The Destroyer Book 3 (21 page)

"I will pray to the Spirits to watch over you, Kaiyer." She pulled away from me. Her brown eyes stared into mine with sadness.

"I was looking forward to,” she smiled slightly and brushed her fingers against my face, "getting to know you." She sighed and continued, "In case you don't make it to Brilla--"

"I will," I interrupted her.

"In case you don't, though. I want you to believe that what happened in your past is gone forever. You are a good man. I am thankful for the time we spent together. I wish we could have more, but isn't life an endless series of struggles for more? We are never satisfied with what we have." Tears slid down her face.

"Nadea," I searched my mind for something to say to ease her distress, but I couldn't think of anything. I was walking into the den of my enemies; I would be forced to talk to their ruler in some sort of diplomatic fashion. It was definitely outside my ability and I might easily falter and end up dead. I couldn't remember ever having to say goodbye to anyone. My father and brother were taken from me in a way that didn't give me the opportunity. Everyone else who had been important in my life seemed to be with me until the end.

Until I betrayed them all.

"You must forgive yourself." She pushed herself against me again. Her voice was just a whisper against my chest, but my superior senses made it echo in my head like Shlara's final scream. "You made a mistake. If she loved you as much as you say she did, then she would have forgiven you."

"It was more than a mistake. It was a betrayal. It was unforgiveable." The words stuck in my throat, but the pain lessened. Holding Nadea in my arms seemed to help. Her scent filled my nostrils and her heart pounded against her rib cage and echoed in time with mine.

"The Spirits feel no rage, Kaiyer; they just have love for those who continue to live. She is watching over you now and wants you to have a wonderful existence."

"That is a comforting thought." I almost laughed at Nadea's naive statement, but kept myself from doing so. Paug and Jessmei had tried to explain their belief in Spirits to me, but the concept seemed too convenient to be real. I didn't want or need to believe in something that I couldn't pull from my magic or crush with my hands. No, something inside of me, maybe a memory, told me that Shlara would not have forgiven me.

Even if I had come to forgive Iolarathe.

We clung to each other in silence for another few minutes. Outside the tent I heard the sound of two hundred Elven warriors moving in the distance, speaking to each other, and preparing to depart from the lip of the gorge. Then I heard Isslata's soft footsteps make their way across the dirt toward us.

"What is your answer, girl?" she asked as soon as the tent flap opened

"I will need some time to confer with my generals," Nadea said. I looked at her in shock but she ignored me.

"Fine. I will leave a messenger with a fast horse." The woman focused her green and gold speckled eyes on me. "It will take us two days to make it to the castle if we ride quickly. My warriors are ready to go now."

"You are taking all of them?" Nadea asked in disbelief.

"Except for the one that will deliver your message. I have what I came here for," she said with a glance to me that turned into a triumphant smile.

Isslata held open the flap of the tent and I saw a small group of her mounted warriors assembled about eighty yards away. Other Elvens appeared to be leaving the side of the gorge and moving northward to the flat area where I assumed their horses waited. It seemed like a lot of muscle to show in an attempt to capture me. Either the empress didn't want to risk losing me a third time, or she wanted to ensure that Nadea knew how much power she had. Maybe both.

Isslata cleared her throat and then waved her hand in annoyance when Nadea and I didn't step out into the night quickly enough. Once we exited the tent, Elvens dismantled our temporary shelter with practiced ease. There were suddenly so many around us that I felt my breath catch and my pulse quicken. I fought against the desire to strike out and kill like a sick man would try to keep from vomiting by taking deep breaths.

"I wouldn't wait until the last second. Sometimes messengers can get distracted and take too long to reach their destination." Isslata gave Nadea a wicked smile. The duchess clenched her fist at her sides in a poor attempt to control her anger.

"That won't happen," I said.

"She should decide now and save my warrior the trouble." Isslata's hand rested on the pommel of her broad long sword. An armored Elven woman brought two sleek horses up behind Isslata while she spoke.

