The Guild Secret (The Dark Ability Book 6) (4 page)

R
siran waited
outside the Hall of Guilds, listening to the voices on the other side of the door. He could Travel and observe them more easily, but he had resisted the urge to Travel too often. Not only did doing so weaken him nearly as much as when he had first learned to Slide, but it also felt like something of a violation of trust to eavesdrop like that. He didn’t want to lose the trust of Ephram, though he wasn’t sure the man would even know if he listened in on their conversation.

The voices stopped and the door opened. Ephram stepped through and paused as he noted Rsiran. “I have been trying to reach you for the last few days,” Ephram noted, touching his hand to his temple, scratching at his gray hair. Ephram was a tall man like most within Elaeavn, and willowy thin. His deep green eyes watched Rsiran with an unreadable expression.

“You’ve been looking for me? Is it about what Sarah—”

His quick shake of the head cut Rsiran off. “Not Sarah. This is about you and your responsibilities.” Ephram watched as those who’d been meeting in the Hall departed, then motioned for Rsiran to enter and take a seat at the table. “You are the smith guildlord now,” he said as he pulled out the bench and took a seat. “There are certain duties that you must abide by.”

“I’ve been meeting with the master smiths.”

“That’s not what I mean. The guildlords used to get together to discuss the issues of the guilds. We have not done so as often these days. Now that you’re guildlord… I had hoped your connection to the other guilds could change that.”

“Why haven’t they gotten along?”

Ephram took a deep breath. “The guilds… there are certain trust issues that you might have picked up on. The smiths resented the Miner Guild for restricting access to lorcith.”

“They do not anymore.”

Ephram shook his head. “They do not. That, I think, is because of you, Lareth. Your ability to detect the lorcith and teach the smiths how to listen for it has changed the way they approach it. The smiths now know the ample supply allows them to practice without fearing waste. They can truly master their skills with the ore, listening to it, learning how best to work each piece. There world has changed forever.”

Rsiran hadn’t considered that before. For some reason, the Miner Guild had restricted access to lorcith, limiting it in such a way that the smiths were barely able to use it. When they ignored the call of the lorcith, that hadn’t been a problem, but now, the smiths listened. More and more of them had regained the ability to hear the call of the lorcith. And then there were those like Rsiran—and now Luca—who had never ignored the call of lorcith. There was no way to hide the lorcith from him when he could hear it so easily.

“What do you think I can do?” he asked.

Ephram took a deep breath. “The guilds need to be unified. Now that one of the Elder Trees is dead—”

“Not dead,” Rsiran said.

Ephram frowned. “I thought you said that it did not glow as it had.”

“It doesn’t, but that is not the same as the tree dying.”

Ephram waved his hand. “There might be leaves on the tree, but that doesn’t mean that it lives. If the power of the tree is gone, it is no different from any of the other sjihn in the forest.” He sighed. “And we must be vigilant. We must protect the crystals. That is the role of the guilds, the way that we serve.”

“Serve the Elvraeth, you mean.”

Ephram tilted his chin. “Serve the people of Elaeavn.”

“The people of Elaeavn do not have access to the crystals, do they? It’s only the Elvraeth who enjoy that honor.”

“Rsiran—”

He held up his hand. “I agree that we must keep the crystals safe. If Venass managed to acquire one, I fear what they might do. But don’t pretend that we do so for the good of all our people.”

Ephram watched him a moment. “You will have to be careful with that tone of yours when you meet with them.”

“I don’t intend to meet with them.”

“It is customary for the guildlords to meet with the Elvraeth council. In particular, the new guildlords meet with the council.”

“Do they have to approve me?” The master smiths hadn’t warned him about that. Rsiran wasn’t sure that he would be able to act the way he needed to if he had to be approved by the Elvraeth. Everything that had happened to him his whole life had been tied to the Elvraeth in one way or another.

“They have no approval authority,” Ephram said. “That does not change the fact that we must still treat them respectfully.”

“Respectfully? The Elvraeth did nothing when Venass attacked.”

“What would you have had them do?”

“Care about the fate of the city, for starters.”

“They care, but in their own way.”

