The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  One of the Forgers stirred.

  Galen shifted closer to him, grabbing a pair of darts. He held one in either hand, positioning his chair so that he could react if necessary. The other Forger remained bound and motionless. Galen jabbed the dart into the still-unconscious man’s shoulder, glancing over to Haern for a moment.

  “Now we can find out what they know,” Galen said.

  “What if they don’t share anything?”

  “I don’t expect them to offer up their information willingly, but they will share. I will see to that.”

  As the Forger came around, he glanced over to Galen and then to Haern. Somehow, he made it seem almost as if he weren’t captured. He had flat gray eyes and high cheekbones with an angular jaw. His brown hair was mussed up now, a matted tangle that didn’t seem to fit with the fine cut of his jacket. There was something about him that was different from the other Forgers Haern had seen.

  “You’ve made a grave error,” the Forger said.

  “Have I?” Galen asked, scooting toward him. “You’re the one who is captured. What error have I made?”

  “Your error was in thinking that you could hold me.”

  “I don’t intend to hold you,” Galen said. “You’ll answer questions, or you’ll die. Either way, I’ve lost nothing.”

  The Forger stared at Galen, watching him as if to see if he were telling the truth. Haern couldn’t tell. Galen’s threat was far too believable. It fit with the easy way Galen had with his darts, along with the easy way he spoke of his previous assignments. It wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Galen could kill this man in the blink of an eye.

  What poisons did Galen have in that pouch of his?

  “If you intend to kill me, then answering questions would be pointless.”

  “Maybe I’ll spare you,” Galen said.

  The Forger studied Galen. “The Elvraeth aren’t so violent. We have enough experience with them to know better than that.”

  “No? Then you don’t know my wife. Regardless, I’m not Elvraeth, and I am more than experienced in administering pain.”

  Galen flicked one of the darts casually, and it pierced the man in the shoulder. His eyes narrowed for a moment, and then his jaw clenched. Sweat beaded on his brow.

  Galen sat calmly. “This is a unique toxin. Had I not returned to Elaeavn, I doubt I would have ever discovered it.” Haern realized that Galen was talking to him rather than to the Forger. “Ferash oil. Only a few drops are necessary. It creates an incredibly uncomfortable sensation beneath the skin. The effect of it continues to intensify over time unless it’s countered.”

  “What happens if you administer more than a few drops?”

  “More than a few drops can be fatal, so we don’t want to do that quite yet.”

  “How do you counter it?” The idea of using a poison like this intrigued Haern. It was powerful. Something that he didn’t always feel.

  “The counter is actually quite simple. There is a specific plant that grows around Elaeavn that I’ve found works quite nicely. One leaf will remove the horrible effect of the oil, though the longer one waits to administer the leaf, the less effective it is.”

  Galen turned back to the Forger. “You tolerate it much better than I could.”

  “Your torture will do nothing to me,” he said through gritted teeth. “I have endured far more than you could ever understand.”

  “Oh, I don’t intend to try to do anything to you. And if you think this is torture, I’m just getting started. My herbal knowledge is extensive, and it has been quite some time since I have practiced it this way.” Galen flashed a menacing smile. It would’ve been enough for Haern to break down and begin babbling. “How many Forgers are in Asador?”

  “More than you can account for.”

  “You’d be surprised. I can account for a great many things.”

  “You won’t survive this.”

  “Survive? I’m not trying to survive anything. I’m trying to find information.”

  The Forger glared at Galen. “You think we know how to find Lareth.”

  “The thought did occur to me.”

  “It’s not going to be quite so simple.”

  “It never is.” Galen flicked his other dart. It pierced the other shoulder. “Now this dart was loaded with something I like to call fire flower. It’s actually something your mother helped me discover. She does have a love for gardening, and we have been able to grow a great number of plants that I had not worked with before. The flower is lovely to look at, but quite dangerous to handle. Your fingers begin to tingle, and then the tingling begins to burn. If you don’t wash it off, you’ll find your skin peeling free. Now, crushed and injected, the effect is quite different. The burning sensation remains beneath the surface of the skin, and it’s quite a bit more uncomfortable. Combined with ferash oil, the effect is incredibly unpleasant. I’ll admit, when I tested it myself, I found it extraordinarily abrasive. But then, I knew how to counter it and was in control of the countering.”

  Haern gaped at Galen. Could he really be that brutal?

  The Forger began to writhe in place. He said nothing, simply clenching his jaw and gritting his teeth against the pain he must be experiencing, but it seemed as if he couldn’t control his movements.

  “As I said, it really is quite unpleasant. If you would like, I could help counter some of the effects, but there is a cost.”

  “I refuse,” the Forger said.

  “Good. Your refusal allows me to continue my experiments. As I said, it has been a while since I spent any time working with some of these various compounds. It’s difficult to know how others will react to them. My own reactions are diminished because of my time spent experimenting with them. It’s one thing to know that things such as terad can be incredibly poisonous, and it’s quite another to experience them.”

  “You wouldn’t be able to withstand terad,” the Forger said.

