Maybe it was exactly as his father suspected. Maybe what it would require would be the disruption of the man responsible for all the Forgers, and maybe it was now up to Haern to figure out how to do that.
He didn’t know what would be involved, but he wasn’t about to back down, not when it came to his father.
“What now?” he asked Galen.
“Now we need to return to the city. You need to continue to prepare. And when the time comes, you need to be willing to take the action necessary.”
As Haern stared at the fallen bodies of the Forgers, he knew that he would do it. No longer was there a question about what he was capable of doing. And it was time the Forgers feared him.
47
Lucy
Lucy emerged inside the C’than building, Carth with her. The air held a sickly odor she hadn’t noticed before. She didn’t Read anyone nearby, but then, she hadn’t Read anybody the last time, either. They might be here, but they were concealed from her, masked through their connection to shadows, or perhaps even the same connection that the A’ras possessed.
“Have you been here before?” Lucy asked Carth.
“The last time I was here was many years ago,” she said. “At that time, the C’than used it as a way to help those who needed it.”
“Not any longer,” Lucy said, suppressing the irritation that bubbled up within her. She Slid, taking Carth with her, and emerged on the other side of one of the doors.
Part of her had feared that the Ai’thol or the C’than would take this woman away while they were battling, but the woman still lay there, barely breathing, bound with chains.
Carth darted forward, shadows slipping out from her, and she grabbed one of the chains with the shadows, spinning around the chain with such control that it was a wonder Lucy had ever believed Carth had the same skill level as Rayen. Rayen was skilled, but Carth was a master with the shadows. She constricted them, like a snake wrapping around its prey, and the chain burst.
“How many are here?” Carth asked.
“A dozen. Perhaps more.”
“All of them like this?”
“Not all of them. One of them was in worse shape.”
“One?” Carth looked up at her, meeting her eyes.
“She is not any longer.”
Carth squeezed her eyes shut and nodded slowly. “Perhaps that was a blessing.”
“It’s what she wanted.”
“You gave that to her?”
Lucy took a deep breath. “I didn’t have the necessary strength at the time.”
“You think you would now?”
“I don’t know.”
“They were experimenting on all of them?” Carth asked.
“As far as I could tell. The engineer I came across admitted that they were trying to discover the key to placing augmentations in a way that could be tolerated.”
As it often did when she talked about augmentations, her hand went to the back of her head, rubbing the place that the metal had pierced. There was no remnant of it, nothing that would reveal she had been ever injured like that, and yet, she was aware of it in a way that she had not been before. It was almost as if the explosion had left her head throbbing again, but this time in a different way, perhaps a worse way than before.
“Will you help rescue them?” Lucy asked.
“Did you doubt that I would?”
“I didn’t know if we needed to have someone who had ability with the metal.”
Carth let out a heavy sigh. “Only if you wanted to study the chains to know what they did and how they used it on them.”
“Rsiran might know,” she said.
“He might, but the question is whether or not it matters.”
“Where will we take them?” She thought about Elaeavn; with their green eyes, it was likely they were all from Elaeavn, but it might be dangerous to bring them there with their augmentations. They might not be able to tolerate it.
“They will need care. They will need protection while they gain strength. And they will need to better understand their augmentations,” Carth said, looking over to her.
Lucy clenched her jaw before nodding. “This is all about their attempt to control one of the Elder Stones?”
“This was all about gaining additional pieces on the board,” Carth said.
“With the stone used in the wall? Isn’t that a little too direct?”
“Now Olandar Fahr no longer has to fear those with the power of S’al. Not that he did, but if he were able to get others with that ability, then he would have no reason to fear. I suspect he’s going after each of the Elder Stones in a similar way.”
“And because of the C’than, he now knows how to.”
“Not the C’than. A faction within the C’than.”
“From what I’ve Read, the C’than want to create a sense of balance.”
“That has been their traditional role.”
“And yet there are some within the C’than to disrupt that balance.”
Carth nodded.
“Like you,” Lucy said, looking up at Carth. The other woman met her gaze, saying nothing for a long moment. Lucy wasn’t sure if she had overstepped, but she thought that was part of what Carth had been trying to show her during all their stops. All of this was about Lucy getting a better sense of the C’than. She might not be as strategic as Daniel, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t think strategically. And Carth had been trying to help her, wanting her to see how she could use the same sort of strategy. But more than that, Carth had wanted her to gain an understanding of the C’than. The only reason there could be for that was if Carth wanted her to be aligned with the C’than.
“There are times when disrupting balance is what needs to occur.”
“Is that why you involved me?”
Carth smiled at her. “You were involved because you were the best equipped to help.”
“Best equipped? That makes it sound like I’m nothing but a tool to you.”
“Perhaps it does, and yet that was never the intent. You are much more than a tool.”
“I don’t feel as if I am.”
Carth smiled at her. “Is it up to me to ensure that you feel a specific way?”
