Smoke and Memories (The Dark Sorcerer #3) - D.K. Holmberg Page 0,51

Raollet.

That seemed to matter. Why would he have been targeted when he had served the dular up until that point? As far as she could tell, the dular should have no reason to attack him, especially as he sold their enchantments. It should have offered him protection.

That it hadn’t meant something had changed.

Unless it was only about the fact that she had been there. Perhaps Jayna was the reason they had targeted Raollet. Then she needed to be careful—then she would be worried about further revealing her presence.

She didn’t see anything in the marketplace that would tell her who or what might be responsible.

She headed back to the streets, making her way toward the central courtyard, and paused when she neared the fountain. She looked up at the homes, sweeping her gaze along them. Maybe it was one of the dular from there? But what reason would they have for attacking Raollet?

This didn’t make any sense to her.

She needed answers.

And everything she had learned from Raollet still troubled her.

She focused on the dragon stone ring, attempting to call power through it. If she could summon Ceran, she might be able to get some answers to her questions. She might learn what he had been doing, as well as the truth behind the different attacks that had occurred. She would press him on the bit of information she had uncovered, and wondered if he would even answer. Ceran needed to provide her with answers.

She weaved through the streets, continuing to focus on the dragon stone ring and the power within it, but there came no response from Ceran.

Every so often, Jayna detected a hint of dark magic, but that flared somewhere in the city before it disappeared.

It was more than what she had been aware of before. Even after the Celebrants of Asymorn had been active, Jayna hadn’t seen nearly so much activity. It suggested that something else was going on. Maybe it was all about the combination of attacks in Nelar. Maybe it had something to do with both Asymorn and Norej.

She still hadn’t learned why Nelar though.

It had to be about more than this being some ancient foothold of the El’aras.

There was some other reason.

And once she uncovered that, she would know why Ceran had left her here.

Jayna tore her gaze away from the houses surrounding the courtyard. Answers wouldn’t be found there. Gods, she barely knew anything about Nelar, despite having been here for the last few months. Everything seemed to leave her with more questions. She knew about the dular, she knew about the ruling seven dular families, and she knew about the relationship they had with the sorcerers—a continuously antagonistic one, but one where they had tolerated sorcerers for a long time. Up until recently. What else was going on?

She was tempted to go and visit Char, but that was something for another day.

As she headed back toward her home, she had the distinct sense that somebody followed her. She slowed, her brother’s lessons coming back to her—how to double back and loop around so she could avoid anybody following her too closely. When she did that now, she didn’t find anybody there. Either she wasn’t being followed, or whoever tailed her was skillful enough that they managed to avoid her detection. She tried another approach, sweeping around and searching for somebody who might have chosen to follow from a different direction, but once again, there was no sign of anyone. Maybe it was Matthew. He’d proven able—and willing—to follow her like that.

She stayed in the shadows of an overhang of a particularly small building. Most of the buildings were stone, but this one was wooden, as if it had been built in place of one that had collapsed. There were other places like that throughout the city, though most of them were on the outskirts, closer to the forest’s edge.

She didn’t see any other movement.

It really was just her imagination. Jayna had gotten jumpy with everything that had happened, though she doubted anyone would blame her for that.

She peeled away, heading back toward her home again. When she neared, she slowed down once more, doubling back, watching for any signs of anybody who might have been there, but still not coming across any. She tested with sorcery again, creating the pattern that would allow her to pick up on magic and sending it wafting down the road, but it detected nothing.

On a whim, Jayna used the Toral ring, borrowing from its power to create a