Blood Bond (The Stones of Terrene Chronicles Book 4), page 6
“Then don’t,” General Titus stated. He stroked his beard, clearly appraising Brandon over his tattooed knuckles. “This could be a matter of a turning point in the war to come. I for one would appreciate knowing that I can’t be overridden by some daisy-nosed Elph.”
Weston nodded slowly. “How would we get the blood?”
Titus’s lips thinned. “That is the million-lut question, Your Highness.”
“Christopher. Do you have anything that we can use for finding Jade?” Zak added, his words fraying at the edges. He leaned over the table, inspecting the papers upside down, every muscle in his body a coiled spring. Weston had to resist the desire to take a step back. He didn’t want to be too close to the Monomi when he snapped.
Christopher nodded, his short, black ponytail bouncing. He shifted the papers to move his map to the top and pointed at an x marked just above the line that had been the barrier. He traced his finger over the parchment to several other x’s dotted on the northern landscape. “I’ve been thinking it through, and while I don’t know what Victor is planning, I do know that he’s been wanting to return home. Now that the barrier is down, I’d guess that means he’s heading north, to his uncle’s stronghold.” He tapped another x further north, almost directly above High Doldra. “Victor’s not soft like Lucio, but he’s smart. He won’t risk killing himself and Jade with winter rolling in. He’ll need supplies.” Christopher shrugged. “For all I know, he has sleeper agents and contacts, who will get him horses or an airship or something. But I think”—Christopher emphasized the word while confidently stabbing his finger at an x on the map—“he’ll be going here. It’s the closest and easiest stronghold for him to reach.”
Zak arched his neck to better see. “That looks to be about, what, two days journey by airship?” He dropped his chin. “So, by foot …”
“Roughly six days, depending on speed and weather.” Brandon stated. “If there’s snow, longer. Christopher. What do you know of this stronghold?”
“It’s where I received my first training,” Christopher said quietly. “Where my sister and I were taken after they stole us.”
Somehow, hearing Christopher say he had family surprised Weston. He frowned and rubbed his knuckles against the silk vest over his heart. Void Born with families. Weren’t Void Born supposed to be from another world? Then again, Raine was a Void Born, and she had Finn. Maybe it was something like that. Either way, it settled oddly. Another reminder of the humanity of those they’d misunderstood and feared for so long.
Christopher continued on, oblivious to the sudden onslaught of strange emotions he’d stirred in Weston. “It’s a decent place to start looking. It’s ruled by Lord Sephirn, who is a Coven leader. One rank above Victor.”
“What rank is Victor?” Ben asked, standing by Briar and Krista, hands clasped behind his back. “And how dangerous is this Lord Sephirn?”
Brandon grunted what sounded like a note of agreement to Ben’s question, and Zak nodded at the same time as General Titus.
“Victor is a Master of Enforcement.” Christopher’s tone relayed his respect for the rank. “He’s directly below the Coven leaders. Which means you would also have that title, sir.” Christopher bowed to Brandon, twisting his hand over his chest in what Weston could only assume was some northern show of respect.
Weston committed the hand motion to memory.
“Not many have that rank, but it’s something to keep in mind when you travel. You can override anyone’s orders.” Christopher gestured to himself, a grateful smile adding a spark of light to his eyes. “So long as they weren’t directed by a Coven leader. If they’ve been directed by another Master Enforcer, then they can choose whose orders to follow. Lord Sephirn is a Coven leader, as is Victor’s uncle, Avery Kalanask.”
Brandon nodded heavily and looked up at Zak, his words ponderously slow. “You’re going to the north. I know it. Call in anyone else going with you.”
“Zaborah and Geist,” Zak replied immediately.
Raine brushed past Weston. “I’ll go get them.”
“Thank you,” Zak replied, his gaze fixated on the map, as if he could see through the paper and into the other land.
“Lord Sephirn will likely be there,” Christopher warned. “He also works at this stronghold.” He touched another x. “He could be at either one, or he could be at a war council elsewhere.” He shook his head, lips pressed together. “My best advice? Expect him wherever you go, and avoid him as much as you can.”
