The Elder Stones Saga Boxset: Books 1-3

by D. K. Holmberg

  Power.

  That, as much as anything, seemed to be the key to it.

  Unfortunately for him, he had never been able to utilize the crystals. Even now, with the soft glowing light of the crystals, there was nothing about them he could use. Even if he went to one of them, there would be no power given to him the same way others were able to obtain power from the crystals. It was almost as if the crystals had some plan, but what sort of plan would there be?

  He shook away those thoughts. “Rsiran is capable, but what if he overlooked it?”

  “I don’t think that he overlooked anything,” Jessa said, glancing from Neran to the crystals before finally looking over at him. “And since the Forgers have him, I guess we won’t ever know, will we?”

  “Haern will find him,” Neran said.

  Jessa glared at him and he looked away.

  Daniel didn’t want to say it, but the Ai’thol were far too capable. If they had captured Rsiran, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to go after him. Even if they tried, the likelihood of succeeding and finding him alive—and still in some way surviving—was quite low.

  “There is something here,” Neran said as he continued to make a circuit. He had been walking around the base of the crystals, watching, and doing something Daniel couldn’t quite make out. He could feel it, somewhat, though what was it that he detected?

  Most likely it was nothing more than Neran using his connection to one of his Great Watcher-given abilities, but if that were the case, why was it that Daniel would be able to detect what he was doing?

  Joining him, he followed as Neran trailed around the crystals. There was nothing here that he could see, but maybe it wasn’t something that he needed to see with his eyes. Maybe it was something that he needed to feel.

  “What do you see?” Daniel asked.

  Neran looked up, his back stooped as he leaned forward. “It’s not so much what I see as what I can feel.”

  “Lorcith?” Jessa asked.

  “There is some, but it’s less than I would’ve expected.” Neran straightened, looking around the room, and he swept his hand in a wide circle. “This close to Elaeavn, there’s lorcith everywhere, which makes it difficult to know whether there’s anything active, but in this place and in this case, I feel as if there is something here.”

  Daniel leaned toward the ground, wondering if his Sight would enable him to See something that Neran might miss.

  The ground was smooth, almost polished, and there were no seams. It was all of a dark stone or tile, as if carved out of the ground itself. He couldn’t tell if there was lorcith, but if Neran believed that there was, that was the reason they had come for the old blacksmith in the first place. If anyone would be able to detect the presence of lorcith, it would be a member of the smith guild.

  “Rayen.” When she didn’t look his way, he headed over to her, touching her lightly on the arm. She startled, jerking back and lashing out with shadows that slammed into him before fading. Thankfully, the shadows didn’t harm him, though that was probably more luck than anything else. “Are you all right?”

  “I think so.”

  “What happened?”

  “I’m not sure how to put words to it yet, Daniel. You are from Elaeavn, so you must understand.”

  “I’ve never held one of the sacred crystals.”

  “Never?”

  “Has everybody from Ih been in contact with the Elder Stone there?”

  “It is different. We are born with the ability or we are not.”

  “There are people from my home who are born with abilities, but the crystals decide who else gets to handle one of them. Those who do are often granted enhanced abilities.”

  “I’m not from Elaeavn, so what sort of change should I expect?”

  “I have no idea. Right now, I need your ability with the shadows.”

  She took a deep breath, drawing herself up. “What is it that you need?”

  “Neran says he detected something here. I need to know if you can detect something as well. We’re looking for some way that the Ai’thol may be routing power from here.”

  She frowned for a long moment before nodding and turning her attention to the crystals. Her gaze lingered on them long enough that he wondered if perhaps another one might be glowing for her. If it did, would she be given even more power?

  Shadows flowed out from Rayen, rolling across the ground.

  “There is pressure here,” she said. Jessa looked up from where she was talking to Neran and turned her attention to Rayen. “I’m not entirely sure if there’s something more, but…”

  Rayen continued to make her way toward the crystals.

  Jessa started toward her, but Daniel moved to block her. Jessa might believe the crystals were meant for the people of Elaeavn and no one else, but if the crystals decided Rayen was worthy of holding one, who was he to say otherwise?

  Rayen stopped outside of the ring of crystals. Power washed over the base of the pedestals, swirling in a steady pattern until it completed a circle. Rayen stood fixed in place, her eyes closed, and her breathing slow but steady.

  “Daniel, I’m not sure that she should—”

  He raised his hand, silencing Jessa. A pang of guilt rolled through him as he did, but he needed to see if Rayen could come up with any answers.

  The shadows began to thin, flowing downward, almost as if going through the ground. Rayen still kept her eyes shut, so he watched the shadows, looking to see if there might be something—anything—that would explain what she detected.

  When she finally opened her eyes, she looked over at him. “There’s something more here.”

  “More?”

  She nodded. “It’s deep, but I can detect it.”

  Jessa made her way around the ring of crystals, every so often glancing over at them, her gaze lingering as longingly as Daniel suspected his did. Hadn’t she had the opportunity to hold one of the sacred crystals? As far as he knew, they had given her increased eyesight, but maybe she wanted more. His father was the same way. He wanted more power, longing to hold each of the crystals—the same way Lareth had held them.

