The Coming Chaos Read online

  “Anything you might know would be helpful,” he said.

  “I don’t really know what it could be,” Erica said.

  Haern glanced over to Elise before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the strip of cloth he had used to bind up the nails. He unfolded it, holding it outward and showing it to her. “These were within it.”

  Erica studied it, something in the way she looked at it suggesting she had seen it before.

  “Where’s home for you?” he asked Erica.

  She tore her gaze away from the nails, meeting his eyes. “Why?”

  “I’m just realizing that I don’t know much about anyone here.”

  Elise patted him on the arm. “I think they would say the same about you, Haern.”

  He smiled. That was true enough, and as difficult as it could be, he thought it was time that changed. They needed to get a better sense of each other, if only so that it was easier for all of them to trust one another. It wasn’t just about him trusting them; it was about them trusting him, too.

  “Why don’t we take a break?”

  Elise eyed him for a moment. “Are you sure?”

  “I think we need to.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Haern let out a heavy sigh. “I think we need to have a conversation.”

  As far as he could tell, it was long past the time that they should have done it. He should have recognized that sooner. There was a need for them to sit and communicate, to share, to gain trust. Waiting until now had only made that more difficult.

  And they had become reliant upon him, something he didn’t want. It was part of the reason he’d been working with them, trying to get them to be self-sufficient. Eventually they would reach Asador, and they would reach Carth or her people. Once there, they would be offered an opportunity to join the Binders. Having seen the Binders and what they were capable of, he thought there was value in the independent streak he saw in these women.

  They found a place to stop, a clearing near a small stream where they were able to tamp down the grasses. It was late in the day, and it was time for them to take a break, anyway. They had been going for a while, and many of the women had grown tired. Haern also needed a rest.

  When everyone had settled, Haern glanced around. “We’ve been traveling together for a while now, and I think you deserve the opportunity to get to know me a little bit better.”

  The women all looked up at him expectantly. Even Elise looked over at him, and she knew him better than any of them.

  “I’ve told many of you that my home is in Elaeavn, a place along the coast, but it’s a place that doesn’t welcome outsiders. All my life, I’ve lived knowing about the dangers of the Forgers, people like the man I fought.”

  He squeezed his hands, feeling the strange metal beneath his skin. It gave him a hint of alertness. Haern tried not to think about why that would be, wanting to ignore the fact that whatever the Forgers had done to him seemed to have made him more powerful. It was different than what had happened to Lucy.

  “The people of my homeland have always viewed outsiders with a certain suspicion.”

  “Why are you telling us this?” one of the women asked. It was one of the younger girls, by the name of Stacy. She had bright red hair and pale blue eyes, and she always seemed to look scared. Despite that, Haern had come to know that Stacy was one of the stronger of the women traveling with them.

  “I guess it’s so you can begin to understand me. You travel with me, and you’re trusting me. I just want you to know that trust is not misplaced.”

  It was more than that, though. He thought it was long past time that he began to understand more about the women. Not only did they need to know him, he needed to have a better sense of who they were and the kind of things that were important to them. He was bringing them away from their homes, taking them to some strange city, and in doing so, he gave them the promise of something more. But there were times when Haern didn’t know if it was the right strategy or not.

  “Do all the people in your homeland have the ability to use metal like you do?” This came from Lacey, a smallish girl, probably no more than ten or eleven years old, with long blonde hair she tied up with a ribbon.

  Haern shook his head, smiling. “No. Some have different abilities.”

  “What sort of abilities?”

  “Well, when I was growing up, I didn’t think much of them, but the more I’ve learned about them, the more I begin to recognize the sort of things my people are able to do are really quite fantastic. Not only do we have the ability to See with enhanced eyesight—that’s my other ability, and the one that had always been the strongest—but some have the ability to Read.”

  “As in books?”

  Haern smiled, turning to Jayna. “No. As in other people’s minds.”

  That set off a murmuring, everyone surprised at the idea that anyone would be able to Read, and yet for Haern, it was a strange thing to consider they couldn’t. He had known Readers his entire life and thus knew how to defend himself against them, but if they continued to encounter Forgers, the women would need to learn how to shield their minds, too.

  “I know it seems hard to believe, but it is fairly common in my homeland. There are other abilities in my land, too.”

  “Like how you use metal?”

  “Something like that. Some people have enhanced hearing, and some can travel from place to place without walking. Others have different abilities.”

  “All like them?”

  Haern nodded slowly. “My father always thought the Forgers were trying to figure out how to copy the abilities of my people.”

  “Why just your people?” This came from Jayna, who stood at the edge of the circle of women, watching Haern. “Why wouldn’t they try to chase other abilities?”

