The Coming Chaos Page 14

  They followed him as they marched across the ground. Haern hurried, keeping a rapid pace as the night grew longer. He focused on the sense of lorcith he detected. It was a distinct awareness, and he let it lead him.

  “What happens if you need to fight?” he asked Jayna, glancing at the others with him.

  “Then we fight,” she said.

  “I know we don’t intend it, but what happens if you need to kill?”

  Stacy in particular tensed at the question. They liked the idea of fighting and defending themselves, but were they prepared for the possibility they would have to do something more? Haern wasn’t sure.

  “If we need to kill, then we do,” Jayna whispered.

  As the wagons came into view, Haern motioned to the others to slow. “I’m going to watch from above. How will I know if you need my help?”

  “You have enhanced eyesight, don’t you?”

  Haern frowned, nodding.

  “Then watch. You’ll know.”

  Haern smiled to himself. Jayna amused him with her practicality.

  He pushed off with a coin, using it to streak into the air. As he did, he sent another coin out from him but left the first in place. If he needed to move quickly, having the coins arranged around the wagons might provide a quick means of escape.

  Haern pushed off on two other coins, sending them in either direction around the wagons. With the coins situated in a triangle, he could push and pull, holding himself in place so that he could hover and watch.

  His heart hammered. It was dangerous what the women were doing, but was it any more dangerous than what he had wanted to do?

  It wasn’t long before the women reached the edge of the campsite. They approached slowly, their cloaks wrapped around them, concealing their weapons. From his vantage, the way they approached was tentative, hopefully meant to appear nervous and scared—which he imagined they were.

  He couldn’t hear anything but the wind as it whistled around him. He could lower himself closer, but doing so might expose him to the others. It was better to stay high enough where he could still See, even if he was too high to hear anything.

  The women were met by three others. It appeared to be two men and one woman, and they were brought toward the center of the clearing, near the campfire. Jayna remained standing, but the other four took a seat, sitting around the campfire. Their backs were stiff with tension.

  Someone brought something out to them. It seemed to be water or food, and he could imagine the women eagerly taking offered food. They’d had plenty of water over the last few days, but all they’d had to eat was dried food, so anything offered to them would be appealing.

  As he watched, there came a strange sense.

  It took Haern a moment to realize what it was. When he did, he swore to himself.

  Lorcith.

  It was coming at him quickly.

  Haern shot upward, streaking into the darkness. He pushed against the sense of lorcith but realized that might be a mistake. If another sphere came at him with nails embedded within it, pushing on it might cause it to explode and hurt those on the ground.

  Twisting in the air, Haern glanced down, but it didn’t seem as if there was any unusual activity within the campsite.

  Had he missed something?

  When he’d come searching before, he hadn’t seen anything suspicious, other than the fact that there were eight wagons rather than twelve. There hadn’t been any sense of lorcith like this.

  Without the triangle of coins he’d placed, Haern wasn’t sure he would’ve been able to manipulate his position so well. With those on the ground, he was able to spin from place to place, with far greater control than he normally had when he used just one coin. He spun around and focused his energy on the sphere, pushing, trying to wrap his connection to lorcith around it.

  Could he hold it and pull it to him?

  It would take a level of control he hadn’t attempted before.

  Haern held his hands outward, focusing on the lorcith within the sphere. His palms tingled where the metal had pierced him.

  He tried not to think about what that meant, though he knew it was tied to whatever change had occurred to him following the Forger attack.

  The sphere started to slow.

  Haern wrapped his connection around it, pulling power from himself, sending it swirling around the entirety of the sphere. He was ready for it to explode.

  And somehow, he knew it would explode.

  He pushed off the ground, higher and higher. He needed to be high enough so that if it did explode, the nails wouldn’t harm anyone on the ground if he lost control.

  Haern shot higher than he had before, pulling the sphere toward him, holding a barrier around him, a cushion designed to utilize his connection to lorcith so he could force it outward.

  Then the sphere exploded.

  The suddenness of it almost caught him off guard. Haern had to focus on wrapping his connection around the sphere, and as he did, he started to plummet to the ground.

  It took every ounce of energy to keep the nails from shooting through his barrier. It was as if he could feel every single one attempting to penetrate it, and Haern was forced to divert every ounce of focus into pushing those nails backward.

  And then the explosion stopped.

  Haern shifted his focus, pushing off the ground once again, realizing he was off center, but also that he had nearly touched the ground. He floated back into the air, pulling the sphere to him.

  As he did, he noticed something about it.

  His effort to prevent it from exploding had kept the nails inside.

  Could it launch again?

  Haern probed the sphere, worried that something could happen to it, but he didn’t detect anything.

  As far as he could tell, he was still safe.

  Holding himself in the air, he floated back toward the center of the clearing, above the campfire. The women were gone.

  14

  Haern

  A moment passed. Then another.

