Shadow Trapped

by D. K. Holmberg

  She lifted the next volume, and much as she suspected, it was similar to the last. There were attempts that she had made playing as friends, and some of the attempts were times when she had played as a variety of people.

  Each page revealed another game that she had played, and on each one, she began to have a rising sense of irritation. How could her games have been shared like this?

  The only way that they would have been was because of Ras.

  It made her time spent with him in Odian more uncomfortable.

  She had trusted Ras and had thought that he wouldn’t betray her, especially as he was descended from the Lashasn. Could that have been a mistake?

  She looked back up to Rebecca. “How many of you have studied these?”

  Rebecca glanced at Alessa and then over to Margo.

  “All of you, then?”

  Rebecca nodded slowly. “We have. That has been what she wanted of us. She wanted us to know how to play as you.”

  Carth glanced back at the books. It was a way for someone to be taught how to play Tsatsun. At least, it was a way that she had been taught to play Tsatsun. She had gradually increased her knowledge, starting with a simplistic approach and going from there, working to build on that, so that by the end of the time that she had been with Ras, she had been able to play from his point of view.

  Carth started flipping through the pages. If this was Ras who had created this book, would he have included the pages where she had played as him?

  She flipped through the three volumes and found nothing.

  As much as anything else, that was confirmation that it had been Ras.

  Which begged the question as to how Linsay had acquired this.

  “How many copies exist?” she asked.

  Rebecca shook her head. “I don’t know. She had this one, but I don’t know how many others existed.”

  “How many other copies did she have?”

  Rebecca glanced at the others before looking back to Carth. “There was just this one.” She watched Carth for a long moment, licking her lips. “You should know that she prized these books more than any others. They could only be studied in her presence, and even then, she limited those she allowed access to.”

  “Why would she limit access?”

  “Only to those who had shown some potential with Tsatsun.”

  Had Talia known? If she had, Carth doubted that she would have shared with her. But if Talia hadn’t known, it suggested that she hadn’t shown the same potential that these other three did.

  “Is that why you’re here?” Carth asked.

  Rebecca glanced over to Alessa and then to Margo. Neither of them had said anything since Carth had entered the room. “We’re here because we thought we might have an opportunity to observe you more closely.”

  “And why observe me?” Carth asked.

  “For the next time she asks us to play as you.”

  Carth didn’t know whether to be flattered or angry that Linsay had spent so much time learning how to defeat her, to the point that she had trained others to play as Carth so that she would have a better chance at eventually defeating her.

  “Have any of you ever beaten her?”

  “None have beaten her. That’s why she is the Cason.”

  Carth thought she recognized the word now that she realized that Ras had been writing in Lashasn, and that these women had been studying in the same language.

  “What does it mean?” she asked.

  She looked to Rebecca first, but she looked away from Carth, as if unwilling to answer. Carth shifted her attention to Margo and then to Alessa before finally looking back at Rebecca again. “What does it mean?” she asked.

  “There is no easy translation for it.”

  “Then give me the difficult translation for it,” Carth said.

  Rebecca looked over to Alessa, and the other woman shook her head.

  Rebecca looked back to Carth. “It means something along the lines of great instructor. Or perhaps master, or perhaps great one. There are many ways that it could be translated.”

  Carth didn’t know enough about Lashasn to know how to translate it, but there was something about it that troubled her.

  She looked back down at the books, staring at them for a few long moments. As she did, she thought she understood. When she looked up, Rebecca was watching her, saying nothing. “This is what you stole, isn’t it? She took these books from the Ai’thol.”

  “We don’t know. She had these books when she first began working with us,” Rebecca said. “She has always used these to help us understand how to play Tsatsun, so if she stole this from them, it would’ve been from a time before we worked with her,” she said.

  If that was the case, then the Ai’thol would have been after Linsay for a long time. Could that be why she had created the impression of strength? Not just the impression, but she had created actual strength and had accumulated those who fought on her behalf.

  Yet Carth still didn’t know why Linsay had used Ras’s name as a way to compel her. Was it because of these books? Could it simply be that Linsay knew of her connection to Ras and used that against her, or was there something more?

  “What do you plan to do now that you know?” Rebecca asked.

  Carth found it interesting that Rebecca was the one to question her, and that she had been the one who had asked most of the questions. She had thought Alessa would be the one who led them, but she had been mostly silent.

  “Now I have to figure out how to go after them.”

  Rebecca looked at the others before focusing on Carth. “Even after everything you’ve learned, you still intend to go after them?”

  “What have I learned? The Ai’thol are dangerous, but not as dangerous as I think Durand would like me to believe. I have learned that Linsay had acquired books that should not have existed, and she used them to learn how to play Tsatsun as me and to help train others to defeat me.”

  They hadn’t—not yet. Would they eventually learn enough to challenge her? Carth had to admit that it was possible they would, which meant that perhaps this was an effective way of teaching Tsatsun. What would happen if she had been the one to write a book like this, only rather than just showing strategy, she had included an explanation, as well as her thought process with each move? Would it be a more effective teaching strategy?

