Carth sighed. If only there were an easier answer, but until she knew what was going on, she needed to be cautious. Then she could find out what had happened. “Dara is more skilled than I was when Avera brought me to the A’ras. Give her a chance.”
Invar studied Dara, and power built, this time from Samis, a power that settled over Dara before fading.
Carth frowned. Why would Samis use his ability on her to test her? That was something the masters would do, and Samis would have a long way to go before he was one of the masters.
“You may go,” Invar said to Samis. “Unless you think I will cause trouble within the hall?” Samis frowned. “You know Carthenne, Samis. Do not pretend that you do not. You were her friend. Whatever has happened since then… you were her friend. You would do well to remember that, especially considering what else you might think to do.”
Carth wasn’t sure what Samis might do. If he was against Invar, would he betray her to whatever A’ras were displeased with the accords?
Samis said nothing and hurried away.
Invar watched him go before turning to Carth. “Come inside, Ms. Rel. We have much to speak about.”
23
Carth sat inside the Master Hall for the first time in over a year. As soon as they had entered the room, Invar had sealed it with a wave of his hand, creating a barrier of power that Carth could feel but few others would have been able to detect. The room looked little different than the last time Carth had been here. Then, shelves cluttered with books had lined the walls. That was still the case, but there were fewer than there once had been. The long table that had once occupied much of the center of the room was gone, replaced by three chairs, all angled toward each other. The basin with the flame burning in it was unchanged. Carth could feel the sense of the flame pulling on her, an awareness of the magic that she’d felt from the very first time she’d come here.
“Now. Why are you really here?” Invar asked.
“What’s going on? Why the charade?”
Invar swept his hand around the room. “There are some who are displeased with the alliance. They blame me for the accords.”
“Blame you?”
He nodded. “They would prefer that we remain in conflict with the Reshian.”
“But the Hjan—”
“I understand why we fought, Ms. Rel. You don’t have to explain it to me.”
“What of the other masters?”
Invar frowned and took a seat. “Others? There are none, Ms. Rel. There is me, and that is it. After the attack on the city, we had so few of us remaining. No others have been raised. And now I am not allowed out of this room.”
“You could—”
“Could what? Fight the A’ras, Ms. Rel? We need peace, and it will not do for us to fracture internally. We have been through enough as it is.”
“Was that why Samis acted the way that he did?”
“Samis has grown more skilled. He is competent, I won’t take that away from him, but he is still young. And with youth comes a belief that you know better than you do.”
Carth smiled. “I’m young.”
“And you have made the same sorts of mistakes.” He motioned for her to sit. When she did, he sighed. “You saw the end of the battle, and for that, I think, you deserve thanks. You will never get it, and you will never be known as the architect of the accords, but you should.”
“I don’t want the recognition,” Carth said. “That wasn’t why I did it.”
“No. I know that it is not.”
They sat in silence. The flame crackled occasionally, but it had a supernatural sound to it, almost a sighing sort of sound. There wasn’t the steady hiss of a lantern burning with oil, and there was nothing of the crackling of logs in a hearth. This was almost a hiss, almost a voice, and Carth wondered if she could understand it.
“Do you know how to find the Reshian?” Carth asked after it became apparent that he wasn’t going to say anything more.
“Why do you think I would know how to find the Reshian?”
“Because I know you, Invar. I know that you would have some way of reaching them.”
“Why do you need to reach them?”
“I returned to Ih-lash.”
“As you should. You are a child of Ih-lash.”
Carth stared at the flame. It was connected to the Lashasn ability in some way, but what was it? That was a question that had always troubled her.
But if there was a flame that allowed the A’ras to reach the Lashasn magic, was there something similar for the Ih magic? Was there something that would let others reach the shadows?
The flame had been the reason the Hjan had come here and attacked in the palace, hadn’t it? They had wanted to extinguish the flame, and destroy the A’ras connection to it. If they had succeeded, almost all the A’ras would have lost their power, and they would have no longer been able to protect Nyaesh. The Hjan would have managed to invade.
Not only the Hjan, but wouldn’t the Reshian have been able to do the same?
Only, they had managed to protect the flame. Invar had relit it, so that the flame allowed those of the A’ras to continue using their magic. Had he not, Nyaesh would have fallen.
Carth realized what it was that bothered her.
Ih-lash had fallen, and there had been those with the ability to use the shadows. Had they possessed an ability like the A’ras to have their flame and pass those abilities on to others who would not have otherwise possessed them, why couldn’t Ih have had something similar with the shadows?
She stood. It was a question she needed to ask of the refugees from Isahl.
“What is it, Ms. Rel?”
“I need to find the Reshian,” she said again.
“I believe you have shared that with me already.”
“They’re in danger. And the A’ras might be the only ones able to help. That’s why I’m here. If you can’t help—”
“You will find the A’ras unwilling to make such a commitment,” Invar said.
