The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey

by Melissa Myers

  I’ll get you more once we are done here, she reassured him. “Sovann if I wanted to know who I truly am, how would I go about it?” she asked.

  Shade looked at her with confusion. “How can you not know who you truly are?” he asked.

  “Are you sure you want to discuss this with him here?” Finn objected.

  Sovann ignored the two of them. “A time mage, perhaps, though they are few and far between. Most choose not to specialize in that particular field. It is rather risky. The only one I actually know of in Sanctuary is Hemlock.”

  “No.” Finn and Shade objected in unison and looked at each other in annoyance.

  Jala nodded slowly and followed Sovann’s example. “The leader of the NightBlades, right?” she asked.

  Sovann nodded and looked toward the two other men. “I have to agree with them, though, it isn’t a wise course. He has a reputation of being rather…” His voice trailed off as he searched for the proper word.

  “Cruel to women, abusive to those under his power, insane,” Finn offered, and Sovann nodded.

  “Yes. All of that.” he agreed. “There is also the option of a life mage. With a small amount of your blood, they could read your entire family tree.” He took a sip of his tea and watched her reaction.

  “Couldn’t they also use that blood to control or kill me?” she asked.

  Sovann nodded again. “You have paid close attention to our lessons. Other than those two options… Mmm. We could try to find someone that might have known your parents,” he offered with a shrug.

  She shook her head. “I’ve already spoken with those that might know. If they wanted me to know they would have told me.” She frowned at the available options, neither was a good one.

  “There is the Oracle,” Shade offered.

  Sovann looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Oracle?” he asked, making the single word a question.

  “Madren told me about her. She lives in the Tolanteer Forest,” Shade explained.

  “The Witch’s Wood?” Finn asked, incredulous.

  “Umm. What is the Tolanteer Forest?” Jala asked, completely lost in the current conversation. She didn’t remember reading about such a place in any of her books.

  “It’s in Southern Goswin,” Sovann replied. “Goswin is the only nation on the planet that actually destroyed itself. They had a civil war and the country divided into Northern Goswin and Southern Goswin. An order of Mages ruled Southern Goswin while the High Lord retained power in the north. Over the course of the war, the Southern half of the country was cursed,” he finished

  “Cursed? How?” Jala asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

  “I’m not really sure of the semantics of it, though it’s doubtless recorded in the Great Library, but essentially the mages that ruled there are trapped in a sort of living death. They are bound to their land eternally, as guardians. Since the fall of Goswin, no settlement has ever successfully survived in the southern lands. Only those few villages that survived the war remain and most of the land has gone to pure wilderness,” Sovann explained and looked to Shade. “I’m not sure what Oracle you are speaking of, I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

  Shade shrugged. “Madren is from Goswin, originally. He was here in Sanctuary during the war and was considered useless by his father, given that he is a half-blood bastard, so he was never recalled back to the fighting.”

  “I’m sure his father considered him useless for other reasons as well,” Finn added dryly.

  Shade gave him a quick glare and looked to Jala. “I can find out more from him and see if it’s an option. It seems a better choice to me than to trust Hemlock or a Life mage,” he offered.

  “I would appreciate that,” she said with a smile.

  “It’s the least I can do after the trouble he has caused you,” Shade replied and stood. “Now that we have this mostly sorted out, I do need to go. I will let you know when I find out something, Jala. Please let me know when you decide where you will be staying.”

  She gave him a nod and watched him leave. Finn promptly sat in the vacated chair and glanced at his brother. “Oracle?” he asked with skepticism.

  Sovann shrugged. “It might work, you never know.”

  Jala ate her breakfast in silence and compared the three options. She had to agree with Shade. Out of the three options, some Oracle in a cursed forest seemed the best choice. She took a sip of tea to wash down the last of the meal and looked at Sovann. “I have a favor to ask of you, Sovann, though I know I have already asked a great deal of you.”

