The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (55 page)

The Rivasan guards broke rank and charged her
with drawn swords and she felt laughter welling in her throat. So
much easier to let the targets pick themselves. Drawing on her
power once more she sent a volley of ice shards into their ranks
and neatly dodged the few that did make it past her spell. Valor
could handle them easily enough.

A wave of heat drew her attention back toward
the stairs in time to see the ball of Hellfire rushing toward her
from Devron Rivasa. The flames crackled with an eerie greenish blue
light and Neph had warned her that Hellfire could not be countered.
Lifting both arms in front of her, she called on her magic once
more and the air surrounding her turned icy cold, forming a wall
against the incoming fire. She heard Valor cry out as the flames
washed over her. It might have been her name he yelled, she
couldn’t tell through the roar of flames. She let the cold shield
fall as the Hellfire passed and smiled coldly up to Devron who was
staring at her as if she were a demon in flesh.

“Shouldn’t pick a fight you can’t win,” she
hissed, echoing the words Finn used so often. The spell flew from
her hands with scarcely a thought. Devron turned to run but
stumbled instead as her magic froze the blood in his veins and
worked its way through his flesh. She followed the first spell with
a force bolt and watched in satisfaction as the Rivasan’s frozen
body shattered on the stairs. A chunk of frozen flesh skittered
down the stairs to land at her feet and she kicked it neatly back
toward a Justicar. The man’s face paled considerably and he broke
to run with several of his comrades close behind. “I have to get to
Finn, Valor. Can you finish up here?” she called over her
shoulder.

“Go, I’ve got this,” Valor replied, already
moving forward toward the remaining enemies, bloody sword in hand.
Neph and Madren joined him and she left them to the slaughter.

Marrow rejoined her as she made her way into
the hall, expecting enemies at every corner.
I don’t hear
anyone. I think they may all be outside fighting
, Marrow told
her as he cocked his head toward the empty rooms ahead.

Jala you have to get up here now
.
Emily’s voice was frantic in her mind.
While you were fighting,
I went ahead to find him and he is hurt. I got rid of the one that
struck him but I can’t do anything to help him. He isn’t healing
like he normally does.

Where? Are there others in the hall
?
Jala responded, already heading for the stairs. Finn had said he
was at the top of the Hall, She hoped he still was.

No it’s empty. Follow the stairs until you
reach Kellis’s body and then take the hall to the left,
Emily
replied.
Hurry, Jala, it’s bad.

The Blight’s last words had her running up
the stairs taking them two at a time. She felt her heart thundering
against her ribs by the time she hit the second floor. She wished
she knew the layout of the building well enough to simply use
magic. Swallowing heavily, she pushed herself to go faster praying
to Fortune that she would be in time.

* * *

She could smell the blood from the room
before she entered, and felt her heart sink. The link was still
there, but it was weak. Finn was propped against the wall. The
floor beneath him was stained red with his blood. His eyes
fluttered open as she approached and she felt her throat clench. A
dagger was buried hilt deep under his arm and his lips were flecked
with blood.

He chuckled weakly, showing blood stained
teeth and gave her his typical smirk. “I earned this, Jala. Time
and time again, I earned this,” he told her in a voice so weak she
could barely make out the words.

She dropped to her knees beside him and
called on the healing magic. His blood soaked through the knees of
her dress, a subtle reminder of how close to death he was.

“The bastard got me the same way I did him.
Only he did it better. I suppose that’s only fitting though. He is
the master of his craft,” Finn said, his voice choking on each
word.

“Hush, Finn. Don’t talk. Let me work and you
will be fine,” she whispered to him, wondering how he still had the
strength for words. Any other man would be dead from the blood loss
alone. Finn Sovaesh was stronger than any other man, though. She
only hoped he was strong enough to pull through this.

“Won’t do any good,
Vezradesh
. The
bastard put shaved Barllen in the poison. I can feel it draining
what little magic I do have. There is Tezrae in there, too. I can’t
regenerate through it,” Finn gasped ,and more blood flecked along
his lips.

