The Destroyer Book 3 (49 page)

Soon I heard the approach of horses from the edge of the pond and I strained my eyes to see into the darkness. Beltor stood next to me and I felt his arm circle my shoulders protectively. I looked up into his face and he gave me a slight smile and nod. I smiled back and hoped that, even if I was unable to convince Kannath to help me, we would be allowed to live.

“Ho.” I recognized Kannath. The large muscular man sat on a horse that was equally stout. Behind him rode the man and woman who had accompanied him.

Behind them was Kaiyer.

I had expected to feel emotion when I saw him, but the sudden flurry of my heart leaping in my chest was more powerful than ever. His dark hair had grown a bit longer, and he looked like he had gained some much needed weight. He saw me from across the firelight and gave me a smile that made every part of my skin tingle. I wanted to run through the clearing, jump into the saddle, throw my arms around his neck, and kiss him a thousand times.

“This is the Pretender?” Anax sounded less than impressed.

“No,” Kaiyer said with a laugh. He lifted his left leg over the pommel of the saddle and slid off the horse with practiced ease. I saw that his hands were manacled together with about two feet of chain. “I’m actually Kaiyer.” He stuck his tongue out at Anax and walked toward me. Our eyes met and the light from the fire seemed to burn the green of his eyes and turn them into gold. I wanted to say something, but my tongue got caught in my mouth and my heart beat so fast I thought I would faint.

“Hello Jess.” He raised his arms above my head and then brought them down over me. I felt his lips on my forehead and then his warm embrace carried me back to the wonderful nights we spent in the wilderness making love endlessly.

“Hello,” I managed to whisper after he released me. Tears came to my eyes, and I had to blink and then look away, to the fire.

“Duke. It is great to see you.” The chains on Kaiyer’s arms rattled and I guessed the two men were shaking hands.

“Same to you, lad. Do you carry any news of my daughter?”

“Yes. She has gathered an army at Fisherman’s Gorge and was intending to leave for Brilla. Unfortunately, the empress was one step ahead and had already made trade agreements with your southern neighbors. They won’t harbor our forces. Last I heard, Nadea was returning to Nia to discuss a peaceful surrender.”

“Damn it!” Beltor said.

“Agreed. The empress had sent a large force to the Gorge. Nia’s army could have been slaughtered, but they were only looking to capture me, so I went with them peacefully. I was hoping to negotiate with the empress and then return to Nadea’s side to help her manage the army.”

I felt composed enough to face Kaiyer again. He stood with his arms crossed, chains dangling from his wrists. His arms looked a bit more muscular. I didn't see the bones anymore, but I could still trace almost every single vein and artery on each arm. I thought about what he said and tried to quell the selfish surge of jealousy that sprung up when he mentioned what he had wanted to do. His plan had not been to return to me, as he had promised, but to go to Nadea. He was only here now as a prisoner of Kannath. I told myself he had only made those plans as they were the most strategic move for Nia, not because he wanted to be with Nadea instead of me. Though it did not matter. We could not be together now no matter what either of us wanted.

“Then Kannath shows up, tells me that he has you and Jessmei and will kill you if I don’t come with him. So here I am.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Kannath, who had gotten off of his horse and was unpacking a few saddlebags of grain for the animals. The larger warrior didn’t acknowledge Kaiyer’s reference, but the man and woman who had traveled with them glared at Kaiyer’s back with malice. I smiled as I heard his explanation and realized he had given up his original plans to save me.

“What happens now?” Beltor crossed his arms to match Kaiyer’s.

“They are taking me to their leaders. Apparently I’ve broken some sort of law and need to be executed.” The handsome man laughed and the faces of Kannath’s clansmen grew darker.

“This is no laughing matter, Pretender. You will be judged by the Council, tortured, and then killed,” Jazen said while he gave sideways glances to Kannath.

“But first I’d like to eat.” Kaiyer shrugged and then pointed to Iarin. “Hello, my friend. I smell boar in that pot. Were you stewing some?”

