The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5)

by D. K. Holmberg

  The spheres almost touched.

  As they did, Rsiran heard the mixture of lorcith and heartstone from the metal, and recognized the way they fought against the tainted shadowsteel buried within. When they touched, the retained potential would be released. That was how the spheres worked.

  Do not fight.

  Rsiran tried calling to the lorcith. If the potential could shift, if he could somehow hold it away, the explosion wouldn’t catch him. He could Slide, but he needed to restrain his grandfather. This was his chance.

  The lorcith didn’t respond. Would the heartstone?

  Help.

  He’d never heard the song of heartstone before. He’d never mined it, but he could hear it in some way now. If it would listen to him…

  The spheres touched.

  And nothing happened.

  His grandfather looked down. With his attention drawn away, Rsiran Slid to him.

  There was only one place he could think that would confine his grandfather.

  He pulled him with him in a Slide.

  They emerged in darkness. The air smelled of a mixture of bitter lorcith and the sweet of heartstone. Rsiran held tightly to his grandfather, pulled on the door to the cell buried in the Forgotten Palace, and threw his grandfather inside.

  Danis held onto Rsiran’s arm, and the door closed behind them, locking into place.

  Rsiran released his grandfather and staggered back, unsheathing his sword.

  His grandfather smiled, a dark grin spreading across his face. “Do you really think that you can defeat me?”

  Rsiran held his sword out from him, pushing on it to hold it steady. “You will be confined here.”

  “Here? I helped design this place. I know the way out.”

  Rsiran shook his head. “There is no way out.”

  His grandfather took a step back, and crossed his arms. “Good.”

  Focusing on lorcith was difficult in this place. The reverberations from the strange way it was placed pressed on Rsiran, making it difficult for him to think straight. If he pushed away the sense of lorcith, he was left with heartstone, and the sense of heartstone pressed on him in the same way, both leaving him barely able to think.

  “Others will come for me. And then you will remain. I can hear them. They are nearly here. Then I will return to Elaeavn and finish what was started.”

  “Why?” Rsiran asked. He struggled against the sense of lorcith and heartstone. His head throbbed, which would make it difficult to Slide. His grandfather was right: if Venass came for his grandfather, Rsiran would be trapped. Or worse.

  “As I’ve said, this has been building for far longer than you can imagine. The guilds think to limit access to what is rightfully ours, but soon, they will lose the power they have long claimed.” He smiled. “And you know it.”

  The Elder Trees. That was what Danis meant.

  “What did you do to them?”

  “They are weakened, and soon will be weaker still. By the time I return, it will be done.”

  Rsiran’s heart hammered. The attack had been a distraction, a way to draw him and the guild soldiers away from the forest.

  Damn.

  “I see that you understand.”

  Rsiran pushed on the knives he still had, but his grandfather slowed them and sent them harmlessly into the wall.

  “I can wait. And soon, you will suffer. Perhaps now that you are here, I will let you live. We could learn much from you, though I suspect that you will refuse. But we have ways around that.”

  Rsiran had to get free. Somehow, he had to find a way out of this cell.

  His grandfather leaned casually against the back wall, standing as if he were not trapped at all.

  “Where is she?” he asked.

  “Who?”

  “Who? My sister. I would know where she is. Perhaps if you tell me, I won’t be quite so hard on you.”

  For some reason, the comment made Rsiran laugh. “Hard on me? After everything that I’ve been through, you think that anything you could do might be hard on me?” He laughed again, trying to envision a way free as he delayed his grandfather. “And if Della made it safely from her home, I’m certain that she will find a way to stop you.”

  Danis frowned.

  Rsiran stood up straight. “That’s why you were the one attacking the guild house, isn’t it? You fear her.”

  His grandfather stiffened, the most emotion Rsiran had seen since he’d managed to thwart him from using the spheres to blow him up. “She has always been… troubling.”

