The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “What do you know about your brother?” he asked. “Why was he exiled?”

  “Not for the same reason as Evaelyn, if that is what you fear. His fault was one of compassion. He forgave too easily and wanted to help those who were exiled. In that way, I think that you would have gotten along well with him. Like you, he cared about his family. And when Evaelyn was banished, he thought he could find a way to redeem her. Danis was always able to see the good in people. But once someone is banished, the council does not forgive, and they do not forget. So when he went after Evaelyn, thinking that he could help her, and possibly find a way to bring her back to the city…” Della sighed. “It was the beginning of the end for our family.”

  Rsiran frowned. “I thought you are Elvraeth.”

  She nodded. “I am. Was. But we are not all part of the same family. Some of us descend from a different branch of the tree.”

  “Like me with smith blood.”

  Della shook her head. “Even that is different. With you, it is like you are a crossing of two different types of trees, a pairing that together is hardier than either alone would have been. The combination of smith blood and blood of the Watcher has been sought for years, and promised to come. I had never expected to see it.”

  “What makes him special?” Jessa asked.

  Della laughed. “I thought you would know the answer to that.”

  Jessa flushed. “Why do they all want him?”

  “Because there are some on the council who have sought the crossing for years. They would control it, thinking that it would be the key to power. Those of the Forgotten would have wanted the same. But Venass… Venass wants only power. They do not care how they acquire it, only that if they believe that you have it, they will chase it. And you, Rsiran, have abilities that they have never seen before. That makes you desirable to them.”

  “We know all this,” Jessa said.

  “No. You know that Venass has chased Rsiran, but you do not understand why the pairing is unique, and why it must be protected. That is something that neither I nor the guild has shared with you yet.”

  Della made her way behind the counter and returned with a small stool and sat on it facing both Rsiran and Jessa. “The blood of the Watcher. It means the abilities that we often associate with Elaeavn. Abilities like Sight and Listening and Reading. These are the abilities that our people claimed were first given to us by the Great Watcher himself. Those on the council who know of the crystals believe they came from a time when our people first claimed the crystals. That holding the crystals was the reason that we gained our abilities. And having held one of the Great Crystals myself, I cannot disagree.” She met Rsiran’s eyes, and he didn’t look away.

  When he had held one of the Great Crystals, he had a vision of sitting above the world, and gained knowledge of lorcith and heartstone. Abilities that he already possessed had been augmented, and changed in subtle ways. But he had those abilities before.

  “I didn’t gain abilities of the Watcher,” he said. “Mine were all tied to the blood of the smith.”

  Della nodded. “That is why you are unique. None with the Blood of the Elders has ever been granted the gift of holding the crystal. The fact that you were allowed tells us that you are special.”

  “Blood of the Elders?”

  “The descendants of the guilds. Smith Guild in your case.”

  “What is Sliding?” He had thought that it was one of the ancient abilities, but there was the matter of the bitter scent of lorcith that mixed with his Sliding.

  “Sliding is a talent, though it is even older. Some in their guild claim that it is even more pure than the abilities we consider commonplace. If any were to know, the guild would.”

  “You still haven’t said why my pairing is unique,” he said.

  “But I have,” Della answered. “You are a skilled Slider now that you have begun to master your ability. When we first met, you were hesitant with it, and I could barely detect the ripples as you Slid. There was potential, but not much strength. You have practiced, some out of necessity, and some because you have chosen to hone this skill. But I did not see until Ephram suggested it, that Sliding might not be your greatest gift. Your smith blood is strong. Possibly as strong as some of the ancient smiths. That is why you can control the metal as you do. That is what makes your Sliding unique and so much stronger than others with your ability. You have no weakness when it comes to Sliding. What that means is beyond me. Those who first Saw the potential of such a pairing were not able to See much beyond the potential. So I cannot tell you what else it means that you are able to do all that you can, only that you are destined to be one of the more powerful individuals to have lived in a long time.”

  Rsiran took a sip of his tea. If not for the tea, he might shiver at the suggestion that he was destined to be powerful. He didn’t want power. “What if I don’t want any of this?”

  Della smiled at him, though it was a sad sort of smile. “That you don’t want it tells me that the Great Watcher chose the right person. Think of all those you have met who have sought power. Look at what they have done to achieve it, or even to maintain it. Yet you who has wanted nothing more than to protect those you care about, and who care about you, have gained more power than they can ever understand.”

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  Della shook her head. “I don’t know what you are supposed to do. I trust that you will decide that on your own, much as I trust that the decisions you make will be because you are wanting the right things for others.”

  Rsiran took another sip of tea. “That’s why you wanted me to come here? You wanted to tell me that I was going to be powerful?”

  “No, I wanted you to come here so that I could apologize for keeping what you deserved to know from you. And to let you know that when I discovered our connection, I… I was happy.” Della turned to the fire. “You speak of family, and what you have lost, Rsiran, but you have gained family as well. And like you, I have lost much of my family. I had not thought that I would have a chance to find any of my family again, especially with what I knew of Evaelyn. So to learn that you… that we… share some commonality…”

  She trailed off and didn’t say anything more.

