From the Ashes (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #3)(70)

“Death wove magic upon him. I saw the strands leading to him when I fought her. I came so suddenly and without warning because I wanted to save him before she recovered from the wounds I gave her,” Jala explained.

“You what?” Micah gasped his eyes widening at her words. “You truly went to the Darklands then? I thought they meant you were dead by that tale, but they didn’t, did they? You literally went to the Darklands?”

Jala nodded and let out a breath slowly. “In hopes of returning with Finn,” she said sadly.

“I hadn’t heard of your loss, Jala. I’m so sorry. As I said, we had heard that you and Valor were in the Darklands. We assumed you had both died in the battle for Sanctuary, but we hadn’t heard of Finn’s fall,” Micah explained. “I didn’t know Finn well, but you clearly loved him dearly if you went to such lengths to save him.”

Blinking back tears, Jala nodded and looked away. Swallowing heavily, she nodded once more and wiped at her eyes with her good hand. “I did and I do. He is gone but my love for him is not,” she replied in a hushed voice and crossed to the door that led to the main room of the house. “Good luck to you, Micah. I look forward to our next meeting and hope we may call each other friends,” she said with a slight bow of her head.

“Trust that we can, Jala. For what you have given me tonight, I will always consider you friend and ally,” Micah replied and bowed his head in return.

The room beyond was empty aside from Blue who sat cross-legged by the fireplace. She looked up quickly as Jala entered the room a questioning look on her face.

“He is as well as I can make him and is awake and talking if you would like to see him,” Jala said, her gaze sweeping the room for any sign of Valor.

Blue rose to her feet quickly, hope dancing in her dark eyes and then seemed to notice Jala’s loss. Pausing she motioned back to the door. “He is outside with Honor near the eastern gate. Follow the road out front straight that way,” the bard offered, pointing toward the far wall of the house as she spoke. “I hope you understand why I don’t offer to guide you.”

“I do and I don’t blame you. Thank you for the directions. I’m sure I can find him,” Jala said with a nod. She watched the woman hurry past her then wrapped her coat tightly around herself and stepped out into the frigid winter night. Her breath fogged before her as she made her way quickly down the stairs and down the street in the direction Blue had indicated. The town was silent and still aside from a few sentries on the wall.

She found the two brothers standing just beyond the gate with their backs to her as she approached. Both men stood of the same height and held the same powerful frame. If not for the difference of Honor’s shorter hair and earrings she would have been hard pressed to tell them apart from this view. She cleared her throat as she grew closer and they both turned to regard her in surprise.

“He is awake and talking now and should recover without issue,” Jala informed Honor as she moved to stand at Valor’s side.

Honor blinked once and looked from her and then back in the direction she had come. “Truly?” he asked in disbelief.

“I told you she worked miracles,” Valor said softly and turned slowly back to gaze once more at the snow covered meadow beyond the town.

“Valor, I hope you understand, but I have to see for myself,” Honor said, shaking his head the expression of disbelief still on his face. “If it is true, you have my eternal thanks, Lady Merrodin,” he added before moving past her toward the small house.

“I do and good bye,” Valor called softly his gaze never leaving the meadow.

Jala moved forward to stand beside him and followed his gaze trying to determine what held him so captivated. A soft brush against her side brought her attention downward for a brief moment and she smiled faintly at Marrow. The Bendazzi stretched and rubbed his head against her side before curling himself around her legs.

He has been staring at the snow for hours I think he might be weak in the head, the Bendazzi informed her as he leaned his head around her leg to regard Valor skeptically.

“This is the closest I’ve been to home in years,” Valor said softly and motioned with a gloved hand toward the snow covered fields. “That is my father’s land as far as you can see beyond the river,” he explained.

Jala blinked and looked past the forest, her eyes searching for a river. Glancing back up at Valor she shook her head faintly. “What river?” she asked stupidly.

Valor grinned and let out a slight chuckle. “Honor has been dumping snow on this area for over a month. As it turns out Blights do not hunt in heavy snowfall as they can be detected by the patterns in the snow.” He paused and motioned to an area beyond them with his hand. “The river is just beyond the trees and covered with over four feet of snow but it is there. It’s beautiful in the spring. The water is so clear you can see every stone in it and sweet enough to get drunk on. It’s called the Dawnfall in Arovan. In Glis I’m fairly certain they simply call it the border river.”

Jala nodded in understanding and then looked up at the longing expression on Valor’s face. “Why didn’t you ever go home, Valor?” she asked gently.

Valor’s expression clouded and he let out a sigh. “I suppose, given the circumstances at Merro, that it would be best if I explained everything to you,” he said and let out a breath as he leaned back against a tree and met her gaze. His eyes dropped to his cloak and he began to unravel a loose thread from its seams as he started to speak again. “You know about my early knighthood and of my Arovanni so I’ll begin just past that. In those days, I was the golden child of Arovan. I had already attended the required years at the Academy and I was well on my way to proving myself in battle. I had a reputation that shone brighter than anything. Naturally, when I was forced to take a squire there were several candidates and in the end I didn’t get to make the choice. The one they assigned me was from a very powerful house in Arovan and had an ego to rival my own, despite his age. At that time I was sixteen and he was twelve. I was young for a knight and he was old for a squire.” Valor paused in his words but continued to work at the loose threads, keeping his eyes focused on his cloak rather than looking at her.