Shadow Found (The Shadow Accords Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  None of the men she saw looked like the man—or person—she had been tracking. She felt nothing in the shadows that would make her think this was somebody blessed with shadow ability, nor any change in air temperature that would make her think this was somebody blessed with the power of the flame.

  There were other magics—especially in these lands—but she wasn’t as familiar with them. She felt no flickering, that rolling nausea that she knew from when the Hjan traveled. There was nothing.

  And yet, she was aware that something was changed. That presence had been there, pushing on her shadow ability. It had been there in the way that it had moved away as she had made herself known.

  That troubled her. Not only had she detected power, but they had detected her.

  If there were others in Asador with abilities, she needed to know, especially if they had anything to do with the attacks. She hadn’t discovered what was happening, but she would. And then she would stop it. The city was hers to protect now.

  7

  Carth wandered the streets, searching for evidence of the power she’d detected the night before. Much like last night, it was late, the moon a pale sliver overhead, its light barely extending between the buildings. A few lanterns were lit on street corners, though none on the streets Carth frequented. A fog drifted through the city, rolling in off the sea, leading her to move slowly, barely needing to draw upon the shadows. The fog itself was enough of a barrier.

  Carth held her shadow knife in her hand, clutching it lightly, but keeping it extended from her. In fog like this, she worried she wouldn’t have enough warning to react, and wanted to be able to attack were it necessary.

  She still had not heard anything from the smuggling ring she was trying to discover. They were out there, the man who led it was out there, and she needed to find him so that no others with in her network were harmed. Since the last attack, no others had come. Carth doubted that had anything to do with the fact that she had hospitalized the man after thinking he was involved, but there was something more in place—she just hadn’t discovered it. Whoever had attacked that couple was still out in the city. The man thinking to draw her out was still in the city. And there was this mysterious other, the one who had some ability, but one that she had not yet discovered.

  Carth paused at one of the squares within the city, looking at the narrow wall that surrounded it. She was struck by a resemblance between this square and the one she’d been in when her parents had died. She thought back to the day often, thinking about the way her mother had passed, and how her father had disappeared, leaving Carth to think them both dead.

  The pressure sense came again.

  Carth froze, turning slowly. She released her connection to the shadows, easing it back enough that she was no longer obscured by them. She continued to reach out with the power of the flame, letting it flow from her.

  As she did, she detected a familiar signature.

  Carth hurried forward.

  Lindy waited near one of the neighboring shops. She was dressed in a dark brown cloak that stood out in the fog. She wore a hat tilted on her head in the style of Asador and remained cloaked in shadows, using her ability. It didn’t obscure her very long, or very well, especially since Carth could easily penetrate the shadows with her shadow-born gift.

  “What are you doing out here?” Carth asked. The fog and the hints of cloaking she gave to her words masked them, preventing them from carrying.

  Lindy shrugged. “I only wanted to see where you’ve been going. You disappeared the last few nights.”

  Carth shook her head. “After nearly killing Jamie, I thought it was reasonable that I disappear at night. I need to find out more about what’s happening.”

  “Why do you think anything is happening?”

  The pressure of upon her abilities was still there, though it was faint. Could she move quickly enough, and stealthily enough, that she could come across whatever was hiding itself like this?

  “They’re attacking because of me,” Carth told Lindy.

  Lindy moved closer, close enough that Carth could feel the heat coming off her body. She had a floral perfume on today, one that she’d taken to wearing with regularity. Carth suspected she didn’t even know how easy it would be to detect that scent, or how it would be traceable. She had a decent ability to smell the fragrance on her friend, but there were others with much more enhanced abilities.

  “It’s no more your fault than it is the fault of these women. All they want to do is defend themselves. You’ve done well by helping them find that measure of safety.”

  Carth scanned the street. If only the fog would lift, she wouldn’t have to hold on to the presence of the flame quite as much. “Is it safety? Have I really given them safety, or have I turned them into a target of sorts?”

  Lindy smiled. When she did, she was quite lovely. Carth understood why many of the tavern patrons were drawn to her. She had the soft, exquisite features of someone from Ih-lash. Carth’s were a bit more severe, made even more severe over time as she had kept her hair short and hardened her body through training. She wasn’t interested in attracting men, not the way she’d once had even a passing fancy in Samis.

  “So much of what you’re doing is beneficial,” Lindy said. “You’re giving these women hope. Many of them have suffered. Many have been used. Many have feared abduction and slavery, forced servitude in ways they could not have imagined. Before you came, they were unable to defend themselves, unable to protect themselves. You have given them that.”

  Carth wondered if that was true. Had she made their lives better by coming to Asador and setting up these women as her spy network? Had that really improve their lots in life?

  “Besides,” Lindy said, “you can’t decide on their behalf. These women are acting of their own volition. They choose what they do, not us. You’ve not forced any of them to act. You’ve given them a choice. It was more than they had before you came.”

  Carth sighed. Had she really given them a choice? Was it the same kind of choice she’d given Dara and Lindy, dragging them away from the north, forcing them into her network? Dara at least had chosen to remain with her, and now that she remained in Reva, she served in a way that Carth had never expected.

