The Destroyer Book 2 (13 page)

"Kaiyer!" a yell sounded in the distance outside my tent. I had been so focused on listening to the sounds of Shlara's heart and body that the shout came across like a cymbal crash next to my skull. Both of us gritted our teeth and looked toward the exit.

"Kaiyer!" The frantic voice was Thayer's and the sounds of his footsteps approaching my tent broke the trance I shared with Shlara. I glanced back to the woman and saw outrage replace the look of lust on her face.

"What is wrong?" I demanded after I sprinted out of my tent. I tried not to sound mad but I probably did a poor job of it.

"You aren't going to believe what we found," Thayer said. He was covered in sweat. The bald man was escorted by four of his commanders and they looked exhausted.

"Did you finish your assignment?" I asked through a clenched jaw.

"Of course!" his face broke into his massive grin. "Come quick! You need to see this, Brother."

"What is it?" I asked

"I don't know what the fuck it is. A piece of Elven Magic and I've never seen anything like it." He was practically bouncing from foot to foot like a child when they want to show their parent something they have found.

"You didn't bring it?"

"Hell no! I don't want to touch the thing. We found it in their camp. It's about fourteen miles from here, should take us a little over an hour to if we run." He was already taking steps toward the direction of the Elven campsite.

"Let's take horses. I'll come." Shlara seemed to materialize out of the darkness beside me.

"Good idea, Sister." Thayer smacked his head. "Can we go? We must hurry." I called to my attendants and they brought my horse and spares for Shlara, Thayer, and his men. We mounted up and launched the steeds into a neck breaking gallop. Without armor on we could run as fast as horses, but it made little sense to spend our own energy.

Shlara's hair seemed to fade into the darkness of the evening air while we rode. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised and then mouthed the question on both our minds. I nodded and turned my attention to Thayer's back as he led us away from our night of passion.

The sounds of boots on the wood floor of the hallway outside drew me out of the memory. I reached across the bed to pull Jessmei's body to me and startled when I didn't feel her. My chest hurt for a second and I realized that I missed her tremendously. It wasn't just the touch of her skin or our lovemaking. I longed for Jess's smile, giggles, and the happiness that seemed to radiate out of her like heat from a fire. Thoughts of her reminded me of Nadea and Paug. I would see Jessmei again soon and I could take her into my arms. Paug and Nadea were gone from me forever, as were Malek, Thayer, Alexia, and Gorbanni.

Gone like Shlara.

I sighed again and forced the self-pity out of my consciousness. There was nothing I could do today to bring Paug and Nadea back, or resurrect the friends who had imprisoned me. The only solace I had now was action.

Action and revenge.

The heavy footsteps stopped pacing outside of my door and I imagined Greykin's knock before he did.

"Enter," I said loud enough to pass through the door.

"Are you ready?" he wheezed after the door opened a crack.

"I'll be ready in ten minutes." He nodded and closed the door. I listened to his boots walk away from the door and toward the stairs leading down to the main room of the tavern his men filled. He broke out into a tortured cough before he reached the end of the hallway. The whole building groaned and shifted as the big man leaned against the wall for support.

I completed a few warm-up exercises and donned my clothes before I exited the small room they gave me. I guessed the time to be a few hours before midnight, so I made an effort to creep down the stairs silently. My efforts proved fruitful, and I slipped unnoticed into the assembled group of soldiers as they whispered instructions over a rough map of the city.

"Our best entrance option is through one of the drains that lead into the river." The warrior that spoke stood next to Greykin and instructed the other nine. "There are a hundred entrances into the sewer. This one in particular," he pointed to a spot on the map, "I used to play in when I was a street kid and I know it well. Over the last few weeks I have spent more time exploring it and I am confident it can get us into the underground network of catacombs beneath the castle."

"Good job, Danor." Greykin nodded and the other men quickly mirrored the Old Bear's movement of approval. Danor reminded me of Runir. He was tall, muscular, and handsome; but while Runir was clean-shaven and blonde, Danor wore a brown mustache and shaved the top of his head.

"What about things that live beneath the castle?" one of the soldiers asked. The room was lit by three small candles stuck into the table next to the map. Their tiny flames cast shadows of uncertainty and doubt across the faces of the gathered men after the words were spoken.

"What are you crying about?" Greykin demanded. "We are the king's finest and we show no fear toward any other man or beast."

"Yes sir." The soldier stood up straighter and tried to hide his uneasiness. "I've just heard stories of creatures living in the sewers."

"I didn't notice anything while I was down there and I doubt we will see anything tonight. Keep your torches lit and your wits about you," Danor said with enough confidence to convince the other warriors.

"We'll have Kaiyer with us as well. He is a capable warrior." Greykin nodded at the map. A massive roach walked across the rough drawing of the city and the Old Bear crushed it underneath his thumb.

"Can we trust him, sir?" One of the soldiers who stood next to me whispered so quietly that everyone leaned toward the center of the group.

"He was about to be knighted by the king. I would trust him with my life." Greykin spoke angrily as he wiped the roach off on his shirt and glared at the man who questioned my worth. Then he noticed me standing behind the warriors and his eyes softened.

"Are you ready Kaiyer?" he said as the rest of the men spun around in surprise.

"Sure." I shrugged and rested my right arm on top of the swords at my belt. Their handles dug into my skin, sharp and reassuring.

"You're carrying extra torches, water, and some medical supplies." He nodded over to a lone backpack resting against the far wall. I donned it and followed the other darkly clad men as they slipped out of the front door into the streets of Nia's capital.

"You'll need this as well," the Old Bear said as he passed me a thick dark scarf. It smelled like flowers and sword oil. Before I could ask him or the other soldiers what the cloth was for they ducked out the door. I put the fragrant handkerchief in my pocket and followed.

