“Terran will no longer serve in Asador. There have been too many mistakes. You were to find power, not whores.”
“I didn’t find whores!”
“No. But you failed to inform me when he did.”
“I can’t control how Terran used the others.”
“An interesting excuse.”
“It’s no excuse. It’s the truth.”
“You will hand over what you’ve created.”
“What of your promise?” Hoga asked.
“I think this was less a promise and more of a bargain, don’t you?”
“You will leave us alone here. That was the bargain.”
“The agreement was that your powders would work, and if they worked, we would leave the city for now.”
“I have proven that they work. We have the other with the same ability! You saw how we kept her captive for—”
Captive.
Did they mean Dara?
“She escaped. I think we’ve learned that your powders were ineffective. What you’ve promised has not come to fruition.”
Not Dara, then. They meant Carth.
“It was effective while she was taking it. All you must do is suppress her, and her abilities are countered. If you would like me to demonstrate?”
There was a hoarse chuckle.
Carth froze. She recognized that sound.
It was the green-eyed Hjan.
“No, Hoga. I’m not willing to test this.”
“Why, Danis, it seems you’re afraid of me.”
Carth had a name. It was more than she’d ever had before.
“Not afraid. But I’ve learned to be wary of you and your strange powders. You have some potential, woman. You can serve us well.”
“Serve? This was an agreement. This was not serving you.”
“I think you will find that you will want to serve us.”
Carth had had enough. The Hjan were involved, and Hoga had agreed to work with them. What she didn’t know was why. She had thought Hoga wanted to prevent the Hjan from attacking. Had she thought to bargain with them?
How was it different than what Carth had done?
It was time for answers, especially as she had the advantage.
Carth surged on the shadows and jumped.
She appeared in the room above, brandishing her knives, and landed behind Hoga. She jabbed the knife into Hoga’s back, sending shadows through her—but more controlled than she had with Guya—and she sagged, dropping to the ground.
She held the knives out, turning towards Danis.
He smiled, and his deep green eyes glittered with amusement. He had a long face and a flat expression, and his height alone would have been intimidating. As he had when she’d seen him last, he wore a dark jacket and pants, with a sword hanging at his waist. “Interesting. I had not expected you to linger once you freed slaves.”
Carth glared at him. “Slaves? Is that what they are to you?”
Dennis shrugged. “They are but parts of something larger.”
“I think you’re mistaken. They are under my protection.”
“Indeed? And why should that matter?”
“Because you agreed to the Accords, and the Accords grant peace between the A’ras, the Reshian, and the Hjan.”
Danis smiled at her, almost a dark sneer to his face. “You think your agreement extends to these girls?”
“Yes.”
“They are not Reshian. They are not A’ras. And if I claim them as Hjan, I would not be violating the Accords.”
“I claim them.”
“Yet the Accords were not signed by you. They were signed between the Reshian and the A’ras.”
He was right. She was neither A’ras nor Reshian, though she had forged the Accords on behalf of both. If she couldn’t find a way to tie it together and claim the women, she had no way of truly keeping them safe. She didn’t trust Danis to leave them alone, which meant she had to do something.
She intended to end the threat of the Hjan, and she still needed to deal with Hoga and the others, but this needed to be dealt with first.
Pieces moved in her mind.
She would make this difficult for Danis.
Carth gripped the hilts of her knives. “If I don’t claim them, then the A’ras and the Reshian can’t claim me. I am of neither.”
Danis’s eyes started to darken as the implications of what she had said sank in.
Carth didn’t give him a chance to consider it for long.
She laughed at him, surging on shadows, using the power of the flame, sending them through the knives. One knife sucked the darkness from the room while the other blazed brightly. She plunged her flame knife into his side. As she did, she surged through that power, exploding into him.
She expected him to collapse, but he did not.
Danis took a step away from her, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
He flickered.
His skin surged with color, and the blood seeping down his side subsided. Her attack had failed.
Carth slashed forward again, this time using the shadows.
When her knife nicked his skin, she sent the shadows through the blade.
She’d seen how shadows would affect the Hjan, and how they could incapacitate them. It was how she had killed Felyn and the other Hjan in the past.
Danis was different.
She shouldn’t have expected anything else. He would be powerful; possibly the most powerful of the Hjan.
Where the shadows had begun working along his skin, they faded quickly.
He looked at her, a smile on his face. “My turn.”
He flickered.
