A City in Ruin (The Dark Sorcerer Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Something ripped into her hand.

  The ivy had thorns on it.

  She bit back a cry and pushed out through the ring with a hint of power, encasing herself in a shell of energy, and squeezed. By using the power that way, she could hold on to the ivy, and she scrambled down it until she dropped to the ground and looked up at the house.

  A figure stood in the window where she had escaped, watching her. Rosal's father would know it was Jayna.

  Had she just gotten Rosal into more trouble?

  She would have to think about that later and apologize to him.

  For now, she had to get moving.

  She raced through the garden, not willing to stay there any longer. She was concerned Rosal’s father would decide to chase her out, and she wasn’t interested in sticking around for that possibility, even if he were to only do it for show.

  More than that, she had the box with the stone, and she needed to get out of there with it. She hadn’t discovered anything about the merchants—even though that had been her whole purpose in coming to the house—but she hadn’t blown it completely. She had uncovered another one of these strange stones.

  One in Rosal's father's office.

  That couldn't be a coincidence.

  How was he involved?

  She had thought perhaps the merchants had brought the stones to the city to sell to somebody with money. What if they had intended to sell them to Rosal's father all along? He was the head of the merchant guild, after all.

  Figures in the garden caught her attention.

  Soldiers.

  She braced herself, reaching through the power of the ring, wrapping that energy around her, and ran toward the wall. As soon as she got there, she trailed along it, looking for a section where she could possibly throw herself over the ledge and to safety.

  Jayna hurried, but didn’t see any optimal place to jump. She would have to risk it.

  She pushed off the wall with the power of the ring, letting it carry her up, and scrambled to grab the lower ledge of the wall. When she had a handhold, she climbed up a little bit higher. At the top of the wall, she paused.

  The wall wasn’t very high, but it did give her a vantage to look over the grounds. There were half a dozen soldiers, all of them armed with mail and swords . . . one of them pointing a crossbow at her.

  She rolled, dropping to the street.

  Something whizzed over her head, barely missing where she’d been.

  Considering she’d been struck by a crossbow not all that long ago, Jayna had no interest in enduring another hit. She started running, scrambling along the street, darting down the next intersecting street, and only slowed when she neared a part of the city where the buildings didn’t rise quite as high as they had in Rosal’s father’s section.

  The transition was easy to pinpoint: In addition to the shorter buildings, the walls were dirtier and covered in glowing moss. She looked behind her. She could still feel Rosal as she used the linking spell.

  She couldn’t leave him behind.

  She circled back, but she came at the mansion from a different direction. She looped through the various merchants’ quarters, passing wagon caravans that headed to the city and made her hesitate. If there was another way to find the merchant, she wouldn’t need Rosal.

  She found the courtyard still filled with protesters. The fountain flowed, shaped into some sort of sculpture she suspected was also an enchantment. Considering what she’d seen at the mansion, and the way the grounds themselves had formed an enchantment, she started to wonder whether everything within these manor houses was some sort of enchantment. It would certainly explain how fortified they were.

  Jayna approached the fountain slowly and looked at the water spilling out of it. The fountain was shaped into something like a child, with one finger pointed up toward the sky and the other hand stretched outward. Water spilled out from the hand and down into the fountain, then circled back around. It was definitely another enchantment, and whoever had created it would’ve had considerable power in order to etch out the detail of the child. Two of the protesters splashed in the water, stomping through it, and shouted at the mansion.

  Jayna turned her attention to the home. The gate was closed, and standing within the crowd from this angle, she could see the movement inside of the walls. There were soldiers patrolling, moving quickly through the yard, as if looking for where she had gone.

  How long would it be before Rosal's father went after him for what Jayna had done?

  She could feel him through the linking spell. Maybe she could do something to help—or to warn him, at least.

  Jayna pushed a bit of power through the linking spell, and there came a faint twinge of energy as she tried to use it to call him.

  She waited. It was different from when she had triggered the linking spell with Char. In that case, the spell had stayed buried within her, and there was some activity to it that felt familiar, some part of it she thought she could recognize. In this case, however, there was nothing.

  No reverberation. No echoing. No sense of recognition.

  Probably because Rosal didn’t know the linking spell quite as well as Char did. Or maybe it was because Char had a hand in creating the linking spell.

  Either way, she waited, but there was nothing to suggest he was aware of her.

  She tried another approach.

  She focused on the linking spell again and sent another burst of power out through it, wrapping energy around it in a way she thought might be enough to gather his attention. This time, she could feel it twinge a bit more, a soft shimmer of power, then it faded.

  Where was he?

  Something had changed.

  He was either not on the grounds anymore, or she just wasn’t aware of him the way she should have been.

  Jayna looked along the street. Had his father brought him out?

  If so, it would be her fault.

  The linking spell faded to the point where she couldn’t detect anything anymore. Jayna waited, but Rosal didn’t emerge from the home. She’d have to find him later.

