The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey

by Melissa Myers

  He gave her a questioning glance and motioned toward the door. She nodded and headed that way. As they stepped down from the ship, he waved his hand back at it and it disappeared as well. He held up a shiny stone for her to see. Rather than a plain black rock it looked to be a small diamond about the size of a bird’s egg. “This variety lasts longer. The better quality of stone it appears to be the longer the item will be contained. This will last for about a month. I won’t leave my ship in there that long, but if I need to, I can.”

  “You don’t leave it at the sky port?” She asked. She could see other ships docked at regular intervals around them, and she noted mentally that of all the ships, his was the only one that was plain grey. The rest were brightly painted and gleamed like jewels in the mage light.

  “No, too many know The Shade is mine, and I don’t want anyone to sabotage her,” he answered quietly. He dropped the diamond into an inner pocket of his jacket and pulled a pair of glasses out of another. They were of deep blue glass with delicate platinum frames. He carefully unfolded them and put them on.

  She raised an eyebrow at him. She had seen the colored glasses before. Father Timmons had a pair he used on very sunny days when he was traveling. She had never seen anyone wear them at night, though. And while the round glasses did look good on him, she couldn’t see the point in wearing them now, and she rather liked being able to look into his eyes. He had expressive eyes that seemed to sparkle when he was amused. They were the perfect shade of blue, not too dark nor washed out. With a jab of panic, she wondered if he could read minds like Fortune had. She gave him a sideways glance, and when he showed no reaction let out a short quiet sigh of relief.

  “Sun bothering you?” she asked with obvious sarcasm, more to get her mind from its previous wandering than from her desire to tease him.

  He gave her a grin and leaned toward her. “See the runes?” he asked.

  Now that he had pointed them out, she did see tiny inscriptions around the edges of the blue glass. They were so small that, unless you were looking for them, you wouldn’t notice them. She gave him a slight nod.

  “They’re enchanted. I see better at night with them on, and they will nullify spells such as invisibility or a shadow cloak,” he explained as he began walking toward the edge of the sky port at a leisurely pace.

  “You really are paranoid, aren’t you? Do you really have that many people trying to kill you?” she asked.

  “You will be too, once you’ve lived in Sanctuary a while. As to how many are trying to kill me, currently I have no idea, but I always find it safer to assume at least five to keep me on my toes.”

  She fell into step beside him as they made their way down a set of stairs that never seemed to end. She could see most of the inner city from this height. In the distance, there was an immense circular building with what looked like statues lining the roof. Each statue was lined in faint mage light of varied colors. “This is the inner city. That building you are staring at is the Arena.” He indicated the circular building with a half-hearted wave in its direction. “No one house rules here. It is deemed neutral ground, and the penalty for bloodshed here is death or exile. That’s any kind of bloodshed, even simple brawling. The only exception is when the Justicars perform an execution.” He cast a glance around them as they walked. “That doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen though. The common Immortal belief is this: if you can do it without anyone knowing you did it, it’s legal.”

  “So, essentially, no place is safe?” she asked. Her eyes moved to the sides of the stairway they were traveling down, and suddenly found herself wishing there was some kind of railing. It seemed to her if she lived in a city where everyone wanted to kill her, she would want railings on all the stairs.

  He seemed to consider the question. “Essentially, I suppose. Some places are safer than others. I don’t worry when I’m in my ship, and I’m not as paranoid in my home country. There aren’t many places I let my guard down in Sanctuary, though, unless I have close friends nearby.” He gave her a smile. “This is a morbid topic, though. You should be enjoying the sights. Sanctuary is all dressed up this week for the Spring Games and Academy Admissions. She isn’t usually this lit up, so it’s a special occasion for her.”

  “Spring Games?” she repeated, her tone questioning.

  “It’s where we all get dressed up in pretty armor and pretend we are friends and try to kill each other in various contests, while pretending we don’t actually want to kill each other.” He gave a mirthless chuckle. “Well, at least most of them do anyway. I myself do not Joust. I am horrible with a bow, and I won’t enter the ring of swords because it would require me to fight friends, and I will not fight a friend.” He motioned behind them as they stepped off the last stair onto the street below. “There will be a sky race as well. That’s why so many spell hawks are in town.” He spoke quietly so his voice wouldn’t carry.

  “Will you be in it?” she asked, keeping her own voice low, as well.

  He gave a slight shake of the head and she thought she saw a flicker of disappointment on his face. “No, not this year. I won last year’s by over thirty minutes, and my father wasn’t at all pleased.”

  She looked at him in confusion. “I would have thought he would be proud that you had won. My father always beamed when I succeeded at something.” She felt a small pang at the mention of her father but pushed it back down quickly. This was neither the time nor the place to get misty-eyed.

  “Spell hawk speed is determined by your magical strength, so he feels that by not fighting and proving my martial strength I have just made myself a bigger target by showing off my magical strength.” He glanced at her expression and grinned. “I can see the question without your asking. If I have magical strength, couldn’t I defend myself with magic? The answer is yes, but in doing so, I drain myself and leave myself open to an attack from another side. That’s what keeps Immortals from blowing each other to bits with spells. We only have so much in reserve, and if we use too much, we become vulnerable. That’s where swords and bows come in. The general rule is melee first and magic if you must.”

