The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (13 page)

Leaning heavily on the desktop she looked
down at the small circle where the teacher would stand and tried to
make out what land they would be discussing today. As usual the map
for the day was already up and she could make out the small
scattered forms of the Seravae Isles. Smiling, she leaned back in
her seat and took out her notebook. With a quick toss of the cover
she flipped it to the notes she had made when she read the chapter
in the book on the islands and quickly read over them.

“That’s not right,” Emily said quietly beside
her.

Jala looked up from the notebook and glanced
to the side of her where the voice had come from. “What’s not
right?” she asked quietly taking care to make sure no one else was
nearby. The last thing she needed was a rumor to start about her
talking to herself.

“What they say about Seravae, all of the
islands are inhabited not just three of them. All five of them have
people. It’s just the two smaller ones are …” She trailed off as if
searching for a word. “Uhh, not big houses I guess. They are
different, more elite, only certain people can go there,” she
finished.

Reaching into her bag Jala pulled out her
book and flipped it open to the page showing the Seravae isles and
studied the island chain. “It’s all supposed to be ruled by the
House of Reavers,” she said after quickly scanning over the text to
make sure her notes were correct.

“It’s not. The big island to the south is
controlled by the Soulblades, the one just above it is controlled
by the Spiritcallers, and the one in the north is led by the
Wraiths. They are three separate orders, even though everyone else
calls them houses, they aren’t,” Emily explained in a flood of
whispers.

“It doesn’t say anything about that in the
book,” Jala protested quietly flipping pages and scanning over the
words quickly. “If they aren’t houses what are they?”

“The Soulblades are warriors, the
Spiritcallers are Shamans, and the Wraiths are rogues. In order to
become a Soulreaver you must pass through all three islands of
training and attain at least three circles of each. The smaller
island to the east is called the Reaver’s Island, even though the
Official ruling house of Seravae is on the Soulblade isle, which is
called the Wendesha isle by them by the way, in honor of one of the
first Soulblade to reach ten circles on Sanctuary,” Emily
explained. By her voice Jala guessed she was seated in the chair
next to her and looking over the book as well.

How is it that she doesn’t know to brush
her hair but she knows the advanced history of the Soulreavers
?
Marrow asked dryly.

I think when she scans minds she looks for
the most valuable information and glazes over what we see as
trivial mundane knowledge
, Jala replied keeping the
conversation mental to avoid insulting Emily.

“I still scan minds, and the two of you
project your thoughts very loudly. The instinct is to go for
information on magic, fighting, surroundings, and such. It didn’t
occur to me at all to look for hygiene in my scans,” Emily said,
not sounding offended in the least. “You know the Seravae islands
are the reason the Academy calls its training circles. In Seravae,
when a child passes a certain level of training, a circle is
tattooed on his back. The left shoulder for swords, the right
shoulder for stealth, and the center of the back for shamans
training since to them the mastery of spirits is considered the
most important,” she explained further, obviously enjoying the fact
that she had more knowledge on the subject than the book did.

“How many circles are there for each?” Jala
asked, flipping her notebook to a fresh page and taking notes once
again.

“Ten for each island, though there hasn’t
been anyone to fully master all three since they were locked inside
the barrier. Usually the current Reaver only has three of each
tattoo, though the leaders of the individual islands of course have
ten circles in their own specialty,”

“What’s on the other small island?” Jala
asked indicating the last piece of land in the Seravae isles
chain.

“That’s the Isle of Souls where the bodies of
the dead are sent. In some cases they keep their spirits. In others
they don’t. If it was a hero or well respected figure in their
society the soul continues on with the body. There is nothing worse
to them than to allow the spirit to continue on to Death. They
despise the goddess of Death and believe if a Soulreaver is strong
enough he will return from the isles alive once more. If they are
not well loved in their society, their soul is devoured by the
Keepers of the island and the body is wrapped and burned with
whatever ashes and bones remaining entombed in the cliffs,” she
explained and fell silent as the room began to fill with
people.

