Shadow Hunted (The Collector Chronicles Book 1)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “You attacked me first.”

  He glared at her. “Not that. Why are you working for him? Don’t you understand what he’s after? What he will do if you—”

  “Careful, Eran,” another man warned. “She said she’d let us live. Don’t give her reason to change her mind.”

  “I want to know,” Eran said, defiance making him rise from the deck. His eyes flashed with heat, catching the sunlight. Movement flickered in them, reflected from the sea…

  Carth spun.

  Another ship approached.

  2

  The oncoming ship was enormous—nearly twice the size of hers and probably that much larger than the one she was on. Oars swept from either side of it, parting the water faster than the wind managed to push the sails. Its bow sliced through the water, unmindful of the waves slapping around the other ships, and the steel-reinforced ram headed straight toward the Goth Spald.

  They had been delaying her.

  Carth had to abandon her plan and whatever Kiara might have brought her. She had to keep this new ship from ramming hers.

  Borrowing from the shadows on the deck, she pressed through them and jumped. The leap carried her back to the deck of the Goth Spald, and Jenna frowned.

  “We would have been fine.”

  “Not with that coming at us,” Carth said, pointing to the oncoming ship.

  “That? We would have managed. We’ve handled worse before.”

  “I don’t want to sustain damage to the hull here. Not when we don’t know what’s going on. They’re smuggling something away from a man they call the Collector.”

  “Did you find out what it was?” Linsay asked. She had pulled out a spyglass and stared through it, surveying the ship. With as quickly as it approached, the spyglass was unnecessary, but probably more familiar to her than anything.

  “I didn’t have time. And besides, I’m not sure that was the most important thing that I learned.”

  “If not that, then what?” Jenna asked.

  “It’s the fact that there is someone called the Collector.”

  “The what?” Alayna asked.

  Carth breathed out. “That’s what I thought. They feared this person, whoever it is.”

  Carth took a spot on the bow and focused on the S’al burning within her. Using it on a ship that size would require strength and focus, and she wasn’t entirely sure that she would be successful. With water all around, it would take an enormous amount of power.

  Maybe she didn’t need to destroy the ship.

  Could she focus on the ram?

  Stopping that would give them a chance to fight back. If she didn’t, their focus would be on sealing off the damage to her ship rather than fighting. With as many oars as she saw on each side of the other ship, she suspected fighting would be difficult. If three dozen men suddenly tried to board, even Carth and her powers would be overwhelmed.

  She pushed heat and sent it streaking toward the ram, focused on the sharp steel curving just above the surface of the water. With the weight of the ship behind it—as well as the strength of the rowers—something like that would do considerable damage.

  The magical attack missed.

  Carth slipped her hand into her pocket, placing what had once been her mother’s ring—and a focus for the S’al magic—onto her finger. Blunted barbs pressed into her skin, enough that she was aware of its presence but not so much that it hurt. With the focus, she could draw a greater connection to the S’al magic, but doing so strained her, so she didn’t often choose to use quite so much power.

  The connection to the S’al was completely unlike her connection to the shadows. Whereas the shadows seemed to come from a darkness within her, something that allowed her to join with and draw upon shadows that existed around her, the S’al was a sense that burned through her, as if it flowed through her veins. Having a focus, something like the ring or the knife she had used when first learning to connect to it, allowed her to strengthen her bond to the flames and increase the intensity of them.

  Carth held her attention on the oncoming ship, staring at the ram and trying to ensure that she hit it as she intended.

  With the focus, she managed to push power from the S’al away from her. It connected with the ram, and the metal began glowing. It was a soft orange at first, with steam hissing off the water around the ship, and then became a deep red.

  From the distance, she could hear men screaming.

  “I think that was a little stronger than you intended,” Jenna said. She leaned over the railing, her sword unsheathed, though a sword wouldn’t do much good from this distance, even if Carth wanted her to assist in an attack.

  “It worked.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Carth focused on the ship, but the steam rising around the metal she’d deformed made it difficult to see anything clearly. “I think so.”

  “Good, because I think we’re about to find out.”

  Alayna had steered them at an angle, but the massive ship still headed toward them.

  “Hold on to something,” she said.

  Darkness loomed as the ship prepared to slam into them.

  Carth pulled on that darkness and used it to create a separation between the Spald and the oncoming ship. If she could delay the impact—or even slow it—they might manage to avoid too much damage. She wasn’t sure whether they would be able to avoid much else.

  The twisted metal slammed into the side of the Spald.

  The ship listed. “Linsay! Check on Boiyn.”

  The other woman nodded, though it was likely unnecessary. Even without checking on him, Carth could have asked Alayna. She had a gift particular to her people which allowed her to catch glimpses of the future, something she referred to as Seeing. Had she Seen anything happen to Boiyn?

  Carth used the shadows and pushed back, sending the massive ship away from them. She managed only a buffer, enough to keep separation, but it prevented the ship from further damaging the Spald.

