The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (27 page)

We need to talk
. The voice was a
whisper in his mind, but Hemlock was moving before the words were
fully spoken. It wasn’t often that Kali contacted him through
links, and he never ignored her when she did. Kali was dangerous,
and somewhat unstable. Most importantly, though, Kali was the only
ally he had. With Symphony purging the city and his visions showing
his death, he needed Kali now more than ever.

* * *

It took only minutes for him to reach the
portal stone to her home, and she still looked annoyed when he
arrived. It was obvious she had been pacing, which meant she would
be extremely irritable tonight. Silently, he stepped fully into the
room and gave her a questioning look. find my home.” Her tone was
filled with irritation and Hemlock knew exactly how she felt. The
Fionaveir were destroying his city one district at a time and it
seemed that not even Kali would escape their notice.

“They raided
The Pits
last night.
Close to thirty of Grave’s people were arrested. It’s possible the
mercenaries will take a stand in retaliation,” Hemlock offered with
a heavy sigh.

“After the losses Graves suffered in Avanti,
he is likely kissing the Empress’s ass right now,” Kali snapped.
“What do you see for us in the future, Hemlock?”

The question caught him off guard and he knew
he flinched at the mention of his visions. Kali rarely showed
interest in his talent with Time magic, and now when she did have
an interest, he didn’t have anything pleasant to share.

“Death, mostly,” Hemlock admitted quietly as
he moved to sit in a chair. With a sigh he pushed his hood back and
leaned back in the cushions as she returned to pacing. “The Veyetta
are coming back and I don’t know how. It’s not Jala, I’m sure of
it. In fact I believe Jala may be our only hope at standing against
them.”

“Jala, the one we prodded through the war and
tormented. Ahh, yes. I’m sure she is very inclined to help us,”
Kali purred as she shook her head and rolled her eyes.

“It was better to prod her than allow Myth to
win,” Hemlock retorted.

“Myth is still active. Don’t forget that. I’m
sure by now he has realized how little control I truly gave him
over the Blights. He thought I was going to let him kill everyone
off with my beauties,” Kali grumbled.

“They served their purpose well in shifting
the balance of power. This will have everyone off balance for years
and keep their minds off of the Barrier for a while at least,”
Hemlock offered. He rubbed his chin for a moment and watched her
pace across the room twice in silence. “We need to confront
Symphony,” he said at last, and Kali stopped dead in her
tracks.

“Are you out of your mind?” Her voice was a
hoarse whisper as she slowly turned to look at him with disbelief
written clearly on her pale face. “I am an exile and wanted dead by
every nation and you are the bloody leader of the largest Assassin
guild in Sanctuary. We can’t simply demand a meeting with fanatics
such as the Fionaveir. They are so goody-goody it makes my skin
crawl. We would barely get to the
Pardon me
before they were
whacking our heads off our shoulders,” Kali added, her voice
growing louder with each word.

“We can if we have something to offer her in
return for amnesty,” Hemlock pressed. He had been giving the matter
thought for the past week and it was the only solution he had
managed to come up with. The only other options were declaring war
openly on the Fionaveir or leaving the city, and in his visions,
both of those paths had led to his death. Confronting Symphony had
led to his loss of power, but it was possible that he could change
that future. Still, loss of power was far better than loss of life.
He knew what was waiting for him in hell and Seth would be far from
merciful.

“And what should we offer her, then?” Kali
demanded. She was staring at him fully now with both hands on her
hips. Her lips were drawn in a tight line and her eyes narrowed. In
his experience in dealing with her, the combination of that
expression and posture had never been a good thing.

“What if we tell her the truth about what we
have been doing?” Hemlock offered quietly. Her expression grew more
stormy and he tensed in his chair, every muscle ready to spring if
he needed to move quickly. Kali was an incredibly powerful mage
with a very volatile temper.

“I will not have the Fionaveir mucking up
what I have been working on for centuries. There are certain lines
that must be crossed to accomplish what we have to do and they will
not cross them. I will not allow them to fuck it up!” Kali hissed
and the air around her surged with magic.

