The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (76 page)

Valor nodded slowly and pulled his tormented
gaze from the body of his brother. His eyes were filled with tears
as he met her gaze and he simply nodded and took a ragged breath.
“Then this is it,” he said softly.

Jala nodded her head slowly, her own throat
tightening at the thought. “At least we face it together,” she
whispered, and to her surprise there was comfort in the
thought.

“We are not going to surrender,” Jala began
as her eyes traveled across the faces of everyone in the tent. They
were all here. Neph and Valor, the dragons, the officers of the
Arovan knights and archers, Ash, Vaze, Sovaesh, and not a single
one of them showed surprise on their face at her words. “We will
make our stand here unless anyone has a better suggestion,” Jala
said, her eyes scanning their faces once more.

“There are dragons among the Rivasans as
well. I cannot see them, but I can smell them,” Nigel said quietly.
One of the women to his right nodded her agreement and Jala
sighed.

“I suppose they don’t want us to get any
illusions about a possible victory,” Jala said with a rueful smile.
“They must have heard word of us from Avanti,” she added and slowly
shook her head. “I will not force anyone to stand with me. I plan
to inform the soldiers of that when I leave this tent.”

“I don’t think that is wise, Milady. With
such obvious defeat looming, I don’t think you should give them the
opportunity to run. We will lose many from our numbers that we
desperately need,” Bridgette objected softly, her gaze flicking to
the others at the table for support.

“I will offer it, nonetheless. I will not
command those that have stood by me and fought for me, to die
against their will,” Jala insisted, her expression making it clear
that she wouldn’t change her mind. “If you all would please gather
them outside my tent now. What I have to say should be heard by
everyone.” She watched them all start to rise with her words and
held up a hand before they could leave. “Valor, Vaze, Sovaesh, and
Neph, please wait, I need to speak with all of you privately,” Jala
said.

With a deep breath she watched them sit back
down and waited until the others had gone before speaking. She felt
tears beginning in her eyes and forced them back. She didn’t have
time for that now. Clearing her throat she pulled a scroll from her
cloak and sat it down silently on the table. “This document names
Sovann Sovaesh as the regent of Merro until my son is of age to
rule,” Jala explained as she pressed her hand to the worn paper. “I
wrote it not long after I married Jexon, though until this morning
I never truly thought that I would need it. Vaze, Neph, I would ask
that you both sign it as witness.”

“I fail to see what good that will do, Jala.
If we are both about to fight to the death beside you,” Neph
grumbled his eyes narrowing as he watched her.

“You won’t be, Neph,” Jala said softly, her
throat tightening with the words. Raising her hand she brushed away
the tears that refused to remain hidden with the back of her hand
and smiled at him sadly. “Some of Delvay survived, Neph, and you
are going back to them. I won’t let you throw your life away here
when you could return to your people. My son will need allies like
Delvay in the future, Neph, and I depend on you to stand by him
when he needs you as you always have for me.”

“And how, exactly, are you planning on my
getting to them, Jala? I said I would stand by you to the last
breath.” Neph’s voice grew hoarse as he rose from his chair, his
hands planted firmly on the table top as he glared at her in
defiance.

Swallowing heavily, Jala lifted her chin and
shook her head at him. “You can’t, Neph. I won’t allow it. You are
the Lord of Delvay and despite your sharp tongue you are one of the
best people I know. Please do this for me, Neph. It will be easier
if I know I’m not leaving my son to face the world alone,” Jala
pleaded and let out a ragged breath as she turned to face Vaze.
“You will take him to his people. Given that you are the one that
informed me of their survival, I assume you know where to find
them.”

“I would rather stay and fight,” Vaze
objected quietly.

A sob almost broke past Jala’s lips but she
forced it back. “And I would rather know that you live to appear
from the shadows to save my son as you have so many times for me. I
would spare everyone here if I could, Vaze, but I can’t. It has not
been easy to choose to send either of you away, but I must. The two
of you have a place beyond Merro and I trust you both. Please don’t
make this more difficult.”

At her words, Neph sank back into his chair
with tears filling his pale blue eyes. “Damn you, Jala. You are the
only one in this world that I can say I truly love and you expect
me to just walk away and let you die?” His voice was thick and
filled with more emotion that she had ever seen in him.

“No, Neph. I expect you to walk away knowing
that I fought until the last breath to change this wretched world
we live in. I expect you to stand by my son against the atrocities
and finish building what we started. Finish my dream for me, Neph.
Make this world a place where our children can live in peace,” Jala
said, her voice barely more than a whisper. Turning to Sovaesh, she
wiped her eyes once more. “My orders for you are simple to say, but
will be quite difficult to accomplish, I fear. I want you to free
Blue from the Rivasan encampment. I know how good you are at
rescuing prisoners, Sovaesh. Use your talents tonight on someone
more worthy than Cassia and save Blue. Get her as far from here as
you can and return to Merro. I charge you after that to protect
your Grandson at all costs. I cannot tell you exactly where Sovann
has hidden him, but from Merro you should be able to locate
him.”

“As you say Lady Bendazzi. I swear it will be
so,” Sovaesh said with more formality that she had expected.
Standing, he bowed deeply to her and smiled. “Finn chose well when
he chose you. You have my respect for what you are doing and that
isn’t something given lightly.”

