The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (37 page)

“Maybe,” she whispered and swallowed heavily.
“We should get Legacy,” she added in a slightly louder voice,
hoping her words would drive his attention elsewhere. She truly had
no desire for him to see her blushing.

I could keep you safe. Why do you have to
go with him
? Dray’s voice echoed in her mind and she turned to
look around. She had forgotten about Dray as much as she hated to
admit it. Guilt prodded at her as she considered how lost he had
been without her the last time she traveled with Seth to the
Darklands. It had taken Emily knocking him out to control him until
she was back, and she had only been gone for one night.

“I need the time to train, Dray,” Zoelyn
explained as she tried to guess where he was. Typically he was near
her, but he was using a mental link now, so he could be anywhere in
the house. It still amazed her that he was able to use mental links
with her at all. Every other person that had tried to use magic on
her failed, but Dray somehow managed it.

You could train here
, Dray protested,
a note of stubbornness rising in his voice.

“I will have longer there to train and Seth
knows what I need to work on,” Zoelyn explained calmly.

“Your Blight has an issue?” Seth asked with a
smile. He scanned the hallway quickly and his golden eyes settled
almost instantly on the wall behind her. “She is coming with me,
and she will return when Legacy does. I promise to bring her back
in one piece, boy. Surely you can contain your jealousy for a
week.”

I don’t like him
, Dray informed her
coldly. You shouldn’t trust him.

“There are a lot of people that would say the
same about us Dray. Don’t trust her, she is Undrae. Don’t trust him
he is Blight. I like Jala’s belief of judging on merit,” Zoelyn
sighed.

“He is a self-created monster. He wasn’t born
a Demon. He chose a path in life that made him one,” Dray said in a
quiet voice. It was rare that he actually spoke aloud with others
around, and she knew he had only done so now so that Seth would
hear as well.

“Everyone can find redemption, Dray,” Zoelyn
replied quietly. “If they choose to look for it,” Dray growled.

Seth smiled at the Blight and nodded his head
slightly. “Wise for your age. I am a self-created monster. You are
correct. Everyone that I murdered, tortured, or destroyed was my
enemy. Remember that, Dray before you decide to piss me off.” His
smile turned cold as he spoke and he bowed his head once in the
Blight’s direction. “We are leaving now. You have a week to exist
without her. I think you will survive. Get in my way now, though,
and I can promise you won’t.”

“Please, Dray. I will be fine. I promise,”
Zoelyn assured him with a smile.

“You have them fooled, but not me. I’m not
afraid of you either. When the time comes I will be ready to send
you back to hell again,”

Dray promised in the loudest voice she had
ever heard him use.

Seth had turned to leave, but at the Blight’s
words he froze mid-step and slowly turned to look back at the
Blight. “Even the Divine fear me,” he whispered and the tone of his
voice made her skin crawl. “I am the Crow King. I am the Herald of
Death. I am the Nightmare of thousands. Women shiver at the mention
of my name and grown men weep at the thought of facing my blades,
and yet you say you do not fear me.” He stalked toward the wall
where the Blight stood and his hands dropped lightly to his
daggers. “You can hate me. You can say you don’t fear me, that’s
fine. Bide your time, little Blight, and when you decide you are
man enough to send me back to hell, let me know.”

“The moment you hurt Zoey will be the moment
I kill you, Demon,” Dray hissed. “How touching,” Seth smiled again
and shook his head at the Blight.

“Please stop,” Zoelyn whispered behind them
and Seth bowed his head at once his hands moving instantly from his
dagger hilts.

“The Elder Blood are such savage creatures.
We snarl and growl like the most primitive animals,” Seth said with
a sigh and his smile lost all hints of the former coldness he had
shown Dray. “If you are waiting for me to hurt Zoey, you have a
very long wait, Dray. I am trying to help her,” he added in a
kinder voice and winked at her.

“You see, Dray, I will be fine,” Zoelyn added
as relief surged through her. With the way Seth was acting, she had
thought there was going to be a fight.

