The Destroyer Book 2
Page 14
This was the fourth temple I had followed Iolarathe to, and although I didn't understand why she visited these places, this was the first one where I had found a living Elven. I wasn't about to give up on my inquiries so easily.
"How Elvens got here? What do you mean?" I demanded. She must have been seeking this Radicle object.
"You ask the same questions the woman asked. It saddens me to know that our ways have been forgotten. Why haven't you remembered human? I see the power of the world is strong in you. My teachers wondered if this day would come, when one like you would forget how to use the Radicle." He shook his head slowly in disapproval.
"What did you tell the woman? Can you explain what the Radicle does?" I folded my arms across my chest and sat down on the cold stone bench. This place smelled of earth, mold, water, and moss. I felt my anxiety build in stark contrast to this ancient place.
"The Radicle helps us grow new worlds. It is the vessel of expansion for the masters." He smiled slightly and bobbed his head like an owl. He noticed that I didn't seem to understand so he continued. "We use the Earth to move our bodies and spirits between them."
"How does it work?" The hair on the back of my neck stood as his words struck a chord in me.
"She also asked me that. I will show you." He pointed down a long corridor behind him. I nodded and he slowly moved toward it, dragging his robe and body like a snake that was about to freeze to death. This temple lay under a massive rainforest. Roots of the canopy pushed into the structure, past the green-gray stone of its walls, and dangled from the ceiling like the fingertips of a hand about to capture us.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose farther and I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. It had been six or seven months since I visited the village of the beautiful blue-haired Elven woman that claimed to be Iolarathe's friend. She had given me directions to chase after my lover. Had I covered my trail enough? Did I leave too many clues? I was chasing Iolarathe as they were hunting me.
"Here is where the seeding is controlled," the old man said as he walked into a smaller, circular room. In its center stood a pedestal, encircled by a stone table similar to the benches in the other rooms. On the pedestal sat a globe with fine etches on it. Networks of vines, knotted branches, and roots played across its surface from the ambient light of the room.
"This seeding has access to forty-six other worlds that will sustain life. It has seeded only seventeen of them."
"Worlds?"
"Spheres that circle different suns. Set at the right distance to have correct temperatures and satellites to support oceans." I remembered Entas telling me similar tales many, many years ago. Did the old man know of these devices the Elvens possessed?
"You can create a world using this chamber?" My mind spun impossibly fast. I never imagined such a feat was possible.
"No. This transports our people and the masters to the various worlds that can support life." His voice began to show some semblance of passion and emotion.
"Did the woman use this?" I remembered the current purpose of my life. She had always been my focus.
"No. She wanted to, but this Ovule only contained enough power to send one person. She sent her companion and told me she would come back when she obtained another Ovule." He pointed at the small metallic sphere that sat atop the pedestal.
"She had someone with her?" I hadn't recalled seeing anyone else when I spotted Iolarathe climbing the mountain range.
"Yes. But when she found out that this Ovule would only send one, they argued for many hours. The Elven woman with the coppery hair you are asking about sent the human across the void to seed world four eight seven seven six three nine." He moved to the Ovule and placed his hand upon it as he spoke. Suddenly the room darkened and a golden network of bright lines descended on the walls and ceiling around the room.
"It is there," he whispered, and one of the marks on the wall started to glow as it formed a dot.
"Who made this place? Your masters? Who are they? I didn't think Elven had any masters." I stared with wonder at the etchings along the wall. It almost looked like a network of spider webs, yet more organic and asymmetrical. Was each twist a new world? Were humans on them? Elvens?
The old man laughed softly and took his hand off of the globe. The golden lines that glowed suddenly faded and the ambient light in the room became brighter.
"You are our masters. Humans that wielded the power of the Creation have ruled our kind for millennia. I do not mean to mock you, I just find it unusual that you do not seem to know these things. How could this be? I ask myself, but realize that you will not remember how your kind lost the knowledge." He smiled at me again.
"Your masters built this temple? They created the Ovule and the Radicle?"
"I do not know. The magic might even be older than them. But perhaps they were the creators. I was tasked with tending to the Radicle and helping those who have made the journey or wish to make one." I nodded to his reply.
"How does the Radicle work? Why can the Ovule only send a single person?"
"I will answer your last question first. The Ovule only has enough energy to send or receive a certain amount of life force."
"Can it be recharged? How do you gauge how much energy it has to send?" I could tell that I asked the questions too quickly. His old mind was almost gone and he struggled to keep up with my queries.
"I do not know how to recharge it, Master. Once you use it, the Ovule will inform you of how many life forces it can send through the Radicle."
"Answer my earlier question, how does it work?" I smiled at him and tried to appear friendly. I had started to believe that I had overcome my hatred of their race, but as I spent more time here, I began to despise his scent, voice, mannerisms, and his haughty attitude. I wanted his answers more than I wanted to murder him, so I kept my disgust in check. I didn't want to kill anymore. I only wanted Iolarathe.
"You channel the world through the Ovule, and then it will display the map of seed worlds to which you may journey. You may request information about each world, its human and Elven populations or weather, for instance. More importantly, it can discern how many seed worlds the destination Radicle can reach.” He took a deep breath and his eyes glazed.
"Continue, please."
"I have lost my thoughts. Please forgive me, Master."
"You were explaining the Radicle. How do you select a world and how does it send you?"
"The Ovule guides you in your selection. Then you lie down on a pedestal, draw Life from it, and then sleep. When you awake, you will be at your destination. I would show you but this Ovule is . . ."
"Is it really that easy? Can anything go wrong?" I almost spit at him. This was taking too long. I wanted to leave this place and be out under the open sky. I could not shake the feeling that danger was near us.
