The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Haern—” Daniel started, but Haern shook him off.

  Daniel didn’t like the way this was going. Haern was agitated, and this intensity wasn’t normal for him. And it seemed almost as if he intended to attack regardless of what the Forger said.

  “What is your plan?” Haern said.

  “If only you could understand the depths of our planning,” the Forger said. “Unfortunately, the Elvraeth have proven to be too simple-minded. You have remained so focused on closing yourselves off that you have not seen the greater possibilities. Rel saw them, but then, she’s always been somewhat skilled, even if limited.”

  Haern leaned forward and jabbed the dart into the Forger. “I will have answers.”

  The Forger’s eyes widened slightly.

  When sleep claimed him, Haern leaned back, letting out a shaky breath.

  “What did you give him? Did you kill him?”

  “He’s not dead. Galen didn’t leave anything useful. The only thing I have is the slithca, and that’s because he was worried we wouldn’t have anything to use on the Forgers if they woke up and he wasn’t here.”

  “I thought that you were going to…”

  Haern looked up at him. “Do you really think I could torture someone like that?”

  “I saw the look on your face. I didn’t know what you could do.”

  Haern got to his feet. “If you’re right, we need to return to Elaeavn and see if there’s anything we can do to protect the sacred crystals.”

  “What about these two?” Daniel asked.

  “If I know Galen, he will return here when he’s done with…” Haern jerked to his feet and looked around. “Come with me.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “I think I know how to find Galen.”

  “He’s disappeared.”

  “Only because he must have noticed that Rayen was approaching. Come with me.”

  They exited the building, and Daniel tried not to feel disgust at every place they passed. When they reached the main part of the tavern, heading down the stairs, he looked around. Even the dingy tavern in Eban was nicer than this, and that was filthy.

  “Why did Galen choose this place?” Daniel asked.

  “It was someplace he was comfortable.” Haern shrugged. “I learned not to question him too much. You know, because of the poisons.”

  Daniel smiled despite himself. He shouldn’t be amused by Haern, but he couldn’t help himself. After the tension of trying to stay alive—and find Lucy—there was a strange comfort with him. “I imagine he knows quite a bit.”

  “He studied with Della.”

  “He what?”

  They exited the tavern, pushing the door closed behind them. The street outside smelled only a little better than the tavern, carrying the stench of rotting fish and the sea gusting up to them. Haern glanced over before his gaze went up to the rooftop.

  “Apparently, before he was exiled, he studied with Della.”

  “You think he would use that knowledge in the city?”

  “Why would he need to? He’s Cael Elvraeth’s consort. Besides, I get the sense that he’s not terribly proud of his past.”

  “I don’t understand why he wouldn’t be.”

  “He was an assassin, though I suspect he wasn’t necessarily the kind of assassin you’d expect.”

  “You mean he wasn’t the kind who killed people?”

  Haern frowned. “No, that’s not it. From everything I’ve seen of Galen, I suspect he was incredibly skilled at killing people. It’s just that… I’m not really sure how to explain it. Whatever else Galen was, he did things with a purpose. I don’t know if that makes sense or not.”

  Daniel nodded slowly. “Carth thinks highly of him, so it does make some sort of sense.”

  They paused at an alleyway, and Haern surprised him by creeping along it before lodging himself between a pair of buildings and pushing up, quickly scaling the side of the building and pulling himself up onto the rooftop.

  Daniel Slid, emerging next to Haern. “You know, there are easier ways for us to get there.”

  “Easier, but sometimes it’s good to practice and not rely on your abilities.”

  “You wouldn’t be relying on your abilities. You’d be relying on mine.”

  “That’s even more reason for me to practice.”

  Daniel shook his head. “Now that we’re here, what was it you thought you could See?”

  “I’m looking for Galen,” he said.

  “From the roof?”

  “Galen would often climb up onto rooftops to get a vantage so that he could gain a sense of movement within the city. There’s a certain vibrancy within the city, according to him.”

  “Can you feel it?”

  Haern shrugged. “Not so much. I can understand a little bit about what he’s doing, but I don’t have the same skill set Galen has. I don’t know that anyone has, not without spending years practicing, but he wouldn’t have practiced recently.”

  “Not like this, but he’s been working with the tchalit. I didn’t know why until learning what he had once been.” Daniel approached the edge of the building, looking out. “Do you see anything?”

  Haern leaned forward, peering along the length of the street. “I’m looking mostly for movement, anything that would tell me that Galen might be out there.”

  “If he spends his time on rooftops, do you think he might be here, looking out?” Daniel asked.

  “It’s possible, but more likely he followed Rayen back to the city, which we could have done, too.”

  “I’m not sure that we could have. Even if we did, we wouldn’t have been skilled enough to manage her.”

  The idea of confronting Rayen left Daniel a little troubled, but he couldn’t shake the thought that there was more to her than what he’d already discovered.

  “How long do we have to wait out here?”

  “Unfortunately, sometimes it can be hours,” Haern said softly.

  “Hours?”

