The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (57 page)

I doubt I look much better, she mused, and
glanced down at her torn and blood-stained dress. Her hair had been
in wild tangles since the ride from her district and hung in
tangles matted with blood now.

“I think we can consider that dress ruined,”
Valor said quietly, apparently having noticed her
self-inspection.

“It’s going to take you a year to get the
blood out of the filigree on your armor,” she replied in the same
quiet tone. He snorted in bitter amusement and kept walking. She
had lost count how many people they had killed after she had sent
Neph and the others on to Merro.

From what she could tell it had been their
fighting that had turned the tide of battle for the Fionaveir. When
they left the inner city the fighting was all but done with, the
Fionaveir showed as the clear victors. It wasn’t enough, though.
Despite how much rage she had vented on their enemies, her anger
still burned hotly.

“How much farther?” Valor asked.

“I wish you would take off that helm when we
aren’t fighting. You sound like you are talking through a tube,”
she sighed and motioned ahead with a hand. “Two more streets,
perhaps. Marrow showed it to me once before, but Finn said to leave
it be.” She wished now she had ignored Finn then and killed Hemlock
when she had the chance. Of course, she doubted she would have had
the spine to do it then. Lutheron had all but crippled her with the
barrier he had ordered Remedy to put on her mind. She glanced aside
at Valor as he pulled his helm free and tucked it under his arm.
“Thank you,” she said with a slight nod.

He shrugged in response and glanced around
the streets. “Is Emily still with us?” he asked.

“I am,” Emily replied from ahead of them.
“Watching for my kind. With this much meat available and so much
blood in the air there is sure to be a feeding frenzy somewhere. I
want to make sure we don’t walk into it,” she spoke just loud
enough for her voice to carry back to them. It was one of the few
times Jala had actually heard her speak aloud in the past few weeks
and the voice no longer held any hints of a child.

“I appreciate your efforts, then. I have no
desire to walk into a Blight feeding ground,” Valor replied with a
nod in the direction that Emily’s voice had come from.

Jala smiled, knowing the Blight was no longer
anywhere near that area. Emily always moved after she spoke and
usually in the last direction you expected her to be in. For all
they knew the Blight was behind them now.

Almost there and I sense nothing in the
area. Most of the corpses I see belong to our enemies. So either
all of your people went to your homeland or they are very good at
hiding
, Marrow said as they turned another corner.

We will hope they went to my homeland and
aren’t hiding in this mess. I think half the city might burn by
morning
, she replied, her eyes going once again to the
flame-lit horizon near the inner city.

“I can’t believe the entrance to his lair is
in your district,” Valor muttered. His eyes were roving over the
buildings they had spent the past month repairing.

“Lair, that sounds so perfectly ominous,” she
said with a smirk.

“What should I say, cozy abode?” Valor asked
dryly, flicking a glance in her direction.

“How about grave?” she suggested and he
actually smiled as he nodded. It was a bitter smile with no warmth
to it at all but that seemed the only kind either of them was
capable of now.

They both slowed to a stop as Marrow paced up
to the transport stone and looked back at them. The area showed no
signs of fighting and other than the smell of smoke in the air it
seemed as peaceful as any other night.

Valor looked from the stone back to her and
raised an eyebrow. “Well, how shall we proceed?” he asked
calmly.

“I’ll go in first, the rest of you follow,”
she replied in the same calm voice.

He shook his head and thumped a gauntlet
against his breastplate. “Walking body shield. I go in first, you
follow with Marrow and Emily behind you,” he corrected.

“Well why did you even ask, then?” she
replied dryly and waved a hand forward toward the stone. “By all
means then, Sir Body Shield,”

He smirked and pulled his helm on again.
“Give me one minute and then follow,” he said as he moved toward
the stone.

I will go in with him. He will never
notice I’m there
, Emily said and Jala nodded silently with a
smile. She wasn’t overly worried about Valor anyway, with the
heavily enchanted suit of armor he wore he was invulnerable to most
weapons. Knowing that the Blight child was with him, however,
removed all concerns. It would take something very impressive to
kill the two of them in under a minute. After that, whatever they
were facing would have to deal with her and Marrow as well.

