The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (36 page)

“I suppose it’s a good thing you decided to
actually get dressed and fix your hair today. That, combined with
the staff and you truly look like High Lady Merrodin,” Jail teased
as they made their way quickly down the stairs.

“Bloody hell,” Neph snarled from the open
door. Glancing back over his shoulder he spotted Jala and Jail as
they descended the last few stairs. “Avanti approaching. Do you
want to allow them to land?” Neph asked, his expression showing
clearly that allowing them landing was the last thing he
wanted.

“A single ship?” Jala asked as she approached
the door, glancing once more at Neph and taking note of the
specialized glasses he wore. They were identical to the ones he had
left in her room that allowed the wearer to see Blights. If he was
wearing them now then he must be expecting Blights to be on the
Avanti ship.
I probably should have thought of that myself and
worn mine
, Jala scolded herself mentally as she turned her
attention back their approaching enemies.

“Their flag ship. That will be the High Lord
himself or one of his sons,” Neph replied as he stepped back to
allow her past him.

Jala nodded faintly and moved out onto the
porch of the house her gaze locked on the circling Spell Hawk.
“They have a flag of parlay up. Allow them landing,” Jala ordered,
her gaze moving quickly from the ship to sweep over the crowded
streets. Everyone had stopped work to watch the approaching ship
and it was clear whatever Avanti had come to say, they would have
an audience for it.

“I don’t think you quite heard me. That ship
has their High Lord on it. This is a golden opportunity. The
bastards have served themselves up,” Neph growled softly, his
fingers twitching slightly with the urge to cast magic.

Jala smiled grimly and glanced over at him.
Reaching up slowly she patted his cheek and sighed. “And no one
wants to kill them more than I do, Neph, I promise you, but they
are flying a flag of parley.”

“Fine,” Neph grumbled and stepped quickly
from the porch to clear room in the crowded streets for the Spell
Hawk.

“Why do you think they are here?” Jala asked
softly as she heard Jail approach her from behind.

The Mind mage paused just beside her and
glanced down. “Because we are weak and they want to try to spook us
into submission,” Jail offered with a shrug to show he was simply
guessing.

“I’d rather die than submit to them,” Jala
hissed. Her eyes narrowed as she watched the ship slowly descend
toward her city.

“Be sure of that before you speak to High
Lord Avanti. They have us outnumbered and out-equipped. It may be
prudent to listen to whatever they have come to say and then make a
choice,” Jail warned softly.

“Their numbers are mainly slaves, Jail, and
equipment doesn’t mean everything,” Jala returned softly as the
ship landed fully and the door began to open.

“It means a lot,” Jail pressed, his
expression concerned.

“But it doesn’t mean everything,” Valor broke
in as he pushed his way through the door and moved to stand beside
Jala on the opposite side of Jail. As usual, Valor was dressed
perfectly in fine clothing and a long dark purple coat that nearly
matched her dress in coloring.

Jala smiled and glanced up at the knight with
gratitude clear on her face. “You cut your hair. Now I won’t be
able to tell you apart from Honor at all when your back is turned
to me,” she observed quietly.

“Look for the one wearing your colors and
it’s a safe bet it is me,” Valor said with a smile and glanced
toward the Spell Hawk as the first of its passengers started to
disembark. “Wisp is on the roof with her bow in case we need her
and Sovann is with Legacy,” he informed her softly as he turned
back to look at her once more.

“You have an earring now too,” Jala said, her
eyes locked on the shiny black hoop in Valor’s right ear rather
than the approaching delegation from Avanti.

“Avanti here, remember?” Jail reminded her
softly. The big mage shifted slightly beside her and nudged her a
bit sharply with his elbow.

“Mm. Hmm. I remember. They are simply farther
down my priority list,” Jala said as she studied the earring
closer. It was shining black metal on both sides of the hoop
closest to the ear with silver near the center and a decent sized
violet gem at the exact center. “What warranted the change, Valor?”
she asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Can we discuss this later perhaps? You might
not be concerned, but there is an approaching High Lord as well as
his two sons,” Valor said with a faint smile.

