Shadow Hunted (The Collector Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “On second thought, it might be better if you’re the only one who goes,” Alayna said.

  “You’re just saying that because you want my ship.”

  Alayna growled at her. “If that were the case, I would’ve kept it when you disappeared the last time. Or the time before it. Or—”

  Carth laughed softly. “You’ve made your point. You don’t want my ship.” Eventually, Carth hoped that Alayna would decide that she wanted to command her own ship. She was skilled, and Carth thought that she would need someone like Alayna as part of her fleet so that she could extend the reach of the Binders.

  Alayna watched her with her vibrant green eyes. She was a good hand taller than Carth, and so looked down at her. So often there was hardness to her expression, the kind of hardness that Carth had honed in the time that they had sailed together. It was the kind of hardness she had honed within herself, knowing it necessary to avoid getting hurt. As Alayna looked at Carth, that hardness softened.

  “Just come back safely. I grow tired of worrying about you.”

  “If any of these others were better sailors, they could stay on board rather than you.”

  Alayna shook her head. “The Great Watcher knows that I wish for the same thing, but haven’t you taught me that we must play the board as it lies before us?”

  “I’ve tried teaching, but most the time you don’t listen.”

  “It’s not my fault that you aren’t much of a teacher.”

  Carth patted Alayna’s hand and took a deep breath, making her way to the railing, where Jenna waited.

  “Are you ready?” Jenna asked.

  “I think this will be just me,” she said.

  Jenna stared at her, an angry frown flashing across her face before disappearing just as quickly. “The last time you were by yourself—”

  Carth clasped her on the shoulder. “You did nothing wrong the last time. Where I will need to go will require me to move in the shadows. I can do that more efficiently on my own without trying to maintain them around you.”

  It was a lie, and one that Jenna might see through, especially as she had known Carth to hold shadows wrapped around all of them before, but there was truth to it as well. Carth might be able to hold the shadows around them, but she could also hold them more effectively—and, more importantly, less noticeably—around only herself.

  “You’ll signal if you need help?”

  Carth nodded. “Have Boiyn keep attuned for my signal.”

  Jenna turned away, not even meeting Carth’s eyes. She would have to work on her when she returned. She didn’t need Jenna to think that she wasn’t valuable, especially as that wasn’t true. Jenna was incredibly valuable to Carth and to everything that she did. She simply feared Jenna getting too disenfranchised with the steps that Carth needed to take.

  She stood at the railing a moment and then jumped, muting herself with shadows as she plunged into the water once more.

  5

  Carth crawled onto the sandy shoreline, keeping shadows surrounding her. It was true that she was able to do so with greater subtlety than she could when traveling with others, though Jenna—and Alayna, especially—knew to remain close when she was using her shadow magic for concealment.

  Ahead of her, the lights of the village flickered softly. She counted a couple dozen buildings, nothing large enough to be an inn or a tavern. They were places she was drawn to, a familiarity from her time as a child, because many taverns were similar to each other, lending even more comfort.

  She scanned the coast, looking for evidence of any ships, but saw none. Whatever ship had attacked them was not here.

  Had she made a mistake?

  She didn’t think so, as this was the only settlement they had come across as they made their way up the river.

  Carth focused on her connection to the S’al that burned within her and reached out with it, sending it away from her in such a way that she could detect variations in temperature. It required strength and not the same subtlety as some of the other magic she had attempted. All she needed was to determine whether there were changes in the temperature.

  Everything had a particular reverberation upon this sense. The people she detected in the village had a certain warmth to them, as did the living things growing around her, and the water was another temperature, cooler than everything else. Using her connection in this way allowed her to detect it all.

  She sensed an inlet on the water that was narrow enough that she wondered whether she would even have seen it.

  She made her way toward the inlet. Trees grew thick along it and Carth was not surprised to find the ship hidden behind a bank of trees.

  They were here.

  Not only those from the first ship, but she detected the presence of another ship, too.

  She frowned. How many others would be here? How many others would she come across while tracking here?

  She made her way between the trees, pushing out with her connection to the S’al magic, but felt no warmth that would make her think there were others hiding here. She counted three larger ships and a few smaller vessels, all with sleek hulls designed for speed.

  Smugglers? The people she had fought hadn’t struck her as smugglers, but that was the only thing that came to mind when she saw ships like these.

  She moved away from the ships in the line of trees and headed toward the village. Night had grown thick around her and there was a thin sliver of moon that sent a silver shaft of moonlight across the ground. As she approached the village, she made her way more carefully, pressing herself against the stone so that shadows wouldn’t bulge strangely. The distant sound of water lapping against the shore was almost too soothing.

