The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You think the Binders don’t oppose them, but they do. I’ve been with them when they do.”

  “They have run. They left us exposed, and it forced us to make our own preparations.”

  “This isn’t what Carth wants.”

  “Carth is dead.”

  “Carth lives. And I tell you this isn’t what Carth would want.”

  It was his last attempt at trying to convince her to do something other than attack. He didn’t want to destroy them, but he didn’t know that he had much of a choice.

  “Carth doesn’t live.”

  “She does. I fought alongside her, facing the Forgers—the Ai’thol. She doesn’t run, but she also wouldn’t attack and sacrifice her people. More than that, the Carth I know wouldn’t force people to do something like this. She works with those who come to her.”

  “You don’t know Carth.”

  Haern realized she was trying to delay him much like Julianne had done on the landing. He turned and saw more of the false Binders coming up the stair.

  “Don’t make me do this.”

  “Make you do what?”

  “You’re doing to me what you would do to them. You’re going to force me to do something I very much don’t want to do.”

  “Anything that you do will be your choice, Haern of Elaeavn.”

  “Haern?” Elise said.

  He looked over to her. Her eyes were wide as she looked around her, focusing on the girls cowering at the center of the temple before turning her attention back to the false Binders.

  “Don’t let them take us.”

  The comment pained him, filling him with agony.

  One way or the other, he was going to fail in what he wanted to do.

  He breathed out. The sense of lorcith was all around him, filling the walls, the floor, the entire temple, and he focused on what he could detect, letting that sense roll through him, granting him strength.

  He needed to use that strength. He needed to draw upon it.

  Haern let it fill him.

  He pushed outward, funneling the sense of lorcith he detected from the temple all around him out through himself, through his hands and the strange metal that now penetrated them, and pushed.

  The others went staggering back. All of them save Faiza.

  She stood resisting him, and Haern met her eyes, defiance burning within them.

  Pushing on the coin, he sent it toward her, connecting with her shoulder, spinning her around. He pulled on the coin, drawing it back, and then pushed outward again.

  Once again, all of the false Binders slammed into the walls around. Chairs shattered. Screams echoed, and he ignored it all. He continued to push, forcing outward, pain throbbing through him, the same kind of pain as the electrical sensation, that jolting feeling he had known when they had first placed the rods through his hands. The air sizzled with that energy. He held on to it and continued to push.

  At one point, Haern had started to scream.

  Something dripped down his face, and he reached up to realize that it was blood coming out of his nose.

  Someone touched him, and Haern jerked around, ready to attack, preparing to push on the coin, but realized that it was only Elise.

  “Come on, Haern. They’re down.”

  He looked around. The chairs that had lined the inside of the temple were destroyed. The false Binders lay atop them. Somehow, he had managed to rip down one of the banners hanging overhead as well. Haern swallowed, looking at the destruction, wondering how many of the women had died because of his attack.

  Elise took his hand, guiding him. The others went with her, and Haern held on to his sense of lorcith, keeping it wrapped around them, prepared for the possibility he might have to push and attack. If it came down to it, he hoped that he had enough strength. He had drawn strength from the temple itself and wondered if he could do it again.

  He lost track of how many stairs they took. After a while, they left the stairs, heading down the hallway. He passed fallen bodies and realized that they were Forgers who had died. He found himself surprised there weren’t many more of the false Binders.

  Those within the temple weren’t fighters.

  That was why so many of the Forgers had died.

  What was this place?

  It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he was going to get out of here, and he was going to take these women to safety.

  At the bottom of the stairs, they headed out, and from there they reached the street. Faint light streaked in the distance. It was gentle sweeps of orange and red mixed with hints of blue as dawn was beginning to break. A warm breeze gusted, and Haern breathed it in.

  The sudden realization of how tired he was struck him.

  Maybe that came from leaving the temple. As he turned to stare at it, the sense of lorcith drifted to him, and he wondered if perhaps it had been strengthening him during the battle.

  The pain in his hands started to throb, or maybe he was only more aware of it now that they were leaving the temple. Either way, it ached, a sense that he had been ignoring, and he looked down at his hands, running his fingers over the strange pieces of metal that had burrowed into his skin.

  This might have been exactly what the Forgers had wanted.

  They had altered Lucy, and now they had done the same to him.

  Had they done that to his father?

  Unless none of it was intentional.

  He looked at the women and girls. Some of them were crying, but for the most part, they were quiet. Elise guided them, marching them through the street, keeping her hand on his as she did. After a while, she looked over at him.

  “Asador?” she asked.

  Haern looked around the city. All of this had been for his father. He had left Elaeavn, traveling with Galen, searching for information, and instead he had found something else.

  His father was gone. Lost.

  Which meant that he would have to fight. He would have to work with the people of Elaeavn, but also people like the real Binders, along with these women, and any others who would join with him to oppose the Forgers. The Ai’thol.