  She made her way toward Rosal’s father’s home, and once again started to have the feeling that somebody tracked her through the streets.

  For a moment, Jayna wasn’t sure if it was only her imagination, but the farther she went, the more certain she was that somebody followed her. Considering she had just infiltrated the home of one of the wealthier men in the city, she needed to be more careful. Jayna moved cautiously, switching to a side street, and then began to double back.

  It was a technique her brother had taught her.

  There were not too many lessons Jonathan had provided that had proven useful in the Academy. Most of the things Jonathan wanted her to learn had dealt with how to avoid detection, sneaking along the streets, and how to find out if somebody followed her. Doubling back provided her the opportunity to look along the street, to search for signs of anyone unusual and see if they were paying her any extra attention. She didn’t see anybody, but she still had a feeling something was there.

  She turned a corner.

  That feeling never left her.

  She hurried along the street and paused once again, turning into an alley, and from there, she slipped into the darkness. After waiting awhile, there was nothing.

  Maybe it was only her imagination.

  Jayna started forward as a shuffling came behind her. She spun, holding her hand up and twisting it, when a soft laugh echoed from the darkness.

  “You still have some of his old tricks, don’t you?”

  “Matthew?”

  He stepped forward, and she lowered her hand to see him pulling his hood down, revealing his face. “You are difficult to follow.”

  “What are you doing following me?”

  “I saw you out there.”

  “You saw me out where?”

  “Out at the protest.”

  Jayna frowned. “You saw me there?” She hadn’t seen him, despite surveying the cro
wd, which left her concerned she hadn’t been paying close enough attention. She was distracted, and distraction was dangerous in this type of work—especially with the kind of power she’d been using.

  “I saw you, but I wasn’t expecting to see you there. Where are the other sorcerers?”

  Jayna tensed. There it was. The question she’d been trying to avoid from Matthew when she had first seen him. She didn’t have any way of refuting it.

  “They’re busy with other parts of their responsibility.”

  He smiled at her. “What does the Society care about a protest over merchant taxes?”

  “You know I can’t tell you that,” she said.

  “Let me tell you what I think,” Matthew said. “The Society doesn’t care for the fact the dular lead in this city.”

  Jayna frowned. She didn’t know, but maybe that was the case. “What were you doing there?”

  “I was following the money.”

  “The money. What job are you going to pull here?”

  “You know I can’t tell you that.” He repeated Jayna’s own words to her. “If I tell you, then you’ll somehow try to get involved, and knowing the Society, it will find me at the wrong end of things.”

  “How well do you know the Society?”

  Matthew smiled at her. “Well enough.”

  She waited for him to expand on that, but he didn’t.

  “Why are you following me? Again,” she said.

  “Consider it curiosity.”

  “It’s more than just curiosity,” she said.

  Matthew leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’re like my little sister, Jayna. I guess I felt a bit of guilt at not having offered you my help after your brother disappeared. I still feel guilty about that.”

  “You don’t need to feel guilty. But you should feel guilty about not helping him.”

  “I’ve been helping him as best as I can.”

  “You told me the other day you weren’t doing anything for him.”

  “There isn’t so much I can do for him. He knows that,” Matthew said.

  “If you figure out what happened, if it’s prison . . .” Matthew arched a brow, suggesting how he felt about that. “Then if you learn which prison he’s in, you could let me know. And I still want to know if you hear anything about Gabranth.”

  She was pushing more than she intended, but at this point, she didn't care. She wanted to know what Matthew might be able to learn.

  “There isn’t anything you can do,” he said. “The Society has influence, but there are limits to their influence, especially when it comes to that.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “What it means is that even the Society cannot get too deeply involved in the rule of law. The Society serves as advisors, nothing else.”

  Jayna sniffed, shaking her head. In her experience, the Society served as more than just advisors, but perhaps Matthew hadn’t seen that. Had she not left her role at the Academy, Jayna might not have seen that either. It was only through her travels and experiences that she had come to realize the Society had a much greater hand in ruling throughout the kingdom. They had likely been guiding events in other kingdoms as well.

  “Like I said, if you figure out which prison he’s in, I want you to send word to me.”

  “How?”

  “Through any outpost. Address it to Char.”

  He frowned at her. “Char?”

  She shrugged. “I couldn’t really use my name when I went to the Academy, could I? Not with my brother being who he was.”

  Matthew pressed his mouth together, frowning deeply. “I suppose not. I guess I hadn’t considered that before.”

  “Jonathan didn’t make it very easy on me, though he never really considered that either, did he?”

  “He always worried about you, Jayna.”

  “He might’ve worried about me, but he never cared. Not particularly.”

  “You know that’s not true.”

  Jayna shook her head. “I need to get going.”

  “You didn’t answer my question.”

  “About what?”

  “About what you were doing there. What were you doing at that protest?”

