The Destroyer Book 3 (58 page)

"As I have communicated to your brother, I mean your people no harm. I would like us to coexist on this world and share in the almost endless resources this planet provides. Like your country's people, mine are strong, intelligent, and hardworking." Her eyes, hair, and skin tone were a few shades lighter than Nadea's. But the empress moved her hands while she talked, almost exactly as Nadea did.

"I realize it will take many years to build up a relationship of trust, but it will be of such benefit to both our people. We can teach you some of our magic, and you can teach us how to farm your soil and build cities." I almost laughed in the woman's face. They knew how to kill but not how to farm? She must believe I was the biggest idiot in this castle.

"But this will come in time. For now, I would like to get to know you better. Can you tell me about yourself?" She smiled pleasantly and placed her hands on top of mine. Her skin was cool and felt like satin.

"I was once in love," I thought I would stammer, but the words came out cleanly.

"Tell me more," she urged.

"He was strong, clever, and charming. He was wonderful to talk to and I could spend hours looking into his eyes. I dreamed of us raising a family together with a ranch or farm away from the capital." I sighed and decided not to continue or I would cry again.

"Kaiyer?" the empress asked and I nodded. "I didn't intend for him to be killed. My sister has been punished for the transgression."

"It won't bring him back."

"No it will not." She sighed, stood up slowly from the daybed, and walked around my room. Her dress made soft swishing noises that almost sounded like music. "His people and mine have been enemies for a long time, but I did not wish his death. He had actually agreed to assist me with a matter once he returned from finding you. I was looking forward to that." Her voice trailed off and she looked out of the open glass doors to the Royal Garden.

"This is a beautiful view," she commented. I suspected that she wanted to distract me.

"What do you want from me?"

"I'm sure your brother spoke to you of it?" She raised an eyebrow.

"About the nobles and peasantry?" I laughed shortly. "You tried to kidnap me; you murdered my father, invaded my kingdom, killed my lover, and then try to feed me this lie? No. I do not believe anything my brother says."

She turned back to look at me and nodded slightly. A slow smile spread across her face.

"I believe we will get along very well, Jessmei," she said. Our eyes met, and although the thought of challenging this powerful woman made my heart race, I held her gaze.

I had nothing to lose anymore.

"Two people I love are dead, countless numbers of my people are dead, and I am your prisoner here. This room," I gestured around me, "was once my haven, but seems empty without my handmaidens, girls who grew up with me and knew my most intimate secrets. I imagine they are dead now, probably raped by soldiers in the Losher army that you brought here. So I doubt that we will ever get along, empress. If I had either magic or a weapon, I would strike you down with such a force that even Kaiyer's Spirit would be taken aback." I felt no fear when I spit the words at her. Just anger that my loved ones were gone and I would never have the life I dreamed of. My mother had said that my handmaidens were safe, but I didn't know for sure, and I wanted to emphasize my displeasure with the woman.

"Alas, I am just a girl. I hold no magic or weapons to avenge my loved ones." Telaxthe raised an eyebrow. Her smile had faded during my rant and I expected the empress to command her guards to enter and slay me.

"Will you join me for dinner?" she said. Her mouth curled into a smile so similar to Nadea’s that I had to look away to avoid the rage and sadness that her face brought to my heart.

"Do I have a choice?" I took a moment to answer since I was surprised by her question.

"Everyone has options. I've found that even when a situation looks dire, there are always at least three choices to be made." I didn't answer and she continued, "I will tell you a story. It is one often not told to humans. The tale will take some time to share, and I would prefer to do it over a glass of wine and some delicious food. Please join me." She seemed sincere and I nodded.

"The princess and I will take dinner in here. Please have a meal prepared immediately," she said. I glanced around the room but didn't see anyone standing near us. I realized that these Elvens must have hearing like Kaiyer. I'm sure the attendants on the other side of the door were rushing to fulfill her wish.

"Shall we sit at your beautiful table?" the Elven ruler asked.

My suite was large and had three rooms that connected to my own bedroom, my handmaidens’ room, and a private bath. On the opposite side of the room was a rectangular oak wood table that was big enough to seat six. It was stained a dark chocolate color and etched with pewter encrusted flowers, birds, and children playing. It had been a gift from my mother's parents, who were once powerful nobles of Gradar. They had died when I was five years old and I never knew them.

"Very well. I am not hungry though." I sat at the head of the table and Telaxthe sat next to me, close enough so that our skirts touched.

"My chefs will delight you with their creations," she brushed off my meek objection with an easy smile. The door opened and three Elven women walked into my room. One lay out a gorgeous green tablecloth with gold and silver embroidery on it. The other set out a small array of plated cheeses, fruits, honeys, bread, and dried meats. The third set down crystal jugs of sweet and dry wines, along with glass pitchers of water with cut oranges and green citrus peels filling half of each container.

The speed and grace with which the servants worked surprised me. Before I counted to five the table was set and the three Elvens had exited, closing my door silently behind them. If not for the food laid out before me I might have second guessed that they had actually been in my room.

"Let me serve you, Jessmei." She took a small dish and wooden tongs, placing apples, salted meats, cut cheeses, and crackers on it before handing it to me. While I set the plate down she poured some of the white wine and then prepared a matching dish for herself. The way she moved her hands and held her body reminded me of Nadea. But I remembered to remove the puzzled look I'm sure my face wore by the time that Telaxthe raised her glass and touched it briefly to mine.

