The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5) (15 page)

“They were here, once,” she said. “When I close my eyes, I can almost imagine the homes suspended from the branches, with bridges connecting them. Men and women traveled from branch to branch, and each clan worked together.”

“Clan?”

She continued to stare into the trees. “They were clans then, not distinct families. Each organized by abilities. There were the smiths, the alchemists, the travelers, the woodsmen—now the miners, and the thenar.”

“The guilds?”

“The guilds, but before they were guilds. They were part of a community. The woodsmen discovered something here, great power buried beneath the ground, that changed our people.”

“You’re talking about the crystals.”

She nodded. “They sit beneath each of the Elder Trees. Strange that there were five crystals, much like the five clans, but then most still believe that we settled here because of that, drawn by the power of this place.”

Rsiran slowly made his way around the trees. He had trouble grasping the enormity of them. As he worked around them, he heard a soft sound, almost a hum or a song, like that of lorcith, but different.

“You said they sit beneath the trees. Not sat.”

Sarah nodded slowly. A conflicted expression slipped across her face. “As I said, I should not be the one to show this to you. Members of each guild—full members—are brought here when they are raised to their guild. It was a part of the tradition of the clans, and now the guilds. When raised, they go to their Elder Tree, the same one that the clan once had claimed.”

“Which one is the smith tree?”

Sarah shook her head. “That is a secret of the guild. I only know the tree of the Thenar Guild.”

“Which you will not share with me.”

“You are not of the guild.”

“I’m not of any of the guilds.”

“And yet, as you’ve begun to suggest, you are of all of them.”

“I don’t understand.”

She nodded toward the trees, leading him back out and away from the Elder Trees. Rsiran would like to have had more time with them, and even thought that with enough time, he might be able to tell which tree was the smith tree. But then, seeing the struggle that Sarah had just bringing him here, he knew that he should follow her.

“The prophesy that you’ve heard—”

“That of the Blood of the Elders and the Blood of the Watcher joining?”

She nodded. “There was a time when the clans were guided by a single leader, but when the crystals were discovered beneath the Elder Trees, they could not agree. Within the clans, those with the talents the clans were named after could not reach the crystals. Only those without any talent were able to reach them.”

“The Blood of the Watcher,” Rsiran noted.

“Now you begin to see.”

They reached a part of the Aisl Forest familiar to him. After being near the Elder Trees, these all seemed tiny in comparison. Rsiran could actually
see
the lowest branches of the trees, and could walk around their bases without growing winded.

“I don’t think I do.”

“Even back then, our people were divided,” Sarah said. “There were those who were born of the clan, and those who sided with and supported the clans. No one knows what they were called at that time, but the guilds identify them now as those with the Blood of the Elders and the Blood of the Watcher. Only those with the Blood of the Watcher were able to reach the crystals. When they did, something changed within them, and they developed abilities they had not possessed before.” She sighed. “Over time, these abilities have diluted generation to generation, as have the talents of the Elders.”

“And the Elvraeth?”

“They are direct descendants of those who first held the crystals, and believe they are able to draw on more of the crystals’ power. Over time, the Elvraeth have kept that power focused, putting as many of the Elvraeth as they can through a test to determine if they might be able to reach the crystals. Not all can, but those who do—those who reach the crystals—return stronger than they were before, with abilities more focused than they were before. In much the same way, members of the guilds send the masters to the Elder Trees.”

So much began to make more sense to him. “That’s why me reaching the crystals was important.”

“That is why,” she agreed.

“And what of the fact that I seem to have more than one… talent?” Talents seemed different from abilities, much like the guilds were different. “What does it mean that I can use lorcith, and can see the potential, and…” And whatever it was that he was developing. Rsiran still didn’t know what that meant for him.

“All I can say is that you are the one prophesied to bring the Blood of the Elders and the Blood of the Watcher together. What it means beyond that is unknown.”

Rsiran looked around the forest, still not certain why Sarah had taken him to the Elder Trees. Now that he’d been there, would he be able to return? He
thought
that he could find them again, but there was no denying that there was power in that place.

“You still haven’t answered one question that I asked.”

“It’s possible that I am not allowed to answer.”

“Like you weren’t supposed to take me to the Elder Trees?” Rsiran asked.

Sarah met his eyes. “You might not be of a guild, but that is a place that you needed to see. You need to understand the past to understand what we fight for. Why it is important that we prevent Venass from destroying everything that our ancestors worked for.”

