Rise of the Elder

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You don’t understand. He has the crystal and he’s taken an implant—”

  “And you’re able to do all of those things without needing to rely on either. I think they fear you, Rsiran. You need to remember you’re as strong as you are.”

  He sighed, staring at the ring. It felt strange to wear a ring, but not surprisingly, it was a perfect fit for his middle finger. The metal still had some warmth from the forging and was heavier than he would have expected given its size. The song within the lorcith still hummed, and maybe that was the only thing that would be different for him, but why would he hear the song so loudly if there was nothing else that the ring helped him do?

  “Why don’t you try mine and see what it does?” Jessa suggested.

  Rsiran didn’t have anything else he could offer, so he took the lump of lorcith—this one much larger than the one he’d pulled from Ilphaesn for himself—and set it on the coals. As it took on the heat, he readied a hammer, wanting to clear his head.

  “Has anything changed for you?” Jessa asked as it heated.

  He frowned. “Changed?”

  “Since holding the crystal a third time. Has anything changed?”

  “I haven’t noticed anything. Maybe there’s only so much that can change after holding the crystal. I’ve held one of them twice now.”

  “The second one wasn’t the same, was it? You Traveled to it.”

  “I still held it. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I reached it the second time, I felt more attuned to the metals. This time… this time there wasn’t anything like that. Maybe nothing will change for me.” He noted the orange glow of the ore and lifted it to the anvil. “Has it for you? Have you noticed anything?”

  “No visions, if that’s what you’re asking. Luthan said that I might become a Seer, but so far, I’ve had nothing more than vivid dreams, and those were of holding the crystal.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t expect anything. From what you’d said, I didn’t think that I’d even be able to reach the crystals, so to hold one and to see what I did… I think that was the reward.” Jessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “When I sleep, I can still see it, like I’m there. I wonder if it’s the same for Brusus.”

  “Brusus hasn’t said much about what he experienced. Mostly he’s afraid that we’ll tell Alyse what happened.”

  Jessa grinned. “I might, especially if he’s giving us too much trouble.”

  “That… that wouldn’t be kind.”

  She shook her head. “No. I suppose it wouldn’t. Your sister can be hard at times.”

  Rsiran lifted a hammer—this one the striker he usually used—and rested it on his shoulder. “I’m just glad I’m not the target for her frustration anymore.”

  Jessa eyed the hammer and stepped back, giving him space.

  Rsiran started, swinging the hammer with a quick stroke, trying to clear his mind. As he worked, he couldn’t help but think of the way that Josun had trapped Cael, and what Rsiran would have done were he to take Jessa again. What she needed was a way to protect herself, one that was stouter than bracelets or knives, one that might give her a chance to stay safe, but would the lorcith allow him to create something like that, or was something like that not even possible?

  Chapter 24

  The link necklace fit snuggly around her neck. Rsiran thought it might be too tight, but she claimed it was fairly comfortable. The lorcith necklace connected to the charm that he’d made before, almost as if they had been crafted to go together. She ran her fingers over it as they walked through the streets, and every so often, she’d smile.

  “There’s something here.”

  “You said that yesterday,” Rsiran noted.

  “I don’t know how to explain it, but I can feel that this is more than a chain.”

  When the lorcith guided him into making this chain, one that reminded him far too much of the Elvraeth chain that had trapped him, he had almost stopped, but something compelled him to continue. Now she wore it proudly.

  They stopped in the Barth, looking around for signs of danger before settling onto stools that brought back the feeling of the comfort they’d offered long ago. Those days were now gone. Jessa sat across from him and pulled a set of dice from her pocket, shaking them to spill onto the table.

  “You need to relax,” she said.

  Brusus emerged from the kitchen, carrying a tray laden with plates and a few steaming mugs. He smiled when he saw them sitting in the corner, and dropped off his drinks before weaving toward them.

  Rsiran grunted. “I don’t know if I can relax. Not after what happened last night…”

  “It was a mistake, Rsiran. A misunderstanding.”

  Galen had come to the tavern the night before, sent by Della Rsiran later found out, because she intended for them to work together. Cael was with him, and almost as soon as they arrived, she had tried to Read Jessa and Rsiran, as if she had reason to distrust them after all the help they had provided.

  Galen assumed they had attacked Cael when he saw her suffering—the effect caused by her attempting to Read them while they wore the protections of the bracelets. At least now, Rsiran doubted she would attempt doing so again. Considering she had held one of the crystals, her ability to Read would have been powerful, making him thankful for his protections.

  When Galen had used one of his poisoned darts on Brusus, thinking him part of the attack, Rsiran had used his lorcith knives to counter him. There had been a fleeting moment when he thought Galen might have killed his friend.

  “Use him,” Della had suggested afterward. “Galen has skills that we need.”

  “You want me to use an assassin?”

  Rsiran had Slid to Della’s, needing to find out if what the man had claimed about the dart was true and that Brusus wouldn’t die from it. Had Haern lived, he would likely have been with them in the Barth, he would have provided the answers they needed, but then, had Haern lived, he likely would have known how to handle Galen better. Della confirmed what Galen claimed about the coxberry poison, and Brusus had recovered quickly.

