The Destroyer Book 4 (37 page)

The memories of my past droned through my head like the hundreds of conversations in the camp. The sights, smells, and activities took me back to the simpler time when my friends and I had no concerns outside of killing Elvens. My chest felt heavy and I found myself sighing when I considered what I had lost with my choice.

I paused and stepped off the path to consider my next move. I had to get as far away from here as I could before my friends realized I had awoken. I could just walk out, but this would leave them with clues as to my location. Soldiers seldom left camp alone. I would be questioned and remembered. Standing out in the open like this was already exposing me to discovery. In the time I had waited here, fifty soldiers had passed me. Eventually, I would be recognized.

A wagon rolled past, a single soldier steered a set of two massive horses. The cart was uncovered and the bed was empty save for a few small chests labeled as camping gear and outpost supplies. The soldier wore Thayer’s brown colors and I decided to take another risk.

“Where you heading?” I grabbed onto the side of the wagon seat as it passed and pulled myself up onto the bench next to the driver.

“Back to Shlara’s Rest.” He nodded at me and then turned back to the task of steering the horses.

“What is your shipping doc?”

“Five eighty-six.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Ahh, you are my ride.” Every shipment was tracked with a numbered grouping that could be tallied and ordered later. I hoped that he would buy my lie.

“I was supposed to meet you guys on the road.”

“I got back early. Got a quick fuck and a wash. Figured I could just catch a ride with you instead of running back. Don’t tell my unit though, they’ll be jealous.” I smiled and gave him a wink. The man looked a dozen years older than me, but our magic easily disguised someone’s true age. We were made practically immortal as soon as the magic changed us.

“Your secret is safe with me, kid.” He laughed and then leaned back in the seat. “To tell you the truth, I was more than happy to take this job. The air here is too tense and I’d rather not be stationed at the rebuilding. Traveling between gives me some time to enjoy the wilderness.”

“I can understand that. Why do you think the air is too tense in camp?” Now that the man mentioned it, I did sense something uneasy about the warriors who walked by the cart as we drove to the outskirts of the camp.

“You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“The generals killed Kaiyer and entombed his body in the ruins of the cave they found up above the cliffs. They are going to make an announcement tonight. There is another rumor going around that Shlara’s spirit has been seen walking through the tunnels.”

“I had not heard that. Sounds like a good time to get out of camp. Shlara’s Rest should be more pleasant.” I tried to put as much concern in my voice as I could.

“Ha. Hardly my friend. When was the last time you were there?”

“Been a few weeks.”

“Yeah? Well, they still haven’t put out many of the fires, so half the rubble of the city is still burning. Crews are working night and day to put them out, but the flames just won’t be extinguished. Throw water on them and they turn into steam, then rekindle five minutes later. Like I said, I am glad I am not rebuilding there. Kaiyer cursed the place for sure.”

I wanted to ask him how Kaiyer cursed the city but I stopped myself. The memories tugged at my brain and I knew that speaking more of it would unleash the emotions I had felt when they killed Iolarathe. I had to focus on escape.

The wagon wound away from the last parts of the campground and began to follow the river eastward. My companion and I didn’t speak for a few hours and instead enjoyed the sounds, smells, and sights of the dark canyon night. Finally firelight shone up in the distance and he spoke.

“Here are your friends,” he said and I nodded at the words.

“Thanks for the ride, friend, and thanks for keeping my secret. I’m going to sneak around through the back so they won’t know I was gone,” I whispered to him and slipped out of the wagon seat. He grunted a sound of acceptance and I moved to the outskirts of the camp before circling around to the other side. My path allowed me to avoid the light from the campfires and put me downwind of them. I doubted any guards were looking for me, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

The wagon rolled up to a long cabin and simply constructed watch tower. The structure was old and I guessed it had been crafted twenty or thirty years ago during the war to guard the entrance to the canyon. It could have even been built by Elvens, but I did not care to inspect it closely to find out.

“Ho!” the wagon driver greeted the gathering of Thayer’s warriors. Some sat around the campfire and others came out of the long house. No guards were posted at the perimeter of the camp, so I easily circumnavigated the ordeal and began my eastward run out of their earshot. If my luck held, the wagon driver wouldn’t mention I rode with him.

My generals could still hunt me. But they would have nowhere to start. I would reach my destination and complete my quest before they ever found me.

Iolarathe’s wish and the thought of the beautiful woman made my heart seize. I had to return to Shlara’s Rest, find the magical orb she told me about, and then journey to the shrine our daughter had used.

Then we would be together.

I awoke to the sound of footsteps echoing down the long, dark corridor of the dungeon below Nia. It was no coincidence that being down here had triggered a memory of fleeing another dark underground prison. My dreams for the past two days were full of nothing but darkness and impossible, inescapable situations.

The steps grew closer. There were eight of them. I went over what I would say in my mind quickly before I moved to the bars of my cell and leaned against the cold steel. If I wanted to, I could have ripped them from their anchors in the thick stone walls and left. But I did not want to escape. I needed information that only Telaxthe could provide, and I would stay here until she gave it to me, or tried to kill me.

