The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) (22 page)

D
anis’s taunt
hung in his mind. Venass had studied for generations. How could Rsiran have learned enough to overcome that knowledge?

“What is it?” Jessa asked.

“That’s all shadowsteel. I think if I go down there, it’ll affect my connection to lorcith.”

Firell stood at the door. “I can almost see something.”

Jessa stopped next to him. “What is it?”

“I… I don’t know.”

She spun him around so that he faced her and jabbed one of her slender knives at his neck. “If this is some part of a trick—”

Firell pushed the knife away from him. “No trick, girl. Had I wanted to play Lareth, do you think I’d have wanted him to bring all the help with him that he did? Look at this. Damn, you’ve got constables fighting with you now. The last time I was in Elaeavn, we were doing all what we could to avoid the constables. I want to find Shael, and I want to find a way not to worry about Josun hunting my family.”

“Jessa,” Rsiran said.

She spun to face him. “We can’t trust him.”

“I don’t. But that doesn’t mean that he’s lying to us.”

“How do you propose getting down that hall?” Valn asked.

“I don’t know.”

“We can go,” Hester suggested. The lithe man was soft spoken and had used his sword well. “You remain here, guildlord. We will do this.”

If there were other Hjan, Rsiran didn’t think he could rely on their ability to defeat them. He would have to go, wouldn’t he?

Jessa rested a hand on his arm. “Let others do this, Rsiran. If it will damage you, then you can’t—and shouldn’t go.”

“That’s just it. I have no idea what it will do to me. What if it doesn’t affect me at all?”

“Do you think that’s the case?”

Rsiran tried reaching for the connection to the knife that he’d
pushed
into the hall, but detected nothing. If the shadowsteel connection was that strong here, what would he be able to do to protect himself?

“I could use the Elder Trees,” he whispered.

“You could, but what if it doesn’t work?”

He let out a frustrated sigh, hating that he would have to remain here, and that he would have to count on the others and let them risk themselves. “Fine.”

She gave him a quick hug and started down the hall with Valn and Sarah. Hester and Marin followed, with Tia and Firell behind them.

Rsiran waited.

But he didn’t have to, did he?

He might not be able to safely walk through the shadowsteel hall, but what if there was another way that he could help?

Traveling still felt odd to him, and he didn’t use it nearly as often as he should, mostly because doing so left him weakened like Sliding once had weakened him. But this seemed a perfect opportunity to Travel.

Doing so would pose some risk. Without someone here to watch his body, if anyone came after him… he couldn’t remain here. If the Hjan returned, he would be easy to attack.

Where should he go?

The Elder Trees.

He Slid, emerging near one of the trees. Dozens of people had already arrived, among them was Della. She hurried over to him, still limping.

“You’ve already returned,” she said.

“Can you watch over me?” he asked.

Without questioning him, she nodded.

Rsiran closed his eyes, and Traveled.

He reached the inside of the mine outside Nalthin and drifted through the cavern until he reached the darkness of the shadowsteel hall. This was the part he wasn’t sure about, but he would have to try.

Rsiran moved though the hall. Without his body and without anything of lorcith or heartstone around him, he hoped he would be able to travel without any restrictions. If it didn’t work, he might be stuck here.

He felt nothing.

Relief washed through him. Venass hadn’t perfected a way to prevent him from Traveling, at least.

He caught up to the others. In this form, he could observe them, but he couldn’t speak to them. Watching made it seem almost worse.

They were little more than shadows to him. They paused along the hall.

“Here,” Jessa said.

She slipped her pick into the lock and opened a door.

Rsiran wasn’t sure what would be on the other side. Maybe nothing, much like what they’d found in the other rooms.

Instead, Luthan emerged.

When he saw them, he nodded. “About time he managed to find me.”

“Who?”

Luthan looked past Jessa and seemed to stare directly at Rsiran. “Lareth. I thought he forgot about me.”

“You disappeared,” Jessa said.

“When I Slid to Cort, someone grabbed me. I think they knew I was going to be there. They pulled me here. I thought his tracker would allow him to find me.”

“He can’t see past the shadowsteel all around you,” Jessa said. “And I hope that if Rsiran Traveled here, he was smart enough to leave the rest of him somewhere safe.”

Rsiran nodded, uncertain whether Luthan could see him. If he could, would he be able to communicate on Rsiran’s behalf?

“It seems that he did.”

“There’s another,” Valn said.

Jessa moved down the hall and stopped in front of another door. When she opened it, Shael emerged.

She pulled out a knife and jabbed it at him.

Firell grabbed her wrist. “He’s the reason I’m here,” he said.

“You do be assertive, girl. Glad to see you, too.”

“Watch him,” she said to Valn.

