The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Where did you find that?”

  “I tracked it.”

  “You tracked it?”

  Haern slipped his hand into the pocket of the cloak and pulled out a coin, holding it up before stuffing it back into Galen’s pocket. “I tracked it.”

  “Did you place that there?”

  Haern frowned, shaking his head. “I thought you put it there so I could follow you if anything happened.”

  “I wouldn’t have kept lorcith on me. Not here and not with what we were doing.”

  He frowned. Who had done it, then?

  “Well, I got your cloak back for you.”

  “I suppose I should thank you, but I can always get another cloak—and a coin.”

  “I counted a dozen different Forgers making their way toward us.”

  “Unfortunately they appear to be converging on this location,” he said.

  “I think they have converged on this location because of me.”

  “What did you do?”

  “I killed one of them.” Galen arched a brow at him at that. “The other got away. And I came back here looking for you.”

  “You should have left me.”

  “I wasn’t going to leave you here.”

  “It’s easier for one person to get away than for two.”

  “Thoren should be here soon.”

  “And we will involve someone else who shouldn’t have any part in this.”

  “You’ve been hunting them, haven’t you?”

  Galen glanced over at him. “I’ve been what?”

  “When I caught up to the first Forger, he knew about you. He said that you’ve been hunting the Forgers.”

  Galen smiled darkly. “He said that, did he? I suppose that should be taken as a positive step.”

  “It’s true?”

  “You can’t believe you were the only one who’s been looking for information about your father.”

  “Well, actually…”

  “I’ve been willing to work with you, to train you, knowing others need to engage in this battle, but you haven’t been ready. I wasn’t willing to bring you in until you were. That was a commitment I made to your mother.”

  “You promised my mother?”

  “She asked me to do everything I could to get your father back. I told her that would involve training you to the fullest extent that I was capable of doing.”

  “And now?”

  “And now we need to escape.”

  “I don’t know if two of us can take on a dozen Forgers.”

  “Neither do I. Which is why you are going to run, and I’m going to draw them to me.”

  “No—”

  “I’m not going to sacrifice you, Haern. And besides, I have much more experience facing men like this than you do.”

  “I’m not going to return to Elaeavn and tell Cael that you were willing to die so I could get away.”

  “Who said anything about dying?”

  He grabbed the cloak, wrapped it around his shoulders, and began to prepare darts. Galen worked far more rapidly than Haern would ever have expected him to be able to do, and within a minute or two, he had two dozen darts prepared. Most of them were likely filled with deadly poisons that Galen had only begun to teach him about.

  “Head north. Get out of the city. Return to Elaeavn. I will send Thoren your way if he comes. Otherwise, you need to use your lorcith ability to travel as quickly as you can.”

  “Galen—”

  “Go!”

  17

  Ryn

  Once again, the air hung with the strange stench of fire, though it was more like a memory of fire, as if it had been here long ago. The landscape was different—mostly rolling hills and the occasional tree. The landscape had been different in each place that Olandar Fahr took her, traveling from place to place, motioning her to silence the moment they stepped free.

  Ryn had taken to remaining as quiet as possible, afraid of doing or saying something that would anger him, but despite his concerns, she had seen nothing she thought worrisome. Whatever threat he feared they would encounter had not come to fruition.

  This place was both the same as and different than so many others.

  It was the same in that she saw no movement around her, and though there was a sense of fire, there was nothing else.

  It was almost as if he were taking her to places he knew would be empty, but if he wanted her to help him observe, why take her to locations like that?

  He stared outward, and Ryn followed the direction of his gaze, trying to understand what drew Olandar Fahr’s attention. As far as she could tell, there was nothing there. The more she stared, the more certain she was there had to be something she could find, only somehow she missed it.

  Observe. That was what Olandar Fahr wanted from her, and yet as Ryn strained, trying to observe, she found nothing.

  She thought back to the time he had shown her the game board, moving pieces along the side. He had wanted her to watch the game unfolding. As she tried to watch it now, she wasn’t able to find anything helpful.

  In the distance, a pile of rubble was more distinct than anything else.

  As she stared at it, she realized it wasn’t just a pile of rubble but the remains of what must once have been a city. The debris was extensive, and with a soft gasp, she was reminded of Vuahlu when Lareth had come and destroyed it.

  Now that she had made that association, she continued to study the remains, searching for anything within them that might help her discern whether there was anything more for her to uncover there. The longer she looked, the less certain she was she would be able to find anything. There was no movement, nothing to suggest anyone still remained here. No animals moved, and there were no birds in the sky. Everything had a look of desolation to it.

  Was this what Lareth wanted?

  When he had come to the village, destroying her people, she had been lucky to have escaped, but his actions hadn’t even been necessary. The village would have been destroyed regardless as the volcano erupted.

  Or would it?

