“But Lorst—”
“Never intended you any harm.”
I didn’t know if that was true or not. When he had come after Cael in the Durven, he had certainly seemed willing to harm me. Then again on the streets of Eban, his attack had seemed sincere. I wondered if Della knew that.
“I cannot be here,” I said. If any on the council discovered that I had returned to Eban, I had little doubt that they would carry out the sentence I’d been promised.
“Where would you go?” Della asked softly. “There is a price on your head in Eban and Cort. Probably even Asadar. And your…skills…require particular connections, if you wish to continue using them.”
Hearing her say it like that left me feeling as trapped as I had been within the mines. And she was right—where would I go? I had sacrificed everything to help Cael reach Elaeavn, only to have her taken from me.
“What do you want with me?” I asked. “Why bring me here?”
Della looked back at Lorst.
He shrugged. “We need your help.”
“The crystal? You think I should help you regain the crystal? After everything I have been through, everything that I’ve lost, why would I be interested in helping?”
“Galen,” Lorst started, “you don’t understand what’s happened over this past week.”
I shook my head angrily and pushed away. “I know what happened. I was sentenced to the mines for life, banished again. And I lost…I lost…” I could not finish, could not say what I had lost, not even to myself.
A figure stepped out of the shadows near the corner. How had I not seen it before? I tensed, wondering what other surprises Della might have. Would she turn me over to the council for refusing? Would Lorst dump me back into the mines? I had no way of fighting my way free if it came to that and did not even know if I had the heart to try.
And then I saw her. Cael.
My heart seemed to stop.
“You haven’t lost me,” she said softly.
I don’t know how I ran to her as quickly as I did, not caring that Della and Lorst stood there watching. “I don’t understand. What are you doing here?”
She touched my face and my skin tingled where her finger trailed across it. “I asked them to find you, Galen.”
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I said. Without her telling me, I knew what it would cost her. She might as well be one of the Forgotten herself.
“Do you think I could remain in the palace after what they did?”
“That’s what you wanted.”
She smiled and leaned toward me, kissing my cheek. “That is what I wanted,” she agreed.
I took her hands and met her eyes. As I did, I felt a rush of emotion, of understanding, and felt connected to her in a way we had only shared briefly before. Then I knew that Cael was helping Della but not why.
“Something changed in me after my Saenr,” she said. “I don’t know that I ever told you what I saw then.” Her voice came out as a whisper, for my ears only. “I sat beside the Great Watcher. For that moment, I Read everything.” She smiled. “And then it was gone. After, I was different. No longer just a Reader. Other gifts manifested,” she inhaled slowly, squeezing my hands, “as they have in you.”
“What gifts?”
Even as I asked, I understood. Smells had been more potent. Sounds louder than they should have been. Ever since holding the crystal.
She nodded. “It unlocked something in you.”
Lorst Slid to a spot next to Cael. A hard frown tightened his mouth, though his eyes seemed even harder. “Which is why Josun must be found.”
“You don’t have the crystal?” I asked.
Lorst shook his head. “It was gone. I think in one of his Slides before the crossbow.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “He is skilled and has survived more times than I can count. But we will find it and take it from him.”
I looked from Lorst to Della. “What will you do with it?”
“That crystal belongs to Elaeavn. All of Elaeavn, not just the Elvraeth,” Della said.
Part of me knew that he was right, but that was not my concern. After all these years, Elaeavn was no longer my home. But Cael…
“You understand what this means?” I asked, ignoring Lorst.
She smiled again. “That I’ll be with you?”
My heart fluttered. All I wanted was to hold her and keep her safe. “That you’ll be in danger. Never knowing when someone might attack, might try to take your life.”
“You describe everything I’ve known since meeting you.”
I laughed, only because I didn’t know what else to do.
As Cael squeezed my hand, Della moved to stand next to Lorst. She studied me with her deep green eyes. I suspected that Cael already knew Della’s deepest secret, though she had not said anything to me about it. And now she resigned herself to a similar fate, one that I knew Della regretted at times.
“We all have regret, Galen,” Della said. “But that doesn’t mean things don’t turn out as they should.”
I made the mental effort to push my barriers into place before realizing they already were. Had Della Read me even so? She smiled.
