The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (27 page)

“A bit thick isn’t he,” the red-haired man
muttered as he stood as well. “I don’t think you want to see Jala
right now young man,” he said with a faint smile motioning slowly
around the empty throne room.

Finn stared at him a moment and then glanced
around the room, before looking back at both of them in confusion.
“Why wouldn’t I want to see Jala? Death is gone. I killed her.
There is nothing here to threaten either of us anymore.”

Damon stood slowly and dusted his plate mail
lightly before looking directly at Finn. “Do you know what the word
ascension means, Finn?” he asked quietly.

“Rise. To, uh, move upwards?” Finn asked
dumbly.

“Yep, thick,” the red-haired man said with a
nod and began pulling his gauntlets back on.

“Who in the hell are you?” Finn snapped, his
rage rising once more. Neither of them seemed to realize how
important it was that he reach Jala. Either that or they simply
didn’t care. They hadn’t heard the pain in her words though. They
didn’t know how the memory of those words was ripping through him
just as the tendrils had. He had to reach her; nothing else
mattered. All it would take to silence that pain would be wrapping
his arms around her. His throat clenched at the thought and his
frustration grew.

“He is War, Finn, and I haven’t been called
Veirasha in years. I know what it is you are feeling right now. I
know how your heart is twisting in your chest with the ache to see
her face. Why do you think I keep myself as I do? Why else would I
sacrifice all emotions other than to silence that ache. Every time
I thought of my sons or my home I felt that twist of agony like a
blade in the chest. There is no going back, though, Finn. That
isn’t the way it works.” Damon’s eyes flickered with a hint of
sadness as he shook his head slowly. “You killed her. Now you must
take her place. You have ascended. You are Finn Sovaesh no longer.
Now you are Death.”

“What? No, how do I take it back? I can’t be
Death. For one bloody thing, I’m alive. Jala raised me,” Finn
stammered and then thrust his arm out between them. “Look! See,
there is a pulse!”

War looked down at the offered arm and
chuckled faintly. “You scarcely needed to show us your arm for
that. Did you not realize you are butt naked at the moment?”

Finn withdrew his arm quickly and glanced
down at himself then back at them. Shrugging he motioned around the
throne room. “Do you see anything that resembles clothing here? I
am how I was sent. When that bastard sent me through the shadows I
was naked.”

“When that bastard stopped you from killing
your best friend and then your wife, you mean?” War asked with a
raised eyebrow.

Finn’s arm dropped once more to his side and
he stepped back away from them, guilt washing over him like a
flood. “Death was controlling me,” Finn said quietly and then
nodded. “But yes, when he stopped me from killing them,” he added
as he covered his face with both hands and rubbed at his eyes.
Slowly he pulled his hands down across his face and let out a long
breath. “So, I’m Death now,” he muttered. Nodding slowly he
resisted the urge to scream in frustration and simply paced the
room instead. Anger, desperation, shock, and grief warred inside
him as the full implications of his new role in life began to
settle in his mind.

“It doesn’t matter if you are alive, Finn.
You are Divine now. You are Death. There is no changing that fact.
Perhaps once you have learned to master your strengths there might
be a chance of passing the mantle on to another, but as it stands,
the only way to change what you are is for another to kill you and
take your place,” Damon explained in a droning voice. The knight
shifted, his armor creaking on his tall frame. With a loud sigh the
Lord of Destruction looked around the throne room and then back to
War. “Where is she? He will need to learn and I haven’t the time to
teach him with everything crumbling in the Sunlit world. I remember
this one as a child and I remember how he shunned his magic lessons
in favor of blades. He has so much to learn and no time to learn
it.”

War shrugged, then leaned to look back out
the doorway. Standing straight once more he shrugged again and
motioned half-heartedly toward Finn. “If you were a spirit, would
you want to be around him right now? The scant few that were in the
throne room were destroyed in the first moments of Death’s fall. I
can’t say that I really blame her for being hesitant to show
up.”

