The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Where are we?” he whispered.

  “Inafer,” Carth said.

  He released Carth, stepping off to the side so that he could look at her back.

  “I’m fine,” she said, starting to stand.

  “I saw what happened. You had a sword through—”

  “I’m fine.”

  Daniel shook his head. “A wound like that will kill you, if it hasn’t started to already.”

  Shadows filled Carth. They flowed just beneath the surface of her skin, giving her a strange darkness. It happened quickly, lasting no more than two heartbeats before fading. When it was done, she took a deep breath.

  “Not all of us suffer from such injuries.”

  “You can Heal yourself?”

  “It’s not quite the same as what your Della might be able to do, but I do have my share of gifts.”

  “How do you know Della?”

  “I know a great many things about your people and your homeland,” Carth said. She looked out over the water. “Why Inafer?”

  Daniel looked over to her, frowning. “Where?”

  She pointed. “Down there is—was—the village of Inafer.”

  He couldn’t See anything from where he stood and had no intention of Sliding to it. “What happened?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know. Villages have been destroyed over the last few years. I’ve been searching for information but haven’t found any explanation.”

  “Is that why you’ve been gone?”

  “There are many reasons why I’ve been gone. That is but a part of it. I don’t have your ability to Travel, so my journeys take longer, but they afford me the opportunity to better understand places.”

  “And Inafer?”

  “Far from Eban.” She looked over at him. “Have you been here?”

  He shook his head. “No. It felt as if I were pushed here.”

  Carth frowned. “That’s a dangerous problem for someone with your abilities.”

  “It’s never happened before.” And he didn’t want it to happen again. The sense of being pushed where he didn’t intend to go… the fear when he emerged… the terror of looking over the edge, knowing that a slighter misstep would have sent him careening off into the water…

  How was it possible?

  “There’s nothing here. Like other places that have been destroyed, the village has been left in ruins.”

  “How?”

  A troubled expression flashed across her face. “I haven’t discovered that yet.” She took a deep breath and turned her attention to the sea. “Is there another place you can Slide us? Someplace where you don’t think you’ll be influenced?”

  Daniel hadn’t thought he could be influenced this time, but the fact that he had been—if that was what had happened—was enough to make him hesitate to Slide again.

  Could Lucy have had anything to do with it?

  Lucy.

  He needed to get back to her, back to the tavern, to see if there was any way he could help her. He’d rescued her from the Forgers once before, and he wasn’t about to lose her to them again if there was anything he could do to stop them.

  What could he do?

  Possibly nothing, if the Forgers had her. And it seemed she had enough power to handle Carth. Still, he wanted to try. If there wasn’t anything he could do, it didn’t change the plan. Find Lareth. Use whatever he might be able to do to remove the augmentation. Save Lucy.

  “Hold on,” he said.

  He tried the first place he thought of, not sure if he would even have the strength to Slide the full distance, and when he emerged, he stood on the shores of Asador.

  Carth turned and stared out at the ocean. “Why did you bring me here?”

  “I… I don’t know. I was trying to get you far enough away that we’d be safe, and this was the first place that came to mind. Is it bad?”

  She glanced over her shoulder at him. “Not bad. Just… surprising, I suppose.”

  “I don’t know what happened to Lucy.”

  “Your friend has been claimed,” she said.

  “I don’t understand. What happened to her?”

  “You should have told me that she was attacked by them before.”

  “I told you that she was injured.”

  “An injury and what happened to her are quite different,” she said.

  “How?”

  “She has taken one of their implants. Such implants grant the bearer greater strength, augmenting whatever natural abilities they have. In the case of your friend, she must have been incredibly powerful to begin with, and this only added to it.”

  Daniel stared out at the water. Wind gusted upon him, carrying the scent of the salty spray and sending waves crashing toward the shore. It should have been peaceful…

  “She was gifted. A powerful Elvraeth.”

  Carth sighed and dragged her attention away from the sea. “Those you call the Forgers have other abilities. They can influence the minds of some, even control them. When an implant is placed, it seems to strengthen that ability. I’ve seen it time and again, and unfortunately, it’s very difficult to return from.”

  “Have any returned from it?”

  “There have been a few, but they are rare.”

  “Is there any way of saving her?”

  “Short of removing the implant?”

  “We tried to remove it, but it’s not possible. The one person who we thought might be able to do it is missing.”

  “Lareth.”

  Daniel nodded. “We don’t know where he’s gone, and we don’t know how to find him, but his son went after him. I think he came to Asador, and we left to see if we could find him.”

  “That’s why you came, but why did his son come?”

  “To warn him about what the Forgers did to the Elder Trees.”

  “And what did they do?” Carth asked.

  “I’m not entirely sure, only that the strange bolts they placed seemed to have damaged the trees. It’s the same sort of thing as what happened to Lucy. Any attempt to remove them has only caused them to bury themselves deeper.”

