Shadow Trapped

by D. K. Holmberg

  “And the Binders?” Alayna asked.

  Carth hoped they would be able to reach them in time. The should be able to. The distance from Asador to Odian wasn’t that great.

  “What if something happens to you here?”

  “Odian will not be dangerous for me.”

  Alayna looked around the ship. “What about the rest of us?”

  “It will only be dangerous when the Ai’thol attack, and I don’t intend for you to go it alone.”

  “How can you be sure that he’ll be here?”

  “Because he never left Odian.” She should have known. Ras had only left Odian when forced, and this had the appearance of something he had choreographed.

  He had thought his documenting her strategy surprising, but she had begun to think he had some plan in mind in doing so.

  “You can’t go alone,” Alayna said.

  In the distance, Carth could make out another ship. They had passed several, making her increasingly certain that they planned an attack.

  Could Linsay have been the key?

  Carth decided that it was possible.

  And it was the reason she would draw them away from Keyall.

  By spreading the word that she had the Elder Stone, she would draw them to Odian. It was a risky move, but she hoped the payoff was worth it. If not, they would be crushed by the Ai’thol, but the others would have a chance to escape.

  This ship was massive and had the square sails that she had begun to attribute to the Ai’thol. Could they attempt to intercept Carth? She continued to focus on the shadows, propelling them forward, adding periodic explosions from the flame that would push them even faster. Were it not for Alayna guiding them, Carth wasn’t sure that she would have risked such a strategy. It was dangerous to go this way, and it was dangerous for her to attempt to propel them so rapidly through the water, but now that she had a destination in mind, she wanted to get there rapidly.

  “Normally, I would agree with you. In this, I don’t think that others would be welcomed, and your presence, and that of the others, would only generate more problems for you.”

  “And them?” Alayna nodded toward the oncoming ships.

  “And them? That will be up to me as well.”

  Carth moved to the bow and she jumped, exploding shadows and flame. It felt good to be acting rather than reacting. It had been far too long for her, practically the entire time that she had been in Keyall, where she had been trying to keep up, constantly reacting to what was happening around her. Finally, she felt as if she knew where she needed to go and that she finally understood what was taking place, if not why.

  She soared through the air and added another explosion of shadow and flame to propel her even farther, aiming toward the massive square sail. She didn’t bother slowing herself, and she crashed into the sail and slid down to the deck.

  As soon as she landed, five men converged on her. All had the same look that the captain did, and all were armed with bows. Carth sent a surge of flame through the bowstrings, destroying them with a sharp snap. The men dropped them immediately and unsheathed swords.

  She pulled on her connection to the shadows, swirling it around them and drawing it tight. All of them ceased moving. Unlike the men from Keyall, the shadows were effective against these fighters.

  “Where is Fahr?”

  The nearest man, the only one not carrying a weapon, glared at her.

  Carth released the shadows slightly, only enough to give him a chance to speak. “Where is he?”

  “You would attack the Ai’thol?”

  “The Ai’thol have already attacked me.”

  “Not you. The Collector. You were allowed to leave. I doubt that you will be granted similar protection in the future.”

  Carth stopped over to him and leaned close. She still had not drawn her own weapon, relying on her magic for protection. She didn’t fear him, and didn’t fear the other men on the ship, especially as she was more and more certain that they were not immune to the effects of her magic. How, then, had they managed to press out against her sensations?

  That was something she still hadn’t determined, and part of the puzzle that she needed to solve.

  “Do you think that threatening me is your best strategy?” She smiled at him. “I am the Rel. I don’t think you want to make an enemy of me. And I have the Elder Stone from Keyall.”

  The captain’s eyes widened.

  “I will not destroy your ship. I will not sink it. And I will not kill your men. I will, however, incapacitate it. For that, I am sorry.”

  Carth sent a surge of flame through the sails, burning a massive hole in each of them. It was a controlled fire, and she quenched it as soon as she had accomplished what she wanted. They would still be able to move, but they wouldn’t make nearly the same time as they had before. Now, they couldn’t chase her.

  “Take your time with your repairs, captain.”

  He glared at her but said nothing more.

  Carth climbed up the mast, and then, with an explosion of shadow and flame, she propelled herself back toward her ship. She grew more comfortable with this technique each time she attempted it, and had more control, knowing now how to guide herself, navigating so that she reached the deck of her ship, using the sail the same way that she had used the sail of the Ai’thol ship.

  “Well?” Alayna asked.

  “They won’t be chasing us, not anytime soon,” Carth said. “And they should be able to send word to Fahr.”

  As they continued to sail, she came across another ship, and much as she had with the last, Carth propelled herself to it and destroyed the sails so that they couldn’t give chase. She needed to draw the Ai’thol, not destroy them one at a time. When she returned, Jenna was waiting near Alayna.

  “Do you really need to jump to the ship before you destroy it?” Alayna asked.

