“You know that one of the great crystals has been taken from the city?” I asked her.
She nodded slowly. “That’s what Rebecca has us trying to recover.”
“What does she want with it?”
The woman shook her head. “A trade. That’s all.”
“A trade for what?”
“Safety.”
And Lorst wanted the crystal back, presumably to protect it as well.
Who should I believe?
As I stood there, another soft shimmer of light appeared. I wasn’t surprised this time to see Lorst appear. Either he had been following me as well, or he somehow had another way to find me. It didn’t matter.
He barely glanced at me when he slapped chains onto Josun and untied him from the wall.
“What did you use to catch him?” Lorst asked.
“Slithca.”
His mouth twisted in an expression of disgust. “A foul thing, but probably necessary for him.”
“Those will hold him?”
“They’ll hold most Sliders.”
“Most?”
“They won’t hold me.”
He started to Slide away, colors swirling around him. I didn’t want to stop him. That meant returning with him to Elaeavn, and I wasn’t ready or willing to do that. But I wanted answers. Could I get them in Asador?
And would Cael be willing to remain with me knowing that Talia was here?
The Great Watcher knew that I hoped so.
“What are you going to do with him?”
“I haven’t decided. But he’ll answer for what he did.”
Lorst Slid away with Josun, leaving me with the others.
I turned back to wait for Rebecca to awaken. Now that Josun was with Lorst, I would get answers of my own. And then I would go to Talia. She might not want to be involved, but she’d brought me into this.
Whatever was happening now involved me. As it should. I was one of the Forgotten, too.
12
When I returned to the estate, I had expected to find the bodies I left the last time. Other than a few spots where the grass had been trampled, there were no bodies. No sign of a struggle here. Really no sign of any blood. Everything had been cleaned up, left to look as if nothing had happened.
“I thought you said there were nearly a dozen dead.” Cael made her way through the yard outside the estate, clutching the folds of her dress. I’m not sure that she had forgiven me yet, but I figured that she would in time.
“There were. Most were with knives or crossbow bolts too.” And they were bloodier. Not nearly as neat as my darts. With the darts, not only did I have more precision, but I had an easier time cleaning up after I was gone. That was often as valuable. With the right dart and enough time, I could make it appear that someone had simply disappeared.
“I see nothing,” Rebecca said. She moved stiffly, but having a knife in your spine would do that. It was impressive that she managed to walk at all after what the others had done to her. The slithca syrup had almost worn off, and I considered redosing her. I wasn’t sure what she would try when it did finally wear off. Maybe nothing, but I didn’t know, and that made me nervous, especially with Cael along with me.
“You’ll have to stop fearing for me,” she said in a whisper.
Rebecca tipped her head. The damned woman had heard, but then, she was Elvraeth, so probably had some ability with Listening to go along with her Sliding. Cael still couldn’t believe that any of the Elvraeth were able to Slide, but I had reminded her that Josun was one of the Elvraeth as well.
“You know that I can’t. And if I can’t protect you…”
“I think that you’ve done enough protecting. Now it’s time for us to figure out what’s going on here.”
I glanced around the yard. We had returned thinking that we could find some evidence of Josun and where he might have taken the crystal. More than anything else, I had to get that back. It needed to be in the hands of the Elvraeth, regardless of what Lorst claimed.
“Why this place?” I wondered.
“Because there are barriers here that prevent Sliding outside the building,” Rebecca said. She gave Cael a strange look as if trying to find answers to a question that she hadn’t asked. Cael ignored her.
“What kind of barriers? I saw you Sliding just fine.”
“Inside. I can Slide from place to place inside the estate without difficulty, but the first time I tried sliding out of it, I found that I could not. Almost like a hand pushed me back into the estate.”
“Have you ever encountered anything else like that?” I asked.
“Yes. In the palace.”
That made sense. The palace in Elaeavn, the Floating Palace as some called it because of the way that it seemed to hang from the rock as if floating in the air—but only from a few angles; from others the illusion was destroyed—was meant to be a place of safety for the Elvraeth. If someone could Slide into the palace, there wouldn’t be any safety.
And maybe the barriers were meant to do something else in the palace. It was possible that they used them to keep the Elvraeth who could Slide in. As far as I knew, there weren’t many with the Ability, but then there weren’t many of the Elvraeth wandering outside of the palace. Maybe those who had the ability had never known about it.
“Josun kept you here, in a place that he wouldn’t be able to Slide out of either, for what?”
“He did not hold me.”
“What?”
Rebecca inhaled deeply. “It was not Josun who held me.”
If not him, then he had come looking for Rebecca. But why?
The other woman had mentioned a trade for safety. What did that mean? Why would they need to make a trade if they could Slide to safety?
There was something more that I didn’t understand.
Inside the estate was no different than outside. The bodies that that I knew should be here were missing. But inside, my Sight had other advantages. I was able to make out the scratches in the wood from the fight. I could see a few droplets of dried blood. And there were tracks from the bodies being dragged away.