  “Nothing.”

  “And I suppose that nothing is the same nothing the individual I saw scaling the wall outside of the house was doing?”

  Jayna clenched her fists, already starting to call upon the ring, the Toral power within it, as she looked over at Matthew. “I don’t know what you saw.”

  “I think you should be careful,” he said. “I don’t know what you’re involved in, or why the Society would be sneaking into one of the dular homes, but it’s dangerous. The dular are dangerous. I’ve been looking into things here as much as I can, and have learned about the rule here. They tend to be ruthless.”

  “Every city has ruthless rulers,” Jayna said.

  “Maybe, but this is different.” He shook his head. “Just be careful.”

  “Are you going to keep following me?”

  “I wouldn’t have had you not appeared.”

  “Good. I don’t think you want to get involved in this.”

  “Why not?”

  She certainly didn’t need Matthew tracking her as she tried to finish this job, but she wouldn’t put it past him to feel like he had to offer her some sort of protection anyway. “There’s a danger in the city.”

  He started to smile. “Well, I’m sure the Sorcerers’ Society can handle that.”

  “You would think so,” she said.

  “Why do I get the feeling that whatever danger you’re going on about involves something different?”

  “You just be careful too. And if you see one of these,” she said, grabbing the stone out of her pocket and holding it up, “you need to send word to me. It’s important, Matthew. Don’t steal it.”

  Matthew leaned forward, studying it, and he sucked in a sharp breath. “That’s a bloodstone.”

  “A what?”

  “Where did you get that?”

  “What do you know about it?”

  She had to choose her words carefully here. It was a dance, a game. With somebody like Matthew, somebody clever and street smart, she would have to play the game the way he would expect, the way her brother would’ve expected.

  And this might be the very reason he was in the city in the first place.

  “Those are dangerous, Jayna. You shouldn’t even have them. Hell, they shouldn’t even be in the city like this.”

  “Why are they dangerous?”

  “You don’t know?” Matthew leaned back and started shaking his head. “Oh, gods. I can’t believe the Society would be so foolish as to get involved in something they don’t know anything about.”

  “How do you know about it?”

  “I have my ways,” Matthew said.

  Jayna leaned forward, and she jabbed him in the chest. “If you know something, Matthew Veran, you need to tell me what it is.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I’m going to make sure the Society keeps an eye out for you. They’ll monitor you so closely that you won’t be able to operate anywhere. I’ll send word that you’re a known associate of Jonathan Aguelon. Is that what you want?”

  “Jayna . . .”

  “Don’t challenge me on this, Matthew. I need to know what you know.”

  “What are you doing looking for information about it?”

  “I’m trying to understand what it is,” Jayna said.

  “What do you already know about it?” Matthew asked.

  “Nope,” Jayna said. “That’s not how this is going to go. You’re going to tell me what you know, then I’ll tell you what I know if I need to.”

  “If you want me to share information with you, I’m going to need your side first.”

  “The only reason I’m after this is because there have been a series of dangerous explosions in the city tied to this bloodstone,” Jayna said. “I’ve been trying to
prevent a greater attack from taking place, but if I’m not fast enough gathering information, there will be another.”

  “Those occurred because of bloodstone?” he asked.

  “You heard about it?”

  “I knew there was an explosion. Everybody working in the city knew about it. The market was destroyed.”

  “I know. I was there.”

  “Wait. You were at the midnight market?” He frowned. “Then the Society showed up. I wondered what the Society was doing getting involved in the midnight market.”

  “I’m trying to keep something dangerous from happening,” she said.

  “I would believe that more easily if I could trust the Society.”

  “Then don’t trust the Society. Trust me.”

  Matthew regarded her for a moment, then started shaking his head slowly. “I heard about the explosion in the market. Based on the stories, there were a couple of people who died in the blast.”

  “That’s just the stories.”

  “Why? Didn’t it happen that way?”

  “It’s been my experience that stories have a way of getting out of hand.”

  “I suppose that’s true enough. There were rumors that several of the older enchanters were killed by a blast. I’m not as plugged into that side of the world as I am in some others, so I don’t know with any certainty what exactly happened, but it fits, especially if there’s bloodstone involved.”

  “What can you tell me about it?”

  “It’s an ancient stone, as you probably know.” Matthew watched her, as if waiting for confirmation that she did know what he was telling her. “And it doesn’t need an enchantment. It has its own power inside. It’s almost as if the stone itself is bound with power, something to give it the magic within it.”

  “What would happen if it were used for an enchantment?”

  The dular could certainly add power to it and make it even more impressive.

  What would happen if someone within the Sorcerers' Society used it in an enchantment?

  Why were the stones here?

  Matthew watched her for a moment. “Is that what happened?”

  “Maybe.”

  Matthew whistled. “Shit. Something like that would be violent. Explosive. I can’t even imagine what that would end up being like.”