“I don’t see anything.”
“Hmm. If you work with the Reshian, you would say that, wouldn’t you? The Reshian have grown too powerful lately, and now, after the massacre… well, we are not strong enough to withstand another attack. If we fall, the entire northland falls, and the A’ras will not be responsible for that. We know what the Reshian want, and we know that they are powerful enough to overwhelm fully trained A’ras, which is why we have sought an alliance. In exchange for peace, they asked only one thing.”
Carth couldn’t think of what allies he might mean. Would it be men like Jhon? He had some abilities, though she hadn’t determined what those were. Or was there something else?
“What did they ask for?”
“You.” He turned to the stairs and paused. “In some ways, Ms. Rel, I am sorry, but then I remember what you have done to us.”
“Who? Who wants me?”
“I do not know what they want of you, but if it prevents additional attacks and pits them against the Reshian, the price is worth it.”
“Who do you mean?”
“It doesn’t matter to you anymore. They will take care of the Reshian threat. They have proven they are capable of it. That is enough.”
“The Hjan? That’s who you mean?”
“Goodbye, Ms. Rel.”
He started up the stairs, leaving her trapped in the room.
The masters had made an agreement with the Hjan. And they had agreed to trade Carth for perceived safety.
“There is no bargaining when it comes to the Hjan!” she shouted after him.
The door opened and then closed, leaving her alone. Carth paced around the inside of the barrier. She needed to reach the shadows, or the A’ras magic, anything that would help her find a way to get free. She didn’t have to be stronger than the barrier Master Harrison placed, only find a way to disrupt it, much like the Hjan had disrupted the barrier around the wall. A barrier she now knew was intended to hold back the Reshian.
She attempted to throw herself at the barrier but had the same experience she had before. Pain surged through her, but terror gave her renewed focus. She did it again, and again, but the outcome was no different.
She sagged to the ground.
If she couldn’t get free, eventually the Hjan would come for her. When her stomach flipped and the nausea came, she’d know her time was up.
When it came, she still wasn’t prepared.
Waves of nausea hit.
They came over and over. Carth imagined the flickering as the Hjan appeared.
Her breathing quickened. Were the masters—was Harrison—giving the Hjan access to the inside of the palace grounds? After the attacks they had already suffered, how could he do that?
A door opened. Carth noticed it as a stirring of the air, a gentle fluttering that told her she would no longer be alone. She wanted to stand, but it didn’t matter. Not now.
“Get up, Ms. Rel.”
She looked up and saw Invar standing on the edge of the barrier, wearing a pained expression. “Why? You want to bring me to the Hjan?”
His thin face darkened, making him appear even older. “Because you may be the only one who will be able to help us.”
“Harrison said—”
“Harrison is a fool. He remains stuck in the past, not able to move beyond old anger. That comes from his heritage and connection to the Alisant family. There are others like him who continue ancient hatred, unable to see beyond the past. Now, do you intend to get moving or will you remain here until they come for you?”
“I’m not with the Reshian.”
“I know you’re not, Ms. Rel, much as I know that you saved me from the Hjan attack. Twice. It was Hjan, regardless of what Harrison has managed to convince Lyanna and Erind.”
“Harrison said you suspected that I was with the Reshian.”
“He knows nothing, Ms. Rel.”
“He’s one of the masters…”
“Tell me, do you feel magic working now?”
She frowned but nodded. She could point out where the magic flowed around her, creating the barrier, as well as the magic that Invar used to disrupt it. “Yes.”
“There are probably five people on these grounds able to detect the power of the flame, Ms. Rel.”
“Who else? You?”
He nodded. “Most who study here can only reach an echo of the flame. They can reach it when it burns here, but they have no deeper connection. That flame has burned here for centuries, brought here by the A’ras ancestors, and it is the reason the palace has remained protected. It is the reason the first family chose Nyaesh as the seat of their power. Now is not the time for a history lesson, but know that most only reach the reflection of a greater power.”
“I don’t understand.”
He smiled at her. “There are very few with the ability to reach the true flame, Ms. Rel. Not in many years. If we survive this, you will learn why.”
“What is the flame?” she asked.
“It is something that reveals itself in unique ways. Some manage incredible strength. Some have visions. Others develop sensitivity to it.”
“Me?”
He smiled sadly. “Yes, Ms. Rel. You have an ability to reach the flame. Not the reflection, but the true flame. That, I suspect, is why it is so difficult for you to access it, but also why, when you do, you manage such strength.”
“Why does any of that matter?”
“It does not, other than for me to tell you that I believe you. I have waited for years for another with the ability to reach the flame. That is why I chose you.” He stepped across the barrier and held his hand out toward her. “Now, come with me, Ms. Rel. It is time for you to leave.”
“Leave?”
“This cell. Come.”
Carth reached for his hand and stood. He led her across the barrier, and a painful searing raced through her before disappearing as she crossed.
On the other side, the sense of both shadows and A’ras magic—the flame—returned. She wrapped herself in the shadows and sent them through her knife.