  “Rsiran said there wasn’t anything else here.”

  “Maybe he’s not aware of it,” Rayen said.

  “He would have explored everything around here. This is the crystal chamber, after all.”

  “I can’t tell you one way or another what your husband might or might not have uncovered. All I can tell you is that there is something more. It is deep below us, and it’s something like this chamber.”

  Could the Ai’thol have discovered that?

  “Do you think we can reach it?”

  “I don’t know how. I can detect something down there, but nothing more than that.”

  If he could detect it, he might be able to Slide down to it, but what exactly would that take? He wasn’t sure he’d have any way of following what she discovered with the shadows, so whatever she did would have to somehow guide him.

  “There might be another way,” Neran said.

  “What way is that?”

  “Ilphaesn.”

  Jessa glanced at him. “Rsiran has explored Ilphaesn. There were no tunnels that led here.”

  “The mines lead all throughout these lands. Some of those mines are incredibly old, far older than the miners’ guild knows. Rsiran knows that as well.”

  Daniel looked over to Rayen. With her connection to shadows, they could use that and probe through Ilphaesn, and maybe she could find her way.

  “Neran, will you help us?”

  “I fail to see what this will accomplish.”

  “If we can find where the Forgers are diverting our power, we might be able to do something to stop them.”

  Neran seemed to consider for a moment before nodding. “I will go with you. I can’t say that we will be successful, but it is worth looking.”

  “You might need my Sight,” Jessa said.

  If he were to have his choice, there were others th
at he would rather bring with him than Jessa, but she probably did have better eyesight than him as she’d held one of the crystals. If they were going to go deep within the mines, then he liked the idea of someone able to See better than he might be able to do.

  He grabbed Rayen, reached for Neran, and then nodded to Jessa. She grabbed ahold of his jacket, and with that, Daniel Slid.

  Only after did the realization that he had never Slid so many people at one time come to him. He should have been more careful. Bringing two people was difficult enough, but bringing three was almost beyond his typical ability.

  Surprisingly, he managed to Slide them to Ilphaesn without too much struggle. They emerged outside the mountain, and he looked up at the massive mountain as it rose high overhead, ending in a snow-covered peak. There were plenty of people from Elaeavn who still held Ilphaesn in almost mystical regard, but Daniel was not one of them. The fact that Ilphaesn was the source of lorcith made it valuable, and his experiences over the last year had done nothing but reinforce how important lorcith was to not only his people, but others.

  “Where do we go from here?” Daniel asked.

  “You’ve never been here?” Neran asked him.

  “I don’t have any connection to lorcith, so what reason would I have for ever having come here?”

  Neran looked up, where a massive gate somewhere along the face of the mountain glimmered in the fading sunlight. A road wound along the side leading up to that gate, and up further from there.

  “Will you able to Slide us throughout the mountain?” Jessa turned to him, studying him. “I ask because the mountain is extensive, and even when Rsiran was here, he struggled with navigating the entirety of it. If you don’t think that you will be able to do it, then perhaps you shouldn’t bring us with you.”

  “I can bring the three of you with me, and as long as we’re focused, I can get us to where we need to go.”

  Jessa grunted. “I’m not so concerned about you getting us where we need to go. I’m a little bit more concerned about getting out.”

  “I know my limits.”

  He grabbed the three of them and Slid up to the gate. He paused only a moment before Sliding them through.

  On the other side of the gate, he couldn’t help but realize that despite how many times he had Slid over the last few hours, there had been no real change in how much strength he was able to draw.

  Why would that be?

  He had more practice Sliding these days. With everything he’d been through, he had exerted himself quite a bit more than he ever had before. If there was one thing he knew about his abilities, it was that the more they were used, the stronger they became.

  “Where do we go from here?” he asked.

  “Rsiran and I have spent quite a bit of time here over the years. We go down.”

  “What about you?” Daniel asked Neran.

  “I have been here a few times, but only a few times. I was never sentenced to serve in the mines.”

  “That was the only way you would come here?”

  “I may be able to hear the song of lorcith now, but when I was growing up, I feared it.”

  “Most did at the time, Neran,” Jessa said gently.

  “Perhaps, but even now I still have a part of me that reacts every time I first hear the song.”

  “What sort of song is this?” Rayen asked.

  “It fills me,” Neran started. He closed his eyes, tipping his head toward the ceiling of the mine. A little bit of sunlight streamed through the gate, but shadows began to fall only a dozen or so paces into the mine. “If I let it, it will overwhelm me. I can hear it even now. Some parts of lorcith sing more loudly than others, and the longer I stand here listening, the easier it is for me to distinguish distinct tones. In a place like this, it’s almost like a chorus, a choir of voices, but in my blacksmith shop, the voices are different, more urgent, and they demand my attention.”

  “That sounds beautiful,” Rayen said.

  Daniel glanced over, half expecting to be met with a sense of sarcasm, but there was none from her. She meant it.

