The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (40 page)

Her quarry paused, seeming unsure and she
closed the gap further. A gentle touch brushed through her mind as
the creature sought her out. By now it was likely confused by her
behavior. She had to act quickly. She dropped her hands down to her
sides and flexed her fingers, limbering them for the coming fight.
The Blight began to move again, this time quicker. It knew she was
no friend now.

With a sprint she barreled into the creature,
her talons raking at it’s flesh. Blood sprayed from the wounds and
she felt the salty tang fill her mouth. Her stomach rumbled in
anticipation as she sank fangs deep into what she thought was its
shoulder. The Blight screamed its fury and turned on her in
desperation. Bright pain lanced through her shoulder as its talons
raked her. Had Marrow been here with her, the fight would have
already been over. The Bendazzi wasn’t here, however. This was her
fight. She summoned memories from Eldagar and placed the faces of
her friends on the bodies she had seen there. The mental image of
Jala laying pale and twisted as her mother had been, lent her the
extra fury she needed. She tore at the creature savagely, her hate
for her kind fueling every slash of her talons. Fresh blossoms of
pain shot up from her side as the creature buried it’s talons in
the soft flesh of her stomach.

“You will not win,” she hissed and redoubled
her efforts, allowing instincts to guide her blows. Her hands were
slippery with blood as she grappled the creature to the forest
floor and sank her fangs deep into its neck. It thrashed and heaved
beneath her as she buried her talons in it once more, tearing at
any piece of flesh that fell beneath her hands.

Several moments passed before she realized
the creature no longer moved. She remained crouched above it
breathing heavily and waited to ensure it was truly dead. With
effort she calmed herself and slowed her breathing. The smell of
the meat beneath her was almost intoxicating. Her stomach rumbled
again and she tore a piece of flesh from the body and dropped it
into her mouth.

She allowed herself to smile then. She had
won and without Marrow’s help. Her smile grew slowly as the
realization settled in. With a sigh she leaned back, resting on her
heels and slowly looked around the forest. The ancient trees rose
above her on all sides and not a single creature was to be seen,
not even the small wildlife that seemed to thrive on the Academy
grounds. She scanned the area with a frown. It was possible the
fight had frightened them all off, but then she remembered the dead
silence before her attack. A dull ache from her side briefly drew
her attention to her healing wounds. She pressed her fingers
against the injury, testing its severity. It was deep, but healing
quickly. Clicking her tongue against her teeth she stretched and
tore another piece of meat from the corpse. She chewed slowly still
watching the unnaturally still forest. It wasn’t right and she knew
it. At the very least there should have been the distant scurrying
of the nocturnal creatures.

Cold dread began to settle over her as she
thought about the silence and she slowly stretched her senses out
once more seeking her kind. She had been so focused on the dead one
before her that she wouldn’t have noticed any others that might be
in the area. Her seeking located faint signatures of her kind and
she felt the small hairs on the back of her neck rise. She lowered
a hand to the ground slowly and her muscles tensed as she traced
the direction of her kin. There were too many of them, if her
senses were reading true. Far too many of them for her to even
contemplate fighting. They were near and yet not close. She frowned
and followed the direction, her gaze slowly turning to stare down
at the ground. Her eyes widened in realization and she stood,
quickly scanning the area for any sign of a tunnel or opening into
the earth.

There was no question in her mind now. She
knew what she had found. Her gaze dropped back down to the dead
Blight and the intoxicating scent of blood filled her nostrils once
more. The scent of blood carried a long way on the wind. She knew
that as well as any predator. She remembered the creature’s scream
and how it had shattered the silence of the forest. Slowly she
backed away from the corpse and kept her senses focused on her kin,
there were twenty or more perhaps. She had wanted to find the hive,
of course. She simply hadn’t wanted to find it alone and
wounded.

