He scanned the street, looking for whoever had helped, but couldn’t See who it was.
As he backed away, glancing at the Forgers, he saw a dart jutting out of the neck of each one.
Galen.
And if Galen was here, it meant Thoren had brought him.
Haern pushed off, searching the streets until he Saw Galen. He was farther than he would’ve expected the other man to be, and Haern landed on the roof next to him. Thoren stood a pace behind, barely grasping the chimney.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Galen snapped.
“I thought I was trying to find my father.”
“By convincing this one to escort you out of the city? Is that where you’ve been going in your time away from the city?”
A warm flush washed over Haern’s neck, but he held Galen’s gaze. “I don’t have to answer that.”
“If you want me to continue to work with you, you do.” Galen glanced down at the street. “We should get back to the forest before others come for those two… three.”
“Why would they come for those three?”
“Do you even know where you are?”
“Balend.”
“Do you know anything about this city?”
Haern glanced over to Thoren, but the other man looked down. “Only that Forgers were here.”
“You know they’re here, but you don’t understand why. They control the city. Of course you’re going to find Forgers here, and in far more quantities than you can withstand.”
“I’ve been here for several hours and I haven’t seen any Forgers before these three.”
“Perhaps they didn’t want you to see them.”
Haern frowned, staring at the two still standing—and completely stiff—Forgers, along with the one he had attacked. Had that one moved?
“What poison did you use?”
“Now isn’t the time for those sort of questions.”
“I’ve never seen anything quite like that. What is it?”
“It’s called stoneleaf. It’s particularly nasty, and… it doesn’t matter. What matters is that we need to get out of this city before more come our way.” He motioned to Thoren. “Are you ready?”
Thoren nodded quickly. “I’m sorry, Galen Elvraeth.”
“I’m no Elvraeth. Are you ready?”
Thoren nodded and grabbed Haern and Galen, Sliding them.
It happened with a flicker of colors and a sense of jarring movement. When they emerged, they were within a darkened forest. The Aisl forest was home to a great number of people from Elaeavn, though fewer now than even a year ago. The attack on the Elder Trees had changed things, making it so that fewer and fewer people felt safe.
Once they were back, the pull of lorcith came everywhere around him. Haern said nothing as Galen strode toward the darkened shape of the Elder Trees in the distance, and he dreaded where Galen was leading him.
“I’m sorry, Haern,” Thoren whispered.
Haern shook his head. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. Why don’t you head back to the city?”
“Are you sure?”
“You don’t need to deal with this.”
“What’s going to happen?”
“Who knows? Maybe nothing.”
Thoren glanced up to Galen for a moment before disappearing with a flicker of colors, indicating his Slide. When he was gone, Galen slowed a step, waiting for Haern to catch up.
“How long?”
“How long what?”
“How long have you been up to this? Has it been since your father disappeared?”
“You say that like he had a choice in the matter.”
“Has it been?”
“Not right away, but shortly after.”
“All while you’ve been telling me you were off on your own.”
“I was off on my own.”
“You understand how dangerous all this is? If something had happened to you, no one would have known.”
“My father went off like that.”
“Your father was better prepared to go off like that. And even he should not have.”
Galen locked eyes with him for a moment before spinning and continuing through the Elder Trees. As Haern followed, a strange tingling washed over his skin. It hadn’t always been that way, but ever since the attack on the trees, there was that sensation, a strangeness that he hadn’t been fully aware of before. Perhaps it was nothing, but it didn’t feel like nothing when he detected it. There had to be some meaning behind it, some purpose.
The trees were fading, changing the longer they had the strange implants, and no one knew what exactly it meant for those to be present. It was possible that it signified nothing, that the Forgers had not truly changed anything, but he couldn’t help but feel as if there was something to it, and it was something that he failed to grasp.
“Where are you bringing me?”
“Back to your home.”
“Are you going to tell my mother?”
Galen stopped, turning to look at him. “You’re old enough that you shouldn’t be worried about such things. The fact that you are tells me you aren’t ready for the challenges you’re throwing yourself into, even if I hadn’t Seen what happened to you tonight.”
“You Saw it?”
Galen nodded. “They held you. You depend so much on lorcith, thinking it will be the key to defeating the Forgers, despite knowing they have the same ability over the metal. You need something more, something they aren’t able to do.”
Haern swallowed. He didn’t know whether or not he should thank Galen for not reporting him to his mother. It was foolish for him to fear her still at his age, but after losing his father, he doubted his mother could stand losing someone else to the Forgers. It was part of the reason he had kept this to himself, but Galen was right. He couldn’t keep doing that.
“Will you keep working with me?”
“Will you keep running off on your own?”
“Not without telling you first.”
Galen fixed him with his hard stare. His eyes were not a deep green like most of the Elvraeth, but there was something in the way he looked at him that intimidated Haern much more than any of the other Elvraeth he’d been around. “I think it’s time for me to be harder with you.”
