The Forgotten: A story in the world of The Dark Ability

by D. K. Holmberg

  Unfortunately, at this hour, there weren’t any places were I could do that in Elaeavn. The poisons I needed were rare and unlikely to be found in the city. Wores, I didn’t dare risk time to spend searching for what I needed.

  Except, there was a place where I could find some of the items I needed not far from here.

  I hurried along the street. No one else was out at this time of night. That alone should have given me more pause. When I had last lived in Elaeavn, there was no time when the streets were empty. The silence felt unnatural.

  The street turned and I hurried up the incline. Even after being gone for all those years, the path came back to me. The buildings around me looked much the same. One thing about Elaeavn, the structures rarely changed.

  Then I saw it: squat stone home, blue painted door, windows now shuttered that once stayed open to let the air of the sea wash in. Della’s home. She would not be here, not unless Lorst had Slid her here.

  The door was locked as expected. Since learning from Isander, locks had never presented much of a challenge and I popped it open quickly.

  The air inside her home smelled musty and I knew she had not been home in quite a while. The old scents of the healer remained, enough about them familiar that it actually brought a smile to my face. I could name nearly two-dozen different scents from the various herbs she used, more than when I had apprenticed with her. Two chairs angled toward the fireplace, coals dead, long since tamped.

  What would have happened to me had I never been forced to leave? What would I have become? A healer like Della? Unlikely—I had none of her other talents, none of those gifts from the Great Watcher that would make me as skilled as she, though I did have a mind for herbs. Della had always said that they formed the foundation for all that she did, that the Great Watcher had given us everything to heal most every injury. Or, as in my case, cause them.

  For Cael’s sake, I could not let myself linger.

  Much of her place looked the same as when I had last been here, but other parts had changed. The long woven blanket thrown over the nearest chair looked different, greens and oranges weaved together in colors that Della would never have allowed. A pillow rested along the wall near the fireplace, the dust on the wooden floor disturbed. I frowned at that.

  The shelves containing her stocks were the same. Jars of leaves lined the top shelf, powders on the next, and liquids—some watery and clear and others thick and dark—lined the next. None of them were labeled, though they needn’t be. I recognized almost everything.

  I quickly grabbed barsange leaves and a few stems of greavethorn. Mixed together would create a powerful sedative. I took the entire jar of cander powder. There were many uses for it, especially when mixed with the juice of a morgan berry. Della had no berries, but if the city had not changed too much, the trees could be found throughout the city. Considering the liquids, I debated taking any of them. Most were too large to fit in my pouch and I dared not having anything that might break open, but the small green tinted jar of parsap would fit. The thick parsap was dense enough that if it spilled, it shouldn’t create too much trouble.

  Next I needed darts. Like Lorst, I could use knives or other weapons, but darts had always been my preference. Small and light enough to carry in significant quantities, they had the added advantage that they didn’t always have to kill. Death was not always my goal. Sometimes I simply needed to prevent someone from following me.

  Della would keep a store of needles that could be modified for what I needed. It took me a moment to figure out where she now kept them, but when I did I was disappointed to see that she had only a dozen. Enough to resupply me with darts, but not enough to throw them freely. And I had no idea what I would find when I went searching for Cael.

  Finally, I stood and rested my hands on the shelf, studying the room. As I did, a soft scratching sound came before I ever saw the shimmering of shadows.

  In an instant, I grabbed one of my remaining darts and ducked behind the shelf.

  “I have not come to kill you, Galen.”

  “Lorst?”

  “You were not to return to Elaeavn. I believe that you are one of the Forgotten?”

  His voice mocked me as it skipped around the room, each word coming from a different place. I had no choice but to marvel at his control.

  “Where did you take her?” I asked.

  I heard a soft scratching to my left, hidden behind the shelf, but just on the other side. “Your Elvraeth?” he asked. “You’ve lost her already?”

  Not Lorst, then. I had not thought it him; the Slider I Saw had looked nothing like him, but I had to make certain. “Not lost. Taken by a Slider.”

  With a quick shimmering of shadows, he appeared in front of me. The dark shirt he wore clung to his wiry frame. A thin cloak hung around his shoulders. Dark hair hung in waves around his head. Green eyes shone in the darkness.

  He held his hands out, open palms so that I knew he carried no weapon. I held onto my dart, ready to flick it toward him.

  “Did you see them?” he asked.

  “It was dark,” I answered.

  “Dark. And I thought you Sighted.”

  “And I thought you an assassin,” I said.

  “Only when I must.”

  Confusion worked through me. Lorst had tried to kill me once. “Why are you here, Lorst?”

  A dark smile crossed his lips. “I could ask the same of you.”

  I tilted my head over my shoulder toward the space in front of Della’s fire. “That you?”

  “She does not mind.”

  I knew Lorst to be younger than me. I wondered if he had followed me as her apprentice. If so, that made two of her apprentices who had been expelled from the city. Strange that we would both become assassins.

  “Where’s the girl?” Lorst asked. He Slid over to a stool and lounged casually, leaning on his arm while looking up at me.

