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

by D. K. Holmberg

  Daniel could tell how much it pained Carth to admit her failings. He didn’t know her well, but she struck him as a proud woman, someone who felt she should have no limitations. And this had been a failure. At least, her inability to discover what she wanted to learn could be perceived in such a way.

  “Will this game allow you to better understand the Ai’thol?”

  “The only thing I know about the Ai’thol—really know—is the name of the man who leads them. He is dangerous, and powerful, and he is a master of Tsatsun. That tells me I need to continue to work on my skills so that I can be best prepared for confronting him.”

  “What are you trying to show me here?”

  “I’m trying to show you that you have to be systematic in your approach. You have to plan for the possibility of various attacks. That is what I have spent much of my life trying to determine. The Ai’thol present a unique challenge.”

  “I don’t know that I want to deal with the unique challenge.”

  “And yet, we don’t always get to decide what we do. We have to respond to what is placed in front of us.”

  “And you intend for me to be a part of this?”

  “I don’t intend for anything. You have to decide what you’re willing to do and what you’re willing to be a part of. If it’s this, if you want to help stop the Ai’thol, then you can. If you’d rather return to your homeland, nothing will stop you from doing so. Not me. Not any of the Binders. I doubt that any of the Ai’thol would stop you.”

  Even though nothing would stop him, was that what he wanted to do?

  “And if I stay, what do you intend for me?”

  “The better question is what you would intend for yourself. I can’t speak to what you’re willing to do and what you need to know. All I can tell you is that there are possibilities. You have to be willing to reach for those possibilities, and willing to try and discover just what you can do.”

  He didn’t know what that would be, but Carth was offering him an opportunity. He’d wondered what role he would play, and now he had one, if only he was ready and willing to take it all in.

  “Why me?”

  “You have potential.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “Because I’ve seen it in you. I’ve gone through this enough times that I recognize when someone has the necessary potential. Now I can’t say whether you will be able to make anything of it. I’m not able to look into your mind and know just how much you’re willing to push, but I can say that if you want, I can work with you. I can train you. And perhaps you will gain additional insight.”

  Daniel stared at the board spread out in front of him. His time in Elaeavn seemed so long ago. It was nearly impossible to believe that he had left his home only a few short months ago. In that time, he’d experienced quite a bit, but he’d done it on behalf of others. Some might consider that selfless, though he wasn’t sure that was his motivation. All he knew was that he had been offered something now. He’d been around Carth long enough to know that what she proposed him was not done lightly. The opportunity to work with her, to learn from her, was valuable.

  And if he did it, if he agreed to train with Carth, what would he learn? What would he become?

  Gaming was the same thing his father had wanted him to learn—strategy. But that had been to lead the council. This was for something else.

  Power?

  No. With Carth, it was more than just power.

  “If I agree, what does it involve?”

  “It involves keeping an open mind. It involves sharing what you come up with. And it involves offering your insight. You may not know it, but you have much to offer.”

  “I think Lucy is far more capable.”

  “But what you have to offer has nothing to do with your Elvraeth abilities. It has everything to do with you and the person you are.” Carth leaned forward, holding his gaze. “It’s not your abilities that I would push, Daniel Elvraeth. It’s your mind.”

  27

  Haern

  Faint light streamed through Haern’s eyelids. He blinked them open, finding they were crusted shut, and tried to move, but pain filled him—the kind of pain that left his entire body throbbing, burning, making him think he had been poisoned by Galen and left to suffer.

  Galen.

  At the thought of the other man, Haern tried to sit up but couldn’t. Was he restrained? Or was it something else?

  “Help,” he said. His voice came out rough, hoarse, and even as he said it, he could barely hear the words himself.

  “Quiet,” someone said. He didn’t recognize the voice.

  Did that mean that he had been captured by the Forger?

  He had made it to the center of the clearing, he was sure of it, but maybe that hadn’t been enough. Maybe reaching the center of the clearing had not saved him but left him no closer to safety than he had been before. What if the Forger had managed to Slide him when he’d passed out?

  What if the Forger had attacked the others in the clearing?

  How many would have been ready for an attack by one of the Forgers? His father had claimed that the forest was safe, protected, his barrier keeping out the Forgers, but it hadn’t protected them, and they hadn’t been safe. Anything his father had attempted had not been enough. It was no different than what his father had done to protect the Elder Trees, even though he thought to shear off the metal placed around them.

  “Where am I?”

  “Quiet,” the voice said again.

  Haern tried to turn his head, but he couldn’t move it. It was as if he were held down. The light that streamed in came through a window, but the window was dirty, making it difficult for him to tell what was on the other side.

  The voice was feminine, and though there weren’t many women among the Forgers, there were some.

  Why was that, anyway? It seemed odd to him that most of the Forger attackers were men, though maybe that wasn’t the case.

