The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5) (9 page)

BOOK: The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5)
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Chapter 12

T
he Alchemist Guild
house was no longer as mysterious as it once had been. There was still an air of mystery to it, but not like there had been when he had been forbidden from entering. Now, he knew some of the alchemists’ secrets, much as they knew his. He tapped on the long guild table, impatiently waiting for Sarah.

Jessa stood behind him, one hand resting on his shoulder. The other twirled a knife, a technique she mimicked from Haern to maintain the dexterity in her hand. “Tell me again why we came here?”

“They need to know what we found when we went back to the Forgotten Palace.”

“What if they’re the reason the bodies were moved?” she asked.

It was something he’d considered. If the guilds had moved the bodies, had they found the other rooms? But why would they have moved the bodies in the first place?

When the door opened, Ephram entered. “Have you waited long?” the Alchemist guildlord asked.

Rsiran shook his head. “You knew we were here?”

He waved his hands around him. “That is something of the guild house. It shares when there are visitors. Much like your first visit to us, Rsiran.”

That explained how they knew so quickly that he’d come. If there was something to the building itself that gave them a warning, then he would never have been successful at sneaking into the Alchemist Guild. Maybe he hadn’t really
snuck
in at all. Was it possible that they had known that he was coming, and had
let
him in? That was a question to ponder another time.

“Something troubles you,” Ephram said.

“You could say that,” Rsiran agreed. “We went back to the Forgotten Palace.”

Ephram tilted his chin. “Why would you do that?”

“Because of what you and Della told me about my grandfather. It seems to me that if he is one of the Forgotten, and related to both her and Evaelyn, that he would be a man with some power and influence.”

Ephram nodded. “That might have been the case once, but Evaelyn wrested control from him. The Forgotten have failed, Rsiran. You saw to that when you helped us reclaim the smiths and took down Evaelyn. Some exiles remain, but they are not organized, not like they were before. Now we must focus on the remaining threat. The guilds finally agreed to send others outside the city to search for signs of Venass activity. Everything we’ve found points to preparation on their part.”

“Outside the city? People are leaving by choice?” Brusus asked as he strode through the door. He grinned at Jessa and threw himself into a chair next to her at the long, oak table. Haern followed, eyes scanning the room.

Ephram frowned and considered Brusus for a moment. “The Forgotten—”

“Aren’t completely gone,” Rsiran reminded. “There might be others.”

“But not organized,” Ephram said. “Unlike Venass.” He turned to Brusus. “And there is a plan in place for them. You would be welcome to participate. All of you.” He swept his gaze around the others in the room, finally settling it upon Rsiran. “We believe we still have time before they attempt a direct attack on the city.”

“Not sure you have time like that,” Haern said. “And I don’t think that you believe you have time like that.”

“What have you Seen?” Jessa asked.

Haern’s eyes went distant for a moment. “Nothing of use, not when it comes to Rsiran, but they don’t always have the same limitations,” he said, nodding toward Ephram.

“I think you overestimate our abilities,” Ephram said, “and underestimate yours. We can agree that darkness comes, and that Venass is at the heart of it, just as we can agree that Lareth might be the key to surviving what Venass intends.”

“Survive? You make it sound like they intend to destroy everything.” Jessa said.

Haern’s eyes went distant again as they did when he attempted a Seeing. “Not destroy, but with you, Rsiran, it is difficult to know what they intend. I don’t think it’s about destruction so much as it is about gaining power. I’ve been there, and I know how they think. Well, to a certain extent. I was never embedded deeply enough to know the long-term plans. Everything that they’ve done, and that I’ve seen them do, is about power.”

“We can’t ignore the risk that the Forgotten still pose,” Rsiran said. “They know the limits of my abilities and made a cell to hold me. That’s what we found in the palace. That and the fact that someone had cleaned up after our attack.”

“Cleaned up?” Brusus asked. “They would only do that if—”

“If they were still there,” Rsiran finished. “You can see why I’m concerned. They knew enough about my abilities that they would be able to counter them.”

That hadn’t bothered Jessa nearly as much as it bothered him. How many more prisons would he have to escape? His greatest fear was what would happen when he finally found a prison that managed to secure him.

