The Dark Ability: Books 1-4

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You thought you could help. I know that’s all you ever want to do.”

  Rsiran sniffed. “Maybe I’m more like Brusus than I realize.”

  Jessa laughed. After the night they’d had, the sound lightened his mood, stealing away some of the tension that had begun seeping through him.

  “You’re damn near as stubborn as he is.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Jessa kissed his cheek. “Don’t be. Stubborn is good. If you hadn’t been so stubborn and determined, I don’t know that I would have gotten away from Josun Elvraeth.” She shivered. “Being stuck in the mine… waiting… not knowing…” She swallowed.

  Rsiran pulled her into him. She hadn’t said much about her time captured by Josun. And he hadn’t pressed her on it, knowing Jessa would tell him when she was ready. “I know. I’ve been there too.”

  She shook her head and started to push away. “That’s just it. You don’t know. I might be Sighted, but that doesn’t help when you’re trapped someplace like that, always wondering if Josun would return, never knowing if he’d bring food or water or if something worse would come. There wasn’t a lock I could pick. Nothing but bars and rock. And the water crashing far below.”

  He hadn’t realized how hard it had been for her, but of course it would have been difficult. Jessa was used to being in control, knowing that—especially in Elaeavn—there wasn’t anyplace she couldn’t sneak. Josun had taken that control away from her, made her dependent on him for her safety and well-being.

  “I’m sorry, Jessa.” And her capture had been his fault. Josun wanted to hurt him. By going after Jessa, he knew he would get Rsiran’s attention. “I know how awful Ilphaesn can be.” The darkness, the smell of lorcith and sweat all around, the steady tapping as the ore was mined. Those thoughts still kept him awake at times.

  “At least when you went to Ilphaesn, you weren’t trapped. You could always Slide away.” She lowered her head onto his chest. “The whole time I was there, I prayed to the Great Watcher that he would give me your gift, just long enough to escape. And when you came… when you appeared with Josun… I thought…” She coughed and wiped away the tears welling in her eyes. “I thought he’d captured you too.”

  Rsiran held her, rocking in place as he did. “But he hadn’t. I got you to safety, Jessa.”

  “Did you?” she asked. She moved away from him and looked back at the Tower. “Is that what we’ve found? Safety?”

  “We’ll get through this. I’ll Slide us back to Elaeavn. Make sure Brusus is well. Then we can talk to Della and find out what she knows of the Tower and the scholars.”

  “That’s just it, Rsiran. If it’s not the scholars, it’s someone else. The Elvraeth. The Forgotten. Damn, you even have the alchemist guild after you.”

  He’d almost forgotten about that. Considering everyone he’d encountered as he tried to determine what Brusus was planning and what had happened to Jessa, the alchemist guild seemed the least important. Yet, in Elaeavn, they were nearly as dangerous as the Elvraeth.

  “You think to keep us safe by barricading us into the smithy, building walls that others can’t get through. But that’s no way for us to be.”

  Rsiran sighed. The heartstone bars had been meant to keep them safe, at least in the smithy, but now he wondered if they ever could do that. They might keep someone from Sliding in, but there were other ways to get to them. What had happened to Brusus showed him that.

  “I wanted to keep you safe.”

  “That’s not safe, Rsiran. I’m not sure we can ever be safe, not like we once were.”

  “What do you suggest? We go find a place to hide? Tuck ourselves into the Aisl and live like our ancestors did?”

  Jessa pulled herself toward him again. “Would that be so bad?” Then she laughed. “But no, that’s not what I’m suggesting.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know what I’m suggesting. We can’t keep ourselves apart like this anymore. We have to trust our friends to help. When we stay separate is when others get hurt. First Lianna. Now Brusus.”

  She didn’t say it, but he knew she feared Haern was next. Or Della. More than any of them, if something happened to Della, it would devastate Rsiran most of all. She had always been the one with the answers.

  “You’re right. Too much has gone on for us to stay away from our friends.”

  He looked back at the Tower rising above Thyr. The white stone looked bleaker in the fading night. What would it look like in the daylight? A few slatted windows dotted the sides of the Tower. Could he simply return the antidote if Brusus was already gone?

