The Blade Bearers (Blade and Bone Book 6), page 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
HENRY MEYER
When the scream split the forest, Meyer tensed.
The hegen were working near the edge of the fog, placing pieces of art down on the ground, situating them in a way that was designed to create a ring around the buried Alainsith structure. This was the fifth one they had encountered, all of them guided by Adira and what she could detect of the fog. Meyer wondered how she was connected to it, and why she could feel something that even the hegen didn’t seem capable of finding, but she didn’t know, either.
Kezia crouched near one of the hegen. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, and it draped over one shoulder, almost as if it were trying to get in the way of what she was doing. The man lying on the ground was cradling his arm to his chest, and Kezia leaned over him.
“What happened?” Meyer asked.
Kezia didn’t look back.
“He got too close,” Oscar said.
He had taken to traveling with them every day, which had surprised Meyer, as he would’ve expected that Oscar would want to remain in the city, perhaps taking advantage of the fact that Meyer was not there. And for his part, Meyer started to question if it was a mistake that he’d been spending as much time out of the city as he had, feeling as though he was abandoning his responsibilities, no differently than he would’ve once told Finn he was doing.
“Too close to what?” Meyer asked.
“Near as I can tell, the fog.” Oscar leaned forward, wrinkling his brow. “It’s strange. I haven’t really been able to figure out much about it, only that the fog seems to be something unpleasant. They’ve been quite particular about avoiding it. I always wondered why, but now…”
“What did it do to him?”
“Look at his arm. It’s smoking.”
Meyer leaned past Kezia, who was applying ointment to it. The smoking seemed to have eased, but as Oscar had said, it was as if the fog—or whatever it was, as fog certainly wouldn’t cause a scalding wound—had burned away the man’s flesh.
Kezia murmured something to the man, then waved to several of the hegen near her. They dragged the man off to a different area of the forest where other hegen had gathered.
She sat for a moment, and then she worked to get a piece of art situated on the ground. The layers of fog billowed toward the pieces of art that the hegen had placed around the remains of the structure. This one was very different than some of the others, practically buried by the earth. As Oscar had suggested, the massive, towering trees that ringed the structure were the same at each location, almost as if the forest had recognized some danger here and sought to grow around it.
Kezia wiped her brow and looked at the hegen seated near the base of the tree far away from the circle of fog. “We’re getting tired, Master Meyer.”
He smiled tightly. “You can call me Henry.”
“We’re getting tired, Master Meyer,” she said again. “They’re more active than they had been before. I don’t know why that would be, only that it appears to be the case. Each of these seems to be sending more of this fog flowing outward.” She turned to it. “And increasingly, I wonder if it even is fog.”
“What else could it be?” Oscar asked, flipping a knife in his hands, casually looking around the forest. “Because it sure looks like fog.”
“I don’t know.” Kezia wiped her brow again. “I can’t tell what it is. It’s dangerous, regardless.” She motioned to one of the hegen. His arm had also been bandaged, yet Meyer hadn’t seen what had happened to the young man.
“We need to suppress this as much as we can,” he said.
“I know.” There was more irritation in Kezia’s words than she had expressed in the time they had been exploring together.
“Let them rest,” Oscar said. He flicked his gaze to Meyer. “A little time isn’t going to make a difference. We don’t know how much urgency we have, anyway, only that some part of this is changing. We don’t need to burn out the only people who have a way of countering it.”
“They might not be the only ones who can counter it,” Meyer said.
He walked over to where Adira had remained in the trees. She hadn’t come out, and had not been helpful when they were dealing with the fog. It seemed more like she tried to avoid it, as if she feared it. And maybe she did. Maybe Adira understood that there was something dangerous within it, and that it might cause a problem for her if she were to try to control it.
She looked up as he approached. “What happened to him?”
“The fog attacked. Can you counter it with your control over the other Alainsith structures?”
