Blood of the Watcher (The Dark Ability Book 4) Read online

  He motioned them to sit and took a seat at one end of the table. Rsiran couldn’t see the mark in front of him. Sarah stood behind him, watching Rsiran with uncertainty.

  “When you reached the Heart and held one of the Great Crystals, we were aware of you, Rsiran Lareth,” he began. “Though we were aware of you long before that.”

  Rsiran felt a flush come to his face. “What was on the pages that I took from the drawer at the guild?”

  Ephram clasped his hands together on the table and leaned forward slightly. “That room is the Hall of Guilds,” Ephram said. “It is a place where all of the guilds can meet privately.”

  “Why would the guilds need to meet privately?” Jessa asked.

  It was the first time that she’d spoken since they had seen the crystals. Rsiran wondered what she was thinking. He’d told her what he’d seen when he’d held the crystal, and she knew how his Sight had changed.

  “Because the guilds protect Elaeavn.”

  She snorted. “Protect? You think that you’re more powerful than the council?”

  Ephram tipped his head. “Not more powerful, but complementary.”

  “And you want us to believe that you protect the crystals?” Jessa said.

  “You have seen that we do.”

  Rsiran rested his hand on Jessa’s arm. “Why show me? If you have the crystals, and if they’re protected, then what do you need me for?”

  “To correct a mistake.”

  “Whose mistake?” Rsiran asked.

  “Yours.” Ephram leaned back. He let the word linger. “You see, when you penetrated the Hall, you inadvertently reached something that you should not have been able to.”

  “What was it?” Rsiran asked. The drawer had pulled on him, almost as if he had been meant to reach it. In that way, it was much like the crystal and how it glowed for him, the color pulsing until he lifted it, held it in his hands…

  Even now, the memory of the way the crystal called to him remained strong.

  He watched Jessa, wondering what it must have been like for her to see the crystal pulsing, to feel it drawing her, but be unable to reach it.

  “It was a list,” Ephram answered. “Encrypted, so as to keep it safe, but we have reason to believe that safety has been compromised.”

  “A list of what?”

  Ephram frowned. “Many things, but within the pages you took was a master list of the guilds and the guildlords.”

  Rsiran felt his heart flutter. How would he have managed to get a list of the guilds? And why would that have been what called to him? Unless there was something more that Ephram wasn’t telling him.

  “I didn’t take—”

  Ephram waved his hand and cut him off. “Oh, I know that you didn’t take it intentionally, or at the very least, that you didn’t know what you had taken, but that doesn’t change the fact that you did take the list. And now, others have begun searching for the guildlords.”

  Rsiran swallowed. “The smiths?” he asked. “That’s why the smithies have gone empty?”

  Ephram nodded. “They started with the smiths. The Miner Guild has been impacted, but we managed to keep the guildlord safe. The Travel Guild remains intact, as does the Forest Guild. And the Thenar Guild”—he motioned to Sarah—“they are too few to ever really be in danger.”

  “I don’t understand.” Those weren’t the guilds he knew about. The alchemists, miners, and smiths, but the others? The weavers? The Potter Guild? The fishmongers? He could name a dozen others, but… none were as powerful as the first three. And none with the power of the alchemists.

  Ephram sniffed. “That much is clear. When you took the list, others managed to claim it. They think to break the code and identify the guildlords. They have started by claiming the great smiths, taking as many as they can, thinking that one of them has to be the guildlord. We have tried summoning the remaining smiths, especially those with smith blood.”

  Rsiran blinked. “Like my father?”

  Ephram nodded. “Like your father.”

  If they had been summoning the smiths, that meant the map that Rsiran had found had been for his father, not from him. “And when I claimed the map?”

  “You have a quick mind. The map, a guide to the hall for each master guild member. It was for your father when we tried to call him in. You… you reached him first, it would seem. Better than the alternative.”

  “The alternative? He’s in Venass. Is that any better than with the Forgotten?” Jessa snapped.

