The Coming Chaos Read online

  “I don’t.”

  “No. No one does. There have been rumors of him, and yet all of them are fleeting. He’s like a ghost. A specter. And regardless of anything else, he manages to appear and then disappear, leaving no trace.”

  “He can Slide,” Lucy said.

  The Architect had been the one who had helped her learn about her abilities, the more she turned her own talents inward, focusing on what she had experienced, the more certain she was that he hadn’t been the enemy she’d believed him to be. That didn’t change the fact that he had used her, only that he hadn’t used her in the way she had thought.

  “Have you found him?”

  “I’ve heard rumors,” Carth said.

  “Rumors?”

  “For us to track down Olandar Fahr, we’re going to have to chase rumors, and I think the rumors we need to pursue are ones that will help us understand where he might be hiding.”

  “You want to go after the Architect.”

  “If anyone would know where to find him, it would be the Architect. And once we find him, then you can Read him, and we can finally get ahead of Olandar Fahr.”

  “I’m not sure that’s going to work the way you believe.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because he’s clever.” He was more than just clever. He was nearly as calculating as Olandar Fahr. It was possible that he was equally calculating, and yet, Lucy did know the two men had worked together.

  How much of what had happened was because of the Architect and how much was because of Olandar Fahr?

  As she dug into her mind, thinking through her memories, the glimpses she could pull up from her time with the Architect, she still didn’t know.

  The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that the answers were there, buried within her mind. As Ras had suggested, the fact that she had been around the Architect for as long as she had with her abilities developing suggested she should have some way of Reading him. He might have been able to protect his mind to a certain extent, but her powers had grown each day, and he didn’t have the same protections as the women augmented by the C’than would have.

  And if she could Read something from him, then she had to figure out what it was.

  “He’s clever, but he’s not Olandar Fahr. And if we can uncover anything about him, then we can use it and we can dig through his mind,” Carth said.

  There was real venom in her voice, which left Lucy worried.

  She didn’t want to go after Olandar Fahr with anger. He had done much to harm people, and yet he was not actively attacking them now.

  Then again, he was planning. Whatever else was taking place, he was looking for some new edge, some way to gain the power of the Elder Stones, and the longer she searched, the more certain she was that she had to better understand what he was looking for.

  More than that, she had to understand why he was searching for that power.

  Until she uncovered that, she wasn’t sure that they would succeed.

  “What’s this really about?”

  Carth turned her attention toward the village. “We’ve been chasing him for so long, and we’ve gotten close, but never close enough.”

  “You want to capture him.”

  “I want this game to end.”

  “What if it’s not a game?”

  Carth swung her gaze toward her, meeting her eyes. “When it comes to Olandar Fahr, it’s always a game.”

  She started toward the village, and Lucy followed. When they passed through the gate, the sense of the village began to overwhelm her. She focused on the thoughts all around her, searching for answers. There had to be something here, but what?

  “Why do you think we would find anything about the Architect here?”

  “He came through here.”

  “He’s not here any longer?”

  “I told you he doesn’t leave much of a trace.”

  “You mean he doesn’t have much of a physical trace. That’s why you wanted me.”

  “I want to know if you could uncover anything that would reveal whether he has been here. Some of these people would’ve seen something, but they may not be aware of it.”

  “What you’re talking about involves me digging deeply into their minds.”

  “You don’t think that you can do that?”

  “I don’t know that I should.”

  “I’m not asking you to find something you can use to blackmail them. All I’m asking is that you uncover anything that might help us track down the Architect.”

  Lucy studied Carth. This was a side of her she hadn’t seen before.

  “What happened?”

  “I lost half my fleet.”

  “What?”

  Carth clenched her jaw. For a moment, she said nothing. “Half my fleet is gone. They were sailing south, and word of them disappeared. Others went after them and found nothing but debris. Wreckage. No sign of them.”

  “Have you experienced anything like that with the Ai’thol before?”

  “Why?”

  “It just seems a strange approach for them.”

  “The Ai’thol are destructive.”

  “I’m not disputing that.” Lucy had seen enough to know just how destructive the Ai’thol could be, and yet what she had seen didn’t suggest that they would destroy without any real purpose. “Were they searching for anything in particular?”

  “My fleet would have appeared no different than merchants. Most of them were only merchants. Only a few of them were truly members of the Binders, and for them to be targeted means that somebody knew who they were and what they were doing out there.”

  “And you think this was Olandar Fahr.”

  “I think it could be no one else. We’ve continued to unsettle his plans, and the more we do so, the angrier he gets.”

  “How many were lost?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “It matters.”

  “I lost fifty ships. Probably a thousand people all told.”

  Lucy’s breath caught. “That many?”

