“I never spew words,” Blue snapped, her voice still beautiful to the ears but filled with obvious offense. Leaning forward, she wrapped delicate long fingered hands around two beams and used them to swing down, landing gracefully before the gate. Drawing one hand before her she stretched a lean leg out in front and bowed to Jala formally at the waist. “If you truly are High Lady Merrodin, it is an honor to have you grace our humble dwelling. If you are not truly the High Lady then you will make a very pretty meal for Korv,” Blue said as she stood once more and tilted her delicate chin upwards to survey Valor more closely.
“Not while I draw breath,” Valor warned, his hand dropping on reflex to where his sword normally hung. He frowned as he found nothing but empty air and sighed heavily.
Blue watched the gesture with obvious amusement and then met his eye once more. “My, my! Did we come to the battle without our sword? The Valor I knew never would have made such a mistake. His hand was always firmly gripping his…” She paused and coughed lightly, giving him a smile. “Sword,” she added at last.
Valor cleared his throat and raised his own eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest. “The proving myself to you? Did you forget? You are getting a bit long in the tooth, vixen.”
Blue sputtered for a moment, her eyes wide as she stepped back away from him with a look of complete indignation written on her face. “Long in the tooth, he says,” she exclaimed with a gasp. “This is not Valor Hai’dia before me at all. Sweet Valor would never utter such wretched words before my ears,” she continued, her voice rising in mock pain.
“For the love of the Aspects, Blue, cut the drama,” Valor demanded as he turned back toward the forest with a wary expression on his face. “If Korv hears you say that he will have my head bitten off before you explain that you are jesting.”
Jala watched the scene, looking from Valor, then to Blue, and finally down to Marrow. “Do you know many that have a Bendazzi as a Familiar other than Lady Jala Merrodin?” she asked just loudly enough to be heard.
“Right. You are quite obviously who you say you are, given that fact. You may approach the gate, Milady,” Blue said with a smile and another bow but held a finger up to Valor as he started to move as well. “You, however, do not have a rather large cat to bear witness for you. Given your brutish nature with words I find myself still suspect as to your character.”
Valor sighed and his shoulders slumped once more. “Shall I recite a verse from your tattoos?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
Blue frowned at him and shook her head slowly. “No, you never had opportunity to learn the special verses and anyone could have learned the others. Instead you will answer three questions.”
“Then please ask before Lady Merrodin gets frostbite from your holding her hostage before the gate,” Valor pressed.
Jala wrapped her arms tighter around herself and allowed her teeth to chatter audibly as the bard turned to regard her. “I’m from the south,” she offered in a quavering voice and motioned with a delicate wave of her hand for the interrogation to commence.
On another occasion the antics might have been rather amusing, but not today. In her current frame of mind, Jala wanted nothing more than the bard to be satisfied and allow them to pass so she could heal Sebastian and return home.
Blue cleared her throat delicately and narrowed her eyes at Valor with a suspicious look. “What did the boy offer me?” she asked in a clear ringing voice.
“His heart. You took his pride instead,” Valor answered without hesitation.
“Hmm.” Blue mused and nodded. “What would the man offer me?” she asked her head tilting to one side.
“A bowl of late harvest grapes from the vines of Arovan bursting with the flavor of summer,” Valor replied once more without pause.
“Mmm.” Blue smiled, her eyes twinkling. She nodded slowly and held up two fingers then slowly raised the third. “And what would I give the boy or the man in return?” she asked.
“Just enough to haunt his sleep and leave him pining after you like a lovesick pup and not a drop more,” Valor answered the moment she stopped speaking.
“Welcome home, Valor Hai’dia. So glad to hear the rumors about your trip to the Darklands were exaggerated,” Blue said in a voice filled with warmth. Moving forward she wrapped both arms around Valor in tight embrace.