  Rsiran smiled again. “I’ve always found her helpful. You know that she was the one who helped me understand Sliding? She was the one who helped me see my smith connection to lorcith? And she…”

  She had told him that his ability threatened Venass. Not only his ability, but his talents.

  There had to be a way for him to escape.

  But how?

  “What else did she do?” Danis asked.

  Rsiran ignored him. Instead of trying to Slide, he let the sense of lorcith fill him. He let the sense of heartstone fill him. He didn’t want to Slide. And he couldn’t Travel; that wouldn’t take his body with him.

  But there was something he’d never attempted.

  Filled with the bitterness of lorcith and the sweetness of heartstone, he realized that the strange pulsing no longer clouded his mind. He might not be able to Slide, and he might not be able to pull himself, but could he take a part of a step and pause?

  Rsiran closed his eyes.

  As he stepped into the Slide, he paused. He Slid, but not all the way.

  There was the sense of movement, and then the scent of lorcith as well as heartstone. Always when Sliding, it had been fleeting, a barely glimpsed sense as he passed between places, but he’d always been aware that there was another place, somewhere in between. He’d feared getting trapped, but this time, he wanted to pause there.

  Swirls of color surrounded him, but he had a sense of bright white and that of the deepest blue. Power like he saw when standing near the crystals mixed with the power he sensed from the Elder Trees.

  Rsiran didn’t think that he could touch that power, that he could use it, but somehow, he was a part of it.

  He breathed in deeply, and then stepped again, finishing his Slide.

  And emerged on the other side of the cell.

  Chapter 35

  “What can you hear now, grandfather?” Rsiran asked through the cell door.

  “How?” Danis demanded.

  Rsiran pushed on the lock to the cell, combining the lorcith and the heartstone in such a way that the door could not be opened. He had his sword, and no other weapons, but sensed others carrying lorcith coming. He would prefer to take care of Danis once and for all, but he would have to be content with trapping him for now.

  “You failed,” Rsiran said. “I will stop you plans. And then I will return with my friends.”

  Rsiran started down the hall, ignoring his grandfather’s calls after him.

  A man came around a corner, and Rsiran pushed. The man went flying away, the lorcith buried within him carrying him. He hit the rock with a sickening crack. When those following the first man arrived, Rsiran altered his approach and pulled on the heartstone alloy within them. They came flying at him, and Rsiran swung his sword. A total of seven came, and each fell, as if the time that Rsiran had spent in between the planes had connected him even more tightly to lorcith and heartstone.

  He stepped free, into the heartstone room where Evaelyn had made her home. There had been a time when Rsiran had thought that the Forgotten and Venass were the same. Then he had thought them separate. But learning of his grandfather, understanding that everything tied to his hatred of the guilds, and a thirst for revenge, Rsiran began to wonder if maybe the Forgotten, Venass, and the Elvraeth all shared more in common than he realized.

  That was a question for Della, if he could ever find her.

  For now, he needed to return to the city.

 
; He Slid.

  This time, he paused again, stopping mid-Slide, gaining a sense of the place in between. As he paused, he felt refreshed, and the fatigue and pain that he’d known from the attack faded. Aches from when he’d nearly died receded, as if Healed by Della. And maybe he was Healed, only by a power greater than her.

  When he emerged near the guild house, he found chaos.

  The building still stood, but was a ruin of what it once had been. One wall had caved completely in, and flames raced across the roof. Bodies lay all around, both guild and Venass.

  The fighting had to stop.

  Another explosion thundered, and there came the sense of paired lorcith coming together. Rsiran pulled on it, drawing all the lorcith that he could sense to him.

  Knives and spheres and other shapes all came to him. Some of the fallen bodies dragged across the ground as he pulled. He didn’t stop, holding his focus, calling now to heartstone as well. Others of Venass were drawn to him. A woman staggered and then fell. Rsiran pushed against the plate in her chest, knocking her to the ground. Another man fell from a building, landing on the street. And then a massive man—the same one who had attacked Alyse, he realized—was pulled into the area near the guild house.

