The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  “I don’t know where it is,” he admitted.

  The tunnel Jessa indicated was one he rarely had mined. For whatever reason, Rsiran had always avoided it, choosing instead more familiar places. He tried to remember how the tunnel shifted and opened, but couldn’t picture it clearly enough to safely Slide them deeper into the tunnel.

  “I think I’ll have to lead from here. Let me know if you see anything.”

  “I’ll squeeze your hand?”

  “That will work,” he said.

  Then he led her into the tunnel. As he did, it felt stranger than simply returning to the mines. Now that he had a better sense of the lorcith, he used it to practically light his way. He might not be able to see in the darkness, but he could essentially see the lorcith in the walls and ceiling of the cave, the tunnel burrowing through where lorcith should be lighting his way.

  Even Jessa seemed to move hesitantly. She pulled against his hand, and he had to urge her forward. Rsiran turned, following the bend in the tunnel that he felt, before finally slowing to let Jessa keep up more easily. What was the advantage of having her Sight with him if he didn’t wait to let her use it?

  “How much can you see?” he asked.

  Jessa sighed and her warm breath whispered practically in his ear. Another time, and he would have wanted to take advantage of the darkness. “Just shades of grey here. Even a little light would help. How are you moving so easily?”

  “The lorcith.”

  “I still don’t understand how you sense it.”

  “I don’t, either. Della said it was a part of my blood. She seemed to know that the ancient smiths had the ability to hear it.” He paused, listening for a moment. The tapping still came distantly. At least he believed he was headed down the right tunnel. And from here, he could Slide back to the upper mines or even out of Ilphaesn altogether. “My father could hear it, but controlled it. He wanted me to learn to control it too. That was part of the reason he sent me here when he did. But instead, being here taught me to listen to it. There’s almost the sense of a song…”

  “You know you sound crazy when you talk of listening to the metal?”

  Rsiran laughed softly. “I know. About as crazy as the fact that I can Slide.”

  They walked further into the tunnel, finally reaching the end of where the miners had reached. Lorcith lit the walls all around him. But there was no sign of whoever mined here. The steady tapping continued.

  Could it be somewhere else? He knew of only these tunnels, but hadn’t the boy alluded to other access? Maybe there was a different set of tunnels and a different person mining.

  “The tunnel just sort of stops right here,” Jessa said.

  He sighed. “There isn’t anything beyond here. Just more rock the miners haven’t cleared.”

  “Then what?”

  In answer, he Slid them from the mines. They emerged back outside on the flat rock before the barred entrance to the mines. Sudden moonlight seemed bright, bathing everything in a soft glow. Even without Sight, he could easily see the outline of the rocky shape of Ilphaesn, the stilted scrub trees growing on the mountain around them, and the flickering lights of Elaeavn far below.

  Jessa punched him lightly on the shoulder. “A little warning? My eyes do need to adjust.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Why did we leave? I thought you came here for answers?”

  Rsiran sighed in frustration. “That is why we came.” He walked around the clearing and looked up at the rocky face of Ilphaesn rising above him. The massive mountain spread out and around, pushing off toward the plains north of Elaeavn and then west before falling steadily off into the sea. “I need you to help me see if there are other ways into the mountain. Maybe another cavern, some other way to mine the lorcith.”

  “This is massive, Rsiran. Even in good lighting, it could take me weeks to search for some other way into the mountain. And searching at night creates other disadvantages. At least in the daylight, I can search for changes in shadows, flickers of movement. Here, at night, all I will see are gradations of grey.”

  She didn’t need to explain any more. He understood the limitations. Just like his ability to Slide was limited by what he could see—at least to do it safely—her Sight was limited by the amount of light. It just never seemed that way.

  “Then we’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

  Jessa laughed. “You’re serious?”