  “You need to use his skills, and the assassin is a part of them.”

  “Why should I trust him?” Rsiran had asked.

  “Because I do.”

  “I don’t even know where he should start.”

  Della had closed her eyes. “Asador. There is something there I cannot fully See. I don’t understand what has changed.”

  “Why Asador?”

  “Because Josun Elvraeth is there.”

  Since Della suggested he use Galen, he’d “hired” the assassin to go after Josun. It freed Rsiran to focus on the rest of Venass, and on finding the crystal, but more than that, it got Galen out of the city. His presence in Elaeavn risked the peace he intended to form between the council and the guilds.

  “Della says we can trust him,” Brusus said.

  “I know what Della says,” Rsiran told him. “That doesn’t make it easier.”

  “If you go after Josun, it draws you away from the city. That’s dangerous, Rsiran, especially as we know that he’d probably only try to drag you to Danis. And this way, someone else can do the digging, see if he can come up with answers.”

  Rsiran had to admit that it was easier for Galen to search than for him. He’d started him in Asador, but only because he didn’t know where else to go. What he needed was more information.

  “You look like you just heard three cats fighting,” Brusus said.

  “He wants to go searching for information,” Jessa said. “He doesn’t like the idea that we’re trusting Galen to search while he remains here.”

  “Galen isn’t the only one who searches,” Brusus reminded her.

  “I know,” Jessa said. “And he doesn’t like that, either. He thinks he should be the one bouncing all over the countryside trying to find where Josun might have disappeared.”

  “I know where he’s gone,” Rsiran said.

  As s
oon as he’d learned that Josun had disappeared with the crystal, he had suspected that he’d taken it to Thyr. Even though the one time that he’d Traveled to Thyr, he’d had no sense of the crystal, nothing that suggested that Josun might be there. But until he could confine Josun—and recover the crystal—he couldn’t abandon Elaeavn and go after Danis. Each step had to follow the one before. The delay was maddening.

  “You don’t know that he’s in Thyr. Luthan can’t See Thyr, but he can’t See Asador, either,” Jessa reminded.

  Rsiran lifted the dice and shook them. They landed a pair of ones; most considered that unlucky. “I can still get in and out faster than most.”

  “And we can’t risk you, not with the unpredictability of Venass,” Brusus said.

  He leaned on the table, holding the tray to the side. It was good for Brusus to feel a part of the coming fight, even if his greatest battles these days were waged with Alyse about what ale to serve. But Brusus didn’t really understand the stakes, not as he once had. Rsiran wondered if he ever really understood the stakes. Though his intentions were always the best, and he always sought to protect them all, he had risked them interacting with Josun without knowing that Josun sought to serve the Forgotten, and before they had any idea about Venass.

  Jessa rested her hand on his arm. “How else do you want to search for Josun?”

  Rsiran shook his head. How else could he search for him? He’d Traveled, but hadn’t found any sign of him. If Rsiran could figure out how to track the heartstone implanted in Josun, he might be able to detect him, but he hadn’t managed to hold that focus long enough while fighting him, not enough for him to be able to use it to detect him once more.

  He’d done it with Amin, and he’d removed the implant from the other Hjan they’d captured, but they had both used lorcith, not heartstone. But was there something about the heartstone they used that he could track?

  “What is it?” Jessa asked.

  “A thought. Nothing more at this point.”

  “That sounds dangerous,” Brusus said, smiling. “You get something in your head, and usually it means that you put yourself in danger.”

  “If we can stop Venass, isn’t that worth it?”

  “Didn’t say that it wasn’t worth it, only that I’ve been through this with you, Rsiran. I wish I had Haern’s ability to See what might come. I miss that—not as much as I miss the man, but still miss it.”

  “Haern could never See me easily,” Rsiran said.

  “No, but he could See around you. There was value in that was well.” Brusus took a deep breath and clasped Rsiran on the shoulder. “Just… just be careful, will you?”

  “I’ll try.”

  Rsiran stood and reached for Jessa’s hand. She pocketed the dice and stood, studying the tavern a moment, as if seeing it for the last time. When she clasped his hand, he Slid.

  He emerged in the depths of the Forgotten Palace, the strange walls of lorcith pressing around him. Jessa stayed near him, gripping his hand tightly.

  “Why here?” she asked.

  “I need to know if there’s something with the metal they use that I can follow.”

  “I thought that you said you lose the connection when it’s placed beneath the skin.”

  He nodded, starting toward the cell. “It conceals it. The sense of lorcith—or heartstone—is still there, but I can’t connect to it the same way. It’s like implanting it prevents me from connecting to it the way I would if it weren’t inside someone.”

  Jessa held her wrist up, nodding to the bracelet. Bluish white light glowed softly, giving more than enough light for him. “Can you connect to this?”

  “It’s not under the skin.”

  “Maybe not, but the effect is the same. You told me that. Can you connect to it?”

  Rsiran listened for the metal and felt it pulling on him softly. He’d rarely used the bracelets to follow since forging them for Jessa, but wasn’t surprised when he focused on them and found that he could track them. “I forged those, Jessa. That creates more connection than anything else.”

