The Coming Chaos

by D. K. Holmberg

  They headed off, moving along the street. Daniel glanced from side to side as they went. Usually, finding a tavern wasn’t difficult. Within Elaeavn, there were many different types. The ones in the old Lower Town were more raucous, the kind of place he enjoyed visiting. There was music and dancing, and loud conversation that mingled with ale. It was so different than what he found in the Upper Town, where the taverns were full of muted, whispered conversation. The drinks were different, too. Few people drank ale, most preferring the more refined exotic spiced wine.

  What would they find here?

  In Asador, the taverns he’d visited had reminded him more of those in Lower Town. There had been a certain chaos, an energy, and there had been loud voices and music, but not as much dancing. The women running the taverns in Asador—and even in Eban—had done so with a tight sort of control to ensure the safety of the people within. That was another difference between Asador and Elaeavn: there were no Binders offering themselves to men in exchange for secrets.

  He glanced over to Rayen, frowning. “Do the Binders operate in Elaeavn?”

  “We have operatives in all places.”

  “In the taverns?”

  “In the taverns. Other places throughout the city. Any place we can find information.”

  Why wasn’t he surprised that Carth had managed to secure her network in Elaeavn? The city wasn’t as fortified as those within the floating palace thought.

  Rayen pointed, and they headed toward the sound of music. It was loud and vibrant and drifted out of an open door. Several people headed in as they were making their way there, and he realized this was reassuring. A place with some activity was better than one without any. When they reached the door, Daniel paused for a moment, looking inside. There were several dozen people inside, most seated at tables staggered around the room. Women meandered from table to table, servants similar to what he had found at other taverns. Daniel tapped on Rayen’s arm, nodding.

  “We don’t have a presence here,” Rayen whispered.

  “You don’t?”

  She shook her head. “Apparently, it was some agreement Carth made.”

  “You don’t hear anything out of Keyall?”

  “We do, but it’s not through our network. That was another part of some agreement she arranged.”

  “Why would Carth make an agreement like that?”

  “I never learned.”

  “Why didn’t anyone try to establish their network here?”

  “We were told that anyone who tried would find the constables angered. It’s simply safer not to risk it. No one needs the danger of a city where we aren’t welcome.”

  “I don’t know that you’re necessarily welcome in other places, and yet…”

  “We did what Carth asked,” Rayen said.

  Her tone suggested she wasn’t willing to discuss it any further, and Daniel decided not to push.

  They made their way into the tavern and found an open table near the back. Taking a seat, he tried to twist his chair around so he could pay attention to the people here but found it was a bit difficult. Rayen didn’t have the same challenge. She made certain that her chair was along the wall, and pushed shadows out from her, sending them swirling. The wooden walls of the tavern did nothing to obstruct them.

  With his newfound connection to shadows, Daniel found it difficult to know what purpose Rayen had when she used them like this. Before, he would know when she was trying to mask herself within the shadows, but now he was less aware of that.

  “What are you doing?” he whispered.

  “I am making us less visible.”

  “Don’t you want to be visible so we can see what we can learn?”

  “Eventually, and I’m not completely making us invisible, just… muting… us.”

  “How does it work?”

  Rayen glanced over. “Do you now have a connection to your shadows that you can use like that?”

  “Not really, but I’m curious. Besides, what happens if I gain that ability?”

  “If you gain it, I will teach you. I wonder if you’ll be as inexperienced in that as you are in other things.”

  Daniel coughed, leaning back as heat worked up his neck. “You didn’t seem to complain.”

  “Inexperience can be sweet.” She rested her head back on the wall, smiling, and he shook his head. She was trying to get to him. What was worse, it was working.

  Daniel looked around the tavern, searching for anything that might help him figure out where the Elder Stone would be hidden within the city. Carth would come to taverns like this for a variety of reasons, but one thing he’d often seen her do was playing games. Then again, with her abilities, she rarely lost. Most of the time, Daniel was impressed to find she did so out of skill rather than trying to sneak her way through, using shadows or her connection to the flame in order to win. Then again, there were times when he suspected she did use those abilities. How could she not? Someone simply didn’t win that often at dicing without some extra help.

  At a table near them, four men sat with a couple of dice resting on the table. Every so often, one of them would roll the dice, and they would begin to laugh. Money was moved around the table as they played, and Daniel wished he better understood how to dice.

  Another table had a circular board with small figurines placed upon it. It reminded him somewhat of Tsatsun, though there didn’t appear to be the same level of strategy with it. Money changed hands at that table, too.

  “Do they gamble on all of these games?” he whispered.

  “What’s the point of playing if there’s nothing at stake?” Rayen asked.

  “Isn’t the point just to win?”

  “For some, but others need to risk something. Think about how much more it will matter when they win.”