  “We’ll return. Tell Della what happened. She’ll know what we should do next.”

  The relief on Jessa’s face was clear.

  Rsiran took one more look at Thyr and then Slid them to Della’s home.

  Chapter 18

  A fire still crackled in the hearth of Della’s home when they emerged from the Slide, filling the room with heat and the scent of her mint tea. The cot in front of the fire was empty. Blood soaked sheets were crumpled near the end.

  Rsiran’s breath caught. “We’re too late,” he said.

  Jessa let go of his hand and hurried over to the cot. She lifted the sheets, as if Brusus were simply hiding rather than missing. She looked back at Rsiran, her eyes wide. Her gaze flicked past him, and he spun to see what she looked at.

  Haern sat staring at them. The long scar across his face, running from his ear down his cheek, caught the firelight. At least it didn’t seem to writhe like Thom’s scar had. “It’s late.” He sat atop a tall stool, feet kicked up on a shelf. His eyes were half-closed, as if sleeping.

  “Where’s Brusus?” Jessa asked.

  Haern frowned. “Della took care of him. Spent most of the night trying to get him well. He kept bleeding and bleeding.” He nodded toward the pile of sheets atop the cot. “Mostly from his mouth and nose. Damn nasty toxin they used, but one I’d seen before.” Haern looked from Jessa to Rsiran. “Hear we have you to thank for him making it to Della?”

  Was Haern saying Brusus was dead or still alive? “We were with him in the Barth when the attack came,” Rsiran said.

  “Attack? I thought it was poison.”

  “That’s what took Brusus. Someone put something in his ale. But there were others. Men with swords. Looked like Elvraeth.”

  Haern frowned. “Elvraeth in the Barth? I’ve never seen any venture far into Lower Town, let alone into one of the taverns. How sure are you?”

  Rsiran sighed. “I don’t think they were our Elvraeth.” He paused, looking around Della’s home. “Is Brusus…” He couldn’t finish the question.

  And Haern didn’t offer an answer. Instead, changing the subject. “So you know.”

  Rsiran frowned. “I know?”

  Haern tilted his head toward the door and Rsiran understood. The palace. The Elvraeth.

  “When did you learn of the Forgotten?” Haern shifted on his chair, swinging his legs down.

  “After the alchemist guild, when Jessa was taken,” Rsiran said, looking back at her, but she was silent. She stared at the sheets on the cot as if Brusus might reappear. “Did you hear what happened to me?”

  “I heard. Hoped it wasn’t true,” Haern answered. “You know I can’t See you like I can the others.”

  “Then you know what Firell did. What Shael had him do,” Rsiran said.

  Haern rubbed a hand across his face and shook his head. “Still can’t believe Firell would do that to you. To Brusus, really. That man owes him more than most.”

  Rsiran leaned over the cot, running his hand across the surface. How long ago had it been that he’d been the one lying atop the cot depending on Della’s skill to Heal him? Now, with Brusus gone…

  “I’m not sure Firell had a choice,” he said absently.

  “Always have a choice,” Haern said. “It’s what you do with it that matters.”

  Rsiran looked up. “I think Josun had someone Firell cared about.”

  “
Probably Lena. She’s the only one he would have done that for.”

  Rsiran spun. Brusus stood in the doorway to Della’s back room. Normally faded green eyes shone with a bright intensity. He looked weakened and pale, but alive.

  “Brusus?” Jessa said his name and took a step toward him before catching herself.

  Brusus smiled and brought a hand to his mouth as he coughed. Bloody phlegm splattered in his palm. “The same,” he said. His voice sounded different. Hoarse, as if he’d been yelling for hours.

  “How are you?” she said.

  “Same as any of us. Della Healed me.”

  “I thought she didn’t know what poison had been used on you,” Rsiran said. That was the reason he’d gone with Thom, the reason they’d Slid all the way to Thyr for the chance they might find an antidote.

  Rsiran held the wooden bottle, finger running along the charred edges. What had he sacrificed unnecessarily? Had he only listened to Della, he might have learned she could Heal Brusus. Instead, Thom was lost. His father now trapped in the Tower. And Rsiran owed the scholars… something.

