The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse

by Melissa Myers

  “Perfect, aside from the fact that it is shattered and cursed at the moment,” Shade argued. “Daddy coming,” the child announced as he waved out the door.

  “Shade?” Jala pressed, her voice sounding urgent.

  “Fine, I will stop there, but that’s it. I’m not condoning this plan and if Valor stops you, I will applaud him,” Shade grumbled.

  Zoelyn watched them both in confusion and wondered what she had missed in the few moments that her attention had been set on the Bendazzi. She searched Jala’s pale face for answers but found only a faint smile as Valor stepped onto the ship. All traces of the urgency that had been in her voice were gone from her demeanor.

  Valor returned Jala’s smile and carefully sat a wooden crate down beside the door. Zoelyn watched him and felt her hopes sink as he began to pull the door shut behind him. It was probably for the best, anyway. She could see no way they would have gotten the mare onto the ship even if she had still been in the stable.

  “We are ready, Shade. Thank you for your patience,” Jala announced the moment the door was sealed. “Thank me after I get you to Merro,” Shade replied, still sounding rather grumpy.

  “Is he upset that I took so long?” Valor asked with puzzlement clear in his voice.

  “No, I don’t think that is it at all,” Jala assured him as she took a seat and motioned for her son to join her.

  Valor watched her silently and one eyebrow slowly rose. His head cocked to one side and he smiled down at the little boy. “Mommy is plotting isn’t she?” he asked in a pleasant voice.

  “Mommy is not plotting. That sounds so devious, Valor,” Jala replied with a heavy sigh. “Mommy is most definitely plotting,” Shade called from the cockpit and Valor’s smile widened.

  “What are you planning that I won’t like?” Valor asked, his voice still cheerful and to Zoelyn’s surprise he seemed amused rather than angry.

  Jala sighed heavily once more and leaned back in her seat to stare up at the ceiling.

  “It isn’t plotting, Valor. It is something that must be done,” she replied after a long moment of silence.

  “Oh, one of those,” Valor said with a knowing nod and then shook his head slightly rolling his eyes. “How bad is it, Shade, on a level of one to ten?” Valor called as he picked the wooden box up and carried it closer to the seats. Carefully he sat it down beside Zoelyn’s seat and dropped heavily into the chair across from her.

  “Forty-seven and a half,” Shade replied loudly.

  Valor paused in the process of opening the crate, his eyebrow rising once more as he glanced over his shoulder toward the pilot’s seat and then looked to Jala.

  “He is insane, remember. At worst it is a six,” Jala muttered as she glared in Shade’s direction. “Fifty,” the child announced cheerfully and Valor snorted back laughter.

  “Treason, Legacy, that is treason,” Jala sighed, shaking her head at Valor. “Seven perhaps,” she amended.

  “Before I get started on dealing with Jala, could you tell me if I grabbed the correct horse Zoelyn?” Valor said quietly as he finally pulled the lid of the crate up to reveal the tiny bay mare that was prancing inside, looking less than pleased with her situation.

  Zoelyn stared down at the animal, her eyes widening as she spotted the white scars. “What did you do to her?” she gasped before she could stop herself. There was no doubt it was her horse, but she was so small and looked so terrified.

  “I had her shrunk for transport. Don’t worry, it is a common spell and Jala can reverse it when we arrive in Merro,” Valor explained as he carefully replaced the lid of the box. “The stable master was impressed with her. Said she was a fine mare of good stock and even tempered. It’s hard to get praise from that man on any horse. You should be proud,” Valor added as he stood up from his seat once more and paced slowly to stand by the doorway to the cockpit.

  “Valor, before you begin your conversation with Shade, can we handle something else? It shouldn’t take long. I simply had to wait until we were off the ground to address it,” Jala cut in before Valor could even open his mouth to speak.

  “Address what?” Valor asked in confusion.

  “Address who, rather,” Jala corrected and rose from her seat. “Zoelyn has a Blight with her. I wanted to wait until we were off the ground so he had no place to go if he was spooked,” she explained with a smile.

  “Uhh. What if he doesn’t get spooked and gets angry instead?” Shade asked quickly.

