Pursuit of Shadows (The Keeper Chronicles Book 2)

by JA Andrews

  “What he’d like to say,” Sora continued, “is that he’s really happy to have found you. He’s been looking for you for a very long time.”

  “Would you—” The words caught in Will’s throat and he swallowed before trying again. “Would you like to come home?” At the flicker of uncertainty in her face, he added, “To Queensland.”

  “I believe your mother is still alive,” Killien added.

  Ilsa’s gaze snapped to Will’s face, and he nodded.

  “She’s always believed you’d come back.”

  “I think,” said Ilsa, her voice wavering slightly, “I would like that.”

  Will wanted to smile, but something too big pushed up from his chest.

  After a moment’s silence, Sora stepped in front of him. “He’s not always this awkward.” She motioned toward the fireplace. “Let’s gather some supplies while Will gathers his wits. And if you have the ability to make him speechless this often, you and I are going to spend a lot of time together.”

  “Speaking of going home,” Douglon said, peering through the broken door, “it’s probably time for us to do that. This is all very touching, but despite getting rid of goblins and a dragon, we’re still not—” He stiffened and raised his axe, before muttering and pulling the door open.

  Hal stepped in, stopping to take in the room and eyeing everyone warily. “The goblins are gone,” he said to Killien, “but the Torches are getting restless. If you’re going to talk to them it had better be soon. I don’t know how long the freed slaves can keep them there, even if they are armed.” He glanced around. “And you’re going to lose any influence you had if you’re caught with…” He gestured at the room.

  Killien nodded and gingerly stood up, rolling his back muscles and grimacing slightly. Hal’s face paled at the blood covering Killien’s shirt, but the Torch waved it off.

  “There’s one more thing before we go,” Will said to Killien. “Lukas should have been raised as a Keeper. Sini and Rett should have been too.”

  The Torch’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

  The too-familiar frustration with Killien rose to the surface, and Will tried to keep his voice even. “What would have happened if the Panos had taken your son?”

  Killien’s face hardened, but there was an edge of panic in his eyes.

  “Would he have been raised as a slave in their clan? Never going back to his own family? Never learning who he was or what his life should have been?”

  Killien shook his head stubbornly. “You’re not taking Sini and Rett. I have lost my book, my goblins, my dragon.”

  “The dragon was not my fault,” Will protested.

  “Really? Because it was firmly under my control.”

  “Oh, the stone. That part was us.” Will glanced around at his companions. “You know, a few hours ago, I didn’t think we had a chance at any of this.”

  Killien gave him a flat stare. “Yes, you’ve done very well.”

  “Sini and Rett should have the chance to go home.”

  “Rett won’t remember what that means,” Killien said, his face unreadable.

  Will bit back the angry retort that came to mind and opened himself up the smallest bit to Killien. Grief blossomed in through the crack, faded and worn around the edges before he closed himself back off.

  “Raina should have had the chance to go home, too,” Will said.

  Killien flinched at her name. “I know you think it’s terrible that they’re slaves, but they’ve been treated like family.”

  “Lukas thought he was family, that he was your equal. The truth that he wasn’t is what finally turned him against you.”

  “I feel like they’re family. Or something close to it.” He looked up at Will. “What if they don’t want to go with you?”

  Will’s chest tightened at the very real possibility. “Then they don’t. The whole point is that they get to choose.”

  Killien studied him for a moment. “Hal, bring Sini and Rett here.”

  “You don’t have time for this,” Hal objected.

  “Hal.”

  The huge man’s nostrils flared in annoyance, and he walked out of the room.

  “If Sini and Rett leave,” Killien said, quietly enough that only Will heard, “the Morrow have lost everything.”

  “You still have everything that was rightfully yours,” Will pointed out. “Now that Lukas isn’t making you angry, maybe you can salvage the old ideas you had for peace.”

  “And what do I tell the Torches who just lost Roven to my goblin attack? Or the Panos Clan about Ohan. That my slave was controlling me?”

