The Crow King's Wife (13 page)

“Sounds about right for Blackwolf.” Caleb
muttered before falling silent once more.

Zoelyn studied the dark circles under his
eyes and the disheveled state of his clothes and hair and let out a
soft sigh. “Why don’t you sleep Grim? I can finish the folly for
you even if I hate what you will use it for.”

“Sleep is a wasted effort for me these days.
I haven’t been able to rest well since I heard of Amdany.” Caleb
mumbled.

“Should I fetch a vial from your bag and tell
you it will help?” Zoelyn asked dryly.

“I will have rest soon enough.” Caleb
sighed.

“No you won’t. I’m on a first name basis with
Death and I will whine at his door until he sends you back.” Zoelyn
said firmly.

“Finn won’t see me at his door. I’m going for
Derrick Rivasa and three of his sworn swords carry Soul blades.
When I fall it will be final rest without penance for my sins.”
Caleb corrected her softly.

“You saved Arovan from countless invasions.
Nothing you have ever done has been a sin in my eyes, no matter how
bloody the fight was.” Zoelyn whispered as she lowered her head to
the table and buried her face in her arms. She could feel the tears
coming again and didn’t have the will to fight them back. Neither
of them would sleep tonight, but at least they both had company to
share their misery with even if he was the source of hers
tonight.

* * *

The room around him was locked in shadows as
his eyes opened slowly, and for half a breath Shade thought he was
somehow back in the prison in Glis. His breath caught and he sat up
sharply before he realized it was a feather mattress he was laying
on. It was another long moment before the fact that he had vision
in both eyes dawned on him, and by that time he realized he wasn’t
alone in the room.

“I didn’t think you would sleep the night
through.” Jala whispered from her chair beside the wall. She rose
slowly and moved to rest on the side of his bed looking down at him
with concern. “Can you see clearly through both eyes?” she asked as
she lifted a hand to wave it back and forth slowly in front of his
face to test his vision.

“I can. You have my thanks for that, and the
other healing as well.” Shade said hoarsely. His throat was so dry
it felt as though he had been sucking on cotton.

“I’m so sorry Shade. I never expected you to
return in this condition.” Jala began but Shade cut her off with a
wave of his hand.

“It was my fault entirely. My arrogance
bought my wounds for me.” He assured her as he sat up further in
the bed and searched the side table for anything to drink.

She noticed the direction of his gaze and
rose instantly from the bed to fetch water from a decanter across
the room. Within a breath she was back with a glass of water and he
took it from her gratefully. She watched him as he drained the
glass and took it from him silently to refill.

Shade studied her face and the set of her
shoulders and knew without a doubt that something was wrong. “Did
Caleb leave already?” He asked and wondered exactly how long he had
been unconscious. If it had been for more than a day than the
Arovan likely had left him behind to finish the mission alone,
which meant Caleb was likely dead already.

“No, he is downstairs, and your goblin is
asleep under the bed, so there is no need for you to worry about
your companions. They are both fine.” Jala assured him as she
returned with the glass and sat it down on the nightstand beside
him. She settled on the bed once more and folded her knees to her
chest. It was the posture of a frightened child, and the last thing
he expected from Jala Merrodin.

“What’s wrong?” Shade asked quietly, though
he wasn’t sure she would answer him. She had never been the sort
for complaining, and he knew she would see talking about what was
troubling her as either whining or complaining.

“Beyond the obvious fact that I nearly killed
a friend with my request?” Jala asked with a sad smile then
shrugged. “Too much to bother speaking about.”

“I doubt I’ll sleep for the rest of the
night, and it’s been a while since we have had a lengthy
conversation.” Shade pressed.

Jala shook her head and wrapped her arms
around her knees. “Tell me what the Blights said. That is more
important.”

Shade frowned at her but nodded slowly. “I
had every intention of screaming at you over that whole matter, but
seeing you like this I can’t summon the will for it. So answer a
question for me instead of listening to me rant. Did you know the
Morcaillo line controlled the Blights?” By her expression he didn’t
need to her say anything he could see the guilt written clearly on
her face.

