Shadow Blessed (The Shadow Accords Book 1) (10 page)

“Blessed Assage! I didn’t mean to kill him!” Kel swore.

Carth paused and searched Jhon’s cloak. The man had been about to tell her something about her parents, and he
had
seemed to know something about her family. Had she misread the situation so much that she didn’t understand why he had come to her in the first place? Could he really not want to harm her?

She tugged on her braid with one hand while she bit her lip, checking him with her free hand. A steady pulse beat within his chest. Carth leaned back on her heels, considering what she should do, when she heard the sound of thudding footsteps along the stones.

“Carth!” Kel urged. “We need to get moving.”

He pulled on her arm. She wanted nothing more than to wait for Jhon to awaken, find out what he might have known about her parents. Had her parents taught her so that she could learn ways to avoid men like Jhon, or had there been another reason?

When she didn’t move fast enough, Kel released her arm and raced to the street. When he came back to her, his eyes were wide and his face was as white as parchment. “We have to go. The A’ras… they’re here.”

A
s Kel pulled
her along the street, away from the downed form of Jhon, Carth couldn’t shake the sense that she should find a way to wake him and drag him with her. Instead, as Kel pulled her away from the alley, she feared that she wouldn’t find Jhon again, that something would happen to him and she would never find what he might have to tell her.

The footsteps grew louder.

Kel pulled on her with greater urgency. “Go on!” she told him.

“I’m not leaving you here. Not as
they
come.”

Now he would find nobility?

She let him drag her down the street, but she kept her eyes on Jhon as she did. He still didn’t move, not even to roll over or shift out of the way. If the A’ras came across him, what would happen?

It was possible that they would kill him.

Carth swore to herself and jerked on Kel’s arm, breaking free of his grip.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“We can’t leave him here.”

Kel looked at her as if she had lost her mind, and Carth decided it was possible that she had. “What does it matter if they find him?”

Carth raced to Jhon, who still lay unmoving. “It matters.”

She grabbed him by the legs and tried dragging him. Jhon wasn’t a large man, but then, she wasn’t a strong girl, either. He didn’t budge no matter how hard she tried.

She looked up at Kel as he hurried over to her. “You’ll have to help me.”

“Help? Are you
mad
?”

The sound of voices came near, and with it came the steady sensation of sizzling in her skin—like a burning below the surface that pulsed in her veins—that she attributed to magic being used. There was no doubting that the A’ras were near now. “Yes. I am mad. Now help me!”

Kel stared at her for another moment before shaking himself. He grabbed one of Jhon’s legs and helped Carth pull on him, dragging him along the stones. He moved slowly and thudded against the cobbles, likely making enough noise that anyone listening from the street would hear them. When Kel grunted softly with his effort, she shot him a warning glance and he only shook his head.

They reached the back side of the warehouse. A stack of crates leaned against the building, nearly as high as both of them, but barely wide enough to hide them all.

The sound of the A’ras voices drew nearer.

“Hurry!” she whispered.

Kel leaned forward and his eyes went wide. “What do you think I’m doing?”

They dragged Jhon behind the crates just as the footsteps rounded the back of the warehouse.

Carth pulled the knife from her pocket and held it in front of her.

Kel studied the knife as if seeing it for the first time, which he was, she realized. When she’d jabbed at him, it had been at night. The only other time she’d pulled the knife out around him had been when that strange man had been choking him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but she raised a finger to her lips to motion him to silence.

“There is something here,” a voice said. The A’ras speaking had a strange and harsh voice, making it sound as if he spoke through a thickened tongue. “I can sense it.”

“You sense nothing,” another voice said. “Almars warned us to watch for signs of Reshian, but we would not find anything back here.”

The other A’ras seemed to sniff at the air, and then inhaled deeply. “I’m not so sure that there isn’t,” he said. “Listen to what the water tells you, and the air.”

The other A’ras chuckled softly, a dark sound that easily carried behind the stacked crates. Carth shivered.