  “I have no idea,” Will said, “but you wanted the balance of power shaken, and you’ve definitely achieved that. The Morrow aren’t the most powerful clan, but, in a rather belated fashion, you did choose peace over domination. And that’s an idea the Sweep needs to keep hearing. You’ve gotten the attention of the Sweep. Now use it to say all the things you’ve always wanted to say.”

  “And if they don’t listen?”

  “Some of them won’t. But some of them will, and it will be the start that you wanted.”

  Hal returned quickly with the others. Sini’s eyes widened when she saw Will and Sora, and the sight of the dwarves made her step back against the towering form of Rett who set a protective hand on her shoulder. Alaric let the book sink into his lap, watching the two of them closely.

  “Sini,” Killien said, strained, “we’ve become infested with Keepers.”

  Sini’s eyes flashed to Alaric.

  “You know,” the Torch started again, “if you’d stayed in Queensland…”

  When he didn’t continue, Will finished it for him. “You would have come to the Keepers, and we would have tested you to see what talents you have. And then, if you wanted to, you could have joined us. And Rett too.” Will glanced at Killien. “Rett and Raina both would have come to us. And Lukas.”

  Sini’s gaze darted around the room at Lukas's name. “He’s gone,” she said in a small voice. “Isn’t he?”

  At Killien’s nod, she closed her eyes and let out a pained sigh. “How did he go?”

  “On the dragon,” Will answered.

  Sini’s shoulder drooped and she sagged back against Rett. “I’d hoped he wouldn’t.”

  “You knew?” Killien asked.

  “The moment you had the chance to control the dragon, he began talking about it.”

  Killien’s jaw clenched. “Is he coming back?”

  She shook her head. “He wanted to go somewhere safe, where he could learn and prepare.” Her eyes flicked toward Will and Alaric. “To attack Queensland.”

  Will exchanged worried looks with Alaric.

  “He took my sword.” Killien sounded bitter.

  Sini shrank back even further against Rett again. “Your seax has some kind of power. You wouldn’t be able to tell, obviously, but we could feel…something in the blade. It has a…something.”

  “That’s not very specific,” Killien said.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know what it does. I only touched the blade once, but it made my finger tingle. Lukas doesn’t know what it does either. But he thinks it’s powerful.”

  “If it was given to you by Flibbet the Peddler,” Will said, “that isn’t too surprising.”

  He paused and spun his ring. “Sini, would you like to come back to Queensland with us?”

  Sini stiffened.

  “You haven’t been with the Morrow long. You can come with us, back home. To your family.”

  Sini’s eyes locked onto his, a desperation rising in her making her look even younger. “Home?”

  Will nodded, but a flicker of distrust crossed her face.

  “I know you don’t trust Will yet,” Sora said, stepping forward. “But I’ll go with you too. I’ll make sure you get back to your family.”

  She glanced toward Alaric, taking in the black cloak. “Will I have to join the Keepers?”

  Will laughed. “No. Although you have no idea how
happy we’d be if you decided to. We’ve been searching for you and Rett and Lukas for years, although we didn’t know who you were. And if you joined, we’d be especially thrilled. It’s been sixty years since the last female Keeper died.”

  “In the past,” Alaric said from the floor, his fingers thrumming excitedly on a book, “female Keepers have manipulated energy in different ways than the men. I would love to know what you’re capable of.”

  “I…” She looked around uncertainly. “I can’t do the kinds of things Lukas can.”

  Killien looked at Will with a pointed expression. “Lukas stabbed Will in the shoulder.”

  Sini’s gaze snapped to Will, interested.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Will demanded. “If we’re comparing, he stabbed you in the back.”

  Sini’s attention flipped toward Killien with a worried look, but he waved her away. “The Keeper healed me.” A little smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. “Even if it took him a while.”

  “A while?” Alaric said indignantly. “You were almost dead.”

  Killien just laughed and motioned toward Will. Sini stepped closer, her eyes watching Will warily for a moment before she lifted her hands up near his shoulder. She set her palm on the bandage and Will tried not to wince at the jolt of pain that sliced into his arm.