  Carth turned toward him slowly, a deep frown on her face. “They did this to your Elder Trees?” She stared off toward the water. “Could that be it?” she whispered. “Could they finally have found a way to alter the Elder Stones?”

  Carth started toward the shoreline, and moments stretched the longer she was there. Daniel didn’t quite know what to say to call her back. Maybe there was nothing he could say. It was as if she were trying to reason through some problem, but there didn’t seem to be anything she could do to change what had happened.

  “I need to return to Eban,” he said.

  “Your friend is gone.”

  “No. She attacked in the tavern. She’d still be there.”

  “They sent her after me. They sent her after the Forgers we captured.”

  “You think they’re gone too?”

  “You can go back and check.”

  Daniel studied her for a moment. It hadn’t been nearly as difficult to Slide here as he would have expected, and he didn’t feel nearly as exhausted as usual after Sliding.

  He focused on the building where they’d kept the Forgers and Slid there.

  When he emerged, the building was empty.

  He shouldn’t have been surprised. Carth had told him that would be the case, but he didn’t want to believe that Lucy was now something else.

  Was she the enemy?

  Not to him. Lucy could never be the enemy. She was being controlled, and there had to be some way to rescue her, if only he could figure out what that was.

  Daniel wandered through the building, checking each of the rooms where they’d held the Forgers, but there was no sign of them anywhere. She had taken them.

  He Slid back to the tavern, emerging behind the doorway and poking his head out to see people within cleaning up. Lucy wasn’t here.

  Focusing on the shoreline outside of Asador, he Slid one more time. Fatig
ue washed over him when he emerged, the effort of far more extensive Sliding than he was accustomed to nearly overwhelming him.

  Carth waited. “What did you find?”

  “They’re gone.”

  “It’s not her fault,” she said.

  “How can they control her like that?”

  “The Forgers have ways of using abilities that exceed what you know.”

  “But how?”

  “If I had the answer to that, I would share it, but unfortunately, I do not. Some believe it’s tied to a connection with the Elder Stones, but others believe it’s part of the power of the people you call Forgers.”

  “You keep saying that. What are they if not Forgers?”

  “I believe that name was given to them by Rsiran, or perhaps by the Hjan, as a way of indicating the gifts they bestowed upon the Hjan. The Hjan were given implants, through which they were gifted with increased abilities, much like your friend was.”

  “You used a different term for them before. What was it?”

  “What I call them is of no importance.”

  “It is if you know more about them.”

  “It’s not so much that I know more about them. It’s that I have encountered them in different places. You fear them because you believe them responsible for attacking Elaeavn and your home, and much of that is because Lareth has convinced you that is what happened.”

  “That’s not what happened?”

  “Lareth knew about what they did there, but there is much more to the people you know as Forgers than what Lareth has experienced. Unfortunately, they are even more dangerous than he ever believed.”

  “I need to help my friend.”

  “And you believe Lareth is the key to that.”

  “There’s lorcith in the metal. He has the greatest control over lorcith of anyone.”

  Carth watched him for a long moment before speaking. “What do you know about his capture?”

  “I don’t know much of anything. Lucy knew more. She was in the Aisl during the attack.”

  “Tell me what it is that you do know.”

  “Rumors, mostly. We heard that they had captured him, and that his capture was the reason they were willing to attack in Elaeavn.”

  “That’s entirely possible,” she said. She paused and picked a rock up off the ground, rolling it between her fingers before tossing it out into the water. “I’m not entirely sure what Lareth was able to do over the last few decades. He has kept your city safe, but apparently at a price.”

  “Why do you say there was a price?”

  “The people of Elaeavn have always been isolated. In all the time that I’ve known these lands, they have kept to themselves, separated from the outside world. When Lareth defeated the Hjan, there was some belief that might change.”

  “Things changed within the city.”

  “Did they? I seem to recall that the Elvraeth ruled in the city, and they lived within the palace, controlling everyone. There was a certain separation between the Elvraeth and everyone else. Has that changed?”

  Daniel blinked. That hadn’t changed much. There was a desire for things to change, but so far, it mostly consisted of those with guild abilities remaining in the Aisl while those with Elvraeth abilities kept to the city, and especially the palace. Most of the Elvraeth were loath to leave the palace. Lucy was the exception rather than the rule.

  “I suppose it hasn’t, not like it should have.”

  “Who decides what should happen?”

  “I think there was a hope that things would change,” he said.

  “Everything always changes. That’s the nature of the world. Things change, and unfortunately, not always for the better.”

  “Will you help me find Haern Lareth?”

  “If I find him, what will that change?”

  “It’s the first step in trying to find Rsiran Lareth.”

  “I will do what I can.”

  “Do you even still have access to your network?”

  She smiled. “That was Rayen’s mistake. She believed that my absence meant I had lost those connections. Perhaps in some of the other cities I have, but here in Asador, my network is as strong as ever. This is where I started the Binders, and from here it spread out to surrounding cities.”

