“Can we discuss this later perhaps? You might not be concerned, but there is an approaching High Lord as well as his two sons,” Valor said with a faint smile.
Jala raised her eyebrow and turned back to look toward their visitors, raising one hand to shield the sun from her eyes as she did so. “Ahh. Truce and Nathan as well as their daddy. This must be important,” she murmured softly.
“Did you get horribly lost, Avanti?” Neph snapped as he walked toward the porch from the opposite direction as the visitors and stepped up to stand just below Jala.
“Now, Neph that is no way to address our visitors. There is a High Lord present,” Jala said calmly and placed a hand on Neph’s shoulder as she smiled at the High Lord. Carefully she raised one hand and pointed north as she gave him an overly sweet smile. “Avanti is actually farther north, Lord Avanti. You just missed it by a smidgen of several hundred miles,” Jala offered in helpful tone.
“How cute,” Lord Avanti said as he paused several feet away and adjusted his coat carefully so that the deep red velvet fell perfectly straight to his waist. “I am, in fact, here to speak with you, Lady Merrodin. And while that must seem as ridiculous to you as it does to me, I’m afraid my son has insisted on it.”
His sons took positions behind him and Jala was quick to note that while Nathan looked pleased, Truce had an expression that suggested he would rather be anywhere else. By the expression on his face it was clear that Truce wasn’t the son that had insisted on the visit, and she could only imagine what Nathan must want.
Another figure moved behind them and caught her eye. Jala felt a twinge in her gut as she recognized the dark green eyes. While the man was covered from head to toe in a dark cloak and his lower face was shrouded with a mask, the eyes were enough to tell her who he was. Sovaesh, Finn’s father who served as Avanti’s personal Assassin. Sovaesh caught her eye for just a moment and nodded so faintly it was barely perceptible.
Sighing heavily, Jala ignored the gesture from Sovaesh to keep from drawing attention to him and shifted her gaze between the two sons once more before looking back to the High Lord. She didn’t bother to acknowledge the ten armed guards that surrounded the Avanti in a semi-circle, but she could tell by the way Valor and Jail stiffened that they were both intent on them.
“It seems you have yourself in a difficult place, Lady Merrodin, and my son has a soft heart. He feels that we should give you a second chance,” Lord Avanti continued, his eyes locking fully on her. “Earlier this year, you chose to side yourself with the rebels and now… Well now, you are all alone out here, little girl.”
Jala cocked her head slightly to one side and watched him, an expression of amusement flicking across her face. “You are surrounded by crowds of my citizens and I am standing with half my court beside me and you think I’m alone?”
The High Lord shifted and looked around slowly, a smile widening on his handsome face. “Little girl, you are surrounded by whores, gutter rats, and dysfunctional knights that were so worthless Arovan wouldn’t even let them die for their country. You have a single Delvay and a Han’shy beside you. Delvay is at war and I hold the country of Han’shy in my power. How long do you think they will stand by you, given that knowledge?” He paused long enough to smile wider as he regarded Valor. “Then of course, there is the rapist that wasn’t allowed back in his country. I suppose that one might fight for you, given proper incentive. So you aren’t entirely alone, are you?”
“That is the one and only time you will insult my people without paying for your words. Choose what you say with more care Lord Avanti,” Jala replied coldly, her expression shifting from amused to dangerous in a breath.
“Father, this is not what we came for. We are not here to insult the High Lady,” Truce cut in, earning a glare from his father for the effort. To his credit, Truce did not flinch away from his father’s displeasure, but held his ground with a calm expression.
With a disgusted sigh, Lord Avanti turned back to regard Jala and nodded slowly. “My son is quite right. We are not here to insult. It seems that both of my sons are cursed with soft hearts.” He paused and cleared his throat before smiling once more, though there was no warmth in the expression. “You can’t stand alone, Lady Merrodin. You are too weak. Surely you are not naïve enough to believe otherwise. My son, however, finds interest in you, so I offer you salvation. Ally yourself with house Avanti through marriage and you will survive the coming war.”