  Haern shrugged. “I suspect they are. I don’t know all that many other abilities. The person we’re going to try to find has different abilities, and hopefully we can see if there are ways she can help, but…”

  He didn’t know what way Carth would be able to help, if she was even willing to do so. He had to think, given what these women had gone through, that she would grant some sort of aid. He didn’t want to think about the possibility that Carth would exclude them. His entire plan was to get the women to Asador, get them to Carth and a sense of safety.

  Would they share anything about themselves?

  He didn’t know if revealing his abilities would convince anyone to share, but he needn’t have worried.

  Francine spoke up. She was an older woman, with deeply tanned skin that was so dark as to be nearly brown, and hair that reminded him of Rayen’s and Carth’s.

  “I come from a small village in the south. It is not coastal, not like Haern’s, but it was comfortable. We farmed and had a simple life. A good life. We were happy. Growing up, I thought I would be a farmer like my parents, or perhaps I would find some other way to serve the village, and as I grew, I decided it was a place of safety. There were times when I wished I had abilities, especially after we were attacked.”

  Haern frowned. “You were attacked?”

  She nodded. “I wasn’t there, and only saw the aftereffects. The village was destroyed. None survived it.”

  Haern wondered if she had been subjected to an attack by the Forgers, but destroying villages didn’t strike him as something they often did. They wanted power, but in his experience, they didn’t get it by destroying others.

  “We had something similar happen,” one of the other girls said. Palanza had olive skin, deep brown hair, and matching eyes. “I was out working in the field when the attack came. When I got back, everything was gone.”

  Several of the others nodded, and Haern frowned as he looked around them. How many had experienced an attack like that?

  “How did you end up together?” Haern asked.

  “Chance,” Lacey said.

  “Luck,” Francine added, looking around. “If I hadn’t found them, we wouldn’t have
been safe.”

  There was a murmuring of agreement, and Haern frowned to himself. Whatever they had experienced was awful, but he had to wonder what had triggered the attacks. If it was Forgers, then they had changed the nature of what they were doing. If it was something else, then what?

  “I thought we were never going to find safety,” one of the women said. “And then…”

  They all turned to Haern, watching him.

  He was going to keep them safe. He had to. Not only because they looked at him like that, but because of what they had experienced.

  How could he do anything else?

  4

  Lucy

  The shores overlooking the village had changed quite a bit in the time they had occupied this space, and the longer she was here, the more Lucy recognized their influence. The women had begun to make the abandoned village their own, using elements Lucy had Slid here, things like paint and construction supplies.

  Waves washed along the shore. Lucy had always found the water to be comforting, yet today, something felt off.

  In the time she’d been here, trying to understand her purpose and role, she still struggled with understanding just what she needed to do.

  Some of that had to do with what was expected of her, but some of it had to do with the nature of power itself.

  That was something Ras was trying to teach her. The more she worked with him, the more certain she was that there were aspects she had yet to understand.

  She looked around the rocky shoreline. She never came here with Carth, always wanting to keep this place to herself. She didn’t fear that Carth would somehow abuse these women, but rather that something would change if she allowed others access. The isolation was protection, almost as much as anything else.

  There was another advantage, and it was one Lucy was struggling with. Most of these women didn’t realize she had begun to work with the C’than. She had to reveal that eventually, and had to help them understand that her work with the C’than was different than what others had done to them.

  It would be difficult for them to grasp, and yet she felt it necessary.

  She breathed in the salty air. And Slid.

  When she did, she emerged within the village.

  There was a sense of activity, of purpose, and her time here had told her that the women who ran the village were skilled at doing so. The longer she spent here, the more certain she was that they no longer even needed her presence. And yet, there was something about coming here, about knowing they still welcomed her, that was reassuring. She wasn’t quite able to put it into words.

  “You’ve returned.”

  She turned around, looking to Eve. The tall, slender woman had her hands on her hips, and a hint of irritation washed across her face.

  “I have. Are you disappointed?”

  “You’ve been gone too long this time.”

  Lucy looked away. She had long ago realized she wouldn’t be able to satisfy Eve. The woman had a hard edge to her, but she was growing in skill with her connection to lorcith. At this point, she was able to maneuver it, much like Haern could. With her augmentation, Lucy had the hope that eventually Eve would be able to do even more, but it would take time and practice.

  Thankfully, in this place they had nothing but time.

  “I didn’t think you cared.”

  Eve pressed her lips together, which surprisingly made her seem almost as if she smiled. “It’s not so much that I care. The others do. They’re concerned about you.”

  “Just the others?”

  Lucy was determined to try to get Eve out of her shell, but she’d failed up to this point. The only thing she’d managed to do with Eve was to help her realize she had power she wasn’t aware of. She wondered if it was possible to reach her even more.

  “Why would I care?”

  “I thought you might want to continue to work with lorcith. I thought maybe I could help with that.”

  “If you say so. I just don’t know.”