He was right, she realized as she felt the
first of her healing magic simply disappear. She swallowed heavily
and forced the lump in her throat back down. “Just sit still Finn.
I’ll draw the Barllen out and then heal,” she said, already working
on a spell to pull the metal from him. Most of her energy would be
wasted as the Barllen absorbed the magic, but if she used enough
power it might work.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs behind her
and she looked up just long enough to see Valor storm into the
room. At the sight of Finn, he pulled his helmet off and dropped to
the floor on the other side of Jala. “What can I do to help?” he
asked still breathing hard from the fighting and running.

“See if there is another wound on that side.
If there is, try to staunch the bleeding. He has Barllen in him and
I have to get it out before I can heal him,” Jala explained, her
focus already back on drawing out the metal.

Finn shook his head at Valor and chuckled
weakly. “It’s in my back, two stabs. I’m not rolling over for you,
though,” he said and let out another ragged breath. His lung was
filling with blood despite the dagger still lodged there. She knew
better than to try to remove it from the wound. If she did he would
be dead within moments. “Valor,” Finn gasped.

Tears welled in her eyes as she heard Finn
spending the last of his strength on words. “Finn, please stop
talking and just lie still,” she pleaded.

He coughed and shook his head at her. “Valor,
swear to me you will protect her. By my blood and your honor keep
her safe for me. Get her out of this damned city, Val. This is no
place for our child.” Finn’s words were broken by gasps and fresh
blood covered his teeth.

“Damn you Fortune, don’t you dare let me lose
him,” Jala sobbed, the tears nearly blinding her now. She could
feel her magic working slowly. It wouldn’t be in time, though, and
she knew it. “I won’t lose you, Finn, just please hang on a little
longer,” she pleaded, fighting against the grief that was already
building.

“I swear, I will,” Valor replied his voice
solemn as he gripped Finn’s hand. “I won’t need to though, Finn. If
you will do as your wife asks for once, and shut up, she will have
you healed in no time.”

Finn gave another quiet chuckle and coughed
again violently. He shook his head at Valor and smiled at Jala.
“Build something beautiful,
Vezradesh
. Make a land like they
have never seen before,” he whispered and leaned his head back
against the wall. His eyes closed again as they had been when she
had first entered the room.

She worked frantically, pushing the metal
shavings out through the wound in his back. The bond between them
grew fainter as his breathing grew more ragged. It was so unfair
that she had come so close to reaching him in time. He was being
snatched from her hands while she was utterly helpless to stop it.
Her vision blurred again with fresh tears and she wiped her nose on
her sleeve as she pressed the magic pouring all of herself into the
spell.

“Love you,” he whispered, his words barely
audible. She felt the last of the bond fade as Finn’s immeasurable
supply of strength finally gave out. A ragged sob tore from her
throat as his body relaxed against the wall.

She let the magic drop and wrapped her arms
around him collapsing against his chest, willing him to breathe
again. “Please Finn, no, please come back,” she sobbed, her face
buried in the thick fabric of his shirt. She felt empty without the
bond now. Even when she hadn’t been paying attention to his
feelings, a part of Finn had always been with her. The void it left
now reminded her all too much of memories of ashes and begging for
her father to return. Despair warred with grief as his body cooled
beneath her.

“Jala, we have to go. I don’t think the
Fionaveir are winning this fight,” Valor whispered finally. His
voice as choked with grief as her own was.

“I won’t leave him here, Valor,” she said,
though she wasn’t sure he could understand her words. Her throat
was so tight it was painful to breath. She wasn’t sure how long
Valor had let her cry. From the expression on his face his pain was
a mirror of her own. It’s not just Finn he is grieving for, she
reminded herself. He lost his sister and niece as well, and now his
best friend.

“I’ll carry him, Jala. I won’t leave him here
either,” Valor assured her. “I wouldn’t leave him here either,” he
added in a quieter voice.

She sat up slowly and looked at Valor across
Finn’s body. “Do you think they can bring him back? He killed
Devron and they brought the bastard back. Can someone bring Finn
back?” she asked, frantically seizing on the idea. Where she had
come from dead meant dead, but not here. She had seen the dead
return to life in Sanctuary.

