The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey

by Melissa Myers

  Jala watched Shade for the first few minutes of the flight and tried not to think how much differently her first flight had gone. He had been so calm and relaxed and had answered her endless questions with a patience she only saw in Sovann now. The thought depressed her, and she leaned her head back against Finn’s shoulder. She turned her legs to where she sat draped across his lap, spreading her weight to what she hoped was easier on Finn’s legs. “Maybe we should have just stayed in bed,” she whispered to him.

  He looked down at her with a look of pure indignation. “Now you say that?” he demanded, though his voice held no anger at all. “After we have already left the city and are on our way. Had you said that while we were still at the Academy I assure you, I would be smiling right now.” He gave her a gentle kiss on the neck and winked at her. “And so would you.”

  “So does this new found cuddliness mean the two of you are a couple now?” Wisp asked in a low voice, leaning closer to the two of them. “I had wondered when I didn’t see a single warmer come out of Finn’s room all week but shrugged it off.”

  Finn gave a non-committal shrug and remained silent. Jala twisted a strand of hair around her finger and considered the question. It wasn’t really hers to answer, she didn’t think. She hadn’t even paid attention to the lack of women around Finn recently. But now that Wisp mentioned it, he had been alone every time she had seen him, except for the occasional presence of Valor or Wisp. Valor seemed almost a constant presence in Finn’s life, and it was clear the two had been friends for quite some time.

  “You do both realize poor Valor is going to be walking around in a constant state of exhaustion and dehydration trying to keep his share, as well as Finn’s share, of the single ladies of Sanctuary satisfied.” Wisp pointed out with obvious amusement.

  “I doubt he will complain,” Finn replied.

  Wisp’s eyes widened at the comment, and a smile rose on her perfect lips. “Oh my, that’s more of a yes than I had expected to get. How perfectly wonderful, I had always thought you were allergic to commitment.” She gave Jala a wink and her smile widened. “A Bendazzi and a Finn. You are quite possibly the most proficient big game hunter I’ve ever seen.”

  Finn gave her a glower in response and Jala snickered. She gave Finn a light pat on the cheek. “I bagged this one in the market square,” she teased, trying to hold back her grin.

  “It’s so good to see the two of you becoming such good friends,” Finn muttered dryly, rolling his shoulders and leaning more heavily into his seat. “I wish I’d thought to bring the proper herbs to keep you both snoring on the trip, had I known how close you were I’m sure I would have remembered them.”

  “Drugging us, eh? Perhaps you should let Jala sit here and gossip with me and you can move forward a seat and trade recipes with Madren,” Wisp suggested with a snicker, drawing another glower from Finn.

  “For that, I might just punt you from the hawk, pixie,” he grumbled.

  Jala grinned at the banter and pulled her cloak around herself. With her free hand, she took Finn’s and laced her fingers with it, pulling it up to her chest. She gave him a softer smile and squeezed his hand lightly. “I’d rather you not move seats. I’m quite comfortable.” His glower disappeared and he returned the smile.

  Chapter 23

  Rivana

  The afternoon sun glared down as they disembarked the spell hawk. It hadn’t been a long flight, in truth, but the tension in the ship had been thick for most of the voyage. With a sigh of relief to be in the open air again, Jala stepped down behind Finn and took a long, deep breath. Wisp gave her a grin and nodded her silent agreement. Finn stopped just beyond the ship and looked around warily. He surveyed the broad open country and looked back at Shade. “This is not Goswin. Where are we?” he asked, his tone only a note or two from demand.

  Shade looked over from where he was unloading his gear and frowned. “It’s Rivana. Look at the map, Finn. I didn’t have a choice where to land. Had I chosen North Goswin we would have been here for days trying to reach the forest, and you can’t fly a spell hawk over South Goswin, there are too many fluxes.”

  “Fluxes?” asked Jala, her own eyes roving their surroundings with more apprehension now. She didn’t care much for the thought of being on Rivana soil so soon after Finn had killed Devron.