  “What about this?” She touched her new lorcith-chain necklace around her neck.

  Studying the necklace, he noted that it didn’t glow the same way that the bracelets did. There was the soft white light from lorcith, and the charm glowed, as well, but it seemed muted. He focused on the necklace, trying to pull on the connection… but failed.

  He’d forged it, he should be able to use it, but he couldn’t even pull on it. It was similar to what he noted with those from Venass and their implants, only Rsiran hadn’t expected that something he had created would refuse him like this.

  “What is it?” Jessa asked.

  “Not what I expected. It’s there… I can see the glow, and I’m aware of the lorcith, but I can’t use the potential.”

  “Like with Venass.”

  “Like with Venass,” he agreed. He looked around at the walls of the strange undulating lorcith that Venass or the Forgotten had placed here. “Maybe it has more to do with where we are than anything about the necklace.” Hadn’t he been able to pull on it before they came here? He couldn’t remember, but thought that he had.

  “See if you can overcome it.”

  “This isn’t the best place to try to overcome something in the metal, especially if it’s on your neck.”

  She pressed on a clasp around the back, releasing it from her neck. “What about now?”

  The sense of lorcith surged with it off her. He pulled, able to use the connection once more. Why should it matter if it was around her neck? The bracelets weren’t like that… but then, the bracelets hadn’t been designed with the same intent. He’d asked the lorcith to help him create something that would augment Jessa’s abilities to keep her safe. That meant that she would be attuned to the potential within it, not him.

  “Why should I be able to detect it now?” he asked.

  Jessa took the necklace and secured it around her neck once more. “You can practice with me. See if you can figure out a way to overcome what resists you.”

  They stopped at the cell. Only one guard stood outside, a Slider name Mara. She wore a pair of short swords strapped to her waist, and nodded as he approached. “Guildlord,” Mara said. “Valn thought you might return for him.”

  “How is he?” Rsiran asked.

  “Valn or your prisoner?”

  Rsiran chuckled. “Valn probably isn’t any different from when I saw him last, so I guess I should say the prisoner.”

  “Quiet. Since you were here last, he’s been quiet.”

  Rsiran Slid through the door, leaving Jessa behind as he appeared on the other side. The Hjan sat in a corner and barely looked up as he entered. His hair had a greasy appearance, and a thick shadow of a beard formed on his face. The cell stank.

  “Have you returned to torment me again?” the Hjan asked.

  “I didn’t torment you the last time.”

  “No? You tear from me the gifts—”

  “I tore nothing from you. It remains in your head.”

  The Hjan grunted. “Remains but is nothing. Everything that I gained is gone.”

  This man was no threat. Not the way he had been before Rsiran had twisted his implant. He was broken, no longer the danger he once had been. Should Rsiran even keep him confined like this anymore or would it be kinder to release him?

  “Why have you come then, if not to taunt me?” the man asked.

  “To learn about the implants the Hjan use.”

  The man looked up with squinted eyes. For a moment, Rsiran thought he might try to attack, but then he sank back to the wall, resting his head against the lorcith. “Talk to the forgers.”

  “Forgers?”

  The Hjan’s mouth curled into a slight smile and then tapped the side of his head. “I didn’t place this here myself, Lareth.”

  “Where are your forgers?”

  “You might be skilled, Lareth, but I doubt that even you can face our forgers. There is a reason t
hey are exalted among Venass. When they free me, I will see to it they repair what you’ve done. Then I will come after you—”

  Rsiran didn’t wait for him to finish and Slid to the other side of the wall.

  “What is it?” Jessa asked. “Did you discover anything you can use?”

  He sighed. “I found answers, but none I wanted.”

  “What answers then?”

  “Only that Josun and Danis might not be the only people I need to worry about.”

  How would he find these forgers if he couldn’t even find Josun? How would he ever defeat Danis if he couldn’t reach them?

  Chapter 25

  Wind gusted through the Aisl more briskly than usual. Rsiran Slid into Della’s hut and found it empty. The hearth glowed with a soft heat, and the two chairs sitting near it reminded him of her home in Elaeavn. Unlike others who had come to the Aisl, Della had made her small home something more permanent. More and more followed, but she had been the first.

  The door opened and she entered. Wind stirred up the coals, and she shut it quickly before the fire could flare.

  Rsiran turned to see her adjusting her striped shawl. A few gray hairs hung wildly around her head, and she smoothed them down as she tottered to the table that held her collection of herbs.

  “You don’t intend to return,” he said. He hadn’t asked why she remained in the Aisl, thinking that it had something to do with the project she had been researching while here, but what if that wasn’t the case at all? What if Della intended to remain in Aisl?

  “I think my time in the city has come to a close,” she said. “There is more for me to learn here.”

  “What do you think you can learn?”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “There is history in this place, Rsiran. I can feel it. And when I look, I can See it.”

  Rsiran stood across the table from her and watched as she mixed a few spices together, stirring them with a long fingernail. She tipped the mixture into a cup of water and brought it to the hearth where she set it, leaving the cup on the coals to heat.