  “He doesn’t get angry!” Zoelyn spoke up quickly, her eyes flashing between the three of them as she half rose from her chair.

  “Well, that saves me from asking if she knew about him,” Jala said in amusement. Her eyes moved past where Zoelyn stood and fixated on the air behind her. “Will you speak for yourself or shall I speak to Zoelyn on your behalf?” Jala asked quietly with no trace of the hostility Zoelyn had expected to find at the mention of a Blight.

  “Old one or young one?” Valor asked. He seemed relaxed as well, but his hand was on his sword hilt.

  “Young, but cleaner than Emily was,” Jala answered, her expression unreadable as she studied the Blight. “And a bit more familiar than I would have expected in appearance, Val,” she added softly.

  “Familiar how?” Valor asked his hand easing back from his sword hilt.

  “He is most definitely of Arovan blood,” Jala explained, her eyes meeting Valor’s for a long moment and then returning to the Blight.

  “He doesn’t bother anything. Please, he just helps me with small things and keeps me company. He isn’t dangerous and he has never killed anything or hurt anyone,” Zoelyn said quickly as she took a step in what she hoped was the correct direction to put herself between the High Lady and her only friend.

  “Zoelyn, I have no intention of killing him for being a Blight. You don’t need to be so worried I promise you. As long as he is peaceful, so are we. As I said, I don’t believe in Undrae by birth,” Jala’s voice was soothing as she spoke and Zoelyn felt herself relaxing once more, simply from the sound of the High Lady’s voice.

  “Seems to have better manners than Emily, too. She would have already told us to fuck off,” Valor observed with a smirk.

  Jala nodded and smiled, her gaze flicking to the back of the ship. Eyes twinkling, she looked back to Valor and smiled wider. “Emily says exactly that in response,” she informed him and turned her gaze back toward Zoelyn. “So he doesn’t talk?” she asked.

  “Not often,” Zoelyn answered with a shrug. “How did you even know he was here? I wasn’t even sure that he had followed me.”

  “I can see Blights,” Jala explained with a wink and looked to Valor once more. “He doesn’t seem to be hostile. What do you want to do?” Valor shrugged and leaned back more fully against the wall. “Offer him a room at the house would be the polite thing to do. Between you and Emily if he chooses to step out of line he won’t make it far,” he suggested with a smirk.

  “You are going to let him stay with me?” Zoelyn gasped, her eyes moving between the two of them quickly. No one in Arovan would have accepted a Blight so easily.

  “We judge by actions, not blood. You will see when you get to Merro,” Valor explained with a grin and turned to look back at Shade. “So what did Jala ask you to do?” He asked casually as if the matter of a Blight on the ship were no longer of importance.

  Zoelyn watched them both carefully, but their attention truly did seem to have moved on. She had expected an interrogation at the very least.

  “Stop at one of the islands in the Black Sea on the way back to Merro,” Shade replied without hesitation.

  “Why would she want to do that?” Valor asked, his grin widened and he turned his head to watch Jala as she crossed her arms and stared at the two men.

  “Because she is a flaming nutter with a death wish,” Shade offered with a shrug.

  “I am not the flaming nutter on this ship. I have never once destroyed a city with exploding goblins,” Jala clarified. “Ya? Well
I’ve never won a battle because my enemies had to pee either,” Shade shot back sounding a bit indignant. “It worked, didn’t it?” Jala snapped, though there didn’t appear to be any true anger in her voice.

  “So did the goblins,” Shade pointed out with a smirk.

  “Thank the Divine you fell in love with me rather than him. Had the two of you had time to formulate plans together, I shudder to think what the world might have faced,” Valor sighed.

  “Our plans do work, Valor. They are simply a bit unconventional,” Jala said with a sigh.

  “So what is the plan this time?” Valor pressed, his dark blue eyes settling on Jala.

  “I’m going to raise the Tevonale islands,” Jala informed him, her chin tilting upward as she spoke as if daring him to object. “So, essentially rebuilding a continent, then?” Valor asked, his voice still calm, but Zoelyn could see his eyes growing stormy. “The Blights will need a land to claim as their own if Shade succeeds in swaying them from Glis. Which he will succeed in,” Jala explained as if it was perfectly rational to discuss repairing a destroyed country.

