The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (4 page)

Valor snorted in what could have been
amusement. “That was Elijah’s way of flexing his political muscle.
He helps both of us that way while retaining the true power over
his troops. By giving command to me, he ensures they will never be
used against his land, not that Arovan knights would fight against
their home. He also gives me a chance to redeem myself out of sight
of those that would like me to fail in that. On the other hand, he
helps you without openly helping you. A thousand trained knights is
a handsome gift and will raise quite a few eyebrows. If a faction
that opposes me asks, he will say he granted them to you. If a
faction that doesn’t approve of you asks, he will say he granted
them to me,” He explained with a faint smile.

“Clever,” Jala acknowledged with a nod. Her
mind worked over the logic as she tugged on the chain mail over her
leather tunic. “Does he give lessons in politics?” she asked with a
raised eyebrow.

“He does within Arovan. I learned from him,”
Valor replied with a shrug.

“What was the position you were in line to
receive, Val?” Jala asked, her curiosity pushing her to test his
limits.

“I was being groomed to be Lord Commander of
the Knights of the Phoenix. I would have been second in command
within a year, and by now I would be the Lord Commander. It’s a bit
of a tradition in my family. My Brother is the Lord Commander of
the Knights of the Griffon, though he spends more time playing
bodyguard to Micah than he does commanding his knights. There were
certain difficulties, though, hence why I was in Sanctuary,” Valor
answered with a hint of tension to his voice. “It’s not a good
subject for now. Sometime I’ll explain it, but not now please.”

“As you like,” Jala agreed, watching him for
a moment before returning to the buckles on her armor. With every
question Valor answered, he created two more in her mind. They
could wait though. She would have plenty of time to ask later.

Ink black darkness enveloped the ground
before her. Jala inched forward, cautiously trying to ignore the
loose gravel under her boots. She could see no sign of the path
Valor assured her was there. Swallowing heavily she let out a long
slow breath and turned back to look at Valor. He was leaning
against the side of his horse watching her, though his face was too
shadowed for her to read his expression. By his posture he seemed
as calm and relaxed as he did in the gardens of Sanctuary.

“I don’t see a path at all,” she whispered,
hoping her voice wasn’t quavering too much. The thought of dropping
down over the ledge into complete darkness had her throat dry and
her heart hammering.

“It’s about three feet down, you should be
able to see it.” Valor replied as he pushed off the horse and moved
to stand beside her. Gravel skittered under his plate mail boots
sending small showers over the cliff edge. He glanced at Jala and
then motioned over the side once more. “Right there, see.” He
pointed below them and looked back at her.

Jala frowned at him and leaned forward once
more. The same darkness greeted her. “All I see is darkness, Val.
If there is a path there, I’m not seeing it.”

Valor seemed puzzled for a moment, then a
look of utter disbelief crossed his face. “By the gods, Jala, you
don’t have night vision do you?” he asked, his tone
incredulous.

“What?” Jala asked, returning his look of
confusion.

“You have been in here for weeks without
being able to see at all?” Valor asked, still sounding bewildered.
“I think I would have gone insane by now if I couldn’t see what was
around us.”

“Wait.” Jala began. She glanced over the edge
again then back to him. “You mean you can actually see through
this? You have been able to see the entire bloody time?” she asked,
her voice rising a bit louder than was safe.

Valor nodded and shook his head at her again.
“That’s love. There is no doubt about it, Jala. Not only are you
crossing hell for him, you are doing it blindly,” he said in
amazement.

“I can see short distances, a few feet or so,
and then it gets murky. If that path is really three feet below, I
should see it, I think,” Jala replied, a bit defensive. She looked
back up at him, her eyes narrowing a bit. “How far can you see?”
she asked.

Valor shrugged and motioned a hand to the
left of them. “There is a large rock formation over there that has
been annoying me since we stopped. It’s a perfect place to hide for
ambush so I’ve been keeping an eye on it. That’s about forty feet
away, I’d say. A little beyond that it starts getting hazy, like
heavy fog I suppose.”

Jala stared in the direction he indicated and
nodded slowly. It was all one mass of shadows to her. She couldn’t
even see the outline of a rock formation. “Well, I suppose it’s
good that one of us has an idea of what’s around us. I’ll admit,
I’m jealous, though. I’ve been skittish the entire way because of
the blindness. Well partly because of the blindness. I suppose it’s
fair to admit a lot of my nervousness stems from the fact that we
are in the bloody Darklands. It makes me feel a bit better about
myself to understand why you are so calm, though. I feel like less
of a bloody coward.”

“Jala you are one of the last people in the
world I would consider a coward. Most women I know are afraid to go
into their backyard at night. Wisp was formerly the strongest woman
I’d ever seen, but I don’t think anything would convince her to
walk into hell, no matter what was to be gained,” Valor assured
her.

“One might argue that’s insanity, not
bravery,” Jala pointed out with a short sigh. Her eyes were roaming
the shadowed cliff once again. If she could just get a glimpse of
this path maybe her stomach would settle a bit. “Speaking of
insanity, you really want to ride down this?” she asked, looking
back up at him.

“It can be done. I promise you that. It
really only comes down to one thing,” Valor said quietly and
watched her.

Jala waited for him to continue, but realized
after a few moments he wasn’t going to without her asking. “And
that one thing is?”

“Do you really trust me?” Valor asked, one
slender silver eyebrow arched in question. He held her gaze; his
blue eyes searching her own for any sign of doubt.

“Does my trusting you really apply to my
trusting your horse’s agility?” Jala countered, not flinching from
the gaze.

