Shadow Blessed (The Shadow Accords Book 1) (18 page)

C
arth couldn’t sit still
. She tried resting, but her mind raced. Why would the A’ras have come for Taryn? It had to do with the Reshian and their stupid fight outside the city, didn’t it?

Maybe it was something else. Jhon thought there was something to the Thevers smuggling children. Was that tied somehow to the Reshian? Was
that
why the A’ras had come for her?

She hurried through the streets, searching for Jhon.

She hadn’t found any sign of Hal—nor of Vera, for that matter. The tavern had been nearly empty by that time, and the street outside desolate. She’d searched along the shore but found no sign of Jhon, which made her change her approach and head into the city.

The A’ras had Taryn.

The girl was her responsibility. Carth had rescued her and had thought that would bring her safety, that Vera and Hal could protect her, but what was protection other than an illusion?

Why did the A’ras keep ruining things in her life? Her parents first, then chasing her, and now… now Taryn.

Carth wanted answers. No—she wanted revenge, but she doubted even her shadow ability would help with that. First, she needed to find Jhon.

Had she not brought Taryn to the Lyre, Hal would have been unharmed. She didn’t need to see him to know that he was dead. Everyone she cared about died, especially when the A’ras got involved. What if the A’ras sliced him with their blade? If that happened, he would be dead. The poison from their magic would have leached into his body and blackened it, the same as had happened to the man Carth had stabbed.

Now she needed to find Taryn. She didn’t know what she intended, only that she would find the girl and find some way to bring her back to the tavern. Carth refused to think of what she would do next. There wasn’t anything she could do.

The streets were basically empty, and she didn’t know where to find the A’ras. She could go to the palace, but there would be too many there for her to do anything. She could sense when the A’ras used their magic. If only she could follow that, she might know whether any of the A’ras were closer than she expected.

Carth stopped. When had she felt it before?

There had been the connection to the shadows. She didn’t know if that had been the only time she had detected it, but it seemed like the easiest way to reach for them now.

She moved into an alleyway, away from the street, and pulled on the shadows, cloaking herself in them. She stood, holding on to the darkness, letting the sense of it surround her. If Jhon was right, then she would be noticed doing this. Maybe he would find her as well. That might be the best option, especially if she was to get help reaching Taryn.

As she stood there holding onto the shadows, a steady throbbing slowly began to press against her. At first it was subtle, something she wasn’t certain that she detected, but the sensation began to increase, leaving her skin feeling tight and drawn: the distinct sense of the A’ras magic being used.

Could she track using the sense?

The more she focused on it, the more she thought that she might be able to use it. And maybe she would detect the A’ras deeper into the city, thinking they would be nearer the palace. But that wasn’t what she detected. This was near the river.

Carth released the connection to the shadows and started back down the street, making her way toward the river. Once there, hiding along the shores, letting the sound of the water roaring along the rocks rush past her, she pulled the shadows toward her again.

With it, she felt the tightening of power against her skin.

Was it near the docks and the ships?

Could she have rescued Taryn from her attackers, only to have her grabbed by the A’ras and brought to the ship anyway?

But she didn’t detect them near the ships. It came from somewhere away from the city.

Carth made her way along the rocks, pausing every so often to pull on the shadows, to let the pressure from the magic push against her. As she did, she knew she headed in the right direction. Every few steps, the sense of the magic stretching her skin grew more intense.

She reached the outer edge of the city. The row of taverns and shops along River Road transitioned to ramshackle homes, and then to nothing as Nyaesh ended. The river continued to flow beyond the city, eventually reaching the sea. From here, she could see nothing of what the river would be, or the power it would possess. There was only the emptiness.

Carth paused and pulled on the darkness. There was the sense of power against her, but now it seemed to emanate from deeper in the city again. Had she been mistaken? Had she missed something with the A’ras and somehow followed the wrong path?

She wished Jhon were with her to help guide her, but he wouldn’t have allowed her to come with him. He didn’t think she should risk herself using the shadow magic, but Carth was meant to learn it. Her father
had
to have been teaching her that, hadn’t he? If she was shadow blessed, that meant that she could use the power of the darkness, that it was her birthright. Didn’t it?

If only her father were still alive to teach her, to help her to understand why she could manipulate the shadows. Maybe he would have taught her using other games, thinking she would learn to control the darkness the same way she had learned to follow her mother, or find her father when he followed close behind her.

There had been no game of shadows, nothing like the lessons he had worked on with her. Carth wondered when he would have begun teaching her those lessons—unless he had brought her to Nyaesh to keep her from them.

She followed a narrow path leading along the river. This was where she had detected the A’ras magic, even if she didn’t detect it now.

Voices drifted in the night and she froze. Carth considered pulling on the shadows, but decided against it. If Jhon could detect her when she did, others could as well. Rather than using her shadow skills, she crept slowly forward, trying to remain hidden in natural shadows. Moonlight shone brightly overhead, and she wore a gray cloak, one that would better fade into the shadows of the daylight rather than the blackness of night. She feared that the moonlight reflected off her cloak too brightly.

Carth shrugged it off, standing only in her brown dress. This was better, but it was still too obvious. Better than with the cloak, though, and she tucked her braid down the back of her dress, wishing she had nevern oil and choclem leaves like she’d sought when she’d helped Kel mask his bruising. The choclem might be too dark for him—and for her—but it would help obscure her.

The voices came from the other side of a small rise. The land was flat here, with little slope to it, barely enough to prevent anyone from noticing she was here. Were there any rocks, or anything else to hide behind, she might be able to make her way forward, but she had nothing to use.

Only, there was one place she could hide as she made her way toward the voices.

She glanced at the river. It rushed through here more violently than it did near the docks. Massive rocks lined the shore leading down toward the water. She’d been in the river twice before and could have died both times; should she really risk the river a third time?

