From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(25)

“Nothing to discuss now,” Fiona murmured, shaking her head as if she had been deep in thought. With a last glance at them she went back to scavenging the cave in silence.

Valor leaned back beside her and took a long drag from the cigar. Jala glanced over at him and smiled faintly. He returned the gesture with a weary sigh and nodded to her.

“At the very least, we will never forget this trip,” Valor mumbled with a slight shake of his head. “It may not be fond memories, but I’m sure we will find something suitable to say about them when others ask.”

Jala’s smile faded a bit and she nodded slowly. Turning back to Fiona she cleared her throat. The fragile pieces of a plan were forming in her mind and it was difficult to keep from growing too hopeful. “Fiona, are there those among the Forgotten that are like you. I mean strong undead such as yourself that have an actual form or are they all wailing banshees?” she asked, trying to keep her voice neutral.

“There are a few among them that are formidable, their leader being the foremost in that. He is quite powerful. Not even I would care to fight him. That’s why it’s best to avoid them,” Fiona answered, looking up from a rotting bag that was her latest find in the bone heap.

“I don’t want to avoid them, then. I’d like to go see them before we continue on,” Jala said with another faint smile forming on her lips. If what she had in mind worked, retrieving Finn was about to get a lot easier.

“What do you have in mind?” Valor asked quietly. If he was at all concerned he didn’t show it.

“Finding a suitable way to remember them,” Jala replied quietly.





“This is their border. Are you sure you wish to continue in this? I don’t think they will listen to you,” Fiona said.

Jala nodded slowly, her eyes roving over the terrain ahead. Tall black pines covered the ground as far as she could see, while heavy fog blanketed the forest floor. That, combined with the ever-present gloom of the Darklands, and it was nearly impossible to see anything in the Forgotten territory. “I still wish to speak with them,” she said quietly.

“Your funeral,” Fiona said with a shrug and motioned a gauntleted hand toward the forest. “I will wait here for you. If you cannot return to this exact point, I will find you along the borders. If you return that is.”

“Not coming with us, then? I do so hate to part with your charming company, Fiona.” Valor said sarcastically.

Jala turned in the saddle to look back at him with a slight shake of her head. “Don’t mock the dead, Val,” she scolded lightly.

“Especially when you are about to be one of them,” Fiona added dryly, offering a last tight smile to the pair of them as they rode across the border.

“Is it just me or did the temperature drop another ten degrees once we entered the fog?” Valor asked quietly.

“Twenty, you must not have noticed how severe the change was through all that metal,” Jala replied, pulling her borrowed cloak tighter around her.

“So the plan is to offer them a name?” Valor asked, quietly his eyes roving the terrain.

“Somewhat,” Jala agreed, not bothering to scan the area herself. She would have to rely on Valor and Valorous to spot anything approaching. Their vision was much better in the low light than hers and she had come to rely on them as her eyes in the past few weeks of travel. “I have to say, I don’t really mind the cold as much as I did when we first arrived. The cold seems to deaden the sense of smell and I don’t think I want to smell myself after countless weeks of travel and several days of sleeping in a cave with dead bodies,” she said softly. There was no real point to being silent here. Fiona had warned them that no matter how much stealth they tried to use, the Forgotten would know where they were once they crossed the border.

“Don’t forget the demon blood that we have both been thoroughly doused in. I know I practically got a shower of it when we fought Nasurai,” Valor added with a sigh.

Jala glanced back at him and smirked at his look of disgust. Valor was typically fastidious about his appearance and he was absolutely filthy right now. “I’ll pay the cleaning bill for your armor,” she offered.

“There won’t be a bill on this armor. It’s too damaged already. I will be melting it down when we return to Merro. It’s something that should have been replaced before now, anyway. It is my father’s colors. I should have armor in your colors.” Valor said with a sigh, his eye still searching the forest.

“That’s not important to me you know,” she pointed out quietly and fell silent as the fog ahead of them swirled. “Did you see that?”

“And that.” Valor motioned with his hand to the left. “And that, and that,” he said again pointing to their right and then above them to the left. “I would imagine they are moving behind us as well,” he said, though he didn’t shift in the saddle to look behind them.

And that, and that, and that. Mocking voices hissed from the surrounding trees. See the living, soon to be forgotten. The voices hissed louder. The words seemed to echo out of the fog.

“I will never be forgotten. I am High Lady Jala Merrodin and I will be eternal in the minds and hearts of everyone that knows me,” Jala called back to the voices which fell silent at her words. Angry murmurs began to build from the fog in their place and Valor shifted in the saddle behind her.