The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (31 page)

Sanctuary

The Spell Hawk tilted hard to the left and
Shade pushed himself straight in his seat once more. “Bring the
nose back level,” he ordered.

“The steering is incredibly touchy isn’t it?”
Symphony replied as she leveled the controls and sent them tilting
sharply to the right. Letting out a peal of laughter she tried to
correct once more, shaking the ship violently in the process.

“Yeah, pretty touchy,” Shade agreed, his
voice pitched several tones higher than normal. Swallowing heavily
he pried his hands from the armrests and sat straight once more.
“That’s the water Symphony,” he said as calmly as he could.
Glancing over at her then back at the view screen as he spoke.
“Water, Symphony,” he repeated, leaning forward a bit in his seat
to stare at the rapidly approaching waves. He glanced once more at
Symphony. She sat very still in her seat a distant look on her
face. “Water!” Shade bellowed and she jumped in her seat. His heart
thumped painfully against his chest and he finally realized what it
must be like for Charm when he was flying.

With unsteady hands she pulled upwards on the
controls and looked over at him with a sheepish expression. “Mental
link I’m so sorry. I didn’t think it would distract me that much,”
Symphony apologized with a small shrug.

Prying his fingers once again from the seat
he returned the smile with a quick nod. “No problem,” he said his
voice nearly a squeak in tone.

“You don’t do well as a passenger, do you?”
Symphony asked with a smile.

“No, I suppose I really don’t,” Shade
admitted and let out a shaky laugh. “Everything OK? That mental
link must have been important for you to zone out like that.”

“It was an update from Lutheron. The Firym
have sent a hundred troops to help hold the city. The Faydwer have
sent a handful of mages and their Ambassador. Jala Merrodin has
returned from the Darklands and has apparently barely survived her
quest, and last but not least, Delvay attacked the Rivasan border
in force early this morning. Reports are still coming in but it
appears as though the Rivasan suffered horribly,” Symphony said and
then sighed heavily. “I don’t want anyone to suffer, and they all
seem determined to kill each other off,” she complained with
another sigh.

“One would think they would be more concerned
with the Blight infestation,” Shade said in a disgusted voice.

“The Blights don’t seem to attack our
opposition at all,” Symphony told him, her gaze moving from the
view screen to look at his face. “It’s as if they have some way of
controlling the creatures.”

“It’s House Morcaillo controlling them,”
Shade confided, shaking his head. “I tried to tell the Fionaveir
that when I first arrived but I don’t think they truly believed
me.” He paused and glanced at Symphony with a smile. “Did you know
you steer in the direction you are looking and we are nearly going
back the same way we just came from?” he asked in a conversational
tone.

Symphony laughed and shook her head. “I did
that on purpose, Shade. I might not be a good pilot yet, but I’m
not that bad. Today’s lesson will have to be cut short; I have to
get back to Sanctuary.”

“We have barely been out of the city twenty
minutes and they already need you back?” Shade asked with a shake
of his head. “You never get time to yourself. From breakfast on you
are reading reports or training.”

“And my time will only get more precious if
we succeed in our goal,” Symphony agreed with a smile. “If it stops
the constant wars and brings some peace to this world, it’s worth
it though. Don’t you agree?”

“I do. I don’t see how you are going to
manage it, though. They tell you only what they want you to hear.
How can you lead with only half the information?” Shade asked. It
was a common enough topic between the two of them. Over the past
few days he had been doing his best to fill her in on the scant
information that he knew, and on occasion had even eavesdropped for
her to learn more. There wasn’t much of importance that was
actually said aloud, though. If it was truly delicate information,
mental links were generally used and with that he was useless.

“I’d like you to come to the meeting with me
discreetly. After it is over, I want to know what you think of what
is said there,” Symphony said with another glance toward him.

“Watch it or we will be going back out to sea
again. You steer where you look,” Shade teased, but gave her a
slight nod in answer to her request. “I’ll sit in the back as
silent as a mouse and save all of my bitching until we are alone,”
he promised.

Symphony laughed and gave him another smile.
“Are you so certain you will be wishing to bitch afterwards,” she
asked as the skyline of Sanctuary came into view ahead of them.

