Shadow Trapped Read online

  Shadow Trapped

  The Collector Chronicles

  D.K. Holmberg

  ASH Publishing

  Copyright © 2017 by D.K. Holmberg

  Cover art by Damonza

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Author’s Note

  Also by D.K. Holmberg

  1

  Carthenne Rel, shadow born and blessed with a connection to the flame of S’al, raced along the rooftop, keeping her head down as she scurried from building to building. With each jump, she pressed off with her connection to the shadows, letting that carry her to the next building. She flew through the air, coming to land in a roll before racing off once more.

  There was a certain freedom to this. She enjoyed the quiet of the night, when only she and a few others who were willing to brave the darkness and the potential for danger were out. It was exhilarating, and she felt as free as she had since coming to Keyall.

  On the street below, she managed to see the shadowed form of the figure she’d been chasing. She considered dropping to the street and chasing the figure from there, but that might alert others that she was here. Carth wasn’t quite ready to reveal her presence.

  The figure passed by the remains of a temple, long ago having fallen, the ruins splayed across the ground, but it wasn’t uncommon for the people who still worshiped that god to come to the temple remains and visit. Services were still held, and the ancient god was celebrated with the belief that he would grant protection to his followers. Carth had seen that he did grant that power.

  The figure turned a corner, disappearing from view.

  Carth scanned the street, looking for signs of movement and finding none. She gathered the shadows and leaped, clearing the street and landing on the opposite roof. From there, she hurried forward, reaching the street where the figure had disappeared.

  When she paused, she saw that two others had joined the first. These were larger, and their dark cloaks were designed to melt away the shadows and prevent her magic from being effective. She had faced men like them before and knew of an alternative way to stop them, but these weren’t the priests of Keyall. She didn’t know what they were, other than the fact that they shouldn’t be here with those cloaks.

  They neared a busier section of the city, and Carth noted the sounds drifting out of a series of taverns lining the street here. All three ducked into a tavern by the name of The Wet Wailer, a place that wasn’t nearly as reputable as some. It was the kind of place that Carth often found herself visiting.

  She waited for a moment and then dropped to the street. She pushed back the hood of her cloak and hurried in, surveying everything around her.

  A musician strummed near the back of the tavern, and his baritone voice carried, a comfortable sound, singing a song that sounded mournful more than anything else. She looked for evidence of the three people she’d followed and saw nothing. There was no one dressed in a dark cloak like the man she’d followed—or woman, she decided. There were no others with the dark cloaks that would melt away the shadows. There was nothing.

  Had they known they were followed? Carth had been careful, but she had discovered that in Keyall, there were plenty of people who were capable of ignoring her magic and discovering her presence regardless of whatever precautions she might take. If they had known she was on the rooftop following them, it was possible that they had come through here simply as a way to escape attention.

  Carth glanced around the tavern once more before crossing through it. There would be an inn above, but heading there would only isolate them, and she doubted that they had risked going there. Maybe there was a second entrance on the other side of the kitchen.

  She paused near the door to the kitchen, pulsing through her connection to the flame, searching for evidence of them. There was none.

  She pushed open the door and nodded to the two kitchen staff, who regarded her with suspicion, quickly looking for any evidence of the three who would have come through here. Seeing none, Carth let the door close and turned away.

  How had she lost them inside the tavern when she had been able to follow them across the roof?

  She left the tavern and looked along the street, seeing nothing moving that would give her any insight as to where they would have gone.

  They had to be there, but finding them wasn’t as easy as it should be. Carth kept her connection to the shadows as she moved, but just an edge of it. If she pulled too strongly, she would draw unnecessary attention from those who were able to detect such things. Normally, she wouldn’t be as concerned about detection, but in Keyall, people were capable of detecting her ability and when she used the shadows. She didn’t want to risk revealing anything unnecessarily.

  She turned a corner and felt movement behind her.

  Carth spun.

  That movement saved her life. A sword whistled toward her.

  Carth slipped around to the side, and something struck her in the back. She staggered forward, struggling to keep her breath and maintain her footing.

  Carth exploded outward with shadows and flame, combining the two magics in a dangerous combination. There was a burst of light, and she saw three people. Likely the same three she had been following.

  Carth unsheathed, readying her sword. She wasn’t opposed to using it if necessary but didn’t want to kill anyone, especially not in Keyall, where the constables would hold her accountable. She had been lucky so far with the constables but had drawn their ire enough times that she knew to be cautious, especially when it came to potentially needing to fight in ways that could kill.

