The Darkest Revenge

by D. K. Holmberg

  “She doesn’t need help.”

  “She does. She didn’t want to be with him.”

  “She doesn’t need help now.”

  The woman left, sweeping away and making her way through the tavern with a determined step, pausing from time to time at tables to lean in and then smile before she disappeared into the kitchen.

  What was this all about? Where was she going?

  If only he hadn’t expended so much strength Reading to discover where Lucy had gone, he might be able to pick up on more of what she was doing, but when he tried to Read her, he… heard dozens of voices within the tavern.

  He just hadn’t been able to Read the woman.

  Had she known about his ability to Read? Could she have known that he came from Elaeavn? She had mentioned that she had known men with eyes like his.

  How long would she keep him waiting? He wanted answers. If she could somehow give him information about how to find Lucy, he was willing to wait, but if this was all part of some scam, he didn’t want to be a part of it.

  And if she was somehow able to repel his abilities…

  Daniel shifted in his seat, glancing every so often to the kitchen. He kept waiting for the woman to return, but she didn’t.

  Turning his attention to the people around him, he focused on the men at the tables. Most of them were content with their drink or their dicing or even the flirtation with the women. Some, he noticed, were a little boisterous, grabbing at the women, and as he watched, he noticed the savvy way they batted hands down to their sides, maneuvering the men so that they didn’t get as grabby as they might otherwise. Some of the men got deep into drink and those were far too chatty. He wondered if they were sharing details they weren’t intended to share, but he couldn’t tell.

  As he listened, Daniel realized he wasn’t able to hear anything from the women. It was as if they were all silent to him.

  How was that possible?

  It would take not only an ability to shut off their minds, but also concentration and focus… and they would have to know that there were Readers within the tavern. Unless they were always prepared for that possibility.

  What had he come across? They were far enough outside of Elaeavn that there shouldn’t be people prepared for this.

  The Forgers. That had to be the reason. They had abilities much like his.

  Interesting.

  He sat back, watching. The more he watched, the more he realized the women moved around in some sort of elaborate game. None of them took the flirtations of the men seriously, and it seemed as if they used their dress to their advantage.

  He smiled to himself. These women weren’t being used at all. They were empowered.

  The kitchen door opened, and he looked up. The woman that had sat at his table returned and joined him again. “What was your friend’s name?”

  “Her name’s Lucy.”

  “Lucy? And what was she wearing?”

  “She was dressed in a cloak similar to mine. She’s a similar height and has deep green eyes.”

  “The same as yours.”

  “The same as mine.”

  “How long will you be in Eban?”

  “I don’t intend to leave until I know what happened to her.”

  “Fine. Where will you be staying in the city?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Let me help you find a place. It might not be as fancy as you’re used to, but it’s a clean bed, and you don’t have to worry about someone jumping in on you.”

  “Thanks?”

  “Don’t thank me yet.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Kasha.”

  “I’m Daniel,” he said.

  She waited for him to follow and guided him through the tavern. As he went, a couple of the men shot him knowing looks, and a few smiled at him. The women watched Kasha, almost as if ready to leap to her defense.

  Noticing that left him wondering yet again what kind of place this was. How was it that Kasha would have so many people ready to defend her? And what was taking place within this tavern?

  She led him up a flight of stairs. At the top, she pointed down the hall. “You get the room down there,” she said.

  “Can I lock it?”

  “The door locks like any other.” She smiled.

  “What is this place?”

  “Just another tavern.”

  Daniel shook his head. “I can’t say that I’ve been to too many taverns in Eban, but something tells me this isn’t just another tavern.”

  “We protect our own. That involves anyone who needs help.”

  “But I’m not one of your own.”

  “No. You have the wrong parts.”

  “You mean you protect women?”

  He glanced back downstairs. A pair of lanterns glowed along the walls, giving just a soft light. The music in the tavern drifted through the doorway, muted and bassy. Voices rumbled from far below, and he couldn’t make any out. He tried to Read Kasha, but again he came up short. Whatever she was doing protected her.

  “We protect women. Too many get moved through places like this, brought into slavery, forced into prostitution. It used to be bad before we organized. Now we have a way of protecting as many as we can. Some still slip through, and there are plenty of men willing to pay far too much to purchase women.” Her nose wrinkled and her jaw clenched slightly. “We do whatever we can to ensure the safety of people we have offered our protection to. And your friend got caught. I suspect it’s because she looked too exotic. There’s a market for that, and that’s where I’m sending word to look. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know. But even if we find her, getting her back won’t be easy.”

  “I’m not leaving without her.”

  “No? You might not have much of a choice. There’s only so much we can do to rescue women brought to certain places. But I’ll do my best. You have my word.”

  “Why?”

  Kasha clenched her jaw briefly. “Some of know what it’s like to be taken.”