“Harder?”
“If you think you can run off like this, perhaps it’s time for me to take a different approach. We need to change your dependence upon lorcith.”
“Lorcith is what sets me apart.”
“No. It’s a crutch for you. Had you another way of fighting, you wouldn’t have been overwhelmed by the Forgers tonight.”
“I tried using the steel knives.”
“After they were already aware of you. You can’t simply act. You need to think, to plan, to strategize. And I’m going to break you until you do.”
Haern met Galen’s gaze, suppressing a shiver. Galen had already been hard on him, and if he intended to be even harder, Haern wasn’t sure what that meant for him.
“Do you still want to work with me?”
“My father is still missing.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I do.”
“Then be ready for a challenge. I will no longer take it easy on you.”
2
Daniel
Daniel crouched near the shore, the camp in view, and stayed as low as he could, trying not to draw any notice. He’d been here for the better part of an hour, and all that time, he’d remained nearly motionless. His body ached, but he was determined to uncover anything he could.
Wind gusted out of the north, carrying cold and a few flakes of snow. He still hadn’t managed to get over the fact that there was so much snow in the north, though he’d Slid far enough through these lands to have seen quite a bit of it. Each time he Slid, he attempted to move farther and farther from familiar lands, wanting to explore, but there was something else he was after. He wanted to find evidence of the Ai’thol, needed to know where they were mov
ing.
He’d found nothing usable so far, though that wasn’t for lack of trying. He continued to Slide, traveling from place to place, discovering the entirety of the continent in a way he never would have considered before. As he went, he found cities that were different than any he had been to, villages that had welcomed him, and he’d found remnants of a time long ago, buildings that were no more. Those interested him the most. Partly it was because he didn’t know if any of these represented places that Carth had come from. He knew she had come from a land in the north but not exactly where. She considered Nyaesh part of her home, though even that wasn’t completely accurate.
One of the men down on the shore moved. Daniel watched for evidence of Sliding, anticipating anyone who might be flickering in and out of existence, a telltale sign that the Ai’thol might have traveled here. There was nothing. He maintained his mental barrier, prepared for the possibility that if he did encounter the Ai’thol, they would be able to Read him somehow, though so far, he hadn’t come across anyone like that.
As the day stretched on, the overcast sky darkening, it was time for him to go. He took a step, preparing to Slide, and found that he couldn’t.
Settling himself, Daniel grabbed the hilt of his sword. He had Slid here to begin with, so he knew that he had been able to reach this place once. Whatever had changed had happened over the last hour or so that he’d been here observing.
It was possible they didn’t know he was here, but it was equally possible they did and had placed some sort of barricade around him to hold him.
There was a time when he would have been more concerned. In the past, Daniel would have been worried about coming here in this way, but he had been training, developing his ability to fight with the sword if necessary, to overpower various strategies designed to suppress his Great Watcher–given abilities. And Carth had been teaching him how to strategize. More than anything, that had value, especially as it allowed him to think through alternatives in a way he never would have before.
If he couldn’t Slide, there wasn’t anything holding him from walking.
More than that, the fact that he couldn’t Slide suggested that whoever was here had knowledge of that ability, and possibly knew how to suppress it—unless this was an accident. Daniel doubted it was accidental. When it came to suppression of his Great Watcher–given abilities, there weren’t many accidents.
He backed away from the small ridge he’d been looking down. As he did, he unsheathed his sword. It was a well-made blade, forged entirely out of lorcith by Lareth, one of the finest sword makers in Elaeavn.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have been bringing lorcith blades with him. Knowing what he did about the Ai’thol, it was likely that they had some way of detecting it, and possibly using it.
Maybe they didn’t know he was here at all. Maybe what they knew was that someone carried lorcith.
He crept toward a tree, jamming the blade into the trunk before grabbing a pair of knives in his pocket. These were simple steel blades, nothing more than that, and he held them ready. It wouldn’t be nearly as easy to fight with knives as it would be with the sword, but he also wouldn’t have to fear someone uncovering his connection to lorcith this way.
With every step, he attempted to Slide, trying to move small distances. There was no restriction on him Sliding within this island, so whatever it was somehow contained him to the island in general.
He Slid toward a cluster of trees. Within them, shadows stretched, and he hesitated, looking around and searching for anyone within who might have the ability to control shadows. It was a rare enough ability, but now that Nyaesh had fallen—at least, the Ai’thol had managed to acquire stone infused with Nyaesh’s Elder Stone—he worried they might have gained the ability over shadows. He needn’t have feared that, though. The A’ras within Nyaesh had a connection to fire and not the shadows. He still didn’t know what had happened to the Elder Stone that represented the shadows and whether the Ai’thol had somehow acquired that ability, but seeing as Carth was still able to use it against them, he doubted they had.
Sliding into the trees, he looked around. There was no one here.
