She needed to balance the scales.
Carth pulled upon the shadows, using them to strengthen her, and flipped over to the nearest man, jabbing her knife into his back and twisting. As he dropped his sword, she grabbed it and spun. Now armed with both sword and knife, she faced five remaining sellswords. The odds still weren’t good.
The door slammed open once more, and Marna darted in. She was a blur of power, cutting down two of the sellswords before they realized there was another opponent. One of the sellswords turned to face Marna, leaving Carth with two. Carth smiled darkly.
Pulling on the shadows, she shrouded herself in them and darted forward, slicing at the two men. They managed to block.
A burst of color appeared in the air, the same as what Hoga had used against her.
Carth swore to herself. Bursting through her flame magic, she burned away the effects of the power. She would have to find a different way to fight.
Pulling on the shadows, she jumped again, kicking as she did. One of the men managed to grab her leg, but she swung with her other, crashing into his head. She fell to her side, kicking again with her good leg. Breath burst out of her. The remaining sellsword stood over her, his sword slicing down towards her.
And was stopped.
In one fluid motion, he was beheaded.
Carth looked up and saw Dara standing over her, holding one of the sellsword’s blades. She shook her head.
“Carth, it’s good to see you, but maybe next time you won’t destroy the tavern?”
Carth could do nothing other than laugh.
26
The inside of the tavern had been cleaned of the bodies of the fallen mercenaries. Between Dara and the other women working with her, she managed to get them moved quickly, cleaned out of the way so that they didn’t have to stare at the dead. Carth sat in a corner booth, eyes scanning the tavern as she sat. Timothy sat across from her, no longer making a show of hiding himself within his cloak.
The other servers in the tavern appeared shaken. They might have done some training, and had gained some expertise with using different combination of concoctions, but that wasn’t the same as actually facing another opponent, certainly not someone quite as skilled as these sellswords were.
Dara came in through the kitchen door and quickly surveyed everything before coming to join Carth at the table. She wore a short sword at her waist that seemed fitting given the leather pants and comfortable jacket she had on as well. This was not the same Dara Carth had met back when she’d first departed with Guya. This was a confident woman, one who was in charge of her surroundings.
In that respect, Carth thought that Dara being on her own, and having Dara not require Carth, was beneficial. That had given the woman a chance to gain a certain independence, as well as a confidence. Would she have managed to gain either of those had she remained with Carth?
“Well. That was a royal shitstorm.”
Timothy arched a brow. “How long have you been in Reva?”
“A few months. Why?”
Timothy shrugged. “Only that that is the kind of comment I would’ve expected from someone who’s been in Reva their entire life.”
Carth laughed. “Dara has always been advanced when it comes to her swearing.”
A slight flush worked across Dara’s face before fading. “Sometimes I think about what my family would think of me now. I’m quite a bit different than the girl who was abducted from her home.”
Timothy met her gaze. “You either change, or you die. This world is not meant for those unwilling to face it head-on. But, for those who are able and willing to see the world a different way, who are willing to face it, and test themselves, they can grow, and become powerful.”
“Like Carth?” Dara asked.
Timothy looked to Carth and fixed her with a hard gaze. “There aren’t too many who are quite like Carth. Sometimes I think that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Dara forced a tight smile before turning her gaze to Carth. “What happened here? When I realized there were mercenaries in the tavern, I had the others clear out. Then I realized you were here too.”
“How long did you know there were mercenaries here?” Carth asked.
Dara’s gaze darted around the tavern. “There have been men arriving for the last week or so. Mostly they’ve been found around the town, but a few made their way into the Lion, and when they did, I was able to observe what they were after. I’m still not certain what brought them here.”
Carth shook her head. She wasn’t certain either. She turned her attention to where Marna sat at a table in the middle of the tavern. Carth had asked her to remain there while she determined what she needed to do. Marna had taken only a slight offense to it, but Carth didn’t want to involve her in the work Dara did until she knew a little bit more. Marna could be useful, but there remained a part of Carth that still didn’t completely trust the woman. She wanted to—especially after spending days sailing with her, gaming with her, and learning more about what had driven her—but Carth had been misled before and had learned to be careful. With Guya managing to manipulate her the way he had, Carth knew she needed to be careful.
“I thought I knew why they were here,” Carth said. She sighed softly. “I’m no longer certain.”
“Well, they came to the Lion. Do you think they intended to disrupt the network forming here?”
Timothy answered this time. “Those men don’t care about who they were here for. All they cared about was the coin.”
“I’m the one who hired them. I’m the one who had the coin.” Carth couldn’t believe that those she’d hired had been responsible for attacking. Had it not been for Timothy appearing, and even for the presence of Dara and Marna, they might’ve been successful.
“You might’ve hired them, but it’s possible there was another buyer, one with deeper pockets.”
“What’s this about?” Dara asked. “Why have you returned to Reva?”
