To Whatever End (Echoes of Imara Book 1) (15 page)

“The third one was even stranger. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was Absorbing, only massive amounts of energy. Hadran had Absorption, I saw him use it, but that was nothing compared to this. The plants around him were dying and it looked like he was freezing the road.”

Callum’s mouth hung open as she spoke. “Now I know I dislike these guys,” he said.

“That isn’t the worst of it. He hit me with something and it felt like…” She paused, uncertain how to explain what she’d felt. “It felt like he sucked energy out of me, only he was standing across the road. He didn’t get close. It knocked the air out of me and made me feel like my lungs had been frozen. I barely got out of there alive. After Merrick found me, I slept for two days.”

“So you’re telling me Daro was abducted by a group of Wielders that do things we all know are completely impossible, and even Merrick couldn’t find their trail. And you want me to help you find him.”

Cecily winced. “Yes, I suppose that is what I’m saying.”

Callum sucked in a deep breath and looked away. He rubbed his chin, his fingertips moving up and down his smooth jaw line. It made Cecily nervous. Callum was almost impossible to surprise. She didn’t like the idea that this was as perplexing to him as it was to her.

“Very well,” he said. He flipped his gold coin in the air and caught it with a quick flick of his wrist. “Who else knows about this?”

“Besides Merrick, just Alastair and Rogan. I went to the palace yesterday.”

His lip curled up in a smile. “You came to me next? I’m flattered. You might say I’m almost as important as the king.”

Cecily smiled as a young boy darted up to the table. His face was dirty and his clothes looked too big for him, a loose-fitting pair of trousers with an oversized tunic, a thin belt at his waist. Callum’s gaze moved lazily to him and he raised his eyebrows at the boy. The boy hesitated as his eyes darted toward Cecily. He handed a folded piece of paper to Callum and said, “From the Count,” before he turned and darted away, disappearing as quickly as he’d come. Callum opened the scrap and let out a low chuckle as he read the contents.

“Sorry about that. Nothing important.”

Cecily looked at him and tilted her head to one side. “Not important? He said it’s from the Count. Moving up in the world, are we?”

He shrugged. “No, it isn’t important.” She realized he’d already tucked the note into a pocket somewhere. She hadn’t seen him do it.

He leaned forward and said, “I don’t know who these guys are. I want you to know that up front. Whoever they are, they don’t have anything to do with what I do.”

“I know. That’s not why I came.”

“What I can’t understand is this: why Daro? If I was in the kidnapping business, I’d wager you are the better target. You have a name, a family who might pay ransom money. It looks like they wanted him, specifically. That was clearly a planned ambush and they were after him, not you.”

She’d been mulling over those very questions and had come to the same conclusion. “I wish I understood. If I knew what they wanted from him, I might have some idea of where to find him.”

“Was he injured?”

“I don’t think so. I couldn’t be sure at the end, but if he was, it wasn’t serious. He walked away.”

Callum’s eyes narrowed again. “He walked away? You mean, he went with them?”

Cecily nodded and fought down the tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes as the image of Daro’s anguished face danced in her mind.

“I see. They had you down and threatened to kill you, unless he cooperated. Something like that?”

She nodded again and gritted her teeth as a flash of anger burned through her.

“This isn’t your fault,” Callum said, his blue eyes looking more honest than usual.

Cecily looked away. “I know. I just can’t stop thinking about the look on his face. And every day that goes by makes it harder to find him. They could be halfway across the world by now. What if they took him down the river? They could have gone out to sea. They could be anywhere.”

Callum put his hand on hers. “We’ll find him. It doesn’t matter how powerful they are, there will be a clue or a trail somewhere. We just have to find it.” He sat back, resuming his casual posture. “I don’t like finding out someone is pulling stunts like this in my territory. I’ve had a lot of that lately, and quite frankly, it’s beginning to get on my nerves. Where are you staying?”

“The Boar’s Head.”

“Good. I know the owner, it’s a good place. I’ll meet you there in a few days. I need some time to see what I can discover. In the meantime, let the others know what happened. We’re going to need their help.”

Cecily nodded and pulled her cowl over her head again. She got up and headed for the door. Glancing back, she saw Callum had already disappeared from his seat. She looked around the room, but he was nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t an unusual trick for Callum. She just hoped his network of less-than-savory contacts would prove helpful. She was starting to feel desperate.

15. GATHERING FRIENDS

Griff pounded his fist on the table, sloshing ale out of the fresh mugs. “What are we doing here? We can’t sit around, eating and drinking!” He gestured out the window. “Our friend is out there, somewhere. And here we sit.” He sat back in his chair, crossed his arms, and looked from person to person.

Cecily sat at the head of the table in the back room of the Boar’s Head. She’d sent word to her friends several days before, asking them to meet her. Griff and Serv had arrived in what felt like minutes after her missives went out. It was an enormous relief to see Griff bursting in the room, wrapping her in his arms and assuring her they would drop everything until Daro was found. Serv brought tears to her eyes as he clutched her hands and dropped to one knee, pledging his life for his friend. Edson wrung his hands with worry and Cecily found herself reassuring him that everything would be fine, a sentiment she desperately wanted to believe herself.

Sumara had come shortly after, assuring Cecily she would do whatever she could to help. Mira arrived next, still wearing the deep blue uniform of the king’s guard. Merrick was tolerating the close quarters of the city without complaint, although he often took Beau outside.

“Does anyone have any idea where to begin looking?” Mira asked. “What do you suggest, Griff? Should we march off into the woods and hope we stumble across some clue?”

Griff frowned, but Sumara spoke up. “We all want to help, but arguing will get us nowhere.”

“I’m not arguing,” Mira replied. “I’m just being realistic. Besides, we can’t all go running off without any knowledge of where we are going or when we might be back. I have duties to His Majesty.”