“This should never have been done to you,” Invar said softly.
They hurried up the steps. Another wave of nausea struck her. Carth shivered and nearly fell forward, struggling under the pain.
“Fight this, Ms. Rel. It will pass.”
“How do you know?”
“I don’t, but I need for it to pass. Otherwise, the A’ras will fall, which means Nyaesh will fall. We have stood for countless generations and cannot fail now.”
They emerged into the space above and Invar pushed open the door.
He pulled on a surge of profound power, more than she had ever detected from him before, enough that there was no question that he drew upon more than what most of the other A’ras reached.
On the other side of the door, she saw over a dozen of the Hjan as they flickered across the palace grounds. All seemed to be heading toward the palace.
“What do they want?” she wondered, but she didn’t expect an answer.
“The fool,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Me. I thought they wanted access to the Alisant, but that isn’t it at all.”
“What then?”
“Can you feel it? They would extinguish the flame. They would leave the north helpless. We cannot let that happen, Ms. Rel.” He unsheathed a pair of curved blades with handles almost more decorative than functional, and then slipped both her father’s knife and the one he’d made her out of a hidden pocket, handing them to her. “Are you ready to fight?”
Carth thought about why she would be fighting. The A’ras masters wouldn’t want her fighting, so why should she? “What if I don’t?”
“If you don’t, then Nyaesh will fall, much like Ih-lash. Others as well. The A’ras are but one barrier, but an important one, Ms. Rel.”
She frowned as she studied him, realizing something. “Are you even A’ras?”
Invar winked. “Jhon told me that you h
ad a quick mind. I am A’ras, but I would be a part of something else as well if they would have me.”
Jhon. She hadn’t seen him—or heard from him—since he’d sent her to the A’ras. He must have known that Invar would be here, and that she would have someone who would teach her, even if he had never seemed particularly inclined before now.
“What else? Why did he send me here?”
“That is an answer that you deserve, but one that will only come if we survive. Know for now that it was your mother’s will for you to come here. Now, Ms. Rel, unsheathe your knives and use both the shadow and the flame.”
25
Carth slipped from the building, shadows swirling around her.
Invar followed her, power burning from him with such amazing magnitude.
Carth didn’t have a chance to focus on it. A pair of Hjan flickered in front of her.
She sliced with her knife, catching the first man with the end of her blade and pushing shadows into him. They poured out, filling him. She remembered how the other Hjan had used some sort of light magic to defeat the shadows, so Carth forced more and more into him.
“That will be plenty,” Invar said.
She jerked around and saw the other Hjan lying on the ground. “I thought you couldn’t defeat the Hjan.”
“You’re not the only one who can learn, Ms. Rel.”
“That’s where you’ve been?”
“When I realized the depths of the threat, I knew that I had to find out all I could. It was inevitable that they would attack again.”
“Where are we going?” Carth asked.
“The palace. That is where the flame has been since the founding of Nyaesh.”
“And what happens if they extinguish it?”
Another Hjan appeared, and Invar slipped forward so quickly that he was a blur, striking the Hjan in the chest and sending a surge of A’ras power through him. Maybe it was not A’ras power, but the flame.
“As I have said, if they extinguish the flame, we will be in danger. Not you and I, but the people of the north. It is one layer of protection against those with power in the south.”
“It burned me,” she admitted, holding her hand out to him.
“You can reach the flame, Ms. Rel. You were never in any real danger from it.”
He motioned for her to follow, and they reached the palace.
The doors hung open, one in splinters. A body lay at an odd angle on the other side of the door. The spray of blond hair was familiar.
“Lyanna?” Invar whispered. He shook his head. “Damn you, Harrison. What were you thinking?”
His knives seemed to flow, as if the metal were liquid, and he stepped into the hall. A rolling sense of nausea struck her, and five Hjan appeared.
“Ms. Rel, I think that we will need all of your abilities now,” Invar managed to say more calmly.
Carth took a deep breath. The Hjan had attacked her parents. They had killed her mother, likely her father. And now they wanted to take the A’ras and the safety of the north. The A’ras might have abandoned her, but she would not abandon them.
Shadows swirled around her. Carth drew on them.
To this, she added the touch of her A’ras magic.
It burned.
And then ignited power.
Everything slowed.
She streaked forward, slicing as she did, catching each of the Hjan in the blink of an eye. She stopped next to Invar and pushed the shadows into them, using the combined effects of her power.
Time surged forward again.
The Hjan seemed to stutter as they tried to flicker, but failed.
They fell, almost as one.
Carth waited, pushing more shadows into them.
The man nearest her rolled toward her and flicked something toward her.
Invar dove and caught it with his knife, flipping it back to the Hjan. They stopped moving, stopped breathing.
Invar raced along the corridor to Master Hall. The door was open. On the other side, Erind lay unmoving. Harrison sat slumped along the wall, his eyes glossy. He looked up as they entered and his mouth moved, but he didn’t say anything.
Several of the Hjan flickered.