  Jessa looked over at him. The look on her face told him she shared his thoughts.

  “I’m not sure that always matters for Della,” Brusus said. He took a few unsteady steps into the room. Rsiran hurried forward to put an arm around him and guided him toward a chair in front of the fire. Brusus smiled at him weakly. “Where have you two been? When I came around, Della said you were the reason I was alive.” He laughed. “Again. I’ve got to stop getting into situations like this, Rsiran. Can’t keep owing you my life. Hard to repay that debt.”

  “Who is Lena?” Rsiran asked.

  Brusus ran a hand through his hair. “Lena is Firell’s daughter.”

  “Daughter?”

  Brusus nodded. “Mother is Ylish. A woman Firell met while smuggling. She sailed with him for a while, but when she became pregnant, she returned to Yl. He doesn’t talk about her much. I think he regrets that he can’t be with her, but Firell doesn’t know anything other than his ship. Asking him to give up the sea would be like asking Jessa to give up sneaking. Or you to give up your smithy.”

  Rsiran thought of how hard that would be. Would he be willing to do it? Would he really give up working with lorcith?

  He looked over at Jessa. For her, he would. He would give up everything to be with her.

  Is that what she had done to be with him? Had she given up what she was?

  The idea made his heart sink.

  “But if you know of her, why wouldn’t he have come to you for help?” Jessa asked.

  “That’s not Firell. He takes care of his own business.” Brusus shrugged. “If Josun was threatening harm to Lena, then I can’t blame him for doing what he needed to save her.”

  Rsiran tried to imagine his father doing something similar for him but failed. For Alyse, he likely would do anything. But for Rsiran?

  Now that Josun was out of the way, trapped in the mines, what would happen to Lena? What would Firell do now?

  “You haven’t told me where you were,” Brusus said.

  Rsiran looked over to Jessa. She shook her head.

  Brusus frowned. The brightness to his eyes faded the longer he was with them. “What don’t you two want to say?”

  Rsiran turned to face Brusus. He clutched the bottle of the antidote in his hand. “We thought you were dying.”

  Brusus leaned forward. The green to his eyes surged briefly. “What did you do?”

  “I thought I could help you. Della said she couldn’t help you. You needed an antidote or you wouldn’t survive.”

  “An antidote? How did you expect to find an antidote?”

  “We went to Thyr. There is a place where poisons and their antidotes are studied. I thought if we could find something…”

  “Thyr?” Haern asked, puzzled. “Why would you go to Thyr? There are other places… safer places… than Thyr.”

  Rsiran glanced at Jessa again before turning back to Brusus. “Thom suggested we go to Thyr. Other than Asador, I haven’t been anywhere.” Brusus wore a look of confusion. “I didn’t know what else to do, Brusus. I couldn’t just wait for you to die.”

  Brusus blinked. As he did, his face relaxed, and Rsiran could tell how much the poisoning had taken from him. Where he’d once worn his age well, the wrinkles around his eyes giving him a dignified air, he now looked beaten. His dark hair streaked with silver stood on end, making him seem wild. More fitting for someone of Lower Town than Upper Town where Brusus always pretended to live.

  “I don’t understand,” Brusus said. “Who’s Thom?”

  Chapter 19

  Rsiran waited for Brusus to laugh, but it didn’t come. “What do you mean?”

  Brusus shook his head. “Who’s Thom?” he repeated.

  Rsiran looked to Jessa, but she frowned. “Thom. Man from Thyr you hired to watch my father.”

  Brusus turned to Haern. “You weren’t watching him?”

  Haern stood and walked toward the fire. His jaw clenched. He’d slipped a coin from his pocket and worked it along his fingers, making it dance from one finger to the next. “I’d been watching. I had.” He flicked his eyes to Rsiran. “Keln watching with me. You couldn’t expect me to be there all the time.”

  Brusus sighed. “You seen Keln recently?”

  Haern’s eyes lost focus and he looked as if he stared past Brusus. His face flattened into an unreadable mask. Moments passed and then he blinked, shaking his head. “I can’t See him.”

  “What does that mean?” Brusus asked.

  Haern gave Brusus a look. “It means I can’t See him.” He shook his head. “It’s not like with Rsiran. This is different.”