Turning quickly she sprinted for the gardens,
not caring if she made noise. The possibility that the Blights were
already hunting her was too great and she had to warn the others. A
crawling sensation ran down her spine and she told herself it was
simply her imagination, nothing was watching her, or stalking her.
Even if they were stalking her she could lose them in the city. At
least she hoped she could. Biting her lower lip, she pressed
herself for more speed as she turned on the path that led to the
Merrodin hall. Memories of Valor riding hard from the stables
filled her mind and she silently prayed that she wasn’t too
late.

Rivana

Shade watched the morning sunrise with quiet
resentment. He had hoped to catch a few hours of sleep after
equipping the ship with weapons, but that hope had died with the
first rays of light. Lord Rivasa had said the Avanti would be
arriving first thing in the morning and he had no doubt that they
would be. Yawning he looked over
The Shade
, taking mental
inventory of the guns and the ammunition he had available. As long
as the Avanti didn’t send an armada he should be fine.

Birdsong began to fill the morning and he
glared in the direction of the noise. That had always been his
least favorite thing when he had stayed up too late. It was almost
like a herald for a very bad day. He fought back another yawn and
pulled a cigarette from his pocket. He had barely gotten it lit
when the glint of metal in the sky caught his attention. With luck
the feeble illusion he had cast on his ship would hold. From the
air it should resemble nothing more than a pile of rocks. If the
Avanti didn’t study the land too closely it should work.

He watched as the ships grew closer and
counted them silently. Six escorts and one transport. The escort
ships were painted in the Avanti house colors which meant they were
military, and so they would be armed. He let out a long sigh and
took another drag from his cigarette. It was, of course, likely
they would be armed with standard ammunition. While this was deadly
enough, it wasn’t as bad as it could be. He hadn’t planned on six,
though. At best, he had guessed there might be three.

His gaze flicked back to
The Shade
and
the newly attached guns. Standard military issue was four guns for
a typical spell hawk. He had eight and they were not standard
issue. Each gun had been designed and built by him. That had to
count as an advantage as far as he figured it. He should have an
advantage over the pilots as well. They were likely half-bloods and
his reservoir of magic would be larger, which meant he would be
faster.

They are coming
, Charm’s soft voice
broke through his thoughts and Shade nodded as he watched the ships
preparing to land in Kedravon.

I see them
, Shade replied and fought
down the urge to scry on the ships for a closer look. It wasn’t
worth the risk that they would sense him, simply to get a better
look at the weapons. Though in truth it was a glimpse of the pilots
that tempted him the most. He knew most spell hawk pilots and a
good look would tell him clearly what his odds for success
were.

Do you have a plan
? Charm asked, his
tone sounding a bit worried.

Of course I do
, Shade answered filling
his mental voice with as much confidence as he could muster. He did
have a plan, it just wasn’t a plan Charm would be impressed
with.

Are you going to tell me what it is
?
Charm pressed after a long pause.

You get on the ship, find Remedy and
secure him. I will give you a way out. See, simple, easy and very
few steps to this plan
, Shade replied.

How will you give me a way out
?The
rogue’s tone held even more worry in it now.

Can you see a way onto the ship
? Shade
asked wondering if Charm would actually let him sidestep the
question so easily.

I can get on the bloody ship, Shade, but
how are you going to get us off of it
? Charm pressed once
again.

Better keep the chatter to a minimum,
Charm, I’m not sure if they have Mind mages with them and we don’t
want to give away our rescue before it even gets under way. Let me
know when you get on the ship and I’ll see you soon
. He felt a
surge if irritation from the rogue as he cut off the mental link
and chuckled lightly. He would hear about this later. There was no
question about it.

He made his way onto his ship and dropped
lightly into the pilot seat. The newly added runes glowed faintly
along the controls and he ran through their pattern again. Four on
the right and four on the left. Each rune controlled a single gun
and each gun was loaded with a different ammo of his devising. The
Avanti ships were in for a very bad day. He smiled at the thought
and reached under his seat for the hidden bottle there.

