The Heartstone Blade (The Dark Ability Book 2) (8 page)

Rsiran laughed and then stepped into the Slide.

R
siran and Jessa
emerged on the rocky bluff outside Ilphaesn Mountain. Wind blew around them, cooler and with a hint of damp rain, so different from Elaeavn, even though they were only a few days’ ride from the city. The moon hovered behind a few clouds, but enough light filtered through to let him see. Nothing like the utter blackness he’d experience in the mines. At least he’d have Jessa with him.

And the lorcith. Always the lorcith.

Dark bars blocked the entrance to the mines. There had been a time he’d let those bars keep him barricaded inside. But there’s also been a time he’d feared using his ability. Now… now he believed that he had a gift. If only he knew more about it.

Even more than in his smithy, the bitter scent of lorcith filled his nose, his entire body aware of it. Were he to focus, he could sense his forgings all the way down the mountain in Elaeavn. From here, the city seemed dotted with them.

Rsiran frowned. Most of the lorcith-made items were sent from the city, shipped with Firell or Shael. But here, he sensed them all throughout the city. And… some even within the palace.

“What is it?” Jessa whispered.

He shook his head. As a skilled sneak, she knew better than to speak too loudly. Here, outside the mines atop Ilphaesn, there was little chance they’d get caught by the Towners. But the men still in the mines might hear.

“You feel something?”

“Later,” he whispered.

Jessa didn’t let go of his hand. Her eyes narrowed as she looked around, searching with her Sight for what might have drawn his attention. “What now?”

Rsiran didn’t know what he intended to do now that they were here. In the tunnels, all he had was the ability to sense the ore. At least with Jessa, they could see throughout the mines. They would have to work together, but that wasn’t new to either of them.

“Are you ready?” he whispered.

She squeezed his hand, and he Slid into the mines.

Had he not been in the mines before, he would never have dared. A Slide, especially blind like he did, could be dangerous. But years of mining had turned Ilphaesn into a series of tunnels. The weeks Rsiran spent mining had given him a familiarity with those tunnels.

Darkness engulfed him. For a moment, he had the same anxious sense he’d felt the first time he’d been in the mine. The sense of the mountain pressing down all around him mixing with the sense of the lorcith pulling on him. Only at then, he hadn’t known exactly what it was that he felt. Now, standing in the darkness with Jessa clinging to his hand, a sense of reassurance worked through him. As long as he had her with him, he didn’t need to fear the darkness.

“Where are we?” Jessa spoke in a soft whisper. She pulled on his hand, leading him down the tunnel.

“Deep inside Ilphaesn and near the mines.”

Had he Slid where he intended, they should be standing where the foreman guided them to the tunnels. Rsiran remembered the last time he’d been here, after the pick pierced his neck and he began bleeding heavily. Had he not risked Sliding, even as wounded as he was, he wouldn’t have survived.

“It’s so… bleak.”

To him, it was little more than shades of blackness. What must Jessa see? “The council feels this is a fitting punishment for some.” He didn’t remind her how his father felt it was an appropriate punishment for him as well.

“How long were you forced to mine each day?”

Rsiran shrugged. “Most of the day. I usually lost track.” His days had been spent trying to ignore the call of the lorcith. Worse were the days when he didn’t. Then he became caught up in the flurry of mining, pulling the lorcith free from the rock.

“And you feel it?”

He nodded. “All around.” Even here in this cavern came the sense of lorcith. The ore pulled at him, drawing him. After months spent working with lorcith, he felt even more attuned to it than he had ever been before. Each nugget had a distinct feel, and he suspected that he could search based on size.

“How is it that supplies have dwindled?” Jessa asked.

“That’s just it. The supplies haven’t. The ore is everywhere. After I told Brusus I would make knives for him, I never feared finding an adequate supply. As long as I avoided the mining guild and took the lorcith from the mountain itself, I would always find enough.” Thinking of Brusus gave Rsiran a strange thought. “But to keep from finding lorcith in the walls, the miners would have to almost avoid it.”

Could someone be Pushing the miners to avoid the lorcith?

The idea seemed too impossible to believe. Miners were split into groups, usually three separate groups, and led to where they worked. If there were someone like Brusus Pushing on them to avoid the lorcith, it would have to be more than one person.

But what about the man he’d overheard in the mines, and the way the thin man had reappeared in the Floating Palace when they infiltrated it? Rsiran knew there was more going on than he’d learned, but what exactly?

Jessa interrupted his thoughts. “Maybe the guild.”

