The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (47 page)

“That works,” Jala agreed with a smile and
winked at Neph. “I didn’t count the others because I know we can
handle them without too much trouble. It’s the ones that have
strong magic that worry me.”

“So I will have Vosha summoned here and find
Foster,” Valor rose from the table as he spoke and smiled at Jala.
“Should be an interesting day,” he said with a smirk as he headed
for the door.

“Interesting, frustrating, and depressing all
rolled into one, I’m sure,” Jala murmured as her gaze found Neph.
He could see the sadness in her eyes once more and he smiled
faintly in return.

“I know,” Neph muttered before she could say
a word. “I’ll have Delvay back soon and I’ll lose you all in the
process,” he added glumly. His attention moved to Zoelyn who had
been watching them in silence. She had a look of apprehension about
her, but not fear. That was to be expected, though. She had seen
the aftermath of battle in Arovan and that had been horrible. This
would be her first time actually seeing honest fighting, though,
and he knew how she felt about violence. “Are you sure you want to
go, Zoey?” he asked quietly in a voice that was far kinder than he
typically used with anyone save Jala.

Zoelyn looked up at him silently and nodded
her head slowly. Her dark eyes were still filled with concern, but
he could see determination there as well. “I won’t fight, but I
will heal if needed,” she replied softly.

“No one expects you to fight, Zoey. Just stay
in the back, behind the rest of us, and you will be fine,” Jala
assured her with a smile. With a heavy sigh, she looked to Neph and
rose from the table. “Let’s kick these pigs out of your home, Lord
Delvay,” she said with false cheer as she nodded for them to
rise.

“You do realize I will be the one in front,
right, Jala?” Vaze asked as he rose.

“We shall see. Valor usually likes to be up
front with his bright shiny bull’s eye armor on, and you know I
can’t let him be the only target. I love him too much for that,”
Jala grinned and winked at him as she headed for the door.

Neph shook his head again and let out a long
sigh. “I wish just once you would remember how dainty you are
Jala,” he grumbled as he followed her from the room.

“Tell that to the dead dragons in Seravae,
Neph. I don’t think they considered me dainty at all,” Jala replied
with more arrogance lacing her words.

* * *

Neph leaned back against the wall and watched
in silence as Vosha tried his best to impress Zoelyn. The boy was
wearing chain and leather armor that had obviously never seen
combat, but that didn’t seem to dampen his attempt to appear as a
seasoned warrior to her. He had spent the last ten minutes of
preparations informing her how he had learned from the Three
Sisters, and then tryied to dazzle her with stories about the
campaign in Avanti. Shaking his head, Neph looked away and wondered
exactly how long it would be before the poor brat realized Zoelyn
was anything but impressed.

“Someone really should have warned him that
she is a pacifist,” Valor muttered and Neph smiled in response.

“Or that she can kill him with a touch when
he annoys her enough?” Neph offered quietly.

“Not to mention the Blight that is no doubt
beside her planning on how best to get rid of his competition,”
Valor added with a snort of amusement, then fell silent as Jala and
Vaze entered the room.

Jala smiled at them and glanced back at Vaze
before clearing her throat. The room fell silent at once with all
eyes on her. Her eyes lingered on Neph for a moment and he smiled
in response. “All preparations have been made and everyone has been
briefed on this mission. This may look difficult at a glance, but I
have faith that we can accomplish this,” Jala began in a clear
voice. Gently she lifted her amulet and kissed both sides paying
homage to War as well as Death with her action. “Victory for us in
battle and death to our enemies,” she intoned quietly and looked to
Vaze. “Ready when you are.”

Vaze nodded sharply and moved to her side. “I
will be taking us in near the bottom of the city. I will also be in
front when we move. I know how to scout, the rest of you don’t,” he
paused and looked at Jala with narrowed eyes. “If you try to move
past me I will stab you in the ass,” he warned in a lower voice
then smiled at her and winked.

“Feel free to attempt to stab my ass. I’m
confident in my armor,” Valor replied with a smirk.

Turning slowly, Vaze regarded the knight
dryly for a moment before motioning everyone forward. By his
expression, it looked as though Vaze wouldn’t mind making the
attempt regardless of armor. “Closer to me, so the shadows can
reach you all,” he ordered.

