The Coming Chaos

by D. K. Holmberg

  She needed to be more careful. If he had the ability to do that, and if he was that aware of her reaching for him, then she had to be more cautious with him than she already was. She didn’t want to end up manipulated by him, tormented by his ability to reach her. He had already used her enough times.

  “You weren’t gone long.”

  Lucy turned, and she noticed Eve watching her.

  The other woman stood at the edge of the shore, lorcith spinning around her, twisting overhead.

  “No. I was just investigating something.”

  “I watched you. You were here, and then you blinked out. I’ve seen you disappear like that before.”

  “It’s called Sliding, or some would call it traveling.”

  “Whatever it is, it means that you can travel without walking, doesn’t it?”

  “It does.”

  “And you can just appear and disappear like that?”

  “You know I can.”

  “Why did you go for such a short time?”

  Lucy took a deep breath, turning her attention out toward the ocean yet again. In the last two days, she had taken to spending considerable time there, looking for answers that never came to her. It was almost as if staring out over the waves, watching the water crash into the shore, might give her some solutions, but the longer she stared, the less it seemed she had the answers.

  “I’ve been looking for the man responsible for tormenting me.”

  “Only you?”

  Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know how much he’s been responsible for hurting anyone else here. It’s possible he didn’t have anything to do with the rest of you.” As far as she knew, the Architect had only targeted her, and yet, there likely were others. There were the two men she’d detected in the town far from here. There had to be more like them, though she had yet to return. “He’s close to Olandar Fahr, and we need to find him, and so—”

  “You thought by digging through his mind, you might be able to learn something.”

  Lucy nodded. It might be her imagination, but there was a ship out on the sea, bobbing with the waves. The sea had been angry over the last few days, the skies perpetually dark, though they’d only had rain once. Every so often, thunder rumbled, a promise of something more.

  “I need to know where he and Olandar Fahr plan to go next.”

  “What if you can’t uncover it?”

  “Then others will suffer.”

  “Others like us?”

  Lucy took a deep breath. “I’ve been looking for others like you. Searching for the ones who were responsible for it.”

  “The C’than.”

  Lucy shook her head, turning toward her. “Not the C’than, at least not all of them. They were a subset of the C’than, influenced by someone else.”

  She still had yet to know who was responsible for influencing the C’than and understood that piece was perhaps the most important of all. If they could determine it, they might learn who was to blame for the rest. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that they needed to understand whether there were others who were responsible. Somehow, there was someone else who was working against Olandar Fahr. Seeing how they were willing to use these women, and the violence they were willing to commit in order to do so, she didn’t know if they could be allies or not.

  If she understood their motivation, then perhaps they could. She was looking for the C’than who had broken off, but what she needed was to learn who was responsible for the rest.

  “Why are you defending them?” Olivia asked, heading toward them along the road.

  Lucy tensed. She hadn’t realized that Olivia had been there. Of all of them, Olivia was probably the one most likely to recognize something going on with Lucy. Not only could she feel the emotion within her, but she would sense Lucy’s uncertainty. When it came to how she felt about the C’than, Lucy didn’t know how to express that emotion.

  “I’m defending them because not all of the C’than are responsible for what happened.” It was time that the truth came out. “The C’than who used you violated their beliefs. There are others who work to maintain a balance.”

  “That’s what they told us,” Olivia said.

  “They told you that they worked to maintain a balance?”

  “They said that they were responsible for the balance. They wanted to use us to help them achieve it.”

  “They were using you—and me—as an experiment.”

  “You were used differently,” Eve said.

  “I was, but I was still used.” She didn’t want the others to think that she had welcomed her augmentation. Hers had come about differently, and she hadn’t been held, tormented by the C’than, as the others had, but she had been used nonetheless.

  “How do you know?” Eve asked.

  “I know many of the C’than,” she said. Olivia gasped, and she could feel Eve tensing, but of all the women within the village, these were the two she thought she needed to convince first. If she got them to understand, they would be able to sway the others. “One of the strongest people I know is with the C’than. She’s part of the reason that you all are here.”

  “Carth,” Olivia whispered.

  “Carth. She has been with the C’than a long time, and I have come to know her mentor, another powerful individual, and another person who wanted nothing to do with what happened, who is angered by the way the other C’than used you and the rest of these women.”

  “How can we trust any of them?” Eve asked.

  “We can trust them because we know them.”

  “We don’t know any of the C’than.”

  “You know me.”

  Eve held her gaze. “Are you telling me you are with the C’than?”

  Lucy inhaled deeply, and she glanced from Eve to Olivia. “I’m telling you that you can trust me.”

  “We can’t trust anyone, and apparently we can’t even trust you.”

  Lucy shook her head. “I haven’t done anything to harm you. I’ve been working with you, trying to train you, helping you understand the nature of your abilities.”

  “If you’re with the C’than, then you’ve been hiding it from us.”

  “I haven’t been hiding it from you. I’ve been trying to help you understand.”

