Trick of Shadows (The Duskhunter Saga Book 2)

by Sara C. Roethle

  Steifan looked to Tholdri. “I must say, I’m glad to see you. We have found ourselves in quite the mess. Has Lyss told you about the Nattmara?”

  Tholdri blinked at me. “Now that’s what you should have started with. The one from Charmant?”

  I sighed. “We have much to catch you up on, but first we need to fetch the guards and let them know the duke is dead. If we are lucky, they’ll believe we didn’t do it.”

  “Perhaps it was unwise of me to come after all,” Tholdri said.

  I started down the stairs. “You have no idea.”

  “Asher is here,” I heard Steifan whisper to Tholdri at my back.

  Tholdri chuckled. “A fresh murder, an ancient vampire, and a Nattmara. Traveling with Lyss is never dull, is it?”

  I reached the foot of the stairs and went for the door. “We will add two more murders to the list if you two don’t shut up.”

  Masculine laughter followed me out the door.

  Tholdri was right. My life was a lot of things. Dull was not one of them.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The guards didn’t blame us. Imagine that. It was clear that the bolt came from outside, and someone on the street had seen the cloaked man running away and confirmed that it wasn’t Tholdri. Though that still left us with knowing everything, but having no evidence or reliable testimony.

  We explained everything to Tholdri as we headed back toward the old keep, since I wasn’t sure where else to go. I didn’t think the duke’s death would cancel out the contract on our heads. In fact, it would be safe to assume things had escalated. The duke had been killed for what he had to tell us, and now we knew highly dangerous information.

  Tholdri glanced around the ruins of the old keep. Many of the camps had cleared out by the light of day with most of the traveling merchants down at the main square.

  “We have to go back to the canals,” I decided. “We’ll find proof to take to the Archduke.” I leaned my back against a crumbling stone wall and looked up at the gray sky. Rain would come by midday.

  “What about the Nattmara?” Steifan asked, leaning against the wall beside me.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I’m not sure if I could break his glamour again now that he would be ready for me. I wounded him, but there’s no saying how fast he might heal.”

  “Should we go back to Ryllae?” he asked.

  Finished looking around, Tholdri stood in front of us. “Who is Ryllae?”

  I winced at the second mention of her name. I doubted Egar was watching us, but just in case, I didn’t want to give him any more information on her if I could help it. “She is someone whose name we should not say out loud. She taught me how to break the Nattmara’s glamour, but we can’t risk returning to her now when her blood could make him practically immortal.”

  Steifan moved away from the wall to look at me. “If he kills us, there will be nothing to stop him from finding her. I think it might be worth the risk.”

  “He has a point,” Tholdri said, always one to catch on quickly.

  “She has strong glamour,” Steifan added. “She can protect herself.”

  I mulled it over. My breathing felt too shallow, on the verge of panic. Could I face Egar again without further preparation? “Fine,” I decided, “we will go to her. I will go to her. You two will hang back and make sure no one is watching.”

  Tholdri looked to Steifan. “She has become far more reasonable since she started spending time with you.”

  “Or far more stupid,” I muttered, pushing away from the wall.

  Tholdri laughed, and both men turned to follow me.

  I kept my eyes trained on my surroundings as I walked, ignoring the presence of Tholdri and Steifan behind me. If I led Egar to Ryllae . . .

  I could not think of that now. Steifan and Tholdri were right, I needed the tools to defeat the Nattmara. If I could not kill him, he would find Ryllae eventually, with or without my help.

  We reached the small structure Ryllae called home. A few men and women stood around, watching goods and wagons left behind by the merchants gone to market for the day. Steifan lingered near one of the larger camps. Tholdri had diverted. I didn’t see him, but I knew he would be watching.

  An older woman dressed in bright foreign silks eyed me as I neared Ryllae’s doorway. “She’s not there. I heard a struggle near dawn.”

