The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  He could leave anchors, though.

  Rsiran considered dropping one of his knives, but decided to save it for later, for when he might have a greater need.

  The tunnel began to widen, and as it did, a faint color came to the walls.

  Lorcith.

  It glowed all around, slowly building with each step. Rsiran put the knife he carried away, no longer needing the light from it to guide him.

  Jessa frowned. “What is it?”

  He leaned into her. Sarah or Valn could be Listeners, but she needed to know what he detected. “Lorcith all around.”

  “Wouldn’t you have known if there was this much lorcith within the city?”

  He should have. That meant that wherever they were was either in some place where he couldn’t detect the lorcith—unlikely as that might be—or it was in a place where there already was a significant amount of lorcith.

  Either answer led to the same place: the palace.

  Rsiran strained his awareness all around him, searching through the lorcith in the walls, seeking the connection to it. If they were in the palace, or more accurately beneath the palace, then there would also be the heartstone that he detected when here. As he focused on it, he realized that it was above him as well.

  If they were with the Forgotten, had they managed to somehow burrow into the palace?

  If that was the case, why did they need him?

  Rsiran stopped and took Jessa’s hand. “I’m not helping you break into the palace.”

  Sarah paused and looked back to him. “Break in? What are you talking about?”

  Rsiran waved at the walls. “That’s where we are. Beneath the palace. Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

  “Of course we know,” Valn said with a grunt. “Can’t reach where we’re going without going through here. Not this way, at least.”

  Valn motioned for Sarah to follow and keep moving. Rsiran stood for a moment, debating whether he should follow, or whether he should Slide Jessa to safety. The longer he went, the less comfortable he felt.

  But nothing he did by Sliding to safety would help him find what happened to Alyse.

  That drove him in a way that surprised him.

  They continued onward, making their way through the tunnels with the light from the lorcith all around. How was it that he’d broken into the palace now twice, but the third time, he was led inside?

  And what would happen to him this time? The first time he’d gone to the palace, he’d been forced to nearly poison the council. The second time had been to discover what the Elvraeth protected, and to see if there was anything that he would need to do to keep it from Venass and the Forgotten. The third time… What would he be asked to do this time?

  Jessa patted his hand in an attempt to reassure him. He was thankful for it. Without her, he didn’t think that he’d be able to keep going.

  Or maybe it was worse than that. Without her, would he go rushing in, unmindful of the risk to himself?

  He sighed. Either way, she kept him safe.

  How long, he wondered, would he be able to keep her safe?

  Chapter 32

  Sarah stopped at an intersection in the tunnel.

  Rsiran realized that wasn’t quite right. The wall changed, no longer stone, and no longer glowing with the same white light. There was a subtle shift to the hue, almost a bluish light.

  He didn’t have to push away the sense of lorcith to know that this was alloy. And if they were beneath the palace, then this would be the strange structure outside the palace that they’d broken into in order to reach the palace. Instead of breaking in, now he was simply standing beneath it.

  Sarah pressed something into the wall—a slender length of alloy, he noted—and a section of the wall slid away. Valn stepped inside, disappearing.

  “You wanted to see your sister, didn’t you?” Sarah asked.

  “Not like this, Rsiran,” Jessa said. “You don’t know what’s on the other side.”

  But he did know what was on the other side. They had been in the palace before. He had Slid them away, using the sword as an anchor, even before he knew how he managed to do it. At least now, he knew that the alloy wouldn’t be able to prevent him from Sliding. If Sarah and Valn were Forgotten, or even if they were with Venass, regardless of what they might claim, they would know that the alloy didn’t obstruct him as it did others with the ability to Slide.

  “Come,” Sarah urged.

  She stepped inside. Jessa pulled on his hand, but Rsiran shook his head. “This is something I have to do. I can get us to safety. You’ll have to trust that I can.”

  “I do trust you. I don’t trust them.” Jessa sniffed at the pale white flower tucked into the charm.

  Rsiran kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll keep you safe,” he whispered.