But why take them away? Why bother cleaning up the estate, making it appear as if there had been nothing here?
I hated that I knew so little about what was happening and the fact that I knew so little about what Lorst had gotten me into. Worse, it was important, and I couldn’t simply drop it. I would prefer if I could, because this way, Cael was more involved than I liked.
“How many were here?” she asked.
“At least six,” Rebecca answered. “Enough that I thought perhaps you and this other they searched for might be one and the same. Then I Read you.”
I hated that she had managed to Read me. When you grow up in Elaeavn, you learn to defend yourself from Readers. Over time and with practice, it’s possible to construct barriers within your mind that prevent others from accessing your thoughts. I had thought I was skilled at doing so until I met Cael. Even then, I wondered if it was more my lack of practice that had allowed her to access my thoughts. All the time that I’d been in Eban had left me with my barriers down, not needing to keep my mind protected.
Maybe there was something Cael could do to keep me safe from Readers. I didn’t know what that might be, but she was as skilled a Reader as I have ever met. Or maybe I needed to discover what Lorst had used to protect his mind from Cael. They had some way of defending against her, one that had nearly incapacitated her.
I continued to make a survey of the entrance to the estate, checking the darts in my pouch as I did. I had filled the tips of a dozen of them with coxberry while we walked, and another dozen I had tipped with terad. I considered adding slithca, but I didn’t want to risk wasting it. If I needed it, I’d first knock the person out with coxberry, and then I could dose them with slithca. The damned syrup was difficult enough to make, and I didn’t want to go through the whole process again.
“What is it?” Cael asked.
I shook my head. The mis
sing bodies troubled me, almost as much as I was troubled by the fact that Lorst had pulled me into his own personal war. “Why would they take the bodies? I can understand if they were trying to cover up what happened here, but who would they be hiding it from? And Josun is gone. Lorst came for him, so I don’t think we can attribute this to Josun.”
“Another Slider?” she asked.
“How many could there be?”
“More than you realize,” Rebecca said. She closed her eyes, and a pained expression came on her face. A flash of color around her told me that she attempted to Slide, and then she appeared about three steps away. A tight smile crossed her face.
“How many were here?” I asked.
She shrugged. “There were five of us.”
“Including the three who came for you?”
And now they were with Talia, still dosed with slithca to prevent them from Sliding away. I didn’t know what they planned yet, and I couldn’t risk losing them until I knew and understood. Rebecca wasn’t being all that forthcoming, either, which made it harder. Then again, I had attacked her and killed one of the men who had come to rescue her. I guess I couldn’t blame her all that much for trying to get away from me.
“Some rescue,” she said bitterly.
“You must be awfully important,” I said. There was no point in disagreeing with her. She was right.
Why had Josun been after them? What trade was he a part of? With him involved, I was lucky to get away, but then, my Sight gave me advantages and my training gave me patience. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get out of every situation and went into many of them with a willingness to die. When you did what I did, you had to take that risk. But Josun… I suspected he wanted to live.
And now Lorst had him. There was another man who wasn’t what he seemed. And if he wanted to live as well, if he had something that drove him—like that girl of his—there might be a way to get to him if it came to it.
Cael glanced over at me. I might not be a Reader, but I could make out the disappointment on her face.
“It’s not like I would do any of that,” I said to her.
“You were thinking it.”
“How did you end up with her?” Rebecca asked, inserting herself between Cael and I. “You are the exiled assassin, a man well-known outside of Elaeavn. Even within the city, you’ve become somewhat famous. And now you’re with the daughter of Naelm Elvraeth, head of the council? How is that?”
“If we’re asking questions, then maybe you’ll tell me how you managed to get exiled from Elaeavn,” I said. “What did you do that angered the council so much that you were forced away?”
Some of Rebecca’s confidence sagged. I glanced over at Cael, but she only shook her head once, as if warning me off. Cael would tell me later, but pressing more now would only risk irritating Rebecca more.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Nothing matters anymore other than finding the crystal. How is it that you knew it was missing?”
Cael surprised me. “Because I’m the one who lost it in the first place.”
Rebecca looked up. “You? Does your father… Of course, your father would know. That’s the reason that you’re here. You’ve been exiled as well.”
I tried to fortify my mental barriers. If Cael intended to let Rebecca believe that she had been exiled the same as her, then I wouldn’t be the one to change that, but why would she want to pretend that she was one of the Forgotten as well?
“We can work together,” Cael said. “I know you’ve been hurt. I know that exile from our home is hard, but all we want is to—”
“Return,” Rebecca said softly.
Cael didn’t say anything to disagree, but the look on her face made it seem as if she didn’t need to.
Could she really want nothing more than to return to Elaeavn? If they did, what would there be for me when we returned? The longer I spent with Cael, the more I was aware that I wasn’t willing to be the assassin I’d trained to be. If Cael returned, she would go to the palace, but that was not a place for me. I don’t even belong in the city any longer.
