The Destroyer Book 2 (34 page)

"If you surrender, we will not harm the duke, or your friend. We do not actually wish you any harm," the man said with a smile.

"I find that hard to believe." I stood up from the corpse of the Elven I had killed. My knee was soaked with his blood, skull fragments, and brain matter. His body twitched as the spinal column tried to send its last few signals to his legs.

"Our empress wishes to speak with you. She has invited you to be our guest for a few weeks until she arrives from the North."

"Ah, that sounds pleasant. I would be delighted to stay," I said through clenched teeth. The Elven I had kicked into the wall moaned and began to stir.

"You would be?" The silver-haired Elven seemed surprised.

Their duke must live Kaiyer!

The voice echoed across my brain. My stomach spun when I realized whose voice it was. She sounded as if she were screaming at me from an impossible distance. It bounced off of the still pools of my memory and awoke flashes of recollection like ripples. The scent of her hair and skin mixed with the more present smell of weapon oil and blood.

She was dead.

The absolute certainty of her demise punched me through the chest like a spear. I remembered her screaming my name in pain. I remembered her asking me a question. What had she asked me?

How was Iolarathe in my head?

"Of course, I have a few conditions." I forced myself to smile and relax my body. A cold sweat formed on my brow and along my spine. The idea of surrendering to them made me want to vomit until my throat turned inside out.

I thought again about killing the duke myself, then destroying the rest of the Elvens and killing everyone else in this castle who was my enemy. Iolarathe's voice didn't condemn the action, but a vision of Nadea's face stayed the Fire in me that threatened to fill the corridor with a quick and satisfying end to all of our lives.

"I am sure we can come to some agreement. What would your conditions be?" he asked. The two Elvens next to him carrying the bows were women; I recognized one from earlier, she had cut down the guard who accompanied Nanos. She raised her bow, but the man with the silver hair waved his hand and she lowered the weapon. "The duke, Greykin, Nadea, the queen, and Nanos are given safe passage out of Nia." The other Elvens looked shocked at my request, but their leader didn't flinch. "That is an interesting condition. What are your others?"

"I'll have your answer before I continue." I glanced down at the Elven that had the dagger to the duke's throat. He scowled at me and then licked his lips.

"I'm afraid I can't let Nanos or Nadea go. The others may leave." He gazed thoughtfully at the crusty ceiling of the dungeon with a delicate pointer finger on his angular chin. His companions fidgeted when I said nothing.

"What are your others?" he finally asked

"I want to see Nadea." The duke grunted from the floor in agreement.

"I am afraid that is impossible as well." He frowned.

"You aren't giving me much reason to surrender," I hissed as I felt the Earth course through me faster. The Elven women next to the silver-haired man raised their bows up as I spoke. Their movements were in slow motion and I saw the fear plain on their faces. They didn't think that their arrows would stop me. They were right.

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" the silver-haired Elven shouted and moved his arms out to prevent his guards from releasing their arrows. "Please understand that I cannot give up my only source of leverage. Surely the safety of your friends is important to you, yes?"

I nodded and felt the walls start to breathe and shudder with me.

“We let them go, unharmed. Nadea and Nanos remain here, protected, to guarantee the safety of my people while you await my empress.”

"I don't give a shit about Nanos. I want to see Nadea." My voice was a long growl.

Beltor gasped suddenly, pulling my attention away from the Elven leader. The dagger at his throat had started to draw blood. His face was pained as his captor yanked his head back.

"O'Baarni, the voice you heard screaming was some other human we tortured to distract you. If you wish, we can walk you over so that you can see for yourself. Nadea is in another part of the dungeon and we will not show her to you. I can promise that your friends will leave this castle alive and unharmed. Do we have a deal?"

The duke was unable to move his head, his already clenched eyes tightened. I looked over to Greykin and the big man gave me a look of defeat.

"I know what you are thinking, O'Baarni. You are debating if you will be fast enough to kill my brother with the dagger to your duke's throat. Then you are thinking you might be able to dodge the arrows, and then you might even think that you can kill the rest of us."