Jala looked up as the sound of grating chairs
and murmurs filled the hall, making sure no one was approaching her
perch and then quickly wrote down what Emily had told her. Flipping
the pages back and forth she compared the two sets of notes and
shook her head slightly. There was so much more detail in what the
Blight child had told her. “Emily,” she whispered, hoping the
Blight could hear her over the surrounding noise.

“Yes?” Emily asked, her voice coming from
very near Jala’s ear.

“Later when we have time will you go over the
other cultures that I’ve already studied and tell me what I’ve
missed? I think your mother was a very wise person and I’d like you
to share the knowledge if you would,” she asked.

“Of course,” Emily replied, her voice holding
a note of true happiness. “My mother was a very wise person and she
would have wanted me to share what she knew,” she added
quieter.

“Today we are going to speak of the Seravae
Isles,” the teacher’s voice droned from below and Jala shifted in
her seat to get a better view. From the way the man spoke, she
could almost believe Shade’s story about most of the teachers being
constructs. She could very easily picture him propped against the
wall during winter break, gathering dust.

“The Seravae isles rest just off the coast of
Arovan in the Deverish Gulf,” he continued, his voice still a heavy
monotone. Jala heard Marrow yawn off to the side of her and
silently cursed the Bendazzi as she fought back her own yawn in
response. Settling back in her chair she did her best to keep her
mind alert, comparing what he said with what Emily had told her and
wondering why the Academy left so much out.

“This is going to be a very long hour, what
is next?” Emily whispered to her.

“Mathematics. The teacher is much better but
the subject is less entertaining,” Jala replied quietly and
shrugged. “Just wait until we get to science. I’m sure you will
love that.”

Oblivion

Shade glanced over toward the passenger side
for the fifth time and was relieved to see Charm still sleeping
soundly. He wasn’t at all sure what the rogue would do if he woke
now and saw where they were. This hadn’t been part of the plan that
he had explained but it was a necessary step. Turning his attention
back to the view screen he gave a muffled curse and jerked hard on
the controls of the spell hawk narrowly avoiding a rock snag. The
spotlight on the front of his ship wasn’t doing quite as much as he
had hoped it would and the area ahead was incredibly murky. With a
sigh, he slowed the ship’s speed farther and leaned back into his
seat. He had been hoping to be out of here within a few hours. At
this rate the herbs he had added to Charm’s dinner would wear off
before he even found what he was looking for. A dark form moved
past the view screen and he watched it for a moment, amazed at the
size of the creature.

“Did I just see a fish swim by?” Charm asked,
his voice thick from sleep.

“Shark actually, and yes,” Shade replied
calmly as if that were perfectly natural.

“Why in the bloody hell did I just see a
shark swim by?” Charm asked, his voice sounding more alert.

Flicking a gaze at the rogue, Shade shrugged
and turned back in time to dodge another rock protrusion. “Because
we are underwater and this particular part of the sea is overrun
with sharks,” Shade explained, glancing at the rogue again. Charm
was looking around with growing unease at the seams of the ship.
“And serpents,” Shade added in a quieter voice hoping Charm was
distracted enough not to really pay attention.

“Are spell hawks even made to go under
water?” Charm asked as he sat fully up in his seat and stared
through the view screen. “Where exactly are we, which part of the
sea?” He demanded.

“I built my spell hawk. I know what she can
do and water is no problem for her,” Shade replied a bit
defensively. “As to where we are …,” Shade trailed off and watched
a twisting coil of a serpent go past above them. The dark green
scales glimmered in the spotlight as the creature swam past. The
ship rocked slightly in the creature’s wake and Shade let the speed
falter more. “We are, uhh …, damn that thing was big,” Shade said,
his voice filled with a bit of awe. The serpent above them had
easily been twice the size of the one he had seen outside of
Sanctuary and that one could have swallowed his ship whole. He
shook his head and glanced at Charm who was staring at him with an
unreadable expression. “We are off the coast of Oblivion,” he said
quickly and turned back to the view screen, taking care to guide
the ship away from the direction the serpent was swimming.