  Maybe he simply hadn’t seen any of the women; maybe the Forgers hid them away.

  “What are you doing to me?”

  His mouth was sticky and thick, and the words didn’t come out well, but he didn’t care. He was going to have answers.

  Someone approached. It was a shuffling sort of movement, and he strained to figure out who was coming at him, but wasn’t able to come up with any answers.

  Someone touched him. He wanted to shy away, to get away from whoever decided to attack, but his body didn’t respond.

  Cold coursed through him.

  It reminded him of the Forger’s weapon.

  Were they using their Forger magic upon him? He didn’t know exactly what they did or how they even used that magic, whether it came from their knowledge of metal or from something else, but it was more than he could withstand.

  He tried to fight, thrashing as the cold washed through him, and realized that the thrashing was only in his mind. His body still didn’t respond.

  It was no different than what he had experienced when he’d first been attacked. His body hadn’t responded when he’d been struck in the back, as if whatever weapon they’d used had paralyzed him.

  Haern wasn’t certain that he wanted to live like this. If he couldn’t walk, if his body didn’t work, what sort of life would there be?

  He could still use his connection to lorcith. Maybe he could create some way of gliding, a chair or something that would allow him to connect to the metal and float.

  The cold eased before disappearing completely.

  Haern let out a pent-up breath, only now aware that he been holding his breath.

  “How does that feel?” the woman asked.

  Haern licked his lips. His body tingled. That was new. Before there had been an absence of sensation, a numbness, and now there was more.

  “What did you do?”

  “I have been trying to remove this weapon, but it is tricky.”

  “Remove? You’re not with them?”

  The woman laughed softly. “Wi
th them? No.”

  “Galen needed help.”

  “How do you know Galen?”

  “He’s been…” How would he describe it? He wasn’t certain that he could reveal the role Galen had been playing, but if he didn’t, would the woman offer him any help? He wasn’t entirely certain who she was, but if she was Darren’s apprentice, it was possible that she wouldn’t help Galen otherwise. He needed to somehow convince her to help him. “Galen has been helping me, training me.”

  “You understand who he is. What he is.”

  “Galen has become a friend,” he said.

  “Hmm. Galen doesn’t have many friends.”

  Haern licked his lips again. As far as he knew, other than Cael, Galen didn’t have any friends. And it wasn’t as if Haern would consider himself much of a friend. They had worked together, and they had some connection because of that, but it wasn’t quite a friendship. He might hope that their rapport would grow, but even that wasn’t happening as fast as Haern would’ve liked.

  “You know him?” he said.

  “I know Galen. And if he’s training you, then you must know Galen, too. He is difficult to get to know. He doesn’t allow many people close to him.”

  That much was true. And while Haern wouldn’t think he really understood Galen, the nature of the comment suggested who this woman might be.

  “Della?”

  The woman chuckled. “It took you long enough to come to that conclusion,” she said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “This is my home.”

  Home? Was he no longer in the Aisl? Then where had he been taken?

  “How am I here?”

  “The better question is how am I here. Your father came for me when you were injured. Pulled me from a restive and relaxing time. He said it was urgent, though with your father, everything happens to be urgent.”

  “Am I still in the Aisl?”

  “You weren’t safe to move. Darren did everything he could to stabilize you, but there really wasn’t much that could be done until I got here.”

  “Did… did you remove it?”

  “I’ve done what I can. Removing one of their weapons is difficult. It takes time, and an intricate sort of healing.”

  “What about Galen?”

  “His attack was a little more straightforward. One of their weapons went through his shoulder.”

  “Through—so it didn’t stay inside him?”

  “No,” Della said.

  Haern realized that he could move his head, and he rolled over to look at her. She was an old woman, possibly the oldest he’d ever seen. Around her deep green eyes, her skin was heavily wrinkled, and wisps of gray hair twirled on her head, wrapped up into a tight bun that she’d tied with a length of ribbon. A multicolored shawl covered her shoulders, stripes of orange and green and blue adding a certain vibrancy to her. She was thin and looked almost as if she might fall over just from standing next to him.

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Your father thinks it’s a matter of intent.”

  “And you believe him?”

  Della studied him. He had the unsettling feeling that she was somehow Reading him, but growing up in Elaeavn had helped him strengthen his mental barriers, and his connection to lorcith allowed him to assert them even more strongly than most.

  “When it comes to your father, I find that he is rarely wrong about such things.”

  “I’m not so sure when it comes to the Forgers.”

  “Why is that?”

  Should he answer? He’d heard stories about Della, though he didn’t know much about her otherwise, other than the fact that everyone who’d had any interaction with her respected her immensely. Both his mother and father did, as did Galen. It was one of the few things they agreed upon, and that alone was reason for Haern to trust her.

  “I think my father has a single-mindedness about the Forgers,” he said.

  “I’ve known your father a long time. Single-mindedness is one of his strengths.”