  “So, by refusing to fight against your friends, others may believe you cannot use a sword well, and magic is your only defense,” she said cautiously, and he nodded. “So the only way you could enter the sky race and keep your father happy would be to enter the sword contest and prove you can fight well,” she concluded.

  “Exactly!” he agreed with a nod.

  “Why exactly do they have an Academy if they all want to kill each other? It seems rather foolish to send your children to school with enemies,” she said.

  “There are two types of Immortals in the prison, those with the will to fight, and those that provoke the fights. Those willing to fight, built the Academy in hopes that if we, the children of the Houses, were placed together we might get along. So far it has mostly failed. Those provoking the fight went along with the idea for a couple of reasons. On one hand, it gave them a chance to spy, while on the other hand it gave them a chance to find suitable marriages,” he explained.

  “They marry their enemies?” she asked, incredulous.

  He gave a slight nod. “When they have to. They have three choices in that. Incest, weakening the blood by mating with mortals or half-bloods, or marry another High House. However, not all choose the enemy.”

  They walked along for a bit in silence while she pondered all he had told her, and she tried not to gawk at the buildings they passed. Most of them had mage lights enhancing the architecture. Here and there, she would see a mural covering a wall and silently promised herself to come back and see them in the daylight as soon as she had the time. When she showed an overwhelming interest in a building or fountain, he would slow his steps enough to allow her a closer look, without a word of complaint.

  “Thank you for everything, Christian. I had thought I would be fine here on my own, but with everything you have shown me and taught me in just the short time I’ve known you, I realize h
ow lost I would have been,” she said as he slowed his steps for perhaps the tenth time since they had left the stairs. It was a fountain that had caught her attention this time. It was solid white marble with a statue of a man holding an upraised sword on a rearing horse crowning it. The details on it were so precise it was as if someone had encased a living animal in stone and placed it on display.

  “Think nothing of it,” he replied. He gave her a smile and tucked his hands into his coat pockets, his pace slow, giving her plenty of time to look the statue over. “That’s actually one of my favorites in the entire city. It’s about three hundred and fifty years old, though it certainly doesn’t look it.”

  She looked from the statue to him. “It looks as though it had a name plate, but I think it’s been stolen. Who is it?”

  “It wasn’t stolen; it was removed when the man supposedly dishonored himself. That’s Caspian, former High Commander of the Justicars. That building in front of the fountain is the Hall of the Justicars.” He smirked slightly. “I’m sure it galls the Justicars to look on him daily.”

  She looked past the fountain and studied the massive building behind it. It was perhaps three stories with five white columns lining the front. The columns appeared to have writing on them, but she didn’t want to approach any closer to read them. After Fortune’s story of the Justicars, she had lost all fascination with the organization. She could still remember her father’s reaction to her asking if he had been a Justicar, as well, and it doubled her desire to be away from the building.

  “I’m surprised they didn’t have the entire statue removed instead of just the name plate.” She gave the statue one last look and moved back to his side.

  He raised an eyebrow and gave her a curious look over his glasses. “You know who Caspian is?” he asked.

  She avoided looking at him, knowing she would have a look of dismay on her face, and focused on the cobbled street before them until she could master her expression. “What makes you say that?” she asked.

  “You didn’t ask how he dishonored himself. If you didn’t already know you would have asked,” he replied with a smile.

  She took a few more silent steps, trying to decide how best to answer. She would have to learn to watch her tongue better in the future. He did not miss a thing and she was not used to guarding her words. “I heard the story once,” she answered carefully, hoping he would let the topic drop.

  “So you’ve heard the story of the Fionaveir but not the Creation of Sanctuary? Of the two, the Fionaveir is a much better story, one of my favorites, actually,” he mused aloud. He nodded slowly and gave her a glance. “And you are very uncomfortable right now, so I’ll drop the topic. Ask me another question and let’s get this conversation back to somewhere you are comfortable.”

  “The city is so big, how do people get around it daily?” she asked with gratitude obvious in her voice and expression. She’d been pondering the question already and was more than happy for a change in conversation.

  “Portal stones, horses in some quarters, or simply walking. It’s rather late now, so no one is really moving about, but in the daytime, these streets are teaming with buggies and such,” he answered. “I usually just walk myself. I rarely go far from the Academy when I’m in school, and when I’m not I live in my family’s quarter of the city, and everything I need is right in that area. The only time I travel to Morcath is to take my father his taxes.”

  “So I’m not just lucky to have seen you in Brannaford, I’m really lucky,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Only twice a year it could have happened,” he said with a nod. “I take the taxes to him in the spring and fall.”

  “Shouldn’t someone other than his son be doing that? Or is there no one else he can trust with it?” she asked.

