“There might be another way.”
“What other way?”
Rayen ignored the question, stepping up to the wall, running her hands along it. As she did, shadows swirled away from her. They pressed into the wall, surging with a sense of power.
And then something clicked.
A massive panel along the wall slid away.
She nodded to him. “Come, Daniel. Let us enter a Temple of Ih.”
10
Daniel
Darkness swallowed Daniel as Rayen closed the door behind them. He stood in place, trying to let his eyes adjust, but still couldn’t easily See through the darkness.
“All of this is amazing.”
Daniel turned toward the sound of her voice but couldn’t make her out in the darkness. “How can you see anything down here?”
“I have control over the shadows, and all of this is consumed by the shadows.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is the temple. There is considerable power within the temple.”
“Is this the power you’ve been detecting?”
“Possibly,” she said. She had moved past him, and while he couldn’t see her, he could follow the sound of her voice. Footsteps sounded over tile, muted and soft, but reverberating nonetheless. “All of this is tied to the shadows. It’s amazing.”
“I wish I could see it.”
“Focus on what you can detect,” she said.
Daniel smiled to himself. “I don’t have any connection to the shadows, so I doubt I’m going to be able to detect the same things as you.”
“You never know. It’s possible all you need is time and an opportunity to have your eyes adjust to the shadows before you are able to see through the darkness.”
More likely with the shadows all around him, he wouldn’t be able to See anything. His ability with Sight wasn’t nearly as strong as some, and when it came to the shadows, he didn’t doubt something about them would prevent him from being able to easily peer through the darkness.
Still, he did as Rayen suggested, focusing on everything around him, trying to See if there was anything he could make out. He had a sense of size and enormity that came from the way her feet reverberated on the tile. Perhaps that was only his imagination.
Rayen touched his arm, guiding him deeper into the temple.
“They could Slide here,” Daniel said.
“Are you able to Slide beyond shadows?”
“Not well. That’s why I wondered if the stone used the power of shadows.”
“That’s what I thought. And this place is quite powerful with shadows.”
“It’s dark, but—”
“It’s more than just dark. There’s something of the shadows here. When you are aware of it, you realize it’s almost a physical thing.”
Daniel could envision her smiling. Gone was the reluctance he had sensed when they had been outside the city. In its place was a sense of awe, and she was once again more like the woman he knew.
“It does feel like a physical thing to me, but it’s not the kind of thing I can take advantage of,” he said.
“I wouldn’t expect you to be able to do that. That would involve you having the ability to control the shadows, and short of being born to the shadows, you would need to…”
“I would need to what?”
She took a few steps forward, her feet still echoing on the stone.
“I would need to what?”
“You would need to find the Elder Stone,” she whispered.
“Why do I get the sense that something’s wrong?”
“There’s nothing wrong at all.”
“Then why do I get a sense you’re troubled?”
Rayen touched his arm, guiding him forward without answering. He followed, wondering if she knew of some way out. Even if there wasn’t a way out, they could stay here, wait until his connection to his abilities had been replenished, and then they could Slide back to grab the stone and return to Nyaesh.
They paused, and a presence pressed upon him.
“What are you doing?” He twisted toward where he felt Rayen near him.
“I’m doing nothing.”
“Where are we?”
“I think we have reached the heart of the temple.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it draws me to it.”
She moved away from him, and Daniel followed the sound of her footsteps, uncertain where she was going or what she was after. As he followed, the pressure he detected continued to build all around him. There were shades of darkness that were deeper and blacker nearby.
He took a step forward, toward the darker sections, wondering if perhaps he wasn’t being drawn in some way toward the shadows and whatever it was that lay at the heart of the temple.
“Daniel?”
He paused, turning toward the sound of Rayen’s voice, though it seemed to come from everywhere and all around him.
“What is it?”
“Where did you go?”
“I’m right here.”
“You walked away from me, and I can no longer see where you went.”
Daniel turned, but all he saw were increasing depths of shadows. Could he have somehow walked into the heart of the temple?
Doing so felt a bit like a violation. It would be no different than were someone to head into the hall housing the sacred crystals in Elaeavn, though he didn’t know whether the temple held the Elder Stone.
The shadows continued to deepen around him. He tried turning away from them, but every time he took a step away, it seemed almost as if they were coming back in his direction.
“Rayen?”
Even to his ears, his voice was muted and quiet.
“Where are you?” Rayen’s voice seemed to come from a great distance, almost as if she were disappearing along the hall, though he doubted she would have done that. Daniel turned toward that sound, trying to fixate on her, but couldn’t determine where she had gone.
All he saw was shadows. They surrounded him, nearly overpowering him. He took a step in every direction, trying to get away from the darkness, but it followed him, trailing after him.