She frowned. “I suppose not.”
Carth surveyed the inside of the room. “Once we get these women to safety, there’s something else I will need from you.”
Lucy watched Carth for a moment, curious what she might say, but the other woman remained silent, her face unreadable.
“You need to visit more C’than strongholds?”
Carth took a deep breath. “Eventually. In time, you and I will need to investigate all the C’than strongholds.”
“Maybe you need to go without me.”
Carth regarded her. “You aren’t interested in helping any longer?”
“I don’t always feel all that useful.”
“Trust me when I tell you that you are.”
“Trust you?”
“I haven’t done anything to betray your trust.”
“And yet you have excluded me from the C’than when we visit.”
“Perhaps it’s time to change that as well.”
Lucy looked up at the enormous tower. It stretched incredibly high overhead, almost impossibly so. She couldn’t help but feel as if there was a sense of power to the tower, the same sort of power she had detected before.
“How many times have you come here now?” Carth asked.
“I don’t know. A half dozen, perhaps more.”
“And in all that time, how many times were you able to approach the tower itself?”
“Twice.”
“And this time?”
Carth stood near the doorway leading into the tower. It was strange, but the pressure that had prevented her from getting too close to the tower before was gone. Perhaps that was her imagination, but it had been easier to approach this time.
“You granted me access?”
“I don’t think so.”
<
br /> “How, then?”
“You have proven yourself, Lucy Elvraeth.”
“Proven myself how?”
Carth watched her for a moment, her head cocked to one side, before turning and pounding twice on the door. It didn’t take long before it opened, and Ras stood framed in the doorway. As before, he seemed to glow, power radiating from him.
“Have you brought me more?”
Carth smiled. “Of a sort.”
“I still can’t believe how many infiltrated us.”
Carth snorted. “Then you haven’t been paying attention. We have been inactive while the Ai’thol have been active. In all that time, we have allowed the C’than to become a piece on Olandar Fahr’s game board. It’s time for that to change.”
Lucy watched Carth, curiosity flowing through her. How would Carth change that? What would she do?
“Olandar Fahr plays a very different type of game,” Ras said.
“I’m aware of the type of game he’s played.”
“And you have failed when you have attempted to confront him before.”
Carth nodded. “I have failed.”
“You would suggest something else?”
Carth studied Ras for a moment. “Are you going to allow us to enter?”
“Both of you?”
Lucy looked quickly to Carth. She was going to get to enter one of the strongholds? After all they had visited, this was the one she would be permitted to enter?
“I bring to you a candidate,” she said to Ras.
“You understand the requirements are difficult,” Ras said.
“I know as well as any how difficult the requirements can be, and yet she has proven herself worthy.”
“I see that she has the necessary strength.”
“It’s about more than strength with her.”
“Do you believe she has the necessary mind?”
“I do.”
Ras turned his attention to Lucy for a moment, and he began to glow even brighter than before. It was brief, barely more than a flicker of bright light, and then it was gone. It didn’t last long enough for her to believe it was anything real before it faded and disappeared into nothingness.
With that, Ras nodded and turned, heading into the tower. He left the door open as he did.
“What is this?” Lucy asked Carth.
“This is your initiation.”
“Into the C’than?”
Carth nodded. “As I told you, you do have the necessary strength, but to be a part of the C’than, you need to be more. Were you to remain in Elaeavn, you would have been what, a scholar?”
Lucy shrugged. The term fit as well as any.
“The C’than are scholars, but of a different sort. It takes knowledge and understanding, but it also takes strength and a willingness to do what must be done.”
Lucy thought of all the C’than she had Read and wondered if that was quite true. With none of them had she had the feeling that they had done what they needed to do.
Carth smiled at her. “Perhaps not exactly,” she said.
Lucy blinked, once again feeling as if Carth somehow Read her.
“If you do this, you can become more than what you would have been.”
Was that what she wanted? She wouldn’t have thought so before, and yet, there was a certain appeal. She had seen the type of places the C’than occupied, the libraries they possessed. The knowledge there would be incredible, and if nothing else, Lucy couldn’t shake the sense that she wanted to be a part of it.
“Why me?”
Carth took a deep breath. “As I told Ras, Olandar Fahr has been manipulating pieces, moving them around the game board for long enough.”
“You want me to be another piece?”
Carth shook her head, meeting Lucy’s eyes. “No, Lucy Elvraeth. I want the C’than to become the other player.”
With that, she stepped inside the tower, leaving Lucy on the threshold to decide what she would do. Dozens of thoughts rolled through her, and many of them involved simply Sliding away. She could return to Elaeavn. She could go back to the library within the palace, and she could sit and serve as she had once believed she would. Alternatively, she could head to the forest, find Rsiran and Haern, offer to help in whatever way she could there. Or she could even return to Nyaesh and see if there was any way for her to ensure that those hurt by the C’than no longer suffered. Regardless of what else she did, she was going to follow through on her promise to Carth to aid those she had helped save.
