A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “So you did three homes?”

  “I offered to do more,” Matthew said. “The money and all.”

  “Right,” Jayna said. “But they didn’t let you take on any more than that?”

  “I was lucky to get that. Something happened to one of the people they hired.” Matthew shrugged. “Never did learn what.”

  Jayna wondered if that had anything to do with how Rosal had acquired his bloodstone in the first place. A question for another time.

  “How many other bloodstones were there? You said there were three boxes per home, but Eva has seen bloodstone in warehouses, and we’ve seen them in the market, and by my house.”

  Matthew shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe more than what I’d been a part of.”

  For them to accomplish what they had intended, it wouldn’t surprise her that they would have more bloodstones scattered throughout the city. Target the dular. Pit them against the Society. Weaken both sides. Sow discord.

  She pulled out the bloodstone in her pocket.

  There might be something she could do.

  She slowed her pace and began to trace a faint pattern on the bloodstone.

  “What are you doing?” Matthew asked.

  Eva said nothing, but she did raise her arm to block Matthew as he tried to grab the bloodstone out of Jayna’s hand.

  “We need some way to track them, don’t we?” Jayna asked.

  Matthew frowned. “That’s what you intend?”

  She finished the linking spell. “This will allow us to track the bloodstone. Hopefully, if it works, you can tie this to others like it.”

  She focused on it and probed. She felt the energy of bloodstone suddenly surge in her mind. Why hadn’t she considered it before?

  She handed it to Matthew. “Take this. Don’t use it,” she chided, “but go and find the other bloodstones. Start with those in the courtyard, and get it out of the homes first.” If that’s where the explosion had begun, she needed to focus her attention there. She wasn’t sure if the Order would target only those homes, or if that was where they were beginning, but crippling the ruling families would quickly pit the dular against the sorcerers.

  “You want me to do this?”

  “You’re the thief. You’ve already delivered them, so now break them back out.” She nodded to Topher. “I need you to go with Matthew.”

  Topher grinned, and his eyes lit up.

  Matthew glanced over to him. “I can do this on my own.”

  Jayna frowned. She knew Matthew well, and he needed to have someone else there for the purpose of accountability. “I’m not asking. I know you can do it on your own, but you’re going to need help.” She carefully added that last point, not wanting to anger him, but it was more than just that. This was Matthew. “Besides, if they explode on you—”

  Matthew waved a hand as if that wasn’t a concern.

  “Let him help you collect stones. Work together.” She had another idea. “Besides, Topher can create enchantments that link things.” She smiled at him. “We’re going to need that ability of yours, Topher. Hope you’ve been working on it.”

  He hopped from one foot to the other. “I’ve been working on it, but I don’t know if it’s going to work for us. You might not want to rely on it.”

  She squeezed his arm, meeting his gaze. “We need you. All of us. The city. We need Topher the dular. I need that man. Can you do it?”

  He held her gaze for a moment, then glanced over to Matthew. “I can.”

  Jayna turned to Eva, trying to ignore the flames now rising in the distance. They needed to get there quickly, but they had to come up with a plan. Matthew was right about that. She wasn’t the planner her brother was, but she could work through things quickly. And she needed to work through this now.

  “Eva,” she said, “you are going to have the most difficult job.”

  Eva frowned at her. “Which is . . . ?”

  “I’m going to need you to put out all of the fires that pop up. If I have to take on the Order, I won’t be able to deal with fire.”

  Smoke started to swirl around Eva. “There’s only so much heat I can hold.”

  “I didn’t know,” Jayna said.

  “I didn’t know either.”

  Jayna held her gaze. “Do what you can. Draw the fires off, call that power into you, then maybe release it? I might need you in other ways, as well.”

  Eva frowned at her. “It doesn’t work quite like that.”

  “I don’t know how it works.”

  “Neither do I,” Eva whispered.

