The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) (12 page)

T
he bar
of shadowsteel encased in the remnants of his sword throbbed against Rsiran’s senses. Mostly, it came from the way the heartstone and the lorcith wrapped around it, fusing with the shadowsteel to make it harmless, but there was something about the dark metal itself that pained him.

What would happen were he struck by shadowsteel? With his connection to lorcith and to heartstone, would he be protected in any way, or would the strange, dark metal damage him?

Maybe that was why Venass had worked with it. If shadowsteel had managed to poison the Elder Trees, what would happen to him, a person somehow connected to the Elder Trees and the power they possessed?

He Slid with the shadowsteel, out of his smithy and to the Hall of Guilds.

It was late, well after midnight, but Jessa wasn’t going to rest while she worried about Haern, so he couldn’t, either. Losing Haern only reminded him that time was short and he needed answers.

The Hall of Guilds was empty, though he hadn’t expected anything different. Blue and white light glowed everywhere, stronger than the first time he’d come, though that had been a time when he had snuck into the guild house, searching for answers that he would have found had he been willing to remain even a little while longer.

Rsiran made his way into the wide, open chamber to the rows of drawers he’d found during that first visit. He closed his eyes, focusing as he had then. Was there anything in here that would guide him to what he needed? Even if there was, what he really needed was to find Ephram—

“It’s late.”

Rsiran turned to see Sarah standing in the doorway. She wore a low-cut white dress that swished across the floor as she walked toward him. “Is your father around?”

“You came for Father at this time of the night?”

Rsiran nodded.

She smiled. “You really are a strange man, Rsiran Lareth.” She shook her head. “No. Father is not here. After what happened with the council, I’m not sure how excited he would be to see you, anyway.”

“I could have been more careful.”

“Careful is what keeps us where we are. I think you said what needed to be said, but the Elvraeth… They can be difficult sometimes, especially when you’re as young as you are. They are more accustomed to guildlords fearing their position. When you came in, fearless as you were…”

“I wasn’t fearless.”

“No? It seemed that way to me. Even if you weren’t, the things you can do are more than they can understand. That bothers them. I suspect it bothers others in the guild, too.”

“Including you?”

Sarah shrugged. “Maybe it did when I first met you, but not any longer. I don’t think you’re our enemy.”

He laughed before realizing that she was serious. “I’m not your enemy.”

“That’s what I said. But you have unique abilities. You are tied more tightly to the Elder Trees than any of the guild before you.”

“I’m not the only one. You have more than one talent.”

“Because I came from the merging of two lines,” she said. “You are smith born, but you have shown talents of others. You can see the potential of metals. That is of the alchemists. You claim that you have begun to see when others Slide around you. That is Thenar Guild. And you have shown a predilection for pulling lorcith from Ilphaesn. Even if you aren’t a miner, that is the purview of their guild. And you Travel. All of the guilds in one person.”

“My apprentice claimed it was like I was an Elvraeth of the guilds.”

Sarah’s eyes widened a moment and then she nodded. “That would be as good a way to describe it as any.”

“I thought I was supposed to be a crossing of the Blood of the Watcher and the Blood of the Elders, but I have no abilities from the Great Watcher.”

“None? I thought you had some element of Sight.”

He shook his head.

“Strange. There has not been a person in Elaeavn without any of the great abilities.”

“Thanks.”

“That wasn’t said to offend, Rsiran. I find it interesting is all. You have unique abilities, but you’re not dependent upon those gifted to our people when they held the Great Crystals.”

“Only, I have held the Great Crystals. Twice. And I never received any of those types of abilities.”

“Maybe you weren’t meant to. Maybe the crystals unlocked your connection to the Elders.”

Rsiran looked around the room, noting the way the walls glowed. When he had first come here, he had seen the same, but hadn’t known what it was. Now that he understood his connection to heartstone and to lorcith and how he could see the potential, he understood it better but not why he would have seen it that first time, before he had ever held the crystal that had somehow unlocked in him the ability to see it.

“What are you doing here at this time?” he asked Sarah.

“I’m a guildlord,” she answered.

“That’s not much of a reason.”

“This has been my home as much as anyplace,” she said. “Since my father ascended to his position, I’ve basically lived here, especially since I’m the only one of the Thenar Guild.”

He couldn’t imagine a life where all he knew was the guild house and nothing more. In that way, it would have been more like what the Elvraeth experience walling themselves in the palace, and he couldn’t imagine living like that, either. “You aren’t the only one of your guild.”

