That was the move she had to anticipate.
So far, she thought she’d managed to remain ahead of them, but it might not last. The Reshian and the A’ras were two pieces, and she had to be the more powerful piece, maneuvering around them.
If she placed herself in the Hjan’s position, she would try to get the A’ras and Reshian to attack each other—but what else would she do?
There were countless strategies she could consider, too many for her to account for, which was why she had to keep the Hjan from attacking.
A flicker of nausea came. After it did, she felt the pressure of A’ras—or Lashasn—magic.
It was close.
Carth hurried toward it, pulling the shadows around her. As she approached what she’d detected, she noted how it was near the Reshian, close enough that they would be in danger.
Using the shadows, she wrapped them around the Reshian.
It was the only way she could think of to keep them safe. She had to hold on to the concealment, not sure whether she could, but needing to maintain it so they weren’t attacked. Creeping forward, she found the source of the attack.
Dara.
What was she doing here? How had the Hjan captured her?
No answers came. All that came was power from Dara, more than she would have ever known her capable of producing.
It surged from her, with a strength that Carth couldn’t fully believe. How had she missed that?
And Carth was responsible for bringing her here.
“Dara?”
Dara ignored her, attacking with bright violence.
Carth did the only thing she could think of and countered with shadows.
She wrapped the other woman in them, using the one thing her new friend feared, the one thing Carth had not wanted to use on her when learning how much she had feared the shadow magic. It stopped the attack, preventing her from using her power against the Reshian.
Dara convulsed and turned toward Carth, throwing a mixture of power at her. She used the shadows to resist, but restricted her power, avoiding using too much, not wanting to harm Dara.
She was strong, and had Carth not faced Ras, she might not know how to counter it, but she was able to use the connection to the shadows and remembered what he had done to suppress her ability.
Dara’s attack failed and she fell.
Carth ran over to her. Why would she have attacked? Was this why Ras was here, or was there another reason? What was she missing?
All Carth wanted to do was help her. “Easy,” she said soothingly, reaching for Dara, who trembled, then started convulsing, her entire body shaking. As Dara continued to convulse, her eyes held a blank stare as she looked up at Carth—a glassy-eyed expression.
Had Dara not been in control of herself?
It was possible she wasn’t. The Dara she knew wouldn’t have attacked her. She had feared those from Ih, not wanted to attack.
Why then?
Unless… could the Hjan have done something?
The idea terrified her, left her feeling a cold chill deep within her.
Was that the Hjan secret she had feared?
The idea seemed terrifying if true. If the Hjan could control someone, could force them to attack against their will, who could stand against it?
Her breath caught and her mind raced.
She had thought this a board with different sides, but what if the Hjan were responsible for allowing only one side to play? What if they prevented anything else from taking place?
It would be dangerous if true.
She left Dara and moved on, hurrying back toward the Reshian camp.
As she did, she noted how the shadows shifted.
They stretched away from her, drawn from her. This was a shadow born using them. There weren’t many shadow born, at least as far as she knew, so even one moving the shadows was significant.
That was the key, wasn’t it? That was the reason the Hjan had wanted the two sides here. If the Hjan could control a shadow born, and they could control those descended from Lashasn, they wouldn’t need to possess the power themselves. They would have it.
They only needed to ensure that any who might oppose them were removed.
A’ras power surged, this time toward her.
As it did, she realized that she’d been playing the game the wrong way all along. She had played according to rules that were wrong, rules that applied when she thought about the game a certain way, but not rules that seemed to apply to the Hjan.
They hadn’t been trying to pit the A’ras and the Reshian against each other to destroy them; they wanted their power, which meant removing threats to that power, but bringing it together so they could claim it.
Carth unsheathed her knife. One day, she would have to craft her own knife, but for now, she was thankful Ras had returned this one to her. It was a knife meant for one shadow born, a knife that she could use to press the shadows through, one that had once been her fathers.
Her stomach rolled with nausea.
Carth attacked.
Shadows and flame leapt away from her, streaking in the direction from which she’d felt the nausea.
The man who had flickered near her watched her with angry eyes. “Shadow born.”
Carth glared at him. “Your attack will fail.”
“It has already succeeded. How many of the Reshian do you think will survive? How many of the A’ras? Now that we control those in power—”
“You don’t control me.”
“You have no power.”
“Don’t I?”
The man grinned. “What do you think you can do? How many can you save?”
“More than you understand.”
His grin widened. “You can’t hold me forever, not if you intend to help.”
Carth sliced her knife through his arm, releasing a hint of the shadow magic and mixing it with the A’ras flame.
He screamed.
As Carth watched the shadows and the flame work through him, she gave a slight push upon it, forcing the magics beneath his skin. He shook, and she could feel him trying to flicker and escape, but there was nothing he could do.
