A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “What else would they be?”

  “That’s what I have yet to determine.”

  “Well, my father has still agreed to help. He’s committed to pay whatever they need to make us even.” He grinned at her. “He’s not even upset I stole. I told him what happened, and he made sure I knew nothing would come of it.”

  Jayna shook her head. “You still aren’t getting it,” she said softly.

  “Listen, Jayna, I like you. I mean, I really like you. That’s why I came out here. You’re interesting, and different, and when I was worried about my safety, I didn’t know who else to go to, and everybody who seemed to know anything pointed me in your direction. It’s the reason I went to you that night. I’m thankful you’ve been willing to help me as much as you have, but now . . . now I don’t know if I need you anymore. I’d still like to talk with you a bit though. Maybe we can get together for another mug of ale or two and see where things go.”

  “I don’t think so,” Jayna said.

  “You’re still mad about me stealing those stones?”

  “No, but I’m not done with those stones,” she said softly.

  “My father is going to buy up the rest. You don’t have to worry about it. You don’t have to worry about the others.”

  She just shook her head. He really was clueless. She hadn’t known it when she’d first met him, but hearing him now—hearing what he was willing to sacrifice and the risk he was willing to take, despite knowing just how dangerous those stones were—left her hollow.

  And irritated.

  She breathed out slowly, then smiled at him. “You should get back. Obviously, you and your father are working on something. And I’m not done with what I need to do.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to keep the city from being destroyed.”

  17

  Jayna watched as Rosal disappeared, weaving his way through the streets again, heading back toward his home. She could feel him separating from her as he moved farther and farther away, and she wished there were some way to tear free of that spell—mostly because she didn’t want to feel it anymore. Despite knowing what had happened as a consequence of stealing those stones, he still didn’t seem to care.

  She looked along the wagons. Somehow, they had appeared as merchants, enough for him to have found his way into the section and stolen from them. At least she had a description of the wagon now.

  That may not help much, but it was a start. A dingy wagon.

  But what would someone like Rosal consider dingy? He came from wealth and likely viewed his garden shed as dingy. Any small wagon might come across as dingy to him, whereas she would see it as a simple structure.

  The symbol was more important though.

  A crescent moon. Three dots. A circle. It was a unique marking. It sounded to her like it was some sort of flag or a crest, which might be easy enough to find. She should have had Rosal draw the marking for her.

  She was tired. She hadn’t slept nearly enough, and her stomach grumbled despite Topher having provided her with a plate full of food.

  Jayna moved quickly through the street and checked each of the wagons. Most of them were traditional merchant wagons. There wasn’t anything unusual about them. There was the one caravan painted in bright blues and yellows, stripes of colors that would stand out and draw attention, but it wasn’t what she was looking for. There were no symbols or markings on it.

  Another wagon was all plain wood. Unfinished. Maybe that was dingy. As she circled around that caravan, she saw they sold pots and pans, some textiles, but there were no symbols along the side of the wagon. Certainly nothing that drew her eye.

  She found another wagon with markings of the capital, as if it came from the king himself—at least, somebody wanted to give it that appearance so they could pass through without obstruction. Something like that would also put a target on them. She checked the wagon over, looking for any crescent moon symbols, but there wasn’t anything.

  She continued sweeping through, looking at each of the wagons, and came across one near an alleyway. It was an open-faced wagon, and no horses were attached to it, nothing that suggested they were getting ready to go anywhere. It was off to the side—a cart, more than anything else.

  She was about to move past it when she saw a symbol burnt into the back of the wagon. Just like Rosal had said, there was a crescent moon. Three dots—or moons—and a circle around it.

  Jayna’s breath caught.

  It had to be the same one, and if it wasn’t, it must have been with the one Rosal had seen.

  She scooted over, getting closer to the wagon, and looked inside, but didn’t see anything. Tracing a quick spell in the air above it, she pushed a bit of power out, and created light that hovered there. The wagon was empty. From the dust outlines in the back, it looked as if there had been trunks there at one point, but they were all gone—moved and taken . . . somewhere.

  Why would the bloodstones have been here? That was the real question.

  Matthew’s warning came to her. The bloodstones were dangerous.

  In the wrong hands, bloodstones could be explosive, violent, and she had seen how those enchantments could burn through buildings. Had she not been lucky enough to have Eva with her, the power from the bloodstone—at least, what she suspected was from the bloodstone—would’ve burned through her home, melting through the stone, and it would’ve ripped through the rest of the city.

  And then there was the bloodstone in Rosal’s father’s home.

  The box.

  She frowned, looking down into the wagon. There would’ve been other boxes. There was the box Rosal had in his home, too.

  What about the others?

  Shadows moved behind the wagon, and Jayna dropped down.

  She waited.

  The merchants were all getting ready to move. Rosal’s father would take an even greater hold of the city. Somehow, she thought that connected to the appearance of the bloodstones.

