The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  What could he do? He couldn’t Slide Lucy, not with her chained to the bed, but could he Slide more than her? That was the answer, but it would be difficult, more than what he’d tried to Slide before.

  “There were women in each of these rooms. I don’t know if they were here by choice.”

  Rayen’s expression darkened. “They were not.”

  “What will you do?”

  “I’ve already done what needs to be done.”

  “And what is that?”

  She glared at him for a moment. “If you’re asking whether I left them behind, then you don’t know me at all.”

  “I don’t know you at all,” he said.

  “They’re safe. They—”

  The door to the other room began to open and Daniel reacted, grabbing Rayen and stepping enough to Slide, reappearing on the second story in the other room. When he emerged, Rayen glared at him.

  “What was that about?”

  “It was about protecting you from an attack.”

  “You have no need to protect me.”

  “Fine, next time I will simply leave you when others might come out. I figured you didn’t want to fight unless it was absolutely necessary.”

  She stared at him for a moment. “Where is your friend?”

  He grabbed on to Rayen and Slid her into the small, low-ceilinged room.

  Part of him worried that Lucy would be gone when he emerged, but she was still there. She moaned but didn’t appear much more awake than she had been before.

  Rayen crept forward, not needing to crouch nearly as much as Daniel, and when she reached the bed, she performed an examination of Lucy that reminded him of Darren.

  “You know what they used on her?”

  “With your type of abilities, it was probably slithca. I’ve seen it used before, though it’s been a while, and there shouldn’t be all that many who know how to concoct it. The fact that Tern does tells me that he’s decided to get involved in much more dangerous games.”

  “Who would know about this poison? Forgers?”

  She glanced over at him. “You say that almost as if you know them.”

  “I’ve encountered them before.”

  “I didn’t think any of your kind had any experience with them these days.”

  “They attacked our city.” Or near enough, he decided not to add.

  “If they attacked, you shouldn’t be alive.”

  “They didn’t come with significant numbers,” he said. “Can you help her?”

  Rayen touched Lucy’s forehead before leaning down to listen to her breathe for a moment. “I’m not sure there’s much help to be had. Not until it wears off.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “It can take hours, and depending on what concentration they used, it might take a day or more.”

  A day or more where Lucy didn’t have any access to her abilities. They would have to hunker down and wait. Did they have time to wait?

  “I think I have to Slide the entire bed.”

  “Do you believe you’re capable of doing that?”

  He took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. I’ve never tried anything quite like this, and since I need to have some movement, I’m going to need to use that movement in order to Slide the entire bed. And if I do this, I won’t be able to bring you with me.”

  Rayen grinned at him. “I don’t need help to escape from someone like Tern.”

  “I just don’t want to strand you here.”

  “Just do whatever it is that you do. I’m not concerned with how I will fare.”

  He nodded and tried to gather his strength. Performing a Slide like what he intended would be difficult. Not for the first time since coming to Eban, he realized he should have been more concerned with understanding his abilities—and pushing to strengthen them. All the time he’d had, and he’d done nothing. It was a waste.

  “If you could push the bed, then I can see if I can Slide as we go.”

  Rayen moved to the far end of the bed and gave it a little test shove, then nodded to him. He focused, grabbing the end of the bed, and took a step back.

  As he did, he attempted to Slide.

  Everything seemed slow.

  When he Slid, there was always a sense of movement, a flurry of energy, and then he transitioned from one place to the next. With this, whatever it was he did, there was no such sense of movement.

  Daniel screamed, trying to use every bit of energy he could summon to help pull Lucy from here.

  He focused on the room within the inn, thinking about Kasha and having her help. If he could get the bed there, it didn’t matter what else he did. He just needed to get Lucy away from here. Then they could get more help.

  He took another step, dragging the bed with him.

  Haern’s father would have been able to do this.

  That thought irritated him as he yanked on the bed. As he did, he focused on the energy needed to Slide. And he moved.

  It happened far more slowly than he wanted, but there was movement.

  He pulled on the bed, holding on to the connection to his Slide, not daring to release it. If he did, he might end up emerging somewhere else, someplace he didn’t intend. As far as he knew, anyone who did that ran the risk of not emerging at all.

  Supposedly there was a place between Slides, but no one had ever spoken to him about what it was like. There were rumors that Lareth could step into those places, but Daniel figured those were just that—rumors.

  He pulled on the bed with everything he had. Everything hurt. When this was done, he wouldn’t be able to Slide for a long time.

  He continued to pull.

  Whistling ripped through his ears. Pain tore through his head.

  He didn’t abandon the attempt at the Slide.

  Somewhere distant, he noticed the sound of footsteps. It was a steady thudding sound that suggested the men within the building were aware of him, and he didn’t dare relax, not until he had Lucy secured.

  Maybe it wasn’t footsteps at all. Maybe it was only within his head.

  Daniel pulled again, needing just a little bit more to get Lucy to safety.

  The end of the Slide had to be near, especially as he could feel it, and he was never aware of the end of a Slide quite like this.

  And then it was over.

