Shadows Within the Flame (The Elder Stones Saga Book 2) Read online

  “I’ve been thinking about Galen.”

  “Really? Isn’t he a little old for you?”

  She jabbed at him, and he grinned. “Galen was exiled from Elaeavn. Rather than giving up, he embraced the change, and he became something else. In some ways, Galen was more powerful because of his exile. The dart reminds me of him, and it helps me find a certain clarity.”

  “Galen became a killer.”

  “Have you ever talked to Carth about the assignments Galen took?”

  “I haven’t exactly had that much time with Carth since we left the city.”

  “You should sometime. There’s a reason she respects Galen so much. It’s the same reason that I think Cael Elvraeth respects him. I doubt that one of the Elvraeth would take too kindly to a mindless assassin.”

  “I never said he was a mindless assassin.”

  “No, but Galen used his skill set to try to create a certain sort of order. Even in Eban, a place that you and I both saw was incredibly dangerous, he used his abilities to try to keep things calm. Had he not, Carth claims that there would have been even more violence.”

  “So he was a killer with a conscience?”

  “More like a man who killed because it was needed, not because he enjoyed it.”

  “Is that going to be you?”

  “I don’t intend to kill anyone,” she said. She set the dart down again, then reached for it, as if she were tempted to grab it again and stare at it a little longer. “But I do think I need to accept what has changed for me, the same way Galen accepted the change that took place for him. I doubt that means I’ll become a killer, but I can find a way to use my changes for the betterment of others.”

  “What about Elaeavn?”

  “What about Elaeavn? We’ve been closed off there. Rsiran has kept us closed off, and I know he thinks it was for the best, but we have lost something as well. Had he only opened us to the rest of the world, perhaps we wouldn’t have had to face the Forgers alone. Maybe had he not closed our borders, creating the barrier around the forest, we might have been able to get help defending ourselves.”

  Daniel had seen what it was like outside of Elaeavn. Within the city there was still a class structure, regardless of how much the people within the city had tried to change it over the years. The Elvraeth still lorded over the greater part of the city, and the guilds and the guildlords ruled outside of the city proper, within the forest. It was a more open sort of division than there once had been. From what he’d heard from those who had been alive back then, the guilds had had power, but they’d been discreet, not wanting to flaunt their power, leaving the Elvraeth to rule more openly. Now they didn’t act so discreetly, but it hadn’t changed things for anyone in any significant way.

  But the outside world wasn’t much better. Did he really want what he’d seen in Asador to extend into Elaeavn? Did he want people who would abduct women, poison them, and force them into a sort of slavery to come into his homeland?

  He didn’t.

  “I just want to prevent the Forgers from hurting others.”

  She watched him, and from the tilt of her head and the slight set to her jaw, he wondered how much she Read of what he had been thinking. Maybe it was nothing more than simply trying to decide what to say, but he had the sense that she had been Reading him.

  “I want the same. I don’t want the Forgers to attack our city and our people again. I’m willing to do whatever I can to prevent that.”

  “Even if it turns you into a soldier?”

  “It’s not going to turn me into a soldier.”

  “Are you so certain?”

  “I’m not certain about anything anymore. There was a time when I would’ve said I was, but I’m not. And I’m all right with that, too. Much the same way that you have to find your own peace of mind about everything.”

  What would his peace of mind be? He had been staying here, but mostly because of Lucy, and understanding her need for training, the same need he had. The two of them could learn, and the Binders were the right instructors, but the longer they remained, the less likely they would ever be able to return easily to Elaeavn, at least to find any sense of normalcy. Maybe that was the point. There might not be any normalcy in Elaeavn anymore. They had been exposed to the outside world, and now—now they were a part of it.

  “I thought I knew what I needed,” he said.

  He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Lucy was beautiful, perhaps more so now than she had been in Elaeavn. She had a confidence that she had lacked in the city, but maybe it was nothing more than the fact that he could detect the power she wielded. That energy practically radiated from her.

  “If you need to return to Elaeavn, you don’t have to remain in Asador on my behalf. The Binders will continue to work with me, and in time, I suspect I can get a better handle on my new abilities. It’s already much better than it was.”

  “I know it is.” He would have said more, but the words didn’t come out. Was she trying to get rid of him?

  “You do?”

  “If it wasn’t, you would be clutching your head just being within the city.”

  Her eyes took on a distant expression. “I suppose so. When I was with them, they worked with me on mastering my connection to my abilities. Had I stayed with them, I suspect I could have continued to gain control over them.”

  “You can’t be saying you wish you had remained with the Forgers.”

  “Not with them, but they had knowledge. If I had been able to reach even a part of that, I think it would have been incredibly useful.”

  “You do have some of that knowledge. And it is useful.”

