The Crow King's Wife(21)

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“If you had a Spell Hawk in storage the entire time, may I ask why exactly we just walked three hours before you chose to use it?” Caleb asked in a weary voice.

Shade glanced back from his ship and smiled weakly at Caleb as he pried the goblin off his leg for the fifth time. He had chosen a clearing several miles from the Blight village to unveil his ship, and no doubt Caleb was thinking it was a splendid waste of time to walk when they could have simply flown. Considering his constant wrestling match with the goblin during their walk, Shade supposed it had wasted more time than he had intended. The creature had been frantic when it had been brought to him by Granger, and it seemed to think Shade would disappear if it wasn’t clinging directly to him.

With a sigh Shade looked around the forest and wondered how many sets of eyes Onvalla had watching them. “On the ship and I will explain.” He promised as he drew a pair of dark glasses from his coat pocket and scanned the trees around them. There was no way he was letting a Blight slip onto his ship since Onvalla hadn’t ordered one to accompany them.

Caleb sighed and gave a quick nod before stepping onto the Spell Hawk and was already seated before Shade closed the door. The goblin scrambled to the back of the ship with wide eyes and Shade grinned before tossing it some food. With luck the creature would content itself with eating for most of the trip and he wouldn’t have to worry about flying with a goblin on his face or shoulders.

Shade gave the ship another quick glance just to be sure he hadn’t missed anything before he moved forward and sat slowly down in the pilot seat. He took several moments to simply savor how good it felt to be in control of something again, no matter how fleeting that sensation might be. Once he was off of his ship again his life would be in chaos and he knew it. There was so much expected of him right now that it made him want to scream or hide.

“Well?” Caleb asked as the silence in the ship grew.

“Did you hear about the bombing of Eldagar?” Shade asked with a faint smile.

“I did. The largest hive of Blights was wiped out there in a single day, and by rather unconventional means.” Caleb replied slowly and by his expression Shade could tell he knew what he was going to say next.

“That was me, on this ship, and I was worried some of the Blights might remember that particular day. Considering how pissy Onvalla was about the glasses that allowed Blights to be seen I really didn’t think she needed to know exactly what I had done against her people.” Shade explained with a shrug.

“Bloody hell. Are you sure none of them followed us here? I can’t believe Onvalla would simply let us walk out without spying on us the entire way.” Caleb asked softly as he turned in his seat to stare at the empty ship behind them.

“None that I saw and these are the accursed glasses she was so upset over.” Shade assured him as he placed his hands over the control panel. “Now there is a shower and plenty of soap in the back room of this ship. Feel free to partake of it while I get us the hell out of here. I’m going to warn you upfront though. I’ve never flown this weakened or with one eye so the ride will be a bumpy one.”

“As long as you don’t crash I don’t care how rough the voyage is.” Caleb returned with a sigh and rose from his chair. “Soap is too much temptation. I will return shortly.” He announced as he disappeared into the back of the ship.

Shade smiled and focused himself on the ship pouring as much magic as he dared into it. Normally a long voyage was no issue for him, but this time out he was going to have to pace himself. For some reason his magic wasn’t as strong as it typically was, and it wasn’t returning with the speed he was accustomed to. The ship lifted gently from the clearing and he kept it as steady as he could as they slowly rose above the tree tops. The last thing he wanted to do was throw Caleb from the shower or hit another tree with his ship.

“I have seen you looking better.” The voice came from the seat Caleb had so recently vacated and it was so shockingly familiar that Shade nearly planted the Spell Hawk directly in a very large pine tree.

Inhaling sharply he fought to bring the ship steady again and then glanced over quickly at the passenger seat. “You are supposed to be dead.” Shade said with dismay as he stared at Finn Sovaesh in pure shock. He was dressed differently than Shade had ever seen him, in dark chain armor and a black cloak, but there was no mistaking who it was.

The corners of Finn’s lips creased with his typical arrogant smile and he raised his eyebrows twice. “Funny you should mention that given what I came to speak to you about.” Finn drawled and his smile widened. “You were very close to death recently too, Shade. In fact you were right on the boundary, only a breath or two from crossing over weren’t you?”