The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You stopped using tools.”

  Rsiran nodded. “They weren’t fine enough for what I wanted. Maybe for you, but I don’t think that I could have made this with your tools.” He doubted that he could have made it with tools that he fashioned himself. The only way that Rsiran had been able to create the tree was by pushing on the metal, something that he’d never attempted.

  “You have an interesting technique, Lareth, but there is no doubting your skill.” He handed the lorcith tree to Rsiran. “This is yours. Something like this could be more valuable than you realize.”

  Seval turned to the bench and lifted a small lorcith platter. Rsiran could feel the detail used to make it. “There are some who’ve seen your work, myself included, who know that you’ve learned lessons that many smiths never learn. Others still aren’t certain about the way you learned—a little too focused on the way apprenticeships have been run to remember that smith blood once provided all the education a man needed.” He nodded to Rsiran. “And you got smith blood, don’t you?”

  Rsiran noted the interested twinkle to his eyes. “I can hear the lorcith, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Hear it? From what I’ve seen,” he said, nodding to the tree, “you’ve more than heard it. What you’ve done there is nothing short of extraordinary.” He handed the lorcith platter to Rsiran. “This is what my last journeyman made for me. Detailed, yes. Impressive? Certainly. He was as skilled as I’d seen in a few years.” Seval took the platter back and set it on his table. “Or had been, until today. I think I understand now the push to make you a member of the guild.”

  “Push? What push?”

  Seval smiled. “After what you did for the guild, it shouldn’t take a demonstration of skill, but I admit that I wasn’t certain. At least, I hadn’t been before today. Now… well, now I think I understand why the alchemists would see you legitimized.”

  Rsiran glanced at Jessa. He had never considered the possibility that he could somehow be legitimized with the guild. All the time that he’d been working at his unsanctioned smithy, all he wanted was to avoid drawing too much attention to himself, so that he could continue to work, and not fear the constables coming and trying to shut him down. But if the guild recognized him… he wouldn’t have to fear that anymore. Not that he really did now, anyway. If the alchemists recognized him, he wouldn’t really have to worry that the constables would come for him, especially now that he knew the constables were members of the guild. The smithy was as safe as it could be.

  “I don’t understand.”

  Seval nodded to the lorcith that Rsiran held. “Think of that as your journeyman project for my smithy, Lareth. And let me tell you, the apprentices who’ve come before you will tell you I was a harsh master to work under. Most stayed much longer than they’d intended before achieving journeyman status. But you… damn, man. You achieved in hours what took most years to accomplish.”

  Hours. Rsiran hadn’t known how much time he’d lost when he had been working with the lorcith. It wasn’t uncommon for him to lose time while at the forge, but hours? That wasn’t all that common. The only times he’d managed that had been when he was making dozens of knives, but he had been very aware of the time when he had.

  “Anyway, you have my support, Lareth. Not that you need it. Seems like you can do whatever you want with lorcith.”

  That wasn’t what Rsiran wanted, but then he hadn’t come to Seval expecting to make something for him, and certainly not a demonstration of his ability with lorcith. “That’s not really why I came to you today.”

  Seval frowned. “Isn’t it? Thought maybe the alchemists… Doesn’t matter. I stopped figuring I knew what others would do when I was abducted from Elaeavn. Damn Forgotten thought to use us, thinking to make us create those horrible piercings. Not the kind of thing that most of us knew how to make.”

  Rsiran hadn’t realized that they had been asked to make the piercings, but it made sense, especially with what he’d seen from Inna and the others working with her. “I’m sorry they took you from your home.”

  “Not the worst of it for me,” Seval said. “Others had it worse. Besides, I’m tougher than most.” He flashed a smile. “What did bring you here, if not a desire to show off how much more skilled you are with lorcith than I am?”

  When Rsiran arched his brow at the comment, Seval laughed. “Just lorcith. Can’t say that you have the same skill with other metals until I see it for myself. But with that… damn, you certainly can outdo my attempts. That’s practically art like the ancient smiths used to make. The kind that they have up in the palace.”

  Rsiran made a point to remember that he would need to visit the palace and see some of the work of the ancient smiths. Then he might be able to see how skilled they were and if there was anything that he could do that could replicate their work.

  He fished the medallion out of his pocket and handed it to Seval. “What can you tell me about this?” he asked.

  Seval took the medallion, held it out, and cocked his head to the side. Rsiran wondered if he was Sighted and used the ability to gauge what had gone into the creation of the medallion, but he couldn’t tell, and he wasn’t about to ask him if he was. That wasn’t the kind of question you asked. The longer Seval held the medallion, Rsiran began to wonder if maybe he listened to the lorcith in it, much like the way Rsiran did.

  “Surprised you didn’t recognize this.”

  “Why?”

  “You don’t see the details?”

  Rsiran shook his head. “I’m not Sighted.”

  “Don’t have to be, I expect. You’ve got a connection to lorcith that should tell you all you need to know about this piece.”

  Jessa took the medallion and held it up. “What is it? Why should Rsiran recognize this?”

  Seval studied her for a moment and nodded to the medallion.

  “Because his grandfather is the one who made it.”

