From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(169)

“You are helping me?” Shade asked hopefully.

Turning Vaze looked at him and smiled wickedly. “In a fashion. I’m helping you get out of the city, but I’m sending you to a place that I shudder to think of going myself. I would not want to be in the presence of the man you will be seeing for anything in the world,” Vaze said his tone low and ominous. The shadows began to rise as he spoke shrouding him in a dark fog.

“Remember when I called you scary, Vaze,” Shade mumbled and pointed a finger at him. “This is why. This right here. Your people skills suck, Vaze,” Shade said, shaking his finger at Vaze in further accusation.

“Your ship, Shade,” Vaze said as he tossed a storage stone toward him.

“You got my ship too? Wait, how did you gem it with the Barllen on it?” Shade asked his eyes flashing back up to Vaze as he caught the stone.

“Simple. I ripped the Barllen off,” Vaze said as his summoned shadows began to wrap around Shade. With a faint smile he waved to Shade in farewell.

“Wait! Where are you sending me? What do you mean a man you wouldn’t want to see?” Shade called frantically as the darkness rose around him. Vertigo washed over him as the transport faded. Staggering forward Shade rested his hand against a wall and looked around frantically trying to determine where he was.

“Shade. What are you doing here?” Madren asked from behind him.

Slowly Shade turned and looked at his old friend with a raised eyebrow. They stood in a small room furnished with no more than the basic requirements of a bed and a dresser. Shade stared at the rough furnishings then looked back to Madren and shook his head in answer. “I have no idea, Madren. Is this Goswin?” he asked dumbly.

“It is. This is one of the rooms for the Delvay refugees,” Madren replied, giving Shade a worried look. “Why did you leave Sanctuary if you don’t know why you are here? Did you intend to go somewhere else?” Madren asked, his voice filled with concern.

“I left Sanctuary to help the people of Glis, but Vaze sent me here instead. Wait, Madren, you mean there were actually survivors from Delvay? I had understood they were wiped out completely,” Shade said in confusion.

Smiling Madren nodded. “That is exactly what I wanted them to think. The Warrens Mercenaries moved a great deal of their soldiers from Northern Goswin to Avanti after the High Lord there signed a contract with them. So in their absence I used their tunnels and made a few modifications to get under Rivana without being noticed. I couldn’t get Kadan to retreat. He was stubborn to the last. I did manage to get most of the ones that were either too old or too young to fight as well as a decent sized escort of Spellblades to protect them, however. It isn’t much, compared to what Delvay used to be, but it is something,” Madren explained, his voice calmer than Shade could ever remember it being.

“That’s great, Madren. I can’t believe you saved Delvay and no one even realizes it,” Shade said with a shake of his head. Smiling, he nodded his approval at his old friend. “I’m impressed, Madren, and proud of what you’ve done.”

Madren blushed faintly and shook his head faintly. “I’d rather have your help than your praise Shade. If you want to help, that is,” Madren said without a trace of the nervousness that he had showed constantly in Sanctuary.

“I’d love to help, Madren. Show me what you need done,” Shade said with a nod. He would head for Glis as soon as he could, but for now Delvay needed him. That had to be the reason Vaze had sent him here. Perhaps the refugees were in greater need than Glis. Either way, Madren had asked him for help and as he had told Symphony, you couldn’t simply ignore a plea for help.





Chapter 33





Arovan





The sun was sinking in the sky as her small column turned off the main road and onto the cobbled lane. Slender trees lined either side of the road at regular intervals, their branches just beginning to show the first spring blooms. Beyond the trees were fields of open grass that spread as far as Jala could see in both directions.

“The last time I was here, the horse herds filled both sides of the road,” Valor said quietly beside her. His Arovanni walked sedately, its head held low as if he too was mourning the change in Arovan. They had arrived in Gaelyn the day before and had not encountered a single person on the ride north to Arovan. Every village they passed was deserted and filled with graves so fresh the spring grass had barely begun to show on the turned earth.

“Do you think anyone will be here?” Jala asked quietly, her eyes still scanning the deserted fields. The grass was waist deep from what she could tell and showed no signs that livestock had been in the fields since long before winter.

“If they have a southern base of operations, it will be here. This is the safest place anyone could hope for near the border,” Valor answered though his voice didn’t hold much hope.

“But you don’t think they will be here,” Jala concluded, her eyes watching his face.

“I think if they were here, riders would have already arrived to meet us,” Valor said with a sigh. He gave her a faint smile and shrugged. “At least we can use it as a secure base until we locate my people or the location of the Blights.”

“I’m not sleeping in a damned stable,” Neph grumbled from behind them.