  “There is an advantage in me showing myself to them. For one, it shows that I have compassion, and for another, it shows that I could do more, but I’ve chosen to do less. It’s all part of the interaction that I need to have with them.”

  “But do you think that you can do this with one hundred ships?” Jenna asked.

  “Probably not. I don’t anticipate having to have the opportunity to do it with a hundred ships. More than likely, what will happen is that we will get closer to Odian and will find more of them.”

  “And these?” Jenna asked.

  “These are likely nothing more than their scout ships.”

  “I still think this is far too dangerous.” Jenna glanced from Alayna to Carth, and the frown on her face was edged with concern. “All it takes is one misplaced arrow, and you’re dead. And if you die, I know what happens to the rest of us.”

  “What happens is that you go on. What choice do you have? What choice do any of us have?”

  “It would be easier to do it with your assistance,” Alayna said.

  “Then I’d better not die.”

  They fell into silence as they continued to make their way toward Odian. Carth propelled them forward, and the wind picked up, gliding them even faster, so that they were making rapid time. Every so often, she would detect another ship, and she would jump to it, taking a few moments to destroy the sails, making sure that none of the ships were damaged, at least not permanently, and then returning to her ship. Many of them might even have spare sails, but it would take time for them to make the repairs necessary and catch up to them. Carth counted on that delay so that she could reach Odian before them.

  As they made their way, Carth felt the growing uncertainty return. What if she had read this wrong? She was acting on the assumption that Ras was coordinating events, but what if that wasn’t the case at all?

  “You’ve been quiet,” Alayna said.

  “We’ve been quiet for a while,” Carth said.

  “Your silence is more jarring,” Alayna said.

  “Only because you’re used to me being the one to talk.”

  “What are you worried
about?”

  “I keep thinking about what game we’re playing. I don’t even know that I’m right anymore.”

  “Has Linsay influenced you in such a way that you second-guess yourself now?”

  “I don’t know. I never would have questioned myself before, but now I’m not certain.”

  “How certain are you that this is a game?”

  Carth sighed. “That might be the only thing that I am certain of. Everything seems to be revolving around Tsatsun. Not only with Linsay and the way that she’s attempted to maneuver things, but also with Ras.”

  “I thought you said you beat him.”

  “I thought that I had, but the more that I was around him, the less certain of it I was. It’s possible that he only wanted me to think that I had defeated him.”

  “And the C’than?”

  Carth thought of what little she knew of the C’than. Ras served the C’than. She had claimed them so that she could offer protection from the Hjan, but she didn’t know very much about them at all. All that she knew was that they opposed the Hjan, and for her sake, that was enough. She had seen enough badness taking place and had wanted to establish the accords.

  “I no longer know,” she said.

  “You have our support. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I know that I do. I just worry that anything that I might do has the potential of pulling you into a fight that you aren’t prepared for.”

  “We have all been pulled into something regardless of whether you did it or not. With me, it involved getting dragged into violence when I had never known any. I was forced to learn to fight, something my people have refused to do for more years than I know. Had you not come for me, I would have been forced into something even worse.” Alayna looked up at her, and her eyes had a deep green sheen to them that reminded Carth of the spray coming off the water. “We fight with you because we know there are worse things in the world, Carth. You’re the only person I’ve ever met who has looked for goodness rather than chasing darkness.”

  Carth smiled. “I chase the darkness often enough.”

  “Not like some do. The darkness you chase is that which is still within you. You fight for others. That is good and necessary, and it inspires people like me and Jenna and so many others within the Binders.”

  Carth took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she said.

  “What for?”

  “For reminding me. Ever since we reached Keyall, I have been feeling… off. I don’t know how to explain it any differently, only that I can’t shake the sense that I have been chasing something that makes me question everything that we’ve done.”

  “We can see that. I know that you try to hide it from us, but we are more than aware of what struggles you’ve been through. We want to fight with you.” She nodded to where Jenna sat in the masthead. “Think of Jenna and everything that she has observed. She continues to fight with you, even knowing that there might not be much that we can do. We recognize our limitations.”

  “You might recognize your limitations, but you still fight against them.”

  “Don’t you?”

  “When I was with the A’ras, they tried to teach me that weaknesses should become strengths. Only then would you be prepared for everything that comes.”

  “I don’t know that you have any weakness,” Alayna said.

  “My weakness is you. And Jenna. And all of the people that I have promised to care for. Linsay knew it, and she has used it against me.”

  Alayna shook her head. “That’s no weakness. You have already made the fact that you care for others into a strength. I don’t know what you went through before we met, but I suspect you suffered. You must have for you to rail against the darkness as much as you do. But everything that I’ve seen from you, and everything I’ve experienced with you, tells me that you care. If you didn’t, would we even be taking this journey? Would you be going after a woman who had betrayed you?”

  “I’m not doing it for Linsay,” Carth said.