  “And I’ve learned that my old mentor might not be trusted.”

  Hopefully there was some explanation other than that. Otherwise Carth would be even more hurt, if that was possible. She was hurt enough at the idea that Ras had betrayed her, so believing that he had done so with some intent made it easier.

  “I intend to return to the Ai’thol lands, and once I get there, I intend to find Linsay and Talia, and I intend to reclaim them.”

  “I’m afraid that will be more difficult than you intend.”

  Carth looked up and saw Alistan standing in the doorway. He was dressed differently than he had been before, now wearing only the black of those who were from Keyall.

  “Alistan?”

  He glanced at the other women before turning his attention back to Carth. “I heard that you came looking for me.”

  “What happened? Peter said—”

  “Peter was not at liberty to reveal what had happened to me.”

  “How much of this did you hear?” Carth asked.

  “Enough to know that you will be heading into great danger if you attempt to go after the Ai’thol.”

  “Why?”

  “For one, you don’t have the numbers. There would be thousands of them, and even if you gathered all of the women you have working with you, and possibly those who work with the Collector, I doubt that you would have the numbers to succeed.”

  “You said for one.”

  “The other is more difficult. When we’ve talked about trade out of the west, we haven’t really been explicit about why that has changed. There was a time when our ships would travel to a trading post. It was little more
than a sand reef in the middle of the ocean, but it was a place where ships would gather, and trade would commence.”

  “And?”

  “And the Ai’thol have claimed it as their own. For you to find the Collector and Talia, not only you would have to confront the fleet that Durand said you faced, but you would need to go after perhaps one hundred ships. Maybe more. That’s too much even for you, Carthenne. Even if you attempt it, you could lead to something greater—a threat that we have managed to avoid for decades. Centuries. Do not bring their attention upon us.”

  Carth glanced at the women who had been with Linsay and was saddened by the fact that she thought that Alistan was right. If it really was that many ships, there might not be anything that Carth could do. And if there was nothing that Carth could do, there was probably nothing that anyone could do.

  Except, someone had done something.

  Linsay had managed to sneak into the Ai’thol lands, and she had managed to steal these books—or something—from them.

  “Their attention is already here, Alistan. They have a fleet within distance of Keyall. Whatever they are planning, it will be soon.”

  And if they thought that Linsay had found the Elder Stone in Keyall, they would want her. Instead, Carth had allowed them to take a person who had experienced the Elder Stone in Talia.

  “This is my fault. I’m still willing to go after her,” she said to Rebecca, and only Rebecca. The others would defer to her. “But only if I have your help. I need to know what you know of her time with the Ai’thol, and how she managed to get in and out.”

  Margo shook her head, and Alessa only stared at Rebecca. Rebecca met Carth’s gaze, and a debate waged behind her eyes. After moments passed, she nodded. “I will tell you what I can, but I’m not sure that even I have the answers.”

  “Then who might?”

  “If there are answers, they would be on Waconia,” Alessa said after no one spoke for a while.

  “Waconia?” Alistan asked. “There is nothing in Waconia except…” He smiled. “That would have made an excellent way to conceal her presence there, wouldn’t it? Clever. Almost as clever as you, Carthenne.”

  “I would say that Linsay is probably cleverer than me. I never thought to mask the presence of the people who worked with me.”

  “Waconia is only a short sail from here.” Alistan looked at Carth, as if he expected to come with her.

  Would there be time? Could they avoid an attack long enough to get what they needed out of Waconia before the Ai’thol did whatever it was that they planned?

  She had to try.

  “We will go to Waconia, then we will decide what we can—and will—do.”

  22

  It was strange heading back into Waconia with a ship that functioned the way it should, but stranger still was the fact that she came without Linsay, but leading Linsay’s women. They made their way up the hillside, a caravan of people who headed away from the docks and toward the women’s tower.

  Carth allowed Jenna to be on edge, prepared for any sort of attack. Even Alayna had come ready, and her green eyes flashed as she turned her head from side to side. What did she See as she looked around? If there was anything of significance, she would have told Carth. Since she had been silent about it, that meant that there was probably nothing.

  Rebecca, Margo, and Alessa were all quiet. They were slightly reserved, and she wondered whether they feared their return, especially returning without Linsay.

  Rebecca took the lead as they neared the familiar brightly colored buildings. She guided them past a row of houses, and past a row of what appeared to be shops, before turning down the narrow street that ended in a plain royal-blue building. There were no windows, and nothing else in this area suggested that they had found a place of importance, but when Rebecca knocked in a rhythmic fashion on the door, Carth suspected this was the place.

  The door pulled open and a blond-haired woman looked out through it. When she saw Rebecca she started to smile, but then she looked past Rebecca and seemed to notice Carth and the others. Her smile faded. “Where is she?”

  “Taken.”

