The Darkest Revenge

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You have this to try to understand what he was punished for?”

  His father pulled the book back and closed it. “Not what he was punished for. I knew that he was exiled, but it’s who he injured that I’ve been trying to uncover. I haven’t been able to determine that, but I will.”

  Daniel stared at the book, barely able to take his eyes off it. He was tempted to go find Galen and see what he could uncover about the man, see if he would even be willing to share anything about why he’d been exiled, but it seemed to Daniel that would be a secret he’d prefer to keep.

  “This is all about Galen and Cael Elvraeth?”

  His father shook his head. “It’s not all about them. I’ll admit that it does make me curious about how he’s as skilled as he is. For someone who did not grow up around the politics of the Elvraeth, he manages it far better than he should.”

  It was high praise from his father, suggesting to Daniel that his father had decided to focus on Galen, which meant that he had turned his attention toward Cael Elvraeth and trying to remove her from her position of power on the council.

  “You haven’t said much about the attack,” Daniel said.

  “What is there to say?”

  “You’re not concerned about the crystals?”

  “Why should I be?”

  “If these Forgers attacked in the forest and were trying to reach the sacred crystals, we should all be concerned.” Daniel had never really worried about the Forgers. They were more of a distant sort of threat, one that his father didn’t believe in, so Daniel hadn’t believed in. If they were a real concern, the tchalit would have prepared for them, and they would have some plan for the possibility that they might pose a danger to others in the city. The fact that the tchalit ignored the possibility of the Forgers causing any real harm suggested to Daniel that they weren’t anything to fear.

  Strangely, he didn’t have that same sense from the people of Trelaeavn. When Lucy had returned from there in the past, she had often spoken of the ongoing preparations for another Forger attack. It was the reason Lareth was absent from the city. Supposedly, he continued to hunt the Forgers. Considering how powerful he was—gifted with enough abilities that he had managed to thwart the long-ago attack on the city almost singlehandedly—Daniel knew that his father believed it was a good thing that Lareth remained outside of the city.

  “I don’t know that we should be concerned. The crystals are safe, and any danger these attackers might have inflicted is peripheral. For all I care, they could have the forest.”

  “The forest is part of our lands, Father.”

  “It is. Which is why the tchalit spend some time patrolling it, though there is nothing of value there other than the trees.”

  Part of Daniel was curious about the Elder Trees. They were enormous and supposedly exuded power reminiscent of that of the sacred crystals. The one time he had ventured into the forest, his curiosity getting the best of him, he had not entered the clearing but had simply stared up at the trees. He had wanted to know where Lucy was spending her time, and when he saw the way the people of Trelaeavn lived, he’d felt nothing but disgust. Most of them lived within the trees, in homes built high into the branches and connected to each other by platforms. There were a few homes on the ground level, but those were little more than huts, places that were not befitting their people at all.

  His father watched him for a moment. “You still question the safety of the crystals.”

  Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know whether I should or not.”

  “Come with me.”

  His father stood, and Daniel followed him out of the room and down the hallway. They reached a series of stairs. His father said nothing as they went down, and Daniel respected the silence as they descended deep below the main levels of the palace. After a while, his father veered off down a long hallway. It was lit with small lanterns that glowed softly with a bluish light, almost as if from their own power.

  As they went, he realized that he had been this way before, though he hadn’t come at it from this direction.

  When they reached the massive double doors that arched overhead, his father paused, resting a hand on the lorcith handles. When he pulled them open, the bluish light of the sacred crystals radiated outward. His father stepped inside the crystal chamber. Inside, the air was still. There was a slightly musty odor, but it was mixed with a hint of a floral fragrance that seemed almost as if it shouldn’t be there. The floor was black tile, or perhaps the shadows just made it seem that way. The crystals sat on wooden pedestals arranged in a circle, creating a ring about ten feet across.

  “They are impressive,” his father said.

  “Our gift from the Great Watcher,” Daniel said.

  His father sniffed. “Most feel that way, but perhaps they are nothing more than a way toward power.” He walked around the ring of the crystals, his gaze lingering on them.

  Daniel wondered what his father saw. Supposedly when the crystals were ready to bequeath power, one of them would glow more brightly, pulsating, but Daniel had never seen it. Though he had been here before, he wondered if he ever would, though his father seemed convinced that it was merely a matter of time. It was part of the reason he brought him here periodically.

  There had been a time when visiting the crystals was considered a rite of passage, and while not all were gifted then, enough were that the power of their people, the gifts of the Great Watcher, had continued to live within the Elvraeth.

  “None of them are changing for me, Father.”

  “Give it time.”

  Daniel walked around the ring of crystals and saw the same thing he had seen every other time he’d been here. They glowed with a bluish light but did not intensify, and as he attempted to get close, he was pushed back.

  Only those gifted with the ability to handle one of the sacred crystals could do so. Otherwise, the crystals themselves seemed to refuse any attempt to hold them. It was why all who came here believed they really were the power of the Great Watcher.

