Leoht (BloodRunes: Book 3) (4 page)

“What makes them think I want anything to do
with it?” Katya asked.

Layna smiled knowingly. “They said that
there’s something you’re looking for. Something that you can only
find in doing this with us.” Katya had a strange expression on her
face and Layna added, “They said ‘yes’.”

“To what?”

“I don’t know,” Layna joked, “You’re the one
with the question.” Her face turned serious, “Would you really just
sit by and watch idly while our world is torn apart by darkness
regardless?” Katya just fidgeted uncomfortably, but she didn’t
actually say she wouldn’t go with them. “Look, I know it’s a lot to
take in, when we first got involved all I wanted to do was pass the
information on to those better equipped to deal with the problem.
But now that the problem has grown exponentially bigger, I’ve come
to realize that there is no one equipped to handle it, it’s up to
those who have seen what the evil can do and want to stop it that
must rise above and learn how to prepare ourselves to deal with it.
We have to believe that the world can be changed for the better by
the actions of a few individuals fighting for what’s right. We have
to try. Please?” she implored Katya who stared stoically down at
the floor, and then finally nodded. Layna looked over at him and
seemed to contemplate if it was possible that he would share
thoughts similar to Katya’s. “Will you help?” she asked him.

He hesitated, but only long enough for the
barest glimmer of worry to streak across her eyes before the woman
behind them got to him. Gods in her head or no, he would stay with
her, and there was no question in his mind that he would do
whatever was necessary to stop this evil from spreading. “Of
course.”

A relieved smile spread over her face, “Good.
We’d better get started.”

*

Jezebel and Devon had been holed up in a
half-decent inn while she regained her strength. After blasting a
hole in their prison wall, she had been forced to use more magic to
transport them far enough away from the palace so that the rather
large force which had immediately been deployed against them
wouldn’t be able to find them, and it had nearly depleted her.

Luck had been with them, however, and the
area she had jumped them to had been populated enough that no one
noticed two extra strangers and the accommodations were relatively
acceptable.
Certainly better than being locked away in a
dungeon!
She had been rather proud of herself that after only
one experience of someone else performing the jump for her - when
the King transported her and Devon to Treymayne - that she had been
able to pick up on the process to do it herself, and on the very
same day as regaining her powers.

Though she had been spending much of her time
sleeping, those hours that she was awake had been spent planning.
When her power had come rushing back into her - she felt a rush of
giddiness just thinking about it - her memory had also been
simultaneously repaired in its entirety. Consequently, she was
appalled that she had been forced into such close contact with
Gryffon and -
that girl
- and worse still, that she had been
duped into working for the bastard King once more. She was not a
little put out by Devon’s keeping that particular secret from
her.

He claimed that he had been told by the King
that mentioning it while she was in her healing state could send
her over the edge, but this excuse only revealed to her that he had
also been in contact with the King. And what the two of them had
discussed while she was unaware made Jezebel both curious and
angry. Granted Devon had not been there the night that - that the
unspeakable had happened - but he still should have been aware of
what her feelings would be about returning to duties under that
usurpers control.

She had barred Devon from her bed since
regaining her powers. She told herself that it was because it was
no longer necessary as she had already healed completely and no
longer wanted such a needless distraction. Deep down, though she
would never admit it even to herself, she was warring with emotions
of hurt and betrayal as well as the unexplained feeling she got
every time she talked to him…like she
missed
him, even when
he was right there in front of her.
Right within
reach…
Jezebel slammed the letter opener she’d been holding into
the desk, stabbing a large hole in the parchment there.

She let out a sharp breath and pried it out,
picking up the letter and rereading it for the umpteenth time. It
was from her father, written before his death and intercepted from
being delivered to her at the palace in Endlyfta by one of Devon’s
new contacts. Its contents were mystifying.

Jezebel,

I realize that we haven’t always seen eye to
eye on matters, and lately more than ever. But you must understand
that there is more going on than you have imagined. I am part of a
secret society called the Order which has been shaping mankind’s
history for generations.

There are books out there whose pages
contain unimaginable power. Some of these books are held by members
of the Order, their secrets guarded with our lives, but others have
yet to be discovered, especially those thought to be in Treymayne.
These books also speak of a Bloodstone, through which the power of
the gods is obtainable. But I have learned that it is truly the
source of the Bloodstone’s strength that holds the real power, and
if you find where this secret place is, you would be
unstoppable.

I have had many unfortunate occurrences
lately, one of which I believe may spell my doom. As my fortune
teller likes to say ‘I cannot escape my fate’. But you, however,
may live to carry on our family’s legacy. Find the Bloodstone’s
source, find these hidden books and use the knowledge within them.
The name Alamanni will not be forgotten.

Take this emblem. It holds the key to
finding all that has been lost. I have researched it for years, but
to no avail. I am sure that you will unlock its mysteries and
succeed where I have failed.

Good luck.

Best,

Karl

Jezebel picked up the circular emblem and
held it in her palm. It wasn’t much to look at, but it must have
been very important for her father to have sent someone across two
countries to get it to her. It was just like him to keep something
this big from her while he was alive and then give her only the
tiniest of hints about it when he knew he would soon be dead and
could no longer give her any more information. The fact that he
knew he was going to be killed surprised her, along with the
revelation that he had also been in the Order - though it was some
consolation that by his wording he must not have realized that she
was too. She wondered if the Order had been involved in his death.
It hardly mattered now, the emblem was much more interesting. She
drew her index finger along the outline of her lips and pondered
its meaning.