  Jessa shot him a look, and Rsiran stood and went to her by the fire, and slipped his arm around her shoulders. They stood for a moment, listening to the crackling of the flames, and in that moment, he did not worry about what it meant that he would become powerful, or that he somehow still had a role to play that he had yet to understand. In that moment, he had only the quiet of the fire and family he had not expected to have.

  Chapter 9

  “What do you make of this?” Rsiran asked Jessa, holding the star made of lorcith out to her. They sat together on their bed in the back corner of his smithy, with flames from the hearth crackling steadily. The forge cooled behind them, and the knives that he’d made rested in a line on top of the table, glowing with a soft light. No longer did Rsiran need to light the heartstone lantern he had in the shop, and Jessa didn’t really need the light, either.

  She took the star from him and studied it. He’d already done the same using his connection to lorcith, but there might be something her Sight would let her see that his ability didn’t show him. “A decorative star? This is sort of basic for you, but if that’s what you want to make, I won’t be the one to stop you…” Her smile faded when he didn’t return it. “This is what you found in Cort, when the hawker included your grandfather’s medallion in the trade. But what is it? Why is it important?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  Jessa punched him in the shoulder, and he winced. “That’s for going to Cort without me. You saw what Thyr was like.”

  “Cort wasn’t anything like that.”

  “Not in the part you were. But I’ve been there. I know what it’s like once you leave the city. You’re still a babe when it comes to that kind of experience.”

  “It’s been years
since you were in Cort.”

  She shrugged. “It doesn’t change what those places are like. I told you what they wanted me for there.”

  “You haven’t.”

  She pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “Well, I don’t think I need to tell you anything more than what I have. Just know that it was awful.”

  Rsiran draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. “I know that it was. And I’m sorry that you had to go through it.”

  She relaxed against him and didn’t say anything for a while. “Who do you think you were chasing?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know. Someone able to Slide carrying lorcith.”

  “Valn?”

  Rsiran wasn’t sure. There was an easy way to find out, but that meant returning to the Alchemist Guild, and he hadn’t decided whether he wanted to do that yet. “Maybe.”

  “There aren’t any others in Elaeavn able to Slide.”

  “Not here,” he said.

  Jessa sighed. “You think the Forgotten?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t really know. But it’s possible that it was the Forgotten. We know we stopped Evaelyn, and the others who were with her, but we don’t know about the rest.”

  Jessa pushed away from him. “Like your grandfather.”

  Rsiran nodded. “Yes, my mother’s father. And Brusus’s mother. We haven’t found her yet, either.”

  “Maybe they weren’t with the rest of the Elvraeth Forgotten,” Jessa suggested.

  Rsiran sighed. “I remember something that Della said to me once when we were talking about the Forgotten. She mentioned that when the Elvraeth were exiled it was hard on them. They were accustomed to power. But I think they were accustomed to something else as well. The structure of the palace. Think of what we know about the Elvraeth in the Floating Palace. They fight and argue for position. But there’s a council that rules over everything. What if the exiles had formed a similar structure?”

  Jessa bit her lip. “If so, then what we thought was the end of the Forgotten might not be the end at all. Maybe they are establishing their new leadership structure as we speak?”

  He nodded.

  “There’s another possibility,” Jessa said.

  “What’s that?”

  “What if there was a second group of Elvraeth exiles? They might not have agreed with Evaelyn. It’s possible that they formed a second group.”

  Rsiran turned to the fire and stared at it. From what Della had said, wouldn’t Danis have been with Evaelyn? Unless he controlled another faction of the Forgotten. They needed to be certain that the rest of the Elvraeth exiles weren’t going to make a play for Elaeavn, but would the guild think the Forgotten any sort of threat, when they were so focused on Venass?

  “If there’s a second group, then we’ll need to know that too,” he said.

  “You want to go back to the Forgotten Palace,” Jessa noted.

  It was as if she almost beat him to the decision he’d just made in his mind. If he didn’t go back to the Forgotten Palace, he would never know what else they might have hidden. He knew that members of the Alchemist Guild had returned to the Forgotten Palace after he’d killed Evaelyn, but not what they had found.

  “I think we need to return.”

  Jessa stood and took his hand. “Then let’s go.”

  “Now?”

  She threatened to punch him again. “If we don’t, I think you’ll probably try to return sometime without me, so, yes, now.”

  The Slide took them from his smithy all the way to the Forgotten Palace. He fixed on the distant sense of heartstone as he Slid, using it to both anchor and to pull himself forward.

  When they emerged, he immediately detected the sickly sweet scent of heartstone. Evaelyn had surrounded herself with heartstone, as if she intended to use it to protect herself. And with any other Slider, she would have been able to do so. With Rsiran, that protection failed her.

  “I know you wanted to see if the Forgotten continue to gather, but I’m not sure that coming to their stronghold is the right way to do it,” Jessa said.