She watched me, knowing my thoughts.
As much as I wanted to be with her, maybe I would have the same challenge that I’d once had with Talia. Maybe the hope for our future that I had was nothing more than an illusion.
13
The estate had nothing more to it that would explain why the men had been moved, or where Josun had relocated the crystal. I searched, thinking I might find something that would help or that maybe someone might still be here, watching us, but I didn’t find anyone.
As we made our way toward the estate entrance, Cael took my hand. “You don’t have to fear that I’ll leave you, she said.
“I’m not afraid that you’ll leave me,” I said.
“Back there, when we were talking about the Forgotten, and about returning, I Read your thoughts.”
I sighed. I had hoped that we wouldn’t have to have this conversation now, but maybe there wasn’t a good time to talk about it. “I can’t go back. I thought that I could. You know that I tried. But when we were there, I just never felt like myself.”
“What did you feel like?”
I didn’t have the answer to that. “Not me.”
“What if the person you had been isn’t the one that you will be?”
“I don’t know that I can change,” I said.
“I’m not saying that you would change, only that you’re not the person you believe yourself to be. You see yourself as nothing more than an assassin, but you’re not that at all. You use compassion when needed. Your intellect when it’s called for. And you try to do what is right. That’s the man that I care for, not the assassin.”
“They’re the same, you know.”
She smiled and touched my face. “Sometimes. But most of the time, you’re the man who rescued me when he could have done the job. You’re the man who remained determined to help me, to see that I returned to Elaeavn, even though you knew what that would mean for you when you did. That’s the man you are, Galen.”
We stepped outside the door and my anxiety peaked suddenly.
I placed myself between Cael and the door, quickly scanning the yard. She either Read me or knew enough not to object as I did.
Nothing looked any different than it had when we’d been here before. The air was quiet and still and I heard nothing moving. It was almost too quiet. At this time of day, with the sun beating brightly down, we should have seen something, either movement in the branches or the sound of birds, but the emptiness and the nothingness bothered me.
My instincts had saved me countless times, enough that I knew to trust them.
I ducked, pulling Cael with me. As I did, I rolled, pulling her so that I always managed to stay in front of her, using my body to shield her. Coming around, I saw a shadow shift slightly. It was the barest thing, almost nothing, but it didn’t belong. Without my Sight, I doubt that I would have recognized it.
A coxberry dart whizzed from my hand and toward the shadow.
There was a shimmer of light, just enough that I realized that someone Slid, and then the shadows moved.
Damn. I doubted that my dart struck, not if they were able to Slide away.
Cael pulled on my arm, and I glanced back at her. She had a pained expression on her face again, the same as what we’d seen when she tried to Read Lorst and his friends. Had they returned? If it were them, they wouldn’t be sneaking around behind him… unless they intended to clean up the mess that I had made. Could Lorst have been the one to move the bodies?
Creeping forward, I watched for the shifting of shadows, of anything that would let me know that there was something amiss. It took a moment to find it, but when I did, I saw the same strange shadows that shouldn’t be there.
This time, I palmed three darts. I didn’t want to risk missing, but I also didn’t want to risk using too many darts, not if I might need them if we were attacked. Given the way the shadows moved, and the shimmeri
ng I associated with Sliding, I didn’t think that was all that unlikely.
When the shadows shifted again, I flicked the darts, letting them fly in a wide pattern. Even like that, I had control with them. They whistled through the air, one piercing where the shadow had been and another where it reappeared during the Slide.
That one hit. I could tell as soon as it did.
The shadows began to recede as if a fog burned off by the sun. I motioned to Cael to stay down and crept forward. I didn’t know what I had seen, but the shadows and the shifting of the light that made it seem like Sliding made me nervous.
When I reached the spot where I had seen the shadows, I found a man motionless on the ground. There wasn’t anything remarkable about him. He had average height, short brown hair, and a cloak that matched his hair. Then I pulled back his lids and saw blue eyes.
I took a step back. This was the man who I’d seen Sliding? He wasn’t even of Elaeavn.
But then, neither had the Hjan, and when I’d faced them, I had barely survived.
Were they involved now?
Looking around the yard, I searched for Rebecca but saw no sign of her. She’d used the distraction to disappear.
With a sigh, I grabbed the fallen man and slung him over my shoulder. How was it that I would leave this estate a second time carrying someone?
When I reached Cael, she glanced at the man. “Him?”
I nodded. “If he’s what I fear, then we have more to worry about than Josun.”
“Why? What is it you fear?”
I searched the yard, noting all the places where someone could hide, realizing there were too many places where someone could be. Even with my Sight, I could overlook them.
Staying here was too dangerous, at least until I knew what it was that we dealt with.
This man would give me answers, and maybe to questions that I hadn’t expected to find here.
“Let’s get out of here, and then we can talk,” I said.
“Where?”
She wouldn’t like the answer, but then, I wasn’t liking anything that we were dealing with. “Talia. The last time I saw men like this, I’d been with Talia.”
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