  The strange stench of fire took on a different meaning to her. Could he have controlled the volcano? Something like that seemed almost impossible for her to believe, but then again, the nature of his power was also impossible for her to fully grasp. He was known to be incredibly powerful, and it was the sort of thing she could imagine him somehow replicating.

  Her gaze drifted from the debris, looking to the mountainous areas around it. Could there be a volcano here?

  The longer she stared, directing her attention away from the rubble, the more she thought the answer was just at the edge of her understanding.

  This was what Olandar Fahr wanted from her. She didn’t have to know how to play the game to observe the moves. In this case, it wasn’t so much about knowing what Lareth had been after as it was to be able to recognize the move.

  More than anything, she suspected that Olandar Fahr already knew something had happened here.

  Why bring her here, then?

  It was his way of testing her, of trying to determine how much she might be able to observe, and perhaps his way of trying to find out if she would be useful to him.

  Ryn needed to be useful.

  She swept her gaze around everything one more time, and Olandar Fahr took her arm, and they traveled.

  When they stopped, they did so once again near a sandy beach. Each time they traveled, they returned to a similar sandy beach, and she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some reason behind it, as if Olandar Fahr was somehow reassured by visiting this place. The steady sound of the waves lapping at the shore was a welcome respite from the silence that had enveloped her in the other place. The air had the salty odor of the seawater, and seagulls circled overhead, cawing every so often.

  She let out a relieved sigh.

  “Did you observe anything?”

  It was the same question he’d asked each time they had visited another location, and each time, Ryn felt guilty at not
being able to offer him anything. This time, though, she thought she might have some answer, even if it wasn’t one that would be of much use to him.

  “Did Lareth do that?”

  He turned to her, cocking a brow. “Why would you ask that?”

  “Only that it reminded me of what happened to my own village.”

  “You blame Lareth for what happened?”

  Ryn closed her eyes, and when she did, it was easy enough for her to think back to when Vuahlu had been destroyed, the way hunks of metal had seemed to fly toward the village, controlled by someone with power she didn’t grasp. Homes had been torn apart, people crushed. Her mother. Dab. So many others whose names continued to roll through her mind when she closed her eyes and allowed herself to think back to that day. For the most part, she tried not to think about it, fearing that if she were to dwell on what had happened, she would get lost in the torment of that time. She needed to move on. If nothing else, her time working with Olandar Fahr had taught her there was a benefit in moving forward.

  “I don’t know if he was,” she whispered. “It’s just…”

  Ryn opened her eyes, staring out at the water. She let the soothing waves relax her, thankful that Olandar Fahr had chosen this place. Had he known it would soothe her after everything they had seen?

  Perhaps he needed the same relaxation, some way of finding peace in between what they encountered. If so, Ryn completely understood.

  “The village was destroyed, and seeing it like that reminded me of what happened to my village.”

  “How so?”

  “It was the way the buildings were crushed. That, and the fire.”

  “Tell me about what happened in your village,” he said.

  “I have told you,” she said.

  “And yet, despite everything we’ve been through together, I don’t know that I fully understand.”

  Ryn clenched her jaw and swallowed. “It’s hard to think about.”

  “Until we can let go of the past, we can’t move forward.”

  She glanced over at him. “I don’t know that I can let go of it.”

  Olandar Fahr stared at her, and there was a strange fluttering in the back of her mind. When it retreated, he took her arm, and they traveled.

  The suddenness of it was jarring, and she was prepared for the possibility that they would step free from the traveling in another place much like the others, and yet this time was different.

  She looked around her.

  “Vuahlu?” she whispered.

  Olandar Fahr stared up at the distant mountain. “Is that Maunial?”

  Why would he bring her here, knowing how hard it was for her?

  Still, her gaze drifted toward the mountaintop, and the familiar sight of the volcano belching smoke and steam drew her gaze. She had seen it so often over the years that she recognized it easily. It was still powerful, and the mountain gave a sense of fear that trembled through her, a sense of uncertainty, and the longer she stared at it, the more she wondered whether there was anything she might be able to understand by coming here. He seemed to believe she could, yet Ryn wasn’t sure if there were any answers here.

  “It is,” she whispered.

  “Do you fear it?”

  “It destroyed everything,” she said.

  “Did it, or did he?”

  Ryn tore her attention off the distant sight of the volcano and focused instead on the remnants of the village. There wasn’t much she could determine now, and the longer she stared at it, the harder it was for her to know if she could even recognize what had once been here. Buildings were crumbled, and lava had flowed, destroying what little had remained. The faces of the dead still stared up at her in her mind. As she pushed that out, she found nothing remaining that would make her feel the devastation that once had been here.

  Surprisingly, there was nothing left of the village that was even familiar to her. The debris was difficult to piece together, to the point that she couldn’t even tell there had once been a village here. Where the lava had flowed, there were now pools of dark stone.

