The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  He started toward one of the nearest trees, making his way slowly and carefully. He didn’t recognize the metal that had been embedded into the bark, but if Rsiran had been here analyzing it, then the person most likely to succeed had already done everything possible to uncover the secret of that metal. If Rsiran hadn’t been able to decipher it, no one would be able to do so.

  He ran his hand along the surface of the tree, not touching it—he didn’t want to get his hand too close to the surface—but just above it. As he did, there was a sense of energy that crackled along his palm.

  “It’s a siphon,” he whispered. Jessa stood behind him, eyeing the tree, but almost as if she were hesitant to get too close. He turned to her. “I think it’s pulling power from the trees.”

  “Like I said, destroying them.”

  “And what if it was never designed to destroy?” Daniel looked from tree to tree, his gaze drifting around the clearing. If all of them were like this, emanating the same sort of energy, he could easily believe that this was a sort of siphon, drawing power from the Elder Trees, stealing it and funneling it somewhere. But where?

  “If it wasn’t meant to destroy, why would they have gone through such effort here?”

  “It’s about power. Everything they’ve done has been about collecting power.” He nodded to the trees. “Our Elder Trees and our sacred crystals are but one type of power. There are others throughout the world. Things that are referred to as Elder Stones. They have collected power from them as well.”

  And a siphon made a whole lot more sense than simply trying to destroy. The Ai’thol wanted power, but they didn’t want limitations to their power. If they were able to use the power within the trees without destroying them, that would be far more valuable to them than merely killing the trees.

  “If it’s meant to siphon power off, then where would they be collecting it?”

  Daniel frowned. That was the real question, wasn’t it? They wouldn’t be satisfied just taking power. It had to be about sending it somewhere.

  But where?

  33

  Daniel

  “I understand you aren’t interested in departing quite yet.”

  Daniel looked over to Rayen, shaking his head. “I don’t know that I can.” They stood in the middle of the clearing, and his gaze went from tree to tree, searching for something that would explain where the power went. The longer he stood here, the more certain he was that was the key. And the longer they were here, the more sure he was that he needed to get those answers. They needed to uncover just what it was the Ai’thol were after here.

  “It fits,” Rayen said.

  “What?”

  “This attack.” She turned to him, forcing him to meet her gaze. Darkness swirled around her eyes, the shadows drifting around her, making it up into her face and giving her something of a haunted—and quite lovely—appearance. Standing here beneath the trees, the shadows swirling everywhere, he imagined that she would be quite powerful with the shadows, though Rayen made it sound as if she didn’t need any shadows for her to have power. “The Ai’thol take what they can, but not all situations allow them to claim power from the Elder Stones. At least, not easily.”

  “Because taking would involve destroying.”

  “Because taking sometimes isn’t possible. There is a place to the south that Carth discovered early on, a place where the Ai’thol first made their presence known to her, and in that land, acquiring and controlling one of the Elder Stones would be nearly impossible.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it is a part of the water. There is something about the land itself that imbues the water with the power. It grants a certain imperviousness to the shadow blessing.”

  Daniel smiled. “So if I go to this place, I wouldn’t have to fear you attacking me with your shadows?”

  “Do you think I have no other tactic than the shadows?”

  Daniel smiled to himself. “I don’t, but I do find it amusing.”

  “And you will find it amusing when you’re lying on your back, my sword to your throat.”

  “You won’t do that.”

  Rayen drifted toward him, shadows swirling around her. “I won’t?”

  Daniel shrugged. “You don’t want to hurt me. You like me too much.”

  She glared at him for a moment. “I think you get ahead of yourself.”

  Daniel smiled. The longer he spent around Rayen, the more he enjoyed that time. There was something easy about being around her, simpler than being around Lucy, especially in the time since her augmentation. Not that he blamed Lucy. She was trying to understand what she had become, and she was to understand her connection to power. She had told Daniel there could be nothing between them, and he respected that.

  At the same time, he hadn’t stayed because of Lucy. He had stayed because he had wanted to better understand the Ai’thol and his role in stopping them.

  “How did they acquire the Elder Stone there, then?”

  “I’m not entirely certain. Carth believes they managed to claim a supply of the water. It would provide them with access to that Elder Stone magic, but it would be limited. It’s easier for them to acquire an Elder Stone altogether, sort of like taking the Elder Stone from Nyaesh.”

  “But they didn’t take the Elder Stone from Nyaesh.”

  “No. They were constricted, but even that limitation has granted them access to power they didn’t have before. Now they have the stones infused with power from the Elder Stone, they have the next best thing. It’s possible that power will last them long enough to be dangerous, and it’s even more possible the longer they have access to that sort of magic that they will be able to acquire additional resources, enough that eventually they will take the Elder Stone itself.”

  It was like the sacred crystals. They could be claimed, and the power that was within them might be granted to whoever stole them. The Elder Trees were different. You couldn’t uproot a tree and remove it without destroying it. It was similar to the shadows he’d experienced in the temple.