It was a round, two-sided disk of metal with
a dragon imprinted on one side curled around a symbol of some sort
and the other side was a tangled mess of lines etched upon the
metal at various depths. Devon had suggested that it was perhaps a
key.
But to what?
Her father’s note indicated, though with a
frustratingly scant amount of real information, that this could
help her locate more tomes of ancient information. She had gotten a
taste of the power they held from just the copied portion she had
gotten her hands on, and could only imagine what the other books
contained. She was itching to find out. The note had also given her
some sliver of a clue as to what the bastard King had been up to.
This Bloodstone that her father mentioned that could give you
godlike powers could be the source of the King’s sudden rise in
status. She didn’t believe for a second that he was actually the
Sleeping God as he was spreading around, her lips curled in
disgust, he probably couldn’t even use the stone correctly with his
common blood. Regardless, if he did already have control of the
stone, the source of its power that her father mentioned would be
essential for her to find to use against him.

So far, the symbol on the front had given
them no clues, other than the obvious reference to the gods, and
neither Devon’s limited information network he had been gathering
here, nor Jezebel’s frequent visits to the Hall of Histories had
been able to produce any leads. It was almost as if something was
missing. Several of the scholars had almost looked as though they
recognized it at first glance, but upon further inspection each had
told her that it was like nothing they had ever seen. It almost
seemed familiar to Jezebel as well, as though it were something in
the book that Lord Farthen had given her.

She clenched her fist around the disk at the
thought. While she had been incapacitated, someone had stolen her
precious copy of the document and had apparently cleared out the
country manor of her hounds as well. She shuddered. Not that she
had been overly excited to see them again. The memory of them
attacking her was something she would not have been unhappy to have
never recovered. She quickly shoved the fear aside, however, and
replaced it with more anger.
Those ungrateful mangy beasts,
after all I did for them. I wish they WERE still there so I could
teach them a lesson!
The metal of the disk bit into her hand
sharply as she tightened her grip on it and she cried out, flinging
it out of her hand roughly. It rolled across the stone floor,
balancing precariously on its edge.

Its roll turned and arced gracefully towards
the fireplace, bouncing upwards as it hit the lip, and it headed
directly into the flames.

“Bloody-“ Jezebel started to curse as the
disk hit the fire, but abruptly stopped, stunned into silence. Then
she started to giggle hysterically, and soon it became full-blown
laughter.
Of course!
Now she had everything she needed to
get back at the two miscreants who had dared cross her, and she
would have the power to put that blasted man pretending to be a god
in his place. Yes, now she had everything she needed…

*

Katya trailed behind Gryffon and Layna. For
all Gryffon’s talk about wanting to be more than friends with the
girl, he certainly had started giving her the cold shoulder. Though
Katya could hardly blame him with the news that she had brought.
She was beginning to regret her own involvement with her.

Both their stories seemed to concur that the
King was involved in treacherous dealings and blood-magic, and
Katya was sickened at the thought that she had helped to free such
a man. Deep down, she knew she wouldn’t have been able to do it any
differently, however, and this knowledge frightened her. She was
not in control of her emotions. Even so, she felt the pressing need
to right this wrong. Though she had been averse to engage in the
happenings of the world, seeing as how she had already
inadvertently gotten caught up in helping someone whose own
intervention was having a negative impact, she felt ever more
increasingly strong urges to remedy the situation. Not to mention
it could be her only means to find out about her past…

With Layna now awake, Katya could finally ask
her if she had any clues as to Katya’s heritage. When the girl had
not recognized her right away, however, it had given her a glimmer
of doubt and she held back. Combined with the words of the Oracle,
which had implied that she wouldn’t get her answer until she saved
the world and in the meantime would cause the suffering of any who
happened to get close to her…

At Layna’s words that the Three were really
simply beings that were far more powerful than humans and not
really gods at all - which Katya didn’t have that hard of a time
grasping as she was never one for religion - she had immediately
begun to wonder if the Oracle’s words held any meaning at all. She
had the fleeting hope that her prediction had been nothing more
than the musings of a woman sitting by the water. But Layna’s
answer to her unspoken question dashed those hopes. She really did
need to follow this through to completion before she could find out
who she was.

Great, I just have to save the world
.
At least she was caught up with people who seemed hell-bent on
doing so and appeared to believe there was a real need.
It could
be worse
…She refrained from thinking about the second part of
the Oracle’s prediction.

She still carried the box from Layna’s father
with her, despite Gryffon’s urgings that she give it and her news
to the girl. She hadn’t been quite ready to have her fears
confirmed that Layna would know nothing more about her, but she
couldn’t keep procrastinating forever.

She sighed and caught up with the other
two.

*

“Cliodhna says that in order to unlock the
secrets of the sword, we need to find out who made it. I get the
feeling that there’s something they’re not telling me about it, and
that they are uncomfortable because they feel they should know how
it works and don’t. Like there’s someone or something else here
that’s also interfering. It’s hard to tell what they really don’t
know and what they’re just not telling us because of their ‘no
interference’ policy.” Layna picked a burr out of the mane of the
horse that she was riding. They had been traveling for some time by
foot and had jumped at the chance to buy horses as soon as they had
passed through a town that had them.

“Great, just what we need,” Katya said.

“But at least this one is interfering to get
rid of the Bloodstone,” Gryffon put in.

“Or at least stop other people from using
it.” Layna pointed out. “But who knows what would happen if they
got their hands on it…” Layna couldn’t quite tell what the emotions
were of the Three in her head. It sounded as though they wanted to
find this unknown entity for help, but were also wary of it. After
a moment of contemplation, she asked Gryffon, “Is there somewhere
that you keep all your information about history, like in Gelendan
where we have the historians’ archives just outside of Naoham?” She
moved Leoht into a more comfortable position on her thigh. They had
decided that since the Three had given it to her and she would have
to be the one to eventually use it, that she was the most qualified
to wear it.