The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5) (25 page)

R
siran Slid
the rest of the guild soldiers outside of the guild house so that they wouldn’t be detected. If nothing else, they would have the element of surprise.

Valn remained near him as they emerged in the street, hidden by rubble from fallen buildings. None of the homes in this area still stood. An occasional rumble echoed, but for now, it seemed the attack had eased.

“How are we going to stop them with this lorcith they use?” Valn asked.

“That’s why I’m here.”

“And when you’re not? That’s your plan, isn’t it? You intend to draw part of the attack away, do you not?”

“I do.”

Valn rested his hand on his sword. “None of us has the same ability with lorcith,” he said. “And only a few can see the potential stored within the metal. We will not be able to withstand an attack.”

Rsiran rested a hand on Valn’s arm. “I will do as I promised.”

Valn’s jaw clenched. “
I
don’t doubt you. I was with you in Asador. We would not have survived without your help. But the others…”

“This is my fight,” Rsiran said softly.

“This is all of ours.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “My grandfather. My family. They are responsible for much of what has happened. And I will end it.”

“If this fails?” Valn asked. “If you can’t stop him?”

“Then you will have to protect the Great Crystals.”

Valn’s mouth pulled into a crooked smile. “They’re only great to those who’ve held them.”

Rsiran clapped Valn on the shoulder, hoping that they both made it through this. Valn was a good man, and someone he could see as a friend. There had been a time when he had never expected to have
any
friends, and now… now, he would do anything for so many others. “Guard me for a moment,” Rsiran asked.

Valn nodded.

As Rsiran closed his eyes, focusing on where he wanted to Travel, he thought he heard the distant yowl of a cat. It repeated, before fading behind another explosion.

He Traveled. It became easier each time; the sense of being drawn from him body, of separating so that he could reach beyond him, while not easy, at least now was something that he understood. It was a mix of Sliding and
pulling
, almost a melding of the two. Rsiran climbed free, floating above himself, aware but with no feeling, no sensations.

Reaching the guild house, he slowly turned, searching not only for his grandfather, but for the other Venass attackers. Circling as he did, he counted four men, each scarred with the hidden augmentation. None he recognized.

Rsiran moved on, making his way closer to the guild house. The walls were cracked, and soon would fall. Whatever power had been placed in them to begin with, that kept them safe from the attack while everything around them fell, began to fail.

Then Venass would be able to move into the Hall of Guilds. From there, they would have easier access to the crystals, and to the rest of the city. To his friends, hiding in the tunnels.

Rsiran needed to stop Venass before they managed to succeed.

As he searched, using a combination of lorcith and heartstone, he detected nearly two-dozen others around the guild house. Possibly too many for them to stop. And he still hadn’t found his grandfather.

The sense of Traveling like this, of remaining suspended in the air completely disconnected from his body, was freeing in many ways. From here, he could detect the lorcith weapons Venass used. Could he influence them from here as well?

He focused on lorcith, and
pushed
.

All he wanted to do was force the lorcith to the ground. From there, he could prevent Venass from connecting the spheres, something that seemed critical to trigger their weapons. Rsiran imagined the weight of Ilphaesn Mountain, and
pushed
on all the lorcith that he detected with the strength hidden there. Would it work? Would it be enough to stop the attack?

Then he noted a sense of lorcith and a building potential.

His grandfather had managed to overcome Rsiran’s ability to
push
on lorcith. Where was he? And why was the sense of lorcith so close to where Rsiran had been…

Terror sent him streaking back into his body.

Rsiran snapped open his eyes, grabbed Valn, and Slid.

They emerged near the guild house.

“What was that?” Valn asked.

“Time to fight,” Rsiran said.

An explosion shook the street back where they had been. Valn’s eyes widened as he looked in that direction. “You knew.”

“I can sense it. I think I’ve disarmed Venass for now, but you need to signal your attack.”

“And you?”

“It’s time I do what I came here for.”