  Sovann looked at her and smiled. “I will help you if I can, Jala. What is it you need?” he asked in his eternally patient voice.

  “Your essence wine works off of stored magic, correct?” she asked, and he nodded. “I’d like to fill some stones for you. I don’t want coin for it. I simply want the, shall we say exercise. I don’t think I’m using enough magic daily to strengthen my reserves, and I’m not sure what else I can use that much power on. Would you mind?”

  Finn gave a snort of laughter. “Would he mind? Do you have any idea how much he sells a bottle of that wine for?” he asked her. She shook her head in answer, and he gave another snort of laughter. “Take the gold from him, Jala, you could likely use it, and he has more than enough of it,” he urged.

  If you don’t get me food soon I’m going to go hunting in the city. Whether it be rats or beggars, I will find meat. Marrow warned her.

  She gave a sigh and smiled at Sovann. “I’ll still refuse the gold if you will part with meat for Marrow. He is threatening to eat beggars.”

  Sovann gave a chuckle and rose. “I’ll fetch some at once. Please beg him to remain patient for just a couple more minutes,” he said as he left the room.

  Finn watched his brother leave the room and looked across the table at her. “Are you spoiled, Jala?” he asked.

  She frowned in confusion at the question and shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she answered hesitantly. “Why?”

  “I am,” he replied. “Not by my parents of course, my father is not the spoiling sort. I have more or less spoiled myself. I have lived life as I want it and have grown used to getting my way,” he continued, and her confusion grew.

  “And?” she asked, unsure where this was going.

  “And your pettiness will not win over my being spoiled. It would be best if you relent. I will win this,” he explained.

  “We shall see,” she replied with a frown.

  He smiled and leaned back in his chair. “One question for you,” he said with an arrogant smile.

  “What’s that?” she asked, somewhat suspicious. He appeared to be gloating, and she wasn’t sure why.

  “Do you know where the housing department is at the Academy? You know all students are required to stay on campus, and if you do not have a High Lord’s hall to stay in, you must go to them for a room assignment.”

  Her frown deepened and she shook her head. “No, but I’m sure Sovann can tell me if I ask,” she returned cautiously.

  “Nonsense, I will show you. I know the man that runs it. We are on fairly good terms. I helped him out with a duel or two. Not much of a fighter that one, but he has an excellent memory for who has helped him.” Finn replied.

  She gave a slight nod and sighed. “It would seem you are correct, and you will win,” she conceded after a moment.

  He nodded his head the gloating smile still on his handsome face. “You will come to realize I always do. Be it with swords or words I always win.”

  Chapter 18

  Glis Border

  The scent of blood was thick in the air and had the horses dancing with every step. Solace placed a hand on her mare’s neck as the animal snorted. They were still a quarter of a mile from the village and the air was thick with flies even here. Hawk rode beside her, his tan face creased in a frown. Caspian had suggested it was a Shifter causing the problems when he had sent them here, but she had her doubts.

  She knew her people too
well. They tended to follow the behavior of the animal they could turn into. A wolf Shifter would seek others of his kind and form a pack, while a cat Shifter would be a solitary hunter and tend to be a charming social person. There were several other types of Shifters, of course, but the cat and the wolf were the most predatory. It was, of course, possible that a pack of the wolves had broken faith and was responsible for the deaths on the borders. She didn’t think so, though. Her gut told her otherwise, and Solace had learned to listen to her instincts. They had kept her alive so far.

  The forest around them was beginning to give way to cultivated lands, and the trees were growing sparse. Her view of the village was now clear with few obstructions. There were perhaps twenty buildings, mostly houses with an inn and a few barns. No one moved in the streets, not even chickens. Overhead, carrion birds wheeled, and she could hear their calls from in the town, as well.