“It’s important.”
“I’m certain that it is, just as I’m certain that the Reshian—or Ih—and Lashasn have fought for hundreds of years. Your accords would do nothing but slow it—they would not stop it.”
Carth studied him, thinking that he might say something more. “Do you know anything about practitioners of a blood magic?”
His eyes narrowed. “A foul thing.”
“Yes. They hunt the Reshian. The flame can defeat them. That’s why I’m here.”
Invar sighed. “As I said, Ms. Rel, there has been fighting between the Reshian and Lashasn for many years. The accords will not change that.”
“And others will?”
“Possibly.”
“Like the C’than?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “Ras told you.”
“He didn’t have to. Could the Hjan infiltrate the C’than?”
“Doubtful.”
“But possible.”
“Is that why you have come, Ms. Rel?”
“I told you why I returned.”
“And I told you my answer. Perhaps you would be interested in training.”
“I think I’ve trained enough.”
“All of us could use a little more.”
Carth grinned at the suggestion, imagining Invar receiving additional training. “Even you?”
“Even me, Ms. Rel.”
She turned to the flame, troubled by the idea of Ih and those who could use the shadows having something similar. “You don’t know where to find the Reshian?”
“That is not what I said.”
“So you do?” She turned toward Invar, frowning at him.
“Why would you find them?” he asked.
“My father is with them.”
Invar pressed the tips of his fingers together, looking up at her through lids that seemed heavy. “When did you discover this?”
“You knew.” It wasn’t even a question. The way he said it made it clear to
her that he did. And if Invar had known, why hadn’t he shared with her?
“I knew that your father still lived. Had you been willing to think through what you had seen, you would have known as well.”
Carth grunted. “You sound like Ras.”
“Ras is wise.”
She didn’t know whether to call Ras wise, but he certainly had taught her to see things in a different way. Without his training, she would never have begun to look at the world from different perspectives. She needed to continue doing it, but it required her to understand things that she didn’t know. Information continued to be a challenge for her, and it frustrated her.
“Where are they?”
“The C’than are interested in maintaining the accords.”
“I thought you said they didn’t matter.”
“I said the Reshian and Lashasn had fought for many years.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No, but it is all I can give.”
“Even if someone from the Reshian is working with the Hjan?”
“I find that unlikely.”
Was it unlikely?
Everything seemed to be a game within a game, and somehow she had to sort it out, only she wasn’t certain that she knew enough about the players.
Maybe there wasn’t any infiltration to the C’than, only that the Hjan wanted them to believe it.
Perhaps it was time for her to take on a greater role.
First, she needed answers.
“What happened to Alison?”
Invar took a deep breath. “I have told you that there are those who would rather see the accords severed. There are those who feel otherwise. Alison does not believe we should violate them. The others are displeased.”
“What does that mean?”
“You will find her better protected than I. At least I have some freedoms. That comes from my previous station. Alison… she is less comfortable.”
Carth took a deep breath, testing her connection to the shadows. They were there. It was faint, but they were there.
With her mother’s ring, the connection to the A’ras magic was even stronger. “When do they plan to attack?” That would be the only reason for them to confine Invar to his room, and to confine Alison as well. It would explain why she had seen no other A’ras on the street. It would explain why she had been challenged when she’d arrived at the gate.
“Now you begin to ask the right questions.”
“When?”
She thought about the ships she’d seen when they had docked. Now it made sense. They were battleships, readying for an assault on the Reshian, which meant someone knew where to find them.
Before Invar could answer, someone started banging on the door.
Invar looked to her. “I’m sorry, Ms. Rel. You should not have returned. I think you will be able to get yourself free, but I don’t know about the other.”
The door burst open. Six A’ras stood on the other side, each with a wide sash of their stations around their wrists or forearms. All had their swords unsheathed and slowly started to enter the room.
“You were with them,” the nearest said. She remembered him as Evan, a boy who had always been kind to her, but now he looked at her with violence in his eyes.
“Leave, Ms. Rel, or you will likely suffer,” Master Invar said.
Evan shot Invar a glare. “You have always deceived us. First with the Reshian attack and then with the treaty. They haven’t abided by the treaty, so we will not either.”
Carth realized that bringing Andin and the others from Isahl had been a mistake. If the A’ras discovered them, they would harm them and it would be her fault, all because she had wanted to help them, and had believed that she could for some reason.
There came the slow burn of fire along her arms. Power built and it came from each of the A’ras. Not Master Invar. He didn’t resist, and Carth wondered why he didn’t.
“You should leave, Ms. Rel.”
“She’s not leaving. Now that she’s here—”
Carth didn’t want to attack them and hurt them, and she realized that she might not have to. There was another way to stop them, at least to slow them. They would still be skilled with the sword without their magic.
She turned to the flame.
With a pulse of shadow, she extinguished it.