At that, Zak looked up from the table, first at Brandon, then meeting Weston’s eyes. It was far too easy to read the grief and frustration that ate at the Monomi––it was the same grief and frustration that Weston had seen in his own mirror.
Ben spoke into the silence, his words sharp and strong. “I suspect it should be the other way around. He’d better avoid us.”
A glimmer of humor lightened Zak’s dark expression, and Weston dipped his chin in agreement.
“We’ll supply you with everything we can provide.” Weston shot Titus a fierce glare in case the general was to protest, but the burly man lifted his hands and gave a short nod. Weston clapped Brandon on the shoulder. “And while you men rescue our favorite mechanic, we have a war to march to.”
Chapter Ten
Jade
Another shiver vibrated through Jade’s body. In Lucrum, her coat had offered more than enough warmth, but after camping outside overnight in the northern wilderness with no campfire, she was freezing. Her horse gave off some heat, but not nearly enough. If only she hadn’t shed her thick coat back at Tent City. But there was no way she could’ve known then where she’d be within a day.
Jade hugged herself, curling in to conserve what warmth she could. Who knew how long they’d be traveling today? Last night, Victor had continued until the final vestiges of light had disappeared, then he’d dismounted, told them to eat and sleep, and that was it. No gloating, no dialogue, nothing. And the whole time, Pamela followed Victor’s lead, staying silent, though her veiled glares and cold looks directed at Jade spoke eloquently enough.
Somehow, Jade must’ve offended this woman, because the bitterness and hatred were almost sufficient to warm herself by.
Where was Victor taking them? Past the barrier? Jade’s heart stopped for a moment—as if a machine with locked up gears. Did he have a home in the north? Superiors? Could it be that he’d done everything under orders? What if he hadn’t acted alone? In what way was she now a pawn in his machinations?
How many more like him existed? How many others out there to hurt her, her family, the innocents around them all?
“Where are you taking us?” Jade called out in her skyfarer voice, meant to carry across a main deck through whipping wind. He’d be able to hear her just fine here, with the sprawl of skeleton shrubs and the occasional winter-bare tree, stretched over an expanse of snow-covered land.
He didn’t even turn his head.
She gritted her teeth. She wasn’t going to simper and scrape and bow to his whims or play his games. She’d done that with Everett, and never again. She was a Monomi now, and if her end was to be at the hands of this traitor, so be it. He’d already killed Author knew how many, quite likely including her best friend and husband. Brandon, too, which would leave Doldra with no leader. Weston, please, take care of my people. The more information she had, the better. And Victor was going to listen to her, whether he wanted to or not. “Hey, traitor. I’m talking to you.”
Victor’s head tilted slightly, and he glanced over his shoulder with such a careless, casual air that her next shiver was due more to hatred than the cold. He didn’t respond.
Jade glared at his back. He’d prepared for this trip to some extent, as evidenced by his thick jacket and loaded saddlebags. Had his schemes involved her this whole time? Or was that a bonus for him?
“Had you planned for this all along?” she asked, still pitching her voice so it would carry to him. “That you’d cause all this death, this suffering?” She wanted to spit at him, but she’d had no water since breakfast, and she couldn’t trust Victor or Pamela to offer her what they had, let alone if they’d stop for her to scoop up snow to slake her thirst. “You coward. Hiding behind a bonded woman and using bombs to do your dirty work.”
Victor stiffened and looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes glittering black rocks. “You understand nothing.” He flicked a gloved hand. “But if you want to do something other than complain and throw insults you don’t understand, you could thank Pamela for the bit of good fortune you’ve had the last few weeks.”
Jade threw a startled glance behind her. Pamela started at her dispassionately. Jade focused again on Victor. Why would she be thankful to the woman behind her who’d alternated between utterly uncaring and then almost bitter?
“She’s the one who killed Everett,” Victor answered as if he’d known what was going through Jade’s mind. “It’s because of her that your marriage to the prince-child didn’t get pushed through.”
