The only hope they had was whatever strength Carth had remaining.
Haern hated feeling helpless like this. It was the way he felt compared to his father. This was power unlike anything he had ever imagined, power that exceeded even his father’s. Who was he against something like this?
“What I intend is to reacquire what we’ve lost.”
“Reacquire? You intend to bargain with Lareth for the Elder Stones?”
“Bargain? No. I intend to use him as bait. When they have him, I will follow them and discover where they are keeping the stolen stones.”
“The stones need to be kept where they belong,” Carth said. “That’s where they’re safest.”
“Like in Elaeavn? Are they so safe there?”
“They could have been.”
“The Ai’thol have decided to stop waiting and have chosen now to press their attack.”
“Because you captured Lareth,” Carth said, and power pressed away from her, forcing Alera to widen her stance. “He was a stabilizing force, distracting them. And you disrupted that. In your wisdom, you are the reason they might finally claim the Stones of the Watcher.”
“How little you can see,” she said.
“Is there an Elder Stone in Asador?” Haern said.
Carth glanced over. “An Elder Stone?”
“The Forgers are after Elder Stones. Is there one here?”
Carth turned her attention back to Alera. “What have you done?”
“I have done nothing.”
Carth’s brow wrinkled for a moment as she clenched her jaw. She kept her arms out, and Rayen continued to hold her up. “I see it now. The pieces are coming together for me. That is how you acquired such power. You used the Wisdom Stone. It was to be protected, held safe, not used.”
Alera grinned. “You and your antiquated beliefs. The C’than have long believed that the stones should be held by those they belong to. And what am I but one of the C’than?”
“The stone belongs to Asador. It belongs to the university.”
“And I am of the university.”
Carth let out a heavy sigh. “You revealed its existence. The Forgers and the Ai’thol knew nothing about the Wisdom Stone. The C’than saw fit to safeguard that knowledge, knowing that if others managed to acquire the Wisdom Stone, they would be even more formidable, and possibly unstoppable. And now because of your selfishness—”
“My selfishness? Where have you been all these years? You allowed the Ai’thol to continue to gain strength. Because of you, they have pressed onward.”
“Because of me, they have been distracted,” Carth said. “Because of Lareth, they have not gone after other Elder Stones. And you have removed protections.”
Alera raised her hands and brought them down in a sharp movement. A wave of invisible power slammed into Haern, forcing him against the wall. Carth went staggering back, and were it not for Rayen holding her up, she would have collapsed.
Alera flickered.
It was a shimmer that Haern was familiar with. He had seen it often enough from Daniel and others throughout the Aisl to know when someone would Slide.
How was she able to Slide?
She emerged inside the cell. She crouched down, grabbing for Rsiran.
“You are too late. I will be the one to use Lareth. And now that they’re here, the trade will be made, and he will lead me to the rest of the Elder Stones.”
Haern ran toward the bars of the prison. His father was in there, and there was no way of reaching him. The moment she Slid, there would be nothing they could do to find him again. She would take him to the Forgers, and he would be lost.
“Don’t do this. Don’t take my father.”
Alera paused, turning toward him. “Your father? Ah. I see the resemblance. When this is over, I will find you. You could be useful in other ways. I can see them now.”
“Don’t. He doesn’t deserve this. I don’t deserve this.”
“No one deserves anything. They take what they want. And now, I’m taking Lareth with me because I want to find the remaining stones.”
She started to shimmer.
As she did, an awareness of lorcith came to him, surprisingly within the cell.
It was the sword Daniel had been carrying—at least, what remained of it. It lay near his father, and somehow it was in the middle of the cell.
Haern pulled on the blade, dragging it toward Alera.
As she shimmered, the Slide beginning, the blade slammed through her, dragged all the way through her belly and back out.
Her eyes widened, and she clasped her hands over her stomach. Her shimmer and the Slide failed.
Haern pushed on the remnant of the blade, and it slammed into her chest, pinning her to the floor. She kicked and thrashed, trying to pull the blade out, but she couldn’t.
Haern gripped the bars of the cell, watching.
Alera rolled her head to the side, a twisted smile on her face. “Now what will you do? There’s no way of reaching your father without me.”
With that, she coughed and took her last breath.
Haern leaned on the bars, wishing he knew what to do. He made his way around the cell but could find no way in. There was no gate, nothing but the strange stone, and though he could See that metal was worked into the stone, it was not lorcith, and it did not appear to be heartstone, either.
Galen joined him when he completed his circuit. “You did well.”
“Did I? We stopped her, but we can’t reach my father.”
“We’ll find a way.”
“How?”
“Rayen can help,” Carth said, limping over to the cell. “And you… you did well.”
Haern swallowed. “I don’t really understand what has happened.”
“As I told you, it’s about the Ai’thol and the Elder Stones.”
“But she’s not of the Ai’thol.”
“No, but she intended to go after the Elder Stones the Ai’thol have already claimed, though I’m not sure that even with her borrowed abilities, she would have been able to do so.”
“And the Elder Stone she has?”