  “I don’t like it,” Valor grumbled. “Why can’t we simply set aside a territory in the Greenwild for them? That wouldn’t require risking your life using this much magic again.”

  “I won’t be risking my life, Valor. I know exactly how to do this using the least amount of magic. It can’t be the Greenwild, or Gaelyn or any other place that borders another land. It has to be separate or they will be blamed for everything that goes wrong in the neighboring country and you know it,” Jala said quickly as she moved closer to him and took his hands in her own. “Think about it, Valor. Who else would give them the benefit of the doubt?”

  “I don’t like it, but I see your point,” Valor sighed and pulled her closer to him. He nodded slowly and kissed her forehead. “I will concede to this on one condition.”

  “What’s that?” Jala asked as she stared up at him with a look of adoration.

  “The moment I sense you are draining yourself too far, you stop the magic,” Valor answered and watched her carefully as she shifted in his arms.

  “But what if I’ve almost completed it and I have just another second or so to go?” Jala asked with a faint frown.

  “Then I will knock you out to end the magic right then and there if you don’t look like you are going to stop the spell yourself,” Valor replied with a grin.

  “Way to go, Valor. If the woman won’t listen, beat her. That’s a fine lesson to teach your son,” Shade cut in with sarcasm dripping from his words.

  “I have to agree with Shade here,” Jala objected, pulling back a bit from Valor.

  “Then I’ll politely ask Zoelyn to knock you out,” Valor amended with a slight chuckle.

  “Uhh.” Zoelyn mumbled, shifting in her seat. Until the mention of her name she had been content to simply watch them. She could learn a lot about people by watching them and so far what she saw from the two of them gave her hope about her new home. Right up to the point that Valor brought her into the conversation.

  “He is joking, Zoelyn. He wouldn’t ask you to do anything of the sort,” Jala assured her with a grin.

  “If Jala was pushing herself too hard and risking her life, I would not only ask it. I would provide the club to hit her with,” Valor insisted and by the expression on his face and the look in his eyes Zoelyn knew without a doubt he wasn’t joking.

  “Everything will be fine. I’ve thought this through,” Jala said with a sigh and pulled free of his arms as she wandered back to her seat.

  “Oh, I have heard that before,” Valor groaned softly.

  * * *

  The waves crashed against the rocks with such force that the entire island seemed to tremble beneath them. Zoelyn shrank back from the cold water and walked slowly to the back of the ship. The entire island was barren without so much as a blade of grass in sight. Her eyes scanned the black water surrounding them and she shivered. This was a place of nightmares to her after her time in the lush valleys of Arovan.

  “Deadlands,” the Blight whispered beside her and she barely caught the single word through the cutting wind. She wasn’t sure if he had tried to tell her more or not, but knew it was futile to ask him to repeat himself. Even if he did, it would be a whisper, and the wind and waves were so loud she would miss his words a second time.

  “Val, can you do something about this wind, please?” Jala called loudly from near the ship’s door. Zoelyn turned to watch the High Lady as she stepped away from the ship, a long white coat wrapped tightly around her. Valor had moved several feet away and was staring up at the sky with a look of concentration showing on his handsome face.

  “I should be able to,” Valor called back after a long moment and slowly raised his hand to the sky. Zoelyn stepped farther back as the tingle of magic filled the air around the knight. She could feel her curse reaching out for the power and had no desire to disrupt his spell.

  The wind on the island rose once more as if in defiance of his magic and then stilled abruptly. “Strange, I don’t think that was natural weather, but it didn’t feel like a weather casting either,” Valor said as he lowered his hand and turned in a slow circle surveying the dismal surroundings.

  “Oh ya, the Blights are going to look at this prime piece of property and fall all over themselves to sign a treaty,” Shade said dryly as he stepped from the Spell Hawk. “Thanks for killing the wind, Valor,” he added as he dropped down from the ship and shook his head. “Are you sure you can fix this place, Jala?”