Carth sighed once more. She hated that she had to tell Dara about Lindy’s passing, but the two of them had never been all that close. What Carth hated more was that she was forced to think about it, that she had to recall what had happened to her friend. All she wanted was to move past it, but would she ever be able to?
Losing Lindy hurt in ways that losing her mother and father never had. It was more personal; it was someone who was close to her, and who she should have been able to protect, but had not managed to do so. With her mother, Carth had been ignorant of her own abilities, and her mother—if she had powers of her own—should have been able to keep herself safe. Even her father should’ve managed to help. He had abilities with the shadows and was shadow born himself. No, losing her mother had been difficult, but it hadn’t pained Carth the way losing Lindy had.
“Lindy was killed,” Carth said.
Dara’s eyes widened slightly. “What? How?”
Carth licked her lips, swallowing against the pain she felt there. “She was taken out by an assassin. There was a man moving through Asador, and we tried to stop him…”
Dara reached across and grabbed Carth’s hands. “Oh, Carth, I’m so sorry.”
Carth nodded. What else was there to say?
“And that’s why you’re here? You’re after revenge?”
“Perhaps at first. That was what I wanted, but now—now I worry there is more at play. I thought they were after Lindy, partly because she looks like Marna.”
“That’s who’s with you?” Dara’s gaze shifted to Marna, sitting at a table by herself.
She had a mug of ale sitting in front of her, one that one of the servers in the tavern had managed to acquire for her. She sipped at it quietly, her eyes drifting around the tavern, never resting. There was a quiet confidence to her, one that didn’t fear the fact that she was in an unknown environment, didn’t fear the fact that she sat by herself, outnumbered by others were an attack to come to her. Carth noted that her hand occasionally went to a pocket of her cloak. Was that where s
he stored Hoga’s concoctions? What would happen if Carth were to try one of those concoctions? Would she gain even greater abilities?
There wasn’t much purpose for her to add additional enhancements to her shadow ability or to the Lashasn heritage. Doing so might make her stronger, but it wouldn’t necessarily give her any other benefit.
“Marna leads the smuggling guild within Asador,” Carth said. “I thought they were after her…”
“Why would anyone care who leads the smuggling guild?” Dara asked.
“There are many who would care who run the guild,” Timothy said. “The guild is responsible for maintaining a supply of various items within the city. They allow those without access to the university, or others like them, to acquire the same type of goods.”
“The university would know they exist,” Carth said. “They may not care for it. But there’s very little they can do to prevent it completely.” Her mind started working through what had bothered her since learning of the guild, and learning about the underground tavern, and learning even of Marna.
There were few who knew what Marna looked like. That much Carth had been certain of. Marna had managed to stay in the shadows almost as much as Carth did. Doing so meant that few would have recognized her, and fewer would have recognized that Lindy looked like her. It was possible that Marna had dressed herself so that she would appear more like Lindy, so that she could remove a threat from the city, but that made little sense to her.
Carth got up suddenly and went over to Marna’s table.
She sat in front of her, hands flat on the table, a hard gaze fixed on the woman.
“What did Hoga do?” she asked.
Marna glanced briefly over to where Timothy sat with Dara before turning her gaze back to Carth, shaking her head. “Hoga didn’t have anything to do with what happened to your friend.”
Carth’s mind started working through things, piecing together what she knew. Marna hadn’t known about Hoga’s role in her sister’s disappearance, and when she had discovered it, she had suddenly become willing to help Carth. What was the connection?
“It wasn’t Hoga, was it?”
Carth started playing out the game that had formed in her mind. Marna was smart, skilled, and a natural Tsatsun player. She was a planner, one who had assumed control of the smuggling guild, something Carth suspected was not an easy task. For her to take that place, it meant that she likely had coordinated many different moves in order to assume that control.
Carth swore under her breath. She should’ve seen it before.
“You wanted my network out of the way. You thought us a threat. You arranged for the assassin.”
Marna started to shake her head before she stopped herself. “I wanted to send a message. Hoga claimed a contact. It went… wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“I didn’t intend her to bring an assassin to my city. I wanted to disrupt what you were doing, slow you. That’s all.” She took a deep breath. “I did only what was necessary to protect those I’m responsible for.”
It felt like betrayal, much like when Guya had betrayed her, only this one… this one was different in some ways. Carth almost understood the reasoning, but not why she had concealed it from her. “Why not tell me? Why hide from me your role in what happened in Asador?”
“After what we’ve seen, what I’ve shared with you, you still feel the need to ask?”
“I’m not sure what I need to ask about.”
“I didn’t know she was responsible for my sister’s disappearance. I didn’t know. I thought…”
“You thought it was me?”
Marna nodded.
“Had you known, what would you have done differently? Would you have attempted to have Lindy assassinated anyway? She was still a threat to your rule, especially if you feared her trying to wrest control of the smugglers from you.”
