The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  But he would try.

  He Slid, emerging as far north as he dared Slide in a single step. The Slide took more effort than he expected, straining him with the transition. The sense of movement was slower—probably from pulling two others with him—and colors streamed passed in swaths of browns and blacks. He’d often wondered whether the colors meant anything. Another question for Della someday.

  A wave of fatigue threatened him, but he ignored it.

  A cool breeze pulled at his clothes, filled with the scent of grasses and flowers. A wide plain stretched around them. In the distance, now to the south, Ilphaesn rose. The last time Rsiran had Slid this far, he was chasing the sense of the sword Josun had stolen.

  Thom gasped. “You’ve taken us past Ilphaesn in a single step?”

  “Which way?” Rsiran asked.

  Thom seemed to sense the urgency and looked toward the east. “East. We can reach the Thyrass River and follow it.” He pointed. “See that copse of trees over there?”

  The moonlight caught them like a smudge of darkness in the distance. Jessa probably saw them clearly. “I see them.”

  “That way. The Thyrass should be just beyond there.”

  After making sure they both held onto him, Rsiran Slid toward the trees.

  They emerged just at the edge of the trees. Rsiran made certain to keep them out of the shadows, not wanting to plunge too deep into darkness. After his time in the near perfect darkness of the mines, he hated anything that reminded him of it. At least in the mines, he had the sense of lorcith around him. Out here, the only lorcith he sensed was what he brought with him. And the distant pull of Ilphaesn.

  Moonlight streamed from overhead, filtering through the upper branches waving in the wind. Shadows stretched across the ground, dancing and flickering. Rsiran felt the same uneasiness he’d felt in the smithy.

  Jessa squeezed his hand. He wondered if she saw his unease or whether he’d tensed and she felt it. “See anything you recognize?” she asked Thom.

  Thom released Rsiran’s arm. He strode toward the trees and into the shadows, moving with a lithe grace that reminded Rsiran of the Neelish sellswords. Rsiran suddenly understood how dangerous Thom would be with his sword.

  “Moving this way will take too long,” Rsiran said. “Della said we have the night, but I’m not sure we have even that long.”

  Thom paused and looked back at them. “Della?”

  Rsiran nodded. “She’s the Healer helping Brusus.”

  He looked south, toward Elaeavn, and then nodded before turning toward the trees again.

  “What do you mean that we might not have the night?” Jessa asked as Thom disappeared into the trees.

  He shook his head, looking after Thom. Why was he going into the trees? “I saw the strain on her face after the short time we were there. It’s different for you. Sight, I think, works differently. You never get tired from it like I do when I Slide.”

  “You said it’s not as bad since you started practicing.”

  He nodded. “Not as bad, but not gone. It’s worse when I Slide farther distances.”

  “Or when you bring too many with you?”

  He nodded silently. “It’s the same for Della with Healing, I think. The more she does, the more she strains. And what she’s doing for Brusus is difficult. When she took her hands off him for long enough to grab the book, he started fading again.”

  “That’s why you want to hurry.”

  “We can’t lose them both. I worry about Della. For Brusus, she’ll push herself until…”

  Jessa squeezed his hand again and leaned into him.

  Thom reappeared from the shadows. The moon glimmered off his scar. His mouth tightened into a grim line, and one hand gripped his sword. A finger width of steel reflected the moonlight.

  “You said the river is through there?” Rsiran asked.

  Thom nodded. “Can’t see anything through the trees, but the Thyrass should be just beyond here. Can you move us past here?”

  Rsiran looked around, considering where to Slide next. He could see to the northwest or south, but both directions left them farther from Thyr than they were already. Going beyond the forest meant that he would Slide blindly. That was dangerous. “How far do these woods stretch?”

  Thom shrugged. “I couldn’t tell. Not just a copse of trees, though.”

  From where they’d come, it hadn’t seemed like any sort of forest, but Rsiran didn’t know the geography around Elaeavn well. Maybe he should have asked Della for a map. That might have been useful. But could he Slide based on a map or would it not be reliable enough?

