Festival of Mourn (The Dark Sorcerer Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Jayna glanced to the space where he’d been talking to someone else, but she didn’t see anyone there. She couldn’t let him get away. She needed answers, and the volar might have them.

  10

  Jayna chased the strange man through the market. She passed several of the stands she had gone past before, most of them food vendors, the smells drifting to her nostrils, both savory and sweet, and she had to push her way through the crowd, weaving around more people who had started to fill the market. When she neared Eva and Topher, she slowed for just a moment. “I’ll be right back.”

  “What are you going after?” Topher said, jogging up alongside her.

  She grabbed him, shoving him in the opposite direction. “Stay with Eva. Tell her I saw one of the volar who attacked me a night ago.”

  Could it have only been one night?

  It had felt like so long ago.

  “What’s a volar?”

  “Dark magic user. Dangerous.”

  And the other two sorcerers she’d seen might be even more dangerous if they decided to come after her.

  “I can help,” Topher said.

  Jayna didn’t want to argue with him. She just wanted him to do what she asked. “Would you just go back to Eva? She can help you.”

  “And I can help you,” he said.

  “I know you want to help,” she said. She glanced around the inside of the market. The volar had raced away, though she could see him moving through the crowd near the edge of the market. He wouldn’t be able to get too far without her seeing him. He might hide, but there was something about him that was easy to track. She could sense his magic, so she had to think that even if he tried to disappear from her, she should be able to find him. “Just stay with her. You’re still weakened from what happened last night.”

  Jayna gave him another shove, this time putting a little bit of force and magic into it. She didn’t really want to, but she also didn’t want to have to keep arguing with him. The longer she argued, the likelier the volar would disappear from her altogether and she’d lose out on her chance of catching and asking him.

  She looked past him to Eva, locking eyes with her for a moment. “Keep this fool with you, will you?”

  Eva glanced to the Urguin before turning her attention back to Topher and nodding.

  The volar then crashed into somebody and went sprawling.

  That was Jayna’s chance.

  She darted forward, nearing Petra, the meat vendor they had first encountered when coming to the market, then moving around him. A younger woman, along with two children, stepped in front of her.

  Jayna pulled up short, stopping before crashing into them. She slipped around the woman, barely avoiding stumbling over the children, but the volar was gone.

  Jayna stood in place, frustration filling her. Behind her, the sound of the market had started to intensify, the noise increasing as the people filling the market became more unruly. It surprised her that it would get more chaotic this late in the day, whereas most markets she’d been to tended to be busier first thing in the morning. Maybe it was the type of goods that were sold in the Hester Square Market, or maybe it was the kind of vendors that were there, but either way, she now had to deal with a much more sizable crowd than she had before.

  What was the volar doing in the market in the first place?

  He shouldn’t have been there.

  It was too much of a coincidence that he was there, and given what she had seen and experienced so far with Topher, along with the volar, she doubted it was a coincidence at all. Maybe all of this had been coordinated in some way.

  She stalked forward, twisting the dragon stone ring on her finger, looking for any sign of the volar, but didn’t see him. Then she caught a flash of his cloak.

  He was up ahead. Far enough that she had to run, but not so far that she didn’t think she could catch up to him. All she had to do was add a little bit of magic to her step.

  The spell was fairly straightforward. It was one of the earlier spells she learned at the Academy, and something most students learned to turn upon themselves.

  She raced ahead. She had to be careful to avoid the attention of the sorcerers in the city, including the two balding sorcerers she'd seen going into the market. As long as they weren't with this volar, she doubted anyone would notice. Besides, the pattern that she placed on herself was a very mild magic, and certainly not enough to draw significant attention. At least, that was what she hoped.

  Before the volar disappeared altogether, she traced a simple pattern of a spell on each of her thighs, a series of interlocking lines. As she pushed power through the pattern, a flare of speed surged.

  Jayna ran.

  She moved quickly, fluidly. When she reached a pile of crates in her way, she jumped, the spell she had placed on her leg giving her a bit more strength than usual. When she reached the top of the stack of crates, she pushed off again, coming to land on the ground.

  The volar raced away from her. The tension she felt along her skin suggested he was summoning magic.

  She couldn't be the only one who would detect it.

  When he disappeared from view, she pushed off the ground with a surge and jumped forward nearly fifteen feet before skidding around the corner. There he was.

  Then he disappeared again.

  Jayna ran.

  She whipped past others as she raced along the street, but she wouldn’t be able to maintain the speed for long.

  Up ahead, she caught sight of the volar again.

  He had reached the outskirts of the city, following a narrow and winding road around the edges of Nelar, but never heading deeper into the city itself. The buildings here were much like those near the tavern where Topher had led them the night before. They were all a bit rundown, all made of the same fading and failing stone, and all of them coated with the deep green moss that was prevalent in this part of the city. The air felt increasingly humid the more she ran, though Jayna didn’t know if that was only an effect of her sprinting through the city, the effort of her work that made her feel a heaviness.

