Festival of Mourn (The Dark Sorcerer Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

It wasn’t enough.

  Jayna called upon more power, and then even more. At the edges of her vision, she had a distant awareness of that darkness, the periphery of power that lingered out there, some sense of energy that called to her, warning her that there could be something more, that she could reach for more.

  “Stop!” Master Raollet called out.

  Jayna ignored him.

  She was no dark sorcerer, regardless of what the spell called for.

  Instead, she drew upon her own magic, sorcery buried within her that the Academy had sought to unlock. Adding that to the ring was its own sort of enchantment.

  The power slammed into the wall, slammed into the wall, further shattering the stone behind the El’aras.

  An opening formed. Sunlight streamed in.

  The boy cried out, the first sound he’d made. The woman turned to the boy, shoving him toward the opening, then she grabbed the man, guiding him as well. She locked eyes with Jayna for a moment, then she ducked under the opening in the stone and out into the daylight.

  Jayna sank back. She had used incredible power. Too much power.

  “What did you do?” Master Raollet asked. He raised a hand as if to strike her. “That will cost another five gold—”

  Jayna turned to him, and she pulsed out another burst of power from the dragon stone ring. It slammed into his chest, tossing him into the wall where his head cracked against the stone, and he slumped forward.

  She grabbed the cane from his hand, tapping on the ground and feeling a surge of power flowing through it, and looked over to Eva. “Let’s go.”

  “Do you know what you just did?”

  “I do, and I didn’t have any choice in the matter. I wasn’t going to have him cut fingers off of El’aras.” She carried the cane with her as she hurried forward.

  “Even if it means stopping Asymorn?”

  “I’ll stop him another way.”

  “How?” She looked to the empty cell. “If you don’t have any way of tracking the Celebrants, then how are we going to stop him?”

  Jayna shook her head. “I don’t know. I’ll figure it out. But it’s not going to be that way.”

  “Then they’ve already won.”

  “If we would have taken their fingers, then he would’ve already won. We would have resorted to dark magic.”

  Why would a book on sorcery include fairy fingers?

  That felt like dark magic to her.

  If she hadn’t used Char, she could have asked him, though the idea of going to him with questions about dark magic didn’t sit well with her, even if she hadn’t agreed to anything truly dark.

  She turned, storming down the hall, reaching the entrance to the shop. The haze had cleared a little bit. When they stepped out into the street and started along it, a faint tingling came to her.

  Energy of a sort.

  Sorcery.

  She looked over to Eva. It wasn’t her.

  Which meant it was somebody else.

  Some of it was El’aras magic—the captive El’aras now escaping from the city, their power freed—but there was something else mixed within it, something she had felt before.

  She grabbed for Eva, forcing her to come along. “We need to hurry.”

  16

  Jayna staggered, nearly stumbling along the street while holding the cane she’d taken. Weakness threatened to overwhelm her. She had used more magic than she had intended to in order to free the El’aras. It had been worth it though. She couldn’t deny that liberating the El’aras had made her feel good, but it was more than that—it was necessary. She wasn’t about to allow somebody like Master Raollet to harm them.

  She wished she had an opportunity to investigate his shop and try to remove anything else he might have in there that could be harmful to others. If he were a sorcerer, then he had gotten himself involved in dark magic. Ceran would want her to remove someone like that—unless all higher-level magic had dark aspects to it.

  Of course, if he had only bought the items in the shop, or bartered for them, rather than creating them, then she should have removed some of those enchantments. She didn’t have the opportunity though. She needed to chase this magic.

  There was power in the distance. She raced ahead and the street opened up.

  “You just . . . let them go?” Eva asked.

  “What would you have me do?” Jayna asked, turning to her and jabbing the cane at her. It felt a little ridiculous for her to carry the cane, but there was no question it was some sort of enchantment. Maybe she could bring it to Char and see what he could uncover about it, but for now, she could wield it like a weapon. “Were you really willing to take off those El’aras’s fingers?”

  “You are the one who told me about the purpose of the festival. I assumed you’d want to stop it and prevent this sorcerer from releasing Asymorn, even if that’s what it takes.”

  “What?” Jayna again jabbed at her with the cane. Eva chopped her arm at it, sweeping it off to the side. “I’m not using dark magic to stop dark magic.”

  In the distance, Jayna could feel the energy of the sorcery. It was strange that she would be so attuned to it so suddenly, which meant it was close enough for her to track.

  Find Rendal.

  Maybe she wouldn’t even need the fairy fingers in order to track him down.

  “It's more than that though. You’ve been quiet ever since I mentioned Asymorn this morning.”

  Eva turned away from her.

  Jayna used the cane, hooking her shoulder and forcing Eva to turn back to her.

  “I feel like I've heard stories,” Eva said.

  Ceran had mentioned stories about Asymorn.

  “Then you might've heard of him. It could help.”

  “Not these stories. I don't know if these would help us at all. If they are true, then he is darkness. He is death.” Eva held her gaze a moment before looking along the street. “And we have to keep Gabranth from releasing him.”

