Shadow Lost (The Shadow Accords Book 4)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “They were here,” she answered.

  “They violated the accords for this?” Dara said.

  “There was no battle.”

  “And therefore no violation,” Guya said.

  Carth flushed, wondering if the Hjan would use her attack to signal a violation of the accords. She had been the one responsible for implementing them. If they failed because of her, what would be the point of all that she had done?

  “That doesn’t change the fact that they came here at the same time as these attacks took place,” Dara said.

  Carth stared at the ground. Holding on to the shadows and the flame as she did, she thought to detect whether there was anything here that would explain the Hjan’s interest in certain of the bodies.

  “Carth?” Dara asked.

  “They wanted something. I don’t know what it was. And he implied the Reshian and the A’ras might violate the accords.”

  “The Hjan weren’t attacking?” Guya asked.

  “This wasn’t them,” Carth said. She still didn’t know who might have done this, but it wasn’t the Hjan. And if it wasn’t them, then she needed to understand.

  “If not them, then we don’t need to get involved,” Guya said.

  Dara said something more, but Carth ignored it. They were after something, and she didn’t know what it was, but she needed to. With the Hjan, the fact that they were here at all was reason enough for her to worry.

  She focused on the bodies the Hjan had ignored. When she’d arrived, he’d been near the man dressed in the robes, and then he had flickered around the room, stopping at several others. Was there anything about those others she could discover? If she could, would she be able to find out what the Hjan wanted from them?

  Carth made her way from body to body again, but there wasn’t anything different about them.

  They would be about power. That much wouldn’t change, she didn’t think.

  Her mind started working through the different possibilities, piecing together how the Hjan would play it out, but she couldn’t come up with anything. She didn’t know enough. The only answer was to find more information.

  With the Hjan, that placed her in a difficult situation, especially if she was always a step or two behind. To play Tsatsun, and to win, she needed to know as much about the game board as she could. With the Hjan, it was as if they intended to obscure part of the playing surface from her.

  “What do we do?” Dara asked.

  “We need to find more information.”

  “About the Hjan?” Dara asked.

  “The Hjan. This attack. Those on the ships. Everything.”

  The place to start was where she had planned to go anyway—the place where everything had changed for her. To find a way to understand Ih-lash and the Reshian, she needed to go to Odian and Ras. Only then did she think she could move forward.

  9

  Carth hadn’t returned to Odian since she’d been imprisoned here. The ship was the same, and traveling on the Spald with Guya left her with memories of her escape from Nyaesh, back when she’d feared what the Hjan intended, and back when she’d believed her abilities with shadow and flame would protect her. Ras had proven how little she actually knew.

  They arrived in the city in the daylight. Even then, the sky was thick with clouds that blocked the sunlight, creating a gloomy appearance. Thunder rumbled distantly, a vague sort of sound that gave only an indistinct sense of a coming storm.

  Dara and Guya waited on the ship for her. Both could come into Odian, but neither had the desire. That surprised Carth. She would have expected Dara to be interested in meeting Ras, but she was not. At least, not yet.

  Carth surveyed the street, noting a dozen or so people who made their way along the street, many traveling to the docks and to other ships moored in the deepwater harbor. She paused at a tavern, thinking back to when she’d spied Guya the first time, before continuing onward. Ras would not be found in the city.

  There was a part of her that wondered whether she could find him at all. The man was secretive and had somehow managed to hide his home from her within moments of her leaving it. She might have developed greater skill with the shadows and with the A’ras magic, but she still felt like the younger version of herself, who had been so easily overpowered. The only difference was the knowledge she’d gained working with Ras.

  Outside the city, she followed a path along the rocks before cutting inland. Carth pulled on the shadows as she went, the overcast day making this easier, and the shadows likely necessary in order for her to find him. He would likely detect her use of the shadows, and would come find her. If he was willing.

  She approached a flat section of land. This should be where she’d find Ras, if he remained near Odian. Carth didn’t know if he would after what had happened with the Hjan.

  A soft presence pulsed near her, and she spun.

  She didn’t expect an attack here, and now that she knew more about Ras, she didn’t fear that he would try to harm her, but she also didn’t think she’d be able to easily defeat him if he did. In many ways, he was more capable than her, and he certainly had a greater control of his ability than she did. They shared the power of the S’al, but only Ras really knew how to use it. With it, he had managed to counter her connection to the shadows as well as to the A’ras magic.

  Ras stood opposite her, arms crossed over his chest. He was a thin man with silver hair and a long face, but it wasn’t his physical size that had brought her back. It was his mind. “Carth of Ih-lash,” Ras said.

  “Ras Ahtharn.”

  “Why have you brought violence to my shores?”

  She held her hand toward him, open-palmed. “No violence. Only me, Ras. I came alone.”

  “Why?”

  “For knowledge and understanding.”

  He snorted. “You have proven you can outplay me, Carth of Ih-lash. There is nothing more I can teach of Tsatsun.”

