The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4)(13)

“Madren sent me to get you. He says the witches are ready to begin the portal and well…” Shade paused and smirked at Neph. “You scare the hell out of him so he sent me to get you. Probably a good thing too, if he had seen you pounding spikes into your skin he might have fainted. May I ask why, exactly, you did that and how you intend to shroud the entire portal spell? According to Madren, you are going to hide the entire army from the Rivasan mages and I frankly think it’s bullshit.”

“No, you can’t ask and I don’t give a shit what you think,” Neph growled as he pulled the bag over his shoulder and shoved his way past

Shade into the chill of the early spring morning. The sun was just beginning to show itself for the day, which meant he didn’t have much time. The Rivasans were giving Jala until morning before they attacked and if they were literal in their words they could already be starting the assault. There was no help for it, though. The preparations had taken most of the night. It had been a chore in itself to gather the Delvay and prepare them. Most had no stomach for fighting after their failure to protect their own homeland. Once again, Neph had called upon intimidation and his pathetically small army had gathered and prepared.

The Goswin forces had been the time consuming part. Madren simply didn’t have the temperament to bully his forces and the debate on his side over whether they should actually participate in the battle had taken hours. It likely could have been decided much sooner had Shade simply kept his mouth shut, but then as long as Neph had known Shade, the man had never been very good at that. For every action, every choice, and every dream, Shade Morcaillo had an opinion and it was usually opposing whatever was suggested by others.

“I haven’t given up talking him out of this, you know,” Shade began conversationally as they crossed the camp.

“If you succeed, I will personally rip you apart. I thought you were supposed to be Jala’s friend,” Neph responded coldly.

“I am. That’s why I’m trying to respect her decision. She sent you here to live, not to run back to die,” Shade said firmly, repeating words that Neph was utterly sick of hearing. It had been the same argument all night.

Stopping in his tracks, Neph whirled on Shade and stepped closer to him. Staring down hard at the smaller man, Neph summoned his darkest glare and almost smiled when the slighter man simply stared back up at him without the slightest hint of nerves. While it would have been nice if Shade would have cowered like everyone else did when they glimpsed his temper, Neph had to give the boy credit for his nerves. Even if he was a self-righteous prick with too many opinions, Shade Morcaillo did have spine.

“This might actually work on others, Neph, but it isn’t working on me. I can be intimidated, but it takes someone a hell of a lot scarier than you. Vaze might have been able to do it. You want to call him back?” Shade offered in the same conversational voice.

“Vaze has more important things to do than silence you. He is summoning the other nations to support Jala, which leaves me the task of shutting you the hell up. So, let’s see if I can actually accomplish that, Shade,” Neph began, his voice low and filled with warning.

“Doubtful, but you are welcome to try,” Shade sighed with a slight shrug and stared back up at Neph, matching his glower with a curious relaxed expression.

“We are going through the portal and we are going to help Jala. I know she wants us to live. It’s possible she wants us to live almost as much as I want her to live, Shade. The key to friendship is that you respect their wishes when you know their choice is the right one. Jala’s isn’t, so I’m not respecting it. Jala chose to sacrifice herself to save others.” Neph paused and shook his head at Shade. “The problem with that, she needs to live to save others. Without her, everything falls apart, Shade. Look at who has rallied behind her. She has Soulreavers and Arovan working together, for the love of the Divine. She has dragons at her call and the Firym on her side. Even Oblivion calls her friend. No one else could do that. She has me willing to die for her, Shade. I wouldn’t die for my own blood kin. Jala Merrodin is the lynchpin that could hold everything together and possibly stop the endless wars, and she is about to die. Salvation for all of our people is at hand and you want to let it slip away. I don’t care if every man and woman I take through that portal dies as long as Jala lives. I will see this world become a better place, Shade, and Jala is the key.”

Neph paused in his words again and stepped closer to Shade until they stood barely inches apart. He let his glower fade and stared hard at Shade, willing him to see past the anger to see the pure conviction in his eyes. “We are going through that portal and we are going to do everything in our power to see that Jala Merrodin lives, and if you get in my way one more time on this, Shade, I will kill you. When I kill someone there is no coming back. I’m not blustering. I’m not threatening. I’m promising you. Not even Rose will be able to call your soul back if you open your mouth one more time to say we should let Jala die. Are we clear?”