  Lucy frowned and looked away. There was activity along the street in the village, and the longer she looked, the more certain she was that some of the people were beginning to use their abilities. It was difficult for her to know just what they were able to do. Most of the abilities others possessed were hard to recognize. Some might be Readers. Some might be Sighted, and some might be Listeners. Any of those traits would be difficult for her to determine without getting to better understand their abilities. And there were other gifts they might possess.

  “Have any others begun to demonstrate their talents?”

  “Some have,” Eve said, standing next to her, now with her arms crossed over her chest. “Take Rebecca there. She’s starting to hear voices. We thought she was crazy at first, but then we remembered what you said about people from your home.”

  “Reading,” Lucy said, looking at Rebecca. She had curly brown hair, and she was short—much shorter than those from Elaeavn. Her pale green eyes would have marked her as only weakly capable within Elaeavn, and yet the ability given to her had changed things for her.

  Reading.

  How many others would have something like that?

  She had no idea, and she wasn’t sure it mattered. At this point, all that counted was that they work through each of the women, trying to understand what might’ve changed for them, to see if there was anything they might be able to do.

  And if so, she wanted to work with them.

  If only she had more time.

  That seemed to be the curse of everything. With everything she experienced, Lucy continued to feel as if she didn’t have nearly enough time for all she wanted to do. She wanted to try to help everyone, to work with them, to offer any sort of assistance she could, and yet she was pulled by the C’than.

  Now that she had begun to understand a little more about herself, there was another purpose for her. It was one Carth had initially set her on, and one Ras agreed with.

  She needed to help uncover whether there were others who had been infiltrated, others of the C’than who had abandoned the ancient ideals.

  Balance.

  Lucy had begun to find that balance within herself, and now she had to find it within the C’than.

  “You can call it Reading, but like I said, we thought she was crazy. Then she started to point out what other people were thinking. We stopped thinking she’d lost her mindn at that point.”

  “It’s difficult to Read with much control when you’re first learning it,” she said.

  “We’re having a hard time keeping her from digging into our minds.”

  Lucy smiled to herself. It was another thing she would have to teach. They needed to understand how to place mental barriers.

  Perhaps she should have taken Carth up on her offer, rather than trying to keep these women separate. The Binders had some way of protecting their thoughts and might have been able to offer the women that protection.

  It was even possible that Carth and the Binders had some herbal method of guarding their minds.

  “I can work with you on that,” she said.

  “Can you?” It was the first time Eve seemed genuinely interested in what Lucy offered.

  “We have ways of protecting our minds. For now, you might find it easiest just to keep the more useless information at the forefront of your mind.”

  “Great. We have to think about gardening and sewing.”

  “Is that what you think is useless?”

  “It is from my days back in my homeland.”

  Lucy turned toward Eve. She was determined to get a better sense of what the other woman had gone through, and this was the first time she had offered anything that might be of value.

  “What more did you experience there?”

  “I don’t think we need to go into that,” she said.

  “Why not? If it will help you—”

  “I don’t have any intention of talking about that with you.” Eve started away, and Lucy trailed after her. When she reached Rebecca
, the other woman nodded. “Lucy tells us that she can help you control this.”

  Rebecca glanced at Eve for a moment. “Why are you thinking about tomatoes?”

  Eve threw her hands up, looking over at Lucy. “We need to fix this now.”

  “I will do my best,” she said.

  And yet, she couldn’t help but smile. If Eve was thinking about tomatoes, that told Lucy that she could learn.

  Then again, Lucy had always known that. Eve was a quick study, and her stubbornness made her even stronger. It was a trait Lucy knew would be valuable, especially if it came to actually needing to use her abilities.

  If it were up to her, she would protect these women from needing to do so. Lucy would defend them, protect them, offering them whatever she could to ensure they didn’t have to fight the Ai’thol.

  They were capable, and with everything they’d gone through and every ability she’d discovered among them, she couldn’t help but feel as if they might be the exact thing they required in order to truly defeat the Ai’thol.

  It was ironic that it might be the C’than who gave them what they needed.

  “How long are you going to be here?” Rebecca asked.

  “As long as I need to,” Lucy said.

  “Are you sure?”

  The other woman studied her, and she smiled. There was a sense of Rebecca trying to dig into her mind, fumbling for her thoughts.

  “Why can’t I reach your mind?”

  Lucy smiled at her. “Many people in my homeland have this ability.”

  “They can read thoughts?”

  “Exactly. Because of that, I know how to defend myself.”

  It was easier now than it had been even when she had been in Elaeavn. She had been a reasonable Reader then, but if it wasn’t until she had left that she had become something more.

  Even now, Lucy wasn’t sure that anyone would be able to Read her. There were plenty of capable people within Elaeavn. She thought of Cael Elvraeth, rumored to be one of the strongest Readers, and yet even she would have a hard time digging into Lucy’s mind.

  Rebecca frowned. It looked more like a pout. “What use is it to have an ability that’s so easy to defeat?”