“Welcome back to Elaeavn,” she said.
* * *
Check out the first in a new series set in the same world as the Forgotten: 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.
Excerpt: The Painted Girl
A Sighted Assassin Story
The long dart stuck out from the back of my leg, quivering as the muscle spasmed. Already the leg was numb where it had struck; soon enough the toxin would spread to the rest of my body. How long did I have before it reached my lungs and I stopped breathing?
At least the dart was old, leaving the toxin too dry—otherwise I would be nearly dead already.
“Who sent you?” the boy practically screamed at me. His voice was raw and ragged, flint gray eyes still wide with cold fury as he now held my pouch of darts.
Pulling the dart from my thigh, I rolled it between my fingers and stepped fully into the room. As usual, the motion soothed my nerves and calmed the throbbing in my head where he had hit me. My head still hurt from where he had hit me, dazing me just long enough to grab my pouch.
I took a steadying breath and stood, turning to face him. My dark cloak spun with the movement. A shame it had been useless against his throw; usually the cloak provided better protection.
Lucky, that. Few managed the skill needed to throw these darts. That was part of what made them so useful to me. None had ever taken my pouch from me.
The rented room around us was small and dark and smelled of sweat and fear. I scanned it quickly, my Sight allowing me to see through the darkness, hoping to learn more about this man—really no more than a boy—I had been hired to kill.
So far, I had made a mess of it.
A small closed window let in some little amount of
light, filtering through smudged and dusty glass. Dirty clothes were scattered atop the bed. A brown rucksack wadded next to them threatened to spill onto the floor. A half loaf of bread and a dried hunk of cheese sat on a table. Otherwise the room was empty.
“Does it matter who sent me?” I asked him. I was pleased with the evenness of my voice. I could feel my leg draining of sensation, as if dipped in icy cold water. Another few moments and I wouldn’t be able to walk. A few more and I wouldn’t be able to talk.
I needed that pouch back.
“Of course it matters!” The sound would penetrate through the door, but the noise in the tavern made it so that he would not be heard. “I have a right to know!” He waved my pouch in front of him as he yelled.
Inwardly, I cringed. The vials within the brown leather pouch could easily unstopper, spilling their contents and wasting months of savings. I couldn’t afford such a loss, not at this time with real work so difficult to find.
“Davin sent me,” I said.
He deserved to know. If he was to die, he should know why.
“What did you do?” I moved casually, making sure to shift my cloak as I did to draw attention to the leg that had stopped working as it should. How much longer would I be able to stand?
The question caught him off guard and he blinked. He had a narrow face and the rough start of a beard, the growth ragged and without the harsh bristle he would get if he aged. Short, dark hair stood up from his head. Sweat beaded along his brow and the corners of his mouth twitched. Without my Sight, I doubted that I would see how nervous he still was.
Little more than a boy. What had he done to draw Davin’s attention?
“You don’t know?” he asked.
I shook my head. I never knew, not at first. Always before the end, though.
“I…I took something from him,” he said. There was a note of defiance in his voice that was different than what I had first heard. He was harder than I expected.
“Took what?”
His eyes narrowed as he frowned. “You don’t know?” A note of hope entered his voice. Had he known who I was, that would not have been the case.
I shrugged, shuffling forward slightly. “That wasn’t why they hired me.”
“Then why do you care?”
I turned toward him and smiled, showing him a flash of teeth. He cringed. I didn’t know if it was the smile or my eyes. Usually it was my eyes. Few expected one of the Elaeavn. By the time they realized what I was, it was usually too late.
“Maybe I’m just curious,” I answered.
I reached the bed and fell onto it. Clothes that had been piled there were swept onto the floor on the other side. I watched his face, making certain that he couldn’t tell that I was nearly incapacitated. I needed him to come closer—just enough so that I could grab the pouch.
Then I could finish the job.
He hadn’t been paying attention, looking past me toward the door. I considered lunging toward him but he was just out of reach. There wasn’t much time left before I couldn’t move at all; now my stomach felt numb. Thankfully I still had sensation in one leg, though I knew I couldn’t count on that lasting. I would have to push off with my arms before I lost all strength.
“She’s nothing to him. Just someone to—to…” He trailed off, unable to finish.