Adira spread her hands on either side of her, and she shrugged. “If I had some way of detecting something more, perhaps I could, but unfortunately, I can’t draw enough here. I’ve been trying, but each attempt I make is met with some resistance. It’s almost as if these clusters”—she glanced over to where the fog billowed toward them, before it stopped—“are designed in such a way that they interrupt the flow of that other power.”
“There has to be something you can do.”
“There’s probably something that can be done, but not by me,” she said. “It would need one of the Alainsith to control it, somebody who knows that power far more intimately than I do.”
“Then we have to hope that they get that help.”
“They. You mean Esmerelda.” Oscar frowned. “We’ve got Finn and Esmerelda split up, both heading into dangerous situations, and you’re relying on Alainsith now?”
“It’s actually not Esmerelda,” Meyer said. “It’s the others with them. They knew one of the Alainsith.”
Oscar snorted and shook his head. “Nobody knows the Alainsith. Even they don’t,” he said, motioning to the hegen. “They might’ve interacted with them more than most people have—other than the king, that is—but they don’t know the Alainsith.”
“That’s not the way I hear it.”
“That’s not our only concern,” Adira said. “I’ve been feeling something unusual for a little while now. I’ve been looking, and had some of my people looking, to see if it’s tied to these structures, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s something up ahead. A pressure seems to be coming, building, as if to overwhelm us. I can’t say what it is, only that there’s something to it. It’s pulling on me, which suggests that it’s tied to this.” She waved her hand in a pattern that caused a little bit of fog to form, a swirl that was faint but not altogether significant. “But I cannot tell.”
“If you feel more, make sure we know,” Meyer said.
She laughed. “If you think I’m going to try to face this on my own, then you’ve not been paying attention, Executioner.”
“That’s not it.” He looked over to where Kezia was still attending to the fallen hegen. “It’s more about what we have seen and felt, and whether we need to be ready for some other protections.”
Adira tugged at the woven necklace she wore. Kezia had made one for each of them. It was designed to protect them, but obviously it wasn’t enough.
Adira nodded, and they stood quietly while the hegen went back to work, finishing their protections around the structure. By the time they were done, the day had turned to evening.
“We should head back,” Meyer said, walking over to Kezia. They had been sleeping in Verendal each day, sometimes getting back later than he preferred, but waking up early and heading out. No one wanted to stay in the forest, as none of them understood whether there was any danger to them doing so.
“There’s something up ahead,” Adira said. “I’m feeling a strangeness here. It’s almost as if it’s starting to pull on this pressure that surrounds us.” She looked over to Kezia. “Can you detect anything?”
“That isn’t how my gift works.”
“Then we need to see what it is. I can go.”
“You aren’t going alone,” Meyer said.
Adira shook her head. “I don’t think we need to bring all her people with us for this. If there’s a threat, we don’t want to involve anyone that could get hurt.”
“I will come,” Kezia said. “I have enough protections for those we might encounter. Unfortunately, I do not know if it will hold indefinitely. If we find anything that seems too dangerous, I hope you’re willing to turn back.”
Meyer nodded. “I’m willing.”
Kezia made her way over to her people and said something to them quietly. They gathered their belongings and then left. Kezia carried a handful of various pieces of art with her, keeping them clutched against her pale blue dress. The items were of different designs, some of them shaped like animals carved out of wood, and others woven out of flowers or grasses. One was even a long length of flexible branch. She handed several to Adira, then Oscar, and finally Meyer. When she was done, she glanced back at the structure they had secured.
“I can feel it pressing against it,” she said, her voice soft. “I don’t know how much longer that will hold.”
“We need the Alainsith,” Adira said.
Kezia nodded. “I’m afraid that we might.”
Adira led them, and they hadn’t gone far when Meyer started to notice a drumming sound around him. The rumble started slowly, and he glanced up, looking for evidence of a storm. The treetops were dense enough that it made it difficult for him to see the sky, but he didn’t think they had a storm chasing them. Still, he couldn’t shake that he felt something trembling.
“Is this sound the source of what you were feeling?” he asked Adira.
“Not this,” she said, a frown furrowing her brow. “I don’t know what this is.”
