The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (35 page)

You no longer look like the village
idiot
, Marrow offered helpfully.

Jala narrowed her eyes at him and her frown
deepened. “I thought you said the village nutter before? That
implies simple insanity rather than stupidity.”

Right, nutter, that’s what I meant
,
Marrow corrected with a bit of sarcasm to his deep voice. He gave
her a feline grin as he stretched and crossed the room to sit at
her feet. Cocking his massive head from side to side he examined
her slowly.
Calm and sad would be my estimation, but that is
world’s better than insane. We will work on the dignified and
poised
,he surmised at last.

Jala let out a harsh breath and glanced back
at the mirror again. Her eyes fell almost instantly to the mangled
hand. The scars on her side she could live with. Even with the
Firym style dresses she wore on occasion they would barely show.
The wound on her neck had barely left a mark, but her hand… No
matter what Valor said, it wasn’t a badge of honor in her eyes. It
was hideous. Pursing her lips she lifted it for a closer look and
studied the roughly healed patches that covered what remained of
her two fingers. Technically she couldn’t heal what was already
healed. With a click of her tongue she moved to her dresser and
retrieved the small ruby hilted dagger Havoc had given her, and
then crossed the room to sit by the window. Glancing over to the
crib she assured herself that Legacy was still deeply asleep before
removing the dagger from its worn leather sheath.

Granted that is not the prettiest thing
I’ve ever seen I sincerely doubt cutting it off is going to help
you much
, Marrow remarked in a dry tone.

“I’m not going to cut it off, though, despite
what you say, I think it might in fact be an improvement if I did,”
Jala replied easily, her eyes narrowing as she examined the lumps
under her skin that lined her palm as well as the back of her hand
well past her wrist. “I don’t understand why he left it like this,”
she said with a sigh.

Pulling on her magic she deadened the nerves
in her hand and carefully pressed the tip of the dagger at the edge
of one of the lumps. The blade was still razor sharp and cut
through her flesh with ease. Pale droplets of blood began to well
around the shallow cut and Jala stared down at them with a frown.
The blood didn’t seem quite as golden as she remembered it being.
Making a note to ask Neph about it later, she pushed the matter
aside for the moment and continued to pry at the lump until it at
last gave free and dropped to the table with a solid thump. Setting
the dagger aside, Jala picked up the lump carefully and turned it
over in her fingers, brushing the blood away from it. Holding it up
to the light of the window she nodded slowly as she recognized a
chunk of one of the focus stones.

Two weeks ago you would have thrown up at
just the thought of cutting chunks of your own flesh out. Now you
are examining it like a child that’s found a new bug
, Marrow
said as he moved closer and tilted his head to get a better look at
her hand.

“The question is, why would a healer leave
chunks of debris in wounds?” Jala said with a sigh. Setting the
stone aside, she focused on her magic once more and willed the cut
to heal. She felt the spell take hold and watched in annoyance as
the skin started to heal and then split back open as the magic
failed. “Well that could be the reason,” she mumbled, raising her
hand for a better look at the wound. It was, of course, possible
that she had missed some of the stone fragments from the cut.
Carefully she wiped away the pale blood and examined the wound
critically. With a sigh she pulled on the magic once more and tried
to sense for anything foreign in the cut, but the spell once again
failed.

Having issues
? Marrow asked with a
feline grin. He was seated by her feet now and seemed to be finding
rather too much enjoyment in the expressions playing across her
face.

“Aside from my smart ass cat? Not really,”
Jala murmured in response as she let out a sigh and stared down at
the wound.

It’s going to be really embarrassing when
you have to go to the same healer that fixed that hand the first
time and ask him to fix it again
, Marrow smirked.

Jala glanced up at him and fixed him with a
withering glare. “I’ll cut it off before I do that,” she informed
him dryly. Leaning back in her chair she held her hand up before
her and forced herself to focus on the threads of magic. It took
longer than she expected, but eventually the strands and weaves of
magic came into focus and she smiled faintly. The difficulty was
obvious now. Surrounding each fragment of stone was a broken web of
magic. The flux of the broken webs was simply disrupting her
spells. So, if she removed all the fragments entirely and then
tried to heal, it should work. Grimly, she picked up the dagger
once more and began carefully to pry the stone shards from her
hand.

