The Dark Ability (9 page)

H
e stepped
onto the cobbled street in Lower Town. Fatigue washed over him as it always did after Sliding, leaving him weakened. Distances seemed to matter; the farther he Slid, the more fatigued he felt.

Again the moon shone too bright, stars blinking brightly overhead, and moments passed as his eyes adjusted. From the angle of the moon, it didn’t seem as late as the last time he Slid to Elaeavn. Pale lantern light lit the street. Waves washed against the shore. A gull circled and cawed in the sky.

Rsiran looked around and realized he had Slid to near the tavern.

Movement up the street made him hurry to hide in shadows along the building. A young couple wandered past, the woman dressed in what would be considered finery in Lower Town and clutching the man’s arm as they strode down the street. The man glanced over at him, deep green eyes flashing with Sight through the shadows to look at Rsiran suspiciously before looking away.

Rsiran stepped back into the street and started away from the couple. His wandering took him to the water. There was something soothing, calm, to the huge expanse of the ocean. It was a feeling that seemed to be otherwise lacking from his life. Near the shore, he turned toward the docks and wandered past the closed booths of the fishmongers and locked doors of massive warehouses that filled much of the space in front of the water.

“Why did you leave?”

He spun quickly. At the edge of the street, near the corner of a darkened warehouse, a lone figure stood leaning against the wall.

Rsiran edged forward, curiosity making him abandon caution. “Who’s there?”

A slender figure stepped away from the shadows. Close-cropped hair framed an angular face. It took a moment for him to recognize Jessa.

“Why’d you leave?” she asked again. She sounded hurt.

Rsiran looked around the street guiltily. At least she confirmed what he’d suspected—that she was the one that found him when he Slid to Elaeavn, injured and nearly dead from the poisoning of the pick. The healer was probably right that he should have stayed and thanked her for saving him, but that left him open to questions he didn’t want to answer. It was bad enough the healer now knew. Had she told Jessa? Brusus?

“I—” He couldn’t finish. How to explain in a way that didn’t reveal too much? “Thank you,” he said instead.

She stepped up to him. She wore a small pale flower tonight, white petals nearly translucent that smelled dark and bitter. “Thanks?” What she did next was unexpected. She punched him in the arm.

He winced and pulled away, looking at her and trying to decide what to say.

She balled up her fist as if to hit him again. Rsiran tried to prepare for it; she hit hard, especially for someone as slight as she was. “What happened to you?”

“I was attacked.”

She pushed him. “I could see that. Where’ve you been?”

Should he tell her that he had been sent to the mines? Doing so would only open more questions, questions about his ability, about Sliding. Dangerous topics. “I’ve been working for my apprenticeship.” And if he kept leaving the mines, he would likely lose it.

“Brusus brings you to the Wretched Barth, you dice with us for a few nights, then you disappear.”

At least now he knew the name of the tavern. No place on the street had a sign, simply a small stone signaling that it was a tavern. “Brusus only brought me because of the—”

She punched him in the arm again and cut him off. “Is that what you think? Is
that
why you’ve been hiding?” She pushed him and put her hands on her hips. “You know, Brusus is too welcoming, but even Haern let you join us, and he isn’t as easy to please. I had half a mind to leave you on the street.”

“Why didn’t you?” The anger and hurt in her voice was different than what he expected. She had been the least welcoming of the regulars at the tavern.

“And now you ask me why I didn’t leave you?” she asked. “You don’t know anything about people, do you?”

Rsiran could only stare, unsure how to answer. The group that Brusus had introduced him to at the tavern were not his friends, not really. How could he call someone a friend when he had only met them a few times?

Rsiran didn’t really know
what
they were. Brusus bought a knife forged out of lorcith—a forbidden forging—with few questions and planned to sell it. Hearn had a scarred face and looked far too at ease in the shadows of the tavern. And Jessa… Rsiran hadn’t decided what to think of her yet.

“So what happened?” Jessa asked.

Rsiran sighed. “It’s a long story.”

“So tell it,” she demanded.

“I’m not sure you want to know.”

“I think I have a right to know.”

