The Destroyer Book 4 (65 page)

“You should finish what you started!” Malek screamed at me. “Kill me, you asshole. I will never leave you alone. We will hunt you. I will make you pay for killing her. I’ll find the Elven woman and kill her as well!”

I mounted the nearest horse and stroked its mane. It was a gray-spotted animal and it cooed at my touch. For a second I recalled being the stable boy at Iolarathe’s home. It seemed ridiculous that I was here now.

I used to love horses.

“Goodbye, Malek,” I said to my friend. He was trying to pull the sword out of his spine, but his hands were covered in blood and he could not gain purchase on the weapon. All it would take is someone to yank the weapon out of him and my old friend would be healed within a minute. A new torrent of tears came to my eyes and I desperately wiped them away with my bloody hands.

“Fuck you, Kaiyer!” he screamed, but his voice was weak.

I turned my horse and rode away toward the east while my friend continued to scream. They would come after me first so I had to disappear into the wilderness. As soon as I lost all signs of pursuit, I would head north and meet Iolarathe. Then we could be together.

Forever.

Even if the sounds of Shlara’s dying scream and Malek’s curses haunted me for the rest of my life.

“You awake, Kaiyer?” the voice called from outside my tent.

“Ugh.” I rolled over on my mat and tried to wipe the horrible memory from my mind by rubbing my eyes.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Yillomar said as he entered the tent with two plates of breakfast food. I was surprised at his appearance as Vernine had been responsible for delivering my food for the past five days.

“What is this?” I asked the obvious question.

“Breakfast. Will you eat with me?” His mouth twisted into a crooked smile.

“Do I have a choice?” I sat up and fought against the sounds of Malek’s voice screaming in my memory.

“As my empress often says: ‘There are always choices.’ But I am guessing that you are probably bored with being alone in your tent all day.” He set one of the plates of food in front of me and then sat. He carried a large earthenware jug, I had not noticed it at first because it was concealed in the nook of his over-muscled arms.

I nodded and realized that I might be able to get some information from the red-haired general. Vernine had been tight lipped since Telaxthe's warriors had saved her, and my ex-lover did not speak to me other than to ask if I needed more food or water.

It had been a boring four days.

The big Elven took a massive forkful of food into his mouth. I studied him for a few more seconds and then started on my own food. It was better than the fare Vernine had been delivering me. The cut peppers were stuffed with a smoky cheese and pork. The taste combined with the soft scrambled eggs to deliver a wonderful sensation to the front of my tongue.

We ate in silence for a few minutes. He set his fork down and placed his hands on his knees. Our eyes met and I raised an eyebrow to prompt him to speak.

“I disagree with my empress,” he began.

“About?” I asked.

“If it was my choice, I would keep you on this world. I’d have you close the Radicles and I would try to form a truce with you.” He nodded at his own words and I felt my mouth drop in surprise.

“I am confused,” I said after a few seconds.

“I doubt the human queen will be able to learn the magic quickly enough. We’ll have to fight the O’Baarni when they begin to come through. In some ways, I am eager for the challenge, but I would prefer not to risk the world we have fought so long to obtain.” He punctuated his sentence with another bite of eggs.

“Does your empress know you feel this way?” I wondered why the Red Hatchet was bothering to tell me these things.

“Yes. We’ve spoken about it at length. As have Dissonti and Fehalda.”

“What do they think?”

“I’m sure you can guess.” He took another forkful of food and I realized he wanted me to make a prediction.

“Dissonti wants me to stay and Fehalda wants me gone.”

“Ha. You are partially correct. Both agree with me.” He finished his plate and then took a large swallow of the liquid in the jug. After he was done he passed it to me and I drank. It was refreshingly cool water.

“I find that hard to believe. Fehalda hates me.” I set the water jug down on the floor.

“Maybe. But she claimed you saved her and Vernine from some sort of monsters at the foothills of the Teeth Mountains. The White Flame would rather have you as our ally than the rest of the O’Baarni barking up our tree.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. The sun was higher up in the sky now and my tent was uncomfortably warm. I guessed we were probably close to the border of Brilla and the climate, while not as tropical as Vanlourn, was still much warmer than Nia.

“I wanted to apologize.” The crooked smile left his face.

“For what?” Sweat was beginning to drip down my back and I took another sip of the water.

“I was rude to you when we first met.” I almost spat the water out on the big Elven.

“Are you fucking with me?” I asked.

“No.”

“I was ruder to you.” I laughed slightly and finished another swig of the water. It was only a quarter full now and I set it down.

“I’m not very good at politics. That is the realm of my empress and Alatorict. Much like Fehalda, I prefer the fight. I thought you were just an O’Baarni sent to hamper our settlement of this world. Then I believed you a Pretender. As soon as we fought each other, I realized I was mistaken.”

“You intended to kill me in that battle.” Isslata had told me of the empress’s plan before the fight. Even then, the Elven woman did not believe I was their Destroyer.

“Yes. Do you blame me? My empress knew what it would mean if Kannath took you back before the Council. It was horrible timing for him to arrive when he did.” He grabbed the jug from the floor and finished the rest of the water.

“So you only wish to apologize?”

“Do you accept?” he asked. I searched his red eyes and his sharp, chiseled face. I did not know what would come if I refused to accept. I guessed the Elven general would leave and I would not find out exactly what he wanted.

