Chapter 27

27

Voices pulled Jai to consciousness. Then he heard Arya . Her warm, smooth voice was a balm to his wounded soul after Priya’s treachery. But he didn’t want to think about his friend. He shifted his thoughts to the one who had his heart.

Jai opened his eyes to find Arya beside him. She held his hand, her thumb rubbing the back in soothing strokes. She was really here. She hadn’t been a figment of his imagination born of pain and fear. He hadn’t dreamed her hanging from the cage. She had managed to get him out. The roar of the falls told him they hadn’t gotten far afterward, however.

“ I located Reva ,” a male said. “ I took her home. This is no place for her.”

Arya shook her head. “ Nay , it isn’t. Though I’m not sure any place on Shecrish is safe for her.”

“ I hate to agree,” came another male voice.

A female asked, “ What now? We’re not that far from the ship. One of the crew could return. Or …something else could come.”

“ The longer we stay in one location, the worse our odds of survival,” said the first male.

Jai should probably look around at the others, but he couldn’t take his gaze off Arya . It had taken courage he hadn’t known she possessed for her to enter the falls for him. At one time, he would’ve bet his life that Priya would’ve done anything to save him. And he would’ve been wrong.

Suddenly , Arya turned to him. Their gazes met. Surprise flashed in her eyes before her lips curved into a smile. “ You had me worried.”

Jai turned his hand to curl his fingers around hers. “ You’re alive.”

“ I am.”

He brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. The thought of her being gone had been more than he knew how to handle. “ Priya showed me a knife. Said it was your blood.”

“ It was,” stated a voice behind Arya .

He pushed himself into a sitting position to look her over and take in the three others. A Dark Elf , a Sun Elf , and a human female. There were also three small cylinders of light clustered together near the human and Sun Elf . Jai looked at the Dark , who had just spoken. He had scars across his face and darkness behind his eyes. Jai knew that look. He wore it, too. His gaze slid to Arya . “ She hurt you.”

“ I’m fine,” Arya told him.

The Dark Elf snorted. “ She nearly wasn’t.”

“ Priya will pay for that,” Jai stated.

“ Not if I find her first.”

Arya shot the Dark a hard look before sighing. “ Jai , let me introduce Yasmin and her partner, Ravi . The one behind me wearing his trademark glare is Dain . Everyone , this is Jai .”

He nodded to each of them before asking Arya , “ How did you get me out?”

“ The lock came open with only a bit of magic.” Her smile dimmed as she lowered her gaze to the gold around his neck.

Just like that, he was reminded of what he now wore.

“ Then we fell.” Arya shrugged. “ Do you remember that?”

“ I recall the Black Terror coming.”

“ That’s what that thing is called?” Arya asked as she glanced up at the waterfall.

Jai winced at his mending ribs. “ Being put in the falls to feed the Terror is the worst punishment. It comes when the cage creaks. It’ll come for you if you try to move so you don’t drown.”

“ Brutal ,” Dain said, crossing his arms over his chest. “ I want Priya in there.”

“ Can it get out?” Yasmin asked.

Jai looked at the human. “ It used to be able to roam freely. It’s since been chained.”

“ That sounds cruel,” Yasmin replied.

Ravi put a hand on her knee and chuckled. “ Only you would think that, love.”

“ As fun as this is, we need to get down to business,” Dain stated.

Arya twisted her lips ruefully. “ Aye , of course. We’ve been waiting for you to wake.”

“ I’m conscious now.” Jai got to his feet and then swayed. He held out a hand when Arya went to grab him. “ I’m fine.”

Yasmin said, “ Maybe he needs a little more time.”

“ We don’t have it. The only chance we’ll have is if we get to Priya before they reach the gates at the fort. They can’t carry that many slaves with shadows. They must walk.”

“ Which gives us—or rather, you three—an advantage,” Ravi replied.

Jai looked at Yasmin . “ Bringing a human where we’re headed is asking for trouble.”

