Shadow Trapped

by D. K. Holmberg

  She saw nothing.

  Carth popped to the surface, taking a deep breath before diving back beneath the water.

  There had to be something. The ship was taking on water, but only in the lower portion. In time, that would seep up and would begin to soak through the cabins before sinking the ship entirely. Whatever was taking place was a slow leak. If it were anything else, they would have recognized it by now.

  She dove all the way beneath the ship, pulling on the shadows to strip them away so that she could see as well as possible. She surged the power of the flame through her, trying to get a better sense for what might have happened. She still couldn’t tell.

  Carth ran her hand along the planks of wood. Could something have happened that she couldn’t see? Could it be small holes, small enough that she wasn’t able to see them in the murky water? Or could it have been something even subtler, where Linsay had somehow damaged the seal between each plank?

  Without getting into a port and taking time to inspect it, Carth wasn’t sure that she would be able to find out. Worse, a repair like that would be expensive. The ship would have to be dragged from the water, and not all ports had that capability. Even if they did, not all repairmen were of equal skill.

  Carth surged to the surface and climbed back onto the ship. When she was there, she squeezed the water out of her clothing, frowning as she tried to decide what she would need to do.

  “Did you find anything?” Alayna asked.

  “Nothing obvious.”

  “If it were anything obvious, we would have sunk by now,” Alayna said.

  “That was my take too.”

  “Waconia it is, then.”

  “Why do you want to go there?” Talia asked. She had climbed down from the mast seat and watched Carth with a strange interest.

  “We’re sinking.”

  “Sinking?” Her gaze drifted to the dinghy tied to the aft of the ship. Carth could practically see her trying to gauge how they would fit all four of them and the supplies needed to keep them alive for the duration of time needed to get into shore. Doing so in a dinghy would be difficult. They could row, and Carth could use her connection to magic to enhance her abilities and speed the dinghy along, but it was possible that they would not make it before one of them died.

  “Sinking. I can’t find what’s wrong, which means we have to head into port, and Waconia is the nearest port to us.”

  “Why don’t you want to go into Waconia?”

  “Rumors, mostly.” Carth looked from Talia to Jenna. “See if you can help bail water.”

  Talia hurried off, and Carth took a station next to Alayna, looking out over the sea. It was much more obvious now that they were moving more slowly, as if carrying some heavy cargo—which was what it really was like.

  “Maybe we can bail enough to avoid Waconia,” Carth said.

  “I thought you said that wasn’t likely.”

  “It’s not,” Carth said. “It’s just that I worry about Jenna, and I worry about what Talia might do in the city like that.”

  “I thought you trusted her.”

  “On a ship with only the three of us, I trust her. You get into a place like Waconia is rumored to be, then I’m less certain.”

  “We could have left her behind.”

  “Not if we wanted to draw Linsay away.”

  Alayna shot Carth an amused glance. “I know that it’s about more than simply coaxing Linsay out. If that were all that it was, you didn’t really need to have her here. Your leaving and spreading rumors of searching for Elder Stones should have been enough to do that.”

  Carth watched Talia as she carried a bucket of water up and poured it over the rail. Jenna followed, watching Talia with suspicion. If nothing else, Carth knew that Talia wouldn’t be able to pull something on Jenna. Jenna might slit her throat before she had the chance to do so.

  “You want to save her.”

  “I think everyone deserves a chance to be saved,” Carth said.

  “Not everyone can be saved, even if they have a chance,” Alayna said.

  That might be true, but it didn’t make it any easier for Carth. She had to believe that she could help Talia, and that she could eventually trust her the same as she trusted everyone else that worked with her, but was that true? Could she trust her the same way? Would Talia be forever influenced by her sister? Or could she move past that influence?

  Jenna appeared with another bucket and whistled softly, drawing Carth’s attention.

  “You need to see this, Carth,” she said.

  After Jenna dumped her bucket of water over the edge, she motioned for Carth to follow her. They reached the smugglers’ hold and Jenna pointed inside.

  “Where’s Talia?” Carth asked.

  “That’s why you need to go in there,” Jenna said.

  Carth climbed back in. There was still water up to her knees, and it was dark, dark enough that it made it difficult for her to see clearly despite her removing of the shadows. Talia stood in the middle of the smugglers’ hold, staring at something.

  “What do you see?”

  “I’m not a ship maker,” Talia started.

  “I would never accuse you of that.”

  “I think… I think the ship is coming apart.”

  Carth frowned. “I didn’t see anything from the other side.”

  “Maybe I’m wrong,” Talia said.

  With her enhanced eyesight in the dark, Carth doubted that Talia was wrong, which made her even more uncomfortable. “Just describe what it is that you do see.”

  “Where the planks of wood come together, there are these strange openings here. I wouldn’t have noticed them other than they are different than what I see in my cabin.” Talia looked over to Carth. “And I’ve stared at those often enough that I recognize how they should look.”

  Carth still didn’t see what Talia did and she reached for the plank, running her fingers along it. The wood was mostly smooth, but it was the spacing between them that troubled her and told her that what Talia saw was exactly right. There was something wrong with these planks, and it was almost as if the ship was coming apart.