  “None of them are calling to me.”

  “They will.”

  “Did you bring me here to force me to experience this disappointment again?”

  “No. I brought you here as a reminder that the crystals are safe.” His gaze drifted up toward the darkened ceiling. “The people of Trelaeavn might feel otherwise, but the crystals themselves would prevent anyone who is not permitted to reach them from doing so. They view themselves as their protectors, and while I disagree with that—and the fact that they feel that all should be given the opportunity to come before the crystals—there is no harm in their belief. Let them live outside of the city. Let the guilds reside outside of the city.”

  Daniel continued to make his way around the crystals, pausing before each one of them. There was said to be a different gift to each one, though without handling it, there was no way of knowing what gift he might receive—if he would ever be gifted anything. His father had been given increased Sight, but it was more than just his eyesight that had been enhanced; his insight had been too. According to his father, ever since handling one of the sacred crystals, he had seen the dynamics within the city in a different way.

  Daniel moved on, looking at the next crystal. Much like the last, it glowed, practically a taunt, a promise of power that he would never be able to acquire. Moving on to the next, and then the next, he stared at each one, waiting, hoping that one of them would begin to glow for him, but they never did. Every time he tried to step forward and reach them, something seemed to resist him. He even tried Sliding, but that was ineffective.

  Daniel turned back toward his father. “Your point is that the Forgers aren’t going to be able to reach the crystals.”

  “That is the point.”

  “Then why would they attack the Elder Trees?”

  His father shook his head. “I don’t have the answer to that, much like I don’t know why the people of Trelaeavn would believe the trees could offer protection. After the a
ttack, they used the trees to hold the crystals, but since we have rebuilt, there has been no need. You see why, don’t you?”

  Daniel held his hand out over the crystals, feeling a sense of power that he couldn’t reach. “I think so.”

  “Good.”

  His father motioned for him to follow, and Daniel did, joining his father at the doorway. Stepping out into the hall, his father cast a look back. “There are times when I think I might be able to do more with them, but it passes.”

  “What more do you think you’d be able to do?”

  “I’d like to hold one again.”

  “Only one person has ever held the crystals more than once.”

  His father’s face wrinkled in a tight frown. “Only one, yes. And he has an unpleasant grip on this city that I long to see removed.”

  “Lareth isn’t the danger. The Great Watcher knows he barely spends any time here anymore.”

  “And yet, his actions draw attention to us.”

  His father said nothing more as they reached the stairs. They climbed them in silence, and when they reached the landing, his father nodded to him. “That is all.”

  Daniel watched as his father continued up the stairs, leaving him behind.

  His father might believe the attack on the forest was nothing to be concerned about, but if Lucy had been there, then he would like to know what had happened. More than that, he’d like to make sure she was unharmed.

  Maybe it was time for him to pay a visit to the Aisl. After all, it had been long enough.

  7

  Lucy

  Movement in the forest caught her attention, and Lucy meandered along the stream. She enjoyed the peace and quiet out here in the forest, something that was rare within the city, but also rare within the heart of the forest. There was too much activity all throughout Elaeavn for her taste. If it weren’t for the fact that it was within the palace, she would almost enjoy the assignment her parents wanted for her.

  Glancing back, she watched for Haern. He had been convinced she was mistaken about having found a body, and that left her unsettled.

  Another shimmer of movement worked through her, and she Slid, following the river. The water was shallow here, and it should have been relatively easy for them to grab the body, but for some reason, the location of the corpse had made it difficult to get to.

  She glanced back again to see if there was any sound or sign of movement. There should be something, shouldn’t there?

  And yet, the longer she lingered here, the less certain she was that she had detected anything. Perhaps it had been nothing more than her imagination; but then why would it have seemed so much like someone Sliding?

  That was distinctive enough. There came with it a shimmery quality, a sense of colors streaking, and it seemed to vary in intensity based on how powerful the person doing the Sliding happened to be. Most of the time, she saw it as a faint stirring of light. Her own Sight and connection to her abilities were moderate, at best. Eventually she would have an opportunity to stand before the sacred crystals and hold one of them, but she had avoided it, wanting to continue to hone her own abilities before testing herself in such a way. Her time in the great library within the palace had suggested that those who mastered their abilities on their own before presenting for the chance to hold one of the crystals were gifted with greater powers.

  There came another shifting and shimmering, and she glanced back, looking toward the tree where she’d left Haern, but she couldn’t see him from this vantage. All she had to do was Slide back to him and she’d be able to help him pull the body from the river.

  She didn’t like the idea that something was happening along the river’s edge. Whatever she was picking up on was faint, but not so faint that she felt as if it weren’t real. On the contrary, she was certain that whatever she was detecting was truly there.

  Haern would probably be angry with her for abandoning him, but it wasn’t really abandoning him, was it?

  She watched, looking for signs of the telltale shimmering.

  There was nothing.