“She is in mourning, you ass. You know her husband just died. There is no way you couldn’t know your daughter had him killed,” Neph snarled.
“I’m quite sure Cassia had no part in that unfortunate incident. As I heard it told, he died in the battle for the city. It truly is a pity and I do sympathize with your loss, Lady Merrodin, but these are difficult times that demand action now,” Lord Avanti said in a mockery of her own honey sweet voice.
Jala stared at the High Lord for a long moment in silence before looking away. Sovaesh drew her attention for a breath and she noticed the faint shake of his head as her eyes settled on Nathan. “You believed I was a peasant whore a scant few months ago and now you wish to marry me?” she asked her tone incredulous.
“Your identity has been proven and you have been acknowledged as the High Lady of Merrodin,” Nathan answered with a smile that might have been charming if she had never met him before.
Jala nodded slightly and looked back to the High Lord. “I am in mourning and I have no interest in marriage,” she answered flatly with as much courtesy as she could muster.
The High Lord’s lips twitched slightly and he straightened his shoulders. “Little girl, put your feelings aside and truly look around at your people,” he urged her. A faint wash of magic poured from the High Lord as he spoke and she heard murmurs spread through the crowded streets as her people slowly began to drop to their knees facing the Avanti. The magic pulsed again and she felt Valor relax beside her followed quickly by Jail. “They know what I offer you. They see salvation at hand. Look at them and learn, child.”
“Perhaps we should listen to him,” Jail suggested in a quiet voice as his head bowed forward in respect toward the High Lord.
“We have no proof that it was Cassia,” Valor offered and his voice sounded very off to her ears.
Raw fury surged through Jala as she glanced between Jail and Valor, her eyes lingering on the knight. Valor had accompanied her through hell, and to see him enchanted by someone like Avanti pushed her temper well past reason. Turning back, Jala willed her vision to see the threads of magic and stared at the strands of magic that enshrouded her people willing them into submission. With the exception of herself and Neph, Lord Avanti’s magic held sway on every visible person as far as she could see.
“Cute,” Neph said softly and flexed his hands. “I wasn’t aware that magic was smiled upon in parley. May I show off my own?” he asked as he glanced over his shoulder to look at Jala, his expression dark and filled with anger.
“I give you this one single chance to remove this from my people before I lose my temper completely,” Jala warned. She could feel the magic humming through her veins and the desire to release that power on the Avanti was nearly overwhelming.
“You are quite good at tossing threats about, child. Do you not realize how precarious your position is right now? Their loyalty is to me at the present,” the High lord said in a silky voice as he motioned casually toward the citizens of Merro.
“Are you refusing to remove the magic then?” Jala asked coldly, her eyes narrowing. The fingers on her left hand curled slightly as she poured magic into her remaining focus stones.
“I’m giving you more warning than you deserve. If you choose to fight Avanti this is how you will die little girl. With everyone that you trusted turning on you. Take the offer and accept the marriage. It is the only chance your pathetic little country has,” High Lord Avanti said with a smug smile.
“Kill his guards as a lesson,” Jala ordered Neph calmly and unleashe
d her magic directly on Avanti’s spell. Her own power slashed easily through the webs of magic that held her people enchanted as Neph turned to face the Avanti with a savage smile on his face. Raising his hands the Delvay mage unleashed the spell he had been holding ready and a cloud of black mist rose beneath the guards and began to wrap quickly around them. With a sharp gesture from his left hand Neph finished the spell and laughed as the guards began to scream as the acidic mist ate away at flesh and armor alike.
“I said kill them not torture them,” Jala snapped and Neph nodded sharply his laughter abruptly dying.
With another gesture he threw a second spell and the screams fell abruptly silent as the bodies of the ten Avanti guards dropped boneless to the ground. “Happy?” Neph asked as he stepped back to stand in front of her once more.
“Not at all,” Jala replied, her eyes locked on the High Lord who was staring a bit slack-jawed at his dead guards. “I wish the High Lord hadn’t believed I was bluffing. His people would still be living if he would have listened to my warning,” she sighed.
