The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Why did you come?”

  “Because Rsiran needed me.”

  “He may still need you.”

  “Perhaps. And Haern has decided to follow after his father’s footsteps, though he does not yet know it. I cannot See whether that will be fortuitous or not. It is possible that we will suffer because of it.” Della turned her attention to look up at the trees. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. “They call to me. I suppose that they call to you in a similar way.”

  “They did. Now I’m not sure what else we need to do.”

  “Ah, Daniel Elvraeth, you should follow your heart.”

  He laughed softly, glancing to Rayen. She had stepped aside when Della had appeared, and watched from a distance. Shadows swirled around her but never came close to Della. Was that because of something Della did, or was it because Rayen refused to use her shadows against the old woman?

  “I followed my heart. That’s what got me into trouble.”

  “You followed where you thought your heart would lead you. Most young men do the same. The difference for you is that you recognize it was not meant to be.” Della smiled at him. “Too many men believe they have all the answers, and they act far more confidently than they should.” She took another deep breath, her gaze focused high overhead, staring at the upper branches of the trees. “They thought that they could confine our power, but they cannot.”

  “You know what they did?” Daniel asked.

  “I can feel what they did. That is enough.”

  “What exactly is it?”

  “You felt it yourself, Daniel Elvraeth. I can see it in you.”

  “You can see it or you can See it?”

  “They are similar enough as to no longer matter. Much like I can See that you were meant to come here.”

  Daniel regarded Della for a long moment. She was known as eccentric, but she was also Elvraeth, the same as him, and because of that, gifted with incredible powers. As far as he knew, she might be one of the most powerful of the Elvraeth. Her opportunity to hold one of the sacred crystals had ended with her receiving a Healing ability, and it was one that had never been seen before. With the way she stared at him, her dark green eyes practically seeing through him, he wondered if perhaps she had another gift that he didn’t fully understand.

  “We came here to understand metal.”

  “You came here hoping to find word of Rsiran, and failing that, you came for Haern, and instead you have decided that Neran will be satisfactory for what you need. And now you have done something more.” She looked behind her, meeting Neran’s gaze for a moment, holding it for several heartbeats before turning back to Daniel. “And I can See that you needed to come here.”

  “Did you know I’d discover what the Ai’thol have done?”

  Della spread her hands off to either side of her. “Unfortunately, that gift does not work quite like that. I can See things, possibilities, glimpses of what could happen, but I often don’t know the reason behind those. Even if I did, I’m not sure that it would matter. I can’t force you to make the next choice that you will make, any more than you can force me to make the next choice that I will make.”

  “Some people can.”

  Della smiled slightly. “Ah. You have experienced someone who can Push. A difficult ability, and there are some who managed to master it, but it remains tricky and unreliable.”

  He thought of what he had seen from Lucy when she had used the same ability, controlling the Ai’thol. Had it been unpredictable? It didn’t seem that way at the time, but none of them had planned on depending upon her ability to maintain that control. They knew that would be dangerous and that were they to try to hold on to that connection, there was the risk the Ai’thol would overpower whatever hold she had over them.

  “Can you tell where the power was directed?”

  “That is the real question, isn’t it? You and the child of Ih found answers even Rsiran, for all his gifts, could not.” Della took a step back, frowning as she studied him. “I see their touch upon you. Perhaps more than a touch. Interesting. There was a time when the powers of the elders did not mingle, when the Council was intact, but perhaps that time is no longer.”

  “Della?”

  Could she have grown senile?

  “What do you know of the Council?” Rayen asked, breaking her silence. She approached Della almost reverentially. It was the most reserved he had seen her, regarding Della carefully. The shadows no longer swirled around Rayen. They were balled up within her.

  “I know much, child of Ih.”

  “What is this Council?” Daniel asked.

  Rayen didn’t look over at him, but he could feel how she shifted her focus toward him. “The Council of Elders. Carth has spoken of it, though even she won’t elaborate.”

  “Carthenne is wise. When I first met her, I must admit I did not recognize her wisdom, but the longer she’s active, the more certain I am that she knows exactly what she’s doing.”

  “How well do you know Carth?” Daniel asked.

  “There aren’t many who have held the Elder Stones.”

  “Della?”

  Her mind had to be slipping. Even in Elaeavn, there were hundreds of people who had held one of the sacred crystals. He didn’t know what it was like in other places, or with other Elder Stones, but he suspected that it was similar. How could it not be?

  “He seeks to rebuild the Council,” Della said.

  “He?”

  Della turned to look at him. The clarity within her deep green eyes startled him. No. Her mind could not be slipping, not with the way that she looked at him. “The Council of Elders.”

  “What exactly is the Council of Elders?”

  Della glanced up at the trees once more, breathing deeply, before turning and motioning for Daniel to follow. He did so, letting her guide him out of the heart of the Aisl forest, away from the pressure that he felt upon him, pressure that came from the trees and the power that the Ai’thol siphoned off, sucking the strength away.