  “I know you’re not. As does Jenna. And we still support you. We are willing to come with you, and willing to help, knowing that there might be nothing that we can do and that we might fall in the process, but if it allows you to save one more person, and to bring a little more light into the world, we are happy to do it.”

  She looked over at Alayna, and offered a smile. As she did, she hoped that she wouldn’t be the reason that something happened to either Alayna or Jenna. How could she sacrifice one of them for Talia? How could she sacrifice one of them for Linsay?

  25

  Odian was a large island in the middle of the sea, a sprawling place that had the port city of Odian, as well as Ras’s homeland, a place where he had once trained those who descended from Lashasn as well as others. The last time Carth had been here, she had come searching for Ras, hoping to find some answers, and knowing that there might not be any clear answer for her. She had come alone, venturing off the ship to spend time playing Tsatsun with Ras and leaving with questions about whether he had allowed her to win or whether she truly was a Tsatsun master.

  In the time since then, Carth had thought she knew the answer, but she now wondered. How could she be a master of this game if Linsay was able to manipulate her so easily?

  “You said the port is on the south side of the island?” Alayna asked, staring into the sunlight as she navigated them.

  “The port is on the south side of the island. It’s the only place where storms don’t batter Odian quite as much.” In the distance, thick bands of clouds threatened rain, and there was thunder that rumbled, reminding Carth of the storm that had held them in port for over a week when she’d first come here. “I was once stranded here for a long time,” Carth said.

  “That was before you knew your abilities?”

  “I knew about the shadows. I had some potential with the flame, but I didn’t know it nearly as well as I do now. Even if I had, there are some storms you can’t sail through.”

  “Is there a place along the northern coast that you think we can reach?”

  “Not easily. I think that’s why Ras preferred Odian as his home. He could remain hidden, and people could only reach him through the port. And I imagine he was well enough connected that he was aware—or at least alerted—when anyone came through that he didn’t want to reach him.”

  From here, Carth could see the slope of Odian. The shore was rocky and gradually sloped up toward a hilly peak. She didn’t have Alayna risk sailing too close to shore, doubting that there would be a safe way to reach the shore from here. Alayna’s focus told her that she recognized it as well.

  “There are strange eddies to the current here,” Alayna said.

  “Probably submerged rock. Whatever it is would make it difficult for us to get too close.”

  “You’re probably right. I take it that you’re going to jump to shore?”

  “Eventually. I need to draw some of the Ai’thol in.”

  Alayna’s eyes widened. “You want to draw them in?”

  Carth looked behind them. They had a trail of ships following them, as they had for the last half day. The longer they sailed, the closer the ships came, to the point where Carth knew that they would eventually overtake them. Part of her plan involved drawing in some of the ships, enough to get them to realize that they couldn’t pursue her all the way to Odian. At least, not safely.

  “How well do you think you can navigate these waters?”

  “I don’t know them any better than I know any others,” Alayna said.

  “What can you See?”

  “I can See that if I veer too far that way,” she said, pointing to the port side, “our ship will sink. If I angle too far starboard, we have an equal likelihood of sinking.”

  Carth looked in either direction and was surprised by that comment. Had she been the one sailing, they would have gone directly through there. All along, she had been feeling as if Alayna was becoming a better sailor than her, and that was just more proof of
it. Carth could use her abilities to help speed them along as they sailed, but even with those abilities, she didn’t have the same capacity as Alayna to anticipate difficulty. With Alayna’s ability, she could See things that might occur and could keep them from dangers that Carth might not even see.

  “Can you stay close to the shore?” Carth asked.

  “How close do you want me to remain?” Alayna asked.

  Carth looked over to the shoreline, and she considered their options. From here, there wasn’t much for her to notice. She could make out the outline of land, and she thought that she could jump from here, but there was nothing else along the shore that drew her attention. “As close as you can. Don’t sink her, but do whatever you can to stay as close as you can to the shore.”

  “Why do I get the sense that there’s something else that might happen that you haven’t shared with me?”

  Carth flashed a smile. “Because you’ve known me as long as you have. If you didn’t, you would never have noticed.”

  “What is it that I wouldn’t have noticed?”

  “We’ve been playing games. Everything that has happened from the moment that Linsay joined us has been a game. It’s taken me awhile to understand the extent to which it has mattered, but I think that I do now.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve been looking for someone to blame for all of this. I’ve been trying to find a way to pin this on Linsay, but there’s only so much that she can be responsible for.”

  “Even though she was the one who killed Boiyn?”

  “I know she did, and she can’t be forgiven for it, especially after everything that he had done to help train her. She embraced his teachings, to the point that she used them with her people on Waconia, but I think there’s a reason that she did what she did.”

  “And what reason is that?”

  “Fear.” When Alayna watched her, Carth could only shake her head. “I think Linsay feared the Ai’thol more than she ever feared me—or whatever reaction I might give. Think about what we know of them.”

  “We know nothing. Rumors.”

  “We know that the people of Keyall fear them. We know that Alistan feared them.”