The Crow King's Wife (31 page)

The look of subdued fury still glinted in his
dark blue eyes and Zoelyn could see how much restraint it was
taking for him to speak rationally. It didn’t quiet her curiosity
though. The fact that Shade had brought both men down with a simple
touch was beyond shocking too her.

“What did you do to them?” Zoelyn whispered
finally unable to keep silent any longer. Neither man had made any
attempt to rise during Shade’s long speech and she was beginning to
wonder if they would be able to. It didn’t seem possible that Shade
had disabled them so thoroughly but the proof was before her
eyes.

Shade flexed his clawed hands once more and
then rose slowly to his feet. He continued to stare down at them
for a long moment and then glanced back to her. His anger had faded
a bit more, but he still wasn’t smiling. “I paralyzed them. The
venom should wear off soon.” He answered calmly before turning his
attention back to the prone men. “This is how it’s going to be.
When the venom wears off we are going to talk like rational adults
and sort through whatever issue you apparently have with me Neph.
You can both snarl and growl all you like but if either of you so
much nudge the other in a fashion I don’t approve of I will drop
you both to the stones again, and if you wake up again it will be
because I spent my last bit of patience and mercy in allowing you
to live. Got it?” He gazed at them both for another long moment and
then slowly crossed the room ignoring the silence that followed
him.

Zoelyn gazed down at her brother for a moment
then looked back to Shade who was pouring a small glass of what
looked to be whiskey for himself. Dray stood just behind her still
holding the goblin and both of them wore identical expressions of
shock. It was clear that she wasn’t the only one amazed by Shade’s
actions, even Madren seemed frozen by the events of the past few
minutes.

Shade drained the glass and poured another
one before turning to look at them all with a raised eyebrow. He
gave a faint sigh and sat down on the edge of the table. “I am
Morcaillo.” He announced with disgust. “We don’t fight unless we
know we can win, and then only when it’s to our advantage. I don’t
brawl, snarl or snap at others because I don’t need to and I prefer
to voice my anger or push it aside rather than act on it. There are
times when even I lose my temper though and I apologize to those
who had to witness it.” He bowed his head in her direction and then
to Dray and Madren. “But not to those I unleashed my anger on. You
both bloody well deserved it.” He added in a harsher tone as his
gaze fell on Neph and Grim.

“You bedded a Nightblade.” Neph’s voice was
weak and the words were hesitant as he slowly pushed himself up
against the wall. Grim was moving now too and a bit more quickly
than Neph though he didn’t seem to be any steadier.

“So I deserve to have my jaw broke?” Shade
demanded in an incredulous voice.

“You do when you weren’t wearing a bachelor’s
ring. The bitch wasn’t trying to kill you Shade. She wanted a child
to hand over to Kali and you obliged her with it.” Neph returned
harshly. The strength was returning to his voice and he was already
pushing his way further up the wall to stand.

Silence filled the room once more and Zoelyn
watched Shade down the second glass of whiskey and poured a third
with a shaking hand. He had paled at Neph’s accusation, but hadn’t
denied it. He swallowed heavily and rubbed his face once more
before locking eyes with Neph again. “How do you know that?” he
asked weakly.

“Does it matter how I know it?” Neph growled
in response.

“So Kali has the Changeling gene to work with
now.” Grim said quietly. He let out a long breath and glanced at
Neph. “You could have informed him of that before you punched him.
Had you mentioned it I probably wouldn’t have objected to you
breaking his jaw.”

“So kind, Grim.” Shade said dryly. His head
lolled back on his shoulders and he stared up at the ceiling with
frustration clearly written on his face. “So we attack Rivasa,
rescue your daughter, I break into the prison save Charm, and then
somehow locate Kali and steal the child if there is in fact a
child.” He spoke the litany in the voice of one that knows he is
damned.

“You realize moving against Kali means moving
against the entire Nightblades. She is close allies with Hemlock.”
Neph growled as he pushed himself off the wall and moved to the
table. With a heavy sigh he pulled several more glasses from the
cabinet and dropped them onto the table before glancing up at her
with a wry smile. “Welcome home Zoey.” He said quietly then poured
himself a glass and dropped heavily into the chair across from
Shade.

