Shadow Trapped

by D. K. Holmberg

  Durand turned slowly and faced her. “Where did you hear that term?”

  “You are familiar with it. Good. It’s not one that I’ve heard before, and I—”

  Durand took a step toward her, and he clenched his fists. “Where did you hear that term?”

  Jenna shifted and moved toward Durand, and Carth could see the tension within her. If he took another step, Carth wasn’t certain that Jenna wouldn’t react. It was possible that she might put herself in front of him, blocking him from reaching her. Carth didn’t fear that Durand might harm her, but then again, her shadows and her flame would not be effective against him.

  “From a man I met on the sea,” she said.

  “You met?”

  “We were chased by three ships. I went after one of them, wanting to know why they were pursuing us.”

  “You shouldn’t have been able to reach the Ai’thol.”

  “You know of them. How?”

  “Even speaking of them is dangerous.”

  “They have Linsay,” Rebecca said.

  Durand looked over to Rebecca and he frowned. “The Ai’thol have captured the Collector?” When Rebecca nodded, Durand laughed a hearty laugh. “Perfect. Leave her with them. They can deal with her heartache.” Durand looked over to Carth, staring at her for a moment. “You intend to go after her. That’s why you came here.”

  “I intend to go after Talia.”

  “The Ai’thol have Talia? How would they have known about her?”

  “I might have said something,” Carth said.

  “Might?”

  “I didn’t know who the Ai’thol were. I was trying to gather information so that I could be better prepared. I had to make a trade for information.”

  “And that trade required you to reveal Talia’s name to one of the Ai’thol?” Durand asked. He relaxed and took a step back, moving away from Carth. Jenna remained on edge, staying close to Carth, as if she feared that Durand might attempt something.

  “Who are they?”

  “The Ai’thol are dangerous. They are violent.”

  “I gathered that, especially as they came at our ship with an entire fleet.”

  His eyes widened. “You saw a fleet of Ai’thol ships?”

  “Why?”

  “Only because they are difficult to see. You thought the Collector was dangerous, but the Ai’thol are something else entirely. You have called Linsay the Collector, but the Ai’thol have been at it far longer, and are far more dangerous than she could ever be.”

  Carth closed her eyes, thinking back to the captain. He had been pleasant with her, almost accommodating, but had it been nothing more than an act? If it had, that might explain why he had been willing to allow her to leave. He could have used her to bring him to Linsay.

  Carth didn’t like being used.

  And now she had both Linsay and this captain of the Ai’thol using her.

  She pulled the fragment of paper out of her pocket. Had he been honest with her? If he had, then she had his name, but she wasn’t certain that he had been truthful with her.

  “What is that?” Durand asked.

  She handed the slip of paper over. He looked down at it and shook his head.

  “I see nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Carth grabbed the slip of paper back from him and looked down at it. Whatever had been written on it was gone. Thankfully she had memorized the name, but was that even his name? “It was part of our agreement. He wrote down his name while I wrote down Talia’s.”

  Jenna was watching her, and Carth felt as if she had disappointed her friend.

  “I didn’t anticipate that he would attempt to capture Talia.” She said it as much for Jenna’s benefit as for Durand’s.

  “And you were honest with him.”

  “What choice did I have but honesty?” Carth asked.

  “Everything is a choice,” Jenna said.

  “And I made it,” Carth said. “I’m not happy with that, but I did what was necessary to try and determine what Linsay was after. If that required that I provide information about her sister, then I chose to do it. I can’t say that it was the right decision—”

  “It wasn’t,” Jenna said.

  “But it was the decision that I made. I made,” she said again, looking back to Durand as he continued to stare at her. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

  “Which is why I came here. Alistan has spent some time traveling, and I thought that he might know something that could help.”

  “Alistan spent time in Keyall, but he did not grow up in Keyall. He doesn’t know the warnings of the Ai’thol, not the way that those of us who have lived here a long time do. Why do you think Bal gave us the ability to see the way that he did? Why do you think we were granted the gifts that we were?”

  “I thought it was because of the other Elders.”

  “Perhaps that was part of it. There are rumors that the Elders were fighting, and that we were nothing more than an extension of those battles, but there are other tales, stories that my people have told for generations, and they warned of great violence inflicted on my people, and it only stopped when we gained the abilities that we now have.”

  From what Carth could tell, the abilities involved enhanced vision in the darkness, and there was some immunity to her magic, but that wouldn’t make a difference, not against people who were not enhanced in any way. “How would your abilities prevent you from being attacked by the Ai’thol?”

  “They haven’t been able to reach Keyall in many years. They have tried, because they claim that this rock sits above a power that their ancestors claim they deserve, but we have known better, and we have had possession of it for far longer. And because of the presence of Keyall, the entirety of the north is safe. Without Keyall here, without the artifact we possess, the Ai’thol would have challenged it long ago.”