Rsiran met Ephram’s eyes, waiting for him to explain more, but he didn’t. “Why do you defend them? You know what they have done as well as anyone. What have they done to deserve your loyalty?”

“Not loyalty, but there is tradition that must be respected.”

“Tradition also said the Smith Guild should ignore the call of lorcith. Do you think we’ve been well served by tradition?”

A troubled expression crossed his face.

“Tradition has said that those who can Slide should remain hidden. The Elvraeth were responsible for declaring that talent a dark one. An entire guild, forbidden! Tradition has said that our people should not carry weapons and have no way of protecting ourselves. I know the constables are guild members, but how many suffered because of
that
tradition?”

Ephram leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest as he took a few breaths. “What would you have me do?”

“I would have us approach the Elvraeth from a position of strength, not weakness.”

“The guilds have never come to the Elvraeth in a position of weakness.”

“No? It seems that you defer too much to them.”

“Only because you do not understand.”

“Perhaps not,” Rsiran said. “But I’ve seen the way that Venass continues to progress. They don’t stick to tradition. They’ve found a way to target me, to connect shadowsteel to me, and in doing so, they would separate me from my abilities.”

“That’s not possible.”

“I wouldn’t have thought so, either, but I found something when we were in Thyr. Hasn’t Sarah told you about it?”

“I’ve not seen Sarah, so no.”

Rsiran frowned. She had intended to show the shadowsteel sword to Ephram, and see what answers he might have about the blade and the metal. Why wouldn’t she have done that?

“What have you found?”

“Shadowsteel,” he said.

“You already knew about shadowsteel.”

Rsiran nodded. “We did, but this is different. They have done something with it, modified it in some way. Now when it touches lorcith or heartstone, my connection to the metals changes.”

“Does this happen gradually or immediately?”

“Immediately.”

Ephram touched a finger to his lips, as he seemed to contemplate. “That should not be possible.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Your connection to the metals has intrigued me, and I’ve come up with only one way to explain why you have the ability to use lorcith and heartstone as you do. I think that it’s tied to the potential of the metal, that you are somehow able to access it, and through your connection to it, you can draw on that potential. I have not heard of anyone with quite the same ability, but it is the only thing that makes sense.”

“Then how would Venass manage to prevent me from using it?”

“They must somehow drain the potential trapped within the lorcith and heartstone. Shadowsteel has been known to have dark and dangerous properties, but never have we known it to sap the potential of other metals.”

Was that what it had done? Could that be all there was to what Venass had devised? The answer made as much sense as any, though he had a hard time imagining the power stored in lorcith could be removed that easily. “Do I drain the potential from lorcith as I use it?”

“I don’t know enough about what you do to know how to answer that,” Ephram said. “It’s possible that you do, and that over time, the metal would become less responsive to you, but it’s just as possible that you have a way of connecting to that potential that does nothing to it, a neutral effect if you will.”

“Is there any way to determine if that’s what happens?” If he drained lorcith as he used it, he would have to think about what that meant. The lorcith had never resisted him when he attempted to use it, almost as if it understood that he had a need, but part of what made him successful with it was the fact that he listened to it, worked with it, rather than forcing it to comply with his needs.

“I suppose, with the right focus, we should be able to determine if that is possible. Does it matter? We know that lorcith is plentiful. What does it matter if you use up the potential stored in any given piece?”

“It matters,” he said. There was no way to really explain to someone else
why
it mattered to him, only that it did. Had he not listened to lorcith from the beginning, he would never have learned what he was capable of doing. He would never have learned to forge and shape metal. He would never have learned to control it as he had. Much of what he had become, he owed to his connection to lorcith. He could not betray that connection by misusing it. Doing so felt wrong.

“I need you to tell me about shadowsteel.”

“That is a secret of the Alchemist Guild,” Ephram said.

“Am I not close enough to the guild? Do I not see the potential stored within metals?”

“That doesn’t make you an alchemist.”

Rsiran sighed, wishing he didn’t have to argue this with Ephram. “With what we have to face, you need to share with me what you know. We are dealing with Venass, and they do not hesitate to learn, to push themselves as they strain to understand what it is that we can do. They study and learn. They
share
. What happens when they discover a way to replicate all of our abilities? We won’t have any way of protecting ourselves then.”