“I’ve dealt with Hemlock before.” Shade
pointed out calmly before sliding into a chair as well.

“In conversation or in actually moving
against him?” Neph asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Conversation.” Shade admitted with a frown.
He ran a hand through his auburn hair sending it into a tousled
mess which only seemed to add to the look of frustration that clung
to him.

“Hemlock is a master of time magic. Even if
you manage to rescue the child there is a chance he can manipulate
time and counter whatever measures you took to be successful in
your mission.” Grim pointed out coldly as he joined them at the
table. His dark eyes flicked from Neph to Shade and then lingered
on the whiskey. He seemed about to pour himself a drink but looked
away after a long moment. It spoke volumes for the stress he was
under. Zoelyn knew he only drank alcohol when he was at the end of
his wits.

“So even attempting it is pointless? Is that
what you are saying?” Shade asked in exasperation.

“Unless you kill Hemlock first it is.” Grim
replied calmly.

“I don’t even know who Kali or Hemlock are.”
Zoelyn pointed out calmly as she joined them and motioned Dray and
Madren to do likewise. “By the way you are all acting I’m assuming
they are very bad.” She added lamely as she looked at each of them
in turn.

“That’s putting it mildly.” Madren sighed as
he took a place beside her and rubbed the back of his neck. It
seemed to be a habit when he was stressed, and by the expression on
his face the skin on his neck would be raw by nightfall. “Hemlock
is the leader of the largest Assassin guild on Sanctuary. He is a
man with no moral grounding at all and a very sadistic nature. Kali
however is the more dangerous of the two. She is chaos incarnate
with a knack for life magic that makes every other life mage on
Sanctuary pale in comparison. She devotes herself to the creation
of new creatures and is responsible for the Bendazzi, the serpents,
the goblins, as well as the Blights.” His eyes moved to Dray with
his last words and he gave a mildly apologetic shrug.

“And with the Changeling gene she can create
new enemies that can hide themselves flawlessly amongst us. The
Blights nearly destroyed three countries with their camouflage. Can
you imagine how well they would have succeeded had they been able
to mimic our leaders?” Grim added sadly.

“Why would she want to destroy us though?”
Zoelyn asked in confusion.

“Because she is bloody well insane.” Neph
grumbled.

“She was a pariah amongst the Elder Bloods
even before the prison was built. It may be some sort of revenge.”
Madren offered quietly.

“Because the magical energy from the Elder
Blood is what holds the Barrier around Sanctuary and if she can
manage to kill all of us off it will weaken the barrier enough for
her to escape.” Shade said in a matter of fact tone. All eyes
turned to regard him and he shrugged on shoulder in response. “That
is my Father’s goal at any rate so I assume it’s what Kali is after
as well.”

Zoelyn leaned back in her chair and listened
in silence as Madren and Shade debated his theory. If what they
said was true than Seth could almost be considered a hero. Hemlock
was his mortal enemy and she knew Seth would do anything he could
to kill the man. Which in essence made Seth one of the good guys
despite his dark reputation. The thought almost brought a smile to
her lips but she caught herself at the last moment. Given the topic
being discussed currently a smile was not the expression she should
be wearing. Her gaze flicked between Madren and Shade and then came
to rest on Grim. He was looking far more agitated than the
conversation warranted and his gaze kept moving to the door. She
was surprised Shade hadn’t noticed his impatience yet, but by the
expression on her brother’s face Neph had.

“Kali is a Guardian. I sincerely doubt she
wants to bring down the Barrier she helped build.” Grim announced
loudly in a voice that rang with annoyance. The room fell to
silence at once as everyone turned to stare at him as if he had
gone mad. He shifted in his seat and glanced at the door once more
before letting out a resigned sigh. “I believe her general
philosophy is to keep us too weak to escape by pitting us against
each other and her creations. If Kali truly wanted to kill us she
is more than capable. She earned the start of her dark reputation
by creating a symbiotic creature that dominated its host. If she
were truly out for our blood why not just recreate that monstrosity
and have us all as her puppets?”

