The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  There had to be some way to get these people out of here, but Lucy wasn’t sure what it was and didn’t know what would be required in order to save them, if there was anything that could be done to save them.

  She focused on navigating through the rooms, searching for anyone else, including the man she had just seen, but there was no sign of anyone here.

  She needed help. What she really needed was Lareth.

  She Slid, emerging where she had last seen everyone else, and immediately came under attack.

  41

  Lucy

  There was nothing but violence around her. Lucy would need to act; she was somehow responsible for helping to end this. The Ai’thol had come here, and her experience with the C’than suggested that she knew the reason. Now that she had seen the experiments the C’than attempted, she was sure the Ai’thol wanted the knowledge the C’than had gathered.

  The images of the women filled her mind. It was all she could do to try to move beyond what had happened, and the way that the C’than had used those women, and the longer she was here, the angrier she became.

  She did her best to ignore that anger, to suppress that irritation, but the knowledge that those women were still trapped and in pain filled her with a shaking rage.

  A pair of Ai’thol neared her.

  She was in the middle of a narrow street, buildings rising up on either side, all of them made of wood, and two stories at least. They had peaked roofs that stretched high overhead, casting shadows along the street. There weren’t others out, and because of that, she debated how she would handle this.

  The easiest answer was simply Sliding away. She didn’t have to confront the Ai’thol. They weren’t holding her here, and there was no way they could.

  Yet she didn’t want to run. Running meant leaving behind the women within those rooms. She knew it was foolish to think like that, but it didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t help but feel as if she would be abandoning them if she ran.

  Ai’thol like this had been working with the C’than.

  The Ai’thol had brought the C’than the subjects.

  With the anger she felt, the only thing she saw when the Ai’thol came was enemies.

  She wasn’t a fighter. That much had become increasingly and almost painfully clear the longer she had been gone, knowing there was no way for her to withstand an attack on her own. Despite that, there was something she could do.

  Her enhanced abilities had changed her, and the longer she worked with them, the better she began to understand just how much they had changed her. Carth had wanted her to work with them, to get a sense of just how much she could do, and despite that, she had never pushed herself nearly as much as she should. That was now to not only her disadvantage, but the disadvantage of the people she wanted to help.

  That had to stop now.

  She had Pushed on the Ai’thol before, but now she would use them.

  She felt no remorse at thinking like that. Perhaps she should. Perhaps she needed to think of the Ai’thol as something else, but all she could think about was how many had been hurt because of the Ai’thol, including the women who deserved better. It was up to her to find a way to help them.

  Pushing was the only thing she thought she could do. The more she Pushed, the easier it became. The sense of the Ai’thol was there, and she was able to dip into their minds the same way as she had with others—not Reading them but rather forcing herself upon them. There was no reason to hesitate.

  She reached into the mind of the Ai’thol, digging into it as she focused on him. She forced her way in, taking his resistance and overpowering it.

  She wasn’t going to let him escape from what she would do.

  It was difficult to take over his mind, to reach in and grab at his thoughts, but as she did, she found that she could use him.

  Lucy Pushed a single thought mixed with an image. Attack.

  The Ai’thol turned to the other, raising his sword, and began to fight. The suddenness of the attack was jarring, and at first Lucy didn’t know what abilities either of them had. From what she’d seen, all of the Ai’thol had been granted abilities, and considering the scars she saw on these men, she suspected that these two were no different.

  The other reacted, but he was a step slower. He brought his sword around, but the Ai’thol Lucy had Pushed on focused on the command she had given. It wasn’t that she was in full control of him. It was that she had suggested something to him, a command, and he was compelled to follow it, to fulfill the request she placed within it.

  The fight was brief, brutal, and bloody, and it was over quickly. The Ai’thol she had commanded ended up injured in the battle, and blood dripped down his arms, the wound causing agony to roll through him. It was almost enough to overpower his connection to her, and yet she sent another command.

  Sleep.

  The Ai’thol dropped to the ground and fell into a deep slumber. Given the nature of his injury, she doubted that he would survive—or ever even awaken. It was hard for her to find any sense of sorrow in that, and yet she would be responsible for what happened to him, much like these Ai’thol—and the C’than they worked with—were responsible for what happened to the women.

  Thinking like that renewed her strength.

  She made her way down the street, ignoring the fallen Ai’thol. She turned a corner, heading out onto the street, near the gathered Ai’thol. From here, she could Read the fact that there were others, and she heard the sound of fighting. She’d neglected her ability to Listen, although during her captivity, that ability had been important. If not for it, she might not have survived as long as she had. It was the one ability that the Architect had not suppressed.

  As she reached a clearing outside the palace, fighting took place all around. Most of it came from the Ai’thol clashing with Binders along with Daniel and others. There was a steady flickering of movement, power that came from people Sliding and disappearing, and as she watched, she focused on that for a moment, wondering if she could have any control over the other Ai’thol.

  She had influenced one, but could she do it again? The attack command had been effective. If she had the opportunity, she would have to repeat that command.