  Jala remained still and silent, her violet eyes staring off into the ink-black night. Silently, Zoelyn moved to stand where she could get a better look at the High Lady and still manage to keep an eye on her comrades and the two Bendazzi that trailed Jala everywhere. It had taken time for the realization of who this woman was to sink in, but she remembered now. There was a statue of Jala at the battlefield, and she was supposed to be dead. Now she stood poised in the middle of a cursed island with every intention of rebuilding a land that had been gone for hundreds of years. Shaking her head, Zoelyn glanced down at the black rocks below her and followed the High Lady’s gaze to the sea beyond them. The whole idea seemed insane to her, but Jala seemed very confident.

  “Jala?” Shade called again after a lengthy silence. He ran a hand through his auburn hair and leaned over for a better look at her face as he waited for any sign that she had heard him. Frowning, Shade turned back to look at Valor with a raised eyebrow.

  “She is reading the weaves of this place,” Valor said quietly. From the expression on his face, the knight apparently thought the idea was insane as well. He looked far from pleased and his frown was deepening with every breath. “It looks to me like it is going to be far more than one night’s work. Tevonale was nearly as big as Merro and this rock we are standing on is barely bigger than your ship,” Valor muttered with a slight shake of his head.

  “It was the biggest island I could find to land on,” Shade replied with a shrug.

  “Stay by the ship,” Jala ordered in a voice that seemed distant. Slowly the High Lady moved farther from the spell hawk and placed her staff in front of her. She closed her eyes and one hand reached out before her as if pulling aside a curtain that only she could see. Her fingers twisted and curved down, forming patterns that seemed too complex to Zoelyn’s eyes. A faint tremor rippled through the ground below them and the air itself seemed to shiver.

  The warmth of magic washed over Zoelyn, but it was nothing like Valor’s power had been. The minor weather casting Valor used had been a gentle caress. The raw power Jala was calling forth was like an avalanche crashing into her. Staggering back, Zoelyn fought against the curse, but it was futile. She could feel magic leeching into her despite her attempts to refuse it. Warmth poured through her body and the fatigue of the day vanished.

  “Are you OK, Zoelyn?” Valor asked. His dark blue eyes were settled firmly on her, and she wondered how long he had been watching her.

&nbs
p; Zoelyn nodded, then shook her head unsure how to respond. “I can’t help it. I don’t want the magic, but I am draining it,” Zoelyn explained, her words quavering as she spoke. Never before had she felt such power. The desire to simply let go of all restraint and drain until the ever present hunger vanished, was so strong she wanted to cry.

  The ground trembled again and the strength of Jala’s magic intensified once more. Roaring filled the air and the waters around the island began to churn as the earth rocked again. Zoelyn’s eyes flew back to Jala as a soft violet glow began to surround the High Lady. Jala’s hand was still raised and light trailed from her fingertips as she continued to draw the complex patterns in the air before her. The island shook again and rocks skittered down the gentle slope to splash into the churning sea. The roaring of the water intensified and a groaning sound filled the air to the west of them. All eyes followed the sound and Zoelyn stared in dumbfounded wonder as the crest of another island became visible through the crashing water. The groaning grew louder as more rocks rose to the surface. Zoelyn glanced at the two men and found identical expressions of wonder on their faces. Slowly, she turned in a full circle and watched in silence as Jala slowly repaired what others had broken so long ago. Just as she said she would, the High Lady was rebuilding Tevonale.

  “Unfuckingbelievable” Shade muttered as the newly risen islands shifted and seemed to pull closer to the small mass of land they stood on.

  “Nothing is unbelievable with Jala,” Valor replied quietly. At first, he had been watching the progress of rebuilding as much as they were.

  Now his eyes were only for Jala and Zoelyn knew he was monitoring her magic reserves.

  “Do you love her or worship her?” Shade asked dryly and shook his head as the islands around them began to radiate with a pale violet light. At first, it was a dim glow that trailed along the cracks where the newly risen land was connected, within a breath, however, it had grown so bright that Zoelyn turned away and shielded her eyes. The groaning that had filled the air for the last few minutes died off abruptly and it seemed as though Sanctuary itself was holding its breath in the silence.