Jade sucked in a surprised breath.
Pamela glowered at Jade. “I didn’t do it for you to marry your lover,” she all but snarled. “I did it because it was our assignment.” A flash of hurt crossed the assassin’s face, and she raised her hood, dropping shadows over her simple features. “You benefited. And I lost much.”
Questions danced on Jade’s tongue, but she held them in as memories of that night rocked her. She wanted to look back at Pamela, but she wasn’t about to risk it. Had the other two assassins that night been friends of Pamela’s? Family, maybe?
The other two fell into a stiff silence, and she decided against pushing them for more talk. She was likely being taken as collateral against Brandon, but until she knew Victor’s motives, she couldn’t risk steaming him too badly. Then again, if Victor had succeeded in killing Brandon through Krista, what benefit was Jade to Victor? Would he snap and kill her? She didn’t want to risk it. Not yet.
Shrubbery blurred after awhile, and judging by the winter sun, they were heading due north, confirming her earlier suspicions. But what use would she be to Victor there? Brandon was back in Lucrum.
She sat up on her horse, staring beyond Victor and to the land. Rolling foothills abounded, all of them covered in the same uninteresting plants—except for in front of them. To her left and right, a broad line of nothing stretched as far as her eye could see. Not a single winter-dead shrub, tree, or anything.
Her tongue dried in her mouth. Goosebumps of a different nature prickled her skin. This—this was where the barrier had been. How many had crossed this line since the barrier had fallen? How many soldiers, spies, assassins? She swallowed hard, bracing herself as her horse plodded over the barren divide without pause. She half expected some sort of magical backlash or echo, but nothing happened. But magical manipulation was never her schematic of choice, so who knew what to expect?
To her surprise, the dead zone of the former barrier only spanned the length of the Stohner Shipping Yards in Doldra––enough to fit five airships, three storage buildings, and the hostel. She’d expected the barrier to have been miles thick. Apparently a wall that instantly killed anyone that touched it didn’t need to be thick.
Victor hunched as they reached the end of the empty swath, and his shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath as they entered the cover of hibernating plants once again. Jade eyed the bare branches. They looked the same as the ones on the other side. Yet the knowledge of where she was made everything seem … darker. More deadly.
The space between her shoulder blades itched as though someone unseen targeted her. Was it just in her imagination? A premonition of evil, now that she was in the lands of the Elph? Was there someone watching them? She tried to quiet her growing fears and lose herself in the plodding of the horses’ hooves or the chill air numbing her cheeks and nose as they traveled up and through the progressively larger hills, but that prickling remained. Her stomach clenched again and again—a staccato rhythm punctuated by the puffs of her exhalations. She dropped her chin to her chest and stretched one shoulder, then the other.
How long would Victor keep going? Until nightfall? Probably.
“We’re here, sir. To the right.”
Pamela’s simple statement surprised Jade, and she jerked her head up, peering about them. Nothing but sparse trees and thick, leafless underbrush. She furrowed her brow. Where were they? Her palms dampened. Had she been wrong about Victor keeping her alive? Was this some Elph sacrificial site where they’d finally kill her?
Victor didn’t hesitate. He nudged his horse, and they plunged through the trees, Jade and Pamela following just behind.
Victor’s horse traversed a narrow path, winding along the icy edge of a hill. Jade clutched her horse’s mane, winding the coarse hair through her fingers. Maybe this was as far as they were going in general. Maybe they were going to just hole up here for the winter, maybe they would—
The edge of a steamie airship came into view, and Jade’s heart lodged itself in her throat. If he thought he’d get on a steamie in winter, he was in for a surprise, blood bond or not. There was no way that she was going to have anything to do with a transport infamous for boiler-room accidents in winter and ice coating on the narrow walkways. And who knew what kind of technology this relic would have? She could feel her pulse throbbing at her neck.
