“What are you doing?” he demanded.
“We can’t leave him here.”
Kel looked at her as if she had lost her mind, and Carth decided it was possible that she had. “What does it matter if they find him?”
Carth raced to Jhon, who still lay unmoving. “It matters.”
She grabbed him by the legs and tried dragging him. Jhon wasn’t a large man, but then, she wasn’t a strong girl, either. He didn’t budge no matter how hard she tried.
She looked up at Kel as he hurried over to her. “You’ll have to help me.”
“Help? Are you mad?”
The sound of voices came near, and with it came the steady sensation of sizzling in her skin—like a burning below the surface that pulsed in her veins—that she attributed to magic being used. There was no doubting that the A’ras were near now. “Yes. I am mad. Now help me!”
Kel stared at her for another moment before shaking himself. He grabbed one of Jhon’s legs and helped Carth pull on him, dragging him along the stones. He moved slowly and thudded against the cobbles, likely making enough noise that anyone listening from the street would hear them. When Kel grunted softly with his effort, she shot him a warning glance and he only shook his head.
They reached the back side of the warehouse. A stack of crates leaned against the building, nearly as high as both of them, but barely wide enough to hide them all.
The sound of the A’ras voices drew nearer.
“Hurry!” she whispered.
Kel leaned forward and his eyes went wide. “What do you think I’m doing?”
They dragged Jhon behind the crates just as the footsteps rounded the back of the warehouse.
Carth pulled the knife from her pocket and held it in front of her.
Kel studied the knife as if seeing it for the first time, which he was, she realized. When she’d jabbed at him, it had been at night. The only other time she’d pulled the knife out around him had been when that strange man had been choking him.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she raised a finger to her lips to motion him to silence.
“There is something here,” a voice said. The A’ras speaking had a strange and harsh voice, making it sound as if he spoke through a thickened tongue. “I can sense it.”
“You sense nothing,” another voice said. “Almars warned us to watch for signs of Reshian, but we would not find anything back here.”
The other A’ras seemed to sniff at the air, and then inhaled deeply. “I’m not so sure that there isn’t,” he said. “Listen to what the water tells you, and the air.”
The other A’ras chuckled softly, a dark sound that easily carried behind the stacked crates. Carth shivered.
“You’ve listened to Invar too much if you think there are lessons that could be learned from the water and the air.”
“I listen when there are things that can be learned. You would be wise to do the same.”
The steady sizzling sensation came again, this time searing through her skin, leaving her flesh feeling dry and tight. She’d only ever felt the same around the A’ras and knew that it came when they used their magic. It was that magic that made her fear the easy way Felyn had managed to destroy the three A’ras. If he could do that so easily against men charged with power, there was little anyone else would be able to do against him.
“As I said, there’s nothing here,” the other A’ras said.
“Hmm. I’m unconvinced.”
A crack echoed through the air. “You don’t have to be convinced. Come on. We’re getting called.”
Carth heard the sound of feet moving quickly over the cobbles away from her. Kel started to move away from the crate, but she grabbed his arm, holding him in place even when he shot her a questioning glance. She held a hand up.
A rustling sound came from nearby. Likely fabric, and it was close.
Kel gave her a beseeching stare, but she didn’t know what to do.
Then Jhon began to move.
That was the last thing that they needed. He couldn’t wake up and make noise, not if there was one of the A’ras nearby. Carth didn’t harbor any hope that she would be able to do anything were the A’ras to find her. It was one thing to stab some random man on the street when he had a friend hung up by his neck, but it was quite another to stab one of the magically empowered servants of the royals.
The rustling came even closer.
Another moment, maybe two, and they would be discovered.
She held the knife out, ready to do whatever it took to keep them safe but knowing that there wouldn’t really be anything that she could do if the A’ras came around the stack of crates.
Another crack shook the air.
Carth tensed and noted that Kel did the same. She shook her head when he looked over at her. How much longer would they be able to hide here?
The shuffling started to move away.
Carth still didn’t move, clutching the knife tightly in her hand. She didn’t dare do anything else but hold on to the knife, but if the A’ras saw her with it, there would be no question what fate would await her, and it would be much worse than if she were caught stealing.
Then the sound of the A’ras made its way around the corner of the warehouse and finally disappeared.
She allowed herself to breathe out, finally able to relax.
Jhon stirred more, but still hadn’t woken.
Kel grabbed onto her arm and she nodded. Now it was time to go, and to return to the Lyre if they couldn’t find Etan first. Staying out on the street was dangerous.
As they cleared the crates, she thought she heard Jhon beginning to sit. Carth didn’t slow, and she refused to go back to ask the questions that she so badly wanted to ask, fear of remaining on the street overriding her desire for answers. Taking Kel’s hand, she ran back to the tavern.
“Where is that fool man?” Vera stormed around the tavern, carrying a large ladle as if she might use it to smack the first person who refused to answer her. As there were only Carth and Kel in the tavern right now, both tensed as she came near, neither wanting her ladle to their head.
