The Destroyer Book 2 (9 page)

"Thank you. So what were you saying about your friends?" Ear asked again.

"You don't know them."

"Ahh. We know everyone. We'd love to help you out! Just keep buying beer for us!" Smelly said from my left. I smiled and nodded at him, wishing I understood why I was so uneasy around the two dirty men.

"I will have to get going." I had only drunk a quarter of the ale but my instincts were never wrong.

"Wait! We really want to help you. Just tell us about your friends," Smelly said as he dashed for the door to block my escape. He smiled a toothy grin and his heart began to beat as fast as Ear's.

I spun around and blocked a dagger thrust from Ear aimed at my kidney. I didn't expect his attack, so I mistakenly left his arm free after my parry. He ripped the blade away in surprise, cutting a shallow slice across my forearm.

Smelly launched a wild right haymaker at my face, but I easily ducked under it. The missed punch threw him off balance and I grabbed the heel of his left foot and took it with me when I stood upright. He let out a sharp shriek of pain when gravity slammed his back and shoulder into the dirt-covered wood floor of the tavern.

"I cut you bad bitch," Ear said around a grin. He waved the dagger in the air at me with menace and licked his lips. I looked at the other patrons in the bar and they all stood up and moved away against the wall so they wouldn't accidentally be injured.

In a single smooth movement, I drew the curved long sword I had taken from Jessmei's Elven captors and sliced across the throat of Ear. Then I took a careful step back and drove the point through Smelly's skull and into the floorboards beneath him.

Shit Brother! Don't dull your blade like that. Thayer's voice echoed in my memories.

Ear reached up to his cut neck with a horrified expression on his face. He gurgled out something unintelligible as I pulled my sword out of Smelly's head and slammed it down into the air, stopping it suddenly so momentum carried all the gore off of the blade. Ear collapsed on the floor and thrashed for a few seconds in a pool of his own blood before he lay still.

I smiled at the remaining denizens of the bar. Most of them edged toward the back of the tavern where I guessed there was another exit. No one else drew a weapon. I didn't want to assume that the rest of the men in here were part of the plan to kill me, but the itch of the healing cut on my arm reminded me of what happened when I let my guard down.

"I thought you were dead, Skinny." The muffled voice was familiar.

In the far corner, a massive man rose from his seat. He wore a tattered cloak of a dark gray color, stained with what I hoped was mud. The cloak obscured most of his face; what little peeked through was wrapped in bandages. The crowd looked back to him and the combined beats of their hearts sounded like thunder.

"Greykin?" As I spoke, ten of the men in the room made a dash for the rear door. Three others slid around me carefully and went out the front.

"Aye, lad. I didn't realize that you had walked in, or I could have stopped what just happened, my apologies. How are you still alive?" The Old Bear beckoned with his hand and I moved closer.

"I am confused. Why should I be dead?" I looked at the remaining group that stood nervously around the big man. These men wore swords and carried themselves in a manner that made me guess they were soldiers.

"Don't worry about them. They are with me." He coughed violently. The sound was wet and sick.

"What happened in the city? I haven't been able to get a clear account from anyone. I just heard that the royal family is dead." I sheathed my sword and sat down in the stool at his table. He groaned softly as he lowered his body to the seat.

"I'll answer your questions, but then you will answer mine." His voice wasn't friendly and I suddenly wondered if putting away my blade was a good idea. I nodded in agreement and he continued. "The Losher Army is being commanded by a group of Ancients." My blood chilled with his words. "They knocked down the walls and made demands that the king surrender. The king was reviewing the treaty document and scheduled a meeting to work through it with the Council. Somehow the Losher army got into the castle and attacked." He gestured to a man at the bar and the warrior brought him a beer.

"I've spoken enough. Now you must explain some things. We thought you burned to ashes in the city, we found a body that Runir concluded was yours. But here you are, so he must have been mistaken. Where were you? If you would have been here I can't help but figure that many of these tragedies would not have happened. You were a Knight of Nia and your job was to protect the kingdom. Yet when we needed you the most, you disappeared." Greykin spat on the ground in disgust and I heard the heartbeats of the surrounding men begin to accelerate.

"I was ambushed by Ancients in the city. They planned to lure me out and I foolishly fell into their trap. I was lucky and survived. I believe that the burnt body was one of the Ancients I had set afire with magic."

"So where were you during the invasion?" Greykin suddenly hollered and slammed his fist down on the table. One of Greykin's men jumped, but the others took deep breaths to calm themselves. I guessed they were preparing to fight me at the big man's command and the thought made them afraid.

"I am getting there. Relax, friend." I smiled but the expression didn't seem to please the axe man. "After I killed the last one, I saw a group of Ancients leaving the city. They had Jessmei with them. I didn't think I would have time to go back and grab a horse, so I set off after them on foot."

"You ran after Jessmei's captors on foot? You are either an idiot, or you believe I am." Greykin's fist closed around his beer mug and the knuckles on his giant hand turned white. His voice bellowed like an angry moose.

"Yes. It was very difficult. But I caught up to them after three weeks and killed them as they attempted to cross the Styasi River. Jessmei is safe."

The axe man's grip loosened on the glass with a gasp. He reached up with his hands and pulled back his hood. The left side of his face was bandaged and a long red mark of blood ran the vertical length of the dirty wrap. His expression was skeptical.

"Jessmei is alive? She hasn't been taken prisoner?" he whispered.

"She is safe. She told me you killed one of the Ancients that besieged her chambers. We heard news that the king and royal family are dead. We didn't know that there was a siege. Now that I understand Ancients are involved I can see how the walls were breached so quickly." Greykin stood from the table and his men came to attention.