Nausea rolled through her. When he reappeared, he was behind her.
Carth spun, catching the sweep of his sword with one of her knives, deflecting it downward. He flickered again, this time appearing on the other side of her. Again she managed to catch his blade and deflect it away.
He flickered again and again, and each time she barely managed to deflect his attack.
Only through the nausea she felt with his flickering was she able to prevent him from connecting.
She wasn’t strong enough to stop him, not after all the energy she had expended getting to this point. So much of her power had been used fighting through the upper levels of Hoga’s shop, fighting through her powders and her men, even killing a friend.
There had to be something more.
He could counter each magic separately, but could he do the same with both at once?
She focused on the shadows, and on the flame, drawing them into herself. She’d grown much stronger since the last time she’d faced any of the Hjan. She could stop him.
Through her focus, she detected where he was moving. Not only where he was, but where he would appear.
The next time he flickered, she was ready.
He appeared, and she struck with both knives, stabbing him in both shoulders. She surged through both shadows and flame as she did. Power flowed into him, pinning him in place. His skin began to discolor, and none of his power was able to stop it.
He screamed.
Carth held the knives buried in his shoulders. Power coursed from her and into him.
He tried flickering, and failed.
Magic surged against her knives, but it failed as well.
“The Accords extend to those I protect.”
Danis glared at her with his deep green eyes. “You do not want to make an enemy of the Hjan. You do not want to make an enemy of Venass.”
That was a name she had not heard. More questions.
“As I said, the Accords extend to me and those I protect.”
She contemplated finishing him. He couldn’t move, trapped as he was by her knives, but if she did, how would she keep the others safe? Leaving him alive was the only way she would accomplish what she wanted. It was one move in a longer game, one that was beginning to be much longer than she ever would have imagined. It was the kind of game she feared playing, knowing that rea
l lives were at stake.
She had to hope that he would make the move she anticipated: seek survival.
“And who do you represent?” Danis asked.
“I represent…” She thought about how she would answer. She had been pressured to join with others in the past but had declined. Was joining the only way she could accomplish what she needed?
If so, it was a shame it had come to this. She could’ve sided with them long ago.
“The C’than.”
Danis’s gaze narrowed even more. “You make a mistake, girl.”
“This girl is the one who has you trapped. The Accords. They extend to me and those I protect.”
“And you are with the C’than?”
Carth nodded.
She could see conflicting emotions across his features. His dark green eyes seemed to flash, and she felt it as he attempted to flicker again but failed.
She held her knives plunged into his shoulders. “I will end you. There will be no further discussion. If you wish to live, the Accords will be extended to those I protect.”
Danis nodded once.
“Say it.”
“The Accords extend to you, Carthenne Rel of the C’than.” Carth wasn’t surprised that he knew her full name, and it was the first time someone had ever given her an attribution of a place that she felt was fitting, as much as she had resisted joining.
“I accept.” She withdrew her knives.
Danis staggered back. He flashed again, and the flesh where her knives had penetrated began healing, the shadows fading from his skin.
“You may come to regret your decision, Carthenne Rel of C’than.”
“I bought peace. I do not regret that.”
“You may regret not killing me.”
“I already do.”
Danis flashed a dark smile, and nausea struck her as he flickered, disappearing.
Carth let out a deep breath and felt something strike her in the back.
She staggered forward and spun.
Hoga stood across from her, powder suspended in the air.
Carth breathed out shadow and flames, and the powder burned off in an explosion.
Hoga stared at her, eyes wide with surprise. “How did you—”
“You,” Carth said, starting towards Hoga and grabbing her by the elbow, “are going to help me.”
“With what?”
“With my endgame.”
Hoga stared at her, her head tipped to the side. “And what is that?”
“Defeating the Hjan.”
“But you just agreed to a treaty.”
Carth nodded. “The treaty is for now. Both of us knew it. It buys peace and it buys time. But that one, that man you named as Danis, he will violate it again, if not in fact, then in spirit. I will be ready. You will help.”
“How?”
Carth grinned. “With the women you thought to make slaves.”
Epilogue
Carth sat aboard the deck of the Goth Spald, Lindy sitting on one side of her, Dara—now reclaimed from where Hoga had trapped her—on the other. They had a mug of ale from a keg that had been wheeled aboard by Julie, a gift for all the work Carth had done in saving the women who had been captured throughout Asador.
“When do you want to leave?” Lindy asked.
