Shadow Games (The Collector Chronicles Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  Carth had played Tsatsun on a broader scale, forcing the Hjan to agree to the accords, but had never tried it on such an individual level. It was almost too much to consider attempting. Doing so required him to be able to navigate dozens—possibly hundreds—of people.

  Which was why she was certain he was a Tsatsun master. She didn’t doubt that he had manipulated her reaction. It simply impressed Carth that he was able to do so.

  A nagging doubt at the back of her mind troubled her. Could the Collector still be playing her? It was possible that he intended for Talia to come to Carth this way, and that her doing so would prompt her to react in a way that he wanted, but…

  Thinking through it left her mind busied. It had been a long time since she had felt that way about strategy, since before she’d attempted to learn Tsatsun.

  She needed to sit in front of a board, if only to organize her thoughts.

  “You came here to help me escape?” Carth asked.

  Talia nodded. “He doesn’t know.”

  That was one thing she questioned, but that was also the thing that might matter the least. If the Collector knew that Talia was here and knew that she would help rescue Carth, it didn’t change the fact that Carth had a choice. She had seen the way the rest of the tribunal had reacted. They would convict her, so she didn’t struggle to believe that the tribunal would sentence her to death, even though that seemed extreme. What else would they do with her, though? They feared her enough to trap her in a cell like this, a place where not only could she not escape, but her magic was ineffective. If they were that scared of her, she wasn’t surprised that they would be motivated by fear to end her.

  “What’s your price?” Carth asked.

  “Price?”

  “For helping me. What are you going to require in return?”

  Talia shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “You’re just going to help me escape? That’s it?”

  Talia nodded.

  “And when the Collector learned that you helped, if he does not know already?”

  “Then it will have been a choice that I made,” Talia said. “I will face the consequences.”

  That was more than most were willing to do, Carth knew.

  With a sigh, she nodded to Talia, motioning her forward and to the platform. Carth followed and stepped out of the cave and into the darkness of night. She breathed in the cool salt air and felt a momentary flutter of nerves at agreeing to risk herself—and also her friends—without having all of the information necessary.

  “I will pledge my protection,” she said to Talia as a woman began pulling on the rope, raising the platform.

  Talia glanced back at her. “I’m not sure that even you can offer that.”

  Carth frowned, knowing that Talia might be right, but that didn’t change the fact that she would help. “I’ve faced others who were believed to be unstoppable, and I’ve managed to defeat them.” Defeat might be too strong of a word. She had stopped Danis, but she hadn’t defeated him. He remained a threat, if neutralized.

  “I will help you get your friends, and then you should leave Keyall behind.”

  She looked over at Talia, holding her gaze. Could she do that? If she left, what would happen to her? Maybe nothing. It was possible that the Collector didn’t know that Talia had helped Carth, but the more likely answer was that he already knew—if he hadn’t manipulated it so that she helped.

  “You could come with me,” Carth said.

  Talia shook her head. “If only I could.”

  “And why can’t you?”

  “Because I’m not the only one he has forced to work with him.”

  As Carth looked at her, she knew that she couldn’t abandon Talia—or anyone else who might need her help—not if the Collector truly had forced them to serve. She wouldn’t have abandoned anyone to Danis and the rest of the Hjan, and she couldn’t very well leave Talia and the rest of Keyall under the thumb of the Collector.

  Which meant that she would somehow have to stop him.

  Even coming to that realization didn’t make her feel good. She couldn’t be certain that she was making it of her own accord. What if the Collector had somehow coerced her into such a choice?

  8

  Talia stopped the platform at the entrance to another cavern. Darkness poured inside, but Carth could detect movement within. Was this another cell, much like hers had been a cell? Was this what the Collector had done to her friends?

  “Here?” Carth asked.

  Talia nodded. “The others are here.”

  “All of them?”

  “All of them. There are few enough of these sorts of cells. It’s uncommon for them to be used, and when they are, typically the prisoners are kept together. You were the first in many years to have been imprisoned alone.”

  Carth didn’t know whether she should be pleased at the compliment or offended.

  She stepped off the platform before Talia had stopped its ascent completely. She hurried into the cave, detecting the sense of Jenna and Alayna. There was a third sense here, but it was faint.

  Had something happened to Boiyn?

  When she approached, Jenna lunged out of the darkness and collided with her, tackling her to the ground. A knee crashed into her ribs and Jenna pushed her down, readying to slam her fist into Carth’s face.

  “Jenna—”

  Jenna’s attack eased before stopping. “Carth? How is it that you’re here?”

  “Talia helped rescue—”

  Jenna leapt to her feet and sprinted toward Talia, pinning her to the wall.

  “Jenna,” Carth said, trying to calm her friend. “She helped me.”

  Jenna glanced over at Carth, her eyes carrying a hint of the wildness they had had after her capture and imprisonment. “She’s the reason we’re here, Carth. She’s with him. The Collector.”

  Carth nodded. “I know.”

  “You know?”