  Lucy had spent enough time around the guilds to detect Sliding, wanting to better understand her ability and what it meant for her. In that time, she had begun to get a sense for what it meant to be able to Slide. It meant something very different to the people living within the forest than for those within the palace. That wasn’t altogether surprising considering their history, but it bothered her that they couldn’t find common ground. Even her parents didn’t fully understand that, and it seemed as if they didn’t mind the fact that there was no common ground.

  Something cracked nearby, and Lucy jerked.

  She Slid, returning to where she had left Haern, but he was gone.

  She took a few breaths, looking around the clearing. It was probably nothing more than an animal, but the idea that something had been so close to her troubled her.

  She was being foolish. The forest wasn’t a scary place. The creatures that lived within the trees had never threatened her, certainly not in a way that made her uncomfortable. Most of the animals here preferred to stay as far away from people as possible, and she was perfectly content to give them that space. How could she not, considering that she wanted her own space while out in the forest? It was why she came here, searching for that solitude, that silence, and she enjoyed it.

  Haern would have started back, likely thinking she’d abandoned him. She took the path she thought he would’ve taken but got disoriented. The trees out here all seemed quite similar. She didn’t usually walk through the forest, finding it easier to Slide than to navigate across ground.

  Unlike Haern. He would have no difficulty finding his way back to the city. Though he might be frustrated with her, she figured he would understand, and before thinking too much about it, she Slid, emerging in the courtyard of the palace.

  If only she could Slide all the way into the palace. There was a time when her people had feared Sliding, something that irritated her. Why should she be restricted from easily traveling with her ability? There were others within the palace like her, others who had the ability to Slide, and they shouldn’t be restricted either.

  Once inside the palace, it was easy enough to travel from place to place. The heartstone was only along the exterior. She made her way through the doorway, ignoring the tchalit who guarded the entrance. There was no point in lingering there too long. They watched her, but they had long ago become accustomed to her comings and goings and no longer paid her much attention.

  Her Slide took her to the library, an enormous room with wall-to-wall books, and sliding ladders along the walls that allowed access to the upper reaches of the library. She emerged in the far corner, a section where she doubted she would encounter anyone else. She knew how infrequently anyone came here, most preferring to have the caretakers find things on their behalf rather than spending the time researching them themselves. Lucy didn’t mind burying herself in a book and certainly didn’t mind sitting at one of the small desks, a lantern resting on the table near her, flipping pages as she tried to understand some great mystery. Were it only someplace else, maybe she would have fewer qualms about the work.

  “The library is… oh. Lucy Elvraeth.”

  Lucy turned, clasping her hands in front of her and smiling at Jamis. He was an older man, his hair gray and his eyes a faded green, though she had heard he was once an Elvraeth of considerable power.

  “Jamis. I hope you don’t mind my visit.”

  “It’s not your visit I mind, Lucy. It’s your method of arrival that I take offense to.”

  She looked around the room. “Why?”

  “It’s not the Sliding that troubles me so much as the fact that you might appear right where I have just been.”

  She looked over to where she had appeared. “It’s pretty unusual for someone to be in the corner where I emerge from the Slide,” she said.

  “Unusual is not impossible. You should know that as well as any, Lucy.”

  She ha
d spent plenty of time working with him over the years and knew that he had an interest in the unexplainable. It was part of the reason she enjoyed studying with Jamis. Other caretakers had different academic interests, and quite a few of them seemed enamored with the time when the Elvraeth had ruled without any challenge. Only a few were like Jamis, curious about a different time, a time when their people had lived outside the city itself, within the trees. It was part of the reason she was so intrigued by what she had discovered about their people. It seemed to her there were secrets to their past that she had yet to uncover, the kind of secrets most of their people had no interest in learning about. It was part of the reason she enjoyed going to the forest, and why she would eventually want to head beyond it.

  “I will be careful not to Slide anywhere that might frighten you,” she said, flashing a smile.

  “That would be for the best. Have you come to assist me with my research?”

  “Not entirely.”

  “No? And why not? I thought you enjoyed my studies of Rsiran Lareth.”

  The other reason Lucy enjoyed working with Jamis was his interest in Rsiran. She hadn’t shared that with Haern, not certain how he would take it if he learned that she worked with one of the caretakers on studying his father, but she had an academic interest in trying to gather as much information about him as possible. That, at least, was how she testified to her parents about her reasons for heading outside of the city.

  “He was back recently.”

  Jamis paused, arching a brow. “He was, was he? I hear he has been traveling extensively.”

  “He always travels, Jamis.”

  “It is unfortunate. With his connection to the crystals, there is much we could learn from him.”

  “According to those who know him best, Rsiran believes he needs to ensure that the sacred crystals are protected from the Forgers.”

  “It has been nearly twenty years since there was any sort of attack. I think it highly unlikely that we will see another, especially as we have continued to prepare. The tchalit are more than capable of defending the main part of the city, and from what I understand of the guilds, they have remained vigilant as well. The crystals are safe.”