“They weren’t, Blue. We returned but a few days ago,” Valor informed her as she stepped back from the hug. Blue froze and stared at him as if she expected him to laugh, and then slowly looked from his serious expression to Jala.
Jala gave a nod of agreement and turned to look back toward the gate. “We have come so that I might heal Sebastian Blackwolf. I have been told that he lies near death.”
Blue’s eyes lost their playful light and she turned back to Valor. “Is this true? Can she heal him?” she asked in a voice filled with doubt.
“It is and she can,” Valor answered.
“This way,” Blue said without further hesitation as she pushed a postern door open beside the gate. “I had no idea your visit here was of such importance. I thought you were simply seeking Honor. Had I known, I never would have delayed you at the gate,” Blue said in way of apology as she led them through the muddy streets and small clustered houses.
“Honor is here?” Valor said quickly his eyes moving to search the streets. “Is that his weather crafting outside the gate?”
“He is and it is. Both he and Micah arrived here before the first snows with the intent on escorting Sebastian on to Arovan,” Blue explained her voice losing most of its former merriment. “We haven’t been able to move him though. He keeps growing worse and I fear now that we are doing nothing more than waiting for him to die before we continue on. Or at least that’s how it feels.” The bard paused and swallowed heavily, looking back toward them with pain written on her beautiful face. “I do what I can to keep spirits up. I don’t want my young lord to be smothered in misery during his last days. I want him to hear laughter and music and remember the joys of this world, in the hopes that perhaps he will cling longer to life. I’m afraid that the sobbing and tears do nothing but rush him toward his own grave,” she confessed softly and ran a hand across her face to brush away the beginning of tears. “He no longer even looks like the boy I taught, Valor. He has wasted away to nothing but bones and agony.”
“Jala will make him whole again, I promise you, Blue,” Valor assured her, placing a gentle hand on her back and urging her forward once more.
“We’ve had healers to see him,” Blue said through soft sniffles. “They were not the best at their craft, however. The finest healers are no longer with us, I fear. They fell in the early days of the fighting and now we are left with children that know a fraction of the art their masters held. We tried to send for a healer from Sanctuary, but no one will come to Glis.”
“Had I known, I would have come,” Jala offered quietly.
Blue glanced over her shoulder once more at Jala and then guided them up a set of stairs and through a door. The small house blazed with heat and Jala let out a sigh of relief as she unwrapped her arms from her coat and stretched her palms toward the cheerfully burning fireplace. The house was decorated modestly with simple chairs and a roughhewn table. A door in the back opened at the sound of their entrance and Jala glanced over to see Honor Hai’dia staring at them in utter shock.
“Hello brother,” Valor said, his voice shattering the silence of the room.
“Lady Merrodin has come to see Sebastian. Will you ask if it is allowed? Please, Honor,” Blue called.
Honor nodded slowly and then turned back to the room once more, the look of shock still on his handsome face. After a few muffled exchanges he leaned through the door and motioned to Jala. “This way please, Lady Merrodin. My Lord Micah will show you to Sebastian.”
Jala stole a glance toward Valor and then nodded and made her way across the small room. “Thank you,” she said softly to Honor as he held the door open wide for her. Wit
h a quick glance around the small parlor she turned to Micah and bowed her head in greeting.
The last time she had seen the heir of Arovan he had been filthy and dressed in grooms clothes. This time however he resembled his rank. He rose quickly from the chair he had been sitting in and bowed deeply to her. His somber clothes were of fine quality but lacked the flamboyance of Blue’s courtly attire. He started to offer his hand and then seemed to realize that he still held a thick book in his grasp and quickly dropped it onto the table. “Lady Merrodin, I apologize for our distraction and shock. I could not think of a more unexpected guest, however, and I hope that explains our lack of manners.” His voice was mellow with only a faint hint of an accent to it. She could see his gaze moving from her face to her stomach, but he was far too well-mannered to make mention of it.
