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

by D. K. Holmberg

  Then something struck my shoulder. Hot pain shot through my arm.

  I looked down to see a crossbow bolt sticking out from my shoulder. Blood ran down my arm, hot and thick. My hand twitched uselessly.

  Cael’s Compulsion had failed.

  Looking up, I saw the man readying the next bolt. There wasn’t enough time to do anything that would keep him from firing, not that I had anything I could hit him with.

  It seemed that he raised his arm in slow motion. I readied to duck, but he aimed it not at me, but at Cael.

  I felt helpless and looked around for something—anything—I could throw at him. On the ground not four paces from me lay one of the crossbows. I dove, grabbing it and rolling, pointing up toward the man as I fired, fearfully holding my breath.

  I heard the snap of his crossbow firing and I heard him let out a harsh cry as the bolt I’d shot at him sunk into his neck. He fell, dropping from the boxes where he landed on the ground in growing pool of blood.

  With trepidation, I turned back to Cael, fearing the worst.

  Somehow, she looked unharmed.

  Lorst stood nearby, a surprised look on his face as he clutched his stomach.

  Then I heard the Elvraeth laughing. In spite of everything we had been through, I knew that we were all dead.

  * * *

  “After all that, you let a simple crossbow kill you?”

  Lorst grunted and staggered forward a step before catching himself. “Not killed.”

  “You won’t get the crystal. You might Slide off, but even then you will not survive. Those were Neelish bolts.”

  I didn’t know if the sellswords dipped the crossbow bolts in poison the same as they did their swords, but the Elvraeth seemed to think that they did. What did that mean for my injury?

  Lorst attempted a Slide but seemed to fail. I could tell that he tried in the way that the light seemed to bend around him, faintly shimmering for a moment before he snapped back into focus. He grunted.

  The Elvraeth turned to face me. “I should thank you, Galen. Without your interference, none of this would have been possible. Young Cael there would have died in Eban, the crystal returned to the thiefmaster there. Eventually, the council would have come for it, and I would have lost my opportunity.” A wide smile split his face as he Slid a few steps toward me. “But now? Because of you, now I have no use for the Council.” He pulled the pulsing blue crystal out of a pocket and held it in front of him. “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to speak to the Great Watcher? What he might say?”

  I wanted nothing to do with the Great Watcher. How would I explain to him how I used the gifts given to me?

  “Are you certain that you’re willing to risk that, Josun?” Lorst said. His voice came out weak and in a grunt.

  The Elvraeth pocketed the crystal again and Slid toward Lorst. Deep green eyes narrowed as he appeared. He pressed on the crossbow bolt plunged into Lorst’s stomach. Lorst bit back a scream. His hand flickered and he pushed against the Elvraeth. I could not tell if he staggered back a step or Slid.

  “You will die here. After everything you have been through, you fail here. And once I have used the crystal, the rest of your friends will fail too. No longer will you be able to protect them.”

  Lorst’s head bobbed forward, but his eyes remained fixed, glaring at the Elvraeth. “I may die,” he agreed, “but I will not do so alone.”

  And then I saw the three knives streaking toward the Elvraeth.

  He Slid away from one, but the other two hit, one striking his shoulder, sinking deep and tearing all the way through to the other side as if thrown with considerable force. The other skittered across his face, tearing a flap of his cheek free.

  Josun screamed and grabbed at his face with his good arm. He fell backward, tripping over the ground, and pushed himself away from Lorst. Another knife whistled toward him, striking him in the back. He cried out again.

  “You always underestimate me,” Lorst said. He sunk to his knees.

  I hurried to Lorst. Whatever we had been before had changed. I would help him if I could.

  But when I reached him, he pushed me away. “Don’t,” he said. “If you care for her, then save her. There will be other sellswords outside the warehouse. Move quickly.”

  “Let me stabilize the wound. I was apprenticed to Della for a time.”

  Lorst fixed me with a strange expression. “Why do you think I helped you?” He sagged, unable to hold himself up any longer.