Neph waited for a breath and watched as
Zoelyn moved without hesitation to stand at Jala’s side. He still
couldn’t believe the girl was truly going with them. She hated
violence and yet she looked eager to go to battle. With a slight
shake of his head, Neph moved to join the rest of them and watched
in silence as the shadows thickened around them.

Mixed feelings rose in his chest as he
considered the outcome of the day. He had no doubt that they would
win the fight and recapture his city, and part of him was elated
with the thought. The other part wanted to run screaming back
upstairs and lock himself in his room, refusing to move. Once today
was over, he was High Lord Delvayon rather than simply Neph, and he
wasn’t at all sure he was ready to face that.

Vertigo washed over him and he pushed his
doubts away as Merro faded to darkness. The stones of Delvay loomed
around them as the shadows parted and he stared in silence at his
childhood home. It had been so many years since he had stood in
these halls. He felt eyes on him and glanced to his side to find
Jala watching him with a knowing look in her eyes. She smiled
faintly and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“Temporary,” Jala whispered as Vaze stalked
toward the stairway door. “Temporary,” Neph agreed softly with a
nod.

“For Delvay,” Valor said with a smirk and
moved forward with Foster to stand behind Vaze. Both knights drew
their swords as they waited patiently for Vaze to signal the
advance.

Vaze glanced back at them with a scowl as
they approached and pointedly looked toward their metal shod boots.
His eyes narrowed and he shook his head slowly in disgust as he
motioned for them to hold back. As silent as the shadows he
summoned, Vaze pulled the door open and slipped up the darkened
stairwell to scout.

Several minutes of silence passed before a
concussive boom echoed from the floors above. Neph’s eyes snapped
upward as dust floated down from the stone ceiling. Whatever had
just detonated had been massive and he wasn’t sure if it was a
spell or mundane explosives.

“Move!” Valor bellowed as he sprinted up the
stairs. Foster followed without hesitation, taking the steps two at
a time in an attempt to reach Vaze and support him.

Jala watched them both with a worried
expression before glancing at Neph. “They never should have spotted
Vaze,” she said with concern lacing her words before she moved
quickly to the staircase.

“You think they were expecting us, then?”
Neph asked as he fell into step beside her. “I don’t see how they
could have known,” Jala replied with a quick shake of her head.

Another explosion shook the building and
Jala’s pace quickened to a run in response. Neph could see the fear
on her face and knew it was for her companions and not for herself.
He had never seen Jala fear for her own life as much as she did for
others.

The door ahead of them still swung loose on
its hinges from where Valor had passed through and Neph could see
fire filling the room beyond. The ring of sword blades echoed back
to them with a frequency that spoke of brutal combat.

“Jala leave! Do not come in here!” Valor’s
voice rose frantically through the sound of combat.

Glancing over at her, Neph grinned and shook
his head. “It’s always good to ignore Valor.” The others had
gathered behind them nervously and were watching him and Valor for
any sign of what they should do. “Vosha, you are a dragon, but are
you the fire breathing variety of dragon?” Neph asked as he pulled
up his strongest shields.

Vosha shifted and shook his head quickly.
“No, actually I haven’t exactly mastered my draconic breath yet,”
His reply was hesitant and it was obvious the boy didn’t want to
admit his failings in front of Zoelyn.

“Impress Zoey later, Vosha. Once we are out
of here,” Jala snapped. Her own shields were in place now and he
could see her readying her first spells. Neph knew she wouldn’t
listen to Valor. How could she, after all. Jala was simply not the
sort of person that could walk away and leave a friend to die, but
then, neither was he.

The tempo of swords picked up again, followed
by a grunt of pain and Jala looked ready to bolt through the door.
Moving swiftly to her side, Neph grabbed her by the arm and shook
his head quickly. “Fools rush in, and your fool already rushed in.
We have to use logic here. Once we move inside we stay beside each
other and use our shields together. If mine starts to fail I’ll
drop back behind you to bolster it until I can strengthen it. The
same goes for you. Got it?” He spoke quickly and glanced once more
at the fire in the room then back to Zoey and the two boys. “Jala,
the two Bendazzi and I are going in first. Hang back here and help
where you can. This is going to be bad, kids so if you don’t come
in we won’t blame you. Staying alive is your only priority right
now and we don’t expect the help.” He looked at Zoey as he spoke.
Normally she was the most mature of the three, but right now she
looked terrified. She gave a quick nod in response to his words,
but didn’t budge from where she stood.