“I’m not sure how that helped me understand our ancestors.”

“In time, it will. And you have held one of the Great Crystals. Through that, you have done something that none of the ancient clan leaders ever accomplished.”

“I still don’t know why me. Why was I chosen?”

Sarah started through the trees again. “Why any of us? We must walk the path the Great Watcher set us upon. If we do that, we cannot fail.”

They reached the edge of the city again. Rsiran remained in the tree line, debating what he would do. Sarah considered him a moment before stepping back onto the street leading toward Upper Town. “I will tell Father what you suspect with Venass.”

Rsiran nodded. “Tell him…” He wasn’t sure
what
to tell Ephram, but he feared what Venass might be after and what they intended with the schematics. “Tell him I need to take him into the mine. There’s something he needs to see there.”

She paused and glanced toward Ilphaesn. “The alchemists haven’t gone to the mines in… in a very long time.”

“Are the guilds as fractured as the Elvraeth?”

She shook her head slowly. “Not as bad as that, but the guilds are not as close as they once were.”

“The threat of Venass should bring them together again.”

“You would think,” she said. “But in some ways, that threat has pushed them even farther apart.”

R
siran stood in the trees
, debating whether to return to Lower Town or Ilphaesn while waiting for Ephram. He’d been away long enough, and Jessa would not be thrilled if he returned to Ilphaesn—or even the Forgotten Palace—searching for more answers without her.

But he still had questions, and only one place that he thought he could find answers.

He emerged from his Slide inside Della’s home.

The hearth crackled and a medicinal odor hung in the air. He scanned the room, looking for the boy, or for Della, and saw neither. But she would be here. It wasn’t like Della to leave the hearth burning without remaining to watch it.

He stepped behind her counter and looked at the powders in tins and jars that she kept. Most were labeled, though he didn’t recognize half of what he saw. They were herbs, either collected by Della or bought, and many of them had exotic-sounding names.

“Your ability could be useful in my collecting,” she said, coming from the back room of her home. Della wore a simple dark dress with an orange scarf wrapped around her neck. Her bright green eyes sparkled as she looked at him.

“I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

She smiled. “I could teach you. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had a student. The last… that did not go as planned, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do.”

“You’ve had other students?”

She came behind the counter and pulled a few tins off the shelves. As she opened each one and began to spoon them into a bowl, he recognized the distinct mint odor of the tea she mixed. “Only one. Most have no talent.”

He found her use of the word
talent
interesting. “He was able to Heal? Like you?”

“Not like me. I do not think the Great Watcher gives out this particular ability that often. As far as I know, I am unique with my Healing. But there is a knowledge of illness, and of herbs and medicines, that can be learned. That is what I attempted to teach.”

“What happened?”

“A mistake. As they usually do. He was much like you. His family chose to abandon him, but he had a good heart. I took him in, at first so that he had a place to go, but later, that turned into teaching.” She kept her eyes on the counter as she stirred the different powders of the mint tea together. “He had a keen mind and learned quickly.”

“You miss him,” Rsiran noted.

She nodded. “I miss the possibility of what he could have been. But, alas, that is gone.” She tapped the spoon on the side of the bowl and took a pot of water off the fire to pour both of them a cup of tea. “And you did not come to ask me of my past.”

“No, but I’d love to hear of it.”

“Another time, perhaps, when everything has settled. I have a feeling that I am not through with Galen yet.”

“Galen? Does he still live in Elaeavn?”

“Were he still here, don’t you think you would have met him by now?”

Rsiran grunted. “I’m not sure. Valn knew of you when Jessa was injured.”

“Many know of me, Rsiran—I do not live in the shadows—but few visit.”

“And what of Galen?”

“He was exiled for his mistake.”

Rsiran paused as he brought the cup to his lips. “He’s one of the Forgotten? Is he with Venass or the Elvraeth?”

“From what I See, he is with neither, though he foolishly draws attention to himself. When we finish with this, I might have need of your help with him.”

Rsiran took a sip of the tea, feeling its soothing warmth slide down his throat, helping him to relax. “What of the boy? How is he?”

Della nodded in the direction of her back room. “The boy. His name is Luca. And he will be fine, I think. His mind… it is still not back to normal. Whatever has happened to him has taken place over months and years, rather than days. That type of change requires patience and the right sponsor.”