“Had I told you and had you known when they
scanned your mind they never would have believed you weren’t
associated with your father’s plots.” Jala said hesitantly.

“Funny thing, they still didn’t think I was
innocent despite my ignorance. I’ve spent the past three weeks
hanging from a rafter in a barn because of my last name.” Shade
informed her with more bitterness than he had intended to use.

Jala’s shoulders slumped further and he could
see her eyes growing glassy. She slowly lowered her head to rest on
the tops of her knees and let out a deep ragged breath. “I’m sorry
Shade. I never should have sent you in there knowing what I did,
but no one else…” her voice trailed off.

“No one else would have understood, or gone
for you. I know, and I’m not holding a grudge, just a bit of
anger.” Shade assured her. He was certain she was crying by the way
her shoulders were shaking, but she was utterly silent. It bothered
him more than he cared to admit that somehow over the months Jala
had learned how to cry without making a sound.

“Every choice I make is the wrong one, and
someone I care for always ends up suffering for it.” Jala said
quietly and her voice quavered with the words.

“I hate seeing you like this, but I find
relief in it at the same time. I had begun to think Jala had died
and the only thing left was Lady Bendazzi.” Shade said quietly as
he slid forward on the bed to sit cross-legged in front of her.
“Look at me.” He ordered gently and she slowly raised her face to
meet his eyes. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and he brushed
them away gently. “I was your first friend right?” Shade asked
quietly.

Jala swallowed heavily and nodded slowly. Her
hair was a tangled mess and by the look of her face this was not
the first tears she had shed tonight. He brushed a stray curl back
from her face and smiled faintly at her.

“We have hit a few rough patches in our
friendship. I have made some bad choices, and you followed a few
paths I didn’t agree with fully, but here we are, and we are still
friends through it all. So if you can tell anyone what is bothering
you then it should be me. It’s obvious you aren’t talking with
anyone else about it or you wouldn’t be in this state.” Shade said
in the softest tone he could muster. By rights it should be Valor
sitting in his place, and he wondered if that was the problem.
Given the luck Jala had with love he hoped it wasn’t. He doubted
she would let anyone close to her again if she parted ways with
Valor.

“I miss him.” Jala said quietly and a flash
of guilt crossed her face with the words. “And I have no right to
say that. I am practically married and I shouldn’t be pining for
someone that never loved me to begin with, but I am.” She admitted
in a voice that was barely a whisper. “It feels like I killed him,
and since I lost him I have shed more blood and killed so many…”
her voice trailed off and she wiped at her tears. “When I think
about how much it hurt to lose him, I begin to wonder how many I
granted that same pain to when I killed all of those people. How
many hearts did I break? How many lives did I utterly destroy?”

“And in that line of thought dwells madness
Jala. You can’t let your mind wander in that direction.” Shade
chided softly. “You have to focus on what you have now, and not
what you have lost. You have to look at those you saved rather than
killed. You rebuilt three lands if you count Tevonale, and you
returned thousands to life. If our deeds are truly balanced in the
end, Jala, you scale is sitting with the good outweighing the sins,
I promise you that.”

“It doesn’t feel like that at all.” Jala
objected and sniffled quietly. “I did something very bad Shade.”
She began and rubbed her face once more. “And I don’t know how to
make it right.”

“Well spit it out and let’s put our brilliant
minds to the task of solving the problem.” Shade said with far more
optimism than he actually felt at the moment.

“I turned my back on Neph, and at the time it
was done in anger and shock, but after so much time to think on it
I realize what an utter fool I was. I condemned him for killing an
innocent, and when you tally the blood on my hands against his I am
a monster in comparison. I left him alone when he needed friends
most, and I don’t see any way he will forgive me for it. I left him
to defend Delvay with nothing. How can I make something like that
right?” Jala said and her voice broke midway through speaking.

