“Why do you think he came here?”
“I don’t know. Hopefully Master Raollet isn’t injured,” Eva said.
“If he is . . .”
They pushed open the door, and found Master Raollet inside, leaning on the counter. He was an older man, with narrow eyes, graying hair, and deep wrinkles in his brow. He had on a blue, flowing robe, and his face was battered, blood streaming from one cheek.
“You!”
Jayna braced yourself, holding on to her power, and shook her head. “This wasn’t our fault.”
“Are you sure? It was your fault the last time.”
“We helped. So you don’t need to send more of your hired thugs after us. Again.”
He glowered at her. “You helped?”
Jayna looked around and nodded. “We came here and found the man using that strange smoke energy, and we drew him off.”
Master Raollet frowned and leaned down, picking a plate up off the ground before setting it on a fallen shelf. He almost fell over.
Jayna hurried forward, catching him, and guided him back to a chair behind his counter. He fought for a moment, but seemed to relax as he realized Jayna didn’t intend to hurt him. “Can you tell us anything about what happened?”
“There is nothing to say,” he said.
“Something happened,” she said.
“I don’t know what it was. I just know an attack came through here. I did everything I could to defend my shop, but there are limits. I have plenty of enchantments here in order to protect it, but . . .”
Jayna could imagine Master Raollet using some of these enchantments to defend himself, but she wondered just how effective they might’ve been against somebody like that attacker. She had seen just how powerful he was, had felt the strength he possessed. No enchantment would be strong enough to withstand that kind of magic.
“Do you know why he was here?”
“I thought he was here with you?”
“He wasn’t.” She looked over to Eva, and she thought she understood why Master Raollet would believe the attacker was with them. “We just came upon him. We were coming for information.” She watched him as he wobbled in his seat before sitting up, looking around for a moment, and finally relaxing again.
“I should have known there would have been difficulty,” he said. “We have seen far too many enchantments like that recently.”
When she had faced the man earlier, it seemed as if he controlled the smoke the same way Eva had, but there were enchantments that could do incredible things. It was possible that was all it had been.
“Why like that?”
“I don’t really know why anyone would want to make it seem like the Ashara attacked, but . . .” He waved his hand.
Jayna frowned. “What do you mean, ‘the Ashara’?”
He shrugged. “That’s what the smoke is supposed to look like—at least, that’s how the stories make it seem.”
“I’ve never heard of Ashara.”
“Well, since you are in Nelar, you should know some of the old tales.”
He slipped off the stool and headed around the counter, making his way over toward them, where he leaned down, resting for a moment, then grabbed something off of a low shelf in front of the counter. He pulled it up, rested it back on the shelf, then stopped. “Unfortunately, I am still a bit weakened after everything that has taken place.”
“I can see that,” she said. “I might be able to offer some help—”
Master Raollet waved his hand. “No help. Not that kind.”
“You don’t have to be afraid of it,” she said.
He frowned again. “It’s not fear. It is more a matter of not needing it.” He shook his head and tipped it off to the side, regarding her for a moment.
“You said Ashara,” Jayna urged.
“That’s the only thing I could think of. Stories, mostly, but they fit. Oh, they fit.” He sighed.
“What are the Ashara?”
Raollet flipped open a book and traced his hand along one of its pages. “Just stories. Myth, mostly. But after seeing what I have these days, myth starts to feel a little more real.” He snorted. “The Ashara are supposed to be ancient beings—powerful, and filled with a specific type of power.” Jayna looked at a drawing he pointed out in the book, one that reminded her of the sculpture she’d seen in Telluminder’s shop. It had wings, a long serpentine body, and a tail that swirled around it. “Some have called them demons. Others, sorcerers. Still others have called them dragons.” He chuckled. “Stories, like I said. I had never expected to see stories come to life like that.”
Eva stood completely still, looking at the book, her hands clenched at her sides, and a deep frown formed on her face.
Jayna looked down, studying the book. “I haven’t heard of anything like this. The Sorcerers’ Society has not mentioned anything about Ashara.”
“Because they’re stories. Or that’s what they’d have you believe.”
There were other stories the Society wanted people to ignore.
Sul’toral.
What if the Ashara were real?
And what if Eva was one of them?
“Why would the Society care?”
“Who knows with any certainty?” He turned a few more pages. “There are some stories that claim the power of the Ashara opposes the magic of the sorcerers, while others claim it eats it, or that the Ashara eat sorcerers.”
The entire book was written in a language Jayna couldn’t read, though from the way Master Raollet skimmed the page, tracing his finger along its surface, it was clear he could.
“But then, something happened,” Raollet said, continuing to read the page. “According to one account, the Sorcerers’ Society banished them, or perhaps the El’aras prevented them from gaining power, or perhaps even the dular.” He shook his head. “Either way, these enchantments are meant to remind people of the Ashara.”
“What are they?”
