The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Possibly,” Rayen said.

  “Can you use your shadows?”

  “It doesn’t work like that.”

  “Why not? If you can probe the seabed, maybe you can find any irregularity.”

  “You do realize how incredibly massive the ocean is?”

  Daniel nodded, sweeping his gaze around him. “We’re not talking about the ocean itself. We’re talking about just one part of it. And once we figure out where that barrier is, we can search around that line, trying to find where they would have placed the stones. And I know they have one in front of this beach, so we could use that to help us identify where it might be.”

  Rayen shook her head. “You’re diving for it.”

  Daniel glanced over to Isabel and she shrugged. “I’m with Rayen,” she said.

  “Thanks. What about…?”

  He trailed off before asking Beatrice. Turning his attention back in front of him, he focused on his ability to Slide. What they needed was to know where that threshold might be, and he pulled himself, moving barely more than an inch or two, enough that he felt confident he still could Slide.

  As he Slid, he kept the shore in view, watching for a moment where he wouldn’t be able to Slide again.

  Rayen continued to push them forward, propelling them across the water much more slowly than before. Daniel stood, taking a step forward and back, Sliding with each one. At first, he wobbled, nearly falling into the ocean—much to Isabel’s amusement—but the more he did it, the easier it became, and he sort of rocked in place, moving forward and back as he tested his ability to Slide.

  And then he couldn’t.

  “Here.”

  Rayen glanced over her shoulder, and the boat came to a drifting stop before reversing direction. Daniel attempted to Slide, but again he couldn’t.

  Rayen pushed them slowly away from the shore again. Daniel continued to work on rocking forward and back, each time trying to get a sense of when he could reach for the ability to Slide again.

  It still didn’t come.

  “Well?” Rayen asked.

  “I…” He Slid. “Here.”

  She leaned over the edge of the boat, and darkness streamed away from her. Daniel watched, uncertain whether he’d be able to pick up on anything or not, but he didn’t See anything of use.

  Rayen turned the dinghy, and they drifted parallel to the shore, the shadows continuing to sweep out from her. He knew this was unlikely to provide any answers, but they needed to do something—anything—that might uncover what the Ai’thol had done here.

  “Here.” Rayen pointed, her eyes closed, shadows swirling around her. “Straight down. There’s something large. It’s irregularly shaped, and”—she tipped her head forward, placing her face almost up to the water—“it seems anchored.” She opened her eyes and glanced over at Daniel. “Get going.”

  He peeled off his cloak, pulling off his boots next. Isabel sat back, arms crossed over her chest, a hint of a smile on her face. “What is it?”

  “I’m hoping you’ll take off more.”

  Beatrice snorted, and Daniel felt a flush working through him. He pulled his shirt off, and Isabel whistled.

  “The pants are staying on.”

  “You’ll have to take them off later. You’ll be too wet,” Isabel said. She reached forward as if to grab his pants. “I’m happy to give you a hand.”

  Daniel shot Rayen a look. “Can you help?”

  “She’s right. We don’t want you to suffer needlessly on board the ship once you grab this.” She grabbed his pants, giving them a sharp jerk.

  Pulling away, he jumped into the water, bobbing in place for a moment as he took in a deep breath. “I’ll be fine. Now can you tell me where I’m supposed to go?”

  “I’ll tell him—”

  Rayen cut Isabel off. “Straight down. I can’t tell how deep it is here, but it’s pretty deep. You’re going to have to hold your breath for a while.”

  “You know, it might be better for you to do this.”

  “It might, but seeing as how you brought us out here, I figured you would be the one who would take the swim. If you can’t do it, I’ll give it a try.”

  Daniel glared at her for a moment before plunging beneath the surface of the water. He swam straight down, kicking. After taking a few strokes, he could already feel the pressure of the water as it threatened to squeeze the remaining air out of his lungs. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d suggested that Rayen might be the better of the two of them to do this. With her ability with the shadows, she could propel herself through the water far faster.

  His hand struck the seabed.

  It was soft, mucky, and not nearly as deep as he had expected.

  He crawled along the seabed, searching for anything that might be off. The one advantage he might have over Rayen was his enhanced Sight, and with it, he tried to peer through the darkness, but he saw only gradations of gray.

  The water was calmer here. An occasional fish swam past him, and other creatures were on the seabed, but he tried to ignore anything else. There were much larger creatures in the ocean, and he dreaded the possibility of coming across anything that might keep him down here.

  A slightly darker item caught his attention.

  Daniel kicked toward it and grabbed it. It was smooth, and he wrapped his hands around it, trying to pry it free. Unfortunately, it was also heavy.

  He wasn’t going to be able to carry it out of the water.

  He planted his feet on either side of the stone, wrapping his hands around it, digging deep beneath the rock. When he had a solid grip, he kicked, streaking toward the surface.

  The rock started to slip out of his hands, and Daniel tried to grab it, but he wasn’t able to hold on. It tumbled from him and plunged back to the seabed.

  He wasn’t going to be able to swim his way back to the dinghy.