  Three Ai’thol appeared. She focused on the center of them, sending the same command.

  Attack.

  Mixed with the command was an image of the two Ai’thol with him. This one was able to Slide, and he did so, disappearing with a flash and reappearing with his sword unsheathed, stabbing it through the belly of the other Ai’thol. He flickered, disappearing and then emerging again, once more stabbing into the other Ai’thol, but the sword was blocked. They began to fight, pulling apart from the rest of the battle, separating the Ai’thol from her friends.

  Now she needed to focus on another part of the attack. She came across two Ai’thol confronting Binders. The Binders were skilled, and some—like Isabel—were incredibly skilled, likely possessing abilities of their own that she didn’t fully understand. As she fought, she twisted, blocking each of the Ai’thol’s sword attacks. Lucy focused on the Ai’thol attacking her and used the same command as before.

  Much like before, the Ai’thol suddenly changed the focus of his attack. The only difference was that this time Isabel was there, and as he turned away, she jammed her sword through his back, dropping him.

  Turning to the next of the Ai’thol, she found three of them attacking two of the Binders. Again, she sent one of them a command, forcing it into his mind, and giving him the image of the two Ai’thol with him. Unlike the last time, she made sure to use it on the man in the rear, farther from the others. It gave him an opportunity to be more involved, and in doing so, he was better able to reach the first of the Ai’thol, cutting him down before he was dropped with nothing more than a whimper.

  How many Ai’thol were here? The attack seemed even more impressive than the one in Asador, the one she had been a part of. Why would that be?

  The last time, they h
ad been after the power of an Elder Stone, and she had to wonder if the same thing was happening now. This was Nyaesh, after all, and there was the power of the Elders. But in order to reach it, they would need to have some way of digging into the place where the power of the Elder Stone was stored.

  Where would that be?

  Carth would know.

  Three Ai’thol suddenly appeared in front of her.

  Lucy reacted, sending a command, but this time it was unfocused, and she slammed outward, Pushing it at all three at the same time. With the command, she demanded that they fight the Ai’thol. There was no image attached to it as before, making it almost ambiguous, and yet the Ai’thol reacted, Sliding away. When they returned, they started fighting the others like them.

  Could she turn the entire tide of this fight by Pushing on the Ai’thol? Could she force them all to attack their compatriots?

  Lucy focused on the nearest of the Ai’thol and turned that attention against them. With a little more force, she thought she would be able to resolve this.

  The Binders continued to attack the Ai’thol, and as they went, there was an ongoing battle, the Ai’thol attacking near the wall over and again.

  Why would they be attacking there?

  Power exploded near the wall surrounding the palace, and it seemed as if the wall itself had a faint glow to it.

  She’d seen that before.

  Ras.

  The power of the Elder Stone was here, and it was this power the Ai’thol were after. They were somehow using the wall, but what did they want it for?

  A pair of Ai’thol neared her, and she lashed out, Pushing on them, forcing them away. Rather than having them attack something or someone else, she sent the message that they should Slide away.

  Once, she wouldn’t have believed it possible for them, but she’d seen the way the C’than used it, how their strongholds absorbed the power of the Elder Stones.

  Whether or not this was intentional was a different matter. Considering that Carth had been here, and that this was such a place of C’than power, she had a hard time thinking that it was not intentional.

  And if it was intentional, what else did they hope to accomplish?

  Lucy found no evidence of Carth. She circled the Ai’thol, taking control of some of them as she went, sending them off, forcing them to Slide away. Hopefully her Push remained active long enough for them to stay away from her, but she didn’t know if it would.

  Could this be what the Ai’thol had been after all along?

  They had worked with the C’than, bringing test subjects to them, and in exchange, the Ai’thol had gotten closer to the Elder Stone. She had a hard time thinking the C’than didn’t know what would happen if the Ai’thol were allowed such access, and that could only mean that they either felt it didn’t matter, or they were arrogant enough to believe they could control the Ai’thol. Having seen the C’than—and having Read them—she had to believe that it was the latter.

  There were too many Ai’thol for the attackers. Rayen blazed through, shadows swirling, slicing as if made of metal, carving down Ai’thol, and surprisingly, Daniel fought with her, attacking with the same sort of violence, Sliding from place to place, his ability far greater than she had given him credit for. He was incredibly skilled, and his time training with Rayen—and Carth—had increased his skills to the point where he was able to move through here as if there was nothing to it.

  Carth was there. Blasts of heat told Lucy where to find her, but the heat was mixed with something else, the explosion coming from a combination of her abilities. She was close to Lucy even now, somehow masking her thoughts as she fought, and Lucy had to admit she was a little disappointed not to be able to Read Carth better in the midst of a battle.

  The Binders were fighting off the Ai’thol as well as could be expected, and they didn’t do so alone. There were others here, men and women skilled with the sword, using fire to explode around them, heat and flame that was so similar to Carth’s magic.

  The A’ras.

