The Destroyer Book 2 (46 page)

"I remember. I also remember how much that angered you." The chuckle came to my throat easily.

"You had me all figured out." Shlara laughed and rolled over to lounge on top of me. Her braid spun down and tickled the side of my face. "I was so mad. I felt like you had insulted me."

"I did!" The laughter felt wonderful and I realized I was more than a bit stressed about the final battle.

"Aye. You had me beaten before I even grabbed my weapons. I couldn't even see straight when we got into the dirt to fight you. I didn't even give any orders to the squad. You went through us like a scythe." She smiled and propped herself up on her elbows. Her fingers traced along my jawline.

"I've learned much since then." Her voice became huskier and I felt her body press into mine. "You'll lose to me now. Care to see?" Her mouth dropped closer to mine and her eyes closed expectantly.

"Shlara," I said in protest as her lips almost touched mine. She stopped her kiss and moaned in frustration. Then she rolled her body away and crossed her arms.

"Making love to you would have been my preferred form of exercise, but I knew that you wouldn't have gone for that, hence the swords. Don't deny me that at least." She spat out the words in a huff.

I didn't reply. I just sat up and gave her an apologetic look before I grabbed the bottle of wine and took a swallow to clear my throat. After the drink I gazed at the river again, smelled the sweet air, and wondered what the mountains in the distance thought of our relationship.

"Kaiyer." I looked back to her. "You will keep your promise?" Her eyes betrayed her fear.

"Is that what this is about?"

"Yes." She nodded. "It is what this has always been about. You've put me off long enough. Within two weeks, we will crush those fuckers. I've waited because of what you promised. I haven't pressured you. I agreed to let you be."

"Haven’t pressured me? We have spoken about this so many times, and you have always pressured me. Admittedly in a very pleasurable way," I replied with a sigh as I stood.

"And you've promised many times. I want to hear it again." Her eyes pleaded.

"I promised. Once this war is over we will be lovers. I stand by it," I said it with as much conviction as I could muster. Did promising something make it true?

After this last battle, my family would be avenged. Iolarathe had probably died years ago in some random scuffle, killed by an O'Baarni warrior who knew nothing of her crimes. After this, I could be sure of her demise. I would have closure. I would move on with my life. Shlara was one of my best friends and without question my most talented general. Building a life with her would be a fitting legacy. My father and brother would have been proud to know that I had chosen her as a mate. She was the woman I should be with.

"I will give you children. As many as you want. They will be as beautiful as you." Shlara's smile couldn't get any bigger. Her eyes glazed over as she imagined our offspring. "This will be the beginning though. Your people will need you to lead them, probably even more than during the war. We will have to rebuild our civilization. I don't know how we will do it, but you and I will figure out a way. We can do anything together. We will have peace and prosperity for ages. Our descendants will bless us and give thanks for the hardships we went through for their freedom."

As she lay in the tall grass and spoke of the dreams I had given her I was taken by her beauty. The grass provided a pillow for her perfectly built body. The simple clothes she wore couldn't hide the curves of her long muscular legs, taut stomach, and full breasts. Her eyebrows rose as she saw me examining her.

"Do you like what you see?" She bit her bottom lip in excitement.

"Of course." I smiled.

"You don't have to wait. You can have me now." She beckoned me with her finger and the movement reminded me of Iolarathe. I shouldn't be comparing the two women, but it was suddenly her in the hay of the loft of the stable instead of Shlara in the long grass. My mouth went dry and I looked over at the swords.

"Let's spar instead." I tried to conjure up a smile as my vision shifted back to see the brunette woman nod in excitement and spring up from the ground. I must be going insane. At least I would only have to deal with thoughts of Iolarathe for another week. Then I would wash the memory of her from my mind and focus on what was important. Shlara needed my attention and love. She didn't deserve to have my brain occupied with thoughts of the Elven woman who had murdered my family.

The Elven woman who had been my only lover.