  Another flame began to lick at the sky, and Jayna started running, the others joining her. She wished she had some way of traveling quickly, the way Ceran had proven he could. They avoided streets where people were coming out to look at the fire, wanting to move as quickly as they could, trying to get to the courtyard.

  “I don’t know if my ability is going to be enough,” Eva said, lowering her voice as she jogged alongside Jayna.

  “I don’t think my magic is going to be enough either,” Jayna said. “But we’ll do this together. As a team.”

  She waited for Eva to argue, but she didn’t.

  It wasn’t the team Jayna would have chosen. She thought about the teams her brother had put together. Most were planned out, detailed, with each member having dedicated roles and responsibilities. She could imagine Matthew thinking that same thing about not choosing this team, knowing his role was not at all planned out, and wishing he worked with a different Aguelon sibling.

  “I will do what I can,” Eva said.

  Jayna leaned forward, lowering her voice. “If Norej is one of the other twelve followers of Sarenoth, then we have to make sure the Order doesn’t succeed. We have to ensure they don’t release another of the twelve.”

  “How do you know they already haven’t?”

  “I don’t,” Jayna said. “But this is what we have to do.”

  When they neared the courtyard and the fires, Matthew looked over to Jayna, pointing to his left. “Your enchantment is telling me I need to go that way.”

  Jayna looked over. She couldn’t tell which of the mansions it was, but didn’t think it was Rosal’s. There were two homes on fire already—two homes where the bloodstone must’ve already exploded—which meant Matthew and Topher had to focus their energy there.

  “That’s it,” Jayna said, looking to Eva. “Do you think you can put those out?”

  “I will do my best.”

  Jayna glanced over to Matthew. “If what you said is right, you still have fifteen bloodstones to get before these other houses explode.”

  “I need some way of opening the boxes,” Matthew said.

  Jayna should’ve thought about that. It was one more thing she hadn’t planned on.

  She held her hand out. “Give me a knife?”

  Matthew frowned, but he hurriedly pulled a knife from beneath his cloak and handed it to her. Jayna wasted no time: She used her Toral ring and poured power out from it into the knife. She let it fill the knife with power. As she did, she could feel that enchantment taking hold, and she handed it back to him.

  “You should be able to cut through the boxes with this now,” she said, hoping it was true. If not, they’d have to carry the boxes out. That would be more difficult.

  “This cuts their magic?”

  “I put something special on it.”

  “Good.”

  “You are going to need to work quickly,” Jayna said.

  “It’s a good thing I have enchantments for just that purpose,” Matthew said.

  “What about me?” Topher asked.

  Matthew frowned, then dipped into his pocket and pulled out a small bracelet. “Put it on. It will help you run fast. It doesn’t seem like time is on our side.”

  “You don’t need stealth. Just speed,” Jayna agreed.

  Topher slipped on the bracelet, and his eyes widened.

  “Go,” Jayna said.

  “What do I do when I
’m done with them?” Matthew asked.

  “You’ll bring them to us. I just hope you get to them before they’re detonated.”

  Matthew frowned. “What happens if they’re detonated while I have them?”

  “Then you run.”

  Matthew regarded her for a long moment. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  With that, he darted off, Topher following.

  Jayna turned to Eva, who stared at the first house while smoke trailed around her. “Do you intend to do it from here? You could get closer.”

  “I don’t know if it matters,” she said.

  They made their way carefully forward, but she soon realized they weren’t alone in the courtyard. There was a darkened figure standing not far from them, seemingly waving toward the flames as if to draw them up.

  “Work on the fires,” Jayna said, looking to Eva. “I have something else I need to be doing.”

  Jayna darted forward, away from Eva.

  The woman standing on the far side of the courtyard, near the fountain, was the sorcerer who had been with Char when he and the sorcerers had gone to the midnight market.

  Daratha.

  The head of the Order.

  “There you are,” Daratha said, looking to Jayna. Her eyes went to Jayna’s hand. “A Toral ring. How intriguing. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve known the power of one of those?”

