Rise of the Elder

by D. K. Holmberg

  They would have to find a different way to protect the crystals.

  The crystals had been safe for generations before Rsiran appeared, protected by the Elder Trees and the guilds. Somehow, he would need to restore that protection.

  After making a steady circle around the crystals, he Slid, emerging in his smithy.

  The smithy was empty. The coals had long since burned out. The lantern was missing, and a new layer of dust coated the floor. Where was Jessa?

  He Slid to the door, and checked the locks, finding them intact.

  She must have sneaked off, leaving the smithy, but would she have done so knowing that he’d disappeared after something he’d detected?

  Doubtful.

  Something had happened.

  Rsiran Slid to Krali, his favorite place for detecting lorcith and heartstone, and focused on the charm he’d made her. It was small, but he’d used it so often to search for her, and was so attuned to it now, that finding it was easy. In the distance, he detected it.

  Why would she have returned to the Aisl?

  He Slid to her.

  When he emerged, he appeared in the clearing of the Aisl. Not only did he find Jessa, but also Della and Brusus and Luthan and Seval.

  Jessa gasped when he appeared, and rushed over to him, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him tightly. “Where have you been?”

  Rsiran noted the relieved expression in Seval’s eyes. Della appeared more concerned than anything. Brusus had a neutral face.

  Only then did he realize that there was another in the clearing, someone he hadn’t expected to find. “Cael?” he asked. “How did you get here so fast? And what happened to Galen?”

  Had someone Slid her to the forest?

  No… Considering the way Jessa clung to him, that wasn’t the answer.

  How long had he been gone?

  “You rescued me a week ago,” Cael answered.

  A week. He’d lain in the place between for a week? It explained why his stomach rumbled as it did. “I’ve been gone a week?”

  Della stepped forward and touched his cheeks. A surge of cold washed over him. Rsiran didn’t fight her healing attempt. “You were gravely injured,” she said softly. “That you live…”

  “The Elder Trees healed me,” he said.

  Della frowned. “What happened with you seems different from that. I cannot tell what saved you.”

  “Cael told us what happened to you,” Jessa said. “She told us you took a crossbow bolt to the stomach and that it was poisoned. We couldn’t find you… Valn returned, and we searched, but we couldn’t find you…” She leaned on him, sobbing. “I thought… I thought that you didn’t make it wherever you wanted to go and were dying.”

  “I was dying. I didn’t.”

  She pressed her hand on his chest. “I see that you didn’t.”

  “I’ll explain what happened to me later, if I can. What happened with the crystal? Where is Galen,” he asked Cael again.

  Cael’s mouth pinched together, darkening her otherwise lovely face. His bracelets went cold and she blinked, shaking her head. “Josun survived,” she said. “The crystal is gone. Galen is—”

  She cut off abruptly as Della shook her head.

  Rsiran glanced at her. What had happened to Galen?

  It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Josun lived. In spite of nearly dying, Rsiran still hadn’t managed to kill him.

  “It’s not your fault,” Jessa said.

  Rsiran clenched his jaw. “It is my fault. Had I only finished him when I had the chance, none of this would have happened. Venass wouldn’t now have the crystal.”

  “We don’t know that Venass has the crystal,” Jessa said.

  “What else would he have done with it?” Rsiran asked. “If he managed to get the crystal—”

  “Venass does not yet have it,” Luthan said. His voice was thin, and he rubbed a knuckle into his eyes. “What I can See tells me that there remains hope we can reclaim the crystal. Something else changed,” he said, watching Rsiran intently.

  “I removed the barrier preventing access to the crystals,” Rsiran said.

  “You did what?” Brusus asked. “Wasn’t that barrier the only thing keeping Venass from reaching the other crystals?”

  “Maybe,” Rsiran said, “but what happens if I die and the barrier remains intact? None of our people would be able to access the crystals then. After what happened to me, I couldn’t leave the barrier in place. I couldn’t risk it, not when the crystals are about more than me.”