“Who?” Finn asked looking back and forth
between them. He paused in his pacing to watch them and then looked
toward the door himself. A woman stood outlined there now. She was
clad in white plate mail with a bloody cloak wrapped tightly around
her. Her expression showed flickers of nervousness as she watched
him with dark eyes.

“Fiona, come in,” Damon called without
bothering to turn toward the door. “He has much to learn and there
is no time for you to waste.”

“Father, he has no control over his power. I
can see it leaking from him. If I approach too closely, I may not
last long,” Fiona protested in a soft voice.

Damon raised an eyebrow at him and let out a
sigh. “Finn surely you paid enough attention to your magic lessons
to at least contain your magic properly.”

Frowning, Finn searched through his memories
to the sunlit days in the gardens of Avanti. Sovann had always been
so attentive to their aging teacher. Finn however had always found
other entertainments. Birds to watch, pictures to draw, anything to
keep his mind off the boring prattle of the old woman and his
little brother’s enthusiasm. His chest tightened again as he
realized how much he would give to see his brother right now.
Sovann was a genius with magic. Hell, his little brother could
probably even determine a way to get him out of the mess he had
gotten himself into. His brother always had a way of getting him
out of binds. Sovann’s voice broke from his memories in the
familiar lecture that he reserved for the worst of Finn’s messes.
Really Finn you should think things through before you act. Do
you honestly have to be so spontaneous all the time? One of these
days, you are going to get yourself into something that you can’t
get out of. That, or die, and I don’t want to see either,
Finn
.

Slowly, Finn shook his head at Damon and let
out a ragged breath as his eyes grew glassy. “No, I don’t guess I
did, Lord Veirasha. There are a lot of things I should have done
that I didn’t, though. So what’s one more on the list?”

War shifted where he stood, his gaze
traveling upwards. His eyes poured over the ceiling and he stepped
back. “Delvay is moving in force,” he murmured, his eyes dropping
once more to Damon. “The middle of bloody winter and the drums of
war are beating loudly.”

Damon nodded slowly, his eyes still on Finn.
“Let me give you incentive to learn Finn. The sunlit world is about
to be ripped apart and Death has been hoarding the souls of your
wife’s allies. There have not been rebirths in those lands in
years. Meanwhile her enemies have been breeding like rabbits. They
are outnumbered and outgunned and if you don’t get your affairs in
order their souls will be lost in the Darklands when they die. If
you can manage to master your strengths you can spare some that
might otherwise die. The power of life or death is quite literally
in your fumbling hands right now.” His words began softly but
gained volume with each breath until he was nearly shouting.

“Let me give you incentive that you might
actually care more about,” War broke in with a faint smile. “If you
can manage to contain your power, Fiona will show you a scry of
Jala as a reward. With each lesson that you learn you can see
another glimpse of the world above until you master that skill
yourself,” he offered.

“That seems more like torment than reward,”
Damon began but trailed off as he noticed the gleam in Finn’s
eyes.

“A bite of food for a starving man,” War said
watching Finn closely.

Finn pulled the memories back once more and
focused with all his mind on everything that revolved around magic.
Pieces of fragmented lessons flittered through his mind and he
collected them quickly and sorted the information until he had
something that bordered on useful. Closing his eyes he let out a
soft breath and searched inside himself for the magical strength he
had never had any use for. With a patience he had never known
before, he gathered the power and carefully pulled it back. It took
nearly all his focus to hold it in place, yet he did so without
complaint. Looking up slowly he locked his eyes on the spirit of
Fiona Veirasha that still stood in the open doorway. “Show me
Jala,” he ordered through clenched teeth.

“Food for a starving man,” War repeated with
a faint smile and nodded to Fiona. “Good luck girl, I’m sure you
will need it,” he added, as he headed for the door.

“Your role here is extremely important, Finn.
Do not forget that. Those in the sunlit world above depend on you
now,” Damon said quietly as he, too, turned to go.