  There was something in the way Eva had said it that left Jayna troubled.

  “Do you have some experience with Gabranth?”

  Eva clenched her jaw for a moment, and the darkness she had seen inside Raollet's shop returned. “I don't think so.”

  “But you don't know.”

  An explosion of magic thundered near them before she had the chance to question Eva more. She had to hurry.

  She had no idea whether she could get to Rendal before he stopped using power, but she felt as if she needed to try. She had to get there, to see just what he was doing with his magic.

  She started running, glancing back behind her, looking to see if Eva was coming along with her. Eva watched her for a moment before shaking her head and starting forward.

  The overwhelming sense of power nearby called to her, but it wasn't just that. It was the way the dragon stone ring constricted around her finger, squeezing as if to remind her that they were facing dark magic. Not that Jayna needed that reminder. Having seen the captured El'aras was all the reminder she needed.

  And now they were freed.

  She might have made herself an enemy, but it was worth it. How could it not be?

  If she were right that Gabranth needed the El’aras for the festival, then freeing them had bought her time before Gabranth could complete the festival, and now she would use it.

  As she raced through the city, she focused on the sorcery she detected in the distance.

  Detecting sorcery was not a complicated matter. Anyone could learn how to do it, and she had even picked up on it when she was at the Academy. Those who practiced for longer than she did had a greater ability to understand the purpose behind magic, as well as a greater ability to detect others using it and what they were doing with it. There was a certain tingle to the skin when she detected sorcery, a tightness in the air, and a sizzling of energy that reminded her of a storm rolling in.

  The advantage she had in this case was that she had felt Rendal using his power—had recognized his energy—and knew
how to track him.

  She chased it through the city and reached an intersection. Off to her right, there came another explosion of power. It was along the border of the city, near the forest. This time, it wasn’t an explosion of power she felt through sorcery but through the dragon stone ring, a warmth that flowed within it.

  “What is it?” Eva asked, stopping next to her.

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the El’aras I freed.”

  “Which you shouldn’t have,” Eva said.

  “What would you have done had I not helped you?”

  “I would’ve died,” Eva said.

  “Did you want to die?”

  Eva scowled at her. “What kind of question is that?”

  “It’s a simple one. Did you want to die?”

  “I don’t think so,” she said slowly.

  That was good. There were times when Jayna didn’t know. “If you didn’t want to die, then you shouldn’t want others to die either.”

  Eva stared off into the distance. “Just because I didn’t want to die doesn’t mean I don’t recognize how one person’s death might be of more value than their life.”

  “And I disagree.”

  “You can disagree all you want. If it were my fingers you needed for a spell, I would want you to take them, especially if it meant you would be able to stop something worse.”

  As much as she hated to admit it, there was something to be said about that practicality. If Asymorn was as bad as they feared, and she believed he was, then did she have an obligation to do whatever it took to stop him? Didn’t she need to use whatever power and strength she had access to in order for her to prevent some greater catastrophe?

  She turned away from the pressure out in the forest that caused her dragon stone ring to constrict. She darted forward. Distantly, she could feel energy coming toward her like a physical force in the air—sorcery, near enough that she knew she could reach it.

  Eva ran alongside her, not exerting nearly as much effort as Jayna.

  She detected the pressure coming from around the corner and darted toward it.

  She found a crumbling building. It was much like the first place she had battled with Rendal, and finding it now left her thinking maybe he had returned to the same place for some reason. As she stopped in front of the stone, she focused on sorcery, tracing a small, quick spell that allowed her to track whether there was energy nearby. As she did, she pushed a little bit of power through it—not so much as to draw the attention of any other sorcerer, but just enough that she could feel a surge through her.

  There was a faint reverberation through her, but then it faded.

  Jayna now limped along the street. The wound in her leg throbbed. She should have asked Char to help her with that. She could've had it healed so it wouldn’t hurt like this. Now he wouldn’t help, even if she asked.

  “Where are they?” Jayna snapped.

  “Are you sure they’re here?” Eva asked.

  That was just the problem. She was not sure about anything. Power was here, but the source of that power remained a mystery to her.

  She moved through the rubble, then froze.

  A shadow was swirling up from the ground.

  Not just a shadow.

  A dwaring.

  One of the sorcerers had released it.

  “Eva. We need to—”

  Jayna didn't get a chance to tell her what they needed to do. The dwaring started to drift, surging toward Eva.

  It took on an amorphous, humanoid-type shape, and there was a terrifying power she could feel emanating from it.

  It was calling to her, reverberating within her, an energy that seemed to pulsate with power.

  She focused on the snake spell Ceran had taught her, and began to loop it around the dwaring.

  She had no idea if it would even work, but as she constricted it, the power of her spell began to hold the dwaring in place.

  Eva joined her, and smoke flowed from her.

  “I don't know if I can hold this for long,” she said.

