Shadow Hunted (The Collector Chronicles Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “From your comment, I take it that you intend to go find out,” she said.

  “We were already heading there before.”

  “But that’s not what you intend to do this time,” Alayna said, looking down the street. In the distance, the forms of the two constables who had been in the shop were growing ever more distant.

  Carth smiled to herself. Alayna really was growing more skilled with her observation. “No. That’s not exactly what I intend to do this time.”

  “I’ll find you both later,” Linsay said. “I’m going to see what I can discover. There’s an ancient temple here that I still need to inspect, along with a few other—”

  Carth waved her away. It was typical for Linsay to disappear in various cities as she searched for artifacts, so this wasn’t all that unusual, only she felt uncomfortable with any of her crew leaving right now, especially until she knew what the Collector might be after.

  Alayna elbowed her, pulling Carth’s attention back to her. “I thought you didn’t want to get banished from the city.”

  “What makes you think that I will?”

  “I’ve seen that look on your face before.”

  Carth smiled tightly. “Maybe you have. That doesn’t make what we need to do any less necessary.”

  19

  They caught up to the constables before they turned the corner. They were marching steadily along the street, not saying anything to each other, seemingly unmindful of the fact that Carth and Alayna followed.

  Except… maybe they weren’t unmindful of that fact.

  She considered the possibility that the men were aware of her and Alayna, and the possibility that they wanted her to follow. She tapped Alayna on the arm, signaling to her, and her friend looked over with a tight frown.

  “What is it?” Alayna mouthed.

  “I think they know that we’re following them,” Carth answered.

  “Then maybe we don’t follow,” Alayna said.

  “Maybe,” Carth answered.

  “And by that, you mean that we will.”

  Carth glanced over, grinning. “You know me well.”

  The constables made their way through the city. Every so often, they would pause and speak with people on the street, and even less commonly, they would disappear into a storefront and visit with the shop owner for a while. Each time they came out, they continued on with their patrol. They made their way gradually toward the shore. Was that only coincidence? Or was there something more to it?

  Carth had motioned to Alayna to follow more closely when the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her caused her to turn.

  Carth spun and noticed the constable who held Jenna imprisoned. He had dark eyes that seemed to swallow the sunlight. “Why are you following my men?”

  “What makes you think that I am following your men?” Carth asked.

  “Because I’ve been following you.”

  If he had, and if she hadn’t noticed, that was troubling. She shouldn’t have been able to be trailed quite so easily. She had enough experience evading people who might follow her, experience that should be enough to ensure that no one was able to trail after her, but somehow the constable had managed to do so.

  “And what have you seen while you’ve followed me?”

  “I’ve seen you trailing my men. I understand that you were in the shop that was broken into last night.”

  “We happened to be in that part of the city.”

  “You just happened to be?”

  Carth smiled. “I just happened to be.”

  “If I find out that you had something to do with the break-in—”

  “You’ll what?” Carth asked. “Will you throw me in the stockade as you have my friend? Do you think that you can hold me?”

  The constable met her gaze. “You have come to the port of Keyall. If your intent is to challenge me, and to challenge the authority of the constabulary, then know that you will not succeed.”

  Carth met his eyes for a long moment, searching for something that might give her a clue about what he might be thinking. What she wanted was the possibility of answers. What did he know about the Collector? What might he know that could help her find out what was taking place here? What might he know about this missing talisman and how it played into what the Collector wanted? Unfortunately, there were no answers.

  “What happened here?”

  “Here? By here, I presume you mean Keyall, which then begs the question as to whether you are asking about what happened with your friend, or about what happened with the break-in last night.”

  The way that he said it made it seem as if he knew more about what Carth had observed. Could he know about her involvement? She didn’t think so, but maybe he did.

  “By here, I mean Keyall, and I mean the lack of trade.” Carth looked toward the water. Even now, there was no movement out on the sea. There should be ships moving, something that would signal trade, but there was nothing. At least now she understood that the lack of trade in the parts of the world where she had influence was likely related to what was taking place here, though anything more than that remained a mystery.

  “We don’t have a lack of trade. We have lack of traders.”

  “And they are related,” Carth said.

  “I would imagine you know all about that.”

  Carth laughed. “You would be mistaken. That’s the reason I have come here.”

  “You’ve come here to restrict trade in Keyall. Is that an admission?”

  “That’s an admission of the fact that I’ve come here looking for answers as to why my people have faced a similar loss in trade.”

  The constable studied her, tipping his head to the side as he considered her for a long moment. “If only that could be believed.”

  “You will have to believe whatever you want to believe. I’m not looking for your approval or your permission.”

  “If you’re to remain in Keyall, you will follow our laws.”

  “Yes. Your laws. I think you’ve made it quite clear that your laws must be abided by.”

  “You think that we are too restrictive.”