  Haern nodded, not taking his eyes off the street. “He made it clear that there were times he scouted where he would spend hours sitting and watching a single location.”

  “I don’t know that I want to sit here for hours. I could simply Slide.”

  “You could. You could go rooftop to rooftop, Sliding, and see what you can come up with. I’ll wait here.”

  “Haern—”

  Haern only shook his head. “I’m going to wait here. If something happens to the Forgers, I want to know about it anyway. And besides, if we don’t come up with a plan before too long, I’ll need to go back and readminister the poison. I don’t want them going anywhere until we decide what to do with them. I don’t know that we can kill them, but we have to use them somehow.” He slowly moved his head from side to side as he scanned the street. “I wish Galen were here.”

  “This is taking too much time. Lucy needs us—”

  “And we still don’t know what the Forgers plan in the Aisl.”

  “I think we do know what they plan, it’s just we don’t know how to stop them.”

  “If we’re going to go back to the city, I don’t want to do that without Galen.”

  “Or Carth,” Daniel said. When Haern arched a brow, not looking away from the street, Daniel only shrugged. “We need someone like her who understands the Forgers, and not only understands them but can use that knowledge to defeat them. She’s beaten them before, and I get the sense that they’re afraid of her.”

  “That’s what the Forger down in the room said.”

  “And if we can use Carth in such a way…”

  “I didn’t get the sense that we could use Carth.”

  Daniel breathed out heavily. He had to be careful. It wasn’t that he wanted to use Carth, but that he wanted to ask Carth to participate in what they needed to do. She was valuable and powerful, and the Forgers feared her. And though they claimed otherwise, they feared Lareth.

  That was important, somehow.

  He w
atched Haern for a moment before Sliding, doing as Haern suggested and going from rooftop to rooftop. It was strange navigating through an unfamiliar city alone. He hated that he was doing it. But he couldn’t shake the sense that this was what needed to happen. If nothing else, he wanted to find Lucy.

  Movement in the distance caught his attention.

  Daniel Slid to it.

  He had made his way closer to the center of Asador. This wasn’t a part of the city he’d been to before, not even when he had traveled here with Rayen, but something about it resonated with him. What had he detected? Where was the movement coming from?

  The shops running along either side of the street were nicer than those closer to the shoreline. The smell of the city had changed, now carrying more floral fragrance and less of the rotting fish and salt. There wasn’t the stink of blood and sweat like there was closer to the shore.

  This part of the city reminded him of Elaeavn. Not just Elaeavn, but the Floating Palace.

  A larger structure loomed over much of the city. When they had first come, Rayen had deflected any questions about it, and Carth had told him that it represented the university. A place of learning shouldn’t be frightening, but there was something intimidating about the shadowed building. Maybe it was the way the shadows clung around it, almost as if…

  Could that be where Rayen had gone?

  Rayen had set up in the taverns, but if it wasn’t Rayen, could it be Carth?

  He glanced back toward where he’d left Haern but decided to leave him. He could always go back for him if it came to it.

  He Slid again, getting closer to the university. Now the building seemed much larger. It was a dozen stories tall, and somehow still squat despite its size. Ivy ran along the stone, creeping toward the top. In the darkness, it carried much of the same shadows. It almost seemed as if the wall of the university was designed to conceal itself.

  Staring at it, Daniel tried to understand what had drawn his attention. Could it be simply the building? No. It was something about the shadows, though he wasn’t entirely certain what it was or why that should be. The shadows felt denser here than they had in other places.

  No one moved around the base of the building, and he hesitated only a moment before Sliding. When he emerged, he stood at the base of it, pushing his back up against the stone, feeling the pressure from it.

  Now that he was here, the shadows seemed to thicken, rippling.

  Even Carth hadn’t done that.

  If it wasn’t Carth, then it could be Rayen.

  He Slid… and couldn’t.

  What had happened?

  It was as if the shadows held him, preventing him from Sliding away.

  Daniel took a step forward and ran into an invisible barrier.

  He made his way along the stone, meandering, trying to find some way beyond the barrier that threatened to hold him, but there wasn’t any way out.

  What trapped him here?

  Attempting to Slide again was met with failure.

  Great Watcher.

  He should have been more careful.

  If he was trapped, it was because someone held him, the same way Tern and the Forgers had held him in Eban. If he could find them, disrupt it, then he could get free.

  It meant that he would have to trace his way along the side of the building, and even then, he wasn’t certain he’d be able to get to freedom. Could he wait here all night? In the daylight, shadows would be burned off, and maybe they would no longer be able to hold him.

  Footsteps thudded, muted against the shadows.

  He wouldn’t be able to wait and didn’t dare remain here too long.

  Daniel began to run.

  When he reached the front of the university, he looked around. A massive archway opened up into a door, and lanterns on either side should have pushed back the shadows, but somehow, they were little more than glowing balls of light against the darkness, as if the shadows were some thick sort of fog that pushed in upon them. A cobblestone path led away from the doorway, heading out into the rest of the city, and Daniel attempted to take it, but he wasn’t able to.