Rsiran wasn’t sure that they had any way of protecting themselves now. Not with what he’d seen from Venass, and the new ways that they used shadowsteel, but they could continue to learn, and if they could work together…

“As I said, that is a secret of the Alchemist Guild.”

“If you want us to work together, you will have to work with me.”

Ephram clapped him on the arm. “I
have
worked with you, Lareth. I have shared more than I have with anyone outside the guild. Be patient. There are times when tradition matters.”

Ephram stood, pushing back the bench as he did. Rsiran sat there, wishing he could convince Ephram that there might be times when tradition mattered, but there were others when it did nothing more than slow their progress.

“I will summon you when the council desires to meet.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“You will be there. You are one of the guildlords now. You have an obligation to your guild.”

Rsiran watched him leave, frustration bubbling within him about what he would do next. They needed to stop Venass, but he needed to find a way to prevent them from creating and using shadowsteel. If he didn’t… He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t.

T
he knife streaked
through the trees of the Aisl Forest toward him, but with no real force. Rsiran batted it away, slicing at it with his sword, not bothering to even Slide away. It was almost as if Haern didn’t even want to try.

Elms and oaks rose around him as they sparred on the edge of the forest, not getting any deeper or closer to the sjihn trees. Haern hadn’t wanted to get that deep into the forest, and Rsiran hadn’t though it necessary.

But Haern’s attack had been much weaker than Rsiran would have expected. In the past, Haern had pushed him, testing him, forcing him not to use his abilities as they sparred so that Rsiran could develop other skills. But now, even without using his abilities, he had no trouble with Haern, and he didn’t think it was because he had improved that much.

Haern held back, but Rsiran didn’t know why.

He Slid forward, catching Haern from behind, and swung the sword. Haern turned, but did so almost lazily, managing to catch Rsiran’s sword, but in the moment before he would have struck him.

Rsiran jumped back, sliding his sword back into his sheath. “What is it, Haern?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

“You’re not even trying.”

“You’ve gotten skilled enough that I don’t need to worry about you.”

“You’ve seen what Venass is willing to do in the city, the way they are willing to attack. I think we need to continue to improve, to grow our abilities.”

Haern’s jaw clenched. “I know more than most what Venass is willing to do.”

Rsiran watched him. Something bothered him today, though he wasn’t sure what it was. “Tell me about Venass. What do you know that you haven’t shared with us?”

“Rsiran—”

“Haern, they continue to attack. The last group that we encountered had a new weapon, one that they had trained on me. I’m not sure I know enough about how to stop them. So I need to know everything you know that might help us.”

“I was never a part of the deeper conversations with Venass. I was almost one of the Hjan, but even then, I was a lower level.”

“How did they bring you into the Hjan?”

Haern looked away, shaking his head. “That’s not important.”

Rsiran couldn’t help but think that it might be important, but he wouldn’t push Haern on it. “We need to know what they might do next. Where they might attack.”

“You want to know what they intend to do with your father. And you want to know about where to find Danis.”

Rsiran nodded. He wouldn’t deny that, and certainly not to Haern. “Is there anything that you can See?”

“Not when it comes to you. And with Venass… it’s as if they managed to blanket themselves in some way. There was a time when I could See them, but that was before…” He touched the plate in his face and let out a slow breath. “I don’t know if there’s anything that I can do that will be helpful.”

Rsiran hadn’t expected Haern to be able to See anything about Venass, but it was helpful have it confirmed. “I need to understand shadowsteel,” he told Haern.

“You’re asking the wrong person.”

“Is there anything that you learned while you were there that could help?”

“I knew Venass had something that gave the Hjan different abilities than I had been given, but only the senior members of the Hjan were granted it.”

That was something that he hadn’t known. “What did it take to be a senior member of the Hjan?”

“Rsiran, you’re asking questions that won’t help you face the Hjan.”

“Fine. Then let me ask who else might be out there who could help us face them? Della suggested that we find allies to help. If they were a league of assassins, then we should be able to find people who have suffered at their hands.”