White canvas stretched across a lightweight frame, and she eyed the cargo basket with trepidation. It was small, probably meant for four or five people, tops. This had to be a military transport for messengers. Just on the other side of the vessel sat a squat building where it looked like two guards lounged, both with their feet up as they played cards. Two other guards stood in the snow, watching the path. One of them shouted, and the Elph looked up. They dropped their cards and took off running at Victor.
“Halt! Who are you?” the closest shouted, and Jade startled. Both the guards were women with short-cropped hair. The other two guards trailed behind, hands on their sword hilts.
Victor drew himself up. “I am Master Enforcer Videl Kalanask, nephew of Lord Avery Kalanask.” He rolled up his sleeve, showcasing the rarely revealed tattoos covering his entire arm. He nodded at the steamie. “I need to report in. Is this ready to go?”
The one who’d already spoken bowed. “Yes, master. Lord Sephirn ordered us to keep it ready, just in case you returned this way.”
“Excellent.” Victor dismounted and gestured for Jade and Pamela to move. A small whump of someone landing on the thin snow sounded behind Jade, but she crossed her arms, staring down at Victor. If he didn’t order her off, she wouldn’t willingly board a steamie.
Pamela trudged past Jade and smacked the back of Jade’s leg as she passed by. “Come on,” Pamela’s voice dropped, her head turned so Victor couldn’t see her continuing to speak to Jade. “Don’t make him have to order you.”
Jade blinked at the back of Pamela’s head. Strange. That sounded like an almost friendly warning. Jade shifted in her saddle and touched her fingers to the pommel of her Monomi dagger. She was the first, to her knowledge, who had made it this far north in over sixty years. This was her chance to gather as much information as possible.
But the urge to annoy Victor was just as strong.
“If you think for half a moment that I am getting on one of those,” Jade let her disdain bleed into her words, carefully filtering out her fear. “Then you are seriously mistaken. You do realize how dangerous they are, right?”
Victor turned on his heel to face her, and his lips flattened as he took in the sight of her astride her horse. His eyes narrowed. “I am, in fact, completely serious, princess. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have their hands on an airship with gravity stones, you know. As it is, be thankful we get to travel the rest of the way in this.” He snapped his fingers at the two lady guards, then gestured at Jade. “Find appropriate winter clothes for this one.”
His grin melted into a leer that caught Jade’s breath in her ribs.
Victor didn’t break his gaze from hers as he spoke to the guards. “I don’t want her to die of frostbite before I’m done with my plans for her.”
Jade swallowed hard and lifted her chin, as if his words hadn’t sent a spear of pure fear through her. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what he meant by that.
“Besides, you are over-exaggerating the danger of steamies.” Victor pointed. “Get on the airship, Jade.” His eyes flashed. “Now.”
Her arm burned as a fog pulled her ire under its cold grip and the slimy claws of the bond forced her to swing one leg over her horse and drop to the ground. Her fingers moved of their own accord, and she untied the bag lashed to her saddle, hoisting it over her shoulder to trudge toward the airship.
She stepped into the narrow, dark doorway of the travel chamber, and the compulsion faded from her mind. She stumbled, grabbing onto a scaffolding-style rail as she gasped in a breath, her eyes stinging with unspilled tears. He was going to make them fly in the steamie. And there was nothing she could do to prevent it. Not with the cursed tattoo on her arm.
She just had to pray they lived long enough to arrive at his destination.
Chapter Eleven
Ben
Ben slung his pack over his shoulder and pulled the door shut behind him. The wing in Francene’s villa that she’d let them take over was relatively quiet this early in the morning, but the door to the common room remained open. Light spilled out into the pink-marbled hallway, and the murmur of voices and small noises drew Ben in.
Zak, Geist, Brandon, Serena, and a reclining Kerlee were gathered around one of the two round tables. Ben nodded a silent greeting to Zak as he dropped his bag on top of the small mound of luggage.
Geist and Brandon studied a map between them, and Serena leaned back in her chair, twirling a dagger between deft fingers.
Ben looked Kerlee over, noting the added bulk of thick bandages over Kerlee’s entire torso. “How are you feeling?”