  There was still no sign of the women below, and the longer he went, the more concerned Haern became. Had he taken too long? He wasn’t certain, knowing only that he had managed to prevent the sphere from exploding. That had seemed like a victory, and he had been thrilled with it, but now he had lost Jayna and the others he’d come with.

  There was a way he could search for Jayna. Her coin should be somewhere. As he focused on it, he detected it off to the side.

  Near one of the wagons.

  Haern drifted that direction, holding on to the sphere, keeping a surge of his lorcith barrier around it in case it would explode again. If it did, he didn’t know if he’d be able to react in time. Hopefully, holding on to it in this way would give him a warning, but even that might not be enough.

  The challenge was that he had to pull on too much of his connection to lorcith. In doing so, he wasn’t nearly as stable floating in the air. He continued to try to hover, to maintain his position, but it was difficult.

  There had been no scream. No shout. And as he drifted toward where he’d detected the coin, he didn’t see Jayna.

  There was nothing other than the flat side of the wagon.

  Haern hesitated. He wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt, the opportunity to defend themselves, but what if the merchants had attacked them? Haern didn’t want to wait too long, fearing that if he did, something unpleasant would happen.

  He gave it another moment. Then another.

  Then he dropped to the ground.

  Unsheathing his sword, he held it in one hand and grabbed the sphere in the other. He approached the wagon, waiting for one of the merchants to come running, but there was nothing.

  Holding himself up against the edge of the wagon, Haern tapped on the wood softly.

  There was no response.

  The entrance to the wagon wasn’t on this side. He faced outward, away from the center of the clearing, and reaching a door into the wagon would require exposing himself
. He would probably have to act quickly.

  There was no question in his mind that the coin was within the wagon.

  Haern crept along the side of it. It was rough, and though he knew the surface was painted, there was nothing but darkness at this time of night. When he reached the end of the wagon, he craned his neck so he could look between the two wagons and toward the clearing. The flames crackled, disrupting his night vision for a moment, and when he pulled his head back, two darkened figures were in front of him.

  Haern blinked, and it took a moment for his Sight to recover.

  When it did, he was face-to-face with two men dressed in dark robes. Both of them carried steel swords.

  “What did you do to my friends?” Haern asked.

  The men didn’t answer. They surged forward, swinging their weapons.

  Haern danced back, sweeping the lorcith sword around in a quick arc. With his training, he was far more comfortable fighting with the sword than he had been before, but he didn’t rely upon it. There were six knives within his pocket, and he focused on two of them, pushing outward.

  The knives streaked away from him, catching both men in the chest at the same time. Blood blossomed around the wounds, and they fell.

  Haern pulled on the knives, wanting the weapons if he was attacked again.

  He looked around, but there was no sign of anyone else.

  Haern poked his head once more between the two wagons. This time, he glanced at the rear wagon, searching for a door.

  When he found it, he saw a massive padlock on it.

  That wasn’t going to be easy to break, which meant he was going to have to unlock it somehow.

  Hurrying back toward the two fallen men, Haern checked to see if either of them had keys on them. Other than the swords, they had nothing with them.

  Haern took a moment to search them, and when he didn’t find any coins, nor any other weapons, he stepped back, frowning to himself.

  There was something odd about them, too. It took a moment for him to realize what it was. Lorcith was used here, he was certain of it, and he suspected that these men understood its use, but they didn’t have any scars to suggest they were Forgers.

  Who else used lorcith like that?

  Creeping forward, he pulled one man’s eyelids up, looking at his dead and glazed eyes. His stomach lurched for a moment.

  Green.

  Were they from Elaeavn?

  They didn’t look like they were, certainly not dressed as they were, but Haern was aware there were others from Elaeavn who didn’t live in the city anymore. Galen was evidence of that fact.

  And if they didn’t live in Elaeavn, were they exiles?

  Haern glanced back down. One of the men was older, certainly old enough to have been exiled at some point, but the other man was only a few years older than Haern.

  What was going on here?

  He needed to get into the wagon. There remained the sense of lorcith coming from the coin he’d given Jayna. Haern decided to try one of his knives.

  He pushed on it, sending it toward the lock. As it lodged within, he tried to twist it. Lorcith was stronger than most metals and should be able to break almost anything, but it wasn’t able to do so with this lock.

  Could they have used lorcith in the lock?

  Haern didn’t think so. He didn’t feel any lorcith from it, though it was possible they used an alloy.

  But that was giving these people far too much credit, almost as if they were Forgers. Without the scars, they would have no abilities.

  If it wasn’t lorcith, then it was some equally strong metal. He wasn’t going to be able to push past it with just a knife.

  It was possible that he could push beyond it with his sword, but that would involve exposing himself in a dangerous way. But if he didn’t, he might not be able to get to Jayna.

  A voice on the other side of the circle of wagons caught his attention. He knew he would need to act quickly. It was a mistake that this had taken him as long as it had.

  “Find them,” a voice said.

  Did they know that Haern had dropped two of their people?