  “Taken? And you have betrayed her so quickly by bringing her here?”

  Carth stepped forward. She had seen the woman before. This was the one who had greeted her in the street when she had first begun to search for the women’s tower. She was young—at least, she had a youthful appearance. There was a brightness to her eyes, and a depth—almost a wisdom—that Carth had only seen from those who had lived and spent years experiencing the world.

  All of these women had embraced the enhancements Linsay had offered, which left Carth wondering if maybe their age was nothing more than an illusion. Could it be that they weren’t as young as they appeared? Could it be that what she saw as their youth was nothing more than the effect of enhancements?

  Carth smiled. It would be even more reason that the women would have wanted to stay with Linsay. Could she have found some secret to youth? Some cure for aging?

  “They didn’t have a whole lot of choice, not if they wanted to get your beloved Cason back. Now, do you want to let me enter or not? If you don’t, I will find another way in. Or maybe I won’t.” Carth leaned forward. “I don’t have that much objection to allowing the Ai’thol to keep Linsay and Talia.” She watched the woman, wondering whether she would recognize the term, and wasn’t surprised to see the way her eyes narrowed at the mention of the Ai’thol. “Yes. I see that I have your attention.”

  “You encountered Ai’thol? I thought she wanted—”

  Alessa shook her head, cutting the woman off.

  Carth turned to her. “What did she want?”

  “We need to fill her in,” Rebecca said. “If she is going to help us get her back, we need a certain level of honesty with her.”

  “Let’s start with what she wanted me to do with the Ai’thol.”

  “She wanted you to destroy the ships,” Alessa said in her gruff voice.

  Carth glanced over at Alayna, shaking her head. After all they had been through, Linsay had actually wanted Carth to simply destroy the ships? That seemed far more straightforward than what she was accustomed to with Linsay.

  “She made it seem as if she didn’t want me to destroy the ships,” Carth said.

  “Only because she thought she needed to tell you not to do something in order for you to do it.”

  Jenna laughed, the first time she had done so around Rebecca and the others. “She has a point,” she said when Carth glanced over to her. “With you, sometimes we have to tell you not to do something in order to convince you that it’s the thing to do.”

  Carth regarded Jenna for a moment. “I know the feeling.”

  “Are we going to stand here, or are you going to let us in?” Carth asked the woman.

  “Why?” the blonde asked.

  “She thinks that there might be something in the Cason’s records about how she snuck into the Ai’thol.”

  “We aren’t allowed into her private areas.”

  “Even when she’s missing?” Carth asked. She leaned toward the woman. She had a minty scent to her, and it made Carth wonder if perhaps that wasn’t part of the enhancements that Linsay had generated for them. “She will die if she remains there. I know you believe her invincible, but the forces that are arrayed against her are more than what even your precious Cason can withstand.”

  “If she returns, I will say that you forced me,” the woman said to Carth and then turned her attention to Rebecca.

  “If she returns, you can blame me and the entire Binders.”

  The woman watched Carth for a moment, then turned and headed down the hallway.

  Carth followed, and the hall opened up into a massive room. Carth wasn’t surprised to see that it was the other side of what she had come to consider the throne room. The woman guided her through it and off to another room, this one smaller and lined with wall-to-wall shelves, much like Alistan’s library had been. Books were stuffed into
the shelves.

  “This is her private room,” the woman said. “We are allowed to enter, but only in her presence.”

  “Which of these has she recorded?” Carth asked, looking at the books.

  “All of them.”

  Carth looked around. “All of them?”

  “All of these are her documents. She keeps a record of everything. If you think that we will find some reference to the Ai’thol, it will be stored here.”

  The hope that Carth had that she might find something was beginning to be extinguished. It would take far too long to work through these journals, long enough that she doubted that they would discover answers quickly enough to make a difference for Linsay and Talia.

  “Can you See anything that might guide us?” she asked Alayna.

  Alayna looked around at the shelves, her eyes growing flat and distant, and she shook her head. “There is nothing here that would guide me in any way. I’m sorry, Carth.”

  The blond-haired woman walked to a shelf and then returned with a large leather-bound book. She held it out to Carth. “We don’t have to search each book. She catalogs them. If we know what we’re looking for, or how she might have referenced it, we can find the appropriate record.”

  “I’m beginning to think you never had a chance against her,” Alayna said.

  The level of organization displayed here was incredible, but it was fitting for someone who went by the moniker the Collector. Of course, a Collector would have been organized, and of course she would have managed to keep everything coordinated. How else would she have expected to find the appropriate record again when searching for it?

  Carth took the catalog and started to flip through the pages. There were notations made here that were Linsay’s way of indicating where to find various volumes. She flipped through the pages, moving slowly at first and increasing in speed as she worked her way toward the back. Each page was filled with a neat script, and there was a code—a mixture of letters and numbers—attached to each one, what Carth suspected represented her way of referencing each volume.

  “How many of these catalogs exist?”