"Where is she?" he demanded. I couldn't tell if he was angry, but his heart thumped like a frantic war drum.

"Tell your men to leave," I said calmly. He looked like he might object, but then he nodded to his guards and they dispersed upstairs or to the back of the tavern near the exit.

"There is a small village called Merrium about two weeks’ northeast of the city. She is staying with a family there," I said softly after I was sure no one other than us could hear my words.

"I know of it, although I have never been there," he whispered.

"She didn't want me to leave, but we needed to know what really happened. Is her family dead?"

Greykin stepped around the table toward me and I shot to my feet. Before I could pull my sword, I realized he wasn't attacking me and I relaxed. His bandaged face broke out into a massive smile and he wrapped me in a hug that almost squeezed the air from my lungs.

"She's alive!" he shouted as he picked me up my off my feet and crushed me further. "I can't tell you how happy I am Skinny! My little Jess is still alive!" The giant shook me like a rag doll and I felt his belly seizure as giant explosions of joyous laughter gushed out of him. I laughed with him until he set me down and composed himself.

"How is she?" The growl was gone from his voice.

"She is worried. We heard that her family is dead. Can you confirm?" I asked again.

"Aye, lad." His face fell again before he continued. I saw the king's dead body with my own eyes. Also," he paused and looked at me again. "Paug is dead. His body lay next to the king's. He held the king's sword in his hand, and I believe he tried to defend his liege."

Coldness gripped my stomach. I suspected that Paug, Nadea, Iarin, and Greykin had been killed, but the reality of my friend's demise hit me harder than I would have realized. Paug had been my closest comrade and I almost felt that he was a younger brother to me. Images of his shy smile and the sound of his quirky laugh filled my head. The sadness turned to anger and my mouth tightened around my teeth. It was another death I could attribute to my enemies.

"Nadea and Iarin?" I asked.

"Iarin left the city before the Losher Horde arrived. At the time I thought of him as a coward, but now I realize he made the right decision."

"And Nadea?" I prompted again. Greykin sighed and folded his hands on the table.

"I didn't see her body with the king and Paug's. The last people I saw them with were Nadea and the prince. The prince was captured and forced to sign the treaty. I have a few men secured in the castle, but they have been unable to locate her. I fear the worst."

"But she might be alive?" I felt a little flutter of hope.

"She could be. But I doubt it, Skinny." He frowned when he realized that his beer mug was empty. He made a gesture to one of the guards at the far side of the room and one moved to fetch him another glass of ale.

"But Nanos is alive? What of the queen?"

"As far as I know, he is alive. The treaty he signed with the empress is allowing him limited control over the kingdom, at least until she arrives and takes over the country. The queen is alive as well, but I have reports that she has locked herself in her room to mourn for her husband.”

"When will the empress arrive?" I took a deep breath. It was difficult to even say the word without shaking, my blood pressure rose and I felt my pulse pound in my head as I imagined the Elven woman arriving and taking control of the kingdom. The old familiar rage surged up through my body, searing and bitter.

"I doubt she can make the journey here in the winter. She is probably dug in deep in the Northland Fortress. My guess would be a few months into spring." I nodded and my mind drifted to thoughts of Nadea.

I hoped that my friend was alive, but Greykin's words made me assume the worst. Our last moments in the bathtub of my room danced into my memories like butterflies. It would have been wonderful to spend another two hours together before the alarm cried out. The wish made me angry at myself. The beautiful woman was probably dead and all I thought about was the missed opportunity I had to fuck her.

"We all believed you were dead. No one knew that you had gone after Jessmei," Greykin said with sadness.

I leaned over the table and put my head in my hands. This world was so new to me, and the two people that were the largest part of it were now dead. The loss seemed unbearable, worse than my memories of losing my father and brother, the feeling stronger in its freshness.

"What are your plans?" I croaked out.

"I have a few men loyal to me. My plan is to infiltrate the castle during the night, grab Nanos and his mother, and then make a mad break to Brilla with them. They will get protection there. The castle is locked down tighter than a virgin's daughter, but before the castle fell, Nadea researched ways in and out of the castle via the sewer." I felt his hand grasp my shoulder. "Now that you are here, that will be much easier. We can rescue them, and then reunite with Jessmei. Then we'll send out the word for the loyal soldiers to meet us in Brilla. With the rest of the royal family safe we will work toward taking back our kingdom!" Greykin's voice grew more passionate toward the end of his plan.

"Have you determined the way in and out of the sewer?" I asked.

"Not exactly, but we are meeting tonight to puzzle it through. You'll come?" He squeezed my arm and I looked up to him with a firm nod. Action fit my personality better than hopeless despair. If there was any chance we could save Jessmei's brother and mother we should make an attempt.

"Find your father," the voice drifted to me. I smiled at the sound of the words and walked to the window of my room, where the command came from. It overlooked the mountains that separated Losher from Nia. The distant tips of the Teeth were always covered in frost, even during the hottest of summers. It must have been winter, because a light snow fall sprinkled the oriel ledge, and the remote peaks looked saturated with white. Somehow I felt no cold, even as I stepped onto the dark gray stonework of the ledge and my bare feet clutched the edge.

It was forty feet down to the foot of the tower, but I had climbed the rough stone wall hundreds of times for fitness. This time, the trek seemed shorter. As soon as I grasped the ledge and sought the first familiar footholds, my feet touched the ground. I looked up and confirmed that the corbels of the oriel window hung far above me.

"Find your father," the familiar voice whispered again. It was a woman's timbre I recognized, but I couldn't recall the face of the speaker.