He sighed again. “I guess you did get me to the healer.”

Jessa narrowed her eyes at him. “Could also be that we befriended you as well.”

“Is that what we are?”

She flung up her hands, striking Rsiran again in the chest as she did. “The Great Watcher help me! Who else do you dice with?”

When she saw his face, she tilted her head, stepping closer. This close to her, he smelled a mixture of sweat and fish and a hint of something floral, as if she tried to cover up the others.

“You don’t have many friends, do you?” she asked.

At that, Rsiran turned away. The comment hit too close to his heart and his own thoughts. If even his family didn’t want him, how could he expect anyone else to want to be friends with him?

Had that been all there had been? He had thought the only reason Brusus had brought him to the tavern was for the knives, but what if there had been a different reason?

“Hey!” Jessa hissed as he turned. “Damn, I didn’t mean to upset you. You Upper Towners get kind of touchy. Come on, you can still dice with us. No one was too mad that you disappeared. Brusus was mostly worried.”

“Why would he worry?” Rsiran asked. He didn’t think his family even bothered to worry about him, let alone someone who was nearly a stranger.

“Why? I don’t know—maybe it was because I found you lying in the street with a massive wound torn into your back. Maybe because Della said you nearly died. Or maybe it’s because you up and disappeared before any of us could see for ourselves that you were okay. Della wouldn’t say anything about where you went or why you had to go suddenly, only that you had your reasons. She said that in time, you might even share them.” Jessa pushed him, and he spun around to face her again. “Now that I see you’re fine, I can go on living.”

Something about the tone to her voice struck a chord within him and he laughed. It startled her at first, but then she joined in. Rsiran smiled, unsure if she could even see his expression in the darkness. He hadn’t quite figured out what her ability was.

“I’m glad to be of help,” he said.

“Damn!” she said. “Maybe we’ll get you to lighten up eventually. More ale, maybe? Though I seem to remember you didn’t particularly care for ale, only nursing your drink like a babe at the bottle.”

The gentle teasing left him with a sense of belonging that he so rarely felt. He looked out toward the water where the reflection of the moon shone brightly. At some point, he would have to return to the mines, but each day there had begun to feel like every other. At some point, his father would have to take pity on him and relent, letting him return home and to his apprenticeship. But what if he didn’t?

“So… are you going to come with me tonight, or do I have to tell Brusus that we lost you? Again.”

Rsiran turned and looked at her. She held him with earnest eyes that flared a dark green. One finger absently twirled in her hair, and she chewed at the corner of her mouth.

If he went with her, was there any way he
didn’t
get caught up in whatever Brusus did?

Did it matter?

Jessa tapped her foot as she waited for him to answer.

Rsiran laughed softly and smiled. “I’ll come.”

“Oh good. For a moment, I thought I would have to force you into the Wretched Barth. Now I’ll only have to force you to have a drink.”

Rsiran laughed as he followed her as she started up the street. “I’d like to see you try.”

She turned and punched him again. “Don’t start thinking about running away now that you’ve promised me you were coming.”

He held out his hands in a gesture of peace.

They walked back down the street running along the waterfront. She veered up sooner than Rsiran would have expected, taking a different path than the one he knew. “You haven’t said what you
thought
we were doing.”

Rsiran lagged a little behind her, wondering where she was leading them. “I thought… I thought maybe Brusus was part of a rebellion.” He flushed as he said it, feeling foolish.

Jessa glanced back at him. “There’s no rebellion. You really think the Elvraeth would allow something like that? Damn, but their Seers would pinch that out quicker than anything.”

“It was only something I’d heard,” he said softly. What had he overheard with his father, then? Maybe nothing more than guild business. “Where are you going?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I have to make a quick stop,” she said when she turned and saw him watching her.

“Where?” he asked.

“Errand for Brusus. Not the rebellion,” she said with a smile.

They turned onto a smaller side street where no light from the streetlights reached. Shadows lengthened and darkened, but Jessa moved easily, comfortably. Either she knew the way well or she was Sighted, he decided. He’d thought her a Reader, but maybe he was wrong. Along this street, the smells changed. No longer did he smell the heavy odor of fish. Now an oily and thick stench seemed to cling to his nostrils.