My friend was loosening her joints with the routine we had developed over our decades of practice. I mirrored her movements to warm up my own muscles. It was a possibility that there were better warriors in our armies than Shlara, but I did not know of any. She had bested Thayer several times in the last five years and he refused to practice against her now. It was a fact that Shlara's army was held in high esteem, and they reminded the other armies of it often.

"Maybe we should make a wager?" She smirked mischievously and I guessed what she would bet.

"Let's just concentrate on the match," I said.

"How do I know you will not hold back?" She smiled again.

"I won't hold back." I looked over to the river and saw the people there had stopped to observe us. The water was eight hundred yards away, out of earshot with the sound of the current and the breeze, but it was easy enough for their enhanced vision to see that Shlara sparred with someone. They had probably figured out who I was by now. It was rare that I made public appearances without my horrific suit of armor, so most didn't recognize me. I actually preferred it that way so I could walk amongst the troops without them treating me any differently.

"Then, you think you will lose?" Shlara grinned and picked up a sword.

"I don't lose." I smiled back at her and hoped that it shook her morale.

"So let's wager." She licked her lips again and placed a finger on her chin. "If you win, I'll agree to your strategy. I'll hold the west flank while Thayer drives the middle. Malek will side with me after I convince him, and we can focus on killing Elvens."

"And if you win?" I smiled. She knew exactly what I wanted. We had been going around in a circle arguing about this battle for almost a week solid. It was getting old, and having her agree with me would put the matter to rest.

"I get to have you early, as much as I want, every night. Starting tonight." She bit her bottom lip again before she tossed me the sword. I caught it and spun the handle in my palm to feel all the sides of it.

"You know I'm not very good with swords," I said.

"Sounds like an excuse to me." She kissed the air toward me. "Oh, great Kaiyer! Leader of the O'Baarni and Destroyer of the Elven race. Do you fear your best general's sword that much? Or do you just fear my bed?" She raised an eyebrow and laughed.

"I am stating that I am not that good with swords, perhaps you should use a mace?" I was trying hard to keep myself from laughing as we circled each other. We were on a steep slope, and whoever held the higher ground would have a clear advantage.

"The sword is dulled so I don't hurt you too badly. Pretend it is like a mace, or if you like, I can cut down a stick from the tree over there and you could wave it around like a club." She smiled again and got into her stance. Her posture was perfect, down to the smallest angle of her foot. It had to be; she led thousands of men and women into battle and trained the warriors who would train them.

"Deal?" She raised an eyebrow. Wispy strands of hair that had escaped her thick braid fluttered slightly in the wind.

"Deal," I said. Almost before the words were out of my mouth, she attacked.

I figured her first few attacks would hesitantly test my defense and attempt to find holes. I was either mistaken in my judgment, or she already knew the holes in my defense. Her attacks came in fast and low, forcing me to drop my center of gravity and block her horizontal swings. The parries put my sword dangerously close to the side of the hill, where it could get tangled in the grass or rutted in the soft dirt.

Her quick flurry of swings left her head open, so I popped a swift kick at her face after she finished her initial onslaught. I didn't think that I had telegraphed the movement, but she moved her head out of the way easily and attempted to catch my leg with her free hand. I collapsed my hamstring around her grip and flexed my hips and body forward. My kick turned into a knee that collided with the side of her cheek and sent her reeling back before she grasped my extended limb. As she pulled her head away, she made a quick cut with her sword and sliced the top of my thigh apart.

"I thought you said the blades were dulled?" My skin began to itch and close around the wound.

"I wouldn't shave my legs with them." She smiled and spit out blood.

"I think I just lost a few hairs there." I grinned.

"No Air." Her face went blank again and her eyes hardened.

"Making the rules up as you go along?" I said in mockery as I got into my stance and moved back a few steps. She circled toward the river, giving me the higher ground unexpectedly.

"No. You'd win if we brought Fire into this."

