“I didn’t question it because I trusted you.”
“And that was your mistake,” Linsay said.
Carth shrugged. “It was a mistake, but it’s one I was willing to make. It’s one I was happy to make. I would do it again for others I cared for if it meant that I was able to help them. Why else would I have brought you in and made you a part of what we were doing if I couldn’t trust you?”
“Yes. We are sisters. Talia has remained on Keyall, searching for answers on my behalf.”
“The Elder Stone?” She glanced at Alistan, and she realized that he had been watching Linsay with a mixture of surprise and uncertainty. He hadn’t known that she was the Collector. Which meant that perhaps he could be trusted, at least more than Talia.
“The Elder Stone is real,” Linsay said. “I tried to get you to listen before all of this, but…” She shook her head. “You had to trust Boiyn. And if you’ve spoken to Alistan, then you’ve heard the same stories that he has shared with others. He believes that Elder Stones exist in many different parts of the world, not only in Keyall. I believe it is his theory that your magic comes from the power of an Elder Stone. Isn’t that right, Alistan?”
Alistan locked eyes with Linsay. “They won’t let you find it. They won’t let me find it, and I’ve lived here for years.”
Linsay chuckled. “Oh, I’m quite certain of that. Talia was here long enough to be considered a part of the city. She should have been able to find the whereabouts of the Elder Stone, but alas, it was not to be.”
“Why this one?” When Linsay studied her, Carth looked around. They were at the edge of the city, near the rocky coast leading down to the water splashing far below. A few notes of smoke hung in the air from cook fires scattered throughout the city, and a fragrant scent drifted from the distant forest, but that was little more than an undertone. “Why is this Elder Stone so important to you? If what Alistan believes is accurate, then there should be Elder Stones in other places.”
“I’m quite certain there are. There are Stones in Elaeavn, but they are guarded by the Elvraeth who rule in the city. The Stones of your homeland have been lost. Otherwise, the Reshian never would have abandoned Ih. And then there is Lashasn, and the story of Ras. If there ever was an Elder Stone there, it has been lost long ago—so long ago that the memory of it has faded from the world.”
“There would have to be others. If what Alistan has told me is true, there would have to be other Stones, not just those.”
She shrugged. “It is possible, but this seemed to be the most likely candidate, and the easiest to reach. The others will come in time.”
“Easiest? You’ve stationed your sister on this rock for how many years? Five? Ten? Long enough for her to begin to show some effects.” Carth glanced at Talia. “Have you told her that? Have you revealed to your sister—the Collector—that you have developed an immunity to the shadow magic so that you can see through my cloaking?”
Talia’s gaze drifted to the ground and Carth was pleased to know that she had read that correctly.
“You haven’t told her, have you? Why not? What do you think to hide from your sister, the woman who placed you here, forcing you to serve her?”
Linsay grinned at Carth. “Now you think to divide us? You really haven’t learned anything yet. She won’t betray me. She can’t betray me.”
“And why is that?”
Linsay only shook her head. “Now, as to your task. I would have you find the Elder Stone and bring it to me.”
“If you’re the Collector, why can’t you gather the Stone and bring it?”
“I’m afraid it won’t work like that. Only someone touched by the elders is able to reach one of the Stones. You, Carthenne Rel, have proven that you’re touched by the elders. Perhaps more than touched, I suspect. Which is why you have to be the one to find the Stone.”
“Why?”
“I won’t be able to find it, and even if I could, I doubt that I’ll be able to use it. That is why you must bring it to me.”
“And if I don’t?” She thought she knew what Linsay would say, but she needed the confirmation. Hearing it this way—from someone who was supposed to be a friend—was hard, but necessary.
“You aren’t that ruthless, Carth. I know you too well.”
“You didn’t answer.”
“I didn’t think I needed to. If you don’t do this, then Jenna and Alayna will die.”
26
Carth sat with a barely touched glass of wine in her hands. Alistan tipped it to her lips, encouraging her to drink. She did so reluctantly, inhaling the heady scent of the fruit. It was good wine, the kind that she expected from a man like Alistan, the type of wine she suspected he had sourced from some difficult-to-reach locale, if only to brag about how hard it had been for him to acquire it.
“You can’t sacrifice the Elder Stone for the sake of your friends.”
Carth took another drink, licking her lips. She could say no. That was the predicament she was in. It would be easy enough to deny Linsay’s request and refuse to even search for the Stone, even if she thought she could find it, which she wasn’t entirely certain about. But Linsay had played her, and Carth knew that she had. Taking Boiyn from her had made her aware of her failings, an act that was so cold and calculating that Carth had to appreciate the gamesmanship within it.
It was the kind of maneuver she would never be able to make.
Maybe she would never be able to beat the Collector—Linsay. If she were willing to be that ruthless and Carth was not, how could she ever overcome her?
“I’ve already lost so many,” she said. “I can’t stomach the idea of losing them too. They’re important to me. They came here because of me.”
