The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Valn lay on the ground nearby in a heap.

  Rsiran heard a soft whistling, and Slid.

  He emerged back inside the building with Jessa.

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t know. Watch over me.”

  He separated from his body, Traveling outside the small building. As he did, he could see that Valn still breathed. A knife protruded from his back. Rsiran moved, searching for who might be outside, cursing himself for his stupidity. He should have Traveled before doing anything, especially when he didn’t know what he might find.

  In the shadows, he found a man.

  The man held a clutch of knives, each made of slender steel. Were they lorcith—or even heartstone—he would have been better able to stop them. A hood covered his face, keeping him in shadows, but from his wrinkled hands, Rsiran knew that he was an older man.

  Was there anyone else in the street?

  He moved along the rest of the street, searching for signs of others, but found no one.

  Rsiran returned to his body and then Slid, emerging behind the man, who spun, as if expecting Rsiran.

  Rsiran pushed on a pair of knives.

  The attacker rolled, both knives missing. As he did, he flipped his knives toward Rsiran, sending five streaking toward him. Rsiran Slid, emerging near Valn.

  “I don’t want to harm you,” Rsiran said.

  “Seems that you do,” the man said. He had a deep, strong voice, and stepped toward the shadows clutching a pair of knives.

  Rsiran prepared to Slide. He could take Valn with him, but might need to Slide quickly if this man attacked again. “What did you do with him?”

  The attacker shifted. Rsiran pushed on a pair of knives to remove the darkness. The light still didn’t penetrate the shadows around the man, as if deflected off the cloak he wore. “Who?” the man asked.

  “The one who preceded me.”

  “I warned him that if any returned, I’d kill them. I’ve faced your kind before.”

  “What kind is that?”

  The man grunted. “Hjan. They haven’t killed me yet.”

  Rsiran prepared to Slide, nudging his toe closer to Valn. He needed to get him healing. Even as he stood here, he could tell that his breathing slowed.

  “I’m not with the Hjan. And I’m not with Venass,” Rsiran said.

  “The last one said the same right before he tried to send a pair of knives my way. So I think I’ll err on the side of finishing you off like your friend. Won’t be long for him now.”

  Valn barely breathed now. The knife didn’t look like it had penetrated too deeply into him, but what if the man had poisoned it?

  “I’m going to take him and leave.”

  “Can’t let you do that, either. Don’t think I can have any more of your type searching for me.”

  “I don’t even know who you are!” Rsiran said.

  The man stepped forward and whipped a pair of knives toward Rsiran. He had to Slide behind him to avoid them. When he emerged, the man had already spun to face him, as if anticipating where he would emerge.

  It was the same as the woman Carth had managed.

  He needed to move quickly, or Valn would die. Rsiran didn’t want to be the reason he died, and so soon into their search for the crystal.

  Could he grab the man the same way that he’d grabbed Carth?

  Rsiran Slid three times in quick succession. Each time the man turned to face him. Twice, knives came whistling toward him as he emerged. How many did the man have?

  If he kept Sliding, would the man eventually run out of knives?

  But Valn would run out of time if he did, and Rsiran was still no closer to reaching his attacker.

  With the next Slide, he emerged and felt someone behind him.

  He spun around, fearing that he’d made a mistake.

  And nearly dropped the knives he carried. “Haern?” he asked softly.

  Chapter 28

  “Damn you, Isander, drop the knives,” Haern called, thrusting Rsiran behind him.

  “What are you doing here?” Rsiran whispered.

  “Not yet,” Haern said. He stepped away from Rsiran, into the faint light of the street, making no effort to hide himself from the attacker that he seemed to know.

  The other man hesitated, then moved away from the shadows. “You know my name, but I don’t recognize you.”

  “Because it’s been more than a few years since you saw me. I was only a boy then. A couple of decades ages a man.”

  “Twenty years. If you’re who you claim, you’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Supposed to be, but I’m not. Now drop the damn knives, Isander. These people mean you no harm.”

