The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (62 page)

I told you that you didn’t need Seravae’s
help
, Marrow said smugly. Glancing down, Jala shrugged at the
Bendazzi and smiled.

I need them to keep the spirits of our
dead from crossing to the Darklands
, Jala reminded him.

Let Valor lead every battle and we won’t
have any dead
, Marrow pointed out, a feline grin on his
face.

“Jala, I need to speak with you,” Wisp called
from closer to the main force.

Turning in her saddle, Jala raised an eyebrow
at the Fae and then turned her horse to ride back to her. “What’s
wrong?” Jala asked as she grew closer. The last she knew Wisp had
been with her family among the camp followers.

“Legacy is fine I promise. This is just
something I think that requires your attention and I don’t want
Jexon there,” Wisp assured her quietly.

Jala nodded, her body relaxing once more.
Silently she followed the Fae through the mass of the army to the
outskirts where the camp followers had settled the supply wagons
and were already beginning to set up tents in the rain soaked
grass. Wisp dismounted and nodded for Jala to do the same. Still
without a single word of explanation, Wisp began winding through
the wagons, her path leading toward the small stand of trees
beyond.

I don’t like this
, Emily objected, her
golden eyes scanning the forest ahead.

It smells like Wisp but I have to agree
with Emily. This isn’t right
, Marrow said cautiously as he
moved closer to Jala’s side.

Wisp paused beside a large oak and looked
back at Jala. Her dark hair was plastered to her head from the rain
and her green eyes were wide. “We captured him trying to approach
the camp. I haven’t let him anywhere near the main army until you
had a chance to speak with him. He claims he knows you, Jala, but I
don’t see how he could. He is from Nerathane,” Wisp said quietly as
she nodded for Jala to continue into the trees.

Silently Emily pressed ahead with Marrow
close behind her and the two Bendazzi led Jala toward the secluded
camp the scouts had set up to hold their prisoner. Jala recognized
two of the three men seated at the sputtering campfire as rangers
that Wisp had trained over the winter. The third took longer for
her to place. He was dressed finely in a knee length Black coat
with gold trim and a matching vest. Mud was splattered across his
knee high boots as well as his dark trousers and it was obvious he
had been traveling in the weather for a while. His dark hair was
pulled back from his face revealing the high cheekbones of noble
blood. He turned to look at her, a few rain spots showing on the
dark glasses he wore.

“I doubt you remember me, Lady Merrodin. We
only met once and I’m sure your mind was occupied on other things
at that time.” The man’s voice was smooth with no trace of accent
to it at all.

I remember him. He was the one that placed
the bet with Finn outside the Academy
, Marrow said slowly,
confusion in his voice.

The man carefully sat the bowl of stew he had
been eating on the ground and stood bowing to her. “My name is
Nigel. I regret it taking me so long to arrive,” he said as he
stood once more.

Jala blinked in confusion and shook her head
slowly at him. “Why would you apologize and why are you even here?”
she said in complete bewilderment.

Nigel laughed and a wide smile appeared on
his handsome face. “Finn never told you?” he asked through his
continued chuckling.

“Told me what?” Jala asked still utterly
confused.

“About our bet. You recall I bet against him
in the duel with Kithkanon. That day when you saved the Goswin boy
from Cassia,” Nigel began and sighed when she nodded. “I should
have known to always back Finn, but Kithkanon was formidable. Finn
didn’t wager money with me Lady Merrodin. It was a much larger
wager than that.”

“What do you mean?” Jala asked with
hesitation.

“If he lost you were to be mine. At that time
everyone had a price on your head and there was the gold blood to
consider as well,” Both Bendazzi stiffened at his words and Emily
dropped into a low crouch ready to attack. Nigel held up both hands
in a peaceful gesture though surprisingly he didn’t look the least
bit worried about the two Bendazzi. Most people would have been
terrified at the sight. “If he won, I was to support you if the
conflicts went to war. He won, Lady Merrodin. I am here to fulfill
my debt. It took me a bit of time to gather the ones that I could
to help, hence my delayed arrival.”

“You’ve brought soldiers with you?” Jala
asked, her hopes rising. If she had another army backing her she
didn’t need Jexon quite as desperately as she thought she had. All
she truly needed was the shamans and she knew many of them followed
Ash.

“I’ve brought five with me,” Nigel said with
a smile.

“Five? I scarcely see how five soldiers will
help me. I’m sorry that you have come all of this way,” Jala said
with a sigh and started to turn back toward the army.

“I think you misunderstand Lady Merrodin,”
Nigel began as he stepped in front of her once more and dropped his
glasses down forcing her to meet his eyes. Jala paused in mid-turn
and stared directly into the man’s dark eyes. There were no whites
showing at all and the pupils were shaped like that of a serpent
rather than a human. “I’ve brought five dragons, Lady Merrodin, not
soldiers,” Nigel continued, once he was sure that he had her
attention once more.

“Dragons,” Jala mumbled, her gaze dropping to
the bowl of stew he had been eating. Her mind flew back to the
first battle and the decision she had given the Arovan knights. She
didn’t even know which they had chosen to harvest meat from, the
dragon or the horses. Now didn’t seem to be a good time to mention
it though.

“One of which is Dresharn, formerly known as
Dresharn the wise. He was at one time High Lady Wilameir’s advisor.
He is known as Dresharn the traitor now since he turned his back on
Nerathane,” Nigel continued, seemingly oblivious to her distress.
“I’ve brought rations as well. Meat, medicines, grain, and the
like. The standard fare for an army of this size,” Nigel added as
he relaxed back against one of the smaller trees and crossed his
arms over his chest. “I have only one request, Milady,” he added as
Jala continued to marvel over this turn of events.

“What’s that?” Jala asked finding her voice
once more.