"No." I looked Isslata in the eyes. "Your empress promised a messenger. You said she honors her word. Or are you now a liar?"

"Fine. I suppose I can grant you another favor, O'Baarni. I've always given you whatever you asked of me." She smiled at me coyly and grasped the reins of the horse that were offered to her. I took the other set and swung myself onto the saddle easily. I had no travel clothes, not even a cloak, but while it was still winter in Nia, the season was mild.

"You aren't granting anyone here a 'favor' by doing what you've been told by your ruler," Nadea shot at Isslata as the golden-haired woman mounted her steed.

"I don't always do what I am told. Perhaps you shouldn't either." Isslata smiled down at Nadea. "Now step aside, human or I'll accidently trample you with my horse. Like we just trampled your kingdom."

"Go fuck yourself, bitch." Nadea stepped to the side of Isslata's horse and then turned to walk away.

"Oh, I won't need to worry about fucking myself for the next few days, I think." Isslata looked at me and laughed. She shouted in our old language for her troops to move out and they did so immediately. Dust filled the night air and obscured the two moons from our vision like dense fog. I could see Nadea's body through the dirt cloud for twenty or so yards. Then she jumped off of the edge of the cliff and into the gorge paths.

I nudged my horse forward to follow Isslata away from the camp, my friends, and the deception of safety I had enjoyed. I should have realized that there was no way Nadea's troops could hide from the Elvens. They weren't used to masking their presence, and they did not have the abilities of the Elements at their disposal. I recalled the various steps we had taken to hide ourselves and our camp from Elven detection. The forces of Nia had not used the most effective methods that I had discovered: space and hardship. Most of the O’Baarni camps had been over five hundred miles away from the nearest Elven tribe, secreted away in an area that the Elvens would have considered uninhabitable, or at least inaccessible. The last place they would ever look.

"This was easier than I expected. You are always a surprise." Isslata's comment broke my reverie.

"You didn't leave me much of a choice." I waved my hand around to the hundreds of armored Elvens circling us.

"There are always choices. Your pet has an interesting one to make, I assume?" Isslata raised an eyebrow.

"Your empress trusts you to be her gofer but not her confidant?" Isslata's frowned at my question.

"I know plenty about her plans."

I nodded but didn't take the woman's bait. I did need to understand more about the situation I was getting into, but I guessed that it would be better for Isslata to volunteer the information. Instead, I picked up the speed of my horse into a quick canter and put a few dozen yards between us.

The darker of the moons was full and the lighter one was half visible, but my vision combined with the torches that most of the Elvens carried gave me enough light to see. My escorts matched my pace until the battalion was moving at a brisk pace down the wide switchbacks that led to the oak tree dotted plains.

"I believe you owe me," Isslata said after a few hours of the journey. She had ridden in silence behind me; none of the Elvens had done much more than glance in my direction. She pulled her horse up to match my speed.

"Do tell."

"With your pet Nadea, I mean." She smiled wickedly and licked her lips.

"You were not kind to her."

"Oh, but I was O'Baarni. You see," she bumped her horse into mine and leaned toward me, "I could tell that the human desired you. She was in heat; practically panting around you. I am honestly surprised that I didn't smell your seed on her."

"I fail to understand how I owe you." I looked at the Elven woman. The light from the torches and moon reflected off her hair and eyes, making them glow an even brighter gold.

"I could have told her about us." She laughed lightly and then licked her lips.

"What about us?"

"Don't be a fool, O'Baarni. Jealousy has been a plague on both of our races since the masters killed the Gods. If I told Nadea about all the times you fucked me, I imagine that she might have had second thoughts about her hero."

"It would not matter to her," I choked out. My stomach was starting to feel nauseated. What was this about the masters and the Gods? I remembered the old Elven in my memories, the one that tended to the Radicle, mention something about them. Hadn't Entas asked me about the Dead Gods?

