The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (59 page)

“Will you try to call him back?” Jala asked.
The last threads of hope were barely holding her grief at bay

He nodded again and looked around the packed
camps. “Not here, though. This is not the place for such things.
Somewhere private and quiet, and it should be done soon before the
soul has been gone from the body too long. I must ask you to not
speak of what we do, either. This practice is not accepted by my
people. According to our customs, the soul must be strong enough to
return on its own.”

“And yet, you are willing to try anyway?”
Jala asked, unsure why he would go against the customs of his own
land for her. He barely knew her.

“I do not think his soul can return without
help, not from her clutches. He is as trapped as the souls of those
in Goswin. I will do what I can for him, to thank you for doing
what you will for them,” Ash explained and gazed around the
countryside once more. “Rest for now, Lady, and I will prepare for
the ritual. Tonight, when the moon has risen we will find solitude
and try to call him back.”

“I know the perfect place,” Jala said with a
nod. She rose slowly and bowed with respect to the Soulreaver.
“Thank you, Ash.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Lady. I will do what I
can, but it may not be enough. I am not as strong as she who holds
him. A lot will depend on him. I will open the gate back to life
for him. He must wish to cross back,” Ash warned her.

“I can’t believe Finn wouldn’t want to come
back. Is only Jala allowed there or may his friends come as well?”
Wisp spoke with such hope in her voice Jala didn’t see how anyone
could deny her.

“All who were close to him should be there if
they will keep the peace and not disturb the ritual. Their presence
will add strength to the call,” Ash replied, smiling as Wisp fairly
bounced at his approval.

* * *

Winter was thick in the air as they gathered
beneath the Jimpa tree. The only sounds were the bubbling of the
brook and the faint stir of the leaves in the night breeze. Jala
watched silently as Ash laid Finn’s body carefully out in the
grass. The sight of Finn so still and pale made her throat tighten
and she swallowed heavily, fighting back her tears.

Ash bent forward and examined the wounds on
the body, then looked up to Jala. “This must be repaired before his
spirit returns. He must be whole,” he said quietly and placed a
hand over the knife wound under Finn’s arm. A soft white light
began to emanate from his hand and he nodded his head slowly. “It
took much to kill him. There are many poisons in his body,” he said
softly. He moved with slow methodical patience as he turned the
body over and removed the wounds from his back as well.

“I didn’t know you could heal the dead,” Jala
said quietly.

Ash smiled and shrugged his shoulders as he
carefully laid the body out once more. “It is not so much healing
as it is mending. It is good that you preserved his body. There is
no decay to mend.”

Valor shifted uncomfortably beside Jala and
frowned down at Ash. “Are you sure that you trust a Reaver?” he
asked quietly. He had been watching Ash with suspicion since they
had arrived at the tree.

“I’m not sure that I would trust just any
Soulreaver, but I trust Ash. He has always shown me respect and
honor in his actions, Valor,” Jala answered him and nodded for Ash
to continue, hoping he wasn’t offended by Valor’s behavior.

Ash moved to Finn’s head and carefully sat
down in the grass behind him. Leaning forward, he pressed his
fingers to Finn’s temples and looked up to Jala. “I will work the
magic and you will feel the spell. When the magic touches you focus
on him. Pour everything you can into those feelings, every memory
you can summon. It will add your voices to the summons and he will
know how deeply he is missed.”

Ash looked to each of them as he finished,
his eyes lingering for a moment on Valor. “Try to focus on your
friend instead of your distrust for me, Arovan. I know our people
have difficulties and I understand your hate, but now is not the
time to feel hate. You will damage the link with that emotion. If
you cannot put it aside you should leave this place for now,” his
voice was gentle, without a trace of anger or disapproval in it and
Valor shifted a bit under his gaze.

“I can focus on Finn,” he assured the
Soulreaver.

Nodding, Ash looked away from Valor and
stared down at the body before him. Closing his eyes he began to
chant softly. The warm white light rose from his hands again and
Jala felt the magic brush against her.

