“I was drawn into the Barrier, actually,” Jala began calmly. The holy symbol fell from her hand and she leaned forward on the table with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I don’t truly expect any of you to believe me on that account, but that is what happened. At first I was confused, but then when I started to examine my surroundings I realized where I was. The magic had pulled me back to the Barrier and somehow my mind held together,” she shrugged and glanced at Jin. “You may check my mind to verify I am speaking the truth if you wish,” she offered and eyes widened around the table. To offer to let a Mind Mage freely into your head was an act of trust that Neph himself would never contemplate.
“I believe you. While I’d love to see into your mind to learn the knowledge that you hold on the matter, I won’t put you through the pain to sate my own curiosity,” Jin replied with a smile, but his eyes lingered on her with such interest that Neph wondered if the man was reconsidering his words the moment they left his mouth.
“I have a question for you,” Arjuna began politely and waited until Jala had turned to look at him before he continued. “How did you know about this meeting? It’s not that I object to your being here. On the contrary, I’m pleased to see you. It’s just that this meeting was to be kept in the utmost secrecy.” His gaze turned aside from her and settled on Vaze who had propped himself against a back wall and he raised an eyebrow.
“I informed her,” Zachary Dark announced before Jala had a chance to answer the question. He smirked at the expressions of shock on several faces and motioned at Jala. “She needs to be here and we need to discuss matters of more importance than how she is here. We are wasting time with this interrogation.”
“You expect us to simply accept her story. You want me to believe she was in the Barrier? Do I look like a fool to you?” Nicoli Blackwolf snapped.
“I know that question was addressed to Lord Dark, but can I answer it please?” Shade broke in, his hand raised in the air as if he were sitting in class at the Academy.
“Please Nicoli. If not for Jala Merrodin your son would be dead now. Perhaps if she had been with Micah, my son would still be alive. Zachary is right. We need to move on to more pressing matters.” Elijah Arovan’s voice stilled the room once more and Nicoli slowly nodded and leaned back in his seat. “Forgive him please, Jala. Nicoli is aggressive on a good day as one would expect from a Shifter and today is truly not a good day. It isn’t personal against you. It is his attitude toward the world at this time.”
“His name was left off the list of invitations to the Empress’s council meeting,” Jin Han’shy informed her calmly with a glance to Neph as he spoke the words. “It would seem that if you don’t hold your land you are no longer a High Lord in anyone’s eyes. Foolish, really, when you consider it closely. We are High Lord’s because of the power we hold and the people that follow us, not because of what lands we control.”
“Merro didn’t receive an invitation either. Sovann Sovaesh was not approved as Regent of my land and my son is too young to claim it. If I had not returned Merro would have been considered neutral lands such as Gaelyn or the Greenwild was before I claimed it,” Jala explained with a nod to Nicoli. “I hold no resentment or anger for your sharp words. We have all been insulted and we have just under three months to turn the scales back to our favor if we wish to attend the first council meeting,” Jala finished and folded her hands in front of her. “Which brings us back to the matter of the Blights and how to get them out of Glis,” Arjuna sighed.
“With the glasses to see the creatures it shouldn’t take much to simply wipe them out,” Lord Faydwer offered in a voice that was far more reasonable than the one he had been using previously. Neph watched him carefully and noticed how close attention the Fae lord was paying to Nicoli Blackwolf. He was trying to buy favor with the Shifters apparently, though Neph couldn’t see why. There was no profit to be had in it at the present time. Glis was simply too weak now.
“Actually I’d rather not wipe them out,” Jala said carefully. To her credit she didn’t shrink back in the chair when the looks of fury darkened several faces. Clearing her throat she held a hand up in a peaceful gesture. “As I said, I was in the Barrier,” she began hesitantly. “I…”
Her voice trailed off and she shifted in her seat. “I know you all think they are monsters, but they aren’t. Before the Barrier, I was in Arovan for the sole purpose of killing them all. But I understand better now and we can’t. They aren’t all monsters.”
“Tell that to the widows and orphans of my land. Tell that to the souls of the young women who died birthing creatures spawned of rape. Tell that to my people that have no home now Lady Merrodin,” Nicoli hissed. Every muscle in the man’s body was tense and Neph slid his chair back from the table just enough to rise quickly if needed. Shifters were not known for rational behavior when angry and Nicoli Blackwolf looked well beyond angry.
“We are all linked to the Barrier. Each creature living has a strand of magic connecting them to this world. I planned to kill them all, once I realized it connected them. It was the perfect path past their immunity to magic. I simply bypassed their flesh and targeted their souls and minds directly with my power,” Jala explained.
“Then why didn’t you?” Nicoli demanded, his voice booming over hers and drowning out all other noise in the room.