Shadows Within the Flame (The Elder Stones Saga Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Why are you bringing me here?”

  “Because you were asking about the Elder Stones.” His father swept his gaze around the inside of the room. There was a soft warmth to it. “The crystals were given to us by the Great Watcher. At least, that’s what we were taught long ago. It’s where our powers come from—powers different from those found outside of Elaeavn.”

  “Except for the Forgers.”

  “Except for the Forgers and those they serve. They have somehow found a way around this, and they use their connection and their magic to mimic our abilities. You ask about Carth and her abilities. I don’t know them nearly as well as Galen does, but I recognize that her magic is different. Carth has a connection to shadows, and that connection must come from the Elder Stones, the same way our powers come from the Great Watcher.”

  “What would happen if we were to hold one of the Elder Stones that granted the abilities with shadows?” Haern asked.

  “I don’t know. I suspect Carth does, though when I have asked her, she has not answered.”

  “Is that why you refused to hold the Wisdom Stone?”

  His father smiled. “The Wisdom Stone would have granted me abilities. I have no doubt about that.”

  “Why didn’t you want to claim it?”

  “You were there. You heard what I said.”

  “You said that you didn’t think you were wise enough to hold it, but I don’t think that’s the reason.”

  His father looked around the room. “There are five sacred crystals. Five crystals of the Great Watcher. I have held each of them.” His father stopped before one of them, studying it. “They changed me, though not in the way that they change most people. I’m not sure whether that’s because I’m more connected to the Elder Trees or if it’s simply a deficiency within me, but I didn’t come away from the sacred crystals with the ability to See or Read or all of the Elvraeth gifts. I don’t have those abilities, and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t need them.” His father turned to him. “No one person should have all the powers of the Elders. I don’t know what would happen, but what I do know is that the powers were split up. They must have been. Otherwise, why would they not be concentrated in one place? And if they were split up, there had to have been a purpose, one greater than anything I understand.”

  “Wouldn’t holding the Wisdom Stone give you the answer to that?”

  “Possibly,” his father said. “But I know enough to realize that, were I to reach for that knowledge and understanding, I would be tempted.”

  “Tempted?”

  “Tempted to use it in a way it was never meant to be used.”

  His father fell silent, making his way around the inside of the room. He paused at several of the other crystals, looking at each one as he made a circle. Haern followed him, wishing that one of them would take on the steady glowing that signified his ability to hold it, to claim it, but none of them did. And it was likely that he never would be able to hold one of the sacred crystals. He would never know what it was like.

  It bothered him. He didn’t want to admit it, but maybe he didn’t need to. So many others were granted the opportunity to hold one of the crystals; the fact that he wasn’t given that made him feel as if the Great Watcher abandoned him, though Haern was determined not to let himself feel that way. What was the point in feeling sorry for himself when there was nothing he could do about it?

  “I don’t know what exactly the Forgers intend for the crystals. I have an idea, but I don’t know with any certainty. And if they managed to get the power of the sacred crystals, they will add to the other Elder Stones they have managed to acquire.”

  “What makes you think they have acquired other Elder Stones?”

  “I have faced them too much over the last two decades. I know exactly the kind of abilities they have, and not all of them are modifications of our abilities. That was what they did at first, but that was when my grandfather led them.”

  Haern stared at his father. He didn’t often get to hear about his great-grandfather. It was something that his father didn’t like to speak about. Haern didn’t know if it was shame or something else that prevented his father from talking about him. All Haern knew was that his grandfather had been extremely dangerous, and he had nearly destroyed all of Elaeavn in his quest for vengeance.

  “You don’t think he could still be alive?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.”

  “You don’t? How is it that you don’t?”

  “When we captured him, Carth took him from me.”

  “And you let her?”

  “I had no reason not to. Besides, if anyone would have the ability to hold Danis, it would have been Carth.”

  “What if he escaped?”

  “She would have told me.”

  “And what if she didn’t?”

  His father shook his head, smiling. “I’m not worried about Carth betraying me. There are plenty of things I do worry about in this world, but that’s not one of them. As you’ve discovered, Carth might have her own agenda, but she fights for what’s right.”

  “And what would happen if she were to acquire all the Elder Stones?”

  “Why do you ask that?”

  “Because of what you said. She has this ability with shadows, and there’s something with heat. Now she’s held the Wisdom Stone. What else could she have gained over the years?”

  His father frowned, and he moved to the center of the room. “I don’t worry about Carthenne Rel acquiring the power of the Elder Stones. Neither should you.”

  “But you worry about the Forgers.”

  “Because I’ve seen the way the Forgers would use that power. It’s different with Carth. I don’t know how else to explain it other than I trust her. I don’t have as much experience with her as some, and there was a period of time where she disappeared, making it so that I wasn’t able to find her, but I would have been trapped were it not for her.”

