The Shadow Of What Was Lost (43 page)

"I'll tell you what you need
to know," she announced to the two men as they entered.

The big man's eyes lit up, but
Teran stared at her with suspicion. "You don't strike me as the type to
give up so easily."

Asha glared at him. "I was
always going to hold up my end of the bargain. I just don't have the proof
yet," she explained in a grim tone. "The information I have is
useless to the Shadraehin without that."

"So what is it?"

"The Northwarden discovered
that a faction within Administration is behind the attacks." It was one of
the more credible theories she'd formed after the Sanctuary, when she'd been
waiting for Elocien to find her at the Tol. Asha stared Teran in the eye,
willing him to believe her. "He's trying to cover it up, but there are
documents that prove it. Signed orders."

Teran snorted. "And I
suppose you want us to just let you go, so you can retrieve them?"

Asha did her best to look
disdainful. "Even if you did, I can't just go and get them. The duke has
been using me as a go-between for an Administrator who was involved, but who
doesn't want anything more to do with it. That's who has agreed to get the
documents for us - and once he'd given them to me, I was going to head straight
for the Silver Talon and hand them to the Shadraehin's people there." She
scowled at the two men. "So as you can see, a few more days, and none of
this would have been necessary."

Teran eyed her narrowly.
"We're not letting you out to meet him."

"Then go yourself."
Asha shook her head in disgust. "The White Sword. I was supposed to be
there each night this week, and he'd meet me when he could. His name's Erran.
Big man in a blue cloak. He's hard to miss."

Teran looked at her, wavering.
"And what do we say to him?"

"Tell him Elocien sent you
to collect the documents instead of me. Don't worry, he's not too bright. He'll
hand them over."

Teran stared at her for a long
moment, then gave a sharp nod. "Good enough. But if a week passes and
there are no documents, things will go very, very badly for you."

"He'll be there," said
Asha, with more confidence than she felt. Erran had told her that Elocien
regularly sent him to the White Sword for information... would he try Reading
people there, once he and the others realised she was missing? She could only
hope so.

The door closed, and Asha settled
back down against the wall, closing her eyes and breathing deeply to slow her
pounding heart. She'd look for another way out soon; she couldn't pin all her
hopes on this plan working.

At least now, though, she felt
that she had a chance.

***

Asha's heart sank as she awoke in
the cold, and the dark, and the damp.

Her muscles, stiff from disuse,
screamed at her as she shifted. The rope around her wrist - re-tied and viciously
tightened by Teran after she'd managed to slip the knot three days ago - burned
where it chafed against her skin. She winced as she felt her hands slick, blood
trickling down from where the cords had bitten too deeply as she'd struggled
against them.

She stared around blearily,
though there was never anything to see in the utter darkness she was left in
each night. Something had woken her, and it wasn't the pain, or the stench, or
even the gnawing hunger. She'd had one meal since she was captured, and Asha
was fairly certain that had just been to keep her alive until her story was
confirmed - until Teran had the evidence he so desperately wanted.

She grimaced as she rolled her
shoulder, wondering if anything was broken. Teran had kicked her, hard, when he'd
returned this evening from another unsuccessful trip to the White Sword. Asha
could see his mistrust mounting each time he came back empty-handed, but she
pressed her case, putting everything she had into sounding convincing.

She had to. She knew now that her
captors were too thorough, too alert for her to escape on her own. She still
kept looking for a way out, but all of her hopes were realistically pinned on
Erran.

She wasn't sure how long had
passed, but she'd almost fallen into a restless sleep again when she heard the
soft voice.

Asha
.

She flinched and looked around,
peering into the murk. "Who's there?"

Quiet. It's Erran. I'm outside
. A pause.
I've linked our
minds.
Just think your responses, don't say them out loud.
Another
pause.
Are you okay?

Asha took a couple of deep,
shuddering breaths of pure relief.
I've been better. Glad you're here
though.
She hesitated.
You're alone?

Kol and Fessi are here too.
Elocien wanted to send men, but I Read the Shadow you sent to the White Sword.
Teran. He'll kill you if he gets even a hint of a problem. He's got a plan to
kill Pyl, too, if it comes to that. Then blame your death on him and say he was
trying to save you.

Of course he does,
thought Asha grimly. She'd never
heard his name, but Pyl must be Teran's partner.
So you'll sneak me out?

Fessi just went through the
house; she's figured out which door is your room. Pyl's on guard, and Teran's
asleep. She's going to come in, take the keys from Pyl, unlock your door, and
get you out before anyone knows what's happening.

Asha hesitated.
I'm hurt,
haven't had much to eat or drink. Tied up too. Not sure how fast I can be.

Doesn't matter. You'll see. Just
get ready.

Asha shook out her muscles as
best she could, then as quietly as possible raised herself to a standing
position against the wall. Her shoulder felt like it was on fire; when she
looked down she could see the black, red and purple of an ugly bruise through
the torn and bloodied cloth of her shirt. She staggered a little once she was
upright, and her vision swam.

Okay. Here she comes.

"Fates."

Asha blinked. The door was open,
the light from a lamp outside spilling in, hurting Asha's eyes. Fessi was
standing a couple of feet in front of her; the word had been whispered, but the
horror on other girl's face told Asha just how much of a mess she must look.

"I need cleaning up,"
whispered Asha with a weak smile.

Fessi shook her head, then
reached out and grabbed Asha's arm, thankfully not the one attached to her bad
shoulder. The Augur closed her eyes for a moment, then quickly released the
cords that bound Asha's wrists.

"Okay. Let's move,"
Fessi said. "Don't let go of me for any reason."