  With these augmentations, he might have the strength to resist.

  “Asador for now.”

  “And then?”

  “From there I don’t know. You get to decide.”

  “I’m going to stay with you, Haern.”

  He looked over at her. “Elise, you don’t need to do that. You’re strong enough to stay on your own.”

  “I might be, but I think you need someone with you.”

  They continued to make their way through the city. At this time of day, there were very few people out. The smells of the city struck him, a mixture of food and smoke and a strange pungent aroma that hung over everything, reminding him of the Forger hideout. When they reached the edge of the city, he looked back, noting the temple at the heart of it and feeling the pressure from the lorcith within it.

  “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Elise asked.

  “I’m sure. I told you that I was going to get you to safety.” He might not have been able to save his father, but this was something that he thought he could do. It might be a small step, but it would be the first of many small steps, and he would continue to take those steps, doing what was necessary. Eventually, they would defeat the Ai’thol.

  38

  Lucy

  Once again, Lucy paced around the outside of the tower. There was something peaceful about walking along the rocks, and though she had a harder time than others, particularly Ras, she still found it soothing to pick her way along the rocks, looking for answers as she stared out into the distance, trying to gain an understanding of this place and what it meant for her.

  Waves crashed along the shores, and she wanted to stand in the water the same way she once had stood within the sand, letting the water swirl around her ankles, trying to see if there was anything she might uncover that would help her find understanding, and yet, the water was much colder here. />
  Why should that stop her?

  Lucy pulled off her boots and her stockings and waded into the water. Her breath caught, taking away most thoughts, and all she could think about was the icy cold of the water as it slammed against her.

  She breathed, steadying herself, trying to gain control over herself and her emotions. She stood there, letting the saltwater flow over her ankles, and with each wave, it crested higher, slamming into her knees. Each jarring wave took her breath away.

  Despite that, she didn’t want to move.

  Even here, with the icy cold water all around her, she found it peaceful.

  When she finally adjusted to it, she stared out over the water into the distance. In all the time she’d been here, there had been no ships moving. As far as she knew, it was difficult to find this place, and were it not for Carth showing her how to reach it, Lucy doubted she would have been able to do so.

  There was value in remaining concealed, but it made finding other places like it just as difficult. She needed to know if there were other places so she could see whether there was an answer as to what happened to the others, so she could know whether there was more to the lost.

  She lost track of how long she stood there. All she knew was that the water was unpleasant at first, but the longer she stood, the more she began to appreciate the cold. Cold could be painful, but it could also be cleansing.

  In her case, she had a need for the cleansing aspect of the water. She had spent so much time trying to figure out whether or not she could be trusted, whether what she remembered was accurate, and though she still wasn’t sure, the longer she spent here, the surer she was there was something for her to uncover.

  It was just a matter of her finding those answers.

  She had to dig deep within her mind. Lucy needed to trust herself.

  Somehow, that seemed to her to be the most difficult thing that she could do.

  Why should she have a hard time trusting herself? It was more than just the fact that the Architect had forced her to serve. The Architect had wanted her to be anxious, wanted her to be unsettled, and because of that, he had wanted to leave her confused. If she weren’t, then he would not have been able to control her quite as well as he was.

  “You seem at peace.”

  Lucy turned slowly, nodding to Ras. “You told me to find a way of observing myself.”

  “And have you?”

  “I think so. The only problem is that when I did, I’m not sure about what I uncovered.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know whether I can trust what I observed.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Part of it comes from the influence of the Architect.”

  “And?”

  “And I was concerned he somehow managed to make it so I would not be able to trust what I remembered.”

  “I see how that would be difficult.”

  “It would be, except I am not sure if he would even have the ability to influence me.”

  “Why is that?”

  Ras had a hint of a smile on his face, almost as if he knew the answer, and as Lucy watched him, she supposed that was true. More likely than not, Ras did know the answer and had been waiting for her to come up with it on her own.

  “The nature of the implant. Somehow, with the implant I now have, he wouldn’t be able to Push me, would he?”

  “I’m not at all familiar with the nature of the implant, Lucy Elvraeth.”

  “I suspect you’re more familiar than you’re letting on.”

  “Perhaps,” he said.

  “Do these C’than know how to place this implant?”

  “Unfortunately, Lucy Elvraeth, there are other types of C’than, as you have seen.”

  “Would you say you know how to place an implant like this?”

  “No.”

  “Which is what I thought. And it’s why the Architect was so amazed when he discovered this.”

  “I suspect he was quite thrilled with it.”

  The memories Lucy was able to reach told her that he had been. It wasn’t surprising. The Architect had been excited with the possibility that he would have some way of using power he couldn’t reach otherwise, and more than that, there was something about perfecting what Olandar Fahr had started, a desire to continue his work, to get the point where they would be able to use even more of that power.