  “It’s not the same. And I’m not saying that I want to go back with them. I know who—and what—they are. It’s just that they are able to walk among us, sneaking in and spying, but we don’t have the same access to them.”

  That had to be her recent Binder training speaking. That wasn’t the kind of thing Lucy ever would have said before.

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “I’m not suggesting anything. Not yet, anyway. I need to continue to work and understand what I can do. Each day I seem to learn something more about myself. Eventually, the Binders are going to need to take action against them.”

  “And you want to be a part of it.”

  That was what she was getting at, though he wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about it. Then again, that wasn’t for him to decide, was it?

  “I think I have to be, Daniel. I might be the only one who can.”

  And if she did participate, what choice did he have but to support her? And he would need to try and ensure any action she took was as safe as it could be. He might not have her abilities, but he could do that much for her.

  Only… he wasn’t sure how.

  9

  Daniel

  Daylight drifted over the city of Asador, and with it came the sight of seagulls flying overhead, cawing occasionally. Every so often, they dove, dropping out of sight. They swirled, forming a pattern in the sky, and Daniel couldn’t take his eyes off them. There was something almost rhythmic about the way they moved, a pattern to it that he thought he should understand but didn’t.

  “Are you going to keep staring up at the sky?” Rayen asked.

  He glanced over. “When I was in Elaeavn, I wasn’t nearly as interested in the seagulls. I don’t know why I find them so fascinating here.”

  “Blasted birds. They shit all over everything, practically painting the roofs of some of the buildings.”

  Daniel laughed. “Did one of them get you?”

  “Careful,” Rayen cautioned.

  They navigated through the city, winding from street to street as they made their way toward the university. Rayen seemed convinced that they would find Carth, and after escaping the ship the night before, she had wanted nothing more than to get to her mentor so she could share what had happened to them.

  “What if she’s not there?” he asked.

  “Then she
’s not there. She’s been away from the city for long enough that I doubt they’ll know how to send word to her, but if anyone could, it would be the university.”

  “Why the university?”

  “Because she’s tied to a greater part of the world through the university,” she said.

  Daniel kept his gaze on the tall structure in the distance. The university was a sprawling several-story building, carved out of grayish stone, and it rose above much of the rest of the city. In the daylight, it wasn’t imposing as it had been in the night.

  “What is it about the university?”

  “It’s a connection that Carth has.”

  “What sort of connection?”

  Rayen glanced over at him, and the twitching at the corners of her eyes left him wondering if she would answer. “You have known about the Forgers and learned about their masters.”

  “You mean the Ai’thol?”

  Rayen nodded. “The Ai’thol are seekers of power. They have used various strategies over the years to hold on to that power. But they aren’t the only ones who seek knowledge.”

  “Well? The university?”

  “The university has a thirst for knowledge, and some would argue that their thirst for knowledge is nearly as dangerous as that of the Ai’thol.”

  “But not you.”

  “Not me. I understand the other purpose of the university.”

  “What other purpose is that?”

  “They are an arm of the C’than. The C’than seek balance. They seek peace. And they have continued to oppose the Ai’thol for many years.”

  “Do you serve the C’than?”

  “I serve the Binders.”

  “Are they exclusive?”

  “I don’t think they were ever meant to be, but with the role that Carth plays, it’s difficult for the Binders to be a part of anything else.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Carth formed the Binders as a way to counter the influence of the C’than.”

  “Then why are we going to the C’than?”

  “Because Carth also worked with the C’than.”

  Daniel didn’t really understand it, but then, maybe it wasn’t for him to understand. “And you intend to get word to Carthenne through the C’than?”

  “I will try. I’ve tried sending word through the Binders as well, but it will take time.”

  “The C’than won’t take as much time?”

  “It can. It’s unpredictable how long it will take.”

  “If only you had someone among the Binders who could Slide,” Daniel said.

  “It may come to that,” Rayen said.

  “What is your concern with these men we found?”

  “My concern is that we may not be fully capable of stopping them.”

  “Did they worry you?”

  “They should worry you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they represent another influence, and it becomes difficult to know what’s going to happen when there are more players involved. When it’s just the Forgers, we can begin to predict how people will react, but when you start to add others, especially those with power, it becomes less predictable.”

  “I’m not trying to achieve any predictability,” he said.

  “You might not be, but I would like it. With as much as we are dealing with, it would be beneficial for us to know just what every party is after.”

  “And that’s why you want to find Carth.”

  “Carth has a different way of looking at things, and I think that if we are to figure out what these newcomers are interested in, we need her way of looking at it.”

  There was more to it, Daniel was certain, but Rayen didn’t say it. She continued to guide him through the streets, past various shops, many of them with shop owners standing out front, some more animated than others, and all of them trying to encourage them to come inside. They didn’t seem to care that Daniel and Rayen weren’t dressed the same as others within Asador. For that matter, Rayen didn’t seem to care that she wasn’t dressed the same as others within Asador. There was no attempt to blend in, which suggested to Daniel that either she wasn’t concerned about it, or there were so many different people within the city that it simply didn’t matter.