  Their minds weren’t closed to her, and as she surveyed the fight, she Read the struggles they faced. Many of them were conflicted, feeling guilty about what they had done—or nearly done. They had betrayed their city.

  As she circled around, she could feel power building. It came from some deep place, as if it were flowing through her, flowing through the Ai’thol, and as it continued to build, growing stronger and stronger, Lucy wanted nothing more than to retreat, but she didn’t dare do so. She needed to be here, needed to know what was going to take place.

  More than any of that, she needed to find someone who could help her unlock the chains holding the women.

  The ground began to shake.

  All around her, the battle continued to rage, and Lucy could only keep Pushing, sending Ai’thol after Ai’thol away. But each person she sent away was replaced by another. It was an onslaught, an ongoing deluge of power, and it told her that whatever they were after was just as important as what they had been after in Asador.

  Could they have succeeded there?

  She and her friends had believed that they protected the Wisdom Stone, but what if they had not? What if the others had somehow managed to use that stone, to store its power as she suspected the C’than were storing power now?

  A troubling thought came to her. The cage that had held Rsiran—that had been made of a similar metal, and it had definitely been exposed to the Wisdom Stone. Would it have absorbed some of that stone’s power?

  Lucy Slid from place to place, Pushing on the minds of the Ai’thol she encountered, working her way through them, paying no mind to anyone else around. She was able to Slide quickly, easily, and as she went, she found no resistance to her movements.

  The Ai’thol continued to fight, attack after attack, and she struggled to understand what they were doing, other than the fact that it had something to do with the wall.

  As she continued to watch, it remained clear to her that power flowed from the wall.

  Could that be the Elder Stone?

  If it was, then why would it be out in the open like that?

  No… that wouldn’t be the Elder Stone. More likely, the Elder Stone was somewhere inside here, and she would need to figure out where so that she could help protect it.

  With that thought, the wall exploded.

  Lucy was tossed from her feet. She tried to Slide backward and catch herself, but she was thrown too far away and wasn’t able to get back up.

  She lay there, the pain of the explosion throbbing through her. Slowly she managed to get to her feet, and she saw that the wall had been destroyed.

  The Ai’thol flickered around, Sliding.

  Her head pounded. It reminded her of the pain she had felt when the implant had been placed, and as much as she tried to focus on what was taking place around her, she couldn’t. An attempt to Read others around her failed. She felt as if she were quivering with pain.

  Her eyesight blurred, and she leaned down, crouching next to a fragment of the wall. Lucy looked at it, holding on to it for a moment. Warmth radiated from the stone, and to her eyes, it seemed as if it glowed, reminding her of not only Ras but also the swordsmen they had encountered out near Thyr. As Lucy continued to hold the stone, her vision began to clear. The pain in her head eased. Warmth rolled through her, strangely reminding her of the sensation that accompanied Darren’s Healing.

  The fighting was done, and Carth remained with Rayen and Daniel, but she saw no sign of Haern or Rsiran. They would be needed if she was to help the captives.

  Lucy Slid toward them, readying for the possibility of another attack, and when she emerged, the stone from the wall was gone.

  Carth watched her. “What is it?”

  “Later. First, we need to finish this.”

  42

  Daniel

  A ring of Ai’thol surrounded the destroyed wall. Binders pressed back, attempting to refuse access, though Daniel wondered how long they could hold out. The
attack continued to press, and the Binders were crushed against the wall with increasing force.

  Shadows streaked away from Carth. She wrapped them around several of the Ai’thol, squeezing, and men dropped, only to suddenly disappear.

  Someone was Sliding them away.

  Rsiran Lareth Slid, appearing and standing motionless. Knives swirled around him, a combination of metals Daniel had never understood, but his control over it was remarkable. He held on to those knives, keeping them out before him, and glanced over to Carth. “I need something that will be believable.”

  “I have something, but we’ll need the others to hold them back,” she said. Carth glanced over to Daniel. “Are you ready for this?”

  “I’m as ready as I think I can be,” he said. How many others would be there? They had the Binders, but they needed others to fight. He didn’t want to rely upon Haern, not if he was going to be part of the plan with Rsiran Lareth, part of the rescue and removal of the Elder Stone.

  This had to be his fight.

  “I’m not nearly as skilled as the Ai’thol with the sword.”

  “You don’t have to be,” Carth said. “You’ve begun to learn to strategize. You need to use that as much as your fighting prowess. Others might be better fighters, but you have begun to learn how to outthink others. Use that. It matters almost as much as how powerful you might be.”

  Daniel nodded, unable to say anything more.

  Haern clasped his hand. “Good luck. I wish—” Haern didn’t have a chance to finish. One of the Ai’thol came lunging toward him, and Daniel Slid, putting himself in between them and forcing his blade up.

  The Ai’thol turned his attention to Daniel, who grimaced as he pushed off, forcing back the blade, trying to create some separation, uncertain whether he would be strong enough to do so.

  The Ai’thol he faced was powerful.

  Daniel Slid, and he flickered for a moment before emerging back where he’d been before.