The only thing that Rsiran was certain of was that Della knew far more than he had ever suspected. Hours of teaching him likely barely scratched at the surface.
Then Ephram sent word of the council requesting a meeting with the guildlords.
His feet thudded across the tiles. His stomach roiled, though he didn’t know how much of that was from nerves about presenting before the Elvraeth council for a second time, and how much came from what Della had asked him to drink moments before he had left. It had been a thick liquid and had seemed to deaden his nerves. Now, he only wished that it had worked better.
Luthan sat in the same chair that he had when Rsiran had first come to the chamber. The old man’s eyes were cloudy, but it seemed as if they were less so than they had been that day. He glanced to Rsiran’s pants, and Rsiran followed the direction of his gaze, noting all the stains from his time working with Della, and wished he had taken the time to change.
Yongar stood behind his chair, his hands gripping the back. His eyes narrowed as Rsiran entered. Sasha and the other woman sat in quiet conversation, and both stopped and looked up when he appeared.
The other guildlords and Naelm were not here.
“I presume you Slid here?” Yongar said.
“To the palace,” Rsiran answered. He had walked from there. He enjoyed the fact that he no longer had to fear hiding his ability to Slide, and did so openly now. As a member of the guild, he enjoyed certain benefits, but both Sarah and Ephram told him that as the guildlord, he had nothing to fear from the Elvraeth. If anything, they had to worry about what he might do. “Does it bother you?”
He shouldn’t ask the question in that way, but Josun had told him how the Elvraeth had tried to tamp out the ability to Slide. At the time, Rsiran had believed it to be an ability granted by the Great Watcher, but now, he knew it to be a gift of the Elders, one that came from the ancient clans. For the Elvraeth to attempt to eliminate it meant that they tried eliminating one of the guilds as well.
“It is a dangerous gift. One that is meant for—”
“Careful with how you finish that statement.”
Rsiran glanced over to Tia and she nodded. She wore a heavy wool cloak pinned at the neck with a broach. Sweat dripped from her brow and mud stained her boots. Where had she been?
“I think the Elvraeth have done enough to stigmatize the guilds,” she went on. “Were it up to you, there would be no guilds, and then where would you be?”
“Probably the same place that we are now.” Naelm strode into the council chamber with Ephram at his side. The Alchemist Guild guildlord stopped next to Tia, twisting his hands together and making a point not to look over at Rsiran. What had they been talking about before they came in? Whatever it was appeared to bother Ephram.
“Where we are is because of Venass,” Rsiran said.
“Indeed? And how is it that Venass managed to find the Elder Trees?” Naelm asked. He took a seat and leaned forward, looking up at Rsiran with a dark frown. “The scholars have existed for decades, and never once have they managed to reach the heart of the Aisl. Before now.”
Rsiran resisted the urge to glance over to Ephram. Had he suggested that to Naelm?
His bracelets went cold and Rsiran scanned the Elvraeth, his gaze settling on a wincing Yongar. Rsiran took a step toward him, ignoring the way that Ephram reached for him. “Is this how you work with the guildlords?” He stopped across the table from Yongar. Why was it that every time he faced the council, he let his temper get the best of him? “You would Read me rather than ask? I warn you… if you attempt to Compel me, you will find a much more severe kind of pain than you experience now?”
Rsiran held Yongar with his gaze until the Elvraeth looked away.
He moved down the table, stopping in front of Sasha and the other woman. They both met his eyes briefly before turning away from him. Luthan nodded, and actually smiled. What did the old man See of him?
When he stopped at Naelm, the Elvraeth stood and leaned into Rsiran. “Do you think you can intimidate the Elvraeth council? You have barely been raised to guildlord. What gives you the right to threaten—”
“Threaten?” Rsiran asked. “I have not threatened the council. All I have done is show that you will not use your abilities against me, much as I don’t intend to use my abilities against you.”
He pulled on the lorcith sculptures near the back of the room, dragging them forward. They were exquisitely made, and there was a time when he would have wondered how the smiths had forged them.
“I might not have been guildlord for long, but I will not be intimidated by the council. And if I discover that you have attempted to Read or Compel any of the other guildlords, you will face my anger.”
Naelm stared at him before nodding.
“What do you intend to do about the crystal?” Naelm asked. “As guildlord, I’m sure you’re aware that the protection of the crystals is the domain of the guilds. Now that one is missing…”
Rsiran took a step back. Sarah and Gersh had arrived. Sarah watched him with widened eyes, but Gersh studied him the same way the Rsiran might study a lump of lorcith and try to determine what it could become.
“I intend to discover what happened,” he said. Della was right that he would, but not because he worried about the people of Elaeavn losing their abilities. He feared what would happen elsewhere if Venass possessed them. “And find any who might be involved with them.”
“The Elvraeth must be allowed access to the remaining crystals while you search,” Naelm said.
“You can try.”
Rsiran hadn’t tested what would happen to the Elvraeth if they attempted to reach the crystals, but he could no longer Slide to them, and suspected that the barrier he had placed was potent enough to restrict the Elvraeth as well.
