“Were you expecting this?”
Rayen’s face clouded. “Not this. We thought this sort of thing had been curtailed.”
Galen grunted. “You can’t curtail men’s baser desires. I learned that lesson quite well on the streets of Eban.”
In all the time that Haern had been working with Galen, he hadn’t uncovered much about what Galen had experienced in Eban. The other man was quiet about it, as if he didn’t want to share too much, but Haern had a sense Galen had been through quite a bit when he had been exiled. He doubted his mentor would ever share everything he experienced, though the other man had referenced the events often enough he had a suspicion about what he had gone through.
“We had controlled it.”
“You thought that you controlled it. Unfortunately, we also thought we had the Ai’thol controlled.”
Rayen frowned for a moment before turning her attention to the collection of women. “Perhaps. It is even more reason for Haern to reach Asador. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I can be there with you.”
She’d given him enough information to find the help he needed in Asador, but he couldn’t deny that having Rayen there, someone who knew the people of Asador, the same people he would be going to for aid, would be helpful. Without Rayen, would he find the assistance he needed?
As he looked at the wagons, Haern couldn’t help but worry that they would have too many people to bring with them. It had been almost overwhelming to begin with, but now the sheer numbers traveling would be far more than he felt he could safely accommodate.
The trek would involve Jayna and the others who were able to fight doing just that.
“Where will you be going?” he asked.
“Our journey is not yet over. Our search for the Elder Stone will take us quite a ways from here.”
“What if the Forgers already know about the Elder Stone you’re searching for?”
Galen frowned. “It’s possible they do. Carth is certain we need to find it before they come across it. Otherwise, Olandar Fahr will gain incredible power.”
“What sort of power does he want?”
“The power of the Great Watcher.”
Haern started to laugh until he realized they weren’t joking. “How is he supposed to get the power of the Great Watcher?”
“There are some who suspect your father is the key.”
“Of course he is,” Haern said.
“Not like that,” Galen said. “It’s more that he’s held each of the crystals, and because of that, he has a unique perspective.”
“What kind of unique perspective?” Haern asked, smiling.
“The kind that gives him an understanding of what was once called the Council of Elders.”
Haern regarded Galen for a moment. “What is it?”
“We don’t really know. Carth has been looking for information about it, but what she has uncovered tells her that the Council of Elders was comprised of those who were gifted by Elder Stones.”
“It’s more than that.” Rayen met his eyes. “Whether or not we believe matters little when it comes down to what we’re dealing with. All that matters is that he believes, and in this case, everything we’ve uncovered tells us that he very much does believe.”
The desire for power, the nature of what the Forgers had done over the years, made sense. If it was all about gaining access to the Elder Stones so he could recreate this Council of Elders, then he could see what they might be attempting.
What did he know?
Not only had Elaeavn been attacked, but Asador as they searched for the wisdom stone. There was the stone nearly lost in Nyaesh, but as far as he knew, Carth had protected it. There seemed to be one for the shadow power, and how many others?
“He has to have nearly acquired all of the stones,” Haern said.
“Nearly,” Rayen agreed.
“What happens when he does?”
“When he does, then he will begin to create his Council of Elders.”
“And what does that mean?”
No one answered for a moment. After a while, Galen glanced from Rayen to Haern. “We don’t know. If he’s after the Elder Stones so he can recreate the Council of Elders, the next step for him would be to oversee it, and yet we haven’t been able to determine what that means. We’re trying to prevent him from acquiring the final stone, and if that fails, then we need to understand the purpose behind his actions.”
For some reason, Haern suspected there was more to it, but at the same time, it was unlikely there would be anything they could do until they understood just what this man intended.
“It sounds as if what you need to do is important.” He looked behind him, seeing the women gathered there. There had been a time when he had wanted to fight, to do the same things his father had done, to face the Forgers and to defeat them, the same way he thought that his father had managed to defeat them.
At some point, much had changed for him. He no longer felt compelled the same way as he had before. While there was value in defeating the Forgers, and he thought he had a role to play in it, he also felt a calling to work with and help these women.
That as much as anything motivated him.
“I see you have something you must do,” Galen said.
“You aren’t going to have me go back to Elaeavn?”
Galen cocked his head at him. “And why would I do that?”
“I don’t know. I suspected my parents would have said something to you.”
“Your mother would be thrilled if you returned. At the same time, if she hasn’t come to terms with the fact that you continue to mature, she will. There comes a time in every man’s life when he needs to decide what’s important to him and what he’s willing to fight for.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to fight for my people.”
“I know,” Galen said with a hint of a smile. “You would fight for them. It’s just that you also recognize others can’t fight for them,” he said, nodding toward the wagons.
