The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (11 page)

“Read the letter. It explains everything,”
the child urged from yet another area of the room.

Marrow rose and stalked over to her as she
unfolded the letter quickly. The Bendazzi stopped just in front of
her and pushed her gently back until she was pressed against the
wall.
Until I know what and where it is, keep the wall to your
back
, he ordered and lowered his head, inhaling deeply,
searching for the creatures scent.

Jala nodded absently and read over the letter
in her hand, quickly scanning a few parts of it twice. “It’s from
Shade. He says her name is Emily and that she needs a safe place.”
she glanced up and looked around the room again, then back down to
the letter. “She is one of the Blight children from Gaelyn but she
isn’t corrupt. He says she has agreed to guard me,” Jala said and
folded the letter. She had never heard of a Blight child before but
from what the letter said they were not to be trifled with.

“Are you explaining it to the big cat thing
or do you have another invisible friend in here?” Emily said, her
voice closer now.

“The big cat thing is a Bendazzi. His name is
Marrow. He is my familiar and yes I was explaining to him,” Jala
said, her eyes searching the room once more. “Will you show
yourself to me?” she asked finally, not really sure what to
expect.

“I will to you, but if he comes back I’m
gonna hide.” The childlike voice came again and a form appeared,
sitting on the edge of her bed. The child was naked and filthy with
tangled brown hair. At least Jala thought it was brown. It was
difficult to tell the true color through the filth.

Jala stared at her condition in shock and
tried to decide if the majority of the filth on her was mud or
blood. Blood, she decided after a moment and cleared her throat
gently. “So I am to take care of you and keep you safe and in
return you guard me and keep me safe, correct?” she asked, keeping
her voice very polite.

“That’s what Shade said,” Emily agreed with a
shrug.

“Well then, the first thing would be to get
you a bath and clothes,” Jala said with what she hoped was a
parental tone.

“What kind of clothes?” Emily asked,
suspiciously eyeing Jala’s discarded dress.

Following her gaze, Jala eyed the dress and
felt a blush start to rise. Moving swiftly, she retrieved her robe
from beside the bed and shrugged it on and then looked to Emily
with a smile. “When exactly did you arrive here, Emily?” she asked
sweetly and prayed it was this morning and the child hadn’t been in
the room last night. Her gaze flicked involuntarily toward the
table by the wall where she and Finn had engaged in acts no child
should witness.

“This morning. I came into the room when the
asshole left,” Emily replied and then narrowed her eyes at Jala.
“What kind of clothes?” she repeated slower, in a quieter
voice.

“Asshole? You mean Finn? Why would you call
him that?” Jala asked in confusion.

“That’s what Shade calls him. Are you going
to answer my question?” Emily was watching her closely her
expression still holding suspicion.

“Clean ones, beyond that I don’t care. If you
don’t like dresses that’s fine with me as long as the clothes are
clean,” Jala said and frowned. “Please don’t call him that, he
really isn’t an asshole. It’s just that Shade and Finn don’t get
along well at all,”

“Why not?” Emily asked, her expression all
innocent curiosity.

“Why don’t I run you a bath and after you are
dressed I can explain. I have to meet Sovann soon so I really don’t
have much time this morning.” Jala moved across the room as she
spoke and opened the door to the bathing room. With a quick flick
of her hand she filled the tub with steaming water. Her reservoir
of magic was getting built up enough from use that she barely
noticed the missing power from the spell. With a wave of her hand
she motioned for Emily to approach. Taking a closer look at her new
charge she realized water alone wasn’t going to cut it. With
another wave of her hand and quick cast spell, a majority of the
filth disappeared from the child. The Blight froze in her tracks
and looked down at herself as Jala stared on in shock.

“What?” Emily said as she looked back up and
noticed Jala’s slack-jawed face.

“I’ve never seen something so dirty a simple
cleaning spell didn’t take care of it on the first try,” Jala
muttered in amazement. “I’m sorry. It’s just … Oh never mind. Go
on, get in the tub. I’ll get my soap for you.” Shaking her head,
she moved to her assorted essentials that she kept separate from
Finn’s belongings and picked up a bar of lilac soap and a
sponge.

