The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (18 page)

“He is joking, Zoelyn. He wouldn’t ask you to
do anything of the sort,” Jala assured her with a grin.

“If Jala was pushing herself too hard and
risking her life, I would not only ask it. I would provide the club
to hit her with,” Valor insisted and by the expression on his face
and the look in his eyes Zoelyn knew without a doubt he wasn’t
joking.

“Everything will be fine. I’ve thought this
through,” Jala said with a sigh and pulled free of his arms as she
wandered back to her seat.

“Oh, I have heard that before,” Valor groaned
softly.

* * *

The waves crashed against the rocks with such
force that the entire island seemed to tremble beneath them. Zoelyn
shrank back from the cold water and walked slowly to the back of
the ship. The entire island was barren without so much as a blade
of grass in sight. Her eyes scanned the black water surrounding
them and she shivered. This was a place of nightmares to her after
her time in the lush valleys of Arovan.

“Deadlands,” the Blight whispered beside her
and she barely caught the single word through the cutting wind. She
wasn’t sure if he had tried to tell her more or not, but knew it
was futile to ask him to repeat himself. Even if he did, it would
be a whisper, and the wind and waves were so loud she would miss
his words a second time.

“Val, can you do something about this wind,
please?” Jala called loudly from near the ship’s door. Zoelyn
turned to watch the High Lady as she stepped away from the ship, a
long white coat wrapped tightly around her. Valor had moved several
feet away and was staring up at the sky with a look of
concentration showing on his handsome face.

“I should be able to,” Valor called back
after a long moment and slowly raised his hand to the sky. Zoelyn
stepped farther back as the tingle of magic filled the air around
the knight. She could feel her curse reaching out for the power and
had no desire to disrupt his spell.

The wind on the island rose once more as if
in defiance of his magic and then stilled abruptly. “Strange, I
don’t think that was natural weather, but it didn’t feel like a
weather casting either,” Valor said as he lowered his hand and
turned in a slow circle surveying the dismal surroundings.

“Oh ya, the Blights are going to look at this
prime piece of property and fall all over themselves to sign a
treaty,” Shade said dryly as he stepped from the Spell Hawk.
“Thanks for killing the wind, Valor,” he added as he dropped down
from the ship and shook his head. “Are you sure you can fix this
place, Jala?”

Jala remained still and silent, her violet
eyes staring off into the ink-black night. Silently, Zoelyn moved
to stand where she could get a better look at the High Lady and
still manage to keep an eye on her comrades and the two Bendazzi
that trailed Jala everywhere. It had taken time for the realization
of who this woman was to sink in, but she remembered now. There was
a statue of Jala at the battlefield, and she was supposed to be
dead. Now she stood poised in the middle of a cursed island with
every intention of rebuilding a land that had been gone for
hundreds of years. Shaking her head, Zoelyn glanced down at the
black rocks below her and followed the High Lady’s gaze to the sea
beyond them. The whole idea seemed insane to her, but Jala seemed
very confident.

“Jala?” Shade called again after a lengthy
silence. He ran a hand through his auburn hair and leaned over for
a better look at her face as he waited for any sign that she had
heard him. Frowning, Shade turned back to look at Valor with a
raised eyebrow.

“She is reading the weaves of this place,”
Valor said quietly. From the expression on his face, the knight
apparently thought the idea was insane as well. He looked far from
pleased and his frown was deepening with every breath. “It looks to
me like it is going to be far more than one night’s work. Tevonale
was nearly as big as Merro and this rock we are standing on is
barely bigger than your ship,” Valor muttered with a slight shake
of his head.

“It was the biggest island I could find to
land on,” Shade replied with a shrug.

“Stay by the ship,” Jala ordered in a voice
that seemed distant. Slowly the High Lady moved farther from the
spell hawk and placed her staff in front of her. She closed her
eyes and one hand reached out before her as if pulling aside a
curtain that only she could see. Her fingers twisted and curved
down, forming patterns that seemed too complex to Zoelyn’s eyes. A
faint tremor rippled through the ground below them and the air
itself seemed to shiver.