“Who?”
He whipped his head toward me. “You really know nothing,” he said, sounding surprised.
I shrugged. “I wasn’t hired to know. Just to kill.” Even with the terad working through me, the tone of my voice was hard, but he seemed to overlook it.
“Don’t you even care?” He took a step toward me, waving the pouch. Like so many, anger made him less cautious.
“I’m talking to you, Jaylen,” I answered.
He hesitated as I said his name.
That was all that I had when I was hired—a name and nothing more. The name as it was written on the small slip of parchment flashed before my eyes: Jaylen Baruchen. It was how most assassins worked. Given a name—a target—and the rest was up to the assassin. It remained to be seen whether he was lucky or unlucky I was not like most assassins.
He met my eyes briefly before looking away. Fear mixed with the rage.
I didn’t blame him. Had I not had terad toxin pumping through my body, I would easily have overpowered him. I had a good two hands in height over him; but more than that, where I was lean muscle he appeared simply lean.
“Only because I stabbed you with your own dart.”
I suppressed a smile, hiding the strange relief I felt. At least he hadn’t managed to throw the dart at me. I don’t know why I took such twisted pride in having darts that only I could use. There was a technique, practiced countless times under the tutelage of Isander before I managed to do it well, that would only anger me if he had gotten lucky on his first toss.
“You think that is the only reason I ask?”
He glanced at me and then the door before finally nodding.
Damn.
Almost too late, I realized that I needed to move even more quickly than I had thought.
He was waiting for someone.
If they arrived while I was limited, I would not have the time to reach the antidote hidden in the pouch.
“Who is she?” I said softly.
“What?”
“Who is she?” I repeated, whispering this time.
He took a step toward me and leaned in.
That was the opening that I needed.
Pushing off the bed with my arms, I swung my hands and wrapped them around his neck. My weight and dead legs pulled us both to the ground, lying in a pile behind the door, blocking it. The pouch went flying out of his grip, lying near the bed.
I hoped the Great Watcher was watching over me and kept my stores intact.
Leaning a forearm across his chest, I pushed up.
His eyes had gone wide, and it seemed that his mouth worked soundlessly until I realized that I was leaning on his throat.
With the paralysis setting in, releasing some of the pressure was not easy.
A fit of coughing overwhelmed him. “Please,” he begged. “Let me at least say goodbye before you take her back to him!”
I blinked. “She’s here?”
He nodded.
Damn.
Keeping one hand gripped around his throat, I pulled myself over to the bed and grabbed my pouch. Flipping it open, I swallowed. Most of the vials had shattered when the pouch was dropped. Months of collections gone.
All I needed was one.
Thumbing through the side of the pouch, I found what I was looking for and pulled it out.
My heart sank when I looked at it. The vial was cracked.
I could feel my breathing getting shallower and knew what would happen next; I had seen it often enough. When my breathing stopped altogether, I would suffocate. That was how terad worked, slowly stealing the muscle’s ability to work until, at last, your breathing stopped. Painless, but terrifying.
Jaylen whimpered next to me. I released my grip on his neck and he took a gasping breath of air as he skittered away, backing into the door.
If I was to die, I did not need to take him with me.
My breathing stopped.
I could feel darkness creeping at the edge of my vision, tunneling inward. I wondered if I had done enough in this life to please the Great Watcher. After what I had done—the reason I was banished from my home, left to live among people that were not my own—I doubted so.
The last of my strength seeped from me, like the sea washing away from the shores of my youth.
To read more: The Painted Girl
About the Author
DK Holmberg currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
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Also by D.K. Holmberg
The Dark Ability
The Dark Ability
The Heartstone Blade
The Tower of Venass (February 2016)
Blood of the Watcher (April 2016)
The Forgotten/The Sighted Assassin
The Painted Girl
The Durven (Part 1)
A Poisoned Deceit (Part 2)
A Forgotten Return (Part 3)
The Painter Mage
Shifted Agony
Arcane Mark
Painter For Hire
Stolen Compass
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
Salvaged by Water
The Lost Garden Trilogy
Keeper of the Forest
The Desolate Bond
Keeper of Light
The Forgotten: A story in the world of The Dark Ability Page 17
