Della frowned. “Haern is a gifted Seer. What did he See?”
“Just where I would be. And that I attempted something dangerous. I’m not sure what else.”
Della tapped her spoon on the glass jar. “Do you know what changed?”
“To find the alchemists, I pushed away the sense of lorcith. I listened for the alloy instead.”
“You can do that? Just… ignore it?”
“I’m not sure how I did. I’ve never been able to just ignore the call of lorcith before. I just sort of pushed it to the background, far enough away that I could listen for the muted sense of the alloy.”
“That is how you found the alchemists.” Della’s eyes went distant, flaring a bright green. “And did you Slide at the same time?”
He tried to remember. Had he Slid while listening for the alloy? He didn’t think so. Each time he’d emerged from a Slide, he had to reconnect with the alloy. “I don’t think so.”
Della nodded, brow furrowed. After a moment, she shook her head. “This is not why you come tonight. You have questions.”
Had she Read him? Della was the only one who seemed able to work past his lorcith-fortified mental barrier. “I need to know if Josun took Jessa.”
His mind provided enough answers, visions of Jessa lying as Lianna had lain, broken on the rocks. He would do anything to find her, including chasing down the sword, wherever it might be.
“I can’t See that.”
“Did you feel any ripples earlier?”
Della scooped a small spoonful of powder out of one of the jars and tapped it into a cup. Then she added a scoop from another jar. Before answering, she stirred them together and poured water from a small pot into the cup. Rsiran smelled the heady fragrance of mint from the mug. At first, he thought she intended to give it to him, but then she took a long drink.
“I felt ripples, but I cannot tell you who made them. That is what you want to know, is it not?”
He nodded. That she felt ripples wouldn’t be enough to help. But she had known when he Slid all of them to the Aisl after Lianna died. Those ripples were larger, like a boulder thrown into a pool of water. If Josun had taken Jessa, she should have felt something more than him simply Sliding. “Did you feel anything that would have been from more than one person? Like when I Slide with Jessa?”
Della took another sip. “I felt something similar. You did not travel with her?”
“No.”
“Then she is gone.”
There seemed a finality to the way she said it. After what happened to Lianna, he understood. Della had already made it clear that Josun would see Jessa as a weakness to exploit. That was what he had done with Lianna, using her as a way to get to Brusus. But there had to be more to what he planned.
He sagged against the wall, leaning his head back. The sword flitted very distantly against his senses. “I can feel the sword I made,” he said softly.
Della frowned at him. “The one he used to implicate you with the Elvraeth?”
“I wouldn’t sell it. Brusus has asked, but…” He shook his head. “I should have let him. Then Josun couldn’t use it against me.”
“Then where is it now?”
“Gone from the city. I don’t know where. It pulls on me.”
Della’s eyes went distant for a moment. Haern’s did the same thing when he attempted Seeing. “Dangerous to go to it. I cannot See more than that.”
“Isn’t it dangerous for me to simply stay in the city?”
Della looked at him. Eyes deeper green than the Aisl forest held him. “Since you first came to me, danger has always been all around you. I have never known what it means. And now… now what you have done makes it worse.”
“I only did what I needed to—to protect us.”
“I wish I could tell you what it means, Rsiran. But it is vague. Just a sense of darkness.”
“It means that I need to search for Jessa.”
“And if you find him with her? Then what? Are you prepared to do what might be necessary?”
He touched the knives in his pocket. The lorcith had responded to his request when he’d forged it, almost as if it understood what would be needed. “I will do what is needed to protect my friends.”
Della took another sip of her tea. A tight smile came to her lips. “And that is where I think Josun Elvraeth has underestimated you.”
“Don’t tell Brusus. He will only worry.”
She looked at him. “And if I did? Do you think there is anything he can do?”
Rsiran felt for the sword. How far away would he have to travel to reach it? How far from him had Josun taken the sword? Rsiran didn’t have the strength with that connection to know.