  He shrugged. “We have to see if there’s another reason for Firell to have all that lorcith. It can’t be coming from the city. Their supply is already limited, and the quantity he had aboard his ship would practically drain the guild.” But how would Firell get a supply from the mines? And why? Only Elaeavn smiths could work with lorcith.

  Jessa studied him for a moment before nodding. “You know I’ll help. Whatever it takes.”

  There was another place he needed to investigate, one he knew wouldn’t please Jessa. The area behind that wall of crates in the warehouse was intentionally blocked. Rsiran knew there was something more to that space, if only he could reach it. And he knew how to get there, only… Jessa would worry. Maybe he would leave her behind for this one.

  She squeezed his hand firmly. Not for the first time, he felt as if she could practically Read him.

  Chapter 11

  Rsiran stood on the face of Ilphaesn. Though bright sunlight streamed around them, there were spaces where shadows still lingered. Near the top of the mountain, a trace of white snow remained, only visible as a faint reflection of light. They finally stood protected from the wind that had been howling around them earlier in the morning, threatening to push him from the narrow slope they stood upon.

  Jessa scanned the rock, her face intent. She bit her lower lip as she did. “I still don’t see anything.”

  This was the third place they’d Slid to, and each time had been the same. Even now, Jessa couldn’t see anything but shear rock. They didn’t climb, just stood on a narrow rocky path that wound up the edge of the mountain. Finding the path had given Rsiran even more reason to believe they would find something.

  “Next stop,” he said. He looked ahead, searching for the next place along the path he could Slide them to. He would take them where he could see and no further. Otherwise, they risked emerging to tumble down the face of the mountain.

  “Rsiran—”

  “I’m not ready to return.”

  “How many more times can you Slide us safely?” She leaned toward the deep indigo flower tucked into the charm and inhaled. A slight smile spread on her face as she did.

  He felt the effects of the Sliding he’d done so far, but not nearly as he once would have. And with Jessa, at least he had the comfort of Sliding with someone. The years of isolation within his family had made the closeness he shared with his new friends all the more important. Especially with Jessa.

  But why did he feel so strongly about discovering another access to lorcith? Would he really risk entering the cave if they found one? And if they did, what did that mean for the supply of lorcith that Firell had?

  “I can return us to Elaeavn, if our safety is what you fear.”

  She turned away from scanning the mountain and studied his face. “That’s not what I fear. At least, not for me. But you have warned me what happens when you push yourself too hard. How you risk a Slide going astray. You told me how difficult it was Sliding us from the palace.”

  “I had an anchor. Just as I do now.”

  “You can feel your forgings in Elaeavn from here?”

  He nodded as he pulled the spyglass from his pocket and looked through it. Jessa laughed lightly, but he ignored her. Had he her Sight, he wouldn’t need the spyglass. There were many times he wished he had a different ability, but lately, he had been growing increasingly comfortable with what he could do.

  He scanned the face of the mountain as he’d done at each stop. Through the spyglass, the stones and rocky prominences high above him looked almost close enough to touch. And he could t
ouch them, if he chose to Slide. Jessa may be able to see everything more clearly than he could, but he could actually go to what he saw through the spyglass.

  Scattered along the rock were a few stunted plants. Browned leaves drooped toward the rock. Some green moss smeared across other rocks, and after nearly slipping more than once, Rsiran had learned to be careful when stepping near it. An eagle soaring overhead made a shadow that fell across the rocks. Otherwise, nothing stood out.

  Rsiran stepped forward in a Slide, and they emerged farther up the narrow path, about midway up Ilphaesn, now positioned almost directly above the mining cavern. At this time of day, none of the Towners walked along the path leading down to the village. He made certain to Slide them behind a massive rock pile that concealed them from below. He didn’t want someone from the village seeing him wandering up the mountainside.

  Jessa looked up. She surveyed the upper slopes of the mountain for a long time before slowly shaking her head. “Nothing here, Rsiran.”

