The Destroyer (23 page)

“Stop,” I said. My voice was a little above a whisper, but they obeyed. They sighed and relaxed. Some of them were so exhausted that they didn’t bother to remove themselves from the tangled arms and legs of their group. I turned and looked behind me; there was a small hill from which another unit observed us. One of the men handed me the sword I had used, still sticky with his blood. I walked toward the assembled men and women on the hill. As I ascended, I focused on a man with long dark hair, gray at his temples. He frowned and his brow ridged in concern. At first I thought his worry was for me, but his eyes were on the woman and the warriors I had humiliated.

The knock on my door startled me to the present. I made sure the towel wrapped securely around my waist before I stepped into the other room, across the thick yellow and green rug, and to the door. The knock sounded like Paug’s.

“You aren’t dressed yet?” He frowned.

“Sorry. I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” He walked in as I held the door open. I went back to the mirror in the bathroom to make sure all the blood and hair was cleaned from my face.

“That’s okay. I came over early, we’ve still got some time before we have to be there.” I nodded to him, even though he hadn’t followed me into the bathroom. I finished the last cuts to my face and rinsed off again. My hands weren’t shaking anymore.

“Your clothes look really nice!” he shouted as I walked into the room with the bed.

“Yes,” I said as I went over to the neatly stacked piles. The tailor seemed to be skilled at his craft. A few hours after lunch his lovely assistant dropped off several packages of pressed garments. I tried to convince her to stay and help me bathe and put them on, but she had declined.

“I’ve heard about you,” she said with a smile and wink. “Maybe another time, handsome, the banquet has made us very busy.” Her wavy blonde hair reminded me of a tapestry. She ran her hands through it several times while I attempted to seduce her.

“You okay?” Paug said. I looked over at him.

“Thinking about things.”

“More memories! What did you remember?” He sat up excitedly in his seat as I found the gray and green pants the tailor's girl advised me to wear tonight.

“I think I was a trainer in the army. I remember teaching people how to fight.” I didn’t want to tell him about my lover. “It is still hard to remember some things, but I am almost positive. What rank do you have for a trainer in an army?”

“Sergeant,” he said and I nodded.

“Yes. Perhaps I was a Sergeant.”

“That’s great! Did you remember any of your training techniques?” I frowned and shook my head.

“Oh. Well, I’m sure you will soon. Don’t worry about anything tonight. It is going to be fun! I’ve never been to a royal banquet and celebration or seen anyone get knighted. Let alone my best friend!” He bounced out of his seat and skipped across the room. I noticed he wore black pants and a purple tunic that looked soft and comfortable. His hair was cut and lay slicked back against his skull.

“Yes. It should be fun. I am nervous. Thank you for coming with me. I don’t want to say anything wrong.” I put on thin wool socks and the new pair of boots that the king's tailor made for me. They fit perfectly.

“You’ll be fine. All you have to say is ‘Thank you, my king,’ after he instructs you to rise. Afterward he will dismiss you to your seat. Everyone will applaud and we’ll get on with the feasting. I haven’t eaten all day! I’m going to stuff myself full of delicious food.” He rubbed his hands over his belly. I saw that his stomach pushed out against the material of his soft shirt.

“You had breakfast with Janci and me this morning,” I pointed out.

“Oh. But that was just a bit of eggs and some fruit.”

“You also ate lunch with me,” I said with a smile.

“Yes but that was just a few small sandwiches and wine.”

“Didn’t you mention that you were going to get a snack as you left my room?” I couldn’t help but smile.

“They had cobbler in the kitchen. I was going to bring you some, but you said you would exercise in your room before bathing. Hopefully they have more tonight.”

I finished buttoning my shirt and I ran my hands through my thick hair. Then I looked at him and shrugged.

“You look great, Kaiyer. The green goes well with your eyes.” I nodded. The clothes did fit much better than what I pillaged from the Vanlourns. The fabric was thick and felt durable. I started to strap on my sword belt.

“Oh no. Only the guards and king’s knights can carry swords. You’ll be able to carry your sword after he knights you, but you won’t need it tonight.” I put the belt down. He looked me over again. “Ready to go?” I nodded and we set off deeper into the castle.