“I can imagine the shock and I assure you I am not offended. I am getting rather uneasy about being so formally addressed though. May I beg your indulgence and ask that you simply call me Jala,” she said carefully, choosing her words in an attempt to sound as courtly as she could. Folding her coat over her arm she effectively hid her pregnancy from direct sight and hoped the subtle signal was enough to let the young lord know it wasn’t a topic she cared to discuss.
Micah nodded slowly and a faint smile creased his face. “If in return you would be willing to call me Micah, and we can set aside the formal speech,” he offered.
“Thank the Aspects,” Jala sighed and nodded gratefully to the heir of Arovan.
“Honor says you’ve come to see Sebastian. I regret to say that he is in no fit state for company. His health is such that I doubt he will even know you are in the room. Whatever you have come to speak with him about, however, perhaps you could say to me. I think that Arovan might be in a better position to offer whatever assistance you seek,” Micah said cautiously, his eyes searching her face for some indication as to her purpose here.
Jala shook her head slowly. “I think you misunderstand my presence here, Micah. I’m not here to ask for assistance. I’m here to offer it. I’ve come to heal him,” she corrected gently.
“That’s kind of you lady, but we have had healers here for that very purpose to no avail. I know you had time for a few lessons with Rose but I fear the poisons that eat at Sebastian are well beyond the talents of a master healer.” Micah leaned back against the chair and rubbed his jaw. The exhaustion on his features showed clearly as he relaxed and she wondered how long it had been since he had allowed himself a full night’s sleep.
“Would it hurt if I tried? If he truly is in that bad shape, where is the harm?” Jala asked as gently as she could. It was clear that he sought to protect his friend from the bumbling attempts of an amateur without giving her offense.
Frowning, he glanced toward the small stairs and then pushed off the chair once more. “At this point I don’t suppose anything would make him worse. I keep expecting to find him dead every time I open the door,” he admitted sadly.
“And so you check on him every hour of the day,” Jala concluded as she headed for the stairs.
“Often, more than that. Sebastian and I were close as children and have managed to remain friends still. Given house politics, that speaks volumes for him. If you truly can save him…” His voice trailed off as she held her hand up to stop him.
“Don’t say it. I uttered words very similar to those not so long ago and it came to nothing. Let me try to help him. If it works, then we will both find relief in it. I want no promises from this, though. I don’t do this for favor,” Jala said quietly and continued the climb up the worn stairs.
“May I ask why you do it then?” Micah pressed gently.
“Because I have a small girl at my home that would desperately love to hear that her father lives and because it is the right thing to do. I ask for no favors or promises beyond perhaps a smile on our next meeting,” Jala explained as she reached the doorway at the top of the stairs.
“You have Devony? Sebastian thought her dead,” Micah exclaimed in shock.
“Until the fall of Sanctuary, we had thought her dead as well. One of my friends managed to save her, however, and she has been safe in Merro since. I regret that I did not send word to Sebastian regarding it but I fear my mind was fully occupied elsewhere,” Jala said.
Inhaling deeply she pushed the door open slowly and peeked inside. A dim lamp burned on a table on the far side of the room barely illuminating the sleeping form on the small bed. Blankets were heaped over Sebastian but she could see how wasted his form was by the drawn look of his face. There was nothing in this man that spoke of the robust young lord she had met in the spring. As silently as she could, she crossed the room and leaned over for a closer look at his face. His skin was ashen and his lips held a tinge of blue. If not for the steady rise and fall of his chest she would have believed him already dead. With a slow gentle touch she pulled the blankets back and folded them over his waist. The body she revealed was skeletal with barely any flesh remaining. Glancing over at the doorway she saw Micah watching with a grief stricken expression.
“We can’t get him to keep down much more than honey water. On good days he can manage beef broth but it isn’t enough,” he explained in a voice filled with misery. “We keep him warm and clean and force him to eat what we can but it just isn’t enough.”