  Chapter 6

  Rsiran sat in front of his forge, watching the red coals as they softly cooled. This was a place of comfort to him. He was surrounded by lorcith and heartstone alloy protections he’d put in place, using forgings that had come from his hand, crafted with a sense of urgency and the desire to keep Jessa and him safe. Every time that he left here, he wondered if he would be able to return, and whether he would find the same safety when he did.

  A pair of knives rested on the anvil, shaped by him as he had worked the forge. They were small—ideal for pushing—and were born from a request to the metal to allow him to make the shapes needed for the knives to fly true. He’d made knives like these before, often enough that he knew they would be perfect for what he needed, but had added a little extra heft to the handle of the knife in case he needed to use it in a different way. Fighting off the man who had attacked Alyse made him realize that cutting with the knife might not always be the best solution. There might be times when he simply needed to knock someone out. He could push with significant force behind the lorcith, enough to incapacitate but not kill.

  He had hoped that spending time working would help clear his head. Usually, when he worked at the forge, he found that he was able to think more clearly, but after meeting with Seval, and his comments about the guild, his mind practically buzzed. For the first time, the forge hadn’t helped, probably because it was the reason his mind raced.

  The door to the smithy opened and he spun quickly, Sliding to it. He expected Jessa, but it was not her. Haern entered, and met him with his sword held in outstretched hands.

  “Thought you might want to spar a bit,” Haern suggested.

  “Why?”

  “Sometimes, work is helpful to focus the mind, other times, you need to do something. Seems to me that this is one of those times when you just need to act.”

  Rsiran glanced over to the forge. The coals were cooling enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about them. He pulled the knives that he’d just made to him, catching them from the air and slipping them into his pockets.
“Where?”

  “You need a bit more of a challenge than in your smithy. Let’s try the Aisl this time.”

  “The last time you took me to the Aisl to practice we came across the guild.”

  “This won’t be like the last time.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  Haern grunted. “Because you’re more skilled than you were the last time, and we know about the guild. Nothing really to fear there.”

  It seemed to him that there was always something for him to fear. If not his father and the mines, then Josun Elvraeth, or the Forgotten and Venass. There might never come a time when he didn’t have something to fear.

  He slipped the locks closed, but didn’t fully bar the door. The locks would keep most out of the smithy, but not Jessa unless he barred it completely. Then he grabbed Haern and Slid them to the Aisl.

  When they emerged, Haern shook his head. “Still not sure I can get used to that. The way you did that was… seemed to have a different draw to it than the first time I went with you.”

  “Pulling like that is the only way I know to keep the members of the Thenar Guild from detecting when I Slide.”

  Rsiran looked at the trees rising above them, the massive sjihn trees found only in the Aisl, and tallest this deep in the forest. The clearing here was one that Rsiran had been to many times, but now it had a different significance for him. Lianna rested here, buried after Josun had killed her. Brusus hadn’t said much about her death, but Rsiran suspected that he still searched for Josun, wanting revenge for what happened to her. Rsiran wanted nothing more than to avoid the man who’d done so much harm to his newfound family.

  “Why here?” Haern asked.

  “I know this place.”

  “Yeah, but why here?”

  Rsiran looked to the trees and considered Sliding to one of the branches, standing among treetops that had once provided shelter to his people. But it had been over a thousand years since they had left their homes among the trees to live along the shores. Sliding would have been useful back then, allowing easy travel between the branches. There was a time when he’d felt his ability wasn’t useful at all, but at least that had changed.

  “My mother used to bring us here when I was a child.”

  Hearn frowned at that, and his eyes went distant for a moment. “Into the trees?”

  “I think she liked the forest.”

  Haern blinked. “Not many within the city ever come out here, and certainly not this deep into the forest.”

  Rsiran hadn’t ever given it much thought, but Haern was right. Now that he did think about it, it was strange that his mother had brought them out here. Why to the forest, and why this deep into the forest?

  “I’ve never really questioned it.”

  Haern’s mouth tightened into a frown. “You get enough experience, and you start to question everything. I think you’re getting there already, but Jessa is right, Rsiran. You got blinders on when it comes to your family.”

  “She thinks I’m blind when it comes to anyone I care about.”

  “Well, we can all be accused of something similar. But you have a forgiving heart, though I don’t know why. I’ve heard what they did to you, and you were lucky to have made it out as intact as you are. Had you stayed there, you might not have developed the way you did. Maybe you need to be thankful about what happened.”

  “I am thankful,” Rsiran said.

  Haern grunted. “Fine. But always think to question. Something doesn’t look right, or doesn’t sound quite right, you got to push. Trust your gut. You’ve done well so far trusting your instinct. Now—”

  He flung a knife at Rsiran without any further warning.

  It wasn’t lorcith. Rsiran pushed on one of his knives and knocked Haern’s from the air. Haern smiled at him and threw another knife, but as he did, he rolled to the ground and unsheathed his sword. With a quick slashing movement, he swiped toward Rsiran and almost managed to hit him.

  Rsiran Slid back a few steps and emerged, unsheathing his sword.

  “Good,” Haern said. “Now try without Sliding.”

