The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  It wasn’t his strength. He didn’t love forging metal the way his father and grandfather did. Haern hadn’t known what he wanted to do and had only stuck with blacksmithing because he had no other options.

  The things that Galen knew were intriguing. Not the healing—that wasn’t terribly exciting, and if he wanted to learn that, he thought he could acquire the knowledge from someone like Darren—but the knowledge of poisons, and of how to acquire information that was otherwise difficult to gain. That interested him.

  Shaking away those thoughts, he continued to keep his focus on the sword.

  There was lorcith throughout the city.

  That realization came to him first and was nearly enough for him to lose his connection. He ignored the lorcith nearest him and found a familiar sense of the metal.

  The sword. It had to be.

  It was distant, but not so distant that he couldn’t pick up on it.

  At least Daniel was still in Asador. The sword was there, but growing fainter. And then suddenly, it disappeared.

  Galen returned, and Haern jumped to his feet. “We need to go.”

  “Go?”

  “The sense of lorcith…”

  “You were able to find it?”

  “I was, but then it disappeared.”

  “With your friend’s ability, that’s not surprising.”

  “Not my friend,” he said again. “And I don’t think he Slid. I’ve never known lorcith to simply disappear when someone Slides. It grows more distant, so faint that it’s almost nothing, but this… it completely vanished.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I know what I detected, Galen.” Would he have to argue with Galen the same way he argued with his parents?

  Galen glanced over to the fallen Forgers. “It seems we have to leave them a little sooner than I expected. Hopefully the sedative lasts until we return. Otherwise we will have to deal with these two again.”

  “We’re going to have to deal with the Forgers again regardless,” he said.

  “I know, but we need to know if they’re attempting to claim an Elder Stone.”

  They hurried out of the tavern, and Galen nodded at the woman who had told them that Daniel had come.

  Out on the street, there were a handful of people, most hurrying from place to place. None were suspicious. Haern had begun to watch for signs of shifting shadows, but he saw none of that now. There was no evidence of Carth—or Rayen.

  “Which way?” Galen asked.

  Haern barely had to focus to remember from which direction he had detected the sense of lorcith. “North.”

  “North? Why would he have gone there?”

  Haern could only shrug. “I don’t know. That’s where I detected the lorcith.”

  “There isn’t much there other than the coast and some of the more luxurious manor houses—nothing really beyond there.”

  Which made Haern a little more nervous. If there wasn’t anything beyond there, what would Daniel have done? Where would he have gone off to?

  A troubling thought came to him. There had been someone who had betrayed the city. Could it have been Daniel? Could that be why he was here in Asador?

  “We should get moving.”

  Galen paused a moment to search through his pouch, manipulating a few things within it before finally nodding to Haern.

  “Were you getting darts ready?”

  “Not knowing what we might face, I thought it was prudent.”

  “You said there isn’t anything to the north.”

  “There’s not, which is why I’m concerned. Beyond the city, you reach the shores of the sea. Unless he would Slide across the sea—”

  Haern shook his head. “I don’t think he’d ever left Elaeavn before.”

  “Why would that matter?”

  “Most are reluctant to Slide anywhere they haven’t been before.”

  “Even your father?”

  Haern shrugged. “When it comes to my father, I don’t really know.”

  “And you’re sure you detected this lorcith in the north?”

  “I’m certain of it. It was there and then it just disappeared.”

  The farther they went, the more things began to change. As Galen suggested, there were merchants out, most dressed in silks and other expensive clothing, nothing like what would be found closer to the shores. Why would Daniel have gone that way?

  “Let’s get moving, then.”

  Haern looked over. “Just like that?”

  “You didn’t want me to trust you?”

  “No. I did. It’s just—”

  Galen clapped him on the shoulder. “I learned that I need to trust those around me, and trust what they share. It could be that you’re wrong, and if so, then we’ve wasted a little time, but if you’re right and we do nothing, then we stand to lose much more,” Galen said.

  Haern took a deep breath. How could his father not have liked this man?

  “Will you know when we reach the location where you sensed lorcith disappearing?”

  “I’m not sure that I would normally, but this is unusual.” If he closed his eyes, Haern could practically see the location in his mind where the lorcith had disappeared.

  It was strange. He’d never connected his ability to See and his connection to lorcith, but maybe that was why they were tied.

  Galen guided them along the street. They moved beyond the edge of shops, and from there, the street widened, cobblestones well set and occasional lanterns hanging on posts. This part of the city was much better kept than others. They passed a small square with a garden growing within, shrubs neatly sculpted. At another part of the street, they passed an enormous manor house, the sprawling yard blocked off by an enormous stone wall that surrounded it.

  “Do you know who lives there?” Haern asked.

  “Not here, but there are many like it. Or there were. The city is run by a council, though anyone can be elected when money is involved.”

  “You don’t think they were freely chosen?”

