The Heartstone Blade (The Dark Ability Book 2) by D.K. Holmberg Page A

components that he understood and thought that he might be able to make. A rectangular box of iron with fittings for a few side pieces looked easy enough that he could probably make it today, except it appeared that the plans also dictated weight, and he saw no way of making the box that light without making it hollow. And perhaps that was the point. Copper tubing that would run along one side. Copper was relatively easy for him to work with, but more difficult to acquire. Not only copper, but some of the other metals indicated in the plans were rare enough that he would have to spend time finding them. Or stealing, but the prospect of doing that bothered him. Taking lorcith from the mines was one thing, but stealing from the master smiths felt very different to him.
    “Maybe you shouldn’t, then.”
    “Shael said Brusus told him to come to me, only…” He sighed. He might have learned how to work with metal from the lorcith, but there was much about being a smith he still didn’t understand. He folded the plans back up and reached behind the table for the covered lantern before turning to Jessa. “I need a change of scenery. Come with me?”
    “Where?”
    He held out his hand. Jessa narrowed her eyes but stepped over to him and grabbed his hand. Rsiran Slid.
    He emerged in the warehouse. Light streamed through the glass overhead, giving it a filtered sort of light. The air smelled dusty and mixed with the ever-present scent of the sea this close to the water, that of salt and old fish. Rsiran felt for the sense of lorcith but did not feel anything unusual.
    Jessa tensed immediately. “This isn’t a good idea, Rsiran. We don’t know what happened last night or who was here. What if they’re not gone?” She stepped away from the door and scanned the warehouse, looking for anything unusual.
    At least in this light, Rsiran’s eyesight was not as poor as it had been at night. He touched the pocket of his pants, feeling the reassuring weight of the lorcith-forged knives he’d made today. They were different from some of the other knives he’d made. Smaller and easier to hide. He felt the connection to them and knew he could push them if needed. At least he would not be caught unprepared. Not like last night.
    “I want to know who was here last night. I need to know if it’s someone who knows what I did to Josun.”
    After spending part of the morning hammering, his mind had cleared enough to realize that he needed to know who attacked him last night. Without knowing, he would simply feel scared, nervous. All the time he’d spent fearing his father to finally emerge from it safely, he would not let some unseen person make him feel the same again.
    “But whoever was here had your knives. They attacked us.”
    “I don’t feel any sense of lorcith today. I think that we’re okay. Besides, it’s daylight outside. No one is foolish enough to break into the Elvraeth warehouse in the daytime.”
    “We are.”
    He took her hand and started between the rows of crates. “But we didn’t really break in, did we?”
    Jessa laughed, the sound low in her throat. They reached the clearing of crates in the center. Rsiran still didn’t have the sense of lorcith, not even distantly as he had last night. He hoped that meant they were alone.
    “Do you see anything?” he asked.
    Jessa scanned the warehouse and then shook her head.
    Had Brusus or Haern been with them, they would be better able to know if they were alone. Brusus could simply search for anyone to Read while Haern, as a Seer, would give them a different advantage.
    Trusting that no one else was in the warehouse, Rsiran pulled the cloth off the lantern. Blue light spilled out, adding to the dirty, natural light coming through the skylight. As it did, Rsiran looked at the crates again, carrying the lantern in front of him. Jessa walked alongside, holding onto his hand. Rsiran felt thankful that she did; at least this way, if they encountered someone else in the