  Rsiran thought of what he’d seen in Asador, the way that his father had been trapped. After speaking to his mother, he had thought it was tied to that, but what if there was a different reason?

  And there were other smiths that had been taken there. Rsiran had seen the smithies, had detected lorcith. Had the Forgotten really thought to try to find the guildlords?

  “You don’t understand,” Ephram said. “The smiths are part of something greater. That is what the Forgotten seek.”

  “Just why should Rsiran care?” Jessa asked.

  Ephram’s dark green eyes flared a moment. “It is because of Rsiran that we have to worry about the guilds.”

  She laughed. “You think that he cares about the guilds? After what he went through, and the way that his father treated him? Why should Rsiran care about the guilds?”

  “You were treated poorly,” Ephram said. “That is not something that can be changed. But we can correct other mistakes, ones that put not only our people, but everything in danger.”

  Jessa laughed again. “You have a high opinion of what the guilds can do.”

  “And you have a mistaken opinion if you think all that my guild does is create metal,” Ephram said. He slapped a hand down on the table. “You have seen the crystals, and he has held them, so I know he understands what this is about, even if he needs me to tell him explicitly.” Ephram leaned forward. “The guilds, and the guildlords in particular, protect the crystals. Without us… Without the guilds, there would be chaos.”

  Jessa shook her head. “Why, because someone else would use one of the crystals?” She stood, pushing back her chair. “You’re no different from the Elvraeth, thinking that everything you do has such meaning. And like them, you want to use whoever you choose to accomplish your goals. The exiles wanted to use him, you know that, right? And Venass. They wanted to use him. Both thinking that he can reach the crystals. And he can. So what makes you think that you can keep them safe?”

  Ephram glanced to Sarah, and sighed. “There is only so much that we can do, but without the guildlords in place, we cannot keep the crystals safe. Rsiran reaching them is proof of that.”

  “How do you know that Rsiran is proof?” Jessa asked. Rsiran touched her arm, but she shook her head. “No, Rsiran. They make assumptions, but what if you can reach the crystals even after they have their guildlords intact?”

  “From what we can tell, the exiles are on the move. Knowing that they have abducted members of the guild, and their families, we sought out your sister before they could claim her too. Not to draw you in, as you believe.”

  “You sent them searching for me.”

  “Because we need someone who can help us reach them before they can cause more harm to the guilds,” Ephram said.

  Rsiran thought of the Forgotten Palace, and when he’d gone there alone. They had spoken of taking the smiths. That had to have been what he’d overheard. Had they taken other guild members? “What of the miners?” Rsiran asked.

  Ephram sighed. “Most are safe. They began shifting lorcith, pulling what needed to be removed from the mines to protect it.” Rsiran arched a brow at this, wondering if that was why all the lorcith he’d discovered in the mines had been mined, and wondered why they had chosen those pieces “But the Forgotten have spies among us, and we fear what they know,” Ephram continued. “That is why I only trusted Sarah to watch your sister.” He rested his hands on the table and leaned toward them. “That is the reason why we need your help, Rsiran Lareth
. We must stop them before they bring the fight to Elaeavn. We must stop them before they attack us here.”

  Had Haern Seen this? Was this why he told him that he would need to pick a side?

  Rsiran hadn’t thought there was a side he could choose. How could he choose between either the Forgotten or Venass after what they had done? But the guilds…

  With a sigh, he looked to Jessa. She stared back at him, the look in her eyes telling him that she already knew what he intended to do.

  Chapter 34

  “I don’t like this, Rsiran,” Brusus said.

  Rsiran crouched on the hillside outside of Asador, the wind whistling around him. The distant city was mostly dark, but occasionally, he noticed lorcith. Never any heartstone. He didn’t know whether to be reassured or worried by that.

  He glanced at Brusus. He wore a long black cloak and carried the lorcith sword that Rsiran had made along with a pair of lorcith knives. His eyes were drawn tight as he stared through the darkness.

  “I can do this, Brusus.”