  The dwaring struggled, writhing, and it shifted its focus from Eva to Jayna.

  Once again, she felt the strange call of the dwaring. It was much like Gabranth had claimed. It felt like she was fighting a shadow.

  And if it got inside of her . . .

  She didn't want to think about what would happen if it managed to settle inside of her and began to devour the magic she possessed. She had her own sorcery, and now she had that which Ceran had unlocked within her.

  The combination meant that she would be a feast for this dwaring.

  And she would be left as a husk. That was what Gabranth had claimed.

  She had to hold on to it.

  She squeezed, and knew that she had no choice but to release the dragon stone ring power into the sorcery spell. She could feel the dwaring fighting, twisting within her grasp.

  She tried to hold on to it, trying to ignore it, but could not.

  It surged, filling her awareness, attempting to settle into her.

  “Eva?” Jayna asked expectantly.

  “I'm doing what I can,” Eva said, her hands dripping with blood.

  Smoke swirled around, and it strengthened Jayna, but the dwaring was too powerful.

  “Try the other power,” Eva said.

  “I already did. It's not enough. Not without having something to trap it. If I had an enchantment to push it into, we might be able to hold it, but . . .”

  It was too much for her.

  The dwaring came toward her. She could feel it, like shadows moving at her, darkness threatening her, and she went cold.

  It was a different chill from what she felt while using the painful magic of the dragon stone ring. This was the cold of the dwaring.

  She exploded the ring’s power out from her, fighting.

  The dwaring thrashed inside of her snake spell, fighting against her.

  She had to push more power out.

  But then the dwaring jerked free.

  She could do nothing.

  The dwaring slipped away into the sky and disappeared.

  She had held it, but now it was gone. She had no idea who it was targeting, but it was loose. It had taken everything she could muster to attempt to hold it, and still she had failed.

  17

  Jayna flipped through the stolen spellbook at the table, turning page after page, searching for answers. None came to her. Her head throbbed, and she was tired from the time she had spent using magic—but more than that, she was tired from the time she had used the dragon stone ring, drawing upon the dark energy that she increasingly believed was just at the outskirts of her ability to reach. Still, despite her exhaustion, she didn’t feel like she could rest.

  She needed answers.

  She couldn’t abandon her search. The Celebrants of Asymorn were going to be acting soon, though she had no idea how soon. People were missing—likely infected with the dwaring. She didn’t want to leave them for too long, as she was not sure what would happen to them. She’d tried reaching Ceran, but once again he hadn’t responded. It wasn’t like him, though she didn’t really know what was like him. He empowered her, gifting her the ring while demanding service from her. The problem for her was how infrequently she actually saw him, though he always managed to find her.

  Eva sat in front of the fire. She didn’t have a bottle of wine this time, which Jayna considered a win. Instead, she simply sat there, staring at the flames, watching as if she could learn something from the energy dancing within them.

  Jayna focused on her ring. She pushed a bit of power into it again. Doing so caused the ring to constrict on her finger, but then it also caused it to constrict somewhere else. Distantly, she could feel that tightening. She was aware it was out there, that the power flowed, as if by using the ring, she offered some connection to something more.

  She waited as she had before.

  When the response finally came, another pulsing of the dragon stone ring
, she got to her feet, closing the spellbook and slipping it into the cupboard where she kept it.

  “I’m going out for a moment,” she said to Eva.

  Eva didn’t turn back, didn’t look at her, and didn’t say anything.

  “You can lock the door behind me,” she said.

  Again, Eva didn’t respond. Jayna worried for her.

  Out in the street, she made a point of locking the door behind her. It did little other than offer a false bit of reassurance. If somebody wanted to break into her home, it wouldn’t take much to shatter the lock. She had placed some magical enchantments on the lock, along with some warding that would offer layers of protection, but a determined sorcerer would have little difficulty getting through.

  She hadn't gone very far before she had the feeling she was being followed.

  Her brother had taught her how to navigate the streets, so she wasn't helpless when it came to looking behind her, watching for any possible tail, and she usually did it without thinking much of it.

  She'd never seen anything.

  Until today.

  Two muscular men made little effort of hiding how they followed her.

  She slowed for a moment, and she noticed that both of them were carrying clubs marked with symbols. Enchantments—which reminded her far too much of what she had seen at Master Raollet's shop.

  He was getting revenge. At least, he wanted to get revenge.

  She hurried onward. Knowing she had people tailing her made it easy to evade them.

  Or so she thought.

  When she turned a corner, thinking she had managed to sneak ahead of them, they were still there.

  She darted forward, and they were there again.

  She started jogging. The ring vibrated as Ceran continued calling to her. She needed to get to him before he left. He wouldn't wait around indefinitely for her.

  When she reached another intersection, the men were still there.

  Out of frustration, she used a quick spell, a muted version of the starburst spell, and struck both men with it. It would alert the Society that she was here, but it knocked the men to the ground.

  They didn't get up.

  She shook her head. She would have to deal with Master Raollet again.