  “Fifteen or so houses, so at least thirty in population,” Hawk said, his voice quiet and calm. Hawk was as steady as one could ask for when it came to partners. He shifted in his saddle and pulled his horse to a stop. The mare danced lightly and turned her head, desperately wanting to be gone from this place. “Easy, love,” he murmured to the beast and quieted her with a hand. He turned his brown eyes to Solace and shook his head. “This is not the work of Shifters.”

  “My thoughts exactly,” Solace agreed. She scanned the village and sniffed the air. “Dead three days, if I’m getting the scent right,” she said after a moment. “The blood has had time to spoil and dry, and I can smell rot in the air.” With a frown, she blew air from her nose in an unladylike snort. There were times she regretted having such fine-tuned senses, and now was one of them. She couldn’t get the scent of bad blood from her nose. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the smell, and Hawk handed her a small cloth dabbed with the faintest amount of lilac. She smiled and accepted it gratefully, knowing the only reason the ranger carried such a thing was for her. No self-respecting woodsmen would have perfume on them otherwise, for the scent was too easy to track.

  “Shall we leave the horses here?” he asked, and she nodded in answer. He swung down easily and hobbled his own mount before turning back to her.

  She had dismounted as well, but frowned at the hobbles. It was, of course, likely that whatever had killed the people in the village was long gone, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to tie her horse’s legs. In the event that they needed to flee, she would prefer not having to remove the straps before the beast could run.

  Hawk noticed her look and shrugged. “If it comes down to it, I’ll cut the strap and make new hobbles,” he explained and waited for her to secure her own mount.

  She gave a slight nod and with his theory used her own hobbles. As shaken as the horses were now, it was possible they would break a tether and bolt if anything spooked them further. She gave the mare a final pat on the neck and followed Hawk into the village. He scanned the ground as he walked, searching for any tracks that might give them an indication of what had performed the massacre.

  “Did we get any reports from the locals on what they know about this?” Hawk asked as he frowned at the ground.

  “It’s a remote village; no close towns to speak of. Most of these people were trappers and such, the sort that don’t need or care for cities. It was a hunter that got word to us about this. Other than that report, we have nothing and he was here at least a day after the deaths,” Solace answered. She was having little luck finding any tracks in the dusty road. So far the only marks she could see were human and horse, and from what the hunter had described of the bodies this was not a human attack. They found the first body not far from the edge of the village. From the looks of it, the man, if it was a man (Solace was not exactly sure on that), had been trying to flee. The body was mangled almost beyond telling it was human. Hawk knelt near it and searched the ground for tracks.

  “Birds have been at it, but scavengers haven’t done all of this. Whatever killed him ate part of him.” His voice trailed off as he spotted something. Leaning forward a bit, he frowned. “Solace, have a look at this,” he said quietly, his voice sounding unsure.

  Solace looked back down at him; her eyes had been searching farther into the village. There were bodies strewn everywhere, some lying halfway out of houses. She moved to his side and crouched beside him. He pointed a finger at a track near the man’s side. “Is that a child’s track?” she asked, confused.

  “Not one I’ve seen before. It has claw marks,” he replied.

  She studied the track closer. It appeared at first glance to be the barefoot mark of a small child, until you looked closer and noticed the indention of claws that Hawk was pointing out to her. “What sort of child has claws? Shifters don’t, unless they are in their animal forms. Maybe demon blooded?” she said hazarding a guess. While those with demon blood were often more bloodthirsty, they were rarely this savage.

  “It’s not the claws that bother me so much as the track has no blood in it. The ground around it is soaked. That footprint is mostly bare. The child stood here as this man died, or killed him itself,” he said leaning back on his heels and looking to her.

  Solace frowned and stood slowly. “Let’s have a look at the rest of them and see if we can find more signs,” she suggested. With a last look down at the track, she moved off toward one of the closer houses. She could see legs protruding from the doorway in a tangle, what remained of legs anyway. Most of the skin and meat was gone. “What the hell are we seeing here, Hawk?” she asked in disgust, as they approached the still form and a thick cloud of buzzing flies.

