The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  He crept away, and once he was clear of the trees, he pushed off, flying until he reached the stream, coming to land and crouching on the far side of it. He waited there until the woman approached. She appeared out of the darkness, little more than shadows, and seemed not to notice him for a long stretch. Haern cleared his throat, trying to get her attention.

  With a start, she stiffened, standing frozen in place.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” he said softly, standing.

  “Who are you?”

  “Just a traveler. Who are you?”

  “You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.”

  “Why? What’s happening?”

  “These lands have been…” She glanced over her shoulder before turning her attention back to him, shaking her head.

  In the faint moonlight, Haern couldn’t make out much about her features. She had an angular jaw. Dark hair and pale skin. As he stared at her intently, he thought he saw bruises on her face, though it could just be some disfigurement. He didn’t take a step toward her, not wanting to threaten her.

  “What have these lands been?” Haern asked.

  “Nothing. You should keep moving.”

  “Why? Do you intend to hurt a tired traveler?”

  “I’m not going to hurt anyone, but…”

  She twisted her dress, tightening her fists, and was otherwise completely still.

  “Is someone hurting you?” Haern asked.

  “I’m fine.” The woman swallowed, leaning forward just a little bit. “Are you going to stop me from filling my water jug?”

  “No. Do what you need. Like I said, I’m just traveling through here. I don’t intend to cause any trouble.”

  The woman watched him for a moment before crouching down in front of the stream, tipping a pitcher until it was full. When it was, she stood, looking at Haern for a long moment. A question burned in her eyes. Rather than asking, she said nothing, spinning away from him, taking the pitcher of water away.

  Haern watched for a long moment. Should he go after her?

  Having overheard Rally, he didn’t like the idea of simply abandoning her.

  Haern pushed off on a lorcith coin, clearing the stream. On the other side of the stream, he hurried after her. When he caught up to her, he gave her space but kept close by.

  The woman stiffened. “You should turn away.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “My name doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters. What is it?”

  “I told you, my name doesn’t matter.”

  “What are you afraid of?”

  “I’m afraid of you continuing to follow me.”

  “I have no interest in hurting you. I could help.”

  “Help how?” She paused, turning to him and looking him over from head to foot. Haern wondered what he would look like to her. Probably not all that intimidating. He might have his sword, but it was sheathed beneath his cloak. His knives were hidden, and they were far enough from Elaeavn that even the threat of his people wouldn’t be enough to matter. “You don’t look like you could be of much help.”

  “You might be surprised.”

  “Do you intend to harm me?”

  “I’ve already said that I don’t.”

  “Then leave me. If you don’t mean any harm, turn away.” She glanced over at him for a moment, and when she did, he could more easily make out what he had seen on her face. They were definitely bruises. One eye had swollen slightly, and streaks of yellow faded down into her cheek. A healing cut on her chin would have been more noticeable were it not for the injury to her eye. “You don’t want to be a part of this.”

  Haern paused, letting her disappear. Maybe she was right and he didn’t want to get involved, but as she made her way closer to the campfire, he couldn’t help but feel as if he had to do something. Besides, there was someone younger there as well, and if he did nothing, whoever this man harming this woman was, he would do more to them.

  Swearing to himself, Haern scurried forward, reaching the edge of the campfire. The woman had taken a seat near an older man, and two other men were there, both of them with strange deformities to their faces and powerful builds.

  He stepped forward, clearing his throat.

  The man looked up, and the other two jumped to their feet, reaching for swords he hadn’t noticed it first. Haern flashed a wide smile, holding his hands up, his gaze drifting around the clearing before settling on the woman. She stared at him, shaking her head slightly, and hopefully imperceptibly so that the other man wouldn’t notice.

  “Mind if I share your fire?”

  “Yes.” The man glanced at the other woman, studying her for a moment. “We’ve had enough trouble with strangers that we aren’t interested in having someone else join us.”

  “I know. I’ve had the same difficulty. It’s dangerous out there.”

  “You will understand, then, that we don’t welcome any strangers joining us at the fire.”

  “It seems a shame that we couldn’t travel together. Like I said, I have been—”

  Two men took a step toward him. Haern stared at them for a moment. “I mean no harm.”

  “Then you can mean it somewhere else,” the other man said.

  Haern took stock of the campfire. It was larger than he had realized, and in addition to the woman and the other two men, there were wagons arranged along one side. All of them were enclosed, and the crackling of the fire did nothing to obscure the sound of scraping he heard from within those wagons.

  There was a young girl here, that much he knew, but could there be more than just one young girl?

  Who would do such a thing?

  Haern took a step back. “Are you merchants?”

  “I think we’ve made our intentions clear.”

  “I could use a little trade. As I said, I’ve been traveling for a while, and I’m tired. I have coin.” He held out his handful of lorcith coins. In the faint firelight, the other metals gleamed, making them look almost as if they were gold coins.

  The man frowned. “Leave the coins and be on your way.”