“They came here because she coerced you into coming.”
Carth sighed. She was thankful that Alistan had not been working with the Collector, at least not knowingly. He had employed Talia, though from what he said, many people in Keyall had employed Talia. That was how she had made herself useful—practically indispensable.
“That doesn’t change the fact that I need to help them,” she said. She took another drink of the wine. It made her feel lightheaded and she welcomed the sensation, not sending a surge of S’al through herself as she often did to clear the effects. She needed to revel in the headiness of the wine.
“Can you help them and not help Linsay?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” That was the question, and it was one that Carth didn’t have a good answer for. Somehow, she would have to determine whether she could help her friends, but she felt increasingly certain that she couldn’t. Linsay had proven her ruthlessness in her willingness to kill Boiyn.
That was a message to Carth, a way that, once Carth discovered her identity, she could force Carth to do what she wanted.
And it would work.
How could it not, when Carth couldn’t imagine leaving her friends to suffer—to be tortured, and ultimately killed—the same way that Boiyn had?
“You could use the constables,” Alistan said.
Carth looked over. “Could I? They’re immune to my magic because they are descendants of Keyall.”
He nodded.
“But they aren’t immune to the manipulations of the Collector. It’s possible that she has had Talia gathering information on them for her, to coerce them into doing what she wants.”
Alistan sighed. “It is possible.”
“Is there anything else you know about the Elder Stones that might help me know what needs to be done?”
Alistan nodded to his shelves. “I have spent many years searching for information about the Elder Stones. All that I have is contained here, but even that is not complete. Most of what I have is conjecture, stories that come from stories that come from other stories. Keyall is unique in that there are the remains of the temple, but there is nothing within the temple that would explain anything about this place or these people.”
“And there’s no place where this art
ifact could ever be found,” Carth said.
“It’s possible that there is some ancient hiding place for it, but…”
“But you’ve searched and haven’t found anything,” Carth said.
Alistan nodded. “I’ve searched, and I have not found anything,” he agreed.
Carth sighed. She took another drink of wine, finishing the glass. Alistan refilled it and left the bottle on the table near her. Her mind struggled to work through what she needed to do, continuing to encounter the same barriers each time. Whatever she tried to do, she would run into the need to save Jenna and Alayna, and she couldn’t do that without finding the Elder Stone.
“Then they are lost,” Carth said.
“I’m sorry, Carthenne Rel. I wish there was something that I could say or do to help you, but there’s nothing that I know. I’ve tried, but the people here have prevented me from knowing.”
Carth took another slow sip of her wine before she sat up. The people of this place were connected to Keyall in a way that reminded her of how the shadow blessed were connected to Ih or even how those of Lashasn were connected to the S’al.
That had to be the answer, at least an answer that could help her understand.
“I need to go to the constabulary.”
“Finally. They will see if they can help find your friends.”
“That’s not it,” Carth said. “I don’t think they can help me.”
“Then what do you intend to do by going to the constabulary?”
“I hope that they might help me find the Elder Stone.”
Alistan stared at her as if she were speaking in another language before shaking his head. “They won’t reveal anything to you. If they are truly the descendants of the Elder, they have an obligation to protect him, which means that they won’t reveal his source of power because if they did, they would lose their connection to that power.”
“That’s fine. They don’t have to reveal it. They just have to take the next step, and I’ll see what I can learn myself.”
Carth started down the stairs, ignoring Alistan’s shouts for her to slow down.
She hurried through the city, noting a quiet sort of chaos all around. Finding the constabulary again was easy, especially from here. It was a two-story building near the central plaza and was well lit despite the time of night. She approached the two guards standing watch before the building, and as she did, they both reached for their swords.
Carth didn’t even try reaching for the shadows. She stopped in front of them, holding her hands up. “I need to speak with Peter.”
The man nearest her frowned. “You are the one who escaped from the cells,” he said.
“I’m the one,” Carth said. “I need to speak with Peter.”
“You’re to be taken into custody and escorted—”
Carth surged a hint of shadow and flame together, exploding it directly in front of him. “No. There will be no escorting. Now, I ask you again to allow me to speak with Peter.”
The two men shared a glance before the far man hurried off, leaving the man nearest Carth attempting to appear imposing. He kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, and Carth suspected he was serviceable, maybe even skilled, but undoubtedly he was no match for her, even unarmed as she was.
It didn’t take long for Peter to appear. His dark eyes were sharp and he showed no signs of sleepiness despite the time of night. “What is this?” he asked, glancing from Carth to Alistan.
“My apologies, Constable, but this one was determined to speak with you this evening,” Alistan said. “I have tried to convince her to wait until morning…”
He nodded to the nearest constable. “Take her into custody. We can return her to the cell—”
“No,” Carth said. “I won’t even allow you to attempt to return me to the cell, not that it would hold me.”