  “Magical flux, they are somewhat of storms really. No pilot will fly over Southern Goswin because of them. Some side effect of the failed spell the witches were casting,” Shade explained. “The best I can say is, we hurry and cross the border. I doubt they will have time to respond to us being here before we are beyond their reach. I will stone the spell hawk and take it with us, so we can leave from another location. Still, I feel it necessary to point out that we wouldn’t have a problem if you hadn’t killed the High Lord’s Son.”

  “Indeed. Well you’ve pointed it out and I still don’t regret the action,” Finn replied, not bothering to look at Shade as he spoke. He was too intent on getting the horses out of their boxes and handing them off to Wisp for the dispelling.

  “Is it likely that they could even tell we are here?” Jala asked dubiously. The area looked quite remote to her, and she doubted there was a village anywhere for miles.

  “That depends on if Shade disabled his location crystal, if he didn’t then every sky port within two hundred miles knows we are here,” Finn answered. “Which of course he didn’t because it is illegal to fly without one and Shade of course would not want to cause a scandal,” he added, rolling his eyes in a look of utter disgust.

  “Not all of us are criminals,” Shade snapped back.

  “I am not a criminal,” Finn growled as he mounted his horse and tossed Jala the reins to her own mount.

  “Of course not, that’s why we are running toward a border,” Shade replied dryly.

  “Please stop. Both of you, please,” Jala pleaded, looking between the two of them. Finn had the grace to look mildly ashamed, but Shade continued to glower. “You are both here to help me, I know, and I appreciate it so much, but so help me if you keep bickering at each other, I’m going to stay with the witches.”

  “Don’t even joke like that,” Madren broke in, his tone sounding nervous. He raised a hand toward his forehead and made a gesture Jala wasn’t familiar with.

  “What was that?” she asked, indicating his hand. Madren remained silent and shook his head frowning down at the ground rather than meeting her gaze.

  “Warding gesture against evil,” Finn answered with a smirk of amusement. “You are Shade’s man, Madren, don’t you realize according to his philosophy, evil doesn’t exist. Everything is grey. You should learn a warding gesture for slightly darker grey than you.”

  “Finn!” Jala snapped, glaring at him.

  “I’m sorry. I’ll behave,” Finn apologized, the words only slightly broken from his continued snickering.

  “Why don’t we go now that Shade has the ship stoned? Before the Rivasans turn up to show us how dark of grey they are,” Wisp suggested and nudged her horse into motion. Jala gave a curt nod of agreement and urged her horse up beside Wisp’s.

  Silently, the others fell in behind them with Madren moving to the lead, presumably to guide their expedition. The borders between the two lands were as stark a contrast as the borders of Merro and the Greenwild. Where the Rivasan border ended the ground turned to new forest thick with underbrush where trees, barely more than saplings, clawed at each other in an effort to gain the sun’s attention.

  “Lucky you brought me,” Wisp said and gave Jala a wink. With a dainty hand, she motioned gently to the trees and hummed a bit under her breath. With creaks of protest, the tree branches parted making an overgrown but serviceable path through the tangled woods.

  “I didn’t know you were an earth mage,” Jala grinned at Wisp. She had heard of the crafters from Sovann, but Wisp was the first she had actually seen working magics.

  “Oh I dabble a bit, enough to make life more convenient, but nothing serious. I
can’t move mountains like the great ones supposedly did. I can make the trees bend a bit and remove the worst of the vines, though,” Wisp replied happily and continued to clear their path as they rode.

  “We need to make it to the old wood before dark,” Madren said from ahead of them. He sat rigid on his horse and Jala could see the faint gleam of sweat on the back of his neck despite the cool breeze.

  “Why?” asked Wisp. Her attention was focused on her magic and Jala doubted she had noticed Madren’s distress.

  “This is the beginning of the Dead fields. According to tales, there is a new tree for each man that fell in the last battle. Those souls were bound here as well as the witches, and they rise at night. Whether the number is accurate or not, I couldn’t say, but I know a damned lot of men died here. We don’t have a spirit mage to keep the dead at bay so it’s better just to hurry,” Madren explained, his voice low and sounding a bit choked.

