The Shadow Of What Was Lost (17 page)

“I hope you two have a very good
explanation for this,” a deep voice said behind them. The words were spoken
calmly, but there was restrained anger in them.

Davian tried to turn, but all of
a sudden he felt exhausted, as though the strain of the last month was crashing
down on him all at once. To his left, he could hear Wirr yawning, too.

The last thing he remembered was
lying on the soft grass, and then a sharp white flash all around him before
everything dimmed.

He slept.

Asha jerked at the door handle
once again, despite knowing it was locked.

She frowned around at the black
stone walls of her cell, trying in vain to deduce what was going on. She'd been
still reeling from the shock of Jin's murder when she'd fallen asleep - or
passed out, as the case may have been - but that had been on a couch in Shana's
house, surrounded by concerned Shadows and with no indication that she was in
any trouble. Shana herself had already verified the presence of the Watcher;
after that, everyone had seemed to accept that she wasn't responsible for what
had happened. If anything, they had been more worried about her well-being than
anything else.

Something had changed in the
meantime, though, because when she'd woken she had found herself here. Alone.
The solid door locked, with no-one apparently in earshot to hear her shouting.

Frustrated, she bashed on the
door with the palm of her hand, the sound echoing in the passageway beyond.

"Hello? Is there anyone
there?" she called.

As before, there was no response,
no indication that there was anyone nearby to hear her. She returned to her bed
with a sigh. The room contained only the bed, a couple of chairs, and a table -
nothing she could use to get free. There seemed little else to do but wait.

She tried to distract herself
while she lay there. Despite everything that had happened, she'd been impressed
with the Sanctuary; the people living down here seemed like good, honest folk,
and the efforts of the Shadraehin in creating the underground community were
something she admired.

And yet, as hard as she tried to
focus on something positive, she kept drifting back to the moment the Watcher
had appeared. Wondering how he'd known her name, puzzling over what he'd said
to her. And then each time, reliving Jin staring at her in terror as his life
seeped away between his fingers.

Maybe an hour had passed when
there were echoing footsteps in the hallway outside, and a key rattled in the
lock.

Asha leapt to her feet as the
door opened to admit a wiry-looking Shadow, a man with a thin face and a
scruffy-looking beard. She stared at him in surprise. The oldest Shadows she'd
ever seen were in their early thirties - those who had been amongst the first
to fail their Trials after the war. The Treaty had a clause that amnestied any
Gifted who had taken the tests prior to that... and yet the Shadow who stood
opposite her was at least forty.

The man smiled slightly when he
saw her expression. "Older than you expected?"

Asha flushed, caught off-guard,
and the man waved away her embarrassment apologetically. "It's okay.
Everybody has that reaction the first time. Please, sit," he added,
gesturing to one of the chairs. "We have much to discuss."

Asha remained standing. "Who
are you?" She crossed her arms. "Why am I a prisoner here?"

The man raised an eyebrow,
looking more amused than annoyed. "My name is Scyner, but everyone here
calls me the Shadraehin. I suppose you could say I'm in charge of the
Sanctuary. I'm the one whose responsibility it is to keep the people here
safe." He paused, leaning forward, and suddenly his eyes were hard.
"And when someone comes into the Sanctuary and lies about their name, it
raises questions about their trustworthiness. Ashalia."

Asha stared at the cool certainty
in his eyes for a moment, then slowly moved across to the chair and sat.

"Good. I'm glad we're not
wasting time with denials," said Scyner, his cheerful demeanour returning
in an instant.

"How did you find out who I
am?" she asked.

The Shadraehin scratched at his
beard. "We thought you may have been a spy for Administration, at
first," he admitted. "They've tried that before - offering Gifted who
are about to become Shadows an opportunity, a 'better' life. But Administration
had no record of any Lissa from Nalean at all, which didn't make sense. Why
bother to change your name? Why lie about where you're from?"

He reached into his pocket.
"And then we put the pieces together. The timing. And we went through
Administration's records of the students from Caladel, and found the image of a
young Gifted girl. Ashalia Chaedris." He produced a piece of paper and unfolded
it, holding it up for her to see. The sketch was a couple of years old now, the
last time one of Administration's artists had come to Caladel, but it was still
a good likeness.

Asha gave a brief nod as she took
in the image, for a moment feeling a stab of pain as she thought of the school,
remembered when she'd sat for that picture. She switched her gaze back to the
Shadraehin.

"I was the only
survivor," she said quietly, seeing no advantage to concealing the truth.
"I don't know anything about what happened, but the Council thought I
might be important somehow. They hid me in the Tol and asked me to lie about my
name, to make sure Administration couldn't find me." She looked Scyner in
the eye. "I didn't mean you or your people any harm."

"And yet one of my good
friends is dead." Emotion flashed across the Shadraehin's face, gone in an
instant. He took a deep breath. "We will get to your situation shortly.
First, though, I would very much like to hear what happened with Aelrith."

"That was the man
who....?" Asha trailed off.

"Yes," said the
Shadraehin. "Though whatever else he may be, he's not a man."

Asha shivered a little but
nodded, unsurprised by the comment. She related what had happened, stopping a
couple of times as the emotion of the memory got the better of her. Once she
had finished the Shadraehin watched her for a few moments, considering.

"I believe you," he
said eventually.

Asha inclined her head, relieved;
the last thing she needed was someone challenging her version of events.
"Did you catch Aelrith?"

"No. We didn't even see him
leave," admitted Scyner. "If it hadn't been for Shana's word, I'm not
sure we would have believed he was even in her house."

Asha paled. "Then he's gone?
He's free?"

