From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(33)

“I thought you had to kill the Blights first?” Shade objected, turning his attention to Vaze who was already stretching as if he was about to leave.

“Already did. There were only seven of them that I found in the city and they were a rather pathetic bunch compared to the ones in Glis,” Vaze answered, sounding a bit bored.

“What?” Shade demanded incredulously. “When? How?” he added quickly, determined that if Vaze was going to answer his first question he would answer the others as well.

“Who, where?” Vaze said with a faint chuckle. “Last night and with magic. It’s done.”

“Why aren’t you in Glis mopping them up then? If it’s so easy for you to kill Blights why not rid the world of them?” Shade asked, the anger in his voice surprising even him. It didn’t seem right however that two countries were at the brink of utter destruction from the Blights and this man killed them easily.

“These were underground where the shadows are thickest, and I did say they were a pathetic bunch compared to the ones in Glis. Which implies that I have, in fact, been in Glis and Arovan fighting them. You have quite the temper on you, Morcaillo,” Vaze explained, with a shake of his head.

“I go by Shade now, not Morcaillo,” Shade reminded him.

“As you wish. Are you still going to distract Lutheron for me as we discussed before?” Vaze asked.

“I don’t really think you need me to, considering how busy it looks over there, but yes I will keep Symphony with me and try to get her interested in the hawks,” Shade agreed, letting his temper cool once more. He couldn’t really understand why he had grown so angry so quickly. It wasn’t as though Vaze alone could save Glis and Arovan, anyway. That was a job that required more than one person.

“I need to go soon. Jala is rapidly approaching something that she will need my help for. If I don’t get there soon one of them will likely die if not both of them,” Vaze pressed.

“There isn’t much I can do about it now, Vaze, she is swarmed with people,” Shade protested and looked back toward Vaze once more. “How is it exactly that you know the Darklands well enough to find Jala anyway?” he asked, though he didn’t really expect an answer.

“Eight years ago a small cult of mages rose in Nerathane. They were practicing Death magic and necromancy and a few of them decided to seek the ultimate power for their kind. Lutheron sent me into the Darklands after them to make sure they didn’t find what they were seeking,” Vaze answered.

“Damn! Not a task I would have wanted. I take it you got them all,” Shade said with a nod of respect. He had never actually met a Death mage himself, but there had been enough material about them in the Academy’s library that he hoped he never did.

“All but one. I think the demons got that one though. I searched through the shadows for weeks for the bastard but came up with nothing,” Vaze said and nodded toward Symphony once more. “Once she clears that crowd, buddy up to her.”

“Why isn’t the current distraction enough? Why do I have to be there?” Shade asked in confusion.

“Because I placed a few charms on you before I let you know I was here, and I need you close to her so my charms will affect Symphony as well as Lutheron. Faramir, too, hopefully, I don’t want her having any clue as to what I’m doing,” Vaze explained.

“Why me, exactly? Why not place your charms directly on them?” Shade objected, turning fully to face Vaze.

“Because you agreed to help, which means naturally that you agreed to accept my magic. They, however would object to this entire endeavor, which means my magic would be much more difficult to place on them. You really are making this more difficult than it should be, Shade. I thought you wanted to help Jala,” Vaze complained, the irritation finally seeping into his voice.

“I do want to help Jala. I’m just not sure I want to help you. I feel like there is something integral that I should know that you are not telling me,” Shade replied with a heavy sigh.

“Like what?” Vaze asked, the irritation thicker in his voice.

“Like why you want to help her?” Shade offered. “Like why Lutheron would object if you have already dealt with the task that he gave you,” he added his voice growing a bit louder.

“I want to help her because she is my blood kin and I owe her that much. I don’t want Lutheron to know because he sees her as a pawn that is no longer useful and has written her off. He would see me going after her as a waste of a valuable resource he could use elsewhere. Like in Glis and Arovan killing Blights for example as you apparently believe I should be doing,” Vaze snapped his own voice rising a bit.

“Damn, that is cold,” Shade said with a shake of his head and looked back toward Lutheron. “Is that really how he sees her?” he asked in a quieter voice. The more he learned of Lutheron, the more he disliked the man. The Fionaveir were supposed to be the good guys from what he had heard, but it certainly wasn’t looking that way to him.

“That is how they all see her right now, Shade. The moment this moved to war instead of a council vote, Jala lost her value to everyone but a handful of people,” Vaze explained.

“You don’t even know her, though,” Shade pointed out. He had spoken with Jala of her family before and she had never once mentioned Vaze. If she knew she had living family, she would have told him about it, regardless if the man was Fionaveir.