The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 3 From the Ashes (29 page)

“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.

“Truly, and I promise you she is safe. I
don’t know how much longer I can promise that though. My country is
weak and I have many enemies. Until you are settled, though, I will
do everything in my power to keep her protected,” Jala said
quietly.

“You give me my life and then my daughter and
ask nothing in return?” Sebastian asked cautiously his eyes
searching her for any sign of deceit.

“As I told Micah, I ask for nothing more than
a kind smile the next time we meet. I came here to help not to buy
favor,” Jala explained as she carefully untwined her hand from his.
“Really though, I must be going now. I did not explain to my
friends that I was leaving and I know they will be frantic for my
return.”

Micah rose from his place beside the bed and
gave a quick nod to Sebastian. “I’ll see Lady Merrodin back to her
escort and then I will return,” he promised as he moved to open the
door for her.

Jala nodded gratefully and stepped out onto
the stairs on shaky legs. Placing a hand firmly on the railing she
made her way slowly down the stairs wishing with every step that
healing didn’t drain her so thoroughly.

“I don’t care what you say about not wanting
favor. If ever you are in need of anything you need only ask and if
it’s in my power I will grant it,” Micah said as they reached the
bottom stair. “I don’t even know how you knew he was ill, but there
is no doubt in my mind that he wasn’t long for the world and now…”
His voice trailed off as he looked back up the stairs in wonder.
“I’ve never seen such healing, Jala. Not even from Rose in
Sanctuary. He looks as he did in spring. Full of life without a
single hint that he has been ill.”

“Death wove magic upon him. I saw the strands
leading to him when I fought her. I came so suddenly and without
warning because I wanted to save him before she recovered from the
wounds I gave her,” Jala explained.

“You what?” Micah gasped his eyes widening at
her words. “You truly went to the Darklands then? I thought they
meant you were dead by that tale, but they didn’t, did they? You
literally went to the Darklands?”

Jala nodded and let out a breath slowly. “In
hopes of returning with Finn,” she said sadly.

“I hadn’t heard of your loss, Jala. I’m so
sorry. As I said, we had heard that you and Valor were in the
Darklands. We assumed you had both died in the battle for
Sanctuary, but we hadn’t heard of Finn’s fall,” Micah explained. “I
didn’t know Finn well, but you clearly loved him dearly if you went
to such lengths to save him.”

Blinking back tears, Jala nodded and looked
away. Swallowing heavily, she nodded once more and wiped at her
eyes with her good hand. “I did and I do. He is gone but my love
for him is not,” she replied in a hushed voice and crossed to the
door that led to the main room of the house. “Good luck to you,
Micah. I look forward to our next meeting and hope we may call each
other friends,” she said with a slight bow of her head.

“Trust that we can, Jala. For what you have
given me tonight, I will always consider you friend and ally,”
Micah replied and bowed his head in return.

The room beyond was empty aside from Blue who
sat cross-legged by the fireplace. She looked up quickly as Jala
entered the room a questioning look on her face.

“He is as well as I can make him and is awake
and talking if you would like to see him,” Jala said, her gaze
sweeping the room for any sign of Valor.

Blue rose to her feet quickly, hope dancing
in her dark eyes and then seemed to notice Jala’s loss. Pausing she
motioned back to the door. “He is outside with Honor near the
eastern gate. Follow the road out front straight that way,” the
bard offered, pointing toward the far wall of the house as she
spoke. “I hope you understand why I don’t offer to guide you.”

“I do and I don’t blame you. Thank you for
the directions. I’m sure I can find him,” Jala said with a nod. She
watched the woman hurry past her then wrapped her coat tightly
around herself and stepped out into the frigid winter night. Her
breath fogged before her as she made her way quickly down the
stairs and down the street in the direction Blue had indicated. The
town was silent and still aside from a few sentries on the
wall.

She found the two brothers standing just
beyond the gate with their backs to her as she approached. Both men
stood of the same height and held the same powerful frame. If not
for the difference of Honor’s shorter hair and earrings she would
have been hard pressed to tell them apart from this view. She
cleared her throat as she grew closer and they both turned to
regard her in surprise.

“He is awake and talking now and should
recover without issue,” Jala informed Honor as she moved to stand
at Valor’s side.

Honor blinked once and looked from her and
then back in the direction she had come. “Truly?” he asked in
disbelief.

“I told you she worked miracles,” Valor said
softly and turned slowly back to gaze once more at the snow covered
meadow beyond the town.

“Valor, I hope you understand, but I have to
see for myself,” Honor said, shaking his head the expression of
disbelief still on his face. “If it is true, you have my eternal
thanks, Lady Merrodin,” he added before moving past her toward the
small house.

“I do and good bye,” Valor called softly his
gaze never leaving the meadow.

Jala moved forward to stand beside him and
followed his gaze trying to determine what held him so captivated.
A soft brush against her side brought her attention downward for a
brief moment and she smiled faintly at Marrow. The Bendazzi
stretched and rubbed his head against her side before curling
himself around her legs.

He has been staring at the snow for hours
I think he might be weak in the head
, the Bendazzi informed her
as he leaned his head around her leg to regard Valor
skeptically.

“This is the closest I’ve been to home in
years,” Valor said softly and motioned with a gloved hand toward
the snow covered fields. “That is my father’s land as far as you
can see beyond the river,” he explained.