  “You knew I was trustworthy.”

  Ras joined her in the water, and she realized he was barefoot, and suspected he had planned on joining her all along. “I knew the nature of what had been done to you allowed you to protect yourself. Would it not, the others who used such an augmentation would be placed into the same sort of danger.”

  “Then everything I remember is accurate.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  Ras tipped his head. “And what is it that you remember?”

  “More than I had expected to remember.”

  “And with what you remember, are you able to offer any insight about Olandar Fahr?”

  “He’s after power,” she said.

  “He is.”

  “But as you’ve said, he’s not the only one.” The more she thought about it, the more she realized that was key to what Olandar Fahr was up to. It wasn’t just that he was acquiring power—he was acquiring power with a purpose.

  “What does that tell you, Lucy Elvraeth?”

  She closed her eyes, and as she did, she thought back to the various images she was able to recall. There was more trapped within her, and the more she thought about it, the more certain she was she needed to understand what it was that she uncovered. The longer she spent, the more certain she was those answers would be there.

  For now, she had to work through them, which meant that rather than focusing on trying to do anything too complicated, it was a matter of trying to master herself.

  That was the lesson she needed. It was not just a lesson she needed, but a lesson that the women she had been trying to teach needed.

  Here she thought finding those answers would involve going to Elaeavn, and when she had been there, there had been a discovery, but there had also been a realization she wasn’t sure she could remain. It was the same realization the others had already made. Perhaps they were farther along in their own self-discovery than she had been.

  She didn’t want to force these women into serving in a way they didn’t want to do. Not that she could. And she had already started to help them, allowing them to find themselves, and in the case of someone like Eve, she had helped her uncover her ability, which was valuable. The more she was able to uncover, the more she was able to do, the more likely it was she would be able to help.

  And that, as much as she hated to admit it, was the key.

  Olandar Fahr was after power. And so too was someone else.

  Whether it was tied to the faction of these C’than that had splintered off, or whether it was connected to something else, she had to come up with the answer as to what it was and whether there was anything she could do about it.

  And she had to keep looking.

  She had to find the rest of the lost.

  They were gone, taken from Elaeavn, used by the C’than, and perhaps by whoever the C’than served.

  Strangely, as much as she had struggled, trying to figure out how she could serve both the C’than and these women, the answer had come to her, giving her the solution that she needed.

  She had to do both. She needed to root out the rest of the C’than infiltration, but in doing so, she was going to be able to help these other women, women who needed her support.

  As much as anything, that was important to Lucy.

  “It tells me that I need to keep looking. I need to understand.”

  “Do you think you do not?”

  “I don’t yet, but I think I can.”

  Ras nodded. “That is good.”

  “It doesn’t matter to you that I don’t want to learn Tsatsun?”

&
nbsp; “Why should it matter?”

  “Because of what Carth told me. You wanted to train her so that she could be—”

  “I wanted to train Carth so that she could be Carth. I need to train Lucy Elvraeth so that she can be Lucy Elvraeth. You are different, but that doesn’t mean you are less valuable. In your case, Lucy Elvraeth, you have a very distinct value to the C’than.”

  “It’s not just the C’than.”

  “It is not.”

  She breathed out a long sigh and turned her attention back to the water. She would stay here, try to see if there was more she could find from what the Architect had shown her, however unintentionally, and then she would return to the village, to continue to work with the women there to find their own way, to understand who and what they were.

  Somehow, in between all of that, she would need to keep looking into the C’than. That was the answer she needed, and the more she thought about it, the more certain she was she needed to uncover why the C’than had splintered off.

  Ras continued to watch her, and she couldn’t tell if he was Reading her. The way he regarded her left her feeling uncertain. She decided it didn’t matter. There was nothing that she would hide from him. She had hidden enough from herself, and now it was time for her to find those answers.

  39

  Daniel

  The sense of power coming from the center of the forest nearly overwhelmed him. Daniel couldn’t shake the uneasy intuition that he had. The Ai’thol were busy with some plan he didn’t yet understand. Would the people of Elaeavn lose their Elder Stone?

  “Is there anything that you can do about it?” Daniel asked Neran. The old blacksmith stared at the pedestals supporting the crystals, and as he did, there came a sense of pressure that pushed on Daniel.

  “Rsiran tried, but he wasn’t able to do anything more with it.”

  “Did he know it was acting as a siphon?” Daniel asked.

  “Rsiran is quite capable.”

  Daniel glanced to Rayen, but she had been somewhat silent ever since holding on to one of the crystals. Curiosity filled him about what sort of experience she might’ve had. He’d heard some of the tales, but most people who had an experience holding on to one of the crystals weren’t able to easily explain what happened to them.