  “Death must delight in this place. That’s a lot of souls she had been denied,” Finn said dryly.

  Jala looked around at the forest and contemplated how long it would take to count the trees. For as far as she could see in all directions, new growths of maple and oak covered the landscape. “That’s a bloody lot of dead,” she mumbled to Wisp.

  Wisp looked over at her with a mild frown. “Haven’t gotten to Goswin in history yet, have you?” she asked.

  Jala shook her head. “No, I’m on Faydwer now, actually.”

  “On the day of the falling, two of the northern armies were here as well as the entire southern army, over three hundred thousand died on that single day. It was the worst disaster since the founding of Sanctuary. Until the fall of Merro and Veir, that is.” Wisp eyed the trees as she spoke with a bit more reverence, and it seemed to Jala that her earth crafting took on a gentler note.

  “Did you notice there is no wildlife?” Jala said quietly. She hadn’t really noticed the silence when they had first entered the woods. With growing unease, she looked around, hoping to spot a bird or squirrel, or any sign of life other than their small party.

  “If you were wildlife would you show yourself with the scent of Bendazzi in the air?” Finn asked with a smile.

  Jala gave a nervous chuckle at his attempt to lighten her mood and refrained from pointing out that Marrow had no scent. “How far until the older part of the forest, Madren?” she called ahead.

  “Three or so hours at this pace,” Madren answered.

  Wisp gazed up at the sky in contemplation and then urged her small bay mare into a trot. “Less, if we move a bit faster, and I’m inclined to move a bit faster.”

  The trip through the new forest was a silent one for the most part. The attention of the group had been focused on navigating through the thick brush and trying to ignore the coming dark. Of all of them, only Finn seemed unfazed by the surroundings. At one point, Jala had actually heard him whistling a rather bawdy tavern song behind her.

  She had spent most of the ride thinking the old wood would be a sort of sanctuary from the dangers of the Dead Fields. The reality of how wrong she had been, dawned as they neared the ancient trees. The unease of the newer growth was nothing compared with the oppressive feel of the dark giants. The underbrush gradually fell away in small degrees as they neared, and the path widened enough that Wisp’s magics were no longer required. She felt more than heard Finn move up to ride beside her as they crossed under the nearly black canopy. While it was only dusk beyond the Tolanteer forest, under the branches it was already as dark as full night. Being raised in the country, Jala had never really known fear of the wilds or of darkness, but the feel of this forest was wrong to her every sense. It was as if the trees themselves were filled with anger. Even Marrow seemed on edge in the forest, keeping to the shadows and watching his surroundings with caution. She suppressed a shiver, and glanced over at Finn to find him watching her quietly. Embarrassed at her own nerves, she looked away quickly and tried to put herself at ease.

  “Can you imagine what a bunny from this forest must look like?” he asked in a low conversational voice. “I bet they have fangs.”

  She looked over at him again and shook her head slightly. “They may indeed, I don’t think I want to meet anything from this forest other than the one I’m seeking,” she replied with a nervous chuckle.

  “Still, it’s not as bad as the Scarlet Jungle. Everything in that place is a carnivore, I swear,” he said with a smile and gazed around at the towering trees as if he were strolling in a garden.

  “You’ve been to the Scarlet Jungle?” Jala asked, eager for a distraction.

  Finn gave a slight nod and pulled a flask from his saddlebags. “Naturally, that’s where I learned to use swords. It’s also where I developed my taste for Firewater.” He offered her the flask and took a long pull himself when she shook her head in refusal. “See, I’m originally from Avanti, but when I was sixteen or so I had a bit of a difficulty there. So my father takes me aside and tells me as long as I live by his coin under his roof I will obey what he says.” Finn paused and gave her a grin. “So, of course, I was packed that afternoon and gone by that night without a coin to my name or an idea where I was going.”

  “I don’t even know how old you are now,” Jala pointed out when he paused for another drink.

  “Twenty-six in a month or so,” he replied, grinning at the shock that must have shown on her face. “I know you likely thought me younger. I’m one of the older students, but I had to get the coins to enroll, so I spent a bit of time mucking about before I went for higher learning.”