Carth shook her head. “Not leave. We’ll remain here for now. We’ll observe. And then…”
Carth had debated what they would end up doing. It had been facing Danis that had convinced her. Now that she had the Accords signed, everyone she placed under her protection would be safe. Not only from women like Hoga, but from the Hjan. That was worth something.
More than that, she could use those she put under her protection and could gather information. That had been the missing piece all this time.
Julie had taught her how much information could be gleaned from taverns on this continent, much as it could be where she was from. And now, now she would have a network within Asador. From here, she would go other places, establish similar networks, and use them to gain the information she needed to make certain the Hjan didn’t violate the treaty, all while readying to take them down.
“But these women…,” Lindy started.
“They’re stronger than you give them credit for,” Carth said.
“There aren’t enough. Two dozen women—”
“And another hundred in the village of Praxis.” Carth thought about those, and thought about how she would ask them to help her. She had little doubt that they would. Just as she had little doubt that they had some abilities she’d overlooked as well.
From here, she would find where the slavers brought other women. She would sequester them, bring them under protection. She would create a shadow network, and she would bind them together.
It was the sort of thing her mother would’ve been proud of.
If only Timothy had remained. He had taken Chathem and escorted him from the city. Carth still didn’t know why—or where he’d brought the man—only that he was part of Timothy’s larger mission. She hoped she would see him again. Were it not for him, she might never have found the women of Praxis.
“And Guya?” Dara asked.
Carth looked at the ship. Guya was gone, his ship now hers. The betrayal had been complete. It pained her that she had needed to end him, but it pained her more that he had betrayed her.
Hoga would be used to create powders and other protective devices that the women could use. She suspected Hoga could also be used to generate powders that would strengthen many of Carth’s women. She would use that knowledge. That was the reason Hoga was on the ship.
“Now it’s up to us. Guya taught us to sail, and now we’ll take his ship. I think it’s a reasonable bargain.”
Lindy stared at her, mouth agape. “You really intend to do this?”
Carth looked up at the mainmast, thinking of the last time she’d unfurled it, pulling on lines. Guya had taught her to sail, and that had been his mistake. Now she would use his ship to reach the other places where she needed to create her network, one more step along the way to truly defeating the Hjan.
She raised her glass. “For now, we should relax. We’ve been sick for too long.”
Lindy grinned. “I do enjoy sailing.”
Dara stared at the mug, her mouth twisted in a grimace. “You go ahead. I’m not sure I’m ready to drink this yet.”
“I think we can relax and celebrate. For now.”
Carth took a drink, enjoying the flavor of the ale, feeling confident in the move she had made, preparing as much as she could for this, the next step in the game.
Book 6 of the Shadow Accords: Shadow Found
Carth has begun to develop her network, and offers her protection to the women of Asador, but not all are pleased with what she has done. When an assassin kills someone close to her, Carth leaves the city in pursuit. What she finds reveals that her plans have been inadequate, and the game she thought she had been playing might have been another entirely. If she doesn’t adapt, those she’s vowed to protect will be in danger, and a greater threat will be unleashed.
Looking for another great read? Soldier Son, Book 1 of The Teralin Sword, out now.
As the second son of the general of the Denraen, Endric wants only to fight, not the commission his father demands of him. When a strange attack in the south leads to the loss of someone close to him, only Endric seems concerned about what happened.
All signs point to an attack on the city, and betrayal by someone deep within the Denraen, but his father no longer trusts his judgment. This forces Endric to make another impulsive decision, one that leads him far from the city on a journey where he discovers how little he knew, and how much more he has to understand. If he can prove himself in time, and with the help of his new allies, he might be able to stop a greater disaster.
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 Shadow Accords
Shadow Blessed
Shadow Cursed
Shadow Born
Shadow Lost
Shadow Cross
Shadow Found
The Lost Prophecy
The Threat of Madness
The Mage Warrior
Tower of the Gods
Twist of the Fibers
The Teralin Sword
Soldier Son
Soldier Sword
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
The Sighted Assassin
The Painted Girl
The Binders Game
The Forgotten
Assassin’s End
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
Cycle of Fire
Others in the Cloud Warrior Series
Prelude to Fire
Chasing the Wind
Drowned by Water
Deceived by Water
Salvaged by Water
The Endless War
Journey of Fire and Night
Darkness Rising
Endless Night
Summoner’s Bond
Shadow Cross (The Shadow Accords Book 5) Page 18