“You are good,” Dray said quietly. “I am
immune to charm, though,” he added in a softer voice. “I will wait
for you, Zoey, and when you see him for what he truly is, I will be
ready.”

Glis

Sunlight filtered down through the tree tops
leaving dappled patterns across the thick undergrowth. Shade paused
and listened closely, praying for any sign of movement. The dead
silence was unnerving him more than he cared to admit. He had never
been anywhere so completely devoid of life. Not even a trill of a
bird stirred through the darkening forest. As far as he could tell,
he had perhaps two hours of daylight left before another pointless
day ended. So far, his search had tallied four days without even so
much as a hint of the Blights.

“I’m not sneaking here!” Shade called loudly
and turned in a slow circle watching the forest closely. His voice
echoed off the trees, but nothing moved or made a noise in
response. “I just want to talk to you. That’s it! Look, I’m not
even armed!” His voice echoed once more and he leaned heavily back
against a tree with a grunt. “Even if you do want to fillet and
devour my flesh, I’d still welcome the conversation while you are
getting the dinner table ready,” he mumbled half-heartedly. The
frustration of his search combined with his loneliness was
beginning to take a toll on him.

The forest around him remained still and
lifeless and Shade pushed himself off the tree and turned back to
the path he had been following. Nigel had suggested the creatures
would be near the lakes, and according to his map he still had
close to ten miles before he reached them. He had considered flying
directly there, but had decided against it. He had no proof of
Nigel’s theory and if the creatures had moved south spotting them
in the thick forest while flying would be next to impossible. The
Blights almost always moved in camouflage, which meant you had to
remain alert for noises or moving brush. Sometimes even that was
rare. He had a pair of the glasses Sovann had fashioned to spot the
creatures, but in the darkening light of the forest they weren’t
very useful.

“So the loneliness of this mission was really
something I should have considered before accepting it,” Shade
muttered as he pressed on once more. He had always been a social
person, and never spent much time alone. Even after he left the
Academy, he had Charm as a constant companion, not that he was sure
the rogue had appreciated that fact.

He frowned as he considered the man, and
wondered how much punishment Charm had faced for helping him escape
the city. He hadn’t seen or heard from him since the night Vaze
sent him to Goswin, but surely Symphony hadn’t punished him too
severely. She had always seemed to favor Charm, and Shade knew the
man was well regarded by the other Fionaveir.

So the only issue would have been Faramir,
but then that was a rather big issue in itself. Faramir was the
primary reason he had left the Fionaveir in the first place. Her
influence on Symphony had been unshakable, and her cold disregard
for their allies had been too much for him to stomach. Shade let
out a heavy sigh and regretted not checking on Charm sooner. “As
soon as I am done here,” he promised himself as he gazed around at
the vacant forest. If I am ever done here,” he added silently.

As it turned out, destroying the creatures
was much easier than negotiating with them. The bombing of Eldagar
had taken less time if you didn’t consider the weeks he had spent
capturing the goblins. He froze as the thought crossed his mind and
his gaze trailed slowly down to his pocket where he kept the stone.
Slowly he pulled it from his coat and stared down at the black gem.
He had never meant to keep the creature in stasis for so long, but
then, there had never been a good time to release it before. There
had always been someone nearby and he knew no one, but perhaps Jala
would give the creature a chance. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure if
Jala would be willing to give a goblin a chance. There was no one
around now, though. His gaze rose to scan the forest once more
before returning to the gem.

“I have to be desperate for company,” Shade
sighed as he cracked the gem and dropped it to the ground in front
of him. The goblin lay on the ground stunned for a long moment and
Shade wondered if he had inadvertently damaged it with the storage
stone, but then it was sputtering and struggling to its feet. He
watched it in silence as it gibbered and spun around, eyes wide as
it examined the surrounding forest. It stopped the moment its eyes
found him and hissed.

“I did just free you,” Shade reminded it
gently. He made no move for the daggers that were hidden in his
coat. It was possible that the creature would settle down if he
didn’t show any aggression. Of course it was also possible it would
consider him weak and attempt to rip his face off. It was a gamble,
but from what he remembered of the creature when he had caught it,
he didn’t really think it would attack.