“Where are we?”

She spun and slapped a finger to his lips, hushing him. “Be quiet!” she hissed. “We can talk more when we get closer to the Barth.”

Jessa moved slowly now. Her head turned as if on a swivel, peering into the darkness and shadows. Then she stopped, placed a hand on his arm, and held him in place. With her other hand, she motioned for him to stay.

Without saying another word, she crept toward a shadowed door. Rsiran could not see what she did—not from where he stood and not without additional light or Sight—but a soft metallic sound pierced the night, as if she scraped at something. Or poked. Then a
click
.

The door opened, and Jessa slipped inside, leaving him standing in the darkness.

Long moments passed with him standing alone. After a while, he began wondering if this was some idea of a joke, Jessa leaving him standing in some hidden alley, lost in a city he thought he knew well, like he had left her and the others wondering about him after he Slid away from the healers.

A cat hissed down the alley, followed by another low growl. Something stirred nearby, a soft swish and the slight shifting of shadows. Another cat likely. Rsiran wondered at their significance. Cats were felt to be both lucky and unlucky depending on their numbers. The two he had heard growling at each other were felt to represent balance. Neutral. If there was a third, that meant luck.

Too much time had passed. Jessa clearly played a joke on him. He turned and thought he saw two other pairs of eyes down the alley. They seemed to be watching him.

Rsiran swallowed. Tradition held that five cats were unlucky. Once he knew why, but right now he couldn’t remember anything.

He shuffled quietly back down the alley the way he came. He considered Sliding but wanted to save his energy for the return trip to the mines. Too many attempts in the night might leave him without the strength to return. He didn’t want to consider what would happen if he suddenly was gone from the mines.

As he moved closer to the two pair of eyes, they stared unmoving. Should he simply Slide back now? Jessa would be angry, but he didn’t owe her anything, not really.

Just his health.

And if they had healed him out of friendship, rather than a desire for anything more, didn’t he owe it to her to wait? If she was going to play games on him, well… he probably deserved it for leaving the healers the way that he had.

As he stood debating, something touched his arm, and he jumped.

“Damn, Rsiran!” Jessa hissed. “Easy!”

She held a long box tucked under one arm. Pulling him along with her, they moved quickly toward the street. Under lamplight along the street, he noted the clasp of the box was bent and broken. A sheen of sweat coated her brow.

Rsiran struggled to keep up. “What is that?”

She shook her head, and her short brown hair swished slightly. “For Brusus, I said.”

Rsiran glanced back the way they’d come. “Why are we hurrying?”

She slowed at the next intersection and led him up the slope toward Upper Town. “I’m late.”

“I thought you were getting back at me,” he said.

She turned toward him and smiled slightly. “Aw, damn! Wish I would have thought of that. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to do that another time.”

She continued up the street, and Rsiran hurried to keep up. At each intersection, Jessa paused, hanging back and away from the streetlamps, before hurrying across. It almost seemed as if she intentionally took the narrowest streets as they wound their way through a section of Lower Town that Rsiran did not know.

A few scraggly trees attempted to grow in the rocky soil. Fewer than were found higher up, though those were groomed and watered in an attempt to mimic the twisting delicate branches found within the Elvraeth palace. Small pale flowers bloomed on some of the trees, the petals damp and glistening in the moonlight. They had a soft sweet aroma that mingled with the usual scents of Lower Town. In spite of their hurry, Jessa paused and plucked one of the flowers. She slipped the one on her shirt out and replaced it with the one from the tree.

After wandering for a while, she finally led them back onto a main street and one that Rsiran recognized. A large statue—worn and weathered by years of salty wind—stood overlooking a small square. Telvrath Square, named for one of the first of their kind who left the trees of the Aisl and dared to brave the waters of the bay. The sculpture made him appear thin, his narrow face pointed like his hand pointing at the water, and Rsiran wondered how any with the fortitude to venture out onto the vast water could looks so frail. Probably the effect of time wearing away at him, leaving him less than he really was.