He stared back at her without saying anything.
Carth stared at Jhon, her mind racing. She had thought she’d beaten Ras at Tsatsun, but what if he had played her? As she stared at him, she convinced herself that she saw a hint of a smile, but then it faded.
“What of me?” she asked. She looked back toward Wesjan and saw Guya watching her. Where had he been and what did he wait for?
“That hasn’t changed, Carthenne,” Jhon said. “You could still learn from the Reshian. We will take you where you need to go to learn. You’ve seen your father’s strength. There is more than only strength, a reason to what he has done, but he should be the one to explain.”
Carth considered the offer. She wanted to learn about her shadow abilities, and seeing that her father was shadow born made it clear she could learn from him, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for that.
“I think… I think I’m done letting others show me what they think I should learn,” she said. “It’s time for me to decide.”
Ras nodded. “A bold move. I would expect nothing less from the woman who plays such a decisive game of Tsatsun.”
“A necessary one.”
Jhon looked from her to Ras. “Where will you go?” he asked.
She looked toward the Goth Spald in the distance. She thought she knew what she would do, but it involved seeing if Guya was willing to still help. She still didn’t know what had happened to him while she’d secured the peace, but had her suspicions.
“I don’t know. I don’t think I have to know yet. Wherever it is, I intend to ensure the Hjan do not violate the Accords.”
“And if they do?” Ras asked.
Carth smiled grimly. “I will be there.”
Jhon watched her, saying nothing. Ras smiled, a flash of light coming as he breathed out. She expected him to try to convince her, but he did not, instead leaving with Jhon as they rowed away from the dock, leaving her standing alone.
Carth watched, waiting until they disappeared before turning. Guya waited there with Dara. Carth had brought her off the plains, not certain what she would do. She hadn’t seen Guya since they’d arrived in Wesjan, and she had been surprised to find him waiting for her.
“You didn’t want to go with them?” Guya asked.
“I think it’s time I take control of my life.”
Guya laughed. “Control? Seems like you took control from the moment we met.”
Carth looked toward the Levelan. Was that Ras standing on the bow watching her?
“This is different. This is my choice. And Talun?” She figured Guya had dealt with him.
“Fool thought to linger in Wesjan after he came. I found him, and my ship.”
“I see that. What happened to him.”
“Talun don’t have the Goth Spald anymore.”
“No? And the crew?”
He shrugged.
Carth wondered what he might have done but realized it didn’t matter. She turned to Dara. “You could go with Ras.”
“I think… I think I would prefer to stay with you.”
“I can’t teach you what he could. If you’re descended from Lashasn…”
Carth didn’t know what that meant, though she was descended from Lashasn as well. She could go with Ras, learn to use the S’al—the same magic the A’ras called the flame—but she had chosen not to. It was time she lived alone. Time she understood herself.
“I will learn something else from you.”
Carth smiled, surprised Dara would want to stay with her. “I don’t know where I’m going, but if Captain Guya is willing, I’d like to travel with him.”
He looked at her with an unreadable expression. “Aye? Now that I got the Spald back, I could use a new crew. Hard life, being a sailor. No real home for us, other than the ship, but you get to see a bit of the world. Might encounter a different kind of danger.”
Carth looked out into the harbor, toward the Goth Spald, and smiled. There was more she wanted to see, and she intended to ensure the Hjan complied with the accords. If they didn’t, she intended to do as she had promised.
For now, there was peace. The Reshian and the A’ras would no longer war. The north was safe.
In time, she would discover what else the Hjan wanted, but not now. Now… now she would be on her own, travel where she wanted.
Carth studied the Goth Spald. “That, I think, sounds like what I’m looking for.”
Carth’s story will continue in 2017 with 3 more books in the series! Sign up here to get notified when it will be released.
If you’d like to read more about Carth when she’s in full control of her abilities, check out the Sighted Assassin series, with book 1, The Binders Game, featuring Carth later in her life. She’s also in the Dark Ability series, but not until the final two books.
I’m excited to share with you book 1 of a new series, The Lost Prophecy: The Threat of Madness, available for preorder now!
The arrival of the mysterious Magi, along with their near invincible guardians, signals a change. For Jakob, apprentice historian and son of a priest longing for adventure, it begins an opportunity.
When his home is attacked, Jakob ventures out with the his master, traveling alongside the Magi, beginning a journey that will take him far from home and everything he has ever known. As he travels, he gains surprising skill with the sword but begins to develop strange abilities, along with a growing fear that the madness which has claimed so many has come for him.
With a strange darkness rising in the north, and powers long thought lost beginning to return, the key to survival is discovering the answer to a lost prophecy. Only a few remain with the ability to find it, and they begin to suspect that Jakob has a pivotal role to play.
About the Author
DK Holmberg currently lives in rural Minnesota where the winter cold and the summer mosquitoes keep him inside and writing.
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Also by D.K. Holmberg
The Dark Ability
The Dark Ability
The Heartstone Blade
The Tower of Venass
Blood of the Watcher
The Shadowsteel Forge
The Guild Secret
Rise of the Elder
Also in the world of The Dark Ability
The Painted Girl
The Binders Game
The Forgotten
Assassin’s End
The Shadow Accords
Shadow Blessed
Shadow Cursed
Shadow Born
The Endless War
Journey of Fire and Night
Darkness Rising
Endless Night
Summoner’s Bond
Seal of Light
The Cloud Warrior Saga
Chased by Fire
Bound by Fire
Changed by Fire
Fortress of Fire
Forged in Fire
Serpent of Fire
Servant of Fire
Born of Fire
Broken of Fire
Light of Fire
Others in the Cloud Warrior Series
Prelude to Fire
Chasing the Wind
Drowned by Water
Deceived by Water
Salvaged by Water
The Lost Garden
Keeper of the Forest
The Desolate Bond
Keeper of Light
The Painter Mage
Shifted Agony
Arcane Mark
Painter For Hire
Stolen
Compass
Shadow Born (The Shadow Accords Book 3) Page 22
