The Destroyer Book 2 (41 page)

"Good morning, O'Baarni. Did you have a pleasant rest?" His smile was fake, but I guessed he was trying to befriend me. He must have risen to power through his charms.

"I think you know the answer to that," I said without a smile.

He smirked and scanned the room, noticing the chair Nadea had occupied those many months ago. A lifetime ago. I had already lived too many lives.

"May I?" He gestured to the chair, after a moment’s hesitation, I nodded. I knew it was irrational, but I almost wanted to tell him not to sit there. He would dissolve the memory of her being here, so close to loving me. He grabbed it and put it in almost the same spot Nadea had so as not to face me. I closed my eyes and thought of her, the way she looked at me after finally giving in to my persuasion, the way her skin had felt when I finally touched her.

I yanked the plug out from the drain and then turned the frigid water back on, dunking my head underneath the downpour of cold to bring my mind back to Alatorict. I heard Alatorict saying something, but I could not make out the words. Eventually most of my body was numb and I pulled out of the stream.

"You didn't hear me." He seemed slightly miffed.

"No." I gave him a stare. I was annoyed that the water didn't somehow inform me of how I had gotten back into the castle or how I ended up having sex with Isslata and Vernine.

"Have you broken your fast?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Is this a social visit or do you want something specific from me?"

"You look stressed, O'Baarni. I would have thought you would be a little more relaxed after the week you just enjoyed. Did you forget our appointment?" His smiled faded into a slight frown.

My brain was still foggy and aching. I needed to get some answers out of Alatorict and while I didn't remember agreeing to meet with the man, this would be an opportunity to learn more about the empress's agenda. Forgetting our appointment was really the least of my memory concerns.

"I have not eaten breakfast yet," I said.

"Excellent. Let us take a walk. I have a favorite spot on my balcony that I think you will enjoy. The servants will then have time to clean and air out your suite." The man laughed and then stood up, walking out of the bathroom and into my main room. "I believe your clothes are still in this dresser," he called out.

I pulled myself out of the cold water and grabbed a nearby towel, drying off as I walked into the bedroom. Alatorict opened the balcony doors all the way and was sitting at my small table and looking out toward the beaten city. There was a score of dirty plates haphazardly balanced on the ledge of the table, leaning up against more than twenty empty bottles of wine.

The clothes that the king's tailor made for me were folded expertly in my drawers. I quickly pulled on the undergarments, pants, and one of the thick red tunics. Then I grabbed the polished leather boots at the bottom of the dresser and slipped them on over silk socks. The attire fit like a second skin and I didn't miss the threadbare servant's uniform I had been wearing for the last week.

"Ready?" the Elven asked after I finished putting on the footwear. I nodded and he gestured to the door. "Leaving," he said after a loud knock to alert his warriors. There were four Elvens outside of my room, all women in form-fitting leather armor and knee-high plate boots. They eyed me with a combination of nervousness and curiosity when I stepped out into the corridor.

"Tell them to give us an hour on Nadea," Alatorict commanded one of the guards. She nodded and left down the corridor toward the west. "Get a servant to clean his room," he said to another guard, who saluted and followed down the hall.

"This way." He pointed down the hallway to where Nadea and the duke's rooms had been and began walking. The Elven warriors took position behind me as I followed him.

He led me to the duke’s old quarters, which I should have expected since they were the nicest in the wing. My room was large enough for me, but the duke’s chambers were easily six times the size, with multiple rooms connecting to a main living area. The furniture was elaborately crafted. Thick, dark wooden posts formed a massive bed, dressers, tables and chairs. Lavish red and purple rugs covered the polished marble floors, and as I walked past the bathroom entrance I could see that the tub was large enough to fit five people.

Most of the desks and dressers had maps and thick leather-bound books resting upon them. I glanced at the drawings, but my mind must have still been fuzzy from whatever affliction affected my memory, as none of the designs or landmasses looked familiar.

"Out here." The balcony wrapped around most of the castle wall. The position gave a breathtaking view of the oak-dotted hills, river, and a part of the city. A fine layer of soupy fog was struggling against the sun's early morning heat.