“It held you well. Someone else rescued you from the cell. Otherwise you would have been trapped there.”
“Perhaps once, but now I know there’s another way.” Let him believe that she could actually find a way free, even though she wasn’t certain whether she could.
“There’s no other way out of the cells. That’s why they are as effective as they are.”
Carth glanced around the plaza. This was where Jenna had once been held and where she had gone wild, reverting to something that she had been prior to Carth finding her and getting her help. It had taken Boiyn and one of his elixirs to rescue her, but her friend still wasn’t all the way returned. Would she struggle just as much now that Linsay had betrayed them? Jenna had struggled to trust the way it was, and it had taken significant coaxing from both Carth and Alayna to draw her out. And she had spent time with Linsay, time that had apparently been misjudged.
“All I want is a chance to talk with you. Please.”
Peter glanced from Carth to Alistan, holding his attention on the merchant for the longest before nodding to Carth. “I’ll give you a chance to convince me. If you can’t…”
Carth nodded. If she couldn’t convince him, then she would have to move on, regardless of whether it required her to fight her way free.
They made their way inside the constabulary and Carth surveyed the room as she went in, looking around, trying to gauge what it would take for her to break free if she were to need to do so. She pulsed through her connection to the S’al, using it to help her gauge the number of people in the building. There were at least a dozen, enough that it would make a challenge if she attempted to fight her way free, and enough that she suspected more than a few would have to die in order for her to escape.
She would have to find a way to convince Peter of what she intended, and if she couldn’t, she had to be ready to fight.
He led her upstairs, and she noted that the walls here were all made of the same stone that the temple had been made of. It wasn’t that the building was comprised of it, but rather sections of stone had been hauled up, positioned along the walls, and mortared into place. Carth smiled to herself. Would it matter that the stone was not a continuous sheet? She suspected that it wouldn’t be nearly as effective that way as if they had used a single sheet.
Peter motioned to a chair, which Carth took. Alistan stood behind her and paced. Carth glanced back at him and realized that he had a familiarity with this room. He was not uncomfortable here, though why should he be? He had no connection to the shadows or the flame—magics that were ineffective here.
“Tell me why you felt the need to present yourself to me and demand my attention.”
“What have you heard about the Collector?” Carth asked.
“We have had this conversation before.”
“We have. I would like to know what you have heard.”
“Nothing more than rumor. This person terrorizes the merchants to prevent trade in the city. You claimed to have rectified that.”
“I thought I had.” Peter arched a brow. “What if I told you that the Collector was in the city now?”
“How would you know that?”
“Because I brought her here.”
“Her?”
Carth arched a brow. “You don’t think that someone as terrifying as the Collector could be a her?”
He grunted and drummed his fingers on the surface of the table. “I have some experience with capable women. I’m not making any sort of assumptions. It’s just that all the rumors I’ve heard of the Collector have stated that this person is male.”
“To deter others from realizing who she is.”
“And you know this with certainty?”
“Much certainty.”
Peter’s gaze shifted to Alistan, who nodded once.
Carth frowned. Was it going to be like that? Was Peter going to check with Alistan each time to verify that what Carth said was true?
“I came to you,” Carth said. “If you choose not to believe me, that is your prerogative.”
“And if I choose not to believe you, and choose to place you back into your cell?”
“I can’t allow that.”
Peter studied her. His drumming fingers stopped. “And now you think to threaten me.”
“It’s not a threat. I’m simply stating a fact, so that you understand where I’m coming from. I came to you because you might know something that will help me.”
“And why would I want to help you?”
“Because the Collector has two people that I care about.”
“You can prove this?”
Carth shrugged. “You’ll have to take my word for it.”
“I’m afraid, Carthenne Rel, that your word does not mean that much to me. You are widely regarded as someone who has little concern for the law, and so I don’t think that I can take your word for it.”
Carth would have to frame this in a way that would be convincing. How could she convince Peter—a man who lived by the rule of law of Keyall to the point that he punished people in ways that were almost cruel?
But the answer had been given to her by the Collector.
“Come with me, and I will show you what the Collector has done.”
“And just what is that?” Peter asked.
“Murder. The Collector killed one of my friends.”
27
The tavern had a somewhat somber air as they approached. There was no music drifting out through the door, none of the same liveliness that Carth was accustomed to from this place. She raised her hand as they approached, halting Alistan, but Peter continued onward, ignoring her.
“Something’s wrong here,” she said.
Alistan glanced from Carth to the tavern. “This is in a less reputable part of the city, so I would imagine that something is wrong here often.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that.”
Peter pulled the door open and Carth was not surprised to find the tavern empty. Trays of food were untouched on tables, and there were mugs of ale that were half-drunk.
“Where is everybody?” Alistan asked.
“As I said, something is off.”
Peter looked around and his hand went to the hilt of his sword, unsheathing it slightly. “You have stayed here?”
Shadow Games (The Collector Chronicles Book 2) Page 18