  Jayna hesitated a moment. She had known Daratha would be powerful. “What do you mean?”

  She could feel the fires tamping down, but others might not be. Jayna hoped she still had time. She didn’t know what Daratha intended, or if she was alone, trying to cause these fires. It might be that she came out to make it look like she had nothing to do with it.

  Or her presence was meant to make it appear that the Society was involved.

  Daratha smiled widely at her. “Hasn’t he told you the truth?” She took a step toward her, and Jayna prepared to create some spell to defend herself, but wasn’t sure she needed to. Daratha hadn’t attacked her. Not yet. “Your Sul’toral. Hasn’t he told you the truth?”

  “I know the truth about what you’re doing.”

  “What, exactly, do you think I’m doing?”

  “You placed the bloodstone in these homes, and now you are going to destroy them so you can create a war between the dular and the Society.”

  Delay. Give her people time.

  Daratha was small, petite. She had dark hair like Eva, but her skin was deeply tanned, and she was dressed in the maroon robe of the Society.

  If Jayna were to attack Daratha now, it would appear as if Jayna were attacking someone of the Society.

  Distantly, Jayna was aware of four other sorcerers around the courtyard.

  She had to alert Eva somehow.

  All of them were dressed in the same robes.

  All of them were with the Order. Jayna was certain of it.

  Daratha chuckled, and Jayna pulled her gaze back to her. “Perhaps. Unfortunately, you are going to have a difficult time proving anything when the Society holds you and interrogates you. I’m sure a rogue sorcerer would go over well with the Academy.” She flicked her gaze to the far side of the courtyard. She watched, and Jayna turned, almost instinctively, to see Daratha staring at Eva. “And what do you have there? An interesting woman.”

  Jayna began to pull upon the dragon stone ring. At this point, she thought she had no other choice. Cold began to bloom in her hand, and she winced.

  Daratha looked over, grinning at her. “Your control over your Toral ring is basic. Let me guess, you’re serving Lorash?”

  Was that the name of another Sul’toral?

  She had to stay focused. If the other sorcerers of the Order decided to attack . . .

  But if she could keep Daratha preoccupied, she might be able to give Matthew and Topher time.

  That was what she had to do. Bide her time, delay.

  And she had to be careful that Daratha wasn’t trying to delay Jayna.

  “Who are you serving? Norej—or is it someone else? Inoash?” Jayna watched her, hoping for a reaction, but there was none. “You obviously think yourself powerful.”

  Daratha took a step toward her. “Oh, I am. And I’m someone who has been where you stand. Now I’m someone who has decided to embrace my own path. My own power.”

  “By serving Norej.”

  Daratha cocked her head to the side, sniffing at the air. Her gaze drifted past Jayna, as if she were looking at Eva, but Jayna needed to keep Daratha’s attention and focus on her. Jayna shuffled toward her, preparing more power through the dragon stone ring. Her entire arm had gone numb with cold pain.

  Daratha finally turned her attention back to Jayna. “You know so little. Most Toral know so little. It’s a shame, really, how they think to use you.”

  Now Jayna understood what she was trying to do. Manipulation.

  “Why do you want to use the bloodstone to destroy the city? How will this honor your master?”

  “You don’t understand. You cannot.” She took another step toward Jayna.

  As she did, the moonlight reflected off of Daratha’s hand. She had a Toral ring.

  She had suspected Daratha would be powerful—she likely was as powerful as Gabranth, perhaps more so—but if she had a Toral ring, and had experience with both sorcery and the Toral ring, then she was going to be incredibly powerful.

  Jayna’s lack of experience meant she was at a disadvantage.

  “Are you going to be able to stop two Toral?” Jayna asked, nodding to Eva.

  Daratha started to laugh. “Another Toral? Unfortunately, even the two of you would not be able to stop me.”

  “Eva?”