  Carth nodded again. “I know that she’s with the Collector. What I don’t know is whether she’s helping me because she wants to help or because it’s what he wants her to do.”

  Talia frowned. “I had told you—”

  “You told me that you were helping because I didn’t reveal what you had done. That doesn’t tell me whether or not it’s what the Collector wants done.”

  “I’m not helping him with this.”

  “Not that you know.”

  “Where’s Alayna?”

  Jenna gradually released her hold on Talia and nodded toward the back of the cave. “She’s watching over Boiyn.”

  “What happened to him?”

  Jenna shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s gotten worse the longer we’re here, but we don’t know why.”

  Carth thought she knew why. Before their capture, Boiyn had sustained a severe burn when the ship had been destroyed. Could he have been more injured than she had realized?

  She hurried to the back of the cave and found Alayna, who looked up and blinked, taking a moment before she spoke. “Carth?” she whispered.

  Carth took her hand, squeezing it gently. “I’m here.”

  “How? I mean… How? They told us that your magic wouldn’t work here, and after what you had experienced before, we weren’t sure whether to believe them, but days passed and you never came for us.”

  “I’m here now.”

  She looked down at Boiyn. He didn’t move. He breathed slowly, far more slowly than what Carth thought that he should, and heat radiated from his forehead. Boiyn had pale skin, and she had never seen him sweat, likely something related to his albinism, though she wasn’t certain whether that was true.

  “We’re going to get you out of here, Boiyn.”

  It seemed as if his breathing quickened, but not much.

  “Where can we take him? Everything that he would’ve had to help us would have been destroyed on the ship,” Alayna said.

  Carth scooped Boiyn up. He was light, and the heat coming off him troubled her. She’d felt others
with such fevers, and she knew she didn’t have the healing knowledge necessary to help him. The only one who might have that knowledge was the man lying injured and dying in her arms.

  As she made her way toward the mouth of the cave, she glanced over at Alayna. “I don’t know where we’ll take him. We’ll find an herbalist and see if they can offer us any assistance.”

  “You would trust someone in the city?” Alayna asked.

  “What choice do we have?”

  As they reached the platform, Alayna looked around. “What of Linsay? They didn’t imprison her with us, so we hope that either she was with you or she had gotten away.”

  Carth squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, suppressing the surge of frustration. “Neither.”

  Jenna frowned. “What?”

  Carth shook her head. “The answer is neither. Linsay is working with the Collector.”

  “She wouldn’t do that, not to us. I know she was getting frustrated with what we were doing, but…”

  Carth sighed. “It was all an act. She’s been working with the Collector, feeding him information. I don’t know how long she’s been doing it, but probably from the very beginning. That’s how he knew so much about me, and how he knew the way that I would react.”

  “Are you sure?” Alayna asked. “Linsay has helped us. She’s been with us.”

  Carth nodded. “I didn’t want to believe it either. I think the Collector counted on that, and counted on the fact that I would be swayed by her story, and that she would be able to influence me.” And she had. If nothing else, it had revealed a weakness to Carth, though it was a weakness that Carth had known she had. She didn’t need the Collector to demonstrate that she had a weakness in helping those who were otherwise helpless. It had gotten her in trouble more times than she wanted to admit. But now it seemed as if her weakness had potentially put others she cared about in danger. That weakness would need to be turned into a strength, though Carth wasn’t certain that she knew how.

  “I’m sure.”

  They started up the platform, heading into the dark night. Carth helped with the ropes, pulling on her connection to the shadows to strengthen her so that she could bring them to the surface more quickly. Once there, they had to find a way to get Boiyn help, and then she had to figure out what she was going to do about the Collector.

  “Do you know what he wants? Is it really an Elder Stone?” Alayna asked.

  Talia tipped her head to the side, listening. What did she know about what the Collector was after?

  “He came to me when I was trapped,” Carth said. She pulled on the rope, heaving with shadow-enhanced strength. “He wanted me to find something for him. That’s the reason that he convinced Linsay to guide us here. He intended for me to be the one to help him, somehow.”

  “Why? What is it that he thinks that you can help him get?” Alayna asked. “Is it this Elder Stone?”

  “He didn’t tell me,” Carth said. “There is something of power that he is convinced will help him defeat the Hjan.”

  “If he has been getting information from Linsay, he would know that you forged the accords,” Alayna said.

  Carth nodded. “He would know, but he would also know that I might be the only one who has ever defeated the Hjan, at least enough to influence their behavior.”

  “And there’s something here that would allow him to have that kind of power?” Alayna asked.

  Carth looked at the stone as it moved past. She pulled on the rope, her hands feeling fatigued from doing so, knowing that there was a sort of power here, one that she was all too aware of. That power resisted her connection to her own power, and it was enough to prevent her from using either shadow or flames to force her way to freedom.

  “We have learned time and again that there are many types of power in the world,” Carth said. “Some are magical, and some are a natural sort of power.” She looked down at Boiyn, thinking of his enhancements. They would have been valuable during her captivity, as much as she disliked the idea of being reliant upon them. “I wouldn’t be surprised that there is something here that he feels might be helpful in gaining more power. The problem is I’m not certain that someone like him should be in command of that much power.”