  “Enough,” he said.

  Those of Venass who remained attempted to attack, but Rsiran pushed them down, and held them to the ground.

  Guild members began to appear. Valn first, his face bloodied, and his steel sword held in hand. He held his arm across his body, and Rsiran realized that a large gash had been torn into it. A few others came toward him, all in similar states, and all equally injured.

  “Lareth,” Valn said, his voice hoarse. “What about Danis?”

  Rsiran shook his head. “He’s no longer a threat.” Captured. Defeated. But not killed. Rsiran still didn’t know if he could show mercy by leaving his grandfather alive, or whether doing so risked Venass returning even stronger. When he found Della, he would ask. “And your—” He almost said men, but two of the survivors were women and both looked in better shape that Valn.

  “They are all who remain.”

  Rsiran closed his eyes. So many lost to simply keep the city intact. And now they were weakened. What would happen if another attack came? Who would protect the city then?

  Valn approached and his eyes surveyed the clearing around the fractured guild house. “Venass has been stopped, Lareth. You have defeated their leader. We can regroup.”

  “So can they. And this is not over,” he said.

  Valn frowned. “You said Danis was captured.”

  “He is.” Rsiran debated sharing with Valn where he’d left his grandfather, but decided against it. If any of the remaining Venass soldiers were Listeners, he didn’t want to risk someone attempting to save him. “But this was only a diversion.”

  Valn’s eyes widened. “The forest.”

  “I need to find Ephram and the others and see if there is anything that can be done.”

  Valn took in the remaining Venass soldiers and his jaw clenched. “You can go. We will take care of those who remain.”

  With their injuries, he didn’t think that they could. Rsiran pushed on lorcith and heartstone, using enough force to incapacitate those from Venass. “They’re taken care of. Make sure there are no others.”

  Rather than arguing about Rsiran giving him an order, Valn nodded.

  Rsiran focused on the Hall of Guilds, and Slid.

  When he emerged, he found it empty. Walls caved in around the room. Piles of rubble made it nearly impassable. The guilds would not recover easily from this attack.

  Rsiran Slid deeper into the tunnels, drawn to his sense of one particular piece of lorcith.

  When he emerged, he found Jessa.

  Her eyes widened when she saw him. “What happened?”

  He shook his head. “Later. Where is—”

  Ephram appeared out of the shadows and Rsiran didn’t finish. “Venass?”

  “Mostly gone. But their attack remains. We need to reach the Elder Trees.”

  A pained look crossed Ephram’s face. “That… that is for the guilds only.”

  “Father—” Sarah started.

  “Some tradition must remain,” Ephram said.

  “The Elder Trees will die,” Rsiran said. “I’m going, regardless, but thought you might be able to help. I will Slide us—”

  “Not Sliding. Not to the Elder Trees.” Ephram glanced to Sarah for long moments, and then nodded. “Come with me.”

  He led Rsiran away from the Hall. When Jessa started to follow, one of the other guild members, a short, stocky woman with a tight braid, held out her hand and prevented her from following.

  Ephram’s eyes narrowed and then he nodded once to the woman. She lifted her hand and let Jessa pass.

  Jessa shot her a look as she went with Rsiran. “She didn’t want to mess with me, anyway,” she said in a hushed tone as they left.

  Rsiran smiled. “I wouldn’t, either.”

  Jessa punched him on the shoulder. “You need me.”

  “Yes.”

  She slipped her hand into his as they followed Ephram and Sarah. Every so often, Sarah would hazard a glance back, before shaking her head and turning back to Ephram. Neither of them spoke.

  They were led through a long tunnel. As they went, the tunnel began to narrow and darken. Only from the lorcith in the walls was he able to tell where they went. He couldn’t determine the direction, but felt the pull of lorcith—and heartstone, he noted—all around him.

  “Where is this?” he asked.

  Ephram said nothing.

