The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) (15 page)

T
he inside
of Seval’s smithy had much of the same appearance as Rsiran’s. The massive forge along the back wall glowed hot, and the master smith had a piece resting on his anvil that he worked, turning in between each strike of his hammer.

When Rsiran emerged in the smithy, Seval barely glanced up to nod.

He walked to where Seval worked, and listened to the sound of the lorcith. There was a subtle satisfaction in the song, one that told Rsiran how Seval worked with the metal rather than forcing it. That made him smile, as did the fact that much of what the smith made was now with lorcith. Now that the flow of lorcith was no longer restricted, the smiths used lorcith in quantities that once would have seemed obscene, something that irritated the miners. Other smiths tried to listen for the song, straining to hear what they had once attempted to ignore, though most still hadn’t managed to hear it yet. The fact that they tried meant that things were changing.

Seval paused as he hammered. “Look at the schematics and see if I’ve got this right.” He tapped at the hot metal a few more times, flattening it slightly.

Rsiran made his way to the bench that ran along the back of the smithy, one much like the bench that Rsiran had in his smithy, to look at the roll of parchment held open with a few smaller forgings. Since Rsiran had been welcomed into the guild, Seval had spent time working with him on various aspects of running a smithy that Rsiran hadn’t learned from his father, things like the proper mixture of oil in the quench, the best places to source coals, but most importantly, how to read schematics. He had never learned enough from his father to make him proficient, so Seval’s willingness had been necessary for him to grow as a smith. He still didn’t have the same skill as others in the guild, aside from his connection to the metals, but he was learning.

What Seval worked on appeared to be another forging for the Servants of the Great Watcher. The schematics showed a complicated series of blocks tied together with a length of chain. From the diagram, he could tell that Seval worked on one of the blocks.

“What is it?” Rsiran asked, turning back to Seval.

Seval rested his hammer on the forging as he paused. “Servants hired me to make this. Something for their temple, I suspect.”

“You get a lot of work from them.”

Seval wiped his sleeve across his forehead. “You would, too, if you would open your smithy for commissions. The word is out, Rsiran. Others want access to your work. The rest of the guild… we’re considered second rate compared to this new smith.”

Rsiran flushed. “When the others can hear lorcith, there won’t be the same distinctions.”

“Not sure that will matter.
I
can hear it now, and won’t deny that it helps in ways that I never would have imagined, but that doesn’t mean I can make the same things that you do. Do you know that people visit your friend’s tavern just to see that sjihn tree you made?”

He hadn’t. The Wretched Barth had been busier, but that had been because of his sister’s cooking, hadn’t it?

“I didn’t know,” he said.

Seval smiled. “You’ve got some of the other smiths working harder, wanting to prove we can do the same quality of work.”

“I don’t want to be the reason there’s competition within the guild.”

“No? Seems to me that a little friendly competition is good. The master smiths understand that you have a different handle on lorcith than the rest of us. That’s part of the reason you were welcomed to the guild without conventional training. And a few of us hope that we’ll find a way to use lorcith in the same way that you can.”

Would the other smiths be able to
push
on lorcith? He thought the ability was because of his smith bloodline, but with everything that he managed that was tied to the Elders, he was no longer certain.

“I’ll show you as much as I can,” Rsiran said.

Seval struck at the metal a few times before carrying it to the coals to heat it once more. “I know you will. In some ways, you’re the best guildlord the Smith Guild has had in years.”

“I’m not sure the council would agree,” Rsiran said.

Seval’s eyes widened slightly. “The council?”

He debated how much to share with Seval, but the man was a friend. “I had to present myself to the council when raised to guildlord.”

Seval wiped his hands on his thick leather apron. “Suppose that makes sense. Guildlords serve as something like the council, even though we sit beneath the Elvraeth.”

“I don’t believe that,” Rsiran said. “The guilds are at least their equal. And I worry about what the Elvraeth intend, Seval. They aren’t pleased with me right now. With any of the guilds. Those in the guilds fear them, when we don’t have any reason to.”

Seval smiled. “Maybe
you
don’t, but the rest of us… We only have a single talent and whatever the Great Watcher gifted us. That sits us beneath the Elvraeth.” He shrugged and pulled the forging from the coals and brought it back to his anvil. “We’ve always had the guilds to protect us, and the guildlords to deal with the Elvraeth, but there has never been a question about where we belong.”

Seval continued working at the metal, but paused to tip his head as he seemed to listen while hammering it.

