“She introduced herself to me when you were still living in Shade’s hall. It was a brief meeting and more of a warning to me. About Cassia, that is,” he explained and shook his head slightly. “I didn’t realize she was still in the city, though, and I have no idea why she was here. This makes no sense,”
The sound of approaching footsteps drew both of their attention to the door. “There is no sign of anyone else in the house,” Valor said as he stepped through the doorway. “Neph contacted Sovann through a link. He and Wisp were apparently working on another building, an orphanage or something. They are on their way here now,” He moved closer as he spoke and removed what remained of his cloak. “Here, you can cover her with this,” he offered, handing the cloak over to Jala.
She nodded silently and draped the cloak across Isador’s still form. Standing slowly, she took hold of Valor’s tunic and gently pulled him toward her. With a critical eye, she examined the wound on the side of his face and plucked a splinter of wood from it drawing a sharp gasp from the knight. “Let me heal that,” she said as he started to pull away.
“It’s nothing, head wounds always bleed a lot,” he objected.
“Let me heal it anyway,” she insisted, tugging more firmly on his shirt. With a sigh, he bent closer and allowed her to place a hand over the wound. She drew carefully on the magic again and mended the cuts, scrapes and bruises as she found them. With a slight nod she released him and glanced at Finn. “Are you hurt?” she asked quietly.
Looking up, Finn shook his head and held his arm out for her inspection. “It raked me good in the beginning but it’s healed already,” he explained and stood slowly.
“Wish I healed that fast,” Valor muttered and looked around the room. “All of this damage isn’t from our fight,” He said his eyes lingering on the broken wine vat. “That is going to piss Sovann off. I shudder to think how much money was lost there.”
“Around two hundred thousand, gold,” Finn muttered, his expression concerned. “Did they say how far away they were from here?” he asked Neph. The mage shook his head and shrugged in response and Finn paced to the window. “Do we know how many of those things are in the city?” he asked, his voice quieter.
“No,” Jala answered simply and moved to join him. “How did you kill it? No one else can sense them, Finn, only Neph has even known one was present.”
“Killing is what I do best, Vezradesh,” he said softly, his gaze still searching the street beyond for his little brother.
Chapter 9
Fionahold
Sunlight filtered down from the towering trees, leaving a dappling of shadows across Remedy’s tanned face. He was leaning against a tree, watching her, with a sprig of mint dangling from one corner of his mouth. Symphony moved passed him and lowered herself slowly to the stream bank and pulled her boots off. Setting them off to the side, she dangled her feet into the rushing water and stared down through its depths to the rocks below.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong or shall I play the guessing game,” he said at last, when the silence had stretched for several long minutes. “Is the new dress you’ve ordered the wrong shade and won’t match your sword belt properly?” he asked as he dropped down into the grass behind her and chewed on the mint once more. “The sky is too bright, the weather too warm, the breeze not quite breezy enough,” he pressed further.
“Those sound more like your complaints than mine,” she said softly.
“I’ll have you know my new dress is a splendid shade and will match my belt perfectly,” he said his tone sounding indignant.
Glancing over at him she met his smile and rolled her eyes. “The breeze is perfectly fine and I haven’t ordered any dresses for years,”
“Ahh, it’s the sun then,” he said sagely and shook his fist slowly toward the sky. “Damn you and your brightness,” he said in a dramatic pitch.
“How about, I’ve lost contact with twenty agents in the past week. The Blights are over-running three countries now and half of the nations look like they are on the brink of war,” she said in exasperation and kicked her foot lightly, sending a spray of water across the stream.
“Other than the Blights, what’s new?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“I want a bloodless revolution Remmy,” she said, her voice sounding more like a whine than she cared to admit.
“I want a lot of things Sym. We don’t always get what we want and we have to make do with what we have,” Remedy replied, plucking the mint from his mouth and tossing it into the stream with distaste. With a heavy sigh, he reached into his pocket and produced a small pack of tobacco and began rolling a cigarette. “Before the Blights, it was the Bendazzi. Remember all of that chaos. It was a mess. And then, of course, there was the serpent outbreak, ughh.” He shook his head and lifted the newly rolled smoke to his lips. “It may come to war Sym. There may not be a damn thing you can do about it, either,”
“Why does it have to? Why do they have to fight all of the damn time? Aren’t the Blights enough to worry about? I spoke with Kadandelvayan to seek peace, not to get him to call his men. I wanted his vote, not his damn swords,” she snapped and dropped back on the bank to lay flat on her back, her feet still dangling in the water.
“Are we having a temper tantrum?” Remedy asked, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.
“No, I would kick more and scream if I were,” she mumbled, her eyes rising to study his face. “I want to do more but I don’t know what to do, Remmy. I want to stop this disaster before it happens. I don’t want people to die for my power,”
“Don’t let Faramir hear you like this. You will get her started on a rant that lasts for days,” Remedy warned, taking a long drag from the cigarette and exhaling slowly.