The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “My father has resisted them for the last twenty years.”

  “So has Carth.”

  “To hear her tell of it, she’s been resisting them for far longer than twenty years.”

  “And where has it gotten her?” Rayen crouched, and the shadows around her parted. She was close enough that he could smell her. She had something of a floral fragrance, and strangely, it reminded him a little bit of his mother and the flowers she always wore tucked into her lapel. “All I wanted was to ensure the safety of our people.”

  “Why now?”

  “Because they captured your father.”

  “That’s the only reason you decided to work with them?”

  “I had no reason before. They were distracted, your father drawing them away, and when he disappeared, that distraction went away. They began to focus on the network, and things started to change.”

  “He hasn’t been captured that long.”

  “Long enough. They planned for this possibility long enough that when the time came to act, they were ready.”

  “And you betrayed the Binders.”

  “Betrayed?” She looked up at him, a deep frown on her face. “I wouldn’t betray them. They’ve been my sisters.”

  “Why haven’t you welcomed Carth back?”

  “Because Carth remains stuck in her way of doing things. Things change, son of Lareth.”

  Haern breathed out. “They change, but perhaps we need to be the ones to understand her wisdom.”

  “You sound like her.”

  “No, I think I sound like my father.”

  “Is that a bad thing?”

  “If you’d asked me that a while ago, I would have said yes. But the more I learn about the man he is, the more I begin to wonder if perhaps I have been mistaken.”

  “There are stories about your father. You could have learned about him a while ago.”

  “It’s difficult to know how much of the stories is real and how much is made up—what he really did versus what others wanted him to have done.”

  “It’s the same way with Carth. How do you follow a legend?”

  Haern didn’t know what to say. It was the same issue he’d had his entire life. People treated him differently, expected things of him, because of his father. When he wasn’t able to do what his father could do, it always ended in disappointment. “You look like her.”

  Rayen smiled. “Is that your way of asking if I’m her daughter?”

  “It’s a reasonable assumption,” he said.

  “She’s not my mother. We are connected, but only because we share a similar heritage.”

  “And what is that?”

  “We are descendants from a place lost long ago, a place known as Ih.”

  “I take it that your people can manipulate the shadows.”

  “Some. Most are what we refer to as shadow blessed. They can use the shadows to conceal themselves. But then there are the shadow born. People like myself and Carth. We are able to do more than that.”

  “It’s a powerful ability.”

  “Some would say the abilities of the people of Elaeavn are powerful, too.”

  “Only some of them, and then really only if you are of the Elvraeth.”

  “Galen isn’t one of the Elvraeth.”

  Haern smiled and shook his head. “No. Galen is not. I get the sense that he is unique.”

  “In many ways. From the stories Carth has shared about him, he is powerful for more reasons than only his eyesight.”

  “What other reasons?”

  “It’s his mind. And, I suppose, his compassion. He is one of the few men she ever welcomed into her network. I never really understood that, but then, I’ve never met him.”

  “I can’t say that I understand him either. I’ve spent the last week or so with him, and I don’t know that I have any better an understanding of Galen than I did before we left.” He looked at Rayen. “What is it you intend to do?”

  “I came to try to see what threat you might pose,” she said.

  With the way she controlled the shadows, and the easy way she simply crouched in front of him, he doubted that he posed much of a threat to her at all.

  “I don’t want to pose a threat to you or your network. All I wanted was to find my father. And now my friend.”

  “I thought you didn’t care for what he’s done.”

  “It’s not so much about what he’s done. My mother needs him. The people of Elaeavn need him. He’s… he’s more than just Rsiran. He’s someone they look up to.”

  Rayen frowned. “Why do you say that?”

  “Because they hold him up as someone to be celebrated. Without my father, the Hjan would have defeated my people. The city would’ve fallen. The sacred crystals would have been claimed.” What was he doing, sharing information about the sacred crystals with someone outside of Elaeavn? He knew better than to do that, but there was something about talking to Rayen that was strangely easy.

  “Some felt that way about Carth.”

  “And you don’t?”

  “I did. Now… now it’s time for another to run the network. It’s been me for the last five years, and I’m not going to let her return and disrupt that.” Rayen stood and looked down at Haern. “Don’t get in the way. I’d hate to have to kill you the way the Forgers did your father.”

  He wasn’t gone. Haern couldn’t believe that. If he was, then not only would the Elder Trees be lost, but Lucy would be too. “If you know where he is—”

  She shook her head. “I don’t, but it doesn’t take much to imagine what they have done to him.”

  “At least help me find my friend Lucy.”

  “I’m not responsible for what happened with her.”

  “But you are. She was safe, but you turned her over to the Forgers.”

  “It was a price I was willing to pay for the safety of my people.”

  He took a step toward her, and Rayen pushed out with the shadows. Haern hesitated. She was going to disappear, and he’d have no way of finding her again.

  He pushed on one of the lorcith knives, moving it slowly, and dropped it into one of her cloak pockets as he lunged toward her.

