The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  As much as he could fortify the barriers in his mind, he couldn’t prevent Jessa from knowing what he was thinking. And even if he could, would he want to?

  “What about the alchemists?”

  “Did they see you?”

  Rsiran frowned. “They saw me Slide away. But if they learn of someone Sliding out of the palace, they’ll make the connection. Eventually it will come back to me.”

  Jessa patted him on the chest. “Eventually. That means you don’t have to worry about it now, so let’s take care of one problem at a time. Maybe we can even tie them together, convince the alchemists that Josun was the one to enter their guild house.”

  Rsiran took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She was right. The alchemists should be the least of his worries right now. Once they figured out what to do about Josun—if they managed to figure out what to do—then they could focus on the guild, maybe even do as Jessa suggested.

  “Besides, if we fail, you don’t really have to worry about them,” Jessa said with a laugh. “So… where now?”

  “We have to make it look like we’ve left. I’ve already cleaned up what I can from the smithy. I want to move a few of these other lorcith items so that it looks like I’ve really gone. And then…”

  “Where do you want to take the lorcith?”

  “Well, we want to play into his expectations, right? Wouldn’t he expect me to take it to Brusus?”

  Jessa smiled and nodded. “Good. And since he’s still sleeping off the orphum, you have time.”

  Rsiran bundled up the remaining lorcith-forged items scattered across the table, not bothering with anything made of iron or steel. Only the lorcith would be valuable if discovered, and Josun would expect him to take it. After stacking them, he looked at Jessa.

  “Wait for me.”

  She frowned. “You’re not leaving without me.”

  “No. Just going to take this to Brusus. Then I’ll be back for you and we can decide what we need to do next.”

  “Together.”

  Jessa’s eyes flickered brighter as she studied his face. He wondered what she saw there. But he wouldn’t leave without her. More than anything, he needed her.

  He nodded. “Together.”

  Chapter 27

  Rsiran emerged from his Slide empty handed. Thankfully, Brusus had been asleep. He made certain to hide the items in a corner where Brusus would see them, but not so openly that anyone could discover them. Then, as promised, he returned to his smithy.

  “Jessa?”

  He didn’t see her. Daylight started to fade, leaving a hazy gray light, but not nearly enough for him to see. He turned to the table, searching for the lantern, but didn’t find it. Rsiran frowned. Why would Jessa have taken the lantern? But as he turned, he realized something else was off. The sword that had been resting alongside the table was missing.

  With his focus on Sliding to Brusus’s house and returning, he hadn’t paid any mind to the sword. Jessa wouldn’t have taken the sword from the smithy; he had intended to keep it with him.

  Worry knotted his stomach. Jessa had been the one to want him to wait for her, but now she was gone. Rsiran had only been gone a short while. Long enough to drop off the lorcith items at Brusus’s home, but not long enough for her to have gone far.

  What if someone had come by the shop? Shael had come by several times over the last few weeks. Could he have stopped by? Or Haern, returning from whatever he intended? When he’d stopped at Brusus’s house, he’d heard him snoring off the effects of the orphum vapor. And Della had never visited his smithy. She likely didn’t even know how to find it.

  Rsiran steadied his breathing. He could find Jessa easily. Pushing away all other distractions, he listened for the lorcith in her charm. Normally, he sensed it easily.

  There was nothing.

  His heart skipped. What would make him unable to find the charm? The alloy could mask it, but she’d have to have gone some place with enough of the alloy to hide it. And coals hot enough could probably destroy it, but Jessa wouldn’t do that.

  But there was another possibility. One that scared him the most.

  He would not be able to feel the lorcith from a great distance. Certainly not a piece as small as the charm.

  Hurrying to the table, he sorted through it until he found one of the iron lanterns he’d made. After quickly filling it with stale fish oil from a dusty bottle in the corner, he lit it. Soft orange light flickered to life, pushing back some of the shadows within the smithy.

  He carried the lantern over to examine the door. It was unlocked. He frowned, twisting the lock until it clicked. Jessa would not have left without locking the smithy. Unless she didn’t leave of her own accord. But he still should be able to detect the charm he’d given her.

  The sword. Of all the things he’d made, he could always feel the sword.

  Closing his eyes, he listened for the sword. Long moments passed before he finally heard it, someplace far away.

  He almost Slid, chasing the sword, but then he thought better of it. Jessa’s warning sounded in his mind, reminding him to think things through more carefully. No answers came. If someone like Haern, or even Shael, had come, she would have waited for him, knowing that he would soon return.

