The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)(11)
“I only met Honor once in Sanctuary. I didn’t know him or Micah well, but I know Valor well and he has a spine now. You might be impressed when you see him next, I was. I hated what he was with Finn. Valor was a drunken womanizer with no mercy in his heart for anyone, but beside Jala he is like an entirely different person. I think he was lost in Finn’s shadow and it took Jala to pull him into the light.” Shade said with a heavy sigh.
“I met Finn twice. The first time he lost, the second time I lost, and Micah forbade a third meeting.” Caleb opened his eyes once more and smiled sadly. “Now Micah is dead, Finn is dead and we are stuck in this hell hole. What I would give to have the simple problems of my youth back. If my biggest concern right now was an arrogant Firym I would feel blessed.”
“It could be worse.” Shade offered with a faint smile of his own. “My father wants to kill me, I’m outlawed in nearly every land, and Jala sent me on a suicide mission.”
“My family was in Amdany.” Caleb returned in a somber voice that wiped the smile instantly from Shade’s face.
“Mother and father?” Shade asked quietly. It was a delicate topic and he didn’t really know if he should pry, but sometimes talking about a problem was the only way to help.
“My wife and two children as well as my sister.” Caleb corrected softly. His gaze returned to the rafters once more and he took in a long slow breath as if trying to steady himself. “I would have had them safely from the city, but Micah called me back to active duty before Arovan was ever in jeopardy. I have been fighting in Glis since the beginning of this all, and haven’t been home in over a year. Then word reaches me that I don’t have a home and my two closest friends are dead and I can’t even return to Arovan to learn the truth about my family. They might have escaped, they might have died, and I have no way of knowing.”
“I didn’t know you were married, though I should have guessed by the short hair. That’s an Arovan tradition that I tend to forget. You have my sincere condolences for your losses and I will pray that they were survivors and I simply didn’t hear of them. As I said, I’m not exactly a popular person in Arovan and they might have simply not spoken of it while I was around.” Shade spoke softly and watched Caleb with new found understanding. All of those quiet moments he had caught Caleb staring off into the darkness with such a bleak expression suddenly made sense. Shade had thought the man had been grieving for his lost friends, but now he understood the full extent of the man’s pain and his composure through it all was mind boggling.
“The short hair is only popular in some regions and it’s not a well-known tradition.” Caleb murmured and his hand rose to his ear. “They took my earrings when I was captured. I’m not sure if they simply wanted the silver or if they thought I could somehow make use of them to escape. Perhaps they thought they held magic that would assist me, I don’t know. The Blights are not generally good with using magic or identifying it.” Caleb added with a trace of bitterness and let out a heavy sigh. His gaze turned to Shade once more. “I will do whatever it takes to get out of here. If Onvalla is unwilling to listen we will find another way, but I can’t take living in ignorance any longer and you are strong enough to escape now. Between the two of us we might be able to outwit Granger. I have to know for a certainty if they live or if they are dead.”
“I can barely walk Caleb.” Shade objected weakly. By the sound of Caleb’s voice he didn’t think the man would listen to logic on the matter, but he had to try.
“As I said, I will carry you out of Glis on my back if I have to. You still have your magic don’t you?” Caleb pressed firmly.
Shade nodded, but remained silent. He recognized the look in Caleb’s eyes. It was stubborn determination. Nothing he said at this point would talk the Arovan out of escape, and in all honesty if Onvalla didn’t listen to reason then escape likely was the best option for them both. Even if they died in the attempt it was better than rotting away in their pathetic little prison.
“Then I will do the running and you use magic to slow our pursuit. If I can make it to the Gaelyn border then not even the Blights can stop us. I know Gaelyn better than anyone alive.” Caleb said softly as his gaze turned to the locked door. “And if any of you little bastards are listening, run and tell Onvalla my plans. Maybe, just maybe it will make her more inclined to listen tomorrow.”
Or maybe it will make them more inclined to kill us tonight. Shade mused, but kept the thoughts to himself. From what he had seen in the past few days, Caleb had enough trouble sleeping without thinking along that path.
*
The sunlight of the morning was nearly blinding after weeks in the shadowed prison. Shade blinked quickly to clear his eyes and studied his surroundings. It had been late evening and his mind had been clouded with pain when Granger had first dragged him in, but now he had a clear view of the Blight Hive and what he saw amazed him.
To the casual eye it looked like any other village, and likely it had been just that before the Blights had invaded. Small houses dotted each side of the road, and from what he could tell his prison had once served as a barn. Trees surrounded the entire clearing and flanked the sides of the path in regular intervals. It looked too serene for Blights. Everything he had seen of the creatures before mirrored the goblins in behavior, but this place was well maintained and mirrored human behavior. Judging by what he knew of the creatures and from what he had seen in Eldagar when he had rescued Charm from the hive there, it made no sense for them to be living in this fashion.