She understood why the Hjan feared her. She could hold them. Using the combination of her abilities, she would be able to trap them. That was the reason they feared her, and the reason they wanted to remove the threat of the Reshian and the A’ras.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I can hold you,” she said.
He screamed again, and again he tried escaping, but the way she’d used the combined effect of her magic held him.
His scream drew others.
Hjan flickered around her. Two, then three, then six.
With them came A’ras—or Lashasn, she realized—they controlled, as well as one who controlled the shadows. That was the secret move she had missed, the play she had not expected. There were several A’ras she recognized, and the shadow born she detected… there was real power there.
Her breath caught. In spite of everything, she was still surprised to learn it was her father.
Shadow and A’ras warred, with Carth caught in the middle like the Tsatsun Stone. The Hjan flickered from place to place, trying to attack, but she held them off with the combination of shadow and flame.
One of the Hjan reached her. She cut him with the knife, pressing her magic into him as she did.
Another reached her.
She did the same.
Three Hjan were down.
The others continued to attack, circling her.
The attack shifted. Now, those of A’ras pressed in, and she felt the swaying of shadows as they neared.
The Hjan would be caught in the middle. With her. If they succeeded, they would destroy all of the north. If they controlled the Reshian and the A’ras, none would be safe. They would be able to move openly. Carth felt deeply within her that could not happen.
Even were the A’ras and the Reshian to succeed, would they be safe? If they reached a bargain with each ot
her, would it matter?
The Hjan had shown they had the ability to continue to overcome them, especially if they really had some way to control them. In time, they would attack again—would she be able to stop them the next time?
Power surged around her. She felt it, and somehow it didn’t affect her.
She was the Stone in the middle.
It was time for her to push back.
What could she do?
How could she fight against strength like this?
Her mind twisted through the possibilities, thinking about what she’d experienced. Ras who had wanted to protect those he cared about, people she now understood to be the descendants of Lashasn. Her father, even though he’d abandoned her, had wanted to protect the Reshian. Invar, who had fought against the Hjan, knowing the A’ras could not withstand their strength.
How could she help?
Carth had to do something. She might be the only one who could. Who else could hold the Hjan in place and prevent them from attacking? Who else had stopped them when they had nearly overcome Nyaesh?
This was her fight. This was her game.
Carth reached for the shadows, drawing as many as she could to her, and mixed with that the A’ras flame she could reach, her mother’s ring helping her touch more than she could before. Flame and shadow mixed, overpowering the nausea of the flickering Hjan. Stronger and stronger, now drawn through her knife, through her, filling her…
As it did, she saw what needed to be done, saw the moves she had to make as if it played out across as Tsatsun board.
She released the power.
It exploded from her.
The attacks stopped.
Shadows parted. The burning beneath her skin faded. Even the flickering nausea eased.
She glanced to Invar, who watched her with an interested expression. Her father wore a confused expression which faded, becoming angry as he turned his attention to the Hjan. He recognized what had happened, and how he had almost been used.
That left the Hjan.
The dawn sky grew brighter.
Invar with the A’ras, with Alison and Samis watching her, matching expressions of shock on their faces, stood opposite the Reshian, with her father leading them. And then there were the Hjan.
They were opposite the other two sides, like three points of a triangle, or three players of a dangerous game.
No, she decided. There were four, and she knew the only strategy that would succeed.
She stepped toward the Hjan. “You failed.”
One of them came toward her. She thought she’d seen him before. Like so many of the Hjan, he had a long scar that ran around the side of his face. What did they hide beneath the scar? She’d need to understand them better, but that would come later.
“This is not over.”
“It is. The A’ras and Reshian will make peace. The Hjan will fail. You cannot continue to control them, not with me involved.” She stepped toward him. “You can choose whether to join the treaty or to continue your attacks. Know that if you continue, I will do all that is in my power to destroy you.”
The man smiled. “You? What makes you think you can—”
She flowed toward him on the shadows, and her knife cut him across the chest. She pressed shadows and A’ras flame into him. Like the other Hjan she’d attacked, he screamed.
“What did you do?” he demanded.
“Who else will speak for the Hjan?”
A man with bright green eyes stepped forward. He had no scar and carried himself with authority. He studied her, and for a moment, she thought she felt pressure against her head. Flames burned through her, as if she called upon the magic without intending to, and then eased.
The man nodded. “It seems we’re at an impasse.” The words reminded her of the game she’d played with Ras, the one that had freed her from her prison.
Carth frowned. Had he tried to control her? Did her combination of magic protect her?
She glanced back to her father, and then to Invar. A treaty needed to be made. That was the entire reason they were here, and she would see it succeed. That treaty might be the only way the Hjan could not reach the north. They must make their treaty.
What of the Hjan? How did she handle the threat of the Hjan?
Carth played out different scenarios in her mind, but none brought peace, none other than one in which the treaty included the Hjan.
There was only way toward lasting peace.