Jala nodded her understanding and felt her heart go out to the young lord. She knew far better than most how horrible not enough felt. Pulling a chair closer to the bed she sat down silently and looked back at Micah once more. “Give me some time. I promise no harm will come to him. But rest while I work, please. I can see how worn you are. Sit in the chair in here and watch if you like, but rest while you do,” Jala said in a voice barely above a whisper. She watched him long enough to see the nod of agreement and then turned back to her patient. The faint footfalls of boots on wood sounded as Micah crossed the room behind her and took a seat in a chair near the foot of the bed. She glanced up once at him and offered the best smile she could manage. “Do you know what brought him low?” she asked softly.
“A serpent’s tooth arrow. They told me they removed all of the spines but couldn’t stop the poison,” Micah explained.
Jala shook her head slowly and frowned. “I don’t know what that is,” she said with a sigh.
“An arrow invented in Avanti. They are foul things. Picture a normal arrowhead in your mind. Now add slender needle like spines to each side. Typically there are three to a side. Each of those six spines holds a different poison and they are designed to break off in the wound. If the victim doesn’t die within moments of the poison the spines usually work their way farther into the wound with each movement and breed infection deep in the body,” Micah explained in a hushed voice.
“I see. And you are sure they removed all of these spines?” Jala asked as she turned back to study Sebastian’s still form once more.
“They tell me so. I wasn’t here, however, so I cannot say so with a certainty. I only arrived a month past in hopes of taking him to the safety of Arovan. Sadly, he was already beyond moving then and so I have remained to guard his people in his place,” Micah said with a long sigh.
Jala nodded once more and placed her hands gently on Sebastian’s brow and chest. His skin felt like fire under her touch and she began immediately to channel her magic to reduce the fever. Closing her eyes she focused completely on the body beneath her hands and smiled bitterly as she saw the last clinging strands of Death’s dark magic. The spells had been severed of course but the fragments of magic still ate at his flesh and bred corruption through his body.
With careful gentle nudges she cleansed him of the magic and began the painfully slow process of rebuilding his body. She could see clearly the damage the poisons had wrought on his liver and heart and so she began working at the core of his body and slowly moving outward through bones and tissue and finally muscle until her body ached with fatigue. She pulled herself back from the magic and flexed her numb fingers.
> Blinking several times she looked over to find Micah sleeping uneasily in the chair. With a silent groan of pain she leaned back in her own chair and stretched her aching back. She had no idea how long she had labored over Sebastian but by the ache in her body it had been several hours.
“You are quite possibly the last person I expected to see,” Sebastian’s voice was rough but held strength in each word.
Jala looked down at him and smiled weakly, then shrugged. “I’m relieved that you are seeing anything,” she replied.
He propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at himself in obvious amazement. The grey tone of his skin was gone, replaced with the healthy glow of a young man in his prime. His body no longer held any trace of the skeletal state he had been in upon her arrival.
“Bast,” Micah breathed, his voice barely above a whisper. He stood shakily and approached the other side of the bed, his face filled with disbelief as if he expected to wake from a dream at any moment to find his friend still clinging to life.
“Micah,” Sebastian exclaimed in a louder voice. “When did you arrive? Did you bring Lady Merrodin here?” he asked in confusion.
Micah swallowed heavily and shook his head his eyes growing glassy. “I’ve been here for over a month, Bast, waiting for you to wake up. It’s about time you did,” he answered as he dropped down on a knee beside the bed and stared at his friend in amazement.
“I should go. I think I’ve been here far longer than I intended,” Jala began as she rose slowly from the bed. “Lord Sebastian, I have your daughter safe in Merro. Send word if you like when you are safely settled in Arovan and I will do my best to see you reunited. She finds comfort in Valor’s presence but I know she would rather be with her father.”
“Devony lives?” Sebastian straightened in the bed and reached for Jala’s hand grasping it tightly in his own. “Truly you have my daughter?” he asked desperately.
The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes Page 21