“The El’aras? I figured that even you would know about the El’aras. Especially given that you are—”
“I know about the El’aras,” Jayna said. There were aspects of them she didn’t fully know, but overall, she understood them about as well as most within the kingdom would. She had experience with them and had seen how they used their power; she even thought she understood the intricate nature of it. Unlike sorcerers, the El’aras possessed a natural connection to magic. Innate. Powerful.
“You called them beings, the Ashara?” Eva asked, stepping closer and redirecting the conversation.
He looked up at her, regarding her for a long moment before turning his attention back to the book. “Well, some stories say they can take human form, but they are not human. I think that’s where the stories of them being dragons come from. All stories say they are filled with power. A dangerous and hot sort of rage filled them.”
Jayna glanced over, but Eva had tensed again, and there was something to her posture that struck Jayna as unusual. Suddenly, Eva spun and headed out of the shop, leaving Jayna alone with Raollet.
“Did I say something that offended her? They are just stories.”
“Stories can hurt,” Jayna said. “But it’s more than that. She’s having a hard time these days.”
“Well, there are many who have struggled lately. The city has been unpleasant.”
“You’re telling me,” Jayna said.
Raollet looked up, holding her gaze, and shook his head. “I don’t need to inform you of that, I suppose. You have seen it firsthand, haven’t you?”
Jayna frowned at him. She wanted to hear more about the Ashara. It was the first time she’d heard anything that might help her understand Eva, even if they were just stories. “What can you tell me about what happened with them?”
“Rumors, nothing more.” He took the book, closed it, and hopped off his stool to tuck it onto the counter. When he was done, he leaned back, stretching. Already he seemed healthier than he had before, as if time had started to restore him. Ja
yna could almost imagine him filled with magic that recovered him, but she didn’t have any sense of power coming off of him, nothing to make her believe he had any magical potential on his own.
“There have been quite a few rumors in the city,” Jayna said.
“More these days than there have been in the past,” he said. “Unfortunately, many of those rumors have a way of spreading. As I’m sure you are fully aware.”
“As I’m aware,” Jayna agreed.
“There was one particular rumor about a festival that took place. I believe it was shortly after your arrival in the city.”
Jayna watched him, trying to get a sense of what he was after. “There was?”
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the counter. “I believe it was not long after you attacked my shop.”
“Again, I wasn’t attacking your shop.”
“It doesn’t matter. I understand the reason you did it.”
“Do you, now?”
He shrugged again. “You thought to prevent something else from taking place.”
“I thought to free three El’aras you had captured.”
“They were captured for a reason,” he said, his voice low. “If you had any understanding of the power that exists within the El’aras, you would have . . .” He took a steadying breath and leaned back. “Perhaps that’s not the point. You did what you thought was necessary.”
Jayna just shrugged. “Yes, I did what I thought was necessary.”
“And is that why you are here now?”
“I’m here now so I can try to find a better understanding,” Jayna said, being deliberately vague.
“An understanding of what?”
If she didn’t share more with him, she worried she would not find the answers she wanted, and the longer she spent here with him, the more she began to question whether he knew more than he was letting on.
“There was a festival, called the Festival of Mourn. Sorcerers use it to gain dark power—or free it, in this case.”
His eyes widened. “Which one of the twelve?”
He knew.
This was the person she needed answers from. “Yes. They were followers of someone called Asymorn.” He sucked in a hissing breath, and Jayna leaned forward. “You’ve heard of him. What do you know?”
“I know not to speak of him,” he said.
“You don’t have to fear him. He’s not here. We stopped his followers.” Or most of them, she didn’t add. They hadn’t returned, though she’d remained on edge, fearing they might come back.
“Speaking his name will draw his attention.” He looked around, then reached under the cabinet and took out a circular enchantment with heavy embroidery around the perimeter. When he raised it up, he squeezed it. Suddenly, a burst of light flowed through the object as he activated it. “Even now, I have probably said too much.”
“His followers were defeated,” Jayna said.
He looked across the counter at her. “There is no defeating him, though. Only slowing him. He will be back. If he had business within the city, then he will return.”
“You can relax,” she said.
“Relax? How can I relax when I understand the dangers? How can anyone relax when there are such dangers?”
Jayna glanced back toward the door, wishing Eva had remained here to give her some insight. “You know about him.”
“Of course I know about him,” Raollet said. “I know about all who chased power like that.”
“What about Norej?”
His eyes widened. “What have you gotten yourself into?”
Jayna just frowned. There was more than Norej and Asymorn. There was the other thing that Char had mention: rothand.
Decay.
That was what it meant, but it was another sort of power, one that suggested a different kind of energy—something far more dangerous than she had first thought.
What if there had been another of the twelve here in the city?
Ceran would have known—wouldn’t he?
“I really don’t know what I’ve gotten myself into,” she said.
“You’re chasing this power, are you not?”