  “What if they managed to find some way of trapping the shadows?”

  Rayen shook her head. “As far as we know, they haven’t managed to do so yet.”

  “And if they do manage?”

  “They will be far more formidable than they already are.” Rayen made her way toward one of the trees, tracing her fingers along the surface of it. “There is power here, as you said.”

  “You couldn’t feel it the moment we came here?”

  “No.” She turned to him. “I find it interesting that you could.”

  “Maybe it’s because I’m from here.”

  “Perhaps. What else do you detect?”

  “Not as much as I would like. If they’re siphoning this power off, we need to figure out where it’s going and if there’s any way we can redirect it.”

  “There’s another alternative,” Rayen said.

  “I don’t think we can destroy the trees,” Daniel said. “That is what you mean, isn’t it?”

  Rayen shrugged. “When it comes to stopping the Ai’thol, we need to dig them out at the roots. If that involves sacrificing a hint of power, then so be it.”

  “Doing so would weaken us. We don’t want to weaken those who might resist the Ai’thol.”

  “If we can’t figure out where this power is draining, it might not matter.”

  He frowned to himself. “There has to be a purpose to siphoning this power off. Perhaps if we can figure out where it’s going, we can find where they trapped Lareth.”

  “We have never been able to uncover the Ai’thol headquarters. Carth has searched but failed. Now she focuses her energies on trying to locate as many of the Elder Stones as possible. That will be the key to defeating the Ai’thol. They come after that power, and if they manage to acquire it, they become that much more difficult to stop.”

  What would happen if they had access to the power of the Elder Trees?

  Daniel didn’t even know what that
power did?

  The Elder Trees represented some of the most ancient abilities of the people of Elaeavn. Because of the power of the Elder Trees, his people could Slide, had a connection to lorcith, and abilities similar to that. The Ai’thol had already proven they had a way of gaining those abilities. For the most part, they did so using lorcith or other metals, but what if they had another way of reaching them?

  Daniel Slid to the center of the clearing, reaching the forge, knocking briefly until the door opened and Neran looked at him.

  “I’m about ready to go, Daniel Elvraeth.”

  “I don’t think we can go quite yet,” Daniel said.

  “Why not?”

  Daniel nodded to the trees. “We need to understand something here.”

  “We cannot remove what they’ve done.”

  “What if it’s not about removing it but redirecting it?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What I mean is that I think that there’s a possibility the Forgers placed whatever they did here along the trees order to steal the power from them. What we need to do is figure out where they took that power and what they intend to do with it.”

  Neran followed him to the nearest Elder Trees. “This is the smith guild tree.”

  “This one connects to lorcith?”

  Neran nodded. “Only those who are members of the guild will know their own tree.”

  “But if they see you by it…”

  “Most who are members of the guild make a point of visiting each of the trees. Doing so gives you the opportunity to bask in the power from each one, though we haven’t been able to do that much over the last few months.”

  “Which one is tied to Sliding?”

  “You would have to be a member of the guild to know that.”

  Daniel looked around the clearing. He had never attempted to join any of the guilds, though he did have the ability to Slide. There had been no point in it for him, other than the fact that he was Elvraeth and had wanted to understand the connection he had to that ancient ability.

  “Why are you telling me this?”

  “If you’re right, then the Forgers have gained far more than we ever would have imagined.”

  “They didn’t need the Elder Trees to have that ability,” Daniel said. He looked over to Rayen. She stood off to the side, shadows swirling around her, drifting from her feet all the way around the tree itself. As they did, they wound up the base of the tree before drifting back down. It was subtle, but for some reason, Daniel was aware of it. “Why would they need the Elder Trees? That’s what I’m struggling to understand. The Ai’thol have had the ability to use that before.”

  “By tapping into lorcith.”

  “Yes.”

  “What if they seek another way?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You have mines filled with this metal nearby?”

  Daniel nodded. “We stopped near Ilphaesn on our way. You saw the mountain and the mines that wind deep within it.”

  “The proximity is interesting.”

  “Why is that?” Neran asked.

  “You have these trees tied to ancient traits. It’s no different than the powers we had in Ih or Nyaesh. They’re connected to the land themselves.”

  “You think the trees are somehow infused with lorcith?”

  “I’m not entirely certain, but it would make a certain sort of sense. There would logically be some sort of connection between these trees and the metal, especially if the metal itself is what allowed the Ai’thol to have such power.”

  Daniel wasn’t completely convinced, but it was worth investigating. “Can you feel the energy here?” he asked Neran.

  Neran continued to hold his hand above the surface of the tree. His fingers were thick and strong, though the knuckles were now bent and twisted. Somehow he still managed to hold a hammer, to work at the forge, and to possess considerable power. Daniel marveled at that.

  “There is something here, though I don’t know that I can fully explain what I detect.”

  “If I’m right, then what you’re sensing is the Forgers attempting to siphon off the power of the trees. If we can find where they focus that energy, maybe we can redirect it.”

