As we moved further along the streets, closer to more prosperous sections, the dress of the people we encountered changed. Men wore shirts and pants in the current style, striped and pulled tight around the legs. Women wore a variety of dresses of all colors and cut but the general theme was conservative. Even here Cael did not fit in, though neither did I. I was careful to keep my cloak pulled tight around me, sword concealed. At least in that I appeared little more than a traveler.
As we neared a street corner, I saw a pair of the guard. Dressed in grey, dull metal helms reflected some of the lamplight. Long swords were sheathed at their waist. Their boots clomped heavily along the stone.
I pulled Cael into the shadows.
She glanced at the guard, the question plain on her face. I placed a finger over her lips and instantly regretted it. My finger seemed to tingle. Her mouth formed a slight smile around my finger, full lips pressing against it. I pulled back.
“Can’t believe they would move this way,” one of the soldiers said.
The other shrugged. “Does it matter? For the price on them, we can look. If we find them, shouldn’t be too hard to capture the woman at least. The other might be more trouble than he’s worth.”
“Trouble? He’s worth more than her!”
“But this is Galen.”
Their voices trailed off as they moved away, their boots slowly thumping off the stones.
I waited until the sound faded completely before stepping away from the shadows. Orly already knew. At least now I knew my price.
“You’re now a target,” Cael said.
I nodded, taking a handful of darts from my pouch.
She frowned. “You knew you would be.”
“You either work for Orly or you do not.”
Pulling a small packet of powder from the pouch—crushed dagasn seed, nearly as potent as terad toxin and would last longer in the dart—I tipped it into a small vial and then spit into it. Taking a slender wooden stick from my pouch, I stirred it carefully, making sure to dissolve all of the powder before flicking the stick away.
Cael watched me for a moment. “I’m sorry, Galen.”
I met her eyes, made sure she heard me and didn’t simply Read me. “I may have taken his jobs, but I never worked for Orly.”
I dipped the darts into the toxin. They were hollow tipped and pulled the liquid up into the dart. I felt better knowing I had a few prepared. Most times poison suited the job better than the sword.
“How will we get through the city now?” she asked.
“Now?”
She nodded in the direction the soldiers had gone. “We can’t hide from the entire city guard.”
I laughed darkly. “I can.”
We stayed in the shadows now, slipping quietly along the street. Cael impressed me with her stealth, though most of our kind could move quietly. I held a pair of darts at the ready and kept my Sight flared, taking in everything around us.
“Why this direction?” Cael whispered as we slipped around a building. A candlemaker, from the sign. “This isn’t the quickest way out of the city.”
“No,” I agreed.
“And you’re taking me north.”
She was a Reader. She knew what I was doing.
Orly controlled the outer sections of town. There, farthest from the seat of the power, the corruption was thickest. Even when they bothered to patrol, the city militia all had their income supplemented by Orly. Shop owners paid for his protection. His own personal protection amounted to a small army. Attempting to leave the city through that part of town with Cael in tow amounted to a near certain death sentence.
That left a more circuitous route through the city. Orly’s control extended into the heart of the city, but his grip was weaker. The farther we traveled, faces watching us would be just that—watchers—giving us freedom to move more quickly. As long as we could stay ahead of the assassins, I could get her out of the city and on the road to safety.
“How will we get past the walls?” she asked.
I glanced over and saw the hint of green in her eyes and knew she’d been Reading me. That made this easier. And harder. Were I to need to, I would not be able to keep anything from her.
“You think you can—”
I saw her eyes flare at the same time I saw the shadows change.
Someone had found us.
I saw a slight shifting, a slight shimmer in the darkness. My heart fluttered.
Lorst.
“Drop!” I hissed.
She hesitated too long. Lorst Slid into view. Light seemed to bend around him, making him hard for me to See. Someone without my Sight would probably see nothing. I suddenly understood the way he had been dressed earlier. He had expected me.