I had had little contact with Vernine or Fehalda since we returned to the castle. Vernine delivered my meal the first night, but told me nothing other than that the empress was meeting with Turnia. The clan leader and her warriors had accompanied us the rest of the way back to Nia. Fehalda had quickly crafted a lie about me, explaining that I was a guide hired to help them hunt a group of dangerous lizard creatures in the East. She explained that several of her warriors had died in the hunt and I was accompanying them back to the castle to obtain my payment.

I suspected that Turnia did not believe the story, though she did not question Fehalda’s explanation. To keep up the ruse, we traveled at human speed for the rest of our journey back to Nia. We expected the O’Baarni to grow impatient and leave us behind, but Turnia seemed happy to provide a large escort. As we traveled, she would drop back to walk next to me and ask various questions about the countryside, fauna, and human population. Thanks to the education Paug provided me, I was able to answer most of her questions, but her blue eyes bore into me as I spoke; she was a hunting bird studying its quarry.

I was confident that Telaxthe would also keep the truth from Turnia to protect herself from the wrath of the O’Baarni. She would probably explain that Kannath had departed months prior with the Pretender in tow, and feign ignorance of his current whereabouts.

“My sister said you wished to speak with me.” Telaxthe was flanked by her generals as well as Vernine and another pewter-colored guard that pointed a large crossbow at me with an unwavering grip. Each Elven general wore decorative robes the color of their armies and had weapons belted to their sides. The empress wore an elaborate tied silk ordeal that was embroidered with thousands of suns and moons against a leafy backdrop of green.

“Yes. I wanted to speak to you alone.”

“That is not acceptable.” Alatorict almost spat the sentence and the torchlight highlighted the hate in his eyes. He had always been strangely friendly to me in our past conversations.

“These words are better suited for you alone.” I ignored him and looked at Telaxthe. I was again struck by how similar she looked to Nadea and I wondered how the duchess, princess, and the rest of my friends were doing.

“Fehalda and Vernine have communicated your wishes,” Telaxthe said calmly. “This will be your only opportunity to speak with me.” I had prepared a request in anticipation of this.

“I had a daughter with one of your kind.”

“I do not know anything of your daughter.” She shook her head, but the other generals seemed surprised at my words, especially Dissonti, whose green eyes opened wide.

“Oh but you do, you know all about how to make a child between an Elven and one of—”

“Stop!” Her command cut me off, but she didn’t seem flustered by my words. “What is such knowledge worth to you?”

“I have a few other requests.” I smiled at the small victory. I hoped that her generals were unaware of Nadea, and she confirmed that she wished to keep this a secret.

“I want free roam of the castle and countryside, to come and go as I please without fear of attack.”

“I find it ironic that you would fear attack from us,” Jayita scoffed. Telaxthe licked her lips slightly.

“What else?”

“You’ve extended terms to the rulers of Nia. I too am a citizen of this country and a knight of Nia. I would like to make the same agreement of peace.” Alatorict clenched his fists tightly and the muscles on his jaw tensed into balls of fury.

“Anything else?” Telaxthe asked calmly.

“No.”

“What will I acquire in return?”

“I will share the location of the Radicle I came through.”

“I will already have that. What else?”

“I can give you more information about my past. The truth and the details the historians may have left out or never known.”

“This is tempting, however, my motivation for researching the Destroyer was to mimic his techniques to better manage and train my army and secure this world for our settlement. Now that I have done so, I doubt there is anything more I need to know about your past. Do you have anything else to offer?”

“What do you want?”

“I asked you to tell me what you were offering.” She shook her head and sighed. The movement reminded me of Nadea.

“Yes. But there is something only I can give you, or you would not have bothered coming down here to speak to me.”

“This conversation is finished, O’Baarni.” She turned and began to walk away. Her movement was unexpected and my heart fluttered in my chest.

“Wait!” I called after her and tried not to sigh when she stopped and took a few steps back to stand before me.

“You said you made a mistake when you came to this world and led with force, but in the end you conquered these people through violence and cunning. I am just one man and I can’t stand against your army. I want to know that my friends are safe and happy. I want to know of my daughter, and I want to live peacefully, just as you want for your people. I did not remember much when I awoke, but I did remember hating your kind. I want that to end. I just want peace between us.”

The empress stared at me without emotion. The strain and tension in the air was palpable. If I spoke again, she would doubt my sincerity.

I was done fighting. I was done hating. If Nadea and Jessmei were unhappy here, I would take them away from this place, but I would not kill Telaxthe or attack her people. I just did not care about exterminating them anymore. That Kaiyer had died with Iolarathe.

All I cared about was my daughter and the chance that she too had somehow survived these thousands of years. The possibility had crept into my mind deep in the darkness of Nadea’s keep when I recalled following Iolarathe’s trail and encountering the old Elven steward of the Radicle.

I had lived in the void of the Radicle, suspended in a stasis that kept me alive far longer than any O’Baarni or Elven could normally live. It was possible that she had as well. If I could find her, perform the same ritual that Nadea used to awaken me, I could save her. That dream shone so pure and bright in my heart that every other goal paled in comparison. I did not want to kill anymore, but if there was a chance I could meet the daughter Iolarathe and I had created, I would battle endless waves of foes and death, be they Elven, O’Baarni or human. Nothing mattered more than her.