“Right. Now there’s you.”

“And Della,” he added.

Her face clouded briefly. “Yes. I didn’t know about her before. Strange that she should have the ability to detect Sliding. It’s an ability of the Elders, and she is Elvraeth born.”

Rsiran had wondered about that, too, but then Della had her strange ability with Healing as well, one that she hadn’t possessed until she held one of the crystals. In that way, the crystal had unlocked something in her much as it had within him when he had held it. “There’s much about Della that I don’t understand.”

“But you’re related.”

Rsiran shrugged. Della might be the first in his family who actually wanted anything to do with him, but even she had hidden much from him. Some of that was simply because she hadn’t known of their connection. Were it not for his ability to Slide, she would have been able to See him and might have discovered their connection sooner. But some things she had hidden from him because she didn’t think he was ready. It was possible that he wasn’t, but it still stung that she hadn't attempted to share with him what might have helped him better understand what he was supposed to do. She’d even hidden the connection to the guilds from him, when they might have been able to help him earlier.

“Related isn’t the same as family,” he said.

“That must be important to you. I’ve seen how you did everything for your sister.”

“Alyse… Alyse didn’t choose what she did, I don’t think.” Rsiran still didn’t know if she had been Compelled or if she had treated him the way that she had because she hadn’t cared. Now it didn’t matter.
He
had been the one to save her. Had he not, she would either have ended up with Venass or dead. Rsiran couldn’t stomach either option happening to her, regardless of what she might have done to him. “Family isn’t important to you?”

“My father is the Alchemist Guild guildlord. That we’re both guildlords allows us to serve together in a way. There’s a connection between us that we wouldn’t have otherwise.”

“And your mother? Sisters or brothers?”

“No siblings. And my mother died when I was young. I never knew her.”

“She was of the Thenar Guild?”

Sarah nodded. “There haven’t been many lately. The records of the guild are sparse, those of the Thenar Guild even more sparse, but what I can find tells me that we have never had many with our particular talent. Lately, it has not been useful.”

“But now it is,” he said.

“Knowing where others are Sliding doesn’t really have that many benefits. I can help with tracking, and it allowed me to know when you appeared, and the stronger members of the guild could influence Sliding, but for most with the ability… it’s sort of like the guild equivalent to Sight.”

“But everyone has Sight.”

“Maybe. Even then, it’s not all that useful.”

Rsiran watched her and shook his head. “It is when you don’t have it.”

“I haven’t seen you struggle without Sight. In fact, I think that Sight would only have delayed your ability to learn what you can from your abilities.”

“You think the Great Watcher intended for me to have no abilities so I could learn to use these ancient connections better?”

Sarah shrugged. “I can’t say that I know the will of the Great Watcher. And I probably never will, not without holding one of the crystals, and since I’m not descended from the Elvraeth, I never will.” She said it with more spite than Rsiran would have expected from her. “Anyway, what do we really know about the Great Watcher?”

Rsiran knew that he had experienced a connection to the Great Watcher when he’d held one of the Great Crystals. The first time, he’d felt as if he had floated above the world, but had sensed a presence with him. The second time, when he’d merged with the crystal while Traveling, there had come a sense of emptiness, a release from the pain he’d experienced when injured by Venass, and when he’d awoken, he’d possessed a greater control over the metals. What would happen if he went a third time?

Would he even be allowed?

“I’ll tell Father you came for him,” Sarah said.

“Or you could find out what I need to know about shadowsteel. Like you promised.”

A flush came to her cheeks. “I’m trying—”

“And?”

“It’s something of the Alchemist Guild. A secret of sorts. I… I can’t find anything, but I intend to keep searching. I’m sorry, Rsiran. And if I see my father…”

“Please,” he said.

She left him alone in the Hall of Guilds, and an idea triggered for him: What if he attempted to reach the crystals again?

There might not be anything that he could even learn, but what if he could? What more would he be able to do were he to hold one again?

But… what consequences might he face if he did?

Reaching the crystals the first time had been thought impossible, but he had managed to sneak into the room by Sliding there. The second time, he had gone in mind only, and Traveling. How else would he reach them?

Without really knowing what he was doing, Rsiran found himself tracing the steps that Ephram had led him on the first time that he’d come. He wound through darkened halls, the steady light of heartstone glowing deep within the walls. It prevented Sliding for most, but not for him. Layers of lorcith were there, as well, but less for protection. It took him a moment to realize that these weren’t layers at all, just as the walls weren’t really walls at all, but rather tunnels.