  She blocked the nearest blade, ducking beneath the attack and pushing up with the shadows through the blade.

  Something struck her again in the back, and Carth resisted the urge to spin, knowing that she needed to keep her focus during the fight, especially one where she wasn’t able to see her attackers quite as well as she was accustomed to.

  She backed up carefully, positioning herself so that the nearest building was behind her. She would use the building to protect her and keep her attacker from getting to her.

  A sword whistled toward her, and Carth blocked it, forcing the blade away from her.

  She twisted, blocking another attack.

  Somehow, these attackers were able to prevent her from seeing them clearly. She wasn’t certain how they managed to do that, but she needed to either end the fight or escape so that she could fight again later.

  Carth focused on the
combination of her magic and exploded it at the nearest person. They went flying back, giving Carth a brief reprieve as she attacked again, this time slamming a combination of power at the next person. She slipped off to the side, trying to survey the attackers.

  How many still stood?

  Carth had the feeling that she only faced one person now. If there were more, they would have pressed the attack. That they didn’t revealed their limitations.

  She pulsed her magic, sending another exploding blast through it, which she directed toward the one person she still could detect.

  No one seemed to move. Carth approached the nearest of the fallen and found him still breathing. He had dark skin and short hair. Considering Keyall’s location and the fact that it was a busy port—at least, the traffic in the port had returned now that she had stopped the Collector—the man could have come from anywhere. There was nothing else about him that told her where he might be from.

  She confiscated the black cloak. If nothing else, she could use it to mask herself.

  She paused before the second man and found nothing on him either. She took his cloak too.

  The third man was the one she had followed. He was dressed entirely in the same fabric that comprised the cloak, and it shielded him in ways the cloak didn’t even accomplish. He had lighter skin, but the same close-cropped curly hair as the other two.

  Carth debated what to do with them before tearing off strips from their clothing and binding their wrists and ankles. She would alert the constables. She had taken enough flak for not following the proper channels in Keyall that she would not be accused of doing it again. She would follow the process they asked of her.

  Carth whistled softly and waited.

  She didn’t have to wait long. Jenna dropped from a nearby rooftop, two knives clutched in her hands. She glanced at the men before looking up to Carth. Her dark eyes still had an edge of hollowness to them, a residual effect of an elixir that Boiyn had once made for her.

  “You didn’t whistle because you needed help,” Jenna said.

  “I should have whistled sooner,” Carth said.

  Jenna would have come, and she would have been useful in the fight, but it had happened so quickly that Carth hadn’t the chance to call her friends for help. If she had, she wasn’t sure that Jenna was the ideal person to assist. She still struggled, especially after everything that had happened to her.

  “What did you need, then?”

  “I wanted to alert the constables,” Carth said.

  “You don’t need me for that, either.”

  Carth breathed out sighed. “No. I suppose I don’t. I still thought I would ask your help with this matter.”

  Jenna narrowed her brow. “My help and not hers?”

  Carth wished there were a way for her to help Jenna not to be so angry with Talia, but maybe there wasn’t. Considering what they had been through, maybe there couldn’t be a way. Talia had betrayed them, and though she might have started to make amends, not everyone was as forgiving as Carth.

  “Not hers,” Carth said. “I would rather work with you.”

  That seemed to pacify Jenna, and she nodded. “Only three?”

  “These three were a little more challenging than the typical attackers.”

  “Why do you think that is?”

  “They were prepared for me. They jumped me.”

  Jenna started to smile. “They jumped you?”

  “I was following him,” she said, nodding to the third man, the one who still had the dark clothing, “when these other two joined him. They entered a tavern and I followed, but I didn’t find anything. When I tracked them back outside…” She shrugged. “They jumped me before I had a chance to get to them.”

  Jenna crouched before the man Carth had been following. “We’ve seen others dressed like this,” she said.

  “In Keyall. Yes. Most of them are servants of the priests, but not all.”

  Jenna shook her head, fingering the fabric. “That’s not it. We’ve seen others like this somewhere else.” She looked up and bit her lip as she thought. “I can’t remember where it was, but I know this fabric.”

  Carth didn’t want to argue with her and tell her that it was unlikely that they had faced anyone dressed like that. If they had, Carth would have remembered. Fighting someone with that amount of resistance to her abilities was distinctive.