  Even Lindy had begun taking on a different role. Her work in Asador had been critical in establishing the hospital, as well as establishing the network of women. Without Lindy, Carth didn’t think she would be able to keep things organized. Her friend was a steadying presence, one far more than she let on.

  “There is one thing,” Lindy said.

  “What is it?”

  “We’re setting these women up, and we’re giving them knowledge and skill with these herbs and powder—enough knowledge that they can use it to counter some of the effects of the Hjan. But…”

  “But what?”

  “Sometimes powders and conversation aren’t enough. Sometimes you need to act with force. Like you.”

  “We’re trying to train them,” Carth said.

  Lindy shook her head. “There’s only so much we can do. There’s only so much I know. If you could work with them more, they might be able to learn what they need, but…”

  “But we both know that I’m busy,” Carth said.

  Lindy nodded. “You’re busy. I think that’s another element of their education that we need to offer. You wouldn’t have to force them to train, but you could demonstrate what they need to know. If they’re able to defend themselves, they will be better equipped to provide us with the information we need.”

  “I’ll offer it to them,” Carth said.

  Lindy smiled as if she hadn’t expected anything else. And maybe she hadn’t. She knew Carth well and had become very good friend to her. Carth trusted her enough to keep Asador running smoothly while she took care of other aspects of her plan.

  “You should return to the tavern,” Lindy said. “It’s too foggy to see anything else tonight.”

  Carth took a deep breath, letting
it out slowly. It was too foggy, but that didn’t prevent her from detecting that steady presence upon her magic. It didn’t prevent her from using the power of the flame to reach through the fog, to detect where that presence might come from. But Lindy watched her, a gleam of hope in her eye.

  “I could use a game of Tsatsun,” Carth said.

  Lindy grinned. “Maybe this time, I’ll win.”

  8

  Carth had slept well. She felt refreshed, reinvigorated in ways that she had not in several days. Taking the rest of then night to play Tsatsun had done wonders for her. Lindy had needed it as well. It took her mind off the attacks they had experienced in the city, and off the work that still needed to be done throughout Asador, though both of them knew they needed to continue planning.

  When she rolled over, Lindy was sitting on the plush couch at the opposite end of her room, staring at the Tsatsun board in front of her. She would make a move, then spin the table and make another. Carth had been working with her on trying to anticipate her moves, trying to plan for the next, and the one after that, thinking dozens of moves into the future. If she could, it would make her a more skilled player. But more than that, it would give her an advantage in anticipating what the various factions within the city might do.

  Lindy glanced up as Carth awoke. “There was—” She cut herself off before finishing, a pained look on her face.

  Carth threw the sheets off as she got out of bed, and looked at her friend. “There was what?”

  Lindy sighed. “I didn’t want to disturb you when Evie came. She told me to wake you, but it wouldn’t have mattered, not at this point.”

  “What was it?” Carth asked. She suspected that she knew, the unsettled look in Lindy’s eyes telling her that there likely had been another attack.

  She only needed for Lindy to confirm it.

  “It was Rebecca,” Lindy said. “They found her near the docks, a knife through her eye.”

  Carth clenched her jaw. They’d found other women throughout the city injured before, though none had worked for her. That made the attack seem a little less focused. If Rebecca had been attacked—and if she had a knife in her eye—the attacks had escalated. And focused on Carth.

  Did it have anything to do with the power she had detected in the city? There was someone else with abilities, but she had yet to find them.

  “Why was she near the docks?” Carth asked.

  Lindy shook her head. “I think she was trying to get to the smugglers.”

  Carth frowned. That wouldn’t have been a useful way to gather information. Rebecca was a newer recruit and had come to them from the city, but she’d never been captured, not as some had. She had been spared that by Carth’s actions. She had chosen to join them, and had a family she could have returned to.

  But she was also inexperienced. Like most of the women Carth worked with, Rebecca was being taught observational skills, ways to pick up the conversations of others, to move quietly, in effect playing a game much like Carth had once played when she was younger. These were the scraps of information that she could use to build a larger meal. She needed those scraps to know what other steps she could take.

  “What have we learned?” Carth asked.

  Lindy set the game piece down; Carth noted that it was an Archer. The figure was well carved from a game board Carth had acquired during their travels, with the Archer holding the bow in such a way that the arrow appeared as if it might fly with the barest touch. Lindy twisted him, positioning him so that he faced inward, towards the stone.

  “We haven’t learned anything yet. We don’t even recognize the crafting of the knife.”

  “Show me.”

  Lindy looked up from the board. “Carth, I don’t think—”

  Carth reached the door and pulled it open. “Is she in the hospital?”

  Lindy nodded. “There’s nothing you can do. She’s gone, Carth.”

  “She might be gone, but I’m not going to let this happen to any others under my care. Too many have already been lost, too many who thought we could keep them safe. We’ve kept no one safe.”