“Not where I must go.”
Della just nodded. She did not look over at him as he Slid away.
Chapter 28
The first time Rsiran left Elaeavn had been when his father had banished him to the mines. Leaving this time felt different, but no less painful. Then he’d thought he had a chance of returning to what he’d known before. That if he did what his father wanted, if he could learn to ignore his abilities as his father asked, he could return to his apprenticeship. This time, even were he to find Jessa, there would be no return to the safety that he once knew.
And maybe that had been his biggest mistake. Had he ever really had a chance to return to what he once knew? The safety of his time living with his parents had been mostly illusion born of ignorance. He’d thought he had to live under their rules, follow the pathway that his father laid out for him during his apprenticeship. Only… he’d learned that the Great Watcher had another plan for him.
Meeting Brusus had changed everything. For the first time, he found a reason to leave home, friends who wanted him around, and a skill they found useful. For the first time, he didn’t have to hide who he was.
But now that was gone. Elaeavn had changed. Josun Elvraeth would not stop until Rsiran did what he wanted… or Josun was dead. Would he take that step? Would he really commit to killing if it came to it? Would it even stop then, or was Josun part of something larger?
But Jessa needed him. He didn’t need to be a Seer to know that.
And then what? Return to Elaeavn and always fear the alchemist guild searching for him? How long until they learned of him and acted to recover the coded secret he’d stolen from them? Even returning it did not mean he would find safety. There would be no constable for Brusus to bribe this time, only a determined guild. And more than the guild, what happened when whatever Josun was a part of spilled out into the rest of the city? What would he do then?
Those were questions for later. Whatever happened, he would find Jessa first.
Rsiran emerged from the Slide atop Krali Rock. Standing there, he looked over the city. Night began falling as the sun dipped below the horizon, just sheets of orange and red bouncing off the water. Gulls circled over the water in the distance, cawing occasionally. Behind him, deep in the Aisl, an animal howled, the sound deep and low, almost mournful.
Looking down on the city from Krali, he no longer felt a sense of peace. Now he only felt unrest.
The air smelled different here where the distant sea air mingled with the scents of the Aisl, and with none of the bitter tang of lorcith he always smelled within his shop. With the wind whipping around him, he could almost feel free of the city.
Krali had always been a place for him to go to relax. The first time he’d Slid, he’d somehow ended atop Krali Rock. Perhaps he’d ended here because of how often he’d looked up, wondering how hard it would be to climb. Or maybe there had been another reason. Could he have been pulled, drawn to Krali as Della pulled him? That line of thinking only frightened him.
Yet, none of that was why he’d come. He needed to be free of distractions, free of anything that would affect his ability to sense the sword.
Rsiran closed his eyes and listened. As he did, he pushed away the lorcith he felt all around him. That coming from the knives in his pockets.
The lorcith now hidden in Brusus’s home. Even the unshaped lorcith that called to him from within his smithy. He pushed all of it back. In the distance far to the north, he felt the pull of the lorcith buried there. This was pushed deep and away too. Nothing remained other than the muted hum of the alloy in the palace and the faraway sense of the sword.
Before Sliding, he let worry slip through him for one last time. How long had Jessa been gone? Would he be able to reach her in time? Had Josun already harmed her?
But then anger seethed within him. That Josun thought to manipulate him—to harm someone he cared about again—left him practically shaking. Rsiran took a few calming breaths, pushing those emotions down to hide near the other sense of lorcith.
And then he Slid.
This time, he emerged atop Ilphaesn, standing along the narrow path that he’d stood on with Jessa. The wind changed but still whistled, pulling on him and tearing at his clothes. A few spindly trees lined the low road leading up to the peak. On the road below him would be the small village outside the mines, but Rsiran had been careful not to emerge too close to the village. The only time he’d been through it had been on his way to Ilphaesn, and that had been during the day. He wouldn’t risk someone out at night seeing and reporting him.