That was a part of it, and maybe that was all of it. For as long as he had known, the fight that mattered to him was one where he matched up with his father, learning how he had managed to withstand the Forgers. Now that his father was gone and Haern had come into a power of his own, he wasn’t sure that was the same fight he wanted to engage in. Galen was right. His fight was a different one.
“When I get them to Asador…”
Galen smiled. “When you get them to Asador, you decide what you need to do.”
Haern wasn’t entirely sure what that would be, and perhaps that was the point. Perhaps it didn’t really matter what choice he made so long as he decided for himself.
29
Ryn
When she came around, Ryn blinked open her eyes. The pain was still there in her arms and legs, but it was less than it had been before. Everything throbbed, the pain moving along her arms and legs, working toward her midsection. This time, even her head throbbed, a pulsating sensation that sent more waves of pain rolling through her. It seemed timed to her heart, as if every beating of her life blood caused more agony to work through her.
At least the nausea was gone.
She looked up, expecting to see the gray sky, but saw a paneled wood ceiling.
Panic struck her, and she jerked up, sitting up as she looked around, afraid that they had recaptured her. Where were Lorren and the blacksmith?
She could feel them. Through the pain and the nausea that she still suffered, she could feel where they were, but thankfully they weren’t anywhere near her.
That didn’t mean she wasn’t their captive again. They had already proven they were able to capture her and torment her. When she’d escaped, she had barely done so, and she wasn’t sure she would succeed if they caught her once more. With the pain she experienced in her arms and legs, it was possible she wouldn’t be able to tolerate it.
“You need to relax,” a voice said.
Ryn turned, surprised to see Dillon.
“Where am I?”
“I found you on the street. I brought you here.”
“You’re with them.”
“With them how?”
“With the ones who are tormenting me.”
Dillon watched her, and she couldn’t read the emotion behind his eyes. There was something there, and as she waited for him to refute what she said, he only shook his head. “I’m not with them for that.”
“You know what they did?”
He motioned toward her arms. “I saw what happened.”
Ryn brought her arms up. Dillon had removed her cloak, and her arms were exposed. The bands of metal wrapped around her forearms still, though there wasn’t the same burning as before. One end pierced her wrist, closest to her hand, and there was no blood coming from it. “Can you remove it?”
“I don’t think I can.”
“Then you’re with them.”
Dillon shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s already starting to set.”
“What?”
“I’ve been watching and learning from Torry. When the metal begins to set, there’s nothing that can be done. It stays fixed within the person. There’s been no one able to remove it.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. It’s something about the nature of the metal.”
Ryn looked down at it and realized she was wrong. She had thought that only one end had pierced her skin, but the other end had as well. It pressed into her forearm up near the elbow. Was it the same way on her legs?
Leaning forward, she saw that it was.
“Did they do this on purpose?”
“I suspect they would use it as a way to hold you,” Dillon said.
“Hold me?”
“The metal prevents those who can transport from doing so. Seeing how you serve him, I imagine they feared you could travel the same way he can.”
Ryn shook her head. “I can’t.” She stared at the metal on her arms and legs. This was nothing like the blessing the Great One had given. When the Great One offered it to her, she had viewed it as a great reward. It had been anything but a reward. It had been torture, painful, and yet it had done everything he’d claimed it would.
And now all she could think about was what this would do.
If the metal was setting inside her, she could imagine it changing her much the way that the blessing had.
“What is this?”
“This would be Torry’s creation. He’s been studying it for years. Ever since he first encountered the Ai’thol, he’s tried to understand it.”
Ryn blinked. She had thought they were using the sacred metal, but it wasn’t. “It’s not the same?”
“It’s not even the same metals, at least from what I can tell.”
She looked at Dillon for a moment. “Who are you?”
Dillon smiled. “I’m no one.”
“That’s not true. You’re not really from Thyr, are you?”
Dillon scooted toward her. “I was once, but all that changed.”
“Why are you here?”
“For information.”
“What kind of information?”
“The kind that will help others stop them.”
“Stop Lorren and the blacksmith?”
Dillon held her gaze. “No. To stop your Great One.”
Her heart skipped. “You don’t serve him.”
“They don’t serve him, either. It’s how I was able to fit in. I think if they knew, they would have expelled me long ago. There’s something about my abilities that allows me to avoid their influence, though they continue to try to force me.”
Ryn didn’t know what to say. He was with them, but he wasn’t. At the same time, he wasn’t with the Great One.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve seen what happens if he’s not resisted.”
“What does that mean?”
“How long have you served as an emissary?”
“A year or more.”
“You’re young to be serving in such a capacity.”
“He found me broken and lost. He gave me purpose.”
“Yeah? My people were broken and lost, too.”
“How?”
“Because of your Great One.”
“He would do nothing to harm your people.”