  “This isn’t accidental, is it?” Talia asked.

  Carth breathed out an annoyed sigh. “No. This isn’t accidental.”

  “What do you think happened?”

  Carth glanced above her, where the door to the smugglers’ hold was. Jenna would be there, and likely she was listening. Would it matter if she heard what Carth suspected? Would she react in a way that would put her in danger?

  Carth trusted Jenna, but she also knew her friend and knew the way that she might react. She didn’t want to place her into a circumstance where she might be agitated enough to take her frustration with Linsay out on Talia.

  “Let’s get back above deck,” she said.

  “You don’t want us to keep bailing water?”

  Carth ran her fingers along the seam. She could feel water seeping through. Even in the time that they had been there, the pressure through the cracks had increased. How much longer would it be before they failed entirely and water rushed in?

  “I’m not sure that it matters, not anymore. Let’s get back above deck.”

  Talia looked around her one more time, running her hands on the planks, and she nodded.

  Carth let her head out first, and then she followed, jumping back above the hold and closing the door. Jenna watched her, a frown creasing her brow.

  “It’s her, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know. All I know is that we need to reach port quickly.” Jenna watched Carth for a moment before her gaze drifted past her and over to Talia. She stared at Talia for long moments before turning away and heading up the stairs.

  “So, Waconia?” Talia asked.

  Carth sighed. “Unfortunately.”

  7

  Even the bay appeared dirty. Carth surged them forward, using controlled explosions of shadow and flame, combining them to force the ship forward as quickly as she could. T
hey were laden with water and floating low, much lower than she was comfortable with. When they reached the harbor, she allowed herself to feel reassured that they might finally be fine, but reaching the harbor was only part of what needed to happen. From there, they needed to find someone who could repair the damage.

  Carth scanned the harbor, looking for signs of a shipyard, and saw what appeared to be a dingy-looking covered building on the edge of the city. She veered the ship in that direction, hating that they would rely on some stranger to repair the ship—and for their safety. As they pulled the ship in, an older man hobbled out and helped them tie up to the dock.

  “You can’t dock here,” he said. He had a gruff voice, and his eyes darted around, dancing off the faces of each of the women on the ship before settling on Alayna. “This here is—”

  “A shipyard, yes?” Alayna asked. She cast a sideways glance at Carth, and there was a hint of mirth in her expression. Carth didn’t mind being neglected. It was almost better that the man thought Alayna in charge. It would allow Carth to stand back and observe. Then again, maybe he was right. As much as she had been captain, Alayna had taken control of this ship.

  It wasn’t the Spald. Linsay had taken that from her. It was even more reason to find her.

  But then, didn’t she want for Alayna to take the lead? That was what she had been guiding her toward, so it was good that she had become the captain. It suited her.

  “And why do you need a shipyard?” the man asked.

  “We’re taking on water. We need someone to figure out why. It seems as if we have a leak in our hold.”

  “And you’re the captain?”

  “Are you expecting someone else?” Alayna asked.

  The man flicked his gaze around at each of them before once again settling on Alayna. “You’ll do. Do you have money to pay for any repairs?”

  Alayna nodded to Carth, who pulled a bag of coins from her pocket. “We have money,” she said.

  The man eyed Carth, considering the bag, as if he could somehow weigh exactly how many coins they had and whether it would be enough. Carth had no idea what repairs might cost, or whether they even had enough money for what a man like this might charge. Would they need to find additional funds? Carth wasn’t above stealing, especially if there were men of the reputation that she suspected were in Waconia.

  “I can’t tell you how much it will cost. Not until we do a full assessment.”

  “How long?” Carth asked.

  The man glanced to Carth before turning back to Alayna. “Don’t know. Maybe a couple days. Maybe a week. Could be longer, depending on how damaged your ship is. Typically, when ships are taking on water, there’s hull damage that needs to be repaired. Something like that is pretty easy to do, and can take only a couple days.”

  “That’s not the damage.”

  The man looked at Carth, as if he wanted to snap at her, but he bit back whatever retort he might have said. “Maybe not. Maybe so.”

  They all disembarked, and they headed into Waconia, leaving the ship to the shipyard. Alayna stayed behind, speaking to the man. Carth watched for a moment, smiling to herself. Alayna had really come into her own. Carth would have to let her captain her own ship soon, and that would be beneficial to them, giving them another person who could navigate the seas as well as Carth—or possibly better.

  When Alayna returned, she shook her head, muttering under her breath. “Stupid man.”

  “What is it?”

  “Oh, just the sort of thing you would expect with a man like that. He seems to think that we might have been responsible for what happened. He wants to blame inexperience for us taking on water, as if that were why the ship was suddenly coming apart at the seams.”

  “Maybe he blames you for being a woman,” Jenna said with a dark laugh.

  “Yes, I’m sure the weightiness of my breasts is causing our ship to sink,” Jenna said, slapping her chest. “Let’s get a drink before I feel the need to go back and shout at him.”