  My breath left my body, and I was frozen for a moment. Then I took an aching inhale and rushed through Ryllae’s doorway, taking in the signs one by one. Blood on the hard-packed earth. Ashes from the fire scattered. A few belongings strewn about.

  My heart thundered in my ears. No mortal would be able to take one of the Sidhe on their own. Egar had found her.

  I rushed back outside, spotting Steifan.

  He met me halfway. “What happened?”

  I shook my head over and over. This was my fault. I hadn’t been able to finish Egar off, and now he had found Ryllae. “He has her. He has Ryllae. We need to search the canals, we have to find his lair.”

  Steifan’s eyes went wide. “But what if his lair isn’t in the canals?”

  I reached out and gripped his arms. “It has to be.”

  Tholdri appeared at my side. I turned to explain things to him, but he shook his head. “I heard, let’s go.”

  I nodded. “There is an entrance to the canals not far from here. We’ll start with that. If Ryllae is still alive—”

  “We will find her,” Tholdri cut me off. “I promise.”

  With another nod, I turned and led the way, not speaking my final thought. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

  We created a makeshift torch to light our way. Fortunately Steifan still had his borrowed flint, and I still had Ryllae’s ointment. We smeared it on our eyes and ears, for what good it would do.

  I led us deep into the damp darkness, praying we could find Ryllae in time. If she was already dead, Egar would kill us all.

  We passed the tunnel that would take us to the trap door in the estate cellar. I knew that direction led to other trapdoors among the estates, then eventually to the exit behind the guild hall. I didn’t think Egar would be in that direction, else we would have seen signs of him. If he was stealing the vampire’s victims, he was probably somewhere close to where they were held, but far enough to not be discovered.

  We reached the place where the two men and ancient vampire fell. I held the torch inside, taking a quick glance around. The bodies were gone, the cage empty. I moved on. Steifan and Tholdri followed silently at my back.

  Fear made my hand clammy around the torch. Cold sweat dripped down my brow. I could not recall being so frightened since the night Karpov killed my uncle, so many years ago.

  We reached another intersection and I had to make a choice, because there was no way we were splitting up. I closed my eyes, reaching out with my senses. I could usually sense vampires when they were near, and I knew the feel of Egar’s magic. I had to try.

  Steifan and Tholdri didn’t speak a word. They trusted me. It was nice to know I had good friends, especially since we all might die before nightfall.

  My senses found nothing but darkness. The running water seemed impossibly loud. I cursed under my breath. I didn’t know which way to go.

  I was about to take my chances and head left when I felt a prickling at my back. It didn’t feel like Egar, it felt like Ryllae. Was she still alive? Had she sensed me and managed to reach out?

  “This way,” I whispered to the men. “Be prepared.”

  I turned right, breaking into a run with the torch’s flame wavering wildly. I took countless turns, and knew if I managed to survive, I might have trouble finding my way back out. Tholdri and Steifan’s footfalls echoed at my heels. Just as my lungs started to burn, I sensed it. Great, concentrated magic. Egar’s lair was near.

  My sword awoke, sensing the magic too, but I didn’t slow. Egar would know I was coming.

  I reached another bend and turned with Tholdri and Steifan breathing hard
behind me. I turned again, running down a more narrow passage with no water flowing through it. Parts of the walls were crumbled, strewing rubble across my path. If I couldn’t sense the magic so strongly, I would have passed the entrance. But I did sense it, so strong it was nearly overwhelming. What had once been a doorway was now half-filled with debris.

  I halted so abruptly Tholdri had to reach out his arms, bracing on either side of the narrow tunnel to stop himself from running into me.

  I drew my sword in one hand with the torch in the other, then squeezed through the narrow opening, which led into a vacant tunnel with a long-dry canal. This must have been part of the original canal system, long since replaced with newer tunnels. Further down, soft light emanated from a doorway.

  I approached cautiously with Steifan and Tholdri following close behind, slowing as I neared the doorway. The smell of blood was so overwhelming for a moment I thought we were too late, but then I realized I could still feel Ryllae’s magic urging me forward.