  “It might be more,” Carth said. She started off into the city, and Lucy was left looking after her, staring at the other woman’s back. She worried that Carth might be looking at things the wrong way. Moving with vengeance in her heart would be dangerous. Carth had always been rational, almost to a fault, and the sudden change—Lucy was unsettled by it.

  “Are you sure you’re thinking clearly?”

  “Entirely clearly.”

  “I’m just saying—”

  “I know what you’re saying, Lucy Elvraeth. And I know what I’m asking of you. I’m not asking you to reveal the location of your women, but I am asking you to participate in this with me. Help me find the Architect. Then I can find Olandar Fahr, and we can finally finish this.”

  Lucy breathed out. She didn’t like this side of Carth, but she also recognized she wasn’t going to be able to say or do much that would sway her.

  And perhaps she didn’t need to sway Carth. The other woman needed her support. She needed a friend.

  And Lucy thought she could help her find the Architect.

  If he had been here, then there would have to have been some movement through the town. There would have to be some memory.

  Unless he had somehow used his ability to eliminate any memory of him. He was incredibly powerful. He could have used his ability to Push to hide the fact that he’d come through here.

  Was there any way to search through what people had seen, straining for an image of something?

  She began to focus on their minds, thinking about what she was looking for. There had to be an element of the Push that she could follow. She had found it within her own mind, so she thought she could trace through it and find out whether any of these others had been Pushed the same way.

  As she searched, she found nothing.

  She had to keep looking. There must be something in their minds to reveal what had happened.

  She continued to search, probing t
hrough everyone’s mind. She heard the story of the town. It was strange to have such an awareness, almost as if she had been here and lived with these people.

  The memories were one-sided, though. She understood the stories of the town, but they would have no memory of her.

  It left her empty.

  Was she leaving a mark anywhere?

  Certainly not in Elaeavn—not anymore. Her time there had been short-lived, and even when she had been there, she wasn’t sure that she had left much of a mark on the city. No one would remember her the way they remembered Rsiran, and they certainly wouldn’t remember her within the palace. She had been a budding caretaker, nothing more. She couldn’t help but think that she needed to do more.

  Even in the village, she had gathered the women together but struggled to provide them with safety. They needed her help, but the more she tried, the more she felt as if she were failing.

  Lucy frowned.

  Those weren’t her thoughts.

  She had helped those women.

  And she had made a mark in Elaeavn. She had made friends with Haern. There were others that she knew.

  “He’s here,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  Lucy looked up, searching around the town. The touch on her mind had been soft, subtle… and it had been familiar.

  Familiar enough that she’d almost not recognized what was taking place. And even now that she understood what it was, she couldn’t tell which of her thoughts were hers.

  She would have to turn her focus inward, to Read herself the same way she had when working with Ras. And yet, as she focused, she couldn’t help but feel as if there was something more there.

  “I think the Architect is here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he’s Pushing on me.”

  6

  Lucy

  Carth guided her along the side streets, one hand near the hilt of her blade. The other reached outward, shadows stretching from her, sweeping across the ground. Had Lucy not been so focused on them, she wasn’t sure she would have been able to make them out. As it was, she could see the way the shadows stretched outward, pooling and then disappearing.

  The power Carth summoned was impressive.

  “Do you feel anything?” she asked.

  “I’m not influenced by Readers the same as others,” Carth said.

  “How?”

  “I’ve often wondered about that.” She looked in either direction along the street and motioned for Lucy to follow. “I think it’s tied to the nature of my abilities. I have both the shadows and flame, and the combination offers a certain protection.”

  “How?”

  “I’m not entirely sure how, only the combination seems to burn off anyone’s attempt to touch my mind.”

  It was an interesting way of phrasing it. Burning it off.

  Would there be any way for Lucy to use that?

  Not without having an ability with the flame.

  What she wouldn’t give for something more than what she already had, and yet, what she had was powerful.

  “I don’t know where he is, only that I can feel his touch on my mind,” she said.

  “How close does he have to be to do that?”

  Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. Somewhere within the town. And he would have to know we were here.”

  “There are some who can detect a Slide,” Carth said.

  “It’s rare.”

  Carth looked over. “We’re talking about the Ai’thol, so if there’s any ability that exists, they would have worked with it, honing it, trying to master it so they can use it.”

  Lucy frowned. She should’ve thought about that before. It was possible the Ai’thol would have known they had arrived, and any surprise they had was gone.

  “If he knows we’re here, then what do you propose?”

  “We continue to search for him.”

  “I need to keep him out of my mind.”

  “You’ve learned much in the time since he captured you, Lucy Elvraeth. Use everything you know.”

  She focused on her own mind, thinking about what she had experienced. She allowed herself to think superficial thoughts—sounds and foods and the people she saw around her. Anything that would keep her from allowing the Architect to dig too deeply into her mind. She wanted some way of barricading him, preventing him from knowing anything more.