  He sighed. How much longer would he continue? As much as he wanted to believe there was another access into the Ilphaesn, another mine buried here, what if there wasn’t? Maybe the tapping he’d heard came from a part of the prison mines that he knew nothing about.

  Jessa squeezed his hand. “I’ll come back with you at night and explore again.”

  “I know you would. I just thought…” Staring overhead, he trailed off. Why would he have continued going up the mountainside? The mines all worked deeper into the mountain, sloping ever downward into the depths. But he’d Slid them up the face of the mountain. If there were going to be another entrance, would it be higher than the one the miners used?

  Rsiran frowned and crawled around the massive boulder blocking the path. The wide base of Ilphaesn spread beneath him. On this side of the mountain, if he looked far enough into the distance, he could see the end of the Aisl Forest as trees slowly faded into the plains. Higher up the mountain, he wondered if he could see all the way to Asador. But they had looked all along this side of the mountain. So far, Jessa had not seen anything that looked like it could be a cavern entrance. Each Slide had carried them higher up Ilphaesn, ever closer to the peak, but what if they’d been looking in the wrong direction?

  He squeezed Jessa’s hand in their sign that he planned to Slide.

  They emerged near the miner’s entrance to the caves. The path here was wider than higher along the mountain but still treacherous. A single wrong step could send them slipping off the rock and falling down the side. Rsiran had been careful to bring them back to one of their previous Slides.

  From where they stood on the path, they were shielded by the gentle curve of Ilphaesn as it wound back toward the mines. A short walk for any of the Towners who might be standing guard. Rsiran relied on Jessa’s Sight to keep them safe here.

  “What are we doing?” she whispered.

  “Going the wrong way.”

  Rsiran dropped to his knees and crawled to the edge of the path. A soft pattering of rocks fell from the edge, bouncing below him. Ilphaesn dropped off steeply here, no longer spreading out as it did on the other side. Instead, the rock seemed to have been shorn from this side as it plunged down toward the sea. Frothy waves crashed far below. A wave of dizziness struck him and he backed up.

  “There’s nothing down there,” Jessa said.

  “Nothing you see?”

  She leaned over the edge, ignoring the dangers he felt. “Just nothing. Flat rock until it reaches the sea.”

  “There has to be something.”

  “Why? Why must there be something?”

  Rsiran sighed and came to his feet. How to explain what he heard every night he lay alone in the tunnels? That tapping—the soft and steady sense of dread that he’d felt hearing it—lived in his mind, not imagined. And the boy hadn’t been responsible for all of it. He couldn’t have been. Rsiran remembered clearly times he’d heard it when the boy had been with him.

  “Because I know there’s someone mining here.”

  “You already told me it was the boy.”

  “There’s someone else. I don’t know who, but I don’t think it’s in the same mines.”

  “Can you not just…feel…for the opening in the mine?” she asked.

  Rsiran hadn’t even considered trying that. Taking a moment to focus on the lorcith, he realized he did feel the opening to the Elvraeth mines. It felt like an emptiness where the lorcith should be. Otherwise, the sense of lorcith was all around him, pressing on him with a gentle awareness. As he focused, he realized he could even sense the tunnels working beneath him by the void they created in the continuous sense of lorcith.

  Pushing that sense outward, plunging deeper into the rock, he searched for a different sense, one where he could feel the absence of the lorcith, but try as he would, he couldn’t feel anything different.

  “No.”

  “Then maybe there isn’t one.” Jessa shrugged and then looked up and down the face of the mountain. “This is dangerous. Being out here, Sliding along this path. Damn, Rsiran, I’m uncomfortable enough just standing here. What would have happened had you taken us just a little too far?”

  “But I didn’t.”

  Jessa smiled. “I know you have control of it. I’ve seen you Sliding. You don’t know it, but you sort of… shimmer… when you Slide. Everything around you sort of bends. It’s easier to see when you Slide alone. When I go with you…”

  “What do you see?”