Jala raised her eyebrow and turned back to
look toward their visitors, raising one hand to shield the sun from
her eyes as she did so. “Ahh. Truce and Nathan as well as their
daddy. This must be important,” she murmured softly.

“Did you get horribly lost, Avanti?” Neph
snapped as he walked toward the porch from the opposite direction
as the visitors and stepped up to stand just below Jala.

“Now, Neph that is no way to address our
visitors. There is a High Lord present,” Jala said calmly and
placed a hand on Neph’s shoulder as she smiled at the High Lord.
Carefully she raised one hand and pointed north as she gave him an
overly sweet smile. “Avanti is actually farther north, Lord Avanti.
You just missed it by a smidgen of several hundred miles,” Jala
offered in helpful tone.

“How cute,” Lord Avanti said as he paused
several feet away and adjusted his coat carefully so that the deep
red velvet fell perfectly straight to his waist. “I am, in fact,
here to speak with you, Lady Merrodin. And while that must seem as
ridiculous to you as it does to me, I’m afraid my son has insisted
on it.”

His sons took positions behind him and Jala
was quick to note that while Nathan looked pleased, Truce had an
expression that suggested he would rather be anywhere else. By the
expression on his face it was clear that Truce wasn’t the son that
had insisted on the visit, and she could only imagine what Nathan
must want.

Another figure moved behind them and caught
her eye. Jala felt a twinge in her gut as she recognized the dark
green eyes. While the man was covered from head to toe in a dark
cloak and his lower face was shrouded with a mask, the eyes were
enough to tell her who he was. Sovaesh, Finn’s father who served as
Avanti’s personal Assassin. Sovaesh caught her eye for just a
moment and nodded so faintly it was barely perceptible.

Sighing heavily, Jala ignored the gesture
from Sovaesh to keep from drawing attention to him and shifted her
gaze between the two sons once more before looking back to the High
Lord. She didn’t bother to acknowledge the ten armed guards that
surrounded the Avanti in a semi-circle, but she could tell by the
way Valor and Jail stiffened that they were both intent on
them.

“It seems you have yourself in a difficult
place, Lady Merrodin, and my son has a soft heart. He feels that we
should give you a second chance,” Lord Avanti continued, his eyes
locking fully on her. “Earlier this year, you chose to side
yourself with the rebels and now… Well now, you are all alone out
here, little girl.”

Jala cocked her head slightly to one side and
watched him, an expression of amusement flicking across her face.
“You are surrounded by crowds of my citizens and I am standing with
half my court beside me and you think I’m alone?”

The High Lord shifted and looked around
slowly, a smile widening on his handsome face. “Little girl, you
are surrounded by whores, gutter rats, and dysfunctional knights
that were so worthless Arovan wouldn’t even let them die for their
country. You have a single Delvay and a Han’shy beside you. Delvay
is at war and I hold the country of Han’shy in my power. How long
do you think they will stand by you, given that knowledge?” He
paused long enough to smile wider as he regarded Valor. “Then of
course, there is the rapist that wasn’t allowed back in his
country. I suppose that one might fight for you, given proper
incentive. So you aren’t entirely alone, are you?”

“That is the one and only time you will
insult my people without paying for your words. Choose what you say
with more care Lord Avanti,” Jala replied coldly, her expression
shifting from amused to dangerous in a breath.

“Father, this is not what we came for. We are
not here to insult the High Lady,” Truce cut in, earning a glare
from his father for the effort. To his credit, Truce did not flinch
away from his father’s displeasure, but held his ground with a calm
expression.

With a disgusted sigh, Lord Avanti turned
back to regard Jala and nodded slowly. “My son is quite right. We
are not here to insult. It seems that both of my sons are cursed
with soft hearts.” He paused and cleared his throat before smiling
once more, though there was no warmth in the expression. “You can’t
stand alone, Lady Merrodin. You are too weak. Surely you are not
naïve enough to believe otherwise. My son, however, finds interest
in you, so I offer you salvation. Ally yourself with house Avanti
through marriage and you will survive the coming war.”

“She is in mourning, you ass. You know her
husband just died. There is no way you couldn’t know your daughter
had him killed,” Neph snarled.