Three human servants were organizing place settings at the attractive wood table in the center of the balcony. Two other servants carried a covered tray that looked like it contained enough food to feed myself, Alatorict, the guards that had followed us to the balcony, and the five humans. The lid couldn't conceal the scent of the meat, fruit, and pastries from my sensitive nose. I felt my stomach grumble with regret from the dinner it had lost this morning.

"You may leave," Alatorict said to the humans when the servants had finished setting the table. The two that carried the tray of food looked around confused for a second, then set the container down on the edge of the table, bowed, and quickly left with the others. They had relief plain on their faces when they departed. I sat down and watched as Alatorict lifted the lid and the scent of the eggs, bacon, fowl, fruit, and pastries assaulted my nose.

"Our hunters have been quite successful. The weather in Nia allows for farming and gaming through all seasons." He piled a dish full of steaming meat and handed it to me. "The hills to the south create amazing crops of grapes and excellent wine, perhaps not as well as the vineyards of Brilla, but good enough for our needs. Will you pour?" He nodded over his shoulder at the bottle on the table while he put food on his own plate.

My hand grasped along the cool neck of the wine bottle and I fought against the desire to smash the thick glass into the back of his head. Instead, I poured it into the tall glasses set before us. He thanked me sincerely before taking his seat across from me.

The breakfast was delicious, but I hardly noticed at the speed I ate. The silver-haired Elven had only taken a few bites by the time I sucked down the food on my plate and went for a second course. I expected him to make a comment about my appetite, but he spent the rest of the meal gazing out across the hills, sampling each small forkful like it was an exquisite dining experience. We continued this way for ten minutes.

"Do you ever wonder about history?" he asked after he pushed his half-eaten plate away and directed his attention back to me.

"What do you mean?" I said around a mouthful of eggs. I had almost finished all of the food that they brought out to the table and my stomach felt like it could hold more.

“What I mean is—“

Loud boot steps interrupted him. Someone walked from behind me and joined the other two guards on the far side of the balcony. As Alatorict glanced over my shoulder, a brief flash of anger passed over his face before it smoothed back to his normal calm.

"What I mean is: Is it factual or something created?" He took a sip of his wine and waited for my answer.

"Factual," I blurted out. The answer seemed obvious. History was fact, stories and myths were created. The sun had won over the fog and was heating the cold stone of the balcony.

"So you would say that every memory that you have is accurate?"

"The memories I can recall." I poured myself a glass of water, my headache was coming back.

"But isn't history made up of memories?" He raised an eyebrow. He was leading me somewhere and I wondered if it was a path I wanted to walk down with him.

"Of course."

"Tomorrow, when asked, you, my guards, and I will have a memory of this breakfast. Correct?"

I nodded.

"Will they all be the same?"

I shook my head slowly.

"No. They will be from different perspectives. And like you said, some memories you might not recall. I doubt I'll be able to remember exactly how many mouthfuls of food I just ate, and I'll never guess the amount you consumed." He smiled.

"What are you getting at?" I asked.

“Those details are unimportant, but there are other things about this conversation that will be forgotten, twisted or changed depending upon who is recalling the memory. Do you agree?”

I considered before answering.

“History may be inaccurate, since it is written from memories,” I said.

"Exactly. How old are you, O'Baarni?" He drained the glass of wine and then held it out to me while he looked at the bottle on the table.

"Does it matter?" I looked at the empty glass for a second, my eyes following the small drop of red liquid at the bottom of the crystal.

"You look young. Just an observation, I don't mean to pry. I understand your aging slows significantly when you are gifted with the Elements."

"I don't really remember." The truth would only confuse him. I smiled carefully at him and poured his glass full of the wine.

"Ahh. You have been with the Elements long then?" I shrugged and drained the rest of my water. "When were you gifted?" I saw his eyes dart over my shoulder at his guards for a second. It seemed the Elvens had become much more familiar with our process for empowering humans while I slept. We never called it gifting, but the term made sense to me.