  “I think that the way you enforce your laws is harsh. There are other ways to ensure that laws are followed, if that’s what you’re after.”

  “Tell me, Carthenne Rel, how long have you been in Keyall?”

  “I imagine you know exactly how long I’ve been here.”

  “Indeed. Let me tell you what I know about Keyall. There was a time not too long ago when this was a place of much trade. This was a place where merchants moved in and out, but there was a general sense of lawlessness. Merchants attempted to overrule the local customs, thinking they could purchase the right to do whatever they wanted.” He stared at her, and it was clear from his expression that he thought she felt the same way. “They did not respect the traditions and customs of Keyall, and my people suffered. The tribunal agreed that the constabulary would take a greater role, and since we have, there has been much less difficulty with such people.”

  “I have no interest in offending the customs of Keyall.”

  “From what I’ve heard of Carthenne Rel, that isn’t necessarily the truth. You are widely known to establish your own sense of morality wherever you go.”

  “Only when my sense of morality ensures that others don’t suffer.”

  “How certain are you that, in doing so, you don’t ensure that others suffer because you have influenced them in ways that they may not want to be influenced?”

  Carth realized that she might actually get along with the constable under different circumstances. He was rigid in his thinking, but she sensed that he might be a good person. “Help me understand what has taken place here. If you don’t want my influence, at least help me understand where my people have gone and what has happened to them. That’s the only reason that I’m here. When I discover that answer, I’m happy to depart Keyall.”

  “I’m afraid that we don’t need your assistance.”

&
nbsp; He met Carth’s gaze. This was a stubborn man, in addition to being rigid. Stubbornness could be helpful under certain circumstances, but under the wrong ones, stubbornness could create unnecessary challenges.

  In this case, his stubbornness created unnecessary challenges.

  “Release my friend and I’ll leave.”

  “I’m afraid that I cannot release your friend. Not until she has completed her penance for instigating the fight.”

  “You have observed her.”

  He narrowed his eyes and nodded.

  “If you have observed her, then you’ve seen that she is not handling her confinement well. Release her, let me take her into my custody, and we will depart Keyall.”

  “If I release her, how will she ever come to understand that she should not instigate a brawl in foreign lands?”

  “Your penance will do nothing to teach her that lesson. All that it does is force her to revert back to someone she used to be, the person that she has struggled so hard to move away from. All you have done is shown her violence. That is all she’s ever known, and I have tried to show her an alternative.”

  “It seems as if your attempts to show her something else have also failed,” he said.

  Carth wasn’t interested in getting into a debate with him again. All she wanted was to get Jenna, get back out onto the sea, and figure out how they would discover more about this Collector in the meantime. They could coordinate from a distance if it were necessary. She no longer wanted to be in Keyall.

  “I will observe the customs of your city, but only to a point. If my friend begins to suffer, trust me when I tell you that I will ensure that she is freed. Trust me when I tell you that you will not harm her. If you do, I will do everything in my considerable power and ability to see that she is freed.”

  “If you continue making threats like that, you will find that you will be in a similar predicament as your friend,” the constable said.

  “Be careful,” Alayna cautioned the man. “I know you don’t fully know who you’re talking to, but this is not someone you should take too lightly. This is not someone who will abide your idle threats.”

  “Idle? There is nothing idle about my promises to your friend. She is in Keyall and she will follow the law of Keyall while she’s here. And if she thinks that we are ill-equipped to withstand her magics, then she will find that there is a reason Keyall has remained independent for as long as we have.”

  “Oh, I’ve already begun to understand,” Carth said. “Just as I’ve begun to understand why your trade routes have begun to fail.”

  He glared at her for a moment.

  “How many in the city work for him?” Carth asked.

  “Work for who?” the constable asked.

  “Alistan Rhain.”

  “You would do well not to think to challenge him,” the constable said. “He has the support of many in the city, and he sits on the tribunal.”

  Carth blinked. That was news that she hadn’t expected. The Collector was a part of the tribunal? If that was the case, then she understood why the Collector was allowed as much autonomy within the city as he enjoyed. She understood how the Collector was able to remain in power. When she had been attacked out on the sea, she had thought the Collector was something akin to the pirates they had faced in other places, but if this person was more connected than that, if he was so powerful that he was a part of the ruling council, then there might not be anything that Carth could do to counter him.

  But she couldn’t help but think that she needed to do something.

  She thought she knew where to start. It was the same place she had started from the beginning, and the same place that she had seen resist the Collector already. She didn’t necessarily agree with how they had done it or the violence that they had shown, but if they opposed the Collector, if they created a barrier to others within the city from his rule, then maybe that was the side she needed to be helping.

  “I think I understand,” she said.

  The constable stared at her. “Good. I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstandings about your role in the city and what is expected of you.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything expected of me. Which is just the way that I prefer it.”

