Daniel nodded. “Only since I first came across Carth, but my father had always wanted me to understand how to play similar games. To him, everything in Elaeavn was a game of strategy and positioning.”
“Which is why he just lost.”
“He did, but think about how long he maintained his position. With everything he’s done over the years, it didn’t matter. He has managed to stay ahead of the rest of the Council.”
And in doing so, he’d made sure that he had stayed in a position of power.
Daniel started resetting the pieces. In that game, there hadn’t been any way for him to win without making a sacrifice, but what if he tried another approach?
Eventually, he was sure he would find some way to play out the game without sacrificing pieces. He still didn’t know whether that mattered. It was just a game, and yet, the more he played Tsatsun, the more value he saw in it. He understood why Carth appreciated the game as much as she did, and he thought he understood why she treated it as something more than just a game.
“We should go back,” he said.
“If you need to try again, you can.”
“I don’t know that it’s going to help me find out anything more.”
“I suppose I could play out with you,” she said.
“Then I definitely don’t know that it will help.”
She laughed softly and went to sit across from him. She quickly placed the game board back into the starting position. Rayen took the first move, and Daniel stared at the board, analyzing the various possibilities. He wasn’t as quick as Carth, but in her case, it was a matter of memorizing the various movements she might make. In this case, he wanted to try something other than mere memorization. He wanted instead to find out whether he could succeed if he applied a specific strategy.
It involved taking a less aggressive approach. That had never suited his style of play, but then, his father had taught him to play aggressively Rather than applying his father’s method, Daniel needed to come up with his own.
What if he made moves based on grouping similar pieces together—as if he were moving one Council?
Surprisingly, doing so allowed him to frame the Stone in a different way than he had expected. He surrounded it and thought that perhaps he would be able to hold it.
Then Rayen moved forward.
She was playing aggressively, the way he normally did, and she wasn’t playing with any intention of holding back, not trying to keep from sacrificing pieces.
Rayen smiled at him. “You are applying an interesting technique.”
“Am I?”
“I’ve seen Carth play like this before, but never so tentatively.”
Daniel slipped one of his pieces forward, needing to barricade it behind another. If he didn’t, he would have lost the piece—Rayen would have been able to remove that one along with quite a few others. Holding out here allowed him to defend and maintain a certain safety.
“Not so much tentative as it is playing cautiously.”
“Cautious and tentative are the same thing.”
“Not exactly. Tentative would mean I’m afraid of making a move. In this case, I’m taking my time to consider the various options and positioning my pieces so that I have the greatest likelihood of success.”
“Do you really believe you can replicate what Carth has done?”
“Play without sacrifice?”
Rayen nodded.
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Sometimes, seeing it from a unique perspective is all that matters. I think even Carth would say that. She might win most games she plays, but even she has weaknesses.”
The times he had played with her—especially as his skill had improved—he’d never known Carth to have weaknesses to her game.
“What do we know about Olandar Fahr?” Daniel asked. “When it comes to Tsatsun, what sort of style of play does he favor?”
“I don’t know. Carth claims she’s played him, though I don’t know if she’s played him in an actual game or if it was more a real-world type of setting.”
For Carth, either would be gameplay.
Daniel thought about what he knew of Olandar Fahr, the way he’d used the Ai’thol. He’d sent them to attack, maneuvering them in a way meant to overpower the defenses on this side of the world.
“Something about this doesn’t quite make sense,” he said, staring at the board. Something was off—though what was it? It had to be more than a matter of the strategy.
How would the game play out if he focused on bundling the various pieces together?
He shifted them around. Rather than lining them up in a traditional setup, he held them in place so he could position the pieces to get a better sense of how things would play out were he to go about this from a different direction.
“What are you doing?” Rayen asked.
Daniel started maneuvering the pieces. There were five clusters of pieces on either side of the board.
Somehow, that didn’t make complete sense. If he were to use the pieces in order to play the same way the councils would, the clusters and the number of pieces represented by them would be significant. It had to be, didn’t it?
He tried maneuvering them, no longer trying to ensure he didn’t sacrifice all the pieces, but even playing in that manner didn’t make a difference. After a while, he sat back in frustration, staring at the board. No answers came to him.
“I’m missing something.”
“Why did you try it like that?” Rayen asked.
Daniel waved his hand at the board. “I’m trying to set up a play that would be similar to the various councils.”
Rayen leaned forward, staring at the board for a moment. “You have ten different councils. I thought we heard there were five.”
“There are five.” He motioned, indicating the five on one side.
“But in the way you have this set up, there are five on either side.”
Daniel leaned back, smiling to himself. “I didn’t say it was a perfect system. In fact, I’m probably way off when it comes to this.”
“It seems to me you’ve latched on to something.”
“I think I need to talk to Carth.”