  “Do you intend to leave us again?” he asked.

  “Are you afraid that I will?”

  “I’m afraid that you will go and we won’t be any safer than we are now. The barrier has already—”

  “The barrier is back in place. I monitor it regularly. There is no way the Forgers could destroy the barrier.”

  “You didn’t think they could before, but they have managed.”

  “They have,” his father said, nodding. “And I will continue to ensure that the barriers remain as stout as possible so that we can protect ourselves from them.”

  There was no point in arguing. His father believed that they were safe, and Haern didn’t know whether or not they were. None of that really mattered. He didn’t know why they’d come to the crystals. He had come to see his father on behalf of his uncle, wanting to ensure that his father didn’t focus so much on vengeance. Instead of Haern trying to sway his father, it seemed more that his father was attempting to sway him.

  As he looked around at the crystals, Haern couldn’t help but feel that persuasion. How could he not when he agreed with what his father was doing? The Forgers couldn’t acquire all the Elder Stones. He didn’t know what would happen if they did, but he’d seen the way they used power.

  “Why do you think the Elder Stones were separate in the first place?”

  “I’m not really clear. When I held the crystals, I had visions.”

  “What were your visions?” Others had spoken about the visions they had when holding one of the crystals, but he’d never heard of his father’s experience.

  His father nodded. “In them, I saw the Great Watcher. I sat next to him. In one vision, I could feel lorcith all around me. In another, it was heartstone. I was aware of everything, that power, and it felt as if the longer I sat there next to the Great Watcher, the more I could understand about the purpose of the metal.”

  “You think that the metal is an Elder Stone?”

  His father’s brow furrowed for a moment. “It was something I considered, but I think it’s unlikely
. There is simply too much lorcith for it to be an Elder Stone.”

  “What about heartstone?”

  “It’s still too common. But it is tied to the Elder Trees.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “The Elder Trees are different. Which makes me worry about why the Forgers would have targeted them. For the longest time, they didn’t really understand what they were, only that they were connected to our people as well. They aren’t Elder Stones, not the same way as the crystals.”

  “How do you know?”

  “That was also in my vision.”

  “And if we lose the Elder Trees?”

  “There’s power within them, Haern. That power needs to go somewhere, which is why it can’t be transferred to the Forgers.”

  “What makes you think the power could be transferred?”

  “My experience with the Forgers tells me they wouldn’t do anything if they didn’t think they could get something out of it. They believe they will gain something by what they have attempted.”

  “Can we move that power?”

  “We can try, but…”

  Haern considered telling his father that he had contemplated the need to destroy the Elder Trees, but it didn’t seem the right time. It never seemed the right time with his father.

  “I agree with Brusus,” Haern said.

  “About what?”

  “It’s good that you’re here.”

  His father turned to him, and a smile crossed his face. “I’m glad I am too. I wish things could’ve been different over the years, and I wish that the Forgers didn’t pose a threat, but I couldn’t simply leave them.”

  “You could have asked for others to help.”

  “Others did help at first.” His father’s voice dropped to a whisper. “When we first confronted the Forgers, after their initial attack, others came to help, and I welcomed that. We needed their help, and the more they fought, the more we were able to do. But in time, we lost one after another. The Forgers were too much for us. After a while, I encouraged the guilds to continue training, but I asked them to stay separate, to remain within the city, where they wouldn’t have to face the Forgers.”

  “You did it to protect them?”

  “I do everything to protect the people of this city.” He took a deep breath. “There are people within the city that I care about. People I can’t fathom losing. And I can’t see more and more people die simply because of the Forgers. That’s the reason I’m willing to leave the city. That’s why I’m willing to be gone for so long, and why I’m willing to keep fighting.” His father met and held his gaze. “I couldn’t stomach losing your mother. There was a time when I thought that I had, and I nearly lost myself. And when we had you…” His father shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut tightly. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose you. I couldn’t do that to Jessa. And so I’ve been willing to leave. To fight. To do whatever it was I had to do to protect the people I care about. And I will continue to do that. I will take every opportunity I can to protect my family.”

  “Father—”

  “The Forgers would destroy everything I love. I can’t allow that to happen.”

  Haern watched his father. Nothing Haern could say would make a difference or change the way his father felt. And he wasn’t sure he wanted to, anyway. Didn’t he feel the same way? Didn’t he want to protect the people he cared about? Wasn’t that why he was willing to leave the city and fight?

  And wasn’t that why he wanted to continue to train, working with Galen so he could understand what it would take in order to defeat the Forgers?

  Brusus had wanted him to meet with his father to ensure that Rsiran maintained a certain sense of understanding, but it was Haern who had gained understanding.

  And resolve.

  He needed to find Galen. He needed to continue training. He needed to push himself as hard as he could. It was the only way he was going to get strong enough to ensure that the Forgers didn’t gain too much power. If they acquired other Elder Stones, they would become unstoppable, and he was going to stand in the way of that possibility if he could.