  “Hjan tricks,” Isander said. “I’ve seen them before.”

  “This is no Hjan trick. And the boy you’re facing might be the key to taking down the Hjan for good.”

  “Others have tried and failed.”

  Haern grunted. “Others. You mean like Carth? She came looking for me.”

  “If Carth came for you, then you truly should be dead.”

  “I have friends.”

  “The man I knew twenty years ago had no friends.”

  “Like I said, a couple of decades changes a man.” Haern stopped in front of Valn and nudged him. “Terad?”

  Isander nodded.

  “Any narcass?”

  “Not here.”

  “Damn.” He turned to Rsiran, ignoring Isander. “Sorry, Rsiran. There’s nothing that can be done for Valn, not with terad at this point. Even Della can’t—”

  Rsiran didn’t wait for him to finish. Now that he knew Haern was here, Jessa would be safe. Haern wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He Slid to Valn, emerged to grab him, and stepped into a Slide before pausing in the place between Slides.

  The Elder Trees surged around him.

  Rsiran pulled on that power, drawing it to him as quickly as he could, and then pushed it into Valn. Would it work for him the way that it had for Della?

  The other option involved Sliding back to Elaeavn and hoping that Della could do something that would help him, but he doubted there was time.

  Nothing changed for Valn.

  He continued pulling on the power from the Elder Trees, and pushing it into Valn, drawing more and more of the energy from this place.

  Nothing changed.

  “No!” He grabbed the knife from Valn’s back, and almost threw it to the side, before deciding that he couldn’t leave anything in this place. He didn’t know how that would affect this place. Maybe it wouldn’t do anything, but the possibility existed that leaving anything here risked damaging the power.

  Instead, he took one of his knives and pushed the lorcith around the steel blade, sealing whatever poison might have been used inside.

  Drawing on more power, he continued to press it into Valn.

  Valn took a breath. Then another. He coughed, and a bubble of bloody phlegm came to his lips as he blinked open his eyes. “Lareth?”

  “Yeah.”

  Valn sat up, resting on his arms for support. “Where are we?”

  “This is the place between Slides.”

  Valn jerked his head around. “What do you mean the place between? There is no place between!” His strength already seemed returned. Valn stood and reached for his back, scratching where the knife had gone in as he looked around.

  “When you Slide, what do you see?”

  Valn shook his head. “Flashes of color. That’s it. Nothing that would make me think that we traveled through anyplace else in the Slide.”

  Rsiran took Valn’s arm and Slid, returning to the building. Jessa let out a relieved sigh when they emerged and ran to him.

  “What happened? I could see you Sliding out there, fighting someone who seemed to anticipate where you would come out, but then…”

  “Then Haern appeared,” Rsiran said.

  He Slid back outside and found Haern standing in front of Isander. Isander looked up when Rsiran emerged an
d a pair of knives appeared in his hand.

  Rsiran tossed the lorcith-encased knife at Isander’s feet.

  “Where did you go?” Haern asked.

  “The only place where Valn might have a chance,” he said.

  “That was terad toxin,” Haern said. “There wouldn’t be anything that Della could have done to help him. I’m sorry—”

  Haern cut off when Valn emerged from the house, holding onto Jessa’s hand.

  Haern glanced to Rsiran, his eyes narrowing as he did. He touched the scar along his cheek where Venass had placed the lorcith plate, the one that had augmented his ability to See. Was he able to See anything now?

  “What did you do?” Haern asked.

  “Another time. Why are you here?” Rsiran asked.

  “I Saw that I needed to be. Thought it was tied to Carth appearing, a way to keep you and the others safe. Now I’m wondering if that wasn’t the case at all.”

  Rsiran nodded toward Isander. “You know him?”

  “Isander is the one who taught me some of the first things I needed to know about being an assassin.”

  “Are you with the Hjan then?” Rsiran asked Isander.

  “I think that I’ve made my feelings toward them clear.”