Standing this close to Ilphaesn, he felt the pull of the lorcith deep in the mines more strongly than ever before. How much of that came from working with lorcith, forging it into shapes the metal preferred, and how much came from him focusing on using the lorcith, anchoring to it over the last few weeks?
He focused his thoughts again, quickly shoving away all sense of lorcith as he had before. Each time he did it, the process became easier. Always he knew it would return. After Sliding, the sense of lorcith always returned.
And then he felt the sword again. Still farther north.
Rsiran had never traveled any farther than Ilphaesn. Sliding from here carried more risk, just like Sliding blindly onto Firell’s ship or into the space between the crates. Only this time, if he emerged someplace he didn’t intend, he could be trapped and Jessa would never be freed.
He couldn’t risk Sliding all the way to the sword. If Josun sat waiting for him, expecting him to follow the pull of the sword, then he might have something planned. Rsiran didn’t intend to fall into Josun’s trap.
He would have to Slide slowly, carefully. It would take more strength than a single Slide, but he couldn’t risk Sliding blindly.
At least all the times he’d been Sliding with Jessa had built his strength. Even now, Sliding to Krali and then to Ilphaesn left him barely feeling the effects. Though the sword was closer, it was still not significantly closer. To reach it, he would have to Slide greater distances than he’d ever attempted.
Rsiran scanned the horizon. To his left, nothing but wild land stretched from the base of Ilphaesn. The rock of the mountain slowly rolled toward grassy plains stretching as far as he could see. If there had been more light, he might have been able to see farther into the distance.
To the other side of him rolled the angry Lhear Sea as it crashed against distant rocks. Somewhere nearby, he felt the muted sense of the alloy barricading the other mine entrance.
And then there was Elaeavn. Standing atop Ilphaesn, he saw it as a twinkle of distant lights, no more than stars in the sky. From here, the city looked small and safe, nothing like what he knew it to be.
Rsiran hesitated, but waiting did nothing except leave Jessa in danger. Holding onto the sense of the sword, using it as a compass to guide him, he Slid as far as he felt safe.
This time, he emerged standing in a clump of massive dry grasses. The wind swished them around him. The air smelled of dirt and dust, tickling his nose. A low howl rose into the air, and a dark shape circled overhead.
Rsiran fixed his eyes to the north and Slid again.
And again. And again.
Each Slide took him closer to the sword. In spite of Sliding, he felt as if he moved slowly, barely drawing closer to the sense of the sword. With each Slide, he had to focus, push away the sense of the other lorcith he felt, until all he knew was the sword. At one stop, he sensed the distant awareness of unshaped lorcith nearby, but ignored it as he moved on. At another, he knew several of his forgings were close.
He paused near a wide river burbling over rocks. A few short trees lined the river, twisted limbs covered with long, thin leaves. He had used the trees to guide his Sliding, emerging alongside one. Rsiran rested his hand on the trunk. The bark felt smooth, similar to the sjihn trees of the Aisl, but these were nothing like those massive trees. He leaned and took a drink from the stream, his heart beating as if he’d just run a long distance. The effects of Sliding as far as he had began to strain him.
As he pushed away the lorcith again, the sword loomed closer.
So far, he hadn’t seen sign of anyone else. No other villages or cities since Sliding past Ilphaesn. That should reassure him, but a nagging worry sat in his mind. What was Josun’s plan in drawing Rsiran out of the city, away from Elaeavn? There had to be something else, more than simply taking Jessa. With Lianna, he had killed her. Whether as a message or for another reason, Rsiran didn’t know. Might he have already done the same with Jessa?
He stepped away from the trees to Slide across the river. The ground sloped down and away, giving him a better vantage. Far in the distance, a soft glow seemed to dome up from the ground, spreading out around in each direction like a massive lantern. It took him a few moments to realize what he saw: Light, rising up from a city.
He paused, listening again for the sword. Still distant, but not that distant anymore.