How were they able to prevent him from Sliding?
There were a few metals that stopped it. In Elaeavn, heartstone limited his ability to Slide, and while he had never managed to overpower it, there were others who could. It was unlikely the Ai’thol would use a metal like heartstone to defend themselves against the Slider, especially knowing it was ineffective against Rsiran Lareth—a man they feared as much as they feared Carth. That meant there was likely something else.
It would be useful for him to learn what that was.
He scanned the area outside the edge of the trees, finding no movement. Sliding back to the ridge where he’d been watching the men, he looked around. The movement down on the shore was less than it had been before. Small dinghies made their way toward ships anchored in the deep water, and he stayed where he was, observing. The other men on the shore did nothing but wait. Some had a fire burning, as if they were readying to camp for the night, but others were sitting along the shoreline, watching the water as it splashed and caressed the rocky shore.
It was odd.
Then again, tracking the Ai’thol was often odd. He hadn’t managed to uncover evidence of them in the months he had tracked them. That troubled him as much as anything else. Carth seemed reassured by the fact that he hadn’t come across any Ai’thol, but he was less comforted. They were out there—he knew they were—and if they weren’t in the north, he suspected the only reason was because they already had everything they needed from these lands. Any Elder Stones that might be here would already be captured.
These men didn’t look like they were with the Ai’thol. None of them did, though he hadn’t been able to determine exactly what—or who—they were. The Ai’thol would come to places like this—at least, he suspected they would—but they wouldn’t need the ships these men had.
It was time for him to question.
He found a man making his way along the shore. He was heading toward a distant cluster of rocks, and during his time watching, Daniel had seen others doing the same thing, each time returning to the rest. They had used it as their latrine.
It was unlikely they would notice one man missing very quickly.
When the man reached the rocks, Daniel Slid, grabbing him, and then Slid him to the trees. He pushed him away before the man had a chance to react, pointing his knives in the direction of the man.
“What? Who are you?” the man asked. He was thin and of average height, and he wore tattered clothes. His face was deeply tanned, and the tattoos on his exposed skin reminded Daniel of so many of the smugglers he’d encountered. There was something about those tattoos, as if they branded their wearers in a way, tying them to a certain group of men, though that was something Carth had not yet taught him.
“I’ll do the questioning.”
“What is this?” the man asked again.
Daniel took a step toward him, flickering in a Slide, wanting to be as intimidating as possible when he did. He jabbed one of the knives at the man, drawing just a small droplet of blood. He Slid back, getting away from the man and making sure that no one else neared. As far as this man knew, they were someplace far from the island.
“What are you doing here?”
“Nothing. We’re sailors.”
“Smugglers.”
The man frowned. “We aren’t smugglers. We’re—”
Daniel shook his head. “Smugglers. I recognize the style of ship.” If nothing else, the time spent with Carth over the last few months had taught him about sailing and about ships, things he never would have learned had he remained in Elaeavn. While there were plenty of people in Elaeavn who sailed, it wasn’t something any of the Elvraeth did. “And what are you smuggling?”
“Like I said—”
“Are you going to keep going through this? I’ve already told you that I know what you are.” And h
e knew they weren’t with the Ai’thol. At least, he didn’t think they were. The fact that he wasn’t able to Slide off the island was troubling, but this man had none of the scars of one of the Ai’thol and didn’t seem to possess any connection to magic the way the Ai’thol did.
“This was a job. Nothing else,” the man said.
“What kind of job?”
“The kind that paid.”
Daniel Slid toward him, jabbing the knife again. He poked the man in the shoulder, drawing another droplet of blood before Sliding back again. “You’ll find that I don’t have time or patience for such glib responses.”
“We were hired to drop some stones in the water around the island. That’s it.”
“Stones?”
The man nodded. “It was a strange job, but the pay was good. Who were we to argue?”
As he tried to think through what purpose there would be in the stones, the fact that he wasn’t able to Slide left him wondering if perhaps these stones were the reason.
“How many did you drop?”
“You’ll have to ask the captain.”
Daniel glanced beyond the man, toward the edge of the forest and even beyond there. More likely than not, the captain had already returned to the ship, and since he was unable to Slide offshore, Daniel wouldn’t be able to easily travel to the captain and question him. “Seeing as how he’s not here, I’m asking you. What can you tell me?”
The man shook his head. “I can’t tell you anything more than what I have. We brought rocks, dropped them in the water, and we were getting ready to leave.”
“Where was the last one dropped?”
“From where you grabbed me.”
That would explain why he had been suddenly unable to Slide. It had to. And if they were placing something that prevented the ability to Slide, it had to be on behalf of the Ai’thol. Why protect this island, make it so that those with the ability to Slide couldn’t reach it?
Unless that wasn’t the purpose of the protection. Maybe it was less about preventing someone from reaching it and more about containing them once they were here.
The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 107