  He’d emerged.

  Daniel looked around. He was in the room he’d rented, and so was the bed, with Lucy chained on top of it. She didn’t make a sound, completely silent, her breathing regular, but she was here—away from those who would hurt her.

  Everything within him throbbed in pain. He tasted blood in his mouth, or maybe it was simply dry from his effort. Sagging to the floor, he dropped onto the bed next to Lucy and closed his eyes, falling asleep curled up next to her.

  22

  Daniel

  Murmuring voices woke Daniel.

  He rolled over, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, and blinked to see everything illuminated with bright candlelight.

  Where was he?

  It took a moment for everything to come back to him. When it did, he awoke with a start, his heart hammering.

  “Lucy—”

  “I’m here.”

  Daniel took a deep breath and saw Lucy lying next to him, propped up on the side of the bed, resting her head on her fist. Her deep green eyes were incredibly lovely, and despite how pale she looked, all he wanted was to reach over and caress her cheek. “How were you freed?”

  “It took you long enough,” someone said.

  Daniel blinked and sat up, looking to the other side of the room. Rayen leaned against the wall. Her dark hair seemed to swirl with pools of shadow cast by the lantern light, and she had her arms crossed over her chest, rolling something between her fingers.

  “When you said you could Slide her out of the room, I didn’t realize you would nearly kill yourself doing it.”

  Daniel leaned forward. As he did, waves of nausea rolled through him. Everything still hurt. The
room spun, and he did his best to ignore it. He also tried to ignore the way Lucy looked at him. There was something in her eyes that he couldn’t quite identify.

  But then, he didn’t need to. She was able to Read him. When he’d rescued her, he had failed to grab the bracelets. Which also meant that she would continue to suffer while around others.

  That was, unless the sedative hadn’t worn off.

  “I didn’t nearly kill myself. It just… it just took a lot out of me.”

  Rayen grinned at him. “Apparently.”

  “How are you?” he asked Lucy.

  She continued to watch him. “I’m alive, thanks to you.”

  “Hey,” Rayen said.

  Daniel nodded at her. “Rayen helped. I’m not sure she would let me live it down if I didn’t share that with you.”

  Lucy watched Rayen. “We’ve met, but she hasn’t shared with me how the two of you met.”

  Daniel sighed. “I went searching for you when you were abducted. I looked all over the city, trying to figure out where you might have been taken, and ultimately came across someone else who had been abducted.”

  “And that brought you here.”

  Daniel nodded. “It brought me to this tavern. Apparently, the people who work here help rescue women who were taken like you were.”

  “Normally,” Rayen said, pushing away from the wall and taking a seat on the other bed. “In your case, it’s a little different. They grabbed you, but someone like you is quite a bit more valuable.”

  “Why?” Lucy asked.

  The fact that she had to ask suggested to him that she was still sedated. Without any way of using her abilities, at least she didn’t have to deal with the overwhelming sound of voices within her head. She had barely managed that before.

  “Because you’re from Elaeavn.”

  “People know that?” Lucy asked.

  “Everyone recognizes that. We have quite a bit of experience with people from Elaeavn here in Eban. We’re close enough that those who come through here end up with a price on their head, or they end up taking care of those with prices on their heads.” Rayen grinned. “Either way, it’s taken care of.”

  Lucy glanced over to him. “So, not Asador.”

  “Not Asador,” he said.

  “How did we get so off track?”

  “Because we were chased,” he said. That had to be the only way. And at least they had outrun the people chasing them. But in his haste to figure out what happened to Lucy, he’d sort of forgotten about their pursuit. Now that they were safe, they had to figure out what had happened, and why those men had been after them. “You’re still not able to use your abilities?”

  Lucy glanced down. “They injected me with something. It happened almost as soon as they grabbed me. Almost as if they knew to do so.”

  “They do,” Rayen said.

  “What’s it like?”

  “It’s like… an emptiness. My ability isn’t there. As much as I tried to reach for it, it’s just missing.”

  What would he do if he suddenly didn’t have access to his abilities? How would he feel? Probably the same way she did. Unlike her, he would probably panic. Lucy was handling things much better than he would have, but then, that didn’t really surprise him. Lucy often handled things much better than he.

  “I thought you said this would wear off?” he said to Rayen.

  “Normally, it does. You’ve been out for the last six hours, so I would have expected the effects to have dissipated by now, especially as she woke up a few hours ago.” She shrugged at Lucy. “It was difficult enough to get those chains off your wrists. I can’t believe he slept through the entire thing.”

  “Like I said, I had to exert myself pretty hard to get her free.”

  “I can’t believe you were able to Slide an entire bed,” Lucy said. “You never practice with your abilities. You could have died, Daniel Elvraeth.”

  “If it weren’t you trapped there, I probably wouldn’t have attempted it, but I wasn’t about to leave you. I saw the way they used those women.”

  Those women. The memory of the others in the thief master’s home came to him.

  Turning his attention to Rayen, he asked, “Were you able to get all of them out?”

  She frowned at him. “I wasn’t about to leave them there.”