It felt different than what they had encountered so far. Since spending time in the forest, they had encountered fog and Alainsith structures, but had found no other creatures, and no other signs of life. It was as Kezia had warned them. He wondered what this was now, and why it should be present. Not only that—he wondered what, if anything, they could do to counter what they detected.
Kezia stepped forward and crouched down, placing a piece of twisted grass that looked almost snakelike on the ground. She ran her fingers across it, murmuring softly, and then she pulled out her stack of cards. It hadn’t grown over the last few days. She had likely been so busy using the art to create defenses around the Alainsith structures that she hadn’t had time to use it in any other way. Perhaps that was the key with her art.
She flipped through the cards, looking at one after another, before she finally froze.
“What is it? What do you see?” Meyer asked.
Kezia got to her feet, and she handed him the card.
The gold ink shimmering on the surface had barely stopped moving. That was one of the strange things about these hegen cards. They changed, the design shifting depending on what the hegen wanted to show. Often, the markings on the cards were unclear, such as when she had shown him the card with the tree. She hadn’t seemed to know what that meant, or what to be concerned about.
In this case, the symbol was clear. It looked to be a sword, but not just any one—a long-bladed, blunt-tipped sword.
Justice.
“What happened?” Meyer whispered.
“I don’t know.”
The booming persisted, and he realized that it wasn’t thunder at all. It was the sound of horses moving.
He looked over to Oscar. “Is there a road nearby?”
Oscar frowned. “There was, long ago, but it’s to the north. No one uses it anymore, not since the king established trade through his road.”
“Can you show us?”
“Why?”
“Her card. The hoofbeats.”
Oscar slinked into the trees, leading them onward. Adira shot him a look, but Meyer ignored it as they headed deeper into the forest. They reached the road, which was narrow and almost completely overgrown with trees, much like Oscar had said, but it was definitely a road that ran through the forest.
And that wasn’t all.
In the distance, Meyer caught sight of gleaming metal.
Soldiers.
He motioned to the others, and they stepped off to the side of the road to wait.
“Attackers?” Oscar asked.
“Look at the markings on the helm,” Meyer said. “And look at her card.”
“It’s a sword. Is this somebody important?”
“Most definitely. I think Finn has returned.”
Don’t miss the final book in Blade and Bone: The Lie of Kings.
War has come to Verendal. A king must lead.
Kanar and Esmerelda need to reach Verendal, but with the spread of fighting, they may already be too late. Only Jal and his family of Alainsith stand in the way, and they will not intervene and risk the ire of their family.
As Finn finds his way back to the city, he finds it much like himself—changed. What he’s learned on his journey may be the key to saving his beloved city, and all those he cares about.
Honaaz and Lily take their fleet back to Sanaron. Where the war began, it must also end.
Old powers have not faded, but for there to be a future, the past must fall.
The final book in Blade and Bone!
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading The Blade Bearers. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.
I’m also always happy to hear from readers! Email me at dkh@dkholmberg.com. I try to respond to each message. Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook as well!
Review link HERE.
All my best,
D.K. Holmberg
p.s. If you haven’t signed up already, subscribe to my newsletter for a few free books as well as to be the first to hear about new releases and the occasional giveaway.
For more information:
www.dkholmberg.com
Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Executioner’s Song Series
The Executioner’s Song
Blade and Bone
The Chain Breaker Series
The Chain Breaker
The Dark Sorcerer
First of the Blade
The Dragon Rogues
The Storyweaver Saga
The Storyweaver Saga
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
Elemental Warrior Series:
Elemental Academy
The Elemental Warrior
The Cloud Warrior Saga
The Endless War
The Dark Ability Series
The Shadow Accords
The Collector Chronicles
The Dark Ability
The Sighted Assassin
The Elder Stones Saga
The Lost Prophecy Series
The Teralin Sword
The Lost Prophecy
The Volatar Saga Series
The Volatar Saga
The Book of Maladies Series
The Book of Maladies
The Lost Garden Series
The Lost Garden
D.K. Holmberg, The Blade Bearers (Blade and Bone Book 6)
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HENRY MEYER
When the scream split the forest, Meyer tensed.