“Even if you’re right, we still don’t know what to make of the fifth stone.” She grabbed five of the pieces, holding them. “But say you are right and this is what he’s after. We know there are five seats on the Council of Elders, and those five seats will allow us to do… what?”
“According to Carth, they thought it was a matter of power, that by maneuvering the pieces, that they would gain the power of the Great Watcher.”
“You don’t think so?”
“Honestly? I’m not really sure what to think. I’m probably reading too much into all of this at this point. Tsatsun is designed to play out in a way that gains control of the Stone. If it is tied to the Elder Stones”—and he wasn’t even sure if it was or if he was simply reading far too much into things—“the game isn’t won by having the Great Watcher—the Stone—taking control the other pieces. The game is won by having the other pieces maneuvering in such a way that they’re in control of the board.” Which meant either he was way off, or what they believed the Ai’thol were after was wrong.
Daniel shifted the pieces back into place once again, resetting the game board. This time, he placed the pieces around it back into their traditional locations. He stared at the board, his mind racing, trying to work through various scenarios, but the longer he stared, the less it felt as if he could come up with anything that would explain what was taking place.
Perhaps he wouldn’t be able to understand.
Rayen was right. They did need to take things one step at a time. If he could figure out what stone Olandar Fahr was after, there was a real chance they could stop him. Seeing as how Carth knew the locations of the other Elder Stones…
“We need to go to the other stones,” he whispered.
“What?”
Daniel stared at the board.
“I think… I think we need to go to the other stones.”
“You’ve been in Nyaesh and know that one of the stones is there. You have now been to the chamber of shadows.”
Daniel nodded. And he had been to the wisdom stone. “You mentioned that there was another Elder Stone you’re aware of.”
Rayen watched him for a moment. “Why?”
“I think we need to visit it.”
“Daniel, what you’re asking is for—”
“You to show me where one of the Elder Stones can be found.”
“What happens if you get to it and decide you want its power?”
“I don’t know that its power will make a difference to me.”
“Are you so sure?”
“When I was influenced by the chamber of shadows, I wasn’t given much. It’s added to my ability to Slide, but even that isn’t all that dramatic.”
“Not all that dramatic? The way you now use your ability is far different than how even Lareth does, and from everything I hear from your people, he is the most talented among you with that ability.”
Daniel nodded. Lareth was incredibly gifted with Sliding, but part of it came from his control over the metals, not just lorcith but heartstone and others. It had changed his connection to Sliding, much like how his connection to the shadows now gave Daniel the opportunity to trail along them in a new way.
“That’s just it—I don’t know having access to one of the stones even made a significant difference to me.”
Rayen glanced down at the game board. “I’ve seen how those who acquire one of the Elder Stones change, Daniel Elvraeth. There is much different about them. Power changes everyone.”
“And yet, it’s strange, but when we went to the chamber of shadows, there wasn’t much changed for me.”
“You doubt going to one of the other Elder Stones will change you.”
“What if there’s something about me—or my people—that prevents us from gaining the benefit of the Elder Stone?” The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed than anything else. If it was something about the people from Elaeavn, the fact they were touched by the Great Watcher anyway, could that be why they didn’t seem to take on dramatic changes when they were around the other Elder Stones?
Rayen looked up from the board. “I will show you this.”
Daniel blinked. “You will?”
Rayen shrugged. “I might be wrong, and if I am, Carthenne may decide to cut you down so that you don’t have the influence of another Elder Stone, but that will be her choice. This is mine.” She got to her feet, waiting for Daniel.
He hesitated, watching her. “Cut me down?”
She smiled at him. “You know how Carthenne can be.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
Rayen smiled at him. “Of course not, Daniel Elvraeth. Carth is nothing but a gentle soul.”
He didn’t know what to say. Maybe Carth would be willing to cut him down if it came down to it. She would do whatever it took to ensure the protection of the stones. He had seen that from her. Yet he didn’t want to find the Elder Stone for power. Rather, he thought he needed to. As he stared at the board, noticing the way the pieces were clustered, he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps there was a different key to the game than the one he’d been considering.
The purpose of the game was to control the Stone. At least, that was how he had always viewed it. What if control wasn’t the key?
It all came back to understanding what Olandar Fahr wanted.
22
Ryn
The inside of the tower was drafty. That surprised Ryn given the value of the artifacts kept within it. In one section, a massive library stretched from wall to wall, stuffed with books that would be incredibly valuable, and yet elsewhere within the tower, someone left windows open, the humid breeze drifting in, the danger to the books more than what she thought the Great One would tolerate.
It wasn’t any of her business, not really. While she had been sent here to ensure the Great One had answers, she wasn’t expected to solve the issues others created.
In the two days since Dillon had disappeared on her, she hadn’t found him again. She had gone looking, thinking she would figure out what he was doing out in the city, even if she had to ask him directly. She wasn’t above a pointed question that might provide information. As the Great One’s emissary, she was protected from dangers such direct questioning might otherwise draw to her, especially within the tower.