  Thom shrugged again. “Not like your Aisl. But…”

  Rsiran sighed. Everything was taking too long. Time they didn’t have. Time Brusus didn’t have. And if he couldn’t get them to Thyr and back before morning, Brusus would die.

  Chapter 8

  Rsiran considered Sliding them to the north. Doing so might bypass the forest, but would also take more effort on his part. Already, he felt the strain each Slide took. How many more would he be able to make? Taking a detour might require more energy than he could spare, risking not being able to get them back safely. Had he been by himself, he might not have the same issue.

  The other option—Sliding blindly—worried him. If they emerged somewhere dangerous, it wasn’t just him he risked. It was Jessa and Thom.

  The ground was too flat for him to get a good vantage. He glanced to the trees, thinking about whether he could reach one of the upper branches, but decided against it. The branches wouldn’t support his weight, and he still wouldn’t be able to see where he needed to go.

  That left one option that made sense. He didn’t like it; doing so meant Jessa would be left alone with Thom. But he had to trust she could handle herself. Wasn’t that what she’d been asking him to do?

  “Thom—stay with Jessa. I’m going to scout the next spot.”

  Jessa frowned at him. He could tell from her expression she knew what he planned. “Are you sure that’s the right thing to do? Maybe we should stay together—”

  “I’ll find you.” With a soft touch, he pulled on the knife tucked into her waistband.

  Thom studied Rsiran’s face. “How long?”

  “No more than a minute or two.”

  Thom glanced at Jessa. His face was unreadable. “You’re looking for a wide river. When you reach it, go north to Thyr, Venass lies just outside Thyr. Once there…” He shrugged.

  Rsiran leaned toward Jessa. “Wait in the trees,” he whispered. “I won’t be long.”

  She smiled at him and punched his shoulder. “I’ll be fine.”

  He released her hand and Slid.

  Gauging the distance was difficult. From what he’d learned, moving blindly like this left him open to the possibility that he could emerge within a tree or a massive boulder, or buried in a hillside. Sliding required him to be able to move somewhat on his own.

  This time, he paid careful attention to the colors blurring as he Slid, trying to mark the distance traveled. Sliding by himself went more quickly, but when he’d traveled what he thought was the same distance as the last Slide, he held his breath as he emerged.

  Trees spread around him, one near enough that if he swung his arm he’d hit it. Had he emerged only a step later, he’d have been buried in the tree. His heart thumped loudly and sweat slicked his palms.

  No light made it through the dense canopy overhead. All around him were gradients of shadows. Rsiran sucked in a breath, tasting the air. Different from the scent of the sjihn trees, the forest here smelled of earth and decaying leaves. Skin on the back of his neck crawled, and he had the vague sense of something moving behind him.

  Rsiran didn’t wait and Slid again.

  He emerged at the edge of the forest. The darkness of the forest reached behind him, and a wide rolling plain stretched in front of him. A few small trees dotted the plain, but nothing else, and no sign of the river. He glanced behind him, and considered returning,
but if he could find the river by himself, they would be that much closer to Thyr… and help for Brusus.

  And another Slide, this time crossing the plain. In the distance, the terrain seemed to rise and get rocky.

  Another Slide took him to the rocks. The air smelled… wet? He paused. He should return to Jessa, but was that the sound of rushing water he heard?

  He Slid again, and this time, he emerged on a rocky slope. Massive stones scattered around him, lit by pale, silver moonlight, looking as if some enormous creature had thrown them around. Below him, a wide river flowed, splashing and burbling loudly in the otherwise silent night. Rsiran hoped this was the Thyrass.

  This was as far as he was willing to go. He’d been gone from Jessa for moments, but he didn’t like the idea of her left without him, not with a stranger she barely knew. Even if Brusus trusted Thom. And now that he’d been here, he could Slide back fairly easily once he had Jessa and Thom.