With both weapons in hand she returned to the
bathing room and froze again. The Blight was sitting in the middle
of the tub looking less than pleased and the water around her had
turned a frothy brownish gray color just in the short time she had
been immersed. “Uhh, let’s just freshen that water a bit,” Jala
said slowly and dismissed the water, filling the tub with fresh
clean water.

You won’t need to fill a stone tonight. By
the time you get that creature clean you are going to be out of
magic
, Marrow said with a bit of disgust.

She is only a child and we have no idea of
knowing how long it has been since she bathed last
, Jala said
gently into the Bendazzi’s mind not wanting to insult Emily.

I’m going to go with never as my guess and
continue pondering why I couldn’t smell her. From the looks of her
I should be able to smell her half way across the city
.

“That stinks,” Emily said, pointing at the
soap and wrinkling her nose.

Jala bit her lower lip to keep her expression
neutral and glanced down at the soap. “It’s all I have, unless you
want to use Finn’s soap. It doesn’t really have much of a scent to
it,” she said with a shrug.

“No, I don’t want asshole soap,” Emily
replied and snatched the lilac-scented bar from Jala’s hand. She
examined it closely turning it one way and then the other and
raised it to her nose sniffing it again. Abruptly, her expression
changed to one of disgust and she let out a snort as if to clear
her nose. “Why would you use this?” she asked in dismay.

“Because to me it smells good. And please
don’t call Finn that,” Jala replied patiently and took the soap
back from the Blight. Dipping it in the water quickly she ran it
over the sponge a couple of times and then began rigorously
scrubbing the child’s head. She tried in vain to ignore the various
bits that fell from the child’s hair and settled instead for trying
to not identify what they were.

“Do you have to do that?” Emily objected,
trying to squirm away.

“Yes, I do, though I think I’m going to have
to use magic to get the tangles out. How long has it been since you
brushed your hair?” she asked, still working the majority of the
filth from the brown locks.

“Brushed?” Emily asked in dismay.

“Well, that would explain that,” Jala said
with a sharp nod and added more soap to her assault. She stepped
back after a few moments and rinsed the soap from her hands.
Nodding her head in approval she smiled at Emily. “Now dunk and
rinse it out,” she said with a motion toward the water.

“What?” Emily said eyes going wide in
alarm.

Nodding Jala smiled sweetly again. “Just hold
your breath,” she said quickly and placed a hand on Emily’s head,
pushing her under the water quickly. Two hands shot out of the
water, clawing frantically for purchase and a sharp pain shot down
Jala’s right arm. She let go of the child who came up sputtering
indignantly. Leaning back against the wall Jala raised her arm to
see blood flowing freely down her wrist. The talons had missed the
artery there, but not by much.

“I’m sorry,” Emily said quietly, her chin
resting on the edge of the tub as she stared at Jala in dismay.

“It’s my fault. I scared you,” Jala said with
a slight shake of her head. She watched the blood continue to well
for a moment and wished in vain that she regenerated like Finn. “I
was just in a hurry. Go ahead and finish cleaning up while I wrap
this.” Turning she left the room and nodded with approval at the
sounds of splashing water from the other room. She hadn’t been sure
the Blight would listen and continue bathing but apparently the
child was.

With a sigh she fished her old blue dress
from her trunks and tore strips of material from it. Finn healed so
quickly he didn’t keep medical supplies on hand and she didn’t have
anything else to use. There was of course the option of asking one
of the others in the hall but she didn’t really want to explain to
anyone about the Blight just yet.

Awkwardly, she began wrapping the arm cursing
under her breath as the strips came loose. It was at an odd angle
to do one-handed. She looked up as smaller hands took the strips
from her and watched as the child quickly wrapped the makeshift
bandage tight around her arm.

“Thank you,” Jala said quietly and brushed a
lock of hair from her face. “You have very pretty hazel eyes,” she
added and lifted the lock of hair to examine the tangles. Emily was
watching her with obvious remorse and her gaze kept flickering to
the bandage. “It’s OK really. I know you didn’t mean to and like I
said it was my fault.”

“I’m supposed to protect you not hurt you,”
Emily replied quietly.