  She slammed shadows in front of him, and he bounced off.

  “Like I said, I’d hate to have to kill you the same way the Forgers killed your father, but don’t threaten me.”

  “I didn’t want to threaten you. I just wanted…”

  She squeezed the shadows around her, disappearing.

  As she went, Haern focused on the lorcith he’d slipped into her pocket. He’d have a way of finding her—at least until she discovered it.

  It meant that he would have to trail after her and figure out where she was staying.

  Watching the shadows was easy, and he followed, jumping from rooftop to rooftop, moving after the shifting shadows. After a while, the shadows were a thick bank, and he could see nothing. Despite that, the sense of lorcith remained, pulling on him. More than that, it was lorcith that he had forged, that his grandfather had encouraged him to practice with, which made it easier for him to find her.

  The metal stopped moving.

  Haern slowed, crawling along the rooftop. This roof ended, and there was an unknowable distance between it and the next one. He shimmied down the side of the building before making his way over to the next, thankful that he hadn’t attempted to jump. The distance was wide enough that he probably wouldn’t have been able to clear it, and certainly not in the darkness. The idea of falling from a rooftop and landing broken on the streets of Asador didn’t appeal to him. There would’ve been no one to come looking for him, and no one would have mourned him. If Galen remained, he might think on him for a moment, but Daniel Elvraeth certainly wouldn’t.

  He crept around the building, scouting where she had gone. It was different from many of the others. This wasn’t a tavern; it looked to be little more than a home. It was separated from other buildings near it, surrounded by a low stone wall. The scent of flowers drifted
to him, though he couldn’t see them in the depths of the darkness.

  Why here?

  He moved slowly, carefully, creeping around the side of the building. At the corner, he waited, noticing two men standing guard on either side of a doorway. Had his eyesight improved, or were the shadows fading?

  It was difficult to know. It could be either, and if it was the shadows fading, then Rayen must have decided there was no reason for her to continue to hold them.

  The lorcith remained inside, unmoving.

  Haern watched the two men. He wanted to get past them, but doing so would be nearly impossible without the ability to Slide.

  He had darkness, though.

  Would the slithca work on them? He didn’t see why it shouldn’t. As far as he knew, it was little more than a sedative, though it also managed to remove abilities from the person it was used upon.

  He hadn’t practiced with the darts the way Galen had. If they’d had lorcith in them, he thought, he might have been able to manipulate them.

  Could he put lorcith in them?

  Reaching for one of his knives, he squeezed the end of it. He pushed out from himself, using the connection to lorcith, straining with all his might to break free a section of the knife. With a soft snap, it came free. He did it again, and the second time, it was easier than the first.

  He hated breaking his knife like that, but if he could use the darts and lorcith together, maybe he wouldn’t need Galen’s incredible aim.

  He fixed the lorcith into the end of each dart. It wasn’t perfect, but at least he could push them.

  He threw one of the darts, pushing on it as it went. The dart sailed and sank into the stone behind the man.

  He spun, and Galen sent the other dart. This one flew better and sank into the man’s stomach. He pulled on the dart that had sunk into the stone, and as it came toward him, he pushed.

  This time, the dart went in the direction he wanted and pierced the other man’s neck.

  Both men fell.

  He crawled toward them and paused. He checked for weapons, pulling crossbows off their belts and removing a couple of knives before stashing them around the corner. When he returned to the door, he hesitated.

  Had there been movement?

  It could have been only his imagination, but he thought he had seen something. His time with Galen had taught him that he needed to trust his instincts.

  Haern backed away, watching the doorway. As he did, he bumped into something.

  He spun, jabbing out with one of the darts, and Galen caught his wrist.

  A smile curled on his lips. “You did this?”

  “I… where have you been?”

  “When we realized Rayen approached, we backed away.”

  “You followed her here?”

  “No. I followed you here. I’m surprised she let you live.”

  “I didn’t get the sense that she wanted to kill me. I had the impression that she was trying to get information. She’s the one responsible for letting the Forgers have Lucy.”

  “Is she the one Carth told me about? The one the Forgers attacked?”

  “She’s one of the Elvraeth.” He waited to see if there was any recognition on Galen’s face, but there was none. “She came with Daniel Elvraeth to find my father to remove the metal that had been used on her, and she was abducted in Eban.”

  His eyes narrowed. Eban meant something to Galen.

  Haern had already heard why. Eban was where Galen had operated.

  “What is it?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “It doesn’t sound like it’s nothing.”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Where is Carth?”

  “She had something she had to take care of,” he said.

  “What something?”

  “I’ve learned not to ask. Even after all these years, it doesn’t make sense for me to continue to question.” He turned his gaze to the two fallen men. “Are you sure she’s in there?”

  “I slipped a lorcith knife into her pocket when we were on the rooftops. I followed that.”

  Galen chuckled softly. “As much as you don’t want to hear this, you are more like your father than you want to believe.”