  Galen shot him a pointed look. “You have lived in Elaeavn for your entire life. You don’t understand the role that graft and greed play when you are outside the limits of a city run by those with power. The people in some of these cities have a different sort of power, though it’s no less precious to them. For many, their power relies upon money, and wealth grants them not only the privilege of living in homes like this, but also a different sort of privilege.”

  Galen had slowed, and his gaze lingered on the manor house. Lights glowed in windows of the two-story building. Elaborate architecture practically begged Haern to stare. Curves and arches came together, making it something like a palace, though not nearly as sprawling as the Floating Palace in Elaeavn.

  “You don’t care for them?”

  Galen shook his head. “I don’t know them, but I know enough of the world not to like them.”

  Haern stared at him for a moment before chuckling. “You’re married to Cael Elvraeth, one of the leaders of Elaeavn.”

  “Cael is nothing like these people.”

  “I wasn’t accusing her of anything. I was just commenting that it’s interesting that you should feel so strongly about men like that.”

  “Men. You’ve made my point.”

  “I’m not sure that women are any better.”

  “Everyone has the potential for darkness within them. The only question is whether you can temper it with the right amount of light.”

  Galen continued on, and Haern hurried to catch up with him. “What about you? Do you still have darkness within you?”

  “More than I thought,” Galen said softly.

  “What does that mean?”

  “That means that coming here, coming with you, has revealed to me a truth about myself.”

  “And what truth is that?”

  “I’d thought that my time in Elaeavn would have changed me. I’ve lived in the city now for longer than I’ve lived out of it. And I lived outside of the city for a decade,
long enough that I no longer felt that Elaeavn was my home. All of that changed when I met Cael, and I began to change, enough so that I thought that was who I was.”

  “You don’t believe that’s who you are?”

  “Oh, I know it’s who I can be, but the question is who I really am. I’ve been trying to hide it, wanting nothing more than to mask that part of myself, but how can I when it’s so prominent? How can I when it bubbles up even when I want to hide it?”

  Haern was forced to hurry to keep up with Galen. “I’m sorry.”

  “For what?”

  “For making you come.”

  “You didn’t make me do anything, Haern, though perhaps I have tried to hide from myself—and who I was—for all these years.” He glanced over, and his deep green eyes caught the moonlight. “The world has changed, and I’ve changed, but perhaps with everything that’s happened, there’s a role for someone like me.”

  “It’s not with Cael Elvraeth?”

  “It is, but I wonder if perhaps I need to serve the city in a different way than I have been.”

  They fell into an uncomfortable silence, and Haern noticed a shifting of shadows in the distance. He started to point when Galen nodded.

  “I see it.”

  “Is that Carth?”

  “It’s possible.”

  They continued to approach, Galen moving more cautiously. Haern watched the other man, modeling his movements after his.

  The shadows drifted in front of them, faint, but enough that Haern knew what he was seeing.

  There was no question that it was someone connected to the shadows.

  Galen suddenly spun and flipped a dart. There came a grunt, and he raced back, streaking toward the fallen person on the ground.

  Haern grabbed two of his lorcith-forged knives, holding them in his hands. Nervously, he found himself using his connection to lorcith, spinning the knives, prepared for whatever might come.

  The shadows began to shift, and his eyes were drawn toward them.

  Haern turned, and Rayen stood in front of him.

  He pushed out with the knives, letting them float in the air.

  Rayen watched him. “I didn’t think you had an interest in attacking.”

  “I don’t, but I don’t want you to keep me from what I need to do.”

  “And just what do you need to do?” Her gaze drifted beyond Haern to Galen, who stood in the middle of the street, his head twisting from side to side, darts clutched lightly in his hands. “And I didn’t think your friend still served as an assassin.”

  “They’re only sedated,” Galen said. “And if you want to ensure no others suffer the same fate, you will send them back.”

  Rayen flashed a dark smile. “Send them back? We have you outnumbered. Do you think I worry about what you might do?”

  “The woman who trained you did.”

  “And she’s not here, is she?”

  “She’s involved in something,” Haern said quickly.

  “What?” Rayen asked.

  “I don’t know what it is, but we are looking for the one she’s with. The one you know. Something happened.”

  Rayen stared at him for a long moment. “What do you mean, something happened?”

  “Just that. He was here, and then he was not.”

  She laughed. “That man can Slide. I fail to see why that should alarm you.”

  “This was different. He simply disappeared, with no sense of him.”

  “You believe that you should have a sense of him?”

  “I know what I should be able to pick up.” He took a step toward Rayen, and shadows began to swirl around her. Haern paused, holding up his hands, pulling the knives back to him. She didn’t want her to think he was attempting to attack. Partly because he doubted that he would be successful, and partly because he needed her help. “The Forgers are after something. There’s a reason they’re congregating in Asador.”

  “I’m aware that there is a reason. When I determine what it is, they will be excluded from the city.”

  “Does Asador have an Elder Stone?”

