The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (53 page)

“Not many would think like that. It’s putting
a lot of faith in Finn’s judgment,” Jail pointed out mildly. “And
yes, Neph is an ass but we tolerate him anyway,” he added with a
slight chuckle.

“I owe my life to Finn, and he has never
given me reason to doubt him,” she replied and swung her legs off
the bed. She stood too rapidly, and Jail quickly raised a hand to
steady her as she waited for her head to stop spinning. “You said
you would take me to Finn,” she reminded him, once she was
steady.

“Sovann had to drug him to get him to rest.
He sat by your bed for the first three days and wouldn’t sleep or
eat,” Jail explained, offering his arm to her.

Her eyes widened at his words and she looked
back to her bed and then to him. “First three days, how bloody long
have I been out?” she asked.

“Five days total, this being the fifth. I
don’t think you quite realized how hard you pushed yourself. When
your magic reserves run out and you continue a spell, it draws from
your actual body. Look at yourself,” he said as he stopped her in
front of her mirror and motioned to her reflection.

The image looking back at her was pale and
worn looking. Her hair hung in limp tangles and her cheeks seemed
sunken. Her shoulders and ribs jutted from beneath the nightgown
making her look more skeletal than human. She raised a hand to her
mouth at the sight and cringed at how bony her hand looked. Sitting
in the bed, she hadn’t even paid attention to herself. She had been
far more intent on the stranger seated beside her. “No wonder I’m
so shaky,” she mumbled, still trying to adjust to the idea that the
waif in the mirror was her.

Jail gave a slight nod. “There is another
matter about that. We can speak of it later after you have seen
Finn, but I would like Neph to be there as well.” She opened her
mouth to object, but he silenced her with a motion of his hand. “I
promise Neph will be on best behavior, and he is an expert in these
matters.”

Jala gave a reluctant nod of acceptance. “I
don’t think he likes me. It isn’t that I have a problem with him,”
she explained.

Fighting back laughter, Jail shook his head
at her and began to lead her from the room. “You just don’t
understand Neph yet, my dear. Neph doesn’t like anyone. It’s not
just you.”

The lights in Finn’s room were out and the
shades drawn close, leaving the room nearly pitch black. Marrow
crossed first, his pale form guiding her around furniture. Jail
closed the door behind them silently and motioned for her to be
quiet. Though Finn was drugged, there was still a chance he might
wake, and if disoriented he would be dangerous. Despite that, she
had insisted on seeing him to ease the image of him burned from her
mind, though she didn’t think that image would ever go away
entirely.

Marrow led her to the side of the bed, and
she stopped a few feet away. It was hard to make out his features
in the gloom, but his face was unmarred. The skin on the right side
seemed a bit paler to her, but there was no sign of scarring. She
resisted the urge to reach down and touch him and folded her hands
behind her back instead. His eyelids flickered a bit and he shifted
restlessly. She wanted to brush the hair back from his face, to
touch his cheek to let him know she was here. Forcing herself back,
she moved silently back to Jail and nodded to him. He opened the
door and waited for her and Marrow to leave before exiting
himself.

“For saying you trust me, you certainly
didn’t take my word that he was all right,” Jail said with a smile
as the door clicked shut behind them.

“I just wanted to see him,” she replied with
her eyes still on the closed door.

“Well, he is much better company than the one
I’m taking you to next.” Jail gave her a wink and led her across
the hall to Neph’s door. He didn’t even so much as knock before
pushing the door open and walking in. Jala’s eyes lingered on the
cursed mark carved into Neph’s door and wondered which of his
friends had put it there. With a resigned sigh, she followed Jail
into the gloom of Neph’s eternally dark rooms. He sat at his chair
much as he had the first time she had met him. He didn’t bother to
look up from the book on his lap. He simply turned a page and
continued to read as if they hadn’t barged in.

Jail closed the door behind them and motioned
Jala to sit on the edge of the bed. She glanced at the bed then
back to Jail and frowned, but did as he wanted. Neph continued to
ignore them in favor of his book and Jala wondered how he could
even read in this poor light.

“Shut it or eat it, your choice Neph,” Jail
said in a harsher voice than she had yet heard from him.