“It’s a good thing that he has you.”

Della tapped on her mug. “I can Heal his mind, Rsiran, but I cannot sponsor his recovery. What he needs is someone who understands him. Someone who will recognize when his mind begins to slip and how that is different from him simply embracing his talent.”

There was the word again. Almost as if she knew what he’d learned.

Rsiran took another sip of the tea. “The way you’re saying it tells me that you think I should serve that role.”

“I think you would be able to help him,” she answered. “You connect to lorcith in a way that no one else would understand. He is not tainted by the guild asking the smiths to suppress their ability. This is a chance for him to learn what this ability means. I think that you are the only person who
could
do it.”

Rsiran stared toward the back room. He had a hard enough time knowing what
he
was supposed to do, and now Della thought that he should work with another? “I’m not even recognized by the guilds.”

“Perhaps that doesn’t matter.”

Rsiran thought of the Elder Trees. The guilds mattered more than what Della knew, or if she knew, they mattered more than she let on.

Her eyes narrowed. “You may ask your question, Rsiran.”

“What question?”

“The one that brought you here. Thankfully, I do not need to Read you to know when you’re troubled. You carry your emotion openly.”

He swallowed another sip of the tea. This time, it didn’t settle him. “I learned a secret of the guilds today.”

“As well you should.”

“But I’ve not been raised to the Smith Guild.”

“Perhaps, but you are clearly of Elder Blood.”

It was the first time he’d heard Della refer to it that way. “You know of it?”

“Rsiran Lareth, I know a great many things, including the fact that you are unlike any who has ever sought the Elder Trees.”

She watched him, unblinking, as if waiting to see how he would react.

“I’ve seen them.”

“That… that I did not See.”

Rsiran set the mug onto the counter and took a deep breath, letting it out with a slow sigh. “Sarah showed them to me. I don’t think that she was supposed to, but she felt that with my talents that I deserved to know.”

“She would be right.”

“She said that only those raised to their guild would be taken to the Elder Trees. She seemed troubled by the fact that she took me there.”

Della sighed. “Not just those of the guilds, but otherwise she is correct.”

“Who else knows of them?”

She met his eyes. “I am not of a guild, and I know of the Elder Trees.”

“Have you seen them?”

“Not for a great many years.” Her voice took on a wistful quality. “Going there would not be easy for me.”

“Why is that?”

“As I suspect you learned, they are the source of power, though a different kind than the crystals. That power prevents most from reaching them.”

“I can reach the crystals. The guilds protect the access to them.”

She nodded. “In this place. Tell me, Rsiran, what was it like when you reached for the crystals. Did you feel that you were in the palace, or that you left the palace?”

“I…” he started, thinking back to the time that he’d Slid into the palace, and into the crystal room, “I felt as if I left the palace, that I Slid from it. But reaching it was difficult.”

“I suspect that it was.”

“But at the same time, it seemed as if I was meant to reach them. Does that make sense?”

Della went back to the counter and mixed another cup of tea. “It does if you believe that you were guided to them.”

Rsiran thought about his experience with the crystals. There hadn’t been any question that he’d been guided to a specific one while in the room with the crystals. At the time, and since then, he had felt as if it was because of his ability with lorcith. That his connection to the metal had somehow resonated with one of the crystals. That was guidance of a sort, wasn’t it?

“When you held your crystal, you told me that you felt that you were high above the ground.” She glanced up and waited for him to nod. “That is a common theme of those who have held the crystals. Almost none feel that they are on the ground, or even beneath it. Everyone has a vision from above.”

“With the Great Watcher.”

She tipped her head in a slight nod. “The Great Watcher. That is what most have taken it to mean.”

“But not all?”

She stirred her tea, and Rsiran noted a different scent to it this time than it had before. The odor was stronger, more astringent. “There are five Great Crystals,” Della said. “And they correlate with the Elder Trees. We have never understood why, other than they are tied to the guilds.”

“Sarah called them clans.”

“Once, that would have been correct. They were a collection of like-minded people. Most had similar talents.”

“But not all.”

“Not all,” Della agreed. She smiled at him as she took a sip of her tea. “Once those without talents held the crystals and developed abilities, they began to move away from the trees.”

“Why? The crystals were there.”