  “I’m not sure that you can.”

  Rsiran swallowed, and then they stepped through the door.

  It slid closed behind them. Soft blue light glowed all around. Rsiran’s eyes took a moment to adjust but when they did, he nearly fell over. He’d been here before.

  The Alchemist Guild house.

  When Haern had mentioned that the map he’d found seemed to be directions to the Alchemist Guild, he wasn’t sure what to make of it. But it made sense.

  Rsiran thought about the contours within the map, the way the heartstone flowed. All of it had been familiar when he first held the brick after it came from the mold. He hadn’t understood why it would have been familiar, but now he thought that he did.

  It was a map for how to find the Alchemist Guild.

  Not only that, but the map—the contours that he detected in the grindl and had been recreated for him in heartstone—was the way to reach the guild through the tunnels beneath his father’s smithy. He could practically see it in his mind.

  But how would his father have followed it?

  Even for that, Rsiran thought he had the answer. Like Jessa, his father was Sighted. Had Jessa known what she was looking for, she might have been able to follow the map without him needing to make the form.

  Then what about the other scrap of metal that he’d found in Thyr? That hadn’t been a map, at least not one like the one that he’d discovered in the hut.

  Rsiran stared at the line of drawers. The last time he’d been here, he’d stolen from the Alchemist Guild and had nearly lost Haern. “I’d thought that they had forgotten,” he said.

  Where had Sarah and Valn gone?

  “The Forgotten?” Jessa asked.

  Rsiran could Slide from here. He’d done it before, so he didn’t fear that he wouldn’t be able, but why would they have brought him here? Did they intend to prove a point to him, to show him that they knew he had been the one to break in that night?

  “Not the Forgotten,” he said. He had been wrong about Sarah and Valn. They were neither Venass or the Forgotten. But they might be worse. “I thought they had forgotten, but apparently they didn’t.”

  “What are you talking about? Where are we?”

  The light began to increase in intensity, and he shielded his eyes. Jessa didn’t. Either the light didn’t bother her, or… it was heartstone alloy.

  A door opened. The light made it difficult for him to see clearly, but he sensed the change in the lorcith. Heartstone came with it. Not alloy, but pure heartstone.

  How was he able to sense both at the same time?

  “Rsiran Lareth,” a voice said. It was deep and carried. “We’ve spent a long time trying to find you.”

  He reached for Jessa and found her still holding onto his arm. He wanted to be ready to Slide if needed. “What is this? Why does the Alchemist Guild have my sister?”

  A man appeared from the blue light. He had a long face and a thick graying beard. In some ways, he reminded Rsiran of his father when he’d found him in Asador. Beards were uncommon in Elaeavn. Traders, and men from outside the city wore beards, but those within the city, especially those who wanted to impress the Elvraeth, made a point of re
maining clean-shaven. The man shifted a long, light blue robe around his shoulders and smiled.

  “You don’t deny that you’re him?”

  Rsiran shook his head. “Why would I deny? It seems you already know. You’ve sent your—” He hesitated, looking for signs of Sarah and Valn. Sarah stood against one of the walls, and the bright blue light made it difficult for him to tell clearly where Valn had gone. He still sensed the lorcith, but it moved. Either Valn paced nearby or, more likely given the way the lorcith flickered, he Slid from place to place. “Your Slider and whatever she is looking for me.”

  The man smiled. “Whatever she is? I thought that with everything you’ve been through, you’d have come to appreciate the role of a Thenar.”

  “Thenar? That’s what you call them when they can detect Sliding?”

  The man glanced at Sarah. “Oh, she can do much more than detect, though from what I hear, she hasn’t had the same success with you, now has she. May I ask why that would be?”

  Could that be the reason that they’d brought him here? It seemed strange if true. They wouldn’t have needed to bring him to the Alchemist Guild to ask, unless they wanted to prove something to him.