  “I’m not leaving the coins. I asked for trade.”

  “And I said to leave the coins.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or you will find out how dangerous the road can be.”

  The woman sitting next to the man was shaking her head, and Haern flashed a bright smile. He might have difficulty with Forgers, but men like this shouldn’t pose him too much difficulty.

  “Is that right? Do you intend to set the hounds on me?” Seeing as how he hadn’t seen any dogs within the camp, he wondered if these two silent men were the hounds. They certainly looked ugly enough.

  “Where did you hear that?”

  “What’s in the wagon?” Haern said. All traces of a smile had left his face, and he readied his connection to lorcith, preparing to push the coins first. He could use each of the coins like a weapon, and from there, he could grab for his sword and then the knives if necessary.

  Once he was done, he would have to be prepared for whatever it took. He had no idea how many people these men had abducted—and he felt increasingly certain that was what they’d done.

  The man stood, shifting his hand to the side, revealing a sword. “I’ve given you fair warning. Leave the coins and you might walk away from here.”

  “And then what happens to the woman? The girl? The others I can only presume are in the wagon?”

  “That is none of your concern.”

  “I think it will be my concern.” Haern pulled his own cloak back, revealing his sword.

  The other man smiled. “You really are a fool.”

  He tipped his hand, and the two silent men lunged forward.

  They were quick, far quicker than Haern had expected, but he’d been training with Galen, and if that training had done nothing else, it had prepared him for the possibility that things wouldn’t go quite as planned. In this case, he pushed on two of the coins, sending them
streaking at each of the men. At the same time, he pushed one of the coins down and then pushed himself off, flipping up over the two men, landing behind them. He unsheathed his sword, pulling on a connection to the two knives that were hidden in his pockets, and pushed them toward the two men who had changed directions.

  Both had coins implanted in their skulls, but it had done nothing to slow them.

  Haern almost stumbled.

  He pushed on a coin again, taking to the air, and then used his knives, sending them through the two men. Neither of them fell.

  What sort of ability was this?

  It was going to take more power than he’d realized to stop those two.

  They couldn’t attack if they couldn’t walk, and he pushed on his sword, sending it twisting through the air, the blade spinning as it chopped toward one of the men’s legs. It hacked through it, dropping the man to the side, and he started trying to crawl.

  He made no sound.

  Haern pulled on the sword, and then pushed, sending it toward the other hound, taking off one of his legs as well.

  Only then did he drop.

  He landed next to the first man.

  “You will pay for that,” the man said.

  “No. You will. Release the woman.”

  The man held a knife to her throat, watching Haern. “Or what? You will—”

  Haern didn’t give him an opportunity to finish. He pushed on one of his coins, sending it straight toward the man’s throat. He pushed with considerable force, and it tore through him, ripping into his throat and leaving a bloody mess behind.

  Rally dropped.

  Movement behind him caught his attention, and he spun around to see the two hounds trying to crawl toward him. Glancing over at the woman, he tipped his head to the side. “Is there any way to kill them?”

  “Not that I’ve seen.”

  “Then this is going to be brutal,” Haern said.

  He pushed on the sword, sending it through each of the men, slicing an arm and a leg free. He carved off their heads, hacking through their bodies, trying to get them to stop moving. Even when all of that was done, there was still some movement, though it was little more than a twitching.

  He turned to the woman. “How many girls?”

  “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t until I got here. How many?”

  “Seven plus myself.”

  “How old are they?”

  “Why?”

  Haern glanced over at Rally. He’d seen slavers before, but nothing like this, and certainly not with men who seemed to be almost unkillable. “I’m not here to take you from one horror to another. All I want to know is how many girls and what their ages are.”

  She continued to watch him, eyeing him with the same suspicion, and Haern wondered exactly what it was she had been through. Maybe she had been helped before and ended up trapped, captured by someone who was presumably offering their assistance.

  “All I want to do is ensure you get to safety. Nothing more than that.”

  “How do we know?”

  “I didn’t come through here trying to find random captured girls. I was on my way home when I came across your campfire.”

  “Where is your home?”

  “Elaeavn.” He watched her, looking for any sign of recognition, but there was none. “Where is your home?”

  “Not here,” she said.

  “Let me help.”

  She glanced over at the wagons before turning her attention back to Haern and finally nodding.

  Haern made his way to the first wagon, jamming his knife into the lock, snapping it open. Inside were three girls, the youngest of whom couldn’t have been any older than five, and they crawled away from him.

  The woman appeared next to him, reaching her hand into the doorway. “It’s okay. You can come out.”

  “Elise?” the youngest said. Her voice shook, and the woman nodded. The little girl crawled forward, jumping into Elise’s arms. She carried her back, away from the wagons—and away from the remains of the two hounds along with the other man. Elise helped the other two girls out of the back of the wagon, guiding them away and toward the darkness. They were a little older, somewhere between twelve and fifteen, but still thin and frail, all bones and clearly malnourished.