“How do you know Kali is a Guardian?” Neph
asked with suspicion clear in his tone.

“I have tea with her every week and chat with
her about her life and goals for the future.” Grim returned
sarcastically before looking directly at Shade with a glare. “While
I understand this is an important conversation it also seems to be
one that will keep for a time. Will the rest of our business today
keep?”

Shade blushed in response and shook his head
quickly. “No you are right and I’m sorry we were so off track.”
Shade apologized quickly. He turned in his seat to face Neph and
smiled weakly. “I don’t suppose you might have recent reports from
Rivana would you?”

Neph continued to watch Grim for another long
moment before slowly nodding to Shade. He cleared his throat and
settled back in his chair. “Most of their soldiers have been
deployed to perch on my border like vultures though a few are
waiting on the borders of Goswin as well. Prendington has become a
holding place for prisoners and has guards sufficient to keep the
ones they hold there in check, but little more than that. It’s a
bit much for the two of you, but you have managed to pull off
miracles with worse odds before.”

“And how did you know we were going to
Prendington?” Grim asked in a mockingly suspicious tone. His dark
eyes danced as he stared hard at Neph. Despite his earlier
impatience and their need for information the temptation to goad
Neph had obviously been too much for him to resist.

Irritation lit Neph’s face at his words but
to Zoelyn’s surprise Neph’s only response was to inhale sharply and
glare at Grim before turning back to Shade. “There has been an
increase in Spell Hawks crossing into Rivana lately and while I
don’t know why they are there I will tell you that they are
arriving, but not departing. The reports from my scouts say they
are Morcaillo ships, but with the Firym and Oblivion ready to
attack Morcath I can’t see any reason why Lord Morcaillo would send
soldiers to Rivana. Still it might make getting across the borders
tricky if you plan to fly there which I’m assuming you do.”

Shade nodded slowly and took a moment to
digest the information before looking up at Neph once more. “What
do you mean prisoners? That sounds far more plural than I was
expecting. I thought they were just holding certain individuals
there.”

Zoelyn watched her brother closely and marked
the gleam that rose in his eyes at the question. His expression
didn’t shift in the slightest, but she could tell just by looking
at his eyes that Neph had been hoping Shade would ask that
particular question.

“They are holding prisoners from Arovan and
Delvay in their cells and from the reports I have the majority are
children below the age of twelve. Though I’m sure they managed to
acquire girls a bit older than that as well for obvious reasons.
From what I understand the prisoners are to be traded to Nerathane
in return for support and no doubt financial gain.” Neph explained
calmly in a dispassionate voice. He let out another quiet sigh and
shrugged one shoulder at Shade before picking up his glass once
more. “It sickens me, but what can I do? I have barely two thousand
people and I can’t spare any to attempt a rescue. Not with so many
soldiers sitting on my borders awaiting orders to attack. I will be
lucky if I can hold Delvay already and if I lose more of my
warriors I don’t have a chance in hell.”

Well played Neph
. Zoelyn silently
congratulated her brother as she watched Shade’s face pale and then
crease with frustration. Grim had stiffened at the words too, and
while his expression was more guarded than Shade’s she could tell
he was just as troubled by the information.

“Shade, how do you expect to empty a prison?”
Grim asked softly. There was no reproach in his voice it was simply
a question and Zoelyn knew if Shade could answer it Grim would
help. Neph had chosen his words well when he spoke. By saying
Arovan children first he had guaranteed that if a rescue could be
accomplished Grim would see it done.

“Perhaps this will help.” Neph offered
quietly as he reached down beside his chair and heaved two heavy
looking leather bags onto the table. Shade looked up expectantly
but Neph pushed the bags toward Grim instead. “I was told to give
them to you and that you would know what to do with them.” Neph
explained as Grim stared at him without moving a muscle toward the
bags.

“By who?” Grim asked coolly still eyeing the
bags with suspicion.

“My chosen companion for weekly tea. I find
Kali’s company so tedious and seek my entertainment with livelier
folk. Take it or leave it Huntsman. It makes no difference to me if
you live or die.” Neph growled in response.