  As they walked, Della looked around her. “Few know what Rsiran saw when he held one of the sacred crystals. He spoke to Jessa and Brusus, though I don’t know whether they shared that with Haern. One could not fault them if they did not, especially as there is good reason not to share.”

  She spoke to Daniel as if he should know what she was talking about. “What did Rsiran see?”

  “Everything.”

  “Everything?”

  “Rsiran had a unique experience, but then, Rsiran has always been somewhat unique. He was motivated not by a quest for power for himself, but for those he cares about. His people. I wonder if perhaps that was why the Great Watcher favored him.”

  She continued onward, and Daniel realized that they were making a winding path, sweeping outward and away from the trees. They spiraled in a circle that grew ever wider as they went, and for a moment, he wondered if there was a purpose behind it before realizing that Della was doing something as they walked.

  Maybe it was just his imagination, but it seemed almost as if the forest brightened as they passed, growing ever greener with each step. Could she be Healing the forest as they walked?

  That seemed strange, but then, so did everything about Della.

  “How did Rsiran see everything?” he asked.

  “He sat alongside the Great Watcher.”

  “I saw something similar,” Rayen whispered.

  Della turned to her. “Did you? What exactly did you see?”

  “I wasn’t sure. When I felt the crystal calling to me”—she flushed but held Della’s gaze—“it seemed to carry me into the darkness. From there, I had a sense of knowledge, of everything, and connection.”

  “Did you?” Della asked, stepping toward her.

  Rayen nodded slowly. “What does it mean?”

  “Only time will tell what it means. The visions we experience when holding one of the crystals are difficult to fully understand.” She looked toward Daniel, watching him
for a moment. “Many feel as if they are somehow lessened if they aren’t given the opportunity to hold one of the crystals, and yet that was never the intention, at least from what I can determine of the crystals.”

  “The crystals don’t want me,” he said.

  “You have been blessed by birth, Daniel Elvraeth. Do you need one of the crystals to prove that to you? They cannot unlock something within you that already lives there.”

  He held her gaze for a moment before looking away.

  “You have asked about the Council of Elders, and considering what you face, I think it’s time that we share what we know. Isn’t it, Carthenne?”

  Della turned, and Daniel watched a strange shimmering and felt a surge of power. It was nothing like he’d ever experienced before, and the moment it happened, Lucy and Carth suddenly appeared before them.

  Carth took stock of the situation quickly, no sign of uncertainty to her, but Lucy had a harder time. For as powerful as she had become, the augmentations changing her into something else, a part of her still remained the same girl that Daniel had followed from Elaeavn.

  “Healer. What is this?”

  “I thought it best to bring us together once again.”

  “How?” Lucy whispered.

  Della smiled. “You are lucky to live in a time where you don’t get to feel the pull of someone influencing your Slide.”

  “You did this?” Carth asked.

  “I did. I thought it time for us to speak about the Council of Elders.”

  “They don’t need to know about the Council.”

  “That is where you’re wrong. With everything taking place, they almost have everything they need.”

  “They won’t have everything,” Carth said.

  “They have already unlocked nearly enough. They now have the Great Watcher drawn into it.”

  “How?” Carth turned so that she could turn her attention to the trees, back toward the heart of the forest, Daniel realized.

  What did Carth know?

  For that matter, what did Della know?

  “We have thought that not speaking of it protects us, but I fear that it does not. We need the help of others, the help of those who might be able to add to what protections we can place.”

  “Carthenne?” Rayen asked.

  Carth took a deep breath. “Must we do this here?”

  “Where else would you have us do it?”

  “I would have us do it where we can sit and converse, where we can explain just what is at stake. Seeing as how you brought me here, I think it’s only fitting we find the others who have some involvement.”

  “I would agree.”

  Della turned toward Daniel and Rayen, and he was suddenly forced into a Slide.

  He’d never felt anything like that before. Not only had he been forced into a Slide, but he had no control over it, nothing that allowed him to determine where he went or where he would emerge. When he emerged, he was prepared for the possibility that he might need to Slide again, ready for the chance that he might need to fight, already reaching for his sword.

  It was unnecessary.

  It was a tavern. Music drifted from the corner, a lutist playing a bouncy song, a singer joining in. Smells assaulted him, mostly savory meats and breads, but there was the mix of ale over top of it.

  A man appeared, staring at him and glancing at Rayen. The fluttering in the back of Daniel’s mind suggested he was a powerful Reader, though his pale green eyes hinted at something else.

  Daniel glanced at Rayen. There had to be a reason they were here. “Della sent us.”

  “She sent you here?”

  “She forced me to Slide.”

  The man frowned for only a moment. The green within his eyes flared brighter, and the faint sense of someone attempting to Read him tickled the back of Daniel’s mind. He fortified his barriers, but he no longer knew if the barriers he could hold were enough against those who could Read strongly.

  “Give me a minute.”

  The man hurried away, and Daniel glanced to Rayen in time to see Carth and Lucy emerge from a Slide. Color flushed Lucy’s cheeks, and she sucked in a quick breath. “I tried to resist her, Carth, but she is—”

  “Powerful,” Carth said with a smile. “I have always known she is more than she appears.”