Asha leaned heavily on her friend
as they made their way towards the doorway, Asha certain with every step that
Pyl or Teran would appear in their path. As they reached the door and gazed out
into the room beyond, though, Asha frowned.

Pyl's back was to them as he
shuffled cards at the table, but that wasn't what Asha noticed. He was
moving... sluggishly.
More
than sluggishly. She watched, eyes wide, as
individual cards inched through the air from one hand to another, slowly enough
that as one flew out of Pyl's right hand, she could have walked the ten feet
between them and plucked it out of the air before it hit his left.

It wasn't just Pyl, though. The
air itself seemed thicker; the candle on the table flickered, but so gradually
that in each moment it almost seemed frozen. Asha clutched at the black-haired
girl a little tighter as she understood what was happening. Fessi had said just
the other night that her best ability, her Augur 'talent', was to slow time. It
seemed she hadn't been exaggerating.

Asha made to move towards the
back door, but Fessi gave a silent shake of her head. She shut the door behind
them. Locked it. Then she guided Asha over to where Pyl sat, the cards still
moving between his hands, and calmly placed the keys back on his belt.

Then they were away, out the back
door and into the fresh, cool night air. It was late enough that the streets
were empty, but Fessi didn't stop slowing time until they were in the shadows
of the alley opposite and standing alongside Kol and Erran, who were watching
the house pensively.

Both boys blinked as the girls
appeared in front of them; Fessi collapsed against Kol, the strain of what
she'd done clearly taking a toll. The street was dim, but there was enough
light to see by, and both Kol's and Erran's eyes widened as they took in Asha's
appearance.

"Fates," breathed
Erran, with almost the same horrified intonation Fessi had used. "Are you
okay?"

"It looks worse than it
is," said Asha weakly, her voice hoarse. It was probably true; her
clothing was torn and bloodied, her hair matted with the dried blood that was
also caked across her face. "I could use something to drink though."

Erran scrambled around in a bag
he'd obviously brought for the occasion, passing her a flask. Asha drank,
sighing as the cool liquid slid down her throat.

She handed the flask back, then
noticed Kol's expression for the first time. He was still silent but his eyes
were hard, cold with fury.

"It's okay, Kol," she
said gently. "I'm fine."

"It's not okay. If the men
who took you treated you like that, they're not going to back off just because
you escaped. We need to send a message." Kol spoke through gritted teeth,
then turned to the other two. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Fessi shook her head in alarm.
"You don't want them to see your face, Kol."

"Then I'll just have to make
sure they don't want to remember it," he said.

He stalked towards the door they'd
exited through, little more than a massive shadow in the darkened street, his
stride determined.

"Pyl's big," said Asha,
concerned. "I know Kol is too, but two against one -"

Kol reached the door and drew
back his fist.

There was a ripple in the air around
his arm; it wasn't quite Essence, but the energy was palpable. When his fist
connected, the door didn't just break or swing open. It
splintered
,
sending shards of wood flying into the room beyond. There was a cry of
surprised pain as Pyl was evidently struck by at least one of the pieces.

"We'd better make sure he
doesn't kill anyone," muttered Fessi.

The three of them made their way
to the doorway, Asha peering in nervously.

Kol already had Pyl pinned to the
ground, face-down; the big man was struggling, but it made no difference
against Kol. The Augur grabbed Pyl's arm and gave it one strong jerk backward;
Asha winced as there was a cracking, popping sound, ligaments and bones
snapping. Pyl began to scream, but Kol silenced him by grabbing a handful of
hair at the base of his skull and smashing his face into the ground.

The door to the bedroom opened
and a dishevelled Teran emerged, a knife in his hand. He took in the scene with
a surprisingly calm expression.

"I'll kill you if you come
any closer," he told Kol.

As if he hadn't heard, Kol walked
towards him with ground-eating strides; Teran's eyes widened as he realised his
threat had had no effect. He swiped at Kol with the knife, but Kol came in
under the swing, grabbing Teran's wrist and twisting. There was a sharp snap,
and Teran shrieked in pain as the blade fell to the ground.

Kol spun the portly Shadow around
as if he were a rag-doll, shoving him against the wall so that the entire
building shook. Asha gave a nervous glance around the street, but the racket
didn't seem to have raised any alarms. They were in the Lower District, not a
wealthy neighbourhood from the looks of it. There wouldn't be many of the Watch
down here to call upon anyway.

Kol leaned forward against the
struggling Teran. "If you touch her again. If I see you again. If anything
untoward
happens
to her again, regardless of who's responsible. I. Will.
Kill. You," said Kol, the fury in his voice unmistakable. "I would
kill you right now if I didn't have to worry about the body."

Teran's face twisted into a
sneer. "The Shadraehin -"

"I'm not afraid of the
Shadraehin." Kol grabbed the man's arm and pulled backward; again, there
was a popping sound as ligaments snapped. Teran's face went white. "Do you
understand?"

There was silence; Kol snarled,
giving Teran's arm another tug. "
Do you understand?
"

"Yes," gasped Teran.

Kol drew back Teran's head and
smashed it against the wall; Asha flinched, wondering how many teeth Teran had
lost to the impact.

Her would-be captor slumped to
the ground, unconscious.

Kol stared at the man in disgust,
motionless for several seconds. Finally Fessi stepped over to him, putting a
hand on his arm.

"We need to go, Kol,"
she said softly.

Kol nodded, and the four of them
left the dingy building. Fessi gave Kol and Erran a meaningful glance as they
began to walk, and the two boys hurriedly moved so that Asha would be able to
lean on them if she needed to.