A distant lamp reflected off the knife he flicked at me. I spun, feeling the knife as it whistled past my face, sending a dart toward him as I did.
“What is this woman to you, Galen?” Lorst asked.
There was the shimmer as he Slid, moving barely a step away.
“Just a pretty face,” I said. “How did you heal so quickly from the terad toxin?”
I whipped another dart toward him. He Slid again. This time—possibly because of his Sight blinding clothing—I saw a shimmer of darkness before he Slid followed by a soft shimmer as he reappeared.
“Terad?” he asked. “Potent when mixed well. Too bad your skills seem to be fading.”
“And yours?” I asked.
I saw the reflection of the knife just in time, spinning down and away from the knife. Three darts left. After they were gone I had only my sword. Against a Slider in the open. I did not like my chances.
This time, I aimed the dart where I thought he would be. The light shifting off his clothing made it difficult to know with certainty. I heard a soft grunt of surprise and thought I might have hit him.
“Close,” he said. Then he laughed, harsh and low, as he Slid. There was another shimmer and Lorst reappeared behind me. I saw the flash of light off the blade and ducked.
Too late.
The knife struck my cloak, slicing through it and into my stomach.
I dropped with a grunt.
Warm blood seeped out, spreading across my shirt and dripping down my stomach. Fire burned through my gut, more than the injury would account for. If not for the thickness of my cloak, the knife would have pierced deeper. Even as it was, I knew I might not survive.
Lorst Slid into view and stood over me. His long hair fell in front of his face. Hard eyes surged green. “Why do you help her?”
“She’s one of us,” I said. “A Reader.”
I had little strength remaining. My body raged with pain and fire. Srirach powder, likely. Potent. Painful. Deadly. Even a small quantity killed, leaving the victim alive long enough to retain the ability to speak but do little else. A useful poison.
Lorst slid back a step, looking over at Cael as he reappeared. She crouched on the ground, dress pooled around her. Dim light reflected off her pale bosom. Her eyes were a green so bright that they glowed.
As if in a dream, I realized that I’d never seen abilities so strong.
I tried grabbing another dart but my hand didn’t work as it should. Fingers felt numb and weak. Lorst knew I was no threat to him. I managed to get one of my hands into my pouch and fumbled across the vials.
“A Reader?” Lorst said, leering at Cael. “Some say it is the Great Watcher’s greatest gift.”
He knelt beside her. She scooted backward, pushing away from the slender knife he gripped. The small bag she carried dislodged as she moved and she kicked it away, closer to me.
“You know what I am thinking right now, don’t you?” Lorst said.
Cael nodded once, kicking backward to get farther away from Lorst.
“I’ve not seen strength like this since leaving Elaeavn, and only then from one of the Elvraeth. My barrier is nothing to you, is it?”
Lorst slid forward until he was looking in Cael’s eyes. A dark smile crossed his f
ace, both menacing and angry at once. Cael shook her head slightly. Even where I lay I could smell the fear on her.
I finally found the vial I was searching for but my fingers wouldn’t follow my thoughts and slipped off of it, my hand falling back out of the pouch.
“Then you know I will not hesitate to kill one of the Elvraeth,” Lorst said.
He started to Slide forward. I saw it as little more than a shimmer of blackness. In that instant I knew I had to move or lose Cael completely. As long as he had the necessary strength, Lorst could Slide anywhere. Distance became little more than a thought.
Lorst grabbed Cael by the arm, still Sliding, and pulled her with him.
I lunged.
Little strength remained in my body, barely enough to move my hands, but somehow—somehow—I managed to leap after Lorst. Willpower. Reserves of strength. Simple stupidity. Possibly a combination of them all.
Pain raged through my body. I like to think that I did not scream.
I knew little about Sliding. It was rare enough that Lorst was the only one I had ever met who could Slide. Useful but also tricky. Isander told me stories of Sliders crashing through walls or killing themselves as they Slid from unintended heights. Lorst Slid easily, with exquisite skill. I could follow, but only if I managed to grab hold of something on him.