  Ignoring his request, I knelt next to him and fingered the long end of the bolt. It bled heavily—more heavily than it should for the size of the wound. At least I knew the poison.

  My wound didn’t bleed as Lorst’s did. Maybe I was lucky and the bolt had not been dipped in poison like the one that struck Lorst, though the Great Watcher knew I had never been particularly lucky. More likely, it was a different poison, one I hadn’t started feeling the effects of.

  I grabbed the jar of parsap out of my pouch and smeared it on Lorst’s wound. The thick sap might stabilize it long enough to staunch the bleeding. I just needed to get him to Della’s house and I might be able to help him, certainly more than I could do here.

  “Can you Slide one more time?” I asked.

  Lorst swallowed hard and blinked his eyes toward me.

  “To Della’s house. I might be able to help. Just get me back there and—”

  He shook his head once. “Too hard. Too hard to take you with me.” He swallowed. Blood dripped from his nose, and a dark bruise already started working up his face. I wondered when he’d been hit. “Just me, Galen.”

  With a scream, he shimmered as he attempted to Slide. For a moment, I thought he might fail, but then the shadows enveloped him and he disappeared, leaving me kneeling in front of a pool of blood.

  I hurried to Cael and tilted her head back. Her eyes blinked open, and she smiled weakly.

  “Back for another kiss?” she asked.

  I breathed out a relieved laugh. “Eventually.”

  Her eyes saw the crossbow bolt in my shoulder. “You have to stop doing that.”

  “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe,” I said.

  “I know you will. That’s why I let you come.”

  “I thought I offered to come?”

  She smiled again. “Is that what you thought?” She coughed weakly and turned away from me, looking over to where the Elvraeth lay sprawled on the ground. “You must get the crystal for me, Galen.”

  “And then we leave.”

  She turned back to me and smiled. “After this, there should be no problem seeing you restored.”

  “You know I don’t care about that,” I said. “I never have.”

  Cael shook her head sadly. “You shouldn’t lie to a Reader, Galen.”

  This time, I swallowed. I turned away from her and hurried to the Elvraeth stretched across the ground. I checked his injuries quickly, finding a thready pulse. One of Lorst’s knives stuck out of his shoulder and I pulled it out. After wiping it on Josun’s shirt, I pocketed the knife. Then I checked for the crystal, searching the pocket I had seen him place it into.

  It was gone.

  * * *

  Somehow sitting chained to the chair, her hair hanging over her face and mouth split, Cael still looked beautiful. Faint light started filtering through one of the windows high overhead. Soon enough, it would be day. And she would return to the palace, finally free of me.

  She didn’t need to Read me to know what had happened. “Lorst,” I said.

  I didn’t know how—probably when he pressed him away. Possibly that had taken all of his remaining energy, or at least enough that he had been unable to Slide away immediately after that. The other possibility seemed less likely. Would Lorst have delayed Sliding away to help save us?

  Cael let out a soft sigh.

  “Why does he want it?”

  She shook her head. “Later.”

  She was right. We had to get out of here before the s
ellswords returned. Without any darts remaining, I didn’t have a way to keep us as safe, and I didn’t dare risk exposing Cael to Neelish poison.

  “You have to grab the bolt,” I said.

  She looked at me for a moment and nodded. It was not the first time I had asked her to heal me. Each time I hoped it would be the last.

  I leaned toward her and she gripped the shaft of the bolt. Since she was chained, I had leaned forward, groaning as the bolt tore through my shoulder as she ripped it out.

  “What will happen?” Cael asked.

  “I don’t know.” I had yet to feel the effect of any poison, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be anything.

  “Can you carry me?”

  I tried lifting my arm but found it useless. I could barely flex it. My fingers tingled uncomfortably and I suspected nerve damage of some kind. If I didn’t see it properly healed, my hand might never be the same.

  “Then you need to unlock the chains,” Cael instructed.

  Why hadn’t I thought of that first? I blinked, struggling to keep my eyes open. Had I accidentally sedated myself? It suddenly felt as if my mind moved slowly. I didn’t know whether that was from fatigue or something else.

