The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “I’m not sure Rsiran is going to return,” the healer said. “Haern and Jessa believe he was captured by the Forgers. They think that’s the reason the Forgers were willing to attack.”

  Neran’s jaw clenched. “And what’s being done about it?”

  “I’m not really privy to the details of the plan,” the healer said.

  Neran grunted. “No? No one’s going after him?”

  “There’s a plan in place, but like I said—”

  “You are not privy to the details,” Neran finished. He glanced down at Lucy and traced his finger around the metal. “There’s nothing I can do. If she lives through this, and if Rsiran does return, then I imagine he will be able to remove it.”

  Neran turned and headed out of the building.

  “She can stay here,” the healer said.

  “Has she come around?”

  “Not yet, but she’s breathing regularly. It appears almost as if she’s sleeping.”

  “Can she live through something like this?”

  “If it were going to kill her, I would imagine it would’ve done so by now. I’m not entirely certain what the Forgers had in mind with this, but…”

  Daniel could only nod. He sat next to Lucy for a little while, but when she didn’t awaken, eventually he headed out and started to make a circle of the clearing. He paused at one of the Elder Trees, staring at it. He’d only been to the forest a few times but had always marveled at the trees. They were massive, towering over everything else, and he couldn’t shake the sense of power that radiated from them. Now, spikes protruded from their surface, the edges blunted. It was the same as what had happened to Lucy.

  His breath caught. “Great Watcher,” he said in a whisper.

  “What is it?”

  He spun around. Jessa Lareth was there, leaning on a cane. Her eyes were drawn, and worry lines wrinkled her brow. The last time he’d seen her had been in the palace, and she had appeared strong. Powerful. What he would expect for the leader of the people of the Aisl. “I went looking for you.”

  “So I’ve heard. That’s why I came to find you.”

  “The healer—”

  “Darren.”

  Daniel nodded. “Darren sent me after you.” He quickly told her about the attack on Lucy and how Darren had sent him to get Neran. “And now it looks as if these spikes are doing the same thing they did to Lucy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Has there been any effort to heal the trees?”

  “Of course there has. We can’t leave these spikes embedded in them.”

  “After what happened to Lucy, I think you have to, at least until we can figure out how to remove them.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I think any attempt to do otherwise would only be serving the Forgers’ goals.” He stared at the tree, running his hand along the spikes. What would happen to one of the Elder Trees once the spikes were fully embedded?

  What had happened to Lucy?

  “Great Watcher,” Jessa whispered.

  “Neran believes Rsiran is the only one who might be able to stop what’s happening here.”

  “I’m not even sure Rsiran could stop this. He didn’t know what was taking place with the alloy.”

  And if Lareth didn’t know, was there any way for them to figure it out? He was the most capable with lorcith.

  And if that were true, the Elder Trees would die.

  No. It was probably worse than that. With the spikes protruding from them, the Elder Trees would be turned over to the control of the Forgers.

  Did that matter?

  Looking at the way Jessa Lareth stared at the trees, he had to think it did.

  “Lucy needs his help.”

  Jessa clasped her hands in front of her before looking over at him. “Then we had better hope Haern succeeds in finding his father.”

  13

  Daniel

  Daniel sat by the edge of the bed, looking over at Lucy. She hadn’t come around in the day since the attack, and he had begun to worry that she wouldn’t. If he’d thought anyone in Elaeavn might do a better job healing her, he would have brought her back to the city, but everyone he’d visited with had claimed Darren to be the best. But if he was, why would he remain out here?

  “I hope you’ve sent word to her parents,” Darren said after Daniel had been there for a few hours.

  “I sent word,” he said. “They were disappointed she was here in Aisl.” He wasn’t about to share with the healer that he shared the same disappointment. Had Lucy stayed in Elaeavn, she wouldn’t have been injured.

  “Do they intend to come for her?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “Then we will remain here,” Darren said.

  Daniel tried to hide his irritation but feared that he failed. “What happens if she doesn’t awaken? She should be in the palace.”

  “From what I can tell when I attempt to Heal her, there is nothing physically wrong. At least, nothing that I can detect. It should just be a matter of time before she comes back around.”

  Darren offered him a mug of tea, and he took it. As he sat next to Lucy, he took a deep breath from the mug, letting the aromas fill him.

  “Why did you keep going beyond the river?” he whispered. “Why didn’t I Slide us away the moment you thought you saw something?”

  “It’s not your fault.”

  He almost dropped his tea as he looked up.

  Lucy flashed a smile, then grimaced. “Everything hurts,” she muttered.

  “You’re awake.”

  “Shouldn’t I be?”

  He glanced over to where Darren stood along his counters, mixing various medicines. “Healer. She’s awake.”

  Darren set down the bowl he was mixing and hurried over. He placed one hand on each of Lucy’s shoulders. Whatever Healing he used came in a flash, and he released her, nodding at Lucy for a moment. “I’m glad to see you back with us.”

  “What happened?” she asked. “Why am I here?”

  “When we were at the edge of the forest,” he said carefully, watching her for a long moment, “you were hit in the back of your head.”