  Hawk seemed to consider the question for a moment. “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say Kali has been working again. This doesn’t fit the patterns of anything we’ve seen before.”

  “I will never understand why that woman lives as she does. Consider what good she could do if she only tried,” Solace sighed, disgust deep in her voice.

  “Everything acts in its own nature, Solace. She is creating population control for us,” he said, stepping over the body and into the house.

  “You condone it?” she asked in disbelief, following him inside. The smell was nearly choking in here. The smell of rotting bodies mixed with rotting food. Plates of dinner sat on the table undisturbed and long spoiled. She moved closer and idly moved a fork beside one of the plates. All of the settings were still in place. They had been killed just before dinner and apparently hadn’t even realized they were in any danger. She counted three bodies in the room - a woman, a man, and a small child. A new family then, young parents most likely, and in their first house. She looked around the small dwelling and noticed that it was better than most she had seen. “These two would have had a bright future together, if not for this,” she sighed, and looked to Hawk. He was intent on the bloodstained floor and held the same frown on his face. “What is it?” she asked, moving closer.

  “More clawed tracks. These are adult,” he answered her and stood. He looked around the house, eyes lingering on certain details. “Door hasn’t been broken, and there’s no sign of forced entry. Either it came through one of the windows or they let it in.”

  “I can’t imagine them letting it in,” she said doubtfully.

  Hawk shook his head in agreement. “Not intentionally at least. Whatever it is we are looking for, it’s human in form. It seems to disdain clothing too. If the tracks are any indication, all that I’ve found so far have been barefoot. Though I would say it would be difficult to find boots to accommodate clawed feet.” He swept his gaze around the room once more as she stepped from the house.

  After a moment, he followed her out and they made a thorough round of the village. In total, there were forty-two bodies as well as dead livestock. Hawk let out a long sigh and chewed on his lower lip. Solace watched him. It was one of the few signs Hawk had when he was very upset. The normally calm ranger wasn’t prone to emotional outbursts, and to see him chew his lip meant things were bad, although she didn’t need to
watch him to know that. They had found few tracks and fewer hints otherwise to tell them what they hunted.

  “The way I see it, we have two choices here,” he said at last.

  She nodded having reached the same conclusion. “We either turn back into Glis and warn House Blackwolf of what we have found, or we head farther into Gaelyn and try to find these creatures before they kill more,” she said.

  Hawk gave a quick nod. “Exactly, so what is your preference?” His gaze had already moved to the cultivated fields to the south of them. Glis itself was a wilderness and the Shifters preferred hunting over farming. Gaelyn, however, was heavily populated with many villages and farms, and no High Lord to protect them.

  “South into Gaelyn. Let’s stop these things before they kill more,” she said after a moment’s thought. “Let’s do what we can for the dead here first, though. I think it will be easiest if we drag the bodies into that big barn over there, we can burn it, and at least give them somewhat of a pyre.”

  Hawk nodded agreement and moved off to gather the first of the bodies. Solace let out a long sigh and moved to help. It would be bloody disgusting work, but it was the least she could do for the dead.

  She was bone tired by the time they rode out from the village, but neither of them had wanted to camp there. The horses stepped lively, eager to be away from the blood. Solace glanced back over her shoulder and watched the thick black smoke filling the sky. She let out a long breath and sat straight in her saddle. With a slight increase of pressure on the mare’s sides, she moved up beside Hawk. He looked over at her as she slowed her mare to match his pace. His tanned face was streaked with soot and dirt, and he looked as tired as she felt. With a weak smile, he took her hand and gave it a light squeeze.

  “What is it?” he asked after a moment.

  She brushed a hand back through her hair, grumbling slightly as the brown curls tangled around her fingers, and settled for just pushing it back for the moment. She let her eyes travel the landscape before answering, not sure exactly how she wanted to phrase her words.