Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer Book 3)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Eva reluctantly followed her, and Jayna looked back at her every so often, needing to prod her forward and guide her.

  She reached one of the main thoroughfares through the city. The streets were all named after some of the initial settlers within the city, and this one took its name from one of the original founders, a wealthy dular. Jayna had never bothered to learn the names. They didn’t make much difference to the kind of work she did.

  They had to fight their way through the crowd within the street, moving east, as if they were following some parade route.

  “What’s going on here?” Jayna asked as she took in the size of the crowd. It was unusual for Nelar.

  An older man with gray hair and flat brown eyes looked back at her. He had a haggard face, unshaven, and wore a brown jacket and pants. “One of the damn sorcerers decided to disrupt the vendors again.”

  “What?”

  “They keep thinking to attack. We know what happened. We know they were responsible for destroying Hosten and Bilander homes.”

  They were two of the seven manor homes at the center of Nelar. The ruling dular families. And Jayna knew the sorcerers weren’t responsible for that destruction. That had been the work of a Toral serving a different—and more dangerous—Sul’toral.

  Jayna had known there was a bit of unease within the city since the attack, but she hadn’t stayed connected to the dular enough to learn more about the specifics of their unease. That had been a mistake. If the dular blamed the sorcerers . . .

  Jayna glanced over to Eva and found her frowning.

  “Where is the sorcerer?”

  The man ignored her and shouted again.

  “I don’t like this,” she said to Eva, keeping her voice low. If there was a crowd of angry people in Nelar, Jayna didn’t want to get caught up in it, and she didn’t need a sorcerer to lash out at the crowd. Most of the time, the sorcerers would refrain from using their magic too aggressively, but if they felt they were under attack, she wouldn’t blame them for using their power in a way that would cause damage—and she knew the kind of power they could unleash.

  “What can you do about it?”

  “Not a whole lot,” Jayna admitted.

  Which was part of the problem. Even if she wanted to get involved here, she couldn’t take on an entire crowd of people. At the same time, she also didn’t want to let one of the sorcerers unleash their power against the crowd.

  “We need to stay with them,” she said to Eva.

  “You don’t need to get involved in this,” Eva said.

  “It’s not getting involved. It’s just intervening. A little bit.”

  “Jayna—”

  She crept through the crowd, pushing past several people, until she could get closer to the front. She heard the shouts growing louder in the distance, and she knew that had to be where the sorcerer was. Jayna forced her way through the crowd, and could feel Eva staying behind her. Jayna was thankful that she did.

  The shouting got louder the farther they went.

  Some cried out about the attack on the dular’s homes. That alone was enough reason for the sorcerers to be attacked. The dular led in Nelar, or they traditionally had. If there was going to be an attack on the sorcerers, she understood the reason for it, along with the outrage and agitation, especially having seen the attack on the dular’s homes herself. Some people cried out about the merchant tax, which she found a bit ironic, given that had come from the dular themselves. Others simply shouted in violence and anger. They were upset about their place in the world, which Jayna could do nothing about.

  She continued forcing her way forward.

  Finally, she found a maroon-robed man fighting his way through the crowd, trying to avoid assault and keeping a barrier wrapped around him, but beyond that, she saw no one else resembling a sorcerer.

  “Well, crap,” Jayna muttered.

  “What is it?” Eva asked.

  She nodded, all the indication she needed to give.

  “It’s Char.”

  At least Jayna knew Char wouldn’t lash out against the crowd, but that did little to protect him from the crowd’s onslaught.

  She didn’t like the chances of him making it through here unscathed. There were far too many dular here, with far too many enchantments, and there were limits to the amount of assault his protective barrier could withstand. Jayna had used those barriers often enough, and still had to push back against attacks.

  The coin in her pocket began to vibrate again.

  “You’re going to have to go help Topher,” she said, glancing over to Eva.

  “Why don’t you go? I can watch Char.”

  Jayna arched a brow, jostled forward by the crowd around her. Someone else shouted, and they threw something which bounced off the barrier around Char, rebounding back into the crowd before exploding in a rain of sparks.

  “I think I’m going to need to do this.”

  “Don’t start anything,” Eva said.

  “What exactly do you think I intend to start?”

  Eva shrugged. “I don’t really know. Knowing you, though, and your feelings about Char . . .”

  “What do you mean, ‘feelings about Char’?”

  She was shoved forward again and nearly stumbled. Jayna instinctively reacted, pushing out with just a hint of power.

  At least, she had intended upon pushing out with just a hint of power. These days, her control over the Toral ring was not nearly as finely tuned as it had been before. Now that it had the addition of the bloodstone, a burst of power exploded from her, sending people near her staggering back.

  Others looked at her a moment and Jayna kept her head down.

  Just let them think I’m nothing but a dular.

  She didn’t need the crowd around her attacking because they thought she was a sorcerer.

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” Eva shouted.