  “I was hit?” She reached for her head and Darren took her hand, guiding it back down.

  “I don’t think you should be touching it.”

  “Touching what?”

  In answer, Darren went and grabbed something off the shelves before returning. He placed a mirror in her hands and then set another behind her head. Lucy stared for a moment, her eyes slowly widening.

  “What is that?” she whispered.

  “As near as I can tell, it’s one of the Forger’s barbs.”

  “We were attacked by Forgers?” Lucy asked.

  “Some of the Trel…” Daniel caught himself. Now wasn’t the time to offend her. “The leaders of this place have gone looking, but they haven’t found anything more. There was no trace of whoever attacked you.”

  “Why is it embedded in my skull?”

  “I tried to remove it but was unsuccessful,” Darren said, placing his hands on her again. Was he attempting to heal her again? “When I went to Heal you, it was incorporated into you.”

  “Will it always be there?”

  “We are optimistic that when Rsiran returns, we will be able to remove it. He has the most ability with lorcith, and from what we can tell, this is a lorcith alloy.”

  Lucy breathed out heavily. “Will it change me?”

  “I don’t know what it might do to you. We only know the Forgers are responsible for it, and it’s the same sort of spike as those found in the Elder Trees, so whatever they think to accomplish with it is unlikely to be something beneficial. I’m sorry, Lucy, really I am. You can stay here, and I’ll make sure that you don’t want for anything while we wait.”

  Lucy shifted on the cot and began to sit up. Daniel tried to hold her down, but she shook him off. “You want me to remain here? I’m not sure I can. If anything can be done, I need to try to figure it out.”
>
  “There’s nothing we can do,” Daniel said.

  “There is. We can help find Rsiran.”

  “Lareth? From the way I hear it, he’s been captured. And with that thing in the back of your head, it’s not safe for you to even think about leaving here.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  As she got to her feet, Daniel looked to Darren. “Can you convince her that this is not a good idea? She can’t go chasing after Lareth. We don’t even know where to start.”

  “I know that Haern went looking for his father and that he went with Elsa. I can find out from her.”

  “Lucy—”

  She shot him a pointed expression. “I’m not going to sit by and wait for something terrible to happen to me. How much time do you think I have before this thing keeps pushing into my brain?”

  Daniel frowned. Had he said something about that? “Are you Reading me?”

  She waved a hand. “I can’t Read that well. It’s one of my abilities, but I’m not that skilled. I don’t need to be to know that whatever is happening to the trees might happen to me.”

  Daniel turned to Darren. “Did I say something about that?”

  Darren frowned. “I’ll be honest. I don’t know what you were saying before she awoke. You were talking to her, and it’s possible that she heard you while she was out. It wouldn’t be the first time. There are plenty of reports of people who are sleeping or unconscious and hear things in that state.”

  Daniel looked over. He hadn’t even been talking to her about the trees.

  His mental barriers were securely in place, so she shouldn’t have been able to Read him. He had lived in Elaeavn long enough to know how to hold those barriers.

  “What are you talking about? What barriers?” she asked.

  “You are Reading me.”

  “I already told you that I can’t. I’m not that gifted as a Reader.”

  Turning his attention to the healer, he kept one eye on Lucy. “Could the attack have somehow changed her? From what I know about Forgers, they use metal like this to change themselves—to augment themselves. Could they have done that to Lucy?”

  “When it comes to the Forgers, I think Rsiran is the only one who knows what’s possible,” Darren said.

  Daniel stared at Lucy. “What else can you Read?”

  “I told you, I’m not Reading… oh.”

  “What is it?”

  She looked around the room before her gaze settled on Darren, lingering for a long moment. When she turned back to Daniel, her eyes were wide. “When I tried to focus on my ability to Read, I could pick up much more than I’ve ever been able to before. It’s not just you and Darren. It’s…” She clamped her hands to the sides of her head. “It’s too much. Daniel, it’s too much.”

  Lucy dropped to her knees and Daniel raced to her, helping her back onto the cot. “Can you give her something to sedate her?” he asked Darren.

  “She just woke up and you want me to sedate her again?”

  “Look at her!” he said.

  Lucy had curled up into a ball and was gripping her head, rocking back and forth.

  Whatever she was experiencing was overwhelming her. Whether it came from the Forgers or from something else, it was too much. She might have come around, but that didn’t mean she was back to normal. More than anything, Daniel wanted to protect her.

  “I can try a mild sedative. It will allow her to sleep, but if she is Reading, I’m not sure it’s going to do much good. It will only keep her from suffering from it while she’s asleep. We need to find some way to prevent her from suffering from it while she’s awake.”

  Darren went to his counter and returned with a small jar of liquid. He handed it to Lucy. “Try to drink this. It will help.”

  She continued to rock back and forth, holding on to her head.

  “Lucy?” Daniel said. “You need to drink this medicine.”

  She looked up at him. Her eyes were wide, and pain burned behind them. “It hurts.”

  “Take the liquid. It will help.”

