The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(39)
“Nonsense, come on please,” Jala repeated and motioned for her to approach once more.
“Well you asked for your ship to be destroyed,” Zoelyn muttered under her breath as she nodded and began walking slowly toward the Spell Hawk. She hadn’t seen many of the ships in her lifetime, but this was definitely the plainest of the few she had glimpsed. It didn’t even have paint on it, simply the dull grey of the metal it was forged from.
“Why is she balking at getting on my ship?” a man’s voice echoed from inside the ship as Zoelyn paused near the stairs.
“Consider her living Barllen, Shade. She is afraid of damaging your ship with her presence,” Jala explained with a faint smile down at Zoelyn. “She is wearing lead on her shoes, though. I can see the plates. If she doesn’t touch the metal directly there won’t be a problem will there?” “Hell, I’ve flown with Barllen on the outside of my ship. I don’t see what the problem with it being inside will be. Where did Valor go?” the man grumbled.
“To the stables to see about my horse,” Zoelyn explained softly as she stepped cautiously into the ship. The metal plates on the bottom of her boots clacked loudly against the ship floor and she froze in mid-step. Her eyes searched the floor looking for the quietest path to one of the chairs, but it was hopeless. The entire ship was metal without a single rug or carpet in sight.
“Those boots will have to go,” Jala announced with a faint nod. “They must be horrible to wear with that much lead on the bottom of them. Ten pounds each from the look of them.”
“They aren’t so bad,” Zoelyn replied quietly. wondering how she was going to explain to this woman that without the boots she would leech life from the earth itself. That would have to be a later conversation she decided as she crossed as quickly as she could to one of the corner seats and sat down carefully to avoid the walls.
The child was perched in a seat a few feet away, watching her with enormous violet eyes. He looked quite young, perhaps two years of age, but there was remarkable intelligence showing in his expression. His dark red hair was tousled and her eyes lingered on the streak of white that crossed one temple. He followed the direction of her gaze and his hand rose to the white hair and shrugged one tiny shoulder. Smiling at him, Zoelyn tugged a lock of her own hair from under her hood to show him that it was white too. A wide smile split his face and his hand dropped back to his lap. Leaning out of his seat he peered toward the doorway and then up at his mother who stood balanced against the wall leading into the cockpit of the Spell Hawk.
“We are good to go once your husband returns,” Shade announced.
“Before he gets back, Shade, I have another favor to ask of you,” Jala began hesitantly, her eyes flicking to the doorway. “He won’t like it,” she added softly.
“Obviously from the way you are acting,” Shade replied with sarcasm thick in his voice.
“Have you ever heard of Tevonale?” Jala asked, her gaze going to the doorway once more.
Movement in the back of the ship drew Zoelyn’s eyes from the conversation and she watched in silent horror as a Bendazzi the size of a small pony rose from the shadows and paced toward the High Lady. She had no idea how she had missed the creature when she got on the ship, but then the predators were said to be excellent at hiding. Zoelyn’s lips parted and a slight gasp broke from her lips rather than the warning she had meant to call. The child hopped from his seat and moved to stand in front of her shaking his head quickly. The Bendazzi turned to watch them as he passed, his yellow eyes fixated first on her and then the child before pausing beside Jala and shoving her roughly with his massive white head. Zoelyn stared dumbfounded at the massive predator that was the scourge of the Arovan wilds, acting like a tame hound and slowly turned to look back to the little boy.
“Marrow,” the child announced in a high voice as he pointed at the Bendazzi.
“Marrow?” Zoelyn repeated in confusion.
“Stop it, Marrow!” Jala snapped as the Bendazzi pushed against her once more with more force.
“I don’t know, Jala, if your Familiar thinks it’s a bad idea, which he apparently does perhaps we should listen to him,” Shade said, his hesitation clear in his words.
“I can’t, Shade. I swear, I can do it. You saw the way Blackwolf acted in there. We have to have a place for them to go and Tevonale is perfect,” Jala pressed her hand, clenching at her side as she spoke.
“Perfect, aside from the fact that it is shattered and cursed at the moment,” Shade argued. “Daddy coming,” the child announced as he waved out the door.
“Shade?” Jala pressed, her voice sounding urgent.
“Fine, I will stop there, but that’s it. I’m not condoning this plan and if Valor stops you, I will applaud him,” Shade grumbled.
Zoelyn watched them both in confusion and wondered what she had missed in the few moments that her attention had been set on the Bendazzi. She searched Jala’s pale face for answers but found only a faint smile as Valor stepped onto the ship. All traces of the urgency that had been in her voice were gone from her demeanor.
Valor returned Jala’s smile and carefully sat a wooden crate down beside the door. Zoelyn watched him and felt her hopes sink as he began to pull the door shut behind him. It was probably for the best, anyway. She could see no way they would have gotten the mare onto the ship even if she had still been in the stable.