“The Forgotten are no longer strong enough to present a threat,” Ephram repeated. “Our Seers can tell that. But Venass… Venass is a different challenge altogether. They will continue to come after us, after
you
,” he said to Rsiran, “until they understand what you can do, and how you do it. They know you managed to reach the crystals, and they think they would be able to do the same.”

“Are you sure they can’t?” Rsiran asked.

“Reaching the crystals requires a connection to the Great Watcher. That was why you were able to do it. But it takes something else. They must be chosen, in a way. Without that, the crystals will not accept the bearer.”

Brusus leaned forward. “And what happens if someone manages to take one of those crystals from that room?”

“That cannot happen.”

“Oh, I get that it
shouldn’t
happen, and that we want to do whatever we can to prevent it from happening, but let’s just say that it does happen. What then?”

Ephram sighed. “Ask Rsiran.”

Brusus and Haern both turned to him. Rsiran crossed his hands over each other, thinking back to what had happened when he had held one of the crystals. He had felt as if he sat alongside the Great Watcher, as if he looked down upon the world and was able to have any question answered. There was power there, unlike anything he could ever have imagined.

“Holding a crystal unlocked something within me,” he said. There wasn’t a better way to describe what happened to him other than that. “Before I held it, I was able to detect lorcith and heartstone, and I could
push
on them both. I could Slide. But since then… my connection to the metals has changed. My ability to Slide has changed as well. Everything is different, stronger, more connected, if that makes any sense.”

Emotions worked across Brusus’s face as he considered Rsiran. “They claim it can only work on those chosen by the Great Watcher. If someone isn’t chosen, then the crystals won’t do anything, will they?”

Ephram took a seat across from Brusus. “It is unknown what would happen were the crystals held by someone not of Elaeavn, and not chosen by the Great Watcher. Such a thing has never happened. Perhaps nothing. Those who
have
held one of the crystals know that there is power within them, but it is a reflection of something greater. So it’s possible that without being chosen by the Great Watcher himself, nothing would happen. That the crystals would be inert.”

“But this is Venass,” Haern said.

“This is Venass,” Ephram agreed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a barbed piece of lorcith. One end was smooth and shaped something like a ball, while the other ended in a five long, sharp spikes. “These were recovered from the bodies of the Forgotten after your attack. There are others that we’re studying, but we haven’t found how they used them.”

Rsiran
pulled
the piece of lorcith to him and held it up. The metal glowed softly, a pale white light. “There were others like this in the Forgotten Palace. I destroyed them.” The metal had wanted that release, and Rsiran had been more than happy to provide it. “This was what the scholars used as part of their piercing. The scholar in the tower had two like this”—he pressed it to his lip—”and he tapped them together. Somehow, that helped him control lorcith.”

Rsiran focused on the lorcith, listening to it. The metal offered a soft call that came to him quietly. Through his connection to the metal, he traced the history of this piece of lorcith. It offered him the story of its origin, telling him how it had been mined from a place deep beneath the ground. The small lump a part of something larger, but had been separated. When brought together…

He blinked. “I know how this works.”

Ephram frowned. “How can you know how this works? The master smiths have been studying this since their rescue, and they not been able to determine what about the metal allows the control.”

“There is something about the way the metal was forged. There’s power held here, generated when the lorcith comes together. It
wants
to come together.”

“I fail to see how that matters.”

They all turned to see a large man leaning against the wall. Boldan Thenas, a smith they had rescued from Asador, had his arms crossed over his chest and fixed Rsiran with a hard look. Rsiran hadn’t seen or heard him enter, and noted that he had nothing of lorcith—or heartstone—on him. That wasn’t surprising; the smiths he’d met growing up and working alongside rarely kept anything of lorcith on them. They claimed that the metal was for the Elvraeth, and they would not presume to have such power. Rsiran had always believed that to be the reason, but now he wondered if there might not be something else.

He took a step forward and nodded his head toward the piercing. “Typical timing to send word that he was here, Ephram.”