Rsiran wouldn’t argue with Seval. His time as guildlord hadn’t been long, but he’d seen the way the council treated the guilds, just as he had seen the importance of the Elder Trees and their ties to the people of Elaeavn. The Elvraeth might have the crystals, but the guilds had access to a power just as great. It was the reason the council feared losing power, and the reason he had to keep the guilds unified.

“I need your help with something,” Rsiran said.

“Of course.”

“I need to be gone for a time. Will you work with Luca?”

Seval looked up between strikes with his hammer. “I’d ask where you were going, but seeing as how you didn’t offer, I suspect you either can’t share or don’t know.”

“Don’t know,” Rsiran said.

Seval nodded. “My smithy could use a good apprentice, especially after what happened with the last one…”

“Luca will be pleased. I think he’d prefer you over me, anyway.”

“When he reaches journeyman, he’ll rotate through each of the master smiths.”

How would Luca do with that tradition? He could hear the lorcith better than any of the master smiths, and if anyone would be able to learn to use the potential of lorcith, to
push
on it, it would be Luca. What would happen if Luca’s ability rivaled Rsiran’s? The other smiths might not have as much that they could offer him.

Seval set his hammer down and looked at Rsiran. “So. Is all of this your attempt to ignore the request to take back the Lareth smithy?”

“I…” He hadn’t thought much about the request. There had been too much going on for him to focus on that. “After this is over, I’ll consider.”

“Don’t consider,” Seval said. “Do it. We need a Lareth in that smithy. More than that, we need to have the guildlord closer. When you’re down there… not as many want to take the time to reach you," Seval said. “And we need you, Lareth. You’re good for the smiths. I know you still have a hard time believing it, but it’s the truth.”

“I’ll think on it,” Rsiran said again.

Seval watched him a moment and then nodded before turning back to the cooling lump of lorcith on his anvil. “Send Luca whenever you need. I have a pile of projects that he can help with.”

Rsiran wanted to say something more rather than leaving on this note, knowing that Seval wanted more from him, but what could he say without committing to something that he wasn’t sure he could, or wanted to do.

Focusing on the different lorcith collections in the city before finding the one that he sought, Rsiran Slid away from the smithy.

He emerged on the edge of the Aisl Forest. The earthy scents struck him first, but the overwhelming stillness followed. Somewhere near here was the hut where Brusus had held his father after Rsiran rescued him from Asador. Why would Valn be here?

Lorcith flickered and reappeared.

Rsiran spun, preparing to
push
, when Valn emerged from his Slide about ten paces away. A sheen of sweat covered his face, and the hardness of his green eyes matched the frown on his face. He gripped a sword tightly, as if ready to swing.

“Practice?” Rsiran asked.

Valn grunted. “Damn, Lareth. I could have attacked you.”

“You could have, but you didn’t.”

Valn slipped his sword into his sheath. He was a lean man, and his dark hair matched his expression. A thin cloak covered his shoulder. “I didn’t.” He turned and gestured to the small clearing that spread around them. A few sjihn trees grew here, but they were small compared to those found deeper in the forest. Oaks and elms rose up in between. “After what happened in Thyr, I’ve been trying to prepare for the next.”

“I don’t know what we can do to prepare for shadowsteel other than try to understand it.”

“We
could
stop the bastards from making it.”

Rsiran’s expression soured. “If we could figure out
where
.”

“Isn’t that what you’re supposed to be doing?”

“I tried.” He didn’t want to admit that he’d Traveled to Venass, not after how they had struggled as much as they had in Thyr. “And I think it’s my fault they know how.”

He hated admitting that, but Valn deserved to know.

“I doubt that.”

“I took something from the alchemists once.”

Valn snorted. “And you think it’s the key to shadowsteel? If Ephram lets you believe that… it would be
his
fault then, Lareth. The guildlord is supposed to protect that sort of thing.” He shook his head. “That’s what brings you out here for me today?”

“Not all of it.” Having Valn dismiss his concerns felt… freeing in some ways. Maybe others wouldn’t blame him, either. “I was hoping that you might help me with something. It’ll be as dangerous as Thyr.”

Valn’s eyes narrowed. “Never easy with you, is it? And this is about shadowsteel?”

Rsiran turned so that he faced the distant Elder Trees. He could practically feel them, especially now that he knew the power the trees possessed could be used. “Not this time. Not entirely.”

Valn frowned. “You’re talking like a guildlord now. I think I liked you better when you were just Lareth.”

Rsiran forced a smile. “When the Elder Tree was damaged, I worried what that meant, and what might happen to the crystals.”

