Stolen Compass (The Painter Mage Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg

Threshold that he felt the need to strike a bargain with the Druist Mage. A battle between the two of them would only be beneficial to the powers that he wanted to keep at bay.
    “An interesting supposition, my Painter.”
    I snorted. Even with that, the Trelking remained non-committal. “But an erroneous one, it appears. So, why?”
    His eyes swept around him, as if piercing through the glowing light curtain he’d placed. Likely, he could see through it, able to see out and past the trees, and he turned toward Conlin. “This is a place of power. A place of the Elder.”
    In the years that I’d known the Trelking, he had only mentioned my father once, and that had been when asking where I’d learned patterns. I always suspected that my father had been the reason he had kept me around as long as he had. Maybe it was partly about my mastery of the arcane patterns, but there had seemed to be another reason. With the Trelking, there was always another reason.
    “You know him?” I asked.
    The Trelking tipped his head. “Many know of the Elder. Few know him.”
    “You’re not kidding there,” I said.
    “He was tasked with protecting an object for me until such time that I would require it again.”
    “Well, since he’s not here, I’ll take a message and get it to him when I see him next.”
    “Yes, I am aware that the Elder has been absent for some time.”
    Absent. That meant he probably really was dead. Devan squeezed my hand, but I couldn’t really say anything. For the last ten years, I had been working on the assumption that he had disappeared. From what I could tell, he had disappeared many times, reappearing each time. After learning about how powerful a painter he was, I wasn’t terribly surprised that he would disappear for stretches at a time like that. Even when he’d been in Arcanus, he hadn’t always been around, or available if he was. But the Trelking had prescience, the ability to see . If even he couldn’t tell me about my father, then maybe everyone who had been telling me that he was dead for all these years was right. Maybe what Jakes suspected was really true.
    “If he’s gone, then I’m not sure I can help,” I said. “I’ve already proven that I’m not so much the expert on the Elder.”
    The Trelking smiled at me. “On the contrary, I think you’ve shown that you are the expert on the Elder, as I believe you have now demonstrated several times. The item I require is a small box of shardstone. You will know it when you see it. Find the box, and you may use the cerys to summon me.”
    “What makes you think I would search for something like that for you?”
    The Trelking tipped his head and considered me. “You will find the box. And then I will tell you how to find your father. If you don’t, then De’avan returns with me.” He flashed a predatory smile, and then turned to Devan. “You will come to serve your people eventually. You can only fight for so long.”

5
    T he Trelking disappeared through the gateway, and it closed with a surge of power and a pop . As it did, I released the energy I’d been holding and sagged to the ground. The sudden absence of light from the Trelking’s magic left everything in blinding darkness. My eyes rebelled against it, struggling against the night. The air held the undercurrent of the other side of the Threshold, a soft flower scent mixed with pine and a sweet scent I always figured came from the magic, but even that began to fade.
    Devan crouched next to me, eyes filled with concern. “Ollie?”
    “I’m fine,” I said. Both of us knew I wasn’t. And both of us knew that we’d be searching for the shardstone box, too. Only, I had no idea what shardstone was or where I’d find a box that my father had hidden. I didn’t recall seeing anything in the lower level of the shed, and there certainly wasn’t anything in the basement of the house. What other storehouse would he have?
    She dropped to the ground next to me and took my