  Making his way back to the surface of the water, he popped his head out of the waves and looked around. There was a moment of panic when he feared that Rayen had taken the dinghy away, but he found them twenty feet from him. He waved, and she navigated the small vessel toward him.

  “I found it, but it’s heavy.”

  “You’re a big, strong man,” Isabel said. “I’m sure you can pull it out of the water.”

  “I can’t get it to the boat. Do you have a rope?”

  Rayen frowned at him. “How long do you need it to be?”

  “I don’t know. Forty or fifty feet.” That was probably a little too long, but it would give him some extra length if he were to drift.

  “We don’t have any rope quite that long in here,” Isabel said. “Now, back at my place is a different story.”

  Daniel shot her a look, which she ignored. “Do we have any other way of helping me get back to shore if it comes down to it?”

  “There’s something I can try,” Rayen said.

  Daniel waited, feeling pressure all around him, and it took a moment for him to realize that she had wrapped a band of shadows around him.

  “Go quickly. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold on to this.”

  Daniel took a deep breath and then plunged back under the water. He swam back the way he’d gone before, moving as quickly as he could. Now that he knew how deep the water was, he wasn’t nearly as worried about holding his breath. He scanned around for the stone but didn’t find it.

  His hand sank into the muck, and he crawled along the seabed, feeling the way Rayen held on to him with her shadows. There was a certain resistance that made it hard for him to swim.

  How long would she be able to hold on to this?

  He continued to swim, trying to pull himself in the direction where he thought he had seen the stone before. At last, he made out the shadowed form of what he thought was the stone.

  Daniel had to drag himself along the bottom of the ocean, the shadows making it more difficult. When he reached it, he wrapped his arms around the stone, and then he yanked on the shadows a couple times to g
et Rayen’s attention. He clutched the stone and then kicked.

  The stone began to slip from his grip much like it had before. He squeezed, wrapping the entirety of his body around the stone, afraid that if he lost it again, it would get away from him. How many times would he be able to try this?

  In order to understand just what the Ai’thol did, he knew that he would try it again and again.

  Pressure suddenly pulled on him, dragging him. His ears popped, and he burst free of the water. He gasped, sucking in a deep breath, squeezing his arms around the stone. The dinghy was near, and Rayen continued to pull him.

  Arms grabbed him, wrapping around him and heaving him into the dinghy.

  Once he was in, he released the stone. He leaned back on the railing, looking at it. It was a silvery black, though there seemed to be a pattern within it. It was mostly made of what appeared to be rock, though veins of metal ran through it. Even with a cloudy sky, the silver striations caught reflected sunlight.

  “That’s it?” Isabel asked.

  “I don’t know. This was what I found.”

  “How do we know if it’s what we were looking for?” she asked.

  “Let’s take it back onto the ship, and if I can Slide onto the island, then it was it.”

  Rayen arched a brow. “What happens if you get trapped?”

  “Then you bring the dinghy and rescue me.”

  “Maybe I’ll bring the dinghy and the two of us can have some time before we head back,” Isabel said.

  Daniel met her brown-eyed gaze, shaking his head, not even certain how to answer. Isabel looked back at him and then started laughing.

  Rayen steered the boat back toward the ship and motioned to the other Binders on board to raise the dinghy. As they did, she pulled the stone onto the ship, lifting it far more easily than Daniel had managed.

  “See? I think you should have been the one to have gone after it.”

  “I wouldn’t have been able to find it so easily.”

  “Even with your connection to the shadows? I think you could have used them to search for the stone.”

  Rayen cocked an eye at him. She watched him for a moment before turning away and heading back on board.

  Daniel hopped onto the deck of the ship, chasing her.

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “I don’t like to swim.”

  “You don’t like to what?”

  Rayen paused, holding the stone in her arms as if it were nothing. He suspected she was using her shadow connection in order to do so, but seeing her cradling it so easily still left him at a loss. “As I said, I don’t like to swim.”

  “But you’re the captain of this ship!”

  “And I stay on board the ship.”

  Daniel shook his head, watching as Rayen set the stone down next to her at the wheel, shooing Tori away. Rayen quickly turned the ship, pushing shadows out behind her. How much strength did she have? There had to be some limit to her abilities, though he hadn’t seen it.

  “Can you Slide to the island?” Rayen asked.

  “We might need to be farther away before I try.”

  “Then try.”

  He looked over, realizing that she had propelled them rapidly through the water, and they had to be quite a distance from where they had been before. The shadows were powerful, but he hadn’t understood just how powerful they were when she was sailing. He made his way to the stern, looking back at the island, focusing on it.

  Beatrice joined him, one hand on her sword. “I’ll go with you if you want.”

  It would be good to have someone else with some fighting skill if there were any Ai’thol remaining. “Have you ever Slid before?”

  “No. Is it painful?”

  She didn’t sound as if she were worried if it were, and he marveled at her calm. “It’s not painful, but those who Slide for the first time often describe it as somewhat disorienting. I just wanted to warn you before we go.”

  “How long will it take?”

  “Not long.” He grabbed her arm, and she stiffened. “I have to have contact with you in order to Slide.”