“If you think I kept this from the smiths…”

Boldan glared at Ephram a moment before turning his attention to Rsiran. “Tell me why you think the lorcith cares, Lareth.”

“Master Boldan,” Rsiran said, tipping his head respectfully.

Boldan reached across the table and plucked the piercing off it. He twisted it, squinting at it as he did. Boldan had eyes of a moderate green, and Rsiran never knew his ability. Many smiths were Sighted. It helped with forging and allowed much finer detail than they would be able to produce without Sight. If they were willing to listen to the lorcith, to hear its song, they wouldn’t even need Sight.

“Lorcith takes shape just like any other metal, Lareth. Some can hear its call,” he said, looking up and meeting Rsiran’s eyes, “but that doesn’t help them shape it any better.”

“Can you hear it, Master Boldan?” Rsiran asked.

Boldan set the piercing back on the table. He sighed. “Not as I once could. And what I hear doesn’t tell me anything. This piece is silent. Only the fresh ore speaks.”

“Not to me.” Rsiran
pulled
the piercing to him again. Boldan’s eyes widened slightly. Rsiran took the piercing and held it up. “This came from a mine to the south, and deep beneath the earth.”

“There are no mines to the south,” Ephram said.

“Lorcith can be found in many places. Ilphaesn is the most plentiful.” He set the piercing back on the table. “As I said, this came from far to the south, deep within a mine. When it was pulled from the mine, it was separated from another half. Joined with the other half…”

Rsiran closed his eyes and listened for the connection to lorcith, searching for the missing piece. If the alchemists had recovered this one, it was likely they had the other half. They would have been together on the person they were taken from.

Not knowing what to expect, he was surprised when he found it hidden beneath Ephram’s long cloak. How had he shielded its presence from him?

Rsiran
pulled
on the piercing, drawing it free. Ephram’s eyes narrowed as the one piercing joined with the other. “These two belong together,” Rsiran said. “They
want
to be together. And when they are”—he tapped the metal together and light glowing from them flared for a moment—“they are more powerful.” He realized that he might be the only one able to see the light from the piercings as he tapped them together.

Boldan took a quick breath. “I hear it.”

Rsiran
pushed
the piercings to him. “That is how these work. They were forced into this shape, not asked or coaxed, and given a promise that they would come back together, but a price was required of the lorcith.” How did he know this? Was he able to hear it from the metal itself, or was there something about the way that they were brought together?

Boldan studied the piercings for a moment and then set them down and looked up at Rsiran with a new light in his eyes. “You have an interesting talent, Lareth. You could have been a skilled smith.”

Brusus pulled a knife from under his jacket and set it spinning on the table. The knife was one of Rsiran’s more recent creations, one that had a long, slender blade that he had folded dozens of times to give it the appearance of water falling over it, almost making it appear wet. The knife was well crafted, and he had been proud to affix his mark to it.

“What do you mean he
could have been
a skilled smith?” Brusus asked. “Seems to me Rsiran here has learned everything necessary, no thanks to his father or the others of the Smith Guild, to surpass your traditional skills.”

Boldan took the knife and held it out, examining it as he turned it from side to side. “Hmm. Excellent weight. Interesting design. And sturdy.” He set it back on the table. “This is serviceable.”

Brusus grunted and shook his head, reaching for the knife. “Serviceable. Not seen anything like that out of your sanctioned smiths in generations. Don’t tell me it’s only serviceable.”

“What is the point of all of this?” Haern asked. He had been sitting quietly, but now leaned forward, looking to Ephram. “Why the focus on the metal, and on Venass?”

The guildlord sighed. “Because we need to know what Venass might attempt. And we need to know how they might attempt to reach the crystals. If we can’t find out, and we can’t protect them, I fear for what will happen if they manage to acquire one. With Rsiran’s connection to the metal, he might be the only one able to help.”

“I don’t know if there’s anything I can do,” he started. “As to what they want, we found this when we returned to the Forgotten Palace.” He set the schematic on the table and slid it over to Boldan. “Is there anything about this that you can understand?”

BOOK: The Shadowsteel Forge (The Dark Ability Book 5)
8.63Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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