The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “He escaped you.”

  “He escaped me once. Won’t happen again.”

  “You intend to try to capture him?”

  “Not capture, but think of what we could trade him for. Chip like that would be valuable, regardless of what he done.”

  Jonas laughed, a nervous sound. “You told me the chains didn’t hold him.”

  “I do be sayin’ that. Not sure that changed.”

  Rsiran had enough of them talking about him. He didn’t fear capture from them, and now that he knew that they weren’t working with Josun, he didn’t have any reason to remain hidden.

  He pulled himself in a Slide.

  When he emerged, he pushed a dozen knives away from him, ringing Shael, Firell, and Jonas. He readied to Slide again, but there wasn’t anyone else there.

  “You be leadin’ him here?” Shael snapped at Firell.

  “I followed him,” Rsiran said. “And now that I know the way the chains sound, I can find you wherever they are, so don’t think that it would challenge me to reach them.” He nodded to Shael. “You think you can use me? Who are you working for this time? It didn’t sound like Venass, but then, the last time I saw you, I thought you were dead. You look pretty good for a man whose skull should have been caved in.”

  Shael raised his hand to his forehead, touching a deep indentation. Rsiran felt no remorse for the injury that should have killed him. In his mind, he’d already mourned what he’d done to Shael. The man should be dead. After betraying them twice, Rsiran expected nothing different now.

  “I be harder to kill than I look.”

  “I see that.”

  “What you be doin’ here, Rsiran? Where that girl of yours? You know I always liked her.”

  Jonas had started to move. Not just move, but colors started to swirl around him.

  Sliding.

  Rsiran pushed on the knives nearest Jonas. Two of them pierced his skin, drawing a small line of blood. “Don’t think you can be Sliding away just yet. Trust that I’ll know if you try again.”

  Jonas stared at him. “You shouldn’t be able to see that.”

  “There are a lot of things I shouldn’t be able to do,” Rsiran said.

  “Like those knives,” Shael said. “That be smith blood, isn’t it? But you do be a traveler, too.”

  Rsiran didn’t think that Shael meant it in the same way that he knew about Traveling. “I can Slide.”

  Shael grunted.

  “Why are you in Asador?” he asked Shael.

  “Smugglers, Rsiran. Don’ you know that we do be businessmen?”

  “I seem to recall the last time Firell did business with you, he lost his daughter.” He glanced at Firell. “I assume this time, you don’t think anything will happen to her?”

  “There are protections in place.”

  “And you have some way to prevent Shael from betraying you like he did the last time?”

  “This do be nothin’ like the last time,” Shael said.

  “No. Now the Forgotten are mostly destroyed.”

  “You thinkin’ so?”

  Rsiran shrugged. “Their palace is empty. Their leader dead. Most of the others within their chain of command are dead. I think that’s pretty well destroyed.”

  Shael and Firell glanced at each other. Jonas tried to Slide again—a faint trail of color that disappeared as soon as Rsiran pushed on his knives.

  And Rsiran began to understand Jonas. There was a reason that he tried to Slide away from Rsiran, and why Firell seemed so inclined to fear him, letting the other man lead when they left the tavern.

  “You’re one of the Forgotten, aren’t you? I thought you might be Venass, but I don’t detect any lorcith or heartstone on you. And for you to Slide so openly… I’ve only seen that with the Forgotten.” It was different in Elaeavn now, but none of these men knew that.

  “They be done?” Shael asked Rsiran.

  “Evaelyn is dead. Inna gone. A few others. I didn’t bother getting their names.”

  Shael actually laughed again, ignoring the knives hovering in front of him. “You be really believing that you stopped the Forgotten?”

  Rsiran watched Shael. The large man had a strange tension to him, one that he couldn’t put a finger on. He feared the Forgotten, and he clearly feared what they might do to him if he didn’t do what they asked. Shael was a strong and powerful man. What could the Forgotten possibly have over him that terrified him so?