I had only been out of my room twice: when Nadea took me to speak to her father and when I broke my fast with Iarin. The halls were bustling with servants dashing from room to room helping to prepare guests for the celebration tonight. Despite the activity, the castle was fairly quiet, the plush carpet and thick tapestries lining the walls absorbed much of the sound, and the servants padded silently, heads down, discrete and focused on their tasks.

Paug seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him down the stairs and through long hallways. Eventually we made it to a part of the castle where finely dressed men and women waited and mingled in a large receiving chamber. I counted more than eighty people engaged in conversation, while servants moved on the outskirts of the crowds with trays of bite-sized food and crystal goblets of wine. As Paug had said, no one wore a weapon of any kind. None of these people looked like soldiers or knights, they were predominantly aristocrats, well-fed and arrayed in beautiful, if impractical, garments and jewelry.

Instead of the tapestries that decorated the rest of the castle, the walls of this room were covered in massive oil paintings framed in ornately carved gold and silver. The paintings depicted battle scenes and people I assumed to be past kings or other nobles posed in military garb atop mighty warhorses. One painting stood out among them all, not just because of its central placement above the doorway, but because unlike the others, it was of the night sky. The moons were in the center, surrounded by an accurate yet artistic rendering of the constellations and celestial bodies one could observe from Nia.

I realized that I should have asked Paug to take me on a tour so I may have learned the layout of the castle. This room was so filled with socialites I could not discern an accessible exit, nor from which direction an attack might come. There were archways that opened to more rooms filled with people, and one huge set of closed wooden doors, which I suspected led to the room in which we would be dining. I had lost my bearings following Paug through the massive castle and didn’t even know where we were in relation to the building as a whole, or the city walls.

“We’ll wait here for a few more minutes, until they finish with the Great Hall. Once the staff signals we will go in and take our seats.”

“Where is your grandfather?”

“He didn’t want to come tonight, said that parties were for young people and other such nonsense. He gets moody sometimes and doesn’t want to be around people.” I couldn’t imagine that. Paug’s grandfather seemed to enjoy every aspect of his life.

“Where is Nadea?”

“Royalty makes a grand entrance after we have all been seated.” He gestured to a man with a silver tray of food. The man came over and Paug took three small bite-sized morsels off of the tray. “These are amazing Kaiyer. Try one!” I grabbed one of the pieces. It looked to be a bit of fruit wrapped in a thin piece of meat. I nodded to the servant and he walked away. It was delicious. If the rest of the food tasted half as good as this, then it would be a great celebration indeed.

After another quarter of an hour the doors to the Great Hall opened and people began to trickle in.

“Names?” a sour looking man said as we approached the entrance to the hall.

“Paug and Kaiyer. Guests of the king,” Paug said through a smile as big as his face. The man looked over a list and nodded, then gestured to an attendant and told him to take us to our seats.

I gasped as we entered the Great Hall. It was so incredibly voluminous that I felt like I had stepped into a hollow mountain. The ceiling extended almost one hundred feet above me and was supported by a symmetrical network of thick wooden beams. The room was probably two hundred feet at its smallest point and three hundred and fifty feet at its longest. Giant chandeliers hung from the beams like glittering spiders. Their light illuminated rich purple and orange rugs, deeply polished wood floors, and a semi-circle of dining tables.

There looked to be enough places for two hundred people to seat themselves in space and comfort. Each table was covered with a rich satin cloth alternating in royal purple or a deep burnt orange. The tables were decorated with towering silver vases overflowing with purple flowers. They were set with fine plates edged in gold leaf, gleaming silverware and crystal goblets that mirrored the sparkle of the chandeliers. At the center of the semi-circle, a raised platform with tables upon it drew my attention. I assumed this would be where the king would sit. Offset from the center of the room, massive stone pillars held up the roof like columns in a cave.

“Wow,” Paug and I both said at the same time. Then we looked at each other and laughed. The servant cleared his throat and we hurried to catch him. Twenty seats to the left of the head table the man gestured to two chairs and we took them.

“I thought you would have been seated closer, since the king is going to knight you,” Paug whispered to me. An older man with a red face sat next to me. He smelled like sweet tobacco and his stomach looked like it might erupt from his buttoned blouse if he sneezed too hard. His companion was a young woman with short brown hair and cute freckles.

“Hello. I’m Baron Listal,” the man said as he extended his plump hand to me.