Neph clicked his tongue against his teeth and
flipped another page. “What do you want, you overgrown shaved ape?”
he asked, his voice sounding disgusted.

“You to put down the bloody book for
starters,” Jail replied, crossing his arms over his massive chest.
He was looking down on Neph as if he might actually make the mage
eat his book if he didn’t comply soon. Jala folded her hands in her
lap and watched calmly. It might prove rather entertaining to see
Neph eat a book. He certainly hadn’t given her any reason to stop
Jail from force feeding him.

Neph closed the book with a slam that sent
motes of dust flying through the dimly lit air and stood
stretching. He dropped the book with a heavy thud onto the desk and
took a step closer to Jail. Though Neph was tall, slightly over six
feet, Jail still towered over him by several inches, his sheer mass
of muscle making him seem even bigger.

“What?” Neph demanded of the larger man. If
he was intimidated by Jail’s size, he gave no indication. “I’ve put
the bloody book down and you have my full attention, so what in the
hell do you want?” He glanced over at Jala, seeming to notice her
for the first time, and gave a snort of disgust. “I’ve already told
her I don’t give magic lessons. If you want her to learn how not to
kill herself when casting, get Sovann.”

Jail gave a slight nod and shifted his
shoulders, sending the muscles rippling down his back visible even
through the linen of his shirt. “Neph, I told her you would be
nice. If I have to tear out your tongue to make that possible, I
will. Sit down, shut up, and listen. Once you have listened, you
will understand why we’re here.” Jail’s voice was calm, but judging
by the clenched muscles in his arm Jala had no doubt he would carry
through with his threat. After all, she had shown herself a
competent healer. If she could heal Finn’s numerous wounds, surely
she could reattach a tongue.

The mage shifted his stance, his shoulders
loosening, and he regarded them both again with a look of
annoyance. “Fine, spit it out and then leave,” he snapped and
dropped back into his chair.

“Why, exactly, are you friends with him
again?” Jala asked, unable to remain silent any longer.

“Shut it, tart, Jail is speaking, not you,
and then you are both going to get the hell out,” Neph snapped
again, his voice cracking like a whip.

“Neph,” Jail said, making his name a warning.
Neph glowered and remained silent motioning for Jail to speak. “I
already talked to Sovann about this. He was unsure, so I’m going to
ask you. I’ve gotten the entire story directly from Wisp’s and
Finn’s minds, so I know this to be fact. The details are the same,
so there is no denying this. Understand?” Jail began and waited for
Neph to nod agreement. “She healed Finn. Wisp showed me the
condition Finn was in. He should be dead, Neph. Even with a Life
mage there, it would have been a close thing. Yet, he is lying in
bed without so much as a scar and his eye is whole again. Wisp said
the right eye had been burned away completely, but it’s there now
and whole.” He paused, waiting for Neph’s acknowledgment.

“So she is a healer of rare skill. I’m not a
healer, what does this have to do with me?” Neph asked, breaking
into the silence.

Jail settled himself against the desk and
shook his head. “Not done explaining. Midway through the healing,
Wisp said Jala began to bleed from eyes and nose. Wisp says the
blood was gold, not red.”

“Gold?” Neph cut in showing interest for the
first time. He leaned forward in his chair and seemed to regard
Jala in a new light.

“Gold?” Jala repeated. She had never noticed
her blood being gold before. This was news to her.

“Still not finished,” Jail sighed with
exasperation and continued once again. “Wisp then says that not
long after the bleeding started, Jala’s eyes opened and they didn’t
look quite right. She says it was as if they were glowing. I saw it
in her mind, and it did seem to me that her eyes were giving off
light. Wisp says Jala looked around as if in a daze and then began
to draw magic from the Barllen on Finn’s swords.”

“Impossible,” Neph blurted, falling back into
his seat and shaking his head. “Bloody fiction there, Jail, you
can’t draw from Barllen it’s like a sponge to anything magical.
That is the whole purpose of it after all.”

“I did draw from the Barllen. I knew it held
magic, and I needed magic,” Jala cut in, drawing the stares of both
men to her. “Well, it worked,” she pointed out defensively when
they continued to stare.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to
rebuild an eye?” Neph asked her, his attention full on her and
nothing else.