“Ironic that I’m the one you should ask
advice on this.” Shade said with a sad smile. “I’m the perfect one
to answer this question. As I recall I left a very dear friend when
she needed me most, and she forgave me for it.”

Jala stared at him for several breaths in
complete bewilderment. It was obvious that she hadn’t even
considered his actions in Rivasa before speaking. “I..” she began
and her words faltered.

“Wasn’t even thinking about that.” Shade
finished for her with a nod. “I know, but there isn’t a single time
I’m around you that I don’t think about it. I was wrong to turn my
back on you, and while I don’t know the full details on what
happened between you and Neph, by the guilt you are showing I’m
going to guess you were wrong too. The fix is a simple one Jala.
You go to Neph and you beg his forgiveness, and you make damned
sure that you are there beside him every time he needs you from now
until the end of time. Just like I will be here for you, no matter
how wretched the favor is that you ask.” Shade gave her a wink and
was rewarded with a faint smile.

“Neph isn’t as forgiving as I am.” Jala
protested weakly, but her tears were fading and she seemed to be
relaxing.

“Leave Neph to me. As soon as I finish my
Assassination in Rivasa, and spring a few dozen inmates from the
Sanctuary prison I will have room to work your next favor into my
schedule. Though I must say sending me into speak with Neph when he
is likely in a pissy mood is far crueler than sending me into a
Blight hive.” Shade said with a grin and elbowed her lightly on the
knee.

Her eyes had grown wide at the word
Assassination and he could see a thousand questions in her violet
eyes.

“Get comfy. I have a lot to explain and some
details about Onvalla that you should know. This might take a
while, but I’d rather you know everything before I leave tomorrow.”
Shade said with a sigh as he took his own advice and leaned back
against the headboard. It was doubtful that he would get anymore
rest tonight, but it was worth the lack of sleep if he could leave
tomorrow with Jala in a better state of mind. Tonight was the
closest he had ever seen her to breaking, and the sight was
terrifying. Too much depended on Jala’s strength for her to break
now.

Delvay

The table before him was older than the
caverns of his city. His grandmother had enchanted it as a means of
protection for Delvay before the construction on the city was even
complete. It was designed to allow the leaders of Delvay to always
know the strengths of their enemies at any time, and Neph was
taking full advantage of that magic now.

A ghostly outline of the world lit the top of
the table and scattered lights dotted the various countries. It was
a true an accurate counting of every living being on Sanctuary if
he cared to take the time to count the dots. He wasn’t in the mood
for that tedious task however, and he could learn enough by the
rough estimates he was seeing.

Rivasa seemed to be thriving and the entire
country was lit up with little orange dots. Nerathane was far
higher in numbers than he had expected as well. According to what
he had learned in the Academy dragons reproduced very slowly, from
what he was seeing on the map, his teachers had been wrong.

That wasn’t what was holding his attention
however, and he didn’t think Madren had yet noticed what he had.
There were far more dots moving in Oblivion than there should have
been. According to common knowledge for the past ten years there
were only two men that should have been alive in Oblivion, and yet
his map was showing something very different. The boundary lines of
Oblivion were still dead with no sign of life for what must have
been a hundred miles into the country, but at its heart was a
different story. Several small clusters of silver dots showed, and
Neph knew it wasn’t a malfunction of the table. Life had returned
to Oblivion, and the only way to explain it was Jala. Apparently
she had another secret she was keeping from everyone, though he
couldn’t fathom how she had found the time with everything else she
was doing. It did explain however why Oblivion was such a staunch
supporter of hers. She had bought them neatly, and House Dark would
support her for it without fail.

“How in the bloody hell can there be so many
dragons?” Madren mumbled from his side of the table. His gaze still
hadn’t wandered past the continent they now stood on, and Neph
couldn’t blame him. Nerathane and Rivasa were very big threats to
both of their lands, and even combining his strength with Madren’s
left them still woefully outnumbered by just one of their enemies.
When you considered Rivasa and Nerathane working in tandem, they
didn’t have a prayer of survival.