“That we keep quiet the fact that your new
arrivals are dragons. I do not trust the man you have married and
I’d rather he did not know what we are. I lived as a merchant in
Sanctuary as you recall. Let him believe that my retainers and I
are simply here to handle the supply issue for now,” Nigel said
cautiously as if he was afraid of offending her.

“Of course. I would prefer that as well,”
Jala agreed with a quick nod. “Finn truly bet me?” Jala asked not
sure how she felt about that knowledge.

“He had to, for what he asked. He had nothing
else that would equal the value of my assistance,” Nigel answered
with a smile, then cocked his head meeting her eyes once more. “Did
you watch the fight, Lady Merrodin?” he asked softly.

“I did,” Jala admitted. She could still
picture the awful moment when Kithkanon’s sword had plunged through
Finn’s chest.

“I was a frequent guest at the Arena. I
believe I watched nearly every fight Finn ever fought. Never before
had I seen such tenacity in him. Within the first few blows of his
sword I knew my bet was lost. Finn was phenomenal with swords on
any given day, but not even the Divine of War himself could have
bested him that day. He had too much riding on the bet to lose,”
Nigel said with a smile. Standing straight once more Nigel adjusted
his coat and bowed his head to her. “If you will permit me, I will
gather my companions and see that the supplies are distributed to
your army.”

“Of course. We are running low and I would
greatly appreciate it as would my men,” Jala said with a smile.

“I’m sure they would,” Nigel said as he
glanced back down at the bowl and looked up at her with another
smile. “Dragon meat tastes terrible,” he said with a wink as he
turned to walk off.

“Those are not slaves in armor,” Neph said
quietly as they drew to a stop. They had crossed the border into
Avanti days ago, though it had taken quite a bit of convincing to
get Jexon to continue on with his men. After the last victory in
the Greenwild, Jexon had considered the war over. It had been
Jala’s insistence that if they didn’t break the Avanti completely
they would simply be riding north again in another month.

“Those are Elites,” Badger drawled as he
leaned back in his saddle, the broken end of a grass stem
protruding from his teeth. He glanced over at Jala and smiled. “I
hate Avanti Elite,” he said with a slight shake of his head.

“We can expect Serpent teeth from them so we
should have the healers on standby,” Valor said in disgust.
Vanguard shifted beneath him and Valor dropped a hand to the
horse’s neck to calm him. The horse could sense the coming fight
and he was already working himself up for it.

“Why did they choose here?” Jala asked. The
field before them was flat and level leaving a perfect path for a
cavalry charge. From what she could tell there was no terrain
advantage to the Avanti forces at all. There weren’t even trees for
them to fall back to.

“Arrogance,” Jexon said as he rode up. Jala
glanced over her shoulder to watch her husband, her disgust rising
at just the sight of him. “These are trained soldiers, Jala. They
don’t expect any difficulty from you at all,” Jexon continued, his
voice oddly polite.

I don’t like his being nice. It makes me
more nervous than when he has that devious smile on his face
,
Marrow said. The Bendazzi flattened his ears back and paced away
from Jexon’s horse to sit closer to Valor despite Vanguard’s
prancing hooves.

“It looks even, numbers wise,” Neph said, his
eyes still roving over the Avanti forces.

“I don’t like the ground they have given us,”
Jala insisted. It seemed too much like a trap to her, though she
couldn’t tell where they might be hiding any surprises. The ground
was flat and level without so much as a bush showing.

“Caltrops in the grass maybe?” Badger offered
hesitantly. Shrugging, her father looked over to Valor and raised
an eyebrow. “What do you think, Lord Hai’dia?” he asked. Jala
raised an eyebrow at the title and smiled at her father. He didn’t
use the lord title when he addressed anyone else in the army.

“It could be, but I doubt it. I would guess
that they plan to rain arrows down on us from across the field.
That I can block for my Knights though with a simple wind spell,”
Valor said after a short pause.

“Could you perhaps summon another storm?”
Jexon asked and they all turned to look in surprise at the polite
tone he was still using.

Valor shook his head slowly eyes flicking to
the bright blue sky that held only a trace of clouds in it. “Too
much effort with the weather this clear. I wouldn’t get much in the
way of results till nightfall,” he said cautiously with suspicion
clear in his voice. Apparently he didn’t trust Jexon’s new courtesy
any more than Marrow did.

Jexon nodded slowly and let out a long sigh.
“My Soulblades cannot do a wind spell to block the arrows. The best
they could do to avoid the Serpent’s teeth would be a spirit form
to cross the field, but not all of them have that ability and for
those that do their attacks would be delayed while they regained
their physical forms,” he said with a shake of his head.

“I’ll lead the assault,” Valor announced,
straightening in his saddle and glancing over his shoulder to
locate his Knights.

“Valor, I don’t like this,” Jala insisted.
She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something felt wrong. On the
surface the battlefield looked to be in their favor. It was perfect
for her knights and the infantry would be able to maneuver easily
as well.

“Blights?” Neph asked her with a raised
eyebrow.

“I don’t know,” Jala said with another shake
of her head. “Something is wrong here,” she said softly.

Fishing in his pocket for a moment Neph
pulled out the pair of glasses that Sovann had given him and put
them on. Slowly he turned his head and scanned the entire field,
then turned back to Jala and shook his head no. “It’s clear as far
as I can tell,” he said with a shrug.

“I’ll lead the charge. Badger, bring the
militia in and disperse the Soulblades among them. Have Wisp and
her archers on the sidelines in case there are mages. Neph, you can
go sit in the back and read if you like. I got this,” Valor said
with a smile as he signaled his knights forward.

“I hope your horse falls on you, Valor,” Neph
said dryly without even the trace of a smile to show he was
joking.