“You will regret this choice,” the High lord stammered, his words halting and choked. Looking back up at her he shook his head violently. “You will deeply regret this choice,” he repeated in a louder voice filled with more confidence. “Merro will fall and I will see you in the slave pits you little bitch,” he snarled as he began to back toward his ship.
“I warned you,” Jala said softly as she watched them flee. Her mind was weighing the option of destroying the spell hawk once they had closed the door behind them. She didn’t like the idea of killing Truce or Sovaesh though. Glancing toward the Assassin she noted the slight crease at the corners of his eyes before he turned away to follow his master. Finn’s eyes had creased like that when he smiled, though she couldn’t imagine why the man would be smiling after what had just happened.
Neph started to raise his hand for another spell as the ship rose but Jala shook her head quickly and pushed his hand back down. “No, we’ve done enough damage by killing their guards. Not to mention the wards that are layering that ship. Just let them go.” The anger had faded from her as quickly as it had come and she found herself simply watching the ship disappear as she pondered Sovaesh’s strange behavior. With a weary sigh she glanced back toward Jail. “We need to talk. Gather everyone now, please,” she said softly as she moved back inside the house.
Jala stared silently down the table and watched with a clenched chest as Sovann carefully balanced her son on his leg. She felt her throat tighten a bit as her mind wandered to Finn, but she forced herself to keep watching and ignore the pain. There was a faint shuffling of chairs as the others began to seat themselves. Glancing away from Sovann finally, she watched Neph put the finishing touches on the spells of protection that would keep outsiders from overhearing anything in the room.
“Not even the gods can hear us now,” Neph announced as he nodded to her and took the seat to her left. Valor sat comfortably to her right with Wisp and Sovann closest to him while Jail, Madren, and Bridgette sat opposite. The lady knight shifted a bit in her seat and looked more confused than uncomfortable at being in the room. Joseph sat on the far side of her and if anything, the young man looked even more bewildered than the knight. He had been helping Sovann with every experiment the mage worked on, but as far as actual governmental work, he had no idea what was going on. It was at Jala’s insistence that the two of them were in attendance and she hadn’t bothered to explain to anyone why she wanted them present.
“Thank you, Neph. Before I begin, I’d like to thank Valor and Sovann for their gift to me,” Jala said as she looked at them both in turn. “I truly appreciate all of the work you both put into the staff and cannot thank you enough. It is a magnificent weapon.”
“I should have made one before now. I was kicking myself every day we were in the Darklands for allowing you to go in unarmed. Magic is useful, but you should have something to back it up with when it fails,” Valor replied.
“Most of the thanks should go to Valor really. All I did was lay the protections on it. The design is truly genius considering the difficulty you have with mana stones. The Barllen should leech the power from the stones when it’s uncovered and you can pull directly from the Barllen. The stones should keep the protection runes from being drained as well,” Sovann said quickly, his eyes alight with interest as they always were when he spoke of his Arcane works.
“Well, regardless, Sovann, you both have my sincere thanks. It is beautiful,” Jala said softly and let her eyes trail over everyone at the table once more before she leaned forward in her chair and folded her hands calmly on the table.
“Your hand Jala!” Wisp exclaimed in amazement. “It’s whole again!”
Jala smiled faintly and looked down at her newly repaired hand. Lifting it slowly she flexed the fingers and admired the smooth skin. “As good as I could make it anyway. You can still see the glitter from the focus gems in the skin, but at least it isn’t quite so hideous.”
“Your fingers were completely gone, though. Not even Rose replaces missing limbs. She says the magic is too taxing,” Wisp pressed her green eyes wide in astonishment.
“Rose knew how to replace bones. She told me how to do it. I suppose for the commons it might be too taxing, but I wanted my fingers back,” Jala explained as she lowered her hand back to the table.
“It was an honorable wound and you shouldn’t have seen shame in it,” Valor said quietly, his dark blue eyes locked on her hand. His expression, however, was one of relief.
“Not everyone sees it like that, Valor,” Jail said softly and nodded to Jala with respect. “I am impressed, Jala.”