  “Galen?” she said. Though her voice sounded distant, I heard the worry as she said my name.

  “Let me get you free,” I think I said. Cael nodded as if she understood.

  The chains were lorcith made and heavy. With my good arm, I tried lifting Cael and the entire chair, but couldn’t. A heavy lock bound the chain on her arms. A separate lock held her legs.

  Normally locks would not provide much of a challenge for me. I had made a career out of sneaking through doors and into places that I wasn’t allowed access, but usually I had a series of lockpicks and other small devices that would help. All of that had been left behind in Eban when I helped Cael escape.

  I grabbed Lorst’s knife. While the blade seemed too thick, the point pressed into the lock. I twisted, hoping to pop open the lock. Instead, I felt something begin to crack.

  I dropped the knife, fearing that it might be breaking. I needn’t have feared. Rather than the knife, the entire lock had small cracks worked through it. Strange. Most locks—especially those lorcith made—would not have broken in such a way. I picked up the knife and tapped it on the lock, sending pieces flying. Stranger still, as I looked at one of the pieces, I realized that it was not made of lorcith, but a metal that looked similar.

  The second lock broke the same as the first.

  I tried freeing Cael from the chains, but couldn’t do it. With only one good arm, I couldn’t get the chains around her. Worse, I felt as if I might pass out.

  “I can’t,” I said.

  Cael shook her arms. At first, I didn’t think anything would happen, but then the chains started pulling apart just enough for her to slide her hands free. She managed to get her legs out as well and slowly stepped away from the chair.

  “You’ll need to stand.”

  I tried pushing up, but slipped again. Taking a deep breath, I focused on my legs, willing them to hold me. After as far as we had come, I wouldn’t let Cael die here.

  Though unsteady, somehow I managed to stand. Cael slipped her arm around me. I could not help but think how familiar this felt, how I had so often ended up dependent upon her ability to see me to safety, in spite of the fact that I had made it my goal to return her to Elaeavn safely.

  “Haven’t you realized that we must do this together?” she asked.

  I hadn’t known that she Read me. Injured and fatigued, I suspected that my barriers were completely lowered. Already, I had intentionally dropped my guard with her. She had earned my trust many times over. And beyond that, I loved her.

  She kissed my cheek. Her lips lingered, and warmth spread over my face. Some hint of strength returned. “You know I feel the same.”

  We hurried along the column of boxes. I tried to remain focused but saw nothing to tell me that we were watched. I heard an occasional soft scratching sound, but it seemed distant and muffled. The air tasted thick with dust as we passed.

  “I don’t know how to get us out of here,” I told Cael. “Some kind of warehouse. Not sure what it is.”

  A moment passed before she answered. “This is an Elvraeth place. Some of the boxes have writing on them, markings directing who the boxes are for. Most are quite old.”

  I turned to look at the boxes, renewed curiosity helping to focus my mind. “Why would the Elvraeth leave them?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Who is Josun?” I asked. Cael steered me around a small turn in the boxes and in the distance was a narrow door. Cael either Read me and recognized it or she saw it as well.

  “One of the family.”

  “Would he sit on the council?” I asked.

  “He is too distantly related and would never sit at the council.”

  “Has he gone through the same ceremony as you?” I asked.

  “I thought so,” she answered. “I thought we all went through a Saenr. That we chose one of the crystals. After what happened here, I’m no longer certain of that fact.”

  Cael pulled us through the door and out onto the street. Gray, early morning light filtered through the clouds. The splashing of waves crashed nearby, mixing with the cawing of gulls. A steady sliding sound came from nearby…

  I turned my head and saw a sellsword making his way toward us. One foot dragged slightly through the dirt, sending a soft spray of dust up toward his boots.

  How had I heard first?

  With whatever energy I had left, I pushed off Cael and grabbed for the knife I had taken out of the Elvraeth. With a flick from my good arm, I sent the knife flying. It had none of the force Lorst managed, but still lodged in the man’s chest, knocking him to the ground.