The sound of the voices came closer.

Carth had to go somewhere. If she stayed here, whoever came along the street would discover her. If she tried racing back to the city, she likely wouldn’t make it before whoever was coming discovered her.

As she climbed onto the rocks, she held on carefully. They were massive, and slick with water and algae. Another option came to her. She didn’t have to climb into the river, not if she could hide among the rocks. If she was willing to risk it, she could pull on the shadows and hide herself, but she feared someone like Jhon with the ability to detect her using that skill.

As she pressed herself against the rock, she realized her mistake. Her cloak lay on the ground, near the path where she’d shaken it off.

Swearing softly to herself, Carth climbed off the rock and back to the path. She snatched up her cloak and hurried back to the shore, where she slipped as she tried getting back into a hiding place between a pair of enormous slick rocks.

The voices she heard paused.

Had they heard her?

Carth froze, fearing the worst. If they heard her, she might have to shroud herself with shadows to keep safe.

The soft murmuring resumed.

She started along the rock, pulling herself carefully so that she wouldn’t make too much noise. She climbed from rock to rock, pausing in the darkest spaces between the rocks and listening before moving on. Eventually, she got close enough that she heard the voices clearly.

“You should be more careful.”

Carth recognized Jhon’s voice and lowered her head. Would he be angry that she’d followed him here?

“As should you. I am allowed in the city.” A woman spoke in a terse fashion. Carth had heard the voice before but didn’t know where.

“My presence is tolerated.”

“Tolerated is not the same as welcome,” the woman said.

Carth wanted to know when she had heard the woman’s voice before. Peeking her head above the rock, she saw Jhon walking with the woman. He was dressed the same as when she’d last seen him and stood near a small wooden building that seemed out of place here, beyond the edge of the city.

She glanced back toward the city and realized that it would be difficult—if not impossible—to reach the building other than by climbing the rocks as she did.

The woman had her back to Carth and wore a long, plain cloak. Deep brown or black hair hung in waves beyond her shoulders, tied up with a dark ribbon.

“You know why I came.”

“As I said, you should be more careful.”

“What of you? Are you careful?” Jhon asked.

“As careful as I can be given the circumstances. You know as well as I what we face. They have proven more troublesome than we expected.”

“Only because you expected nothing,” Jhon said.

“There is that.”

“I have found one of their men, but not the other.”

“You think they have only come in a pair?” the woman asked. She paced slowly back and forth in front of the building before pausing in front of Jhon.

“I would know if there were others.”

“I am not convinced that you would,” she said.

“Have you discovered anything from the other?”

The woman began pacing again, always managing to stay out of the moonlight. Did she control the shadows the same as Carth? Was that why he had come to her?

“He refuses us so far. That will change.”

“Have you discovered how you caught him?” Jhon asked.

That seemed a strange question to ask, but stranger still was the woman’s answer.

“We found him on the street, staving off death. We have not discovered the trick of that yet, but we will. Then we will find the other.”

“He is more skilled than you can understand.”

“Do you think I don’t know that?”

The woman started moving again, this time putting more space between herself and Jhon. She made her way toward the river, and still Carth couldn’t make out her features, leaving her covered in darkness. As the woman approached, Carth felt a twinge of energy in the air. She’d felt it before, but always when there were A’ras around, and this woman… could she be one of the A’ras?

She continued toward the river.

Carth ducked down, trying to hide herself. Over the sound of water rushing along the river, she heard footsteps. The woman came close.

“They seek to draw those with A’ras ability from the city,” Jhon said.

“We would know if that were the case.”

“Would you? How many have you lost? They smuggle the Reshian as well, using the guise of common thieves. Had I not seen it myself…”

“What are you getting at?”

“Perhaps nothing. I tracked them here for us to see ourselves.”

“That wasn’t why you called me here.”

“No. There’s another reason. You never told me that she was to be tested.”

“Would it have mattered?”

“I would have brought her to you. Leaving her along the docks…”

The woman paused and peered into the darkness. Had she seen Carth?

Carth pulled on the shadows, reaching for the barest edge as she sunk into the darkness, trying to hide her entire body not only between the rocks, but also beneath the blanket of shadows.

The sense of energy in the air increased and her skin grew tight.

Carth held her breath. There was no question now that one of the A’ras was here. Was it the woman? Could Jhon have gone to them? But why?

Then again, what did she really know about Jhon? He had mysterious knowledge and skills, but he hadn’t shared anything about himself. Maybe he sided with the A’ras. Yet she had seen him attack the A’ras, hadn’t she?

The other possibility, that the A’ras had discovered Jhon, seemed less likely. He would have known, wouldn’t he?

“What is it?” Jhon asked. His voice came through to her in a muted fashion, the strange pressure on the air from the cloaking of shadows obscuring it somewhat.

“I feel… something.”

“What do you feel?” Jhon asked.

He had approached, making his voice louder, but still muted while Carth hung in the shroud of shadows.

Had the woman detected her using the shadow cloaking?

She eased away some of the shadows, still holding on to them, but with less of a connection than she’d had before. The strange, muted voice changed as well.

The energy in the air increased, and Carth’s skin felt stretched even tighter.

Definitely an A’ras.

Why would Jhon be with her?

“Perhaps it was nothing,” the woman said.

“What did you feel?” Jhon asked again.

Carth wished she could recede into the depths of the shadows, pulling away from the A’ras and from Jhon, but where would she go other than into the water?

“There was a surge of power. It is gone now.”

Carth heard footsteps along the rocks nearest her and recognized them as Jhon’s. She tried moving, glancing back to see the dark outline of a boat in the water. As she did, a chill washed over her and then was gone, faded as if nothing more than her imagination.