  She nodded and tipped the liquid back. It took a few moments, but her eyes fluttered closed, and Daniel and Darren let her lie back on the cot again.

  “I’ll be right back,” Daniel said.

  Darren continued to run his hands along Lucy, working on his Healing. Daniel headed outside and Slid straight to Jessa Lareth’s home. He knocked, half-expecting her not to be there, but her door opened, and she looked better than she had before. She no longer leaned on a cane, and her eyes were brighter.

  “What is it?”

  “I remember Cael Elvraeth talking about some buffer Lareth—Rsiran—made to prevent people from Reading.”

  She eyed him strangely. “He did, but that was long ago. Are you worried about someone reaching into your thoughts? There shouldn’t be any way for anyone here in the city to do so. It takes those who are enhanced by the Forgers to manage that.”

  “No… I don’t need something for me. I need something that might buffer a Reader and limit their reach.”

  Jessa frowned at him. “What’s going on?”

  His gaze darted down to the clearing and toward Darren’s home. “It’s Lucy. She woke up, but now she can Read much better than she could before, and she’s overwhelmed by everything. Darren had to sedate her.”

  Jessa Lareth gasped. “The Forger’s barb. Did it enhance her?”

  “Probably. That’s why I need to know if what I heard was real.”

  She sighed, gazing up at the treetops. “Rsiran, why did you have to be gone when we needed you?” Turning back to him, she shook her head. “There might be something, but I’m not sure how well it will work. It might limit all of her abilities, not just her ability to Read.”

  Daniel followed her into the home, closing the door behind him. The lorcith decorations around the home were amazing. All of these would have been made by Lareth, and the detail was incredibly exquisite. He studied one particular item that reminded him of a ship, though it seemed to be sailing over a forest of trees rather than across the sea.

  Jessa moved around behind him, staying quiet as she searched. “I never thought we would actually need these again,” she said, coming to join him.

  “What are they?” They were bracelets, but no sort of bracelet that he’d ever seen. The metal was simple, just a curving pattern and not nearly as decorative as so many items he’d seen, but it had a strange shimmering quality to it.

  “Rsiran made these many years ago. It was back when we faced the threat of the Hjan, and he thought we could use these. After they were defeated, he put them away. So much has changed in that time.” She closed her eyes, breathing out heavily. “We have changed. Or at least, I have. Rsiran has remained so focused on the Forgers.”

  “You think it’s because of him that we’re safe.”

  Jessa forced a smile. “That’s what we’ve always said. And it’s what Rsiran has always believed. I know most of the Elvraeth don’t believe, but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what is. Were it not for Rsiran and his willingness to continue to venture away from the city, we don’t know what would have become of us. It’s possible the Forgers would’ve found us long ago.”

  Daniel wasn’t sure what to say.

  Jessa sighed again. “I had hoped that my son would grow up in a world where he didn’t have to worry about someone attacking. We as parents wanted to give him a better life. Nothing more. And now it seems as if our attempt to do so has failed. Everything Rsiran has sacrificed for has failed.”

  “Sacrificed?”

  “I know most people in the palace don’t view it that way, but it is a sacrifice. He has been gone, protecting the city—the entire city. He does it because it’s right. He does it because he doesn’t want things to go back to the way they were.”

  “The only thing that really changed is your people coming to live in the trees.”

  “Much more has changed, Daniel Elvraeth. Look at your ability. It wasn’t that
long ago that Sliding would have been forbidden. And now we do it openly. We celebrate it. We recognize the need for people who can Slide, but twenty to twenty-five years ago? It was different. It’s the reason the Floating Palace is protected with heartstone. They believed it would protect people from Sliding.”

  “It prevents me from Sliding there.”

  “It does. And most people who can Slide aren’t able to move past heartstone, but Rsiran showed that those protections didn’t prevent anyone from reaching the inside of the palace if they were determined. And when Rsiran proved that those who had Sliding as their ability weren’t all thieves and criminals as the Elvraeth wanted to convince people, things began to change.”

  “You talk like the war is still going on.”

  “In some ways, it is. We almost lost everything, and when it was over, I thought we would finally have some sort of peace. I thought that I would have time with my husband. I thought that…” She shook her head. “You don’t want to hear any of this.”

  “I just want to see what I can do for Lucy.”

  “I understand. Try the bracelets. If they don’t work, I might have something else, but even that might not work. The only other option I have is a compound I suspect Darren would be able to make, though it’s one that most with our abilities would hate to have used on us.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because it silences our abilities. It prevents you from using them for—”

  “Forever?”

  “Not forever. Until it wears off, and even then, it happens slowly. As someone who’s had it used against them, trust me when I tell you that it’s unpleasant and terrifying.” She tapped on one of the bracelets. “This is something you have control over. If it becomes too much, you can simply remove it.”

  “Thank you for this.”

  “Don’t thank me just yet. If it doesn’t work, you’ll need to try something different.”

  Daniel took another look around the room. Other than a few chairs and the plush carpet, it was a simple home. Most of the decorations seemed to be Jessa’s, other than those that looked to be made by Rsiran.

  “Your son will find him,” he said.