  I eyed him carefully, hesitant to reveal anything to him. The last time we had spoken, he tried to kill me. The pain from the srirach was not something I would easily forget. Of course, I had done my best to kill him as well. Only through Cael’s interference had we managed to escape. With his Sliding ability, I had little doubt that if he wanted me dead, I would already be so.

  “You never really wanted her, did you?”

  His eyes narrowed briefly, a flicker of uncertainty going through them. “I had not expected you to be in that inn, Galen.” He took a deep breath. “With the price Orly placed on her, I shouldn’t have been surprised. All these years I’ve tried to avoid you. To have him be the one to bring us together was unfortunate.”

  I frowned. Lorst tried to avoid me? “Orly knew I would not simply take the job. That has never been how I operate.”

  “I know.”

  My hand clenched around the dart. How much did Lorst know about me? With his ability, he could easily track me. And there would be little that I could do about it.

  “Why did you want her if not for the reward?”

  I felt a sense of the time passing, all too aware of how long Cael had been gone from me.

  What would happen to her? What would happen with the crystal?

  “I can see from your face that you already know why,” he said.

  “The crystal?”

  He tilted his head. A dark knife appeared in his hand and he twisted it. “You know that for so long I hated my ability? My father claimed it was a dark ability.” He smiled. “Dark. While I have seen those of the Elvraeth use their abilities for purposes far darker than anything I have ever done.” He looked up, meeting my eyes. “The crystals have been kept from our people for too long, Galen.”

  “The Elvraeth protect the crystals for our people.”

  “Is that what you think? Is that what she told you?”

  Cael had not said much about the crystal. I did not know what she believed, only that she wondered what effect her Saenr had on her abilities. Before the Saenr, Cael claimed only to be a skillful Reader. But I had see
n other skills from her, skills of powerful Compulsion and Glamour. And I had never known a Reader more powerful than Cael.

  “She spoke little of the crystal. Only that she needed to return it.” I readied to throw my dart if needed. “Where is she, Lorst? Where have you taken her?”

  He shook his head. “Not me this time, Galen. You think we’re the only ones after the crystal?”

  We. Who else did he mean? Certainly Della, but what others? Who else did Lorst work with?

  “I will get her back,” I said.

  “What do you want with the crystal?” Lorst asked. “Do you think to use it?” Deep frown lines formed at the corners of his eyes as they again flashed with a deep green. “No. I see that you do not. Will you sell it?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t care about the crystal! I just want Cael back. And Cael wanted the crystal returned to the palace.” That was all she had wanted. The reason she had come to Eban in the first place, tracking the crystal after losing it during her Saenr.

  Lorst watched me for a long moment before he finally answered. “Then I will help.”

  * * *

  A small fire blazed in the hearth. Lorst’s doing. He said he wanted warmth, but I suspected he liked the light. He was not Sighted as I was and unaccustomed to shades of darkness. Within Della’s house, the shadows grew thick.

  “Tell me what happened.” Lorst did not look over at me, staring at the fire, wrapped in one of the blankets I would never have expected within Della’s home.

  “I suspect you know what happened. We left Eban. Encountered a man working for Orly. Poisoned by Orly, really. And we brought him to Della. I believe you fetched her narcass leaves?”

  He glanced over at me and nodded.

  Lorst twisted one of his blades in his hand, running a finger along the sharp edge. I had thought that all of his knives were poisoned, but perhaps that was not the case. The knife seemed to ripple as he touched it, almost as if it changed shape, though I did not think that should be possible. Lorcith, such as the knife had been forged from, was a hard metal. And rare enough in weapons, yet Lorst always seemed to have a steady supply. Either he had a weaponsmith to Slide to or he made them himself. I thought the latter less likely.

  “From there, we made our way around the Aisl Forest, skirting along the edge.”

  “Not through?”

  “We didn’t know who might be following.”

  A half smile twisted his mouth as he turned back to the fire. “I didn’t need to follow you. I knew where you were heading.”

  That seemed almost an admission. “We passed south of Ilphaesn as we entered the city.” He tensed when I mentioned Ilphaesn. I wondered at the connection. Had Lorst been sentenced to serve? In my time in Elaeavn, the council sentenced enough men to continue to fill their coffers with lorcith. From what I’d heard, the entire palace was practically decorated with it. To me it seemed a waste of such an expensive metal; others felt it the extravagance they had come to expect from the Elvraeth. “The Slider came across us in the city. I saw him too late.”

  “Him? Are you certain?” Lorst didn’t look up at me. Firelight danced in his eyes.

  I tried to picture the face but could not. “No,” I answered. “They were quick. Short Slides. Moved past me and took Cael.”

  “Where were you?”

  “Near the docks.”

  Lorst let out a soft breath. His body stiffened.

  I watched him, waiting for more. I hated that I needed his help. But without him, I’m not certain I would be able to find Cael.

  “I found this.” I reached into my pouch and withdrew the small bit of lorcith I’d found on the ground near where Cael had been taken. Even in Elaeavn—especially near the docks—lorcith was not common, not outside the palace.

  Lorst took the tiny lump of metal and held it out in front of him, squinting at it. Some of the firelight caught off the metal, but lorcith was generally dull. His mouth tightened. “How did you find this?”