This was all a part of Ilphaesn.

The realization almost made him stumble.

Was this what Venass had wanted, and the reason that they had been burrowing deeper and deeper into Ilphaesn? Could his grandfather have learned that the chamber connecting to the crystals was somehow also connected to Ilphaesn?

He could almost imagine the way that the tunnel connected. It was possible that only those with Elvraeth blood would ever be able to reach the crystals, anyway, but what if there was a way for Venass to bypass those protections? Knowing the way they replicated the abilities of the Great Watcher, he wouldn’t put it past them.

The tunnel stopped at a doorway. Rsiran
pushed
on the lorcith in the door to open it, letting it swing into the room.

Faint light filtered toward him, the steady blue glow from the crystals. Rsiran had been in this room once, had stood at this doorway once, and had Traveled into the room once. Now he intended to walk into the room.

Pressure at the doorway seemed determined to prevent him from entering, but he forced his way through. Not a Slide, or even something requiring his ability to
push
, this took his smith strength, that which he’d built from hours working at the forge, hammering over and over again.

He eased through the doorway.

On the other side, the air took on a still quality, with none of the hint of lorcith and heartstone that he’d detected in the hall. Had it been like that the last time he’d come here? He’d been so focused on the crystals and discovering as much about them as he could, that he hadn’t really paid any attention to the feel of the air against his skin, the electrical quality that it possessed as it tingled against him, or the dank heaviness to it.

Rsiran made his way toward the crystals.

As he did, he felt something off before he recognized what it might be. The power in the room had shifted, now somehow unbalanced. He stared around the room, searching for the answer until it became obvious.

One of the crystals was missing.

“
I
mpossible
,” Ephram said from the doorway.

Rsiran stood just beyond the doorway, inside the chamber. He was the only one who could reach this side of the doorway, something that he found surprising. The rest of the guildlords stood on the other side, each peering inside, trying to determine which of the crystals had gone missing.

“Not impossible. One of the Elder Trees was destroyed,” Tia said. “The protection is gone.”

“We have kept this chamber under guard,” Ephram said.

“I walked here and didn’t see anyone,” Rsiran told him.

“No one? Sarah was to watch—”

Rsiran looked to Sarah. Her face flushed. “I have watched, Father. There was no one other than Rsiran. As one of the guildlords, there was no reason he would be denied access this chamber.”

“The farthest crystal is missing. Which tree does it correspond to?” he asked.

“That doesn’t matter,” Ephram said. “We have long suspected that the crystals somehow move, that there is no connection to the Elder Trees other than for protection.”

Rsiran studied the remaining crystals. They glowed steadily, much like they had the first time he had come to this place. That time, one of them had pulsed, practically drawing him to lift it, so he had. Now they all glowed with the same intensity.

Would the missing crystal still have the same light, or would it have faded when taken from this chamber and away from the power of the Elder Trees?

That was a question he wasn’t sure how to ask. Did the crystals have power of their own, or did they draw it from the Elder Trees? Since learning of the power of the Elder Trees, power that had healed not only him, but also Della, he had begun to wonder if they were more connected than most realized. What if the crystals drew upon and stored the power of the Elder Trees, concentrating it in some way? But if that were the case, then damaging the Elder Tree would have destroyed the crystal, and he suspected that he would have heard about that from the other guildlords before now.

“We will have to tell the council,” Gersh said.

Ephram blanched. “I suppose we won’t be able to keep it from them for long.”

“How would someone have reached the crystal?” Rsiran asked.

“Other than you?” Ephram asked. “No one has ever proven capable of Sliding to this chamber. Even after the Elder Tree was damaged, we haven’t managed to Slide anyone here.”

“You tried this?” Gersh asked.

“We had to know whether it was possible,” Tia said. “No one was successful.”

“What other ways? Could they have come through the mine?” Rsiran asked.

Gersh frowned. “There is no access through Ilphaesn.”

“None? I can detect the mine, and feel the way the lorcith presses on me in the tunnel. I might not have understood it the first time I came through, but it is the same as in Ilphaesn. The tunnels can connect. Whether or not they do is a different matter.”

Gersh crossed his thick arms over his chest. “They do not connect.”

No? As he watched Gersh, Rsiran decided he would have to check later. If there was a possibility that someone snuck into the crystal chamber through the mine, Rsiran needed to know.

That left another possibility, and one that required they go to the council. He hadn’t wanted to present himself before them again so soon, but what choice did he really have?

