Hunters (Spirit Blade Part 1) (4 page)

"Winter comes soon. We can make the journey and return before the coldest days."

Uncertain what to say, Nadia nodded. She needed to be done with the dagger and the sooner, the better. His company would make the journey easier.

A soft smile lifted the corners of his lips. "You will feel lighter without this burden," he said with a hint of admiration in his quiet voice and held the dagger to her.

She shook her head and turned to the fireplace. "Not until I'm ready to leave."

"If that is your choice." He returned to the fireplace and set the dagger into its hole, slid the stone over it, and slid the ashes and grate back into place as if nothing were amiss. He then passed his hand before it and a blaze roared to life upon the logs, warming the chill from the room.

"It must be done, before this world descends into chaos." She stopped at his side, staring into the fire. After a lengthy silence, she looked up to a hint of pain on his face.

A few seconds later, he stirred from whatever thoughts haunted him and smiled at her. "The young bear the hopes of the old. You see possibilities that the others dismiss. That is a quality this world needs."

He was far more flattering than she deserved, but she appreciated his encouragement. This would destroy her dagger, but not the others that had been presented at the gathering but rejected. What would happen when those others were ready? Another thought burst from her lips: "I hope Je'Surana heals quickly."

"She will...Sleep well, Nadia. I will see you tomorrow." He turned to the double doors, his white and black robe sweeping out behind him.

She shivered from the cold lingering in the room and turned back to the view of the autumn evening. Once the dagger was gone, she would feel better. That was a first step in the changes the world needed, a world in need of healing as much as she had been.

Chapter 3

She was a fool. No demonlord could be trusted, especially those who feigned to treat humans as equals. She
knew
that. Kaelen hadn't wanted to believe Nadia would be sleeping with them, but seduction was the only way to explain what had happened to her. She had been one of the best in training and her anger had pushed her to succeed better than he had hoped. He was good, but she had been the best, the fiercest. Something had changed that, and he would bet it was the demonlord.

It didn't help that she despised him for what he'd done, and maybe she was right to hate him, but it had made her a better demon hunter.

And that was why the sorcerers had entrusted her with one of the four blades. Although he didn't trust
sect du Maistri Te'Mea
, if they had succeeded in creating weapons that could kill demonlords, he was all for the chance to end the tyranny of the immortal creatures that ruled their world.

Although Nadia had hurried from the chamber where she had been training the young half-blood and had sworn to keep the dagger, there were ways of making her cooperate.

Trailing far behind to avoid the demonlord's acute senses from detecting him, Kaelen watched the two enter a room in a quiet corridor.

Disgusting. She had been enchanted.

Unless Nadia was the one using Je'Kaoron for her own means. Perhaps Kaelen owed her greater credit. She wasn't a naive young girl who fell for the seduction of a demonlord's lusts but a trained warrior and an Adept. And she was a woman. While female demonlords were cold and aloof to the flattery of any man, perhaps the males were more susceptible to the teasings of a human woman. There was one advantage that Nadia had, and in consideration, she would be one to use the full range of weapons available to her.

Only time would tell where her loyalties lay. She had, after all, sunk the dagger into the half-blood.

And Lord Je'Kaoron hadn't batted an eye.

Kaelen had to wonder if the demonlords had any feelings. They truly weren't human to say they cared and then to allow harm to those they supposedly cared about.

Upon the stirrings of old regrets like sediment from a river bottom, he adjusted his posture and let them be carried away by the current of the present situation.

Demonlords knew how to keep Adepts guessing about their motives, and that included the secret meetings of demonlords that many of the sorcerers and hunters had reported at their gathering.

Nadia hadn't given him the chance to explain, but she would.

He waited inside an empty room two doors from the one where the two had entered, his door open a crack to listen and watch for one or both to emerge while hopefully containing his scent from the sensitive nose of the demonlord.

He would wait all night if he had to, but sooner than he expected, Je'Kaoron stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Kaelen froze, not daring to breathe. The demonlord paused and turned his head as if aware of something, but after a couple seconds, he strode away. He must have noticed Kaelen's presence.