  He disappeared behind a building.

  Jayna slowed. Another flash of fabric in the direction he’d gone caught her attention, and she smiled to herself.

  The volar had thought to hide.

  But he had thought to hide in a crumbling stone building.

  She prepared the starburst pattern. She had no idea where he might pop up, but she didn't have to be as focused with this pattern as she would with some of the other patterns. She wasn't about to hold back either.

  While preparing the spell, she twisted the dragon stone ring.

  She didn't want to use it if she didn't have to.

  Now that she had slowed, nearing the volar, and now that they were still on the outskirts of the city itself, she didn’t have to hesitate quite as much to use her Toral power, and she could summon more energy through the dragon stone ring.

  She rounded a corner.

  A blast of energy came toward her.

  It streaked at her as a fireball, though with lines of darkness through it.

  Dark magic.

  A fireball like that was difficult magic, even with an enchantment.

  Jayna braced, painfully pulling on power through the dragon stone ring, creating a shimmering barrier around her. When the blast of fire struck, it dissipated quickly. The ring seemed to absorb some of it while also deflecting it.

  She didn’t know how many similar blasts the volar would have. Any enchantment worth its measure would be useful for more than one blast of power. Given that she was dealing with the volar, she hoped it was an enchantment, and nothing more than that. The alternative meant she was dealing with a sorcerer.

  “I just need to talk,” Jayna said.

  Another blast struck, this time dissipating again.

  The energy was more considerable than she would’ve expected.

  Yet another blast of energy struck her.

  The frequency was more than sh
e would’ve expected from him as well.

  It took time to reset an enchantment, and she would’ve hoped to have time to prepare a defense. Without the dragon stone ring, this blast might have overwhelmed her. Pain coursed up her arm. It would be too much for her pretty soon.

  She could already feel the barrier starting to shimmer, and doubted she would be able to withstand too many more blasts like that. If he continued to attack her with the same sort of energy, eventually her protection would fade.

  Which meant she had to go on the offensive.

  “All I want to do is talk,” she said again.

  The man blasted her, and this time the power was a bit different than it had been before. Rather than a pure fireball, this was fire mixed with a hint of wind, swirling it toward her in a spiral that focused to a point. It was designed to penetrate a shielding.

  At least, it would have been designed to penetrate any typical shielding.

  Pain flared along her arm and up her neck as she used the dragon stone ring for protection.

  How many enchantments did he have?

  The rough cobblestone street was thankfully empty, but was slick with moisture, and she felt the weight of each breath from the humidity in the air.

  He blasted her again.

  In order to target her, he had to poke his head up from behind a pile of stone. It gave her somewhere to target as well.

  Jayna hurriedly traced the symbol for the blade of light, a series of three triangles in rapid succession, and whipped her wrist in a quick flick. The blade surged forward, blasting toward the stone.

  It was powerful magic.

  The vibrant, yellowish streak of power struck him.

  He held his hands up, crossing his arms in front of each other, and her blast struck the enchantments he wore around each of his wrists.

  It still blew him backward.

  Jayna scrambled toward him, crawling over the rock, and reached him before he could gather himself and get to his feet. She held her hand over his face. He had ruddy features, pale blue eyes, and short brown hair with streaks of gray. He could have been anyone, not a dark magic user.

  “I really don’t like that, so don’t try it again,” Jayna said.

  He tried to crawl back, but she kicked him in the side. Since he had shot her with a crossbow not too long ago, she reasoned that she could use physical torment as well.

  “Come on!” she snapped at him. “All I want is to talk. You were more than happy to do that with someone else back there. Just tell me what you were doing in the market. What does it have to do with the Festival of Mourn?”

  He glowered at her.

  She prepared another blade of light. If she had to, she could continue to blast at him, though she didn't really want to use that on him at this range. It would just as likely kill him as maim him, and she didn't want to do that.

  She held her hand out, looking as if she might blast him.

  “I know all about what happens at the festival.”

  “You can't stop it. There's no way anyone like you could stop a sorcerer as powerful as Gabranth.”

  She tried to keep her face neutral. She thought she'd heard that name before.

  “Where is he and when do you plan your festival?”

  He said nothing.

  “If you don't answer, I'm going to use a blast of magic and melt your face.”

  “You can't melt my face with magic.”

  She leaned close to him. There was the bitter stench of magic, that of lightning in a thunderstorm, on him, more potent than she had expected. Maybe he had powerful enchantments. She tried not to think about what might've been done to create them, but her mind filled in the details anyway.

  “Do you really think you know so much about magic that you believe I can't?”

  “I know a sorcerer can't melt my face.”

  She hesitated, irritation bubbling up within her. “I'm no sorcerer.” His eyes widened. She began to focus on the power within the dragon stone ring. If she had to use it, then so be it. “Now you're starting to get it. How about we start again? What is your name?”

  He flicked his gaze past her before focusing on her again. She felt power nearby, and suspected that she didn't have much time before the Society appeared. She had to ask her questions quickly.