“The guild watches them,” Valn said. “
I
watch them when I’m assigned.”

“The guild watches, but even that was not enough.”

Valn lowered his voice to a whisper and leaned toward him. “You’re not telling me what I think you’re telling me.”

Rsiran nodded.

“The crystals are gone?”

“Not all. We don’t know when, or how, but one is missing.”

“The others—”

“Are protected. I used the power of the Elder Trees to protect them. I should have done it sooner, but didn’t know I could.” He flushed with the admission. Had he only attempted it sooner, done what was needed as guildlord, the crystals would have been safe, but he had not. He’d been too focused on looking for the shadowsteel forge… and his father… and Danis.

“Great Watcher,” Valn whispered. “Was it Venass? How’d they get into the city?”

“I don’t know. I have to assume that it was. That’s why I need your help again. I think it’s up to the two of us, and Jessa, to find the crystal and return it to the city.”

“But if it’s Venass, we won’t know, will we? Any time we’ve found any of their people, we’ve ended up killing them. Can the council help?”

It was a measure of how much the crystal meant to everyone that Valn was willing to ask the council’s help. “In their own way, they will. They’ve told me that it’s not in Thyr,” Rsiran said. “Beyond that…”

Luthan hadn’t been able to See that. The crystal was out there, blue amid a field of white.

Rsiran believed that he could find it… and wondered if one of the councilors—likely Luthan—would need to come with them. He hadn’t considered bringing the old man with him before, but if he would come along, they might be able to at least match the power that Venass possessed.

“Beyond that what?” Valn asked.

“Beyond that, I think we’ll need more help than I suspected.” He turned back to Valn. “Will you help with this?”

“With the crystal? I’m of the guild, Rsiran. That is why we exist—to protect the crystals. More than that, I’m with you. I’ll help.”

Rsiran let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks. And Sarah—”

“She’ll want to come, too. I’ll talk to her. We’ll get this solved, and then we’ll figure out a way to deal with this shadowsteel they use too. You don’t have to do this on your own, Rsiran.”

He nodded, thankful that Valn was willing to help, all too aware of how his friends had changed with the shifting of the attacks. He still had Jessa, but Brusus was gone, as was Haern. Now he had to rely on others he didn’t know nearly as well. That made him nervous, but the guilds had to work together, even if that cooperation didn’t come from the guildlords.

T
he flame flickered
in the hearth of his smithy, piercing the darkness. Rsiran stood with Valn and Jessa, collecting knives from his table and strapping them to his belt, and stuffing a few of the smaller knives into pockets. He belted on the sword and hesitated when looking at the shield. Haern hadn’t taught him how to use it, and he worried that he might look ridiculous carrying it.

“Just bring it, Lareth,” Valn said. He stood next to Rsiran at the bench, testing a few of the remaining knives before settling on a pair of long, lorcith-made blades.

“He’ll probably hurt himself with it somehow.” Jessa rolled her lock-pick set into the leather carrying sleeve and slipped it into her pocket. She patted her belt and nodded to herself, as if pleased to find the knives still sheathed there.

“I’m not really sure how to use a shield, but the lorcith wanted me to make it.” That was important to him, especially since he didn’t really know why he’d made it.

“The metal wanted you to make it?” Valn glanced from Jessa to Rsiran, an amused expression on his face.

“Yeah, that’s how I reacted the first few times he told me that,” Jessa said. “You get used to it. And most of the time it’s right.” She tapped her bracelets and winked.

Valn glanced at his wrists a moment. “I’m not even certain these work.”

“Ours work. Not sure about yours yet, either,” Rsiran said.

“You said they’d go cold.” Valn twisted the narrow bands of lorcith and heartstone around his wrists. “Hasn’t happened when we’ve fought Venass.”

“Yet,” Rsiran said. “If they try to Read or Compel you, you’ll be thankful you have them.”

“So who’s this other person we’re waiting on?” Valn asked.

“Hold on,” Rsiran said, offering his arm.

“Lareth—I can Slide myself.”

“Not here.”

Valn frowned and grabbed onto Rsiran’s arm. Jessa took the other.

Rsiran
pulled
them into a Slide. In addition to saving his energy, it had the added benefit that it couldn’t be tracked easily. Sarah had not been happy to learn that she wasn’t invited on this trip. He didn’t think she would follow them, but he didn’t want to risk her influencing his Sliding, either.

They emerged in an upper hall of the palace.

Blue light glowed around them, the heartstone lamps similar to the alchemical potential that he saw from heartstone. A long, plush carpet ran the length of the hall. Three ornately decorated doors were set into the walls.