  “Then don’t find it for him,” Talia said. She spoke softly, and the faint moonlight that drifted down reflected off her skin, making it seem to glow. “Just leave it alone. I don’t know if it is an Elder Stone, or if they could even be real, but I do know that he can’t be trusted with that much power. Maybe no one could.”

  “Carth could,” Jenna said. The wildness had left her eyes, but the hollowness, the edge that remained from the elixir she had taken to calm her, had not. Carth had to help bring her back from that, regardless of what else she had done. Her friend deserved that. She deserved happiness. She had been through too much otherwise.

  “Maybe,” Talia said. “But if you find it”—she stared at Carth, her expression hard—“he will take it from you. He is the smartest man I have ever met. He is cold. Calculating. It’s how he managed to rise to such power in Keyall in such a short period of time. Don’t claim it, I beg of you.”

  “I have no intention of finding it, even if such a thing were to exist.”

  “No? You aren’t even tempted to know whether an Elder Stone could exist?” Alayna asked.

  Carth breathed out a heavy sigh. There was temptation, but she knew enough about herself—and what she had been through—to know that power corrupted. It was why she avoided utilizing enhancements. If she were given even more power than she already possessed, she didn’t know what she might do with it. Would she become corrupted? Would she begin to think that she had the right to rule and the right to decide on behalf of others? Already there were times when she thought that she might be overstepping, but she did so with a desire to help. If she kept that desire at the forefront of her mind, she knew that she would make mistakes, but she would be making them for the right reason. If nothing else, she was comfortable with that.

  “I need to ensure that the Collector doesn’t hurt anyone.”

  Alayna shook her head. “That’s not why you should stop him.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because he will disrupt the accords, and you’re the only one who should be allowed to do that.”

  Carth smiled. “Eventually. There will come a time when I will have to stop the threat of the Hjan.”

  The others didn’t understand the threat nearly as well as Carth. They hadn’t known the Hjan the way that Carth did, and hadn’t encountered them as often—or as dangerously—as Carth had. But they believed her. They had seen others hurt by the Hjan, and they knew that they could not be allowed to continue growing more powerful.

  “How do you intend to stop him?” Alayna whispered.

  They reached the top of the cliff. The mechanism that comprised the platform was impressive. An entire building of gears worked to help lower the platform down the side of the cliff. A man lay motionless near the door, and Carth glanced over at Talia. Maybe the woman was telling her the truth and she had come here without the blessing of the Collector. How long would it take for the Collector to realize that Talia was the one who had freed Carth and her friends?

  “I’m not sure that I can stop him,” Carth said.

  “Then we should go,” Jenna said.

  Carth glanced at her friend, surprised by the reaction. She had never known Jenna to run from a fight. If anything, Jenna had always been the one needing to be reined in, always too impulsive. And now, if she had changed that much, it bothered Carth that her friend would be like that.

  “I think… I think I need to find what he’s after,” Carth said.

  Talia’s eyes widened. “Carthenne—”

  Carth looked at her, meeting the woman’s dark eyes. “Tell him that. Tell him that I will find the Elder Stone. And tell him that when I do, I expect that it will give me the power to stop him.”

  9

  Carth leaned over the table
in the tavern, staring at the piece of paper that she had marked out, turning it into a Tsatsun board. The tavern was on the edge of the city, far enough away from the constables that she doubted that she would draw their attention. She hoped that she could maintain their anonymity here, in a place other travelers moved through.

  Trade had returned to Keyall. Not so much as there once had been, but more than had come through here in some time. Dozens of ships were out in the harbor, each from the north, and their merchants and sailors began to add to the color of the city once more.

  She surveyed the tavern. There were a handful of other merchants, each dressed in clothes from one of the northern cities, unique enough that Carth could pick them out from a distance. Because of that, she could blend in. And she wondered if perhaps she could return to the north on one of the ships, were it necessary.

  A mug of ale sat on the table in front of her, untouched. The plate of food had been picked at, but she hadn’t given it the attention it needed either.

  Carth sighed and studied the makeshift Tsatsun board again. As she did, she asked herself the question that had driven her to create the board in the first place: what would the Collector do?

  In order to determine that, she arranged her makeshift pieces around the board, creating the Collector’s position and placing Carth in the position of weakness. It was the only way that she could think to determine how he was playing her, and even in that, she wasn’t certain whether she had accounted for everything that he knew and was planning.

  When arranged like this, it was easier for her to see how he had managed to force her into this predicament. It was easier for her to understand why she struggled to outmaneuver him. He had her blocked at each attempt. His stones included the tribunal and the constables, while Carth had only her small collection of stones—and one of them had actually turned out to be one of the Collector’s pieces.

  It was a losing hand.

  Alayna pulled the chair opposite Carth out and took a seat. “Boiyn recovers,” she said.