  When he Slid, he saw flashes of color and had the sense of wind rushing through his ears. He had grown accustomed to it, and the sense barely registered anymore, unless he Slid great distances and even then, only when Jessa came with him. The Slide to Ilphaesn itself had been like that. A sense of movement whistling around him. Flashes of color that seemed like he could see something moving at the edge of his vision. Even the bitter scent present when Sliding—so reminiscent of forged lorcith—seemed lessened when traveling short distances.

  “Nothing,” she said. “I don’t really see anything. It’s like my vision fails when we Slide.”

  He had hoped that she might be able to better describe what happened in the space between, in that place he considered as stepping between planes. But she couldn’t help him. Probably since she had no ability to Slide, had no control over the Slide.

  Rsiran sighed again and crouched carefully to lean over the edge of the path. Taking the spyglass from his pocket, he peered through it and down the rock face. All he needed was a flat stretch where he could stand. Somewhere they could reach and look up the mountain and try to see other openings.

  For a moment, he thought he wouldn’t find anything that would work. The rock ran nearly vertical most of the way down to the sea. But near the bottom of the mountain, near where the water frothed around the base, a flat stretch of rock jutted from the mountain, curling around. It should be just wide enough for the two of them to stand upon.

  “Do you see that?”

  Jessa followed where he pointed. A deep frown crossed her face.

  “And here I thought I needed to worry about you Sliding us safely along the path.”

  “Don’t you see it?”

  “Yes I see it. I just don’t think you’re thinking clearly about this, Rsiran. That’s nearly in the sea. How much spray do you think has built up there? And you thought the patches of moss were slick.”

  “I just need a place where we can look up at the mountain.”

  Jessa took his hand, shaking her head as she did. “Just know that I think this is a terrible idea. And I should know. I’ve had many of my own.”

  Rsiran stood and held tightly to her hand. This would be different from some of the other times he’d Slid. The spyglass could help, but he needed to fix the location firmly in mind. That far down the face of the rock, he couldn’t be certain that he could. And if he missed… they wouldn’t just go slipping down the side of the mountain. They would end up falling into the ocean. The way the waves crashed there told him
they wouldn’t have much chance of survival if that happened.

  He hesitated. Did he really need to do this? Was there another way to discover what he needed? But he didn’t think so. Lorcith was being brought out of the mines in enough quantity to fill those massive crates on Firell’s ship. They wouldn’t have come from the prison mines, or more than just the mining guild would have known. The Elvraeth would have known. That meant another source. Another mine. And he needed to know why there would be another mine before he could confront Firell with why he had so much of the ore. To do that, he had to learn where it was.

  Without thinking about it much longer, he Slid.

  As soon as he emerged, he knew he’d missed.

  Rsiran clung to the lip of rock. It jutted out barely two feet and, as Jessa had predicted, it was wet from the spray. His boots slipped, and he flung himself back against the rock.

  Jessa wasn’t so lucky.

  She fell forward, away from the rock. Only because Rsiran held so tightly to her hand did she not fall into the waves. As it was, she dangled, leaning out and away from the mountain, his hand her only tether to safety. Had he not spent so much time working the forge the last few months, he might not have had the strength needed to pull her back.

  With a jerk, she came away from the water, and he cradled her in his arms. Jessa trembled softly. Her breath came in shallow gulps of air. Rsiran’s stomach seemed to flutter and a rolling nausea washed over him. He’d almost lost her.

  “There are better ways of getting me into this position,” she said.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shook her head but didn’t move for a long moment. The waves were much closer here, crashing loudly against the rock. Occasionally, massive sprays would strike, splashing them with a fine salty mist. The rock behind him felt damp and cool, but he didn’t dare turn.

  “Take a quick look and then we’ll go,” he said.

  Jessa didn’t push away from him as she craned her neck to look up the mountain. She stared for a while and then her mouth twisted in a tight line. “I think… Yes. Up there.” She pointed with her finger, her hands gripping him tightly around the shoulders.