you might have seen anything like this.” She reached into her pocket, pulling out the smaller of the two bloodstones she had on her.

  She held it out, and the merchant leaned toward her, frowning for a moment, before leaning back and shaking his head. “Can’t say that I’ve seen it.”

  “Nothing like it?”

  “That’s what I said. Now, if you don’t mind . . .”

  She moved past him.

  She pressed outward, using a hint of power, testing his wagons. She swept the energy of the dragon stone ring through the wagons, probing for any energy she might feel echoing and reverberating within her, but didn’t detect anything.

  Either he truly didn’t have any of the bloodstone, or it was hidden from her.

  At this point, Jayna didn’t know if she could move quickly enough. Working her way through here and testing each of the wagons was going to take time, and they might leave before she finished.

  Even if she tested each of them, would she be satisfied with what she uncovered?

  She had no idea if she was going to find the answers she needed. All she knew was that a merchant had the bloodstone.

  She needed Rosal with her.

  She focused on the faded linking spell. There might not be much of a connection remaining. Surprisingly, it was still buried there deep in her mind. She pushed a bit more power through it, solidifying the linking spell until she was certain it would hold. Jayna plucked, tugging, hoping she could draw some energy to her, then released.

  She moved on to the next wagon and didn’t see any merchants, but pushed out with a hint of power through the dragon stone ring, using it the same way she had with the last wagon.

  Strangely, something changed. It took her a moment to realize what it was.

  The linking spell.

  Rosal was getting closer.

  She backed away to the edge of the street and waited. It didn’t take long until he arrived, dressed in a black jacket and pants, moving quickly and directly toward her.

  He grinned widely when he saw her. “Jayna?”

  “How did you find me?” she asked.

  “I had the sudden urge to get over here. I didn’t know what it was, but it was like I could feel something.” He arched a brow at her. “I imagine that was you?”

  She nodded. “The linking spell I placed on you.”

  “I thought that was how you’d find me.”

  “Apparently, it allows me to alert you, too.” She looked at the wagons. “I need you to tell me if any of these wagons remind you of the one where you had . . . borrowed . . . the stones.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve already come through here.”

  “What?”

  “Didn’t I tell you that?”

  “No. I think I would’ve remembered had you told me.”

  “I’m sorry. I should have made that clear. I thought I might find the caravan again. I wanted to repay them.” He shrugged. “At least, I wanted to have a chance to repay them. The wagon was dingy, small, and it had a strange crescent moon symbol surrounded by three dots and a circle. I went looking for it, but I think they were already gone. And I thought . . .”

  She frowned at him. “You thought you might be able to either buy or steal the rest?”

  “It wasn’t quite like that,” he said.

  Jayna frowned at him. “What was it like, then?”

  He shook his head. “Did you really break into my father’s house?”

  She glowered at him. “Why?”

  “He said some sorcerer had broken in. He’s using that to blame the Society for the merchant tax.” Rosal shook his head, but there was a hint of a smile on his face.

  The tax. That explained why the merchants were leaving.

  Here she’d thought they were leaving because some wagons had been destroyed.

  “I found something in his office,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the other bloodstone. “He had this in a box. I have a friend who knows something about these stones. He warned me that this was dangerous to place an enchantment on.”

  “That's what I found when I went back to the wagon. Boxes like that.” Rosal shrugged. “Maybe my father found the merchant as well. Don't worry about it. Maybe whoever told you it was dangerous to use the stone for an enchantment just wanted it for themselves.”

  “Not this person. Listen, Rosal. I know you don’t think this is anything to be concerned about, but this is dangerous.”

  “Well, even if it is, there isn’t anything we can do about it. I thought I might find more of it, but the supply seems to have dried up.” He laughed bitterly. “It’s too bad, too. My father was impressed. He says we might have finally found the key to me coming back to the house.”

  “That’s what this is all about for you?”

  “You saw where I was staying.”

  “Yeah, but it wasn’t like it was a shithole.”r />
  He frowned at her choice of words. “Maybe not, but I just want to get back into my house. I want to get back into the family. I just want to get back to—”

  “Your wealth.”

  Jayna shook her head. When she had first met Rosal in the tavern, she had found him entertaining. And in the time since then, she had started to pity him, if only a little bit. When she had learned about what his parents wanted for him, those feelings had shifted into something more pitying. If this was the person he was, if all he cared about was wealth and getting back into his family’s home, then maybe all of that pity had been a mistake.

  “You don’t understand,” Rosal protested.

  “I understand well enough. I understand you value what you can make, but you’ve also lost sight of what’s going on here.”

  “I haven’t. I know there are people after me who want this stone. I went back after . . . well, after you broke in. I found the right enchantment. He loved it. Now my father has agreed to help.”

  “He has.”

  He flashed a smile. “Isn’t that great?”

  Jayna studied him. “I’m not sure.”

  “Well, he’s agreed that if it does allow me to make enchantments like that, it would be incredibly valuable . . . but maybe not so much in Nelar. The people here tend to be a bit frugal, but he can see the king himself wanting enchantments like that. He thinks I might be able to move this to the capital, and from there . . .”

  “How can you be so naïve?”

  “I'm not—”

  “Do you really think your father is telling you the whole truth? He just wants to corner the market for the stones. Maybe even find more powerful dular than you to work their enchantments on them.” That was what she had feared. That was what she would do. And it would be the only reason his father would have a stone in his office like that. Jayna shook her head. “You don’t even understand what’s going on here, do you?”

  “What?”

  “They might not even be merchants.”

  “What are you saying? Of course they were merchants. I came across them here in the merchant section. I saw the stones. I realized they might give me an opportunity to use them as a substrate, and I—”

  “You stole from them,” Jayna said, shaking her head. “And that’s the entire problem. They might not even be merchants.” Though Rosal had bought the bloodstone initially. Why would someone have sold that to him unless they were a merchant? Could they have wanted the violence in the city?