“If they knew what you truly are, though,”
Hemlock pressed. The air around him filled with magic and he barely
moved before the chair he had been seated in burst into flames.
Thick smoke choked the small room as he pressed himself flat
against a wall and moved quickly to the other side of the room.
“Kali, please be reasonable,” he growled as he ducked another burst
of flames that had been aimed at his head.

“No! No! Bloody no! I will not work with
those lily white pansy bastards!” Kali screeched, flames dancing
from her fingers with each word she spoke.

“Fine!” Hemlock bellowed back in response as
he ducked and weaved his way through her magical temper tantrum.
When the Barrier had gone up, Kali had been slightly off in the
head. Over the year, she had gradually gotten worse. Now, the only
term he could use to describe her was a flaming nutter. She was a
powerful nutter, though, and the only one he could count on for
help when he needed it. If he phrased his request well, which
apparently he hadn’t this time. “Calm down, and let’s sort this
out, Kali. We have enough enemies without fighting each other.
Remember?”

The flames died abruptly and Hemlock stood
upright, slowly gazing around at what remained of the small sitting
room. Most of the furniture was destroyed and parts of the walls
were still in flame. Kali, however, seemed calm once more. He
raised an eyebrow at her and carefully watched the expression on
her face for any sign of anger. Her moods shifted so quickly that
she was nearly impossible to predict.

“We could kill Symphony and replace her with
a clone that I have manipulated the mind of,” Kali mused, her tone
peaceful once more.

There was no sign whatsoever of the fury that
had held her moments before and Hemlock had to force back the
desire to choke the woman. Kali was likely the strongest reason
that he never allowed himself to form attachment to women. He was
certain at some point the crazy bitch had been sweet and alluring
like Jala. Kali was simply the advanced version. She was living
proof of what other Immortal women would become, given enough time
and power, and that single thought had kept Hemlock free of
attachment for years.

“I don’t think that is an option this time,
Kali,” Hemlock replied cautiously. The last thing he wanted to do
was set off another tantrum, but from what he had seen of the
Fionaveir her idea simply wasn’t plausible.

“Probably not,” Kali sighed with
disappointment. “It is so much easier when I can just clone someone
and tell them what to do rather than having to deal with actual
people,” she added wistfully.

“We need something Symphony truly wants or
cares about. Remedy or Lex would work, but I can’t locate them.
This is the first thing we must deal with, and quickly before the
Fionaveir come down on us. Soon after, though, we must determine
how to keep the Veyetta at rest. If the Shadow Walkers reawaken
they will continue their plans to bring down the Barrier and then
we are all dead, regardless.” Hemlock sighed and rubbed his face
again. It was a habit of his when stressed, and with the way things
were going his face was going to be raw before the week was
over.

His eyes landed on the chair he had been
sitting in minutes before, and he pulled gently on his magic as he
waved a hand in its direction. The air shimmered around it as he
reversed time just enough to return it to its former condition.
Crossing the room once more, he dropped into the chair and eyed the
rest of the damage in the room. It would be a simple matter for him
to repair everything as he had the chair, but as far as he saw it,
Kali had created the mess, and she could clean it up.

“Perhaps you should tell me what you have
seen in regards to the Veyetta while I think about the matter with
Symphony,” Kali said. Her hand flicked out behind her and she
dropped back to sit balanced neatly on the empty air behind her. He
had known countless mages in his life and all but Kali hoarded
their magic. Kali threw magic around as if it were nothing, and it
often left him wondering exactly how large her reserves were. He
had never seen her run low on power, no matter what the
situation.

“NephonDelvayon is involved, but it is vague
as to how. I always see him in the visions before the rise of the
Shadows. I see Jala, as well, but I think she is standing against
the Veyetta. There is another there, but I can’t see him. It’s
nothing but darkness when I try to look closely and I think it may
be Vaze. He is the only one I know that can obscure himself so well
from my power. The vision begins in the mountains and I’m confused
on that. Veyetta covers valleys south of Arovan and I can’t
determine why the mountains are involved,” Hemlock began in a
hesitant conjured raised a dozen questions rather than answering
one.

“Delvay is in the mountains, but it is
controlled by the Rivasans right now,” Kali said thoughtfully. She
leaned back in her conjured chair and tapped one slender finger
against her full lips as she gave the matter further thought. “Vaze
is formidable but the other two are pups,” she mumbled.