Valor paused just before activating the sigil
and looked around him. “If you are going in with me Emily, stay to
the left. If it’s tight confines and I have to fight I don’t want
to strike you by mistake,” he said quietly and then touched the
stone.

Can he sense her
? Marrow asked,
sounding dumbfounded.

I don’t think so
, Jala replied equally
mystified.
Perhaps he saw my smile. I don’t know
, she said
with a shrug and moved forward to the stone herself.

Crouching low she examined the rune, trusting
Marrow to keep watch for her. It was smaller than the rest of the
runes on the archway and looked so faded that most wouldn’t even
notice it. It was hidden very well in plain sight. If Marrow hadn’t
followed Hemlock here, she wouldn’t have had a clue how to find the
Assassin.

With a quick glance at Marrow, she activated
the rune and touched the Bendazzi lightly as she stepped through.
Vertigo washed over her as it always did and she steadied herself
against the Bendazzi until her eyes adjusted.

“It hasn’t been a minute,” Valor said in a
voice barely above a whisper.

Jala shrugged at him and quickly scanned
their surroundings. It looked like the entry hall to a large house
from what she could tell. The floor was a mosaic pattern of tiles
done in a rose vine theme. Murals of seascapes covered the walls in
between the two doors leading out of the room. Set perfectly center
between the two doors was a small table carved in the Fae style
with a vase of flowers resting on top of it.

“I see by your expression you are as
dumbfounded as I was,” Valor whispered.

“It’s uh, not exactly what I expected,” Jala
replied, glancing between the two doors. With another shrug she
moved to the one on the right. Valor followed walking as silently
as he could in his armor. The effect was less than stealthy. She
flicked a glance back to him and he shrugged, pointing down at the
tile floor.

“Chances are he knows the rune has been
activated and sneaking is pointless, regardless,” Valor said.

“True, so you might as well stop tiptoeing,”
Jala replied quietly.

They emerged from the entry hall into a
sitting room. Overstuffed chairs in pastel hues formed a small
circle around a table that was loaded with books. Shelves lined the
walls, loaded with various trinkets as well as more books.

Valor stared down at the pink hued carpet
that was traced with red roses along its border and looked directly
at her. “OK, I think we might have the wrong address,” he said
quietly and lowered his sword from the on guard position to simply
resting at his side.

Someone is coming
, Marrow informed her
crouching low.

“Well unexpected guests,” a female voice
called merrily as a door on the side of the room opened. “Let’s
see, we have the puppet girl, one of my beautiful creations, and
the Stormlord’s brat. How interesting.” The woman was dressed in
tight black dress that accented her every curve as well as her
exotic looks. Her skin was as pale as cream, with black stripes
across the arms and shoulders that didn’t have the look of tattoos
about them.

“Where is Hemlock?” Jala demanded, unsure who
this woman was or where they were for that matter. Marrow had seen
the Assassin use the rune however and she had no doubt this woman
knew him.

The woman clicked her tongue and shook her
head slowly. “Poor manners, Puppet. First breaking and entering and
now demanding. I thought they raised you better.” Her voice was
filled with amusement at the last and she seemed about to burst
into laughter.

“That is Kali,” Valor said quietly, his sword
once again rising to the on guard position.

“Ding Ding, the brat is quite correct. This
is Kali,” she dropped into one of the over-stuffed chairs and
turned her attention to Marrow. “You know by the guidelines I
created you with, you should have eaten the puppet not bonded with
her,” she said in a mock scolding voice, shaking a finger lightly
at the Bendazzi.

“Where is Hemlock?” Jala demanded again. The
woman’s antics were doing nothing to improve her temper.

“And why do you want Hemlock, Puppet? To
avenge your dead boy?” Kali asked, some of the amusement gone from
her voice. “He is the tool that one kills with, not the one that
kills, Puppet. If you want vengeance find the one that hired him.”
She eyed them both and then smiled widely. “He sure called you,
didn’t he, Puppet. Blood soaked and screaming for more death,” she
purred, her smile growing wider as Jala frowned at her words.
“Forgot about that in your little rampage tonight, did you? Well
sweetling, you have probably killed more people in the past five
hours than Hemlock has killed in the past five years. How many
widows did you make tonight, Puppet?”

