Flows of energy blossomed within her. Eris felt as if she glowed.
And then she focused on the connection to Ferisa. It was strongest, and she suspected she would need that to reach the others. Eris pressed through it, recognizing it as the same darkness that had twisted Shadow and Terran. She had saved them.
Doubt crept in. She had failed with Jacen. Would she fail again?
Eris pressed through it. Filled with power—filled with light—she surged along the connection. Darkness pressed against her, but Eris was the light. She was filled with it, and she pushed along this connection, slowly destroying the darkness like the sun rising in the morning destroyed the night.
Ferisa gasped and collapsed.
Eris didn’t have time to check on her.
She turned to the others. “I claim you,” she whispered.
Shadow howled.
Connections formed within her, dark as night, one starker and more painful than the others, each trying to overpower the energy she drew upon.
Eris focused on the smaller of the connections. As with Ferisa, she surged through them, destroying the dark. Like Ferisa, the priestesses collapsed.
That left the last. This one was thicker, an inky darkness, nothing like what had tainted the others. Feliran.
Eris pressed along it, but Feliran pressed back. She drew from a powerful darkness that rivaled the light Eris managed to draw upon.
In that moment, they were in balance, like the vision Shadow granted her, showing her the darkness and the light. If she failed, that emptiness would overtake the light.
“Why would you bring this to the keepers?” Eris whispered.
“You will never understand,” she said.
“But your daughter—”
Feliran shook her head. “My daughter and husband were lost. He was taken long ago, and she was lost during the attack. The others scattered, choosing only to save themselves.” She pressed against Eris, forcing her back a step. Feliran’s mouth turned in a tight smile.
“You did this to hurt the magi and the keepers?”
Feliran glared at her.
“But Lira lives! Let me show you—”
Eris didn’t dare turn away from Feliran but could she show her in a different way?
Within the flows of power Eris drew from around her, she pulled upon Lira’s. There was a distinct pattern to it, almost like the garden she designed. Eris pressed this against the power Feliran used, showing her Lira’s light—the pattern she created.
Feliran faltered.
This was the opening Eris needed.
She surged. She pulled more from around her, drawing everything she could, reaching through the Svanth, through the trees along the border, even through those growing in Saffra. Power and light surged, and she slammed this into the emptiness that Feliran summoned.
It exploded away from her, shattering the darkness filling Feliran.
The sudden emptiness was jarring. Eris had drawn so much power, so much light, that the absence left her feeling dazed.
Where was Feliran?
She felt nothing. No power pushing against her. No sign of the darkness. Nothing.
But that wasn’t true. The connections were still there, blazing around her. She could reach for them, draw on them, but she did not. The effort of opposing Feliran left her weakened. And if it hadn’t worked, she wouldn’t be strong enough to try anything more.
Nothing else came, no other sign of Feliran’s attack. Could Feliran really have been stopped?
Eris sunk to her knees, needing Shadow to know for certain.
Shadow crawled toward her, moving slowly. His ears hung limp, and his eyes had a dull sheen to them. He rested a paw on her shoulder.
Eris let out tired cry. “Is it over?” she whispered.
Shadow growled in approval. “You stopped the Darkbinders. She is gone.”
Eris touched his back. “Gone? I hadn’t wanted…”
“Darkness consumed her. Pray that she has found peace.”
Eris sighed, wishing there had been another way, wishing that she could have somehow saved Feliran. There must have been a keeper still within her somewhere. But the others were safe. She was safe. That would have to be enough.
“Is it over?” she asked again.
Shadow sniffed. “Were you not listening before? It is never over, not with the Darkbinders, but balance has returned.”
Eris sighed and leaned back. Balance. She thought she understood now. There would always be darkness, but she would be the light. She was a keeper of light.
All around her, lights from the teary star flowers twinkled in the darkness, like a thousand stars straining against the dark.
Epilogue
Eris sat in the heart of the Svanth Forest. Branches from the massive trees ringing the heart twisted around her, framing the walls of the small home. A low fire crackled in the hearth, the trees protected against the heat and flames. Terran sat on a long bench, working at a piece of wood.
Her sense of the forest told her she had a visitor. With a wave of her hand, the door to their home opened. Eris smiled. “Desia,” she said, greeting her sister.
Terran stood and made his way to the back of their home, disappearing and leaving her alone with her sister.
Desia stepped in and looked around. Her nose wrinkled as she did. “This is where you choose to live? Don’t let Father see it.”
Eris smiled. “Father has already been here, thank you very much.”
Desia tipped her head, her gaze drifting toward the back room. “I suppose he has.”
“Would you like something to drink?” Eris asked. “Tea? Water?”
Desia nodded. “I would. The ride here is longer than I remember. How is it you seem to make it so quickly?”
Eris smiled again. After everything, Desia hadn’t changed so much. She still didn’t understand what Eris could do, but perhaps that was for the best. Some things needed to remain unchanged. “I am a keeper.”