  “No. Not at first. That is a difficult one to withstand, and it takes quite a bit of self-control. You must live through the pain that comes with the inability to move—or breathe—but the longer you’re exposed to it, the easier such a thing becomes. Now, it still is unpleasant, though not as unpleasant as srirach. That is a terrible way to die. Unfortunately, there are many terrible people out there, and some of them deserve to die terribly.”

  Galen pulled a vial of liquid from his pouch, and he rolled it between his fingers. It had a reddish hue, and he pulled the stopper off, bringing it to his nose. “Even the smell is unpleasant. I’ll admit, I don’t care for the aroma, though it’s not nearly as caustic as the way it feels when injected.”

  Galen held the vial down, bringing it to the Forger’s nose. The Forger was forced to inhale the odor, and he glared at Galen.

  When Galen leaned back, he placed the stopper back into the vial. “If you would like to see what else I have, I can assure you my stock is quite plentiful. Many of the items I keep with me aren’t found in too many places. I take some pride in that.”

  Haern suppressed a grin. The way Galen was talking made it seem almost as if he was still active as an assassin, but… could he be? Haern didn’t think so. What would the reason be for it?

  “I will not be threatened by you.”

  “Is there someone you would be threatened by? I’m sure I can find someone who would provoke some response from you. If it’s not me, and it’s not my various compounds, then I can find another.”

  “We have captured the only person we feared.”

  “Lareth is the only person you feared?” Galen leaned forward. “I know that is incorrect. There are others, one in particular.”

  “If you think we fear Carthenne Rel, then you are incorrect.”

  “I fear her. I would think that you should.”

  The Forger stared at Galen for a long moment, and then he smiled. His smile worried Haern, especially as he should have been nearly incapacitated. Perhaps he was able to escape… or he simply didn’t fear what Galen migh
t do.

  “You don’t know, do you?”

  “Know what?” Galen asked.

  The Forger chuckled. “Oh, this is magnificent. Perhaps I should wait for you to discover it on your own.”

  “Discover what?”

  “As I said, we don’t fear Rel. Why would we fear someone who has already died? With her gone, and Lareth drawn out…”

  Haern’s breath caught. They had come all this way and survived the threat of the Forgers. Could it be too late? Could Carth already have been killed?

  When had Galen last seen her?

  The death of someone like Carth, based on what he had heard of her, would be a reason for the Forgers to suddenly begin to move. It might also explain why his father had been captured.

  Galen’s features never changed. “I’ve known Rel for many years. There have been rumors of her demise many times before. None of them have played out.”

  “No? It’s been a decade. Have the rumors you’ve heard been that extensive?” The Forger watched Galen. “No. I can tell they have not. If they were, you wouldn’t have that concern in your eyes.”

  Haern glanced over to Galen. He couldn’t read anything from him. It was one of the times he wished he had the ability to Read, but then someone like Galen, who lived with a powerful Reader, would be able to ignore any attempt to Read him.

  “She’s gone. And now, with Lareth captured, no one remains who poses any threat to our plans.”

  Galen reached into his pouch and pulled out another dart. He flicked it at the Forger and then leaned back, watching the man as he gradually sank back into unconsciousness. The Forger grinned the entire time.

  When he was out, Haern leaned forward. “Could it be true?”

  “It’s possible, but if Carth really is gone, I’m not sure anyone can help us find your father.”

  “What about her people? I thought you sent word.”

  “I alerted her network. I haven’t heard anything from Carth in years. That’s not surprising. I would often go years without hearing anything from her. But it is possible that he tells us the truth.”

  Haern sat back, watching the Forgers. If they were right, and Carth was gone, how would they ever find his father?

  “What should we do?”

  “There might not be much we can do. We can remain here and see what else we can uncover, and I will continue to search for any word of Carth. If what the Forger tells us is true, then we need confirmation.”

  “What can we do if it is true?”

  “Honestly? Not a lot. We need Carth and her network. That was the entire reason for coming here. If the network is gone, then there won’t be a whole lot that we can do to find her.”

  “The woman at the tavern—”

  “May have been playing us,” he said, looking up to Haern. “We have to prepare for the possibility that she’s gone.”

  Galen leaned over the fallen Forgers, administering more poisons to them with his darts.

  “Don’t you have to counter what you gave him?”

  “It wears off. Even if it doesn’t, I’m not terribly concerned about leaving him suffering for a little while.”

  “That seems—”

  “Cruel? Trust me when I tell you that what they would do to you is even crueler. They would have no qualms about killing you.”

  “Do you think they’ll talk?”

  “I’ve been around men like this before, and most of them eventually break. But it will take time.”

  Time. It was something Haern wasn’t sure they had. How long could they spend working on breaking the Forgers with his father missing? They needed to get answers, needed to figure out somehow what the Forgers knew. If nothing else, they needed to know how many were moving in the city. They could go nowhere until then.

  “What now?” he asked.

  “Now we go searching for information.”

  “I thought that’s what we were doing.”