The warmth of magic washed over Zoelyn, but
it was nothing like Valor’s power had been. The minor weather
casting Valor used had been a gentle caress. The raw power Jala was
calling forth was like an avalanche crashing into her. Staggering
back, Zoelyn fought against the curse, but it was futile. She could
feel magic leeching into her despite her attempts to refuse it.
Warmth poured through her body and the fatigue of the day
vanished.

“Are you OK, Zoelyn?” Valor asked. His dark
blue eyes were settled firmly on her, and she wondered how long he
had been watching her.

Zoelyn nodded, then shook her head unsure how
to respond. “I can’t help it. I don’t want the magic, but I am
draining it,” Zoelyn explained, her words quavering as she spoke.
Never before had she felt such power. The desire to simply let go
of all restraint and drain until the ever present hunger vanished,
was so strong she wanted to cry.

The ground trembled again and the strength of
Jala’s magic intensified once more. Roaring filled the air and the
waters around the island began to churn as the earth rocked again.
Zoelyn’s eyes flew back to Jala as a soft violet glow began to
surround the High Lady. Jala’s hand was still raised and light
trailed from her fingertips as she continued to draw the complex
patterns in the air before her. The island shook again and rocks
skittered down the gentle slope to splash into the churning sea.
The roaring of the water intensified and a groaning sound filled
the air to the west of them. All eyes followed the sound and Zoelyn
stared in dumbfounded wonder as the crest of another island became
visible through the crashing water. The groaning grew louder as
more rocks rose to the surface. Zoelyn glanced at the two men and
found identical expressions of wonder on their faces. Slowly, she
turned in a full circle and watched in silence as Jala slowly
repaired what others had broken so long ago. Just as she said she
would, the High Lady was rebuilding Tevonale.

“Unfuckingbelievable” Shade muttered as the
newly risen islands shifted and seemed to pull closer to the small
mass of land they stood on.

“Nothing is unbelievable with Jala,” Valor
replied quietly. At first, he had been watching the progress of
rebuilding as much as they were.

Now his eyes were only for Jala and Zoelyn
knew he was monitoring her magic reserves.

“Do you love her or worship her?” Shade asked
dryly and shook his head as the islands around them began to
radiate with a pale violet light. At first, it was a dim glow that
trailed along the cracks where the newly risen land was connected,
within a breath, however, it had grown so bright that Zoelyn turned
away and shielded her eyes. The groaning that had filled the air
for the last few minutes died off abruptly and it seemed as though
Sanctuary itself was holding its breath in the silence.

Zoelyn raised her eyes just long enough to
glance at Jala. The air around the High Lady was filled with
hundreds of tiny runes and the magic surrounding her was so thick
that tendrils of her wine colored hair were rising around her as if
she was immersed in water. Jala’s pale face was calm and her eyes
were closed and yet she was easily the most terrifying thing Zoelyn
had ever seen in her life. The woman was wielding more magic than
Zoelyn had ever dreamed possible, with as much effort as a normal
person drew breath. With just a fraction of the magic Jala was
using, she could level a city.

The air tightened around her and Zoelyn
lowered her gaze once more as the bright glow increased yet again.
She could hear Shade muttering muffled curses and what sounded like
praying from Valor. Squeezing her eyes shut, Zoelyn held her breath
as the air around her exploded with a brilliant flash of light and
then all was dark once more.

Slowly Zoelyn relaxed and marveled at how
tense her body had been without realizing it. Even her jaw had been
clenched. Her eyes opened and she stared in complete disbelief at
the grass covered ground around her. Trees dotted the landscape for
as far as she could see to the north, while the ground just behind
her was covered with lush grasslands such as the fields in Arovan.
Minutes before, she had been mere feet from the Black Sea and now
there was no sign of the ocean or even a beach.

Valor smiled faintly and turned slowly to
look at Shade. “I love and worship her; only a fool would do
otherwise,” he said softly as he moved to stand just behind
Jala.

The ground surrounding the High Lady was
still barren rocks, but everywhere else brimmed with life. There
was no longer any sign of the curse that had been upon Tevonale and
Zoelyn swallowed hard at the thought. If the High Lady could remove
a curse from an entire continent, there might be hope that she
could remove the curse from Zoelyn.