  “I don’t need to try without Sliding,” Rsiran said.

  “What if your ability fails? You’ve already seen how you can be too weak to Slide, or too sick to Slide. There may come a time when you can move, and fight, but you can’t use your abilities. Need you to be prepared for that.”

  Haern lunged at him, and Rsiran brought his sword up to counter. Without meaning to, he pulled on the sword as well. Haern seemed to have expected the move, and reversed the angle of his sword and jabbed it under Rsiran’s blade.

  Rsiran Slid backward.

  “Without Sliding,” Haern said in a grunt.

  Rsiran swiped at Haern with his sword, bringing the blade around in a sharp cut, before swinging down. Haern countered, driving the tip of Rsiran’s sword down.

  The clang of metal on metal echoed through the forest. Haern attacked, forcing Rsiran back, and Rsiran continued to struggle against the urge to Slide. He also resisted the urge to push on the sword. Fighting this way felt like fighting in the dark. He had grown accustomed to using his abilities as he attacked. Haern had trained him so that he would use them, and made certain that Rsiran had the skill needed to fight with not only the knives that he made, that he could push on, but also adding his ability to Slide to them. The combination had been how he’d managed to stop Evaelyn.

  Now, he fought with only his mediocre sword skill. His heartstone alloy blade created a bright bluish light in the forest, illuminating Haern, but he still struggled using the sword as more than a long knife. Nothing like the skilled sellswords that were found guarding the warehouse.

  “Keep your focus, boy,” Haern said.

  He smacked the flat of his sword against Rsiran’s arm, and he dropped his sword. “Damn!” Rsiran grabbed at his arm, feeling a welt already starting to form. “You’re asking me to fight without any of my abilities but you don’t limit yours.”

  “Limit? What advantage do you think me being able to See gives me?”

  “Can’t you predict where I’m going to attack?”

  Haern grunted and flicked Rsiran’s sword back to him. Rsiran pulled on it, and it came flying up to his hand. “With others, yes. But you know I can’t See you. That makes you dangerous for me. You’re the kind of person I would’ve avoided when given an assignment. Not enough to See, you know?” Haern took his attack stance. “Besides, you don’t need to use your abilities to defeat me. You got size and strength. Use that to your advantage. Working as a smith made you strong, so use that if you need to.”

  “Like this?” Rsiran ran at Haern and knocked him to the ground before Haern had the chance to react. He wrestled Haern’s sword from him, finding Haern much stronger than he would have expected, and then stood.

  Haern remained on the ground, holding his arm. “Like that,” he said. “Anyone else, and I would’ve Seen it coming. That’s your advantage, Rsiran. You’ve got many, but you got to remember to use them. Slide if you need to. Push on the metal as you do when you can. But if it comes down to it and your abilities fail, you need to think about what you’d do to get away.”

  Rsiran sheathed his sword and reached out a hand to help Haern stand. “I’ve had my abilities taken from me already, and we’ve managed to get away.”

  Haern shook his head, rubbing the same arm that he held. “Not the same. When you’ve been caught, your abilities saved you. With Josun, you figured out another way to Slide. Same with Venass. With the Forgotten, you waited until you got well enough before you got away.”

  “Why are you so worried about this?”

  Haern sheathed his sword and sighed. “Mostly because I don’t want you hurt. Can’t keep you out of this, even if we wanted to. You’re a part of it now, and because of you, so is she.”

  “Why are you so concerned about Jessa?”

  Haern laughed softly. “You worried about my intentions, Rsiran? Jealous? I’m old enough to be her father.�
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  “That’s not it.”

  “What, then? You don’t like it that I want to keep your girl safe?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying. You’ve always been concerned about her, but it’s more than that with you. Everything you do is about her.” Rsiran didn’t want to remind Haern of the time when he’d attacked him. There was no point in throwing that back out there. “First trying to keep her from me, and now you’re training me so I can protect her.”

  “You don’t think I want to see you safe?”

  “Maybe,” Rsiran agreed. “But I think that your intent is different.”

  Haern glanced around the Aisl, his gaze catching on the trees and the tall grasses before turning back to Rsiran and holding him. “See? Now you’re starting to question. Good for you.” He started walking, moving toward the trees. Rsiran ran after him, choosing not to Slide. “I have to watch after Jessa,” Haern said as they passed beneath the first sjihn tree. His voice was hushed here, as if the trees swallowed it. He continued another few dozen steps, stopping at one of the massive trees and touching the trunk without turning his attention back to Rsiran. “Given your relationship, you have a right to know. Probably ought to tell her more than I have.”

  “Tell her more about what?”

  “Her father. We knew each other, once. He’s the reason I got away. Without him, I wouldn’t have managed to get free of Venass, and the Hjan.”

  “What are the Hjan?” The name sounded strange to him, an accent to it that didn’t quite fit his tongue, as if the language was not one he was meant to speak.

  “Assassins. That’s where I got my training. Not all of Venass are like the scholars you met. That group is interested in power, and understanding things that they have no right to understand, but there are others, a secretive group with powers of their own. The Hjan. That’s what I was a part of. And once you’re in, you don’t leave, at least not easily.”