Shadow Lost (The Shadow Accords Book 4) Read online

  The two people she thought she had killed both still lived and faced Guya on the Tempar.

  She jumped, the power of her magic carrying her across the distance between the two boats, and landed on the deck with Guya.

  He needed her help, but first she needed to prevent an attack by the other man.

  She spun, flames pressing out from her knives, and used the S’al magic against the other ship. She had done this once before when she had rescued Dara. As they had then, the flames crept slowly. She drew more, pulling this power through her mother’s ring, and felt the surge of the magic beneath her skin and within her blood. With a thunderous explosion, the ship cracked under the power of her attack.

  Carth joined Guya, and the two of them faced the woman from the crow’s nest and the man she thought she’d already killed. Shadows did not seem to have worked on them, almost as if they possessed some resistance to them. She noticed maroon smears upon the man’s skin and clothes that she had thought ink at first. Now she understood what it was. They used some sort of blood magic to protect and strengthen them.

  Shadows didn’t work against it, but would the flame?

  She dropped her connection to the shadow magic, and pressed power through her mother’s ring. She drew this through the knife she carried, the one that Invar had given her. It surged a bright white, blindingly so, and had she not lowered her connection to the shadows, she might not have been able to reach it so directly.

  Power filled her, the S’al leaving her practically glowing.

  The two attackers turned their attention to her.

  Filled with power as she was, they were no match for her. She stabbed the woman with her knife, cutting across her belly before remembering that had not worked the last time. Carth spun, driving her heel into the woman’s forehead, and slammed her knife into her throat. The other man backed away from her and reached the railing of the ship before she could catch him. He jumped, disappearing into the water.

  Carth and Guya stood at the railing, looking down at the sea, but he did not resurface. Moments passed, and they saw nothing more of him.

  Finally, with a harsh crack, the other ship sank with burning anger into the depths of the ocean.

  6

  “What happened there?”

  Carth looked at Dara, wondering how much to tell the woman. Did she tell her about the way the other people had been slaughtered beneath the ship? Could she tell her about the way they had somehow used a blood magic to power themselves?

  She had never seen anything like that before. There were many magics in the world, and she had seen several of them herself, but what she had experienced on that ship was horrific. The more she thought about it, the more she realized they couldn’t have been dead that long before the Tempar had arrived, but if that was the case, they had always intended to kill them.

  “They were gone,” are said. She had washed her hands in the sea before abandoning the ship and the sailor they had tied once more to the mast. Guya had not wanted to kill him, but Carth was not willing to free him either. In many ways, leaving him like that was a worse punishment than death. If he knew anything about what had happened on the other ship, he hadn’t said.

  “Gone?”

  Carth looked at her hands, unable to meet the other woman’s eyes. How could she admit what she had seen? She suspected the women on that ship were from the empty village. She suspected something worse had happened to the men.

  Dara needed the truth. If she didn’t have the truth, how would she be able to handle the future? Her only concern was the amount of aggression she had already seen from Dara. The woman had suffered, but had suffered at the hands of slavers. The men on that ship had been something else, something worse.

  “They were dead,” she whispered.

  Dara looked from her to Guya and nodded. “What did you do?”

  “What was needed.”

  Dara sighed before going back below decks, leaving Carth and Guya alone. Neither had spoken much after leaving the other ship. She wondered if Guya knew how she had ignited the Tempar so that it would never sail again, leaving the last sailor to die. It was a horrible fate, but she couldn’t deny he deserved it. The way he looked at her left her suspecting that Guya knew.

  “Have you ever seen anything like that before?” she asked.

  “I have not. I have sailed these seas and never seen anything like that before.”

  They had turned the ship towards Lonsyn, both determined to sail through the night. Using her power over the shadows, they were able to sail safely. She added a slight push, drawing on the power she found within them, and was able to speed the ship along. Waves crashed along the side of the ship, leaving a steady creaking sound that mixed with the occasional cawing from gulls. The air had the scent of salt, but she still could not get rid of the memory of the bitter stink from below the deck of the ship, nor could she get rid of the smell of the blood, still far too fresh by the time she’d arrived.

  “That kind of power will draw the Hjan,” Guya said.

  Carth suspected the same thing. She seemed to possess a certain resistance to the shadow magic that would appeal to the Hjan.

  “Are you ready to return south?” she asked.

  Guya frowned. They had avoided discussing it before now, but after she’d forced him to fight, it seemed appropriate that she did speak of it with him.

  “I know enough to fear the Hjan.”

  It wasn’t an answer, which meant he hadn’t decided. “We haven’t seen any sign of the Hjan since leaving Wesjan and having the accords signed.”

  “No sign of them doesn’t mean that they have gone quietly.” Guya squeezed the wheel with more intensity than was necessary, but Carth could not blame him given all that they had been through and seen today.

