The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  Brusus released the other man and gave him a kick that sent him running down the street. “Damn, Rsiran. I guess your time with Haern helped.”

  He swallowed and shook his head. How could he have killed a man? They had the situation in hand, and he hadn’t needed to harm him anymore, but there was a deep part of him that had wanted to. In spite of the revulsion, a darkness within him thrilled at what he’d done. Just like Haern had warned him about.

  Jessa took his hand and pulled on his arm until he turned to her. “You know what he would have done had he taken me,” she said softly.

  Was she hiding her own revulsion at what he’d done? Did Jessa look at him in a different way now that he’d killed this man?

  Not only this one, but the other, the one lying on the street, with Rsiran’s knife in his back. That one, at least, he could justify. Had he done nothing, the man would have pulled Jessa away from him. Tried to sell her to slavers. And the Great Watcher only knew what else he intended.

  “We should move,” Brusus said, pushing on them. “That one will go for friends. I’d suggest we not be here when they return.”

  Rsiran nodded numbly, pushing away the sense of lorcith. It receded from him slowly, as if the lorcith wanted him to remember what he’d done. When it was gone, he sensed the sword he held, Jessa’s necklace, and… nothing else.

  The heartstone was gone.

  Rsiran blinked. “It’s gone,” he said.

  “Gone? He can’t simply Slide, Rsiran,” Brusus said.

  He didn’t know if Thom could or couldn’t, but there were others in Venass who could. And they had so much as admitted that they detected it when Rsiran Slid.

  “He’s gone,” Rsiran repeated.

  He’d killed twice, and for what? They hadn’t even had the chance to find Thom and ask him about Venass. Worse, it was likely that Thom knew they were after him.

  Chapter 19

  “We need to keep moving,” Brusus said.

  Rsiran swallowed, looking at the dead men. Had Brusus known what he’d need to do? Was that why he’d pressed him so hard outside the city? He didn’t know that he would have felt as compelled to fight so hard and prove himself had Brusus not mentioned something so recently.

  Unable to think for a minute, Rsiran pulled on his knives, grabbing them from the air. He looked at them in his hands, the blood glinting off the lorcith blades. Had he not needed them, he would have left them there, but instead, he wiped off the blood and returned them to his pockets.

  And now he had killed. Partly because he had needed to, but partly because—if he were honest with himself—he had wanted to.

  “I’ve been to places like this, with men like that,” Brusus went on, motioning to the fallen men, “and if we linger here too long, word is going to spread. We can handle a little rumor, but if it gets out that there’s someone here with your particular abilities”—he tapped Rsiran on the shoulder—“we won’t need to worry about keeping ourselves safe anymore. Venass will think that we’re after them.”

  Rsiran shook away the growing concern he felt about what he’d done. That would be for another time. Like so much else, he needed to push it back and away, ignore it until he had time to spend thinking about it, time that he didn’t have now. Right now, he needed to focus on Thom and determine if he was still within the city, or if he’d gone somewhere else.

  Even within the city, Venass drew his attention. He looked over at the Tower, remembering the helpless fear that had burned through him when they’d been there last. That time, Rsiran hadn’t known if Jessa was safe, or if he would be the reason that something happened to her. Had he not managed to Slide through the lorcith walls… He couldn’t let himself think like that. He had managed to get past the walls. And he had managed to get to Jessa. They were safe.

  “We can go where I sensed him the last time,” Rsiran suggested.

  Brusus’s eyes narrowed as he started down the darkened street. Darkened to Rsiran, at least. To Brusus and Jessa, there would be different layers to the shadows. “Time to move,” he suggested.

  Rsiran heard the sound of boots across stone before he saw anything, and then saw the shifting shadows. He focused on where he had sensed Thom, pulling it into his mind. Carefully, he drew them forward in a Slide, knowing that if they emerged somewhere other than open space, he risked something happening to all of them.

  A man’s shout rang out as they disappeared from the street. He heard a whistling sound, and then they emerged.

  Rsiran readied all the knives he carried with him, preparing to push them if needed as his eyes adjusted.