  Strangely, that reminded him of what Beatrice said of Sliding. Were they connected in ways he didn’t understand?

  “There are times when the song is beautiful, but there are other times when the song is frightening. The longer I listen, the harder it is for me to ignore it. There are times when I hear the song that I feel almost as if I will be pulled into it, joining the choir.” He opened his eyes, looking at them, age and weariness making the wrinkles along the corners of his eyes deepen even more. “It is foolish, I realize that. It’s the reason that I pause every time I go into my shop.”

  Daniel glanced over to Jessa. “Is it the same for Rsiran?”

  Jessa had been watching Neran, her lips pressed together as she regarded him. “He never describes it quite like that. He calls it a song and tells me he can pick out individual pieces based on what they ask of him, but he never speaks of being pulled into the chorus.” She took Neran’s hand. “Are you sure that it’s safe for you to be here?”

  “I can resist it, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

  “I’m not afraid of you losing yourself, I just wanted to make sure that this won’t be too unpleasant for you. I’m sure that we can find our way through here without your getting tormented.”

  “If we find something, my presence might be necessary,” Neran said.

  He was right, and Daniel didn’t like the idea of letting Neran return, or worse for him, remain here.

  “Seeing as how I have not been here before, it might be easiest for me to Slide a few places on my own and then return. Once I’ve been somewhere, I can Slide back.”

  “Are you sure that you want to wander through the mines by yourself?” Jessa watched him, her gaze flickering around her. He realized that she twisted a bracelet on her wrist, almost as if it irritated.

  Rayen turned to him, shadows swirling around her. One hand remained on her sword and she smiled to himself. There was no way she would need her sword in here, but he wasn’t about to tell her that. “You can bring me with you.”

  “I think I can manage. I can travel much faster if I Slide on my own, and I will only be gone a short while before returning.”

  Before either of them started to argue again, he Slid, reaching the main part of the tunnel. He paused, looking into the darkness. He tried to tamp down the way that his heart raced. Even though he had Sight, it did little more than make gradations of shadows. If only he could part the shadows, then he might be able to See more easily into the tunnel, but without a lantern, there would be no way for him to do that.

  Even if he had brought the others with him, he still was dependent upon what he could See. It required him to explore, and though it might take a little while, he thought he could travel quickly.

  And he didn’t even need to Slide very far. He could Slide a few steps each time, pausing to let his eyes adjust, noticing where the tunnels branched off. He moved through the tunnels that way, and as he did, his eyesight seemed to grow more and more accustomed to the darkness so he didn’t struggle nearly as much as when he first had started. When he descended down a series of stairs, the tunnel opened up into several different branch points. From there, he paused a moment before Sliding back and grabbing the other three and returning.

  “You know where we are?” Daniel asked Jessa.

  “This is the start of the mine.”

  “This is the start?”

  “Everything before here was always considered picked over, though Rsiran told me that wasn’t the case.”

  “There’s lorcith all around us,” Neran said.

  “I move relatively quickly, but I still need to know where I’m going, so if you’re comfortable waiting here…”

  “Are you sure your strength is holding?” Jessa asked. “I’ve been around men who can Slide often enough to know that the edge of your ability can creep up on you. If you overdo it, you might not know it until it’s too late
.”

  “I’m actually feeling fine.”

  Much better than he thought that he should, and despite the fact that he continued to Slide, there was no ongoing sense of weakness filling him.

  “Which way?” he asked Rayen.

  Shadows stretched away from her, and in the darkness, Daniel noted them as a darker density, a part of the cavern that was even more difficult for his Sight to peer through. It was hazier than what she had used around the sacred crystals, and she sent them off through each of the tunnels. After a while, she opened her eyes and pointed, but not in the direction he would’ve expected.

  “That one leads generally back toward the forest.”

  Daniel looked over to Jessa and she nodded. “She’s right. The others lead in different directions, though this one,” she said, pausing and pointing to one behind him, “runs somewhat toward the city itself. Rsiran seems to think it could lead into the city, though he never managed to find a connection.”

  He could imagine what it would be like to follow these tunnels all the way to the city. It would be an incredible journey, far longer than he would want to spend underground, to wander through the mines, braving the darkness, weaving through the tunnels as they led toward the city.

  Then again, he didn’t want to do it heading toward the forest either. The forest might be closer, but only a little bit. Daniel didn’t fear the dark the way some people did—those born with Sight rarely feared it—but he didn’t like the idea of being surrounded by the entirety of the mountain. What would happen if he came upon a collection of heartstone? He wasn’t able to Slide beyond that.

  He wouldn’t be able to Slide into it, either.

  He needed to keep his mind rational, focusing on what he could See. If they could find the cavern beneath the heart of the Aisl and whatever stretched beneath it, he believed they would have a chance to understand what the Ai’thol were after.

  He took a deep breath and plunged forward.

  The darkness began to shift, growing increasingly dense, and despite his eyesight, each step took him deeper and deeper into it. The longer that he went, the longer he had to pause in order for his eyes to adjust. After a while, everything became a haze of gray mixed with only a hint of darkness.