Only, she hadn’t seen Dillon since that night. She had no idea where he’d gone, and she hesitated to approach the blacksmith with that question. While he might answer—she was the emissary, after all—there was something about him that made her reluctant. And here she’d thought that the blacksmith was the one she needed to figure out.
She hadn’t abandoned that search, either, though the blacksmith was predictable. He started early in the morning, usually at sunup or shortly after, and he worked until late in the day, the steady hammering audible throughout the entirety of the tower now that she knew how to listen for it. It was continuous, a regular rhythm, and considering the nature of his work, Ryn didn’t think it made sense to interrupt what he was doing, if he would even allow her to do so.
About noon, Ryn headed down the stairs, once more toward the blacksmith. She had made her way there often enough over the last few days that she was comfortable on the stairs, and when she came across someone else, she froze for a moment.
“Emissary. Are you lost?”
Ryn nodded to Lorren. “Do I look as if I’m lost?”
“It’s not a question of appearance, it’s more that I was not expecting you to be heading this way.”
“Because you thought I would have no interest in your blacksmith?”
Lorren frowned for a moment. “The Great One knows all about the blacksmith.”
“So he tells me.”
Lorren’s eyes widened. Ryn smiled to herself. Her response was ambiguous enough that she suspected the priest believed she had spoken to the Great One about the blacksmith.
“Do you mind if I ask what interest you have in him?”
“I don’t mind, but I’m not certain I will share with you.”
“We are only here to help.”
“If that were the case, then you would have offered me assistance from the very beginning. Instead I had to force my way along.” She smiled. Having the protection of the Great One meant she could speak freely like this, though she really should be careful. It was just as likely that she would lose it.
“It was a mistake, emissary. Surely you can understand that.”
“Because I have made so many mistakes?”
“That is not what I was implying.”
“What were you doing heading down to the blacksmith?”
“I was checking on the nature of his work.”
“And?”
“And I have found it satisfactory.”
She smiled to herself. “Satisfactory? That’s all?”
“He works diligently on behalf of the Great One, manufacturing more of the sacred metal.”
“He doesn’t seem to view his work as quite as monumental as others within the Ai’thol would.”
Lorren’s face clouded for a moment. “Unfortunately, that one cannot be reformed. We have tried, but…”
At least Ryn wasn’t wrong in her impression of the blacksmith. “Do you trust him?”
“Trust?”
Ryn nodded. “Do you trust him?”
“There is no reason not to trust. He has served us well.”
“And he served the previous masters of the temple, too.”
“He told you that?”
“I get the sense he doesn’t keep much to himself.”
The priest shook his head, chuckling. “Unfortunately, there are times when he would be better served if he did, and yet he does not.”
“Does that trouble you?”
“Why should it? He has served us without question.�
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Ryn’s gaze darted past Lorren, looking down the stairs. “And what of his apprentice?”
“He is a young man in need of some stability. He was found—”
“I know what story he tells us about how he was found.”
“You question whether he was found the way he tells us? I have spoken to the priest, and I can assure you he was encountered nearly dying, starving because his own people had abandoned him.”
“That’s what he told me.”
“It’s a shame, really.”
“What is?”
“What happened to him.”
“He’s safe, now.”
“Now, and he still struggles to find himself.”
“Don’t you think assigning him to work with the blacksmith might have been problematic, considering the man’s lack of faith?”
“I suppose one could see it that way, and yet, the blacksmith offered a certain level of stability that Dillon was missing. In the blacksmith, he found an ally who was willing to offer him friendship, and mentoring, and much he didn’t have before.”
Ryn smiled. She wasn’t going to continue to argue with Lorren about it, but she imagined that the Great One would see things differently. He wouldn’t have wanted to have his people so influenced by men like the blacksmith.
“If you don’t mind,” Ryn said.
“Of course.” Lorren stepped aside, and Ryn started down the stairs.
It surprised her when Lorren followed. She glanced back at him, but he stared straight ahead, as if determined to avoid her gaze. What was he playing at?
Then again, what was she playing at? She might have the approval and authority of the Great One, but she needed to be careful not to offend those who served him. That was one thing he would not tolerate, and with her, she thought he would tolerate quite a bit.
At the bottom of the stairs, the heat struck quickly. She hurried toward the door leading to the forge, pausing at the locked door. Slipping the knife out of her pocket, she stuffed it into the lock, feeling the way it changed, and twisted.
Ryn didn’t bother to glance back at Lorren as she made her way into the room on the other side. She didn’t need to—she could practically feel the question he wanted to ask burning into her back. It did no good for her to worry about Lorren. He might be a high-ranking priest within the Ai’thol in this city, but he was not one of the disciples, and therefore there were limits to his reach.
The Coming Chaos Page 21