Closing her eyes she summoned every memory
she could. From their first meeting at the Spring Games to their
long night in the Firym gardens as they forged the chain for their
marriage. Her chest tightened as her mind recalled every kiss they
had shared. “Finn please,” she whispered, her voice caught between
a sob and pleading.

Vezradesh
. The word was so faint it
was almost lost in the breeze but she seized on it.

“Finn,” she breathed back and felt a flutter
in the magic. Her breath caught in her throat and she squeezed her
eyes shut tighter focusing on the memories with all of her
will.

“No!” A woman’s voice screamed, and Jala felt
the magic shred away beneath them. An icy wind rose, sending the
tree above them quivering. Jala’s eyes flashed open, her head
throbbing. Ash lay sprawled back from the body, his hands on his
head and blood trickling from one nostril. The others were
staggering as well, Jala realized, and even Marrow seemed to be
stunned.

“Ash, are you OK?” she asked. Of all of them,
the Soulreaver was the only one showing signs of physical harm.

He sat up slowly, hands still on his head and
nodded. Lowering his hands slowly he wiped the blood from under his
nostril and looked up to her. His expression held a bit of wonder
as he regarded her.

“What?” she asked faintly. She kept her gaze
on Ash, not wanting to look down at the still body in the grass.
Rationally she knew the spell had failed, but actually seeing the
failure was too much. He had spoken. He had been answering their
call. That flutter in the magic just before the disruption. He had
been so close.

“The backlash hit everyone but you, Lady,”
Ash said quietly. “I felt the Dark Lady’s hand, as did everyone
else here, but you.”

“He was answering. I heard him speak,” Jala
said softly and rubbed her face. Everyone was watching her as she
lowered her hand. She turned slowly, regarding the varied
expressions on their faces and then looked back to Ash. “You heard
him, didn’t you?” she asked.

“I felt his spirit, but I heard nothing,” Ash
said and stood. “That does not mean he didn’t speak, Lady. That
only means he did not speak to me,” he added as he noticed the
doubt forming on her face.

“Why would she do that?” Jala asked.

“I told you she had special interest in him,”
Ash reminded her gently. “She wishes to keep that one, Lady, and
there is not much more we can do to fight her on it.”

She nodded slowly and looked away, her eyes
falling on the stout trunk of the Jimpa tree. The same despair she
had felt so long ago was washing over her and she could almost
taste the ashes in her mouth again. She felt a gentle push against
her side and looked down to see Marrow staring up at her with
bright yellow eyes filled with concern.

You didn’t give up then
, he reminded
her.

No I didn’t
, she replied softly as the
memory of that day returned.
I sat down right here believing I
was in the Darklands and I waited for my father to come and get
me
. Wiping her face with her hand again she nodded and cast
another storing spell on the body. “I’m going after him,” she said
quietly gripping the storage stone in her hand.

“You are what?” Neph asked sounding
incredulous.

“I’m going to get Finn,” she said firmly,
turning her gaze to Neph’s. She locked eyes with him and dared him
to object.

“I feel the need to ask a rather stupid
question here, but are you bloody insane?” Neph said, shaking his
head in disbelief. “The nice Soulreaver just told you that Death
wants to keep him. So you decide you are going to stroll into the
Darklands and ask to have him back?”

“I didn’t say anything about asking. He swore
his soul to me twice. He is mine,” Jala replied, her confidence
growing with every word.

“Jala, you can’t do this,” a man’s voice
broke in. She rounded at the familiar tones and glared at Fortune
as he stepped forward from the shadows. He held up both hands in a
peaceful gesture and shook his head at her sadly. “Jala, you can’t
go. You have too many that need you here.”

“How dare you tell me what I can and cannot
do now,” Jala snarled. “You are as much to blame for his death as
Hemlock is. How could you do that to him?” she demanded.

“OK, I’m confused. Who the hell is that?”
Neph muttered, throwing his hands up and walking back to stand by
Jail.

“That would be Fortune, the Aspect of Luck,”
Jail whispered behind her.

“Wonderful. Well if a god can’t convince her
she is being a loony, no one can,” Neph replied.

“Would you two shut up!” Valor snapped.