That makes perfect sense. You can’t heal
the first cut so you continue to carve yourself up. Brilliant. This
way you won’t have to ask him for healing as you will be passed out
on the floor from blood loss
, Marrow said with a shake of his
massive head as he settled back down to the floor, his yellow eyes
intent on her every move.

Jala smiled faintly again but ignored him. It
took too much focus to maintain her view on the webs of magic to
spare time for chit chat with the Bendazzi. The tiny pile of gem
fragments grew steadily on the table until her hand was slick with
blood and she could no longer see the flux of magic shrouding her
hand. There was still a rough lump on her palm however, but there
were no strands of magic attached to it. Pursing her lips once more
Jala shrugged. What was one more cut to heal? As carefully as she
had removed the rest she pried the last ridge from her hand and
heard it hit the table with a light tap. Setting the dagger down
once more, she picked up the object and held it toward the light.
It hadn’t sounded the same as the focus stones had when it hit the
wooden table. She wiped the blood free with her thumb and stared
down in shock at the pale white fragment of bone. It was smooth on
one side and slightly rounded and far too wide and thin to be part
of her hand.

What is that
? Marrow asked curiously,
standing up for a better look.

“I think it’s part of her skull,” Jala said
quietly as she dropped the fragment down to the table and pushed it
farther away from her. Shuddering slightly, she looked down at
Marrow. “Now that is truly disgusting,” she said with a shake of
her head.

And carving your flesh to pieces
isn’t
? Marrow asked in amusement.

Jala raised an eyebrow at him and stuck her
tongue out. “I know, very mature, but also very appropriate,” she
said with a sniff and began the process of healing her hand once
more. She could feel the flesh knitting with her magic and watched
with approval as each of the bloody patches healed over with fresh
new skin. “Much better,” Jala said slowly turning her hand over for
a better look. “One last thing to do,” she added, letting her voice
trail off as she picked up the dagger once more and brought it down
hard across the jagged nub of her finger slicing the tip neatly
off.

Oh and the skull fragment is disgusting.
Ugh
, Marrow snapped as he backed away from the table
quickly.

“Squeamish for a predator, aren’t you?” Jala
teased as she neatly chopped the end off the stump of her second
finger.

Tearing apart prey is one thing.
Self-mutilation is quite another
, Marrow grumbled back in
defense.

“I want my fingers back Marrow and I can’t
heal what has already been healed. It has to be an untouched
wound,” Jala explained calmly as she focused on the magic once
more. Rebuilding a bone was beyond most healers, but Jala had no
doubts that she could do it. Rose had trained her on the essential
magic needed to do it. She simply hadn’t had opportunity to try it
before now.

The sound of the door opening behind her
nearly broke her concentration, but she kept her focus and willed
the fingers to grow. Slowly the pale white of bone become visible
at the ends of her fingers as her magic took effect.

“Interesting and disgusting at the same
time,” Jail said in a mellow voice as he crossed the room. “Don’t
bother with answering, we will talk when you are finished,” he
added as he sat at the table opposite her and regarded the
scattered shards of crystal and the blood soaked dagger.

Jala waited until she was sure the healing
spell was fully in place then glanced up at him and smiled faintly.
“I missed my fingers,” she explained with a shrug. Her eyes moved
past him to the large package he had brought with him. It was
roughly six feet in length and wrapped fully in brown paper. “Might
I ask?” she began and nodded her head toward the package.

“A gift for you from Valor and Sovann. Valor
crafted it. Sovann added the finishing touches and then asked me to
deliver it,” Jail replied with a faint smile. Turning slightly in
his chair he started to hand it to her but paused as he glanced at
the still healing hand. With a sheepish smile he shrugged and
sighed. “Shall I open it for you or would you like to wait?”