  “Empty,” Brusus said.

  Rsiran relaxed his hold on his knives and looked around, trying to get a sense of where they might have emerged. The room was lit by soft blue light. Elvraeth light. The glow would enhance the eyesight of someone Sighted, enough where Rsiran even found that it benefited him.

  He had expected it to be a home, or a tavern, or something like that, but they appeared to be inside a room of an inn. A simple bed rested along one wall, and a trunk lay open at the foot of the bed. Brusus hurried to the trunk, but Rsiran doubted that anything would be there.

  Thom had expected them, and was gone.

  “Was he here?” Jessa asked.

  Brusus pulled a few things from within the trunk. He set them on the floor next to it. Most of what he withdrew were simple items: a length of rope, a dark shimmery shirt that reminded him of the one that Haern wore, a single knife—not lorcith made, he noted, and a small coin sack.

  “He left quickly. He was here, but he’s gone now,” Brusus said.

  Rsiran let out a frustrated breath.

  “You’ll find him again,” Jessa said.

  “Probably,” he agreed, “but I was hoping to have this over with. Find Thom. Then my father. And then Alyse. That’s what I need to do. And the longer she’s gone, the more likely it is that they’ll do something to hurt her. She might not have always been kind, but she’s still my sister.”

  “We’ll find her,” Jessa said.

  Rsiran wasn’t as certain, but he would continue to search. If they didn’t find Thom here, how else would he find her? Where would he look? Not the Forgotten Palace. He didn’t think she was there, but he might have to go back, this time with help.

  “Let me look around a bit more,” Brusus said.

  “There’s nothing here,” Jessa said.

  “Probably not, but maybe there’s something Rsiran can use to figure out where he might have gone.”

  “You don’t think he would have returned to the Tower?” Jessa asked.

  Brusus shrugged. “Still going to look.”

  He peeked under the bed and started reaching for something when he tensed.

  Brusus scrambled back and waved them toward the wall, raising a finger to his lips. “Away from the door.”

  “What is it?” Jessa asked. She spoke so softly that it sounded like little more than a breath of air.

  “Boots on the floor. They’re coming this way,” Brusus said.

  Jessa pulled Rsiran with her, and they leaned against the wall on the far side of the door. Brusus stood on the opposite side, his knives out and ready. Rsiran pushed on a pair of knives, leaving them hovering in the air. Even Jessa pulled the long-bladed knife that he’d forged and held it like a short sword. To her, it served as something like one.

  Voices drifted through the wall. Rsiran leaned his head against the wood and listened.

  “You sure it was them?”

  He recognized the harsh tone of Thom’s voice. If he’d returned, why couldn’t he detect the heartstone from him? He pushed away the lorcith and the alloy in Jessa’s necklace, and listened for the pure heartstone again. No, it still wasn’t there.

  But that was Thom on the other side of the door. He was certain of the voice.

  Had Thom learned some way to disguise his presence? If so, how had he known that he would need to?

  “You warned us how he can control metal
,” another voice said. “Didn’t say how. You know that Luke and Tolst are dead?”

  “Then you should have gone after him, not the girl.”

  “The girl is worth more. They all are.”

  “Idiot. You were to delay him. I told you what I was willing to pay.”

  “You’re not as consistent as them.”

  Jessa tensed, the knuckles of the hand clutching the knife going white. Rsiran rested a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back toward him. He didn’t want her to spring forward in her anger, not if Thom was on the other side with someone else. There was no telling how many others there might be.

  “Idiot,” Thom said again. “Whatever happened is on you, not me.”

  “I came for you, didn’t I?”

  Thom snorted. “You didn’t need to come for me. I could tell when he came near.”

  Rsiran’s heart skipped a beat. How would Thom know that he was near? He’d made certain to shield his thoughts since leaving Elaeavn, using lorcith to fortify it. When they reached Thyr, he’d added heartstone to the protections as well.

  If that didn’t work, then he would be in danger of Thom Compelling him.