  21

  Daniel

  Wind whistled around Daniel as he stood at the bow, hands resting on the railing. The distant land grew ever closer. It started as a dark smear, little more than an interruption of the undulating blue waves, but as they continued toward it, night stretching out around them, he could tell that they neared land. Birds circled, larger than the gulls found in Elaeavn, and aggressive as they dove toward the water. They were darker than the birds of his homeland, not the pale white that he was accustomed to, but rather a dirty brown, an unpleasant color, and they blended into the shadows of the growing night.

  “Why are you staring at them?” Lucy asked, approaching him.

  Daniel glanced over. Her hair was braided and hung down to the middle of her back. She wore pants and a loose-fitting shirt in the style of the Binders, making her appear so different from when they had been in Elaeavn. Only her deep green eyes were a reminder of who she was and where they came from.

  Still, she was beautiful.

  “Just watching the birds,” he said.

  “Do you expect them to do something?”

  “No, it’s just that they are different, and as near as we are to making landfall, I wanted to see if I could determine anything about where we were heading.”

  “This isn’t Nyaesh,” Lucy said.

  “Are you sure?”

  “I can hear Carth every so often.”

  “You are Reading her?”

  “Sometimes. At first I thought I was growing more skilled with my ability, but the longer it happens, the more I begin to wonder if this isn’t something that Carth wants from me. I wonder if it’s her way of sharing with me.”

  “I can’t Read her.”

  “Have you tried?”

  “I don’t really try to Read anyone,” Daniel said.

  “Why is that?”

  “My own ability with it isn’t the same as yours. It never has been.”

  “It’s not that you have no talent with Reading,” Lucy said.

  Daniel turned his attention back out to the sea. Water splashed along the hull, the spray catching him, leaving his face damp. It had been like that the whole time he’d stood near the front of the ship, and he had no interest in moving. There was something peaceful about standing on board the ship, and even more so in the proximity he had to the water. In this place on the ship, he couldn’t see the snapping of the sails as they caught the wind. He could hear them, but he could hear the crashing of the waves just as much, the occasional groaning of the ship, and the steady thump of feet along the wooden deck.

  It surprised him that he would feel so comfortable on board the ship.

  “I have some talent with Reading,” he said. “I just… I just haven’t used it very often.”

  “You haven’t used many of your abilities. Is there a reason you fear to?”

  “It’s not that I fear it.”

  “Is there another reason? Are you worried about what your father might say?”

  Perhaps once he would have been. He had cared about what his father said, but that was because his father had wanted to make him into something he wasn’t certain he could be anymore. “Not anymore,” he said. “I wouldn’t have stayed if I cared,” he agreed.

  “You didn’t need to.”

  “Are we going to go into that again?”

  “I just thought as we near the shoreline that we should at least talk about it.”

  “What’s there to talk about?”

  “Your reason for staying.”

  Lucy watched him, an intensity to her stare. He had been surrounded by people with deep green eyes like hers his entire life. It was hard to go anywhere in the palace without running across someone with eyes as deeply green as those she possessed, but there was something different about Lucy.

  “I stayed because of you,” he said.

  “I know you did.�
��

  Daniel pushed off the railing and reached for her hands. “I thought that being outside of Elaeavn would give us an opportunity to have more time together, but that hasn’t been the case. You’ve been busy with the Binders, and I think you need to be busy with them, but it has meant that you and I haven’t had the same opportunities.”

  “What do you want from me?”

  He smiled at her. “You don’t need to ask me to know. You can simply Read me.”

  “There are some things that are nicer to hear than to Read,” she said.

  “I want what I’ve always wanted.”

  “Friendship?” she asked, smiling at him.

  As she did, there was a twinkle in her eye, and it reminded him of the young woman he had chased for all those years. It was the same woman he would still chase, hoping that she wasn’t too far gone. And he didn’t think she was, but he didn’t know if everything that she’d been through—that they had been through—had changed things for her. How could it not? It had changed things for him, leaving him with questions about his purpose.

  “If friendship is all we have, then friendship is what I’ll take,” he said.

  “I don’t know if I can have anything more than friendship right now, Daniel.”

  He blinked slowly, licking his lips. When she had broached the topic, he had thought that maybe she had changed her mind and would be interested in having more time for the two of them, but perhaps that was not to be.

  “Now, but do you see a time when there could be more?”

  “When this was placed,” she said, touching the back of her head, feeling the metal that had burrowed into her, “I didn’t know how much of a future I would have. I still don’t. And of all the gifts that it’s given me—and as much as I might try to deny it, many of them are gifts—I’m not much of a Seer.” She smiled at him, though it didn’t reach her eyes.

  Daniel held her gaze for a moment before looking back out toward the sea. “That’s never been one of my strengths, either.”