Carth again reached for shadows and flame, drawing them toward her. Power filled her, but the Hjan seemed ready for it this time. Unlike before, there was no stalling of time. They slashed toward her.
Carth ducked and sliced up with the knives. She twisted the one that might have been her father’s as well as the one that Invar had given her.
The nearest fell as Invar cut him down. Carth pressed shadows through her and caught the next two with her knives, hitting them with shadows.
Invar caught two more using a powerful draw of magic.
That left only one.
She’d seen him before. It was the man who had attacked Invar in the street.
He grinned when he saw her. “Not shadow blessed at all, are you? You are shadow born. We have yet to study one of the shadow born. I think that when we take you—”
Blood bloomed across his chest.
Harrison crouched behind him, his sword held between his hands. He sagged to the ground without saying anything more, the Hjan falling on top of him.
Carth shivered and looked around the Master Hall. The huge fire that had been here when she’d last come was gone, extinguished. The flame they had come to protect was gone. They were too late.
Invar touched the metal of the basin that had once held the fire. “All these years it has served as a barrier, as a marker, and now… now it is gone.” He turned to Harrison, anger flashing in his eyes. “You were a fool, Harrison, but you did not deserve this.”
“What can we do?”
“The fight out there will be up to you, Ms. Rel.”
“I can’t—”
“Ah, Ms. Rel, the Hjan were correct when it came to you. You are not shadow blessed, but shadow born.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It is why you can use the shadows the way you can. Shadow born are rarer than those with the ability to reach the flame, and more dangerous. I understand why they would want to study you, but you cannot let them succeed. You must fight, Ms. Rel. We must expel the Hjan from the grounds.”
She looked at the men fallen in front of her. How much more could she do? How much would she be responsible for? “If I do this, what will you do?”
“The flame, Ms. Rel. It must be relit.”
“Can you do that?”
Invar stared at it. “I must. And now you must go.”
Carth took one more look around the Master Hall, then rushed out of the palace. She encountered no other Hjan as she did and found no A’ras, either. The halls were empty, holding only the bodies.
Outside was different.
Flickers sent nausea rolling through her. There was a direction to it. The cosak.
It hadn’t been enough for the Hjan to extinguish the flame and kill the masters, but they had to go after the ashai?
Alison was there.
Samis, too. Did she care enough about Samis after what he’d done?
As she ran across the grounds, she realized that she did. She couldn’t let him get killed for stupidity.
A flicker appeared in front of her, and Carth, wrapped with shadows and flame, stabbed the Hjan that appeared. She didn’t wait to see if he would get back up. She raced forward and saw the cosak coming into view. The sounds of scattered screams reached her.
Her stomach rolled, but not because of the Hjan.
This had been her home for the last few years. These were people she knew.
A pair of Hjan flickered into view in front of her.
Carth lunged, reaching away with both of her knives, sending shadows into her father’s knife and flame through the one Invar had given her.
She twisted, and the attacker slapped her knives out of her hands.
The Hjan nearest her smirked.
Carth reached for the shadows, cloaking herself with them.
As she did, she kicked, rolling toward her fallen knife. She managed to reach it and twisted, slicing as she did toward the nearest Hjan. She caught him on the arm, and he fell. Light surged from a knife, much like it had when the one Hjan had somehow reversed the effect of her shadows. Carth kicked at his hand, and the knife went flying. She sent the shadows through him, flooding him with darkness. He convulsed and stopped moving.
The other Hjan had escaped in the attack. Carth ran toward the cosak. Much like at the palace, the doors were open. She saw a small form lying unmoving on the other side of the door. Carth didn’t want to check, but she had to know. She rolled the body over. Elian. He was new to the A’ras and often had a sharp tongue, but no one deserved this.
Nausea struck her, and she looked up.
A Hjan at the end of the hall noticed her crouching there. “We had cleared this place,” he said. “Come with us, girl, if you wish to survive.”
“Come with you?” She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“You would have to be sensitive to be here. You will be given the opportunity to join, and if you choose otherwise…”
Was that the reason the Hjan had come to the palace? Had they intended to abduct children, making this no different than what she’d stopped near the docks years ago?
The Hjan stalked toward her, flickering as he came.
Carth didn’t move. She needed to know what they intended. If the Hjan were taking the ashai, then she would need to help them.
As he neared, he seemed to realize that she wasn’t as concerned as she should have been. He flickered, reappearing behind her.
Carth spun, pulling on shadows as she did.
They swirled around her, and she sliced at the Hjan, her first attack missing. His didn’t.
When his blade cut her arm, Carth screamed and nearly lost her knife.
Pain burned through her, but with a strange sensation, one that felt almost like her magic seeped out. Could the Hjan somehow steal her magic, siphoning it off?
She jumped back and pulled on the shadows, but the connection was different now. Weaker.
The Hjan smiled, as if he knew what effect his blade would have on her flesh, and flickered toward her.
Shadow Cursed (The Shadow Accords Book 2) Page 18