  The buildings were made of stacked stone, and they smelled of earth and smoke. She slipped from building to building, moving carefully as she headed deeper into the village, all the while pushing out with her connection to the S’al magic. Now that she was in the village, she had a different intent with her connection to the flame. She wanted to detect the presence of other people, but she also wanted to detect the presence of particular people.

  Could she find those who had attacked her on the ship? She wanted to find Kiara and the others if they were here.

  People were clustered in various buildings. There were no children, a strange realization. No one moved along the streets, nothing like what she would expect of a village. It was late, but it wasn’t so late that she should find the streets empty.

  Carth hesitated. Was this a village at all? Or was this some sort of smugglers’ hold, a place where they would hide after attacking—and stealing from—men like the Collector?

  As she made her way along the streets, she detected Kiara. There were three others with her, and one of them was familiar, a sense that she had noticed on board the ship.

  She would need to act quickly and move quietly. If she didn’t, because there were several dozen people in the village, and if all of them were smugglers, able to fight, it would be a battle she didn’t want to wage.

  As she grabbed the door handle of the building Kiara occupied, she thickened the shadows around her.

  She threw the door open and pressed shadows into the room, wondering briefly if the shadows would work the way she intended.

  Someone shouted, but the thickened shadows in the room muted the sound. Carth quickly closed the door behind her, trapping them inside. She pushed with the shadows now, forcing three others away from her, holding them against the wall so that they couldn’t fight her. She didn’t want to harm them, not without knowing what she faced.

  Carth peeled the shadows away from Kiara and stood before her.

  The other woman gasped. “You. How?”

  “What did you take from the Collector?”

  “You don’t understand. He was going to use it against us—”

  Carth took a step forward, shaking her head. She felt one of the others attempting to fight through the shadows. With her att
ention diverted slightly, it was possible that they might be able to escape the pressure she put on them, though doing so would be like fighting through sand.

  “What did you take?”

  Kiara looked around. Her eyes grew increasingly wide as she realized she could see nothing but shadows. “Please. Don’t hurt them.”

  “I’m not here for them. I’m here for you.”

  Kiara licked her lips and looked around the room again. “I don’t have it.”

  “Who does?”

  Kiara shook her head.

  Carth took another step forward. Now she was standing directly across from Kiara, and she could smell the woman’s fear. “Don’t think for a moment that I would hesitate to end you after what you have done.”

  It was a calculated statement, and not something that she normally would say, but it seemed fitting, a way to hopefully get Kiara to speak. Kiara had already shown that she was willing to give up whatever they had for someone else’s safety.

  Maybe that was the key. It wasn’t threatening Kiara; it was threatening whoever else she cared about. What did it matter that Kiara would never know that Carth wouldn’t act on such a threat?

  “They wanted to trade it. That’s it. Please. We never meant to keep it from him. A trade.”

  “Consider your life the trade.”

  Kiara trembled. Her brow furrowed as she seemed to consider. It surprised Carth that she would hesitate, especially when doing so could mean that she was harmed. Carth had already proven that she was strong enough to overpower them. What would make this woman hesitate?

  “I said I don’t have it.”

  “But you know who does.”

  Kiara nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll take you to it.”

  “No, Kiara,” a muted voice said from within the shadows.

  “I think you’re better off ignoring them, especially if you want to make this trade.”

  “You would make it?”

  Carth did her best to flash the most intimidating expression she could. “I don’t think you have any choice but to think that I will.”

  Kiara licked her lips and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

  Carth allowed her to step past her, and they moved out into the night. She kept her shadows thickened, using them to wrap around both her and Kiara, while keeping them still pressed against the three others in the building. She was thankful she hadn’t brought Jenna and the others. If she had, she would have had to divert her attention in more ways than she comfortably could. Already she was feeling the strain of the effort. She could create a fog over the entire village, but that would be even more difficult.

  Kiara looked around her, her eyes growing even wider. “How are you doing this?”

  “What makes you think that I’m doing this?”

  Kiara shook her head. “None of this is natural. You shouldn’t be able to do this. This isn’t the kind of power the Collector has.”

  “It’s the kind of power I have, and I’m the one who’s here with you now. I’m the one you have to worry about now. If you want to make this trade, you will do as you agreed.”

  They reached a building near the center of the village. Carth added a hint of flame, surging through it, and detected five people within.

  She grabbed Kiara’s arm. “Do you think I wouldn’t know if you’re leading me into a trap?”

  Kiara shook her head, her eyes widened in a panic. “It’s not a trap. Please. This was where you wanted me to take you.”

  Carth took a deep breath, continuing to focus on the shadows. For this to work, she would need to split her attention in more ways than she had before, especially as she didn’t want to release the others back in the building. If she relaxed even a little, it was possible they could call out and draw attention to the fact that she was here.

  Carth nodded to Kiara.

  The other woman pushed the door open.