“I’m quite sure Cassia had no part in that
unfortunate incident. As I heard it told, he died in the battle for
the city. It truly is a pity and I do sympathize with your loss,
Lady Merrodin, but these are difficult times that demand action
now,” Lord Avanti said in a mockery of her own honey sweet
voice.

Jala stared at the High Lord for a long
moment in silence before looking away. Sovaesh drew her attention
for a breath and she noticed the faint shake of his head as her
eyes settled on Nathan. “You believed I was a peasant whore a scant
few months ago and now you wish to marry me?” she asked her tone
incredulous.

“Your identity has been proven and you have
been acknowledged as the High Lady of Merrodin,” Nathan answered
with a smile that might have been charming if she had never met him
before.

Jala nodded slightly and looked back to the
High Lord. “I am in mourning and I have no interest in marriage,”
she answered flatly with as much courtesy as she could muster.

The High Lord’s lips twitched slightly and he
straightened his shoulders. “Little girl, put your feelings aside
and truly look around at your people,” he urged her. A faint wash
of magic poured from the High Lord as he spoke and she heard
murmurs spread through the crowded streets as her people slowly
began to drop to their knees facing the Avanti. The magic pulsed
again and she felt Valor relax beside her followed quickly by Jail.
“They know what I offer you. They see salvation at hand. Look at
them and learn, child.”

“Perhaps we should listen to him,” Jail
suggested in a quiet voice as his head bowed forward in respect
toward the High Lord.

“We have no proof that it was Cassia,” Valor
offered and his voice sounded very off to her ears.

Raw fury surged through Jala as she glanced
between Jail and Valor, her eyes lingering on the knight. Valor had
accompanied her through hell, and to see him enchanted by someone
like Avanti pushed her temper well past reason. Turning back, Jala
willed her vision to see the threads of magic and stared at the
strands of magic that enshrouded her people willing them into
submission. With the exception of herself and Neph, Lord Avanti’s
magic held sway on every visible person as far as she could
see.

“Cute,” Neph said softly and flexed his
hands. “I wasn’t aware that magic was smiled upon in parley. May I
show off my own?” he asked as he glanced over his shoulder to look
at Jala, his expression dark and filled with anger.

“I give you this one single chance to remove
this from my people before I lose my temper completely,” Jala
warned. She could feel the magic humming through her veins and the
desire to release that power on the Avanti was nearly
overwhelming.

“You are quite good at tossing threats about,
child. Do you not realize how precarious your position is right
now? Their loyalty is to me at the present,” the High lord said in
a silky voice as he motioned casually toward the citizens of
Merro.

“Are you refusing to remove the magic then?”
Jala asked coldly, her eyes narrowing. The fingers on her left hand
curled slightly as she poured magic into her remaining focus
stones.

“I’m giving you more warning than you
deserve. If you choose to fight Avanti this is how you will die
little girl. With everyone that you trusted turning on you. Take
the offer and accept the marriage. It is the only chance your
pathetic little country has,” High Lord Avanti said with a smug
smile.

“Kill his guards as a lesson,” Jala ordered
Neph calmly and unleashed her magic directly on Avanti’s spell. Her
own power slashed easily through the webs of magic that held her
people enchanted as Neph turned to face the Avanti with a savage
smile on his face. Raising his hands the Delvay mage unleashed the
spell he had been holding ready and a cloud of black mist rose
beneath the guards and began to wrap quickly around them. With a
sharp gesture from his left hand Neph finished the spell and
laughed as the guards began to scream as the acidic mist ate away
at flesh and armor alike.

“I said kill them not torture them,” Jala
snapped and Neph nodded sharply his laughter abruptly dying.

With another gesture he threw a second spell
and the screams fell abruptly silent as the bodies of the ten
Avanti guards dropped boneless to the ground. “Happy?” Neph asked
as he stepped back to stand in front of her once more.

“Not at all,” Jala replied, her eyes locked
on the High Lord who was staring a bit slack-jawed at his dead
guards. “I wish the High Lord hadn’t believed I was bluffing. His
people would still be living if he would have listened to my
warning,” she sighed.