Luthan coughed and the other Elvraeth turned to him. “You may as well tell him that we have tried, Naelm. Better yet, ask him what kind of barrier he placed.”
“We can’t hold a Saenr with the barrier in place,” Sasha said.
“Then we don’t hold the Saenr until this is sorted out,” Luthan said. “The only value to the ceremony is the potential to hold one of the crystals. If one is missing, how can we know if the Saenr succeeded? What if the missing crystal is the one required?” A concerned expression passed across his face, almost as if for show. “Would we retest those who fail?”
“That will anger the families,” Yongar said.
Luthan coughed. “More than when the celebrant doesn’t reach the crystal in the first place? How long has it been since anyone even reached them?”
Rsiran hadn’t realized how difficult it was for the Elvraeth to even reach the crystals. Given that, how had one of them disappeared?
“Someone reached the crystals recently,” he said.
The council looked over to him. Naelm spoke first. “I believe that you have reached them. The first of the guildlords to be able to do so.” He shot an accusatory look past Rsiran to Ephram. “And they had been safe until then. Why do you think that is, guildlord?” he asked.
Rsiran clenched his jaw to keep from retorting. Something about standing in front of the Elvraeth—men and women he had once feared and admired—brought out a surge of anger. Maybe it was because of what he’d seen, and how they were so willing to simply abandon their own family, banishing them from the city, or maybe it was the staggering display of wealth hidden in the warehouses down in Lower Town, kept from the people of Elaeavn who might have benefited from what the warehouse contained.
“I think years of Elvraeth exiles have finally caught up to you,” he finally said.
“You dare to blame the council for what is supposed to be the responsibility of the guilds?” Yongar said. “The guilds’ purpose is to protect the crystals!”
“I blame the council for the Forgotten. I blame the council for Venass. The crystals would have been safe had neither existed. And I will find what happened to the missing crystal, and I will return it.”
Rsiran shrugged. “I don’t know.”
He Slid from the council and emerged outside the walls of the palace.
Rsiran took a few breaths, trying to settle himself. Why had he allowed himself to get so upset by the Elvraeth? He should know better. As guildlord, they might not exile him, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t—or wouldn’t—go after his friends. What would he do if they brought Jessa before the council? What of Alyse? Was his position such that he could protect them if it came to that?
He doubted that he could.
From here, the palace jutted out from the wall of rock. The towers rose high over the city, granting the Elvraeth a view that few within the city would ever have. From below, where it appeared the palace floated, it looked as if the Elvraeth remained above the people of Elaeavn.
It didn’t have to be that way. It shouldn’t be that way. Since learning of the Forgotten and of Venass, he had wanted nothing more than to keep them from harming him or his friends. But now that he had a position within the guild, he had a different set of responsibilities, wanting to protect the city. Didn’t that mean he had to protect it from the dangers within the city as well as outside the city?
A flash of light told him someone Slid.
Rsiran waited, expecting Tia to emerge.
When Luthan did, Rsiran stood in shock. “You can Slide?”
The older man chuckled. He blinked, and his eyes cleared slightly, becoming a deeper shade of green. Did he Push, much like Brusus did to hide what he could do? “I understand you have already come across one among the family with this particular ability.” He looked over at the palace and a troubled look came to his face. “Much like those among the guild possess abilities of the Great Watcher, there are Elvraeth with guild abilities.” He sighed. “The council thinks that we must remain separate to maintain tradition, but separate has only gotten us to where we are and no further.”
“Why did you follow me here?”
“So direct,” Luthan said. “A trait that I admire, but one that puts you in direct conflict with the council, I think. You might have taken a different approach with the council, though I can’t say whether the outcome would be any different if you had. The crystal. You intend to search for it.” Rsiran nodded. “It is difficult to See anything when it comes to the crystal, though I suspect that has more to do with your presence than anything.”
“How can you See anything?”
Luthan chuckled. “My Sight is not as bad as it seems, Master Lareth.”
Rsiran shook his head. “That’s not what I mean. You can Slide, so how does that not affect what you can See?”
“It does. I cannot See much about myself. A weakness to most, but one that has given me a particular gift at Seeing what others ignore. Much like when I attempt to See with you, Master Lareth. When I focus on you, there is nothing but swirling colors and darkness, but when I look to the side—” He turned his head so that Rsiran would be barely more than at the edge of his vision. “Then I can See more. You are difficult, regardless. I suspect that comes from the combination of your abilities, but perhaps not.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you should know what you risk, just as you should know what is at stake.”
“I know what I risk if I don’t find the crystal, Luthan. I might not agree with the way the Elvraeth have ruled, but I understand the power of the crystals and the reason Venass can’t possess them.”
The elderly Elvraeth nodded slowly. “Venass. We overlooked them for too long, and then… then they developed the ability to obscure themselves from us. Now we See nothing when it comes to them. From what I can See, they do not possess the crystal.”
Rsiran took a deep breath. Knowing that Venass didn’t have the crystal provided some reassurance. “Can you See where it is?”