“We didn’t see him,” Carth said again.
“What did you see?” Vera asked as she stopped pacing, holding the ladle back over her shoulder. Carth eyed it, afraid that Vera might swing it down at her, even though Vera had never attacked her in the time she had stayed with her.
Carth glanced at Kel, warning him to silence. She didn’t want Vera to know anything about Jhon and the fact that he knew something about her family. Those were questions that she would have to have answered eventually, but for now, the focus needed to be on what had happened to Hal.
“Two of the A’ras,” Carth said.
Vera glared at her but didn’t warn her to shush as she normally did. “They shouldn’t even be down here,” she said in a whisper.
“Why?”
Vera shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”
Carth almost stood. “It does matter, especially if they come after us. We should know why they aren’t supposed to be here, and how to avoid them. Besides, I thought they came after Thevers down here.”
“Carth—” Kel said.
“The girl is right,” Vera said with a sigh. “They’re mostly paid to stay clear.”
“Paid?”
Vera nodded.
“But why? To protect the Thevers?”
“That’s why some do it, but not why we do.”
“I… I don’t even understand! How do you have enough to keep them…” Her mind raced and she understood what had happened, and how Vera would have managed to keep the A’ras away. “That’s why we sell breads and crafts, isn’t it?”
Vera sighed. “That’s part of it. Business is enough that we have extra, but what you bring in helps.” She smiled warmly at them, and Carth felt a flush rising within her at the deception. “They leave us alone, even with the obsession about—” She shook her head, as if thinking better about sharing. “We’re buying protection, not only
for the Lyre, but for the other shops along the riverfront.”
“Did you miss a payment?” Kel asked.
“They wouldn’t let me miss anything,” Vera said.
“Why did they come down here, then?” Carth asked. She hadn’t realized it before now, but in the time she’d been with Vera and Hal, she hadn’t seen any of the A’ras down near the river other than that first day. They were much more prevalent in other parts of the city, and practically impossible to avoid in certain places.
“I don’t know,” Vera said.
“They were looking for something,” Kel said. “We heard them.”
“You heard them?” Vera asked.
Kel nodded. “Carth hid us until they went away.”
“The A’ras do not simply go away,” Vera said. “That is why they are so effective for the royal family. When they don’t find what they search for, they will stay on the hunt until they find it.”
Carth shivered. Had they hunted for her? Or had they hunted for Jhon? Either way, now that she had been responsible for hiding from them, would they come after her?
Vera watched Carth and seemed as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t get the chance to do so.
The door to the tavern opened and Hal entered, carrying a small child. Vera let out a relieved sigh and ran over to him, lifting the child from him. “Haldon Marchon! Where have you been?”
“Found another stray,” he said.
“You found this one?” Vera asked.
“Found. Delivered to me. What does it matter? They need our help and we have to give it to them.”
Vera glanced at Carth and Kel. “It matters, I think. More than ever, I think that it matters.”
Hal stiffened, as if noticing the mood in the tavern for the first time. “What happened?”
Vera pulled the child over to the fire and set him down on a stool. Carth noted bruising along the child’s face and a deep wound on the back of his head. Vera wasted no time putting pressure on the wound and beginning to clean it.
“They came here,” Vera said.
Hal glanced at Carth. “They should not have. That’s why we pay them.”
“That was why we had paid them,” Vera said.
Hal slowly looked over at Vera. Something passed between them, and Carth could tell that it was important but didn’t know what it might be.
“Come, the two of you,” Hal said. He motioned for them to follow as he left the tavern, and then stopped, turning to them and blocking off Carth’s view of the rest of the street. “Tell me what you remember.”
Kel spoke first, sharing what he had seen of Jhon as he had trapped Carth in the alley. How much had he overheard? It couldn’t have been that much or Kel would not have intervened, but enough that he recognized her concern about the fact that he’d found her.
Hal watched her, saying nothing at first.
When Kel was done, Hal shifted his attention to her. “What happened, Carth?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hmm. There would be a reason that they would focus on you, I think.”
Kel looked at her and must have seen the terror on her face. She didn’t want to explain what had happened to her parents, or why she had run from the A’ras, or even why she would know Jhon. She didn’t want to share with either of them that she would do anything to get revenge for what happened to her mother—to both her parents, but she hadn’t seen what had happened with her father—even if that meant attacking the A’ras.
“They weren’t looking for me,” she said.
“Then what were they looking for?” Hal asked.
“I don’t know. Someone else.”
Vera hollered for Hal. He sighed and turned toward the tavern. “If you’ve caught their attention, there might not be anything we can do to protect you.”
“They’re not after me,” Carth said again.
Hal watched her for another moment before nodding and entering the tavern once more, leaving Carth alone with Kel.
“I heard him,” Kel said.
“Yeah? I heard Hal too,” Carth said.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.”