  Luthan’s eyes flared a brighter green, the intensity lasting only a moment. “I can’t See what will happen now that you’ve released the barrier around them, but you were right to do so. Too much would be lost if you fell.”

  “What happened to you?” Brusus asked. “Cael told us about your injury, and how you Slid away, but you should have been back by now.”

  Rsiran glanced to Della. The others didn’t know about the space between Slides, or about the power of the Elder Trees. To them, the trees were a symbol, not real power, but Rsiran knew them differently. He’d held their power, had used it to defeat Venass.

  “There’s a place between Slides where the trees healed me.”

  That was the only answer that he could come up with. Nothing else made any sort of sense. Even that answer didn’t make much sense to him. He should have died. Given what Josun’s hired forces had managed, Rsiran should have fallen the same as Haern. Why should he live when Haern died?

  The trees had seen it differently. Rsiran didn’t understand why, and maybe he wouldn’t ever know.

  “There is power here,” Della said. “And I can see why they would wish to have you healed. You have been chosen to protect them.”

  “I haven’t done such a good job so far,” Rsiran said. “I already lost one of the Elder Trees—”

  “Before you knew they existed,” Jessa said.

  Rsiran smiled, appreciating the fierce way that she defended him.

  “The girl is right,” Luthan said. “Too much has been held from you—from all of our people—and for too long. That must change moving forward.”

  The crystals. All of this was about the crystals. Wasn’t that the reason he was here? The reason for Venass and the Forgotten and for everything.

  The people needed to reach the crystals.

  Where did he start? When would they start?

  In a flash of inspiration, he knew the answer. Rsiran took Jessa’s hand and Slid to Brusus. “It will start now,” he said to himself.

  He Slid them into the crystal room.

  Brusus gasped.

  “How is it that you can Slide us here? I’ve never thought that I would be able to see this place, and you easily reach it.”

  “I don’t know how I can.”

  “Rsiran—” Jessa released his hand and stared at the crystals. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m not Elvraeth born.”

  “I didn’t think I should be here, either, but I don’t think that matters to the crystals, only that the right people are chosen.”

  “What did you see when you held one?” Brusus asked.

  “I don’t know that you can hold one unless it calls to you,” Rsiran said. The steady glow of the crystal Josun held made it unlikely he’d been called. Yet.

  Rsiran reached toward the crystals, choosing one at random. For all he knew, the crystal might have been the same one he had held before.

  As he did, it pushed against him.

  “See? It won’t allow me to hold it.”

  “If that’s true, then Venass might not be able to reach them, either.”

  “Maybe not,” Rsiran said, “but I wouldn’t put it past them to figure out some way of overwhelming the crystals’ defenses.” That was what he feared the most. And if they managed to reach the crystals, they would probably find some way to drain the energy that they stored.

  Jessa started making a circuit around the room. “What do you mean ‘call’ to you?” She paus
ed as she made her way around, stopping in front of a crystal on the far side of the chamber. “This one”—she reached toward one of the crystals—“is a little different from the others, isn’t it?”

  Rsiran didn’t know what would happen as she reached for it. Would the crystal push against her, the same as it had done with him? Or would Jessa manage to reach it?

  Her hand closed on the crystal.

  Light flashed.

  And then she stepped back, blinking. “Did you see that?” she asked, her voice excited.

  “See what?” Brusus said. He had stopped in front of another crystal and studied it. The light radiating off of the crystals was bright enough for Rsiran to see the way his eyes blazed a bright green. “How did you reach that?”

  He hovered his hands just off the crystal, almost touching it, but the crystal pushed back.

  Rsiran felt it as it did.

  The effect was strange. Why should he be aware of how the crystal resisted Brusus?

  Brusus looked over to Rsiran. “Guess I’m not worthy.”