“There were many people who suffered under the Hjan,” Haern said. “But few knew that it was the Hjan. That’s the key to what they do. They hide in the shadows, working in ways that keep their identities secret. When they attack and you finally understand, it’s too late.” He shook his head. “What we’re facing is nothing like my prior experience with the Hjan. This… this is open warfare. And that makes me nervous.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s nothing like what they typically do. The Hjan—and Venass—would prefer that you not know they are coming after you. For them to face Elaeavn—and you—so openly, means either they feel they no longer have to hide in the shadows, or this isn’t their primary target.”

“What other target would they have?” Rsiran asked. “If not for the crystals, and the Elder Trees, what do you think they might be after?”

“As I said, that’s what worries me. Venass has never been open about what they pursue, not like they have been about the crystals and now you. They have demonstrated much more strength than I knew them to possess. Had I only known sooner, I would have shared my concerns with you and the others, and we could have been a step ahead.”

Rsiran Slid forward a few steps,
pulling
on his knives, sweeping them through the forest so that they lit the trees. “Then we need to figure out what else Venass might be after.”

“That’s just it. They have been after the same thing for as long as I’ve associated with them. It’s always been about power, getting stronger.”

“That’s what the crystals are for them.”

“Yes,” Haern started, the troubled expression still on his face, “but this is not the same.”

“Do you think they want to take over Elaeavn?”

Haern frowned. “Ruling has never been important to Venass, at least not from what I know. They have cared more for exerting their strength and not having limitations, but the actual ruling?” He shook his head. “They would leave that to someone else.”

Haern fell silent.

“Are we done?” Rsiran asked.

“I’m sorry, Rsiran.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. But I can help with whatever bothers you.”

Haern sighed. “I’m not sure that you can.” He nodded to the trees. “I think I’ll walk back, if you don’t mind.”

Rsiran nodded. “If that’s what you want.”

Haern started off without another word.

Rsiran watched him disappear. He’d have to find out from Jessa what bothered him. He hadn’t been the same since Venass attacked the city. At first, Rsiran thought it had to do with him getting injured, but the more time that passed, the more likely it was that something else troubled him. Maybe that had been it at first, but there was more to it now.

He considered returning to his smithy. Luca waited for him, and Rsiran had been gone a great deal over the last few weeks, leaving the boy he’d promised to train unsupported. Members of the guild, including Seval, also wanted to reach him. The other masters wanted to meet with him regularly, but he’d been too busy with everything he’d been working on with Valn and Sarah, too busy chasing Venass to focus on guild business, but that would have to change. He’d committed to working with the guild, and needed to be available for them.

The shadowsteel troubled him, and he needed to know more about it. If there was any secret that Venass hid, that would be it, wouldn’t it? He felt certain that the shadowsteel was the key to how they would gain the power they sought.

After considering for a moment, he Slid and emerged in the depths of the Ilphaesn mine.

He didn’t come to the mine as often as he wished he could. Now that lorcith glowed within the walls, he had none of the fear that once consumed him when he’d been here. Now he felt welcomed, not only by the stone of the mountain, but by the lorcith within.

The air smelled of the bitterness of lorcith. Whereas he had once felt the scent a reminder of his disappointment to his father, he now found it pleasing and reassuring. Heartstone once had a sickly sweet odor, but now he found it equally reassuring. Some of that came from the fact that he smelled both during his Slides, as if the Sliding itself was somehow tied to his connection to the metal, but that couldn’t be, especially since those of the Sliding Guild did not require the connection to lorcith—or heartstone—in order to effectively Slide.

Rsiran made his way through the tunnel, Sliding at times and at others, simply walking. As he did, he focused on the pull of lorcith around him. When he found a piece that called to him more strongly than others, he paused and
pulled
it from the walls. He no longer had need of pick or hammer to remove lorcith; that was probably the reason the Miner Guild disliked the fact that he came to the mines alone. They didn’t prevent him access, and he wasn’t sure they could if they wanted to, but he’d seen the irritation on their guildlord’s face the first time they met.

None of the convict miners worked this deep in the mine. If he focused, he could hear the miners above him, and could sense the way they chipped away at the mountain, slowly working at the lorcith. Now more often than when he had served here, the miners found larger lumps of lorcith, the restrictions that some from the guild had once Compelled now removed.