  They wandered the road along the harbor. The harbor itself was dirty, and dingy, much worse than many such places that Carth had visited over the years. There were dozens of ships in the harbor, most anchored with smaller boats that could be rowed up and tied to the docks, though some of the smaller ships had sailed all the way into the harbor. There was a bustle of activity along the docks, mostly from men transporting goods off ships and bringing them into the harbor. She noticed carts laden with fish and merchants pushing other wares, but even they appeared dirty.

  “I don’t like this place,” Talia said, pitching her voice low.

  “I don’t think we’re meant to like this,” Carth said.

  “It reminds me of Asador,” Jenna said.

  “Asador is much cleaner,” Carth said. “And I’ve never had a feeling that I might get sick just walking along the harbor.”

  “There is the same sort of casual chaos in Asador as there is here,” Jenna said. “At least, there was.”

  Carth shrugged. Much of the chaos had settled with Carth’s influence. There were layers of people who now helped in Asador, and most of them worked on Carth’s behalf, or for those who sided with her. She had influence in Asador, and it had cleaned up some of the violence and crime and, most importantly, had eliminated the abductions that had taken place prior to her arrival.

  “Even in its worst day, this is nothing like Asador,” Alayna said.

  They wandered along the streets until they found what appeared to be a busy tavern. They made their way inside and found it half-occupied. When they took a seat, an elderly man made his way out and looked at each of them skeptically.

  “Just you?”

  Jenna glared at the man. “Who else should we be expecting?”

  The man shrugged. “I thought maybe—”

  Jenna leaned forward. “You thought that maybe we needed someone else to watch over us?”

  “Are you eating anything? Or did you just come here to catch some sailor’s eye?”

  Carth looked around the tavern and realized that there were no other women. They were it. In most taverns that she had visited before, there were at least some women, even if they were there to provide companionship. That had never bothered Carth, so long as they did so voluntarily, but this tavern was different.

  Carth reached underneath the table and tapped Jenna on the leg. When Jenna looked her way, Carth shook her head slightly, trying to get her to settle herself. She didn’t need Jenna to get so angry that she caused problems for them.

  “Just food. Maybe a few mugs of ale.” Carth slid a stack of silver coins on the table, and the man eyed them.

  “Women can’t drink. You can have cider, but that’s it.”

  He turned and left Carth and the others sitting there, watching him depart.

  “What kind of place is this?” Alayna asked, looking around. “Even in my homeland, there’s a little more flexibility than what it seems like there is here.”

  “I am not exactly sure,” Carth said. “I don’t know anything about Waconia other than rumor.” She hadn’t known it to be like this. Maybe they were lucky to have found a shipyard willing to take on their repair.

  When the man returned carrying a tray, he set food down in front of each of them, and Carth tapped Jenna again, silencing her before she made some comment about the paucity of food.

  When he was gone, Jenna glared at the table. “We would’ve been better off eating on the ship,” she said.

  “Maybe,” Carth said. “But aren’t you glad we’re here?”

  “Why? So we can see just how poorly other places would treat us?”

  Carth shrugged. “Sometimes there’s value in seeing how other places would treat you so that you can be thankful for the luxuries that we are accustomed to.”

  “Luxuries? I’m not sure that I would equate the ship to anything luxurious.”

  They fell into silence, and each of them began picking at their plates. It was mostly vegetables, with a meager helping of
a stringy meat. Carth frowned at it, taking a bite and finding the texture to be unpleasant, not that she had expected anything different. She ate, forcing herself to consume all of it, and when her plate was empty, she pushed it away, looking over at the others. “We need to find a place for the night.”

  “Not here,” Jenna said.

  “Not here,” Carth agreed.

  They left their coins on the table and stood. As they started out of the tavern, someone grabbed Carth’s sleeve. She spun and saw a small man with dark eyes leering at her.

  “Going so soon?” he asked.

  Carth grabbed his wrist and pried his hand off her arm. “Trust me. You don’t want me to remain here.”

  The man looked down at his hand, and a wide grin spread across his face. “Oh, I’m thinking I do. Not enough women with any sort of spine to them here.”

  “Probably the way you like them.”

  Alayna stepped forward and placed herself between Carth and the man. “Why don’t you return to your table and drink a little more?”

  “Why don’t you return to the table with me? I have a few boys who don’t mind a tall woman.”

  “You wouldn’t be able to handle this tall woman,” she said.

  The man leered at her. “I didn’t say that I would be trying to handle you. I’m just saying that I have someone with me who would be more than willing to take good care of you.”

  Alayna opened her mouth, but Jenna reacted quickly. She jammed her fist into his stomach, and the man doubled over. She spun, kicking him in the side of his knee, and he dropped, screaming.

  Carth grabbed Jenna and pulled her back. “Not like that.”

  Jenna shot her a look. This was Carth’s fault for allowing Jenna to attack in the last tavern. Maybe she had made a mistake there.

  “You heard what he said,” Jenna said to Carth. Carth was pushing her out of the tavern, and the man continued to scream. Alayna scanned the tavern, and Carth suspected that, like her, Alayna was concerned that one of the others in the tavern might decide to attack. They didn’t need to draw that kind of attention, especially without a way of getting out of the city. They needed to remain inconspicuous—at least as inconspicuous as they could.