  She hadn’t really thought that would be what he could teach, and that wasn’t what she needed from him. What she needed was to understand how to play when she couldn’t see the game. She needed to understand why the Hjan would have gone to Lonsyn and what they might use the blood priests for when she couldn’t determine it from their moves.

  “The Hjan remain active,” she said.

  “The accords will only restrain them for so long. It was an interesting move, but one that will ultimately fail.”

  “Why?”

  “Because of what the Hjan seek. They search for power, and they would take it from those who possess it. What you have done is restrain them from reaching those who have confounded them to this point. How long do you think you’ll be able to do that?”

  Carth met his steely gaze. “As long as I must. If there is no one else willing to block the Hjan from reaching us, and from attacking, then it has to be me.”

  Ras turned away from her and stared into the distance. Did he search for his home? There was no evidence of it here, and with whatever he had used to obscure it, she didn’t detect it with the shadows or with the A’ras magic.

  “Why did you come back, Carth of Ih-lash?”

  “I need to know how to play when you can’t see the game.”

  “You would still believe this is all a game that can be won?”

  “I think the Hjan want power and to destroy those with it. You taught me that Tsatsun allows an understanding of strategy, but I’ve only played when I knew the game and the pieces. I need to find a way to play when those are hidden from me.”

  “The Hjan do not play the same game as you.”

  “Then help me understand the game they do play.”

  Ras started forward and waved his hand. Carth followed, cresting a small rise to find Ras’s home on the other side.

  “Come inside, and we’ll see what I can still teach you.”

  Ras sat across from her, the game board between them. His brow was knitted in concentration as they played a traditional game of Tsatsun. Carth had maneuver
ed him into a place without options, and it was only a matter of time before the game would be over. When it was, it would be the second time she’d beaten him.

  It had been a while since she’d played a difficult game, but in the time since she’d last faced Ras, her skill had improved. So had his, but it wasn’t the same.

  She watched the way he continued playing, persisting in spite of the fact that she had a counter to every move he had remaining. He slid his Huntress forward, and she claimed it. The next was one of the remaining Dalyns. She claimed that as well. He had only a Wolfian left, and she surrounded it.

  Finally, Ras sat back. “It has been many years since I have been so soundly defeated. How long ago was it that you knew it was over?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  Ras took a deep breath and began replacing the pieces on the board, this time setting up only one side. “It does matter. How long ago were you aware of my technique?”

  Carth debated: should she tell the truth, or should she avoid hurting his feelings with it?

  “Nearly twenty moves ago,” she admitted.

  Ras shook his head. “Not simply defeated. If you were anticipating this twenty moves prior, there would be no way I could have countered.”

  “You taught me well.”

  “I didn’t teach you this. What you exhibit is nothing like I can teach.”

  She didn’t want to argue, but this was exactly what he’d taught her. By holding her in prison, he had forced her to come up with a strategy in which she would play as if she were every other person she knew. Eventually, that became a melding of styles, and now… now it was the only way she could play.

  “Are you saying you can’t help me learn how to stop the Hjan?”

  Ras motioned to the board. “What do you see?”

  “You’ve only placed half of the pieces.”

  “Correct. That is why you’re here, isn’t it? You want to know how you can win when you can’t see the moves the other person is making?” She nodded. “Imagine what you would do if you couldn’t see what I would do. How did you anticipate twenty moves ahead to defeat me?”

  “I saw the way you arranged the pieces, and I calculated the possible moves you might make.”

  “With Tsatsun, that would have been… hundreds—perhaps thousands—at that point.”

  Carth nodded.

  Ras leaned forward. “Good. For you to do what you would like with the Hjan, you will have to do the same, but you will have to plan dozens of moves in advance. Possibly more. That will leave you with thousands upon thousands of possibilities.”

  Carth thought about the problem. Sitting with Ras made it easier for her to talk it through, but she still didn’t see the solution. “Adding what I learn will allow me to adjust.”

  He nodded. “With the Hjan, you might collect only fragments, nothing more than scraps of information.”

  She smiled at his use of the word. “I can collect scraps if that’s what it will take.”

  “You will have to, or you won’t know where they really move.”

  The idea of collecting information the same way she had once collected scraps appealed to her, as did the need to piece together what she had learned so she could discover the next move the Hjan might make. She knew what they’d done in the past, and how they had attacked the northern continent, and she had seen their interest in those dead in Lonsyn, but what she didn’t have was other pieces of information.

  “What do you fear they will do?” Ras asked.

  “That’s just it. I don’t know what they might do. They’ve attacked in the north, and they attempted to coordinate another attack, pitting the remnants of Ih and those of Lashasn against each other. What if they do something similar?” The offhanded comment about the other parties to the accords violating them troubled her. Was that how they were using the blood priests?

  “Reshian and the A’ras now watch the north. Do you fear you wouldn’t hear from them if there were something more?”