Rsiran thought that unlikely. The guild would
want
lorcith to flow so they could sell it to the alchemists or to the smiths. “Not the guild. Either way, Firell is carrying more lorcith than he should.”

“That’s what we’re doing here?”

Instead of answering, he moved toward one of the caverns. The soft breeze of the mines blew on his cheeks, its touch familiar. The breathing of the mines had saved his life once, alerting him that someone was there in the darkness. At least now, he had a different advantage. Jessa could keep him safe.

He listened. Always before, there had been the steady tapping at night. Only later did he learn where it came from. Either the boy or another, a mystery person that he had never discovered, worked the mines, peeling lorcith from the tunnels. At first, no sound came. Just the soft sense of the wind blowing across his face.

Then he heard it. A soft tapping, steady and distant.

“Do you hear that?” Jessa whispered.

“I noticed it when I first came here. Happened every night. Only when the boy attacked me did I fully understand I wasn’t the only person mining at night.”

“Still can’t believe you let some boy attack you.”

Rsiran pulled on her hand. “Still can’t believe you made me save you.”

She squeezed back. “Me either.”

He started toward the tunnel where the tapping seemed to come from.

Jessa pulled against him. “Not that way. Down here.”

“Where?”

She chuckled. “To your right.”

Rsiran went with her, but thought she had it wrong. The tapping didn’t seem to come from the tunnel on the right. He sensed the opening—it felt like a space where lorcith should be—and listened again. Now the tapping seemed to come from here.

“I don’t know where it is,” he admitted.

The tunnel Jessa indicated was one he rarely had mined. For whatever reason, Rsiran had always avoided it, choosing instead more familiar places. He tried to remember how the tunnel shifted and opened, but couldn’t picture it clearly enough to safely Slide them deeper into the tunnel.

“I think I’ll have to lead from here. Let me know if you see anything.”

“I’ll squeeze your hand?”

“That will work,” he said.

Then he led her into the tunnel. As he did, it felt stranger than simply returning to the mines. Now that he had a better sense of the lorcith, he used it to practically light his way. He might not be able to see in the darkness, but he could essentially see the lorcith in the walls and ceiling of the cave, the tunnel burrowing through where lorcith should be lighting his way.

Even Jessa seemed to move hesitantly. She pulled against his hand, and he had to urge her forward. Rsiran turned, following the bend in the tunnel that he felt, before finally slowing to let Jessa keep up more easily. What was the advantage of having her Sight with him if he didn’t wait to let her use it?

“How much can you see?” he asked.

Jessa sighed and her warm breath whispered practically in his ear. Another time, and he would have wanted to take advantage of the darkness. “Just shades of grey here. Even a little light would help. How are you moving so easily?”

“The lorcith.”

“I still don’t understand how you sense it.”

“I don’t, either. Della said it was a part of my blood. She seemed to know that the ancient smiths had the ability to hear it.” He paused, listening for a moment. The tapping still came distantly. At least he believed he was headed down the right tunnel. And from here, he could Slide back to the upper mines or even out of Ilphaesn altogether. “My father could hear it, but controlled it. He wanted me to learn to control it too. That was part of the reason he sent me here when he did. But instead, being here taught me to listen to it. There’s almost the sense of a song…”

“You know you sound crazy when you talk of listening to the metal?”

Rsiran laughed softly. “I know. About as crazy as the fact that I can Slide.”

They walked further into the tunnel, finally reaching the end of where the miners had reached. Lorcith lit the walls all around him. But there was no sign of whoever mined here. The steady tapping continued.

Could it be somewhere else? He knew of only these tunnels, but hadn’t the boy alluded to other access? Maybe there was a different set of tunnels and a different person mining.

“The tunnel just sort of stops right here,” Jessa said.

He sighed. “There isn’t anything beyond here. Just more rock the miners haven’t cleared.”

“Then what?”

In answer, he Slid them from the mines. They emerged back outside on the flat rock before the barred entrance to the mines. Sudden moonlight seemed bright, bathing everything in a soft glow. Even without Sight, he could easily see the outline of the rocky shape of Ilphaesn, the stilted scrub trees growing on the mountain around them, and the flickering lights of Elaeavn far below.

Jessa punched him lightly on the shoulder. “A little warning? My eyes do need to adjust.”

“Sorry.”

“Why did we leave? I thought you came here for answers?”