  “You didn’t see that?” Jessa asked again. She blinked slowly as she looked around her, as if coming out of a daze.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Brusus said. “The only thing I see are these damned crystals that I can’t even reach. Guess they don’t think I’m worthy,” he muttered. He reached the next one. “And this one… it flickers differently than the others. I think there’s something wrong here.” Brusus reached the crystal and held it. As it had with the one Jessa touched, light flashed.

  Brusus was gone.

  Jessa sucked in a breath.

  The crystal was still there, but Brusus was not.

  “Is that what happened when I touched the crystal?” she asked.

  Rsiran shook his head. “You touched it and then released it. It was sort of the same motion.”

  “The same motion? I saw clouds and sky and stars all around me! It had to have been hours that passed!”

  Rsiran smiled. “I had something similar when I reached the crystal. It felt like I was sitting next to the Great Watcher. When I looked down, I knew the connections between lorcith and heartstone. I was able to see it everywhere. That was what I was meant to see.”

  He stopped in front of one of the other crystals. For some reason, it seemed to have moved.

  Before he knew what he was doing, he reached for it.

  When his hand touched it, there came a flash of light.

  Heat and energy throbbed through him. Everything glowed, a mixture of colors unlike anything that he’d seen before, but reminding him of the potential that he saw from heartstone and lorcith. It was everywhere. As it faded, Rsiran had a sense that he moved, falling toward the ground.

  Then everything returned to the way that it had been. The light faded and there were only the crystals. Had he held another of the great crystals?

  “Rsiran?” Jessa asked.

  Rsiran looked at the crystal, trying to understand what had happened. How should he be able to hold another of them? They were meant to be held once, the gift that came from them meant for the receiver once. And now Rsiran had seemingly managed to hold them three times.

  Why did the crystals choose to allow this?

  “Rsiran?” Jessa said again.

  “What is it?”

  She pointed.

  Rsiran followed the direction of where she pointed. Brusus lay in a heap on the ground, convulsing violently.

  Chapter 22

  Rsiran Slid them back to the clearing within the Aisl with Brusus still convulsing.

  When they emerged, Della rushed to them, sending a Healing over Brusus. “What happened?” she demanded.

  “He held one of the crystals.”

  Della’s eyes widened slightly. “I will see what I can do, but I cannot find anything wrong with him.”

  Luthan crouched next to Brusus. “If he has truly held one of the crystals…” He looked up at Rsiran with a question in his eyes. “This happens to some who hold them. Not all come away intact. That is why we screen those who attempt it.”

  “You should have warned me,” Rsiran said.

  “I didn’t think that you’d be foolish enough to try and have them hold one of the crystals.”

  “What happens to those like this?” Jessa asked. Her face was ashen, and Rsiran suspected she thought about what could have happened to her. The crystal hadn’t affected her the same way as it had Brusus.

  “It either passes or it does not. For most, it will pass, and they will be given the gifts that holding the crystal will bring, but others will not be so lucky. They continue to convulse until it burns out, but they are never the same, as if the convulsions have burned out what was once them.

  Della pressed another Healing through Brusus, and the convulsions eased.

  “Bring him to my place. I will keep him safe until we learn what effect this will have.” She glanced at Rsiran askance. “You are often so impulsive,” she scolded. She glanced over to Jessa. “What of her? Did she attempt to hold one of the crystals?”

  Jessa smiled. “I did.”

  “What did you see?” Luthan asked. She described what she saw, and Luthan smiled. “Ah, you have been given the gift of Sight.”

  “Sight? I’m already Sighted,” she said as Rsiran lifted Brusus and carried him toward Della’s hut.

  “This would be an extension of Sight, something more than what you already possess. It is a great gift, but one that can be difficult as well.”

  “You mean that I’ll be able to See? Like you?”