  “Greetings hunters,” a distorted voice echoed from within the chamber.

  I handed the torch back to Steifan, gripped my sword in two hands, then entered the chamber.

  My stomach lurched. The floor was coated in blood, both old and new, with body parts strewn about. In the center of the room was Ryllae, lying eerily still on her back.

  Egar hunched over her, clutching her small body with long claws. He lifted his face, catching the candlelight in the room to show rows of sharp teeth dripping with Ryllae’s blood. I took a step closer to see a wound at her neck.

  The Seeing Sword’s magic flowed through me, eager to slay the monster before us.

  Egar’s glistening eyes looked past me. “I see you have brought me a feast.”

  He meant Steifan and Tholdri, but I didn’t dare look back at them. “Step away from her,” I ordered. “It is time we end this.”

  He stood, and if I didn’t know any better I’d say he’d grown taller. He used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his malformed mouth. “It is too late. The Sidhe’s blood has strengthened me. I will cut off your legs and keep you here to feed from in the future.”

  His glamour slammed into me. Everything went gray, then I felt a sharp stinging pain at my throat. I staggered back, clutching the hilt of my sword for dear life. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear. I didn’t know where Steifan and Tholdri were.

  The Seeing Sword came alive, pushing back a small measure of the glamour. I felt blood trickling down my throat, but the wounds caused by Egar’s claws seemed shallow. He could have killed me in that first rush, but either his desire to draw things out—or to keep me alive for later—had stopped him.

  I still couldn’t see, but I could sense Egar’s movements. He circled me, and I was able to move my feet to follow his pacing, keeping my sword between us.

  Egar stopped moving. “Tricky girl with your strange sword. But can you sense your companions? Are they already dead?”

  My hands trembled so violently that I nearly dropped my sword. It urged me to remain calm, but my fear was winning. Why could I sense Egar, but not Steifan and Tholdri? Had he killed them as soon as he blinded me?

  A different kind of magic seeped into my consciousness. Ryllae. She was still alive. Her old words coursed through my mind. I had forgotten to use them, but she was using them for me now. The gray began to lift from my vision.

  Egar’s shriek of rage was the only warning I had. My sword moved, but I didn’t remember moving it. It was as if it guided my arms and not the other way around. I felt it slide into Egar’s flesh.

  He shrieked again, but more importantly, his glamour lessened. I was finally able to see the room. Tholdri still stood in the doorway, staring blankly. Next to him, Stefan blinked, as if trying to focus his eyes on me.

  I tore my gaze away from them and advanced on the Nattmara.

  He pressed his back into the corner. I could feel his glamour tearing at my mind as he clutched his torn abdomen.

  “How?” he rasped. “How are you keeping me out? The Sidhe couldn’t even keep me out.”

  I didn’t bother to explain that my sword and Ryllae had helped me. I lunged forward, shoving my blade up through his chest. He grunted, and I pulled it out in a wash of blood. He fell to his knees, but still he did not die.

  “How?” he gasped again. “With her blood I should have been immortal.”

  I raised my sword over my shoulder. “Ask me how many immortals I have killed, and maybe it will make sense to you.”

  I didn’t give him time to ask. I swung my sword, parting his head from his shoulders. I watched his head rolling across the floor, and could have sworn it blinked before the eyes finally went distant with death.

  Panting, I lowered my sword, glancing back toward Steifan and Tholdri.

  Steifan was the first to come to. He looked at me, his eyes registering the death of the Nattmara, then he rushed to Ryllae.

  I was at her other side in an instant, placing my bloody sword on the stone floor beside me. I knelt over her, checking her blood-slick neck for a pulse. Her bleeding had slowed, but there was a big pool on the ground and who knew how much had gone down Egar’s mouth.

  I nearly jumped out of my skin when her eyes fluttered open. She lifted a hand to her throat, her fingers trembling like butterfly wings. “You came.” Her words gurgled, letting me know she had blood in her airway, but she seemed to be healing. Even now, I could see her torn skin slowly beginning to reknit.