  “We were. Like I said, none of this is quick. Finding information can be slow and arduous, and you have to be willing to take that time in order to take the next step.”

  And the next step involved planning. They needed information before they could plan, but how could they do anything if the person they had come to find was gone?

  The Forgers were powerful. There would be no way to rescue his father without someone who could counter them. Galen was skilled—there was no doubting that—but would he be able to overpower enough of the Forgers to get Haern’s father back?

  They needed someone else with enough skill to do that.

  And who would that be if not Carth?

  25

  Daniel

  The outside of the tavern was dingy and dark, even in the middle of the day. The stone appeared smeared in dirt and grime. Cracks ran along the entire face of it. Still, there was something comforting about the tavern. Maybe it was the fact that it had protected them when they had needed it, or maybe it was simply that the people within were welcoming. Either way, Daniel regretted leaving.

  Then again, he regretted leaving more because he was the only one of the two going.

  “You could come,” he said to Lucy. He didn’t want to go alone. She was the entire reason he had left Elaeavn, and now he’d be going off without her?

  Find Lareth. That was all he had to do. When he did, he’d return for Lucy.

  She smiled and shook her head. “I would be a burden to you. And besides, if you go, I think you can move easier.”

  “I don’t want to go without you.”

  “And I don’t necessarily want you to go without me, either, but I worry about you trying to Slide me. Without my own ability to assist…”

  Her abilities still hadn’t returned. It had been two days since her rescue, and in that time, he had expected her to begin to develop her abilities once more. But so far, she had not.

  Neither of them wanted to speak of it, but they knew she might never regain her abilities. And what would that mean? What would happen to her without them?

  Maybe nothing, but without them, she might be in danger. And it wasn’t that it was any safer for her here. She wanted to stay mostly because she thought she needed to.

  “They know of this poison,” she said.

  “Just because they know of it doesn’t mean they can do anything to help you.”

  “I know, but I have to try. I want to get back to normal, and if that involves staying here and seeing what they can do for me, I’m willing to do it.” She smiled at him. “Besides, I really do want to help others who need it. I’m not the only one who was hurt. I might not know enough to help, but I can try. If there is anything I can do, then I want to, after what was done to me.”

  “Well?” Rayen said.

  She stood about ten paces from him, arms crossed over her chest, a black cloak wrapped around her. She had the hood of the cloak pulled up over her head. Daniel would much rather go with Lucy than with Rayen, especially with the way Rayen acted around him, but she claimed to know Asador, and if nothing else, that would be valuable in finding Lareth. If they had the same network in Asador as existed here, then it shouldn’t take long.

  That was the other reason he was willing to leave Lucy in Eban. It might be safer, and he was optimistic that it wouldn’t take long to find her.

  “We can go.” He stared at Lucy a little longer, and Rayen grunted, shaking her head.

  “She’s going to be fine. Kasha is incredibly capable, and she will ensure that nothing comes to her.”

  Daniel wasn’t sure how much faith he wanted to put in that. In the days he’d spent holed up in the tavern, he had seen other women come through. Most of them stayed for a short time before disappearing. He suspected they were moved to somewhere else in the network, taken someplace safe, or possibly even returned home, but he never saw any sign of it.

  “You can return at any time,” she said.

  “I know.”

  “The more you do this, the better you’re going to be with it.”
/>   “How do you know so much about Sliding?” he asked.

  “You’re not the first person I’ve met with the ability,” Rayen said.

  Daniel let out a heavy sigh and hugged Lucy briefly. She hugged him back for a moment before pulling away and smiling at him. “Be safe. And Daniel? Be nice to him when you find him.”

  “I’ll do my best. He’s not going to be thrilled to see me, either.” Daniel glanced up at the sky. It was overcast and gray and fit his mood. “Are you ready?” he asked Rayen.

  “I’m not the one who has to do the work this time,” she said, grinning.

  Daniel pulled them in a Slide and they emerged on the outside of the city. A field stretched out all around them, tall grasses swishing in the gentle breeze. Flowers bloomed occasionally, swatches of yellow and orange that reminded him of his mother. She always loved her flowers, and she probably would have loved a field like this.

  “You’re going to have to guide me as we go,” he said.

  “Don’t worry. I will.”

  He nodded, and she pointed northward. Daniel Slid.

  He continued to Slide, emerging and reorienting himself before taking off and Sliding again. The steady nature of it allowed him to cover distances quickly, but still not nearly as quickly as he knew was possible. He could return to Lucy in a flash, little more than a thought, and the temptation to do so was there, but he pressed onward.

  “How much experience do the people of Asador have with the people of Elaeavn?”

  “Are you wondering if they have the same experience as those within Eban?” Rayen asked, a smirk spreading across her face. “Asador is no different from any of the other great cities. Some parts of it are dangerous. Others are less so. And through it all, the Binders offer protection and safety.”

  The network of women was a strange and impressive thing. Seeing how many injured women came through Eban, he thought it important work, too. “How is it that the Binders came to be?”

  It was strange having a conversation like this. Each time he emerged from a Slide, he asked another question, pausing long enough for her to answer.