  “Dead?” Brusus asked.

  Haern pursed his lips and his brow furrowed, pulling on his scar. “Maybe dead. Maybe not. Like I said, I can’t See him.”

  “Then what?” Brusus pushed.

  “I don’t know.”

  Brusus studied Haern, but he didn’t elaborate.

  “Shielded?” Rsiran asked.

  They turned to Rsiran. Haern frowned and asked, “Shielded, how?”

  “Like how the alloy prevents me from Sliding,” Rsiran started, not explaining that it no longer did. “Or how we can barricade our minds to keep from being Read.”

  Haern frowned. “It is possible. Always before, I could See Keln. Now… now I simply can’t. Perhaps that is it.”

  His tone told Rsiran that he thought it unlikely.

  Rsiran looked at Brusus. “You don’t know Thom?”

  Brusus watched Haern for a moment more before turning back to Rsiran. His head wobbled as he moved, swaying as if he’d had too much ale. “No. And from Haern’s expression, he’s not someone he hired.”

  Rsiran thought about what Thom had said. Hadn’t he mentioned Brusus? Or had Rsiran been the one to bring him up? He couldn’t remember. Now, it didn’t matter. Thom had died in the forest.

  But why would Thom make up a story and then agree to take them toward Thyr? Unless there was something he needed, something only Rsiran could do?

  Like Sliding him there.

  “Tell me about Thom,” Brusus suggested.

  Rsiran sighed and grabbed a stool from along the wall and sat. Jessa came and leaned against him, choosing to stand. One hand gripped the charm on her necklace. The other rested on his shoulder. “Not sure what there is to tell, now.”

  Brusus grunted. “You thought he knew me?”

  “He said you did a job together in Thyr.” Rsiran watched Brusus, looking for a hint of reaction. When Brusus’s eyes widened briefly, Rsiran frowned. “You know him, don’t you?”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Dressed in black leathers. Carried a sword—one of mine, I think. Not scared when I Slid around him. Had a long scar across the top of his head.”

  Brusus leaned back and closed his eyes, sighing. “I know him,” he agreed. “But not by Thom.”

  “Who is he?” Rsiran asked.
>
  Brusus shook his head. “Name doesn’t really matter, not with him.”

  “Is he really from Thyr?”

  “Ahh, who knows with him?”

  “Why?”

  Brusus leaned forward. “He’s a powerful Reader, but more than that. He can Compel too. Not many with that set of abilities.”

  “A Reader? But he’s from Thyr! I saw his eyes—”

  Brusus smiled. “Like mine?” he asked. His eyes suddenly appeared a deep brown, the shade nearly identical to Thom’s, before fading back to the pale green they’d been when Rsiran first met him. Brusus shook his head. “Like I said, he’s powerful. More skilled than me in that area.”

  “Why would he say he’s from Thyr?” Jessa asked.

  “For all I know, Thyr might be his home. I don’t know if he was Forgotten or the child of a Forgotten. Either way, he’s not of Elaeavn.”

  Rsiran leaned back, trying to think of everything Thom had told him. Had everything been some sort of plan to get him out of the city? Had he known what would happen in Venass? Did he expect Rsiran to get stuck, unable to Slide away?

  “If you went with him, where is he now?”

  Rsiran shook his head. “Dead,” he started, thinking of how they became separated in the forest. Had that been Thom’s plan as well? Not the dying, but separating from them? “I can’t Slide someplace I’ve never been, at least not all at once. Traveling to Thyr took lots of smaller Slides. One of them let out near a small forest. I went ahead, looking for the way to Thyr, but we lost him in the forest.”

  “Lost?”

  Jessa’s face darkened and she answered. “There was a presence there. Something Pushing dark thoughts onto us.” She shook her head. “I’ve never experienced anything like it before.”

  Brusus’s eyes narrowed. He coughed again, a bit of dark blood coming from his mouth. “He got lost in the forest because of this presence?”

  “I went back and found him,” Rsiran said. “I don’t know what happened, only that whatever else was in the forest got him.” He’d intended to go back to bury him, but maybe he needed to go back to investigate what strange presence might be in the forest.