  He had come away from the fights with injuries to his leg and his arm, which she had bandaged and covered with a mixture of herbs her mother had once taught her. It would staunch the bleeding and might prevent them from getting infected, but would likely do nothing more than that. It would certainly not speed up the recovery. For his sake, she wished there were some way to help him recover quickly, the same way she had with her magic.

  “No. That’s my fear as well.”

  “Once we reach Lonsyn, what do you intend to do?” he asked.

  “I had thought to continue sailing, searching for answers. I’m afraid there are more questions now.”

  As he stared out at the sea, his face took on a haunted expression. “One of the things I’ve learned sailing is that there are always more questions. Each land has different stories, rumors of sorts, and each land seems to have its own sort of power. In the north, you have the power of the shadows and of the flame. In the south, there is a different sort of power. There is a city where the men all have green eyes and all have abilities unlike any other. To the west, you have those who can mix herbs and medicines in ways that draw power. Who is to say what can happen when you look to the east or further to the south?”

  Carth watched him, expecting a joke or some other comment, but he made none. His words were edged with almost a hint of anger, though Carth suspected she misinterpreted it. She had seen a green-eyed man one time, but he had come with the Hjan.

  “I haven’t told you much about my parents,” Carth said.

  “Only that your father was Reshian.”

  She grunted. “Reshian. Would that it were so simple.” Silence settled between them for a moment before she dared breaking it. “They were of Ih-lash, a land that is no more.”

  “You’ve told me that. I haven’t been that far to the north in years. Even then, there were rumors they were fading.”

  “They didn’t fade. They were destroyed. They probably couldn’t do anything against the Hjan.”

  “The shadows are powerful.”

  “You haven’t seen the Hjan fight. You haven’t seen how quickly they can kill, as if you were nothing more than an insect to them.” She noted that Guya tensed but said nothin
g. Was it possible he knew more about the Hjan than she had realized? “My father possesses the power of the shadows, likely shadow born like myself. My mother must have the power of the A’ras flame. She must be descended from Lashasn, though she never spoke of it. They both left.”

  “You said they wanted you to train with the A’ras.”

  “I don’t know why they brought me to Nyaesh. Before coming there, I knew nothing of powers and magic, only that some had power and others did not.” She leaned on the railing, letting the sensation of the shadows around her fill her with power. “Do you know that I feared the A’ras when we first came to Nyaesh?”

  Guya grunted and laughed. “Many fear them. And for good reason.”

  Carth thought about what she had seen when she was a child, the fear she’d felt when she’d first encountered the A’ras. That fear had been nothing compared to the fear she’d felt when seeing the man smearing the blood of his victims across his chest and somehow gaining powers that should not be.

  How much blood must they have spilled?

  The sails were stained with red, and their clothing was stained with red.

  Dozens would have died. Dozens of dozens.

  A village.

  “You think of them again,” Guya said.

  She could only nod. “They were able to ignore the connection to the shadows.”

  “Aye.”

  “But not to the flame.”

  “I fear that will make them even more dangerous,” Guya noted.

  It wasn’t the danger that she feared. If there was a way to stop them, Carth could do it. The challenge was that there were others who sought power, and if they could get ahold of power like that, what else might they do? How might they use that against the Reshian or others? What responsibility did she have to stop them?

  “I need to find them,” she said softly.

  “Find them and do what? What would you do that would stop this kind of magic alone?”

  “If we don’t—”

  Guya placed his hand on her shoulder. Callused fingers gripped her shoulder and he squeezed. “There will always be another power, and then another. How many do you think you can stop?”

  “I—”

  “You forged peace between the A’ras and the Reshian. I come from the south, and even I know how important that was… and how difficult. But there will be another. And another. Each time, you run the risk of others with power.”

  Guya was right, but why was it that it still troubled her that there was power like that out there? What was it particularly that bothered her? Was it the actual blood magic? That had been bad enough, but she didn’t think that was what it was.

  If she was forced to put an answer to it, she knew that it was because of the Hjan.

  What had Invar said about them?

  They were collectors of power.

  This kind of power, that which would use the blood of others to fuel the magic, was just the kind of thing the Hjan would want. That was the reason she had to ensure they didn’t acquire it.

  But how?

  It was only her, Dara, and Guya. They were not enough to stop the Hjan.

  “It’s more than the Hjan,” she said to herself.

  Guya nodded, his face solemn. “Aye. It is.”

  If she didn’t do something, there were other villages like the one they had seen, and there were others like Dara who would suffer, all in the pursuit of power.

  Was there anything that she could do?

  She didn’t want power, but she had it.

  Didn’t that place a certain responsibility upon her shoulders?

  With a sigh, she stared out over the water, trying to come to a decision. For her to be able to do more, she would need more help. It would have to be about more than only Carth, more than stopping the Hjan. That had been important, but there was more she could do.

  First, she had to understand her abilities.

  That meant the Reshian.

  No… if she were honest with herself, that meant both the Reshian and the A’ras.

  Which meant they had other stops to make.

  She nodded, mostly to herself.

  “What have you decided?” Guya asked.