"I have lost track of how old I am."

"You look quite young. But I imagine that you have problems remembering your early childhood, or even things that happened a few years ago." He smiled at me again.

"You have no idea." I returned his smile sarcastically.

"It is a human trait, one that even gifting doesn't really resolve. But the Elvens are different, as I am sure you know. We have excellent memories and recall details without error." He looked to the hills again.

"I am starting to bore of you, Elven. Get to the point."

“My point is simply to make a comparison. We can still make errors, but our memories are more accurate than yours. This is not an opinion or judgment, but simply a fact of design. But even we run into the issue of perspective. Even our records can be corrupted by those who record them. Perhaps it is impossible for anyone to truly know unadulterated history. I do not mean to bore you, in fact, this is the most interesting dialogue I have ever had with one of your kind.”

He grabbed the bottle and tilted it toward my glass, filling it after I nodded slightly.

"Which clan are you from?" He met my eyes.

"You mentioned a few days ago in the dungeon that you had a guess. Tell me." I leaned back in the chair and raised my wine glass before sipping it. If this asshole wanted to fence words with me, maybe I could get him to reveal something useful.

"Before I spoke to you, I guessed Thayer. His sons tend to fumble around rather clumsily, killing and smashing anything that disagrees with them, with as much finesse as an ox." I felt my stomach chill and my back broke out into an icy sweat. I remembered my breathing and let the Earth increase its flow through me. I picked a point on the hills and stared off into it, refusing to meet Alatorict's gaze.

"Now that I have spoken to you, I would guess Malek's clan. You have this confidence that his family wears around their shoulders like armor. However . . ." he trailed off, leaning forward in his chair. "There is the question of your name."

I looked over at him but my head was hurting again. He wore a coy expression on his angular face.

“Your name does not fit. None of your kind would ever call themselves Kaiyer.” I heard a sharp release of breath from the guards behind me, but Alatorict had my full attention now.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow and tried to hold back my excitement. I was finally getting somewhere with the annoying man.

“You must have a tremendous amount of hate, not only for us, but for your own kind. Perhaps you figured this outlier seed planet would have no memory of . . .” he paused. I realized he was struggling to say my name. It stuck in his throat, refused to come up, and fell back into his stomach. A brief flush of embarrassment crossed his face.

"This world would not know of your Betrayer, our Destroyer. The clans did a good enough job cleaning up after him." My body was numb. It made sense for the Elvens to call me the Destroyer. Why would I be known as a Betrayer? I recalled the memory of the temple deep underground where I fought and killed Lemarti. I had admitted to doing something and she didn't believe me. What had I done? There were no voices inside my head. No memories. Only the emptiness of the hills, the annoying shower of Alatorict's colorful words, and the careful breathing of the three guards behind us.

"Then I thought you might be one of Shlara's." I tried to keep my eyes from widening at the mention of her name, but I couldn't. "But Shlara's clan would never fraternize with our kind." He waited for me to reply but I didn't.

“I am puzzled by you, O’Baarni. You wear no colors or animal totems, you call yourself by a name neither of our races would use to curse even their worst enemy, you possess an affection for the humans of this planet, and you exhibit a strong disgust for our race, yet are willing to spend a week holed up with two of our women.” I heard a sigh and some nervous scuffling from the guards. Alatorict’s eyes darted behind me and burned with malice. I guessed Isslata had been the late arrival and he did not want to order her to leave in front of the other soldiers.

"Your guessing game is fun. What other clans might I belong to? Walk me through your logic,” I said to the man with a smile. The fire left his eyes and he grinned mirthfully. Alatorict thought of himself as intelligent and probably enjoyed explaining how his mind worked.

"Not Gorbanni, you would proclaim your affiliation at once and you would have eaten this meal on horseback." I snorted my water and almost laughed. He smiled and continued. "Perhaps Alexia? But no, you wouldn't interfere with our conquest of this world." His mention of their invasion brought my thoughts back to the castle. To Nadea and Jessmei, to Paug's death.