He needed to stay near Rayen so he’d know how to get out of here. Trapped as he was by the shadows and the darkness, he wasn’t going to be able to find his way out very easily.
“Rayen?”
He called out her name again, hoping for some sign that she heard him, but there was no answer.
Worse, the shadows and darkness seemed to swirl even more densely around him. There was pressure from it, an awareness of that power, and everything he did seemed to draw them even closer to him.
Rather than continuing to try to move, Daniel stood in place. Even then, he felt as if the shadows came toward him, as if he were targeted. Their power pressed upon him, squeezing, growing in intensity.
“Rayen?”
His voice sounded muted, flat, and he worried that something intended to trap him here. A strange coldness worked its way through him.
Daniel cried out, but his voice didn’t carry.
He pushed against the cold, trying to escape, but there was no escape. He would be bound by the shadows. He would die here.
The realization sent tremors through him. He wasn’t ready to die yet and wanted nothing more than to Slide away from here.
Could he Slide?
Rayen had suggested the temple and the shadows would prevent it, but maybe with him being inside, he wouldn’t have the same difficulty. He needed more time to recover.
When he attempted to Slide, there was a strange shimmering, as if the shadows attempted to part around him but then retreated.
That had to be his imagination, didn’t it?
Daniel tried again, taking a step, attempting to Slide.
It seemed as if he had a little more strength than he’d had before. He moved, the Slide carrying him forward barely more than a few steps. That was all he needed. He only wanted to Slide a short distance, to te
st whether it would even work. The fact he could Slide again reassured him.
He took another step, once again attempting to Slide.
This one carried him further.
With each Slide, there came a shimmering quality to the air around him, a lightening. It retreated the moment he emerged, once again surrounded by shadows.
“Rayen!”
He waited, listening, but she didn’t answer.
He attempted another Slide, and the shadows separated.
When he emerged, the shadows congealed around him once again, making it so he could see nothing.
“Daniel?”
It was Rayen’s voice. It was muted and soft, but it was there.
“Rayen?”
The shadows began to dissipate, pushing away from him, and he watched for a moment, prepared for the possibility that he might need to Slide. And then the darkness around him faded, and Rayen appeared before him. She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him back, saying nothing. As they backed away, Daniel could finally make something out. The darkness that had existed within the temple seemed to fade. Not entirely, but enough that he could see Rayen.
“What happened to you?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I got lost in the darkness.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“This is strange,” she said. “Do you remember me talking about a density of shadows?”
“You said that you were able to detect a density here.”
“I think what I was detecting comes from here. The temple.”
“What does that mean?”
“Normally it simply means a greater density of shadows, but in this case, it seems to be something more. I’ve never been to a Temple of Ih, so I wasn’t entirely certain, but a concentration of shadows seems to have been placed here by the people who lived here before.”
“How were they able to place a concentration of shadows?”
She shook her head. It surprised him that he could make that out within the darkness, but it was increasingly clear. “I don’t know. Somehow, you were drawn toward that clustering of shadows, too. This temple is quite a bit larger than I expected, and I nearly lost you.”
“I was able to Slide.”
“Within the shadows?”
Daniel nodded. “I don’t know that they were trying to hold me. I was trying to find you and attempted to Slide.”
“Do you think you can Slide us back to the stone?”
“I don’t know.” Even if he could, he still wasn’t sure if he was strong enough to Slide them back to Nyaesh with the stone. It might be easier for them to leave it and return, to come back with someone who might be stronger than he.
That meant coming with Lucy.
Would she agree?
“I can take just you,” he said.
“Then we can wait.”
“I don’t know how much longer we can wait. The longer we’re gone, the more likely the others will worry that something happened to us.”
“I hadn’t considered that. I suspect many of them think we’re already lost.”
“Or they think you decided to attack the Ai’thol on your own,” he said, smiling but not knowing whether she could see it.
“Maybe. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
“It wouldn’t?”
She shrugged. “It’s not as if I haven’t fought the Ai’thol before. Before I knew better, I was unmindful of the possibility that something might happen to me.”
He could see Rayen being reckless. “Are you ready?”
“Why don’t we Slide from here, back to the edge of the city, and take a look?”
“If they find us…”
“Do you think you can take more than one Slide?”
Surprisingly, Daniel did. The longer he was here, the more refreshed he felt. It was as if being in the darkness helped him. “I should be able to. As long as we don’t need to carry the stone, then…”
“Let’s at least make sure that the Ai’thol haven’t gone after it.”
Daniel took her hand and Slid.
He emerged at the edge of the ridgeline, looking down upon the darkness that was the remnants of the city. There wasn’t much there. As he stared down into the city, he saw no sign of the Ai’thol.