Now was Kaelen's chance to speak to Nadia, but he also wished to speak to Lord Je'Kaoron, specifically to learn Nadia's role in the defeat of Je'Rekun, whose allies might seek her head or those of any other Adept if they suspected them of taking sides in a dispute. It had reached the
Kodre noct du Te'Mea
that she had been present at the battle of the Nik'Terek Gate, where Je'Rekun had disappeared and many of his supporters were killed. It was also known that Je'Kaoron had deceived Je'Rekun and that a half-blood girl had possessed an ancient object meant to control demonlords.

He could find Nadia again, but locating a particular demonlord could be difficult among so many who could hide in their natural predator forms, and Nadia didn't want to talk to him.

Confronting Lord Je'Kaoron would be another matter. That required a certain sense of submissiveness, something that went against Kaelen's defiance to their authority.

Before the demonlord put too much distance between them, Kaelen stepped out quietly and followed past Nadia's door. A simple spell from the elder sorcerers in the
Kodre noct du Te'Mea
whispered from his lips. Sorcerers didn't like to share their spells, but they had been known to help demon hunters, only because they were also Adepts. In his case, the elders had felt it useful for him to possess that knowledge. If it worked as they had taught him, it would obscure his presence to blend with his surroundings, his black cloak being ideal for hiding in shadows. If he moved quietly, the demonlord wouldn't even realize that Kaelen followed him.

Lord Je'Kaoron led him through corridors and down a set of stairs to a wider level, where a boardwalk lined a garden to the cliff. Je'Kaoron halted behind a white and black figure sitting at the far edge of the garden.

Kaelen ducked behind a tree and waited. His interrogation of the demonlord would have to wait. Luckily, shadows were long with the sun behind the mountain, and night approached in the east like a predator stalking its prey.

["I thought I might find you here,"] Je'Kaoron said in the demonlord Lexic.

["It clears my head. You might try it."] The man twisted and, in the mix of light, revealed the face of High Lord Je'Dron. ["Sit, old friend."]

Je'Kaoron took a place next to the High Lord of the Je'Gri. Although they sat with their backs to Kaelen, the breeze blew from their direction, carrying their voices with it.

After a period of quiet filled by the few remaining leaves rustling in the tree where Kaelen hid, Je'Kaoron said, ["The time has come."]

["You're ready to investigate rumors of a
sakul m'rath
?"]

["I am."]

Je'Dron turned, black and white hair partially hiding his face. ["Je'Surana is ready?"]

["She is. Nadia has prepared her sufficiently."] In a low voice, Je'Kaoron said, ["She can protect herself."]

Je'Dron's brows lifted in question.

["Winter will come soon. We cannot afford further delay,"] Je'Kaoron finished.

["No. We can't."] Je'Dron turned forward again, facing the valley with its webs of roads connecting human communities and fields stretched out below and making his words harder to understand with his back to Kaelen. ["But I wonder if you are truly ready."]

["If what I have seen is a warning, then my suspicions are correct. It must be stopped."]

["I may be far younger, old man, but even I have learned the difficulties of separating emotion from duty…and paid the price."]

Je'Kaoron nodded and fell still for a while. The soft chirrup of insects sang in the gap, while the last light of the day slowly faded from the stars twinkling in the darkening sky.

When Kaelen thought they might not speak again, Je'Kaoron said, ["I can do no more for Je'Surana. She must live her life, with or without me."]

["I wasn't speaking of her. You may fool others, but I've known you too many centuries not to see what ails you."]

Je'Kaoron paused for several long seconds. ["I will do what must be done. One old man's temporary joy is not worth sacrificing this world."]

["And what of the huntress?"]

Kaelen's heart threatened to leap from his chest. He strained to make out every word of what followed that question.

Je'Kaoron partially turned, and Kaelen dreaded the demonlord spotting him. However, Je'Kaoron bowed his head and dropped his shoulders. ["She will do it."]

Do what? What did they have planned for Nadia?

Rage flared inside him, but he restrained the urge to demand an answer from these two. It would only end up with his life forfeited. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself.