Valn waggled his steel sword. “I’ll watch him. What did he do to you?”

“Tried to poison us and leave us to the Forgotten.”

“You do be escapin’ so I don’ know why you’re so upset,” Shael said. “Man has to earn a livin’, and they paid well.”

“Stab him if he tries anything,” Jessa said.

Rsiran smiled. At least he didn’t have to fear Shael while there was nothing that he could do to protect her.

Jessa started down the hall, her lock-pick set still in hand. Valn stayed close to Shael, his sword unsheathed, not giving the large man a chance to get too close to Jessa. “What else is down this hall?” she asked.

“Don’ know what’s down here. They be comin’ with food once a day, an’ never the same man, if you do be knowin’ what I’m sayin’.”

She turned. “I do be knowin’, Shael.”

“What you be lookin’ for, girl? Maybe I heard somethin’ that can help?”

“Rsiran says there should be a forge of some kind here. Not really sure what that would look like.”

“You be with a smith an’ you don’ know what a forge be lookin’ like?”

“I know what
his
forge looks like. Whatever we’re searching for is to make this metal.” She pointed to the walls.

“Somethin’ like that would take heat, and with heat you got to vent.”

He was right. Rsiran should have considered that before. The forge wouldn’t be deep in the mountain, would it? Or if it was, it would need to have a way to vent the excess heat.

She knelt in front of another door, and worked the lock, quickly getting the door open. Before pulling it open, she paused and looked up at Shael. “Then where do you think it is?” Jessa asked.

“Don’t know.”

She stood up and pulled the door open. Her eyes widened slightly, and she took a step back. “Oh.”

Jessa pulled one of her knives free and held it out from her.

“What is it?” Valn asked. “Hjan?”

She shook her head. “Not Hjan. This… this is different.”

Rsiran floated into the room and nearly lost his connection to Traveling.

A thin, haggard man with a thick beard cowered in the corner. His arms wrapped around his legs. Wounds of various ages were scored on his flesh. In spite of that, Rsiran knew without a doubt it was his father.

“Neran. You need to stand,” Jessa said. Rsiran was proud of how quickly she recovered. “We’re here to rescue you.”

His father looked up, and hollowed eyes seemed to catch Jessa and reflected confusion. “How do you know my name?” he said in a hoarse voice.

“You need to get up,” Jessa said. “It’s time to get you out of here.”

As she entered the cell, he tried to scramble back. “I know you. You’re with him!”

“What’s he babbling about?” Valn asked.

Jessa shrugged. “Last time I saw Rsiran’s father, I threatened to kill him.”

“That’s his father?” Sarah asked. She’d been relatively silent for most of the time they had been beneath the ground. “What happened to him?”

“Looks like Venass tortured him,” Jessa said. “Can you walk? We need to get you out of here. Alyse is safe.”

“Alyse?” He spoke her name in something like a whisper. “Don’t harm her!”

Jessa shook her head. Rsiran could see the frustration level rising in her. She had little patience for his father, especially after everything he had done to Rsiran. “
We
haven’t harmed her. We saved her. But you need to get moving.”

Firell pushed his way into the room and took one look at Neran and hurried to his side. He slipped an arm around his waist and helped him to his feet, murmuring something that Rsiran couldn’t quite make out.

They made their way to the door when Hester paused, tilting his head to the side. “Someone is coming,” he said.

Panic flooded Neran’s eyes. “They can’t find me with you! The pain… the pain!”

“Damn, man, shut up!” Valn said.

“Can’t you see he’s been tormented?” Firell asked. “Take it from someone who has been there. This man needs our help, not you yelling at him.”

“We still haven’t found this damn forge,” Valn said.

A harsh laugh echoed toward them.

“The forge? That’s what you came for?” A figure stepped away from the wall, one that sent a chill through Rsiran. Danis.

And he wasn’t alone. Six other men were with him, each with long lines across their face marking them as the Hjan.

“When we faced no resistance, I feared that I had misjudged. And now… now we have both my son-in-law and my grandson’s favorite girl.” He tilted his head and studied Jessa. “Strange that he would let you leave without him.”

Jessa held her knife away from her. “Slide away,” she said, though not to those from Venass. She spoke to Valn and the others. “Get free while you can.”

“Oh, I’m afraid it is much too late for that,” Danis said.

A gasp echoed from along the hall. “I can’t Slide,” Marin said.

Danis took a stuttering step toward someone at the end of the hall, and there came another gasp, and then the sound of a body crumpling to the ground.

“The time for holding you is over,” Danis said. He stopped in front of Hester.

Hester swung his sword, but Danis swung a heartstone sword around, catching the one Hester used and knocking it away. His next slice caught Hester through the chest, and he fell.