“You are insane,” Charm said quietly and
slowly nodded. “Why are we underwater off the coast of Oblivion? I
don’t remember this being part of the plan.”

“Well, it was part of the plan. It just
wasn’t a part that I told you about,” Shade replied and smiled as
his spotlight finally landed on what he was searching for. “There,
do you see that?” he asked, pointing toward the view screen where a
jumbled pile of debris could barely be seen.

“Yes, but I have no idea what I’m seeing,”
Charm snapped back.

“That, my friend, is the remains of the
Stormrider
, one of the Merrodin battleships,” Shade
explained happily.

“And why do we want to find it?” Charm asked,
his tone dubious.

“Because the Merrodin ships were all lined
with Barllen and we need a lot of Barllen,” Shade replied
patiently.

“The idea of having Barllen on a ship that
functions off of magic does not seem like a good one Shade. Just
off hand, I would say that would be insane,” Charm said, looking
over at Shade with an expression of extreme doubt.

“I’m not actually going to bring it on the
ship. I’m going to drag it out of the water with towlines,” Shade
said, his eyes roving over the ship remains.

“Why do we need Barllen?” Charm asked.

“Because one of Eldagar’s best defenses was a
set of runes that prevented anything from entering the city by sky.
You can leave in a spell hawk. You just can’t arrive that way. For
our plan to work we have to be able to access the city by air.
Installing a Barllen trim on my ship will cancel those wards,”
Shade said as he rose from his seat, leaving the ship to drift
slightly in the current. “I’ll be right back. Just have to check
the chains. It looks heavier than I guessed it would be. I kind of
thought the wood would have rotted away by now. It’s been ten
years.

“If you install a Barllen trim on your ship,
won’t it drain the magic from the ship?” Charm asked as he rose to
follow Shade.

“No, because I’m going to have it on lead
struts. Lead blocks Barllen,” Shade explained as he lifted a hatch
near the back of the ship. Looking back at Charm he smiled
reassuringly. “Have a bit of faith. I really have thought this
through. If I hadn’t there is no way I would have ever trespassed
on Oblivion’s borders. They really are touchy about visitors you
know,” Dropping down to sit on the flat of the ship’s floor he
dangled his legs into the hatch and bent over to check the weight
of the chains below. Originally they had been added for lighter
lifting but he thought they would hold.

“Won’t the lead add too much weight to the
ship or unbalance it?” Charm asked, his tone more thoughtful than
doubtful now.

“I’m going to balance it out by adding more
weight to the rear as well. I’ll have to have a thin layer of
Barllen on the wings too. All total, I’d say I’m adding about two
thousand pounds to the ship’s weight but it shouldn’t be anything I
can’t handle. All spell hawks fly off of the mage’s strength. The
stronger the mage, the faster and tougher the ship. I’m a strong
mage, Charm. This will work,” Shade said without bothering to
glance up. With quick confident hands, he arranged the pulleys and
the chains properly and examined the hooks for a last time. He
wouldn’t get a second chance at this. The Lords of Oblivion didn’t
take kindly to thieves and they would consider this robbery. Though
the ship was worthless to them they would still consider it their
property. Trespassing was bad enough in their eyes. To trespass and
steal would have every Harvester in their control swarming his
ship, not to mention their notorious hatred for Morcaillos. It was
doubtful that they would take into consideration that he had left
his house and so technically wasn’t Morcaillo.

“Are you sure that will hold a ship?” Charm
asked, eyeing the hooks and chains. He seemed more interested than
skeptical now and Shade simply shrugged in response. Easing himself
down on the other side, Charm examined the hooks with a practiced
eye. “Good metal, it’s strong,” he said lifting the hook and
testing the weight.

“I have no idea how much a water logged, half
rotted ship weighs,” Shade admitted.

“Well, we really only need the railing right?
If I remember correctly, that’s where a majority of the Barllen on
the Merrodin ships was.” Charm dropped the hook and looked back up
at Shade with a raised eyebrow.