Shadow Games (The Collector Chronicles Book 2) Read online

  Carth shook her head. “No. I’m going to finish this.”

  “Is it because he’s beaten you?”

  Carth glanced over at him, a dark smile on her lips. “Beaten me?” She looked out at the sea. Only a short while ago, she thought she had won, but now she felt defeated. Beaten by the Collector. She was no longer certain what the game board even looked like. “He made a move, Boiyn. Now it’s my turn to counter.”

  “This was left on my station. I thought it was you…” Boiyn opened his hand and a Tsatsun piece fell out. “Did you know that he viewed this the same as you?”

  They had reached the upper level of the road, and the city stretched before them. Carth hesitated here, looking around. Lights flickered on. Music came from a nearby tavern. A few figures made their way along the street, but not many. She noted a patrol marching through the streets, a pair of constables.

  “There’s too much happening for it to be anything else,” she said. “It’s a game, only on a scale that I hadn’t ever considered.” How could she, when she had thought that she was the only one playing Tsatsun at that level?

  “Carth… Carthenne,” Boiyn said, and she turned to him. He had always used her full name, a formality that he thought necessary. With anyone else, she would correct them. With Boiyn, it felt… right. “None of this is a game.” He lowered his voice, looking around before turning back to her. “If the Elder Stone is his goal, then we need to know whether there’s anything even here in Keyall. If he gains power like that…”

  “I know. If it were a game, it would give him all the power he needed to move the Stone.”

  “That is important?”

  Carth nodded, guiding Boiyn down the street. “The Stone is the crucial piece. You can’t win the game without pushing the Stone to your opponent’s side of the board. In order to do that, you need to control the board, to ensure that your opponent can’t push the Stone back at you.”

  “And the piece he left for me?”

  Carth frowned. “It’s for me. A message. It’s known as the Shaer, but there is an older name for it that few use, one that is something of a taunt and a demand for play.” The Alyr was a term that she had only seen referenced in older descriptions of Tsatsun. It wasn’t found in more recent works, and certainly nothing from the library of the man who had taught her. Had the Collector known that she would recognize it?

  If she assumed that he would realize that she would know, the nature of their game changed. If she assumed that he had said it as a way to test her, that was a different message. And the possibility that he had left it thinking that she would not know the term was the least likely.

  “It is a piece that is often sacrificed, though typically unnecessarily.”

  “Why is it sacrificed?” Boiyn asked.

  Carth turned to him with a smile. “I think that you would enjoy Tsatsun, Boiyn. You certainly have the mind for it.”

  “Perhaps the mind, but not the patience. I would rather occupy myself with my mixtures. Besides, what do I need to learn of a game that teaches fighting strategy?”

  “There is much that Tsatsun can teach. It’s not only fighting strategy, but also a way to think and a way to get within the mind of your opponent.”

  “And do you think the Collector has gotten into your mind?”

  Carth thought of the Goth Spald burning on the sea. If he had burned it simply because she had attacked his ships, that would be a particular message. If he knew how much the ship meant to her, and everything that she had been through on it, that would be a very different message. It was likely that he understood its significance to her.

  “I think that he has.”

  “Then how will you respond?”

  “The same way I respond every other time when faced with a challenge like this,” Carth said. “I need to learn everything that I can to know what the next move should be.”

  “You intend to take on the Collector.”

  “That was decided the moment we decided to attack his ships.”

  “So he destroyed the Spald to get revenge.”

  Carth didn’t think that was entirely the reason. It was possible that was all there was, but what if there were more to it? Could he know how much her ship meant to her? If so, she might already be at a disadvantage. “Maybe he thinks that I’ll attack out of anger.”

  “And you won’t?”

  “I’m angry, Boiyn, but I learned long ago that you can’t act out of anger. You have to attack with a calm mind and be prepared for anything that might come at you. I’m prepared to play a different game. If the Alyr was his message to me, then I will respond with my own message.”

  “And which is that?”

  Carth took a deep breath. They had reached the outer section of the city, the place she had found Talia when she had tracked her through Keyall. She sensed the woman nearby. She ran the risk of falling into a trap, doing exactly what the Collector wanted of her.

  “I’m going to use a piece that he thought to use against me.” She could feel the familiar pressure of Talia on her connection to the S’al. The woman made no effort to hide herself now, though Carth didn’t know why.

  Boiyn frowned but Carth ignored it as she slammed the door open and rushed inside. Talia would be here, though she still didn’t know why Talia had chosen this place.

  She found the other woman sitting near a boarded-up window, almost as if she had been waiting for Carth. “I was told to send you a message.”

  “That was you?” she asked.

  “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have come to Keyall. I told you that when you first appeared. The Collector wouldn’t take too kindly to what you were trying to do.”

  “And what was that?”

  “Disrupting trade.”

  “I’ll do more than disrupt his trade.”

  “How? You don’t have a ship. Without your ship, you can’t even reach the Collector. You’ve lost.”