"Perhaps I could have described our lovemaking then? Would you consider it lovemaking, O'Baarni? I wouldn't risk guessing what you consider our relationship to be." I took a deep breath and tried to focus on Isslata’s words. She opened her mouth again but I didn't hear her voice. The sound of my heart beating filled my ears and the inside of my mouth became too wet with the salty taste of my saliva.

"I could have told her about the time you fucked me all night, when we passed out you were still filling my entrance. When I awoke a few hours later you were hard inside of me, so I rode you until you woke up and I climaxed for the tenth time. Do you think I should have told her about that?" It sounded like she was yelling at me from across an ocean. Cold sweat trickled down my back and made me shiver.

You were not supposed to remember.

The dragon's last words to me came cascading like an avalanche of rocks.

He won’t die. This is impossible. What do we do?

Gorbanni's voice cut through my brain and I brought my hands up to my temples in a futile attempt to stop the headache from getting worse. I didn't remember when he had said those words. I looked over to Isslata, but she was looking at the dark road in front of us while she continued to talk. My mind missed another chunk of what she said, but her voice pushed Gorbanni's out of my head.

"--and that is just what you have done with me. I could tell her about Vernine. Do you know how disgusted she is with your kind?" She looked over to me with a chuckle but didn't seem to notice the distress I felt. Or maybe she thought that her own descriptions of our fucking were making me uncomfortable. "She told me that the idea of even touching one of you made her ill, but as soon as you slid into her tunnel she climaxed like there was a tempest inside of her. I've never seen her orgasm that powerfully and we have pleasured each other many times in the last twenty . . ."

Isslata's voice faded away with the darkness of the night. The torches were getting brighter and blinded me. My body grew so cold I had to pull more Earth to warm it. I felt the horse slow down beneath my hips, as if the animal sensed I was not well.

"Hey oh, Kaiyer!" the skinny blonde man called from inside the barn. "Come talk to me for a spell."

"I have work to do, sklad, another time perhaps." I looked back briefly at the storyteller. His name was Warc and I had only seen the man a few times. He stood in the entrance of the poorly lit barn; I could see a group of slaves, including my brother, whispering together a few feet inside the stable. The sklad's performance for the night had just ended, but it looked like many wanted to continue to speak with the bard.

"I doubt that, Kaiyer. Your brother claims you manage the stables. Horses sleep at night, didn't you know?" He bobbed his head and smiled at his own cleverness. Most were in awe of Warc, he was handsome, charming, and when he visited our tribe in this clandestine fashion, it was somewhat of a holiday. Even my father would push himself to finish the day's chores early so that he could hear of the news Warc brought from other corners of the world, the tales he told of olden times, and the stories recounted of ancient human heroes who once fought against the Elven Gods and their demons.

I didn't like the man.

"Sometimes they shit at night. Our masters like to ride an hour before the sun rises. If the stable isn't clean, I will be beaten." It was only partially true. My father, brother, and I worked at a smaller blacksmith and stable house that was located near the chieftain’s residence. His family and the elders were inconsistent riders, and I would guess that no one would be in the stables tomorrow but me.

"Ho ho," he laughed and stepped away from the barn. "I suppose that makes sense. I'll accompany you then. How far of a walk is it?"

"No, that is fine Sklad Warc. I will leave you to your friends." I nodded over to the group inside the barn. At a second glance I realized that they were mostly women gathered around my brother. I wondered if they were actually waiting for Warc or taking the rare opportunity to socialize with my ordinarily busy older sibling.

“They will await my return. The night is young and there are still adventures to be had!” His hand rested presumptuously on my shoulder, giving a light tug toward the stables. The tall man had an unusual gait, his back was hunched and his other arm swung unnaturally across his body with each step. People speculated on what had happened to him, we did not often see the malformed, as human babies born with even slight deformities were immediately disposed of by the Elvens. If a child grew to have a handicap or a slave was injured in a way that made him unable to work, they were also killed. The lame did not make useful slaves. The rumor of Warc was that his gift for story had come at the price of a straight back and working arm. I wondered how he had survived so long this way. “Tell me about yourself, young man,” Warc asked after we were out of earshot of the barn.