  He listened for the sense of lorcith, waiting for the pull of Jessa’s knife to call to him. For a moment, he couldn’t sense it. Something seemed to blanket his sense of lorcith, as if diffusing it. He couldn’t get a clear fix on the knife.

  Panic rose up in him, similar to what he’d felt when Josun had taken her. He steadied his breathing. Likely a simple answer rather than something sinister. He’d never tested sensing for lorcith on her from a distance, especially now that he’d crafted her a chain out of the heartstone alloy. Perhaps the heartstone blocked him in some ways.

  He strained, pushing through the strange fog obfuscating the sense of lorcith he knew was out there. And then, distantly, he sensed it.

  Using it as an anchor, as he often did with his forged pieces, Rsiran Slid.

  When he emerged, he had two of his blades ready to push at whatever might be blocking his sense of the lorcith knife. He stood within the trees again, just past the border of the forest. An owl hooted. Leaves rustled around him.

  His panic returned when he couldn’t see Jessa. He reached for the charm he knew she’d be wearing and felt it not ten paces from him.

  “Jessa?” he whispered.

  A shadow materialized. Had he been Sighted, he might have been able to see her before now. She stood, long-bladed knife in hand. When she approached, he noticed a wild and anxious expression in her eyes. Thom wasn’t nearby.

  “Rsiran?”

  “Where’s Thom? I think I found the Thyrass River. He said we could follow that to Thyr.”

  She shook her head. “There’s something out here. When you Slid, we heard it moving in the trees. Thom went to look. I haven’t seen him since.”

  Rsiran frowned. He couldn’t have been gone more than a few minutes. In that time, they lost Thom. The one person he knew who might be able to help them reach Venass and find a way to reach the antidote.

  “Where did you go?” he asked.

  “I heard something and thought I could find him.” She shook her head. “This place is strange, Rsiran. The trees seem to work against my Sight. Shadows slip around everything.”

  He frowned, wondering how that was possible. “Let’s get out of the forest and give Thom a chance to reach us.”

  “If he doesn’t?”

  Rsiran didn’t want to think of what they’d need to do if Thom didn’t return. He wouldn’t give up on helping Brusus—not now—but their chance of success went down without his help.

  They Slid back through the trees. When they stepped past the edge of the forest, almost a hard line where the trees ended and the grassy plain began, a knot loosened in his chest that he hadn’t known was there.

  Rsiran spun, turning to face the trees. A faint sound, almost a rustling of leaves, fluttered but no wind blew across his face. A sense of movement flickered in the forest. He had the vague crawling sensation on the back of his neck again.

  Jessa was right. Something was there.

  Rsiran readied his knives, but he couldn’t do anything if he couldn’t see anything. And so far, all he had was the sense of another presence.

  “What’s in there?” he whispered to Jessa.

  She stood next to him, one hand gripping the sleeve of his shirt. She knew from experience how quickly he could Slide them to safety. He always felt secure when she was by his side.

  But she wasn’t always there, was she?

  She hadn’t been there when his father had first pushed him out, telling him he wasn’t welcome… that he was cursed. She hadn’t been there with him in the dark of Ilphaesn, nothing but the sound of hammers striking at distant mines, only the call of lorcith for company. She hadn’t been there when the shackles held him in place on Firell’s ship, preventing him from moving. She hadn’t been there when the terrifying fear of failing her had nearly overwhelmed him. And she hadn’t been there when he’d had to confront…

  Rsiran shook his head. Where had those thoughts come from?

  He felt a tug on his arm and turned to see Jessa slowly sinking to the ground. A look of horror came across her face, making her eyes wide. Her mouth worked wordlessly. A light sheen covered her forehead. She stared into the forest, otherwise frozen in place.

  Rsiran grabbed her hand to keep her from pulling away from him. What did she see?

  What did it matter? He couldn’t see anything. Always blind. And Jessa made sure he knew that. Just like everyone else—his sister, his mother, his father, probably even Brusus and the rest of them. Made him wonder why he even bothered coming here, so far from everything he knew, risking his life, exposing him for… what, exactly? When had Brusus ever risked himself for Rsiran? Or Jessa…

  But Jessa had risked herself for him. Why would he think these things?