Desia scrunched her nose at the comment as Eris poured her a steaming mug. The spice from the tea filled the air.
“How are Ferisa and Jasi?” Eris asked.
Her sister’s brow furrowed. “Ferisa has returned to the church. She is mostly the same as she always was, but there is a hesitance to her at times.”
Eris nodded. She still didn’t know if she had managed to push out all the darkness that had twisted her sister or if she simply shone such a bright light that it faded. She needed to keep an eye on her sister—on all who had been affected—until she knew for sure. The Darkbinders were gone for now, but the keepers needed to remain vigilant. They would return.
“And Jasi?”
Desia actually smiled. “With Ferisa returned, she is much like herself again. I think it helps that she no longer has to fear the magi.”
“As far as I know, they are gone. And Saffra has changed.” Her connection to Rochelle’s garden told her how rains had returned. She didn’t know if the destruction of the magi and the priestesses caused the change or whether the massive svanth trees growing nearby made the difference. Either way, Saffra began to turn green.
“And you?” Desia asked. “How is…” She hesitated. “How are you?”
Eris smiled. “You can ask about Rochelle,” she said. “I think she is well. Like the others, she remains in Elaysia.”
“Not Lira.”
Eris shook her head. Lira had returned to the palace. That was where her family—her connections existed. “Not Lira. It was her mother who turned Ferisa. She will need time to forgive.”
Desia snorted. “I don’t know that I’d ever be able to forgive.”
“When it’s your mother…”
Desia sighed and nodded. “Anyway, I’m glad to see you’re not sleeping on the forest floor. Lira said that was how you had spent your first few months here.”
Eris laughed. “Much has changed since then,” she said. Not the least that Imryll taught her how to guide the trees. Now she no longer need
ed to sleep upon the ground. Imryll even ventured out of her forest at times, visiting the rebuilt gardens.
More than that, she had peace. The Darkbinders were stopped. The emptiness held at bay. And Shadow mostly healed. There was a part of him where darkness still lingered, but with her help, he kept it bundled up tightly within him. She might never cure him completely, but then again, Shadow was accustomed to straddling the border between light and dark. She felt him prowling around the forest, unwilling to frighten Desia. Through it all, Eris couldn’t believe she could simply be with Terran.
"Well?” Desia said.
Eris smiled and faced her sister. “Well what?”
“Are you really going to make me ask to see my niece?”
Eris took Desia’s hand and led her to a bench to sit as Terran came from the back room holding their daughter against his chest. A wide smile split his face as he looked down and brushed back the dark hair—hair much like her mother’s—from her forehead.
She took her daughter from Terran and handed her to Desia. Her sister smiled as she held the baby carefully. “Desia, this is Ella.”
Desia cooed at the baby and made faces until Ella giggled.
Eris stood and took Terran’s hand, her energy withdrawn as it so often was these days so she could track the connections around her. As Terran slipped an arm around her waist, she smiled. She was content.
* * *
Check out the first in a new series: The Dark Ability.
Exiled by his family. Claimed by thieves. Could his dark ability be the key to his salvation?
Rsiran is a disappointment to his family, gifted with the ability to Slide. It is a dark magic, one where he can transport himself wherever he wants, but using it will only turn him into the thief his father fears.
Forbidden from Sliding, he’s apprenticed under his father as a blacksmith where lorcith, a rare, precious metal with arcane properties, calls to him, seducing him into forming forbidden blades. When discovered, he’s banished, sentenced indefinitely to the mines of Ilphaesn Mountain.
Though Rsiran tries to serve obediently, to learn to control the call of lorcith as his father demands, when his life is threatened in the darkness of the mines, he finds himself Sliding back to Elaeavn where he finds a black market for his blades - and a new family of thieves.
There someone far more powerful than him discovers what he can do and intends to use him. He doesn’t want to be a pawn in anyone’s ambitions; all he ever wanted was a family. But the darkness inside him cannot be ignored - and he’s already embroiled in an ancient struggle that only he may be able to end.
About the Author
DK Holmberg currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
Word-of-mouth is crucial for any author to succeed and how books are discovered. If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review at Amazon, even if it's only a line or two; it would make all the difference and would be very much appreciated.
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Also by D.K. Holmberg
The Dark Ability
The Dark Ability
The Heartstone Blade (February 2016)
The Tower of Venass (March 2016)
The Cloud Warrior Saga
Chased by Fire
Bound by Fire
Changed by Fire
Fortress of Fire
Forged in Fire
Serpent of Fire
Servant of Fire
Others in the Cloud Warrior Series
Chasing the Wind
Drowned by Water
Deceived by Water
The Painter Mage
Shifted Agony
Arcane Mark
Painter For Hire
Stolen Compass
The Forgotten/The Sighted Assassin
The Painted Girl
The Durven (Part 1)
A Poisoned Deceit (Part 2)
A Forgotten Return (Part 3)
The Lost Garden: The Complete Series Page 74