“Vaze, fall back! Fall back!!” Foster’s voice
rose to nearly a scream and Jala tensed beside him. Another
explosion rocked the room and the ceiling shuddered once more.

“They are going to collapse the whole place
on us!” Jala snarled as she glanced up at Neph. “You ready? I’d
much rather kill them before they have a chance to do the explosion
thing again.”

“Let’s kills some Rivasans,” Neph agreed as
he moved slightly ahead of her and glanced into the room. “A lot of
Rivasans,” he amended as his eyes quickly scanned over the figures
moving in the room. An arrow thudded into the door beside his head
and he pulled back hastily. “You have your ward against missiles
up, right?” he asked quickly.

“Of course. You taught me to sleep with that
damned spell active,” Jala snapped back. Her eyes were on the arrow
and she had paled a bit at the sight of it. “Is it all of them at
once, Neph?” she asked in a quieter voice.

“Looks to be that and more, Sweety. We aren’t
leaving them, though. I won’t budge from here anymore than you
will,” he replied quickly as he leaned through the door once more
and then back quickly. “We move in and we go right as fast as we
can. There is a small group of swordsmen there waiting for us, but
with the Bendazzi we should be able to kill them quickly enough to
gain purchase in the room.” Jala nodded in response and Neph let
out a sharp breath before nodding back to her. “Let’s kick these
pigs,” he mumbled as he drew on his own magic and pushed forward
into the room.

Arrows slammed into their shields the moment
they passed through the doorway. Neph did his best to ignore the
steady clatter off his shields and the wall behind him as he closed
on the waiting swordsmen. The Rivasans had turned to face them and
stood ready with their swords behind a make-shift barrier of
crates. From what he had seen of the room as they entered the
entire place had been staged with the scattered barriers. There was
no way this was anything but an ambush, and that meant Merro had a
spy. The plans had only been made this morning, and the room had
been a private one. That meant the spy had to be in Jala’s inner
circle. The thought settled in his mind as he unleashed his first
spells on the Rivasans. Everyone that had been in that room was a
friend of his with the exception of Vosha, and he highly doubted
the young dragon was the spy.

Pushing the thoughts away, he focused again
on the battle and drew on his magic once more. They needed to push
farther into the room and find a position that offered them some
kind of advantage. The options were limited, however. He could hear
Jala unleashing spell after spell behind him and the stream of
arrows seemed to have slowed. That at least helped. With the
archers out of the picture he didn’t have to worry so much about
his shield failing.

A blur of white moved past him and Neph
paused his next spell as Marrow sprinted toward the Rivasans with
Emily close behind him.

The Bendazzi slammed into the enemy with
savage growls and rending claws. Just the sight of the attack would
have sent most running, but to their credit, the Rivasans held
their ground and moved in to attack.

With a quick flick of his fingers, Neph
altered the spell he had been about to hurl to a smaller effect.
His first few attacks had been larger spells designed to hit
multiple enemies and do as much damage as possible. He could no
longer risk that kind of magic with the Bendazzi so close to his
enemies, though. A slender shard of ice formed at his command and
hurtled toward the closest enemy. In the dim light it would be
difficult to spot such a small projectile, but the effects would be
deadly enough if it found its mark. So far, he had yet to do any
real damage to the swordsmen because of their spell shields, but
the shields had to be close to breaking by now. He had unleashed
enough damage on them in the first moments of the fight to bring
down the average shield on anyone.

“Magebreakers,” Jala hissed behind him. “They
are siphoning my spells before they can hit,” she added in a savage
growl. He felt her back press against his as she borrowed his
shields for a time. “They are siphoning my shield, too,” Anger
laced her every word and he couldn’t blame her for it at all.
Considering what had happened at the battle in Arovan, Jala
Merrodin had more right to hate Magebreakers than anyone else.