  “I’m not questioning your ability, it’s whether you should do this that I question.”

  “What did Della say?” Rsiran asked. That had been the reason they had delayed before departing. After leaving the Alchemist Guild through the Hall of Guilds, he sensed Brusus and Haern wandering in the tunnels beneath the city. He shouldn’t have been surprised that it had been they who had followed Jessa and him into the tunnels. They hadn’t gotten anywhere near the guild. Without the map, Rsiran wondered if they would have been able to reach it.

  “She said… She said to listen to you.” Brusus shook his head.

  Rsiran smiled, knowing how hard the words would be for Brusus to say. “I brought you along, didn’t I?” he asked.

  “I don’t count?” Jessa said.

  She crouched next to Haern, armed with a half-dozen knives and carrying her lock-pick set rolled in her pocket. No flower was tucked into the charm tonight. Rsiran wondered when she would grab one to rectify the fact that she hadn’t picked one earlier. Haern stared briefly at the bracelets Rsiran had made for him. The lorcith had almost grudgingly acceded to allowing him to make them. No heartstone had been added, not for Haern. Every so often he touched them, prying his fingers underneath. Rsiran hadn’t been willing to have Haern come with him without a way to know that he couldn’t be Compelled.

  “You brought me,” Brusus said, ignoring Jessa, “but you also brought them.”

  He pointed to where Sarah and Valn stood. Neither bothered to crouch down, not as Rsiran did. Another man, one they called Usal, stood next to Valn. Rsiran had learned that he could Slide as well.

  “We need them if we’re going to get the smiths back to Elaeavn.”

  “What if they don’t want to come back to Elaeavn?” Brusus asked. “You know what it was like with your father. He was half-mad and angry that you took him from there. What happens if they support the Forgotten as well?”

  Rsiran hoped that wasn’t the case, but if what Ephram said was true, they had been abducted. Much like the Forgotten had abducted him.

  “We need to take them back,” Rsiran said.

  Brusus shook his head and grunted. “I’ll go with you, I’m just saying that I don’t like it.”

  Rsiran looked over at Sarah. Since learning that she didn’t want to hurt him, a change had come over her. He couldn’t explain the change, nor could he explain what it was about her, only that she was different.

  “We don’t have to like it. But it’s my fault, Brusus. If they find the guildlord—”

  “It’s not your fault,” Haern said. Rsiran shot him a look, but Haern ignored it. “You might have taken those pages from the Alchemist Guild, Rsiran, but it’s my fault that they reached the Forgotten. Had I not gone around showing them to others to try and understand what was on them, they would never have discovered them.”

  “They were already after the guildlords before the pages were stolen,” Sarah said.

  Rsiran hadn’t noticed her coming toward them. She moved silently, nearly as silently as Jessa, and stood shadowed against the night.

  “Their plan may have changed, but they had already begun.” She nodded to Rsiran. “His father was one of the first of the master smiths they took. They might not have known the others then, but they would have found out. That would be why they took Lareth.”

  Rsiran hadn’t considered that. Within Elaeavn, there were master smiths, and there were master smiths. Few knew the difference. Rsiran had never known that his father was of the latter. In order to be a full member of the guild, a smith had to be a master smith.

  Sarah considered Rsiran for a moment. “Are you certain this is where we must look?”

  Rsiran nodded. “It is where I found my father. There was a place here, one where there must have been others.” He thought of the smith where he’d discovered lorcith. Better here than returning to the Forgotten Palace. They didn’t have the numbers, or the preparation to go there yet.

  “They could have moved to any number of places by now,” Brusus said. “Especially if they know you are after them, they would have no reason to remain in place.”

  The comment made him check his mental barriers. Rsiran didn’t think Brusus knew he’d returned to the Forgotten Palace. “The smiths were here.”

  Brusus climbed to his knees and peered toward the distant city. “So what’s your plan, here?”

  “There is a place,” he said, thinking of where he’d first found his father. “I don’t know if there will be others there, but it’s a start.” He looked up to Sarah. “You can follow?”