  “We should hurry.”

  Cael looked over at the fallen sellsword. Her brow furrowed as she stared. “There are others. Two more.”

  I didn’t ask how she knew. “Where? Can you avoid them?”

  She considered for a moment and then nodded.

  We hurried. I don’t know how I managed to stay upright. With each step, weakness surged through my legs, threatening to topple me to the ground. Only with Cael’s help did I stay standing.

  Near one corner, I thought I caught sight of another sellsword. Cael hesitated and her body tensed. I suspected she used Compulsion but didn’t know for sure. Then we started off again. And finally reached the street.

  At this time of the morning, others made their way along the street. Most looked ready to work the docks. Men with thick arms had the stink of fish still clinging to them. A few women passed as well, barely paying us any mind. Weavers, with large throws of nets still draped over their shoulders.

  “Della.” I didn’t know if I spoke clearly. Her name came off my tongue numbly.

  Hopefully, it was only fatigue that claimed me and not poison. I didn’t have the strength to heal another, let alone myself.

  My mind drifted and the street blurred. At one point, I thought I was lifted, but did not think that possible. Cael muttered something to me, speaking softly as she said my name. A feeling of warmth trailed through me as I heard her speak, though I could not quite make out the words.

  And then I could no longer maintain alertness and drifted off.

  * * *

  I jerked awake. My shoulder throbbed, the pain reminding me too much of the last time I had been injured, though that had been healed by one of the greatest healers in Elaeavn somewhere far removed from the city. Shadows swirled around me as my eyes struggled to make out any shapes. I smelled the distinct odor of oil burning in a nearby lamp and heard the steady hiss of the flickering flame. There came a heavy creaking somewhere nearby and it took a moment to realize that I heard the stone of the walls settling.

  Pushing up, I looked around the room. My eyes seemed to have a film over them and I rubbed them. Large and sparse. Pale white walls. A large soft bed that I rested on. A basin
in the corner filled with water. Blood soaked bandaged lay in a clump near it. My pouch rested along the wall, open. Someone had rifled through it. Thankfully, I had nothing of value in there any longer.

  I didn’t know where I was, but this wasn’t Della’s house.

  My legs felt stronger. Not fully recovered but enough that I could hold my weight.

  A thin robe of deep blue covered me. The fabric was thaeln wool, exquisitely woven so that the usually rough fabric felt smooth and soft. A pair of thick slippers rested next to the bed, and I slipped them on to protect my feet from the chill of the floor.

  Muscles screamed as I stretched. I paused at my pouch, looking to see that nothing of my stores remained. I would have to resupply before leaving Elaeavn. And I would be leaving. As much as Cael wanted to convince me that she could restore me to the city, I had little hope she would succeed, especially now that the crystal was gone.

  The door opened as I stood. I leaned against the wall for support.

  Cael stood on the other side of the door, studying me. Dressed in a long, flowing gown of shimmering silk, I could not help but notice how it clung to her body. Hair had been brushed out and fell around her shoulders in loose ringlets, clean and shiny. She smelled of crisp soap and floral perfume. Only a hint of the bruising remained around her eyes as a reminder of what she’d been through. Otherwise, she looked well. Beautiful.

  She smiled.

  “Where am I?”

  Cael laughed with a soft lilting sound. “You are in Elaeavn. You are home.”

  Home. As much as I had wanted to return to the city of my birth over the years, could it really be home again?

  “If that is what you wish,” she said.

  What I wished was that I could be with Cael, that we did not have to worry about ancient crystals or Orly or Lorst. I would just like to be with her.

  She smiled again.

  “I was healed,” I said. She already knew what I was thinking.

  “There are many skilled healers here.”

  Here. And then I knew where she’d brought me. “I’m in the palace?” Without waiting for her answer, I raised the barriers in my mind. If I was within the palace, then there were Readers here who would know everything about me. It was one thing for Cael to know what I was thinking—even my barriers had little effect on preventing her access to my mind—it was quite another for every Reader in the palace to know what I thought. And felt.