Valn grabbed Rsiran by the forearm and shook. “May the Great Watcher protect you.”

Rsiran nodded and gently pulled away from Valn’s grasp. Did the Great Watcher really even care what happened? “Don’t come after me. If I sense anyone…”

“I understand,” Valn said.

He Slid, emerging where the last explosion had struck. If his grandfather was there, Rsiran would reach him.

As he emerged, the sound of fighting filled the street. Metal clanged on metal, and there came an occasional scream. Rsiran ignored it, and focused on both lorcith and heartstone.

Only since returning to his body after the injury had he managed to reach for both at the same time. Adding them together like that,
pulling
on the sense of both of the metals, seemed to connect him more strongly to each. He didn’t understand why that would be, but through the connection, he listened for them.

Lorcith sang to him nearby. The metal pulsed against him, and without hesitating, Rsiran Slid to it.

He emerged to find his grandfather.

Danis watched him with deep green eyes and his mouth pulled into a hard line. One hand held one of the lorcith spheres, and Rsiran
pushed
it away from him. Or tried. His grandfather managed to hold onto the sphere, preventing Rsiran from
pushing
.

Rsiran readied a pair of knives while he waited.

“I thought you would be dead by now,” his grandfather said.

Resting one hand on his heartstone sword, Rsiran took a deep breath. “I would have said the same about you, but I had always thought you were dead.”

“You were such a malleable child. A shame that it comes to this.”

“Malleable?” Rsiran focused on the lorcith all around him, preparing for whatever attack his grandfather might attempt. Venass had proven far too capable of harming him. He would not let his guard down.

“Kala thought she could control you and your sister, but it was your father who proved easiest. One of the smiths.” He smiled and pulled another sphere from his pocket.

Rsiran sensed the lorcith from both. Heartstone mixed with it, along with something else, something dark, that he could
just
about detect. Could it be shadowsteel? He already knew how they used it in their attempt to destroy the Elder Trees, and had seen the swords, but was this the other element that he had sensed?

And why did he detect it
behind
him?

Rsiran spun and
pushed
on three of the knives he carried.

They streaked away with such speed and force that he could barely see them. But he felt it as they struck, felt the resistance, and saw blood bloom over what appeared to be nothing.

Thom appeared, grabbing at the knives, his eyes darting to Danis as if searching for answers. As Thom fell, Rsiran
pulled
the knives back to him and held them suspended in the air.

“A shame to lose another skilled Hjan, but they are replaceable.” Danis smiled. “That is the thing often forgotten”—he laughed to himself at the mention of the word—“by those in the palace. They forget why we left the trees in the first place, how we were forced away, kept separate from the power the guilds claim to protect.” He spat the last. “And my own blood now sides with them.”

Rsiran shook his head. He focused on the two spheres his grandfather held. If he started to bring them together, Rsiran either had to Slide to safety, or
push
them from him. He was no longer certain that he could do the latter.

“I’m not your blood. I’m nothing like you.”

His grandfather laughed. “Nothing?” Danis Slid. How had Rsiran not known that he could Slide. “You are more powerful than I would ever have imagined! And to think I feared your sister, thinking that
she
would be the one to manifest the union. You, a boy who had shown nothing other than your weak ability to Travel, with no other abilities of the Watcher, you were not to have been the one. At least your sister could be controlled.”

Rsiran took a deep breath. He wouldn’t take the bait. “If you thought she was controlled—if you thought my
father
was controlled—then you were mistaken.”

“You should see how easily your father can be controlled,” Danis said.

Rsiran lost focus for a moment. “He lives?”

He sensed lorcith appear near him and he spun,
pushing
knives away from him. Rsiran didn’t wait for them to connect.

His grandfather smiled darkly and nodded. “How many more knives do you have?” he asked in a soft whisper. “How many more can you stop?”

“As many as I need.”

He laughed. “I will share your condolences for Kala with Neran. And Alyse.”

