The Lie of Kings (Blade and Bone Book 7) by D.K. Holmberg

Author:D.K. Holmberg [Holmberg, D.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2023-12-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

KANAR

Kanar held Esmerelda’s gaze for a moment. She had pulled on another of her hegen talismans and was working it around her wrist, as if uncomfortable with the presence.

She frowned as she looked along the street. A crowd of people filled it but gave space before the wall, as if they were fully aware of the Alainsith power that pressed them back, even if they could not see it the way Kanar and Esmerelda did.

Kanar continued to watch. The bracelet she had given him allowed him to know just what it was that was moving. The hazy sense of foggy energy pushed its way out, slowly easing people back, and the only ones it didn’t really affect were the guards standing watch on either side of the gate leading through the wall.

But even they seemed to be influenced by the strange energy here.

“Does that help you see more?” he asked, pointing to the talisman on her wrist.

She shook her head. “This one doesn’t do much else. Perhaps it may offer me a bit more protection from whatever is here, but I’m not expecting to have anything assault me.”

“Not expecting it, but it’s still possible it might happen.”

She shrugged. “Anything is possible, Kanar. Especially here.”

“Why especially here?”

“You can see it. I’m sure you can. The city, like so many others within the kingdom, has various Alainsith structures, and all of that puts us into a situation where we are connected to that ancient power. In that, it tries to push its way back once again.”

Kanar snorted, then squeezed the hilt of his sword. When he did, he could feel something, almost as if the song within the blade tried to call out to him again, to remind him of the power that existed within it. He detected just enough that he was aware of the energy and the fact that there had to be something more, even if he couldn’t necessarily feel it without drawing the blade.

“You mean the song,” he said.

“You may think of it as a song, but I’m sure the buildings think of it as something else. Perhaps the touch of the past, something that guides them and connects them to what they once were, the people who had once called this place home.”

“Whatever happened to the rest of the Alainsith?”

“The Alainsith abandoned this place,” she said. “We have never known why, though there are some who have long suspected that there was a reason. Perhaps mankind, though even in that, it seems a bit surprising that they would abandon the city so thoroughly if it were only about mankind.”

Kanar thought about all histories he had heard about Reyand, and about the dealings with the Alainsith over the years. There had been stories told of the past, and all involved fighting the Alainsith, including some that claimed that the fighting had happened years ago. Kanar doubted the veracity of most of those stories now.

“We’ve fought with the Alainsith,” he said.

“I know that’s what your stories tell you.”

“My stories?” Kanar asked, a hint of a smile curling his lips.

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