The Shadraehin nodded. "He
uses the catacombs to come and go - they run for miles, have exits everywhere
from in the city to out past the mountains. But we don't know our way around
most of them, even if we wanted to go hunting someone as dangerous as Aelrith.
We've sent people too deep in there before, and they haven't come back."
His tone softened as he saw her expression. "I wouldn't worry. From what
you said, I don't think he's a threat to you. If anything, it sounds like we
may never see him again."

Asha acknowledged the statement
with a nod, though it didn't stop her stomach from churning as she thought of
the black-hooded figure still out there.

"What do you think it all
meant - what he said to me?"

Scyner shrugged. "It makes
as little sense to me as it does to you, Ashalia," he admitted. "In
all honesty, I'm not sure it meant anything. Whatever Aelrith may be, I don't
think he's entirely sane." He grimaced. "In fact, after what he did
to Jin, I'm quite certain of it."

Asha shuddered at the memory.
"What
do
you think Aelrith is?"

The Shadraehin sighed. "I
don't know for sure. There were rumours after the war ended that Tol Athian had
been experimenting on some of their people, trying to create soldiers that were
immune to Traps and Shackles... if I had to guess, I'd say maybe he's one of
them. Whether the Council know he's still down here, though, I have no
idea."

He rubbed at his chin, gaze
growing distant. "When I first discovered this place and realised it could
serve as a haven for Shadows, Aelrith was already here, staring into that
light. Aside from today, it's the only time I know of that he's stopped to
speak to someone. He and I came to an agreement - we wouldn't go near him, and
he wouldn't go near us. Today is the first time either of us have broken that
accord."

There was silence for a few seconds;
finally Asha straightened, taking a deep breath. "So what are you going to
do with me now?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Scyner raised an eyebrow.
"Do with you? You're free to return to the Tol, Ashalia. Or free to stay
if you wish," he said, looking mildly surprised. "You were locked up
because I thought you might be a spy. Now I know you're not." He
hesitated. "However, before you make any decisions, I
do
have a
proposition for you which you may find interesting."

Asha exhaled, tense muscles loosening
a little. "Which is?"

"I have... something of an
interest in finding out exactly what happened to your school and the others
that were attacked," said the Shadraehin. "I suspect you do too. If
you're willing, I think I know how we might work together to find some
answers."

Asha stared at Scyner for a
moment, barely daring to believe her ears. "How?" she asked eagerly.
Then she paused. "Though... why would you be interested?"

The Shadraehin leaned forward.
"The thing is, Ashalia - Administration know about the Sanctuary. Not
where it is, exactly, or how to get here.
Yet
. But they know it exists,
and they have dedicated people trying to find a way to destroy it."

"But won't any
Administrators die if they come down here?" asked Asha.

Scyner nodded. "That's true
- we're not worried about a direct attack, at least not yet. At the moment,
Administration are focused on cutting off our supplies. Water isn't an issue;
there's a river a little way into the catacombs that we use. Food, though... we
can't produce sufficient crops down here." He sighed. "Up in the
city, Shadows are now being told that they need a letter from their employer if
they want to purchase large quantities of food. We can get around that for now,
but it won't be long before Administration start making things even
harder."

He shrugged. "So as you can
imagine, I've been looking for a way to get them to leave us alone. I've
reached out a few times, tried to negotiate, but they just aren't willing to
listen. So now, we're keeping an eye on everyone with power in Administration.
Trying to figure out a way to... force the issue."

"To blackmail them, you
mean," said Asha, a little darkly.

Scyner gave her an apologetic
smile. "I know it's not the most pleasant method, but we have already
tried the other avenues at our disposal." He shook his head.
"Regardless. A few months ago, we noticed that the Northwarden was
abandoning some of his duties. A
lot
of his duties, in fact - in order
to focus on something else. And as it turns out, that 'something else' was his
trying to get to the bottom of the attacks."

Asha frowned. "That doesn't
sound terribly strange."

The Shadraehin raised an eyebrow.
"We're talking about the Northwarden - head of the Administrators, the man
who created the Tenets. A man who hates the Gifted like few others. His looking
into the attacks wasn't unusual, but abandoning his other duties as well? It
seemed odd."

Scyner smiled grimly. "And
as it turns out, the more we looked into it, the more it became evident that
the Northwarden was a little too interested in what was going on. Obsessed, I
suppose you'd say. The man doesn't sleep, some nights... from what we can tell
he's kept his inquiry from Administration, too. He's been very carefully hiding
the fact that he's even interested."

He rubbed his forehead.
"What we don't know is why. We have many contacts in the palace, and even
some in Administration itself - but none have been able to get the answers we
need."

Asha watched him, an uneasy
feeling growing in her stomach. "And how do I fit in?"

The Shadraehin looked her in the
eye. "I want to tell him who you are, and where you are."

Asha just stared at him for
several seconds, trying to decide if the man was making some kind of odd joke.
"You cannot think I would agree to that."

Scyner just held up his hand.
"Hear me out," he said calmly. "I understand the danger if
Administration finds out about you... but the fact is, I don't believe the
Northwarden will tell them. He's going to want to question you, maybe even take
you back to the palace with him to keep you close. But if he turns you over to
Administration then he loses that direct connection to you, has to share any
information you might reveal." He shook his head. "No - it's more
than likely that he'll keep your secret. And if he wants your cooperation, he's
going to have to let you in on his investigation. Which is your best chance of
getting answers."

Asha bit her lip. "And maybe
after a while, he might let slip why it's so important to him, too."

"Exactly. Which you can then
relay back to us." The Shadraehin smiled. "Once we know the details,
we can hopefully use the information to force the Northwarden's hand, get him
to have Administration back off. And we would find a way to do it without
implicating you, of course," he quickly assured her.

Asha frowned. "But that's
all you would use the information for?"

"That's all," promised
the Shadraehin.