“You of all people should understand how I have done what was necessary to protect those I’m charged with keeping safe.”
Carth’s mind still raced, trying to work through everything. “When you learned of your sister, when you saw that she lived, you didn’t feel it was necessary to return to Asador at that time?”
“There was a penance I needed to pay.”
Carth bit back the first response, the question about the penance Lindy had ended up paying, knowing it would do no good. Snapping at Marna wouldn’t change the loss of her friend. Lindy was gone.
And Carth realized that what she said now would determine whether she lost another friend. Marna could not replace Lindy, she could not restore the person who was missing, but she had begun to become a friend. Carth had few enough true friends. There were those she served, those she had vowed to keep safe, but friends? There weren’t nearly enough friends.
“You helped me here. Do you feel that you served your penance now?”
Marna shook her head. “I’ve done nothing more than continue to attempt to erase what mistakes I’ve made. I will fight with you, Carth, if you let me.”
Carth glanced back to Dara, and to where Timothy sat, watching her with an intense stare. Carth could choose to abandon the help that Marna offered, and she could choose to let her return to Asador, resume control of the guild—something that Marna would likely do regardless. Or she could use her help, use the strength the woman obviously possessed and borrow from it, to help her find the assassin, and get a measure of revenge.
“I will accept your help. From now on, we will keep no more secrets.”
Marna nodded. She stuck her hand out, waiting for Carth to shake it. When Carth did, she felt a weight lifted off her.
27
Reva was not a large city, but it was a complicated one, one where women like Carth could come, could work with locals, and could establish a network such as she had. It was not just the Red Lion that had joined Carth’s network. Other taverns had as well, places where Carth had made a point of connecting the locals, working with them, training them.
Now they were more competent than they had been before, confident in ways they had not been. Carth was impressed at the rapid spread of Dara’s network, impressed by the way Dara had coordinated it, organizing them into something that was truly unified. Information discovered in one tavern was shared with women from another, so that they all began to listen, learning from each other.
Word was out, with each knowing they sought an assassin. They had made a point of sharing with others that Carth was in the city, something Carth had said needed to be shared so that they could draw out the assassin. More than that, they had made it clear Carth was here. It was all the better to draw out the assassin.
Darkness hung over the city, and Carth moved through it, using it to her advantage as she had so often before. Marna talked with her, drawing strength from the specific concoction that Timothy had created for her, one that was much like what Hoga used to create for her, and she padded soundlessly, easily keeping up with Carth.
As they moved between the buildings, watching for other signs of movement, Marna glanced over. “Why are we staying in Reva?” Marna asked.
“Because I intend to finish this. This assassin you hired is responsible for too much harm.”
“But there are others here who will be harmed,” Marna said. “Why not bring him away from the city?”
“Here I have the advantage that the others all will report to me. In Asador, there are multiple networks in play.”
“But I would be able to obtain information there.”
Carth nodded. “You would. But it’s more than obtaining the information, it’s coordinating it. It’s discovering what else the university might know. It’s also discovering what other networks might exist. I’ve only been in Asador for a short while, but I recognize that there are multiple points of access, multiple places where I need to pay attention to what’s taking place. I fear that if we return to Asador, we run the risk of either the assassin not following me, or others getting harmed. At least here in Reva, there’s enou
gh of a connection with these women that I don’t have to worry about others getting injured.”
“Other than those within your network.”
Carth nodded. “They know the risk, and take it willingly.”
“Didn’t your Lindy take the risk knowingly as well?”
“She did. She made the choice to follow me out into the city, knowing what we might encounter, knowing that there might be those within the city who could harm us.”
She’d made the choice, and she’d made it knowingly, but Carth wondered if Lindy had really known. Had she ever truly understood what she was getting into? She had been confident in her skills, and perhaps that had come from Carth. But perhaps that had been warranted as well. Lindy had been capable. She had managed to coordinate Carth’s efforts within Asador.
“But that’s not the reason the real reason you’ve chosen to come here,” Marna said.
Carth fixed on a space between buildings in front of her. The shadows seemed to slide over themselves. She was certain there was movement here, though why? What did she see?
Carth shook her head. “That’s not the real reason,” she agreed.
“What is it, then?”
“The real reason is that the assassin has been making his way east.” Carth crept forward and glanced over to Marna. “Hoga set you up with someone to help eliminate the threat in the city,” Carth said.
Marna nodded. “She did. What’s your point?”
There was the thing that had troubled her. “The assassin came after Lindy because she presumably looked something like you.”
Marna eyes widened, making the connection that Carth had made when she’d realized what Hoga had done. She had targeted Marna, wanting to be free of her, but had failed.
“Then why has he come to Reva? The only reason to come to Reva is because they discovered what I was doing, or my connection.”
Shadow Found (The Shadow Accords Book 6) Page 16