“We can try,” Valor promised, his own dark
blue eyes still glassy with unshed tears. He gave her a firm nod
and started to pick the body up.

“Wait,” she said, holding a hand out to him.
“You can’t fight while carrying him. Let me remove the rest of the
Barllen and I can store the body in a stone. It will keep it in
stasis as well so it stays preserved,” she said, half amazed that
she was capable of thinking so clearly.

He nodded and motioned for her to go ahead.
“Hurry, though, we have to get out of the city very soon.”

“I’ll hurry, but we can’t leave the city
quite yet. There is something I have to do before we go,” she said
calmly, her mind pushing the grief back. She wouldn’t let it govern
her now. Not when there was still a chance she could bring Finn
back.

“What?” Valor asked, his own voice sounding
clearer as if he was following the same belief.

“Kill Hemlock,” she said simply and returned
to the removal of the Barllen. She let her anger build as she
worked. With each breath it grew stronger, pushing back the grief
and despair. Those emotions could wait. She needed the anger now to
punish those who had caused the pain. “You grieve so much more
gracefully than me, Valor. I’ve watched you over the past few days,
mourning your sister in silence. I can’t mourn in silence. I want
to hurt them. I want them to feel the pain they have caused
me.”

Valor shook his head and smiled coldly. “No,
I haven’t been grieving gracefully, Jala. I’ve been biding my time.
I was sealed behind a wall where I couldn’t act. I can act now, and
once you are finished here I promise we will make them feel pain.”
There was a sincerity to his voice that made his words ring of an
oath.

Looking up at him she nodded slowly, her
magic still at work on cleansing Finn’s body. A silent pact had
just formed between the two of them. She could see in his eyes that
he had felt it form as well. “We both have more than simply Finn to
avenge,” she said, then paused and met his eyes fully so he knew
her next words were not simply idle. “I promised Hemlock I would
bring Sanctuary to its knees if he killed Finn. I think he might
have thought I meant just the City of Sanctuary. The ones that have
truly brought our pain aren’t in the city, Valor. And they think
they are safe from vengeance.” She fell silent again and stared
back down at Finn as she worked.

His death will be their damnation. It will
be a long hunt, but we will have their blood. I promise you that
sister
, Marrow said. He had remained silent and watchful by the
door until now. She glanced in his direction and gave him a nod of
agreement. It was the first time he had called her sister, and she
knew it was said with respect. Before the barrier in her mind
lifted it would have seemed odd. Now however it fit perfectly.
Bendazzi were spoken of as cold and cruel hunters, totally ruthless
in nature, and she was feeling anything but merciful.

Fionahold

Shade lit a cigarette as he stepped into the
darkened courtyard. The call for assembly had come bare minutes ago
and from what he could tell he was one of the first to arrive. He
moved silently to where his group would be forming up, content to
find a wall to hold up while he waited. A few figures stirred in
the shadows and he nodded absently to them without taking any true
notice of who they were. Beyond a handful of people, he didn’t
truly know anyone in the Fionahold.

“Not even a true hello. Well I can see I was
missed,” a familiar voice called as he leaned back against the
stone wall.

“Lex?” Shade called back in disbelief. He
hadn’t seen his former body guard since his first week at the
Fionahold. He pushed back off the wall and searched the darkness
for his friend.

Lex stepped away from the small group of
people Shade had walked absently by, and moved over to Shade’s
side. He was thinner than Shade remembered and had more scars
showing than before. He wore his long black leather coat as always,
but the garment had seen hard use recently. Hastily done repairs
showed up and down the back and most of them looked to be tear
marks.

“What the hell happened to you?” Shade asked,
looking up from the coat to his friends amused face.

“Been in Glis fighting against the bloody
Blights,” Lex said casually and then bowed to Shade. “Thank you
ever so much for bombing Eldagar. I am forever in your debt for
killing those damn things before I had to fight them
personally.”