The city. That was where he’d taken the sword. But why?
Rsiran Slid, emerging far from the river. Now the lights from the city burned brighter. Shadows from buildings contrasted with the darkness of night, rising from the flat land like dark fingers.
Now he sensed lorcith of all kinds. His forgings. Unshaped lorcith. Even the muted draw from the alloy. All of it he pushed away until he sensed only the sword.
Now it was close.
He Slid again, more cautiously this time, and emerged near a clump of strange trees with sharp needles. They smelled sharp and reminded him of the powders in Della’s home. A flock of birds resting in the tree fluttered to flight as he emerged. A lone howl erupted to the south.
The fat moon hung low and bright in the sky, finally freed of the clouds that had been blocking it for most of the night. Nearby, a wide road twisted around a low hillside, winding down into the city. A low wall ran around the outer edge of the city, disappearing in either direction over the slowly rising hills. Low grasses filled the fields, swishing softly in the gentle breeze. A few wide bushes dotted the field, some with flowers blooming bright against the moonlight. The sight of the flowers made his heart clench.
In only a moment, he pushed away all sense of lorcith. The sword felt nearby.
Rsiran almost Slid to it. Now, he no longer needed to suppress the other lorcith he felt. He sensed it as easily as he did in Elaeavn. So close, and he could simply Slide to it. If Jessa was there, he would rescue her and Slide back to Elaeavn.
Then the hard work would begin.
But Sliding now meant going blindly. Jessa depended on him reaching her, so he needed to be cautious. It wasn’t just that he didn’t know where he would end up, but what if he emerged only to find a group of people?
As much as he hated it, he needed to move carefully.
Rsiran took a deep breath. The air tasted cool and clear, different from in Elaeavn. Then he Slid past the wall and emerged in the city.
The low buildings on the other side of the wall looked nothing like those throughout most of Elaeavn. None butted against another. Each looked low roofed and built of thick timbers rather than stone. Slate roofs with overlapping seams arched high over him. Some were nearly as tall as the two-story homes he’d seen in Elaeavn. Small windows in each home were thrown open, letting the night breeze blow in. Down the street, a
candle flickered. Stout doors blocked entrance to each building. Homes, but nothing like what he saw in Elaeavn.
Rsiran Slid down the street, not bothering to mask his ability. No one else walked the streets, leaving him in an eerie sort of silence. The breeze blowing from the west caused the buildings to groan every so often, but for the most part, all he heard were his steady breaths.
The buildings began to run together, their peaks rising higher than those nearest the wall. Chimneys rose from the top of most. Smoke billowed out of some, lazily winding into the sky before disappearing. Unlike nearer the outer wall, windows were shuttered.
The sword was closer.
Again he Slid. This time, he emerged in a grassy clearing. Signs hung in front of the surrounding buildings, reminding him of the shops in Upper Town, most painted with pictures and scrawling letters that he couldn’t quite read in the dark.
Rsiran listened again for the sword. Closer, but he wasn’t there yet. He Slid.
When he emerged, he could tell that the sword was close.
Rsiran walked. The cobbled street felt strange beneath his feet after all the time he’d spent Sliding through the night. He’d lost track of how many times he’d Slid. More than he’d ever done all at one time. How much longer could he keep it up? How much longer before he pushed himself too far?
Fatigue began to threaten him, but he refused to let it overwhelm him. Once he found the sword—and Jessa—he would need strength enough to Slide her to safety. Whether that meant back to Elaeavn or simply out of the city, he didn’t know. He would do what he needed.
At the building with the wide chimney, he felt the sword on the other side. Rsiran moved out of the street and walked toward the long window running the length of the building. Thick shades covered the glass, blocking his view. He set his hand on the window and listened. Other than his sword, he felt nothing. Heard nothing.
Here was where he would have to take a chance.
After taking a deep breath, Rsiran Slid past the window.
The Heartstone Blade (The Dark Ability Book 2) Page 22