  “Will they know it was you?”

  “Even if they do, there’s not a whole lot someone like Tern would be able to do about it anyway. There was a time when thief masters in the city were more dangerous. And he’s dangerous enough, but it’s not as if I don’t have skill, either.”

  An uncomfortable silence fell. “What happens if this doesn’t wear off?” Lucy asked.

  “It will,” Rayen said. “You’re not valuable to them without your abilities.”

  “Is it the Forgers after her?”

  “The people you refer to as Forgers are a part of something else,” Rayen said.

  “I don’t know who they are or what they’re part of, only that they have caused enough trouble in Elaeavn.”

  “It’s not even the Forgers who have caused the problems you refer to,” she said.

  “I’ve seen them. I know it’s the Forgers.”

  “You’ve seen what they’ve allowed you to see. If they wanted you to be aware of what they planned, they showed it to you. They are far more skilled than you. If you’re counting on those who trained you to keep your people safe, you have already lost.”

  “There hasn’t been an attack. We were safe in the city.”

  “In Elaeavn? You’re safe, but that’s because your people have chosen to ignore the rest of the world until it matters to them. Most of your kind are simply content to let others take care of the problems they have caused.”

  Daniel stared at her, not sure what to say. The single lantern cast a soft flickering light as he tried to See through the shadows and meet Rayen’s eyes. “What problems have my people caused?”

  “The fact that you have to ask tells me how little you know about the outside world.”

  “Then help us understand,” Lucy said.

  Daniel didn’t want her involved in anything, certainly not whatever it was Rayen referred to, but he could see from the way Lucy looked at the other woman that she was determined to be. With her injuries, he couldn’t blame her. She wanted answers about what had happened, and until she got them, she would be stuck with that strange piece of metal embedded in her skull, changing her.

  Not only changing her, but making her more.

  “That’s not really my place. Besides, that’s not really why you are here, either.”

  “Why do you think we’re here?”

  “A mistake.” She glanced from Daniel to Lucy. “You said it yourself. You thought you were heading to Asador. Whatever you intended to find in Asador won’t be found here.”

  “We’re looking for a friend of ours,” Lucy said, ignoring the way Daniel stared at her. They had already told Rayen more than they should. Anything else would only put them in danger, and they had enough of that as it was.

  “Why in Asador?”

  “He went looking for someone else,” Lucy said.

  “Is that all you do? Search for others to take care of your problems for you?”

  Daniel shook his head. “It’s not like that. It’s—”

  Rayen leaned forward, grinning. “You don’t have to explain to me. You came here, and I offered you what help I could. I’m happy enough to prevent Tern from taking anyone else, especially someone he might make enough money from to go after others, but don’t make it sound as if you’re here for any other reason than your ignorance.”

  She tapped on the bed and stood, leaving them.

  When she was gone, Lucy stared at the door. “How did you find her again?”

  “It was chance. They realized where you were being held, and I said I wanted help getting you, but she was the only one who was willing to participate.”

  “She’s an odd one.”


  “You’re telling me.”

  “And she’s hiding something.”

  “I’m sure she’s hiding lots of things. We’re not part of whatever organization they’re in.”

  “It’s not that. It’s…” She shook her head, turning her attention back to Daniel. “I guess it’s a feeling, not much more than that. I don’t know how to explain it. I can’t Read her. Whatever they did to me took that ability away, but I do have a sense of something.” She looked down. “It’s stupid, I know.”

  Daniel took her hands and turned her toward him. “It’s not stupid. I can’t imagine what you went through.”

  Lucy looked up, meeting his eyes with an earnestness that almost swallowed him. “I can’t thank you enough for saving me.”

  “I wasn’t going to leave you there. It’s my fault we’re here in the first place.”

  “I seem to remember being interested in leaving the city.”

  “And I was the one Sliding us. If I had done it better, you wouldn’t have ended up captured.”

  “You came for me. That’s all that matters.”

  He smiled. Maybe that was all that mattered, but he also worried. They had to get to Asador, and he was too tired to Slide them. If Lucy was unable to Slide them, they would be stuck here. It might be a day or more until he had sufficiently recovered to Slide them both, and until then, what would they do?

  “I hope the poison they used on you wears off soon.”

  “I’m worried,” Lucy said.

  “About what will happen?”

  She nodded. “Everything was so overpowering before. When the poison wears off, I don’t know what I’ll do. So… I’m worried.”

  “We can return to Elaeavn and see if Darren has anything else that might help.”

  “If we returned to Elaeavn, I don’t know that we’ll be allowed to leave again,” she said. “I doubt my parents care that I’m gone, but yours certainly will.”

  “I’m not letting my parents make that decision for me. I’m here with you.”

  Lucy pulled her hands from his and looked toward the lantern. “Maybe it would be better for us to return.”

  In this position, Daniel stared at the back of her head. The piece of metal was still there, though her hair covered it. He parted her hair gently, waiting as she stiffened and then relaxed before continuing. The metal piercing her scalp was fixed in her head, and she barely winced when he touched it.