  Carth smiled. “I have his attention, and do you think I need my ship to oppose him?”

  “How do you intend—”

  Carth jumped forward.

  Talia hadn’t been expecting her to attack. She didn’t have a chance to react and simply sat there, as if shocked that Carth would dare attack.

  She grabbed the other woman and bound her wrists behind her back.

  “Carthenne?” Boiyn asked.

  She shook her head. “He thinks to use my tendencies against me. I will prove to him that I don’t have tendencies he can use.”

  “By doing what, exactly, with this woman?”

  “The same thing that the Collector thought to do with me.”

  Boiyn said nothing as Carth wrapped Talia’s hands behind her back and then searched her for weapons. The woman had nearly a dozen knives on her. As Carth took each knife, Talia’s face contorted even more.

  “You’re making a mistake.”

  “The mistake I made was in offering to help you.”

  “You wouldn’t have helped.”

  “Wouldn’t I? Did you ever ask your master about me and about why he’s so determined to oppose me?”

  “Why?” Talia asked.

  Carth shook her head. “Because he knows that I have done everything I can to help others like you dozens of times before. He used you to get to me.” That was why Carth had struggled with how to help Talia. She wasn’t battered in the same way as others she had helped. Talia was used, but she had been used with a much different purpose.

  “You still have it wrong if you think the Collector intends to save me.” Talia didn’t fight as Carth pushed her forward, toward the door leading into the home. “All that matters is the endgame.”

  “The Elder Stone?”

  Talia laughed darkly as they reached the door leading out of the building. Carth pushed Talia forward and into the street, where she jerked herself free.

  Carth lunged after her, but Talia took off, moving quickly. Her hands were bound behind her, but that didn’t seem to slow her at all. She reache
d the edge of the city and paused, tearing her wrists free from the bindings.

  With a shadow-powered jump, Carth reached Talia and landed next to her.

  “Are you so afraid of what I might do that you’re willing to go along with him?” Carth asked.

  “You? I’m not afraid of you. Had you wanted to hurt me, you would have done so the very first time I met you.”

  “Then you’re afraid of him.”

  “I know the Collector.”

  “Do you? It seems you’re willing to go along with someone who intends to hurt countless others in his pursuit of power.”

  “I don’t intend to die if I don’t have to.”

  It was a sentiment that Carth understood. Many others she’d worked with had had similar sentiments, which was why it was hard to be angry with Talia, even as she wanted to rescue her from the Collector.

  “What of the others who have tried to escape him?”

  “What makes you think others have tried to escape?”

  Carth frowned. “What does that—”

  She felt the buildup of power, and then an explosion rocked the city.

  It happened near the edge of the city, in the empty building where she’d found Talia.

  There were others in that part of the city. She’d detected them when she’d been there.

  Heat from the flames built, a powerful strength pouring toward them.

  “Make a choice, Carth of the C’than. Who do you want to help?” Talia said.

  3

  Fire glowed softly in the night as Carth raced along the edge of the city. She could smell it, an acrid and awful odor, and it reminded her of charred flesh. Would that be what she would find when she reached the fire? She used the S’al, trying to pull the flames away, drawing heat into herself, but there were limits to how much she could absorb, especially as she didn’t know what she would find.

  Boiyn joined her along the street. The burn on his hand was still red and raw, an amazing amount of color on his otherwise pale skin. He favored his one leg and hobbled after her with more of a limp than he’d had when she had rescued him from the wreckage of the Spald.

  “What did she do?” Boiyn asked.

  “She served her master.”

  “With an explosion?”

  They reached the building where they had found Talia. As Carth had suspected, it burned. At least she knew it to be empty, but she couldn’t say the same about the buildings around it.

  Fire raged within them.

  She looked over at Boiyn.

  “I can’t go in there, Carthenne,” he whispered.

  “I wouldn’t ask it of you. Go get Alayna.”

  “Only Alayna?”

  “I don’t think Jenna is ready for this, and she’ll need to ensure that you and Linsay are safe.”

  “You don’t need to worry about me.”

  “I always worry about you. I worry about everyone I care about.”

  Boiyn hurried away, heading toward the road that wound down from the city and toward the docks, looking for the others should be.

  Carth lingered outside the building, staring at the flames. The heat pressing out nearly pushed her back, but she pulled it into herself, letting the power of the S’al claim it. There were limits to how much heat she could withstand, but she could divert it. With the ocean nearby, she thought she could divert the heat into the water, but it could be dangerous to anyone too close to the water.

  She could pull it away enough to withstand the heat and the fire.

  Carth stepped into the building, pushing the heat ahead of her. Could she trap it somehow? She’d never tried to use her connection to the S’al in quite that way, but she thought that she could. When she did, she worried that it might explode out from her, though. If she let it, she might lose control.

  There was no one in the building.

  She forced her way into a nearby building. It took an explosion of power to create an opening to get in, and when she did, she worried that she might blow back too much power.

  This building raged with heat.