“Open it please,” Jala said and then paused.
“May I ask why they didn’t deliver it themselves? It’s not that I
mind a social visit from you of course, but are they avoiding
me?”

“Valor is at work in the forges night and day
trying to replace his sword and armor and Sovann…” Jail’s voice
trailed off and he glanced up from where he had been unwrapping the
paper. “Well, Sovann feels that it is painful for you to see him
given how much he looks like Finn. He is giving you time before he
visits,” Jail finished in a softer voice. Looking back down, he
continued with the unwrapping. Slowly the form of a black staff
became visible. Typically, the weapons were made of basic wood.
This one however had the sheen of metal about it and was covered
from top to bottom in golden runes.

Jala nodded slowly and leaned back fully in
her chair. “He is right you know,” she said softly and frowned at
the admission. It was hardly Sovann’s fault that he looked so much
like his brother, but emotions rarely had logic to them. “I don’t
see how it is going to get better with him avoiding me though. It
will be something that I will have to overcome.”

Jail nodded as he tore the last of the paper
from the staff and handed it over to her. Taking it carefully in
her good hand Jala nodded her thanks and admired the gift. The top
of the staff was crowned with a large deep purple globe that
appeared to be glass though she couldn’t be sure. Gold runes lined
the staff as well as mana stones. The sheer amount of detail that
had gone into the piece was astounding. It looked more like a work
of art to her eyes than anything she would ever actually learn to
fight with. “Is it for when I am at council?” she asked hesitantly
as she traced a finger over one of the gem-like mana stones.

Jail smiled and shook his head. “It is for
when we are kicking nine levels of hell out of Avanti,” he said
with a wink. “Look. See the gold tracings in the center of the
staff?” he asked as he indicated the area with his hand. Jala
nodded and he smiled wider. “Put one hand above that and one below
and twist.”

Jala raised an eyebrow in question but did as
directed. The twin parts of the staff rotated in her hand and the
runes on the side shifted from bright gold to a dull grey. “Is that
Barllen?” she asked softly as she stared at the staff in
amazement.

“It is. This weapon was solely crafted for
you Jala. With that much Barllen you should be able to absorb any
spell thrown at you with the staff and only you can access the
energy stored in Barllen. I’m truly not sure how Valor managed it.
Typically, only commoner smiths will work with Barllen as the metal
drains magic whenever you touch it,” Jail explained. He smiled and
carefully adjusted his tunic before leaning back to watch her.

“But when I twist it back,” Jala began as she
twisted the staff once more to show the gold runes. “You can’t
sense any Barllen on it at all. It must have lead lining in it,”
she finished as she stood and lifted the staff, testing its weight.
“And it’s really not that heavy at all,” she said after a moment,
looking to Jail with delight on her face. “This is truly amazing,
Jail. I can see runes of protection all over this thing. Sovann and
Valor must have worked day and night to finish it so quickly.”

“Then you should probably thank them, and be
sure and let Sovann know that you don’t want him to avoid you while
you are at it,” Jail returned with a faint smile.

Jala nodded her agreement and started to
speak but fell silent as a flash of light through the window caught
her eye. Frowning she moved closer and peered in the direction she
had seen it. A long moment passed before she caught it again, the
gleam of sunlight on metal.

“Is something wrong?” Jail asked softly as he
rose, his eyes flicking from her face to the window.

“There is a Spell Hawk approaching and it’s
coming from the north. The only Sky ports in that direction are
Brannaford which no one uses,” Jala said, her voice trailing off as
the Spell Hawk grew closer. There was no doubt that it was headed
for this town. There was simply nothing else in this direction.

“And Avanti,” Jail finished for her. “Well
this should prove interesting. Perhaps they are bringing you a
welcome back home gift,” Jail said dryly as he turned toward the
door.

“Marrow, Emily, watch Legacy please,” Jala
ordered as she quickly followed after Jail.

No one will get in here that doesn’t
belong
, Emily promised, her voice holding only a hint of
drowsiness to show that the Blight had been resting. As far as Jala
could tell, today was the first day that Emily had actually allowed
herself to rest since the baby was born.