  As much as he hated to think it, he knew Josun had taken her. Hell, he might even have been hiding near enough to Read or Listen to them as they planned. If she were still in the city—and she couldn’t have gotten too far on foot in the short time he’d been gone—then he would have been able to sense the charm. That he couldn’t meant Jessa was in danger.

  He needed advice. What he considered doing—following his sense of his sword, Sliding blindly until he found it—would be dangerous. But who could he ask?

  Brusus still slept. And even were he to wake him, he didn’t know whether he trusted Brusus’s judgment right now. With what happened to Lianna, would Brusus remain able to carefully consider what he needed? For that matter, could Rsiran?

  But he knew who could.

  Rsiran glanced around the smithy for a moment, debating whether he should take anything else with him. Other than the crate of lorcith, mostly untouched since Shael brought it to him, there was nothing that couldn’t be easily replaced.

  Then he Slid.

  Rsiran emerged in Della’s house. A soft smoky scent hung in the air, mixed with a sharp, clean odor. Nothing like the soothing scent of mint he’d noticed when last here. He glanced at the chairs angled in front of the hearth, but they were empty. The fire glowed a warm red rather than crackling wildly in the hearth. Rsiran spun, looking for where she might have gone. He doubted she would leave her home with the fire still burning.

  Noise near the back caught his attention. He waited, one hand slipping near his pocket to remind him of the lorcith knives hidden there. Della came from the back, grey hair standing up all around her head, a turquoise shawl hanging loosely around her shoulders. She frowned when she saw him.

  “You were not to come tonight.”

  He thought the comment strange, but ignored it. He had other concerns. “Jessa is gone.”

  She paused and crossed her arms over her chest. “Gone?” Her eyes went distant. “Tell me what happened.”

  Rsiran shook his head. “We were… we were planning on making it look like I’d left the city. I had taken some of my projects to Brusus, and when I returned to the smithy, she was gone.”

  “You intended to engage Josun Elvraeth.”

  “I intended to do what was needed to keep my friends safe. One of the tchalit told Brusus about a palace break-in.”

  “Only now they are speaking of this?” Della seemed puzzled. She stepped behind her counter and began pulling out small glass jars from some hidden shelving.

  “This was different. They saw someone with a lorcith sword who then disappeared.”

  Her hands faltered, and she fixed him with a hard gaze. “And this was not you.”

  “I would not have gone back to the palace, and certain
ly not with my sword.”

  She closed her eyes and her breathing changed. “You think this was Josun.”

  “Who else knows how to Slide? Who else knows of the sword?”

  Della let out a soft sigh. “You also went to the alchemist guild.”

  “Did Brusus tell you?”

  She shook her head. “Not Brusus. He didn’t need to.” She sighed out a long breath. “A dangerous thing you did. The alchemists… You should know they are not like most other guilds. Ancient—as old as the smith guild, and there are those of the smiths who can trace their bloodlines back to the first of our kind. What did you hope to learn?”

  “I wanted to learn a way to protect myself from Josun.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And you think going to the alchemists would aid you in this?”

  “If I can keep him from Sliding to me…”

  Della turned away, tipping one of her jars for a moment. “That is what the Elvraeth once thought.” She picked up another jar off the counter and looked over at him. “And did you find anything?”

  “Haern was injured, and I think they saw me and—”

  “So not only does Josun Elvraeth pursue you, but now the alchemists will as well.”

  He nodded. “Jessa thinks that we can figure out a way to tie Josun to the alchemists.” But first he had to find her.

  “Rsiran,” Della started. “I wish I could tell you how this will turn out. Unfortunately, I cannot See anything other than a danger swirling around you.”

  “Della—” She had just revealed that she was a Seer to him.

  Her eyes opened. They were a bright green, deeper and darker than anyone he had ever seen before. “Do not ask, Rsiran. These are questions with answers you are not yet prepared to hear.”

  If Della didn’t want him to ask, then he wouldn’t. “What sort of danger?”

  She smiled at him tightly. “Would that I could answer that, Rsiran. But as Haern has told you, your ability to Slide masks you in certain ways. There are things about Sliders not easily Seen. That is why he struggled as he did with Josun when Brusus first began working with him, though he did not understand it at the time.”

  “Don’t the Elvraeth have all of the gifts of the Great Watcher?” That was what he’d learned as a child, the reason the Elvraeth could rule. They were given that right by the Great Watcher.

  Della just shook her head. “Each of the Elvraeth has some small amount of the gift, even if they never learn how to use it. This makes all the Elvraeth difficult to See, though it is nothing compared to one strongly gifted such as yourself.”

  “Haern Saw me more clearly when I went to the alchemists. That’s how he knew where to find me.”

  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.