“Kaiyer.” He smiled. I think he was waiting for me to tell him my title. “I’m a knight.”

“Ahh, excellent! My wife and I will enjoy talking to you. It is so nice to interact with the king’s fighting men.” The young woman smiled at me shyly. The man leaned over her to say something to a neighbor a few seats away and I turned to Paug.

“What is a wife?”

“What?” He turned from the older woman he was speaking with.

“What is a wife?” I whispered to him again. “I haven’t heard that word before.”

“It is . . . oh. Let me think about how to explain it.” He looked around then back to me. “It is the name of the woman in a relationship when a man and a woman vow to be together and raise a family.” I nodded, I understood his words but the idea sounded strange.

“What is that word in the Ancient language? I don’t remember it,” he asked.

“There isn’t one,” I said flatly.

“What do you mean? You had a mother and father, did you not? What did your father call your mother?” He set down the small loaf of bread he had been buttering, his appetite forgotten for a moment.

“He called her, ‘your mother’ when he spoke of her to my brother and I, which was rare. The Elvens didn’t do such a thing, or at least I don’t think they did. I know they mated and formed alliances, but their unions were not permanent or meant to be. Humans were not allowed to. We could have children together, but why make a vow like that when it could easily be broken by our masters?” I thought about my father. I never knew my mother and I wondered how much Kai had loved her.

“That’s horrible!” he gasped. “So you’ve never been in love?”

“I have,” I said. I tried not to show my emotions on my face.

“Oh. Tell me about her? That is if you don’t mind.” He must have seen my face harden.

“There are things I must keep to myself. I only remember parts of our relationship. I remember it was, difficult.” I smirked as I said the word. My vocabulary was not extensive enough in either language to find the right word to describe what I felt for Iolarathe. Perhaps that word did not exist. I hoped he would leave me alone. Luckily, he turned back to his bread and took a bite. His eyes were sympathetic.

“Where is Iarin?” I asked, to change the direction of the conversation.

“I don’t think they invited him. That is too bad, since he had a lot to do with you being here.”

“How about Greykin?” I looked around the room for the big man.

“He won’t be eating, but he’ll be around, I’m sure."

A bell sounded in the hall, and people that had been standing and conversing hurried to their assigned seats. Then the room became silent.

The doors at the far end of the hallway opened and Herin entered. With a loud and clear voice, he shouted: “The Royal Envoys of Gradar: Duke Ritr and his wife, Liea!” A man and woman dressed in finery walked into the hall. They were both attractive, the man's hair was speckled with gray and the woman's curled around small sunflowers. The gathered audience applauded as the two sat down at the head table.

“The Royal Envoy of Loorma: Grand Commander Astotal!” A well-muscled man walked into the hall. He wore a short sword around his waist and moved with the trained prowess of a cat. His clothes seemed to be of a military fashion, with polished pieces of metal and black leather.

“The Royal Envoy of Newvana: Baroness Stokia!” An elderly woman walked in, escorted by an adolescent boy that wore the colors of yellow and green. Her ears were adorned with sparkling emeralds and she used a thin walking cane to aid her movement.

“The Royal Envoys of Brilla: Captain Guvey and his wife, Hellan!” An attractive man and woman entered, both of them were extremely tall and well-muscled. They had thick manes of blonde hair and tan skin. I noticed that they wore no jewelry except for rings that had blue glittering stones in them.

“Duke Beltor of Nia and his daughter, Duchess Nadea!” The applause became almost deafening as the two walked in between the tables. The duke wore a double breasted suit coat of rich purple, but my vision was consumed by Nadea.

She wore her hair up in a twisted spiral of lustrous brown locks. Peeking out of different parts of her hair were purple and white orchids. Silver chains of diamonds swung from each of her earlobes and emphasized the sleek curve of her neck. Her dress was of a softer purple than the duke’s coat and it hugged her well-toned frame from her breasts down to her ankles. There the dress flared out a little, giving her enough room to walk. Her legs were accented by a high-heeled pair of purple shoes that showed her feet through thin strapping. Across one of her ankles wrapped another delicate silver chain that helped draw attention to her tan skin. Her father leaned into her and whispered something. She looked at him and laughed as they walked to their seats. I couldn’t hear what he said over the roar of the crowd.