  He was silent for a moment, not sure how to answer. After losing Lucy, the last thing he had expected to find was kindness. “Thank you, Kasha.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t thank me yet. We don’t know if I’ve even done anything.”

  “You’ve done more than I was able to do.”

  “Only because you didn’t know where to start.”

  She went down the stairs, leaving Daniel watching after her. There was a confidence to her gait, but the moment she pushed open the door, everything changed about her. That confidence faded, likely suppressed, and she swayed her hips as she stepped through the doorway.

  He smiled to himself. She had done none of that when it was just the two of them, which told him with even more certainty that he knew everything he needed to know about her. They protected their own. It was the same thing Daniel was willing to do for Lucy.

  16

  Lucy

  When Lucy awoke, something felt wrong, though she wasn’t entirely sure why that should be. She opened her eyes, feeling that they were gummed closed, but saw nothing other than darkness all around her.

  Panic set her heart to fluttering.

  Why should there be only darkness around her?

  She focused on her breathing. As she did, she tried to use her enhanced senses. Ever since the attack, since the metal had buried itself in her skull, she had known a strange increase in her abilities, but it was uncontrollable, almost overpowering. Were it not for Haern’s mother’s bracelets, she didn’t know if she would have survived it. The voices all around had been too much.

  There was silence.

  That troubled her.

  Even with the bracelets, there wasn’t absolute silence. Some voices still filtered in, a gentle murmuring she could detect if she focused on it enough. But now, there wasn’t even that murmuring. There was nothing other than a complete silence.

  She tried to Listen, but she didn’t hear anything either.

  That was o
ne of the senses that she had been happy had been augmented. She had never been a strong Listener, just enough of one that she could hear things she shouldn’t be able to otherwise.

  It was how she had heard her parents talking about their plans for her and Daniel Elvraeth.

  Daniel.

  What must he be thinking?

  She remembered very little. They had been in the city, and then someone had grabbed her. There had been a sharp pain, and within moments, fatigue had overwhelmed her, dropping her into a quiet oblivion. As much as she had tried to fight it, struggled to stay awake, she had failed. She’d even tried to remove the bracelets, thinking that she should be able to Slide to safety, but she didn’t think she had managed to do that in time.

  Unless she had, and then had lost them.

  If she had lost the bracelets, then the absence of sound within her head was even more worrisome.

  Her mind worked, so she felt intact, but anytime she tried to focus on one of her Great Watcher-given abilities, she failed.

  Odd.

  It should be more worrisome, but all she could think about was how odd it was.

  With everything she had been through lately, it seemed as if a great many odd things had been happening.

  The only thing she could think of was that they had administered some medicine that took away her abilities. She had never heard of anything like that, and the idea that something like that even existed troubled her, but no other explanation came to her.

  If that was the case, she had to wait for it to wear off.

  Her mouth was dry, and she worked her tongue around the inside of it, trying to moisten her lips. She jerked on her arms and legs but felt pain in her wrists and ankles.

  She was bound.

  Once again, panic started to set in. Why would someone have captured her?

  Better yet, who had captured her?

  This far outside of Elaeavn, she had no idea what the people would try to do to her. Perhaps they would attempt to use her; she’d heard stories of how women outside of Elaeavn were used.

  And here she’d thought leaving the city would be some sort of an adventure. Some adventure it was. It was nothing but terrifying.

  She lay there, losing track of time as she tried to focus on each of her abilities. If she could Read, she might learn where she was and what they intended to do with her. She didn’t even hear any voices around her. It was as if everything was muted.

  If she could See through the darkness, she might be able to figure out what sort of room they kept her in, but even that was difficult.

  Resigned to her fate, Lucy drifted in and out of sleep, until the sound of voices came to her.

  There were several, and it took her a moment to realize that she was Reading them.

  Her abilities were starting to come back.

  How long had she been here?

  And what had Daniel done in the meantime?

  She could imagine that he was panicked, searching for her, or maybe he had decided to return to the city, get help, and come back looking for her. She had a hard time believing that anyone would be willing to come with him in search of her, but perhaps within the forest, he might find someone.

  Then again, this was Daniel Elvraeth, and she doubted that he would even venture into the forest for help. More likely than not, he would go to the palace, and to the tchalit, which meant that no help would come.

  When will he be coming?

  Soon.

  I grow tired of waiting.

  I’m sure you do.

  We can’t keep this up for much longer. They will discover the truth.

  There were other voices mixed in, but those thoughts came the loudest.

  Were they even thoughts? Usually when she was Reading, the voices were more complex, other things mingled within them, and it took great effort to ignore all of the background noise and concentrate on the foremost thought.

  There was another with her.

  The female will do.

  I thought he wanted mostly men for his plan.

  He does, but there is something about her that I think he will approve of.

  What?

  She has something different. Not ours.

  They have been studying our techniques.