I couldn't hide my smile; I had been pondering those exact scenarios. My show of teeth made one of the females grin like a cat. I focused on her for a second and saw that what I had first mistaken for fear was actually excitement.

“You might be able to kill us; you might even survive. But there is still one reason you should consider surrendering before you throw away the duke’s life.” The Elven raised a slender finger and smiled slyly. I wanted to break his hand and punch his face in until it dyed the stone floor of this dungeon crimson.

"Oh? Do tell." I still remembered Iolarathe's words; I wouldn't do anything to risk Beltor.

“If we do not report back with your surrender in the next ten minutes, the women guarding Nadea will kill her.” The duke and Greykin let out heavy breaths at the same time. The silver-haired Elven paused to gauge my reaction. I didn't give him one, so he continued. "I imagine that your mission here was to rescue Nadea, Nanos, and the queen. I'll give you the queen and guarantee that, as long as you wait here for my empress peacefully, no harm will come to Nadea."

“What happens after I speak to your empress?”

“I cannot speak for her. I assume that after she has spoken to you, she will have no further use for the hum--Duchess Nadea, and will let her go.”

My eyes met the duke's and I saw the desperation in them. I glanced back to Greykin and he seemed beaten. I should have planned this rescue mission. Better yet, I should have told them to stay in their rooms while I handled everything myself. My friends ended up being a liability and had cost us our goal.

At least we weren't dead.

"I'll inspect the cell to make sure it wasn't Nadea that was being tortured. You'll prepare five horses, food, and supplies for the duke, Greykin, and the queen. I'll ride with them out of the city walls, for two days. Then I'll return and surrender." I did the math in my head as I spoke, figuring out how my friends could create a false trail with the horses and make it to the village where Jessmei was hidden by foot.

"Two of my warriors shall accompany you. If you do not return by nightfall of the third day, then Nadea will die." The Elven leader was a quick thinker.

"I don't need an escort. I will return per my word." The woman next to the leader smirked and shook her head after I spoke.

"I don't trust you O'Baarni. I remember the White Bay Treaty all too well. My sisters will accompany you and keep you from harm." He smiled and motioned to the Elven holding the dagger to the duke's throat and the man slowly lifted the duke while keeping the blade on him. I tried to search my mind for anything about the White Bay Treaty, but I remembered nothing of that name. I stepped over Greykin and offered my hand to the Old Bear.

"Can we be civil? I will show you that the woman was not Nadea if you wish." The silver-haired Elven's voice was like honey now that he was getting what he wanted.

"Fine," I said. The man removed the dagger from Beltor's throat and slid it into the leather case on his leg.

"Go tell them to stay their hand. We'll send another runner in ten minutes," the Elven leader ordered the woman next to him. She nodded and put her arrow back into her small quiver, threw her bow over her shoulder, and walked toward us. She picked a path in between Greykin and I, brushing up against me and glaring into my eyes with her golden-speckled orbs.

"Show us now." I slowly pushed the Elven with the dagger from the duke and wrapped my arm through his, supporting him, his face was ashen.

"Of course. This way." Their leader pointed through the hallway behind them and turned like a dancer, leaving his back to us and calmly walking away from the group. I wanted to kill him, but restrained myself for Nadea’s sake.

"I'm sorry Kaiyer. We should have suspected this was a trap," Beltor whispered into my ear. The other two Elvens walked behind us.

"They had my mother; they told me they would kill her if Nadea somehow escaped. I'm sorry Uncle." Nanos pushed in between us as we walked. His voice a high-pitched whine.

"Maybe you should have been man enough to work that into our earlier conversation you nitwitted, ass-sniffing shit head," the Old Bear snarled.

"The boy is terrified, Greykin, let him be," the duke whispered back.

"I'll let him be after I kick his asshole out his mouth."

"Silence!" I barked. The Elvens turned around to look at me, but I knew they had heard the conversation. I needed a clear head to think and I didn't want it to seem like we were divided.

The corridor grew darker as we walked deeper. I felt Nanos place his hand on my shoulder for support several times. The black emptiness did not seem to trouble our guides enough to light a torch, so I opened my palm and used a little magic to create a small flame. It gave enough light for the humans to see.