“How did you know where to take us?” Valn asked.

“I’ve been here a few times.”

Valn glanced at the doors. “To the palace?”

“I wasn’t invited the first couple of times.”

Valn fought back a grin. “Does the council know that their newest guildlord Slid inside their palace?”

“They know.”

Rsiran spun. Luthan stood behind him carrying a satchel over his shoulder and wearing a traveling cloak. His rheumy eyes were clearer than the last time that he’d seen him. “Luthan. I came for you—”

Luthan leaned to the side and glanced past them. “Yes. I Saw that you would.”

“I thought you couldn’t See anything when it came to you. Or to me.”

Luthan smiled. “We’re not the only ones here, are we now, Master Lareth. And I think it is time that you depart if you don’t want others to find you here. Tanis may be young, but she has particular talent, especially when it comes to Seeing.”

Rsiran hesitated. It might be helpful to have another Seer with them, but that risked too many of the council. Taking Luthan was a great enough risk as it was.

“I need you to help. With what you can See—”

“My place is here,” Luthan said. “And there is no way I can leave without others noticing.”

“You can’t go out of the palace?” Rsiran asked. “But you Slid to me from the palace!”

“Outside the palace. I walked first.”

Valn shot Luthan a questioning look. “You can Slide?”

“Not all have lost the ancient talents,” Luthan said. Turning to Rsiran, he shook his head. “Unfortunately, unlike you, I cannot Slide beyond the walls of the palace. The travelstone prevents me.”

“Travelstone? Is that the same as heartstone?” Jessa asked.

“Perhaps once, but when the first builders added it to the rock that became the palace, it turned into something that Master Lareth should not have been able to Slide past.” His eyes went distant a moment, and he turned to Rsiran. “Master Lareth—will you Slide us from here?”

Rsiran held out his arms, and all three of them grabbed on. He
pulled
in a Slide, drawing them away from the palace and emerging in the heart of the Aisl Forest.

The massive sjihn trees rose around them. These were not the Elder Trees, but they were close enough that Rsiran could feel the pull from them. All he had to do to access that power was step into a Slide and pause in the place between. The temptation to use that power against Venass was there, but so far, he hadn’t risked it. Doing so felt like a violation of the Elder Trees, as if they wouldn’t want to be used in such way.

“Why this place?” Luthan asked.

“You knew I was coming,” Rsiran said.

Luthan glanced from Rsiran to the others with him. “There are things that I Saw that told me those close to you were coming. This woman,” he said, motioning to Jessa, “and your Sliding friend. I Saw that they would come to the palace this evening. I saw that it was tied to stopping shadowsteel, though
how
remains unclear.”

“You Saw us?” Jessa asked.

Luthan nodded.

“Then you would have known the other times we came,” she said.

Luthan nodded again. “Master Lareth’s protection can only extend so far. Like many things, there are limits.”

She looked to Rsiran. “What about when Venass tries to See us?”

“Venass would not have Seers like me.” Luthan didn’t sound as if he boasted, making it as a statement.

“They had Haern,” Rsiran said.

“And he is not like me.”

“No?” Jessa asked. “We’ve seen the way that Venass augments their Seers abilities. They use lorcith and heartstone to make their Seers more powerful. Do you really think that you’re still more skilled than them?”

“And shadowsteel,” Rsiran added.

“Interesting that they use the implants to somehow harness abilities of the Elders to augment those of the Watcher,” Luthan said.

“It also grants abilities of the Elder,” Rsiran added. “They can manipulate lorcith.”

“As well as you?” Luthan asked.

“Not as well as me, but the point is that they—”

“Much like with your lorcith, they might add to their ability, but I do not think they could reach the same level of skill as someone born to it.”

“Haern was born to it,” Rsiran said.

“He was born with some talent, but strength is another thing entirely.”

“How do you know?” Jessa asked.

“There are many things that I can See. Strength is but one.” Luthan gazed up into the trees. The sjihn trees here stretched high overhead, spreading their branches wide. The bases of the trunks were nearly a dozen paces wide, but still half the size of the Elder Trees. “They are here?”

“These aren’t the Elder Trees,” Rsiran said.

“I can See that they are not. You fear showing me the trees?”

“You can Slide. You have the same right to them as I.”

“Lareth—” Valn started. “He’s not of the guild.”

“The guild doesn’t own the trees, either, Valn. It’s like the crystals with the Elvraeth.”

“Still you won’t bring me to them,” Luthan said.