Jala smiled faintly and nodded to him.
Turning back to the others she let out a long breath. “I would like
a few minutes alone with Valor, please,” she asked quietly. Neph
rose and moved to her wrapping his arms around her in a firm
embrace. “Delvay will always stand by Merro, Jala. I promise you.
You are like a sister to me and you are asking the hardest thing
you possibly could of me by telling me to leave. I will, though,
and I promise you I will hate myself for doing so, but I will,” he
whispered in her ear before pulling back from the embrace. Leaning
forward, he kissed her lightly on the forehead and let out a ragged
breath. “Kick nine colors of shit from the bastards, Jala,” he said
as he backed away, his gaze moving to Valor. “Good luck, Arovan. I
hope you get your vengeance on the bastards. I promise you I will
never let Rivasa forget this day. Delvay will punish them eternally
for this.”

Valor nodded and watched them leave before
turning to Jala. “I truly hope you aren’t going to try to send me
away as you did the others.”

“You said you would always stand by me. Why
would I even bother trying to send you away,” Jala said softly as
she met his gaze.

“Always,” Valor promised.

Shaking her head, Jala crossed the short
distance between them and rested her head against his chest. “I
don’t have orders for you, Valor. I just need you by me to see this
through. Having you close gives me strength, I think.” She let out
a ragged breath and buried her face farther into his tunic. “I am
so terrified right now. Everything was falling into place so
beautifully, and now…” Her voice trailed off as her throat
tightened. “We almost had it, Valor. We were so close to
happily-ever-after,” she whispered.

“I had it for one day, Jala. For one single
day everything was perfect. That’s more than some get,” Valor
replied softly as he kissed the top of her head. “You have soldiers
waiting to hear you, Jala. Do you feel up to facing them?” he asked
softly.

Jala nodded slowly and pulled back from him
to wipe her eyes. “I love you, Valor,” she whispered as she turned
toward the entrance of the tent.

“I love you, too,” Valor returned softly as
he followed her out.

Jala stopped just beyond the entrance and let
her gaze travel over her people. The soft murmurs in the crowd fell
silent as they all watched her in expectation. Jala nodded once and
cast the amplify spell on her voice once more. “You’ve all seen
what awaits us. We are outnumbered so badly that it’s almost
laughable. The Rivasans must have been truly terrified if they
gathered that many to face two thousand.” Jala forced her tone to
be light as she spoke and nervous laughter rippled at her words.
Taking another step forward she raised her chin, her expression
clearing and the tears fading from her eyes. “I won’t run,” she
announced, her voice filled with defiance. “I won’t turn my back
and say what they have done is OK. It’s not! They have invaded our
ally and butchered our friends and I won’t simply walk away as if I
don’t care!”

Jala paused again as War’s last words
returned to her. It certainly seemed as though darkness was closing
on her now and she smiled at the memory of the dream. “Not so long
ago my son asked me if I planned to fix the entire world,” Jala
said, her smile growing as she spoke. “I told him, no. I told him
that I was building a road to a better world and once the path was
set, others would follow our lead. With this stand, we lay the last
stones on the road I spoke of. By refusing to back down to their
brutality, we show the rest of Sanctuary what they can accomplish
if they stand together. Nations that never would have considered
each other as friends are represented in my forces. Never before
has an army such as ours existed.”

She paused again and looked at each faction
in turn. “We won’t win the battle tomorrow, but we will show the
rest of the world that differences can be set aside for a common
goal. I will not command any of you to die beside me. You may flee
if your heart is not in the fight. I will not command you to fight,
but I will ask you to help me. Help me buy Arovan the time it
needs. Help me show Sanctuary the road we have built. Take one
final stand against the corruption of this world.” Stepping back
once more, Jala canceled the amplify spell and watched as the
expressions of despair changed to defiance on the faces of those
before her.

“Lady Bendazzi!” A voice rose from the crowd
and others picked up the call until it became a steady chant.

“Do you mind if we add another nation to your
roster?” The deep voice caught her completely off guard and Jala
spun to face Zachary Dark. The lord of Oblivion stood just beyond
her tent, an expression of amusement on his normally emotionless
face.

“Lord Dark. This is the last place anyone in
their right mind would wish to be,” Jala whispered, wondering how
the man had managed to make it past the Rivasan mages.

“I have never once claimed to be in my right
mind,” Zachary returned with a faint smile. “Oblivion will stand
beside you tomorrow. I will do what I can to help you,” he said as
he started to turn.

“Thank you, Lord Dark,” Jala whispered, her
shock at the sight of him slowly fading.

“Apparently they have started to follow your
road,” Valor said softly beside her as he watched the Lord walk
away.

“May more follow,” Jala whispered.

“Another wave!” Jala bellowed as she moved
forward ahead of the lines to block the Rivasan hellfire as it
blasted down the valley entrance toward her army. Squeezing her
eyes shut she held her hands out before her as the fire boiled
against her wall of force. The heat was so intense it felt as
though her skin was bubbling beneath her armor. She dropped the
spell the moment the fire died away and fell back once more behind
the line of archers. “We can’t keep this up,” Jala gasped to Valor
who stood beside her, his expression of fury clear on his face.