  The barrier still held him.

  There was another option, though not one he really wanted to take. But what choice did he have? He could continue to circle around the building, but eventually he’d be caught by whoever was pursuing him.

  Somehow, he doubted they would prevent him from entering the university.

  Taking a deep breath, Daniel headed toward the door.

  36

  Daniel

  What was he thinking? He shouldn’t be coming here, and certainly not alone, not without anybody who could help him escape if it came down to it. With the restriction on his ability to Slide, he was in a dangerous position. If there was one thing he understood, it was the value of finding a strong position.

  Daniel reached the door, pausing with his hand on it. He was unable to Slide, and he couldn’t penetrate whatever barrier was there, but did he really want to attempt to break into the university? This wasn’t what he was after, and the moment he did this was the moment he risked exposing himself to a different sort of danger, the kind of danger he wasn’t certain he was prepared for.

  The other possibility was far more dangerous, though. The movement behind him continued to push toward him, and Daniel entered the university.

  The shadows swirling around the university suggested that something was taking place here, but could it be Carth? Or was it Rayen? If it was Rayen, Daniel wasn’t sure he wanted to confront her again. It was bad enough that she had revealed herself; until he knew what her intentions were, he didn’t like the idea that he might have to face her.

  The inside of the university was made of marble. A smooth floor stretched in front of him, matching walls that rose up on either side, reminding him of the Floating Palace in Elaeavn. Sconces set into the wall glowed softly, not with flames but with some other mysterious light. An occasional tapestry hung, though he didn’t approach close enough to see what was depicted on them. Nothing else moved within the building.

  A massive staircase stretched in front of him. Daniel looked around the hallway, searching for someplace to hide. He didn’t want to get caught out in the open by whoever had been outside, but then he also didn’t want to spend too much time wandering through here. This wasn’t his place, and he had no idea what he might find here.

  Would he be able to Slide within it?

  He needed to know, especially if he had to find some way to escape quickly.

  He focused on the top of the staircase and Slid, emerging where he’d intended.

  At least he wasn’t restricted from Sliding inside here, but for some reason, he wasn’t able to Slide out and beyond the university. Whatever barrier had been placed prevented him, and he needed to figure out what it was—and quickly.

  It would have been better had he simply stayed with Haern and waited, but sitting and watching wasn’t his typical strategy. When he had noticed the shadows, he had been drawn here, and that was his mistake.

  In the time since he’d left Elaeavn, he had grown increasingly dependent upon his ability to Slide. There was a time when he would have laughed at that, but then, there was a time when he had simply been content with his abilities.

  He looked around the hallway. Up here, there was less of the decoration he had seen on the lower level. Sconces still glowed with the strange light, but there were no tapestries lining the walls. An occasional sculpture rested on the floor, some of them angled strangely, but they were infrequent.

  Doors lined the hallway. Most of them were made of plain wood, but one in particular near the midsection of the hallway was much more ornate and looked to be made out of metal. Not lorcith; as far as he could tell, there was nothing made of lorcith here, though he suspected the university knew of it, but it did appear similar to lorcith.

  Daniel Slid, reaching the doorway. He paused there, looking for any sign of movement or anything that would suggest that some of the scho
lars might be here, but there was none.

  He didn’t like lingering here. As intriguing as the university might be, the idea of staying here, waiting for whatever—and whoever—might be within the university to come upon him left him troubled.

  He Slid to the end of the stairs, pausing for a moment before planning to Slide back down and attempt once more to depart, when voices drifted up to him.

  One of them was familiar.

  Carth?

  “I wouldn’t have returned if it weren’t necessary,” she said.

  “The Binders—”

  “The Binders have disappointed me. Whatever potential we had has disappeared.”

  “How has it disappeared?” Another feminine voice.

  “It’s not that it disappeared so much as it’s been misappropriated. We can’t rely on them anymore.”

  “Which is why you came to us.”

  “You understand the importance of what we’re doing just as much as I do,” Carth was saying.

  “I believe we are the ones who shared with you the importance of what we’re doing. And it may not be nearly as lost as you would believe,” she said.

  “I’ve been gone for a while, so I don’t have the same knowledge of the way things have been, but I do recognize that the power we’ve been working with presents certain challenges.”

  Daniel hesitated on the top of the stairs, trying to get a better vantage. He considered Sliding down, revealing his presence. Carth wouldn’t be offended by him suddenly appearing, would she?

  But whoever she was speaking to might be. He had the sense from the conversation that she respected this person, and that she had come here asking for help. Considering what he knew of Carth, that didn’t seem typical for her.

  “We can offer some help. What did you have in mind?”

  “There has been some trouble in Elaeavn,” Carth said.

  “Elaeavn is no trouble. It has been taken care of.”

  Daniel froze. Had something happened to Elaeavn since they’d left?

  The voices grew more distant. He strained to listen, but short of revealing his presence, he didn’t think he could get any closer. When pressure pushed upon him, Daniel Slid down the hallway.