Sputtering once more the goblin gibbered at
him loudly with what he was sure was the goblin equivalent of
cursing. Shaking his head at him it waved its spindly arms at the
forest surrounding them and hissed and snarled more.

“And I am going to name you Neph Junior,”
Shade announced with a nod. The creature’s eyes narrowed and it
hissed once more. “All right, that was insulting to you. I’m
sorry,” he added with a smirk, wondering what was truly upsetting
the creature. He knew it couldn’t understand him well enough to
know what he was saying, and even if it did, Neph had never been
around the goblins. “Food. That is probably it,” Shade decided at
last and slowly reached his hand into his backpack. The creature
scampered back several feet and watched him with an expression of
suspicion as he pulled a strip of dried meat from his backpack.
“And you probably don’t trust me, considering I fed your buddies
explosives, so watch,” Shade murmured as he took a bite from the
jerky and then offered it out to the creature.

The goblin snarled once more, but its anger
seemed to be fading quickly as it watched him chew. It took a
hesitant step forward and its nose quivered as it tried to
determine what Shade was holding.

With a smile, Shade took another bite and
offered it to the goblin once more. “If you don’t hurry up and take
it I’m going to eat it all,” he warned in a calm voice.

The goblin had apparently reached the same
conclusion after watching him take another bite, and greed
outweighed its caution. Scrambling forward, it snatched the
remaining jerky from Shade’s hand and scampered back, sniffing it,
and then shoving it all into its mouth at once. It stayed there,
crouched beside a massive elm, watching him with cheeks that were
protruding like a chipmunk’s.

Shade snorted in amusement and nodded to the
goblin. “See, it’s all good. I’m not going to hurt you as long as
you don’t try to hurt me, and I have food so you don’t want to hurt
me,” he smiled at the creature, taking care not to show his teeth.
He didn’t want it to get the wrong impression and let it think he
was actually snarling.

The goblin chewed for a few more moments then
swallowed heavily and moved toward Shade once more. Its shining
black eyes settled on his backpack then rose to look at his face.
Settling back on its haunches it made a trilling sound that
reminded him of a bird and held its small hand toward his bag.

Shade nodded in understanding and produced
another piece of jerky from his bag. “See, we can communicate,” he
said softly as he knelt down in front of the creature and offered
it the jerky.

The goblin watched him for a long moment,
eyeing his posture, and then cautiously leaned forward to take the
offering. Unlike the first time, it didn’t snatch the food, and it
didn’t scamper off to eat it. The creature eyed him as it devoured
the meat with an expression of curiosity on its face.

“I get you, and I feel the same way right
now,” Shade agreed with a nod and slowly stood once more. “But as
interesting as you are, little guy, I have a job to do. So you have
two options. You can follow me and keep me company or you can
scamper off into the wilds . Your choice entirely, but if you do
scamper off, please scamper a long way. I’d hate the Blights to get
hold of you.” He smiled once more at the creature who seemed to be
listening intently to him and then began walking north again. He
wouldn’t reach the lakes tonight, but he could at least get a mile
or so closer.

A frantic trilling rose behind him and Shade
paused to look back as the goblin scrambled to its feet and
stumbled after him quickly. Smiling he watched it approach and
offered it another piece of jerky. “I was hoping you would decide
to follow,” he admitted with a nod to the goblin as he began
walking once more. It fell into step behind him. “Now we have to
think up a name for you, because Neph Junior is just way too mean.
You have already shown that you have a better personality than Neph
does.”

* * *

“It’s not done yet,” Shade chuckled as he
pushed the goblin back from the campfire once more. Shaking his
head with a smile he stirred the stew and tested the vegetables.
“The potatoes are still too crunchy,” he informed the creature and
leaned back from the fire.

For the first few days he had shunned
campfires and had rested in the treetops in animal forms. Now,
however, Shade was making his presence as blatant as he possibly
could. He had been in Glis for six days now, and still there was no
sign of the Blights. He was beginning to wonder if they had already
moved on to Arovan. If they had, there was no hope at all of saving
them, or Arovan for that matter.