The Heartstone Blade (The Dark Ability Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

to Slide.
    Since then, he had come here only a handful of other times. Each time, he’d come with either Brusus or Jessa, and often both. Because of his earliest experience, a gnawing unease chewed at his stomach as he emerged from the Slide, a sense of immediate fear that something would go wrong, or worse—that one of the Elvraeth would find him. The last few times had been uneventful, but that didn’t mean his luck would hold.
    The energy required for the Slide taxed him enough that he wavered for a moment. From his experience, he would regain the necessary strength to Slide with a little more rest, but he wouldn’t be fully restored without a good night’s sleep. Nothing like the nuanced ease he’d seen Josun manage.
    They stood just on the other side of the door to the warehouse. His Slide could have taken them anywhere inside the building, but he didn’t dare push his luck too far in case there was someone else inside the warehouse. Besides, he didn’t know what would happen if he went too far and plunged into one of the crates.
    Jessa started forward. From here, she would lead.
    “Let me know if you see anything,” he whispered.
    “Don’t worry. I’m not letting go of you.”
    Only a little light streamed into the warehouse from windows cut into the massive roof overhead, but nothing more than the light from the crescent moon filtered through. Rsiran would have an easier time searching the warehouse when it was lighter, but he had not argued when Brusus asked him to come, willing to do whatever was necessary to help his friend.
    Shadowed walls rose up around them. Dozens of crates stacked atop each other, some reaching as high as the ceiling. A narrow walkway separated the stacks of crates. The farther they went, the older the crates became, until some were at least as old as the city of Elaeavn itself. Near the center was where Brusus had first shown Rsiran the warehouse, had demonstrated the oddities and fantastic items that could be found hidden within some of the crates.
    “What do you see?” he asked.
    “Nothing here. Just footprints in the dirt. Most are old. The newest look like ours. Crates look undisturbed.”
    Rsiran felt himself relax. Without Jessa, he would not have risked coming at night. Too many with Sight could surprise him. Though he could Slide to safety, a single blade or arrow could injure him enough to prevent him from moving anywhere. But with Jessa guiding him, he felt a sense of ease, knowing that she would keep him safe, just as he would do anything to keep her safe.
    They went on. Fumbling through the dark with Jessa leading him by his hand, he felt every bit the babe she often teased him of being. Worse, he could not help but remember the other time he knew such darkness, when he wandered the mines of Ilphaesn. At least there, he had the sense of the lorcith in the walls to guide him, almost drawing him forward. Here, he felt only distant sensations of the ore.
    Rsiran paused. Had he always felt lorcith here? He couldn’t remember. The first time he had come to the warehouse, he had not been as acutely aware of lorcith. The second time, he had been more focused on Josun Elvraeth and the fact that he had stolen the sword Rsiran had forged. Any other times he had come had been light, so he’d not had the same sense of the darkness as he did now. Maybe that mattered.
    “What is it?” Jessa whispered.
    He shook his head. “Probably nothing.”
    “But it might be something?”
    “It’s just… I sense lorcith. I don’t know if I’ve always sensed it when we’ve come. I never really paid much attention to it before.”
    She squeezed his hand and continued forward more slowly. “Let me know if it changes.”
    “Changes?”
    “Moves.”
    Rsiran tried to focus on the sense of the lorcith, but it felt muted. As if distant. Usually, he had a more distinct awareness of it, even from distances. Were he to focus, he could feel the sword hidden in his smithy or the knives he