Now that he had been within the temple, the sensation that had called to him within the temple was far more noticeable. Could it be that his time within the temple itself had given him some connection to it?
“I don’t see any of the Ai’thol,” he said.
“I don’t either,” Rayen said.
He turned, looking away from the remains of the city, staring back across the bleak rocky landscape. In the distance, the steam continued to rise up off the ground, though it wasn’t nearly as thick as it had seemed before. Had the wind picked up while they were within the temple?
“How long were we down there?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I lost track of time.”
“Do you think they will have discovered the temple?”
There was power there, stored by people who had lived centuries before, and they didn’t deserve for their memory to be defiled by the Ai’thol.
“Even if they discovered the temple, they would need some control over the shadows in order to open that section of wall,” she said.
“What if they have managed to find some way to do that?”
“Carth has been working to ensure that the Ai’thol don’t uncover the key to the shadows.”
“We’ve already seen that the key to the Elder Stones the Ai’thol are after may be different than what we assumed,” he said.
A troubled look fell across her face. “It’s possible.”
“Let’s return to Nyaesh, reassure the others that we’re not dead or captured, and then we can figure out what else we need to do about this.”
“Once Carth learns about our visit here, I doubt she’ll intend to do anything.”
“You don’t think she would want to protect the temple?”
“I don’t know that it’s a matter of her wanting to, but it might be more of her ability to do so.”
“I don’t want to be there when you question Carth’s ability to do anything.”
Rayen shook her head, a grin spreading across her face. “I wouldn’t be so foolish as to do that.”
“You already did.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before Carth was rejuvenated. All of this seemed to have changed her. Before, she was fading, but now…” Rayen turned her attention back to the remains of the city. “I don’t know how to explain it other than after everything that’s happened, she seems to be more alive.”
“She was trying to fake her own death for quite some time.”
“Don’t remind me.”
“You’re just mad because she succeeded.”
“None of us wanted Carth gone. She has been too valuable as both a friend and a mentor, but…”
“But what?”
“But it shows a certain lack of trust that she was unwilling to reveal to us what she was planning.”
“I don’t know you and Carth all that well.” Rayen arched a brow at him. “Certainly not as well as you know each other. I’ve only been around you for a few months. But you can’t let something like that get in the way. Carth has been playing a different game, and it’s one I’m not sure that anyone other than the leader of the Ai’thol will know.”
“Olandar Fahr. We should use his name.”
Daniel stared toward the distant temple. “And he’s after Elder Stones. Has Carth never shared with you how many Elder Stones she thinks there are?”
“We talked about it once, but it was in vague terms.”
“By that, she doesn’t know.”
“I think she has a general idea, but whether she knows exactly is something else entirely. And you know Carth. She won’t admit to ignorance.”
“She will if it suits her goals.”
“There is that.”
“We should see if we can’t get back. I can try to carry the stone.”
“I thought you were too weakened to do so.”
“The longer we’re here, the better I feel.”
“Maybe your time in the temple has rejuvenated you.”
Daniel shrugged. “Maybe. It was terrifying, so why not rejuvenating as well?”
“What was terrifying about it?”
“I felt as if the shadows were trying to swallow me.”
“The shadows would not swallow you. They aren’t alive.”
He scanned the horizon before turning his attention back to the city. Within the city, he saw the remnants of the tower, with the temple deep beneath it. He was thankful they had been able to Slide free; if he hadn’t, they might’ve been forced to fight their way out.
“They might not be alive, but when I was there, it felt as if they were.”
Rayen looked at him, frowning while biting her lip.
Daniel turned away from the intensity of her scrutiny, grabbing her arm and Sliding her back toward the stone. The landscape looked just as bleak as it had when they first arrived. The rocks carried that hazy energy to them that seemed to drift with heat and the remnants of fire, though the fire would have been centuries ago. In the distance, the sound of waves crashing along the shore caught his attention.
Rayen waved her hand, and the shadows surrounding the stone disappeared. Once again, the veins of silver streaking within the stone caught the light. She easily hoisted it.
“If this fails, I want you to drop the stone and we’ll leave it behind.”
“If this fails, I would like to conceal it before we do that.”
He took a deep breath, readying himself. Attempting to Slide with the stone made him nervous. The last time had been incredibly painful, and though his strength was returning, there remained the distinct possibility he wouldn’t be strong enough to overpower the resistance from the stone.
The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that they needed to study and analyze the stone, if only so that they could ensure the Ai’thol didn’t have some way of controlling those who could Slide. He didn’t want to be caught again, and he certainly didn’t want anything to happen to Lucy. They would use her, the same way they had attempted to use her once before.
The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 116