“And I’m sure you will as long as I’m not
dunking you under water,” Jala reassured her and ruffled the
tangled hair as best she could. Cocking her head to one side she
took in the child’s measurements and pulled on the magic once more
to create clothing that would fit her. With a wink she handed the
heavy linen trousers and tunic to her as well as small clothes fit
for a child. “There. Those should be nice and durable and they are
a dark enough color that if you get them dirty I won’t notice for a
while,”

Emily took them hesitantly and looked them
over then watched as Jala crossed the room to her own closet. “Are
you going to tell him I’m here?” she asked cautiously.

“Who?” Jala asked, unsure if the child meant
Sovann or Finn since they were about to go and see Sovann.

“The ass …” Emily paused and cleared her
throat. “Err, Finn,” she said and began tugging the clothes on
quickly.

“Yes, I am. I don’t keep secrets from him,”
Jala replied, selecting a long-sleeved deep green dress from her
wardrobe. “He won’t be upset, especially when I tell him you are
going to help guard me,” Jala assured her and quickly began getting
dressed.

“What if he wants me to leave?” Emily asked,
her expression concerned.

“He won’t ask you to leave, I promise,” Jala
reassured her and selected a pair of sandals from her wardrobe.
Sitting lightly on the edge of the bed she lifted her skirts
lightly and slipped her feet into the shoes.

Emily watched her silently as she laced up
her sandals. With a small hand she pointed at the shoes with
obvious concern. “Do I have to wear those?” she asked, a frown
growing on her face.

Jala looked up from the lacings and raised an
eyebrow. “I did forget to make you shoes didn’t I? No you don’t
have to wear shoes like this. I don’t think they would last long if
you did.” With a sigh she finished tying the strap and stood again.
“You aren’t used to wearing shoes are you?” she asked.

Emily shook her head slightly and continued
to stare at Jala. “I see why he likes you so much,” she said
quietly.

“Finn?” Jala asked, her confusion growing
from the rapidly changing topics. She glanced at Emily as she
quickly pulled her hair up. She was running out of time. Sovann
would be wondering what was wrong by now.

“Shade,” Emily corrected. “You are so pretty,
it’s no wonder he likes you,” she added softly and seemed a bit
embarrassed.

Pausing in what she was doing Jala shook her
head faintly. “Shade doesn’t look at what is on the outside. Shade
likes people that are pretty on the inside. I doubt he ever cared
if my hair was fixed properly or noticed what dress I wore,” she
explained quietly and then shrugged. “But there are those that care
now, so I do,” she said with a sigh, remembering when she was a
less filthy version of Emily, when she never would have considered
wearing shoes that laced half way up her leg or dresses that had so
many layers to their skirts. “Come on, Sovann will be waiting for
us and I don’t want him to think something has happened to me. We
will worry about shoes later. At least for now you are dressed.”
Heading for the door, she grabbed her book bag as she went. She
truly doubted she would have time to come back here before her
classes started for the day.

Nodding slightly, Emily fell in behind her
and disappeared once more. Grumbling lightly, Marrow fell in behind
her to the right and looked around, his yellow eyes scanning for
any sign of the Blight.

“I’m sure we will both get used to it,” Jala
said with a smile to the Bendazzi and left the door open behind her
a bit longer than normal. She glanced at the hall behind her and
wondered how she was ever going to be able to tell if Emily had
made it through a doorway before she closed it. She didn’t care
much for the thought of continually smacking the child with
doors.

“I go through before you do, when you first
open it,” Emily whispered in a voice so quiet Jala could barely
make out the words. Silently, Jala nodded and wondered if her
thoughts had truly been that obvious. With a quick glance down the
hallway to make sure no one else had noticed her delay, she turned
and headed toward the courtyard where Sovann waited.

“I was beginning to worry,” Sovann said as he
stood. He was dressed as usual in loose fitting tunic and trousers
but looked a bit more rumpled than normal. Dark circles hung under
both of his deep green eyes and his hair was a bit tousled as
well.

“You haven’t slept have you?” Jala asked as
she stopped a few feet from him. Several books lay open on the
ground beside him as well as a dozen or so memory crystals that he
used for reference.