  The longer they walked, the more the tunnel took on a familiar sense. “This is Ilphaesn, isn’t it? This tunnel leads into the lower part of the mine.”

  Ephram glanced back and nodded. “The earliest work of the Miner Guild.”

  A flash of lorcith caught his attention.

  Rsiran Slid forward, pushing on knives that illuminated the tunnel. A figure dropped.

  Sarah gasped.

  Rsiran spun, pushing another pair of knives, pulling back on them as he dropped the next attack. How many more would be here? How many had Danis sent?

  “We need to hurry,” Ephram said.

  A tingling washed over his skin. Jessa gasped, and Rsiran knew that she’d felt it too. The only other time he’d known a sensation like that had been when he’d first broken into the guild house. Then he had Slid, or had been forced into a Slide, before emerging into the room outside the Hall. This was less of a Slide, and more like a cold rain briefly sprinkled on them.

  There came a sense of movement, but it was slight.

  The air changed, no longer the stagnant still air of the tunnel carrying the hint of the bitterness of lorcith and the sweetness of heartstone. Now it had earthy undertones, and a soft, humid breeze blew against his skin.

  They were in the Aisl.

  Rsiran looked around, but saw nothing but more darkness around him. He pulled one of his lorcith knives from his waistband and held it out. The glowing light gave him enough to see shadows around him.

  “Did you Slide us here?” Jessa asked.

  “Not this time.” Rsiran studied the forest. For some reason, the shadows and the scent to the forest were different from when he’d been here only a few days before. “The Elder Trees have been damaged. That’s what Venass wanted.”

  Ephram shook his head. “And with their loss, the guilds fail.”

  “Shadowsteel poisoned them,” Rsiran said. He still didn’t know what it was, but the dark sword with him would have the answers. “That’s what they were using the mines of Ilphaesn to make.”

  Sarah frowned, but Ephram took a step over to him.

  “Shadowsteel? Are you certain of this?”

  Rsiran nodded. “When I Traveled, I overheard my grandfather speaking of it.”

  “Wait… you Traveled.”

  It was clear to Rsiran by the way that Ephram said it that he recognized the difference between Rsiran Sliding an
d how the ancient clan had Traveled. “When I nearly died. I discovered then that I could Travel.”

  “What is this, Father?” Sarah asked.

  Ephram glanced from Rsiran to Sarah. “I… I do not know. I had thought that ability lost, like so much else when we left the forest.”

  “What’s shadowsteel?” Rsiran asked.

  “A dark creation, one the alchemists discovered long ago by accident. It’s one that we refuse to create.”

  “But some know how,” Rsiran said.

  A troubled look skirted across Ephram’s face. “The masters of the guilds keep that record.” He started away from Rsiran, and into the trees. Sarah stared after him with a puzzled expression before hurrying to follow him.

  Rsiran closed his eyes and focused on the trees, listening to them, searching for the energy of the trees. Could he detect the energy that he saw when he Traveled while he was here in person? When he’d come with Della, he hadn’t attempted to reach the energy and power of the Elder Trees.

  Rsiran focused on his breathing and tried to envision the bright light from the trees the same way that he did when Traveling. As he did, there was a strange sense of motion, almost a weightlessness, and then he felt like he lifted into the air, as if flying above the ground. Higher and higher he went, until he saw a surge of bright light around him.

  The Elder Trees.

  From here, the three brightly lit trees were so bright that they nearly overwhelmed him. The light filled his mind, and his awareness, with something like a warmth.

  He turned, searching for the dimly lit tree. It was there, but faded even more than it had been the last time that he’d come to the forest.

  What had happened to it? If this was a poisoning, was there anything that he could do to repair it? And what of the other tree, the one that was already dark to him?

  Rsiran spun in place for a moment before releasing the vision and returning to his body.

  “You went unresponsive. Were you Traveling again?”

  Rsiran nodded. “I needed to see if the energy was the same in person as it was when I Traveled. I’m still not sure.”

  “What of the trees?”