“Wait,” she said, holding a hand out to him. “You can’t fight while carrying him. Let me remove the rest of the Barllen and I can store the body in a stone. It will keep it in stasis as well so it stays preserved,” she said, half amazed that she was capable of thinking so clearly.
He nodded and motioned for her to go ahead. “Hurry, though, we have to get out of the city very soon.”
“I’ll hurry, but we can’t leave the city quite yet. There is something I have to do before we go,” she said calmly, her mind pushing the grief back. She wouldn’t let it govern her now. Not when there was still a chance she could bring Finn back.
“What?” Valor asked, his own voice sounding clearer as if he was following the same belief.
“Kill Hemlock,” she said simply and returned to the removal of the Barllen. She let her anger build as she worked. With each breath it grew stronger, pushing back the grief and despair. Those emotions could wait. She needed the anger now to punish those who had caused the pain. “You grieve so much more gracefully than me, Valor. I’ve watched you over the past few days, mourning your sister in silence. I can’t mourn in silence. I want to hurt them. I want them to feel the pain they have caused me.”
Valor shook his head and smiled coldly. “No, I haven’t been grieving gracefully, Jala. I’ve been biding my time. I was sealed behind a wall where I couldn’t act. I can act now, and once you are finished here I promise we will make them feel pain.” There was a sincerity to his voice that made his words ring of an oath.
Looking up at him she nodded slowly, her magic still at work on cleansing Finn’s body. A silent pact had just formed between the two of them. She could see in his eyes that he had felt it form as well. “We both have more than simply Finn to avenge,” she said, then paused and met his eyes fully so he knew her next words were not simply idle. “I promised Hemlock I would bring Sanctuary to its knees if he killed Finn. I think he might have thought I meant just the City of Sanctuary. The ones that have truly brought our pain aren’t in the city, Valor. And they think they are safe from vengeance.” She fell silent again and stared back down at Finn as she worked.
His death will be their damnation. It will be a long hunt, but we will have their blood. I promise you that sister, Marrow said. He had remained silent and watchful by the door until now. She glanced in his direction and gave him a nod of agreement. It was the first time he had called her sister, and she knew it was said with respect. Before the barrier in her mind lifted it would have seemed odd. Now however it fit perfectly. Bendazzi were spoken of as cold and cruel hunters, totally ruthless in nature, and she was feeling anything but merciful.
Chapter 28
Fionahold
Shade lit a cigarette as he stepped into the darkened courtyard. The call for assembly had come bare minutes ago and from what he could tell he was one of the first to arrive. He moved silently to where his group would be forming up, content to find a wall to hold up while he waited. A few figures stirred in the shadows and he nodded absently to them without taking any true notice of who they were. Beyond a handful of people, he didn’t truly know anyone in the Fionahold.
“Not even a true hello. Well I can see I was missed,” a familiar voice called as he leaned back against the stone wall.
“Lex?” Shade called back in disbelief. He hadn’t seen his former body guard since his first week at the Fionahold. He pushed back off the wall and searched the darkness for his friend.
Lex stepped away from the small group of people Shade had walked absently by, and moved over to Shade’s side. He was thinner than Shade remembered and had more scars showing than before. He wore his long black leather coat as always, but the garment had seen hard use recently. Hastily done repairs showed up and down the back and most of them looked to be tear marks.
“What the hell happened to you?” Shade asked, looking up from the coat to his friends amused face.
“Been in Glis fighting against the bloody Blights,” Lex said casually and then bowed to Shade. “Thank you ever so much for bombing Eldagar. I am forever in your debt for killing those damn things before I had to fight them personally.”
“They called you back from Glis for this?” Shade asked a bit incredulous. While capturing the city was important, the reports from Glis suggested they couldn’t spare anyone from the fighting.
Lex shook his head and the light in his gold eyes seemed to dim a bit as his expression grew somber. “No, I’m uh, I’m here for reassignment. Everyone else in my squad is dead. I was the last one. So I’m back here until Lutheron can assign me to another battle squad. We were with Sebastian’s forces near the Arovan border awaiting re-supply.” Lex rubbed his face and leaned back against the wall beside Shade.
“Sebastian Blackwolf is dead?” Shade asked quietly. He had heard about Chastity Blackwolf’s death earlier in the week. Apparently Jala had started a riot over Chastity’s arrest. Their child was apparently missing as well. So if Sebastian was dead it meant Glis no longer had an heir. If High Lord Nicoli fell in combat Glis was as good as done. Without a high lord, Glis would be another neutral territory like Merro had been or the Greenwild still was. If there was anyone left alive there, when it was all said and done, of course.