Jala smirked slightly and nodded to Jail. “Now for the less impressive part of my day,” she began with a sigh. “As everyone in this room is aware, I just ordered the death of ten Avanti guards while their High Lord visited on parlay,” Jala began, her eyes moving past everyone at the table to lock on the map on the wall behind them. “Because of that, Avanti will come for us in the spring,” she continued, her eyes tracing over the faint smudge of green that marked the borders of the Greenwild. That single country was the only thing that stood between her people and the Avanti armies. The Greenwild itself had no armies or protections against the Avanti forces and, at best, crossing that land would only slow her enemies for a short time.
“The Avanti used magic first. I saw them from my perch,” Wisp objected with a shake of her head that sent her wavy black hair rippling down her back. “I would testify at the council that the High Lord used his magic first,” she added with a defiant expression on her delicate face.
“There won’t be a council to testify to in the spring,” Jail objected with a sigh and looked to Jala. “What do you plan to do?” he asked.
“First and foremost, I plan to clear a few things up, Bridgette,” Jala began and the knight sat sharply forward in her seat, her attention fully focused on Jala. “I have heard through a trusted source that rumors about Valor are running wild in the city. If you would, please try to have this stopped. I want everyone in this room as well as this city to know without a shadow of doubt that Valor has my complete trust and confidence.”
“As you say, High Lady Merrodin, though it is difficult to keep soldiers from talking,” Bridgette replied with a faint hesitation. She glanced quickly from Valor and then back to Jala once more and seemed to be waiting for something.
“Regardless, make the effort please,” Jala pressed gently.
“That isn’t necessary, Jala, I can handle the gossip myself,” Valor objected with a frown.
“It isn’t necessary for my people to know that I have faith and trust my General completely?” Jala asked with a raised eyebrow.
“General?” Valor exclaimed with a bit of shock. “You told me to build an army for you. You never said I’d be leading the entire bloody thing. I have experience with cavalry, not entire armies.”
“Your father is the Lord General of Arovan. You have more
training than anyone else in this room. I didn’t have a chance to study anything remotely close to military strategy. I do believe that makes you the most qualified in this room, Valor,” Jala explained calmly in a voice that told him clearly the discussion was over.
“General Valor Hai’dia,” Neph said slowly as if savoring the words and then nodded firmly to Jala. “Yep, we are fucked,” he said in a light voice as he leaned fully back in his chair and propped his feet on the table.
Jala frowned at him sharply and pushed his boots from the table. “We are not. I’ve seen Valor fight. We will be fine,” she objected fiercely.
“Jala, fighting and leading men to fight are two entirely different things,” Jail said calmly his expression mildly apologetic.
“Jail can you do transfers?” Valor broke in before Jala had a chance to speak again.
“I can, but it is highly frowned upon and most see it as tainted knowledge. To truly appreciate something, you must learn it yourself Valor,” Jail said hesitantly.
“What?” Jala began but Valor cut her off once more.
“We don’t have time for proper learning if this is all going to break loose in the spring. That gives us perhaps three months. Transfer what I know of war to Jala. I give the knowledge freely and want her to have it,” Valor said as he rose from his chair and moved to stand by Jail who was watching him with an unreadable expression.
“What?” Jala repeated, her gaze flicking from face to face, hoping someone would clarify exactly what Valor was suggesting. While she understood the basics of what he had explained she didn’t know the actual workings of how such a thing was done or what the repercussions would be. If Valor lost the knowledge when she gained it, this was not a path she wanted to follow.
“So you are essentially shoving the role of General onto our High Lady? How noble,” Neph scoffed shaking his head with disgust.
“No, but if I’m going to lead, then I want her to understand everything I do, and if I’m doing something she objects to, I want her to have the knowledge to correct me,” Valor shot back, his tone cold. Turning, he locked eyes with Jala and she could see the determination clear in his blue eyes. “I won’t do this without the transfer, Jala. You will have to find another General if you object. Take my knowledge and use it to help. You have a way of thinking very clearly in situations that would terrify anyone else, and you see things from a different perspective,” he said in a softer voice.
The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes Page 27