  She held her hand up against his head. “Name!”

  “Rendal Durge.”

  “And where is Gabranth?”

  He didn't answer.

  She started to trace out her blade of light pattern. She might not be able to melt his face, but she could blast it.

  He stared at her hand, as if recognizing the pattern, but what kind of volar would recognize that?

  “You can't stop it. We've already put the pieces in motion. And Gabranth won't let us fail. You can't stop this.”

  He started to laugh, and the feeling of magic coming around her began to build even more.

  He was delaying.

  She pushed her hand down onto his head, pulling on the cold, burning pain of the ring. There might be more power to deal with than she could manage with only sorcery.

  He lunged.

  The suddenness of it surprised her, and she stumbled back, but not before he grabbed for her.

  Not for her. The enchantment in her pocket.

  She tried to pull away, but he blasted her with a surge of power from his closed fist.

  It was her turn to be surprised.

  There had been no enchantment.

  What had he worn on his wrists? Those had been enchantments, but he didn’t rely only on enchantments.

  Which meant . . .

  She staggered back.

  He jerked the enchantment free from her pocket, holding it out triumphantly.

  He backed away down the street, moving near the other buildings.

  Jayna got to her feet, readying power. She was going to have to use sorcery, or perhaps even the dragon stone. At this point, she wasn't sure which she would need to focus on.

  “Thanks for bringing it back to us. Harvesting these is nearly impossible, but necessary for the festival.”

  She frowned. “I’ll just have to take that back from you.”

  As she started to call on power through the dragon stone, something struck her from the opposite direction.

  She had felt the power beginning to build, and an instinctive part of her forced power out, using the energy of the dragon stone ring. Pain immediately arced up her arm, and she released that energy before it kept moving any farther.

  She looked over to see an impossibly handsome man approaching, dressed in a deep navy jacket and pants. He looked like some nobleman, but he carried the power of sorcery about him.

  There was another man behind him—the other man she had seen in the Wandering Hen.

  “Let me guess. Gabranth,” Jayna said.

  “A meddlesome little sorcerer,” Gabranth said.

  “She's not a sorcerer,” Rendal said, moving closer to Gabranth.

  Jayna tried to pick through her options here. The very first thing she did was send a pulse of power out through the dragon stone ring. Ceran might be able to help, but only if he could get here in time. This was what he wanted her to find, and now she was standing face to face with a dark sorcerer—more than one, if what she had felt when Rendal attacked her was right.

  “No?” He tipped his head to the side. “Whom do you serve?”

  His gaze drifted to her ring, and there was a knowing look in his eyes.

  He knew about the Toral.

  She had not heard of Toral and Sul'toral until Ceran had come for her.

  She doubted very many sorcerers knew. Though she shouldn't be surprised that a dark sorcerer would know.

  “Someone who knows better than to perform a festival in the middle of Nelar.”

  He chuckled. “Ah. I see.” He glanced over to the others. “She thinks to avoid the temptation.” He started to laugh. “But you can feel it, can't you? It's there. Right at the edge of your understa
nding. All you have to do is let it fill you.”

  Her heart hammered.

  It was something Ceran had warned her about. He had told her that other Toral had succumbed to the darkness, falling prey to the power promised to them. And he had warned her that she needed to be careful. Otherwise, she ran the risk of it consuming her, like it had consumed others. When she felt the cold power, she believed there was something more—that temptation to draw upon it. She resisted as much as she could now.

  “You're not going to—”

  A burst of power looped around her, starting at her feet and writhing around the barrier that she held, starting to constrict.

  It was a powerful use of magic that she did not know.

  Worse, she hadn't seen him do anything. No tracing of patterns.

  She hadn't spent enough time learning sorcery to understand this.

  Even as it constricted, Gabranth's face did not change. He remained impassive, bored even.

  He took the enchantment from Rendal. He held it out, carrying it over to Jayna and stopping just across from her. He was nearly a hand taller than her, and he radiated power. He smiled, a disarming look flashing in his eyes.

  “Did you feel the pull?” His voice was soft, dangerous. “Some describe it as fighting a shadow.” Darkness began to crawl free of the enchantment. It slithered toward her. She could feel it, as if the dwaring were trying to call to the darkness she could summon from the ring. “There is no way to defeat it. Once it fills you, it's already too late.” He held on to the enchantment. “Perhaps we could sacrifice this one. It might bring me immense joy to let it feed upon you. I would leave your husk for your master.”

  Jayna tried to jerk away, but the power around her made it impossible to move. She focused on the blade of light, and sent a surge of power out from her, trying to carve through the spell he used to hold her, but it wasn't enough.

  He started to laugh, but suddenly cut himself off as smoke began to drift toward them.

  The power continued to constrict, encircling her and squeezing, but then it exploded, sending her backward.

  She was thrown into a wall—hard enough that it collapsed around her.

  Her head rang. She had managed to solidify power around her, drawing enough of the painful energy of the dragon stone so that it had protected her, but it had still nearly tore through her.