  “Then you’re just an assassin.”

  Isander laughed and stuffed his knives into hidden pockets and up his sleeves. “Don’t say that with such judgment. There are plenty of people who this world would be better off without. That’s the role that I play.”

  “Why are you here?” Haern asked.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Rsiran answered. “Where is the man who was here before me?” he asked Isander.

  If Isander had been here and attacked Luthan, that would explain why he had Slid away, but not where he might have gone. He focused on the lorcith that Luthan had taken with him and still didn’t find it. Either he had abandoned it, or he was someplace where Rsiran couldn’t detect it. That possibility bothered him the most. He had grown accustomed to his increased sensitivity to lorcith, and not being able to detect it didn’t give him much faith that he’d be able to find it if he needed to for Jessa.

  “As I said, anyone of the Hjan would be attacked.”

  “He wasn’t of the Hjan. He is one of the Elvraeth councilors.”

  Haern started to laugh. “You brought one of the Elvraeth with you?”

  Rsiran nodded. “He’s supposed to be a skilled Seer. With what we’re after, we needed a Seer.”

  The laughter stopped. “What’s his name?”

  “Luthan Elvraeth,” Rsiran answered.

  Haern tapped on his scar and shook his head. “Luthan,” he repeated softly. “What are you playing at, old man?”

  “You know him?”

  “Knew him might be more accurate.”

  Isander stalked over, and near enough that Rsiran could push a pair of knives at him. After the attack, and what he’d done to Valn, a part of him wanted to attack Isander, but then the man seemed interested in fighting the Hjan, which meant that he opposed Venass. They needed allies in the fight with Venass, and if he could fight anything like Carth—and maybe get Carth’s network to help—maybe they would have more aid than he realized.

  “What did you do to him?” Rsiran asked the man.

  Isander pulled back the hood of his cloak, revealing a weathered face with a neatly trimmed white beard that matched the hair on his head. This old man was the one who had given him so much trouble? A sly smile played at the corners of his mouth, as if he knew what Rsiran was thinking.

  “I haven’t seen any old man. Besides myself, of course,” Isander added.

  “He came here and then disappeared.”

  “What do you mean he came here?” Haern asked.

  “Luthan Slid here and then Slid somewhere else. I’m not sure where he went.”

  Haern jerked his hand toward the house where Valn and Jessa still stood in the doorway. Valn held an unsheathed sword, and kept his focus on Isander. “Came here?”

  Rsiran nodded. “Briefly. Then he disappeared.”

  “You tracking him with lorcith?”

  “I was.”

  “Maybe he left it behind.”

  “Like you did?” Jessa demanded, coming from around Valn and smacking Haern on the chest. “You disappear like that and you think that we—I—wouldn’t worry?”

  Haern grabbed her wrists before she could hit him again. “I knew you would worry, but I knew I would worry more if I remained. I had to leave Elaeavn. I Saw it.”

  “That doesn’t change that you should have told us.”

  “I can’t protect you from what’s after me. Don’t think that Rsiran can, either.” He glanced to Rsiran and shrugged. “Sorry about that, boy, but it’s the truth. Something like the Forgotten or Venass you can almost see coming. But what’s after me… You won’t know it was ever there. Can’t risk Jessa for what I done.”

  Jessa made as if she might strike Haern again, and he took a step back. “What makes you think you get to decide that for us? Hasn’t what’s happened with Rsiran shown us that you can’t work alone like that? We’re stronger together, Haern.”

  “You know I made a promise to your father.”

  “Yeah? And I made a promise to you.”

  Rsiran hadn’t heard that before. What kind of promise had she made to Haern?

  Haern cast his gaze around them before settling back on Jessa. “I let you in on this and you’re in a different kind of danger. There’s no Sliding away from it. Nothing your Sight will keep you safe from. This… this comes when you’re not watching. A person passing you in the street. A stranger at the Barth. Even could be someone you know.” He glanced to Valn as he said the last. “Her network is extensive, and she’s more dangerous than you can imagine.”