“You have a duty to Daro!” Griff bellowed. Cecily put a hand on Griff’s arm, but he continued. “Without Daro, most of us would have died in the war. He saved my life more times than I can count, and I know that goes for you too.”

Mira answered. “Don’t question my loyalty, Griff. I am simply saying we need more information.”

“Information without action leads us nowhere,” he replied and pounded his fist on the table again.

“This is ridiculous,” Mira said as she pushed her chair away from the table and walked to the window.

Cecily rubbed her temples. Watching her friends argue was nothing new, but without Daro there to interject, she wasn’t sure how long it would go on. He had a knack for smoothing things out and finding ways to bring everyone to agreement. She missed him desperately.

“There has to be something,” Griff said. “We’ve faced worse odds than this. Men don’t just vanish without a trace.”

“This one did.” Merrick’s voice was quiet, but his words cut through the room. “I spent two days walking the road and the woods beyond. There was nothing. It is as if it never happened.”

Cecily knew Merrick was frustrated, but the concern in his voice was frightening.

The door opened and everyone looked up to see Callum. He smirked, sauntered over to the table, and pulled out a chair. “What are we talking about?” he asked as he reached to fill a plate with a chunk of brown bread, cheese and sliced apples.

“Please tell me you found something,” Cecily said. She’d been anxious as she waited for Callum to arrive, hoping he would bring some new information.

Callum took a bite of bread. “Well,” he said as he chewed his bite and dipped another piece in a pot of butter, “I have some good news and some bad. A lot of rumors and stories, for one. People vanishing without a trace? That isn’t new, apparently.”

Cecily wasn’t sure whether that was the bad news or the good. Callum kept eating as everyone watched him, waiting for him to continue.

He swallowed another bite. “I can’t be certain they are all connected, but there’s a story going around about people disappearing. In a city this large, people vanish all the time, mind you. But usually there’s an explanation. A man with gambling debt, an angry mistress, or a kid going off into the wilderness, trying to become a hero. Either they turn up, or their body does. This, though, this is different.”

“Different? What do you mean?” Cecily asked.

Callum gestured with the chunk of bread in his hand. “Like Merrick said, these people vanish and there’s nothing. No trail, nothing left behind, not even a reason. And the crazy thing is, these stories go back years, before the war, even. So it’s likely Daro isn’t the only one. That’s the good news.”

“The good news? How is that good news?” Griff asked.

Callum rolled his eyes. “The more people involved, the harder it is to keep something quiet. If you’re talking about a handful of people kidnapping one man, that’s hard to trace. But I’m telling you, this is big. These guys have resources and whatever it is they’re doing, it’s been going on for years. You can only hide that kind of thing for so long. Trust me.”

“These aren’t people you know?” Mira asked, one eyebrow raised.

Callum’s mouth dropped. “I’m hurt, Mira. How could you insinuate I had anything to do with this?”

Mira sighed. “I’m not suggesting you were involved. I just thought there might be some connection to, well, your connections.”

Callum shook his head. “That’s the part that really rankles, truth be told. Someone is operating on our turf and the Count isn’t happy about it.”

“You said that was the good news. Does that mean there’s bad news?” Cecily asked.

“Maybe not bad news, but troubling news, I suppose. I can’t prove this is connected to what happened to Daro, but I have very strong suspicions. I’ve been investigating some smugglers out of Sahaar for the last few years. A sly group, I’ll tell you that. They’ve been avoiding me for years.”

“Why investigate? I thought smuggling was, how shall I say it, part of your business?” Sumara asked.

Callum shot her a crooked smile. “I won’t say if you are right or wrong there, my sweet. But these guys, they’re not just smuggling. I think they’re moving people.”

“You mean, slaves?” Sumara asked, her voice low.

“Something like that,” Callum replied. “I have reason to believe they’re trafficking people into the kingdom. I’ve been trying to find who’s buying, but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve followed a lot of false trails, and quite honestly, these guys are starting to make me angry.”

The room went quiet as they looked around at each other. The founders of Halthas had been slaves, Wielders and Shapers who had fled the Attalonian Empire. While the neighboring kingdoms might deal in slavery, it had long been considered abhorrent by Halthians. Cecily knew even the Underground drew their line at slavery.

“You think the people that took Daro are buying slaves?” Cecily asked.

“I don’t have enough proof yet, but it looks like they might be the same people,” he said. “The real question is, if these people are moving as many slaves as I think they are, where are they winding up? The trail just disappears, much like Daro’s trail did. I don’t have a tracker who is nearly as good as Merrick, but I’m talking about hundreds, maybe even thousands of people crossing our borders. And then poof”—he flicked his fingers and the bread in his hand disappeared—”they’re gone.”

“If you suspect slave traders, why haven’t you gone to the king?” Mira asked.

Callum flicked his hair from his eyes. “Who says I haven’t?”

“I say, for one,” came a voice from the door. Alastair walked in, looking official and tidy in his deep blue embroidered doublet. “Cecily, please forgive my lateness, but I had things to attend to before I could break away from the palace.”

“That’s quite all right, Alastair. Thank you for joining us,” Cecily said.

Callum raised an eyebrow. “I’m sure you bring news of the great lengths our magnanimous majesty is undertaking to retrieve our honored friend?”

Alastair glared at him. “King Rogan is, of course, doing everything in his power to help.”

“Really?” said Callum and looked around the room. “Where is he, then? Did he send you in his place? Or will another stand-in be along shortly?”

Alastair frowned. “Honestly, Callum, he is the king. He has many demands on his time. Surely you didn’t expect him to come here tonight?”

Cecily shifted in her seat. She had expected, or at least hoped, Rogan would come. She wondered if he’d received the missive she’d sent, or if some underling had deemed it unimportant.