Rsiran sighed in frustration. “That is why we came.” He walked around the clearing and looked up at the rocky face of Ilphaesn rising above him. The massive mountain spread out and around, pushing off toward the plains north of Elaeavn and then west before falling steadily off into the sea. “I need you to help me see if there are other ways into the mountain. Maybe another cavern, some other way to mine the lorcith.”

“This is massive, Rsiran. Even in good lighting, it could take me weeks to search for some other way into the mountain. And searching at night creates other disadvantages. At least in the daylight, I can search for changes in shadows, flickers of movement. Here, at night, all I will see are gradations of grey.”

She didn’t need to explain any more. He understood the limitations. Just like his ability to Slide was limited by what he could see—at least to do it safely—her Sight was limited by the amount of light. It just never seemed that way.

“Then we’ll have to come back tomorrow.”

Jessa laughed. “You’re serious?”

He shrugged. “We have to see if there’s another reason for Firell to have all that lorcith. It can’t be coming from the city. Their supply is already limited, and the quantity he had aboard his ship would practically drain the guild.” But how would Firell get a supply from the mines? And why? Only Elaeavn smiths could work with lorcith.

Jessa studied him for a moment before nodding. “You know I’ll help. Whatever it takes.”

There was another place he needed to investigate, one he knew wouldn’t please Jessa. The area behind that wall of crates in the warehouse was intentionally blocked. Rsiran knew there was something more to that space, if only he could reach it. And he knew how to get there, only… Jessa would worry. Maybe he would leave her behind for this one.

She squeezed his hand firmly. Not for the first time, he felt as if she could practically Read him.

R
siran stood
on the face of Ilphaesn. Though bright sunlight streamed around them, there were spaces where shadows still lingered. Near the top of the mountain, a trace of white snow remained, only visible as a faint reflection of light. They finally stood protected from the wind that had been howling around them earlier in the morning, threatening to push him from the narrow slope they stood upon.

Jessa scanned the rock, her face intent. She bit her lower lip as she did. “I still don’t see anything.”

This was the third place they’d Slid to, and each time had been the same. Even now, Jessa couldn’t see anything but shear rock. They didn’t climb, just stood on a narrow rocky path that wound up the edge of the mountain. Finding the path had given Rsiran even more reason to believe they would find something.

“Next stop,” he said. He looked ahead, searching for the next place along the path he could Slide them to. He would take them where he could see and no further. Otherwise, they risked emerging to tumble down the face of the mountain.

“Rsiran—”

“I’m not ready to return.”

“How many more times can you Slide us safely?” She leaned toward the deep indigo flower tucked into the charm and inhaled. A slight smile spread on her face as she did.

He felt the effects of the Sliding he’d done so far, but not nearly as he once would have. And with Jessa, at least he had the comfort of Sliding with someone. The years of isolation within his family had made the closeness he shared with his new friends all the more important. Especially with Jessa.

But why did he feel so strongly about discovering another access to lorcith? Would he really risk entering the cave if they found one? And if they did, what did that mean for the supply of lorcith that Firell had?

“I can return us to Elaeavn, if our safety is what you fear.”

She turned away from scanning the mountain and studied his face. “That’s not what I fear. At least, not for me. But you have warned me what happens when you push yourself too hard. How you risk a Slide going astray. You told me how difficult it was Sliding us from the palace.”

“I had an anchor. Just as I do now.”

“You can feel your forgings in Elaeavn from here?”

He nodded as he pulled the spyglass from his pocket and looked through it. Jessa laughed lightly, but he ignored her. Had he her Sight, he wouldn’t need the spyglass. There were many times he wished he had a different ability, but lately, he had been growing increasingly comfortable with what he could do.

He scanned the face of the mountain as he’d done at each stop. Through the spyglass, the stones and rocky prominences high above him looked almost close enough to touch. And he could touch them, if he chose to Slide. Jessa may be able to see everything more clearly than he could, but he could actually go to what he saw through the spyglass.

Scattered along the rock were a few stunted plants. Browned leaves drooped toward the rock. Some green moss smeared across other rocks, and after nearly slipping more than once, Rsiran had learned to be careful when stepping near it. An eagle soaring overhead made a shadow that fell across the rocks. Otherwise, nothing stood out.

Rsiran stepped forward in a Slide, and they emerged farther up the narrow path, about midway up Ilphaesn, now positioned almost directly above the mining cavern. At this time of day, none of the Towners walked along the path leading down to the village. He made certain to Slide them behind a massive rock pile that concealed them from below. He didn’t want someone from the village seeing him wandering up the mountainside.

