From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(51)

“Inside,” Jala gasped, pulling free of Valor and stumbling forward. The child kicked inside her and her throat grew tight. It was the first time she had felt her son move. The muscles of her stomach tightened and pain ripped through her savagely. Knotting her hand in Marrow’s fur, she staggered up the stairs and through the door. She could hear the others behind her but they didn’t matter now. All that mattered was Finn and her unborn child. If she acted quickly enough perhaps she could save both.

“Jala he isn’t inside. I just came from inside,” Neph said as he quickly followed her up the stairs and through the door, his words trailing off as Ash stepped out of a side door and bowed his head to her. “Well he wasn’t in here,” Neph muttered sourly. “I will have words with Sovann about his wards of protection.”

“Ash, do you have his body still?” Jala gasped as she stepped quickly toward the Soulreaver. Her feet tangled as she moved, and had it not been for the massive Bendazzi beside her she knew she would have fallen.

Ash studied her with his pale eyes and slowly nodded. He was dressed, as always, in pure white tunic and pants that seemed to flow around him. That, combined with his pale skin and snow-white hair, made him seem like one of the spirits of the Darklands. “I have him prepared. They told me you had left the Darklands. I came here at once,” Ash said, his voice soothing and calm. Stepping back, he motioned her past him into the dimly lit room.

“I’m sending for a healer. I don’t like the way she is staggering. I thought you were guarding her, Valor,” Neph snapped as he turned back for the door.

“I was guarding her and I did what I could to protect her,” Valor objected weakly.

“He protected me from everything he could, Neph. This damage, he couldn’t save me from. I brought this on myself,” Jala cut in before the conversation could turn more heated.

Nodding to Ash, she stepped through into the parlor. Finn’s body had been laid out carefully on the table and she moved as quickly as she could to his side. “Soon,” she murmured, tracing a finger across his face. Swallowing heavily she withdrew the spirit stone from her pocket and handed it carefully to Ash. “I’m not sure how much time we have. I didn’t kill her. I only weakened her,” Jala told him quietly, her gaze never moving from Finn’s too-still face.

Ash took the stone from her silently and moved to stand on the other side of the table. He closed his eyes as he turned the stone over in his hand and then tightened his fingers around it. After a long moment his eyes opened again and he tilted his head a bit to the side. “Jala this soul is damaged.”

Jala looked up sharply, panic rising in her chest. “Damaged?” she gasped. “Can you fix it?” Her voice was pleading and her heart was hammering at the thought that he might say no.

Nodding slowly, Ash looked down at the stone and nodded again more firmly. “I can, but I am more concerned with how it was damaged. Did you have difficulty with the stone?”

Light-headed with relief, Jala barely heard the question as she sagged against Marrow’s side. She shook her head slowly. “The stone worked perfectly. I wasn’t even aware that the soul was damaged, but if you can repair it there is nothing to worry about, right?”

Ash shifted and his eyes locked on her desperate expression. After a long moment he nodded once more. “We will see,” he said quietly.

“Can it truly be repaired or are you soothing her because of her condition?” Vaze asked as he moved to her side.

“There could be complications,” Ash admitted softly as he turned the stone over in his hand once more, his eyes scanning it as if searching for damage to the stone itself. “It truly depends on how the soul was damaged, to know what complications,” he added and let out a long sigh. Looking up at Jala once more he shrugged at her. “If you wish me to continue, I will.”

Jala stared down at Finn’s body, her eyes going glassy once more. Looking up, she searched Ash’s face, looking for some sign of his true feelings on their chances, but his expression was simply serene. She turned to Vaze and found him frowning down at her. He gave a slight shake of his head. Slowly, she turned back toward the doorway and found Valor leaning on the frame. He had the look of someone preparing to meet the executioner and she could relate completely. Simply the thought of everything they had endured in the Darklands being in vain, was almost as painful as the throbbing of her wounds.

Turning back to Finn, Jala pressed a hand against the cold flesh of his chest. “I would give anything to see Finn’s eyes open once more, to feel warmth in his skin, to hear his voice.” Her throat was tight and she spoke each word carefully to ensure she was fully understood. Moving slowly, she traced her hand up his chest and rested it gently on his cheek and felt the warmth of tears trace a path down her face. She swallowed heavily through the tightness of her throat and looked back up to Ash. “If you can give him back to me, I will owe you more than I can ever repay. If there is any possibility that he can be raised, then I want to try. I need Finn.”

“As you say,” Ash agreed with a slight nod. Stepping back from the table he raised the stone in his hand and met her eyes once more. “First, I break the stone, and then I repair the spirit. Depending on how severe the damage is, that could take a long while. It will be some time before he awakens, though. Once the spirit is back in the body, he lives, however, so when you see the rise and fall of his chest you will go to the healers. Is that understood, Lady Merrodin?” His tone was firm and while she wanted to argue to stay with Finn she knew it would be a useless waste of her waning strength. With Valor and Vaze both in the room, it would be three against one and she was in no condition to win against those odds.