The Coming Chaos Read online

  She smiled to herself.

  Using that connection, she tracked it back.

  He wasn’t as close as she had thought.

  But he was within the town.

  She Slid to Carth and then Slid again, following the connection within her mind.

  They emerged outside a small home, smoke drifting up from the chimney. A thatched roof hung out over the street, shadows swirling around it. It seemed ready-made for someone like Carth. The door was slightly ajar, and there were two windows cut into the side of the wall, the glass open, letting a cool breeze blow through.

  Lucy approached slowly, tentatively, and Carth stretched out her arm, motioning to her. Shadows drifted away from her, and the other woman unsheathed her sword, stepping forward.

  Lucy continued to focus on the connection, the thoughts, wondering whether the Architect was still there or had already left. It was difficult to know. With his power, it was possible that he had already abandoned this place.

  When Carth stepped inside, the shadows thickened, becoming something tangible, and Lucy followed her.

  When she did, she knew they were already too late.

  “He’s gone,” Carth said.

  “He is.”

  “Are you sure he was here?”

  Lucy searched through her mind, peeling away the thoughts. Could he have influenced her in such a way to make her believe he had been here? It was possible, but now that she knew how to Read herself, she didn’t think so.

  “I think he actually was here, and I think he was surprised we found him.”

  “Is there anything else you can uncover from him?”

  “No.” It would take time, and the more she thought about it, the more uncertain she was that she would even find anything. But then, she thought that she needed to. It was critical for what they were doing. If she could uncover what the Architect wanted from her, and what he was doing in this town, then maybe they could learn what Olandar Fahr had planned.

  Perhaps it was nothing more than trying to take over this town, but perhaps there was some other purpose.

  “Then it’s time for us to go,” Carth said.

  “You don’t want to look around here any longer?”

  “I don’t know that I will find anything else here.”

  Lucy sighed and stretched out her awareness, but there were too many different voices in her mind, too many different thoughts. As she searched, she couldn’t help but feel as if they were close to an answer, but still so far away.

  “How did you learn the Architect was here?”

  “Rumors come together in a certain pattern,” Carth said.

  “And you use those rumors to help you find him?”

  “I used those rumors to help bring things together. I still think there’s more we can uncover.”

  “How?”

  “Because the rumors I heard weren’t the only rumors about him.”

  And if there were other rumors, then maybe they would be able to find the Architect.

  It was something Lucy hadn’t considered before, but now that she was here with Carth, now that she had come so close to the Architect, she wanted to find him and to know just what he’d been doing.

  She felt that was important. She didn’t know what she would do when she captured him, or whether there would be any way for her to get revenge, and she didn’t even know if that was what she wanted. He needed to be captured. The more she thought about it, the more she realized Carth knew Lucy wanted it.

  “You planned for this.”

  “I didn’t plan for anything.”

  “You planned for me to want to capture him.”

  “You’ve been focused on your training. You should be. And yet, as I have talked with Ras, I can’t help but think you need to be focusing on other things as well.”

  “Such as capturing the Architect.”

  “We need to get to him.”

  “We don’t need to. You want to.”

  “In order to find Olandar Fahr, we need the Architect.”

  Lucy looked around the small room. There was nothing here that would be useful in finding the Architect. There were no items of any value. He had food and other typical items scattered around here.

  How was it possible for her to know that?

  The only way would be if she’d Read something about him.

  And if she’d managed to do that, then she’d gotten deeper into his mind than she’d realized.

  She smiled to herself. She swept her gaze over everything in the room again and looked up at Carth. “I need to return to the C’than stronghold.”

  “Why?”

  “I need time to think.”

  Carth nodded and glided toward Lucy on the shadows. Lucy took her arm, and they Slid.

  7

  Daniel

  Wind whistled around the courtyard, and Daniel stood with his cloak wrapped around him, waiting for Rayen. Shadows swirled around her as she approached, a dangerous grace to the way she walked. Her dark eyes sparkled, the shadows within them seeming to glow.

  “What’s taking you so long?” he asked.

  “Not all of us can travel the way you do.”

  Daniel grinned. “I doubt I can travel any differently than you.”

  Shadows swirled around her for a moment. “I doubt I’ll ever be able to travel via the same method.”

  “You don’t know.”

  “I don’t have your heritage.”

  They had been through this before, but now that she’d held one of the crystals, there was no telling what was going to change for her. Perhaps nothing, but if history told him anything, it was that everyone who held one of the sacred crystals transformed in some way. In the case of Rayen, it would be different than anything seen in Elaeavn.

  It wasn’t all that different for him. Ever since he’d been to the chamber of shadows, he had viewed them differently. Not only could he see the darkness swirling around Rayen, but it was almost as if he could feel it, as if it were something alive, and he struggled to understand what that meant for him.