We came upon four torches casting a globe of light around a cell. I could smell blood and feces and knew we had reached our destination. Inside the room, an Elven man stood over a human woman tied to a table with leather straps. She was naked, her skin pale in the dim torchlight, bloody hand and fingerprints stood out starkly on her skin in several places. Her hair was roughly shorn, blonde and grimy with sweat and blood. Her stomach was cut open, the incision crossed her entire abdomen and gaped horrifically, fresh blood still oozing from the wound. The Elven was twisting her intestines around a thin piece of wood, as if it were a ball of twine. The woman whimpered helplessly as she noticed us, afraid we would bring more pain.

"See? It is not your Nadea," the Elven leader said. Nanos took a step back and vomited violently.

"This is barbaric!" Beltor spat at the man in anger. The woman’s eyes widened in hope as she dimly comprehended his words.

"This is nothing compared to what has been done to my people." The silver-haired man lost his perfect smile. The tension between our two factions became elevated again.

"End her life. You've made your point and gotten what you wanted. She need not suffer anymore," I said softly. The woman closed her eyes. I was unsure if she was relieved or terrified by the prospect of death. Probably both.

"Yes. I agree with you, O'Baarni." He nodded to the torturer. The Elven calmly pulled out a small vial from his case of knives, pliers, and needles. He walked over to the woman and grasped her cheeks in his hand, squeezing harshly to force her lips apart. She struggled briefly but finally opened her mouth. She could not turn her head, but her eyes opened and stared at me as he poured it down her throat, letting go of her and wiping his hands on his blood-stained apron with detached efficiency. We watched silently as her eyes clouded and fluttered shut. Her face relaxed and her ragged breaths slowed as she died quietly.

"She won't feel anything anymore." He smiled back at me and took a deep breath. I felt my anger flare up again and I wanted to rip his face off of his skull.

"Get us our horses and supplies. I'm sick of looking at you." The Elven frowned and his men tensed behind him. I wondered how far I could push his control over his guards.

"Of course, O'Baarni. We will take you to the stables, deliver the queen, give you supplies, and let you be on your way." He pointed an open hand down the corridor in the direction that I assumed led to the surface, and we resumed our prior formation.

"I can understand that you don't enjoy my company. But I'll have you know that even though you have killed many of my kin, I bear you no ill will," he said as we walked up the stairwell.

"It must be nice having such control over your emotions. I'll have to exterminate a few dozen more of your kind and see if that has an effect on you." I matched his pleasantness of voice. I was rewarded by angry hisses from his guards.

"It isn't control of my emotions. It is love," he replied without missing a beat.

I waited a few paces before replying.

"I sense you want me to be curious and ask you with wide-eyed bewilderment what love has to do with anything. But I would prefer that you just shut the fuck up so I can continue to plan how I will rip your life from your ugly body." The duke gave me a glare like I had just kicked him in the balls and Nanos turned another shade of white, which I wouldn't have believed was possible. The silver-haired Elven laughed deeply from the belly.

"I like you, O'Baarni. You're different than all the other ones I've dealt with in my negotiations. There is no subterfuge with you. What clan do you belong to again?" I tried to remember anything about a clan and I couldn't. Did he mean family?

"I didn't say."

"Ah yes, you can keep your secrets, although I have my guesses." He laughed again. "No. It is for love of my empress that I bear you no ill will. She would like to put our schisms behind us and find a way for coexistence." He looked back to me to make sure I was paying attention. This was the longest I ever remembered talking to one of their kind and I was feeling ill.

"She will explain her philosophies better to you when she arrives in the castle."

"I can hardly wait." If I could have forged a sword out of my sarcasm, I could have cleaved his skull in four pieces. They propped open a door and we came out into one of the castle's gardens. Dawn was approaching, bringing the promise of a new sun that would dispel the fine layer of dew that coated everything.

"She is eager to meet you as well." He smiled at me again. He was good a controlling his facial features, but I easily saw the malice behind his eyes.