Yet there seemed to be more she could do, and in order for her to do that, she would need to learn more. She would need to be more.
She would need to be willing to be more than just a tool. Or, in this case, more than just a piece on someone else’s game board.
She might not know the game, and she might not know the rules, but it was time for her to be a player.
Taking a deep breath, Lucy gathered herself, and then she took a step into the tower.
Epilogue
Volan glanced down to Lareth. He didn’t think the man was dead, but he no longer knew, and for that matter, he wasn’t sure that he cared. He had succeeded. Wasn’t that enough? He had been sent, intending to use the younger Lareth, and he had, though not quite the way he had expected.
Lareth’s blood stuck to his hands. If there were some other way of carrying him, he would’ve preferred to do that, not wanting to have this man bleed all over him. And yet he was willing to do whatever it took. He had proven that. And now, as one of the Chosen, he was the one who would bring Lareth to him. He was the one who had shown his worth.
And he had finally found the peace that he’d been searching for.
It shouldn’t feel so odd—almost hollow—but it did.
Why would that be?
Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had pursued Lareth his entire life. Everything he’d done had been to find the man, capture him, and bring vengeance to him.
Now that he had, now that he was the one to return with him, the rest of the Ai’thol plan could take place. They had needed Lareth out of the way to pursue it, and with him gone, nothing stood in the way of what they would accomplish.
He stared up at the mountain. Dark smoke swirled. What reaction would he get? Nandal had died during the capture, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Volan had succeeded.
Others had died, too. He wasn’t surprised Nandal had gone for help, though Volan wished he had taken more time to do so. Now they had to contend with how their failure would be perceived.
Volan Slid forward, hoisting Lareth in his arms. He was almost lost. There was a moment during his captivity when he hadn’t been certain whether he would manage to escape or not, and now that he was free, he didn’t know what he would do. He had spent so much of his time searching for Lareth, staying among the Chosen in order to capture him, that he no longer knew what he would do now that he’d succeeded.
He stared at the mountain. Flickers of movement suggested that others were nearby, though he didn’t observe them. They would be those who sat highest among the Chosen, those who had learned ways of masking their presence. They were among the greatest of them, barely a step below Olandar Fahr.
He focused on the distant sense of the mountain, and he Slid, carrying Lareth.
When he emerged inside the chamber, he dropped him to the ground.
Olandar Fahr stood with his back toward Volan, staring at the glowing embers of the Forge. Smoke swirled around him, either that or shadows. Volan was no longer certain. Ever since he had claimed the power from Ih, it was difficult to know just what Olandar Fahr was capable of.
“You managed to capture him?”
“I did,” he said.
Fahr nodded. “And now what will you do?”
“My lord?”
Olandar Fahr turned to him. His eyes were deep and dark, blacker than any night. Power emanated from him, and Volan took a step back instinctively. He didn’t want to be too close to Olandar Fahr
, though he knew he should stay near him. It was considered a blessing—an honor—and yet he didn’t see it that way. He saw it as dangerous. Deadly. And he wanted nothing more than to get away from him, out from under the weight of his gaze.
“This was ever your purpose, Volan Elvraeth. What will you do now?”
Volan stared down at the motionless form of Lareth. As he watched, the man took another breath. Would he survive what Olandar Fahr had in mind? Did Volan even care?
“My purpose was to serve you, my lord.”
Olandar Fahr chuckled. “Your purpose was to get revenge. Now that you have it, what will you do?”
“What can I do?”
“You can serve. You have proven yourself valuable. And formidable.”
“And if I choose not to serve?”
“You understand the consequences,” Olandar Fahr said. He held his hand out, and shadows swirled around Lareth, wrapping around him, and he pulled him toward the opposite wall. Toward the forge.
“I understand the consequences,” Volan said. The consequences of going against the Ai’thol were severe. They had always been severe, at least as long as Volan had served. It would be easier for him to have simply not returned than to attempt to run. At least that way, others would have presumed him dead.
But Volan didn’t intend to run.
He had captured Lareth. He had succeeded. Even the great Olandar Fahr hadn’t managed to capture this man.
“What is my assignment?”
“Your assignment will be easy. You will claim the stones from your homeland.”
“It’s not my homeland.”
“Good. Then you will feel no remorse at claiming the stones.”
Volan looked down at Lareth and knew that he would feel no remorse. How could he? Elaeavn was not his home, and it would never be his home. Not since Lareth had left his family to die.
“I live to serve you, my lord.”
Olandar Fahr watched him, studying him intensely for a long moment, and then he tipped his head in a nod. “We will see.”
“What is your plan with Lareth?”
Olandar Fahr turned his dark gaze onto Lareth, staring at him. “We will see just how much he knows. And once he shares everything he knows, perhaps then we will let him pass.”
Shadows Within the Flame (The Elder Stones Saga Book 2) Page 51