“Do not compare honest battle with an
assassin’s work. The two are nothing alike. Those we killed, we
faced honorably. We didn’t sneak in the shadows and stab them in
the back,” Valor said crisply.

Kali laughed with genuine amusement. “Honest
battle, you say?” she asked, fighting her laughter back down as she
spoke. “Truly, is that how you saw it? I saw a massacre.” She
turned her gaze to Jala and raised an eyebrow. “How honorable is
that, Puppet? Those were not Elder Blood you fought. They barely
had a trace of Elder blood in their veins. You slaughtered them
like sheep.”

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Jala
asked, her anger draining away quickly with the woman’s words.

“What? Puppet? Well that is what we call
pretty dolls that dance when others pull their strings, sweetling,
and you do dance so very well for them,” Kali replied sweetly. “The
only thing I can’t quite figure out is who exactly pulls your
strings, the Fionaveir or the Aspects. You seem to dance for both
of them.” She relaxed back in her chair and crossed her legs,
sighing deeply.

“I am not their puppet,” Jala objected,
wishing she could put more confidence into the words.

Kali laughed again. “Not even you believe
that, Puppet. You have been dancing for them since the day you were
conceived and we both know it. Anthe showed you how quickly the
Fionaveir saved your mother.” She leaned forward a bit in her seat
and smiled sweetly. “Let me ask you, Puppet. How many slave farms
do you think the Fionaveir raided in Merro? Or a better question
might be, how many raped slaves do you think married Fionaveir?
Then of course there is the matter of the gods. The infallible luck
you possess. The healing ability you have. With the genetics you
have, child, you should barely be able to bind a wound properly,
and here you are repairing lost eyes. Then, of course, there is the
matter of your soul bond with the Sovaesh boy.” She paused in her
words, watching Jala’s expression closely. “Oh my, you thought he
truly loved you didn’t you?” she asked.

Jala held her arm up before her showing the
woman the Firym tattoo. “He did truly love me or I wouldn’t have
this,” she snapped. Kali’s words were cutting too close to the
surface. Part of her wanted to flee while the other part wanted to
kill the woman, just to end the conversation.

“He truly loved you because the Aspect of
love enchanted him. You know I speak the truth. Your mind is
already recalling every instance when someone commented on how odd
it was the Finn fell in love with you so quickly,” Kali said
quietly.

“It’s said that my father defeated you in
combat. Keep speaking, witch and we will see how much I truly
learned from my father,” Valor warned, leveling his sword toward
her chair.

Kali grinned and shivered slightly. “Oh,
scary. If I were you I would pray you didn’t learn much from that
bastard. He truly is obnoxious and quite full of himself,” she said
with another, too chipper smile. “I speak the truth to you, Puppet,
and your comrade wants to kill me for it. How odd, don’t you think,
Puppet. Perhaps he is afraid I’ll speak a bit of truth about
him?”

“There hasn’t been a word of truth that has
poured from your mouth. You are spewing poison,” Valor snapped.

Jala shook her head and took a step back.
“Finn truly loved me as much as I did him. I am not enchanted. You
are lying,” she said, her voice faint.

“N, you aren’t enchanted child. You were so
desperately lonely when you came to this cesspool of a city that
had you not been attracted to Shade you probably would have fallen
in love with poor Madren. They didn’t need to enchant you, Jala. At
the first hint of offered love, you seized it willingly and fell
right into their hands again.” Kali’s voice was almost gentle as
she spoke and the expression on her face seemed genuinely sad.

“Do not listen to her, Jala,” Valor hissed as
he pulled his helm off. He tucked it under his arm quickly and
seized her arm with the marriage tattoos holding it up in front of
her face. “Look at this. Look at the color of those marks. He loved
you. I don’t know what she is playing at, but I knew him better
than anyone.”

Jala nodded slowly, her eyes locking on her
arm and then nodded again with more confidence. Raising her other
hand she wiped at her eyes and looked back at Kali. “I’m not sure
what you have to gain from this, but I’ve heard enough.”