  “It’s my job,” he replied simply. “It’s customary for the heirs of a house to rule their portion of Sanctuary since we aren’t likely to inherit our own homelands, given our parents are Immortal. On one hand, it keeps the heirs busy, and on the other, it trains us to govern if the event ever arises that we must take over our family lands. In my case, that won’t happen because I have an uncle that would be much more suited to the job than I would. In the extremely unlikely event my father is killed.”

  “I had no idea you were the heir,” she admitted. “I thought your father had been here since the beginning.”

  “He has.” He gave her a glance and gave a snort of amusement. “I am young to be the heir. My father had other children, but they died before I was born. He doesn’t speak of them, so I’m not sure exactly how they died. That isn’t the sort of question you ask anyone outside your own house.”

  He led her around another corner and stopped in front of a wrought iron gate, big enough for a ship to sail through. Beyond it stretched a tree-lined road with wide open grass fields on either side. She looked through the gate curiously as he produced a key and opened a smaller gate fashioned into the right side of the larger one. He stepped back, pulled it open, and motioned her through. She stepped lightly through and felt the air tingle on her skin as she passed under the iron.

  “Is this a park?” she asked, confused as to why they would have a locked gate on a park.

  He gave a light chuckle and locked the gate behind them. “No, this is the front gate of the Academy,” he answered. He began walking again, and she quickly fell into step beside him. “Once we get past the first trees you will see the school itself. If the school were actually in session right now, you would see the lights from here. However, the main buildings will be dark for the next week, though.”

  “But I thought it was supposed to be one of the biggest buildings in Sanctuary?”

  “It is. You will see soon,” he replied.

  She gave him another glance and remained silent. They walked for nearly ten minutes before they were actually past the first trees. She was still examining the last of them, admiring the large white blooms that seemed to cover the upper branches when she realized he was no longer walking. She looked over at him curiously wondering what had stopped him. With a slight smile, he simply pointed straight ahead down the path. She raised an eyebrow and turned to look. With a gasp, she realized why she hadn’t noticed the Academy building from the gate. It was dark stone that blended well with the shadows of the night and took up most of the horizon in front of her. Her jaw dropped open at the sheer size of it. Row after row of windows glinted faintly in the starlight. She couldn’t even fathom a guess as to how tall it was, nor had she imagined a building could be that big.

  “There are over eight thousand rooms in all of the buildings combined. The entire grounds cover seventy acres, and there are stables behind the school that hold two hundred horses. A science building that literally holds five different environments inside it. A blacksmith with fifty forges.” He smiled at her. “I told you it was big. Next time I tell you something is big, you should listen.” He gave her another grin.

  Her eyes roved over the various paths and arches and columns with dismay. “I’m never going to find my way around this place,” she whispered.

  “Meh…you’ll be fine.” He draped an arm across her shoulder and pointed with the other hand toward the northern most side of the school. “That is the common dorm, you won’t go anywhere on that side of the school.” He motioned toward the southern side. “That is mostly classrooms for the fifth through third circles. You won’t have to bother with that either.” He gave her a reassuring look. “See, close to half of the school you won’t even need to go near, learning the rest will be easy.”

  “If you say so,” she replied doubtfully.

  “C’mon, with luck, my household is still awake. I’d like you to meet them tonight, and then we can find you a room.” He dropped his arm back down from her shoulder and began walking again.

  She gave a last look at the school and followed quietly, trying to fight down her growing dread of the Academy. I should never have gotten into the coach. I should have stayed at the Temp
le, she whispered to herself quietly so he wouldn’t hear.

  “I’m glad you didn’t,” he whispered back so quietly that she barely caught the words.

  They made their way past the main building in silence, and she tried desperately to memorize the winding path he led her on between the buildings. By the time they finally came to a stop in front of one of them, she was completely lost, despite her best efforts. They had passed courtyards and statues and fountains beyond counting, and they had begun to blur in her memory after the first few. All she could think of now was getting the sandals off her feet and sitting down for a very long while. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but the day seemed longer than any other she could remember. Had she really just left the Temple this morning? How was that possible? She gave a slight yawn, and realized dimly he was watching her.

  “I should have used a portal stone to get us here. I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking. You look dead on your feet,” he said with a look of concern. “I thought you might want to see some of the city. I didn’t consider how tired you must be.” He produced another key from his pocket and began quickly to unlock the dark wooden door in front of him.

  “It’s OK. I enjoyed seeing the city. It’s just all catching up with me now and it has been a very long day.” She said in a sleepy voice and almost yawned mid-sentence. She watched him push the door open and motion her through. As she passed by him, she noticed a large pair of twining snakes carved into the door. They were forming a circle and seemed to be wrapped around each other head to tail. “What’s that stand for?” she asked, indicating the carving.

  He glanced at the snakes before closing and relocking the door. “That’s my house sigil,” he answered without pause and began moving quietly down the hall.

  She walked beside him barely noticing her surroundings as they went. They passed perhaps five doors before he turned to one and quietly pushed it open. Dim lighting poured out into the hall; Christian peered inside silently and smiled. “Ahh…good, you are still awake.” He motioned her to follow and stepped into the room.