  Haern wasn’t sure whether Rayen would even answer, but it was the question he needed to ask, and if she did answer, maybe they could finally begin to understand what was taking place.

  “What?”

  “An Elder Stone. Does Asador have one?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Would Carth know?”

  Rayen frowned. “Carth knew Asador better than any.”

  Haern glanced over to Galen before turning his attention back to Rayen. “This is about more than my father. This is about more than the Binders. Something else is taking place in the city. The Forgers are congregating here, and however powerful your network might be, there’s a limit to what you can do to stop them. If they’re after an Elder Stone here, you might not be able to prevent them from reaching it.”

  Rayen watched him for a moment, but finally she nodded. “What do you need?”

  Haern breathed out a heavy sigh. “Help us discover what they’re after.”

  Rayen glanced around the street. She nodded once, and the shadows dissipated.

  A dozen women surrounded them. All were dressed in dark leathers, and even with his enhanced Sight, Haern had not been aware of their presence.

  Rayen was far more powerful than he had given her credit for.

  “We will work together for now.”

  “Thank you, because—”

  Haern cut off when he felt a flicker of lorcith.

  It was familiar, but not the sword.

  What was it?

  “We should hurry,” he said.

  Rayen motioned, and the women fell in behind them.

  Galen followed at Haern’s shoulder, glancing over at Haern. “Are you sure we can trust them?”

  “I have no idea whether we can or not. All I know is that we need their help.”

  Galen glanced over his shoulder. “I’m not disagreeing that we need their help. But I worry, since we know that Rayen has not been the most reliable with us. What happens if she decides to betray us when we need her?”

  “Look at her,” Haern said. “She is here for the Binders, the same as Carth was. I have a hard time believing that Rayen would do anything to put them in danger.”

  “I hope so,” he said.

  As they neared the end of the street, he noticed a squat, plain-looking building different from any of the others. An enormous wall surrounded it. A strange sense of lorcith came from the wall, though it was so faint that he doubted it was pure lorcith.

  “This is where I detected the sense of lorcith,” he said.

  Galen stood near the wall, running his hand along the surface of it. “There is something working within it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There is metal mixing with the stone, though I’m not entirely certain what it is.”

  If there was metal mixed in, could that be why he wasn’t able to detect the sword any longer? There were certain alloys of lorcith that prevented him from detecting it. But that didn’t seem to be the case. This stone didn’t have the same appearance as heartstone, and that was most likely to be the culprit if he wasn’t able to pick up on the sense of lorcith from within it.

  “It’s in there. Whatever it is.”

  Galen glanced back at Rayen.

  “I said we would help.”

  “Then I think we need to head inside,” Galen said. For some reason, Haern had the sense that Galen was nervous. Was it only that he didn’t trust Rayen, or was there another reason for his concern?

  40

  Daniel

  Daniel didn’t move. He couldn’t take his eyes off Lareth. He looked haggard, his skin gaunt, and he lay motionless in the center of the cell. Chains bound his wrists and ankles. There was nothing else around them but darkness.

  This was why he had not been detected. Much like Carth had suggested, they had trapped him deep beneath the earth to prevent anyone with some ability from find
ing him.

  Worse, they weren’t alone.

  Two guards—Forgers, he suspected—turned toward him.

  Daniel Slid forward and emerged directly in front of one Forger, sword in hand, and stabbed the man in the belly.

  That wasn’t what he’d intended, but it dropped the man to the floor.

  He spun, Sliding and emerging behind the other Forger.

  The Forger started to turn, but not before Daniel stabbed forward with the sword, catching this Forger in the back.

  Movement caught his attention and he spun again.

  There was another Forger.

  The man had deeply tanned skin and dark eyes. His head was shorn, and the black leathers he wore made him difficult to see in the darkness of the cave.

  “You won’t be able to escape with him,” the man said.

  “I’m getting out, and he’s getting out,” Daniel said.

  “You think that we can’t recover him? Do you think it was so difficult to find him in the first place?”

  “You hadn’t found him until now.”

  “And now he has others turning against him.”

  Daniel didn’t want to linger. He Slid, emerging off to the side of the Forger, and swung his sword. The Forger managed to Slide and disappeared.

  Daniel’s breath caught. He needed to move quickly in case the Forger had gone for help. He searched the bodies of the Forgers, looking for keys for the chains, but found nothing.

  He looked over to Lareth’s cell. Would he be able to get in there?

  An attempt to Slide into the cell failed. He wasn’t surprised.

  He walked along the outside of the bars. They were all made of the same stone, and in the faint light—light that came from within the cell—he could tell they had traces of metal within them.

  What was this place? What kind of metal was this?

  Whatever it was, it prevented Lareth from sliding—and it prevented Daniel from sliding to the other side of the cell.

  There had to be some way of reaching him, but as he made his way around the narrow walkway surrounding the pillars of stone, he didn’t see any sort of lock or any way of getting in.

  How would he have been placed in here in the first place?