From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(21)

“Wait. We have no reason to hold faith in you. Why should we follow?” Valor asked, challenge ringing in his words.

Fiona glanced back over her shoulder at him and a faint smile creased her pale lips. “The smaller creatures are at bay because of my presence. Once I leave they will attack. Choose your odds, Arovan. One of me or hundreds of them,” she said with a trace of amusement.

Valor let his gaze sweep over the clustered demons surrounding them and then looked back to Jala. “She makes a valid point,” he said quietly and raised an eyebrow at her in question.

“Well, we at least have to figure out why she is calling us Champions, don’t we.” Jala said with a sigh and shrugged at him.

“So we follow,” Valor agreed and moved to help her onto the horse.

“And quickly because she is still walking,” Jala said, moving quickly to gain the saddle. Pain lanced through her leg and she inhaled sharply. “A couple of minutes to heal would have been nice,” she hissed.

Valor nodded quickly and handed her the reins before moving to follow Fiona. “Would have been, but apparently we aren’t getting them. Let’s go.”

“Wait. You aren’t riding? You are hurt too,” Jala called after him. Valorous gave a soft snort and trotted along behind his master. She could feel mild irritation through the reins. Apparently she wasn’t the only one baffled by Valor walking.

“If there is a fight I’d rather be on foot for it in this terrain,” Valor replied, and by the way his gaze was fixed on Fiona’s back it was obvious who he expected to be fighting.

“Valor, she died over three hundred years ago. Why is she still in the Darklands and why is she here for us?” Jala asked, her words just loud enough to reach him.

He shrugged in response. “I suppose we will find out soon,” Valor replied. He lengthened his stride to gain ground on Fiona, though the quick movement must have pained him. He offered no complaint, however, and his expression remained neutral.





“Careful now,” Valor murmured as he helped her down from the saddle.

The ride had been a very lengthy and dull one through rough terrain. Her ankle throbbed steadily as did the burn on her wrist. Jala glanced past Valor irritably to where Fiona stood waiting for them outside a small dark cave. “Thank you, Valor,” she mumbled as she started to hobble toward the cave. The path leading up to it was too narrow and steep even for the nimble footed Arovanni.

“Hold on a second,” Valor called after her and she paused to look back to him. He had removed the bridle from his horse and thrown it over his shoulder casually. Patting the Arovanni on the neck he walked up behind her and without so much as another word picked her up, one arm behind her back the other behind her knees.

Jala squirmed a moment and shook her head. “Valor, I can walk,” she insisted. The thought of being carried around like an invalid was humiliating. She squirmed in his arms again trying to force him to set her back down.

“On a broken ankle up a steep path with loose rocks and moss. That seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Quit squirming before you make me lose my footing and we both suffer for it,” Valor snapped impatiently and continued the climb to the cave.

“I feel like an idiot being carried about,” Jala objected again.

“And you will look like one when I fall on you and the combined weight of me and my armor flattens you,” Valor shot back. His breath was coming in shallow rasps from the effort of the climb and their long walk.

“You shouldn’t be doing this with broken ribs,” Jala scolded but ceased squirming.

“And you shouldn’t be forcing me to talk at the moment,” Valor replied, his words clipped short by the exertion of getting them both to the cave.

“So, how long have you two been married?” Fiona asked dryly as they reached the cave entrance.

Jala snapped her mouth shut and stared at Fiona, eyes wide while Valor simply scowled at the woman. “You know perfectly well that we aren’t married,” Valor snapped as he carefully sat Jala down at the edge of the cave entrance. “Personally, I’d like an explanation as to what is going on. While I appreciate your holding the smaller demons at bay, I think we deserve some answers as to what you want from us.”

“Inside, and then we will talk,” Fiona said with a smile that held no warmth to it at all. She turned away from them and disappeared into the dark interiors of their make-shift shelter.

“I suppose we do bicker a bit too much,” Jala mumbled. The loss of Finn was a deep wound and Fiona’s words had prodded it sharply with her words.

“She was being a bitch,” Valor replied, offering her his arm for support as they headed into the cave. “I will cut her some slack on it, however. Having your head removed by your husband no doubt makes you bitter toward matrimony as well as being dead for three hundred years. I suppose she has a right to be nasty tempered.”

“Speaking of bitchy,” Fiona drawled turning to look directly at Valor with a smile, “I suppose hobbling around with broken bones has the same effect on you. Sit down while I rummage about in here and see if I can find anything useful.”

“What is that smell,” Jala rasped, turning her head away from the innermost part of the cave. The air was fetid and the worst of it seemed to be coming from that area.