["Then it shall be."] Je'Dron sounded almost dismayed. ["I would not wish on anyone the burden you bear. Knowing your secret is enough for me."]

["Then it is better that so few of us remain."]

So few of who? What secret? If they had something planned for Nadia, Kaelen needed to know.

["Perhaps…Or we might not be in this situation if the others had such guidance."]

["The young never listen to their elders,"] Je'Kaoron said with a hint of admonishment in his voice.

["Some of us learn, and we will try to pass on the wisdom."]

["Not all are open to learning."]

At that, Je'Dron tipped his head. ["That is their loss."]

["It would be the loss of all."]

The two fell still for a while again as the stars lit in the sky and the moon rose among them.

After some time, Je'Dron stood. ["I must retire, but I expect you have much to ponder."]

["I need only notify the party of our departure tomorrow."]

["Then I will send word to them."]

["Thank you."]

["Thank
you
,"] Je'Dron said with a bow of his head. ["For all you have done for me and this world."]

Kaelen frowned, confused by the show of respect from the highest ranking Je'Gri to a lesser. Je'Dron wasn't the high lord he had encountered upon first arriving in the city palace. At the time, he had the impression that Je'Dron yielded to no one, but apparently that wasn't the case.

The high lord blurred and changed. The tiger that replaced the man ran towards Kaelen.

In the second he would have had to prepare for an attack, the tiger ran past.

Kaelen caught his breath from the moment he thought he would be a snack for eavesdropping on the ruler of the Je'Gri domain. He should have been. Demonlord hearing was supposedly so acute they could detect a rodent's heartbeat, and their sense of smell was capable of tracking any prey. High Lord Je'Dron should have detected him.

It didn't make sense, unless the spell cloaked everything.

The white tiger disappeared as if he wasn't there.

Kaelen relaxed and watched the man remaining at the ledge like a ghostly statue.
What are you about?
The cryptic conversation played through his head with possibilities that led to the same destination—Lord Je'Kaoron was up to something and using Nadia for that purpose. Kaelen couldn't allow it, and not only because of the dagger. Nadia deserved more respect.

Reality hit like a punch to his gut. Not even their commanders of the Li'Ador training had granted her that much, using him to try to fail her from her goal of becoming a demon hunter. He had hated himself for what he'd done, but he'd been proud to learn it had only made her stronger. Nadia deserved the recognition and respect she had earned, and he wasn't going to let a demonlord take that away.

Kaelen stepped from the shadows.

Je'Kaoron turned his head aside. "Are you now a sorcerer?"

Kaelen froze a step from the tree and waited.

The demonlord rose and turned to face him. "Hidden from sight but not from other senses, Hunter," he said with a hint of annoyance. "You followed me for a reason."

Kaelen stood his ground.

"No doubt you question my motives with the huntress." Lord Je'Kaoron stepped towards him. "Or you would not have followed me from her quarters."

Kaelen choked on the demonlord's revelation for a second before organizing his thoughts. Apparently the spell hadn't hidden more than his image. High Lord Je'Dron had chosen to ignore him. "After reports of your deception of Lord Je'Rekun, I must."

A huff of mild amusement accompanied Je'Kaoron's momentary smile. "Rumor travels fast. You must not believe all you hear. An open mind is far more powerful than blind loyalty."

Kaelen let out a soft snort. "Is that how you justify it?"

"I'm certain your compatriots have formed their own opinions which have influenced you. What good would it be to share my view if you will not believe it?" Je'Kaoron clasped his hands before him, an act of confidence; but demonlords could afford to relax. He was right that Kaelen would not believe him. The man was far too perceptive to be trusted. "Would you prefer to be hunted or to serve to protect humanity?"

"This isn't about me."

"But it is, Hunter. You've only a small view of a much larger world, and yet, as with your gathering of Adepts, many drops can fill a bucket with poison."

"The poison stands before me," Kaelen growled.

Je'Kaoron breathed deeply. "You hear but do not listen. If I tell you of events from my view, you will only see what you wish to see in my words to support your argument, because your mind is closed."