“That’s not why we’re here. I stopped here for a different reason.”

Valn watched him, a curious expression on his face. “What might that be?”

“Yeah,” Jessa added. “What?”

“Wait for me.”

Jessa frowned but nodded.

Rsiran took a step into a Slide and paused, stopping at the place in between in the midst of the Elder Trees, needing to determine if he could hold onto this power. If he could, there would be something that Venass didn’t yet understand, and wouldn’t be able to counter.

As he stood here, he
pulled
power to him, letting it fill him. Rsiran
pulled
on more and more, drawing all the strength he could until it practically seeped back out through his pores. He held onto it, and then Slid back to the Aisl and the others.

Stepping out of the Slide, the energy from the Elder Trees washed away from him, slipping free as if it couldn’t exist in this world. He felt invigorated, strengthened, but couldn’t hold onto the power as he wished he could.

“What did you do?” Valn asked.

Jessa watched him, seeming to know what he did. “Did it work?”

He shook his head. “I didn’t think that it would, but I wanted to know for sure, especially this close.”

“Did what work?” Luthan asked.

“Are we ready?” The other advantage of Sliding to that place alone was that Luthan wouldn’t be able to See where he went. Rsiran needed him, but could he trust him? Della and Brusus might be Elvraeth, but Luthan was different. Not only was he Elvraeth, but he sat on the council.

“Where do you think we start?” Valn asked.

Rsiran nodded to Luthan. “I thought that our Seer might be able to guide us.”

“It doesn’t work like that, Master Lareth. I might be able to See aspects of the crystal, but as I believe I told you before, it is not a map.”

“What can you See? There has to be something that gives us an idea of where to start.”

Luthan watched Rsiran for a moment, hands clasped in front of him. He seemed as if he wanted to argue, but nodded, his cloudy eyes going wide as he seemed to stare through Rsiran.

“This is a mistake,” Jessa said to him.

“We need their help.”

“Sure. Valn’s help,” she said, nodding to where Valn paced slowly in a circle around them. He kept one hand on the hilt of his sword, and tossed his gaze around him. “But you brought one of the members of the council with us.”

“He agreed to come.”

Jessa watched Luthan. “For what reason? The only thing we know about the Elvraeth is what they’ve been willing to do to others of their family. What happens if he decides that he is done helping? Or if you find the crystal, and he wants to claim it for himself?”

“Luthan wouldn’t do that—”

“Are you sure? Can you be sure what he’ll do? What if the only reason he agreed to come was so that he could make sure he got access to the crystal?” She squeezed his arm, forcing his attention back to her. “There are other Seers we could have asked, Rsiran. Haern or Della would have helped.”

“Della doesn’t leave the city,” Rsiran reminded her. “And part of this is about finding Haern while we search for the crystal.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“I know,” he said.

Luthan let out a sharp breath and turned to face them.

“What did you See?” Rsiran asked.

Luthan touched crooked fingers to his forehead. “What you ask of me is difficult, Master Lareth.”

“I understand, but even you have to know how important it is for us to prevent Venass from taking the crystal.”

“Even me?” Luthan asked.

“Elvraeth,” Jessa clarified.

“I’m not sure what you intend by that statement.”

“I intend,” Jessa said, starting forward. Rsiran had to grab her arm to keep her from getting too close to Luthan. “I intent to point out that the Elvraeth sat in the palace and did nothing while the rest of Elaeavn was attacked. You did nothing when Venass entered the city. Nothing when they hurt people of your city. Nothing to stop them.”

Luthan glanced over to Valn who had stopped pacing and watched Jessa with interest. “The guilds ensure that we have capable protection.”

“The guilds?” Jessa sputtered. “Just because they provide the constables, that doesn’t mean they provide any real protection. Think of what you could have done to help in the attack.”

“What form would that have taken,” Luthan asked. “Would you have me Read Venass? I think I would find that difficult. Perhaps you would like my Sight?” He smiled as he said it, stepping closer and making his eyes somehow appear even cloudier. “Would you like my ability as a Listener? The only thing that
might
have been beneficial would have been Seeing, but even in that, what I could See told me that I was unnecessary.” He turned to Rsiran. “The guilds forget how they have protected our people through the years. They forget their purpose. Thankfully, Master Lareth has not.”

He turned away from them. “Now, if we are about done with discussing what I have not done, let me tell you what I might be able to do. There is a place I See.”

“What kind of place?” Jessa asked.

“One that is tied to you,” he said, nodding to her. “Cort. That is where we must go.”