  Carth suspected that she would hear if the Hjan returned. Maybe not directly, but the C’than had enough people situated throughout the north that there shouldn’t be an issue with discovering another attack, and then sending word.

  What she needed was more information about the Hjan. What she needed was to head south.

  “I see you have decided,” Ras said.

  “Is that what you’ve wanted from me from the beginning?”

  Ras shook his head. “It’s not about what I want.”

  “Then what?” When he didn’t answer, she pressed. “What are the C’than?”

  “Where did you hear that term?”

  “From the Hjan.”

  Ras closed his eyes and took a slow breath. “You draw dangerous enemies, Carthenne Rel. Or perhaps dangerous allies.”

  “What are they?”

  “They are powerful, and they might be the only power able to hold the Hjan accountable.”

  “Assassins?”

  Ras shrugged. “Some. Not all.”

  “Then what?”

  “They are seekers of knowledge. Much like you, I presume, though they do so with intent whereas you have seemed to do so accidentally. They are skilled in ways that I can’t even see.”

  Skilled. That worried her. Was that another type of magic, much like what Guya suggested? “Would they try to use me?”

  “Perhaps. Or would they simply choose you?”

  Carth sighed. She thought they would share with her, but she didn’t really know if they would. “Do you serve them?”

  Ras studied his Tsatsun board and shook his head.

  “Why not? With your talent, wouldn’t they want to use you as well?”

  “The C’than never wanted me. They wanted the idea of me, Carth of Ih-lash.”

  “Do you think they want the same from me?”

  “I believe they have another use for you.”

  “What sort of use?”

  Ras turned his attention to the board. “There are times when you know nothing, when you feel as if you’re stuck in the shadows.”

  “I work in the shadows, Ras.”

  “Not like this. With these shadows, you may have an idea of light, a hint of movement, but you remain uncertain. That is the C’than. They—much like the Hjan—prefer to operate in the darkness.”

  “If I learn to play one-sided for the Hjan, I’ll learn what I need for the C’than as well?”

  “I don’t know. They have different motives.”

  “What kind of motives?”

  “The kind where they want to use me. Perhaps they want to use you as well. You would do well to understand what they want of you, Carth of Ih-lash, before you become Carthenne of the C’than.”

  She sighed, moving a piece and beginning to play a game where she moved against an invisible foe. The game was less interesting, but more difficult. If the opponent could attack from anywhere and nowhere, how did she know if the game even continued?

  Ras disappeared for a while before returning with a pitcher of tea, which he set between them. “Rest, Carth of Ih-lash. Share a mug of tea with me as we play another game of Tsatsun. Then you will depart.”

  10

  After she beat Ras a third time, they sat quietly in Ras’s game room. There had been a sense of resignation from him about midway through the game, shortly after the time when she had seen all the possibilities for him to win, and knew the counter.

  They shared a cup of tea—something she hadn’t done when she’d been with him the last time—and sat quietly, the silence giving Carth a chance to reflect on the game, and the strategy she’d used.

  Somehow, she would have to find scraps of information so she could anticipate what the Hjan might do next, only she wasn’t entirely certain where to begin, or how.

  She could use the C’than, but she hadn’t decided what her role with them would be. First, she wanted to be better prepared. Jhon might observe her, but she had spent the same amount of time observing him.

&
nbsp; Perhaps she had already begun playing a different kind of game without realizing it. Maybe that was what Ras wanted her to see.

  “You haven’t told me why you never worked with the C’than.”

  Ras set his tea down. “You know the Wanderer, but how many others within the C’than have you met?”

  “The Wanderer?”

  “The man you call Jhon. The Wanderer. He serves the C’than.”

  That made a certain sort of sense. Had he been playing her when he had come to Nyaesh?

  “It seems he wasn’t exactly forthcoming with who he served.”

  He smiled. “There is an advantage to playing your pieces close as they do. Others cannot read you easily, and you are better able to surprise with your next move.”

  “You don’t trust them.”

  “What is trust, Carth of Ih-lash? I see them as a lesser evil than the Hjan. They would still choose to manipulate me, if they were able. Had you not intervened with the Hjan, I think they might have succeeded.”

  She had a hard time believing that anyone would be able to manipulate him. “Do any of the Trivant play Tsatsun?” She gambled on the term, but had heard it from the Hjan and suspected it mattered.

  “You listen, don’t you, Carthenne Rel?”

  “I observe.”

  “More than any I have ever taught.” He took up his tea and sipped. “I often wonder if we aren’t playing a game the Trivant have established.”

  Wouldn’t Jhon have said something to her? Probably not. He wanted her to join him and work with the C’than, claiming there would be more to her training that she could accomplish by working with them, and until she did, she doubted he would be forthcoming about the intentions of the C’than.

  “Would you join them?” Ras asked her.

  “I know nothing about them.”

  “If you learned, would you?”

  “You said they were powerful.”

  “Very.”

  “That means they observed the Hjan when they could have done something.”

  “What would you have had them do?”