I grabbed his boot.
The world seemed to shift around me. Colors flashed as if moving past at incredible speed. Air whistled in my ears. Even the pain seemed for subside.
But only for a moment.
Then everything crashed back into place. My body thrummed with pain, my gut burned in agony. Darkness snapped into place. Lights of the city were gone, replaced by a cloudy sky and a dim blanket of stars. Even the wind changed, gusting and blowing against my face.
We were out of Eban.
I saw it all in an instant. The city sat below us in the distance, lights from hundreds of lanterns little brighter than the stars in the sky. The ground was rough, rocky, as it twisted away from the city toward the north. Mountains would loom to the west but I saw nothing of them. Smoke from an unseen fire drifted with the wind.
“Galen.” Lorst spat my name and kicked me in the chest, sending me rolling away. “You delay me.”
I managed to land facing him. I couldn’t help but be impressed with his strength. Even carrying the two of us as he Slid, he managed to completely leave Eban and reach the winding mountainous road leading to Cort. Such a trek would take me nearly a day and he’d managed it in an instant.
Pain ripped through my stomach and I couldn’t move. Arms and legs seemed to defy my commands. I felt something in the palm of my hand and distantly remembered that I had managed to grab one of my vials. Not much good they would do me now.
I attempted to speak but even my jaw didn’t work as it should. Words came out jumbled and breathy. Soon I’d be unable to even breathe.
Lorst laughed again. I hated the sound nearly as much as I hated Orly’s laugh. “I had thought Orly’s price too much for a simple woman. Perhaps high even for a Reader. But you’re more than just a Reader, aren’t you?”
“Lorst—” I could say no more than that, surprised that my lips cooperated enough to form his name.
“Galen. You were never strong enough to compete. That’s why you chose Eban and I Cort. You lived off scraps instead of dining as one with our abilities should.” He looked over at me, darkness threatening to overwhelm the green surging in his eyes. “Now you will die, alone, outside of your adopted city. Fitting.”
Were it untrue, I couldn’t even disagree.
I watched him Slide, reappearing almost atop Cael, knife slicing toward her chest.
I closed my eyes. Even though I had dispensed death so often that I grew accustomed to it, I couldn’t watch Cael’s death.
There was a soft gasp. And then silence.
It was done.
* * *
Lying on the ground, the scent of smoke mixed with the bitter tang of my own blood, I waited for the Great Watcher to reclaim me. I heard a soft shuffle, an inhaled breath, and sighed as I waited for the finishing blow.
A fitting end.
It never came.
Something rustled in my pouch. I felt fleeting surprise that Lorst would pilfer my remaining supplies. My hands were pried open, disarming me completely. Not that I was a threat.
A soft hand touched my forehead, stroking my hair away as another unclasped my cloak, sliding over my stomach. A felt another surge of hot pain as the knife was removed, tossed to the stone in a slight clatter of metal on stone, and then another surge of pain as a finger probed my wound.
Slowly I flickered my eyes open. Cael.
“This is deep,” she said.
Cold flared in my wounded side from her fingers.
“Perhaps too deep for my skill.”
I swallowed weakly. A deserved fate. “And poisoned,” I managed to croak.
She leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Some of the heat left my face. “Then may you return to sit among the Watchers.”
I felt warmth of her body against me as she leaned in, her breasts pressing into my chest, as she kissed my forehead again. Another surge of clarity worked through me, as if her kiss pushed back the effect of the poison, if only briefly. I wished that she would leave her lips there, holding them pressed against me as life faded from my body, but then she pulled away.
She stood and then staggered, stumbling to land on the rocky path almost on top of me.
“You…” I said. “Where?”
She tapped her arm and showed me a small cut, just the slightest weal of blood pooling, marring her otherwise perfect skin. “Perhaps Orly will have his prize,” she said.