“Should never have been revealed. It is powerful, perhaps the most powerful, and the C’than have long entrusted it to the university here. It’s been buried deep beneath the university, in a place where the scholars would benefit from its residual effects, but they would not be enhanced in any way that would make it obvious.”
“And now she has it?”
“It seems that way,” Carth said. She glanced over to Rayen. “Can you wrap your shadows around her and drag her to us?”
“I think so, but what will that do?”
“We need the stone.”
“Can’t we just use shadows to rip these bars apart?”
“You can try, but I wasn’t able to do so.”
Rayen nodded. “If you weren’t able to, then I doubt that I will be either.”
“You shouldn’t discount your abilities. I certainly don’t. It’s just that I fear there won’t be anything we can do to break through this. We have to Slide through it.”
“Can we?”
“We can’t, but someone with the right connection can.”
“And what is the right connection?”
“That is why we need the Wisdom Stone. It will guide us and reveal what we must do.”
Rayen crouched down and put her hands between the bars, letting shadows stretch out from her. They formed something like ropes, and they crept into the cell, where she wrapped them around the fallen form of Alera. She began to pull, but Alera was pinned by the lorcith blade.
“I can’t—”
“Let me.” Haern pulled on the blade, lifting it out of the stone with a jerk, and working with Rayen, he pulled Alera toward the bars. Blood trailed after her, and Haern tried not to stare at it too long. There was something almost better about Galen’s method of killing. It was neater, and certainly less bloody.
“I can’t reach through the bars,” Rayen sai
d.
“You can’t, but the shadows can. Feel for the Wisdom Stone.”
Shadows swirled around, working from one end of Alera to another. Rayen paused, leaning back. “I don’t find anything.”
“She has to have it on her,” Carth said.
“Would it be on her, or might it be in her?” Daniel asked, staggering to the gate. He nodded to Haern and then to Rayen. “When Lucy was attacked, the metal implanted itself in her and burrowed into her. If this stone was used in a similar way, it’s possible that she has it implanted within her too.”
Carth frowned. “It’s possible.”
Rayen shifted the focus of her shadows, sweeping across, but shook her head. “I don’t detect anything.”
Carth let out a tired sigh. “I will see what I can uncover. This will not be pleasant.”
Haern didn’t have a chance to ask what she meant. Heat began to build, radiating off Carth. A soft flame flickered at Alera’s clothing before working into her body and quickly consuming her.
He wanted to look away, but he wasn’t sure that he could—or that he should. When her flesh began to burn, he nearly gagged. The stench of it was overwhelming. If his father weren’t inside this cage, he might have turned away. There would be no shame in turning away, not from the sight of this, and not with the horrible stench, but he wanted to know. He wanted to find this Wisdom Stone, and if it meant that was how he would rescue his father, he would be a part of it.
Galen coughed. “Why didn’t you do this when you were fighting with her?”
“I tried, Galen. Believe me, I tried.”
A flash of pale purple caught his attention. “What’s that?”
Carth released her connection to heat, and she frowned. “What’s what?”
“Around her neck. At least, where her neck used to be.” Now it was little more than a charred remain.
“How did we not see it before?” Rayen asked.
“It’s tiny,” Haern said. It was smaller than the nail on his small finger, and smooth. Mostly clear, but a faint purplish hue glowed within it. That was what he had seen.
“Did you know it was so small?” Galen asked.
“I’ve never seen the Wisdom Stone. The C’than have held it, but none have used it. We have known better than to do so.”
“One of us has to use it in order to get Rsiran out of there,” Galen said.
“It should be Carth,” Rayen said. She looked around at the remaining Binders, those who were still standing. “She has shown more wisdom than I, and I should have known that she would never have abandoned her people.”
“I don’t blame you for anything,” Carth said.
“Which is why you should hold the Wisdom Stone.” Rayen pulled it toward them, through the bars.
No one touched it.
“What happens when you hold it?” Haern asked.
“I don’t know. I have been in the presence of others of the Elder Stones, but this… this intimidates me.” She stared at it, and he realized that the fact that it made Carth uncomfortable made him uncomfortable. “The power within the stone can be devastating.”
“Only if you misuse it,” Galen said.
“What if I’m drawn to it the same way as she was? She’s right. I have felt that I know better. I have manipulated things to my whim. What happens when I hold the Wisdom Stone and gain enlightenment? Will it be the same? Or, worse, will it be different?”
“We’ll only know when you try,” Rayen said.
As Carth reached for it, Galen grabbed her wrist. “You don’t have to draw the same powers from it. Only enough to know how to grab Lareth and get out. Anything else and you will be doing the same as her.”
Carth looked up at him. “Perhaps you should be the one to hold the Wisdom Stone.”
“I think I’m well beyond wisdom,” Galen said, releasing her wrist.
Carth grabbed it, and with a faint shimmer of color, she Slid inside the cell and emerged near Rsiran. She grabbed him and then Slid out, lowering him to the floor and turning her attention to the cell.