“ I’m not like most of my kind,” Yasmin replied.

Ravi cut her a look. “ Yasmin ,” he warned.

She met his gaze coolly.

“ We’re not going anywhere for the moment,” Dain stated. He glanced at Jai . “ We’ll discuss plans while we eat.”

Jai’s stomach growled at the mention of food. He lowered himself to the floor carefully, glad the few pains he had felt earlier were rapidly diminishing. He didn’t know which of them had supplied the herbs, but he was thankful. Yasmin opened a pack and doled out some food to each of them. Jai was so hungry he didn’t even look to see what it was before tearing open the package and biting into it. The taste of spiced jerky made him sigh in contentment.

“ How many crew members are with Priya ?” Ravi asked.

Jai swallowed. “ Six . Nay , five. They killed the second mate for siding with me.”

“ I saw his body,” Dain replied.

Jai licked his lips and glanced at the piece of jerky. “ None of those abducted will be able to help. Magically , at least.” He touched the gold band around his neck. “ Not as long as they wear one of these.”

“ How do we take them off?” Ravi asked.

“ Only certain individuals can,” Jai explained. “ It was meant to prohibit anyone from having a change of heart and letting the captured go free.”

“ Like you did with me,” Arya said.

He met her gaze. “ Aye . I freed you before we entered the Whispering Channel . It’s a dangerous section and requires the entire crew to keep the ship on course. I expected that to keep Priya busy, but she had some of the crew checking on you. They attacked me after they discovered you were gone.” Jai briefly looked at the food in his hand. “ I didn’t realize you had released Reva until I saw her. She jumped into the water before Priya could get her. I feared she’d died, too. But did I hear right? She’s alive?”

“ Again , barely,” Dain stated.

Arya gently touched Jai’s arm. “ Priya expected you to release me. She was waiting for it. For me . Somehow , she caught me while traveling.”

“ What ?” Jai asked with a frown. “ That’s not possible.”

Arya shrugged. “ She did it.”

Jai blew out a breath and tugged at the necklace. “ She also told me she knew I would let you go. She was quite happy to put this on me.”

“ Like you’ve put it on how many other elves?” Ravi asked.

Arya shot him a scathing look. Jai only shook his head at her. “ He’s right. I did do that. I did it to protect Priya —or at least that’s what they made me think. I didn’t care how much they threatened me. The torture they put me through was temporary because I was ready to die rather than give in. When they realized I wouldn’t bend, they hauled Priya out and started beating on her.”

“ They knew how to get to you,” Yasmin said.

Jai snorted. “ Priya admitted it was her idea for them to threaten her. She said she knew I would cave. And she was right.”

“ Because you cared,” Arya argued.

It didn’t matter why he had done it. It was done, and in the process, many lives had been lost or forever altered.

“ Can we remove your necklace?” Dain asked.

Jai shook his head. “ Anyone can put it on someone, but only certain individuals can remove it. I tried to take mine off when they shoved me into the cage, but it didn’t work.”

“ Because it takes magic,” Arya said. “ And the necklace prevents it.”

“ Anyway . Once I agreed to whatever they wanted, they slapped this on me,” Jai said and held up his left hand to show the rigid silver bracelet, “and put me on a skiff with Priya to learn the river. When we made it back alive, they gave me The Viper to captain. That’s when the true horror began.”

“ I assume getting the bracelet off is the same as the necklace?” Yasmin asked.

Jai glanced at the hated piece. “ I’ve never seen one taken off.”

Arya passed him the water flask. “ What does it do?”

“ It prevents any of us from thinking we’re free.”

Dain quirked a white brow. “ Meaning ?”

“ Meaning my owners can call me back anytime, from anywhere. As long as I wear this, I’m theirs,” Jai said.

Arya’s hand covered his. “ Even now? They think you’re dead.”

“ I’d rather not test that theory.” The mere idea of it made Jai break out into a sweat.