Lorst had gotten her. Even that small injury meant death; poison seeped through her veins. “Why does he want you?”
“Not me,” she said. Her breathing quickened slightly.
“Then what?”
For a moment I didn’t think that she would answer.
“He acquired something that wasn’t his.” She let out a long slow breath, as if speaking the words were painful. And possibly they were.
I tried to laugh but couldn’t muster the strength. “He said the same about you.”
“I only took back what belonged to us.”
I grunted. “Us?”
She nodded.
I had heard Lorst mention the family but had paid little mind to what he said. “You…Elvraeth.” It would explain much.
“I am Cael R’da Elvraeth.”
I sighed. Elvraeth. Cael was nearly royalty. Part of the reason I didn’t mind my exile was the absence of such politics. Even in death they chased me.
But would not catch me. My body grew weaker, the effect of her kiss fading. Soon I would be unable to even speak. I was ready for the fate I deserved.
“The crystal,” I said, suddenly understanding the soft blue glow I had seen. My mouth almost couldn’t form the words. She shifted and her soft curves pressed against me. “How would Orly come to possess one of the five crystals of Elaeavn?”
“A long story,” she answered. “How is it that you know of them?”
From her tone, I could tell she bore some responsibility. Were there the time, I’d love to hear the tale. The srirach worked slowly but I had already lost all muscle use except my voice. Soon enough my lungs would fail.
“What now?” I asked. Even I—exiled from Elaeavn—understood that Orly could not have one the crystals.
“Now,” she started. Cael sagged, her head coming to rest on my chest. “I’m sorry, Galen.”
Sorry. One of the Elvraeth apologized to me. I was nothing but an assassin. Anything that happened to me was clearly deserved. I tried to lift my hand, wishing I could touch her, but failed. Were I not dying, I doubt I would even have tried.
“I deserve this, Cael,” I managed. My voice was soft, failing. It would not be long.
She smiled sadly. “I am the Reader, Galen. I know that you do not.”
I said nothing, not knowing what to say. Usually I watched death with a dispassionate eye but I did not want to see Cael’s death. I wondered briefly how many of my emotions were forced.
“None,” she whispered.
I smiled. At least I would die with the lie.
Cael took a deep heaving breath. “Will this be enough?” she asked.
“What?”
“You have the tchinth extract.”
I tried to roll away but could not move. She had pilfered through my pouch. “You’re the Reader,” I said, knowing she had already tried it.
She coughed. “You don’t know.”
“It’s weakened. Diluted,” I admitted.
There was only so much I could do with the tchinth Orly had poured into the wine. The powder itself was a potent poison when mixed with liquid. When heated it changed, becoming an agent of healing. I didn’t know if diluting it in wine would affect the healing properties.
She coughed again and struggled to sit upright. Slowly she managed to reach up to my mouth and she poured what remained of the vial between my lips. Tchinth tasted both sweet and sour, stinging my throat as it trickled slowly down into my stomach.
“You waited,” I realized.
She nodded and I saw the strength slowly returning to her eyes. “I had to know.”
“And if it did not?”
“Then the crystal would have been destroyed.”
Destroyed. I did not even think it possible to destroy one of the five crystals.
“But it did,” she said. Then she leaned toward me and kissed my forehead again.
“When did you know?”
“When I first touched your mind. Then again when Lorst attacked.”
I shivered, suddenly aware that I could move my fingers again. “I don’t think we should linger,” I said. “Lorst will not be the only one after you.” Nor after me. I was hunted now as well and with a price even higher than hers.
“No,” she agreed. “And Lorst will heal.”
I managed to roll my head over to look where I expected Lorst to have fallen. The road here was rocky as it sloped slowly toward the Devn Mountains, winding along the outer edge of the massive mountains as it snaked toward Cort. Enough of the dirt remained that I saw tracks in the road. There was little blood, only a drop or two that likely came from Cael. Lorst was gone.
The Forgotten: A story in the world of The Dark Ability Page 4
