A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “What happened when you placed it on gold or silver, or even some of the gemstones?”

  “I created nothing different than what you just saw. Or felt. Either way, it didn’t make a difference. My enchantment was substandard, according to my father. I kept trying, switching my substrates, trying things that weren’t even quite as exotic. I kept thinking that if I were able to create something that would be viewed as valuable by somebody else, I could turn that enchantment into something he would be proud of.” He shook his head again, leaning back and staring at his hands. “He’s never been proud of me. Never been proud of my enchantments. I’ve tried, but nothing I do has been enough.”

  “Until you found the strange stones.”

  “I hadn’t shown him yet. I wanted to make sure they had the right market for it. That’s why I went to the midnight marketplace. I wanted to know whether there was an appetite for that.”

  Jayna chuckled, shaking her head. “You certainly are a salesman.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you were impressive up there.”

  “I know there’s a pitch. That was something else my grandfather used to say. He liked to say that when he was younger, his home was nothing larger than this shed. Over time, as he acquired wealth, he built the mansion out there.”

  “I can’t even imagine that kind of wealth,” she said.

  “Yeah, well imagine growing up with it.”

  Jayna looked toward the door, remembering the mansion. “I can’t.”

  “Anyway, all of this was because I was trying to find a different way of holding on to power, and a way of satisfying my father. All of this was because I knew I needed to reach for something more, some way to be like my family. If I could find something that would sell, then my father would be proud of me again, and I would be able to . . .”

  “You’d be able to what?”

  “I’d be able to go back home.” He turned toward her. “He sent me out here. When I wasn’t able to make anything of any use, he sent me out here. He said this was all I deserved until I could prove myself to the family.”

  Jayna thought she’d had a hard childhood. At least her parents had welcomed and embraced her before they had died. Even Jonathan, with his thieving, had still wanted to be around her. Hell, for that matter, he’d wanted to bring her along so she could help him in his thieving.

  “How long have you been out here?”

  “A few years. I’ve been trying to find different items that would help me, but so far, I haven’t come across anything. Or hadn’t.”

  “And now you’ve found something incredibly dangerous.”

  “I didn’t know,” he said.

  “You knew something was up.” She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, watching him. She twisted the dragon stone ring on her finger, feeling the smooth surface of it, and instinctively began to touch upon its power. Cold pain surged in her hand, working up her arm. She held her hand out from her, using a bit of power to radiate away from her, a surge of energy that drifted outward, creating a barrier that would offer protection if she were to be attacked again. “That’s why you came for me.”

  He nodded. “I didn’t know what was going on. At first, I thought they just wanted the stones back, but I eventually realized it wasn’t only that.”

  “They want more than the stones?”

  “I’m not exactly sure,” Rosal said.

  “How many stones do you have left?”

  “Not many. Just a couple. I already turned most of them into enchantments.” He flushed again. “I thought I could do that, sell them, then prove to my father . . .”

  “I don’t understand. Once you prove to your father you can do this, you still don’t have a supply of these stones.”

  “Not yet, but that’s easier to get a hold of. My father oversees the merchant guild that comes into the city and has access to all the different merchants that travel through here. I figured once I determined if the enchantments would even be valuable, I would ask him to help me find the merchants and source more of the stones.”

  “Let me see one of them,” she said.

  “They aren’t all that exciting until I place the enchantment on them.”

  “Rosal . . .”

  He shrugged, getting to his feet, and headed to the hearth. There was a small wooden box on top of it; he flipped open the lid and grabbed something from inside, carrying it over to Jayna. When he handed it to her, she took it, frowning. It was a strange, maroon stone, almost crystalline in its structure, with some black and gray flowing within it.

  “I guess I only have this one left. I thought I had more, but I must have turned all of them into enchantments already.”

  “This is the last one?”

  “Until I get more.”

  “Are you sure it’s even a good idea for you to go after more?”

  “You saw the enchantment, Jayna. You can’t tell me that wasn’t impressive.”

  “It was impressive, but I also realize that whoever you took the stones from wants them back.”

  “I figure once I get enough money, I can pay them.”

  Jayna held on to the stone, studying it. “I worry even paying them isn’t going to be enough.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head. If the people responsible for the stones were somehow tied to one of the other twelve, then she was in more danger than she knew. Rosal might be in more danger than he knew, as well.

  And more than that, all of the city might be in danger.

  “I need to know more about that merchant you stole the stones from,” she said. “You said you bought some of the stones at first.”

  “I did,” Rosal said, brightening slightly. “Only two. There was a merchant who prepared to leave the city. He was willing to sell them to me. It was expensive, but now that I know what they can do, I can't help but think it was worth it.”

  Jayna felt otherwise, based on what she’d seen. “Then what happened?”

  “I went back. He wasn't there for me to buy them from, so . . .” He shrugged.

  “You took them.”