  “I can follow if you don’t obscure your travels,” she said.

  Rsiran nodded. Getting Brusus, Haern, and Jessa here had taken multiple Slides, only the last of which he stepped into the Slide. It hadn’t taken a long time for Sarah and the others to reach him.

  “How many can they carry with them?” he asked, motioning to Valn and Usal.

  “Valn is strong. He can take himself and possibly two others. Usal will only be able to take one more.”

  Strong. What did it mean that Rsiran could fairly easily take three, and likely a fourth? He hadn’t tried, not wanting to weaken himself for such a long Slide, but this close to Asador, he wouldn’t trust the others to Slide with his friends.

  “Fine. Then you will follow me.”

  Valn stepped forward. “I will take Sarah. How many can you take?”

  Rsiran nodded to his friends. “All of them.”

  He grabbed Brusus and Haern, and Jessa held onto his arm. He focused on the street outside the building where he’d found his father, and pulled himself there.

  The Slide drew him slowly. He had only carried three with him one other time, and that had been with Lianna after she’d died. That had nearly incapacitated him. This Slide, while difficult, was less challenging. Rsiran didn’t know if it had to do with the way that he Slid, or whether his practice had truly strengthened him so much, but either way, when he emerged, he didn’t struggle as he had.

  He stepped briefly into a Slide, enough that Sarah would be able to detect, and then studied the street.

  The last time, it had been empty. This time was much the same, though voices drifted down the street, carried on the wind to him. The long, low building appeared much the same as when he’d been here before, and the strange pull of heartstone remained.

  A swirl of colors emerged out of the corner of his eye, and he felt a slight pressure against his skin, then Sarah and Valn emerged, with Usal trailing behind.

  Usal studied Rsiran curiously and Slid to him. “Just how many can you carry?”

  Rsiran focused on the building, running his hand along the door as he searched for a way in. He sensed the alloy as he had before. Had he Slid past the alloy or had he forced the lock? He couldn’t remember. Now it didn’t matter.

  “I don’t know.”

  “How many have you carried?”

  “Four.”

  “And you’re no
t exhausted.”

  Rsiran shook his head. “Not like I was the first time I did it.”

  Usal glanced over at Sarah. “What did you detect when he Slid?”

  “Now is not the time,” she said.

  “What did you detect?”

  She sighed and shook her head. “Nothing. Not until he made a small Slide here.”

  “How?” Usal asked, looking to Rsiran. “Tell me how you did that without detection.”

  He grabbed Rsiran’s shoulder and pulled on him. The bracelets on his wrists went cold.

  “Rsiran!” Jessa cried out, but she didn’t need to. Rsiran felt the building effort of Usal trying to Slide with him.

  It was the same sense he’d detected before, when his Sliding had been influenced. This time, with the direct contact, he thought that Usal might actually be able to Slide with him.

  He did the only thing that he could think that might work: he focused on the inside of the building, and pulled himself with Usal inside.

  They drew through the alloy around the building. The Slide was more effort than it should have been, likely because of the recent Slide. He’d have to be careful and avoid over extending himself tonight, especially if he wanted to get everyone home.

  Once inside the building, the sense of lorcith flared.

  He shrugged Usal off him and pushed on a pair of knives.

  Usal Slid, emerging behind Rsiran.

  “What are you doing?” Rsiran asked.

  Usal Slid again, not answering.

  Rsiran thought he understood. The guilds had been infiltrated. Ephram had known, but not who. “You’re with the Forgotten, aren’t you?”

  Usal shrugged. “Can’t help but get recruited when you’ve got this ability,” he said.

  Rsiran pulled himself to the end of the room where he detected lorcith. He left his knives hovering behind him, the soft white light glowing from them lighting the way for him to see. “And the smiths?”

  Usal Slid, colors swirling moments before he did.

  Rsiran nearly lost focus. Was that what Jessa saw when he Slid?