“You will not harm Alyse,” Rsiran roared. Now that he had saved his sister, he felt even more of an obligation to her. He would not let his grandfather—or anyone—harm her again.

“Harm? I have no intention of harming her, not until I know how much she shares of your talents. But you will not be alive to see that.”

Danis
pushed
on the spheres, bringing them close together.

Rsiran felt the surge of energy from them, and
pushed
against it.

Around him, he felt lorcith and heartstone suddenly appear. Stopping them required him to shift his focus, to split it as he continued to
pull
the spheres apart while at the same time
pushing
on his knives. He didn’t think he could do both at the same time.

But he didn’t have to
push
and
pull
. Not with lorcith, anyway.

He could use heartstone. There was heartstone in the spheres as well.

Rsiran
pulled
on that, while
pushing
on his knives.

Men from Venass circling him fell.

His grandfather’s smile strained, but only slightly. He Slid toward him, close enough that whatever blast came from the spheres would catch Rsiran. Danis must know some way of keeping himself safe. “A shame I didn’t learn of your potential sooner. You could have been useful. Now… now you are nothing but an impediment.”

The spheres almost touched.

As they did, Rsiran heard the mixture of lorcith and heartstone from the metal, and recognized the way they fought against the tainted shadowsteel buried within. When they touched, the retained potential would be released. That was how the spheres worked.

Do not fight
.

Rsiran tried calling to the lorcith. If the potential could shift, if he could somehow hold it away, the explosion wouldn’t catch him. He could Slide, but he needed to restrain his grandfather. This was his chance.

The lorcith didn’t respond. Would the heartstone?

Help.

He’d never heard the song of heartstone before. He’d never mined it, but he could hear it in some way now. If it would listen to him…

The spheres touched.

And nothing happened.

His grandfather looked down. With his attention drawn away, Rsiran Slid to him.

There was only one place he could think that would confine his grandfather.

He
pulled
him with him in a Slide.

They emerged in darkness. The air smelled of a mixture of bitter lorcith and the sweet of heartstone. Rsiran held tightly to his grandfather, pulled on the door to the cell buried in the Forgotten Palace, and threw his grandfather inside.

Danis held onto Rsiran’s arm, and the door closed behind them, locking into place.

Rsiran released his grandfather and staggered back, unsheathing his sword.

His grandfather smiled, a dark grin spreading across his face. “Do you really think that you can defeat me?”

Rsiran held his sword out from him,
pushing
on it to hold it steady. “You will be confined here.”

“Here? I helped design this place. I know the way out.”

Rsiran shook his head. “There is no way out.”

His grandfather took a step back, and crossed his arms. “Good.”

Focusing on lorcith was difficult in this place. The reverberations from the strange way it was placed pressed on Rsiran, making it difficult for him to think straight. If he
pushed
away the sense of lorcith, he was left with heartstone, and the sense of heartstone pressed on him in the same way, both leaving him barely able to think.

“Others will come for me. And then you will remain. I can hear them. They are nearly here. Then I will return to Elaeavn and finish what was started.”

“Why?” Rsiran asked. He struggled against the sense of lorcith and heartstone. His head throbbed, which would make it difficult to Slide. His grandfather was right: if Venass came for his grandfather, Rsiran would be trapped. Or worse.

“As I’ve said, this has been building for far longer than you can imagine. The guilds think to limit access to what is rightfully ours, but soon, they will lose the power they have long claimed.” He smiled. “And you know it.”

The Elder Trees. That was what Danis meant.

“What did you do to them?”

“They are weakened, and soon will be weaker still. By the time I return, it will be done.”

Rsiran’s heart hammered. The attack had been a distraction, a way to draw him and the guild soldiers away from the forest.

Damn.

“I see that you understand.”

Rsiran
pushed
on the knives he still had, but his grandfather slowed them and sent them harmlessly into the wall.

“I can wait. And soon, you will suffer. Perhaps now that you are here, I will let you live. We could learn much from you, though I suspect that you will refuse. But we have ways around that.”