The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (38 page)

I have to wonder about the expression on
your face right now
, Neph said softly his voice barely a
whisper in her thoughts.

Jala blinked quickly and sat back in her
chair once more, her eyes flicking to Neph who was watching her
closely.
It was a week to you. It was well over a month for me.
Valor is
… She paused as she searched for the correct words and
noted with irritation the amusement that flickered across Neph’s
face once more.

Is what
? Neph pressed.

Valor is dear to me. Just as you and
Marrow are. I care for all of my friends, but through certain
circumstances I have grown closer with some more than others. Stop
looking at me like that, Neph, I don’t even know what is amusing
you. I was concerned, that was it,
Jala explained, her voice
growing defensive.

It looked more like terrified to me, but
I’ll let it go
, Neph replied his gaze moving down the table as
Jail stepped back and folded his hands tightly together. A faint
glow surrounded Jail’s hands for the barest breath and with a nod
to Jala he slowly opened his hands to reveal a pure white crystal
cupped in his palms.

“Twenty years of knowledge is contained in
this stone, Jala. Do not try to learn it all at once. Extract it in
fragments or you will overwhelm yourself,” Jail warned as he sat
the crystal carefully down on the table and slid it across to
Jala.

Nodding, Jala picked it up carefully and
turned it over her hands as Valor made his way unsteadily back to
his chair. “Are you all right?” She asked softly as he sat back
down.

Valor nodded faintly. “Just dizzy as he said
I would be,” he assured her. “Everything I learned at the Academy
and beside my father on the battlefield should be there. By the
time you finish that crystal you should know every bloody detail
there is to know.”

You know what else I noticed
? Neph
asked, his voice fainter through the mental link.
While you were
all eyes for Valor and your mind was filled with what you label as
concern, the lady knight was watching you like a hawk, and if looks
could kill, my dear, you would be very, very dead
, he added as
the link between them faded completely.

Jala glanced briefly at Neph and then to
Bridgette but the knight’s attention was focused on the table
itself rather than anyone seated at it. “Are you all right to
continue?” Jala asked Valor softly as she turned the crystal over
in her hands once more. She knew how valuable the knowledge he had
given her was and she was still trying to figure out how to protect
the crystal from being lost or stolen.

Valor nodded and motioned with his hand for
her to continue. His eyes scanned the table briefly and she knew he
was searching for a decanter of wine. While he hadn’t been drinking
as much recently, it was a habit that was dying a slow death.

“The next order of business. Sovann, how
difficult are the Blight glasses to create?” Jala asked, determined
to move ahead before she was distracted further.

Sovann looked up from where he had been
playing with his nephew and shrugged slightly. “Not hard. It’s time
consuming mostly with the fashioning of the frames and cutting the
lenses. If Joseph helps me with that part we should be able to make
them fairly quickly.”

“I’d be happy to help. I’ve gotten rather
good at it over the past few weeks, given how many test pairs
Sovann has made,” Joseph offered.

Jala nodded faintly her eyes lingering on
Joseph.
I don’t like your new addition of Joseph Walker either.
It was rather convenient that he showed up in Sanctuary wasn’t
it
? War’s words echoed in her mind as she studied Joseph and
nodded once more. “See that we have as many pairs as you can
manage. I intend for all of our archers to be equipped with them,”
Jala continued, her gaze turning to Wisp next. “You will be in
charge of our Archers and see to their proper training,” she
informed the Fae with a smile.

“I’d be happy to, but I still have so much
restoration on the land to do, Jala,” Wisp said with a sigh.

“Let it go for now. We have plenty to work
with from what you have already restored and if we don’t get a
functional army by spring there is scarce point in having a
restored country. Avanti will slaughter us,” Jala said firmly and
looked next to Neph.

“No,” Neph said bluntly before she could
speak.

“You didn’t even let me say what I wanted
from you,” Jala snapped and let out a heavy breath.

“You were about to tell me that you wanted me
to scour our ranks for likely mages and start training them,” Neph
said with a smirk and shook his head slowly and firmly at her. “I
wouldn’t teach you magic at first and I’m sure as hell not going to
teach your whores magic.”