“Jala is a very powerful pup,” Hemlock
warned. It was possible that Kali hadn’t kept track of the war
raging outside the city, but he had. From what he had seen Jala
Merrodin was not one to write off as a child. He had known she
would be powerful, he hadn’t expected her to prove it so quickly,
though.

“Powerful, yes. Wise, no. Jala can be
manipulated. Just look how easily we separated her from her gods.
With one swipe of a knife we moved her from being Fortune’s toy to
ours. All it took was a few pretty words and some finger pointing
in Fortune’s direction,” Kali murmured. “War was on the
battlefield, so was Fortune. I watched that entire battle and I saw
three gods present. We didn’t separate her from them; we simply
gave her less respect for them. I wouldn’t call her our toy,
either. Jala has gained a great deal of wisdom in a very short
time. She isn’t nearly as trusting, either. Jexon saw to that with
his idiotic betrayal in Avanti,” Hemlock countered.

“Pish posh,” Kali muttered with a dismissive
wave of her hand. “What did you tell Jala about the Veyetta?” she
asked, her pale eyes once again locking with his in a manner that
was entirely unsettling. Kali had an intensity to her gaze that
very few could master.

“The truth of my visions. If the Veyetta
reawaken, someone she loves will die. She has seen the strands of
darkness, Kali. She knows I’m not lying and she knows if she
doesn’t act when the time arrives, that it will cost her dearly,”
Hemlock answered quietly.

“Jala is such a sweet little sentimentalist.
That works so well in our advantage. The same could be said for
Symphony, I think. Also, you need to take a trip to Merro and find
some more puzzle pieces. While you are doing that, I will focus on
fumbling the magical threads to hide my home a while longer so I
can find out which heart strings Symphony obeys. Love is always the
best puppet string to pull. I just have to figure out who our
Empress loves the most and make a puppet accordingly,” Kali
mused.

“If I leave the city now, my guild is in more
danger than it will likely survive. If the Fionaveir discover where
the NightBlades reside they won’t rest until they have destroyed
everything I have,” Hemlock objected calmly.

“Well, I’d say place someone you trust in
charge, but we all know you don’t trust anyone,” Kali said dryly
and sighed heavily. “Send someone else to Merro, then. If Jala is
involved with your visions there will be answers there. Someone
needs to gather them unless you can manage to summon a vision that
isn’t filled with riddles.”

“I’ll see what arrangements I can make,”
Hemlock offered with obvious reluctance. He hated leaving the city.
Sanctuary was his home and his security. It wasn’t that he feared
the lands outside; it was the simple fact that he didn’t hold power
there. Still Kali had a valid point. He had visited Jala not too
long ago, but it had been a short visit in the early hours of the
morning and he hadn’t bothered to gather information while he was
there. That was before his Time magic started failing him, though
Things had changed now. For the first time since he could remember,
he had to do things the hard way. With a weary sigh, he stood and
nodded to Kali. “I’m not sure how long I will be out of the city,
but I will contact you when I return. I think I will have to leave
the Guild to fend for itself for a time. This is too important to
leave in someone else’s hands. I’d rather see the NightBlades fall
than the Barrier.”

“Glad we see eye to eye on the matter.” Kali
grinned at him, looking far too pleased with herself. There were
times when he w anted to slap her, given her temper, though he
generally just walked away. Which was exactly what he intended to
do now. “Nighty night, Hemmy. Let me know the moment you return,”
Kali added cheerfully as he crossed to the portal stone.

“Of course, Kali,” Hemlock replied with his
own forced smile. Someone in the city would have a very bad night,
now. He needed to vent his irritation on someone other than Kali.
Kali was too useful to kill, and that was the only thing that had
kept his blade from her throat for a very long time. He was a
survivor to the core, and he knew he needed Kali to survive. He
would do whatever he had to, even if it was allying with a nutty
bitch, to save a world he despised. The irony of the situation
brought a smile to his face and his irritation with the night eased
a little. Hemlock, the savior. He nearly laughed at the thought.
Charm would choke on his own vomit if he ever learned the truth of
it all.