Finn ignored them both, his gaze still locked
on Fiona as she hesitantly approached him. Grinding his teeth he
forced the magic to remain locked safely away and nodded for her to
continue. She stopped several feet back from him and held out both
pale hands between them. The air stirred faintly and slowly an
image began to take shape. His breath caught in his throat as he
recognized Jala standing in her white coat, her arms wrapped tight
about her. Valor stood just beyond her, his black and silver cloak
pulled up against the snow buffeting the two of them. Everything
surrounding them was shrouded in a blinding curtain of falling
snow.

“Where are they?” Finn asked softly, his eyes
searching the terrain for any landmarks he might know. He wasn’t
familiar with Merro at all, but the place they stood looked nothing
like Merro. Heavy snow rarely touched the southern lands and what
they stood in resembled one of the northern blizzards.

“They stand on the border of Glis and
Arovan,” Fiona informed him quietly, her attention focused more on
him than the scry she held open.

“Why?” Finn asked. His breath caught again as
Jala turned to look up at Valor causing her hood to fall back from
her face. Dark circles hung under both of her violet eyes and she
seemed far too pale. Her Bendazzi moved beside her and she rested a
hand gently on his back. Jala’s face was normally so animated and
filled with life. Her eyes had always gleamed with vibrancy and yet
now she seemed so empty. The wind stirred a lock of her beautiful
wine colored hair and she raised a hand to brush it away. In mute
horror Finn stared at the mangled remains of her hand as it moved
across her drawn face. Two of the fingers were gone completely and
the rest of it looked little better.

“To save a life.” Fiona’s voice pulled his
attention back from the image and the scry flickered out between
them. “One that you could have spared had you more control over
your power. She shouldn’t be where she is now. There is too much
danger there. If you don’t learn swiftly she may be one of the lost
souls roaming the Darklands very soon,” she added.

Finn nodded slowly, the last image of the
scry still strong in his mind. Looking up he met Fiona’s gaze and
nodded again more firmly. “Then teach me.”

Glis

The wind tore at her coat as Jala struggled
to blink the snow from her eyes. Valor moved carefully in front of
her shielding her from the worst of the blizzard. Wrapping her arms
tighter around herself she moved closer to Valor.

“Can you do anything about this wind?” Jala
asked, her voice nearly a scream as she struggled to be heard over
the gale.

Valor shook his head slowly and leaned back
to speak to her. “It’s a weather casting. I’d have to break the
spell to end it. Until I know why they want a blizzard, I don’t
want to ruin their casting,” he explained. “Where are we?” he asked
in a slightly louder voice as the wind picked up once more.

“In Glis,” Jala replied with a shrug. “This
is where I sensed that he is,” she added to clarify her reasoning
for being here.

Marrow tensed beside her and dropped to a
crouch. Jala looked down at the Bendazzi and then quickly around
them. Beyond the blinding snow and the mostly obscured trees she
saw nothing else. Ears twitching, the Bendazzi scanned the area
before letting out a vicious snarl. The spines on his back sprang
forward and his tail lashed in threat.

“What is it?” Jala gasped, her eyes still
searching in vain for whatever the Bendazzi was sensing.

Duck
! Marrow’s voice echoed off her
skull with the force of a command and she staggered forward into
Valor’s back, pushing them both into a snow bank as a massive black
furred claw crashed into the ground where they had been standing.
Marrow sprang forward with a snarl toward their attacker as Valor
rolled back to his feet.

“Wait, Korv, you know me!” Valor yelled,
struggling to free himself from his tangled cloak as the attacker
lunged toward him again. The creature resembled a bear in most
respects but stood straighter with a more human posture than any
animal could manage. “Korv, it’s Valor Hai’dia!” Valor bellowed as
he dodged beneath another swiping blow from the brute.

“Valor dead. Not Valor,” Korv snarled, his
words mangled by his current form. The bear-like muzzle apparently
lacked the essential elements for clear speech.

“I’m not dead, Korv, I’m right here. Please
stop and listen!” Valor objected, holding both hands up in front of
him to show he was unarmed.

“Valor always in metal. You not,” Korv
returned, his next attack delayed as he struggled to find the white
Bendazzi in the blizzard. It was obvious that the Shifter knew of
Bendazzi and even more obvious that he considered Marrow a bigger
threat than the unarmed man before him.