The hegen were working near the edge of the fog, placing pieces of art down on the ground, situating them in a way that was designed to create a ring around the buried Alainsith structure. This was the fifth one they had encountered, all of them guided by Adira and what she could detect of the fog. Meyer wondered how she was connected to it, and why she could feel something that even the hegen didn’t seem capable of finding, but she didn’t know, either.
Kezia crouched near one of the hegen. Her hair was pulled back into a braid, and it draped over one shoulder, almost as if it were trying to get in the way of what she was doing. The man lying on the ground was cradling his arm to his chest, and Kezia leaned over him.
“What happened?” Meyer asked.
Kezia didn’t look back.
“He got too close,” Oscar said.
He had taken to traveling with them every day, which had surprised Meyer, as he would’ve expected that Oscar would want to remain in the city, perhaps taking advantage of the fact that Meyer was not there. And for his part, Meyer started to question if it was a mistake that he’d been spending as much time out of the city as he had, feeling as though he was abandoning his responsibilities, no differently than he would’ve once told Finn he was doing.
“Too close to what?” Meyer asked.
“Near as I can tell, the fog.” Oscar leaned forward, wrinkling his brow. “It’s strange. I haven’t really been able to figure out much about it, only that the fog seems to be something unpleasant. They’ve been quite particular about avoiding it. I always wondered why, but now…”
“What did it do to him?”
“Look at his arm. It’s smoking.”
Meyer leaned past Kezia, who was applying ointment to it. The smoking seemed to have eased, but as Oscar had said, it was as if the fog—or whatever it was, as fog certainly wouldn’t cause a scalding wound—had burned away the man’s flesh.
Kezia murmured something to the man, then waved to several of the hegen near her. They dragged the man off to a different area of the forest where other hegen had gathered.
She sat for a moment, and then she worked to get a piece of art situated on the ground. The layers of fog billowed toward the pieces of art that the hegen had placed around the remains of the structure. This one was very different than some of the others, practically buried by the earth. As Oscar had suggested, the massive, towering trees that ringed the structure were the same at each location, almost as if the forest had recognized some danger here and sought to grow around it.
Kezia wiped her brow and looked at the hegen seated near the base of the tree far away from the circle of fog. “We’re getting tired, Master Meyer.”
He smiled tightly. “You can call me Henry.”
“We’re getting tired, Master Meyer,” she said again. “They’re more active than they had been before. I don’t know why that would be, only that it appears to be the case. Each of these seems to be sending more of this fog flowing outward.” She turned to it. “And increasingly, I wonder if it even is fog.”
“What else could it be?” Oscar asked, flipping a knife in his hands, casually looking around the forest. “Because it sure looks like fog.”
“I don’t know.” Kezia wiped her brow again. “I can’t tell what it is. It’s dangerous, regardless.” She motioned to one of the hegen. His arm had also been bandaged, yet Meyer hadn’t seen what had happened to the young man.
“We need to suppress this as much as we can,” he said.
“I know.” There was more irritation in Kezia’s words than she had expressed in the time they had been exploring together.
“Let them rest,” Oscar said. He flicked his gaze to Meyer. “A little time isn’t going to make a difference. We don’t know how much urgency we have, anyway, only that some part of this is changing. We don’t need to burn out the only people who have a way of countering it.”
“They might not be the only ones who can counter it,” Meyer said.
He walked over to where Adira had remained in the trees. She hadn’t come out, and had not been helpful when they were dealing with the fog. It seemed more like she tried to avoid it, as if she feared it. And maybe she did. Maybe Adira understood that there was something dangerous within it, and that it might cause a problem for her if she were to try to control it.
She looked up as he approached. “What happened to him?”
“The fog attacked. Can you counter it with your control over the other Alainsith structures?”
Adira spread her hands on either side of her, and she shrugged. “If I had some way of detecting something more, perhaps I could, but unfortunately, I can’t draw enough here. I’ve been trying, but each attempt I make is met with some resistance. It’s almost as if these clusters”—she glanced over to where the fog billowed toward them, before it stopped—“are designed in such a way that they interrupt the flow of that other power.”