  Rsiran had thought that he would be safe, that he could keep his mind shielded, but what if the heartstone implanted within Thom allowed him to sneak past even those barriers? Would he manage to get past the bracelets that he’d made for Jessa?

  Would even Brusus be safe?

  They should leave. He should grab Brusus and get them away.

  But then he would lose the possibility of finding Alyse.

  The voices fell silent and Rsiran waited.

  The door swung open, and Thom leapt inside, sword swinging.

  Brusus had been ready and used his knives to block the sword. He forced Thom back, swinging as he went, slashing with a free knife.

  Another man barreled in behind Thom. He fell on Jessa.

  Rsiran froze.

  He needed to help both Brusus and Jessa. And he thought that he could, but doing so wouldn’t be clean.

  After kicking the door closed, he flicked one knife at the man who had wrestled Jessa to the ground. The man grunted and stopped moving.

  At the same time, he sent two other knives that slipped past Thom. Rsiran pulled on them, reversing their direction. Had he not spent so much time practicing with Haern, he wasn’t entirely certain he would have been able to do it.

  Thom’s head jerked back, and he raised his hands.

  Brusus slashed at Thom. Blood stained his shirt, and Brusus held onto his side. They would need to return and get help from Della. Brusus shook his head, as if Reading him, but Rsiran didn’t think that he had. With his barriers in place, he knew at least that Brusus couldn’t Read him.

  “Clever,” Thom said. “Didn’t think you’d be able to find me here.” He seemed more at ease than a man with a pair of knives at his gut and another pair hovering near his throat should be. “Didn’t think you’d risk coming here, though.” He tipped his head to Brusus. “And good to see you, Brusus. It’s been too long…”

  “Not long enough,” Brusus said. “You’re going by the name Thom now?”

  Thom shrugged. “I go by many names, Thom is only the most recent.” Thom glanced at the man on the ground and Jessa kneeling next to him. She held her long-bladed knife toward Thom. He smiled as he saw it. “I think you’re safe here, Jessa. Not my choice to try and sell you.” His eyes narrowed, and Rsiran suspected that he tried to Compel her.

  Jessa shook her head. “It won’t work on me,” she said.

  “No. I see that it will not,” Thom said with a frown.

  “I need to know where my father is,” Rsiran said.

  Thom swung his gaze around to look at Rsiran. “Your father? Didn’t think you two were on such terms that you’d risk yourself to come after him. Besides, when Venass summons, you’ll get to see him soon enough. Maybe this time you’ll answer. You won’t find the rest of Venass as accommodating as I am.”

  Rsiran glanced over at Brusus, hoping his wounds weren’t too serious, then turned back to Thom. “I think you violated the terms of the summons when you attacked us.”

  Thom tipped his head to the side, the smile never changing. “Did I? Venass rarely promises safe passage, and if they do, there are other stipulations.” Shaking his head, he went on, “You made a bargain in exchange for an antidote.” His gaze flicked over to Brusus. “And one that appears to have worked. But you have failed to fulfill your side of the bargain.”

  Rsiran bit back his retort. Sharing that Brusus hadn’t needed Venass’s antidote would only reveal Della, and he wasn’t willing to do that. At the same time, he hated that Thom was right. Venass hadn’t promised him safe passage, only the antidote. They hadn’t endangered him, either, but that was more likely because he had something that they wanted.

  “Where is he?” Rsiran asked.

  Thom shook his head. “You think your threats are going to work on me? You don’t understand the Tower, Rsiran, but you will. They’ve already begun to claim you. Once they do, there is no coming back.”

  “Haern came back,” Rsiran said.

  Thom’s smile faltered a moment. “That one. He never really belonged, did he? He always thought that he was above the mission, that he could somehow avoid the calling.”

  Rsiran pointed to the scar on Thom’s face. “You could too. Remove that—”

  Thom laughed, a dark and horrible sound. “Remove? When it’s given me so much?”

  “How did you know we were here?” Brusus asked.

  Thom glanced at Brusus and then nodded to Rsiran. “That one doesn’t guard his thoughts nearly as well as he thinks. There are times,” he went on, “when he simply screams. Surely you’ve heard it, Brusus? Maybe you’ve chosen not to share? You always did have your own agenda, even when you were working with others.”