  “That’s deep.” She pulled her hand back. Her brow wrinkled as she focused on his shoulder, and traced lines in the air with her fingers. Thin trails of pinkish light hung in the air behind them, forming a rune.

  Alaric scrambled to his feet and stepped closer. A strange rune that reminded Will of sunlight faded and she drew another one. The fingers on both hands danced through the air, leaving trail after trail of light.

  A warmth started deep in his shoulder, growing hotter until Will had to try not to squirm away from it. The heat radiated down his arm as though his bone was smoldering. It burned over to his neck and he clenched his jaw. The heat moved toward the surface of his shoulder, leaving a tingling warmth behind.

  With a final stretching sensation across his skin, the heat faded. Sini dropped her hands and Will pushed the bandage down off his shoulder and saw nothing but a ragged red pucker of skin. He lifted his arm and felt only stiffness and a dull ache.

  Killien looked at her proudly. “You’re getting better all the time.”

  Will raised his eyes to Sini, stunned. “How did you do that?”

  Alaric stood behind the girl, staring at Will’s shoulder. “There’s nothing in here to pull energy from besides us. You couldn’t possibly have done all that from yourself.”

  Sini looked up at him uncertainly. “I used the sunlight.”

  The room was completely shadowed.

  “What sunlight?” Alaric asked.

  “From out the window.” She pointed outside hesitantly. “Where else would I get so much warmth?”

  For a long moment, the two Keepers just stared at her. Alaric opened his mouth then closed it several times before settling on, “How did you make the runes?”

  “Oh.” She brushed her hair back out of her face with a nervous motion. “That energy does come from me. But it’s easy.” She moved her finger through the air in a long arc and left a thin pink trail behind that faded slowly away. She looked at the two Keepers curiously. “You can’t make the air glow?”

  Alaric blinked and reached toward the waning line.

  “It looks like what the stone did,” Will said, “when it sucked the life out of Ohan—and when it put that energy back into Killien.”

  Alaric’s eyes widened. “The air glows! The energy moves through the air…and it glows. How did I not see that?” He turned toward Sini, his face so intense that she took a step back. “How does the air glow?”

  “Alaric,” Will said mildly, “you’re scaring her. And the rest of us.”

  Alaric pressed his lips closed and backed up.

  “I don’t know how it glows,” Sini said. “That’s the first magic I ever did. Of course it wasn’t a smooth line.” She turned her hands over. The tips of each finger were shiny and smooth with old scars. “It was more of a…cloud.”

  “It came out your fingertips?” Will turned his own hands face up, showing the healing burns and the old white scars on his palm.

  Alaric held out his as well, a patchwork of old faded scars filled his palms. In a tightly controlled voice he said, “Please come to the Stronghold. Even if you don’t stay. Please come and show us what you can do. I promise you we will do everything we can to help you learn more.”

  “If you stay on the Sweep,” Killien said, sounding desperate, “you can have your freedom. You can keep living with us as a real part of the family.”

  For a moment, Sini looked interested. But then she shook her head slowly. “I’d never really be free among the Roven.” She considered Alaric and Will, tapping her fingers on her lips. “Lukas will come for you. I don’t think yet, though. There were things he wanted to learn first, but it’s always been his goal to destroy the Keepers.”

  “Do you know where he’s gone?” Will asked.

  “Probably Napon. He wants to learn from the blood doctors there.”

  Alaric made a disapproving noise.

  Sini straightened her shoulders and a determined look settled on her face. “I’ll come with you. Lukas is…I might be able to help you prepare for him. He’s not as terrible as he probably seems to you right now. If I could talk to him, maybe…” She shrugged and her words trailed off.

  Her gaze fell to the book in Alaric’s hand. “Do you have any books at the Stronghold?”

  “Eighty-two thousand three hundred and twenty. Or there about.”

  Killien’s mouth fell open and Sini’s eyes widened.