  The constable studied her another moment, and she stared at him until he finally looked away. At least she still had the ability to intimidate him. He might not be concerned about her magic and the way that she could use it, but it wasn’t as though she was powerless.

  “When your friend understands the purpose of her penance, you should leave Keyall,” he said.

  “Perhaps.”

  He looked back up at her and watched her for a few moments before starting off down the street, leaving Carth looking after him.

  “Is it your intention that we leave the city?” Alayna asked.

  Carth continued to watch the constable as he made his way down the street. “We had come here thinking that we might find information about the Collector. If he’s on the tribunal, then he’s more dangerous than we realized.”

  “Don’t tell me you intend now to topple the tribunal in Keyall.”

  “That hadn’t been my intention when we came here. But I’m wondering if that might not be necessary.”

  “Carth, you said that your abilities aren’t nearly as effective here as they should be. If you try to take on the tribunal and you don’t have enough strength to do so, what happens if you’re attacked and we can’t do anything to help you?”

  Carth watched as the constable disappeared. He had so much as admitted that he served the Collector. So much for his rigid morality and sense of right and wrong. He was no different than others. He was content taking coins from those who had it, more interested in money than in doing what was right and necessary. And he was tormenting Jenna as a part of it.

  “You are more skilled than you give yourself credit for,” Carth said. “And if it comes to it, this is a fight that I think you can help with.”

  “What if it’s not a fight I want to be a part of?”

  Carth clenched her jaw. “Then you might be even smarter than me.”

  20

  “I thought you wanted to follow the proper channels,” Alayna whispered.

  They waited near the outer wall of the plaza. As long as Carth had watched—and it had been nearly an hour now—Jenna had barely moved. She remained awake and staring into the night, but hadn’t made a sound.

  “That was a mistake.”

  Alayna shot her a questioning look. “You don’t make mistakes.”

  “Everyone makes mistakes.” She was counting on that fact, especially when it came to other things in the city, but first she would get her friend. “Have you seen any guard movement?”

  Alayna breathed heavily, though the sound remained muted in the quiet of the night, restrained by Carth’s connection to the shadows. “There aren’t many times I wish for Sight, but nights like this would be one of them.”

  “Sight?”

  Alayna nodded. “You know that my people are gifted by the Great Watcher with abilities.”

  “Such as your ability to See.”

  Alayna shrugged. “Mine is useful, but perhaps not quite as impressive as some.”

  Carth wrapped the shadows around them to conceal their conversation as they watched Jenna. She needed to be certain that what they decided to do was the right decision and that she didn’t harm too many unnecessarily. She might need the constables at some point, though she had begun to wonder how much influence the Collector had over them.

  “You’ve said that before. I think you’re talented.” Her ability had helped keep her safe during countless battles that they had faced together.

  “There are those with the ability to See much farther into the future, though they rarely use it in quite the same way as I do.”

  “And Sight?”

  “It’s considered a common ability. Many people are born with Sight. Most of my people have some element of it, so that make
s it less unique. My ability is considered rare enough outside of the Elvraeth—the city rulers—that I should have been valued.”

  There was something to the way that she said it that made Carth realize that whatever Alayna had been through still stung. “Would you return if you could?”

  Alayna tensed before shaking her head. “After what I’ve seen, I don’t think I could return. When I was in the city, I thought that was the entire world. Few leave Elaeavn unless they must, and it’s considered a great punishment when you’re exiled.”

  Carth knew enough about Alayna to know that her punishment—the exile she had faced—was what had hurt. Because of that exile, she had nearly been sold into prostitution.

  “I could imagine Sight being useful for many things,” Carth said.

  “Perhaps,” Alayna said. “Or maybe it’s only on nights like this.” She tipped her head to the side and her eyes went distant. “There will be a change soon.”

  “The guards?”

  Alayna nodded. “We should move.”

  “Can you keep an eye on Jenna?” Carth asked. “If anyone gets past me…”

  “I will do what I can,” Alayna said. “What is your plan?”

  Carth flickered her gaze to the rooftops around the plaza. “The archers first. Then you break her free.”

  “And then?”

  Carth snorted softly. “Then we have to be prepared to fight.”

  “May the Great Watcher be with you.”

  Carth slipped away, pulling shadows around her.

  Darkness came on like a fog, though she was careful not to increase it too much so that she didn’t draw attention to the fact that the night was suddenly much darker than it had been before. Instead, she wanted to make it so that it was nothing more than a moonless night—and then a little darker.

  When she jumped, landing on a nearby building, she did so with nothing more than a soft thud. She rolled to the side in case she’d been spotted.

  She remained motionless, waiting.

  Nothing followed.

  After letting another moment pass, she crouched and looked around, counting the archers on the roof. There were four in total, though she couldn’t be certain there wasn’t another she didn’t see.