“Y-y-yes,” Iarin stuttered. The tall man glanced at Kannath, who spared a nod. Then Iarin went to the pot and began to stir the leftover meat from our dinner.

Kaiyer moved over to the log, kicked a few stones away that were lodged in the dirt behind the wood, and then sat. He stretched his legs and arms out against the chains on his wrist and let out a contented sigh. The rest of us stood uncomfortably for a few seconds, wondering what we should do with ourselves. Then I decided to sit on the log next to him and watch his silhouette against the fire’s light. Jazen and Anax sat after I did, then my uncle sat on the other side of Kaiyer. Kannath finished removing the bags of grain from his horse and he led it to a tree twenty yards from us before he rubbed down the animal.

“Can you take care of my horse when you are finished, Kannath?” Kaiyer called out to the tattooed man.

“Gaizka. Take care of the Pretender’s horse,” Kannath said without looking.

“Oh, and fetch me a jug of wine from the back right saddlebag. The empress gave me half a dozen as a parting gift.”

The woman glared over her shoulder at Kaiyer but he didn’t seem to notice. She moved from her horse to his and fished through the saddlebags on the rear of his mount. The jugs of wine were easy to spot; they were large clay pots with fist-sized corks on the top. They poked out of the leather bags like peeping children and each probably held three gallons of liquid and weighed more than I could lift. The woman pulled one out and eyed it carefully. I watched her glance over at Kannath, but the large man was still occupied with his horse. She looked to Kaiyer but his attention was on the fire. Her scowl grew more sinister before she wound out her arm slowly and hurtled the massive clay jug at the back of Kaiyer’s head.

I tried to scream a warning, but by the time the sound had left my mouth, Kaiyer had somehow uncorked the jug and had it pressed to his lips. I had not even seen him move, avoid the bottle, catch it, or uncork it, and the scream choked off in my throat like a meek cry. That got Kannath’s attention.

“What happened?” He turned away from his mount. He looked at me and his light blue eyes shot ice that froze my tongue.

“I almost dropped the wine. These chains make me clumsy.” Kaiyer took a swallow of the liquid while he glanced over his shoulder to smile at Kannath. Our eyes met for a second and the handsome man winked at me again.

Kannath had probably guessed what had happened and shot Gaizka a gaze that would have cleaned rust off of iron. The woman furiously went to work on Kaiyer’s horse, removing the rest of the saddlebags and saddle before walking it over next to Kannath’s mount for a rub down.

“Thank you Iarin,” Kaiyer said when the woodsman handed him a steamy bowl of stew. The tall man nodded and then handed another bowl to Kannath when he sat down. The big man carried a frightening axe that he casually set behind him. It was black and seemed as if it had been carved out of a jagged piece of granite. Finally, I tore my gaze away from the weapon and looked toward my lover.

Kaiyer seemed completely occupied by his food, and for a while the only sounds in the camp were the crackling of the fire and the clink of the chains around his wrists. The sight of his manacles made me angry; he shouldn’t be treated like a criminal. Kaiyer was the most wonderful man I had ever met. He had risked his life to save me and had shown me amazing passion. I imagined him being dragged before a group of men that looked like Kannath, with endless muscles and hateful expressions. They would judge him unfairly and then remove his head with an axe. The thought of my lover being killed so horribly, or even tortured beforehand, made me feel sick to my stomach.

“The mood here is quite dark. You should smile, Kannath.” Kaiyer nodded to the bigger man and then passed his bowl to Iarin, who promptly filled it again from the iron pot and returned it.

“Once my mission is completed, I’ll be happy.” Kannath didn’t look up when he spoke and took a careful bite of his stew to drive home the point that he wasn’t in the mood to talk.

“That is a pragmatic way to look at it. How much farther will we have to travel to reach the Radicle?”

“It will take us a few weeks.”

“Damn. That far away?” Kaiyer asked around a mouthful of stew.

“It will take us that long because of the humans,” Anax said. He nodded toward Beltor and me.