“Thank you Sovann,” he said quietly as he
carefully pried the cork from the bottle of essence wine. He had
sworn off drinking while flying shortly before meeting Jala in
Brannaford, but this time it was different. Taking a long pull from
the bottle he closed his eyes and felt the surge of magic wash
through him. Today he needed every advantage he could get, and a
bit of liquid courage never hurt.

“Well I’ve always said I’m the best pilot,”
he mumbled and took another pull from the bottle. His magic
reserves were already full and the added energy from the wine sent
a tingle through his skin. He tapped his fingers along the bottle
for a moment and then rose from his seat.

Walking back to his private room on the ship
he dropped the bottle carelessly on the table and threw open the
closet doors. Humming quietly he dug through the piled clothes in
the bottom until he found the case he was looking for. He fished it
out of the mess and regarded the rumpled clothes with a smirk. To
think, Jala had been so very impressed with his tidy ship. It was a
good thing she hadn’t seen the closet.

He snorted in amusement and moved to the
table again dropping the case down beside his wine bottle. Lifting
the bottle with one hand he took another long drink and wondered
idly if there were adverse effects to holding too much magic in
your reservoir. Well he would get rid of the extra energy soon
enough, he decided, as he flipped the case open.

He hadn’t even considered this case in months
and couldn’t quite understand what had made him think of it now.
The armor inside had been a gift from his mother. He had never even
bothered to take it out of the case before now. He stared down at
the dark blue leather and tried not to think of her. For most of
his life he had believed her mad and had always sided with his
father. Now, he was beginning to understand why she was the way she
was.

Setting the bottle once more on the table, he
pulled the supple leather jerkin from the case and shook it out.
Despite months of storage the armor was still soft to the touch and
looked well oiled. He hadn’t thought much of the gift at the time
and had been rather offended at the lack of house sigils on it. It
had seemed blasphemous to wear anything without the twin snakes of
Morcaillo on it then. Now, it suited him perfectly.

He studied the wards worked into the armor
and shook his head in amazement, protection from location, fire,
and enchantment. Leaning back in his chair he stared at the runes
in amazement and wondered if his mother had known all along he
would go traitor to the family. The ward against location would
prevent his father, or anyone else for that matter from finding
him. Then there was the fire and enchantment. They were the two
primary weapons of House Rivasa and House Avanti, his father’s
closest allies.

“She knew and she couldn’t warn me,” Shade
whispered to himself and stood from his chair. He stripped his old
leathers off and began buckling on his mother’s gift quickly. The
leathers fit like a glove, much tighter than what he was used to.
He raised his arms over his head and flexed his shoulders testing
the give. Despite the obvious thickness of the leather it felt like
nothing more than heavy wool. Lowering his arms slowly he examined
the leather once again and wondered exactly what manner of creature
he was wearing. This wasn’t cow leather he was sure of it, and it
wasn’t serpent skin as he had seen others wear.

Shaking his head slightly he gave up guessing
and moved to the mirror. The dark blue leather suited him, he
decided as he admired his reflection. He ran a hand through his
hair, tousling the auburn locks and smiled. “Well, if they do catch
me, at least I’ll be the best looking prisoner they have,” he
muttered.

I’m on the ship and it’s taking off
,
Charm’s voice broke into his thoughts once again and he grabbed the
bottle of wine as he made his way quickly back to the front of the
ship.

I’ll intercept over the water
, Shade
told him and pulled his sunglasses from the jacket draped over his
pilot seat. The world turned a pale blue as he put them on and
dropped into his chair. While sunlight wouldn’t bother him through
the view screen, that wasn’t why he wore the glasses. The runes
carved into the round lenses would show hidden objects and
protection wards, and today that might be the difference between
success and failure.

What do you mean intercept? There are six
Avanti fighters flying escort as well as two Rivasan ships,
Charm said, sounding rather concerned.