Danis turned his gaze to Jessa. “Too bad he refused to come. And if he was foolish enough to Travel, he can watch as you all die.”

R
siran had to do something
, but what could he do? If he Slid to his friends, he would be powerless within the shadowsteel walls, and just as trapped as they. And in this form, he was equally powerless.

Wasn’t he?

He’d tried
pulling
on power from the Elder Trees while Traveling and had failed before, but that was before he had learned that he could straddle the Slide, that he could exist in both places at once. He doubted that Danis would have discovered that secret yet.

But he had to act fast, or someone else would die.

Danis now stood in front of Sarah.

Rsiran couldn’t return to his body and then Slide back, but could he
pull
his body toward him? He’d never tried it, and didn’t know if it would even work.

Hopefully, Della would understand.

He
pulled
.

Rsiran paused the Slide partway, now existing in three places.

His mind split with pain, but the power from the Elder Trees was there. He could
feel
it.

Now, could he
pull
on it and use it?

Sarah fought his grandfather, but her sword was slow. As the next slice came, one that would take her head off, time seemed to slow.

Rsiran
pulled
on the power of the Elder Trees, filling with it.

Someone sucked in a sharp breath.

He directed the power at his grandfather.

The blow struck him in the chest, and he went spinning backward.

Rsiran didn’t wait, attacking again, this time splitting the energy so that he could hit the other Hjan. Three went flying backward in blasts of light drawn from the Elder Trees.

To their credit, his friends lurched forward. Valn struck one of the Hjan, taking off one arm and then another. The man dropped. Sarah moved quickly, stabbing with her sword, and dropping another Hjan. As Rsiran surged another blast of power that hit the remaining Hjan, even Shael darted forward, moving more quickly than a man his size should be able to. He crushed one of the Hjan between his massive hands, holding him in place as the man tried to Slide.

“Rsiran!”

He jerked around at the sound of Jessa’s scream.

Danis held her, his sword nearly to her back. “Interesting trick you’ve developed, grandson. As I said, I didn’t think that you would pose such a challenge. Now that you have…”

As he slipped his sword forward, Jessa gasped.

Neran darted toward Danis, moving more quickly than he looked like he could in his condition, and grabbed the blade before it could penetrate too deeply. Years of working at the forge had made his father strong. Much of that strength had disappeared, wasted away as he’d been trapped, but Neran managed to throw Danis backward, likely out of sheer shock.

Jessa coughed. Blood spilled out from where the sword pierced her back, and she would need healing, but she had time. Rsiran’s father balled his fists, and blood poured out from between his fingers.

Rsiran took a moment to note that the rest of the Hjan were all down, but so, too, was Tia. When had she fallen? Valn and Sarah approached carefully. Shael and Firell stood to the side, a dark and angry expression on Shael’s face.

Danis merely smiled at them. “We have still claimed the city—”

Rsiran hit him with another blast of energy that threw him back. Before he could hit the wall, Danis disappeared.

“How are you here like this?” Jessa asked him.

“Traveling.” His words came out strangely, filled with the power of the Elder Trees.

“We haven’t found the damn forge,” Valn said. “That was the entire reason for coming here!”

“All of it,” Neran whispered.

“What?” Valn asked.

“All of this is the forge.”

Rsiran’s breath caught. Could Venass have used the entire mountain to create the shadowsteel forge?

But why couldn’t they? He didn’t fully understand the dark power of shadowsteel, only that it had nearly killed him multiple times, but forging it seemed as if it would take enormous energy, and where better to draw it from than a place filled with lorcith?

“Return to the Aisl,” he said to Valn.

“What about the forge, Lareth?”

“Leave that to me.”

Valn looked at the fallen forms of Hester and Marin before kneeling next to Tia. He checked her for a pulse, and tears came to his eyes. Rsiran didn’t need him to tell them that she was gone.

He slipped a necklace off her neck. The serpent symbolizing the head of the guild. He tucked it carefully into his pocket. “I can Slide two with me.”

“I can take the others,” Luthan said.

“You do be findin’ that I’m harder to Slide with,” Shael said.

Luthan eyed the large man. “Perhaps only one then.”

“I need Jessa and my father,” Rsiran said.

“You Traveled here,” Luthan said. “Do you think you can Slide with them?”

He seemed genuinely curious as he asked.

Rsiran didn’t know, and used energy to
pull
on Jessa. She Slid with a soft gasp. “Yes,” he said.

Luthan grabbed Shael. “Where should we go?”

“The Aisl, if you are willing. The rest of the council has betrayed the city, allowing Venass access.”

Luthan took a deep breath. “That… I did not See. I will meet you in the forest.”

