The Dark Ability by D.K. Holmberg Read Free Book Online

his father, and by Sliding into his room, he bypassed any possibility for encountering his sister. Too often she slept by the door, as if hoping to catch him to report to their parents and raise herself even higher in their eyes. In spite of that, he could not bring himself to hate her.
    Dressing quickly, he decided to stuff the lorcith knife and his growing coin purse into a small hidden section of his trunk. He looked around the room, considering what he would bring with him to the Ilphaesn mines. Other than the trunk, his room consisted of his bed and a small shelf. A few books were stacked on shelves from his earliest school days, a time before he disgusted his father. He realized he probably would not even take his trunk with him. That meant that he would have to hide the knife and coins somewhere else while he was gone.
    He left his room and went into the kitchen, feeling the growing fluttering of nerves in his stomach, fearing what his mother and father would say to him this morning. Would they even acknowledge that he had returned home late again last night? Would that even matter?
    In the small kitchen, there was only his sister. She stood beside a counter, rolling bread, a strand of her dark hair hanging in her face. The aromas of flour and yeast brought back pleasant memories of when he had helped his mother as a child. The oven radiated a warm heat in the corner. A tub of water sat along one of the counters.
    Alyse looked up as he entered but did not say anything. He stepped up to the counter and helped her knead the dough, pressing on it and rolling it as his mother had once taught him. His sister watched a moment before stepping away and turning toward the oven. They worked silently together as they prepared breakfast, and soon the kitchen was full of the sweet aromas of baking bread and the spice of cooked sausages.
    “Father told me that he plans to send you to the mines. I am sorry, Rsiran,” Alyse said. She stood in front of the oven before a pan simmering with the sausages, her back to him.
    He leaned against one wall, watching her. “The fault is my own.”
    She nodded. “Still.”
    He sniffed. The response was typical of Alyse.
    “Perhaps you can use the opportunity he has given you to—”
    “Opportunity?” Rsiran stepped away from the wall.
    Alyse turned to face him, her eyes flaring green. Rsiran strengthened his barriers to keep her from Reading him.
    “Yes, opportunity.” She stood with her back straight as she chastised him, looking so much like their mother that it nearly unnerved him. “Without him, you would not even have your apprenticeship. Then what would you do? Work in Lower Town on the docks? Learn to fish? Use your ability to become some sort of thief?” she finished, lowering her voice.
    With each question, his irritation with her faded. As usual, she was right. There was nothing else for him to do, nothing that he could do. Soon he would travel to the mines, repress his ability to Slide, and focus on whatever his father wanted to earn back his apprenticeship. Alyse only reinforced that decision.
    “I don’t want to go to the mines,” he said softly, pulling a chair from along the wall and sinking into it. There was no argument left in him, only sadness.
    Alyse came and stood behind him, setting a hand that smelled of flour on his shoulder. She squeezed once and let go. “I know.”

Chapter 6
    T he journey to Ilphaesn took the better part of three days. Rsiran could have Slid in a heartbeat. The only advantage of leaving the city, as far as Rsiran could tell, was that he didn’t have to fear Brusus demanding more knives from him. During his last night at the tavern, Brusus had alluded to needing more knives. At least away from the city, he didn’t have to fear what would happen if he didn’t make them for him.
    The white peak of the rocky mountain rose high overhead, contrasting with the overcast sky. A winding trail led to a darkened cavern mouth. The bitter scent of