  If they did, could he act quickly enough that it wouldn’t draw any more attention?

  And maybe that didn’t matter. At this point, all that mattered was ensuring he freed his people. It mattered not at all to him if he had to continue to attack.

  Haern didn’t wait to see who might be there. He paused for a moment before slipping forward, creeping through the opening between the two wagons. When he did, he came face-to-face with another attacker.

  Great Watcher.

  He needed to be more careful. He was risking danger time and again—and more than he needed.

  The other man reached for something, and Haern pushed on the knife.

  It streaked forward, catching the man in the chest. Haern didn’t wait, pulling the knife back and unsheathing his sword, jamming it into the opening and wrenching the blade. Metal screamed. Haern heard others near him.

  He ignored the sounds around him, focusing instead on the lock.

  As he twisted the blade, the metal crying out against what he was doing, it snapped.

  Someone was there.

  Another attacker.

  Haern spun around, positioning himself so that he could block anyone coming at him, and came face-to-face with no one.

  Someone had to be here. He had heard them.

  Spinning again, Haern looked between the wagons, but there was no one.

  He pulled the lock off the door.

  As he did, something struck him.

  Haern staggered back, realizing too late that it was lorcith.

  He pushed on it, but the metal pierced his leg and his shoulder.

  Pushing against it involved pushing outward and away from himself, but the power to push from metal involved drawing from some deep place within himself, and he wasn’t sure he would be able to do that with metal stabbing through him.

  Haern reached for what had struck him and found only pain. His hand came away sticky and wet. Blood. He reached for his thigh, and it was the same.

  Turning, he found no evidence of any attacker.

  They had to be there, but where?

  Haern spun, looking to see who might have come after him. In the middle of the clearing, near the flame, a silver sphere rested on the ground.

  Lorcith.

  At least he knew what he’d been struck with. The nails had pierced his shoulder and his thigh. He was lucky it wasn’t worse. The fact that he had been hiding between the two wagons had probably protected him. It was unlikely he would get so lucky again.

  Haern spun in place, still looking out toward the fire, knowing there was someone out there who had the ability to harm him. He tried to ignore the pain in his shoulder, but it burned, making him wonder if it was poisoned.

  There wasn’t time to think about that.

  There was no sign of anyone here. Nothing other than the empty clearing. Despite that, someone had to be present. There wasn’t any way he could have been attacked otherwise.

  He tried starting forward, toward the sphere, but the pain in his leg made it impossible.

  Haern tried to think of the lessons Galen had taught him about dealing with poisonings. There had been many such lessons, and in all of them, he had remembered how brutal it had felt when he’d suffered. Many of them were painful. This was the kind of pain that came from his flesh torn, metal within it, the same sort of pain he’d felt when the Forgers had pierced his palms with their metal.

  If he could focus inwardly, if he could find some way of reaching the lorcith that had penetrated his arms, then he could dislodge it.

  Haern reached for the wagon. At least he could open the door. Jayna was inside, and he would do whatever was within his power to ensure her safety. Get them free, and perhaps they could help him. If he could stay awake long enough, he might be able to guide them in finding the right kind of treatment.

  The door didn’t open.


  His mind was starting to get fuzzy. Whatever they had used on him was potent. Would it be slithca? He had some experience with that compound and knew it would cause him to lose his connection to his abilities.

  As sedated as he felt, it might not even matter. At this point, he wasn’t able to focus on anything other than the pain filling him.

  Movement in front of him caught his attention, and Haern tried to stagger toward it but found he could not. He licked his lips. They were dry, another sign of the poisoning. The longer it lingered, the more likely he wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

  Somehow, Haern had to buy himself some time.

  His vision began to blur.

  He became acutely aware of the way his heart pounded, the sense of movement around him, and a vague sensation of lorcith somewhere near him. Why should that be?

  Could it be his lorcith?

  Haern didn’t think it was lorcith he’d brought with him, but he still didn’t know what he was detecting. Whatever it was seemed close.

  He spun, and a vague figure appeared. Haern pushed out with his connection to lorcith, prepared to cut down more attackers.

  He didn’t see anything other than shadows.

  Crying out, he flung himself forward. This was a mistake. He should have come at this in a different direction. What was he thinking coming by himself? What had he been thinking allowing Jayna to plan like this?

  Someone grunted, and he thought that one of his knives hit home.

  Haern spun, holding on to his sword, sweeping it in a broad arc.

  All he needed to do was cut down whoever was in front of him. Then he would find Jayna. Stacy. Any of the others.

  But they weren’t here.

  Haern swept his sword around in a violent arc.

  He staggered. He could barely keep his footing and knew that if he fell, he wouldn’t have the strength to get back up.

  “Haern?”

  Somewhere distantly he heard his name. Why was that?

  Could Jayna have come for him?

  Haern spun, searching for evidence of Jayna or the others. Everything around him was a haze. Pain throbbed in his leg and his shoulder, pulsing in time with his heartbeat.