From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(43)

“The ones toward the front of the gate likely are. The ones near the back are the dead of Sanctuary,” Vaze answered as he stood straight and flexed his grips on his swords.

“So many from Sanctuary, but those don’t look like soldiers, Vaze,” Jala whispered. She couldn’t see many details from their current distance, but many of the forms in the crowd were small or appeared to be women in dresses.

“You can’t unleash the kind of devastation you did without casualties, Jala. Your quarter of the city was evacuated, the rest wasn’t. The buildings you crushed had people hiding within,” Vaze explained gently. He watched her as he spoke, his expression filled with concern.

“I did that,” Jala breathed as her eyes raced across the spirits, her mind frantically searching for a number. There were so many and constantly shifting. It was impossible to count the dead accurately, but she knew it was in the thousands. “By all the Aspects,” she whispered shaking her head in revulsion. “I didn’t know…” She let the words die in her throat. She wasn’t sure really what she had been about to say. She hadn’t known they were there, but that seemed a pathetic excuse. She had known Sanctuary hadn’t been evacuated beyond her quarter. She had seen civilians in the streets running from the fighting. She should have guessed they were hiding there as well.

“We did that,” Valor corrected. “I destroyed as much as you did.” His voice was hoarse as he spoke.

“This is what happens when you unleash your power carelessly, Jala. Take it as a lesson, not as a burden. You don’t have time for the guilt right now,” Vaze spoke firmly and elbowed her knee lightly. “Make their deaths meaningful with your actions. Build something better than what they knew.”

Jala nodded slowly and looked down at Vaze. “I feel like a monster right now and you are telling me to build something better from this.”

“Feel like a monster, eh? Well, congratulations. You are finally becoming a High Lady. When you know for sure you are a monster you have fully attained your title. High Lords and Ladies don’t have the luxury of guilt or remorse for their actions. On one side of the war you have the lords that have done what they had to do, no matter how much they hated it. On the other side you have the ones that don’t give a rat’s ass what they have done. Be one that does what has to be done no matter the cost, Jala, and we will be fine.” Vaze smiled at her and winked before flexing his swords once more. “Now if you will excuse me, I believe I need to find Davrian. If I’m guessing correctly, he is near the city gates. Let me engage him and then summon the Forgotten.” His armor began to ripple around his neck as he spoke. Vaze closed his eyes and tilted his head back as the inky black metal crept up his neck and then face. Within moments the armor had covered his head completely, leaving only a shiny black mirror where a visor should have been. There was no sign of eye slits or holes for air. The final effect was wholly unsettling. He twirled his swords once and bowed to them in farewell.

“Good luck, Vaze. May we meet again under the sun,” Jala said as she watched him move down the road toward Despair. He moved casually as if he were simply on a stroll through the park.

“Should we move closer?” Valor asked, his gaze following Vaze’s approach.

“I think so. I don’t think the Forgotten will take long to arrive, once I summon them,” Jala answered.

“If they answer at all,” Valor sighed and urged the Arovanni forward at a slow walk.

“They will answer,” Jala assured him.

Vaze had moved to a slow jog ahead of them and his path seemed to be leaving the road. His form blurred as he increased speed and she watched in amazement as his other four swords were drawn by what seemed to be living shadows. The forms moved with him, only the occasional shift from his body and the additional weapons revealing their presence.

“That’s a nice trick,” Valor whispered.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” Jala said, her eyes locked on Vaze as she tried desperately to decipher the spell he had used before he grew too distant for her to see the weave. It was an innate ability she was sure, but if she could just study the way it was done for a moment longer, she might be able to roughly duplicate it with arcane magic.

“That must be Davrian,” Valor breathed, his words barely audible over the murmuring of the spirits.

Reluctantly, Jala pulled her eyes from Vaze and looked past him to the massive form that was emerging from the gloom beyond him. Davrian towered over Vaze in height and muscle. The demon had lost nearly all semblance of humanity beyond the basic human shape. His skin was covered in scales that she could see even from her distance. Spines covered his shoulders and arms and seemed to run down his massive back. He drew twin axes from his belt as he lumbered toward Vaze and Jala shook her head in dismay. “Those things look big enough to cleave a horse in two,” she mumbled.

“If he had swords, I would worry. With the size of those Axes, Vaze will be able to dodge nearly every blow. Those are not maneuverable weapons. Once he picks a direction to swing he is committed,” Valor assured her.

Jala nodded in understanding, though she wasn’t sure if she truly believed what he told her. To her, it seemed as though the axes were so big that Davrian couldn’t possibly miss. Vaze sprang forward to strike as the demon raised its axes in what looked to be a challenge. The shadowy duplicates moved as well, splitting to the left and right as Vaze’s swords struck sparks from the creature’s scaly hide.