  “I am Sighted, Lorst.”

  He turned and studied me. “You found this where the Elvraeth was taken?”

  The Elvraeth. Not Cael. “Yes.” It did no use to argue with Lorst, not over this. Especially if he would help.

  “That is unfortunate.”

  I tensed, suddenly concerned about what Lorst might do. I had little reason to trust him, but every reason to give him a chance to earn my trust. He had lived in Elaeavn more recently than me. He knew more about whoever chased after the crystal. And he could Slide. I had the feeling that might be important.

  “Why?”

  His back stiffened. “This comes from deep within Ilphaesn.”

  “Most of the ore does.”

  “No, it does not. Most comes from the mines the council has dug over the years through their forced labor. This,” he said, holding it up, “comes from deeper in the mountain. They are similar but not the same.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Just trust that I do.”

  “I have no reason to trust you, Lorst.”

  He turned and looked at me. “As I have no reason to help you, Galen.”

  I sighed, taking my hand from my pouch. I hadn’t realized that I reached for it, a dart practically in my hand. Why did I always reach for death?

  “You know who might have her,” I said.

  Lorst considered for a moment before answering. “There are not many who Slide. At least not openly. I have already told you that it is considered a dark ability. A useful one, though, especially when you want to sneak around the city. Most with the ability never learn to use it.”

  “Why?” Strange that the way Lorst spoke would remind me so much of Isander when he offered a lecture.

  “One of the Elvraeth once told me that the council has done all that they can to eradicate the ability, but still it appears. That the Great Watcher will not allow it to disappear tells me all that I need to know about it.” His mouth tightened. “As I said, there are not many who openly Slide.”

  “You do.”

  “I do.”

  “Who else?”

  “With the lorcith you found?” he asked. “Only one other that it might be. A dangerous man and one I believed gone. If he wants the crystal for himself, then your friend truly is in danger.”

  I told myself that Cael could protect herself. That her ability to Read and Compel would keep her safe, even were I not there. But I did not want to rely on that being the only way she reached safety.

  “Where would he have taken her?” I asked.

  Lorst closed his fist around the tiny piece of lorcith. “I don’t know for certain.”

  He stood and quickly doused the fire before turning to me. Without saying a word, he grabbed my arm with surprising strength, and I felt a blur of motion.

  I’d felt the sensation one time before, but that time I had been injured and dying, trying to hang on so that I didn’t lose Cael. This time, Sliding seemed different. A wind blew across my face. Colors swirled at the edge of my vision. And then everything changed.

  For some reason, I noticed the scent of the air first. Musty and heavy with an earthen scent. As one of the Sighted, it surprised me that I would notice scents first.

  Then I saw where I was. Stacks of boxes stretched high overhead. Most were covered in dust and had dark writing across them, some I could not read. Lorst held my arm for a moment before letting go. He raised a finger to his lips, motioning me to silence. Not knowing where I was, I felt obligated to comply.

  A long row stretched out in front of me. The stacks of boxes made it so that I could see nothing other than what was in front and behind me. I felt a tingle of nerves at that. Standing down here placed us in a compromised position. Time on the streets had taught me to keep to higher ground.

  I pulled on Lorst’s sleeve and nodded toward the top of the boxes. He shook his head, tilting it forward.

  He started forward, not waiting for me to follow. Lorst moved more silently than I would have imagined possi
ble. It took me a moment to realize that he Slid forward a step or two at a time, just enough to flicker along as he went, a slight shimmer clinging to him constantly.

  Thankfully, I had spent the last decade learning how to move silently. A Listener might hear me if they were particularly skilled, but other than that, I doubt that I could be detected. I had not fully tested my skill against one from Elaeavn and, if what I could piece together of what Lorst told me were true, another of the Elvraeth.

  We reached the end of the column of boxes where it intersected with another row. Lorst peered around the corner. I wondered why he simply didn’t Slide around the corner, or up to the top of the stack—or any other place for that matter—but didn’t interrupt him at this point. As far as I could tell, he tried to help me.

  And then I heard it.

  A soft whimper, little more than a slight inhalation of breath. Part of me knew that I should not be able to hear the sound, let alone recognize it as Cael. The rest of me had to resist the urge to dart around the corner, attacking everyone that I saw to free her.

  But she needed to know that I was here. Would she be able to Read me if she thought herself trapped? Would she be trying? I had replaced my barriers as soon as I’d seen Lorst and debated whether there was any way she could know that she was not alone here.

  I made a quick decision and lowered my mental barriers.

  Doing so—knowing that there might be other Readers around, especially here in Elaeavn—took more courage than I thought I had. But for Cael, for the possibility that she might need my help, I did it.

  What did I really have to hide anyway? That I was an assassin? That I took pay to kill? The Great Watcher would judge me far more harshly than any of the Elvraeth, especially knowing what I had done. All I could hope was that I had tried to use my influence to better my small little world in Eban, taking jobs not for the money, but that needed to be done. Other than that, I had nothing more to hide.

  There came another soft sound, like a sigh, so quiet that I wasn’t sure I heard it. Cael knew I was here. That knowledge fortified me more than anything else.