  “Don’t,” Brusus said, his voice flat. “You will not divide this group as you have so many others.”

  Thom smiled again. “No? Look at him, Brusus. See how he considers what I said, and whether there is any truth in it.”

  “Rsiran knows all that I know, Thom.”

  “Truly? Does he know the way that you search for your mother, as if she still cares to find you? Does he know how it drives you?” Thom sniffed. “You’re so weak, Brusus. Always so predictable.”

  “And if you think you can use my friends against me, then you’re wrong.”

  Thom stood across from Brusus, the edge of a smile pulling at his lips. For long moments, neither of them spoke. “What now, Brusus? You intend to take me back to Elaeavn, and think that there’s anything that they can do to me there that I fear?”

  Brusus started to answer, but Rsiran had had enough. He grabbed Thom and looked over to Jessa. “Stay safe. I’ll be right back.”

  Her eyes widened and she nodded once.

  Rsiran Slid.

  They emerged outside Thyr, standing on the rocks overlooking the city. Rsiran immediately pushed a pair of knives toward Thom, holding them against his neck, keeping him from moving.

  He stumbled back a step. The confidence that he’d shown faded a moment. “Do you really expect me to believe that you intend to harm me?”

  “I don’t care what you believe,” Rsiran said. He Slid forward a step, anchoring to his knives as he did. He wasn’t sure whether there was anyone here who could disrupt his Slides, but he wasn’t going to risk it. “You aren’t going to harm Brusus, and you can’t Compel Jessa. And me?” he said, Sliding forward another step. “I’m willing to do whatever I need to keep my friends safe.”

  “Throwing me from these rocks isn’t going to get you the answers that you want,” Thom said. “What good am I to you if I’m lying in the river dead?”

  “Who said I wanted to throw you into the river?” Rsiran asked.

  Thom frowned. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “A demonstration. I know Venass thinks they can control me. Just like the Forgotten think they can control
me. If you’re unwilling to tell me where to find my father, then I will follow through with my alternative plan.”

  “Which is?”

  Rsiran nodded to the west. He could sense the pull of the heartstone from here, almost as if he could see it if he closed his eyes. “I’m sure there are those among the Forgotten who would be interested in learning what you’ve done to yourself.”

  Thom smiled slightly. “Do you think that I fear the Forgotten?”

  Rsiran was gambling here, but it was the only answer that really made sense given what he’d gone through. It was the reason Venass hadn’t attacked the Forgotten yet. Something prevented it, if only Rsiran could learn what it was. “I think that you fear something about them, and that’s the reason you went to Venass in the first place. Maybe even the Forgotten didn’t want you, or maybe there’s another reason, but you do fear them. Why else would you go through what you did?”

  Thom’s dark smile returned. “You know so little, Rsiran. You think that you can Slide here, and that you can pull me with you, as if I feared what you could do to me. Always so shortsighted. There are powers you don’t understand, powers that exceed even your abilities.”

  “Did you take her?”

  Thom tilted his head. “Her? If you’re not faster, you’ll lose your Jessa. But if you would trade, and this is really about your father…”

  “Where is he?” Rsiran demanded.

  “Ah, you think I can share. Not yet. You have something to find first. But perhaps you should ask where your friends have gone,” Thom said.

  Rsiran paused, listening for lorcith. Jessa and Brusus were where he left them, weren’t they?

  “I won’t ask again,” Rsiran said. “If you don’t tell me, then I might see how you would like meeting with a woman named Inna.” The corners of Thom’s eyes twitched. “You recognize that name, don’t you? I’ve experienced her first hand, so trust me when I tell you that if she comes after you, there will be little that you can do.”

  Thom snorted. “Still don’t get it, do you Rsiran? This is bigger than me. Venass is bigger than me. You might Slide me away and leave me trapped with the Forgotten, but how can you be certain that isn’t their plan? How can you know that all of this isn’t their plan? Ask Haern. He’ll tell you what they can See.”