  “Carth—”

  Carth didn’t give her a chance to finish, hurrying from the room, leaving Lindy to chase her out. She hurried down the hall, then down the narrow set of stairs, barely noticing the plush woven rug lying down along the hall, before reaching the other branching entrance and hurrying down that way, towards the hospital.

  Inside, there was the now familiar antiseptic odor to the room. It could not cover the stench of death. She noted a hint of blood, mixed with another scent, that of the medicines and oils Evie used to try to repair those who had been injured.

  Carth glanced briefly at the injured man lying on the cot, noting Jamie’s bandages. He breathed deeply, and slowly. The medicines Evie had used on him were obviously effective. The bruising on his face had faded. Carth still felt a remorse at what she had done, but even that was fading now that she had heard about others being harmed. Wouldn’t she take whatever action was necessary to protect those she cared about? Why should she feel bad about defending them?

  She saw Evie in the corner, mixing a compound in one of her small mortars, mashing it with the pestle, working with a vigorous motion. Carth ignored her as she scanned the cots.

  Towards the back of the room, she found the one she sought. There, lying motionless upon it, was Rebecca.

  She was a mousy-looking girl, looking even more timid in her death. She had dirty brown hair, tangled even now. Her freckled face had a few scars, and dried blood streaked down her left cheek. An empty socket remained where her eye had been. The knife had pierced all the way through her eye, where it would’ve penetrated deeply, reaching all the way into her brain, likely killing her instantly. That was a small blessing. If nothing else, Rebecca had died quickly.

  “Where’s the knife?” she asked as Evie came over to her.

  Evie wiped a towel across her hands, drying some liquid from them. Acidic, from the scent of it. Possibly an oil, though Evie often mixed some of the leaves into water, leeching away the oils within them, diluting them so that they would not be quite as caustic as they would otherwise.

  “There’s nothing you will learn from this, Carth. She’s gone.”

  Carth looked up from Rebecca’s lifeless body and met Evie’s eyes. “Where is the knife?”

  Evie met her gaze for a moment before shaking her head and turning her attention to the narrow shelves lining the wall. She hurried over and grabbed something with the toweled hand before returning and extending it out to Carth. When Carth reached for it, Eddie slapped her hand with her free one.

  “Gloved hand or nothing,” Evie said. “The damned blade is poisoned.”

  “Poisoned? A knife doesn’t need to be poisoned when it pierces someone’s eye.” She kept her hand away from the blade of the knife, not wanting to touch it.

  Evie carried it to the table and laid it next to Rebecca. “The poison is for the times the knife doesn’t strike true. Even a single nick can become serious enough to kill.”

  “Do you know what poison they used?” The type of poison might give them some idea about who had attacked Rebecca. If they could find that, then maybe Carth could trace it back to the person. Maybe she could force them to stop attacking. If she couldn’t… then Carth had other ways of convincing them.

  “I’m still investigating the poison. All I can tell is that it’s fast-acting.” Evie motioned towards the bowl near the back of the room. “Whatever it is, it’s particularly nasty.”

  “How do you know it’s fast-acting?”

  Evie motioned her to follow over towards the basin in the corner. There, Carth saw a mouse, stiff and dead. The mouse had a single puncture along its side, not enough for any real injury, just enough that it pierced the flesh, leaving a small bubble of blood.

  “Just the slightest cut, and the mouse died within moments.” Evie studied the mouse, almost as if she expected it to start moving again. After a moment, she shook
her head and tossed the mouse into a basket near her feet. “As I said, particularly nasty. We need to figure out what we’re dealing with before we attack.”

  Carth suppressed her frustration, but Evie was right. She couldn’t rush in, not if there was a poison that was potent enough to kill with barely a nick to the flesh. If she did, and if whoever this assassin was found her and got a knife moving in her direction, she could be dead before she had a chance to react. There were plenty of poisons her ability allowed her to burn off, but there were likely some she could not.

  “My mother taught me antidotes for particular poisons. What if we—”

  Evie shook her head. “There are antidotes, but that involves knowing what you’re dealing with. Some are nonspecific antidotes, where it doesn’t really make a difference what it is that’s used on you, but others require you to know exactly what you’re poison with. This”—she nodded towards where the mouse now lay in the waste bin—“this works so quickly that you wouldn’t have a chance to react. You might not even have a chance to place a leaf beneath your lips.”

  She turned her attention back to Carth and gave her a beseeching look. “Please, Carth, don’t do anything where you would end up getting hurt. At least let me determine what this poison is; then we can find a way to counter it.”

  Carth nodded, hating that she couldn’t act, hating that it felt like a betrayal to the dead woman, but knowing that Evie spoke wisely. She could patrol the city, she could keep herself cloaked in shadows and hold on to the power of the flame, but whoever was out there, whoever had used this poison, knew enough that they didn’t even have to reveal themselves if they didn’t want to. They could attack, sending a knife, dart, or even a crossbow bolt, before she even knew they were there.

  She had thought herself able to protect these women, and they had gained knowledge and skill, but it wasn’t enough.