  “As I said, I’ve been to the Forgotten Palace. I was there when Evaelyn died. I was there when Inna died. There were others—many others—who died that day.”

  “You be sure of this?”

  Rsiran nodded. “As sure as I can be. I was the one who killed them.”

  Jonas watched Rsiran with a different light in his eyes. Even Shael and Firell watched him differently.

  “Evaelyn be gone?” Shael asked.

  Rsiran nodded. “Her brother isn’t. That’s who I chase now.”

  “Who be her brother?” he asked.

  “Her brother is a man named Danis. He rules Venass, though I don’t know how long he has ruled there. Venass and the Forgotten eventually worked together.”

  “They intended to reach you,” Firell said.

  Rsiran nodded. After his time in the Forgotten Palace, there was no question that they had been after him, including having gone as far as designing a special prison cell, seemingly to contain him. With the Forgotten now destroyed, he didn’t have nearly as much to fear—only Venass now, though they were worse—but he still wondered what they might have intended for him. And now that he had Jonas here, he wondered he might be able to supply some answers.

  “Why do they want me?” he asked of Jonas.

  “They don’t want you,” Jonas said.

  Rsiran grunted. “I’ve been back to the Forgotten Palace. The place is empty now. And I’ve stood within Evaelyn’s room—the one lined with heartstone, thinking that she could use the power of that metal in some way to prevent Venass from reaching her.” Rsiran hadn’t known why she had enveloped herself in heartstone before, but that answer made as much sense as any. She knew what her brother was capable of doing, and she knew that he would be dangerous. She had opposed him for as long as she could, trying to keep the Forgotten and Venass separate, but after a while, it became clear that they wouldn’t succeed. Venass had the knowledge that the Forgotten lacked, and that had been the reason Evaelyn had gone to them. But Venass had used them. The same way they have and would continue to use others who might be coerced by what Venass told them.

  “So, you actually did it?” Jonas asked. “Evaelyn… She is gone?”

  “She’s gone. She tried to side with Venass. I couldn’t let her do that.”

  Shael and Firell watched Jonas, as if trying to decide what to do with him. Rsiran had the sense that they had allowed him to lead because of the threat of the Forgotten. With that threat gone, what leverage did Jonas really have over them? He was only a man with the ability to Slide.

  “What of the others?” Jonas asked. He didn’t try to fight against the knives that floated around him. He didn’t even try to move anywhere, maybe having given up on trying to get away.

  “As I’ve said, the others are gone. The guild has helped those they have been able to find as much as they can, but there are those outside the guild, those who had no interest in aligning with the guild…”

  Jonas stared at the knives floating in front of him. “If they are gone, then there is no choice but to side with Venass.” He glanced at Shael who only frowned.

  “Venass will do nothing but try to destroy you and those you care about.”

  “The Elvraeth have seen to it that we have no other options.”

  “You can return to Elaeavn.”

  Jonas shook his head. “Return to what? The penalty for returning is clear. If they discover that we’ve returned—”

  “You can Slide. You’ve never attempted to return?”

  He shook his head. “
Sliding is dangerous. Venass can pull us out of our Slides, and there are different concerns when it comes to the Elvraeth, but no less worrisome. At least with Venass, we have the chance to live.”

  “I’ve seen the chance that Venass offers. That’s no sort of life.”

  “Life?” Shael asked. “What kind of life do he be havin’ the way it is? Venass might no’ be any better than the others, but they don’ have a plan to kill them for existing.”

  Rsiran felt troubled. The Forgotten had been his enemy, but then, had it been all of the Forgotten or only those who had sided with Venass? Was there any way that he could work with the scattered Forgotten?

  He pulled the knives back to him and stuffed them into his pocket. “Don’t come after me,” he said, “and stay away from Venass. If I find you working with them, I won’t have any mercy.”

  “You leavin’ us be, after all that we done?”