  Daniel leaned forward, watching the men nearest him as they diced. It seemed to him a great disservice that in all the time he had grown up around the palace, he’d not learned anything about a game like dice. Then again, regardless of his father wanting to teach him strategy, he hadn’t learned anything about Tsatsun, and that seemed to be a game that would have intrigued him. As Daniel watched, he tried to get a sense for the strategy involved. As far as he could tell, they were trying to get the highest roll on three dice, and it seemed they had three rolls with which to do so. There didn’t seem to be any skill to this game at all. It was a matter of luck. Then again, perhaps there was some skill with how the matchings were chosen.

  Daniel turned his attention to the game board, looking at the pieces. The men there moved more deliberately, taking their time in between each move, lifting their pieces as they slid them across the board. From what he could tell, most of the pieces looked the same, though not all. There was no central piece as there was in Tsatsun—the Stone—and as they moved, nearing their opponent’s pieces, they removed piece after piece from the board.

  Daniel frowned. A game like that would have some strategy, though as he watched, he couldn’t detect what it might be.

  “Are you sensing anything?” he asked Rayen. With her shadows, she could tilt them, manipulate them in such a way she could listen to conversations around her that he had no access to.

  “Not so far. There is mostly conversation about gambling, and about the inventory on ships. It seems many of these men are merchants.”

  Daniel looked around the tavern. This wasn’t the right kind of place for them to uncover what they wanted. He motioned for Rayen to follow him, and got to his feet, heading out the door. Once outside, he glanced back at the tavern.

  “That’s not where we need to be.”

  “It’s the kind of place Carth would have gone.”

  “Perhaps, but what we’re looking for is someone familiar with the city. We need to find someone who knows things here. If we can uncover that, then we can figure out what they know about the Elder Stone.” As he looked around, he tried to think about what they would need. It would be a more refined tavern—one more like those in Upper Tow
n in Elaeavn.

  It would be a place where locals gathered, not merchants. Even in Asador, Daniel had noticed many of the locals preferred to go to taverns where they wouldn’t have to be surrounded by outsiders. There weren’t as many places like that, and those they found weren’t as well marked.

  Normally, he would ask Rayen to help, using her connection to the shadows to listen, but perhaps that was a mistake here. And maybe he wouldn’t even need to have Rayen use her ability in order for them to figure out where to go.

  There was another way for him to find someplace more typical for Keyall. He’d seen it when he’d first reached this upper section of the city.

  It was the stone.

  People from the city would prefer a building made from their stone. If it was impervious to shadows, it was likely special to them in other ways, and perhaps it was connected to their Elder Stone.

  He looked around, searching for something that would tell him where they needed to go.

  “What are you looking for?” Rayen asked.

  “A tavern with the dark stone.”

  “Why do you think you’ll find one?”

  “Just consider it a hunch.”

  She laughed, glancing over at him. “I didn’t take you for the kind who played by hunch. I always figured you preferred skill and strategy.”

  “In this case, I think they’ll be the same.” He nodded to the building they’d just come out of. “Look at that one. It’s made of wood. It’s filled with merchants. Outsiders. It didn’t have anything about it that struck me as unique to Keyall. What we need to find is a place less well marked, but more likely to be considered local.”

  He started along the street, looking and listening as he went, glancing from building to building. Some of them were built partly out of the same dark stone. Those that weren’t were typically made of wood and were shorter than those made from the stone.

  It took a while, but Daniel finally found a row of buildings that all seemed to be constructed from the same dark stone that he found immune to the shadows. He started toward it, but Rayen grabbed his hand.

  “We should be careful,” she said.

  “What are you worried about?”

  “Only that we don’t know enough about Keyall.”

  Daniel squeezed her hand. “I know you’re worried that your abilities aren’t working like you think they should, but I can Slide us out of here if I need to.”

  “Are you able to do so even without a connection to the shadows?”

  “It’s not that I don’t have a connection to the shadows, it’s just that when I tried to use it around the buildings—at least, around these buildings—I didn’t have the same capability.”

  “I haven’t seen anything I suspect is a tavern,” she said.

  “Then we should watch.”

  “How would you propose we watch?”

  Daniel pointed to a nearby rooftop. Rayen looked over to him and nodded.

  34

  Daniel

  Daniel was getting tired from sitting on the rooftop. It felt as if they had been here for most of the night, though he knew that wasn’t the case. He tried to mimic Rayen as she remained crouched next to him, scanning the darkness. She had said nothing about experiencing discomfort positioned as she was.

  “We haven’t come across anything,” he whispered.

  “That’s not true,” she said, nodding to the street. They had followed dozens of people throughout the night, staying along the rooftop, using Daniel’s ability to Slide. Each time they followed someone, they found they didn’t go quite where he had expected. No one seemed to be a local, or if they were, they were heading away from this section and deeper into the city.

  They had found quite a few merchants who traveled from place to place, often going into taverns, but just as often traveling deeper into the city, likely to trade their wares, before disappearing altogether.