  Luthan shrugged. “I do not know. What you describe is much like the vision I had when I held the crystal. We have taken to comparing experiences, so we can learn what others have seen. Through this, we have taken to naming the crystals, though they all look the same when we are standing in the room.” He nodded to Rsiran. “You have held the crystal of wisdom.” He grinned. “That is what we call it at least. There is something where you sit above the world, almost as if watching with the Great Watcher, and looking down on the world. Few are given the chance to hold that crystal.”

  “He held another,” Jessa said.

  Luthan frowned. “Another? That you have held a crystal more than once… and now a third? That is unprecedented.”

  Della nodded. “As I have said. The trees have chosen him to be their protector. Now they’re giving him all the knowledge and strength that he needs in order to succeed.”

  They stopped at the hut, and Della threw the door open. Once inside, Rsiran set Brusus down near the makeshift hearth while Della started brewing mint tea like she usually did. She mixed something together and then crouched next to Brusus, rubbing a thick paste on his neck and face.

  As she did, his breathing continued to ease, getting more regular with every passing breath. Another wave of Healing washed over Brusus, enough that he sighed with it.

  “I think that he will be fine,” Della said.

  “Do you know which crystal he held?” Luthan asked.

  Rsiran shook his head. “Not the same one as Jessa or I did.”

  “That doesn’t matter. They have been known to shift.”

  “Even while we’re in there?”

  Luthan shrugged. “It is difficult to say what happens with the crystals. They appear to be connected to the pedestal, but they are not. Their positions change, often quickly, so there is no way to predictively know which one you’ll be called to hold. As few are lucky enough to be called to hold them at all, it usually doesn’t matter. It is strange that all three of you would be given the chance to hold one.”

  “Not strange,” Della said, looking up from Brusus as she continued to smear another layer of the medicine across his face. “These are the two closest to him. The crystals would have chosen them to work with him, especially if the Elder Trees needed him to be able to do so.”

  Brusus took a deep breath and his eyes fluttered open. He smiled. “Damn, Rsiran. That was something…” He looked aroun
d, realizing that he was in Della’s hut and that he wasn’t with only Rsiran and Jessa anymore. “Didn’t go so well for me, then?”

  Luthan tipped his head to the side, and his eyes flashed. “I think it went as it needed to go for you, Brusus. It is fortunate that your friends were with you to bring you out of the chamber. When others have convulsed, they have needed more help.”

  “Others? How many have gone through this?” Brusus asked.

  Luthan inhaled deeply. “The Elvraeth have monitored the crystals for generations. There have been hundreds who have suffered the same way.”

  “Hundreds?” Della paused as she poured a mug of steaming tea. “Why are none warned of this possibility?”

  “Would it change anything?” Luthan asked. “Would you have done anything differently if you had known that there was more of a risk to hold one of the great crystals?”

  Della handed the mug to Brusus, who took it and sipped carefully. “What else doesn’t the council reveal to others? What more haven’t you shared with us?”

  “You of all people should understand there are things the council cannot share. Doing so puts others in danger.”

  “Like hiding the truth about the crystals?” Rsiran said. Luthan’s glance seemed to beg him to silence. “Jessa was able to hold one of the crystals, Luthan. When I first held one, the explanation was that I am descended from the Elvraeth, so it made sense that I should be able to hold one. What is the answer regarding Jessa? Why was she able to? Her parents weren’t Elvraeth.”

  Luthan glanced from Jessa to Rsiran without answering.

  “How many have the potential to hold one of the crystals?” Rsiran asked.

  “Anyone can,” Luthan answered.

  Della pressed her lips together in a tight frown.

  “Everyone in the city? Not only the Elvraeth, but all of the people?”

  “Anyone who possesses one of the Great Watcher’s abilities,” Luthan said. “They would be able to hold one of the crystals, though few are given the opportunity.”

  “None,” Rsiran corrected. “None are given the opportunity. Only the Elvraeth. Holding the crystals unlocks potential, doesn’t it?”

  Luthan nodded. “It unlocks something in the person who manages to reach it. There is permanence in what is unlocked, and that person can pass their ability on to their heirs.”