“You aren’t going to let them go?” Kaiyer’s mouth twisted.

“No. We will release them once you have come with us through the Radicle.” Kannath's voice wasn’t as dark as Anax’s, but the men could have been brothers for how similar in size they were.

“That is probably smart. Otherwise I’d just overpower the six of you and escape.”

“I doubt that,” Jazen spit out hastily.

“Reality is envisioned by many but only created by a few.”

“What does that mean?” Jazen asked. But Kaiyer merely shrugged and focused back on his bowl of stew.

"How did you get those scars on your body?" Gaizka asked. My love had hundreds of cuts, puncture, and burn scars over most of his body. The only place that seemed to have never been damaged was his face.

"How did you get those tattoos?" Kaiyer asked without looking from his bowl of stew.

"Before we were gifted of course." Jazen's voice was full of mockery.

"There you go," Kaiyer grunted. The other seemed slightly confused by his response. It looked like Gaizka and Jazen wanted to ask more questions, but Kannath glared at them and they held their tongues.

Though I sat near Kaiyer and the fire, I felt cold. I was perceptive enough to sense that something was being left unspoken between the powerful men, but I was not clever enough to figure out what it was. I had not known Jazen for more than a few days, but the man was quick to anger, and right now seemed ready to explode.

“Kannath.” My uncle’s voice eased the tension that everyone seemed to be ignoring. The big man looked up from his stew and glanced indifferently at Beltor. “Your men here have told us some of what is at stake with Kaiyer, or as you call him: ‘the Pretender.’” Kannath nodded slowly and sat up on the log. “But he has been assisting us against the Elven invasion of our country.”

“He did not do a good job, did he?” Gaizka said with a malicious smile.

“My niece was abducted and this man saved her. Who knows what these Elvens would have done with her had they succeeded. While he wasn’t here, they attacked Nia. I can’t expect someone to be in two places at once.”

“Your story will not change my mission, human. I must take him back for judgment,” Kannath said.

“I understand that. I would like to ask for help. You are taking an invaluable asset from our world. Your men have spoken about your clan’s values. It would seem that assisting our cause with some of your powerful troops, replacing what you are taking, would be in line with the opinion your men have of you.”

“I will consider your request when I return with the Pretender,” Kannath said.

“By then it will be too late!” The words left my mouth quickly and my voice surprised me. The large man turned his attention to me and his bright blue eyes made me feel nervous. “They are already in our kingdom enslaving our people. From our understanding, it could take more than a year for your clan to speak to the Council and ask for help,” I continued despite my fear of the muscular man.

“That is our way.” Though his words had a finality to them, I sensed that he could be persuaded.

“What more can we do to ask for help? This seems like a request that someone as powerful as you could grant with ease,” I pressed.

“His sister makes the decisions,” Kaiyer said with a laugh. Kannath’s face briefly flashed to rage. He looked across the fire toward my lover and seemed ready to stand.

“Besides, you’d probably need a thousand troops to scrape the Elvens from this world. That would be over a quarter of your warriors, wouldn’t it?” Kaiyer’s smile was infectious, but he didn’t seem to realize that he was hindering our request. We needed Kannath to be friendly to Nia. Kaiyer had a way of eliciting extreme emotions in those around him.

“My sister and I serve our clan together, Pretender, hence the name Two Bears. You may not understand the concept of servitude, but it requires us to make decisions for the good of our people. Sending warriors to this world must be carefully planned and the risks weighed against benefits for us all.” Kannath struggled to get his emotions under control.

“You may be the Two Bears, but I’ve only heard it called Turnia’s clan. I’m sure another clan would be up for the job if you can’t do it. I’ll convince one when I am speaking to this Council.”

“You are a fool!” Kannath shouted. It sounded like a bear scream. Terror seized me and I feared the men were about to come to blows. “The conversation between you and the Council will be brief and then you will be killed for violating our laws.” Kannath’s warriors seemed surprised by the big man’s outburst. It was so loud that I felt the air vibrate.