  “I intended to pay him. Or, eventually pay him.” He lowered his eyes. “I didn't see any sign of the wagon again though.”

  “Where did you look?”

  “When the merchants come to the city, they take the same looping path through. It gives them a chance to trade in all different quadrants of the city. That’s something the merchant guild ensures. They want to make sure all people have access to supplies. I couldn't find the wagon again despite looking for it along the path it took through the city.”

  “You said your father oversees the guild?” He nodded. “Then there has to be some record of that merchant,” Jayna said.

  “He’s not going to let me see that. Gods, Jayna, he barely lets me in the house these days.”

  “I think he will if you tell him you have a new enchantment you can sell.”

  “I don’t know. Since I don’t have any proof they’ll sell, I don’t know what my father might do.”

  Jayna needed to get a hold of those records, which meant she was going to need him to be willing to dig and look into what was there.

  “If you want my help, then you’re going to do this,” Jayna said.

  “You would help me?” Rosal asked.

  “I think if I don’t, it’s going to be more than just you under attack.”

  13

  Jayna wandered carefully through the streets, heading back home after her conversation with Rosal, reaching into her pocket every so often to squeeze the stone. She had never seen anything quite like it before.

  It didn’t surprise her that the stone would somehow augment Rosal’s power. Even without any enchantment within it, Jayna felt as if the stone itself surged with power and energy, as if the stone itself carried something more.

  It was terrifying.

  Mostly because the people who were after the stone terrified her. They were willing to destroy, w
ithout fear of who might get caught up in the explosions. They had gone after Rosal, and failing to get to him, they had targeted her home. That was bad enough, but having targeted Rosal at the market meant countless people had been caught up in their attacks.

  She had to keep the sone safe, but she had to learn more.

  Thankfully, Rosal had agreed to meet with her in the next day so they could go to his father and see what they might be able to learn about the merchants who had come through the city. She had hoped to uncover just who those merchants were and what they were selling, then they could figure out what else they would need to do to stop the attacks.

  As she moved away from the higher-class section and made her way deeper into the city, the appearance of the buildings gradually changed. No longer were they two or three stories tall. Many of them were single stories out here without any walls surrounding them, and the thick layer of moss glowed along their surface, leaving a trail of luminescence. At one point, when she turned a corner, Jayna could swear she felt somebody trailing after her, and she hurried her steps. It was intuition trained into her by her brother when he’d hoped she’d end up working with him.

  She readied power within the dragon stone ring, and prepared to unload if it were to become necessary, but the feeling faded.

  It was just her imagination. Perhaps all the talk about Asymorn and others like him, along with this Sarenoth, had her on edge.

  To be honest, ever since taking up the role working with Ceran, she’d been on edge, but staying in Nelar had given her a chance to settle, to feel like she could ease into things. She had felt a sense of comfort, which was a dangerous feeling given the type of work she was involved in.

  Jayna reached her home, looking in either direction before entering to make sure there was nobody there, and when she pushed the door open, a blast of heat radiated out toward her. She looked over to the fire, unsurprised to see Eva sitting in front of massive flames crackling within the hearth; she must have built it up. An empty bottle of wine rested near her feet, along with a tilted-over glass and a trail of wine spilling across the floorboards.

  She hadn’t even drunk all of it.

  She was asleep, which Jayna figured was probably for the best.

  Topher sat at the table and he looked up when she entered. He had her spellbook open, and had been flipping through the pages. Jayna felt a moment of irritation, but she pushed it down. It wasn’t even her spellbook. And Topher wasn’t a sorcerer, so there wouldn’t be anything he could do with that spellbook.

  “What happened?” he asked, closing the book.

  Jayna came in, grabbed the book, and put it into the cabinet before turning back to Topher. “Well, I learned things about Rosal.”

  “What did you learn?”

  “He didn’t need to be at the market selling enchantments.”

  “Why?”

  “Because his father has money. His family, really. I think the entire family is loaded.”

  Jayna needed a glass of wine. After a night like she’d had, and everything she’d gone through, a simple glass of wine would be welcome.

  She checked the cupboards, but of course Eva had already drunk most of the bottles. Maybe Eva had one back in her bedroom.

  Jayna headed back to Eva’s room and found a mess. At least there had been no blast through the wall, so the stonework was intact, but her sheets were all balled up at one end of the bed. The air smelled strangely hot, as if Eva had dragged some of the fire back here. A row of wine bottles rested along one wall, all of them empty. Jayna reached her wardrobe, pulled it open, and sorted through her clothing until she came across her hidden stock of wine, then she grabbed a bottle before returning to the kitchen and taking a seat with Topher. He arched a brow at her.

  “If she says anything about it, I’m going to just remind her about how much of mine she’s already drunk,” Jayna said.

  “I get the feeling she’s possessive of it.”

  “Possessive doesn’t even do it justice,” Jayna said.