It went out with a huff of smoke.
Invar gasped and said, “Oh.”
Carth turned back to the A’ras. “You will find the odds decidedly more in my favor now,” she told them. “Retreat now and I will let you live.”
24
When the first attack came, Carth was ready.
She unsheathed her knife and, pulling the A’ras magic through both the knife and the ring, she pressed out.
The nearest A’ras—one she didn’t recognize—came at her with his sword drawn. Carth noted the attack and countered easily. In the time she’d been gone from A’ras, she’d continued to work with the sword. The A’ras were skilled, but there were other blade masters in the world, and she had incorporated their techniques into what she did. In that way, she fought more like she played Tsatsun, thinking ahead, planning for the next strike and preparing herself for what it might be.
The knife offered some advantages the sword didn’t have. There was less reach, but she was quicker, and in the confined space and with the shadows on her side, she didn’t need the reach.
Carth flowed forward.
She had to incapacitate and not kill. Somehow, that would have to be the outcome.
Using the S’al wouldn’t work here. She would have to use the shadows.
Doing so pitted her against the A’ras. It would make them believe the Reshian had attacked again. It might violate the accords, but hadn’t they already done that?
She needed answers so that they could stop the blood priests. More than that, they needed allies. Using the shadows would pit the A’ras against the Reshian.
Carth swore under her breath. For that reason, she couldn’t use the shadows.
Taking a deep breath, she pulled on the power of the S’al.
As she did, the flame in the bowl flared into existence, a flash of light so bright it was blinding.
Carth glanced back to it, wondering if it was what she did or something that Invar had done.
He shook his head.
Not Invar.
Two A’ras attacked.
She flipped the sword of the first attacker toward the ground and kicked, catching him in the chest. For the second, she spun, flicking his feet from beneath him and leaving him on the ground. She made a point of kicking him in the temple, not hard enough to kill but enough to knock him out.
That left four of the A’ras.
The space was narrow enough they couldn’t all attack at once. If they did, she’d have no choice and would have to use the shadows. At least this way, she could take them on one on one.
When she’d been in Nyaesh and studying in the palace, she hadn’t been more skilled than anyone else. Her ability and connection to the shadows made the difference for her. Since leaving, she’d discovered a greater connection to the S’al magic and had taken the time to continue to improve with the sword.
It still wasn’t enough.
She recognized the next A’ras as he attacked. Tern had been full A’ras the entire time she’d been ashai, and he was rumored to be incredibly skilled. Seeing the way he fought, she believed it.
His blade was a fury, and it moved so quickly that even the other three A’ras gave him space. Behind him, Evan watched with a hint of a grin. Now that the flame had surged forth again, they used their A’ras magic against her as well, powering their attack.
“I could use your help, Invar.”
“If I help…”
She understood. If he helped her, he committed to abandoning the A’ras.
She couldn’t have him do that, but she needed to get free from here without hurting anyone too badly—and without using her shadows.
/>
Light exploded from behind Evan.
He spun.
The other A’ras hesitated.
Carth used that moment to attack, sending her knife in a tight arc as she sliced toward them. She caught him in the shoulder and he dropped the sword. Carth kicked, sending him flying backward and into two of the other A’ras.
Another surge of light hit her.
Carth darted forward, and into the remaining A’ras. Throwing an elbow, she knocked one of them down and then caught Tern with her knee, doubling him over so she could slam the hilt of her knife into the back of his head. He crumpled.
That left Evan.
He flicked his gaze from side to side. There was another surge of A’ras magic, enough that Carth was briefly blinded. It struck Evan, and then he disappeared.
Carth used a hint of the shadows, barely more than a trickle, and pushed out, clearing her vision.
When she did, she saw Samis standing opposite her. Alison was with him. Both carried swords, unsheathed.
“Carth?” Alison asked, sheathing her sword. “What are you doing here?”
She glanced from Samis back to Alison, trying to understand what she might have missed. “I would ask you the same thing.”
“They accused me of working with—”
“The Reshian?” Carth finished.
Alison nodded, glancing carefully toward Samis. “You shouldn’t be here. With your abilities, you’re only going to incite a violation of the treaty.”
“They’ve already violated the treaty,” Samis said. “Why do you think we’ve been so active?”
“The Reshian wouldn’t have violated the accords,” Carth said.
“How would you know?” Alison asked.
“Because they don’t want to fight the A’ras any more than the A’ras want to fight them. They’re trying to stay alive.”
“What?”
“The Reshian face a different threat than the A’ras or the Hjan. And they’re in much more danger than the A’ras. That’s why I’m here. They don’t know it, but the Reshian need your help.”
Invar ran his hand along the inside of the flame. She expected him to get burned, but when he pulled his hand away, it was unharmed.
“What you did there was impressive,” he said, nodding toward the flame.
Shadow Lost (The Shadow Accords Book 4) Page 17