  “But I’m not so sure he’s right about this.”

  “No? And what would you do differently?”

  “I don’t know,” Haern said, looking away. This wasn’t a woman who wanted to know what he really thought. The Forgers were ruthless, but so was his father. His father’s ruthlessness came from anger over what he perceived as ongoing attacks that had been inflicted over the years, decades of torment by the Forgers.

  Haern wasn’t certain that emotion could be a factor, not when it came to the Forgers.

  “You would ignore your own thoughts?” Della asked.

  “I’m not ignoring any thoughts.”

  “Fine. Ignore might not be the right way to phrase it. You would keep your thoughts to yourself? You would choose not to share them?”

  “There’s no point in sharing them. I’m the only one who feels the way I do.”

  “And what way is that?”

  He rolled his head back, looking at her. “That the Elder Trees might need to be sacrificed for Elaeavn to be safe.”

  Della studied him intensely. Once again there came the rifling sense that she was Reading him, and he attempted to fortify his mental barriers, trying to use the sense of lorcith as he did. It was a trick his father had taught him.

  Della’s expression never changed. She continued to study him, and as she did, the sense of her Reading him began to fade, withdrawing until it was little more than imagined.

  “Your father would do anything to preserve the Elder Trees,” Della said.

  “I understand that.”

  “You understand that he is passionate about the Elder Trees, but partly that’s because of what he feels he put into saving them the last time. He views them as his responsibility, much as he now views saving Elaeavn as his responsibility.”

  “You don’t think it should be?”

  “What I think has little bearing. Your father faced the Hjan, assassins who were intent on destroying him and our city, and everything he’s done since then has been based on that experience.”

  “He saved Elaeavn,” Haern said. There was no disputing that fact. Everyone agreed that his father was the reason Elaeavn and the Aisl remained. The sacred crystals were protected because of his father and everything he’d done. And so it was difficult for Haern to think he might have a different perspective than his father, though that was how he felt. He couldn’t shake the feeling that his father might not be right about what he wanted done, especially when it concerned the Elder Trees.

  “He saved the trees,” Della said.

  Haern looked over to her. “You don’t think he saved the city?”

  “Much of the city was destroyed during the attack. Quite a bit had to be rebuilt. Your father did what he could, but the attack was more than he and the guilds could withstand. When the Elvraeth finally agreed to fight on behalf of the city, it was almost too late.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying that we should give your father credit for what he did. We should not give him credit for more than that. He stopped his grandfather from destroying the Elder Trees and stealing the crystals, but others did as much to protect and save the city.”

  Haern fell into a silence, and Della continued to watch him.

  “All that being said, it’s the reason your father feels so protective about the Elder Trees. There’s no disputing that there is power within them, but your father keeps his focus only on that power and not on other aspects.”

  “What other aspects would there be?” When Della didn’t answer, Haern tried to sit up, but his body still didn’t fully respond. He was capable of some movement, but not much. Everything still tingled. It was better than the sense of cold he had felt when he’d first been attacked. “My mother says you are the Keeper of the Trees.”

  “It sounds so formal when you say it like that,” Della said with a chuckle.

  “Isn’t it?”

  “Nothing quite so formal. I have a responsibility t
o watch over them, and I take it upon myself to ensure the power of the Elder Trees survives.”

  “So you would feel the same way as my father.”

  “I want to ensure the power of the trees survives. That’s not the same as saying the trees themselves need to survive.”

  “How is it different?”

  “What do you think the trees are?”

  “I thought they were nothing more than trees for the longest time. I knew the sacred crystals were kept with them, but I didn’t know what that meant other than some way of storing them.”

  “The crystals were only with the trees a short while before returning to the place where they have been stored for the last hundred years.”

  “Carth said the crystals are Elder Stones. Does that mean the trees are, too?”

  Della clasped her hands together, watching him. “Carth is clever, and quite well connected. I wish your father had managed to maintain a connection to her, but I think her affection for Galen got in the way.” She frowned and then shook it away. “The crystals are similar to Elder Stones. The trees are something else.”

  “Then how would you attempt to save the power of the trees?”

  Della made her way over to the window and wiped her arm on the glass. The dirt cleared away, and a cleaner light streamed in, shining brightly in Haern’s eyes. “You haven’t questioned why your father would come to me for you but not for the trees.”

  Haern hadn’t thought about it, but the comment made a certain sort of sense. Now that she mentioned it, he was surprised—especially if she was the Keeper of the Trees.

  Then again, his father had an arrogance when it came to his ability with lorcith as well as with the Forgers. His father likely believed that he would be able to separate the metal from the trees, and if he couldn’t, maybe then it would be time to see if there was anything that could be done differently.

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “I’m just suggesting that your father cares about you, and while you might believe he is more concerned about the Elder Trees, I know that he’s just as concerned about you, if not more.”