  Jenna glanced over at her. “Ready?”

  “Not like that. Do you see how many rowers they have?”

  “If we keep them below deck, they won’t be a problem.”

  Carth laughed. That was a solution she hadn’t considered, but it was one that might actually work. She glanced toward the stairs leading to the lower section of the ship. It would be helpful to bring Alayna, especially as she could keep a more level head than Jenna, but it might be better if she remained on the Spald to navigate and keep Linsay and Boiyn safe.

  “Stay by me. Don’t do anything you shouldn’t,” Carth said to Jenna, stepping up to the railing. The other ship was only a quarter boat length away. Close enough that even Jenna could reach. Already oars were in the water, sweeping at it, trying to get distance between the ramming ship and the Spald. If they managed to get much more separation, they would be able to make another attempt.

  “You always take the good fighters.”

  “You’re alive,” Carth said.

  “Alive but not living,” Jenna grumbled.

  They jumped.

  When Carth landed, she rolled, quickly taking stock of how many people were on the ship. Much like with the other, the sails created enough shadows for her to borrow from and she pulled on them, sinking within them. When she had first learned of her connection to the shadows, such a technique had been referred to as cloaking in the shadows. It still felt that way, but it was more than merely cloaking. She practically sank into them, almost becoming a part of them, connected to them in a way that she was not with her S’al magic.

  There were six men on the deck of this ship, all armed. Three carried swords and had unsheathed. One man—a thick-armed man with colorful tattoos around his bare shoulders—swung a rope with a long hook at one end, which he would use to try and secure the ship to the Spald. Two others had crossbows aimed and ready to fire.

  Jenna had already swept into her attack.

  Carth watched. The woman was skilled. It was the reason Carth had
selected her for the voyage. There had been a time when Carth had trained others to help them become more skilled, but she’d passed that responsibility on to others. Now she preferred someone she could count on to be independent, not someone she would need to watch over. And Jenna didn’t need Carth to help train her nearly as much as she needed to learn restraint.

  Jenna worked with a short sword and moved with a languid grace. That fluidity was natural to her people, as was the enhanced strength. Though she wasn’t as muscular as most of the men on the ship, she was likely stronger.

  It didn’t take her long to defeat the three swordsmen.

  Carth had shifted the shadows, moving them so that they continued to conceal herself, keeping Jenna covered by the shadows. One of the men with crossbows aimed in Jenna’s direction, motioning to the other.

  They shouldn’t be able to do that, not unless they had seen through the shadows.

  Carth reached toward them with her shadows, thickening them around the two men. Jenna could deal with the man holding the rope and hook.

  Typically, when she wrapped the shadows around someone, they were constricted, held immobile. They created something like a band, a physical barricade that couldn’t be overcome.

  The nearest man stepped free.

  Interesting. What abilities did they possess?

  She’d been around enough people with magic that she knew her shadows weren’t infallible. The man who had trained her at Tsatsun had easily countered her ability with shadows, though that was before she had become as skilled as she was now. There were other ways—using naturally occurring plants and berries—to counter the shadows, but they typically relied on ability to counter Carth, stripping her of her connection to magic. Nothing had been done to her.

  What of the flame?

  Carth shifted her focus, pulling on the S’al magic. As she did, she heated the space between her and the other attackers, focusing it on their weapons. The nearest man dropped his with a suppressed yelp, and the other man furrowed his brow. Had she miscalculated?

  She didn’t think so.

  That was even more interesting.

  There was another way to attack using her magic, but if they had managed to avoid both shadow and flame, she doubted it would make a difference were she to combine the effects, although sometimes there were surprising results when she did.

  As she leaped at the nearest man, she surged out with both the shadows and the flame, a mixture. Light flashed, followed by the soft thunder of the explosion. It was difficult magic to control.

  The men were thrown back. If nothing else, she could use that advantage and attack.

  Carth reached the first man and slammed the hilt of her sword into his forehead. She spun, turning to the next as he raised his crossbow and took aim at her.

  She kicked, sending the crossbow across the deck of the ship.

  “Who are you?” the man asked.

  “I’m the one who asks the questions.”

  “Not on my ship, you aren’t.”

  Carth looked up too late.

  A rope swirled around her and cinched tight. She sent flames through it, attempting to burn free, but the flames failed, as if the ropes were immune to the magic. She drew on the shadow magic, attempting to destroy them, but that failed, too.

  She was trapped.

  And she had already seen that there were others on the ship who could resist the effect of her magic.

  She turned to the man who held her. “And who are you?” she asked.

  “Seeing as how I’m the one who managed to capture you, I think I’ll ask the questions.”

  “My ship and crew will board and destroy—”

  “I see no ship. I see no crew. You are mine.”

  Carth looked over his shoulder, where the Goth Spald should have been, and found it missing. Jenna was also gone.

  She was alone. Trapped. And with others who felt nothing of her magic.

  There was a time when she would have been scared and would have felt helpless. That was a time when she would have doubted herself and how she could fight without her magic. She was not that person anymore.