“There’s a ceremony where the Elvraeth can access the crystals, isn’t there?” he asked.

Ephram’s eyes narrowed. “There is. It’s called the Saenr. Not all are granted access. Most Elvraeth never step beyond the door.”

That must have been what Della had gone through. “Has there been one recently?”

Ephram looked to the other guildlords, and they each shook their heads.

“None?” Rsiran asked.

“We don’t know. That’s not something they share with us,” Ephram answered.

“But you protect the crystals! Why wouldn’t they share with you if they’re bringing someone here?”

“Because they are the Elvraeth,” Tia said. “That was the agreement made long ago. We would protect the crystals because we could not reach them, and they would be given free access to them.”

He looked around the chamber. Would he even be able to find out if someone had been here? Probably not. If anyone had been here, he—or she—would have left no mark.

“What do you see?” Tia asked from the doorway.

“Nothing.”

Rsiran moved to the middle of the circle of crystals. He didn’t attempt to touch one—and wasn’t certain whether he would even be able to reach one without it calling to him as it had the other times—instead, closing his eyes.

The power from the crystals pressed upon him, still with that strange sense of unbalance that he’d noticed when he first entered. Was it the same in the Elder Trees?

Sliding would take him to the heart of the Aisl, but there might be a better way for him to reach the Elder Trees, and for him to know what effect the missing crystal had.

Rsiran Traveled.

The separation from his body left him with a sense of nothingness, reminding him of what he’d experienced when he first Traveled here. Rising above the ground, he could see the four remaining crystals. None of them pulsed as they had before, and all still glowed steadily, as they had when he remained in his body.

Rsiran rose higher, drifting through a space between the crystal chamber and where he knew the heart of the Aisl Forest to be, letting the Traveling take him there. As he did, he stood among the massive sjihn trees, their enormous trunks rising high into the sky, blocking out all light during the day.

Power surged from four of the Elder Trees, illuminating them with a brilliant white light. There was power in that light. Rsiran had used that power before, and suspected that he could again if needed. The fifth tree remained dark, but the tree itself was still green and vibrant, showing no signs of damage. None of the guildlords seemed to know if there was anything that he could even do to help the tree. Possibly there was not, and whatever Venass had done truly had killed the power the Elder Tree stored. If there was anything that could be done, he didn’t yet know what that might be.

Rsiran rose above the trees, drifting through the otherwise empty darkness with only the faint sense of the power of the trees pushing on him. From above, he could still see their bright white light. Beneath them, he detected the blue light from the crystals. Blue and white. Heartstone and lorcith.

Seeing those metals made him wonder about shadowsteel. It wasn’t pure, not that he knew of, which meant that it had to be forged. From what he’d detected of shadowsteel in the past, he suspected that it required the use of both heartstone and lorcith in its creation, and because of that, he
should
be able to detect it.

Nothing from this vantage told him what had happened to the crystal, and nothing from here told him about the connection between the Elder Trees and the crystals.

Rsiran returned to his body.

He, as well as the guildlords, had thought they could continue to keep the crystals safe. Even with one of the trees damaged, they had believed they could protect them. Had it been arrogance on his part? He’d grown too confident in what he could do, but the guilds had also reassured him that the crystals were in no danger.

Would something happen to the others?

If the missing crystal was tied to one of the trees, then it made sense that with the one damaged tree they would lose one crystal, but what if Ephram was right, and there was no association? If the crystals could move, could others be taken?

This entire area had to be protected.

That meant closing access to the chamber entirely. If no one other than Rsiran could Slide into the chamber, then sealing the doors might be enough, but doing so would require more strength than he possessed.

Could he use the power of the Elder Trees?

He’d only done so once, when Della had been injured.

This was a greater need, and one that he should have considered sooner, especially knowing that Venass had already breached the Elder Trees, and they had shown far too much capability with shadowsteel, which made it all the more likely they would reach the crystal chamber.

Rsiran stepped into a Slide and paused. Sliding from this room had once been difficult, but his connection to lorcith and heartstone made it so that he barely struggled. When he emerged, he was in the place between Slides and in the heart of the Aisl.

The other time he’d done this, he had emerged
within
one of the trees, but this time he didn’t want to use the energy of only a single tree. He needed to draw upon what he could from all four of the remaining Elder Trees.

Unlike when Traveling, when he was in this place—in his physical body, the air smelled of a mixture of the bitterness of lorcith and the sweetness of heartstone. The blinding light that he observed while Traveling was now muted, but in his body, he felt it pressing on him with energy and warmth.