“You’ve listened to Invar too much if you think there are lessons that could be learned from the water and the air.”

“I listen when there are things that can be learned. You would be wise to do the same.”

The steady sizzling sensation came again, this time searing through her skin, leaving her flesh feeling dry and tight. She’d only ever felt the same around the A’ras and knew that it came when they used their magic. It was that magic that made her fear the easy way Felyn had managed to destroy the three A’ras. If he could do that so easily against men charged with power, there was little anyone else would be able to do against him.

“As I said, there’s nothing here,” the other A’ras said.

“Hmm. I’m unconvinced.”

A crack echoed through the air. “You don’t have to be convinced. Come on. We’re getting called.”

Carth heard the sound of feet moving quickly over the cobbles away from her. Kel started to move away from the crate, but she grabbed his arm, holding him in place even when he shot her a questioning glance. She held a hand up.

A rustling sound came from nearby. Likely fabric, and it was close.

Kel gave her a beseeching stare, but she didn’t know what to do.

Then Jhon began to move.

That was the last thing that they needed. He couldn’t wake up and make noise, not if there was one of the A’ras nearby. Carth didn’t harbor any hope that she would be able to do anything were the A’ras to find her. It was one thing to stab some random man on the street when he had a friend hung up by his neck, but it was quite another to stab one of the magically empowered servants of the royals.

The rustling came even closer.

Another moment, maybe two, and they would be discovered.

She held the knife out, ready to do whatever it took to keep them safe but knowing that there wouldn’t really be anything that she could do if the A’ras came around the stack of crates.

Another crack
shook the air.

Carth tensed and noted that Kel did the same. She shook her head when he looked over at her. How much longer would they be able to hide here?

The shuffling started to move away.

Carth still didn’t move, clutching the knife tightly in her hand. She didn’t dare do anything else but hold on to the knife, but if the A’ras saw her with it, there would be no question what fate would await her, and it would be much worse than if she were caught stealing.

Then the sound of the A’ras made its way around the corner of the warehouse and finally disappeared.

She allowed herself to breathe out, finally able to relax.

Jhon stirred more, but still hadn’t woken.

Kel grabbed onto her arm and she nodded. Now it was time to go, and to return to the Lyre if they couldn’t find Etan first. Staying out on the street was dangerous.

As they cleared the crates, she thought she heard Jhon beginning to sit. Carth didn’t slow, and she refused to go back to ask the questions that she so badly wanted to ask, fear of remaining on the street overriding her desire for answers. Taking Kel’s hand, she ran back to the tavern.

* * *

“
W
here is that fool man
?” Vera stormed around the tavern, carrying a large ladle as if she might use it to smack the first person who refused to answer her. As there were only Carth and Kel in the tavern right now, both tensed as she came near, neither wanting her ladle to their head.

“We didn’t see him,” Carth said again.

“What did you see?” Vera asked as she stopped pacing, holding the ladle back over her shoulder. Carth eyed it, afraid that Vera might swing it down at her, even though Vera had never attacked her in the time she had stayed with her.

Carth glanced at Kel, warning him to silence. She didn’t want Vera to know anything about Jhon and the fact that he knew something about her family. Those were questions that she would have to have answered eventually, but for now, the focus needed to be on what had happened to Hal.

“Two of the A’ras,” Carth said.

Vera glared at her but didn’t warn her to shush as she normally did. “They shouldn’t even be down here,” she said in a whisper.

“Why?”

Vera shook her head. “Doesn’t matter.”

Carth almost stood. “It does matter, especially if they come after us. We should know why they aren’t supposed to be here, and how to avoid them. Besides, I thought they came after Thevers down here.”

“Carth—” Kel said.

“The girl is right,” Vera said with a sigh. “They’re mostly paid to stay clear.”

“Paid?”

Vera nodded.

“But why? To protect the Thevers?”

“That’s why some do it, but not why we do.”

“I… I don’t even understand! How do you have enough to keep them…” Her mind raced and she understood what had happened, and how Vera would have managed to keep the A’ras away. “That’s why we sell breads and crafts, isn’t it?”