  “Are you ready to do this or not?” Daniel wanted to get it over with while the others were waiting. This plan had a time limit to it, and it required him getting to see his father in his room.

  Rayen looked around the courtyard. They were in the middle section of Elaeavn, between what had once been known as Upper Town and Lower Town. A statue remained of one of the architects who created the city, though it was about the only thing that was original for this courtyard. Most of the buildings surrounding it had been rebuilt following the attack two decades ago, and though the artisans who had been responsible for helping rebuild them were as skilled as any within Elaeavn, they didn’t have the same delicate touch as those first builders had. There was simply something about the way the founders of Elaeavn had designed the city that practically drew the stonework out.

  “Are you sure you want me to go with you?”

  The last time he’d come to the palace, Rayen had avoided coming with him, but then again, he had chosen to go without her. “You have no interest in going to the palace?”

  “I’ll admit that I’m curious, but I wanted to make sure you’re comfortable with it.”

  Daniel shook his head. “It’s long past time I confront my father about this.”

  “And you need me there for support?”

  “Not necessarily for support, but I think that will disarm him a little bit.” That was the other part of the plan.

  Rayen frowned at him. “I’m not sure I want to be used in such a way.”

  “What way do you want to be used?”

  She rounded on him, shadows swirling around her.

  Daniel smiled, raising his hands. “I don’t know if I meant it quite like that. Then again, I can’t deny that I get a kick out of seeing you like this.”

  “If you’re not careful, you will definitely get a kick.”

  “Are you going to come with me, or are you going to try to get out of it again?”
<
br />   “Do you think you can taunt me into cooperating?”

  “Yes.”

  She studied him for a moment before laughing. “I can see why she likes you.”

  “Who?”

  “Carth. There aren’t many she willingly games with as often as she does with you. She sees something in you, though I wonder what that is.”

  Daniel shrugged. “If you were a better gamer, you wouldn’t have to wonder.”

  Rayen glared at him. “I suspect I would defeat you at Tsatsun within a few moves.”

  Daniel had played with Carth quite a bit, but he had never played with Rayen. He was curious how skilled she would be at that game, and suspected she was much more skilled than most. Carth favored Rayen, even though Rayen believed otherwise. From what little he knew of Carth, she only played Tsatsun with people she felt had real potential. It had to be more than simply Rayen’s connection to the shadows.

  “I don’t know. Carth said you played like a child when I played her last time. She said it was nice to play with someone more mature with their moves.”

  Rayen glared at him for a moment. “Perhaps I will let you confront your father on your own.”

  “That’s probably for the best. I’m not sure you could handle the palace.”

  With that, she stuck her hand out, waiting for him. Daniel took it and Slid.

  The Slide took him to the courtyard outside of the palace. The wind didn’t whistle around here as much as it did lower in the city, though the massive walls surrounding the palace protected them. A flat expanse of grass grew all around, and the fading daylight cast shadows all over, though no more than what Rayen would normally control.

  “Why here?” she whispered.

  Daniel nodded to the palace. “You see the bars over the windows?”

  She nodded.

  “Those bars are made of heartstone. For those with my ability, it is incredibly difficult for us to make our way past those bars.”

  “The metal prevents you from traveling beyond it?”

  “Not everyone. Lareth can Slide beyond the bars, and from what he has told others, the Forgers—the Ai’thol—who have mastered a level of control over their abilities also can do so, but most of us cannot.”

  Rayen turned to him, still holding on to his hand. “Have you tried since you were exposed to the shadows?”

  Daniel shook his head. “I’m not sure it makes a difference. They are different abilities.”

  “Different, and yet I suspect they’re complementary in some ways.”

  “Has your holding the crystal made a difference for you?”

  Rayen’s jaw clenched for a moment. “Not yet. I still question what will become of me with this change.”

  “It’s nothing to fear.”

  “Says the man who has not yet held one of the crystals.”

  Daniel grunted. “It’s not for lack of trying.”

  “Why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why haven’t the crystals allowed you to hold one?”

  Daniel shook his head. “No one really knows. Those who study the crystals, including the caretakers, have never come up with a good explanation as to why certain people are allowed to hold one of the crystals and others are not.”

  “Caretakers?”

  Daniel nodded, smiling to himself. “The men and women in charge of the library. They study the history of Elaeavn. Because of them, we have a better understanding as to the nature of our people.”

  “Apparently not.”

  Daniel shrugged. “Not as good as we would like. We still don’t know quite a few things.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the forest. You’ve seen the trees there. They hold significance to our people, and yet, there were years when no one knew anything about them. It was almost as if they were intended to be forgotten.” He frowned. His words felt too much like what their people had called those who were exiled from the city.

  That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it?

  “What is it?”

  Daniel shook his head. “Only something for me to think about. Anyway, the Elder Trees were a part of our past, much like the forest was a part of our past. Over time, we moved away from the forest and began to build the city. There aren’t many records. The city is hundreds and hundreds of years old, and the palace was the crowning achievement, built near the very end.”