  It seems as if they have expanded on them.

  He will be displeased.

  Not when he sees that it has been effective.

  Has it?

  I can Read…

  Great Watcher.

  They would be aware of what she was doing. They had to be, and still her abilities were too diminished. She could Read, but not how she normally could. And without her normal abilities, she might not even be able to Slide from here.

  She had to try.

  Normally, she needed movement in order to Slide. That was part of how she’d learned to control it, but the guild had been working with her. Rsiran had proven that there was a way to Slide without taking a step, though he did it through a unique combination of his abilities, anchoring to lorcith and using that to draw him forward. She had no such connection to the metal.

  At the same time, with her enhancement, it seemed as if she should be able to use that, and perhaps she would be able to find some way of Sliding.

  She had to push away the sound of voices within her mind. It was difficult, but if she allowed those voices to intrude, she wouldn’t be able to concentrate on what she needed to do.

  Footsteps thudded along the floorboards, and Lucy knew that her time was limited.

  It wouldn’t be long before whoever had captured her came into the room. Once they knew that she was awake—and that her abilities were returning—they would administer whatever they had the first time and eliminate her ability to escape.

  Worse, someone had mentioned that they had Read her.

  That suggested that they had abilities of Elaeavn.

  Who from Elaeavn would betray their own kind like that?

  Unless it wasn’t anyone from Elaeavn. The Forgers had unique abilities, and it wouldn’t surprise her to learn that they were capable of Reading. But if so, why wouldn’t Rsiran have mentioned it?

  She had only seen him a few times during his visits, but she had spent considerable time within the forest hoping to catch a glimpse of him, wanting to learn what he knew, hoping perhaps he’d be willing to teach her a little more about how to Slide and to control that ability. If she could uncover even a little bit more knowledge, she thought she could use it to help her do the one thing she had long wanted to do—leave the city.

  It was a dream she and Haern had shared, though she suspected Haern viewed her in a way that she didn’t view him. Theirs was a friendship, and she preferred to keep it that way. He might be interested in traveling outside of the city, but she wasn’t sure that she should be the one to Slide him when they did.

  All she needed to do was get beyond the bindings.

  Could she throw herself forward?

  If she did, she might be able to generate enough movement to get through the Slide.

  It would involve something more than what she thought she could do while confined, but as the footsteps neared, Lucy knew she had no choice.

  She thrashed, focusing on the part of her that controlled the Slide. It was a deep and primal part of her mind, connected to something that was different from the Great Watcher and the abilities he had granted.

  It failed.

  Footsteps hammered faster.

  Lucy thrashed again, attempting to Slide, and again she failed.

  Someone was near. She could feel them. Their voice pressed in on her head, and she pushed it away, trying to close off all outside thoughts, wanting to focus only on Sliding.

  She thrashed again, throwing herself against the bindings.

  This time, she managed to Slide.

  When she did, she found herself freed from the ropes holding her.

  She fell to the floor, having only attempted to Slide a short distance, and got to her knees.

  Th
e door opened, and a man stood framed in pale light. He had dark hair, severe features, and a flash of metal around his neck that caught her attention.

  Lucy Slid.

  She did so blindly, thinking of nothing more than trying to Slide out of where she was, and traveled to the first place that came to mind.

  The market.

  That was where she had last been with Daniel. She didn’t expect him to be there still, but if he was, she could grab him and they could return to Elaeavn. She didn’t want to be outside of the city any longer. Everything felt wrong, and she was terrified of remaining here.

  It was night. The market was empty save for a few people moving along the street. Her sudden appearance didn’t raise any notice, though in the darkness that was tempered by her enhanced eyesight, it was possible that they didn’t even see her. Lucy looked around, searching for any sign of Daniel, but she was in a strange city and there was no way of knowing where he would have gone.

  She didn’t think this was Asador as they had intended, but where had they reached?

  She hurried forward, looking around, and there came a strange stirring within her stomach, like a wave of nausea. She spun, feeling a flicker of movement, and along with it came a sense of familiarity.

  The man she had seen in the room appeared.

  “Why here?”

  “Leave me alone,” she said.

  “I think not. You are far too interesting for me to leave. You will be useful, I think.”

  “Who are you?”

  “I am no one.”

  “You can Slide.”

  “As can you.”

  Lucy found herself fingering the metal along the back of her scalp. It no longer hurt the way it had at first, but she had a strange awareness of it at all times, as if she could feel how it burrowed beneath the skin, how it changed her. Already the awareness had begun to fade, as if her body was absorbing the metal. How much longer did she have before the effect became permanent? The entire reason they had left Elaeavn was to get help from Lareth, but if she took too long, it was possible that there would be no help.

  She Slid, emerging on the far side of the market, but the other man was there waiting, as if he had anticipated her Slide. She spun but found that she couldn’t Slide again.