Luthan smiled. “The ability is not quite like that. I can’t force it to work on what I want to See. When I think about the crystal, there’s a brightness, an intensity that makes me wonder if we might be missing something. I will have to ponder what that means.” He touched a wrinkled hand to his forehead and massaged. “It is not in Thyr. The brightness… I do not See it there.”
“Where? If you can find it…”
“I can’t pinpoint the location like that. It is not a map so much as it is… colors, I suppose. Flashes of blue in a field of white. I don’t know what it means.”
Rsiran thought that he did, but why would Luthan see the crystal in a field of lorcith unless Venass had claimed it?
But knowing that they hadn’t acquired it yet gave them an advantage, but how much longer would they hold the advantage? At what point would Venass realize the crystal had disappeared? They had Seers whose abilities were augmented with lorcith and heartstone, men like Haern, who would likely know the crystal was now missing.
“I have to find it before Venass does,” Rsiran said.
“I think you are right that they must not be allowed to possess the crystals, but that is not the warning I would give, nor the risk I imply.”
“What is it then?”
“You should know what you risk by going.”
“Which is what?”
“Delay. I See danger in delay. There is darkness linked to you.”
Rsiran nodded. “Because I can Slide.”
“This is different. Painful in some ways. A burning darkness that would destroy much. You are the key to ending it, I suspect.”
Rsiran’s breath caught. Could he be talking about shadowsteel? “How?”
“I don’t know, only that anything that causes you to delay risks even more than the crystal.”
Chapter 23
Rsiran swung the sword in a rapid arc, sweeping it in the motions that Haern had taught him, fending off the imagined foe. With each swing, he imagined that three swordsmen stood opposite him, and with each swing, he made an effort to not use his ability to push or to Slide.
He needed clarity of thought, but he could not have that, not with what Luthan had told him, and not with what he knew he needed to do: find the crystal. That meant leaving the city. Rsiran felt certain of the fact that the crystal would not be found within Elaeavn, but he wasn’t entirely certain where else to look. It wasn’t as if the crystal were heartstone or lorcith that he could simply use his connection to locate it.
More than that, he needed to decide if he would take Jessa with him.
Not taking her would leave her hurt and angry, but taking her put her at risk. He feared he’d be unable to protect her. After the attack on them in Thyr, he’d already seen what he would do when she was threatened. Rsiran no longer had the same hesitation when it came to doing what was necessary to protect those he cared about, but did he dare risk that needlessly?
The door to the smithy opened, and Rsiran quickly slipped the sword into his sheath and turned toward the door.
“Master Lareth,” Luca said, standing in the doorway.
“Luca, I’ve told you before that Rsiran is fine.” He wiped the sweat from his brow.
“I’m the apprentice and you’re the master. That is how it is supposed to be.”
“I’m not sure how it’s ‘supposed’ to be. When I was apprentice, it was my father.”
Luca’s eyes widened, and for a moment took on some of the wildness that Rsiran had often seen from him before returning him to Elaeavn. As he lifted the sculpture of Ilphaesn to his ear and took a deep breath, the expression faded. “My father is gone.”
Rsiran hadn’t given much thought to Luca’s lineage, but he should have. With his talent for hearing the song of lorcith, he obviously had smith blood, but Luca hadn’t said anything about his family, only that he’d lived alone, forcing him to sneak into the Elvraeth palace for warmth. That was the reason he’d been exiled to Ilphaesn.
“Do you know what happened to him?”
Luca shook his head.
“Where was home for yo
u before you went to Ilphaesn?”
Luca licked his lips and slowly lowered the sculpture, cradling it in front of him. “I had no home. Ilphaesn was my home.”
He needed to be more careful with Luca. He didn’t want the boy thinking that he had to return to Ilphaesn, risk losing the connection that he’d formed with him. They had made real progress over the last few months. Luca had grown with his forging skill, and had an obvious talent. Rsiran had only to draw that from him. “Where did you live before you lost your home?”
“I don’t remember.” Hair fell across his face as he looked to the floor. Luca spoke softly, his voice catching as he did.
How young must he have been to not remember his home? Could he really have lived on the streets that long?
But Rsiran had to believe that he could. There were others he’d seen, children in the very alley outside his smithy, who appeared to live on the streets. Rsiran Slid past them, never seeing them, not as he would if he had to walk. Even then, he wondered if he would pay as much attention to them as he should.
“You have a home now,” Rsiran reminded him. “The smithy is your home. The guild is your family.”
Luca briefly looked up. His fingers gripped the sculpture of Ilphaesn so tightly that his knuckles whitened. “Thank you, Master Lareth.”
Rsiran sighed. He shouldn’t have pushed Luca this morning. He had too much else that he needed to be focused on. Trying to keep his apprentice’s insanity from returning fell fairly low on his list of priorities.
“Can you work on a project for me?” he asked Luca.
“For you?”
Rsiran nodded. He usually worked with Luca, but he needed to make a few stops before he decided what he would do about the crystal. “I think you’re ready, don’t you?”
The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) Page 16