  Beatrice nodded.

  He stepped forward, moving in a Slide, and emerged on the shore of the island. He took a deep breath, noting a pungent aroma. It wasn’t the same as what had been here before, and there were the remnants of the campsite along the shore. It was almost as if they hadn’t cared about hiding the fact that they were here.

  “That is odd,” Beatrice said.

  Daniel nodded. “I would’ve expected them to have removed any evidence of their presence. I don’t know why they wouldn’t have done so.”

  She glanced over at him, her silvery gaze locking eyes with him. “No. I meant the traveling. There was a fluttering of movement and a chorus of music. It stopped when we appeared here.”

  Daniel was scanning the shore, preparing to Slide back to the ship when he paused. “A what?”

  “Movement. You told me there would be movement, and I suppose I should not have been surprised by it.”

  Daniel shook his head. “That’s not it at all. What I’m asking about is the chorus of music you mentioned.”

  “Yes. It was soft, and it called to me. I suppose that was your doing, some way of holding me with you.”

  Daniel frowned. As one of the Elvraeth, he had aspects of each of the abilities of the Great Watcher, but his ability with Listening wasn’t nearly as strong as others. Was Beatrice a Listener?

  Even if she were, the fact that she heard music during the Slide surprised him. He had Slid hundreds of times during his life, and in none of them had he ever experienced what she described.

  What would that mean?

  It was something to ask someone with much more experience Sliding than himself. Rsiran might have answers, or even Lucy now that she was so skilled with Sliding.

  “What did the music sound like?”

  “It was a choir.”

  “Choir?”

  “Many singers all joining together. You do have those where you’re from, don’t you?”

  Daniel shook his head. “We don’t. We have musicians. Minstrels.”

  Beatrice met his eyes. “In my land, we have the Hallowed Choir. Three hundred of them in all, and their voices join together to make beautiful songs to the gods. Many wish to join the choir and sing, but very few are skilled enough to do so.”

  “And that’s what you heard?”

  “Not quite like that, but it was reminiscent of it. The sound is beautiful. The songs are meant to stir even the most reluctant of gods to turn their gaze upon our people and grant their favor.”

  “Maybe that’s what it was,” Daniel said.

  “It was not your doing?”

  He shook his head, debating whether he should say anything more, but Beatrice intrigued him. “I’ve never heard the choir you speak of before. When I Slide, I hear a whistling of wind and the sense of movement, but that’s it.”

  “I heard no wind or whistling, but perhaps what you hear as whistling, I hear as a choir.”

  He shrugged. It was as good an explanation as any, and regardless, it probably didn’t matter.

  “Are you ready?”

  She nodded. Daniel grabbed her arm and Slid her back. For a moment, he feared that the Slide would fail, and he felt an overwhelming sense of relief when they emerged once more on the deck of the ship.

  “It appears you disrupted their work,” Rayen said.

  “It appears so.”

  “Let’s return with this stone and—”

  “Ship!”

  Daniel glanced up to see Isabel once again in the crow’s nest. She was pointing off to the south, and he turned, reaching the railing and staring out. He caught sight of sails in the far distance but didn’t recognize the ship. That it was here, so close to the island, suggested that it was one of the Ai’thol’s.

  Daniel turned to Rayen. “What’s your plan?”

  She glanced down at the stone. “I think we must sail as quickly as
we can.”

  “You don’t intend to fight?”

  “Normally when it comes to the Ai’thol, I relish the opportunity to confront them, to make them pay for everything they’ve done, but in this case…” She stared at the stone, nudging it with one boot before turning her gaze back to Daniel. “Unfortunately, I think it is far more critical that we return to Nyaesh and have an opportunity to study this stone. We need to know what they’re planning.”

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Don’t bother me.” She gripped the wheel, and they suddenly lurched forward. He moved away from her, reaching the railing, staring out over the water at the ship in the distance. As they raced along, he realized there was more than one ship. There were three, and each one seemed to be holding pace with them.

  At least they weren’t getting any closer, but how long could Rayen hold out? Would she reach a point where she grew fatigued and the ships overtook them?

  8

  Daniel

  It was late in the day, dusk settling in, and Daniel continued to stand at the railing, unwilling to move anywhere. He watched, noticing the ships ever so slowly moving closer to them. It was a subtle thing, but it happened gradually enough he doubted they would be able to outrun them.

  He turned his attention to Rayen. She remained at the helm, but the usual stiffness to her spine was gone. She slumped forward slightly. He worried she wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer.

  “How far to Nyaesh?” he asked her.

  “We still have quite a ways to go,” she said.

  Daniel glanced over to the water, looking outward. “We aren’t going to outrun them, are we?”

  “I intend to do my best,” she said.

  “I think it’s time I do my best.”

  “And what is that?”

  Daniel glanced around the deck of the ship. Ever since encountering the three ships, the Binders had been active, all of them staying above deck, working quickly. All told, there were probably a dozen people.

  “If we can’t outrun them, and we need to get the stone out of here, then you should let me Slide them away.”

  “Take the stone. The rest of us will—”