Strangely, she saw the memories swirl, images drawing out, and as they moved toward the bowl, Jayna could practically watch them. There was him jumping from house to house, taking the bloodstones. There was him finding her in the tavern. There was him tracking her through the city, several times—more than she had expected and known about. There were images of him sneaking through a neighborhood near the outskirts of the city. A memory of him with an El’aras, and a burst of the white glow of their power.
Jayna blinked, looking up at Matthew. That was odd. Unexpected. The only reason there would be a flash with one of the El’aras would be if Matthew were at least part El’aras himself.
She needed to ask him, but at the same time, she had to finish pulling out these memories. She continued until she removed his memories of reaching Nelar. Then she stopped. She tapped him on the forehead, and he dropped to the ground, falling asleep.
She leaned over him. “I’m sorry, Matthew. I can’t have you following me.”
Before leaving him, she hesitated, searching his pockets for a moment. She still didn’t know why he was in the city. It was something he had not revealed to her, though she grew increasingly suspicious that it was tied to the bloodstones.
She found a hidden pocket in his cloak, worked her fingers into it, and was not surprised that he had tried to keep several of the bloodstones for himself.
“Just like Jonathan,” she whispered. Her brother would have done the same thing. Maybe not to her, but he would’ve tried to sneak something valuable.
She left him lying there, guilt filling her, but she had done what was needed.
Jayna made her way back toward her home. The night was cool, crisp, but the humidity in the air made everything unpleasant. She kept the bloodstones in her pocket, and she could feel them rustling around. They were a key to a greater power, but they were also a key to a more dangerous power.
She couldn’t release that power.
She had to hide it from the dular.
She wasn’t sure if the stones should be destroyed though. More than that, she wasn’t sure if they could be destroyed—not without enchanting them, changing them.
As she neared her home, she saw a figure waiting in the street.
Jayna reached for energy through the dragon stone, feeling the power as it burst up through her, and had to tamp it down just a little bit. She called upon far more energy than she had intended. The connection now to the mixture of dragon stone and bloodstone was something she would have to master. It was an incredibly powerful combination, more than what she had used before.
She created a barrier around herself using the magic ball spell, a protective shell that would keep her from harm if whomever she encountered intended to attack. It was denser than usual.
As she approached, she realized it was Char.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, glancing from him to the door.
“I was waiting for you. I knocked, and Eva said you weren’t back yet. She offered for me to wait there, but . . .”
“Is she drinking?”
“She had a bottle of wine.”
Jayna nodded. “Thank you for helping earlier,” she said.
“What is she?” he asked, nodding to the doorway.
“I don’t know.”
“I’ve seen her magic, but I haven’t been able to figure it out.”
“That’s what you said before,” Jayna told him.
“But it’s more than that,” he said. “She’s unique.”
“I suppose.”
“She didn’t hurt me. She used whatever she did with that smoke to keep me from following you but she didn’t hurt me.”
“She had no reason to,” Jayna said.
“I had to go get Master Agnew. I hope you understand that.” Char shuffled his feet, and clenched and unclenched his hands. It was only then that Jayna realized he was carrying something. He had a pack strapped to his shoulder.
“I understand. I hope you also recognize that Daratha and the others with the Order of Norej were not exactly what you thought them to be.”
“I recognize that now. How did you know?”
“I didn’t.”
“What does it mean that there have been two such attacks in Nelar recently?”
She debated answering him truthfully for a moment before deciding against it. “I don’t know.”
Char tipped his head, studying her. “You really are trying to stop dark magic, aren’t you?”
Jayna started to laugh. “Is that why you came here? Did you doubt whether or not I was interested in stopping it?”
“I wanted to know. I couldn’t tell, to be honest.”
“I thought that after what happened with the Celebrants of Asymorn, and how I had practically killed myself stopping them, you would have known that.”
“You stopped them using dark magic,” he said. “I saw it. Gods, I felt it. And had you not said something about finding magic that can control fire, I’m not sure that either me or Master Agnew would’ve known how to put out that flame. It was the most complicated fire I’ve ever been around. Dark magic.”