“You don’t know that is what I was going to
say,” Jala shot back indignantly though in fact it was exactly what
she was about to say to him.

“Ahh. Well, I’ll give you the benefit of the
doubt and believe that you were about to make a suggestion that
wasn’t idiotic, then. What was it you wanted from me, Jala?” Neph
replied sweetly his blue eyes glittering with mischief.

“I was about to inform you that you are in
charge of feeding my cat and mucking the stables,” Jala informed
him dryly.

“Still better than training whores to cast
firebolts,” Neph agreed with a smile.

“I wish you would stop calling them that,”
Jala sighed.

“Would you prefer disease infested,” Neph
began, but Jala smacked him before he could finish. His face broke
into a grin and he winked at her. “Slowly but surely we are getting
a bit of life back into you. I’d rather see your temper than your
depression.”

“You are such an ass, Neph,” Jala sighed but
smiled faintly as she spoke. Shaking her head slightly she looked
back around the table once more her eyes lingering on Jail. “Is it
true Jail? Do the Avanti truly hold your homelands?” she asked.

“They do,” Jail said with a nod and a
smile.

“Why are you smiling?” Jala asked in genuine
confusion.

Jail’s smile widened and he winked at her as
he stood carefully from the table and moved to stand beside her.
“They hold my lands. That is true. There is one thing they haven’t
considered however. Tell me what you see, Jala,” Jail said as he
bowed deeply before her and dropped to his knees his head hung in
submission.

“I see you groveling before me. Jail, get up
this instant,” Jala said quickly as she reached to pull his arm.
Her vision blurred for a moment and she stared hard at the dagger
pointed directly at her throat. Jail stood in the same spot he had
when he had first approached and there was nothing about his
posture that suggested submission at all.

“The Avanti have forgotten that what our eyes
see is not always the truth. A Mind mage is a very dangerous
opponent. You may believe you have won, but that’s only because
they want you to believe it,” Jail said softly as he slowly put his
dagger away and then lifted both arms out to his sides his hands
held open showing that he held no weapons. “It was a demonstration,
nothing more, Valor,” Jail said carefully as he stepped cautiously
forward.

Blinking in confusion, Jala leaned back in
her chair to see Valor’s dagger pressed firmly in the small of
Jail’s back. “It’s OK, Valor,” Jala said, her eyes widening.

“Demonstrate on Neph next time, Jail,” Valor
said softly as he flipped his dagger back around and replaced it in
its sheath.

“It was poor judgment on my part,” Jail said
neutrally and bowed his head in apology to Valor. “I’m sorry to
alarm you. I meant no harm to her.”

“It’s fine, Jail. I see your point as far as
your country goes. I believe you are right and Avanti has
underestimated your people,” Jala said with a nod, her gaze
flicking once to Valor and then back to Jail.

“Good thinking there, Val kill off the Mind
mage that just helped you,” Neph said with a sigh and shook his
head at the knight.

“He had a dagger to her throat, Neph,” Valor
shot back with anger building in his voice.

“And he wasn’t cutting was he?” Neph returned
hotly.

“Oh for the love of the Aspects, both of you
shut the hell up,” Madren broke in stunning everyone at the table
into silence. “Every time you two are within five feet of each
other you bicker like old women,” Madren said with a sigh and
looked back to Jala with a smile. “Please continue,” he urged
seeming utterly oblivious to the dumbfounded stares he was getting
from everyone in the room.

“Uh…” Jala began lamely and then shook her
head quickly and grinned. “Completely unexpected, but thank you,
Madren. Actually I was just getting to the point of needing to
speak with you anyway. I need you to fill as many mana stones as
you can as quickly as you can. I will be breaking the curse on
Goswin in three days,” she said as her grin faded.

“Just like that, eh? In three days I’m going
to do something that no one has been able to do in decades,” Neph
said with a smirk.

“If she says she is going to do it, then she
will,” Valor snapped, his gaze moving from Madren back to Neph.