  Her words were nearly lost in the bustle.

  “Go find Topher.”

  Somebody shoved Jayna from behind again, and she stumbled, catching herself. She refrained from drawing power through the Toral ring, not wanting to unleash magic that way, but all around her the shouts continued to build as Char continued to struggle making his way through the street.

  Jayna tried to keep toward the front of the crowd. If she let the crowd slip around her, she wouldn’t be able to see Char.

  That worried her more than anything else.

  Another enchantment exploded in the street, bouncing off of the barrier around Char. This one was a spark of flame, but it ended with a soft explosion. Char turned toward the explosion, his eyes wide. He jerked his head from side to side as he looked around him.

  Jayna could practically see the way his thoughts were going. Char attempted to hold back on using his power, as there were limits to how much of it he could use. The barrier itself was one such limit, but there was something else constraining him.

  If he were to attack, he could potentially push back one layer of the crowd, but the rest would come flooding forward. One man against an entire throng of people added up to terrible odds. One sorcerer against a crowd was a little better. Still, when the crowd consisted of dular—and an unknown number of them, along with an unknown number of people who carried enchantments—Jayna didn’t like his chances.

  The crowd’s energy began to build. A steady murmuring came from behind her along with a hint of excitement nearby.

  Something was going to happen.

  She looked back, trying to gauge where the activity came from, but couldn’t see anything.

  As that pressure continued to build around her, all Jayna could make out was a sea of angry faces—young and old, men and women, children and elderly. All of them were angrily shouting at Char—not at Char the person, but at Char the sorcerer. They were blaming him for what happened to them.

  And if she did nothing, or if Char didn’t take enough caution . . .

  The energy continued to build as power pressed through it. It was a st
range sort of energy. The Toral ring began to squeeze around her finger.

  Dark energy.

  Crap.

  Not only was this crowd attempting to attack Char, but there was a dark sorcerer here trying to instigate it.

  3

  The pressure continued to build around her, and Jayna looked behind, trying to figure out where it came from, but she couldn’t tell. She only knew that an energy continued to build and the Toral ring continued to throb.

  She shoved her way forward.

  Somebody shouted at her, but she ignored it.

  She had to wrap the power of the Toral ring around her as a layer of protection. It provided enough of a barrier that she could feel it sealing around her. Each time she drew upon this power, she wondered what Ceran was aware of. He’d never said. Since the last attack in the city, he hadn’t visited much either.

  Char continued turning in place, his head swiveling as he looked at the crowd, then he pushed out with a surge of energy.

  He was testing his barrier.

  How much longer before that barrier failed him?

  Jayna might be able to add something to his barrier, but she also didn’t know if she dared reveal herself as a sorcerer. She could, however, help him from a distance, and others might not even be aware of what she was doing.

  She didn’t need sorcery—not the way Char did. She could use the Toral ring.

  Even using that power, there was still the possibility it wouldn’t work completely. There was also the possibility Char wouldn’t want her to use the power within the ring.

  But she had to act.

  Reluctantly, she pulled on the power of the ring, and could feel the flow of it. She pushed it in an invisible circular cage, slipping it around the barrier that Char held. She tried to do so slowly, using a bit of energy at a time so that he wouldn’t be completely aware of her assistance, but at the same time, she needed to help fortify him. The people in the crowd continued to shout, and there was a steady buzzing of energy.

  That buzzing was dangerous. She recognized the crowd’s energy in the air, the vibrancy here, and she feared an explosion of violence from the crowd if she didn’t act.

  More than that, the Toral ring started to constrict even more.

  The dark power suggested something was about to happen.

  Violence. Danger.

  Jayna needed to be ready for it.

  She glanced over her shoulder, again looking into the crowd for any sign of whoever was responsible for the darkness she felt—the same darkness that was triggering a reaction within her ring. There had to be something, but whatever power she sensed was obscuring its source.

  Could that be what they had detected out in the forest?

  She didn’t have time to think more about it. Somebody shoved her again.

  Jayna lost control over the protection she held around Char.

  She stumbled forward, sprawling outward, and could see through an opening in the crowd how two separate attacks had suddenly struck Char at the same time.

  One was another of that sparkly type of attack, flames streaking around him—the barrier withstood that—but the other was a concussive blast, and it sent Char flying forward.

  His protection was gone.

  Jayna swore under her breath and scrambled to her feet, immediately calling upon the energy of the Toral ring, pain shooting through her, before she used it wildly and without any real control, sending it streaking out from her.

  Ceran would definitely know she borrowed his power now.

  Jayna unleashed it, and it threw the crowd back.

  She stumbled into the clearing, grabbed Char, and pulled him to his feet.

  “Jayna?”

  “Get up!” she hissed.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Saving your ass,” she said, shoving him from behind.

  He gripped his maroon robes, squeezing them, and his fingers wiggled, creating another pattern, and a burst of energy surrounded him once again.

  “I had this.”