“Jala, I regret his death, but there was
nothing I could do for him. He was not a follower of mine. I have
protected you but …”

“Protected me?” Jala cut in, her earlier
anger returning afresh. “Is that what you call it?”

“You have survived what would have killed any
other without so much as a scratch on you. Yes, I call it
protection,” Fortune replied with a bit of anger in his own
voice.

“Is that all you believe important, Fortune?
I have survived and watched everything I love, die. I watched my
parents die, my land destroyed, and now my husband has died in my
fucking arms while I begged you for help. And you think I should be
grateful that I don’t have a scratch? Death would be a mercy
compared to the wounds I have.” She screamed the words with tears
streaming down her face. “Even the temple I was raised in is gone,
Fortune. By the pattern of my life I’m terrified to have this child
I carry. I don’t want to watch it die before me like everything
else does!”

“Jala, please calm down. I have done
everything I can for you. I know you have suffered loss but I’m not
all powerful, Jala. When other Aspects or the Divine work against
me it takes everything I have to keep you safe. If you go into the
Darklands, I am powerless to help you,” Fortune said, his
expression filled with misery. “There are too many depending on
you, for you to do something so selfish now. Goswin needs you, the
Fionaveir need you, and Merro needs you. This is all too fragile to
risk losing now.”

“Selfish? You think me wanting Finn back is
selfish? Perhaps it is, in part, but I see it more as righting the
wrong you did him. You sacrificed him and I won’t let it stand. If
you hadn’t forced him to love me he wouldn’t be dead now, you
bastard,” she growled, her anger like a living thing inside her.
“As far as your protection, spare me the pain. I want none of it. I
renounce you,” she ripped the silver chain from her neck as she
spoke and cast the holy symbol down at his feet.

Fortune paled and stepped back from the
fallen necklace shaking his head. “Jala, don’t do this. You have no
idea what I have held at bay. Take your words back so I can keep
you safe,” he pleaded.

She glared at him defiantly and pulled the
ruby hilted dagger from her belt. With a calmness she didn’t feel
she pulled down the front of her ragged dress and pulled the knife
across the scar on her chest. The silver blade sliced cleanly
sending sharp pain through her as the burned symbol of Fortune was
cut away. “I renounce you,” she repeated in a cold voice. She
lowered the knife slowly and tossed the piece of skin down beside
the holy symbol. Turning her back on him, she walked quickly back
toward the camp with Marrow close behind her.

“Jala, wait!” Valor called from behind her.
She could hear him running after her, but refused to slow her
steps. “Jala, wait!” he called again louder.

“You won’t talk me out of it, Valor. So don’t
waste your breath,” she said, never slowing her steps.

He caught her by the arm and forced her to
slow. “I don’t want to talk you out of it,” he said calmly, locking
his gaze with hers. “I won’t let you go storming off unprepared
though. We will need to prepare.”

“We?” she asked in shock.

“I swore a blood oath to a dying friend to
protect you,” he reminded her and shrugged. “Besides, I want him
back, too. If you think this is possible, then we will go to the
Darklands,” he added in a quieter voice.

“What about Devony? You just got her back,”
she asked with concern.

“She knows Sovann fairly well and I trust our
friends to keep her safe. Wisp is actually quite good with
children,” Valor replied with a shrug.

“Thank you Valor,” she whispered, her
shoulders sagging a bit with relief. She would have gone alone and
had planned to, but the idea had been terrifying.

“Will you do me a favor, though?” he asked in
a gentle voice.

“What?” She glanced at him as she began
walking toward the camp again. He was right, they did need to
prepare. Her first priority was making sure her friends had brought
her armor along. She had no intention whatsoever of going into the
Darklands unarmored.

“Heal yourself. You are bleeding everywhere,”
he answered motioning toward the cut on her chest and smiled.

Goswin

Snow crunched under their boots as they
stepped out of the transport spell. Jala looked around at the snowy
landscape in surprise and adjusted her pack on her shoulder. The
first of the snows hadn’t come to Merro yet and she hadn’t expected
to see any here. Her tattered grey cloak swirled about her feet in
the light winter breeze and she pulled it tighter around her. She
hadn’t worn it in ages, but it seemed fitting for this
occasion.