  The latter was more likely the case. He had been in Asador long enough to realize there were plenty of outsiders in the city, enough that his presence wasn’t much of a surprise.

  As they approached the university building in the distance, he stared at it, thinking back to the night of the attack. So much had changed for him that night, so much about himself and what he had known. At that time, it had only been about the Forgers; since then, he had realized that there was so much more.

  And he had realized that those he viewed as powerful weren’t always nearly as invincible as he had believed.

  The gate around the university was locked. Rayen pressed her hand against it, shadows swirling from her, and the lock clicked open.

  As they stepped through the gate, a tingling came across his skin. He was familiar with that tingling, having felt it before; it came from whatever magic they used to block his ability to Slide. It wasn’t heartstone, at least not that he knew, but it was possible they used something like that.

  “What happens if they don’t accept you here?”

  Rayen shook her head. “They know that I work with Carth. They will accept me.”

  “But if they don’t?”

  “If they don’t, then we will continue looking.”

  “Why are you so concerned about the men we found?”

  Rayen clenched her jaw. “There has been no word of movement. The fact that they could simply appear in Asador like that without my getting any notice troubled me.”

  “Do you think the Binders are so infallible that there should always be word?”

  “It’s not about being infallible. But the Binders have connections all around.”

  “Even across the sea?”

  Rayen grinned at him. “Where do you think they started?”

  They reached the door to the university, and she knocked. Daniel hadn’t been certain what she was going to do, whether she was simply going to try to walk in, but she hadn’t. They waited, standing back and looking up at the building, feeling the pressure of it.

  “I don’t think they are going to answer.”

  “Then I have to try something else.”

  “Can you just break in?”

  Rayen glanced over at him. “One does not simply break into the university. That is a recipe for danger.”

  “Why? I didn’t think the university was a dangerous place. It seems like it should be a place of scholarship.”

  “It is a place of scholarship, but…” She frowned at him, watching him for a moment. “What do you know about the university in Thyr?”

  “Considering I don’t know anything about Thyr, I guess I don’t know anything.”

  “Thyr is a place that Rsiran was intimately familiar with. There was a university, a place that they called Venass, and it was there that the Hjan trained to be deadly assassins.”

  “Is it still around?”

  “Rsiran destroyed it after the end of the last war. Venass is no more, but that doesn’t mean the power and the people who once were there are no more. The growing threat from the Forgers is enough to tell me there will never be an end to the risk from them.”

  “Why tell me this?”

  “You ask about danger from the university. I’m telling you why you would need to worry about the possibility of danger from a place you would believe was only about scholarship. In Venass, they used their scholarship to hide their other activities.”

  She knocked again, and once again there was no answer. Rayen pressed her hand against the door, shadows swirling around her hand, and waited. She said something softly under her breath, a word Daniel didn’t recognize, and took a step back.

  “We should move on,” she said.

  “Why?”

  “They ar
e choosing not to answer.”

  “Choosing? You think they know you’re here and are ignoring you?”

  “Oh, they know that I’m here. I have made it quite clear.”

  “Why would they ignore you?”

  “Because they choose to hide something.”

  “What would they hide?”

  “Other than the Elder Stone? They might think that I’m after the Wisdom Stone, especially after it was revealed recently.”

  “We returned the stone to them.”

  “The C’than are strange about that. They are tasked with watching the Elder Stone, and they take this assignment seriously, though not always the way Carthenne feels they should.”

  “I didn’t realize that Carthenne had an opinion on how the Elder Stone was kept.”

  “Then you haven’t been paying attention. Carthenne has opinions about everything.”

  Rayen stepped back, and they stood near the gate.

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “We need answers. They were sailing from here, and we need to find out if there’s anything I’ve overlooked. The Binders are spreading word, but there’s only so much they can do.”

  “What if I go looking for answers?”

  Rayen frowned. “You aren’t prepared.”

  “Maybe not, but I’m not looking to fight. All I’m looking to do is to gather information, right? I should be able to do that.”

  “I suppose you should.”

  “What are we after? Is it just finding Carth? I can put out feelers for her. Or do we want to know more about these men who attacked us?”

  “We need to know where they have gone,” she said.

  “Where should I look?”

  “With your ability to travel, it might be that you can reach places I cannot, and go more quickly.”

  “You don’t have to sound so disappointed by that.”

  “It’s not disappointment. It’s a recognition that I have limitations.”

  “Don’t we all have limitations?”

  “I’ve been working to eliminate my limitations. As should you.”

  “What makes you think I have any limitations I need to remove?”

  She frowned at him. “Everyone has limitations. Especially you.”