  Carth’s head was swimming. It was all too much to comprehend. She turned to Rebecca and looked at her for a moment. “What did Linsay take from them?”

  “I…”

  “You know. Or you know someone who might. They were after something. The captain on the Ai’thol ship was upset with Linsay, angry that she had stolen something from them. Whatever it was had been valuable.”

  “I don’t know,” she said.

  Carth stared at her for a while, wishing that there was something that Rebecca might acknowledge, but she feared Carth. That was the effect of Carth’s actions with Rebecca and the others, and she didn’t blame them for it.

  “What might Alistan have known?”

  “As I said, whatever Alistan might have known matters very little. Especially if you have seen the Ai’thol, and they have captured the Collector. Perhaps it doesn’t matter that they have captured the Collector. This way, she can do no more harm to us.” Durand took a step back, and he watched Carth for a moment before inhaling deeply and nodding. “You may remain here for as long as you need, but I have said all that I can.”

  “And Alistan—”

  “Alistan will return when he is free to do so.”

  Durand moved past her and left, closing the door behind him.

  Carth stared at her hands, trying to think through what she knew. Coming up with any sort of connection was difficult, and she wasn’t certain that she was piecing things together in the right way. Alayna had cautioned her that she was contemplating too many things as part of a game, but there were times when putting it into that context helped her work through different scenarios. This was one of those times when she wanted the familiarity of the game board.

  She stood and went to the Tsatsun board that she knew Alistan had stored here and quickly set it up. Carth began placing the pieces around it, arranging them in a way that would help her figure out whether there was something in particular that she had to consider when it came to the captain. As she placed pieces, she tried think about what the Stone was. Could it be that the Stone was Linsay?

  She began making various movements, playing through
, and came up with no solutions.

  She knew that Linsay had taken something from the Ai’thol, and the Ai’thol had been angered enough to come after her with an entire fleet, enough strength that there was little that Carth would have been able to do against them. Yet, the Ai’thol had allowed Carth to leave. That went against what Durand had suggested, and the fear that he had of the Ai’thol.

  Linsay had attempted to use Carth, but only after creating a network of her own, one that was well developed—far too well developed for it to have been created recently.

  Had she done it as a way to attack the Ai’thol, or was it as a way to defend against them?

  Carth wished that she would have some way of answering, but maybe she did. Rebecca might not be willing to speak, but it was possible there were others who would.

  Carth stood with her hands leaning on the board, staring at it. She took a deep breath, letting it out, trying to clear and calm her mind. What else did she know?

  There was the piece about Ras and Jhon. Linsay had used them for a particular purpose, and that had to be significant. Everything Linsay did had a purpose.

  There was the strange way the Ai’thol were able to push against the influence that Carth could use with her magic. Could it be that they had some connection? Could it be that they had Ras and Jhon, or had they taken something that would grant access to that power?

  “What is it?” Jenna asked.

  “Questions,” Carth said.

  “What kind of questions?”

  Carth looked over to Rebecca. “The kind that I think we need to encourage an answer to.” Carth motioned to Rebecca, and she glanced over. She’d been standing at a bookshelf, pulling at the books and pushing them back into place, only briefly glancing at the titles. “Have you ever played Tsatsun with Linsay?” Carth asked.

  Rebecca hesitated. “She has tried teaching each of us the game. She finds it relaxing.”

  “I know the feeling. Tell me, do you have any skill with it?”

  “I have some,” she said.

  “Come over here,” Carth said. Rebecca joined her, and Carth sat opposite Rebecca, resetting the game board. “Has she taught you to play like her?”

  “She has tried teaching us to play like you.”

  There was a certain hesitance to her words, and Carth realized that Rebecca had said more than she had intended.

  “Like me?” She looked up to Jenna and saw the irritation on her face. If Carth wasn’t careful, Jenna might do something foolish. “How did she intend for you to play like me?”

  “She had us study.”

  “Study what?”

  “Techniques.”

  “How would she have had you study techniques that would teach you to play like me?” Rebecca didn’t answer at first, and Carth leaned forward, shooting her a hard expression. “How?”

  “She has a series of books. They describe your playing style.”

  Carth closed her eyes. Why—and how—would Linsay have a series of books describing Carth’s playing style? Had she written them herself? That didn’t make sense, not if Linsay had been working with these others long before, but what reason would there have been?

  “How long have you had these books?”

  “Several years,” she said.

  Carth glanced over to Jenna before looking back to Rebecca. “Several years?”

  That put her timeline with Linsay much longer than she had ever known. How long had Linsay been traveling with them? It hadn’t been a year, which meant that any time before that would have been preparation.

  “Two, maybe three years.”

  “And you know where she came across these books?”

  It would have been before Linsay had worked with Carth, which meant it was before she would have had an opportunity to observe her playing.

  “I don’t. There are things she shares with some of us that she doesn’t share with others.”

  “And where are these books?”

  Rebecca stared at her and said nothing.

  “Are they on my ship?”