  “If you come up with it, let me know.”

  Jenna nodded. “I can take them to the constables for you,” she offered.

  Carth flashed a smile. Having Jenna’s help was good, especially for something as mundane as this. Not only did it help her feel useful, but it was helpful for Carth. It kept her from needing to manage everything, especially tasks as straightforward as this would be. The men were bound and posed little threat now.

  “What do you intend to do?” Jenna asked.

  “I—”

  A soft whistle carried through the night and Carth looked up with a frown. It was a signal, one that only those who worked with Carth would use. There was nothing particularly notable about the whistle other than the duration. There was a specific count to it that alerted others of the person’s need.

  Jenna waved at her. “Go.”

  “Thank you,” Carth said.

  She jumped, exploding with shadows and her connection to S’al, and it carried her to the nearest rooftop. Carth raced along the roofs, heading in the direction of the whistle. As she ran, the sound came again, another alert. It was closer.

  By the time it came a third time, Carth had reached it and dropped back to the ground. She stood at the edge of the city, the plateau here leading to a ledge that would be an abrupt drop-off down to the water. The waves crashed far below, the sound steady and rhythmic, almost calming despite the violence that was stored within the water. A handful of lights glowed in the buildings along the street, though few would be open, especially at this time of night.

  Carth found Talia waiting near the rock, looking out over the sea.

  “Talia?” Carth asked.

  “It took you longer than I was expecting,” Talia said.

  Carth snorted. “I was in the middle of something.”

  Talia frowned. She had dark hair and an olive complexion, with pale blue eyes that were striking. “What would you have been in the middle of?”

  Carth let out a frustrated sigh. “One of Alistan’s ships was broken into. He asked me to look into it, and I followed a man through the city. A couple others joined him, and…”

  “And what?” Talia asked.

  “And they were more capable than I was expecting. They are neutralized now.”

  “Neutralized as in dead?”

  Carth shook her head. “Not dead. I know better than to make that mistake in Keyall. The constables would be quite angry if I killed anyone in their city.”

  “I think when it comes to you, they would be especially angry.”

  That was probably true. Peter had allowed her to remain free, but she sensed his irritation in it. Carth had broken out of her cell, and in his mind, had committed other crimes that warranted punishment. What did it matter that she had managed to capture—and obtain a confession from—someone as dangerous as the Collector?

  “I didn’t want to risk it. I think I’ve had enough close encounters that I didn’t want any others,” Carth said. She looked around but could see no reason for Talia to have whistled. “Did you whistle as a test? You know that I have agreed to work with you.”

  “And you have been working with me. I appreciate that. This, though, was not a test.”

  “Then what is it? I don’t see anything that you would have needed to call me for.”

  “That’s just the problem.”

  Carth looked out over the sea, noting the direction of Talia’s gaze. She stared at the darkness, as if searching for something that was out there. What could she see? She had used the power of Keyall, and it had granted her a resistance to darkness, a way to peer through the shadows, so tha
t she didn’t even struggle when Carth used her full magic. Could she see as clearly as if there were a light? Could she see the water easily?

  “Why is that a problem?”

  “Because there is nothing to see.”

  “You’re not making sense, Talia.”

  Talia turned away from the water, and Carth could see the worry on her face. “There is nothing, because she’s gone.”

  “She’s gone?”

  Talia nodded. “Somehow, my sister is gone. The Collector has escaped.”

  2

  The inside of the cave was nearly a perfect black, especially at this time of night. Carth pulsed through her hand, sending a burning connection to her S’al so that she could cast a little light, enough for her to see more easily in the cave. Unsurprisingly, it was empty.

  It was not supposed to be empty. This had been Linsay’s cell, and she had been provided food once a day, and at least twice a week Carth had stopped in, checking to ensure that the cell would hold. During the last few sessions, Carth had attempted to engage Linsay in a game of Tsatsun, but the other woman had been unwilling to play.

  “How did she manage to escape?” Carth asked.

  Talia shook her head. “She shouldn’t have been able to. There were only brief visits, and the constables ensured that the men were rotated so that she couldn’t begin to develop a rapport with any of them.”

  That had been Carth’s suggestion. Linsay could be convincing, especially when she attempted to coerce others into believing that she had been wronged. Carth had nearly fallen for it herself, and had feared that her friends would have been convinced.