  Eva looked in Jayna’s direction and seemed to see her standing across from Daratha, then practically glided over. Jayna could see the smoke rising from around Eva, then she recognized the blood dripping from her palms, pooling on the ground. It immediately turned to smoke, and that smoke started to swirl. It began as a spiral working its way up Eva’s body, building with a vibrant intensity as it thickened. More and more smoke began to form, and Eva began to push that smoke out from her.

  Jayna darted forward.

  If she could reach Daratha’s ring, tear it off of her . . . but she slammed into nothing.

  Jayna created a blade of light spell, using sorcery through the Toral ring to carve through the smoke. There was another sorcerer hidden amidst the smoke. One of the four she had seen around the clearing.

  Not Daratha.

  They started to use sorcery. There was a tight tension around Jayna’s arms, and she reacted. She used the snake spell, constricting it around the sorcerer. Every time she used it, she was thankful Gabranth had demonstrated it to her. As she constricted it, she looked over to Eva. She could hold this snake spell.

  “Did you get the two fires out?” Jayna asked.

  “They are controlled, but not out,” Eva said. “I don’t know if I can put them out while helping you.”

  A gust of air suddenly struck, pulling the smoke away, drifting it up into the sky as if a spiral had formed.

  Jayna held on tightly to the snake spell, squeezing the sorcerer. Suddenly, he moaned and collapsed.

  “You can relax,” Eva said.

  “This is one of the Order,” Jayna said.

  “You intend to kill him like you killed the last one?”

  “What?”

  “Like you killed the other one,” Eva said. “I know it was an accident, but it happened. Is that what you want? I know it’s connected to what you fear,” Eva said. Smoke swirled around, creating a buffer around them, protecting Jayna from the possibility that one of the other members of the Order of Norej might attack. “You are afraid of the darkness you glimpse when you draw upon that power. The only way to protect yourself from it is to hold it away.”

  “Like you do?”

  “I can only hold away so much,” Eva said.

  “I am not calling on darkness,” she said.
/>
  “Then relax,” Eva said. “Don’t destroy them if you don’t have to.”

  Was Jayna overreacting?

  She didn’t know, but she released the snake spell.

  “See what you can do with the others. And I will do what I can here.” Eva regarded Jayna for a moment. “But remember: Don’t destroy if you don’t have to.”

  The smoke lifted again.

  It wasn’t Eva controlling it. Jayna was aware of that.

  She looked over to Eva. “Do what you can about the flames. I won’t call on the darkness if I don’t have to.”

  “Find another way,” Eva said.

  “I wish Ceran were here.”

  “Perhaps he cannot be.”

  Jayna frowned. “I wouldn’t have expected you to defend Ceran.”

  “Only when it’s necessary.”

  She strode away, leaving Jayna with her opponents.

  She had to give Eva time to put the fires out.

  As the smoke cleared, Jayna saw Daratha and the three others of the Order reappear.

  Daratha was the difficult one.

  “You’re going to have to go through me,” Jayna said.

  Daratha smiled at her. “Such a waste. A Toral like yourself could easily have done so much more, but you obviously have decided you don’t want more.”

  “I’m doing more.”

  She took a deep breath, focusing on the connection she shared with the dragon stone ring, reaching through that power, trying to pass through the superficial layer of power and touch upon something deeper. As she did, she recognized the darkness that was there and knew she would have to use it. Regardless of what Eva said, she had to call upon as much power as she had available to her—and that might mean she had to embrace that darkness, much like when she had stopped the Celebrants of Asymorn.

  It was there at the edge of her connection. A pull of dark energy.

  Power that flooded into her.

  Then Jayna turned it on Daratha.

  22

  Jayna focused on the dark energy building within her, focused on its power, and knew she needed to pour that power out so she could release it beyond herself, into Daratha and the others.

  She added a quick spell to concentrate it the power.

  She didn’t need to release all of her power at once; she needed to target the others around Daratha. Daratha was going to try to take all of her focus, all of her strength, and if she were to use too much of her power and focus on Daratha right away, she would end up distracted. It made sense for her to take care of the others first.