She shook her head and started to speak, but
he cut her off before she could even begin.

“Do you know what gold blood means?” he
asked, his eyebrow raised now and once again not giving her a
chance to answer. “Do you know why it is impossible to draw magic
from Barllen?” he asked.

“Do you know what manners are?” she snapped
back at him, tired of being bombarded with questions and not being
allowed to speak.

Jail gave a chuckle and shook his head. “No,
his parents taught him everything but that. Fighting and insults
are valued more highly than manners in Delvay.”

“Well, if you would care to answer any of
those questions I would greatly appreciate it, Neph. I admit I have
no idea on any of them. I only did what I thought I must at the
time,” she replied, keeping her voice polite and emphasizing her
courtesy.

Neph eyed her for a moment, as if trying to
decide if she was serious or mocking him. “An eye is one of the
most difficult things on a body to rebuild. Most healers won’t even
attempt it. There are so many difficulties on the repair that it
seldom works well when they do. If Finn was seeing things poorly,
though, I’m sure Jail would have mentioned it by now. Given that he
is a duelist, you most likely saved his career as well as his
life.” His voice was calm and almost polite. He paused and rose
from his chair moving to a table and pouring wine into three
glasses. He offered one to Jail and then brought one to Jala, as
well. She took it, a bit taken aback by his courtesy, and waited
for him to continue. Neph took a long drink from his own glass and
eyed her silently.

“Was the gold blood a side effect of the
magic I was drawing?” she asked at last, unable to take the
silence.

He shook his head and inhaled deeply. Setting
his wine down, he pulled a knife from his belt and handed it to
her. “I want to see the gold before I continue. A little cut should
do, just enough to break the skin.”

Her eyes widened and she looked down at the
knife and then to him. “You seriously expect me to cut myself to
humor you?” she asked in disbelief.

Jail shifted his position and looked at Neph.
“I tend to agree with Jala here, Neph, why is this necessary?”

Neph chewed on his lower lip and narrowed his
eyes. He seemed to be trying to decide on something. “Jail, look at
her Familiar.” Neph motioned toward Marrow and waited until Jail
did, as well.

“A Bendazzi. I agree that is unusual,” Jail
said with a slight nod.

“A full adult Bendazzi, and a big one at
that. Then the healing with no training whatsoever, the fact that
she lived through it, and we won’t forget the channeling from
Barllen. What does that tell you Jail?” Neph spoke calmly, listing
off the various points on his fingers as he recounted them.

“That she is one hell of a mage. That’s why
we are in here, Neph, to get you to explain what we don’t
understand,” Jail said, his tone unsure. He shrugged one of his
massive shoulders and gave Jala a look that showed he was just as
confused by Neph’s demands as she was.

Neph eyed him with a dry expression. “And you
are a Mind Mage, how terribly frightening. Well, yes, Jail, it does
mean she is one hell of a mage, but beyond that, just a single one
of those things would be incredible. To combine them all into one
person is unreal.” He turned from Jail and took a deep breath as if
trying to compose himself. “I have to see the gold blood. It will
confirm what I suspect. Just humor me, a prick on the damn finger.”
Neph looked back to her and gave her an imploring look. “Do it, and
I swear I will never be rude to you again. Hell I’ll even stick up
for you if needed,” he said, his tone pleading.

“You should have said that to begin with. If
it will get you to be civil I’ll put the knife through my hand. In
the long run, it would be less painful than dealing with you,” Jala
replied and drew the knife in a short line across her palm. The
blade was well honed and cut easily with a light kiss of pain.
Blood began to well along the cut in thick droplets. Even in the
gloom of the room the deep gold color of it was obvious for all to
see.

Neph barked a word in a language she was not
familiar with and mage lights flicked on around the room blinding
her momentarily. She closed her eyes and opened them again quickly
as she felt warm hands cup her wounded hand. Neph crouched beside
her, cradling her hand, his expression unreadable. “It’s truly
gold,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Just like I said. Now what does it mean?”
Jail prodded gently. He had moved closer for a better look and was
eyeing the mage now as if he had gone a bit mad.