Vera sighed. “That’s part of it. Business is enough that we have extra, but what you bring in helps.” She smiled warmly at them, and Carth felt a flush rising within her at the deception. “They leave us alone, even with the obsession about—” She shook her head, as if thinking better about sharing. “We’re buying protection, not only for the Lyre, but for the other shops along the riverfront.”

“Did you miss a payment?” Kel asked.

“They wouldn’t let me miss anything,” Vera said.

“Why did they come down here, then?” Carth asked. She hadn’t realized it before now, but in the time she’d been with Vera and Hal, she
hadn’t
seen any of the A’ras down near the river other than that first day. They were much more prevalent in other parts of the city, and practically impossible to avoid in certain places.

“I don’t know,” Vera said.

“They were looking for something,” Kel said. “We heard them.”

“You heard them?” Vera asked.

Kel nodded. “Carth hid us until they went away.”

“The A’ras do not simply go away,” Vera said. “That is why they are so effective for the royal family. When they don’t find what they search for, they will stay on the hunt until they find it.”

Carth shivered. Had they hunted for her? Or had they hunted for Jhon? Either way, now that she had been responsible for hiding from them, would they come after her?

Vera watched Carth and seemed as if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t get the chance to do so.

The door to the tavern opened and Hal entered, carrying a small child. Vera let out a relieved sigh and ran over to him, lifting the child from him. “Haldon Marchon! Where have you been?”

“Found another stray,” he said.

“You found this one?” Vera asked.

“Found. Delivered to me. What does it matter? They need our help and we have to give it to them.”

Vera glanced at Carth and Kel. “It matters, I think. More than ever, I think that it matters.”

Hal stiffened, as if noticing the mood in the tavern for the first time. “What happened?”

Vera pulled the child over to the fire and set him down on a stool. Carth noted bruising along the child’s face and a deep wound on the back of his head. Vera wasted no time putting pressure on the wound and beginning to clean it.

“They came here,” Vera said.

Hal glanced at Carth. “They should not have. That’s why we pay them.”

“That was why we had paid them,” Vera said.

Hal slowly looked over at Vera. Something passed between them, and Carth could tell that it was important but didn’t know what it might be.

“Come, the two of you,” Hal said. He motioned for them to follow as he left the tavern, and then stopped, turning to them and blocking off Carth’s view of the rest of the street. “Tell me what you remember.”

Kel spoke first, sharing what he had seen of Jhon as he had trapped Carth in the alley. How much had he overheard? It couldn’t have been that much or Kel would not have intervened, but enough that he recognized her concern about the fact that he’d found her.

Hal watched her, saying nothing at first.

When Kel was done, Hal shifted his attention to her. “What happened, Carth?”

“I don’t know.”

“Hmm. There would be a reason that they would focus on you, I think.”

Kel looked at her and must have seen the terror on her face. She didn’t want to explain what had happened to her parents, or why she had run from the A’ras, or even why she would know Jhon. She didn’t want to share with either of them that she would do anything to get revenge for what happened to her mother—to both her parents, but she hadn’t
seen
what had happened with her father—even if that meant attacking the A’ras.

“They weren’t looking for me,” she said.

“Then what were they looking for?” Hal asked.

“I don’t know. Someone else.”

Vera hollered for Hal. He sighed and turned toward the tavern. “If you’ve caught their attention, there might not be anything we can do to protect you.”

“They’re not after me,” Carth said again.

Hal watched her for another moment before nodding and entering the tavern once more, leaving Carth alone with Kel.

“I heard him,” Kel said.

“Yeah? I heard Hal too,” Carth said.

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Carth tried to move past Kel, but he moved to block her. He wasn’t large, but then neither was she, and she didn’t want to push past him, not with what he’d been through over the last day or so. “Get out of the way,” she said.

“What was he talking about to you? Something that man said bothered you. That was the reason you didn’t want to leave him for the… for
them
.”