  She squeezed the bloodstone in her pocket, feeling the strange power within it.

  It was a trembling sort of energy, a bit of heat that bubbled up within her, and . . .

  She frowned. It reminded her of the power within the dragon stone.

  That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?

  She twisted the ring on her finger. That was a pale white stone, and looked nothing at all like the bloodstone, but the energy certainly felt similar. The ring helped her access Toral power. From what she had seen of the bloodstone, it also allowed its holder to access a different kind of power. The energy within the bloodstone augmented enchantments. What else was that but another kind of power?

  She remained under the wagon. Occasionally, she heard the sound of voices, but then they moved past, leaving her alone. Jayna waited by the wagon for a little while longer, hoping somebody might come back. When no one did, an idea came to her. She traced a quick linking spell to it. Linking spells didn't need to be with a person; they could be to an object—and in this case, it would allow her to track it. It was a straightforward use of magic, and she activated the spell with just a hint of sorcery.

  Something was going on here, and it was all tied to bloodstones.

  As she got up and moved along, making her way down the line of wagons, she paused, looking at them. Many had already started to gather their items, getting everything together, preparing to depart.

  She neared the end of the merchant caravans when she thought she saw shadows moving around behind her. For a moment, she wondered if it was Matthew again, but when she turned, there was no sign of anybody there.

  Jayna doubled back, using the same technique she had earlier in the day, winding back along the street, thinking maybe she could check whether somebody was trying to follow her. But when she did, she still didn’t come across anything.

  She looped back along, following the street, heading toward the distant tavern where she intended to meet the others, but when she kept going, there came t
he same feeling of someone, or something, following her.

  If there was somebody out there, then she needed to know who, or what, it was.

  She ducked into an alley, much like she had when Matthew had followed her, but this time, she didn’t head down the alley. She could feel her linking spell moving. Had the wagon already started off?

  Maybe she should've stayed near the merchant caravans a bit longer.

  She held the magic ball spell around her, using that as a barrier against a possible attack. It was easy enough to hold on to.

  And she was thankful she did.

  Something struck her from behind.

  Jayna staggered forward, catching herself.

  She rolled over, holding her hands up, but didn’t see anything. She had felt something though. Had she not had a barrier around her, she might have been seriously injured. The dragon stone had protected her, but somebody was out there. Somebody was targeting her.

  Jayna got up and pushed outward with the cold, painful power of the dragon stone, probing. There was a reverberation. She recognized it.

  Bloodstone.

  Jayna focused on that and targeted it.

  As she blasted with the burst of attack from the ring, she sent it in a spiral of energy, directing it toward the bloodstone. Whoever had attacked her had bloodstone on them.

  She heard a grunt, and she darted forward.

  The alley was dark, and it took just a moment to flicker a spell and get a ball of fire hovering above her, revealing a figure lying motionless on the stones.

  They were dressed in a deep red jacket and pants. As she rolled them over, she noticed a tattoo on the neck, the same symbol she’d seen branded on the wagon.

  A crescent moon. Three dots. A circle.

  She nudged the person.

  A steady awareness of magic came through to her. Her linking spell.

  It was on this man.

  She traced it, trying to understand what she detected of it and how it could be on him. Could he have somehow moved the spell?

  She stood back. The only type of person who could have done that would be. . .

  A sorcerer.

  Jayna focused on the dragon stone ring, ready to push power through it, bracing for the pain in the cold.

  The man didn't move.

  She checked for a pulse. There was none. Her blast had been too strong.

  She hadn’t thought it was too strong, but then again, ever since she had returned with Ceran, the energy she’d been connected to seemed to have been augmented more than before. It was almost as if Ceran had accentuated something. While she couldn’t be sure if that were true, she knew she had more power ever since she had touched that darkness when trying to stop Asymorn.

  She searched the fallen man.

  Within one of his pockets, she found the bloodstone. It was about the same size as the one she’d taken from Rosal’s father’s home, and she stuffed it into her pocket, adding it to the others.

  She started to get up, then decided to check him over again, curious if she might’ve missed anything. As she searched him, she found he didn’t possess only one bloodstone, but two.

  Jayna didn’t find anything else. No weapons. No money. Just the bloodstones.

  She got to her feet, looking around, and probed outward the way she had with the dragon stone power before. She sent it in a circle outward, a radiating power that weaved away from her, but didn’t feel anything. This was the only attacker.

  They either saw her under their wagon, or they had some way of detecting the bloodstone. If they did, then she had to be careful.

  Jayna slipped back out of the alley and headed along the street. She maintained her connection to the dragon stone power, using that as a barrier around her, ready for any threat.

  She neared the Wicked Pint and slowed.

  Before she headed to the tavern, she wanted to make sure there was nobody else around. She made a quick circuit, watching for anyone following her. There were particular spells she might be able to use to do the same thing, but she needed the right spellbooks for that. She had to go about it the way her brother would have.