  Carth shoved her forward, sending shadows streaking away, wrapping them around each of the people in the room. She felt the shadows begin to retreat, more from fatigue rather than because her connection to them failed.

  As she stood there, she realized something felt strange. She relaxed her connection to the shadows just enough for her to see through them.

  Two of the people she had detected didn’t move.

  Not only that, but their throats were slit. Blood pooled around them, soaking into the ground. Carth leaned down and touched the blood, finding it still wet and sticky. It was a recent attack.

  The other three were bound and gagged and looked at her with wide eyes. All were women.

  “What is this?” Carth snapped at Kiara.

  Kiara licked her lips. “We… we needed to find out where to go. These are—”

  Carth didn’t need her to finish. These were some of the Collector’s people. The smugglers—or whatever they were—had captured some of the Collector’s people and had killed two of them. Carth examined the two fallen, finding that they were also women.

  Had she been wrong about things? The Collector had to have been the ship that had attacked her, using his resistance to her magic, but she had thought that ship had been in the wrong. Maybe that wasn’t the case at all. Maybe it was these smugglers and their willingness to harm the Collector’s people.

  Anger surged through her. She had been willing to give Kiara the benefit of the doubt, thinking that the young-appearing woman had been partially innocent, but what if that weren’t the case at all?

  “Where is it?” Carth snapped.

  She stormed through the room and sliced through the bands holding the three remaining living people. They scrambled away from her, their eyes wide in terror. Carth understood how they felt. She would have felt the same.

  “It’s back here,” Kiara said. She guided Carth past the three and stopped near a narrow door. Carth pushed out with the flame but detected no one behind it.

  She shoved the door open, anger giving her more strength than she intended.

  On the other side of the door was a storeroom, lined with rows of shelves. Several jars much like the one she had seen Kiara clutching when they’d first met were on one of the shelves. Other objects looked to be things like sculptures or other decorative items. Some were more traditional items of trade, bags of grain and rolls of fabric. Nothing that would have that much value.

  This couldn’t be what they’d intended to hide from her, could it? What would this be that they would care so much about?

  She turned back to Kiara just as the other woman slammed the door shut on her.

  When she was sealed inside, she felt her connection to the shadows weaken.

  Carth suppressed a frustrated sigh. She knew better than to risk herself like this. She had let her irritation—or anger—send her blindly into a room without determining whether it was safe.

  It wasn’t that she’d lost her connection to the shadows, but the men she had contained were now freed. An alarm would be raised. And she was no closer to understanding what was taking place here. The only thing she had learned was that this had to be connected to her missing ships and the decrease in trade that had taken place in the north.

  Carth added the power of her S’al magic to the shadows and exploded the nearest wall. Night streamed in and her connection to the shadows returned. She coalesced them around her, creating a fog in the village. If nothing else, it would conceal her passing and allow her to get free.

  First, she needed to know what was in this room.

  Maybe there was nothing. She had detected several people in the ship’s hold. Could that have been what this was all about? Had she somehow gotten in the middle of a battle between these people and the Collector?

  As she surveyed it, she grabbed one of the jars and a few of the sculptures, stuffing them into her pockets. At least she would make it out of here with something.

  A part of her wanted to help the three who had been captured, but what was the point? Their battle with this village was not her problem. As terrible as th
at was for her to think, it was the truth.

  But could she leave others behind if they were injured? Could she leave them to be slaughtered? What would have happened had she left Alayna where she had found her, captured on the way to slavery—and prostitution? And Jenna? She was angry enough now, but she had a chance for redemption, though it would take time and effort. Linsay might not have suffered as much as the others—she had studied in Obal at the university when Carth had first met her—but she made it clear that she would have suffered had Carth not offered her a place.

  Carth couldn’t. That wasn’t in her to do that.

  She darted out of the opening in the wall and into the fog of darkness. She held it around herself, maintaining the connection to the shadows, and hurried back toward the entrance to the room.

  When she relaxed her connection, she didn’t see anyone inside. The room was empty. Even the bodies were missing.

  Carth pushed out with her shadows, searching for the people who had been trapped in the room. She found them near the edge of the village—but there were several others approaching.

  She darted forward, swords unsheathed, and struck those who were coming after them in the back of the head, knocking them out.

  When she reached the three captives, she saw them carrying the two bodies. They struggled to do so.

  “You’ll have to leave them,” Carth said.

  The nearest captive, a woman near Carth’s age with jet-black hair and pale skin, shook her head. “We can’t leave them here.”

  “If you try to escape with them, they will catch you. The only way you will move fast enough is if you leave them.”

  The woman glanced at the other two with her. One was an older woman with silver in her hair and wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She was stout and held one of the dead by herself. The strain of it was getting to her, and Carth could see the tension in her eyes growing deeper.