Dain sank onto a rock. “ We need to know about your owners. Did they abduct you as you did with Arya ?”

“ They were waiting outside the house when the raid happened on the Milni gang. I thought it was the authorities,” Jai explained before taking the last bite of his jerky.

Ravi propped his feet on the ground and rested his arms on his knees. “ How big is the operation? How many of them will we be going up against?”

“ I don’t know the size or scope in numbers, but it’s significant. Besides those like me who are forced to kidnap others, there are guards and others doling out the torture to the captives being taken to auction.”

Dain’s voice was icy when he asked, “ Auction ?”

Jai felt everyone’s shock. “ I’ve only seen one once. It’s … I didn’t sleep for days.”

“ But you still kept abducting elves,” Ravi said.

“ They would’ve killed Priya if I refused.”

“ And her life is more important than the lives of how many hundreds of elves you’ve taken?”

“ Enough ,” Arya said, looking between them.

Ravi shook his head. “ There’s no excuse for what he’s done.”

“ And what would you do for her?” Jai asked as he jerked his chin to Yasmin . “ How many would you kidnap? Torture ? Kill ?”

Dain dropped his arms. “ Point taken. Go on.”

“ If I would’ve had any suspicion about Priya …” Jai began.

Arya squeezed his hand. “ Don’t beat yourself up for what she did.”

“ Arya’s right,” Yasmin said. “ Priya was an expert at manipulation.”

Jai met Arya’s gaze. “ Priya began planning it after reading the letters I left for you. I talked about us getting away.”

“ And she thought you were leaving her,” Arya said with a nod.

“ I would have. At first. But she was family. I would’ve sent for her.”

Arya shook her head. “ The only way she would’ve believed that is if it was just the two of you. She was in love with you.”

“ I know that now. All this time, I had no idea. I don’t know how she knew the Masters or who to contact, but that was who was waiting for us when we ran out the back of the house. She sold me, sold all of us, that night. To them. To a life of control and fear. And when she finally realized that she wouldn’t get me, she attempted to kill us both.” Jai briefly squeezed his eyes closed. “ She was the one who told me that you set us up. She kept my hatred for you there all this time. I looked for you. For four years, I searched for you to get my revenge. She knew where you were the whole time.”

Dain grunted. “ I don’t like that.”

“ That means the Masters know, too,” Yasmin said.

Ravi shrugged. “ Possibly . We can only guess how much she shared with them.”

“ Tell us about these Masters ,” Dain said as if the very word tasted foul on his tongue.

Jai blew out a breath. “ I never saw faces. I only went before them once, and they were hidden in darkness not even I could see through. I couldn’t even tell you how many of them there were.”

“ In other words, we don’t know if they’re connected to Shaldorn ,” Ravi said.

Dain shrugged. “ We always knew exposing those individuals would be difficult. Whether this is connected or not, it ends.”

“ That might be easier said than done,” Arya said as she put another package of food into Jai’s hand.

He opened it to find oats and fruit drizzled with sweet nectar. It was gone in three bites. Jai dusted off his hands. “ Getting into the fort won’t be difficult. It’s getting out that will be the problem. The moment they realize there’s an issue, a shield comes down and prevents anyone, even the Dark , from leaving.”

“ I actually like that idea. Gives us time to find them and end them,” Ravi replied.

Arya cut him a look. “ You’re assuming the shield will keep the Masters in with us.”

“ How big is the fort?” Dain asked.

Jai gathered some smaller stones and began laying out the building. “ It’s massive. I wasn’t allowed everywhere, but I was able to move about freely otherwise. I tried not to linger inside the fort. I preferred to be on the river.”

“ We all do what we must to stay alive,” Yasmin told him.

Jai gave her a nod of thanks. Then he pointed to the two stones he had facing each other. “ This is the gate.” He drew a winding path away from the stones with his finger. “ And this is where Priya will lead in the slaves. And this,” he said, drawing an X , “is where we need to attack.”