Shadowguard

The disgusting feeling of dread pitted in Wil's chest.

Tension blanketed the taproom of the Dancing Dragon. Evelina paced in front of the bar, her temper flaring and waning like the shifting of the tides. Ronan sat with his heads in his hand, though every so often he stood and reached for his axe, only to collapse onto the stool once more, cursing the pounding inside his skull. It took Leah and Evelina the better part of an hour to calm him. He'd woken up only moments before they arrived.

Wil had never seen Osain more agitated; he sat in the far corner near the door, worrying at this thumbnail as Leah listed every viable means of locating Everna. There weren't many. Without knowing where Shroud had taken her, they had nothing to work with. The stronghold beneath the town wasn't in use; Corden checked the entrance and found it firmly sealed that morning. Lisette's and Cedric's investigations proved fruitless.

For all any of them knew, Everna might not be in Pendel anymore. She could be right under their noses, but without a badge to trace her, they had no way to be sure. Wil bit back a sigh. He told Osain she needed one, that he should've taken Vina's and given it to Everna instead.

Osain, believing it too dangerous to potentially give Shroud unrestricted access to her, refused.

Lyra was of no help. She'd only met with the agents at their rendezvous points; she wasn't sure if they had a base in the town or not. Even if she was, Wil suspected it would be pointless to ask. She'd given them what she could and had since fallen into utter despondency. Not even the sound of Osain and Evelina's intermittent screaming matches could pull her out of it. It was best to leave her be, Leah insisted. They'd done all they could to soothe her; she had to come to terms with the rest on her own.

"None of this makes sense," Corden sighed. He leaned back against the bar, his knee bouncing against the stool. "What does Shroud want with her in the first place?"

"We told you," Evelina bit out. "They think she's a threat. We already knew that, but Lyra confirmed it."

"I meant, if she's such a threat, why try to recruit her? She could, theoretically, take them down from the inside. And you know Everna; she would, just out of pure spite. She hates being forced into things."

Wil bit back a snort. Corden wasn't wrong; the last two who tried to take her by force lost their heads, and one by her own hand. The other took quite the blow to their crotch before her mother stepped in. Everna might not look like much, but she was a scrapper at heart. She'd go down swinging if she had to.

Not that it would do her much good; the only thing pulling her through most fights was intelligence. She didn't wait long enough to see what happened. Everna struck first, and most often where it hurt the most. Her parents trained her enough not to panic whenever someone advanced on her with a weapon.

If only her blade work was as good as her aim with a serving tray.

"Shroud's recruitment methods aren't the same as the Guard's," Osain scoffed. He released his finger and took to bouncing his knee as well. While he tried to pretend Everna was just a means to an end, he clearly had a soft spot for her — and this morning revealed why. Osain had known who she was all along.

"The grunts can walk up and take a pin, but in Everna's case it's more about control.” Evelina slammed her fist onto the bar, startling Ronan, and continued, "They can't seem to kill her, so the next best thing is to get her under control as quickly as possible to mitigate whatever threat she poses."

Corden snorted. "Have you met your daughter? You know damn well that when she really doesn't want to do something, there's no force in the realm that can convince her."

"It's not a choice, Corden," Leah interjected. She coiled the ends of her sleeves between her fingers, then flung them out again in silent frustration. "Shroud uses an unpleasant form of magic: sigils carved into their agents' skin and endued with primordial magic. I knew they used that technique to enhance abilities, but I didn’t know they could be used to control people until now.”

“They usually don’t have to resort to that,” Evelina said. “Most people they deal with join willingly or the usual threats are enough to sway them into cooperation. But Everna…”

“Would sooner piss in their eyes than give in,” Osain said. “They’re well aware of that by now. They put her under the blade, and it would take nothing short of divine intervention to break it. The best you can do is kill the priestess who cast the magic and hope another doesn’t take control.”

Wil blew out a heavy sigh. Two months ago, he might have thought they'd made a stink over nothing, but now he understood what it was Shroud truly feared. Everna was a wildcard, a deceptive and unpredictable one at that. Two days — hell, two seconds before she flung herself at the Shroud agent in Windhollow — he wouldn't have thought she was capable of violence of that scale.

She was a bit like a feral animal, now that he thought of it. A normal person cowered and panicked when backed into a corner, but Everna responded in a far more peculiar manner. She fought, and with startling clarity and tenacity, where most would run. Shroud couldn't intimidate her; if they had, she did a dammed good job of hiding it.

"Are we even sure that's the case?" Corden asked, drawing his attention back to the matter at hand.

"That's what my sources say, and they're rarely wrong about these things," Osain affirmed. A dark look crossed his face. "And I know from personal experience."

"Shroud does not take 'no' for an answer," Evelina said. "If they can't convince her to submit willingly, they will find alternatives. They will use us against her before anything else, and that'll probably be enough."

Corden rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Everna would laugh in their faces and dare them to try. They'd be better off threatening Adela than the rest of us. Even then, the only thing they'd accomplish is pissing her off."

"And that's all the more reason to find her as soon as possible or pray like hell she somehow escapes," Osain cut in. "Shroud's not the concern here; it's Everna. I have a feeling she's going to do something insanely stupid if we don't get her out of Shroud's clutches soon."

Leah pressed her lips into a thin line, her eyes narrowed. "Does she still have my ring?"

Wil shrugged. "If she does, I wouldn't know. You put that damned concealing enchantment on it."

She hummed, biting at her knuckle. "I gave it to her for this very reason. From what I've noticed, Everna understands the situation; she keeps her sword on her even when it isn't necessary. She may well have kept the ring on her finger this whole time. That, I could trace."

"Unless Cedric and Lisette miraculously find their stronghold within the next fifteen minutes, it's the best shot we have," Osain said.

"Then give me a few moments to see if I can locate it."

A tense quiet settled over the taproom. The situation was less than ideal. Half of them were hungover and the other half burdened with other responsibilities. He and Osain were the only two fit for a potential skirmish with Shroud.

If Leah's idea worked, there'd be more time wasted on decisions that shouldn't be difficult to make. Ronan could barely sit up straight, and Wil wasn't sure Evelina was stable enough to go. When it concerned her daughter, rational thought became nothing more than an illusion. It was only through the combined efforts of Leah and Corden that they kept her as calm as she was.

She was hysterical, though perhaps not in the way most mothers would be in her position. Wil couldn't fault her for her concern — Shroud had her only daughter in their clutches — but Evelina would be more of a hindrance than anything. There was no telling what she might do once they were inside.

Osain shouldn't be handling the matter either, but necessity dictated deviation from protocol. They couldn't move Everna to another cohort, as she was the only thing luring Shroud into the open, but they couldn't bring too many people to Pendel without causing a stir.

Wil knew he wasn't a better option. He'd grown attached to her, far more than he should have. He knew better than to believe it was purely a matter of responsibility, but he didn't dare dwell on it anymore than that. It was just a fling — the result of two months in the company of an admittedly intriguing woman.

Everna was just another pretty face that, in a few months' time, he'd forget all about when the next one inevitably came along. As soon as this ended, she'd go back to tending bars, and he'd be on his way to the capital. That's how it should be. He was in no position for anything more.

"Ah, I've found it," Leah said suddenly. "Pray it's on her finger and not elsewhere. Give me a few moments to prepare the circle."