  Carth pulled it toward her, letting it swirl around her in a torrent—a vortex of fire. She sent it upward, spiraling into the sky and through the roof. From there, she directed it at the night. It wouldn’t be quite as controlled, but well enough that she could divert some of the heat from here.

  Was there anyone in the room?

  Using shadows and the flame, she reached out, searching for them, but didn’t detect anyone.

  Carth stepped forward. With each step, she pushed the heat away, sweeping it in front of her and keeping it bound together. When it reached a breaking point for what she could control, she directed it upward again. After a few times shooting the heat upward, the air was cooler, though dry.

  This building was empty as well.

  Could Talia have only used this as a way to distract her?

  She thought about the Collector. If this was a game of Tsatsun to him, what purpose would there be in exploding these buildings? They didn’t appear to be occupied, which meant that no one would suffer with their destruction. It would be difficult to control the flames, but what would the purpose of it be? Why would he want to destroy this section of the city?

  Could this be some other move? Maybe a way of testing her capabilities?

  If so, what would he hope to learn? He already knew that she could control the flame, so what would he think to learn from testing her connection to it? Could he want only to know the extent of her connection to the S’al?

  Testing her would reveal the depths of that connection, but only if he fully tested her. What she had faced so far was far from the most difficult thing that she had ever faced. But then, would he know that?

  Carth had to push away those thoughts. The Collector would have to be extremely skilled at Tsatsun to think through the game that far in advance. There weren’t many who were. The man who had trained her, and she had defeated even him.

  When she made it through the next building, once more finding it empty, she pushed the connection to the flame into the air again.

  Her mouth was dry from the smoke and the flame, and she couldn’t shake the sense that she had been tested in a way that she didn’t fully understand.

  Then she stepped out onto the street.

  The fire had continued, spreading beyond the stretch of buildings she had gone through. Dozens of buildings were aflame. People poured out of them and a line snaked toward the docks for water, but gathering water for the fire in that way would be slow.

  This had to be what Talia had intended.

  But why would she have wanted to destroy this section of the city?

  Carth could help, but it would be a blunter response than what she had been doing. It would require that she knock down buildings before they had a chance to catch flame, especially as they couldn’t be doused with water in time.

  Was there another possibility? Could she add to the fire and use her S’al to burn it out before it had a chance to spread?

  It would keep her from attempting to put out the existing fires, but using that technique might save countless others.

  Carth connected to the S’al and let it spread out from her.

  She poured her connection to the flame into the building, letting it explode with heat and flame, burning wildly but not uncontrolled. This fire was an extension of her magic and she had control over how—and where—it burned. She could limit its spread.

  Carth stepped from building to building, pulling on the connection to the flame and sending it out. The power from the S’al was enormous. Carth rarely used her connection to that magic with such intensity, and now she let it pour out.

  The buildings exploded, but she prevented the fire from going somewhere else.

  When she reached the end of the fire’s path, she pulled it back, tamping the fire out. Flames died out, leaving the heat remaining but without the same intensity.

  Carth stepped into the street, pushing back the connection to the flam
e. It was difficult to tamp it down now that she had allowed it to spread, and difficult to do anything other than let it flow.

  “Carth?”

  She turned and saw Linsay approaching carefully. Her eyes were wide as she looked around her. “What happened? Why did you do this?”

  Carth struggled to push down the effect of the flame, suppressing her connection to it. Never before had it attempted to surge free as it did now. “I had to. Otherwise it would have spread uncontrollably. I didn’t have a choice.”

  Linsay looked along the line of now-destroyed buildings. “That’s… that’s not how it looks. It looks like you walked through them, igniting them.”

  “I wasn’t igniting them. I was burning through them so they didn’t jump to the next building.”

  “Why are you still glowing?” Linsay asked.

  “I’m trying to suppress it,” she said.

  “Trying?”

  Carth looked around. The street was mostly empty of people, but the constables would soon be arriving. Either she would have to disappear or she would have to deal with the consequences of what she had done. Knowing what she did of the constables, and the rigid way they thought, she knew how that would go. And from the way Linsay looked at her, Carth wasn’t certain that her friends would even believe her.

  “It looks like you’re angry at what the Collector did and you decided to get revenge on the city,” Linsay whispered.

  “That’s not it.”

  “Where’s Boiyn?” Linsay asked.

  Carth frowned. “He’s not with you? We found Talia, and she caused these explosions. I sent him down to find Alayna.”

  “Where is she, then?”

  Carth shook her head. “She’s gone. She got away.”

  “From you? How?” Linsay asked.

  “He’s using her. It took me a while to figure that out, but now that I see it, I can’t see anything else. Somehow, he’s using Talia to manipulate me. He knows about me. He knows what I’ve done for others, and I think he intends to take advantage of that, thinking that I will react in the way that he wants.”

  “And what way is that?”

  “By allowing Talia to escape.”

  Linsay frowned. “Carth? I don’t understand.”