  “You can ask,” Rsiran said, noting that the bracelets on his wrists went cold. The last time he’d felt them go cold had been while in the smithy. Someone, either here or hidden where he couldn’t see them, was trying to Read him.

  He watched the man’s face, but it remained neutral, only the hint of a smile present. Not him, at least he didn’t think so.

  “Where are we?” Jessa asked.

  Rsiran looked over to her. With the blue light all around, she had an ethereal glow about her, making her look lovelier than he’d ever seen her.

  Jessa elbowed him. “Rsiran?”

  “This is the Alchemist Guild,” he said then nodded toward the man. “And I presume this is the guildlord.”

  It was a title that gave him even more power than almost anyone in Elaeavn other than one of the council. He’d never even seen the smith guildlord, though he knew that each guild had one.

  The bracelets flashed colder again.

  The man nodded his head. “Not the Alchemist Guild house, but close. And you may call me Ephram.”

  “Only Ephram?”

  He tipped his head. “Do last names matter?”

  “They do if you’re Elvraeth.” He gambled, not certain whether that was true, but the way that Ephram watched Rsiran left him with the impression that he had Elvraeth features that reminded him of Josun. That, and the fact that he attempted to Read him. Rsiran was certain that it was Ephram.

  Ephram’s smile tightened. “Now you make dangerous claims.”

  “How many of the guildlords are Elvraeth?” Jessa asked.

  Ephram turned to her, studying her. His eyes darkened as he did, and Jessa’s hand squeezed Rsiran’s briefly. He suspected that Ephram attempted to Read her as well, but the bracelets would have prevented it.

  “Interesting,” was all that he said. “You must be Jessa Ntalen?”

  “Where is my sister?” Rsiran asked.

  Ephram nodded to the end of the room, and Valn disappeared in a flash. Ephram paced a moment. “We have been searching for you for some time.”

  “Why me?”

  Ephram chuckled. “Asks the man able to manipulate lorcith and heartstone.” He watched Rsiran, but he made a point of keeping his face as calm as possible, not willing to reveal more than necessary. They might know what he was capable of doing, but he didn’t need to share anything that they didn’t know. “And who can travel through both. Such a man is dangerous. And useful.”

  “Others have tried to use me. They have failed.”

  Ephram nodded to Rsiran. “Oh, I understand that they have.”

  Rsiran cast a look toward Jessa. Were it not for the desire to see what they might have done to his sister, he would Slide away. “Which side are you with?”

  “Side? Doesn’t the guild side with Elaeavn?”

  “I don’t know,” Rsiran said. “If you sided with Elaeavn, you would bring me before the council.”

  Ephram pursed his lips. “And how would that serve Elaeavn?”

  Rsiran frowned.

  Colors shifted and he felt a soft surge of something like movement. Valn appeared, and with him, was Alyse.

  She looked different than she had the last time he’d seen her. Then she’d been dressed in clothing suited to Lower Town. She’d been carrying a basket full of fish, and had been working. None of it was what he would have expected from Alyse, not the sister that he had known.

  Now she looked… well. Her golden hair was pinned up, and she wore a deep green dress, cut to fit her well.

  When she saw Rsiran, her eyes widened, and her hand went to her neck to grab at the necklace that she still wore. It was lorcith—and pulled on Rsiran, now that he recognized it—and made by their father as a gift. It was the type of gift that Rsiran would never have received.

  “Rsiran?” Her voice was a near whisper.

  “Are you harmed, Alyse?”

  She shook her head. “What are you doing here, Rsiran? You shouldn’t have come… don’t let them—”

  With that, Valn Slid her away in a flash of colors and a shifting sense of movement.

  When she was gone, Rsiran focused on the sense of lorcith from the necklace that their father had made. It faded and then disappeared. Wherever they had taken her was likely surrounded by either too much lorcith, or enough alloy that he wouldn’t be able to reach it. It had been the same when Josun had taken Jessa to Ilphaesn. The lorcith charm she wore should have allowed him to find her, but surrounded by that much lorcith, Rsiran hadn’t been able to detect anything.