Jessa looked up. She surveyed the upper slopes of the mountain for a long time before slowly shaking her head. “Nothing here, Rsiran.”

He sighed. How much longer would he continue? As much as he wanted to believe there was another access into the Ilphaesn, another mine buried here, what if there wasn’t? Maybe the tapping he’d heard came from a part of the prison mines that he knew nothing about.

Jessa squeezed his hand. “I’ll come back with you at night and explore again.”

“I know you would. I just thought…” Staring overhead, he trailed off. Why would he have continued going up the mountainside? The mines all worked deeper into the mountain, sloping ever downward into the depths. But he’d Slid them up the face of the mountain. If there were going to be another entrance, would it be higher than the one the miners used?

Rsiran frowned and crawled around the massive boulder blocking the path. The wide base of Ilphaesn spread beneath him. On this side of the mountain, if he looked far enough into the distance, he could see the end of the Aisl Forest as trees slowly faded into the plains. Higher up the mountain, he wondered if he could see all the way to Asador. But they had looked all along this side of the mountain. So far, Jessa had not seen anything that looked like it could be a cavern entrance. Each Slide had carried them higher up Ilphaesn, ever closer to the peak, but what if they’d been looking in the wrong direction?

He squeezed Jessa’s hand in their sign that he planned to Slide.

They emerged near the miner’s entrance to the caves. The path here was wider than higher along the mountain but still treacherous. A single wrong step could send them slipping off the rock and falling down the side. Rsiran had been careful to bring them back to one of their previous Slides.

From where they stood on the path, they were shielded by the gentle curve of Ilphaesn as it wound back toward the mines. A short walk for any of the Towners who might be standing guard. Rsiran relied on Jessa’s Sight to keep them safe here.

“What are we doing?” she whispered.

“Going the wrong way.”

Rsiran dropped to his knees and crawled to the edge of the path. A soft pattering of rocks fell from the edge, bouncing below him. Ilphaesn dropped off steeply here, no longer spreading out as it did on the other side. Instead, the rock seemed to have been shorn from this side as it plunged down toward the sea. Frothy waves crashed far below. A wave of dizziness struck him and he backed up.

“There’s nothing down there,” Jessa said.

“Nothing you see?”

She leaned over the edge, ignoring the dangers he felt. “Just nothing. Flat rock until it reaches the sea.”

“There has to be something.”

“Why? Why must there be something?”

Rsiran sighed and came to his feet. How to explain what he heard every night he lay alone in the tunnels? That tapping—the soft and steady sense of dread that he’d felt hearing it—lived in his mind, not imagined. And the boy hadn’t been responsible for all of it. He couldn’t have been. Rsiran remembered clearly times he’d heard it when the boy had been with him.

“Because I know there’s someone mining here.”

“You already told me it was the boy.”

“There’s someone else. I don’t know who, but I don’t think it’s in the same mines.”

“Can you not just…feel…for the opening in the mine?” she asked.

Rsiran hadn’t even considered trying that. Taking a moment to focus on the lorcith, he realized he did feel the opening to the Elvraeth mines. It felt like an emptiness where the lorcith should be. Otherwise, the sense of lorcith was all around him, pressing on him with a gentle awareness. As he focused, he realized he could even sense the tunnels working beneath him by the void they created in the continuous sense of lorcith.

Pushing that sense outward, plunging deeper into the rock, he searched for a different sense, one where he could feel the absence of the lorcith, but try as he would, he couldn’t feel anything different.

“No.”

“Then maybe there isn’t one.” Jessa shrugged and then looked up and down the face of the mountain. “This is dangerous. Being out here, Sliding along this path. Damn, Rsiran, I’m uncomfortable enough just standing here. What would have happened had you taken us just a little too far?”

“But I didn’t.”

Jessa smiled. “I know you have control of it. I’ve seen you Sliding. You don’t know it, but you sort of… shimmer… when you Slide. Everything around you sort of bends. It’s easier to see when you Slide alone. When I go with you…”

“What do you see?”

When he Slid, he saw flashes of color and had the sense of wind rushing through his ears. He had grown accustomed to it, and the sense barely registered anymore, unless he Slid great distances and even then, only when Jessa came with him. The Slide to Ilphaesn itself had been like that. A sense of movement whistling around him. Flashes of color that seemed like he could see something moving at the edge of his vision. Even the bitter scent present when Sliding—so reminiscent of forged lorcith—seemed lessened when traveling short distances.

