The Crow King's Wife(81)

“Caleb Faulklin is a fully anointed priest of Lutheron.” Seth informed him quietly and watched as Finn’s expression shifted from hesitation to concern. “Zoey will recognize the story before I ever reach the nightmares. I have faith in her. It is possible she may be stubborn, but she will come to me before she allows others to suffer as the villagers did in the story. She has to come to me. It’s the only way I can save her. I didn’t tell her the secrets of how to sustain herself, and I won’t. She needs me to provide for her or she will corrupt herself in the gathering. The key to Undrae survival is Life energy Finn, and I can’t let her kill for herself. It would darken her soul every time she had to kill to survive and I’m not sure she would even do it. I think she would rather starve herself or worse than kill someone to gather life energy.”

Finn had paled at his words, and he wasn’t sure if it was the mention of Lutheron or the explanation about Undrae. Grudgingly he nodded and let out a long slow breath. “Do what you must then, but be careful. If Caleb is everything you describe than I have a feeling he is our enemy. I don’t know why Lutheron hates me, but he certainly appears to, and I’m sure that will extend toward those that serve me as well.”

“It doesn’t matter if Lutheron hates me. Ryvenken does. I’ve killed two of its former masters and it never forgets. If I show myself before him, Caleb will attack.” Seth replied quietly. With a faint smile he leaned forward to the table and plucked a book from the stack. With a casual glance he examined the worn leather cover then glanced back toward the bard. “Summon your storyteller back and let’s devote the next few hours to your research. I’d rather my mind be in a brighter place before I go face Jala. If we work swiftly maybe you can have something impressive built when I bring Legacy back to visit you.”





Chapter 10





Delvay





“If I never see another Spell Hawk it will be too soon.” Dray grumbled as the ship finally landed. He looked much paler than normal and it took him several moments before he seemed to trust that the ship was going to remain still. With a heavy breath he unclenched his hands from his arm rests and glowered at Shade.

Zoelyn smiled faintly at the reaction and rose unsteadily from her seat. Neither Shade nor Grim were unnerved by the flight, but she shared Dray’s opinion fully. The storm had been bad enough with wind buffeting the ship like a sparrow, but Shade had seemed intent on testing his skills at every moment. She hadn’t even realized a Spell Hawk could move so swiftly, but it had barely taken them four hours to reach Delvay. Four gut-clenching-terror-filled hours of flying through canyons, trees, and skimming across the ocean so close she was certain that the waves were brushing the bottom of the ship.

Her attention flicked to the front of the ship as Grim rose from the co-pilot’s seat and headed for the door. He seemed perfectly at ease, as did Shade, but she wasn’t certain she could walk on her shaking legs and Dray still hadn’t chosen to stand.

“Welcome home.” Shade smiled brightly at her as he followed Grim to the door. He paused as he noticed Dray’s scowl and gave her a questioning look.

“We aren’t used to Spell Hawk travel.” She informed him quietly and to her embarrassment there was a quaver in her voice.

Shade nodded in understanding and smiled brightly at both of them. “Lucky you. I’m the best pilot there is. At least you didn’t have to deal with a rookie. That would have been terrifying with the weather we had to face.” There was a scampering noise from behind him as the goblin crawled from under his pilot seat and hurried after him. The creature paused long enough to sniff both of his hands making certain that Shade didn’t have food before rushing to the door and disappearing through it. “Walking stomach.” Shade muttered with a faint smile.

A low growl rose from Dray’s throat with Shade’s casual dismissal of the flight. The goblin may have succeeded in distracting Shade, but it hadn’t worked on Dray at all. The Blight stood from his seat finally and continued to glower at Shade. “I would have liked to have had time to speak with Grim on the flight. Instead I found myself grasping the seat like a child and trying to keep my panic from overwhelming me. Was all of that truly necessary?”

“Got here quick didn’t we? Time is precious today, I don’t have much of it to spare.” Shade returned with a shrug and followed Grim down the steps from the ship. “I think we should speak with Neph and see what information he has on the Rivasans. I’d like the information we have to be as current as possible before we face them.” Shade said as he stepped away from the ship. His voice grew fainter as he walked and Zoey pulled her attention slowly back to Dray.