  “Where did you take her?” Rsiran demanded.

  “She is unharmed, as you can see,” Ephram said.

  “What do you want with me?”

  “We want your help.”

  “You think to get me to help by holding my sister hostage? Do you think that’s going to get me to help you with whatever you plan?”

  Ephram crossed his arms over his chest. “Hostage? We’re protecting her. Our plan is to serve the people of the city and to keep them safe. That has always been our plan.”

  Rsiran looked past Ephram to Sarah. The Thenar stood watching him, her dark eyes unreadable and a deep frown on her face.

  “Why me?”

  “We’ve already discussed the particular skillset that you possess, Rsiran Lareth. I’ll admit that I wasn’t certain, not until you demonstrated your ability so… clearly,” he said, his eyes sweeping around the room. The blue light had dimmed somewhat, but remained bright.

  “What was it?” Rsiran asked. “What did I take from here?”

  Sarah took a step forward. “You didn’t know?”

  “Know what?”

  She turned to Ephram. “Valn is right, Father. This is a mistake. If he didn’t know what he took, he’s not what you—”

  Ephram cut her off with a wave of his hand. “I think he’s exactly what we thought. Perhaps more raw than I realized. I thought your time on the streets had trained you more than this, but you have either proven lucky—and I doubt that given where I have seen you travel—or you simply do not fully understand the extent of your abilities yet.”

  “Where have you seen me travel?” Rsiran asked, his confusion—and frustration—rising. He’d done so many things since leaving his parents, almost all of which would lead to the kind of punishment that he once would have feared. Rsiran no longer worried about exile. Banishment—making him one of the Forgotten—would not hold him from Elaeavn. Even were the council to use Elvraeth chains on him, the kind of punishment he knew had been reserved for those with the ability to Slide, such chains no longer held him.

  But there were other punishments that he feared. Anything that might be done to Brusus, Haern, or even Della. And anything that would be done to Jessa.

  Ephram’s smile widened. “So many questions. And answers wil
l come, but after.”

  “After what?”

  “After you help us.”

  Rsiran stifled a laugh. “It seems you don’t want help, you want to tell me what to do. You’re no different than them.”

  “Not tell you, and we do want help.”

  “What kind of help? What do you want me to do for you that you can’t do yourself?”

  Ephram shifted his attention to Sarah and she nodded. “We have seen your ability to travel beyond barriers. The palace did not restrict you and it should. It is this ability we need.”

  “Why? If you’re Elvraeth, and since you haven’t denied it, I’m guessing you are,” Rsiran said, only vaguely aware of the way he was speaking to one of the Elvraeth. Once he would never have thought to speak so brazenly to them. “Then you know what’s inside the palace.”

  “Do you?” Sarah asked.

  Rsiran shook his head, backing up a step. “Yeah. I do. And I’m not taking anything from the palace for you, the Forgotten, or Venass.”

  Ephram focused on Rsiran, his gaze heavy and intense. “And you should not.”

  Rsiran hesitated. He’d prepared to Slide away. Jessa clung to him, so he didn’t fear losing her, and he could detect the distant sense of lorcith in the smithy, so he had the anchor he needed. Even were he not able to sense it, he thought that he could reach the smithy, anchor or not.

  “You don’t want one of the Great Crystals?”

  Ephram’s eyes narrowed. “Why would we want the crystals?”

  Rsiran laughed. “The same reason the others do. Power.”

  “You don’t understand, Rsiran Lareth.”

  “No, I think that you don’t understand. I’m not willing to be used. You’ve had your… daughter chasing me throughout Elaeavn, maybe outside of the city as well,” he said, thinking of what he’d detected when they went to Thyr. “And you’ve abducted my sister. I might not know where she is now, but trust me that I will find her. And I will get her back.”

  He turned to Jessa. “Are you ready?”

  She squeezed his arm.

  “Please…”

  This came from Sarah.

  The pleading note in her voice caught him off guard, and he paused.