“Stop it,” Jala cut in holding a hand up in
front of both of their faces. “I’m in between your bitchfest and I
don’t want to listen to it,” she said firmly as she placed a palm
firmly on both of their faces and pushed them back farther into
their chairs. Pulling her hands back, she looked down at her palm
and then back to Neph. “You bit me,” she said dumbly and glanced up
at him.

“Put your hand where it doesn’t belong and
you pay for it,” Neph replied with another smirk.

“May I ask how you intend to break the
curse?” Sovann asked quietly, his voice just loud enough to carry
across the table.

“The same way I ended Death’s magic. I intend
to find the threads that are causing the problem and either sever
them or repair them, whichever is needed,” Jala explained calmly,
still examining the teeth marks in her hand.

“You can see threads now?” Sovann asked in
shock.

His tone of voice drew her attention upwards
and she nodded calmly to him. “I can. It was a talent that I
discovered while I was lounging in bed,” she replied.

“So she is a Sorceress, a Channeler, and a
Weaver,” Neph concluded with a raised eyebrow.

“I’ve never heard of such a thing. I was
amazed when she showed a talent for Channeling,” Sovann said and
shook his head slightly as he stared at Jala with a bewildered
expression.

“I’ve put some thought into that actually,”
Jala said with a bitter smile.

“And…” Neph pressed.

“And I remember quite clearly saying
I
wish I could just master magic
when I was having so many
difficulties learning a simple Light spell in Sanctuary. It appears
my family magic does work quite well. The edge of that sword was
what I had to go through to master it. Sovann made the Sorcery part
simple. I mastered the Channeling the day Finn was nearly killed in
Rivana, the Weaving came from nearly dying myself,” Jala
explained.

“So essentially, what she is saying is, if we
truly traumatize her she might show us another form of magic that
we don’t even know of,” Neph said with a grin.

“There are days when it is so tempting to
smack you, Neph,” Jala said with a sigh. “Can you handle the mana
stones all right, Madren? I will need as many as you can make. I
have no idea how much energy it is going to require to lift the
curse but I’m going to bet it is far more than I possess on my
own.”

“Consider it done. I will work on that and
nothing else until we leave for Goswin,” Madren assured her with a
firm nod. He had been sitting with a thoughtful expression on his
face for most of the meeting, but now his eyes held a gleam to
them. She wasn’t sure if it was determination she was seeing, or
hope. Either would do, though. They were both things that would be
desperately needed in days to come.

“Well then, that is it until after the curse
is lifted. Everyone knows where we stand and what to do. We face
the Avanti in the spring and we must be prepared. It is up to
everyone in this room to see that everything we can possibly do to
protect ourselves is done,” Jala said with a nod around the table.
“You may all return to what you were doing before I called you
here,” Jala finished and watched everyone stand. “Neph, stay a
moment if you would. I’d like to talk to you about something,” she
added.

“As you like,” Neph agreed and dropped back
into his chair once more.

Silently, Jala watched the room empty and
nodded to Wisp as the Fae motioned toward herself and Legacy and
then upstairs. Quietly, Wisp closed the door behind her and Jala
turned her attention back to the room.

“If any of them are traitors I could find no
trace of it in their minds,” Emily said quietly as she dropped her
camouflage and took a seat at the table. She wore the clothing that
Jala had painstakingly selected for her over the past few days.
Though it wasn’t a fashion trend that any others would likely
follow, the Blight seemed comfortable in the assortment of clothing
stolen from various cultures. The short cut pants she wore
originated from Morcath and were primarily used by the women
tending the orchards to wear under their skirts for decency. The
vest was borrowed from Firym style and the heavy clawed gauntlets
derived from Delvay as did the spiked pauldron that covered one of
the girl’s slender shoulders. “I scanned Joseph’s mind the deepest
and unless he is far more clever than I think, he is genuine,”
Emily said.

“Well isn’t this interesting,” Neph began
slowly looking from the Blight to Jala. “I wondered about the
presence of a few at that meeting.”

“I had to be certain,” Jala said calmly with
no trace of remorse in her voice at all. “I started a war today. I
have to know that my allies are truly allies.”