"To our future," she said. I resisted the sudden urge to throw the golden liquid on her face and mustered up a slight smile. I took a sip of wine and then a small bite of cheese. The wine tasted like it was from Nadea's part of the country. It was crisp and dry for a white. The cheese was a salty gouda and probably came from Loorma, which was known for its cheese production.

"As I said earlier, the past recollection of our worlds is not known to humans. When we find civilizations that are removed from the influence of the O'Baarni or Elvens, they often have crafted their own history, or they have legends that have been corrupted by time and twisted into something similar to the truth, but not entirely accurate. What I am about to tell you is known only by my own people. Some of the O'Baarni know the latter half, since it involves Kaiyer, but they have not bothered to learn the lessons of our Dead Gods." I exhaled when the empress said his name, and my heart ached. I thought I was strong enough to battle this woman wit to wit, but the mention of his name made me want to fling myself onto my bed and cry my life away.

"The truth." Telaxthe set down her glass and gave me a piercing look. "Can be more fantastic than fiction." Then she smiled and leaned back slightly in the wooden chair. "There is much to learn from mistakes that have already been made. There are only a few of my people more versed in the various histories of our creation. While I am hesitant to boast about my accomplishments so far in my career, I am quite prideful of my knowledge of what has happened to bring the life forms in our web of planets to this point."

"I am interested to hear your account then." I tried to relax. She made it quite obvious that she was going to enjoy telling this story. I reasoned that I should pay close attention and ask appropriate questions. Fortunately, I had always excelled in my history and political lessons.

"Eons ago there were two beings created from nothing. They were consciousness with no form. They were thoughts without motives. Like painters with a canvas that stretched forever in all directions. Their names are difficult to pronounce in our current language but closely resemble T'Leinaw and T'Cheelmaie. Our old languages labeled them as Day and Night." She picked up a small piece of bread and spread butter on it, then placed a piece of white cheese and a dried apricot atop the butter before taking a perfect bite.

"You see, these two beings could never directly communicate with each other, like opposing sides of the same coin only one was conscious at a time. They knew of each other's existence through actions that the other took, but they had no way of having a conversation in the way that we are now.

"They did find a way to communicate indirectly though. T'Leinaw is said to have been the first one to act. After an unfathomable about of time in the darkness the being created some lights, colors, and stars. When it was done with its work T'Cheelmaie saw what had been created and chose to make movement to the stars and colors. When T'Leinaw awoke, it realized someone else added to the creation process.

"They played with their creative process like children. At first it was just the stars and the movements of them. Eventually they created objects that were not stars. Giant pieces of solid matter that drifted back and forth in the nothingness. For a while they entertained themselves with creation. Then they dallied with destruction, casting the other's creations into the stars to be eliminated in showers of infinite dust. They angered each other, but could not ever truly fight since they held equal power and were separated by the one force that was beyond their control: If they created, they became tired, when they rested, the other took over." Telaxthe took another sip of wine. Her passion in telling the story reminded me of when Nadea spoke of her quest to find the O'Baarni.

"Finally, the two crafted something that neither wanted to destroy: a child." When the empress's final word left her mouth I felt a pang of regret in my stomach for things that had never been.

"How did they make a child if they never knew each other?" I asked.

"T'Cheelmaie started with a form, painstakingly crafted from pieces of dust and matter floating between the stars. When T'Leinaw saw the body that was created, it was taken by the beauty of it and could not bear to destroy it. Instead, it gave the form life. Then the process was finished as the two Gods bestowed gifts of Spirit and mind onto the creation. Soon, the being awoke and a new God was born. Its name was T'Orend. Their creation did not have the same powers as its parents, but, unlike them, T’Orend never needed to sleep. Finally, the Gods could communicate with each other through another sentient being.”

"So this T'Orend passed messages between the two?" The empress nodded at my question before she continued.

"In our old language, T'Orend means time. It separates day between night, the sun between the moon, and the seasons our lives shift through." There was a knock on the door a brief second before more Elven attendants entered. Small plates of steamed and flavored vegetables were carefully arranged next to salted fish and placed with a small glass of pale beer. I wasn't much of a fan of the grain alcohol, but the dry bitterness of the liquid would probably pair well with the fashion in which the fish was prepared. The empress waited for a few minutes while we started on the first course before she continued with her story.

"T'Orend was warm and loving; the God could have pitted its parents against each other, it instead worked to unite them. It told each of the other Gods words of praise that the other had supposedly communicated. They were small lies at first, but they later became truths when the two beings fell in love with each other, despite having once been enemies and never actually being able to inhabit the same place at the same time." The idea of lovers that could not be united appealed to me for obvious reasons and I felt myself becoming more interested in Telaxthe's fable.

"The Gods decided that, since T'Orend had been such a success, they would experiment with creating other, lesser life." She had finished about half of her food but gently nudged her plate away and downed the remainder of her beer with a satisfied sigh afterward. "Create they did. The Gods made planets to circle the sun, and they made some of these planets connect to their magic. The powers pulsed with love from the Earth, heat from Fire, cold from the Wind, and life from the Water. To inhabit these planets, they fashioned all sorts of life forms, communicating their designs and desires to each other via T'Orend. While they worked with purpose and great intelligence, most of the beings they attempted to create perished before they finished working on the next. They did learn from their failures though, especially T'Orend, who observed all parts of the process and did not have the eons of experience that the parents did."

"If these beings were so powerful, why did it take so many failures?"

"That is an intelligent question, Jessmei, and one that I asked when I first heard the story. It seems that these entities were fallible. They made plenty of mistakes, the sum of which ended with all of their deaths." She sipped some of the water with the citrus fruit in it.