Shade stared at the city and let out a faint
breath. “Beautiful isn’t she. She has some battle scars but she is
still an absolute beauty.” Glancing over at Symphony he returned
the smile. “And yes, I’m positive I will.”

“You really love this city, don’t you?”
Symphony asked in a quiet voice.

“With most of my heart. It’s been my home for
a long while. Morcath should be considered my true home, I suppose,
but that’s not how it feels. I know every stone of this city and
most of the people who live here. Well, at least in my district.”
He frowned and cleared his throat. “My former district that is,” he
corrected with a twinge of regret. It wasn’t that he missed his
family at all, but he did miss his people. They had relied on him
and he had walked away from them without a backward glance. Had he
been there for them the night of the attack on the city he could
have spared them the worst of the suffering. Instead he had been on
the side causing the damage and making their already difficult
lives more painful.

“You make me nervous when you get that look
on your face, Shade.” Symphony spoke in a low voice and was
watching him far more closely than she should have been, given that
she had the controls and they were very near the sky port
already.

“Do you prefer the look of utter terror that
will appear very soon if you don’t start paying attention to where
you are flying?” Shade asked with a raised eyebrow.

She chuckled faintly and turned back toward
the view screen. “Every time you get that look I wonder if you
regret your decision to join us,” Symphony pressed. Cautiously she
began to lower their altitude as they approached the Sky Port.
There was already a small crowd gathered at the edge, no doubt
waiting for their absent Empress’s return.

“I don’t regret walking from my House. I
regret abandoning my people. I have doubts that I have joined the
right side at times, but those mostly just occur when I am
obviously set up and about to die,” Shade said with a grin.

“You are truly convinced we have a traitor
aren’t you?” Symphony sighed. Once again it was a topic they had
been over more than once and was rather worn through.

“I am truly convinced that before long you
will think so too,” Shade replied as the ship came to a stop. “You
are a smart girl. Given enough rope, your traitor will hang
himself. The set-up with the Justicars was only the first betrayal.
There will be more.”

“So you say,” Symphony sighed and unbuckled
the flight harness. “Of course it could be you,” she pointed out
with a smirk. “And then I would be a fool to listen to anything you
said. You might simply be sowing dissention in the ranks.”

“Quite, let me continue the sowing. Lutheron
is an ass. Caspian is so quiet it’s creepy. Faramir is bossy, and
Vaze just scares me. There, that pretty much covers all of your
advisors,” Shade said with a grin as he rose from his chair.

“You didn’t mention Remedy,” Symphony pointed
out flatly with a dry expression on her lovely face.

“Remedy? Not even I am a big enough idiot to
insult the man you are in love with. That would practically be
suicide. Besides I don’t see him enough to find fault with him.
Amazing. The one person you adore to be with, and he is never
around.” Shade paused and tapped his chin thoughtfully then looked
at her with an amazed expression. “Why, Lutheron plans their
missions doesn’t he? Hmm. And he keeps Remedy gone all of the time.
Well, I think that’s clear evidence on my
he-is-an-ass
theory. I wonder what else I might be right about.”

Symphony chuckled lightly and shook her head
at him in amazement. “Vaze is away too. Is that conspiracy as
well?” she asked, pausing beside the door to look back at him.

“No, that is a blessing. As I said he is
scary,” Shade replied with a grin and motioned once more toward the
door.

“Vaze is not scary,” Symphony protested as
she pushed the door open and stepped from the Spell Hawk.

“I’m not?” Vaze asked in a mockery of a
shocked voice.

“Damn it!” Shade burst out as he dropped down
the last stair. He glowered at Symphony and then looked to Vaze who
leaned casually against the side of the Spell Hawk with a smile on
his face. “I was telling her a story about some idiot that thought
you were scary. She has the same opinion as me though you are
definitely not scary,” Shade said with a grin before glaring at
Symphony once more as she burst into laughter.

“Shade you are a horrible liar,” Symphony
managed through more giggles as she hugged Vaze and smiled up at
him. “Welcome back. Where have you been the past few days? Not even
Lutheron seemed to know.”