This night was colder than the last few weeks had been. An angry wind from the north helped hide the stench of the dying city and disguised the sound of our passing. We didn't spy any Losher guards patrolling, but we still crept through the back alleyways to avoid any possible problems. The journey took a half of an hour and the only incident we had was when the group stopped to let a pack of roaming street dogs pass. These animals eyed us hungrily but fled to find easier prey after Greykin snarled at them.

The grate was a semi-circle about four feet in diameter. Danor lifted it up and motioned for someone to head down into the darkness. There was a slight hesitation as the other men glanced into the abyss. My eyes easily pierced into the black depths and I saw the smooth, worn stone of a floor thirty feet below us. I grabbed on to the edge and flipped into the opening, ignoring the rust-covered iron ladder that the other soldiers would have to use.

"Make a light," Danor whispered down a second before I pulled the Earth and Air through my body. A small stream of flame shot out of my palm and I aimed it toward the tip of an oiled torch I took from my pack.

With the aid of the fire I could see that I stood upon a narrow, elevated path above a canal. There was another pathway across the sewer with periodic metal bridges that extended between each raised stone shoulder in case anyone should desire to cross. The channel only had a trickle of water in it. The foul smelling fluid oozed in the direction that would take it away from the city, toward the river. I looked up and noticed that the ceiling formed a smooth half-circle shape like the domed cavern where Nadea and Paug first woke me.

"It doesn't smell as bad after a rain, but rain makes it much more dangerous. The water runs deep and quick," Danor remarked to the other soldiers once they descended the ladder to stand next to me. They winced at the stench and tried not to show the fear that their quickly beating hearts betrayed. These were brave men when confronted by battle, but the deep darkness under the earth could be more terrifying.

"Lead on," Greykin commanded. Danor nodded and adjusted a scarf around his neck so it covered his mouth and nose. The other warriors pulled up their scarves and I remembered the kerchief the Old Bear gave me. The scent of oil and flowers was much better than that of shit, death, and sulfur.

We paused briefly to let another one of Greykin's men light a torch off of mine and then Danor led us up the path toward the castle. The torches did little to relieve the oppression of the darkness. The air was thick, rank and stale, and it felt as if the pressure of the earth and the castle above us was pressing down on my back and shoulders as we walked. Even my eyes had a hard time making out the shapes in the deepness of the dark, and I imagined the uncertainty and fear was great for my human companions who could see little outside of the faint circles of light from our bobbing torches.

Our guide carried a piece of chalk and he marked the wall every twenty feet so that we would be able to find our way back. For the next half an hour, there was no conversation, just the sound of our footfalls, the scraping of the occasional chalk marking, and the wet, slurping slime of the sewage.

Danor veered to the right and into a narrow hallway that angled up away from the foul stench. After a few steps, we stopped and he began to speak softly. I brought up the rear, but my heightened sense of hearing allowed me to catch the mustached man explaining that we had to journey down another level of the sewer before making our way underneath the castle. Or so he believed.

Was the big man's plan foolish?

I had agreed to help under the assumption that Greykin had a solid plan and knew the sewer system well, that these sewers were just an easy series of tunnels leading to the castle. Now it appeared they were more like a complicated maze of passages, pipes, canals, and ladders. It seemed premature to attempt a rescue without knowing the exact route into the fortress. I had no doubt that I could find my way to the castle without their aid, but I didn't want to spend all night down here. I probably should have asked Greykin if there were other infiltration options.

The second ladder led down almost sixty feet. The sound of water echoed stronger here, and when I finally set foot on the stone below I could see we were in another canal tunnel like the one above us. This deeper cavern was twice the size, with much more sewage flowing through its center. The stench was worse, and I was thankful that I had nothing in my stomach to vomit.

Every so often, something would scurry away from our light. I could see that they were large rats, but the other soldiers grew more nervous at the unexpected movements. We trekked for another half of an hour, made a few turns that Danor marked with chalk, lit a second round of torches, and then came to a tight hallway. This corridor was narrow, and forced us into a single file. I noticed the heartrates of my companions increased, and I guessed they were close to mental exhaustion. During the exploration I had positioned myself at the front of the line between Danor and Greykin so I could hear any discussion they might have.

"How much longer?" the Old Bear whispered past me to Danor.

"Right up here. There are four different paths. I've explored the one I thought led to the castle, but got hit with a dead end." Danor looked back apologetically at Greykin but the big man just grunted in annoyance. "It goes down a far ways and is a squeeze. Be careful Kaiyer," Danor said as he lifted a heavy grate over a massive iron ladder. The draft emerging from this opening breathed cold and wet. The hole didn't smell as bad as the air around us. I grabbed the rough iron rung and started my descent.

Danor was correct about the distance down the ladder. It hung inside a tight stone shaft so narrow my back scraped across the opposite wall as I tried to climb down while holding my torch. The fire from the brand and the tight, close air of the tube made me sweat as I had in the humid jungles of Vanlourn. After what I guessed to be a half an hour of descent, I hit bottom and gratefully set my foot on solid rock.

I looked up to the tunnel from where I came, it looked like a man-made, hollow stone icicle protruding from the domed ceiling above me. I was now in a massive, open cavern, nothing like the system of tunnels and aqueducts humans had built above us. My field of vision was obstructed in places by isolated stalactites that crumbled like broken columns. I knew my boots touched stone, but I couldn't see them through the thick layer of mist that flowed a foot off the ground like an opaque gray blanket. The torchlight extended only fifty feet from me but my magic allowed me to perceive a few extra yards into the blackness. I saw no other walls or man-made masonry work down here.