“I disagree. I’ve seen the kind of things he’s done.”
“The Great One saves. He offers protection. He offers his comfort.”
“Your Great One wants to control. He wants power. He wants to rule.”
Ryn held Dillon’s eyes for a moment. She’d seen the kind of things the Great One had done. Very few understood the Great One. The Great One didn’t need that sort of recognition. All he wanted was to ensure that others were given the freedom her family had been denied.
“You don’t understand what you’re talking about. I know the Great One. I’ve traveled with him. I’ve seen the things he’s willing to do.”
“My homeland was destroyed by your Great One. At least, by his people. They marched in, pretending to be someone else, and I spent a long time believing this other person was responsible for what happened. But I learned the truth. I’ve seen it myself.”
“What have you seen?”
“I have seen the way that the Ai’thol destroy in order to gain more power.”
He sat in silence, and she became aware of the fire crackling in the hearth, giving off a warmth. Why hadn’t she noticed it before?
The pain.
It was a constant presence, a persistent sensation that rolled through her, and it seemed to push away her awareness of everything else around her. As much as she wanted to ignore the pain and the throbbing in her body, it intruded.
It disrupted even her ability to seal off her mind the way the Great One had taught her.
Perhaps it was a good thing she was here with Dillon rather than still captive within the tower. If the blacksmith were around her now, he would find it all too easy to overwhelm her mind, to burrow beneath the protections she had placed and force her to do whatever he wanted her to do.
“How long?” she asked Dillon.
“How long for what?”
“How long until you turn me back over to them?”
“What makes you think I will?”
She tore her gaze away from the flames, looking at Dillon. “You want to ingratiate yourself, don’t you?”
“I already have ingratiated myself to them. I don’t need to do any more.”
“And yet you’d still turn me over to them.”
“I have no intention of doing that.”
“I have a hard time believing you.”
He shrugged. “Believe what you want. I’m telling you what I will do, and I have no intention of handing you over. As far as I’m concerned, you can depart, return to your Great One, and do whatever it is he wants of you.”
Ryn glanced down at her wrists. She didn’t think she could get very far. It would be hard for her to get anywhere without being overwhelmed by the pain.
Dillon watched her, and she couldn’t tell how old he was. He seemed so young when she first met him, and the longer she looked at him, the more she questioned whether he was far older than she believed.
Worse, she didn’t know anything about him.
Despite that, he was the only one who had been decent to her. He hadn’t harmed her, and he had actually helped her.
“Why?” she asked.
“I don’t get to choose for you. Just because you serve him doesn’t mean you’re bad.”
“I’m not bad,” she said.
He smiled. “See?”
“If you would serve the Great One, you would understand that he is—”
Dillon leaned forward, smiling. “I’ve already told you what I’ve seen about your Great One. I understand him in a way you don’t, much like you understand him in a way I don’t. Two sides, same story. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”
“If you dislike him so much, why help me?”
“Because you haven’t done anything.”
She looked down at her wrist, feeling the throbbing, the pain that lingered, wanting nothing more than to shake that pain away. The pain in her head was still there as well, and that blessing had been placed months ago, long enough that it should have resolved.
“Why can’t the metal be removed?”
“That’s something he’s tried to determine,” Dillon said. “It’s part of his experiments. He wants to know if he can pull power off once it’s been given.”
“And what happens?”
“People suffered.”
“Suffer?”
Dillon arched a brow. “Suffer. Die. Basically the same.”
“It’s not the same.”
“It’s not, and yet it is. They suffer before they die.”
“You’ve seen this?”
“Not that he knows.”
“You’ve kept it from him?”
Dillon smiled slightly. “There are many things I’ve kept from him. This is but one of them.”
“Why?”
“These are the kind of questions that you want to ask?”
Ryn blinked. “I don’t know what type of questions I want to ask. All I know is that I don’t understand why you’re helping me.”
“Consider it my penance.”
“Why would you need to pay a penance?”
“Because I’ve done nothing. I have seen the kind of things he’s done, and yet, even though I had the opportunity, I haven’t done anything to stop him.”
“If he’s as powerful as you say, then it might be there’s nothing for you to do.” And there was something else about the blacksmith—a memory of what he’d said to her. He served someone else.
The Great One would need to know.
Dillon leaned back, breathing in deeply. “Perhaps that’s the case. It’s what I tell myself, at least. I’ve seen too many people suffering. Seen too many deaths. All to experiment.”
“Why is he experimenting?”
“He wants to understand.”
“Why here?”
“This isn’t the only place he experiments.”
“He can travel.”
“He can. And he’s incredibly powerful. I didn’t realize that at first, but the longer I’ve worked with him, the more I’ve come to understand the nature of his power. There’s nothing I can do against it.”
The Coming Chaos Page 28