What had he done when he’d tried to heal Della?

Somehow he had used that energy. He used it now, but unintentionally, restoring strength he hadn’t known he needed, letting it fill him. Could he draw upon more, and do so intentionally?

Rsiran
pulled
on the power that he felt around him.

As he did, the sense of it began to fill him. In some ways, it was much like what he did when
pushing
or
pulling
on lorcith, or even heartstone, but in other ways, it was entirely different. With the power he pulled on in this place, he had the sense that he could do anything, only he suspected that it had to be done in this place.

Could it impact the world outside?

Rsiran wanted to return to the crystal chamber where he could attempt to use this power in a way that would protect the crystals, but he couldn’t Slide while holding this power.

An option existed, one that seemed impossible, but then so was what he was doing now.

If he could Travel from here, could he return to the crystal chamber while his body remained in this space between the Slides? If so, he could pull on this power and attempt to use it within the chamber.

Rsiran took a breath, continuing to
pull
on the power all around him, and attempted to Travel.

The sensation came as a shearing, almost painful as he separated from his body while imaging the crystal chamber. Did anything even happen? Darkness surrounded him, with none of the brilliant white light of this place, and none of the blue glow from the crystals telling him he had returned to the chamber.

But he still felt the power of the Elder Trees coursing through him.

Where was he?

Rsiran focused again on the crystal chamber, but detected no sense of movement.

Nothing but darkness remained around him.

Had he reached the crystal chamber?

He attempted to move, and felt a presence near him.

Not a single presence, but several.

As he did, he realized that he hadn’t left the space between Slides. He might have Traveled, but he had not left that place. Had he come to where he intended?

If he had, where were the crystals?

Unless they didn’t exist in the same fashion in this place. The Elder Trees were different here, more powerful, as if this was the place that fed all of their strength. Could it be that the crystals had
no
power here?

If so, would he be able to influence the physical world where he was?

He had to try.

The only thing he could think of doing was using a method similar to forging lorcith when he didn’t know
how
he needed to accomplish something, letting the lorcith guide him. Listening to its song. Rsiran envisioned a ball of power sealing the crystals, and
pushed
the power that he held out. Slowly, that power eased from him, taking on the shape that he intended. A soft and steady hum emanated as he worked, and as the humming changed, he realized he had
pushed
the power as far as he needed and stopped, knowing he was finished just as he knew with the lorcith. The chamber was now sealed.

The darkness around him changed, taking on a faint shimmery color, a faint greenish hue that he wondered if it was imagined or real.

The energy that he had
pulled
into himself was spent, and he returned to his body.

Stepping out of the space between Slides, Rsiran noted the power from the trees. Did he damage the trees using their power? Would there come a time when the trees had nothing more to offer?

Those were questions for another time. Now, he needed to return to the crystal chamber and determine if anything he’d done even mattered.

The Slide pushed against him, much like heartstone alloy once pushed against him. Rsiran breathed a sigh of relief and shifted the Slide, emerging near the other guildlords.

“Where did you go?” Ephram demanded.

“I did something I should have done before. I sealed the crystals into the chamber. Now no one can reach them. Not even me.”

Sarah gasped, the blood draining from her face. The other guildlords all stared blankly at him.

Only Ephram could speak. “But the Elvraeth…”

Rsiran turned to him. “Even the Elvraeth won’t be able to reach the crystals.”

At least, that was his hope. Until he found a way to keep them safe, he would maintain the protection. Only then could it be removed.

Rsiran tapped on Ephram’s arm and guided him away. The alchemist guildlord followed hesitantly. “I need to know what the alchemists know about shadowsteel. It’s more than you’ve shared.”

“Lareth—”

“I know. It’s a secret of the guild. But if Venass has managed to take one of the crystals… Shadowsteel is what threatens us the most. They have used it to attack me, to destroy the city, and the Great Watcher only knows what else they intend to do with it. We need to know how they make it so we can come up with some way to counter it.”

Ephram squeezed his eyes shut. “There is no counter,” he said softly. “We discovered it as a way to understand lorcith and heartstone, but when the earliest alchemists learned what it could do and how it could be used… the recipe was hidden. Locked away. Most within the guild forgot about it, but the guildlord could not.” He met Rsiran’s eyes, and there was almost an accusation there. “They should not be able to make it in such quantities. Even the earliest alchemists never discovered how.”