He paused as he
pulled
at another piece of lorcith, this one larger than any of the others he’d
pulled
from the mine today. It seemed to have multiple songs for him, as if it would let him use it in different ways than most of the lorcith that he found. It came away from the wall with a high-pitched squeal of metal on stone, and he caught it before it could crash to the ground and put it in his pocket.

This wasn’t the reason that he’d come here. And continuing to wander and search for lorcith didn’t give him any more answers about what Venass might want from him. What he needed was to return to the chamber where he’d discovered the fragments that he thought were based on the schematics. They seemed tied to whatever Venass intended to make, whether it shadowsteel or something else.

Rsiran Slid and emerged in that chamber. He paused and listened, focusing on the metal around him, searching for what might be out of place. He found nothing in particular. Why would Venass have come here? What was here that they couldn’t find elsewhere?

And was there anything that would tie it to the shadowsteel?

Rsiran found nothing. Scanning the area, he sought the same metal that he’d discovered before, but he’d taken that out of Ilphaesn and left it in his smithy.

Why did this have to be so hard? All he needed was to find out where Venass might create shadowsteel. If Ephram would only help, it might be easier.

He had another question that he might be able to get answered while here in the mine. Rsiran wasn’t quite sure how to ask the lorcith if his using it drained the metal of its potential, but of all places, this was the most likely one in which he would find an answer.

But not here. Where Venass had set up and forced Luca to mine seemed like the wrong place for him to search for answers, as if the metal here might have been changed by their presence. There was another place he could go, one where he knew lorcith had responded primarily to him. He Slid and emerged in the open space of the chamber at the center of the mines.

He risked the miners finding him, but it was early enough in the day that they likely were deeper in the mine. Not long ago, he had discovered massive amounts of lorcith here and had taken it to his smithy for safekeeping. He still didn’t know if the Miner Guild had pulled that lorcith from the mine, or if it had been someone else. Rsiran didn’t want to ask the guild—that risked their anger when he attempted to build a rapport with them—but his curiosity remained.

The walls glowed with a steady white light from the potential of the lorcith, pushing back the darkness that he’d known when sentenced to serve here. A single lantern hung from a hook that had been pounded into the wall, giving a strange orange glow that contrasted with the potential from the lorcith, but only to him. He Slid away from the light where he didn’t have to risk the miners coming up from below, and where he could practically bathe in the potential from the lorcith. He listened to the song, focusing on it as it hummed around him.

How did he ask lorcith if he sapped its potential by using it?

Could he do anything like he did when he forged it?

Emptying his mind, he thought of the lorcith, even envisioning his forge, and sent the question, doing it without words but as an imagined question to lorcith.

Rsiran stood, waiting for a response.

Surprisingly, the lorcith in his pocket that he’d collected deeper in the mine answered. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising to him. He had
pulled
this piece from the wall because he was more attuned to it. It made sense that it would answer him first.

The song within the metal hummed within him. As it did, he became aware of the song changing, of it shifting, growing muted, but then becoming louder once more.

What does that mean?

The metal flared again, this time vividly within his mind.

Rsiran had a vision come to him, and he didn’t doubt that it came from the lorcith itself rather than from anything that he did. The vision showed the Elder Trees, but not the Elder Trees as he knew them when he stood within the forest. This was the Elder Trees as he knew them when he Slid to the place between, when he waited, where he had healed Della, using the power of the Elder Trees that he could only see in that place.

What did the lorcith mean in showing him that?

Did the power of the lorcith come from the Elder Trees? For that matter, did his?

All his life, he had believed that his people had abilities given to them by the Great Watcher, but Rsiran had no abilities of the Great Watcher. His all came from the ancient clans, and were tied to the guilds of today. In some ways, he wondered why his eyes were even green, though they were faint compared to most, more of a gray green. As he learned about the ties to the Elder Trees, he wondered why he should be so tightly bound to them. What made him different? Della claimed that Seers of long ago saw that someone with the Blood of the Watcher and the Blood of the Elders would unify the connection, but she described it as something that would help the people of Elaeavn, and Rsiran didn’t think that his abilities were able to help Elaeavn.

The vision returned, stronger than the last time. Strangely enough, in the vision from the lorcith, all five trees glowed brightly with power.