  “First we stop in Lonsyn, then… then it’s time I return to my past.”

  He frowned. “Why your past?”

  “Because I need to understand what I can do—what I can really do—if I’m to be able to do anything to stop these kinds of attacks.”

  Guya nodded. “It’s about time. I will go with you, Carthenne Rel. For this, I will go with you.”

  7

  The city of Lonsyn was like many of the port cities they’d visited since leaving Wesjan. There was the noise of dockworkers, all calling to each other, many trying to outdo the next, trying either to get the best price on fish or to pull men toward taverns. Other noise came from the city itself, this a mixture of sounds all congealed together, making it so that she couldn’t differentiate one from another. The smells were the same, the air filled with the stink of fish and grain, but there were other scents here too, many she couldn’t place.

  As much like other ports as it was, there was something different about it as well. From Guya, Carth knew it was a busy port, and one that smugglers favored. That made it dangerous in ways the others had not been.

  Long fingers of wooden docks stretched into the harbor, allowing Guya to sail much closer to shore than he would otherwise have been able to do. His eyes scanned the crowds with the same nervous suspicion he displayed at every port.

  The Goth Spald cruised toward the docks and anchored in the harbor. Without more of a crew, they weren’t able to row closer to shore and had to take the dinghy the rest of the way.

  “Is it safe to leave her out here alone?” Carth asked. “I could stay…”

  Guya looked up at the ship with a nervous glance. “It should be. Lonsyn is a trading port, but there are enough disreputable types here that could come after an empty ship.”

  “I could hide it in the shadows.”

  “You’d do that?”

  Carth shrugged. “I would try. I can’t say whether it would work all that well, or whether I could hold on to it.”

  Guya shook his head. “Then don’t bother trying. You might need your strength here, especially if we intend to find answers.”

  “Where would you have us go?” Dara asked.

  “There are a few different taverns we could try,” Guya suggested. “If our intent is to find answers, then we’d want to start along the docks.”

  “Do you think we’ll find anything in the taverns?” Dara asked.

  Carth actually smiled. She hadn’t spent much time in taverns since she was younger, but she had a certain fondness for them. There was the gaming, and the laughter, and the noise, all of which belonged in the taverns. Add to that the mix of foods and other things you would find there… she could almost taste Vera’s cooking.

  “We’ll find something there,” she said.

  Dara shrugged. “If you say so.”

  They motioned for Guya to lead and he started down the street and along the docks. He moved quickly and seemed to have a tavern in mind. When they stopped at it, the tavern was practically empty, only a few people inside. He backed out and shook his head. “Not this one, then.”

  They tried a few other places, but each place was much like the first, all mostly empty other than a few serving girls and a barkeep. They weren’t the kind of places you’d get answers. They would be more likely to stand out, which none of them wanted.

  By the time they reached the Grand Hack, Carth had begun to suspect they wouldn’t find anything at all.

  As they opened the door, something left her skin tingling, the hairs on her arms standing on end. There was something off here.

  Carth studied the interior of the tavern. One hand gripped the hilt of her sword, though she didn’t expect to need it, not here and not with the others she had with her. Shadows licked along the sides of the tavern, pro
bably too faint for others to see, but Carth felt them as much as she saw them.

  “What is it, Carth?” Dara asked.

  Carth tipped her head to the side, focusing on the irritant she felt, something that crawled along the surface of her skin. She wasn’t able to explain what it was she felt, only that something was wrong. “There was power here. Enough that I can detect.”

  “You can detect both Reshian and A’ras. Which is it?” Dara asked. In the days since the attack, Dara had been reserved and hadn’t said much.

  “I don’t know. Neither, as far as I can tell.”

  She stepped into the tavern and realized not only had power been here, but something else had. Carth embraced the shadows and—thinking about the blood magic—added the power of the flame as well.

  A body lay in front of her. There were others around here as well, all lying unmoving. How many had died here? Who had killed them?

  She paused in front of the first. He was a stocky man with a bald head and a long brown robe that likely signified some sort of religious person. In the islands, it was difficult to know.

  She sniffed the air, not expecting to find anything.

  “Was this the Hjan?” Dara asked.

  “I can’t tell,” Carth said. It didn’t feel right. This wasn’t how the Hjan operated, or how they attacked. “The accords would protect this place.”

  “The accords are only with the Hjan,” Dara said.

  “And the Reshian and A’ras,” Carth said, leaning over the next body she’d come to. This was an older woman whose throat had been cut, leaving her to bleed out onto the ground. It was fresh—or relatively so—as the blood hadn’t completely congealed. “But this wasn’t the Hjan.”

  “How can you be sure?” Dara asked, turning her irritation from Guya onto Carth.

  “Were it the Hjan, I would have detected them.”

  Dara sniffed and slammed her knife back into her sheath. “You claim you would have detected them, but you didn’t know what was on those ships.”

  “No,” Carth said, looking up at her. “I didn’t. But I’ve seen no sign that the Hjan have violated the accords.”