  “What is this?” Rayen asked.

  “It appears to be a tavern, Rayen. Considering our history together, I would have expected you to have more than a passing familiarity with it.”

  Rayen grinned. “I recognize that it is a tavern, Carthenne, but perhaps you can share with me why this old woman thought to send us here?”

  “I think we’re going to have to wait for her to arrive.”

  “Della—”

  There came a drawing sensation from him. It was almost as if he were Sliding, and yet he wasn’t sure that he even moved. When it passed, Della had appeared within the tavern.

  “I am sorry that I had to use you once again, Daniel Elvraeth, but the need was great.”

  “You used my ability to Slide to bring you here?”

  “Yes.”

  “How? I mean… how?”

  “I would have borrowed from Lucy, and yet the connection between us is different. I suspect that’s because of her augmentation, though perhaps our Elvraeth connection binds us more closely.” Della took a seat on one of the stools, and when the man appeared again, he carried several mugs of ale, followed by another woman who set a tray of food down the table. She cast her gaze around the table before tapping the man on the shoulder for a moment.

  “I don’t know that you should be here,” she whispered to him.

  “I think they’re here because I am,” he said.

  “We are here for Brusus,” Della said. “And there is another that I’m waiting for.”

  “Who?”

  “When I can find him, I will bring him here as well, but so far he is out of reach to me.”

  Daniel glanced over at Rayen. “Haern?”

  “One of the unfortunate traits of Haern and his father is their inability for me to find them as easily as others. Their connection to lorcith masks them. It wasn’t always that way with Haern, but he has grown far stronger over the last few months, and it has allowed him to hide from me.”

  “Who, then?”

  Della smiled tightly, and once again there came the fluttering of power from within Daniel, almost as if he were going to Slide, but it didn’t feel as if he moved anywhere. He looked over to Della, and her gaze was locked on him, her eyes so deep a green that they might as well be black, and colors began to shimmer. Wind started to whistle, whipping around him, and there came something else. A drawing sensation.

  It passed quickly, though not nearly as quickly as he would have liked. When it was gone, another person had joined them.

  “Galen?”

  Galen had about as much reaction as Carth had when she had suddenly been drawn. “I suppose that’s one way to return me to Elaeavn.”

  “Where is Haern?” Brusus asked.

  “We were separated. The Forgers thought to attack.”

  “How many?”

  “A dozen. Perhaps more.”

  He said it so casually that Daniel blinked. “You took on a dozen Forgers by yourself?”

  Galen looked over at him before his gaze surveyed the rest of the people at the table. One hand remained at his side, and it seemed as if he were rolling a dart between his fingers. Several bruises on his face were only beginning to bloom with color, and sections of his cloak had torn.

  Whatever he had faced had not been easy.

  As far as Daniel knew, Galen didn’t have significant abilities. He was Sighted, but it took more than that to deal with the Ai’thol.

  Then again, Galen had been an assassin. He had faced people of power for much of his life, and he had survived with just his enhanced eyesight. Maybe it didn’t take anything more.

  “Had I not been training with Haern, I might not have shaken off the r
ust, but thankfully, I managed to escape.”

  “Where’s Haern?” Brusus asked again.

  “Your nephew should have been here before me. He was to leave, heading out on his own, and I would’ve expected him before now.” Galen looked at the others before turning back to Brusus. “I take it from your reaction he has not returned.”

  “He has not.”

  He turned to Della. “Can you—”

  “I cannot reach him the way that I reached you.”

  “Is this a rescue mission, then?”

  “No.” Della leaned forward. “This is to help you understand what’s at stake.”

  “We understand what’s at stake.”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t think that you fully understand it. Perhaps Carth has begun to grasp it, but I wonder if even she knows. I have been trying to understand, searching through the visions that I have, and piecing them together.”

  “What have you uncovered?”

  “Something that frightens me very much,” Della said. “We have been worried about the Forgers—or Ai’thol, however you may call them—chasing Elder Stones.”

  “That’s what they’ve been doing for the last twenty-some years,” Carth said.

  “I suspect the pursuit has been longer than that. How many stones do we know of?” She leveled her gaze on Carth. “There is that of fire. That of night. That of knowledge. And that of healing.” She held her hand out and ticked off her fingers for each one of the Elder Stones that she mentioned.

  “And there are the crystals.”

  “The crystals are not an Elder Stone.”

  “They’re not?” Daniel asked.

  Della glanced in his direction. “We have believed that they were, much like we have believed that the Elder Trees serve as a stone, as our people have been granted abilities over the years because of those powers. And yet, our people have long believed we were touched by the Great Watcher.”

  “What is the Great Watcher but an elder?”

  “I’m not so certain the Great Watcher sat upon the Council of Elders,” Della said.

  “There’s that term again. What is this Council of Elders?” Daniel asked.

  It was Carth who answered. “In all my years of searching, I have come across that term a few times. Most of the time it happens in cases where there are relics found, collections of artifacts that date back centuries, sometimes thousands of years. I’ve never understood it, other than to believe our people once had our gods watching us.”