  “And then what?” Neran asked. “The moment that we redirect it, the Forgers will realize it, won’t they?”

  “Probably.”

  “And then they will attack.”

  “We can’t fear them attacking.”

  “You don’t have to fear them because you can Slide. You have powerful friends. The rest of us would be stuck here. The fortifications Rsiran placed are no longer as stout as they once were, and we would fear the next attack. And then the next. Eventually, we would fall. The Forgers would take this power, and—”

  “We can’t allow them to steal from us, Neran.”

  The old blacksmith clenched his jaw, breathing in noisily. “I can feel it.”

  Daniel grabbed Neran, taking Rayen with his other arm, and he Slid, emerging at the base of the Ilphaesn Mountain. From here, the sound of waves crashing far below drifted up to his ears. The cliff was violent here, the water below a dangerous froth, but there was something about coming here, standing along the rocks, and allowing himself to feel the energy as it swirled deep below.

  “I don’t know that I will ever adjust to that sensation,” Neran said as they emerged from the Slide.

  “Hasn’t Rsiran Slid you many times?”

  “Not many times. I made the mistake when he was young of making him feel as if it were something he should be ashamed of rather than something he should take pride in. I made many mistakes when he was young.”

  Neran turned away, looking out over the violent water as it crashed along the rocks below. Daniel looked to Rayen, and they shared a glance for a moment. He let it pass. That wasn’t why they were here. Instead, he focused on the energy he had felt within the Aisl. Could he feel it here?

  If he could, perhaps the Ai’thol had redirected power to the mountain, trying to infuse the lorcith with even more strength. A part of him didn’t really expect that to be the case, but it was worth investigating. Then again, the longer they were here, the more the time he spent away from Nyaesh and trying to understand what Carth wanted him to discover, the less likely they would be to prevent another Ai’thol attack.

  “Can you detect anything?” Daniel asked Rayen softly.

  Shadows drifted away from her, stretching back toward the Aisl forest. They were thin and wispy and stretched faster and farther than he could follow.

  “You’ve taken us beyond the range of what I can pick up on.”

  Daniel closed his eyes. The energy wasn’t there any longer.

  “Neran?”

  “I detect nothing.”

  Daniel grabbed Neran, taking Rayen, and Slid. He emerged at the edge of the forest. They were closer than they had been before, but still not so close as to step across the barrier. As he stood there, the trees growing thicker the further into the forest they went, he focused on the sense of power, looking to see if there was anything here that he could detect.

  “How were you able to Slide?” Neran asked.

  “What?”

  Neran nodded toward the ground, and Daniel noticed one of Rsiran’s lorcith bars embedded deep into it.

  “He placed those barriers before he was captured. I’ve been adding to them, but I take more time than Rsiran to prepare such protections. The lorcith is a barrier that should prevent anyone from Sliding across it, but you traveled from the Aisl to Ilphaesn.”

  Daniel frowned. He hadn’t really thought about it, but he hadn’t struggled to Slide from the Aisl to Ilphaesn. He had Slid to the city, but then would that have been protected in the same way?

  He thought that it might be. Why wouldn’t Rsiran have placed his protections around the entirety of the city?

  “I don’t know. Maybe something about the protections has changed.”

  “Not so much that it would allow those of the Slid
ing guild to bypass them.” Neran studied him for a moment. “Perhaps something about you has changed. You have been outside of the city for quite some time. Did the Forgers augment you as well?”

  Daniel shook his head. “I would’ve known.”

  Rayen was watching him, and there was something to her look that left him uncomfortable. Daniel turned away from it, focusing instead on the energy within the Aisl forest. That was the reason they were here, and if he could figure out what he was picking up on, maybe he would understand where they were siphoning that power.

  “Do you detect anything here?”

  Neran stepped toward the border of the forest, his hands pressed out in front of him, and shook his head. “I don’t. Whatever is here would be too subtle. It might not be possible for me to make out anything. With the protections Rsiran placed here, it’s possible I won’t detect anything at all.”

  The protections were meant to keep people from easily Sliding into the forest and to serve as a warning to those within the forest of someone trying to penetrate the barrier, but could they have another purpose?

  He could easily see how Rsiran would have used them to hold the power within, but that involved Rsiran knowing there was something to trap here.

  Daniel took a step forward, crossing through the barrier. As he did, there was a gentle tingling across his skin. On the other side of the barrier, he paused, focusing on the heart of the forest. There was still no sense of it.

  Could he be too far away?

  Daniel motioned for Neran and Rayen to join him, and they tried, but a barrier prevented them.

  Daniel stepped back across the barrier, grabbing them, and Sliding them back across. “Was Rsiran trying to keep everybody inside?”

  “No, but it seems as if he has prevented most from crossing,” Neran said.

  “How did Haern leave the city?”

  “I wasn’t involved in Haern and his planning.”

  “You wish he would have involved you?”

  “Haern needed to do this on his own. It’s a sign of his growth that he wanted to do it at all.”