  “Venass is my enemy. Don’t join them.” With that, he Slid back to Elaeavn.

  Chapter 9

  The inside of the Barth carried less of the vibrant and lively air that he’d found in the tavern where he’d discovered Firell. A lutist played near the hearth, the mournful sound a slow and quiet layer atop the soft murmuring of voices within the tavern. Nothing like he’d found in Asador. There, all the voices seemed to jumble over each other, piling on until he could hear nothing but noise. There was a certain protection to it, in the anonymity and the fact that they couldn’t be easily overheard. Not in the Wretched Barth. The tavern might be busier than it had been when Lianna ran it, but it still wasn’t like what he’d found in Asador.

  Brusus made his way through the tavern, stopping and speaking to people at each table, smiling and laughing with them, so much more at peace than he had been before he took it over. Alyse popped out of the kitchen briefly, only to rush back in for another order. Savory smells drifted out through the kitchen door and then faded.

  Haern sat with Jessa at their usual table. This late in the night, it wasn’t hard for them to claim it. But with the increased business, it had become more difficult to keep others from getting to it first. Brusus usually managed to keep those poachers away with a steely glare.

  “You’ve been gone a while,” Haern noted.

  He told them of visiting Asador, and of finding Firell, carefully wording the news about having come across Shael so that it wouldn’t anger Jessa. She watched him, an unreadable expression on her face. He hadn’t been in any real danger with Shael—not this time.

  “I think we could use them to help us with Venass,” Rsiran said.

  “Do you think that Shael and Firell will suddenly see the light and offer to help?” Jessa said. “Think about what they were willing to do the last time. They sacrificed our friendship, and for what? How much was it worth to them?”

  “Firell had other reasons than wanting to hurt us. You know that his daughter—”

  “His daughter then, but why now? What would keep him working with Shael if he had already been hurt by him?” Jessa leaned forward and rapped her hand on the table. “I don’t think they’re the right help. Not for what you need to do.”

  “What needs to be done?” Brusus asked, stopping at their table and lowering his voice. “Hopefully not anything that puts you back in Thyr. I heard about what you did there.”

  “I didn’t do anything in Thyr.”

  “No? The way I hear it, you could have gotten yourself killed. Some new weapon that Venass has taken to using. He tell you about this?” Brusus asked Jessa.

  “He told me.”

  “At least you’re not hiding it from her. That’s good.” Brusus pulled a stool over and sat as Rsiran repeated to him who he had discovered in Asador. At the mention of Shael, his eyes became drawn. With mention of Firell, and the fact that they were working together again, Brusus became visibly agitated. “You can’t think to use them, Rsiran. I know that you want help facing Venass.”

  “I think we need help.”

  “I don’t deny that, but after what Shael and Firell did… and using them… that’s a dangerous thing, man. Especially with that grandfather of yours so close to the city.”

  Jessa looked over at Brusus, shooting him a glare that could burn through steel.

  “Where is my grandfather?” Rsiran asked.

  Brusus raised his hands and stood, taking a step away from the table. “Ah, maybe that was a mistake to say anything.”

  “No. Where is he? What have you heard?”

  “Only that he’s been seen in Eban. And Cort before that.”

  Rsiran frowned. Both were cities he’d been to, but had found no other evidence of Venass. They came across a few of them, but never in enough numbers to create problems. That had made it relatively easy for him to go with Valn and with Sarah as they tried to clear out the others of Venass.

  Or had they?

  He glanced at Jessa. She had been awfully willing to allow him to go with Valn and Sarah, more so than he would have expected from her. Did she know that he wouldn’t find anything?

  She met his gaze unflinching. “Did you know this?” he asked.

  “You’ve been running around the countryside with Valn and Sarah. I think it’s clear what you intend.”

  “I need to stop Venass,” he said.

  “You? Only you?”

  Rsiran shook his head. “You know what I mean. We’re trying to do something more. That means that we have to find what Venass might be intending, and we have to go after them wherever they might be hiding.”

