The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(57)
“Well?” Jala snapped.
“More praying. Less talking. I’m trying to decide how to start this,” Neph grumbled. He had never actually spoken of the Delvay secrets before. No one did. His father had only told him the story once and RenDelvayon had made it quite clear that he didn’t repeat it to anyone outside the family. As far as Neph was concerned, though, RenDelvayon’s judgment had always been off, and he trusted Jala far more than he had ever trusted his family, aside from Zyi. “You know what the Guardians are right?” he asked finally. There was no way around it that he could see. In order to explain it clearly, he had to start at the beginning.
“The ones that created the prison and the Barrier,” Jala answered, sounding a bit distracted.
“The original Guardians were Delvay. Our people started it all. Over the course of time there was a split, however, and two factions emerged. One side was focused on the preservation of the world. The other side was focused on elimination of threats at all cost. Needless to say, the differences in views was drastic and the fighting within our cities grew to the point that the preservationists withdrew. They stopped referring to themselves as Delvay and began recruiting those with the same beliefs from other nations. In a matter of years they were known simply as the Guardians and had a shroud of mystery surrounding them that only the Delvay truly understood,” Neph paused and took another drink of wine. Jala was watching him now with a calmer look on her face, though the holy symbol was still clutched tightly in her hands.
“So the side that is locked here is the extremist faction,” she concluded with a faint nod.
“Somewhat,” Neph agreed. “Before the Barrier, there were battles that lasted for decades, if not longer, and there were enemies that made Myth seem laughable. I understood fully when your Grandfather spoke of the ancient evils. My people still tell stories about them. War was right. They are here, and I know exactly where some of them rest.” He paused and smiled bitterly. “My people not only built Sanctuary, they were the reason it was built. The final straw for the Guardians was a battle that the Extremists wouldn’t back down from. They were literally ripping the world apart in order to kill their enemies. In an effort to save the innocents, the Guardians froze the entire battle in time. Delvay, as well as their enemies, were trapped in stasis, and eternally locked in combat. The ones trapped were the heroes of my people, our strength, and our legends. Without them we were lost and when the Guardians offered us refuge we took the bait. We took our heroes, too. I can only imagine how hard the Guardians must have laughed when they realized not only had we fallen for their trap, we did the heavy lifting for them and brought our fallen with us to be locked up for safe keeping.”
“Can they be awakened?” Jala asked and it was obvious by the look on her face she now saw the reason Kadan had thrown his armies away trying to hold the city.
“There is the tickler. When Veyetta fell, it was a fraud. The High Lady of Veyetta knew she couldn’t hold the city against Troyelle’s army.
The Veyetta had a trick similar to the Soulreavers, but rather than spirit they turned to shadows. The twist for the Veyetta was that they literally had to step from their mortal bodies to access that ability. I’m sure Lady Veyetta locked the bodies away with the intent to reclaim them once the storm had passed. Excuse the pun there, I couldn’t resist,” Neph grinned as Jala rolled her eyes and waved for him to continue. With a nod he sighed and pressed on. “My Grandmother was waiting for that exact moment, though. When Lady Veyetta called her people into the shadows, my Grandmother wove an extension of the stasis spell over Veyetta. If you break the bindings on the statues of our fallen you free the Shades of Veyetta as well,” Neph explained with a sigh and took another drink from the bottle, draining the rest of the wine. He leaned forward and sat it down with a solid thump on the table and smiled bitterly.
“So, if Rivasa finds them, we are all screwed,” Jala said with a sigh.
“Essentially. The only solace I have right now is that I don’t think the Rivasans have a mage strong enough to break the magic. However, they do have Magebreakers and draining the power might do the trick,” Neph replied. “The saddest part is, if I could wake just my people, Delvay would be whole again. My people have been failing for years and it was no surprise when my country fell. If I could somehow manage to wake them up, just the heroes, mind you, not only would my country thrive, I wouldn’t have to lead it. I devoted my entire time at the Academy to learning as much magic as I could in hopes of waking them, and now Rivasa may beat me to the punch and kill everyone in the process.”
“We have to get your city back,” Jala whispered. Her face had gone pale and she eyed the empty bottle with longing. “That’s what the black threads were. Everything Hemlock said makes sense now,” she mumbled and then looked up at him with a determined gleam in her eyes. “I’m sending Vaze to Delvay to gather intelligence. When he returns, we will move,” she announced.
“Jala, they hold a fortified city. You don’t have an army big enough to break through the walls, and after the last council meeting, I doubt anyone will volunteer to help us,” Neph said with a sigh.
“I didn’t say anything about taking an army,” Jala pointed out, her violet eyes locking on his. “Marrow says I am an army. When Vaze returns, I will prove it.”
“Valor is going to kill me,” Neph groaned as he leaned back in his chair to stare at the ceiling. He had been trying to figure out how to take the city back for weeks now, but he knew Jala didn’t have the military strength and he certainly didn’t have it with the few remaining Delvay he had. The idea of just Jala going was insane, though. He had to find a way to talk her out of it, and quickly.