“There will be peace,” she said, looking to the A’ras and the Reshian before turning back to the green-eyed Hjan. “There will be an accord signed.”
Invar and then her father nodded.
Turning to the Hjan, she waited, ready for him to refuse, prepared to slide forward on the shadows and attack him as well if she needed to, but it proved unnecessary.
“We will accept.” With those words, all of the other Hjan flickered and disappeared, leaving only the green-eyed man remaining.
31
As Carth made her way back toward the docks, she stopped when she saw a familiar figure standing, almost as if waiting for her. He leaned on one of the posts of the dock, and in the dinghy behind him, she noted Jhon along with Captain Isan.
“Was this your plan, Ras?” she asked.
A slow smile parted his lips. “This was not my plan. I wanted nothing to do with this, but you disappeared and the Hjan… It no longer matters. You have seen the descendants of Lashasn are safe.”
“You didn’t know?”
“I came only to protect them.”
“You haven’t left Odian in some time, have you?”
He shook his head. “When I heard of the treaty, I knew what would happen.”
Carth should have too, but she’d missed that move. That troubled her. She should have seen what they would have planned.
“The A’ras could train them.”
Ras shook his head. “The A’ras could teach them some of what they are capable of, but not all.” Light briefly surged from him. “Much like you would not have been able to learn all that you needed from them.”
Carth shook her head. “You offer to teach me now?”
“What is there to teach, shadow born? You have proven a keen mind, and a master of Tsatsun.”
Carth looked to Jhon. “You’re with them?” she asked Ras.
He stared back at her without saying anything.
Carth stared at Jhon, her mind racing. She had thought she’d beaten Ras at Tsatsun, but what if he had played her? As she stared at him, she convinced herself that she saw a hint of a smile, but then it faded.
“What of me?” she asked. She looked back toward Wesjan and saw Guya watching her. Where had he been and what did he wait for?
“That hasn’t changed, Carthenne,” Jhon said. “You could still learn from the Reshian. We will take you where you need to go to learn. You’ve seen your father’s strength. There is more than only strength, a reason to what he has done, but he should be the one to explain.”
Carth considered the offer. She wanted to learn about her shadow abilities, and seeing that her father was shadow born made it clear she could learn from him, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
“I think… I think I’m done letting others show me what they think I should learn,” she said. “It’s time for me to decide.”
Ras nodded. “A bold move. I would expect nothing less from the woman who plays such a decisive game of Tsatsun.”
“A necessary one.”
Jhon looked from her to Ras. “Where will you go?” he asked.
She looked toward the Goth Spald in the distance. She thought she knew what she would do, but it involved seeing if Guya was willing to still help. She still didn’t know what had happened to him while she’d secured the peace, but had her suspicions.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I have to know yet. Wherever it is, I intend to ensure the Hjan do not violate the Accords.”
“And if they do?” Ras asked.
Carth smiled grimly. “I will be there.”
Jhon watched her, saying nothing. Ras smiled, a flash of light coming as he breathed out. She expected him to try to convince her, but he did not, instead leaving with Jhon as they rowed away from the dock, leaving her standing alone.
Carth watched, waiting until they disappeared before turning. Guya waited there with Dara. Carth had brought her off the plains, not certain what she would do. She hadn’t seen Guya since they’d arrived in Wesjan, and she had been surprised to find him waiting for her.
“You didn’t want to go with them?” Guya asked.
“I think it’s time I take control of my life.”
Guya laughed. “Control? Seems like you took control from the moment we met.”
Carth looked toward the Levelan. Was that Ras standing on the bow watching her?
“This is different. This is my choice. And Talun?” She figured Guya had dealt with him.
“Fool thought to linger in Wesjan after he came. I found him, and my ship.”
“I see that. What happened to him.”
“Talun don’t have the Goth Spald anymore.”
“No? And the crew?”
He shrugged.
Carth wondered what he might have done but realized it didn’t matter. She turned to Dara. “You could go with Ras.”
“I think… I think I would prefer to stay with you.”
“I can’t teach you what he could. If you’re descended from Lashasn…”
Carth didn’t know what that meant, though she was descended from Lashasn as well. She could go with Ras, learn to use the S’al—the same magic the A’ras called the flame—but she had chosen not to. It was time she lived alone. Time she understood herself.
“I will learn something else from you.”
Carth smiled, surprised Dara would want to stay with her. “I don’t know where I’m going, but if Captain Guya is willing, I’d like to travel with him.”
He looked at her with an unreadable expression. “Aye? Now that I got the Spald back, I could use a new crew. Hard life, being a sailor. No real home for us, other than the ship, but you get to see a bit of the world. Might encounter a different kind of danger.”
Carth looked out into the harbor, toward the Goth Spald, and smiled. There was more she wanted to see, and she intended to ensure the Hjan complied with the accords. If they didn’t, she intended to do as she had promised.
The Shadow Accords Box Set: Books 1-3 Page 60