“He is Arovanni, Jala. Part of my soul was
used in his creation. I know what he can do. To trust me is to
trust him,” Valor explained. Moving forward he took her by the arm
gently and pulled her back toward the horse. “Here, place your hand
over his nose gently. Just rest the palm there against the
skin.”

Jala gave him a questioning glance, but
allowed him to move her hand to the horse’s nose. Gently she
pressed her palm against the flesh and marveled at the warmth
beneath her hand. She had expected Valorous to be cold to the touch
as his barding was. Instead he felt like a living creature, though
she had never seen him eat, drink, or sleep. There was a faint
stirring in her mind and she silenced her thoughts with a bit of
wonder. She could feel emotions, though she knew they weren’t her
own. It was almost like the bond with Finn had been, though not
nearly as strong. She had felt the faint brush of the Arovanni’s
mind in Goswin when Valor had handed her the reins, but it hadn’t
been nearly this defined. She could sense confidence flowing
through the link as well as loyalty and compassion. Fainter, there
was a flicker that seemed almost too fragile to examine closely –
trust. Slowly she pulled her hand back from the horse and let out a
slow breath. “All right, Val, we ride,” she said faintly and
wondered if he could even hear her words over the hammering of her
heart. To her own ears it sounded like battle drums.

“Trust me.” Valor urged, though the words
sounded more like a plea than a request.

“I do,” Jala assured him and moved to mount
the horse. He can see in the dark and he wants Finn back as badly
as I do, she reminded herself as he settled on the horse behind
her.
Certain horses are bred for certain things. The bigger they
are, the less versatile they are. Blackjack might never carry a
knight, but he will be able to get up paths that ol’ Buck wouldn’t
consider
. The memory of her father’s words came unbidden and
she swallowed heavily. “Valor, this is a War Horse isn’t it? He is
made for charging at enemies, right? Not playing mountain goat on a
pitch black cliff.”

“He is Arovanni. Hold on to something –
either me or the saddle. It will be a quick ride down. Lean when I
lean and try not to scream,” Valor explained as his horse leaped
forward with a speed that didn’t seem at all appropriate
considering the situation.

Jala swallowed the squeal that almost broke
from her lips and seized the front of the saddle in both hands.
There was a moment of panic as the horse leaped, and then the only
sound was her ragged breathing as the animal plunged over the side
of the cliff.

“Hold on,” Valor warned just before the
Arovanni’s hooves once again touched rock. Her teeth knocked
together at the impact and her nails dug deeper into the leather of
the saddle, but she managed to keep silent. The horse ducked its
head lower and put on more speed. Jala could see the path now. It
was narrow and covered with loose rocks. Had she seen the ground
beforehand she wouldn’t have believed even a mountain goat could
manage it, and yet they were riding a very large horse down it at
entirely unreasonable speed.

Valorous’s shoulder rubbed on the first
corner of the path sending blinding sparks off the metal of his
barding. Jala let out several rapid breaths and considered closing
her eyes for the remainder of the trip. She felt Valor lean forward
against her back and faintly remembered his orders enough to lean
forward as well. There was another moment of weightless terror as
the horse jumped again and then the thundering descent resumed.

“Almost over,” Valor whispered to her as he
sat up a bit. She adjusted her position to match his and repeated
his words over and over in her mind.

Her world shrank to her own thundering
heartbeat that perfectly matched the thundering hooves. She wasn’t
even aware she had clenched her eyes shut until they ceased moving.
Valor let out a slow hiss behind her and she cautiously opened her
eyes. They were stopped with the base of the cliff at their backs.
Valorous shuffled beneath them and let out a snort of displeasure.
She felt Valor kick his feet free of the stirrups and then
dismount.

“What is it?” she whispered, leaning over the
saddle toward him. As far as she could tell they were the only
occupants of this shadowy corner of hell.

“Cast a light. You will need it,” Valor
whispered back as he drew his sword slowly.

Jala nodded faintly, not liking the sound of
his words at all, and summoned the light spell. She closed her eyes
as she cast the spell to avoid blinding herself and centered it in
front of them and above. As she opened her eyes once more, pale
violet light illuminated the area around them.

The landscape was rock strewn as it had been
on the plateau above, but here and there an occasional tree grew,
though they were twisted and gnarled things. They were not alone
here either. Crouched on every rock and in the branches of trees
were dozens of twisted little creatures. In comparison with the
demons they had already fought these things seemed pathetically
small, but there were so many of them. “It is plural guardians.
Hell is no place for optimists,” Jala said softly. “At least they
aren’t big,” she added in what she hoped was a reassuring
voice.

“My father’s favorite quote,
Even the
strongest man can be taken down by rats
, comes to mind,” Valor
replied dryly. His gaze was locked on the creatures and it was
clear that he planned to let them make the first move. “He used it
in reference to infantry swarming knights but I think it applies
fairly well here.”

“Well, strongest man, maybe, but I’ll be
damned if I’ll be taken down by rats,” Jala retorted in the same
soft voice. Her eyes were locked on the beady glinting eyes that
surrounded them. She had been wrong about her estimate of dozens.
It was more like hundreds when you truly looked for the creatures.
They covered the ground like a carpet of flesh. They were simply
everywhere a body could fit – on the rocks, below the rocks,
everywhere. “A Firym would make bloody short work of them. Sadly my
Flamebolts seemed to be one of the more unreliable spells here,”
she said absently and searched her mind for a spell that would thin
the numbers down quickly.

“I want to know what the hell they are
waiting for,” Valor grumbled as he shifted his stance and moved his
sword to a guard position. His eyes swept the area, and had it not
been for the cliff behind them she thought he might have rushed in
to fight. Valor had been trained too well to sacrifice good ground
however.