  A cold sweat washed over him as he understood. With an effort, he slammed a barrier in his mind, and then added to it the sense of heartstone. Doing this was different from using a lorcith barrier. With that, the barrier in his mind had always seemed imagined. Using the alloy—adding heartstone—felt like he dragged it from deep within him, an effort that he never had when pulling on lorcith.

  Without waiting another moment, he Slid.

  They emerged on the rocks near the bank of the river. The air smelled clear and crisp, no longer holding the edge of the forest, the sense of decay from fallen leaves. Now a gentle wind did blow steadily at him, fluttering against his clothes and rustling his hair.

  He listened, waiting to see if the terrible thoughts and fears would return. They didn’t.

  Hesitantly, he lowered the heartstone barrier. Holding that in place was more difficult than simply the lorcith barrier. Working with lorcith nearly daily, sensing it constantly, made it a part of him. He had no idea how he used it to enforce the barrier, only that when he discovered how to add heartstone to his mental barrier, even Della hadn’t been able to Read him. With heartstone added, he suspected it acted much like the alloy, preventing even the most powerful Readers from entering his mind. Or more than that.

  Jessa blinked slowly, as if awakening from a dream. Her eyes slowly narrowed, and she wiped a hand across her head. She let out a shaky breath and turned to look at him. She didn’t let go of his hand. “You’re leaving Thom?”

  He let out a pent up breath. It came out as a jagged sigh. “Not leaving him. Not yet. But there was someone—or something—Pushing on us.”

  Jessa frowned. In the moonlight, he saw her bite her lip as she did. No flower was woven into the charm tonight. She’d taken it out before they left, not wanting the scent to risk giving them away. One hand fingered the hilt of the knife tucked into the band of her pants. “Pushed? Like what you do with lorcith?”

  “Not like that. This is different. Like what Brusus does with everyone, but stronger. Darker.” A shiver that had nothing to do with the cold worked through him.

  Her eyes widened, and he knew she understood. “How do you know?”

  He looked back toward the forest. Part of him could sense that darkness back there, as if it still dipped toward his mind, threatening to Push the dark thoughts back in
to him again. The forest was nothing but a memory from here. He closed his eyes, thinking of the Slide, listening for lorcith. At first, he’d thought maybe Jessa’s heartstone chain had diffused his ability to sense it, but now he realized that wasn’t it at all.

  The strange diffusion of his sense of lorcith was still there, like a mist shrouding everything. He focused, trying to strain and pierce through the fog. This time, he had nothing to anchor to and he failed.

  Rsiran swallowed. “Didn’t you feel it? The pressing fear working through us?”

  Jessa’s eyes widened slightly, and he knew she’d felt it as well. He wondered what scared Jessa. Not the same as scared him. Did she fear being stranded in the dark, trapped within Ilphaesn with no way to escape, only her Sight keeping her from going mad? Or did she fear Josun’s taunts, words meant to frighten? Rsiran had little doubt the man had said plenty to torment her, but Jessa spoke nothing about those experiences. Maybe the fear she’d felt was older, tied to whatever had brought her and Brusus together in the first place.

  Whatever she’d felt, the way her face twisted told him she’d felt the same as he had.

  “How… how did you know?”

  “Those thoughts weren’t mine,” he answered. Not thoughts of Jessa abandoning him. She would not do that, not after all that they’d been through.

  But what had she seen? What left the edge of horror in her eyes?

  “We left Thom behind us. In there… with whatever did that to us.”

  Rsiran hated the idea of leaving Thom there alone. Would he be as susceptible as they had been to whatever Pushed on them or was he left alone?

  But worse than that, without Thom, neither of them would know how to reach Thyr in time. Neither of them would be able to find Venass. Certainly not before morning. And Brusus didn’t have any more time for them to spare.

  Rsiran turned to Jessa, but her face reflected what he felt. Both were already resigned to the fact that they’d failed.