The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) (23 page)
Read The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) Online
Authors: D.K. Holmberg
W
hen they arrived
, Rsiran let out a slow and tired sigh. Time spent in the place between had restored his energy, but he had a physical tiredness that he couldn’t recover from as easily. Seval found him first, with Luca walking with him.
“You made it. Were you successful?” Seval asked Rsiran.
“As much as can be done for now.”
“Your apprentice shared with me what you told him,” Seval went on. “Do you really think it’s safest that we remain outside the city?”
“We’ll know soon enough,” Rsiran said. “If it doesn’t matter, then we can return.”
“But you don’t know.”
Rsiran shook his head. “I thought it prudent to be careful.”
“What now?”
“Now we plan,” Rsiran said. “Gather the others. The guild will have much to discuss.”
Seval tapped his knuckle to his forehead and nodded to Rsiran’s father. “Neran. Glad to see you returned.”
When Seval left, his father looked at Rsiran differently. “What is this? Why does Master Seval address you that way? How is it that you have an apprentice?”
Rsiran patted his father on the shoulder. “You are a master smith, otherwise I could not share this with you.”
“Share what?”
“I’m the smith guildlord.”
“That… that’s not possible.”
“Believe it or not, but get used to the fact that the other smiths listen to me, and I speak for the guild. With what we’re about to face, I will have to lead the guildlords as well, especially with the Sliding Guild guildlord now gone.”
“There is a Sliding Guild?”
Rsiran nodded. “There’s much you don’t know. But if you want to know, I am willing to share with you.”
Neran looked toward Seval talking quietly to Luca. A few of the other smiths were with him, and they occasionally glanced over to his father. “What will it cost me?”
Rsiran shrugged. “Your choice. Seval and some of the others have regained the ability to listen to lorcith. They’ve become more talented smiths because of it. A few have no interest, but recognize the value. Lorcith is plentiful, Father. If you want to listen to it, you can use it without worrying.”
His father sighed. “I know that it’s plentiful. When they held me, they… they forced me to listen until I could hear it again. The damned song fills me now. I had to tell them when it changed, when lorcith screamed. That was how they knew their damned weapons worked.”
Rsiran shivered. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault they held you.”
“It is. But I drove you away.”
“I can help you,” Rsiran offered. “I can teach you to listen to lorcith the right way. You can learn to enjoy the song.”
Neran shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll think on it.” He started to turn away when Alyse appeared from a small crowd. “Alyse?”
Alyse glanced from Rsiran to their father. “You found him?” she asked Rsiran. She pulled her hand from Brusus’s and ran toward him. “Rsiran found you?”
His father started sobbing then. “I’m so sorry,” he said to Rsiran. “For… for…”
Rsiran swallowed the lump in his throat. For so long, he’d wanted nothing more than his father’s approval, but he’d grown past needing that. Now that his father was returned, he wanted to show him that he wasn’t the foolish, undisciplined boy he’d thought, nor was he the petulant son who had stolen from his smithy. Rsiran wasn’t sure who he was anymore, but he felt a part of something greater than himself now.
“I am, too,” he said.
He left Alyse and his father alone, and moved to the center of the clearing. Della approached, relief on her face. Ephram was with her, and Sarah walked next to him. Luthan followed, every so often glancing at Della with a curious expression on his face.
“You should not have been able to Slide like that,” she told Rsiran.
“I think there are many things I should not be able to do,” he said. He looked to Ephram. “The shadowsteel forge is destroyed. They used an entire mountain to create it. We will have to protect Ilphaesn.”
“I will have the miners begin work.”
“Are you sure they can be trusted?” Rsiran asked.
“When Gersh realized what Naelm intended, he returned.”
“This isn’t the miners’ fault. None of this is,” Rsiran said. “But we must be the ones to end it.”
Luthan turned his attention to Rsiran. “How do you intend to end this, guildlord?”
He didn’t know, not fully. “We need the crystal. Venass doesn’t have it—not yet—but that doesn’t mean they won’t go after it. The guilds must work together. We must drive Venass from the city. And the Elvraeth,” he said, turning to Luthan, “can no longer rule as they did.”
Luthan turned his cloudy eyes to him. “You would rule as guildlord?”
Ephram’s eyes widened slightly, as did Sarah’s.
Rsiran shook his head. “I don’t think that’s the kind of rule the people deserve. I’m not sure of the answer, but the first step is not depriving our people of their birthright.”
“You would open the crystals to anyone?” Ephram asked.
“Anyone from Elaeavn would be allowed entry. So once we drive Venass from the city”—he made a point of saying
when
not
if—
“we will find the missing crystal. And then, we must find a way to rule the city fairly.”
Della glanced to Luthan. “What do you say, councilor? Will his plan work?”
“I See… possibilities.” Luthan sighed. “They are better than what I Saw when trapped by Venass. Then I Saw nothingness.”
Della sniffed and looked to the trees. “Well then, we had better make ourselves at home until we succeed.”
* * *
W
ant
to read more about Carth? Check out her beginning in Book 1 of The Shadow Accords trilogy:
Shadow Blessed
The A'ras of Nyaesh have a terrifying reputation: skilled swordsmen, owners of powerful magic, and ruthless killers. When they kill her parents, Carth discovers her father has trained her for shadow magic she never knew she possessed.
She must use those skills to stay alive, discover a way to find answers, and avenge her parents if she can. Only the discovery of a greater threat than the A'ras forces her to risk herself for new friends and a home she never wanted but now can’t imagine losing.
* * *
G
et
the final book of The Dark Ability:
Rise of the Elder
Forced into the heart of the Aisl Forest, Rsiran and the guilds regroup and try to find a way to reclaim the city from Venass and the Elvraeth council. Rsiran has stopped the production of shadowsteel, but Venass still possess dangerous weapons, and what’s more, one of the great crystals remains missing.
Forced into an alliance with the mysterious Carth in order to find the crystal, they make new allies and discover the means to reclaim the city, but will it be too late? With one of the Elder Trees already gone, recovering the crystal is the key to stopping Venass for good, but as they approach the final battle, Venass proves even more powerful than they ever imagined.
D
K Holmberg
currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
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T
he Dark Ability
A
lso in the
world of The Dark Ability
T
he Shadow Accords
Shadow Cursed (October 2016)
Shadow Born (October 2016)
T
he Endless War
T
he Cloud Warrior Saga
Broken of Fire:
September 2016
Light of Fire:
November 2016
O
thers
in the Cloud Warrior Series
T
he Lost Garden
T
he Painter Mage