“It wasn’t dark magic,” she said, though she wasn’t sure if she tried to convince Char—or herself.
“Jayna, I’m a sorcerer. I felt what I felt. There was enough power there that I recognized it.”
Jayna wasn’t even sure whether her own magic, and the energy through the Toral ring, was dark magic. If it was, then perhaps Matthew was right: She did a bad thing to stop even worse things.
“It doesn’t matter,” Char went on. “After what I saw this time, I realize it doesn’t matter. You’re trying to stop dark magic.”
“I am.”
“I didn’t know there was so much.”
She snorted. “More than even I realize.”
“Will there be another attack?”
She looked around the streets. Everything was quiet and calm. For now. This was a place where different magic came together. Ceran had guided her here for a reason. Now she had to fully understand why—and what it meant for her.
“There might be,” she said. She felt differently about Char than she had about Matthew. Maybe because she knew Char in a way she’d never known Matthew. Maybe it was because of the linking spell between them, something that had bonded them. Or maybe simply because it was Char—one of her closest friends, or at least he had been before she had abandoned the Academy. “Asymorn is an ancient sorcerer of power. Norej is as well.”
“Norej?”
Jayna nodded. “Not just the name of an Order that some within the Society serve. A powerful sorcerer.” It was easier to call him that than to explain the Sul’toral. “I don’t think Norej is freed. There were twelve imprisoned sorcerers who followed somebody called Sarenoth. He’s the dark power they serve. Gabranth tried to free Asymorn and Daratha tried to free Norej. I don’t know what would happen if they were to succeed.” She shook her head. “I don’t really understand all of it, only that I am somehow caught up in trying to stop it.”
“And this is why you left the Academy?”
She started to laugh. “If only. I hadn’t known about any of this. I was brought out to learn to use magic to stop darkness”—and to find her brother, but that was a different matter—“but the kind of darkness I had been dealing with was simpler, at least at first. Gabranth and the Celebrants of Asymorn were the biggest adversaries I’ve had to deal with.”
“Obviously you’re good at what you do.”
“I’ve gotten lucky so far.”
Char smiled at her. “Do you really think it’s luck? I think it’s a measure of skill. You’ve always been skilled, Jayna, and smarter than most at the Academy. And now you’re getting a measure of power.”
“I don’t know if I can ever go back,” she said.
When she had first followed Ceran, there had been a part of her that had believed eventually she’d be able to return to the Academy, finish her studies, and become a sorcerer within the Society
, as she had wanted all along. There had been a part of her that had thought this was just going to be temporary, nothing more than that.
Now she could no longer feel that way.
Having attacked sorcerers within the Society, and learning what she had about them, she no longer knew if such a thing would even be possible. How could she return when she had fully experienced the darkness in the world, and possibly even darkness within the Society?
“I wish you could, but I don’t know if you should,” Char said.
“I don’t know if I could, but I know I shouldn’t. What I’m doing is necessary.”
He watched her for a moment, then shook his head, slipping the pack off his shoulder and handing it to her. “I brought this for you.”
She took the canvas satchel from him. “What is it?”
“You told me you need it. I wasn’t sure, not at first, but after what happened . . .” He shrugged. “I figured you needed it more than I do.”
She reached inside and found two massive spellbooks. “Oh.”
“This way, you can continue to study sorcery. If you’re going to face whatever you’ll have to face, you could use this. I don’t want you to end up attacked because you didn’t have the necessary resources.”
“Thank you.”
He looked around the street. “I really should get going. Promise me this won’t be the last time I see you?”
Jayna nodded. “I promise.”
“Don’t make me come back out here.”
“Is that so bad?”
He flicked his gaze to the door. “I suppose not—as long as Eva doesn’t attack me.” She laughed softly, then Char stepped forward, wrapping his arms around her in a quick hug. As he started to pull back, Jayna kissed him on the cheek. He flushed slightly. “Be careful.”