  “You sure did,” she said. “You looked like you were just fine with all of the attacks that were coming in your direction. I’m sorry I decided to get in here and try to help you.”

  Char shook his head. “You didn’t need to intervene. I didn’t need your help.”

  “You know how many dular are out here?”

  “Probably all of them,” he said.

  “You know how many people here have another kind of power?”

  “I don’t know.”

  They stumbled forward, and the crowd reacted, moving with them, but Jayna hoped they had a little bit more time. They needed to buy a few moments, nothing more than that, and when they did . . .

  Something struck the barrier she and Char held.

  It was potent.

  She looked back, trying to gauge what it was, but there was no sign of who and what had just attacked. Unlike the other enchantments that had struck, this one didn’t leave any sort of sparkling flames or concussive blast. The crowd continued to press forward, oblivious of the recent attack.

  “What are you doing out here, anyway?”

  “I came to look at something,” he said.

  “Why out here? With the unrest in the city, it’s dangerous for you to be out here.”

  “I didn’t know it was this bad,” he said.

  Jayna glanced behind her again. The crowd continued to push against the barrier. The angry voices continued shouting, but with a bit of hesitation now. A few people in the crowd looked at her as if they recognized her.

  Still, explosions thundered around her, coming from dular who tossed their enchantments; not all of them were as violent as the ones that had knocked her down, but most carried considerable power. Even those who didn’t have their own enchantments had access to them within the city.

  Jayna had to hold steady, but she had to keep Char moving.

  “I didn’t know it was this bad either. We should get out of the streets.”

  “I don’t need you to save me. Especially not like that,” he said.

  “What do you mean, ‘like that’?”

  “The way you’re using that power.”

  “I’m using what I need to in order to defend you.”

  “You could do it in other ways,” Char said.

  They rounded a corner and Jayna froze.

  More people came toward them, almost as if it had been directed. Now they faced crowds in either direction. They were going to have to force their way forward, or somehow find a way of hiding. She had no idea where or how.

  “Any suggestions?” she asked him.

  “I told you that I was—”

  “I’m sorry I intervened, but that last blast was more potent than the others. I don’t know who was responsible for it, but there’s something instigating the crowd.”

  He watched her. “Something?”

  “I don’t know if it’s some dark sorcerer, or something else, but there’s a power at work here and it’s trying to incite the crowd against you.”

  She pulled him forward, holding on to the barrier around her with the dragon stone, but every so often, a blast of energy would strike, and Jayna had to brace herself, solidifying the protection around her even more.

  “Can you add anything to this?” she asked Char.

  “I thought you had this.”

  “You were the one who said they had this. I’m just trying to help a friend.”

  The crowd continued forcing their way toward them.

  People were battering at the hazy but mostly translucent barrier. Shouts rang out. Some people were getting crushed up against the barrier, falling to the ground. Cries of pain mixed with the panic. The barrier wasn’t going to hold. They weren’t going to be able to stay here like this, and they certainly weren’t going to be able to move through the crowd very easily.

  She tried a different approach.

  “Be ready,” she said.

  “For what?” Char asked.

&nb
sp; “The next step.”

  She squeezed her hand around the Toral ring, letting the energy she could feel within it flow through her, and prepared for the next blast. As she often noticed these days, there was a hint of darkness at the edge of her vision when she drew upon the ring’s energy.

  As she did, it exploded outward, creating a circle of power that echoed away from her.

  That energy sent people staggering, and the people nearest to the barrier fell backward as it shattered.

  Jayna hurriedly reached into her pouch, grabbed two of the concussive enchantments she’d gotten from the little girl in the market, and triggered them, sending one in front of her and another behind. The two blasts thundered, and Jayna hurriedly wrapped herself and Char in enough of a shell of power to protect them from the explosion, but those on the street weren’t nearly as lucky.

  The explosion wasn’t going to harm anyone. It was loud, though. There was a whoosh of energy that sent people flying backward again, then they lay there, stunned for the moment.

  She grabbed Char’s arm, pulling him along the street with her. They stepped over some of the fallen people and forced their way into the crowd.

  “This is your plan?” Char asked.

  “I didn’t really have much of a plan. I probably should start doing that,” Jayna said. She looked behind her. Much of the crowd was starting to get up, and those who did looked even angrier than before. Maybe she was making a mess of this. It might’ve been easier had she left Char to continue getting through the crowd on his own, but she couldn’t simply abandon him.

  “Let me try something,” he said. “I’m going to use something I learned here. It’s a bit of a healing spell.”

  “I’m not sure healing is going to make a difference right now,” Jayna said.

  Char stopped in the middle of the street as people began to get up, and Jayna realized a healing spell was a particularly bad idea; if he helped the crowd recover more quickly, they would only come at him again. At the moment, he and Jayna had the advantage in that he had them down. With another few concussive blasts, Jayna thought they could keep moving beyond the attack.