  All in all, it was an entirely frustrating turn of events. Finding a local—and someone who was able to guide them to a tavern—had proven more challenging than he had expected.

  “I can’t believe Carth has managed to uncover so much by following people throughout the city.”

  “Most of the time, it’s relatively easy to find a tavern,” Rayen said. “Even if you start at the wrong one, it doesn’t take long to hear about others.”

  “We could have used that strategy.”

  “I don’t know that it would’ve worked.”

  Neither did Daniel. It wasn’t a matter of just finding any local. They wanted to find the right kind. Someone who had information—real information.

  It was nearing midnight, late enough that anyone who might go out for the night would already have done so, and the longer they waited, the less likely it was that they would come across anyone. It might be better for them to get some sleep and then come back out the following night. He considered finding a place in Keyall, but it would be just as easy for them to Slide back to Elaeavn or Asador or any other place where they had rooms. More than that, they would be safe rooms. In Keyall, he had no idea what sort of safety he’d find.

  “You see that?” Rayen whispered.

  “No.”

  She shot him a look. “You’re the Elvraeth. Don’t you have enhanced eyesight?”

  “Yes, but I’m not seeing what you think I should.”

  She pointed along the road. “Look. Movement.”

  They’d had several false alarms already. Each time, they thought they had come across movement, but it had been little more than merchants or visitors, and once even a trio of constables. He had been careful not to follow too closely, not wanting to draw the constables’ attention.

  Daniel stared at the street, peering through the darkness. His eyesight was good, but not as enhanced as others from Elaeavn. It was one of those gifts he’d never cared all that much to develop, but now he couldn’t help but think it would’ve been nice to have more capability there.

  As he stared, he took a moment to see what Rayen referred to. A man skittered along the street, slipping from one pool of darkness to the next. He seemed to have an awareness of how to conceal himself within the shadows as he moved. Daniel couldn’t help but think that wasn’t chance.

  Grabbing Rayen, he Slid, reaching the end of the street, emerging on the rooftop and looking down.

  The man was gone.

  No—he was still there, but he had moved to the far side of the street, still hiding within the shadows. As he went, Daniel found himself smiling at the man. It was impressive that he was able to conceal himself. The fact he traveled the way he did couldn’t be chance. No one moved that discreetly.

  He strained to look through the darkness, searching for any sign of how the man was dressed or others who might be with him, but it was difficult to tell.

  Could he have some way of negating Daniel’s ability?

  He’d never seen anything like that, but perhaps that was the key.

  Rayen leaned in. “He’s sneaky, that one is.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I can barely make him out. I think he knows what he’s doing, but it’s a different tactic than I’ve seen before.”

  Daniel continued studying the man as he went along the street and realized he seemed unaware of the fact that he was observed. The man seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Daniel and Rayen were there.

  He stayed with Rayen, moving them along the street, and when they reached another intersection, he watched as the man made his way along the street before veering off.

  Now that he knew what to look for, Daniel was better able to keep track of where the man went. They continued to follow him, and Daniel noted how he made his way deeper into the city, heading along various side streets. Every so often he would pause, glancing back as if he wanted to ensure no one was following him, but he would continue on. It was almost as if he did so at a very cursory level, not really expecting anyone to follow.

  He paused at another intersection, glan
cing in either direction—but never looking up. When he was done, he hurried forward. Darkness swallowed him, and as Daniel stared, he realized that part of that darkness seemed to be from the long cloak he wore. Almost as if the cloak itself helped to shield him. He’d never seen anything quite like that.

  The man reached a building. It was standalone, not combined with other buildings like they had seen in other sections of the city, and made entirely of the dark stone. As Daniel stared at it, he realized that Rayen was pushing shadows toward the building. Every time the shadows got near the building, they disappeared, fading away as if the stone made them dissipate completely.

  The man pulled open the door, heading into the building. As he did, he cast one more glance over his shoulder, looking back along the street. This time, his gaze did dart up.

  Daniel remained fixed in place, fearful that the man had caught sight of him, but he turned and headed back into the building.

  “That was strange,” he whispered.

  “That he looked back at us, or that he didn’t see us?”

  “Both?”

  “Hopefully I’ve concealed us in shadows, though given what happened with him, I’m not entirely sure it worked.”

  “He only looked up the one time,” Daniel said.

  “That we noticed.”

  “I don’t think he did it any other time.”

  Rayen sighed. “It is unfortunate that we aren’t able to tell any better than that.”

  “Where do you think he went?”

  “It’s the kind of building you were looking for, isn’t it?”

  Daniel nodded. They had been searching for a building made entirely of the black stone; at the same time, they wanted a building that seemed preferred by the locals. Given the late hour, it was hard to know what kind of place this was. It could be nothing more than this man’s home. If that was the case, then following him would have revealed nothing.