  “I suppose I should take that as a compliment.”

  “This time you most definitely should.” He crept forward, pressing his hands on the door for a moment. “When we go inside, it’s going to be dangerous. She can’t Slide, but she can use the shadows as well as Carth.”

  “Maybe better,” Haern said.

  “Perhaps now, but there was a time when Carth was unrivaled.”

  Galen pulled at the door, and it came open slowly. He glanced inside, ducking low and turning around the corner. Haern approached carefully, watching for signs of movement. He held a pair of lorcith knives in hand, and on a whim, he grabbed the two darts he had used on the fallen men and hoped they had enough poison left on them to be effective if it came down to it.

  It was a home, much as he had suspected. They made their way in and found themselves in the kitchen. There was no one here, though voices murmured somewhere else in the house. A stove with a pot resting on it pushed heat out from it, reminding him of the forge within his grandfather’s smithy. Bread rested on the counter, and Galen grabbed it, tossing it to Haern.

  “It’s probably been a while since you’ve eaten anything,” he said.

  Haern nodded and tore a hunk of bread off, chewing it quickly and forcing it down with a swallow. His mouth watered. The bread was dry and a little hard, but better than an empty stomach.

  “She’s out there with someone,” Galen whispered.

  “Who would she be meeting here?”

  “I don’t know. This isn’t her kind of place.”

  “You expected her to be in the tavern?”

  He glanced over at Haern. “She’s with the Binders. There would be no reason for her to be anywhere else. There is protection within the Binders, and the moment she leaves them is the moment that protection begins to fail.”

  They leaned on the door, listening. The voices were a soft, steady murmuring. One of them sounded like Rayen, but the other was deeper and of a rougher timbre.

  “How certain are you that she’s returned?” the deep voice said.

  “I saw her, if that’s the confirmation you need.”

  “In Asador?”

  “Not only in Asador, but outside the city as well. We followed her.”

  The deep voice chuckled. “Did you think you could capture her?”

  “It’s been five years since she’s had a presence anywhere. Yes, I very much thought that I could capture her.”

  “That was never your style.”

  “Things have changed.”

  “Things have not changed.”

  “They have. The Ai’thol have made their first move. I’ve offered our help to ensure the peace, but not if these attacks continue.”

  “This is nearly over. Then your Binders can return to capturing secrets.”

  There was a pause, and Rayen spoke. “Where are they holding Lareth?”

  “Lareth made a mistake. He pursued them with a single-minded focus. We tried to caution him against it, but he would have none of it. They used that against him. It’s a devious plan.”

  “I met his son.”

  “Is that right? Is he anything like his father?”

  “Seeing as how I don’t know his father, I’m not sure I can answer that. He’s working with Galen.”

  There was a pause. “We heard that he returned to Asador. After all this time, it is strange that he should want to involve himself at all.”

  Haern glanced over to Galen. “Who are they?” he mouthed.

  Galen shook his head.

  “What would you have me do?”

  “You need to bring her in.”

  “And if I can’t?”

  “Then you need to draw her out.”

  “If I do that, it runs the risk of them discovering her.” />
  “They already know she isn’t gone.”

  “From what I hear, they believe she’s been dead for the last few years. Her death has been useful.”

  “Useful in some ways, but not in others.”

  “What if I can’t draw her out or bring her in?”

  “Then you will have failed us.”

  “I refuse to allow them to acquire the Elder Stones.”

  “That is not your assignment.”

  “I understand that, but it doesn’t change the fact that I am not going to be a party to them somehow managing to acquire what we have refused them for so long.”

  “You don’t have to worry. We will not allow them to acquire the Elder Stones.”

  “They have moved against Elaeavn.”

  “Have they? We have our own plans. Whatever the Ai’thol plan, it will fail.”

  “That’s not what Lareth’s son says.”

  “The son is not the father. Just as you are not Rel.”

  Haern tensed. It was strange hearing people talk about him this way, especially since he had no idea who this was or what they were after. Even stranger was that they seemed as if they were on the same side as him.

  The soft voices grew more distant, as if they were moving away.

  Galen tapped his arm, and they backed out the way they had come. A strange look crossed Galen’s face, and Haern watched him, trying to understand what had happened.

  “Did you recognize the other person’s voice?”

  “At first I thought I did, but I don’t think so.”

  “Who did you think it was?”

  “Someone I knew a long time ago. Someone who should be dead.”

  “What now?”

  “Now we wait. We watch. We need to find out where she’s going to go, and then we can make our next move.”

  Galen scrambled up to a nearby rooftop, leaving Haern to watch for a moment before following. When they were up there, they looked out over the street and he could see the entrance to the home below. Every so often, shadows seemed to swirl around it before disappearing. Haern paid extra attention to those shadows, convinced that determining what was within them would be the key to following Rayen.

  Even if they did that, what would come next?

  He had begun to lose track of time, starting to drift off, when the shadows thickened. Galen nudged him.