  Ryn looked around the village—or what had once been the village. It was strange coming back here. Seeing what had been here and was now lost filled her with anger again. Anger at Lareth. Anger at losing the last of her family. Anger that she would never know the same kind of home she once had.

  “What do you observe?”

  She turned back to Olandar Fahr, shaking her head. “I know what happened here. I was there the day he came and took everything from me.”

  Something in his eyes softened, and she felt guilt at how she had snapped at him.

  “I know you were. What else do you observe?”

  She breathed out, trying to ignore the tension within her but finding it difficult. “Other than the fact that Lareth destroyed everything here?”

  “Did he?”

  “Almost everything. Is that what you want me to say?”

  Olandar Fahr watched her with a furrowed brow. “I want you to think about what happened. You hold anger within you, but that anger does you no good.”

  “I hold anger because of what he did.”

  “You survived.”

  “I did.”

  “Do you feel guilty that you survived and so many others did not?”

  She turned away. Perhaps that was the source of her anger. She had lived when so many others had died. And then Maunial had claimed the rest, destroying what was left of Vuahlu until nothing remained.

  How could she feel anything but guilt?

  And anger.

  There was so much anger, but Olandar Fahr was right—that anger didn’t serve her at all.

  And the more she thought about it, the less certain she was that she could observe anything of use. How could she move beyond what had happened to her and those she cared about?

  “You shouldn’t feel guilty about what happened, but you should also begin to understand that not everything you see is what you believe.”

  “I saw Lareth,” she said.

  She turned back, anger flashing through her, and she wasn’t sure whether she should allow herself such rage around Olandar Fahr, especially as all he wanted from her was to observe. She should do as he asked, see if there was anything she might be able to detect.

  It was too hard for her to let go of what had happened—but the longer she was here, the more she realized he was right. She had needed to return.

  “Perhaps you did,” Olandar Fahr said.

  “I did see him.”

  “I said that perhaps you did.”

  “What happens if I didn’t?”

  “Then your anger may be misplaced.”

  She glared at him. “You don’t care for him.”

  He turned toward the distant sight of Maunial. “I can’t care for someone who has harmed so many that I care for.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why has he harmed so many of your Ai’thol?”

  Olandar Fahr held her gaze for a long moment. “Lareth is acting the way he believes he must, and I act the way I must.”

  The comment surprised her. It almost seemed as if Olandar Fahr didn’t hate Lareth. When she had first met Olandar Fahr, she had believed he felt the same way that she did, but perhaps he did not.

  “Why does he do it?”

  “He was wrong,” he said.

  “Why don’t you stop him?”

  “What makes you think I haven’t?”

  Her breath caught and she turned back to him. “You have him?”

  “Did I say that?”

  “You said you stopped him.”

  “Is that the same as having captured him?”

  “I suppose not.”

  “Besides, even if I had captured him, I wouldn’t give him to you.”

  “Why? Don’t you want me to get the vengeance I deserve?”

  “This isn’t about vengeance. This is about what is needed.”

  “And what’s needed?”


  He paused, his gaze sweeping all around them again. There was a weight to the way he looked at everything, an intensity that she wasn’t sure she fully understood. “Have I told you about one of my abilities?”

  She held his gaze for a long moment. “You have many abilities.”

  That was one of the things she had been aware of ever since coming to serve Olandar Fahr. Not only could he travel the way he did, but he was powerful in many ways. There were other things he was able to do, things others were not capable of.

  “I have many abilities, but one in particular is the most important of them all.”

  “What is that?”

  “I can see possibilities.”

  “Because of your game?”

  He smiled placatingly. “Something like that. Because of these possibilities, I’m aware that I still need Lareth.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he hasn’t finished his task yet.”

  “What task is that?”

  Olandar Fahr turned away from her, sweeping his gaze all around before settling back on her. “Stopping a greater destruction.”

  “Why do you think he would do this?”

  “Because he will have no other choice.”

  18

  Daniel

  Daniel eyed the ship moving along the river’s edge. It was small compared to so many that he’d seen here, and narrow of body, something he’d come to learn indicated a certain speed to the vessel. A dozen oars jutted out on one side of the ship, a matching set likely found on the other side, and they swept along the river quickly. He stared, searching for anything that might pose a danger to them, but there was nothing.

  He had to be careful. In Nyaesh, ships moved through the port frequently. It was a busy city, nearly as busy as places like Asador, and Daniel had come to know that with such a volume of ships passing through, they needed to observe them carefully.

  Behind the narrow and sleek vessel came another. It was further along the river, though wider of body, and massive sails billowed out, catching the breeze. He marveled that such a ship could even make its way along this river, though even this ship wasn’t the largest he’d seen. There were some easily twice that size, though they would have a more difficult time navigating along the river. They required Carth and her particular brand of magic in order to make their way along the waterway.