Free The Dark Ability by D.K. Holmberg Page A

foreman asked.
    Rsiran coughed. “R-Rsiran Lareth,” he whispered.
    The foreman eyed him a moment before taking the lump of lorcith and turning it in his hands. “Nice nugget too. Not much stone to clean off it. Smiths like it that way, you know,” he added. “Curious what this will weigh.” He hefted it again and set it on his scale, flicking the weights until he was satisfied. He looked up at Rsiran. “Depending on your sentence, this might be enough to get you back to Elaeavn.” He turned to search through the names on the paper in front of him.
    “Weight doesn’t matter,” Rsiran said, wanting to get away now. He felt weak and a little dizzy. Rest and water should help, but more than anything, he needed to get out of the tunnels.
    The foreman looked up. “Weight always matters. How else you going to earn your freedom?” When he finally came across Rsiran, he chuckled. “Ahh. Lareth.” He shook his head. “Too bad, I guess. Guess you’re right—weight doesn’t matter. Maybe a couple more like this might impress your father, though. How long did he say you would be here?”
    Rsiran shook his head. “He didn’t.”
    “Shame.” He tapped the stone. “These used to be called the gift of freedom, as if the Great Watcher himself decided your sentence had been served. Not many gifts recently. Maybe the Great Watcher is displeased, keeping men here longer and longer, only releasing his gift to someone who can’t use it.” He looked at Rsiran and his mouth twisted into a dark smile. He shook his head. “A proper shame.”
    Rsiran swallowed, unable to say anything. Maybe the Great Watcher, like his father and family, had abandoned him. Letting him hear the lorcith and pull the massive deposits from the stone seemed a cruel gift. Of course, gifting him with the ability to Slide felt as cruel.
    “Maybe your luck will turn. Enough finds like this, and your father might let you return.”
    Rsiran shrugged. He wasn’t supposed to find lumps of ore like that, but how to explain to the man that he wasn’t meant to find lorcith?
    Pain shot through his back, and he winced as he started out of the tunnel.

Chapter 10
    T hat night , he scooped his mush and moved his blanket even farther away from the light of the lantern, almost to the far wall of the cavern. His back throbbed and occasional spasms sent shooting pain down toward his toes. A soft tapping echoed distantly. Had the other men near the lantern watched him even more closely tonight? Did they know about his find? He thought others watched him more closely, but he wasn’t sure. At least along the back wall of the caves, they wouldn’t see him as well. It was better for him that way.
    “You got careless again.”
    Rsiran squinted against the darkness. The boy crouched out of reach, leaning forward on his hands. “I didn’t mean to.”
    The boy laughed. “You and I could have finds like that every day if we wanted. The others,” he said, flicking his head toward the lantern, “barely manage that once a month if they’re lucky. You’ve now done it twice since you came. Things like that get noticed.”
    “Foreman said nothing of much size for months.”
    The boy shrugged. “Maybe months, who knows, really? Dangerous for us.”
    Rsiran ignored the pain in his back. “Who has the highest price?” The question had bothered him since handing over the day’s find to the foreman. He could not be certain, but it seemed that the same person had attacked him both times, but why not turn in the lorcith that first day?
    The boy shrugged. “That’s not really talked about here. Least, not to me. I stay away from the light as much as possible. Stay away from them as much as I can. Less they see me, the less they think of me, I figure. They already think I’m too lucky as it is.” He paused, looking from the men sitting around the lantern, their voices muted this far back in the cavern, before turning back to Rsiran. “Well…they did until you came.”