Carth tried to move past Kel, but he moved to block her. He wasn’t large, but then neither was she, and she didn’t want to push past him, not with what he’d been through over the last day or so. “Get out of the way,” she said.
“What was he talking about to you? Something that man said bothered you. That was the reason you didn’t want to leave him for the… for them.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? We could have been killed because you wanted to keep him from getting killed.”
“We weren’t in any real danger,” Carth said, though she didn’t believe it. Had the A’ras found them, there wasn’t any telling what he might have done to them, but hiding Jhon—whoever he was—while she had one of their knives would have been a sure way of getting all of them hurt.
“You’re not going to say anything more?” Kel asked.
“What do you want me to say?” Carth asked. “That I watched as my mother was killed by someone who killed them without any more concern than you would have for swatting a fly? That the man you knocked out seemed to know something about my family and about what had happened, so that I could finally get answers? Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Kel took a step back, looking as if he had been slapped. “I didn’t know.”
Tears welled in her eyes and Carth stormed away rather than let Kel see her crying. She didn’t need him or Etan to tease her any more than they already did. “I know. You’ve been more concerned about whether I was a real stray. And maybe I’m not, but that doesn’t mean that I have anyplace else to go!”
She ran down the street, hiding her eyes, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.
12
For the first few days after she had protected Jhon, the relationship between Carth and Kel and Etan grew even more strained. As much as she wanted to repair that connection, she struggled. Something had changed for Kel that night, much like something had changed for her.
The small boy Hal brought in stayed on the top bunk. Stiv was the first stray Hal had brought to them since Carth’s arrival. Etan made a point of tormenting him, much as he had tormented Carth during her first days. She wondered if he had done the same with Kel, though the two of them seemed to have something of a friendship now, even if they had not always. Would she develop the same with Etan over time? The longer she knew him, the less likely it seemed. More and more, Etan seemed mostly interested in disappearing during the day, leaving her and Kel alone.
Even with Kel, Carth remained alone. No longer did he stand along the shadows of the street, watching for targets. He preferred to keep a distance, as if seeing Carth’s willingness to help Jhon had changed something for them.
Worse was that Vera and Hal seemed distant. They had welcomed her to the tavern and had given her a place to stay, but she no longer felt the same warmth from them. Vera never treated her any differently and willingly accepted the coins Carth offered, but her eyes wore a flat expression when before there had been depth.
Stiv followed Carth most days. She hadn’t the heart to keep him from following her, and with Kel shutting her out, it was nice having someone with her. He wasn’t a bother, not really, and his deep brown eyes watched her with a bright curiosity.
“Why do you keep sneaking away?” he asked her on the third day since he’d come to the Wounded Lyre.
It shouldn’t be her explaining to him what was expected of him, should it? Kel or Etan did a better job and had been here longer. Etan had offered to work with Stiv, but the boy had so far avoided him. Kel and Etan stayed together as they often did, watching her from across the street.
“Doesn’t matter,” Carth said.
Stiv held up the sack Vera had given him. “Vera wants me to sell these sweetbreads.”
Carth nodded. “Good luck.”
“Is that what you do? Are
you finding a better place to sell your breads?”
Carth glanced at Stiv. She didn’t want to be the one to tell him how she managed to collect all the scraps she did. Let him remain untouched by the seedy side of the city. He didn’t deserve whatever had made him a stray—none of them did. Let Stiv hold on to that innocence a little longer.
“That’s what I do.” She started away from him, not wanting to lie to him any more. It was bad enough that Kel and Etan had drawn her into their collections. She didn’t want them to draw Stiv into it as well.
As she crossed the street, Stiv caught her and grabbed onto her arm. “How are you selling them? I haven’t managed to sell any!”
Carth turned and faced him, leaning forward to meet his eyes. “Do what you have to to collect enough to keep yourself safe,” she said.
Stiv blinked. “Safe from what?”
Carth glanced back at the tavern. From what? Not Vera and Hal. They had welcomed her when they didn’t have to, and now they feared she’d brought the attention of the A’ras to their tavern.
“How did you end up here? Where did Hal find you?” she asked.
Stiv looked to the ground. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Carth had assumed that Hal brought Stiv here to help him, but what if that wasn’t the case? “Did he force you to come?” she asked.
“What? No!”
“Then where?”
Stiv swallowed. “My family… they’re gone. Caught in the fighting.”
“Why?”
Stiv frowned. “They’re Reshian, like you.”
“I’m not Reshian.”
Stiv’s eyes widened. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t serious when I said that.”
Carth sighed. “I’m not going to hurt you, Stiv. Just do your best to sell the breads. Otherwise you’ll have to learn to collect scraps.”
“Collect what?” Stiv asked.
She hadn’t determined how old he was. Possibly eight, but he was skinny enough that he could pass for much younger. The clothes Hal had found for him were a few sizes too big. Mostly they looked to be Kel’s castoffs. His wavy brown hair hung to his shoulders and had been matted until Vera had taken the time to wash it.
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