“Yes, I accept your apology.”

“Thank you. Now I have a request.”

“I guessed as much.”

“We are camped next to the Radicle. We were unable to change my empress’s mind and she will banish you from this world shortly.” I sighed at his words and nodded. I didn’t know what I expected to happen since Turnia’s people were massacred. Telaxthe’s reversal of fortune had completely surprised me and her army of thousands of Elvens meant that there was no way I could escape from their clutches.

My only real plan once I reached the other world was to obtain an Ovule and return as soon as I could. At least I would not have to escape from the O’Baarni Council. As long as I returned before Telaxthe taught Jessmei how to close the Radicles, I would be able to return and find out if Nadea knew anything more about my daughter. The probabilities were low that I would be successful, but I had succeeded against worse odds.

“So what is your request?”

“I’ve never lost in combat since I won the O’Baarni Games. I thought I was even stronger than Kannath. Fehalda could beat me with the use of her magic, and I never had the opportunity to spar with Isslata, but I felt confident that I had reached the pinnacle of my abilities.” The big Elven sighed and ran his left hand through his mane of hair. “Then I fought you, and it pains me to admit that you defeated me easily. After I awoke, I realized that I had much more to learn. Perhaps that is another reason I want you to stay.”

“You want me to teach you?”

“Every hour is precious now. We need to get back to Nia so that my empress can continue working with the human queen. She was angry at me when I lost to you, but now that she, all of us, realize your identity, it would be a shame to exile you from this world without using some of your knowledge to make us stronger.”

“Then it seems to me that you should be able to convince Telaxthe that I need to stay here.” This was a surprising turn of events and I realized that I should have thought of this angle when bargaining with the empress earlier. She wanted a Singleborn offspring from me, but training for her warriors might have been more useful. Even if the idea of training the Elven people to fight my own made my stomach churn, I wanted to stay on this world until I learned of Nadea’s connection with Iolarathe and my daughter.

“We have tried, Kaiyer.” He frowned and shook his head. “Even Dissonti was unable to convince her. I am sorry, but there is no changing her mind.”

“What if I agreed to her terms?” I asked with a sigh. I had already asked Vernine about this possibility and she said that the empress was no longer willing to entertain the idea.

“It has already been asked and refused.”

“She is stubborn.” I rubbed my eyes again with my hands. Malek’s voice was echoing in my head again.

“Warrior to warrior, will you work with me for a few hours until we reach the Radicle?” He placed his palms flat on the dirt ground of my small tent and bowed his head slightly.

I considered his request for a few seconds before I answered. I respected him for apologizing and being willing to admit he needed to improve and that he had something to learn from me. Though I had little to gain from teaching him and I was not thrilled with the idea of spending what were potentially my last few hours on this planet sparring with an Elven I did not even like.

But an extra hour or two might delay the empress in sending me back and perhaps it would earn me a few small stones of favor with the woman. Maybe she would change her mind at the last second and allow me to stay. The worst that could happen would be that the Elven would become a better warrior. But I felt no loyalty to any side anymore. O’Baarni, Elven, human, I did not care as long as Jessmei, Nadea, and my other friends were safe.

“Fine. I will teach you what I can in the time that the empress gives us.”

“Thank you! Come with me.” He stood from his spot on the floor and I followed the red-haired Elven out of my prison tent.

The campsite was busy with the activity of the small army. The warriors wore red or black armor and they glanced at me tepidly as the Red Hatchet led me through the camp. We came to a circle of grass ringed in felled tree trunks. The land bordering Brilla was composed of green sloping hills blanketed in long grasses, ferns, palm trees, and groves of copper wood.

Yillomar told an Elven woman to fetch us some flagons of water and to ask Fehalda to join us.

“The White Flame asked if she could watch you beat the shit out of me again. Is that agreeable?” I nodded and tried not to hide the surprise at how polite the big Elven was acting toward me.

“Excellent. Can you show me your stance again? Was it like this?” He attempted to copy my battle stance but his position was incorrect. I adjusted the placement of his front leg, the height of his arms, and the bladed angle of his body.

“The face is the most important body part to protect in combat.” I had instructed hundreds, maybe thousands of warriors in all forms of combat and the critiques to his stance came easily to my lips. “If your hands are up like this, you won’t be able to deliver a roundhouse punch, but it doesn’t much matter.” I flowed into the stance and demonstrated palm strikes from the relaxed position of my hands held above my eye level. “Gravity will assist with the power and your strong side is forward.” I pointed down to my left leg and his right. “So you have the most power with the quickest strike that has the longest range. If I get a hit in with my right hand, I am happy, but I’m only using it to confuse my opponent’s defense. I really want to connect with my left palm on the enemy’s face. Your turn.” I held my hands up and blocked the large Elven’s quick strikes to my face.

“That is correct. While your hands are up, you can attack and also defend easily.” I threw a few of my own punches toward the Elven’s face and he blocked them. “If my punches are lower, you can drop a quick elbow and block them as well.” I attacked him in the chest and stomach. The big man was swift and managed to drop his elbow and stop my fist from penetrating his defense.

“Just choose your defense carefully. When I fight someone who mirrors my stance I have to feint my attacks. Even if your arms are raised in the correct position, you will block the quickest attacks.” I increased the speed of my punches at Yillomar’s face and a few slipped past his blocking hands, though they still did not connect with his nose because I was too far from his face.