The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)(32)

Chapter 5





Delvay





The table before him was older than the caverns of his city. His grandmother had enchanted it as a means of protection for Delvay before the construction on the city was even complete. It was designed to allow the leaders of Delvay to always know the strengths of their enemies at any time, and Neph was taking full advantage of that magic now.

A ghostly outline of the world lit the top of the table and scattered lights dotted the various countries. It was a true an accurate counting of every living being on Sanctuary if he cared to take the time to count the dots. He wasn’t in the mood for that tedious task however, and he could learn enough by the rough estimates he was seeing.

Rivasa seemed to be thriving and the entire country was lit up with little orange dots. Nerathane was far higher in numbers than he had expected as well. According to what he had learned in the Academy dragons reproduced very slowly, from what he was seeing on the map, his teachers had been wrong.

That wasn’t what was holding his attention however, and he didn’t think Madren had yet noticed what he had. There were far more dots moving in Oblivion than there should have been. According to common knowledge for the past ten years there were only two men that should have been alive in Oblivion, and yet his map was showing something very different. The boundary lines of Oblivion were still dead with no sign of life for what must have been a hundred miles into the country, but at its heart was a different story. Several small clusters of silver dots showed, and Neph knew it wasn’t a malfunction of the table. Life had returned to Oblivion, and the only way to explain it was Jala. Apparently she had another secret she was keeping from everyone, though he couldn’t fathom how she had found the time with everything else she was doing. It did explain however why Oblivion was such a staunch supporter of hers. She had bought them neatly, and House Dark would support her for it without fail.

“How in the bloody hell can there be so many dragons?” Madren mumbled from his side of the table. His gaze still hadn’t wandered past the continent they now stood on, and Neph couldn’t blame him. Nerathane and Rivasa were very big threats to both of their lands, and even combining his strength with Madren’s left them still woefully outnumbered by just one of their enemies. When you considered Rivasa and Nerathane working in tandem, they didn’t have a prayer of survival.

“I’d say most of those dots are half-breeds. If the dragons have been expecting this day to come it’s likely they have been preparing for it and raising their numbers accordingly. Our side of the alliance was the ones that were caught with their pants down. Just take a glimpse at Arovan and you can see that clearly enough.” Neph said in a resigned voice.

Madren’s gaze shifted to Arovan and his expression grew more dismal. A year ago Arovan had been one of the strongest. Their military had been numerous and their land had been thriving. Now only a few hundred dots remained and they were all balanced in the north as Elijah prepared to take his southern lands back with the limited forces he had remaining.

“Glis looks like a ghost land. Is there any way to get your table to show the Blights?” Madren spoke quietly and gave Neph a hopeful glance. He was dressed the part of a high lord today, but it was the confidence he was showing that truly gave him the look of a leader. Neph was still amazed at the changes he had seen in Madren during the time he had been in Delvay. Anthe had taken a broken insecure half-blood, and crafted a young High Lord. There was a time that Madren would have sat in silence rather than daring to ask Neph a question, but he seemed calm now, and just as intent on solving their mutual problems as Neph was.

“The Blights resist magic I don’t think the table can display them because of that. I could likely attune it to find them, but I would need some blood from a Blight to do so.” Neph explained.

“Ok so we go with what we have and try to learn from this then.” Madren said with grudging acceptance.

Neph studied the table once more and sat down in the high backed chair he had been ignoring for the past several minutes. It stood high enough to still give him a clear vantage of the table, but he felt like a vulture perched upon it staring down at the bones of Sanctuary. “Arovan will go soon. I’m simply trying to decide how they will do it. The Stormlord is still a formidable force for them to deal with, and as far as I know Elijah hasn’t taken the field in battle yet. They have to be wondering what surprises he will hold for them. If his General is that devastating they have to wonder what Elijah himself is capable of.” Neph began slowly as he watched the fluctuating numbers of dots with narrowed eyes.

“Valor is the current heir of Arovan. If they eliminate Elijah and his wife that puts Valor in charge there, and they know Valor. They know without Jala holding him back that he can be provoked. Elijah is cool headed, Valor isn’t. Elijah will let an insult slide, Valor won’t.” Madren observed calmly.

“And Valor would have High Lord Blackwolf standing beside him like a rabid dog urging him to go for their throats. There is also the advantage of separating Valor from Jala’s side. That would weaken Merro.” Neph added with a faint nod.

“Would Troyelle Hai’dia take orders from his son without question?” Madren asked with a raised eyebrow. “He could be the voice of reason that would keep Valor in check if he did question Valor’s orders.”

“Troyelle would lead a full charge off a cliff without hesitation if Elijah ordered it, but I’m not sure what he would do for Valor.” Neph replied slowly. His gaze flicked from country to country as he gauged the strengths of each. “Jala would rally to Arovan for Elijah or Valor, so that puts Merro in the vice as well.”