With that, he Slid, dragging Shael with him.

Valn nodded to Rsiran, grabbing onto Sarah and Firell. “Guildlord. Return safely.”

“I will.”

When he was gone, Jessa looked at him. “What are you going to do?”

“This has to be destroyed before Venass can use it again,” he answered. He
pulled
Jessa and his father in a Slide, leaving them in the space between, before returning to the inside of the mountain. While there, he floated, insubstantial, but full of power from the Elder Trees. Would he be able to shut the forge down?

Even if he could, how would he do it?

He had no idea what it would entail.

Remaining as he was, he sensed the shadowsteel lining the walls as a pressure against him and his power. He had burned off shadowsteel before, could he do it again?

Would it take so much energy that it would damage the Elder Trees?

If he did nothing, and Venass remained in control of shadowsteel, there would be more risk to the trees than if he attempted to do this now.

Rsiran
pulled
on that power. It filled him, flooding him with a warmth that he shouldn’t feel when he Traveled. He continued to draw upon it, and it radiated from him, flowing through him. Where it touched the walls, the shadowsteel disappeared.

He unleashed it, acting as something more like a vessel that allowed the power to flow through him. As it did, lorcith bloomed into his mind, released from the touch of shadowsteel. That lorcith lent power to him, somehow adding to what he could draw from the Elder Trees in a way that he had never experienced before.

Rsiran moved, untethered from his body, letting the power that he summoned fill the mountain. As it did, it spread, snaking away from him through the tunnels, and lorcith appeared, flaring in his mind, forming something of a map. Farther and farther he pushed the power, sending it deeper, until there was no more shadowsteel.

Lorcith in the walls gave a vision to him. Rsiran hesitated, before acting on the vision.

He
pulled
on lorcith.

Even filled with power, what he did should not have been possible.

The mountain groaned.

He continued to
pull
.

Cracks started to form in the ceilings. Debris fell through him, a strange sensation. Lorcith appeared in the ceiling where the shadowsteel had fallen away.

Rsiran
pulled
again.

Lorcith fell around him. The entire mountain began to collapse, the empty caverns now filled with lorcith. Still he
pulled
.

The mountain continued to rumble. Rock settled through Rsiran so that he was buried. He remained where he was until the sounds faded. Only then could he tell that the lorcith of this mountain was satisfied with what he had done.

Rsiran returned to his body.

Light from the trees surrounded him, four blindingly bright sentinels rising into the sky. The fifth remained dark, though was it as dark as it had been before?

He Slid back to the place between Slides where Jessa lay on the ground, blood seeping from her wound. His father knelt over her, shoving his hands down on the wound, but blood continued to leak. As Rsiran appeared, he looked up.

“I tried…”

Rsiran stepped in front of his father, and
pulled
on the power around him. With that power, he forced it into her, filling her as he had filled himself. There was a resistance, but he continued to
pull
, letting that energy wash around her until it overwhelmed the resistance that he detected. She took a shallow breath and looked up.

Rsiran turned the energy to his father and sent the healing power through him as well. If the sword had been poisoned—and judging by the way that Jessa bled, he suspected that it was—his father would bleed out next.

Neran gasped as the energy washed over him. Rsiran continued to
pull
on it until he no longer met any resistance within his father, and then released his connection to the trees.

Jessa sat up and kissed him on the cheek. “We found him,” she said.

“And the shadowsteel forge is destroyed.”

“Destroyed?” his father asked. “How were you able to destroy it?”

Rsiran shook his head. “Later. For now, I need to know if you want to return to Elaeavn. When I saw you last, you were content to die.”

“There is nothing for me there.”

“There is Alyse. There is your smithy.”

“The guild would not allow it.”

Rsiran laughed softly. “I’m not so sure about that.”

“What of Kala?”

Rsiran shook his head. “I’m sorry. Mother is gone. When Danis attacked, she was caught.”

His father only nodded, less emotion than he would have expected. How much had Neran known about?

“You protected Alyse, didn’t you?” Rsiran asked.

“They wanted to use her. I would have done anything to protect her.” He blinked. “And you, but you had more of my bloodline. You had not the same need.”

“I know.”

“You know?”

“I know about Danis. I know that Mother was born of the Forgotten. And I know the price you paid to return with her to the city. So yes, I know.”

“What now?” Neran asked.

“Nothing has changed. You have to decide if you want to return to the city.”

Neran looked around, and his eyes widened slightly, as if he could see the power from the Elder Trees. Maybe he could. “I will return and face the judgment of my guild.”

Jessa met Rsiran’s eyes, fighting a smile.

“Good. Because the guild will need all of us if we are to stop Venass for good.”

He held out his hands, and Slid them to the Aisl.