  Haern made his way to the next wagon, breaking open the lock much like he had with the first. Inside were four girls, all of them a little older. He backed away, letting Elise get in front to help the girls free.

  The last wagon was unlocked. There were no girls within, and he searched for supplies, finding food and a stack of knives. In addition, a heavy bag of coins was tucked near the far corner.

  He turned, handing the coins to Elise. “Wherever we can get you to safety, you’re going to need this.”

  “What is it?”

  “I suspect it’s the money he’s gained selling others.”

  Elise’s eyes widened. “Why would you give this to me? Don’t you want it?”

  “I didn’t help you for money.”

  “There’s no place we can be safe,” Elise said.

  “That’s not true.”

  “We’ve traveled through plenty of lands where he has no difficulty grabbing other girls. Most of the places were interested in buying, too. Where can we go that we won’t be bought or abducted again?”

  “You need to find safety.”

  “Safety doesn’t exist in this world.”

  “That’s not true.”

  She looked past him, and he turned to see the two hounds still twitching. Were their bodies in the same place he’d left them? He couldn’t tell. If they were somehow able to restore themselves, he wanted to be long gone before then. And if they could do that, he had to wonder what sort of terrible magic allowed it.

  It was something he wanted nothing to do with.

  “I’ve not seen any way to get to safety,” Elise said.

  “Only because you haven’t been given the opportunity.”

  “And what opportunity is that?”

  There was one place he thought that he could guide them, but doing so would delay his return to Elaeavn.

  Did it matter?

  If he didn’t help these girls, what kind of person was he?

  His father would have helped, wouldn’t he? He didn’t know. Maybe he wouldn’t, as they weren’t from Elaeavn. There was one thing he did know—Galen would have helped.

  The challenge would be finding a nearby city. Haern didn’t know the landscape well enough to identify the easiest way to travel, and going on foot with this many people would be slow and cumbersome. At the same time, it would be worthwhile.

  “We should go,” he said.

  “Now?”

  “I’m afraid that if we don’t, the hounds will pose another challenge.”

  Elise glanced over her shoulder before nodding. “Where do you intend to take us?”

  Her voice was filled with suspicion, and he understood. Given the way she had been abused, he couldn’t blame her at all. Had he not trained with Galen, and had he not wandered through Asador searching, he might not know what to look for, but as he had, he thought that he could do this.

  “Not my home. I intend to help you find women who can keep you safe. They know what it’s like to go through what you have suffered.”

  “Women? What kind of women?”

  Haern glanced down at the fallen Rally. His blood poured out around him, and he was tempted to reclaim the coin. But the one that had torn his throat out would be useless to him now. And he didn’t want to clean it off. Instead, he would bury it, sending it deep into the ground so that someone else couldn’t find it and use it against him.

  “Women who don’t fear men like that.”

  23

  Haern

  By midday the following day, they were all exhausted. Even Haern was worn out, mostly because he’d been awake for a significant duration of time, and everything in his body longed to lie down and take a rest. He didn’t dare do it.
Not until they were closer to safety.

  Elise and the other girls surprised him. They were managing far better than he would’ve expected, and despite how long they had been walking, none of them had complained. All of them had kept pace, continuing the steady trek northward.

  Haern wasn’t entirely certain that north was the right direction, but he and Galen had traveled south, Sliding to a place where they could find the Forgers. Safety would have to be in the north, where there were cities Haern was more familiar with, though none quite like Elaeavn. Even if he wanted to bring them to Elaeavn, he didn’t know that it would be safe for them the way other cities might be. His homeland wasn’t welcoming to outsiders.

  More than that, his homeland wouldn’t have the Binders. That was what he wanted to find for Elise and these girls.

  They reached a wide river, and he motioned for them to pause. All of the girls took the opportunity to drink from the river before taking a seat and resting.

  Elise turned to him. “You haven’t said where you’re guiding us.”

  There was still the same suspicion in her voice as had been there before. He would earn her trust somehow. “Partly because I’m not entirely sure. I don’t know these lands that well.”

  “I thought you came from someplace far from here.”

  “I do, but I didn’t travel by foot.”

  “By sea?”

  “Not by sea. Some of my people have the ability to travel without walking.” That seemed to be the easiest way for him to describe Sliding, though he wondered how she would respond to such a description. It was a strange ability, practically impossible to believe, and yet it was what it was. “I had traveled by this method and was stuck.”

  “Your ability failed?”

  “I don’t have the ability to travel in that way. Another who was with me did, but we were separated.”

  “And your ability to fly?”

  She said it so casually that he was almost taken aback.

  “I can’t fly.”

  “I saw you when you’re fighting with Rally and his hounds. You were flying.”

  “It’s not so much an ability to fly as it is a connection to metal.” Haern took one of the knives from his pocket, holding it in the palm of his hand. He pulled on it for a moment, letting it hover, and then he twisted it in place. “This knife is made of a type of metal that I can manipulate.”