Haern rested near his father. He’d been searching for him for so long that it was hard to believe that he was here—and that he was alive. Even though his father wouldn’t know, Haern hugged him. A tear streamed down his eye.
He glanced over to see Galen watching him. “You did well. He would be proud.”
“I can’t believe we managed to do it.”
“And it’s not over,” Galen said. “If you’re right, we still have to deal with the Forgers in the city.”
He turned his attention to Carth. With a smile, she pushed the Wisdom Stone into the cell and stretched her shadows out, forcing it back to the center of the cell.
“What are you doing?” Haern asked.
“If you’re going after the Ai’thol, I don’t intend to have this with me. We can leave it here until we know how to protect it once again.”
“I can stay,” Rayen said.
Carth shook her head. “For what is to come, I think you will be needed. I will stay.”
“Carth—”
She breathed out, sagging against the bars of the cell. “This has taken more out of me than I had expected. I will guard the stone—and Lareth—until you return. Finish this and then return.”
43
Daniel
Daniel hurt. Everything seemed to throb, and he’d been beaten, assaulted by Alera, and somehow had come out alive. More than that, they had succeeded. Lareth was out of the cell, and they could bring him back to Elaeavn. That was why they had left the city, wasn’t it? If they could return him, Lareth would be able to remove the metal spikes from the Elder Trees, and once they did that, everything would be over. They could resume protecting the sacred crystals. Things would get back to normal.
Only… he still didn’t have Lucy.
He looked over to Haern, expecting an argument with him. Haern would want him to Slide him and his father back to Elaeavn, but Daniel wasn’t ready for that. Not yet, not until he understood what had happened to Lucy.
“We can’t take him back yet,” Daniel said.
“Good. I was thinking you were going to argue with me,” Haern said.
“You mean you don’t intend to return?”
“We need to return, but the Forgers have come to the city with a purpose, and we need to do what we can to stop them.”
Daniel looked around. Rayen was speaking softly with Carth, and Galen loaded up his strange darts, filling them with whatever poison he preferred. The other women, all Binders, spoke off to the side, working with the injured women, getting them prepared.
Was this to be their army?
“Are you sure we should do this?” he asked.
“I’m not sure about anything,” Haern said. “We rescued my father, and I hope whatever he was attacked with isn’t so much that he can’t recover from it, but at the same time, the Forgers are after that stone.” He pointed toward the cell, and Daniel turned his attention to it. The strange stone sat in the middle of the cell, and he had already learned that any attempt on his part to Slide into it would fail.
He didn’t think Carth had the ability to Slide, but she had managed to do so in order to reach the inside of the cell.
“I’m not even sure we should participate in this,” Daniel said.
“What?”
“I need to find Lucy.”
“Daniel, we need to find Lucy, but we need to be a part of this, too. This is an opportunity to stop the Forgers.”
“We already have,” Daniel said. “We rescued your father. That was what we were after. And now we need to go after Lucy. A rescue, not an attack.”
Lareth glanced over to his father before turning his attention back to Daniel. “Neither of us ever wanted to fight, but I think that was a mistake. We need to be a part of this. If we don’t, if we let the Forgers continue to attack in places like Asador and give them even a chance of claiming any more of the Elder Stones, they will win.”
“I
just want to be done with this. I just want to return home, but more than that, I just want to find Lucy.”
“And we will.”
“What happens if we can’t?”
“Then we need to defeat the Forgers. If nothing else, we need to use whatever power we can to stop them. It’s what my father would’ve wanted.”
It wasn’t that Daniel was against the idea of going after the Forgers. But he was more concerned for Lucy; then again, he didn’t know how to find her. The Forgers had gotten to her, and there might not be a way of saving her. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.
Before he had a chance to say anything, Galen stood and turned to them. “Are we ready?”
“Now?” Rayen asked.
“If we don’t do this now, we lose any chance of surprise. Alera had something in mind, and I think Haern is right that the Forgers intended to use the trade as a distraction. I fear they were going to go after the Elder Stone.”
“Where was it hidden?” Daniel asked.
“Deep beneath the university,” Carth said. “Which I suspect is where we will find them.”
He could Slide to the university, but once he was there, there wouldn’t be much that he would be able to do.
“They have a way of preventing my ability to Slide,” Daniel said.
“Can you get us there?”
Daniel looked around the room at the people gathered with them. He wasn’t strong enough, not for that. “Not all of us.”
“Slide what you can out of here, and we’ll go by foot,” Galen said.
Daniel nodded. He turned to Galen first, grabbing him and Sliding him back to the courtyard. When he was done, he Slid back, grabbing Rayen and Sliding her out. One after another he went, bringing people out one by one. It was slow, and straining, and yet were it not for everything he’d gone through, he wouldn’t have been able to do it. He hadn’t been strong enough before.
Galen guided them out into the street, and they started toward the university.
“This would be easier if we could Slide there,” Lareth said.
“I’m sorry I’m not powerful enough to do that. I’m not your father.” The irritation with Lareth had faded. Now he meant it.
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