“Because the Elder Trees were controlled by the clans. The earliest of those chosen to reach for the crystals named themselves after the Elder Trees, but using the old tongue.”

Rsiran found himself smiling. “The Elvraeth? That’s how they took their name?”

She nodded. “The Elvraeth. They were not a family then. Over time, that has changed. They have continued their rule, and their control over the crystals, and the clans have been relegated to the guilds that you know today.”

“But how do they still control the crystals?”

“There was a connection formed between the palace and the Elder Trees, but it took the cooperation of the guilds for that to happen. That is why the guilds help with access. The Elvraeth do not fear them reaching the crystals because they cannot, and the guilds providing the pathway keeps their power intact. There is a delicate balance, far more than most know.”

Rsiran moved away from the counter. “Why haven’t you told me this before?”

She took a sip of her tea and set the cup back down. “Would you have understood before now? There are lessons that you can only learn after you have learned others, one following the next. You need a base upon which to build. These lessons, what you learn now, are meant for those with enough understanding of the city to truly understand the dynamic.”

Rsiran stared at the flames for a moment. “What I don’t understand is why, if the Elvraeth and the guilds are working together, do we even have anything to fear? Neither the Forgotten nor Venass will be able to reach the crystals, not without the guilds to help.” And it suddenly made much more sense why the smiths had been abducted. Had the Forgotten gone after other guilds or did they need to?

“You have seen the ingenuity of Venass masters. They have people there who have spent years studying the ancient clans and what they mean. They have mastered control over lorcith, and I suspect they have learned to master the potential stored as well. When they manage to recreate each of the ancient clans, and the talents that they possessed, what do you think will happen then?”

Rsiran shook his head. “I don’t know. But they don’t know how to find the Elder Trees.”

“Don’t they? I am not certain of that, Rsiran Lareth. And possibly more than even the Great Crystals, the Elder Trees are a source of power, one that the people of Venass cannot be allowed to access. Or destroy.”

“Why would you think they would destroy them? I thought you said they stored great power?”

“They do. And from what I’ve Seen, Venass does not know this. They may decide that the only way to the crystals is to destroy the trees. In that, they might be correct. Destroying the Elder Trees—even one—might release the connection to the crystals. That would be a loss we would not easily recover from.”

Noise from the back room pulled his attention. The boy—Luca—came out, rubbing his eyes. When he saw Rsiran, he took a step back and froze in place.

“Come out here, Luca,” Della said. She managed to make her voice soothing in a way.

Luca started forward and then stopped. “Why is
he
here?”

“He’s the one who brought you back,” Della answered.

“He wants to take the song away.”

Della looked toward Rsiran, her eyes almost piercing. Rsiran sighed. Della thought that he could help the boy, but how was he going to be able to do anything that would help him? And how would he have the time, especially while trying to figure out what Venass might do next? But… he had to wait for Ephram. The alchemist guildlord effectively led the rest of the guilds, and Rsiran wanted—no, needed—to show him what he’d discovered in Ilphaesn. Possibly even in the Forgotten Palace.

Staring at Luca, he reminded himself that he’d once wanted to save Luca, and had offered to bring him back to the city once before, but the boy had refused. And now… now it seemed that his time in the mines had changed him, possibly permanently.

But the boy
had
been welcoming when Rsiran had first been sentenced. He might have been the only person who welcomed Rsiran at a time when he needed it most.

Rsiran stepped toward him. When Luca backed away, Rsiran stopped and held his hands out in front of him. “Do you hear it here?” Rsiran asked.

Luca shook his head. “The song is gone. You took it away.”

Rsiran looked over to Della for help, but she offered none. “What if I can show you that it doesn’t have to be gone?”

“You’ll take me back?”

“Not back,” Rsiran said. “There was no one there but you.”

The boy blinked. “They took them away. They didn’t care about finding the ore anymore, but I still heard it. I wasn’t going to leave.”

“What if I can help you find the song here?” Rsiran asked.

He shook his head, and his long, dirty hair swished in his face. “There’s no song here. Not in this place. I only found it when I went there.”

Rsiran took another step forward, keeping his hands held out in front of him. “There’s a place I can show you where you’ll still hear the song. Let me show you.”

He glanced to Della again, and this time, she nodded. “I will follow you in a little while and bring him back here,” she said.

The boy’s eyes widened. “You’re going to take me away again?” He turned to Della. “Why would you let him do this?”