"You should have thought of that before we put the stakes so high." I felt the smile fade from my lips. I was quite skilled with the magic that could create Fire, but none of my generals were very aware of that information. Or so I believed. The first few years when I practiced with Entas, Thayer, and later Alexia, my skills had lagged behind my two friends. Now it was not the case, but I had spent countless hours alone, training the power until I was confident that I could rival Malek with my skill.

"Kaiyer!" She frowned as she pleaded.

"Fine. I hadn't considered using it anyway." I smiled down at her and made a quick series of cuts at her head.

I thought I was stronger than her. Each of my blows could cleave through a tree that stood as thick as a man. My first one angled down to cut her skull in half, but she brought her sword up in time and deflected it with a simple turn of her wrist. I changed the direction of the blade and slammed it back again, not really aiming for her head, but the handle of her sword. The shock smashed through my arm and she held her weapon. Her face was a blank mask of concentration. The swords we crafted were forged in fires so hot that only our magically enhanced bodies had the strength to pound the blades, temper the steel, and sharpen the metal. Shlara had claimed these were dull, and I believed her, but they still screeched like hateful eagles and created showers of blue sparks when they connected with our rapid parries.

She made three quick vertical cuts and then a long stab that left her exposed. I blocked each one carefully and let her thrust travel to the outside of my sword on my left side. I guessed that this was a feint and she was expecting me to take the easy bait, pull my weapon free of her attack, and slice into her open flank. Instead, I grabbed the inside of Shlara's right arm, pinned it to my blade, rolled my body underneath her reach, and then brought my sword through in a deep cut that should have disemboweled her. Before my blade's edge could find her belly, she sprung off the ground and laid her body flat. My sword ripped through empty air beneath her jumping form, and I used the momentum to carry me through my missed attack. I tried to clear her sword with my blade, but felt a long cut across my back.

"You'll have to do better than that, my love." She attacked low again in the same three swing combo. I blocked in a similar fashion, but avoided retaliating immediately. I was getting a feel for her rhythm and I wanted to be more methodical next time I pushed my offense. It had been many years since I sparred with someone of equal speed and strength as me. The Elvens could only hope to be a challenge with numbers, and while I had a close group of personal guards to train with, none of them were of Shlara's caliber.

We exchanged a few series of cuts to feel out each other's defenses. She seemed to favor the low attacks against me, but I didn't understand her strategy. Maybe I had done something those many years ago that convinced her that there was a hole in my defense there. Perhaps she was preparing me for a change in her tactics. The guessing kept me off balance and I didn't concentrate on my offense.

Shlara started on her series of low cuts again, but I knew that she was planning to change her last swing. I parried her first two strikes and then she suddenly changed her grip and came in high on her last attack. I was close enough so that it would have ripped open my chest if I hadn't expected the movement. I was able to duck under and make a quick cut at her arms while she was still on her backswing. She halted her twist and then pivoted around to block my strike. The instant her sword contacted mine her eyes opened with surprise. I had feinted the attack toward her arms, and instead slammed the palm of my hand into her beautiful face.

There was a horrendous crack as the bridge of her nose shattered and her head snapped up to look at the sky. The blow would have been avoided in a normal battle situation, where we all wore helmets, but the lack of protection gave me an edge that she probably wasn't used to defending. She was still an amazing warrior and she backflipped down the slope and skidded to a halt about forty feet from me, dodging a dozen of my strikes that almost cut her in half. Her face was a mess of blood and broken cartilage, but it mostly affected her vision. I could tell her eyes were watering and she was trying to flush out the pain with her tears.

She would heal within the next minute, so I pressed my attack again. I took three steps down the slope and then launched into the air, traveling the short distance between us and thrusting my sword out to spear her stomach. She stepped to my flank and swung her weapon at my hips, a risky move that paid off when I couldn't twist my body out of the way. I felt her blade tear into the side of my abdomen. I flicked my blade up at the last second and cut into the shoulder of her right arm. But like my earlier wound to her hip, it wasn't enough to end the fight and would mend in a few dozen seconds.