“Nothing,” she said. “I don’t really see anything. It’s like my vision fails when we Slide.”

He had hoped that she might be able to better describe what happened in the space between, in that place he considered as stepping between planes. But she couldn’t help him. Probably since she had no ability to Slide, had no control over the Slide.

Rsiran sighed again and crouched carefully to lean over the edge of the path. Taking the spyglass from his pocket, he peered through it and down the rock face. All he needed was a flat stretch where he could stand. Somewhere they could reach and look up the mountain and try to see other openings.

For a moment, he thought he wouldn’t find anything that would work. The rock ran nearly vertical most of the way down to the sea. But near the bottom of the mountain, near where the water frothed around the base, a flat stretch of rock jutted from the mountain, curling around. It should be just wide enough for the two of them to stand upon.

“Do you see that?”

Jessa followed where he pointed. A deep frown crossed her face.

“And here I thought I needed to worry about you Sliding us safely along the path.”

“Don’t you see it?”

“Yes I see it. I just don’t think you’re thinking clearly about this, Rsiran. That’s nearly in the sea. How much spray do you think has built up there? And you thought the patches of moss were slick.”

“I just need a place where we can look up at the mountain.”

Jessa took his hand, shaking her head as she did. “Just know that I think this is a terrible idea. And I should know. I’ve had many of my own.”

Rsiran stood and held tightly to her hand. This would be different from some of the other times he’d Slid. The spyglass could help, but he needed to fix the location firmly in mind. That far down the face of the rock, he couldn’t be certain that he could. And if he missed… they wouldn’t just go slipping down the side of the mountain. They would end up falling into the ocean. The way the waves crashed there told him they wouldn’t have much chance of survival if that happened.

He hesitated. Did he really need to do this? Was there another way to discover what he needed? But he didn’t think so. Lorcith was being brought out of the mines in enough quantity to fill those massive crates on Firell’s ship. They wouldn’t have come from the prison mines, or more than just the mining guild would have known. The Elvraeth would have known. That meant another source. Another mine. And he needed to know why there would be another mine before he could confront Firell with why he had so much of the ore. To do that, he had to learn where it was.

Without thinking about it much longer, he Slid.

As soon as he emerged, he knew he’d missed.

Rsiran clung to the lip of rock. It jutted out barely two feet and, as Jessa had predicted, it was wet from the spray. His boots slipped, and he flung himself back against the rock.

Jessa wasn’t so lucky.

She fell forward, away from the rock. Only because Rsiran held so tightly to her hand did she not fall into the waves. As it was, she dangled, leaning out and away from the mountain, his hand her only tether to safety. Had he not spent so much time working the forge the last few months, he might not have had the strength needed to pull her back.

With a jerk, she came away from the water, and he cradled her in his arms. Jessa trembled softly. Her breath came in shallow gulps of air. Rsiran’s stomach seemed to flutter and a rolling nausea washed over him. He’d almost lost her.

“There are better ways of getting me into this position,” she said.

“I’m sorry.”

She shook her head but didn’t move for a long moment. The waves were much closer here, crashing loudly against the rock. Occasionally, massive sprays would strike, splashing them with a fine salty mist. The rock behind him felt damp and cool, but he didn’t dare turn.

“Take a quick look and then we’ll go,” he said.

Jessa didn’t push away from him as she craned her neck to look up the mountain. She stared for a while and then her mouth twisted in a tight line. “I think… Yes. Up there.” She pointed with her finger, her hands gripping him tightly around the shoulders.

“What is it?”

She shrugged. “Can’t really tell from here. Shadows are different enough that it looks like the opening to a cave.” She laughed nervously. “Took you almost killing me to prove you were right.”

Rsiran tried to laugh, but the thought of what he’d almost done made his heart flip painfully. He twisted her so that she could lean against the stone and turned to look up the face of the mountain. With the spyglass, he stared up the rock face. High overhead, he saw a wide opening that looked much like the cavern the miners used.

He swallowed. At least that should be easier to reach.

“Hang on,” he told Jessa.

She grabbed his hand as he started to Slide to the cavern.

And failed.

Rsiran met resistance, like a barrier blocking his access. He’d experienced it only once before, when trying to reach the palace. This felt much the same, as if something pushed back against him.

He tried to step out of the Slide, but the footing along the lip of rock was too slick. He started to slip. Jessa gasped, as if sensing what was happening. At the last moment, Rsiran changed the direction of the Slide, praying to the Great Watcher that it worked.