  “You’re after Danis because of what he did to your family,” Jessa said.

  “Yes.”

  She stared at him but didn’t say anything more.

  Rsiran turned to Brusus. “Where is he?”

  “Rsiran—”

  “Don’t. Where is my grandfather? I find him, and we can end this.”

  “Can you?” Jessa asked softly. “If you find him, are you sure you can truly end all of this? You’re the one who told me about Josun, and the fact that he’s after you again. Now you find Shael and Firell and… and it’s like we’re back where we started.”

  “We’re nowhere close to where we started. This time, we know their plan. We’re in a position of strength.”

  “Strength? How do you suppose?” Jessa asked.

  “Because we don’t have to hide. I’m the guildlord now—”

  “You haven’t been with the guild long enough to have that title mean anything,” Jessa said.

  “I may not, but I work with the guilds. And I’m going to keep working with them.”

  “And then what?” Brusus asked. “What do you intend to do next? Now that you’re legitimate, you don’t have to hide. You’re the guildlord, and we know that means you rule over the Smith Guild, but that don’t mean you control all the guilds. Damn, Rsiran, you still haven’t even met with the council. What happens when you do?”

  “You know about that?” he asked Brusus.

  “I heard Ephram talking to Della one night. He thought he was being secretive about it, but it’s clear they want you to meet with them. I get the sense that it’s important that you do. Do they make the final decision about whether you remain guildlord?”

  Rsiran didn’t think so. The meeting was more a formality than anything else, but it made him nervous. He’d spent months trying to hide his presence from the guilds and from the Elvraeth, and now he was expected to go to them, and show them who he was and maybe even what he could do.

  “They’re not going to care for you,” Haern said softly.

  Rsiran shrugged. “Does it matter? I don’t care for them, either. Think of what they did to Brusus. Were it not for the Elvraeth council, he would have been able to grow up in the palace, and wouldn’t have to hide himself from anyone, wouldn’t have to fear that they would learn about what he could do.”

  “I’ve come to terms with it,” Brusus said. “You should, too.”

  “Then there’s how little they did when the city was under atta
ck. They couldn’t even be bothered to come out of the palace when Venass was in the city, actively destroying buildings and trying to take down the guilds. It’s almost like they don’t care about what happens outside of the palace.”

  “They don’t,” Brusus said. “They never did, but that doesn’t matter, either. It can’t matter.”

  “So you think I should just meet with the council and pretend that nothing has happened? That I should let them move on as though there was never an attack on the city?”

  “You’re the guildlord, you have to decide what you do with the council,” Brusus said. “I think you have to be careful about how you do it. There are ways that you can approach them that are safer than others.”

  Rsiran couldn’t believe what Brusus was doing and telling him. It seemed like he was trying to get him to fear the Elvraeth. After everything they had all been through, Brusus should be the one who wanted to see that the Elvraeth understood exactly what they had to do, and what still needed done. Brusus should be the one who wanted to get revenge for what he had been put through. Had he changed so much?

  “I think we should talk about something else,” Rsiran said. “Like where you heard I could find my grandfather.”

  Brusus looked over at Jessa and then Haern. “There’s nothing that you can do to find him, Rsiran.”

  “I have to find them. Venass is hunting me, Brusus. They aren’t going to stop, not until one of us is done.”

  “But there are too many of them.”

  “I’ll do what I have to do,” Rsiran said. He stood, frustration forcing him to his feet. “And that means finding my grandfather and Josun so that I can keep us—all of us—safe.”

  Jessa reached for him as he stood, trying to latch onto his arm before he Slid, but he disappeared before she could.

  Chapter 10

  Rsiran pushed two knives away from him in his smithy, leaving them hovering in the air. He held them like that for a moment, and then spun them in place, tipping one end around as he practiced control. With lorcith, such control would be easy, but these were heartstone knives.