  “That’s how you knew I was here.”

  “As I told you, I can detect Sliding.”

  “Have you detected any around here other than from me?”

  She watched him. “You wonder if Lareth’s son might have come through here? Can he Slide?”

  “No, but someone would have to have brought him here.”

  Carth watched him for a moment before shaking her head. “I’ve not detected anyone else.”

  That could mean many things, but Daniel worried that she hadn’t been in Asador when they’d arrived—or they had never arrived here in the first place.

  “Do you think your network will be able to help with this?”

  “We’ll see.”

  “How?”

  “I would have you transport us into the city. From there, we can begin to make our way through my connections.”

  “That seems like it will take a long time.”

  “Information is not always quick,” she said.

  “What if there’s another way?”

  “What other way would there be?”

  “I know where Rayen went.”

  Carth glanced over at him. “I doubt she would have remained there.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s a place to start. Besides, isn’t it all part of your network?”

  “Once I would’ve said it was, but so much has changed.”

  “Didn’t you say that was the nature of things?”

  She watched him. “Perhaps you and I will get along.”

  30

  Daniel

  The tavern stretched in front of them, and Daniel stood off to the side, wrapped in shadows of Carth’s making, waiting for whatever she might do. It was late in the day, and her shadows were not the only ones visible. There was chaos out in the city, the sounds of Asador, a vibrant place filled with dozens and dozens of voices and dozens of different sounds. Over all of it was the distant crashing of waves. Now that he was aware of it, he heard it more acutely.

  “How long do you intend to wait here?” he whispered.

  She shook her head. “As long as necessary. I don’t intend to be surprised by anyone inside.”

  So far, they had been standing there for the better part of an hour, and Carth had remained focused on the door, shielding them with her shadows. As far as he could tell, even their voices were masked, so his whisper was unnecessary, but it was difficult to break the habit.

  “Like you said, we don’t even know if she’s still inside.”

  “We don’t, but I suspect she is.”

  “Why?”

  “I made certain to leave traces of rumors around the city.”

  “Such as the rumor that you had returned?”

  Carth grinned. “Such a rumor is valuable. When I realized that my network was unreliable, even to me, I decided to start placing rumors and letting them spread.”

  “But someone must have known. I mean, you found me in the tavern.”

  “Did you even realize where you were?” she asked.

  “I went into a tavern. Rayen had made it sound as if you had connections in most of them.”

  “We do. But you happened to go into one that I have an even greater connection to. It’s the place that I first came to when I reached Asador. It’s not something Rayen would have known, so she would have been unlikely to have viewed it as important.”

  “Why that tavern?”

  “Because it’s a place of comfort to me. And because I knew the people there are still trustworthy.”

  “You didn’t think that other places would be trustworthy?”

  “Oh, they would be, it’s just that I’m a little less comfortable with other places.”

  “What do you think she’s up to
?”

  “I suspect that right now, she’s trying to decide what to do about you. She knows you’ve disappeared, which means she’ll think that either you’ve gone back to Eban or you’re still in the city. Knowing Rayen, she will have planned for both possibilities.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it’s what I taught her to do.”

  She pushed the door open, motioning for him to follow. He hesitated. He wasn’t sure what would await him on the other side of the door, but whatever it was could be dangerous, especially if Rayen was involved.

  The inside of the tavern was just as busy as the last time he had been in here. People were packed close together, and he kept his eye on the women moving around, knowing they were the key to all of these operations.

  Carth stayed against one wall, and he kept close to her. Shadows swirled around her, though not with the same power as they had outside. She used them more as a way to dull her presence and less as a complete shielding.

  “She was back in the kitchen when I was there before.”

  “Of course she was,” Carth said. “I doubt she will be there now.”

  “Why not?”

  “Rayen will be where the activity is.”

  “Why would she be in a place like this? It seems too busy.”

  “Perhaps to you, but this is exactly the kind of place where she would have gone. It provides enough noise and chaos to mask her presence, and more than that, she would be able to obtain information quite easily. That’s the value of taverns. It’s a lesson I taught her, and it’s one that she learned well.”

  It seemed an odd lesson to learn. Then again, taverns were places where people congregated. Information could be obtained in them, and the presence of outsiders wouldn’t be all that shocking. He understood the reason that Carth and her network would use a place like this, bringing together the women who might be able to pass on additional information.

  “What sort of things do you look for?”

  “Focus on snippets of conversation,” she said. “You’re listening for anything that might seem odd.”

  “And what would you consider odd?”

  “Anything that doesn’t quite fit. In taverns, you have all sorts of different people. You have those who come here to drink and forget. You have some who come to gamble. You have some who come to flirt.” She nodded toward one of the women who casually batted a man’s hand away. “That’s how we knew the Binders would be effective. And then you have those who come for a different purpose.”