“I think that came pretty close to my
limits,” Jala said weakly and it was only then that Zoelyn realized
the High Lady was no longer simply holding her staff, she was
supporting herself with it. Jala’s hand rose to her face and she
brushed at the pale skin under her nose and frowned as it came away
with gold blood on it. “Very close,” she amended.

“Too close,” Valor agreed as he carefully
wrapped an arm around her back. “You did a beautiful job, though,
Jala, and now we are one step closer to repairing the world. You
never cease to amaze me, love,” he added as he gently turned her
back toward the spell hawk.

“The cities are back as well. The Blights
will have homes here, Shade. Tell them that when you speak with
them,” Jala murmured, her voice sounding feeble compared to the
vibrancy the woman had possessed earlier. Her feet seemed to tangle
beneath her for a moment and it was only Valor’s arm around her
that kept her on her feet.

“Is she all right?” Shade asked Valor softly
as the two of them moved passed him.

“She is fine, Shade. Have faith in her. She
is just tired right now. I think she has earned that right,” Valor
replied with a smile. He glanced around at the newly rebuilt land
one last time as he helped Jala up the stairs. His smile widened as
he turned to look at Zoelyn. “Welcome to House Merrodin, Zoelyn.
That look of amazement you wear on your face right now will become
far more common than you might expect. With Jala, miracles are
simply part of the average day.”

Zoelyn nodded slowly, unsure what to say. Her
attention returned to the land and the full meaning of Valor’s
words. Dominic had never been able to ease her curse. He had even
gone so far as to bring his mentor, Rose, from Sanctuary to see
her. Rose had said it would take a miracle to release Zoelyn from
whatever dark magics were upon her, and now for the first time in
her life those words didn’t mean impossible.

“You coming, Zoey?” Shade asked and she
glanced up quickly to see him standing in the doorway of the ship.
She had been so absorbed in her own thoughts she hadn’t noticed him
move.

Nodding quickly, Zoelyn moved to the ship and
took the stairs two at time. Her body brimmed with energy and her
heart was filled with hope. For the first time in as long as she
could remember, she actually had something to look forward to. If
Jala Merrodin could change the world in one night, helping a single
person would surely be a simple matter. All she had to do was prove
to Jala that she was worthy of the help.

Merro

“Badger is ruling the city to the south that
you built. This is to be the new capital of Merro. Jala has named
it
Vezradesh
,” Vaze explained as the shadows fell away from
them. Morning light was just beginning to fill the sky, but the
city before them was already bustling with life.

Neph nodded in response and gazed silently at
the half-built walls that surrounded the skeletal beginnings of the
very large city. Several streets near the center of the city were
already complete with houses and stores lining each side in neat
rows. His eyes lingered on the massive house at the heart of it and
he smiled faintly. “Valor’s influence,” he muttered.

Vaze smirked and nodded once. “Jala grumbled
about it, but in all honesty it makes the most sense. The people
need to see her as a High Lady and they won’t if she is the girl
next door. She needs to be pretentious at times, even if she
despises it.”

“What is the wall surrounding it? Protection
from her own citizens?” Neph asked in amusement as they began
walking slowly toward the house.

“The barracks, actually. Valor had them
designed in the shape of a shield wall. It curves around the house
in a half-moon shape. The northern side belongs to the archers, the
southern to the Soulreavers, and the center houses the knights.
There is a rather large courtyard in between it and the actual
house, but not enough of one to delay her warriors if she has need
of them,” Vaze explained.

“And the massive building to the east of the
house?” Neph asked, his eyes lingering on the four-story black
stone building crowned with spires on each corner. “It looks rather
imposing for Jala’s taste. I’d expect to find something like that
in Oblivion or Rivana perhaps but not here.

Vaze smirked and shrugged one shoulder at
Neph. “Jala didn’t design it. I did,” he replied. “It serves
several purposes, actually. It functions as a jail, barracks for
the city guard, a council hall for the merchants and guildmasters,
but most importantly my home.”