  “Mucking about?” she asked with peaked curiosity.

  “Two years in the Firym army, let me tell you that is not easy for one outside of their nation to accomplish. When I had finished my enlistment there, I spent a year on a Serpent Ship and earned my armor. I never could have afforded Serpent bone if I hadn’t helped kill the bastards.” His voice had taken on a bardic tone as he spoke, and she found herself watching him in fascination.

  “So that puts you at nineteen. There are seven years unaccounted for,” she prodded.

  “Well, after I had proper armor, I decided I needed proper steel, so I went off to Arovan. The Hai’dia make the best metals, though the Firym will argue. Of course, the Firym will argue about anything, so that’s really beside the point. I enlisted in their army for about two years and learned the proper way of the Cavalry according to their beliefs. Which, by the way, is quite different from the Firym beliefs on Cavalry.” He took another sip from the flask and shifted his position in the saddle a bit, patting his horse’s neck. “That’s actually where I got this brute from. He is an Arovan courser. Since I had joined the army, I got the arms free for my two years of service and bought the horse with the coin I had earned. Then I decided since I was in the land of Knights anyway, I might as well learn to Joust.”

  “I didn’t know you could Joust,” she broke in excitedly. “I didn’t see you in the Joust at the Spring Games.”

  “Ahh, yes, well I was getting to that. By the time I went in for lance training, I was twenty one and had an ego that required its own living space. It was my first day on the training field, when I met someone around my own age that was quite possibly worse than I was, as far as arrogance goes. It was hate at first sight and every second of every day we were at each other’s throats and constantly competing. I was by far better with swords and he was unquestionably better with lances, though I never would have admitted it at the time. Luckily for me, he was attending the Academy and was only there for his break. I finished my training in the time he was away, and then I myself went on to Sanctuary.” His smile had widened as he told the story and he glanced over at Jala and gave a light chuckle.

  “I hadn’t been in Sanctuary more than a week before I bumped into my bitter rival in a bar. I was already in my cups when he entered and didn’t quite notice the rather large individual sitting at a corner table. Naturally, I had to open my mouth, and it wasn’t long after I did that the entire taver
n was in a brawl. In the course of it, I found myself pairing off against the big brute, and when I woke up all three of us were sitting comfortably in a Justicar holding cell, and my head felt like it was going to fall off. Not wanting to start another fight when I was outnumbered and had already been beaten rather badly, I tried another route and simply started a conversation. By the time we were released, Valor and I had come to the agreement that I wouldn’t enter the Joust and he wouldn’t enter Swords, and neither of us would ever brawl with Jail again.”

  “But you and Valor are best friends; I can’t believe you hated each other,” she protested.

  Finn gave a slight shrug and looked ready to reply but fell silent and held up a hand. He cocked his head and seemed to focus and then looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Jingling metal and footsteps,” he explained and pushed his horse up by Madren’s and signaled a halt for everyone.

  I will watch from the shadows. If you have need of me, I will be close, Marrow said to her and moved swiftly from the trail, disappearing almost instantly into the gloom. Jala watched him go and swallowed back any protest. It was probably best that he be unseen, for Bendazzi were not welcome in many places.

  “Nice to have him watching our backs,” Wisp offered quietly.

  Jala gave a nod of agreement to Wisp and glanced back to Shade and Leah before urging her own mount forward. If what they had explained was true, the only people they would encounter in this forest were the witches. With only a bit of trepidation, she pushed her horse past Finn and Madren. This was her quest, after all, and it was only right that she face whatever was heading their way. She heard the rest of her group move forward and stop, but she didn’t look back.

  Ahead of them on the trail a figure was emerging from the gloom. A tall woman in a faded scarlet dress approached slowly leading a small donkey behind her. She wore a hooded black cloak and walked with her head bent slightly, and at first Jala thought she was old. She straightened as she neared them and pulled the cloak back, revealing dark hair hanging loose about her shoulders. Small coins were braided into the locks and made a faint jingling noise as she moved. Her skin was dusky and smooth, and her large dark eyes surveyed them with open curiosity.