  She pulled the cork out and realized she didn’t have a glass. She got to her feet, heading to the cabinet. The spellbook resting there seemed to taunt her. Maybe it didn’t matter if she let Topher read it. What would he even get from it?

  She took a glass down and sat at the table. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted that way when you had the spellbook out.”

  “I understand. It’s not mine.”

  Jayna finished pouring her glass of wine and took a drink. “It’s not mine either. I stole it from the outpost when I was there last time.”

  He grinned at her and she could imagine him wagging an invisible tail. “I thought you are a sorcerer. Don’t you have spellbooks?”

  She smiled tightly and swirled the wine the way Eva did. It was something she’d learned from her after watching her drink as much as she had over the time they’d been together. Swirling the wine like that seemed to open it up, to reveal some of its flavors and the aroma from within it. She thought it tasted better after that.

  “That’s just the thing. I left the Academy before I finished.”

  “Why would you not stay to become a sorcerer?”

  “It’s a long story.” She looked up at Topher. “What about you? Why did you leave your home and end up in Nelar?”

  He got to his feet, went to the cupboard, grabbed a glass, and took a seat across from her. He motioned to the wine bottle, and Jayna poured him a full glass. He gripped it with both hands, staring at it for a long moment. “I come from Porin. It’s a village several weeks’ travel from here. Closer to the center of the kingdom than the outskirts.”

  “How long ago did you leave?”

  “I tried to make it home,” Topher said, his voice dropping to a soft whisper. “It was hard. I didn't have anything there. Not really. I thought about going to the capital, but the Society is too powerful there, and my particular abilities would have offered nothing. I figured I might as well head somewhere I could make a place for myself.”

  She smiled tightly again. She actually understood. It could be hard to make a name for oneself. “You haven’t told me about your village before.”

  “I know. And I haven’t told you about what drove me away either. I learned I could make enchantments when I was young. I could make things with my abilities.” He smiled to himself. “I always liked it and thought it was a particularly useful skill, but the more I used it, the more I realized others didn’t find it quite as useful. I had people questioning why I couldn’t do more with my magic. Why I couldn’t be more.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said.

  He shrugged. “I got used to it. Over time, most of those people began to leave me alone, but there was always that feeling I was somehow less. I was never a sorcerer, so . . .”

  “So you were something else.” The fact he had mentioned a derogatory term for dular made a bit more sense now. “Why Nelar? Because of the dular?”

  “Nelar was known to be more welcoming to my kind. I’d heard stories about it. A place where there were massive markets where enchantments were sold. A place where people like me could live, even thrive. A place where I could find myself.” He snorted and took a drink of the wine. “Little did I know I would lose myself here.”

  “You haven’t lost yourself.”

  “Ever since that dwaring attack, something is . . . wrong. My enchantments don’t work quite the same way. I don’t know if it’s a matter of the kind of power I was using before, or if it’s something else, but either way . . .” He shook his head. “I keep hoping I’ll get some of it back, and that over time I’ll begin to use power in a way I once did, but so far, I haven’t been able to.”

  She sipped the wine, looking over to Eva. “We can work with you. There are quite a few dular in the city, and I imagine many of them would be willing to help you.”

  “They have been. There’s only so much they can do though. I’ve been meeting with several of the different dular, trying to find a different substrate to w
ork my enchantments upon.”

  There was that term again. It was something she’d never heard before recently, though it fit. “Had you ever known the substrate made a difference?”

  “I always knew certain things took enchantment better than others. I didn’t really know why. When I was younger, I used to try to place enchantments on little hunks of wood, or rocks, but specific items worked better. Coins, in particular.”

  “Have you ever given thought to why a coin would work better than anything else?”

  “I don’t really know. Maybe the coin is softer and more malleable, but maybe it just has to do with the kind of magic I have and how it links to it.”

  Jayna finished her glass of wine, setting it down. She eyed the bottle of wine for a moment before deciding she didn’t need another glass. Her task was not over. Not yet. “We might need your particular talents, Topher.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, it’s potentially dangerous.”

  He chuckled. “I think anything around you is potentially dangerous, Jayna.” He took another drink of his wine. “But it’s also interesting. Before I came to the city, I would never have figured I’d be dealing with this sort of thing.”

  “You do realize this is dark magic, don’t you?” She had to tell him. She didn’t want to have him thinking she was playing around with some sort of strange enchantments, or dealing with something that was only a game. There were times when she had a hard time determining just how Topher felt about things. Mostly there seemed to be a simpleness to him, but maybe that came from him having grown up in a village, and not having seen much of the world. Or maybe it was a residual effect of the dwaring attack. Jayna didn’t know. When he had been at the market, she had started to see another side of him, a side she wondered if he could find all the time. The confidence was the side of Topher she needed.

  “I understand,” Topher said. “I can’t claim that I know about dark magic, or that I understand what it is you are doing, but I think I understand what happened when they used that creature on me.”