  Carth smiled.

  3

  The captain wrapped her arms and legs in rope, binding them tightly until Carth thought the feeling might leave her fingers and toes. If nothing else, that would be as effective a way of confining her as any. If she couldn’t walk and she couldn’t hold a sword, she couldn’t fight.

  Carth again tried pushing her connection to the S’al through the rope, but it failed.

  Even if her magic managed to subdue her captors—and she thought she could use another concussive blast of combined magic were it necessary—she didn’t know whether she would be able to get herself free.

  “You are nothing like others we’ve faced. How much did they pay you?” the captain said as he made his way back over to her.

  He knelt in front of her, stopping far enough away that she couldn’t slam her forehead into his. He was an unassuming man, dressed in loose-fitting gray clothing belted at the waist with a thick band of leather, and his hair was closely cropped. Deep brown eyes studied her as if she were a puzzle to solve.

  What was happening here? She had thought the other ship had delayed her so that she would be attacked by this much larger—and better-armed—ship, but was that not the case at all?

  The other ship had feared her arrival, thinking that she had come for something they carried and that she worked for this person they referred to as the Collector. Could it be that this ship was not with them at all?

  Maybe this captain was with the Collector.

  That would make sense, especially with how prepared the men on this ship were for the possibility of a magical attack. Now that she thought about it, they were dressed differently, too. That by itself didn’t make a big difference, but combined with the captain’s comment, she had to wonder if she had read the situation wrong.

  What she needed was some way to learn more. She could risk taking the time needed to discover which side these men were with and, in so doing, buy time for the Spald to return. And it would return. As she hadn’t seen Jenna, she suspected she had returned to the Spald to get help. Carth didn’t look forward to her taunting about how she had been captured.

  “Enough for me to take the job,” she said.

  “Then you made a mistake, but I think he will be most interested in learning from you. You’re exactly what he’s been hoping to find.”

  “Someone who will slip a sword into his belly?” Carth asked.

  The captain shook his head and stood. “I doubt it. If you couldn’t get past me, then there’s little chance you’ll reach him. Besides, maybe for the right price, you’ll decide you want to work with him rather than against him. Many make a similar choice.”

  “Like you?”

  Carth was intrigued by what she’d fallen into. During her travels, she had come across plenty of people with power—sometimes with significant power. She had neutralized one such power—a man by the name of Danis—and knew that eventually she would have to end it entirely, but that was a distant threat, one that she wasn’t prepared to take on at this time. She knew that she wasn’t ready, which was part of the reason she had continued to sail south, wanting to expand her influence and network so that she wouldn’t be surprised.

  Despite that, she had still managed to be surprised.

  “I never had to make a choice like that. I willingly serve.” The captain smiled, and as he did, he seemed younger than he had, possibly no older than Carth. “It’s the coin, you know? There aren’t many willing to pay what he can, not even your friends. You’ll see.”

  Carth stared at him, waiting for something more that never came. He turned away, heading toward the back of the ship, leaving the two men aiming crossbows at her. She glared at them, but they both seemed to ignore her. As much as she hated to admit it, that bothered her. She was accustomed to others at least acknowledging her presence—and didn’t mind them fearing
her.

  She shook away those thoughts. What she needed now was focus.

  What did she know? Not enough to allow herself to be carried off to this Collector. If he was as well protected as the captain made it sound, then Carth doubted that she wanted to be too near him, not without considerable resources—and much better preparation.

  If nothing else, the game of Tsatsun had taught her that she needed to have more information so that she could plan her strategy and know how her opponents might react. With what she knew, she felt as if she were sitting in a corner of the game board without sight of any of the other pieces. It was a dangerous place to be in, especially when there seemed to be some pieces on the board that could counter what she thought were her natural strengths.

  She needed to get free. Then she could learn what she needed. And she had to get free before the Spald made its way to her, and Jenna and Alayna risked themselves coming for her. They were skilled fighters, but Carth had no idea how many men were below deck, ready to fight were it necessary.

  Already she thought she knew where she would go. The other ship had people who opposed the Collector, and they had not been able to counter Carth’s attack, so they would be the best place to start. She could learn what they knew and then move on, find out more about this Collector, and decide what else needed to be done.

  That required her to somehow get free.

  There was one way that she knew she could, but doing so meant sinking the ship. That might become necessary, but she hoped that it wouldn’t, not if she intended to learn more about the Collector.

  Her magic wouldn’t work on the men holding the crossbows—at least, not entirely. Might there be a way she could neutralize them? If not them, their weapons?

  It wasn’t that her connection to the shadows or to the S’al was limited. That was unusual and spoke to the men’s confidence in their ability to overpower her. And they had overpowered her, but only after Jenna had proven that she was able to easily defeat the swordsmen. The other times when she had been captured, her captors had managed to remove her connection to her magic. That was difficult enough, and Carth had learned ways of avoiding that.