  “Which means your people once lived in the trees until they could move into the palace?”

  Daniel shrugged. “Lucy might know more about it than I do.”

  “Why?”

  “She was studying to be a caretaker.”

  Rayen started to laugh. “Lucy?”

  “Why?”

  “I just don’t see it.”

  “Because she’s changed. If you’d known Lucy when she was still here, you would understand.”

  “Is this something she wanted?”

  “I don’t know. It’s something she was willing to do.”

  “That’s not the same, Daniel Elvraeth, and you know it.”

  Daniel sighed. He did know that, and there wasn’t much that could be done about it. “None of it matters now. She’s a different person.”

  As much as he might have changed in the days since leaving the city, Lucy had changed even more. It was more than just the implant. It was her whole demeanor. He still found her incredibly alluring, but now there was something almost ethereal about her, as if she were some higher being that he was lucky to be around.

  “What matters is how you react to her.”

  “She’s already made it quite clear how I can react to her.”

  “You’re still interested in her?”

  It had been a while since he’d even thought about how he felt toward Lucy. He wasn’t sure, which surprised him given how much he had been drawn to her when he was younger. And not even that much younger. It had been at a time when he was still trying to understand his abilities and what they meant, but it was also a time when he’d been convinced of what he would do and how he would serve in Elaeavn.

  Could he really have wanted to sit on the Council?

  After everything he’d seen, everything he had done, he couldn’t imagine staying in the city and trying to rule. There was so much more that needed to be done. It was hard for him to comprehend that their people preferred to keep themselves separate from the rest of the world as they did. There was no purpose in that.

  “Daniel?”

  He shook his head, glancing over to her. “What is it?”

  “Do you know this man?”

  He turned to see two of the tchalit making their way toward them. When he’d been here before, he had hurried into the palace without waiting. Standing here in the courtyard like this left him open to questions.

  One of the tchalit coming was a man he recognized. It had been a while since he’d seen him.

  “Gabe,” he said, nodding to him.

  The other man frowned, studying Daniel for a moment. “Daniel Elvraeth?”

  “Come on, Gabe. You had to know it was me.”

  “I saw darkness, and shapes, but…”

  Daniel glanced over to Rayen, who smiled at him. “It’s been a while.”

  “I hear you’ve been out of the city.”

  “I have been.”

  “Chasing rumors that Lareth brings back.”

  Daniel grunted. Quite a few in the city—and among the tchalit—felt the way Gabe did. They didn’t view Rsiran in the most flattering light. Rather, they believed him responsible for maintaining the war, isolating Elaeavn, and though he might have been to blame for that, he was equally responsible for offering a level of protection.

  “Something like that. I should thank you. Your training has saved me more than once.”

  Gabe chuckled. “My training saved you.”

  “You don’t have to say it like that.”

  “I mean no disrespect, Daniel Elvraeth. It’s just I find it difficult to believe you’ve faced anythi
ng of consequence.”

  Rayen started to laugh, and Daniel shot her a hard glare that she ignored.

  “You’d be surprised what I’ve encountered.”

  “Truly? So the stories that Lareth brings back—”

  “Are generally true.”

  Gabe shared a glance with the other tchalit. “Is there any reason you’ve come to the palace this evening?”

  “To visit with my father.”

  “I’m afraid I have instructions to keep everyone from bothering him.”

  “Including his son?”

  “Including you.”

  Daniel smirked. “Gabe, you know I can just Slide.”

  “I seem to recall that ability of yours was limited.”

  “Limited, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sneak around behind you.”

  “I’m sorry, Daniel, but I have my instructions.”

  He was surprised that Gabe would try to keep him from the palace, but even more surprised that his father would do so. Then again, after the way he’d left things with his father, Daniel shouldn’t be all that surprised.

  “I’m going to go see him.”

  “You understand that as one of the tchalit, it’s my role to protect the integrity of the palace.”

  “And you understand that as one of the Elvraeth, I have every right to enter the palace.”

  “Not any longer.”

  Had his father gone so far as to attempt to refuse his entry?

  It would take him disowning him, but after what Daniel had done, it was possible that his father had done so.

  How dare he? After everything his father had done, he would now take this step? Daniel wasn’t about to allow him to get away with that.

  “If you need to stop me, go ahead and stop me.”

  Gabe shared a glance with the other tchalit once again.

  Together, the two men unsheathed, and they stood in their ready position.

  Daniel could simply Slide past them. Once he got to the palace doors, he would be able to get into the palace, and then he could Slide again, but he would run the risk of the tchalit chasing him through the palace. There was another reason for him to consider simply confronting them now. A part of him—a large part, he realized—was curious how he would fare against Gabe. The last time he and Gabe had sparred, he’d been quickly defeated. Would the same fate befall him now?