“There has to be something you can do.”
“There’s probably something that can be done, but not by me,” she said. “It would need one of the Alainsith to control it, somebody who knows that power far more intimately than I do.”
“Then we have to hope that they get that help.”
“They. You mean Esmerelda.” Oscar frowned. “We’ve got Finn and Esmerelda split up, both heading into dangerous situations, and you’re relying on Alainsith now?”
“It’s actually not Esmerelda,” Meyer said. “It’s the others with them. They knew one of the Alainsith.”
Oscar snorted and shook his head. “Nobody knows the Alainsith. Even they don’t,” he said, motioning to the hegen. “They might’ve interacted with them more than most people have—other than the king, that is—but they don’t know the Alainsith.”
“That’s not the way I hear it.”
“That’s not our only concern,” Adira said. “I’ve been feeling something unusual for a little while now. I’ve been looking, and had some of my people looking, to see if it’s tied to these structures, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. There’s something up ahead. A pressure seems to be coming, building, as if to overwhelm us. I can’t say what it is, only that there’s something to it. It’s pulling on me, which suggests that it’s tied to this.” She waved her hand in a pattern that caused a little bit of fog to form, a swirl that was faint but not altogether significant. “But I cannot tell.”
“If you feel more, make sure we know,” Meyer said.
She laughed. “If you think I’m going to try to face this on my own, then you’ve not been paying attention, Executioner.”
“That’s not it.” He looked over to where Kezia was still attending to the fallen hegen. “It’s more about what we have seen and felt, and whether we need to be ready for some other protections.”
Adira tugged at the woven necklace she wore. Kezia had made one for each of them. It was designed to protect them, but obviously it wasn’t enough.
Adira nodded, and they stood quietly while the hegen went back to work, finishing their protections around the structure. By the time they were done, the day had turned to evening.
“We should head back,” Meyer said, walking over to Kezia. They had been sleeping in Verendal each day, sometimes getting back later than he preferred, but waking up early and heading out. No one wanted to stay in the forest, as none of them understood whether there was any danger to them doing so.
“There’s something up ahead,” Adira said. “I’m feeling a strangeness here. It’s almost as if it’s starting to pull on this pressure that surrounds us.” She looked over to Kezia. “Can you detect anything?”
“That isn’t how my gift works.”
“Then we need to see what it is. I can go.”
“You aren’t going alone,” Meyer said.
Adira shook her head. “I don’t think we need to bring all her people with us for this. If there’s a threat, we don’t want to involve anyone that could get hurt.”
“I will come,” Kezia said. “I have enough protections for those we might encounter. Unfortunately, I do not know if it will hold indefinitely. If we find anything that seems too dangerous, I hope you’re willing to turn back.”
Meyer nodded. “I’m willing.”
Kezia made her way over to her people and said something to them quietly. They gathered their belongings and then left. Kezia carried a handful of various pieces of art with her, keeping them clutched against her pale blue dress. The items were of different designs, some of them shaped like animals carved out of wood, and others woven out of flowers or grasses. One was even a long length of flexible branch. She handed several to Adira, then Oscar, and finally Meyer. When she was done, she glanced back at the structure they had secured.
“I can feel it pressing against it,” she said, her voice soft. “I don’t know how much longer that will hold.”
“We need the Alainsith,” Adira said.
Kezia nodded. “I’m afraid that we might.”
Adira led them, and they hadn’t gone far when Meyer started to notice a drumming sound around him. The rumble started slowly, and he glanced up, looking for evidence of a storm. The treetops were dense enough that it made it difficult for him to see the sky, but he didn’t think they had a storm chasing them. Still, he couldn’t shake that he felt something trembling.
“Is this sound the source of what you were feeling?” he asked Adira.
“Not this,” she said, a frown furrowing her brow. “I don’t know what this is.”