  If she healed faster than a vampire, could Egar do the same? I whipped my gaze back to his body, then managed to calm myself. His head still remained fully parted from his shoulders. But seeing how well Ryllae could heal, I knew I’d be burning his body before I’d be able to sleep at night.

  Tholdri had finally regained his senses and came to stand over us. “What in the Light just happened?”

  I looked up at him. “Glamour. Steifan seems to have more of a resistance to it than you.”

  Steifan stayed kneeling at Ryllae’s other side. “I could hear what was going on, but I couldn’t see nor move.” Ryllae reached out for his hand, and he helped her sit up.

  She still clutched her throat, but the color was returning to her cheeks.

  “How is she healing?” Tholdri asked.

  Ryllae looked at me, managing a pained smile. “You really do know how to keep a secret, don’t you?”

  “That she does,” Steifan said.

  Tholdri put his hands on his hips, looming over us. “Would someone please tell me what’s going on?”

  I stood. “The Nattmara is dead, and his victim will survive. Does it matter how she manages to heal?”

  “You’re infuriating.”

  With Steifan’s help, Ryllae stood. “It is not her secret to tell, just be grateful that she shares her own with you.”

  I raised a brow at her. “How do you know that?”

  She shrugged, then winced. “They are both important to you. When I helped you overcome the glamour, I could sense that your greatest need was to protect them.”

  Though he still didn’t fully know what was going on, Tholdri grinned and put an arm around my shoulder. “That’s our Lyss. Just a big softy.”

  I shoved his arm away with a laugh, glancing once more at the Nattmara. It was hard to believe he was actually dead. I searched for the torch, finding it had rolled against the wall right next to the doorway.

  “Let’s burn the body here,” I said. “I don’t want to risk him ever coming back, and we still need to bring justice to Duke and Duchess Auclair before the day is through. Maybe if we approach the Montrants covered in blood, we can scare them into confessing.” I meant my words in jest, but thinking about it, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.

  “They are the culprits of your murder investigation?” Ryllae asked.

  “Yes,” I answered, “and they have been kidnapping people to sell them to vampires. The Nattmara was stealing some of the victims.”

  “And you would like to scare them in
to confessing?” she asked.

  “I meant it half-joking,” I explained. “I don’t know how we would scare them enough to confess.”

  Seeming more steady on her feet, Ryllae smiled. “I believe I can help with that.”

  I found her smile unsettling, but I wouldn’t turn down the help.

  Just how frightening could one of the Sidhe be? We were about to find out.

  Chapter Seventeen

  We burned the Nattmara where he lay. I filled Ryllae in on the rest of the details of the murders. She had actually met Charlotte before, and believed she could help.

  Our first step was to leave a bloody piece of parchment in the Montrant’s cellar, and I was quite sure after the duke’s confession that it had been their cellar where we had first found the kidnapped girl.

  That first step was easy, the next, more difficult. We had decided to wait until nightfall, which would give us time to make ourselves more presentable. Of the three of us, I was the most grotesque, covered in blood both old and new with three scratches already healing at my throat.

  Seeing no other option, I bathed in the cold dark water of the canal. I ended up with sopping wet hair and clothing, trudging back toward the canal entrance near the old keep. Once we were above ground, I hung my outer layers of clothing to dry. Ryllae stayed with us, prepared to protect us with her glamour if need be.

  Yet there was no need. We waited out the rest of the day, which stretched on impossibly long, and eventually my clothes had dried enough to wear. Now that Egar was dead, my mind was consumed with getting justice for the Auclairs, and for all the missing people. We had never found Bastien or Vannier, so I could only guess that they were dead. Maybe once the Montrants confessed, they could tell us where to find their bodies.

  Ryllae stood beside me as I watched the sun making its slow descent. Steifan and Tholdri had gone to buy food and a new lantern, and it was the first time we had been alone since she had first taught me about glamour.