  She held tightly to his hand, ready for him to Slide them to safety if needed. A long-bladed knife was in her other hand. The modified bracelets on her wrists—now with heartstone mixed in—glowed with a soft blue light.

  “After what Della said, I have to wonder if there is more for us to fear from the Forgotten, even with Evaelyn gone. She might have controlled these Forgotten, and made the alliance with Venass, but if her brother Danis—my grandfather—still lives, then why wouldn’t he control a faction of the Forgotten as well?”

  “That’s what worries me. This time it’s your family that we’re talking about.” When he frowned, she went on. “I know you, Rsiran. I know how you feel about your family, and that you think you can save everyone. Even your father. You’re willing to help him, and risked your life to save him, because of that connection. And I get it. I want those connections as well. I’d give anything to have my family back, but some people can’t be redeemed.”

  “I’m not going to risk you to understand what happened with my grandparents,” he said.

  “That’s not what I’m afraid of. I worry that you’ll risk yourself to find out what happened.”

  He looked away, not wanting her to see the anxiety on his face. She didn’t need to be a Reader with him. With her Sight, she was able to pick up subtle changes to his expressions, and had shown time and again how she could do it. With this, she was right. He wanted to understand, and needed answers.

  “The bodies are gone,” he said.

  Jessa pulled him around to look at her. “Promise me that you’ll not do anything stupid.”

  He forced a smile, knowing that she could tell. “I promise I won’t do anything stupid.”

  She studied him a moment before shaking her head. “I wish I could believe you.” She turned away and surveyed the room. “Yeah, no bodies, and no traces of blood. The place has been cleaned.”

  “That would seem to confirm that the Forgotten remain intact,” Rsiran said.

  “Maybe. Or it could be a few of them, those who were left in the palace, who took the bodies away.”

  Another thought came to him, one that troubled him more than the possibility of the Forgotten remaining intact. With them, he at least understood their abilities, and had some idea of how to counter them. What if the alliance with Venass had gone deeper than he realized? He didn’t know enough about what the scholars were capable of doing. They had already demonstrated a unique knowledge of how to replicate the abilities of the Great Watcher. He had nearly died when attacked by Forgotten who had only recently acquired an ability to control lorcith. What would happen when he encountered some who had been using it for years?

  They stopped at one of the shelves stacked with books. These were important to Evaelyn and the Forgotten for some reason. Important enough that they would conceal them in this room. But it wasn’t the books that he wanted to understand. There had to be other items here, much like the solid rod of heartstone that Evaelyn had possessed.

  “See anything?” he asked Jessa.

  “Nothing that jumps out at me. What are you expecting to find?”

  He didn’t really know. Maybe something that would explain the Forgotten’s relationship with Venass, or maybe something that would tell him more about how long they had been organized here. Anything.

  But even that wasn’t really necessary. Not now that he knew that others had been here. That had been the real reason that they’d come, and maybe to understand … what? Why the Forgotten had been willing to work with Venass? He understood their desire for power, and the longing to regain control of Elaeavn.

  “Come on,” Jessa said. “We should look through the rest of the palace.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She shook her head. “Not sure, but I know you’re curious, so come on.”

  They started toward the door before Rsiran stopped and turned. Th
ey had been through that door before. On the other side, the palace went up several floors, as well as down. But there was another door, one that Evaelyn had come through.

  He focused on searching for the other door. It was hidden, concealed in the wall, but using his ability to sense the heartstone, he was able to find the cracks in the wall, and probed for a way to open it.

  “There’s a handle,” Jessa said.

  She reached for a part of the wall that seemed nothing more than solid metal, and grabbed onto a handle that suddenly materialized for him. It had been obscured in the steady blue glow from the walls.

  The door opened into darkness, at least for him. That meant no lorcith, and no heartstone. Rsiran hated the dark, and unsheathed his sword, holding it out as he made his way forward.

  “That looks strange,” Jessa said.

  He glanced over to her and smiled. “Not scary?”

  She chuckled. “Not the way you hold it. You look like you’re using it as a torch.”

  He shrugged. That was pretty much how he did use it. “Maybe it will keep us from getting attacked if anyone attempts to jump us.”

  “I think if anyone appears, you’ll be better off pushing your sword at them. Even throwing it.”

  “Haern has been working with me...”

  “Yeah, and that’s your problem. Haern doesn’t know what he’s doing any more than you do. You’d be better off going to Neeland and training. At least there, you’d know that you were learning something useful.”

  He chuckled softly. The idea of going to Neeland to train was about as ridiculous as anything else that he’d done. “Maybe then, I could learn about their poisons and keep Brusus from getting poisoned again.”

  “I didn’t say you should become a sellsword,” she said as they reached the end of a corridor. Blank stone walls rose around them, and he hadn’t seen anything that looked like a door or a way out from this corridor. But this had been where he’d seen Evaelyn come from, as well as Inna and the other Forgotten. Something was back here.