  She wished there were a way to show Eve, to show Olivia. As she thought about it, she decided there was.

  She grabbed them and Slid.

  It happened quickly. When she emerged in the tower, she released the two of them, and Eve looked around suspiciously. Olivia sucked in a short breath, her gaze taking in everything around her.

  “This is one of the strongholds of the C’than,” Lucy said.

  “Why would you bring us here?” Eve asked.

  “Because you wanted to know.”

  “We might have wanted to know, but we don’t want to be trapped by the C’than again. You know what we’ve gone through,” Eve said.

  “Nothing like this.”

  Lucy could practically feel it as Ras made his way down toward them. As he did, she realized he must be allowing her to know he was coming. It was the only way she would be aware of it. He flowed down the stairs, gliding on bright light, his entire body glowing.

  Once again, Olivia gasped.

  “Olivia, Eve, this is Ras. He is one of the C’than. He leads here in the stronghold.”

  He took a step back, and Lucy realized he’d cut the other woman off from her lorcith. It might be for the best. If Eve had access to it, there was no telling what she would’ve done with the metal. It was possible she would’ve spun around to attack Ras.

  Then again, it was also possible Ras would have been impervious to any attack. With his ability with the flames, he might be connected in such a way that anything they did to him would be deflected.

  “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Ras said, nodding to each of them.

  It seemed as if the heat radiating from him retreated, though he continued to glow. The control he had o
ver his power left her marveling. Even when she was around Carth, it was nothing like what she saw with Ras. Then again, Ras had only this ability, so he would have mastered it the same way those within Elaeavn who had only one ability would have mastered theirs.

  “I take it that Lucy has been talking with you of the C’than. You had the misfortune of being held by those who violated their oath.”

  “How do we know they violated it and that it’s not what you wanted of them?” Eve asked.

  It didn’t surprise Lucy that she was the one to speak up, but she did marvel at the way the woman adapted. She was a strong woman, and with her growing control over lorcith, she could eventually become powerful. She would be an asset, and yet the darkness within her would have to be honed.

  In order to help her, Lucy would need to better understand the other woman, to gain an understanding of where that darkness came from. It would be better to master it now rather than to lose control in some situation where they might need her to have it.

  “Lucy, if you don’t mind guiding them to the library.”

  “Why the library?”

  “I believe you brought them here with the intention of demonstrating the nature of the C’than.”

  Lucy nodded.

  “I think that can be best done in the library.”

  She frowned but grabbed the two women and Slid. When she emerged in the library, she found it empty. Eve scanned the inside of the room, saying nothing, while Olivia studied the books.

  “This is a library?” Olivia whispered.

  “It is.”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “The C’than have several like it. The largest would probably be the library at the University in Asador, but this rivals it in some ways.”

  “How does it rival it?” Eve asked.

  “Because the knowledge stored here is restricted even from those within Asador,” Ras said, strolling through the door. His hands were clasped in front of him, and he no longer seemed to glow quite as brightly. “We have done our best over the years to ensure that only those who have the necessary abilities and mental fortitude are given access to this knowledge. Unfortunately, in the case of the ones who tormented you, they managed to uncover knowledge they should not have.”

  “The knowledge of the C’than?” Eve asked.

  Ras gazed at the shelves. “Even that isn’t the knowledge of the C’than. I have spent many long days looking through these volumes, searching for anything that might have contributed to what was done to you, and I can’t find anything.”

  “So it wasn’t the C’than, then?” Eve said. “Are you trying to deflect it upon somebody else?”

  Ras smiled sadly. “If only it were so simple. The C’than were involved, at least a subset of them. And because of that, all of us are responsible for what happened to you. But at the same time, not all of us are responsible, if that makes sense to you.”

  “How would they have known how to do this”—Olivia rubbed the back of her head as she asked—“if they didn’t have the knowledge from here?”

  “How indeed?” Ras took a step forward and swept his gaze along the shelves, and Lucy could practically imagine him trying to catalog the various volumes, as if trying to find the answer written in those books from here where he stood. “It makes me wonder where they uncovered it. We cannot blame the Ai’thol. The Ai’thol did not have the knowledge before they acquired it from us, and I don’t know where the C’than acquired it.”

  “That’s what you have Lucy looking for,” Eve said.

  “Lucy is looking for information about Olandar Fahr, primarily so that we can understand what move he might make, and how that will influence our next decision.”

  “What decision do you have to make?” Eve asked.

  “We must determine where we focus our attention. It’s possible it needs to be upon Olandar Fahr, but it’s possible it needs to be focused somewhere else.”

  It was the first time Lucy had heard Ras say that. Where else would they focus if not on Olandar Fahr? Wasn’t that why they were doing all this? It seemed to her that everything she was doing, and all the times she risked herself searching for the Architect, had been because she was trying to uncover what the Architect might know about Olandar Fahr. If that wasn’t the case, then what were they doing?

  It had to do with what she had uncovered in that town.