“Goswin, then the Darklands, then Merro,”
Vaze answered. He motioned toward the crowd near the edge of the
port and smiled at her. “I told them if they approached, I would
eat their souls. If you want to speak with any of them you will
have to call them over.”

“Eating souls now, eh? That’s a new one. So I
am to understand that you have been assisting Lady Merrodin then?”
Symphony asked as they began walking. She purposefully kept her
gaze from the patiently waiting crowd and headed instead for the
Justicar’s hall.

“So if you don’t see them, they aren’t really
waiting for you. Is that how that works?” Shade asked, keeping his
gaze on the ground as they walked.

“No, I don’t see them at all. Especially not
the three that are waving for my attention,” Symphony replied.
“Answer, Vaze,” she added with a bit of authority in her voice.

“To say yes would suggest that I had gone
against Lutheron’s direct order not to intervene,” Vaze said
softly.

“And to say no would be lying to me?”
Symphony asked.

“I do find myself in a delicate place. I
think I prefer to say nothing,” Vaze mused.

“Hmm. Was she successful?” Symphony asked in
a softer voice.

“She was successful at returning with Finn’s
soul. The resurrection however was not successful. I was forced to
send him back to the Darklands. Death was soulriding him and he was
a danger to everyone in the sunlit world as long as Death had him
as a conduit,” Vaze explained.

Symphony let out a long wistful sigh. “I was
hoping she would succeed all the way around. I can’t imagine loving
someone so much that you would do such a thing. I feel sorry for
her.”

“She didn’t even know him that long. There is
no way she could have loved him that much,” Shade snapped
irritably.

“Oh, that’s right. You had a bit of a rivalry
on that account didn’t you?” Symphony asked, flicking her gaze in
his direction.

“Not much of one, really. I was witness to
the whole damned thing and there is no way it could have been that
deep a relationship. Finn was too shallow a person for anything
that deep,” Shade answered stiffly.

Symphony nodded in a mockery of agreement and
then looked back to Vaze. “Is she truly as wounded as they say?
Should we have her brought to the city for healing?”

Vaze raised an eyebrow and shook his head
faintly. “She took serious wounds but she will recover of that I am
certain. You show more interest in her than you do any other lord.
Do you realize that, Sym?”

Symphony sighed and gave a nod of her own. “I
feel responsible for her troubles and I suppose I relate with her
better than I can the others. Elijah Arovan, Arjuna Firym, and
Jaradon Faydwer all know exactly what they are doing and how to do
it. Jala Merrodin is different. She knows what she wants to do but
not how to do it,” she said softly.

“Exactly like you,” Vaze agreed with a
nod.

“I have a council, though, and she has a
court of those who are just as clueless as she is. So I worry about
her,” Symphony continued, a frown creasing her full lips.

“Nephondelvayon is not what I would call
clueless. That one is easily as formidable as his elder brother,”
Vaze objected. Moving ahead of them quickly he took the stairs to
the Justicars hall two at a time until he reached the door and then
held it open for the pair of them as they walked through.

“I’m so glad Morcath doesn’t have names like
that one. Can we call him simply Neph so I don’t tie my tongue in a
knot?” Shade asked, glancing at Symphony hopefully.

She chuckled in response and the frown on her
face disappeared as she nodded. Shade let out a dramatic sigh of
relief and found Vaze watching him with an approving expression as
he turned back toward the hall.

“I’ve heard he is difficult to deal with,”
Symphony said to Vaze as she returned to their discussion.

“Neph is like dealing with a rabid bear that
has been doused in ice water, beaten with a stick, and called dirty
names. He snarls, growls, and if you get too close, he bites,”
Shade offered helpfully.

“You know him then, personally?” Symphony
asked turning back to face him once more.

“I went to school with him. Of course I know
him. He has been the Spell champion at the Spring Games for so long
they might as well just hand him the trophy at the beginning of the
contest and spare everyone the embarrassment of losing to him. He
was first in his class on all his magic studies as well as most of
his other classes. He is talented, frighteningly intelligent,
cunning, and has the exact personality that I described with the
bear analogy. And for some reason he latched onto Jala after the
Rivana trip and shows her more courtesy than I’ve seen from him in
four years of association at the Academy,” Shade explained quickly
as they turned down the last hall before the council room.