It felt different than what they had encountered so far. Since spending time in the forest, they had encountered fog and Alainsith structures, but had found no other creatures, and no other signs of life. It was as Kezia had warned them. He wondered what this was now, and why it should be present. Not only that—he wondered what, if anything, they could do to counter what they detected.
Kezia stepped forward and crouched down, placing a piece of twisted grass that looked almost snakelike on the ground. She ran her fingers across it, murmuring softly, and then she pulled out her stack of cards. It hadn’t grown over the last few days. She had likely been so busy using the art to create defenses around the Alainsith structures that she hadn’t had time to use it in any other way. Perhaps that was the key with her art.
She flipped through the cards, looking at one after another, before she finally froze.
“What is it? What do you see?” Meyer asked.
Kezia got to her feet, and she handed him the card.
The gold ink shimmering on the surface had barely stopped moving. That was one of the strange things about these hegen cards. They changed, the design shifting depending on what the hegen wanted to show. Often, the markings on the cards were unclear, such as when she had shown him the card with the tree. She hadn’t seemed to know what that meant, or what to be concerned about.
In this case, the symbol was clear. It looked to be a sword, but not just any one—a long-bladed, blunt-tipped sword.
Justice.
“What happened?” Meyer whispered.
“I don’t know.”
The booming persisted, and he realized that it wasn’t thunder at all. It was the sound of horses moving.
He looked over to Oscar. “Is there a road nearby?”
Oscar frowned. “There was, long ago, but it’s to the north. No one uses it anymore, not since the king established trade through his road.”
“Can you show us?”
“Why?”
“Her card. The hoofbeats.”
Oscar slinked into the trees, leading them onward. Adira shot him a look, but Meyer ignored it as they headed deeper into the forest. They reached the road, which was narrow and almost completely overgrown with trees, much like Oscar had said, but it was definitely a road that ran through the forest.
And that wasn’t all.
In the distance, Meyer caught sight of gleaming metal.
Soldiers.
He motioned to the others, and they stepped off to the side of the road to wait.
“Attackers?” Oscar asked.
“Look at the markings on the helm,” Meyer said. “And look at her card.”
“It’s a sword. Is this somebody important?”
“Most definitely. I think Finn has returned.”
Don’t miss the final book in Blade and Bone: The Lie of Kings.
War has come to Verendal. A king must lead.
Kanar and Esmerelda need to reach Verendal, but with the spread of fighting, they may already be too late. Only Jal and his family of Alainsith stand in the way, and they will not intervene and risk the ire of their family.
As Finn finds his way back to the city, he finds it much like himself—changed. What he’s learned on his journey may be the key to saving his beloved city, and all those he cares about.
Honaaz and Lily take their fleet back to Sanaron. Where the war began, it must also end.
Old powers have not faded, but for there to be a future, the past must fall.
The final book in Blade and Bone!
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading The Blade Bearers. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.
I’m also always happy to hear from readers! Email me at dkh@dkholmberg.com. I try to respond to each message. Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook as well!
Review link HERE.
All my best,
D.K. Holmberg
p.s. If you haven’t signed up already, subscribe to my newsletter for a few free books as well as to be the first to hear about new releases and the occasional giveaway.
For more information:
www.dkholmberg.com
Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Executioner’s Song Series
The Executioner’s Song
Blade and Bone
The Chain Breaker Series
The Chain Breaker
The Dark Sorcerer
First of the Blade
The Dragon Rogues
The Storyweaver Saga
The Storyweaver Saga
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
Elemental Warrior Series:
Elemental Academy
The Elemental Warrior
The Cloud Warrior Saga
The Endless War
The Dark Ability Series
The Shadow Accords
The Collector Chronicles
The Dark Ability
The Sighted Assassin
The Elder Stones Saga
The Lost Prophecy Series
The Teralin Sword
The Lost Prophecy
The Volatar Saga Series
The Volatar Saga
The Book of Maladies Series
The Book of Maladies
The Lost Garden Series
The Lost Garden
D.K. Holmberg, The Blade Bearers (Blade and Bone Book 6)