She shook her head. “I’m not chasing it. I’m trying to stop it.”
“If you were truly trying to stop it, you would not be interested in it.”
Jayna breathed slowly. “I need to understand what’s out there, and the threat it poses, in order to know how to defeat it.”
He regarded her for a moment. His gaze drifted down, lingering on the ring, before he looked up at her again. “Would you really stop it?”
“You know about the twelve.”
His gaze narrowed.
“Which means you know about Sarenoth.”
There was a risk in revealing what she was after, in exposing the questions she had, but if she didn’t take that risk, if she didn’t ask the questions, then she might not find the answers she needed. If he did know, then she needed to learn from him. She needed to dig, to find the answers, and without that opportunity . . .
“Come with me.”
“Where are you going to take me?” Jayna asked. When she’d gone with him before, he’d shown her the El’aras he had captured. She wasn’t interested in him doing the same again.
“To discuss what you are asking about.” He looked around before settling his gaze on her again. “It can’t be done safely here. So come with me.” He tottered off, heading to the back of his shop where he disappeared, leaving Jayna watching him.
She hesitated. Did she want to go after him?
Eva was still out there, and had stormed out, which left her concerned. Eva needed her help. But it was more than just that. There was something about the stories of the Ashara that Raollet had shared that had somehow unsettled Eva. Maybe they were only stories, but if they weren’t, she needed to learn all she could to help Eva understand herself.
But for now, Raollet might help in another way. She might have a way of finding answers during Ceran’s silence. Eva would understand that.
She followed Raollet back into the darkness of his shop.
10
The back of his shop was dark, and it stank of stale ale and mold. He’d moved to a different location after she’d destroyed the last shop, and she wondered what this had once been. She waited a moment as she looked around the inside of the shop here, searching for anything that might trigger a trap, but she didn’t come up with anything. He was simply guiding her.
Near the end of the long hallway, she came across a room like the one where he had attempted to sell her El’aras fingers. Did he have a similar cell in this shop?
It wasn’t a similar cell. It was the same hall. The shop connected to his old one.
Why would he have wanted to keep them connected?
“What are you waiting for?” Raollet asked.
Jayna nodded to the door. “That.”
Raollet frowned and tapped on the door, throwing it open. It was empty, which she appreciated seeing, though she hadn’t demanded he show her. “There are certain things that are dangerous. You must understand that, Jayna Aguelon.”
“There are, but they don’t justify holding a family and torturing them.”
Even if doing so would be in service of destroying the darkness, she didn’t know if she could do it and feel as if she were not succumbing to something worse.
It reminded her of something her brother’s friend Matthew had said to her. They had done bad things, but had done so against bad people. Was that the justification she would need for herself? Would she come to believe that doing bad things to bad people, if it meant that some greater good came of it, was worthwhile?
When she had been here with Eva, searching for the fingers, Eva had certainly felt that way, though Eva had a practicality to her that Jayna didn’t. When it came down to completing a task, Eva was willing to do whatever was necessary.
Jayna didn’t think she could take that kind of approach, though maybe if it meant stopping all of the
darkness she had been tasked with stopping, she might feel differently.
She hoped it never came down to that.
Raollet watched her and a small smile curled on his lips. “You are far more emotional than I would’ve expected somebody like you to be.”
“Somebody like me?”
“A sorcerer.”
Is that all he thought she was?
Given everything else he’d proven he knew, she had thought he might know more about her, but had he known about the Toral ring, and her role serving Ceran, she wasn’t sure what she would have done. Nothing, probably.
But then why wouldn’t he know anything about the Toral ring?
When she had faced Daratha, the leader of the Order of Norej, she had known about the Toral ring. She had understood the power within it. It suggested there were others out there who knew about that power, and knew how to use and control it.
Only, despite everything else Raollet had learned, he hadn’t been aware of this.
“It has been my experience that those within the Society have a certain practicality to them. They recognize that there are certain circumstances which are beyond their control. And in those circumstances, they have proven to be quite reliable in how they react.”
“Reliable?” Jayna asked, frowning at him. “And by reliable, you mean that you have sold El’aras to sorcerers?”
“Yes.” He said it as if it wasn’t even a question.
“Dark sorcerers?”
“What sorcerer isn’t dark?”
“I would say that most are not.”
He grunted and pulled the door closed. “You might be wrong.” He shrugged. “Or maybe you’re right. What does it matter?”
“It matters quite a bit to the El’aras you have tormented.”
“And as I’ve said, I have done no tormenting to the El’aras.”
“You’ve done something.”
He motioned for her to follow and they soon reached a door at the end of the hall. He pulled a long, slender object out of his pocket and pressed it up against the door. It was an enchanted lock, and as it connected with the door, the door came open slowly, revealing a darkened staircase. “Where do you think much of the power that sorcerers harness comes from?”
Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer Book 3) Page 11