  “Yes, I’ll come,” she said quickly. She turned to Rett and looked up into his face. “I’m going to go back home, to Queensland. Do you want to come with me? Or stay with Killien?”

  Rett shook his head. “Come with Sini.”

  “We need to wrap this up,” Patlon said. “I hear people in the hall.”

  “If you go out the window,” Killien said, “you should be able to get around to the back of the mountain quickly. Don’t linger.”

  “Sounds good,” Douglon said, scrambling up to the window and peering out. “Everything’s chaotic enough down on the Sweep that no one should pay much attention to us.”

  Evangeline followed him. Sini, paused before giving Killien a quick hug. Then she clambered out the window followed by Rett, Alaric, and Patlon. Sora started toward the window.

  “I’m sorry,” Killien said to Sora. “About the night Lilit almost died.”

  Sora hesitated. “I understand the desperation you must have felt. And if you hadn’t called for me, you wouldn’t have gotten Will, and Lilit would have died.” She gave him a reluctant shrug. “So I suppose I’m glad you did.”

  Killien gave Will a sidelong glance. “What do you think she’d do to me if I pointed out that she’d just claimed to be the reason Lilit was saved.”

  Sora fixed him with a dangerous look. “I’d finish the job Lukas started on you.”

  Killien let out a short laugh, then grimaced and shifted his back. “If you’re ever near the Morrow again, Sora, you’ll always have a place.”

  Sora nodded in acknowledgment and went to the window. Ilsa gave the Torch a hesitant smile and followed her.

  Hal gave Will a crushing pat on the back. “The fact that you introduced me to dwarves has tipped the scales. I’ve decided I’m glad to have met you.”

  “And I you.”

  “I have a feeling you might see Lukas before I do,” Killien said to Will. “If you do, tell him…”

  Will waited, but Killien shook his head.

  “Maybe there’s nothing to tell him.” Killien held out his hand to Will, and he took it, clasping Killien around the wrist. “Thank the black queen you were here. I feel as though I should offer you some sort of reward for saving me, both from the knife and from the ring.
But you might ask for more slaves, and you’ve already taken enough of those.”

  “Is that bag over there full of avak?” Will pointed to a shelf. “Because you know we don’t have those in Queensland.”

  Killien let out a short laugh and winced. “You drive a hard bargain, but I suppose two dozen fruit will help you feed the many people leaving with you.”

  Will grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder.

  “Next time you’re sneaking across the Sweep,” Killien said, "you should stop by the Morrow.”

  “I’m done with the Sweep,” Will said. “It’s your turn. Come to the Stronghold. We have a lot of books.”

  Killien opened his mouth to refuse, but Douglon interrupted from the window. “Hurry up, Keeper. Or we’re leaving you behind.”

  Killien extended his hand, and Will grasped his wrist.

  “Good luck, Will.”

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Will climbed through the window and into the warm sunlight on a slope scattered with trees. The last goblins from the battle below drained back into their warrens. Ahead of him, the others scrambled among rocks and bushes. It took endless, exposed clambering across the steep slope before they’d moved around the mountain enough that the Roven camp was out of sight. But the Roven were busy dispatching any wounded goblins and beginning a victory celebration. On the north side of the mountain, trees grew more densely, hiding the Sweep, and they hurried downhill through them. But climbing along the side of the mountain took much longer than walking through tunnels, and the sun hung low in the sky before they reached the place they’d come out of the goblin warren.

  Any rangers that had been patrolling must have gone back to the camp during the fight, because the swath of grass between them and the mountain range sat perfectly empty. Douglon led, angling for the entrance to the dwarven caves. Will scanned the grass for any sign of Rass and the sky for any sign of Talen.

  They were almost across the grass before Talen’s little form winged out of the sky to land on Will’s arm. And when they reached the last stand of thick grass before the ground rose into the mountains, Rass’s face popped up out of it in time to hear Sora explain to Ilsa, Sini, and Rett that the way back to Queensland involved several days in dwarven tunnels.