  “And running will keep you safe?”

  “Don’t care about me,” Haern said. “It’s never been about me. Not for a long time. It’s about a promise I made, and about keeping you safe. Now that he’s here,” he said, pointing to Rsiran, “I don’t worry quite like I did. But with this… it meant I had to go.”

  “Damn you, Haern! We care about you, too.”

  Isander started laughing then.

  Jessa looked at him, eyes holding the hurt she felt. Muscles in her shoulders tensed, and Rsiran wouldn’t have been surprised if she tried to attack him. “What’s so funny to you?” she demanded.

  Isander’s smile only widened as he looked at Haern. “When you said you’d changed, I didn’t know you’d changed this much. Could it be that the deadly Haern of the Hjan actually has people who care about him?”

  Haern turned toward Isander and grunted softly. “Unfortunately.”

  Isander laughed again. “Ah, come on, all of you. Let’s drink a bit before you go searching for whatever it is you think to find.”

  Isander led them into the building, which turned out to be his home. Haern followed him, and then Valn. Jessa glanced from Haern to Rsiran before going with him. Rsiran lingered, uncertain. They needed to find Luthan before going after the crystal, but he had no idea where to begin. Without knowing what happened to the lorcith coin, he had no way of tracking him.

  They might have Haern back, but they were no closer to finding the crystal than before. And with every setback, he felt the growing pressure of the Venass threat as it chased him. Eventually, it would catch up to him, and if he didn’t figure out how to stop shadowsteel in time, there wouldn’t be anything he could do.

  Taking another look down the street, he followed the others into Isander’s home.

  Chapter 29

  Smoke drifted from the hearth and a familiar scent brewed in the teakettle sitting on the coals, that of mint and spice that reminded him so much of what Della brewed. The home was too small for all of them to sit comfortably, so Rsiran stood along the back wall and decided that was the better place, anyway. He could more easily watch Isander this way.

  The old man moved with a fluid sort of grace, one that belied
the age that the gray in his beard and the wrinkles around the corners of his pale blue eyes revealed. And Rsiran had seen him with the knives. The man was deadly, possibly more than most of the Venass he had faced. At least Venass made the mistake of carrying lorcith weapons. Isander made no such mistake.

  “Why did you come to my home?” Isander asked as he stood at the hearth. He lifted the kettle and poured a mug of tea, offering the first to Valn.

  The guild member took the mug and sniffed it carefully.

  When he didn’t drink, Isander smiled, took the cup from him, and took a quick sip. “I think after what you’ve been through, you might appreciate something soothing.”

  Isander handed the cup back to Valn. This time, he accepted it using both hands and took a careful drink, then lifted it up to his nose so he could inhale the fragrant aroma.

  “We came because we’re searching for the man who was with us,” Rsiran said.

  Isander looked over at him, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening, making his gaze appear harder, more angry in some ways. He nodded. “I know why you’re here. At least, why you claim to have come. But why is Haern here?” He handed a mug of tea to Jessa and then to Haern. After pouring one for himself, he set the kettle back onto the coals without offering one to Rsiran.

  “I told you why I came,” Haern said. He held the mug of tea, but didn’t drink.

  “You Saw something that prompted you to come for me.”

  Haern nodded.

  “I haven’t seen you in decades and now you return.”

  “Can’t I need the help of my mentor?”

  Isander grunted. “I think you outgrew me long ago, Haern.”

  “I’m not sure that outgrown is how I would describe it. I was impulsive then, and thought I knew more than I did.”

  Isander nodded. “Both are accurate.”

  “Had I not left, I might never have ended up with the Hjan.”

  Isander frowned. “Do you really believe that after everything you’ve learned?”

  Haern looked into his cup and shook his head. “No.”

  “Ah, now I see. The man I knew truly is gone, isn’t he?” His frown changed to a wolfish grin. “Was it a woman? The gods know my last student lost his way because of a woman.”