  She didn't see anyone following her or feel anything to suggest magic was here, so she hurried into the tavern.

  Topher was there, sitting at a table near the back, listening to a minstrel strumming a lute, and grinning as he tapped on the table. Eva sat next to him, annoyance written in her eyes. She had a mug of ale in front of her, which Jayna figured was for the best. At least she wouldn’t drink that nearly as fast as she would a glass of wine.

  She hurried over to them and took a seat.

  “You’re here,” Eva said. “There have been two more explosions like the one in the market. We managed to get to both of them shortly after they exploded, but they were hard to put out.”

  Jayna frowned. Two more?

  “One of them was in a warehouse,” Topher said, his eyes drawn and wide. “It burned.”

  Eva looked over to him, irritation fading quickly to something unreadable. “It's out now,” she said, softer than Jayna would've expected.

  “And the other?” Jayna asked.

  “A house. Near the center of the city. Nice enough, but we got to it as the fire was spreading to the second story. I put that one out too.”

  Two more explosions.

  What did that mean?

  “Did you find anything?” Eva asked.

  “I did. More than I expected.” She looked around the tavern. It was getting busier, which she was thankful for on Robert’s behalf, but still not nearly as busy as it would be later in the evening. She pulled one of the bloodstones out of her pocket and set it onto the table, nodding to Eva. “I found another one. I suppose I should say I found a man carrying one.”

  “Where?” Eva asked.

  Jayna told them about the wagon, the linking spell, and her fear that someone may have used sorcery to relocate the spell.

  “He attacked me. Somebody like that fits more with what Ceran warned me about.” She shook her head. Dark magic should've triggered the dragon stone, unless they knew she was in the city and had some way of hiding it from her.

  “Where is the man now?” Eva asked, looking toward the door.

  “Dead. I hit him with a bit of power.” There was a time when hurting someone would have bothered her more. She supposed it still did, but now she was more concerned about stopping dark magic than hurting someone.

  Eva arched a brow. “A bit?”

  “Perhaps a bit more than what I intended. Anyway, he had a couple of these on him.”

  Eva studied the bloodstones. “We haven’t uncovered anything about them from the dular. Not for this fool’s attempts.” She nodded to Topher, who glanced over and shrugged.

  “I tried. I wanted to see if the dular might know anything about a new source of substrates for enchantments. They hadn’t heard anything,” Topher said.

  “I see,” Jayna said and leaned back, frowning as she tried to work through what she knew. “Something’s not quite fitting together,” she mumbled.

  “Many things are not quite fitting together,” Eva said. She twisted her shoulder, pushing Topher away from her. “Including him trying to get me to dance.”

  That elicited a smile from Jayna. “I don’t know. I think if you were to dance with Topher, you might enjoy it.”

  “And I might enjoy having hot oil poured into my eyes.”

  “Well, considering your affinity for heat, maybe you would,” Topher said.

  “There was bloodstone in Rosal’s father’s home. Either he knew about the bloodstones, or somebody sent him one. I don’t know which it was, but I feel like the answer is at the core of everything we need to understand.”

  She was going to have to go back and visit with Rosal's father. One way or another, she needed answers.

  “He’s not the only one who had a bloodstone,” Eva said.

  Jayna looked up, taking the bloodstone off the table and stuffing it into her pocket. “Who
else had one?”

  “Well, when we were wandering with the dular, I encountered another of those stones.”

  “How?” Jayna asked.

  “I could feel it,” Eva said.

  Jayna frowned. “You could feel it?” Was that all that different from what Jayna could do? She had felt the energy of the bloodstone in the vicinity, and using her connection to the dragon stone, she had known somebody was following her. She had known there was a stone inside of Rosal’s father’s home.

  “Only the one,” Eva said.

  She reached into her pocket and pulled one out, setting it on the table and sliding it across. It was a little larger than the one in Rosal’s father’s home.

  “Has it been enchanted yet?” Jayna asked.

  “No. But there is something unusual about it. I can feel . . . something.” Eva shook her head.

  “And you found this in the dular section of the city?”

  “It was near the warehouse, and considering how the warehouse burned, I figure it has to be tied to the explosion there.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what this situation is,” Jayna said. “And with what Ceran said—”

  “What did Ceran say?” Eva asked.

  “He warned me that any sort of strangeness may be tied to somebody trying to release one of the other twelve followers of Sarenoth.”

  “So now we might have another dark sorcerer—”

  “Or worse,” Jayna added.

  “Or worse,” Eva said carefully. She glanced over to Topher before turning her attention back to Jayna. “And just the two of us again.”

  “I tried to reach him.”

  “Let me guess: He didn't answer.”

  Jayna was never sure how to interpret Eva's feelings about Ceran. They'd never met, though that was more of Eva's choice than Ceran’s.

  “Regardless,” Jayna said, shaking her head, “we need to find the rest of the bloodstones.”

  “Fine. We find the rest, and then what?” Eva said.