With that, he started off.
Jayna watched until he turned the corner, disappearing from view. She pushed open the door and closed it behind her, sealing it with a burst of magic—more than she had intended.
She leaned on the door.
“I’m glad it’s all over,” Topher said from the doorway leading to one of the back rooms—Eva’s room.
Had he been back there sleeping again? “For now,” she said.
He frowned at her. “You don’t think it’s all the way over?”
She thought about the things she had seen with Ceran, and everything she had started to learn about the other Sul’toral. “Unfortunately, I think this is just the beginning.”
Topher glanced over to Eva who was sitting by the fire. “Then you’ll be needing my help.”
“You don’t need to stay with us.” Jayna wasn’t exactly sure she wanted him to stay with them. There were times when she didn’t even want Eva with her.
“You need me. You may not know it yet, but you need me.” He grinned at her, then he spun, heading into Eva’s room and closing the door behind him.
Jayna just shook her head. Maybe they would need him. He had been helpful. He had a way about him, foolish but pretty enough—though in her experience, the pretty ones usually were foolish.
“What was that?”
Jayna looked over to see Eva sitting up. A bottle of wine rested next to her and a glass was filled, but she simply sat there, holding it. The flames crackling in the fire were warm, not excessively hot.
“That was Char.”
“He stopped by before.”
“That’s what he said. He wanted to leave me a couple of spellbooks.”
“Did he? What does he want for them?”
“My friendship.” She peeled herself off of the door, carrying the satchel over and taking a seat across from Eva. Maybe a glass of wine wouldn’t be so bad.
When she leaned back in the chair, Eva watched her, biting her lip. A bit of smoke swirled out and around her.
“What’s wrong?” Jayna asked.
“All of this,” she muttered.
“I realize it’s been challenging.”
“Challenging. It’s been more than challenging.” She fell silent for a moment before shaking her head. “As I was pulling the flames off of that building, some of my memories came back.”
“That’s good.”
“I thought so—at first.”
“Why only at first?”
Eva looked down into the glass of wine, swirling it slowly. “I think I can make bloodstone.” She looked up, holding Jayna’s gaze. “I can feel it responding to me. I don’t know what to make of it, but it seems to react in ways that it shouldn’t unless…”
“Unless what?”
Eva looked back down. “I think I’m the source of it.” She took a long drink before lowering her glass and wiping her lips with her hand. “What does that mean?”
Jayna shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t have those answers, but the two of us will figure it out. Together.”
Eva watched her, smoke swirling softly around her mouth, then she lifted her wine glass, tipping it back and taking a long drink before setting it down. “Together.”
The next book in The Dark Sorcerer: Smoke and Memories
Dark sorcery, powerful enchantments, and lost secrets are key to Jayna stopping a deadly attack.
Having stopped two dark sorcerers and changing the power of her Toral ring with the dangerous bloodstone, Jayna has become a target. A dark power is coming for the city of Nelar, and Ceran has tasked her with remaining vigilant.
What comes is something Jayna is completely unprepared to face.
Attacks have pitted the Sorcerers’ Society against the ruling dular, but there’s an even greater danger—someone with magic like Eva.
Jayna has to stop a war, but how can she when she doesn’t know who’s involved?
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading A City in Ruin. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.
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All my best,
D.K. Holmberg
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Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Chain Breaker World
The Chain Breaker
The Dark Sorcerer
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
Elemental Warrior Series:
Elemental Academy
The Elemental Warrior
The Cloud Warrior Saga
The Endless War
The Dark Ability Series
The Shadow Accords
The Collector Chronicles
The Dark Ability
The Sighted Assassin
The Elder Stones Saga
The Lost Prophecy Series
The Teralin Sword
The Lost Prophecy
The Volatar Saga Series
The Volatar Saga
The Book of Maladies Series
The Book of Maladies
The Lost Garden Series
The Lost Garden
A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2) Page 30