  She would have to find a different solution. It was more than just erecting a barrier. It was some way of refusing him access to her mind.

  How was he able to do that, anyway?

  With her augmentation, being able to reach into her mind should be difficult, if not impossible. And yet the Architect seemed to slide into her mind.

  Sliding.

  That had to be it, didn’t it?

  He was gifted with Sliding. She’d seen it herself, and he was also a gifted Reader. She didn’t know what other abilities he had, other than that he could Push, but that Pushing came from his ability to Read.

  She was gifted with Sliding as well. She’d learned how to focus on someone else’s mind, using that to help her Slide. Could she pull someone else’s thoughts into her mind and use that to protect against the Architect?

  Doing so might create a different sort of shielding.

  Lucy tried to slam barriers into her mind.

  He was digging thoughts out from her head.

  It would be dangerous to stay here.

  She looked over at Carth, and the other woman had shadows swirling around her. Somehow she was protected from his influence, and Lucy would give anything for the same sort of defense, and yet here she was, trying to find a way to do it on her own.

  But she’d already failed when it came to him before, and she would fail again. The Architect was far more skilled a Reader than she was.

  Get out of my mind.

  She could’ve sworn there was laughter.

  “Carth?”

  “What is it?”

  “His attempt is getting stronger.”

  “You think he’s closer?”

  “He has to be.”

  Carth glanced at her before nodding. They looked around the town, and she continued to sneak along the streets, with Lucy following her. As they went, Lucy tried to think only superficial thoughts, and yet she was failing. Everything she was doing was not going to be enough.

  Each time she began to have those negative thoughts, she forced them away, knowing they weren’t hers. Her time with Ras had taught her that…

  That was what he was after.

  He wanted her to dig into her thoughts, to come up with names and people and places.

  Clever.

  If that was what he wanted, she was going to try a different approach.

  She focused on what she had seen of the Ai’thol. The images of their defeat. Their destruction. The people of Elaeavn cutting them down. She brought those all to the forefront of her mind, flickering through them. She didn’t even care that most of those images brought forth other people. She tried to pull up Carth, Rsiran, Galen. All people who had opposed Olandar Fahr over the years, and all people who had enough power to be dangerous to him.

  Would it work?

  Lucy didn’t know, and perhaps it didn’t even matter. All that mattered was that she was trying to give the Architect a different type of thought.

  What she really needed was to find a way to Read him.

  If she could figure out where he was, then she might be able to track that, and use that connection to see if there was anything in his mind.

  For him to Read her, he had to be near, which meant there had to be something for her to latch on to.

  She paused in the middle of the street. There were a few others out, but they ignored her, moving past her. They were dressed differently than Lucy, their clothes thinner and silkier, her heavy woolen cloak more appropriate for the colder north. Most of them looked to be craftsmen or bakers or farmers. They seemed unmindful of the fact that there was an out
sider in the middle of their town, but they still gave her a wide berth.

  Carth continued down the street, shadows pooling away from her.

  Lucy ignored that.

  She tried to ignore everything. The only thing she wanted to focus on was the sense within her mind, the power she could feel, the voice trying to reach into her head and draw out her memories.

  Not just draw them out, but influence them.

  The Architect wanted to force her into thinking a specific way. She would refuse.

  And in doing so, she would find her way back.

  She closed her eyes, thinking about those images, and decided that wasn’t quite right. What she needed was to latch on to what he wanted.

  In doing so, she might be able to figure out where he was.

  And once she determined that, she might be able to find out how to stop him.

  She closed her eyes again, focusing on everything all around her. She could feel the power pushing on her. It might only be in her mind, and yet she couldn’t help but think it was something else.

  She listened, Reading herself.

  It was a lesson she’d been taught with the C’than. Let the Architect know that she worked with the C’than. Let him know that she had trained with Ras. Let him know that she worked with Carth.

  And she felt it.

  There was an influence there within her. It was subtle, and as she focused on it, she realized where she could move to peel away. She could feel the way the influence was pressing in upon her mind, trying to trap her.

  Removing it required her to look beyond what he was trying to push into her mind. It required her to look beyond that blockage, deep within herself.

  It was something Ras wanted her to do anyway. This felt like the wrong time and the wrong way, but perhaps that was what she needed.

  She looked beyond that influence.

  As she did, she found memories.

  She ignored them. That was what the Architect wanted. All she wanted to do was to search for those answers.

  When she found them, she latched on to that influence. It was deep within her mind. The Architect was working far more skillfully than she would’ve expected. There was still much she could learn from him.

  It was difficult for her to acknowledge that, and yet, feeling the subtle touch on her mind, she knew he might have been able to teach her quite a bit about her abilities. If only she had stayed with him, she would have been much more powerful…