  “Please. Don’t do this.”

  “I’m finding out that there is a book on my playing style that has helped Linsay strategize against me and you’re suggesting that I not do anything? Tell me, are these books on my ship?”

  Rebecca looked down at her hands. “They are.”

  Carth understood now why Linsay had been so touchy about her accessing the books in her cabin. It was because they were books that detailed strategies on how to defeat Carth.

  “We’re going back down to the dock, and we’re going below the deck, and you were going to show me these books. If either of the others with you decide to intervene, you are going to make certain that they understand that I need to know more about these books so that I can help Linsay.”

  “You’re going to help her? Even after what you heard him say?”

  “I’m going to help Talia, even after what I heard him say. Whether I help Linsay or not depends on how much you help me.”

  21

  Alayna glanced over when they returned, arching a brow at Carth. She said nothing as Carth made her way toward the lower section of the ship. Jenna peeled off and went to talk with Alayna, likely to explain what had taken place.

  As she passed from the main level to below deck, Carth ignored the watchful eye of Margo and Alessa. Both women stared at her, and she ignored them, much like Rebecca ignored them. The occasional wave rolling toward shore sent the ship creaking. Rebecca staggered with one particular wave against the wall before catching herself.

  When they reached Linsay’s cabin, Alessa rushed forward and slammed her hand against the wall in front of Carth. “You are not to enter here.”

  “This is my ship.”

  “You have granted us the safety of passage. With that, you have given us a place to stay, and there comes a promise of safety. Would you threaten us now and take away that safety?”

  “Inside this room is a way for me to help your master,” Carth said. “Would you prefer that I cannot help her?”

  Alessa glanced past Carth and stared at Rebecca.

  “Let her in,” Rebecca said.

  “You know what the Cason said about her. You know that she is not to be trusted, and we are not to allow her to rifle through our belongings.”

  “You have a series of books in this room that I will see. You have a choice. Either you allow me to enter peacefully and you watch what I do, or you don’t, and if that’s your choice, then know that you will not care for the way that I push into the room.”

  “You told her?”

  It was more emotion from Alessa than Carth had ever heard, and she had to admit that it was somewhat amusing to see the anguish from the woman. She had always been reserved, and even a little angry. This woman was different. Had Linsay’s disappearance shaken her so much? It seemed to have shaken Rebecca, though it affected her a different way. She seemed to struggle with Linsay’s disappearance, but not quite as much as what she saw with Alessa.

  “There are reasons for what I told her,” Rebecca said. “You weren’t there.”

  There was an accusation present, and Carth was curious about what disagreement existed between them.

  “Move,” Carth said. “Feel free to watch, but that’s all you get to do. If you make an attempt to move on me, you will understand exactly what my control over the shadows can do.”

  Alessa turned her gaze to Carth, and she glared at her. “I think you misunderstand. I don’t fear you.”

  “No. You fear Linsay. Whatever she’s done to make you fear her is terrible. Know that while I might not be the person you want to serve, I would never do anything to encourage the people who work with me to fear me.”

  When Alessa didn’t move, Carth jerked on the door and sent Alessa staggering away. She stepped into Linsay’s cabin and sent a surge of her connection to the flame through her hands so that they glowed, lighting the room. She needn’t have bothered. Two lanterns rested on a table, bo
th of them glowing softly. There were stacks of books scattered all about the room, and she noticed vials near some of them that reminded her of Boiyn.

  “Where are they?” she asked Rebecca, dragging her attention away from the vials. She wasn’t going to allow her memory of Boiyn to create difficulty, not now.

  “There,” Rebecca said. She motioned to a stack of books nearest the table, and Carth grabbed the first of them and began flipping through it. From what she could tell, it was a book about Tsatsun, though it was not written in a language that she understood. She looked up, and Rebecca nodded.

  “That’s what you’re looking for.”

  “What language is this?”

  “We had to learn it in order to understand what the Cason was trying to teach us.”

  Carth stared at the page, and there was something strangely familiar about the writing. Why should that be? What was there that she would recognize?

  After a moment, she had it.

  It was the same type of writing that she had seen in her mother’s books.

  “Lashasn?”

  Rebecca nodded.

  Carth flipped through the pages, studying the moves depicted there. They were Tsatsun moves, and the more that she read through the page, the more she recognized some of her earliest techniques. Here was one representing her playing as her mother. A few pages later, there was one representing her playing as her father. Then there was Invar, when she had attempted to play as him. Every page represented a new play, and each one was something that she had done, each one hitting too close to home.

  She looked up. “How?” she asked Rebecca.

  “These are the works that she gave us to use,” Rebecca said.

  “I see that. But how?”

  Could Ras have kept a record of how she had progressed? If he had, why?

  It felt like an invasion, and one that was worse than what she had experienced when held captive by Ras. Even if he was responsible for this, why wouldn’t he have asked her permission before documenting? Why would he have written an entire series about how to play as her?