  “I am deeply sorry for what happened to you and the others with you,” Ras said. He turned back toward them and started glowing a little more brightly. “If there were any way to undo it, I would. From what Lucy Elvraeth tells me, what was done to you cannot be undone. That is unfortunate. Even more unfortunate is that it was done by those who should know better. And yet, when I see the two of you with Lucy Elvraeth, I see the strength you possess, and the way you carry yourselves, and I understand why Lucy has been dedicating so much of her time to trying to help you.”

  “She hasn’t helped us that much,” Eve said.

  Olivia ignored Eve, glancing at Lucy. “She helped me calm the chaos. And she helped you learn how to use the metal. Isn’t that helping?”

  “I suppose,” Eve said.

  “Each of us has our own way,” Ras said. “And when it comes to what you’ve gone through, you must find your own methods, and your own strength. But I fear you may be pivotal in what is to come.”

  “How so?” Eve asked.

  “You have been changed. You have been touched by a great gift, and it has made you something more than what you were before. Who knows where that will take you, and where you want it to take you? Only you can decide that. When you do, I suspect each of you, along with the others in the village where Lucy hides you, will become far more powerful than you are even now. Know that the C’than will not attempt to harm you. Know that the C’than are trying to find answers as to what is taking place. And know that the C’than were not directly responsible for what happened to you.”

  Ras nodded to Lucy and then departed.

  When he was gone, Olivia stared at the shelves. “I would love an opportunity to read here,” she said.

  “You enjoy books?”

  “I enjoy the quiet found within them,” she said.

  That was something Lucy understood. When she had been working to become a caretaker, she had never minded the silence the way so many others did. It gave her an opportunity to think, to work through what she needed to do, and an chance to better understand herself.

  “If it wasn’t the C’than, then who was it?” Eve asked.

  “The C’than weren’t the ones who harmed you,” Lucy said.

  “Right, I understand that, but they weren’t responsible, not directly. Somebody gave them that information. If it wasn’t the C’than, then who?”

  Lucy shook her head. “I’m trying to find that out now.”

  “And it’s not the Ai’thol?” Eve asked.

  “The Ai’thol had abilities, but they placed augmentations differently, leaving quite drastic scars. I don’t know if they do the same any longer now that the knowledge of the C’than has been revealed, but for as long as I’ve known, the Ai’thol have used a different way of placing that augmentation.”

  “And that’s what you are trying to find?”

  “I’m trying to find one person who could lead me to another. Unfortunately, every time I try to Slide to him, I find myself trapped.”

  “How does he trap you?” Olivia asked.

  Lucy smiled to herself. It was the most they had engaged in any sort of conversation.

  “The first time I found him, I almost didn’t make it out. I have no idea where he was, only that I found his mind, and he guided me to a place that made it difficult for me to Slide away. The last time I went, there was nothing there. Both times, there was some strange pressure upon me. I think that pressure is what made it so I couldn’t Slide.”

  “Why do you have to go to him?” Eve asked.

  “Because she’s chasing him,” Olivia said.
<
br />   “I realize that, but why can’t she make him come to her?”

  “It doesn’t work like that,” Olivia said.

  Lucy frowned, thinking. Could it work like that?

  She had been chasing the Architect, thinking she needed to use her connection to his mind to track him down, but what if there was another way? She’d been Sliding to him, and each time she did so, she ran the risk that she might not be able to escape. The first time, she had been lucky she had; the second time, she had recognized that something was off in time to get away.

  If she kept chasing down the Architect, it was possible he would find some way to fully trap her.

  What if she tried a different approach?

  She had been focusing on Reading herself, and in so doing, she was able to find the Architect’s mind and reach him.

  If she could reach him, couldn’t she Push him?

  “You might be on to something,” she said to Eve.

  “See?” She turned to Lucy. “What might I be on to?”

  “I’ve been trying to chase him down, and it’s time for him to chase me.”

  “And if he catches you?”

  “If I’m prepared, then I’m going to want him to catch me.”

  The challenge was finding the right preparation. For that, she was going to need Carth. Hopefully Ras’s word had gotten to her.

  38

  Haern

  The wagon caravan moved slowly, winding across the hilly road. It had been two days since Haern had left Galen and Rayen, and in that time, he had contemplated whether his mission was what he wanted. So far, this seemed to be exactly what he wanted to do, and yet he couldn’t deny there were times when he questioned. Was he making a mistake?

  All that mattered was continuing forward. They would reach Asador eventually, though he had started to wonder how long it would take them. It was something he should have asked Galen before leaving, but the other man had disappeared with a rapid Slide the moment Lucy had returned.

  Sitting on top of the wagon, Haern smiled to himself as he thought about Lucy. She had changed so much from the girl she’d been. His friend and companion all those years in the forest, and now she was something else. He still wasn’t entirely sure what she had become. More than she had been before, and yet, Lucy might have been the only one who didn’t understand how impressive she had always been. It was one of the things about her that always made him a little sad. For some reason, Lucy never saw herself the way others did. Haern didn’t know if that had changed. It was possible she still viewed herself the same way.