"It is a simple process, which is why I do not know the answers to your deeper questions. There is always a possibility that things can go wrong, but I have never heard of such a thing. Of course, it has been many centuries since I have had contact with anyone besides you and the two that came before you."
"Who came with the copper-haired woman?" I asked with a jealous burn in my chest. Fuck me. I thought I was past this.
"A human girl. I cannot tell your ages, but she was not yet a woman."
"A human?" I didn't believe his words. Why did Iolarathe travel with a human girl?
"Yes," he said with a nod.
"That doesn't make much sense. The woman hates humans. What did this girl look like?" The old wizened Elven leaned back in his heels and I thought for a second that he might faint. Then I realized he was just trying to recall.
"She was a beautiful girl, with long auburn hair and green eyes. They looked like yours, actually," he said as a gentle smile creased his face and interrupted the countless wrinkles. My body went cold and numb as soon as the words left his gray lips.
"She had green eyes like mine?"
The Elven man nodded.
"What did the girl call the Elven woman?" I knew the answer before the old man spoke.
"She called her 'Mother.' I found it odd, but didn't ask questions. They were both upset that only one of them could leave this world. They spoke of humans chasing them."
"The girl used this device, and then where did the Elven go?" I tried to stay calm in a storm of emotions. How did I not know this? Iolarathe's trail was incredibly hard to follow, but I should have seen some evidence of a child accompanying her.
The old Elven stared at me for almost a minute before answering.
"The woman claimed knowledge of another Ovule. It was part of her argument with the human that finally convinced her." He nodded to himself, pleased that he remembered.
"Did she say where it was located?" I growled. I felt at my limit of frustration. The years of wandering alone through the wilderness had whittled down my patience and conversation skills.
"No," he said quickly. He was lying.
"Is there another path out of this temple?" I'd let the old man have his lies. I had a few guesses as to her destination and I was used to tracking the woman.
"She left through the south canyon. It follows a spring until it meets a river two miles from here. It is the farthest I have ever traveled." I was surprised he didn't lie again, but he probably believed I wouldn't catch her.
"What of the girl?"
"I assume she has awoken on seed world four eight seven seven six three nine." This too sounded like a lie.
I wanted to ask him more, but I suddenly sensed another presence. The disturbance stopped my volley of questions and I listened to the empty place. I heard nothing unusual, but my intuition had never failed me. It was as if the still, dead air of the forgotten temple pulsed like a stone crashing into a pool of water. The old Elven seemed to sense the same disruption I did, and he looked at me with a question. I pointed to the small passage that led farther up the tower to what I assumed were his private chambers. He moved toward it, but they were too fast.
I jumped sideways across the smooth floor to avoid the throwing spikes that targeted my center mass. The old Elven didn't even scream as the missiles tore through is back, skull, and legs. Maybe he had already predicted that he would die today.
I rolled on my shoulder into a side handspring that carried me high off the ground. Then I pushed my feet off of the wall of the temple and threw myself through the air toward the other entrance to the chamber. It was a risky move, but it paid dividends, I collided into one of the three attackers and smashed my elbow into his jaw. His face shattered into a dozen bone fragments and he tumbled backward off balance.
The two other O'Baarni were women, but I didn't have time to register their faces before they drew their curved long swords in a perfectly coordinated attack to rip me into four pieces. I managed to parry the flat of the top blade with the palm of my hand, but the lower one sliced me across the rib cage deeply, cracking bones, tearing muscle, and cutting my flesh. I registered the pain like it was the bite of a fly. Giving an opponent the satisfaction of an injured gasp wasn't a winning strategy.
"Surrender Kaiyer!" I recognized her face and her black hair, although it was longer than I remembered.
"Lemarti," I stated. It had been almost a year since I had encountered any of my soldiers. They wore snake-etched leather armor that was much easier to travel in than the plate we all used to wear.
"I'm sure there is a misunderstanding." She frowned and narrowed her dark eyes at me. Her hair was long and black like a pool of spilled ink. I didn't recognize her companions but they were probably also part of Alexia's command. "Come with us so you can explain."
"No." I didn't smile. "There was no misunderstanding." I saw their eyes open in shock. They hadn't expected me to admit my guilt.
The man whose face I had broken struggled to his knees. He wouldn't fully recover for another five minutes, but I saw his jaw beginning to realign. The O'Baarni were almost impossible to kill without cutting off a major limb. I wouldn't have a chance bare-handed. Especially against three of our warriors.
Especially against Lemarti. She had been one of my bodyguards and spent countless hours training with me. In our past sparring matches, I beat her, but now I carried no weapon and was outnumbered.
Lemarti opened her mouth, but I interrupted her question by dashing toward the other woman that circled me. I guessed that she was the less experienced warrior and my sudden attack did catch her off-balance for a split second. Her sword cut to my hip and I felt it dig into the side of my stomach on my right. My arm shot down and trapped the blade against my wound so that she couldn't pull it back out. I continued my movement forward and slammed my hand into her throat. The force broke her neck like a piece of brittle wood. She might be able to heal the damage, but in the meantime, her limbs wouldn't respond to any of the directions her brain sent. I easily pulled the curved weapon from her grasp while her paralyzed body fell back onto the cold stone floor.
I almost didn't get my new sword up in time to parry Lemarti's attack. It was aimed at my shoulders and her second cut came in low, toward the injury that her companion inflicted earlier. I blocked this one as well, but realized it was just a feint when her leg came up in a front kick and slammed with precision into the side of my right knee.
My leg screamed and buckled sideways. It was bearing more than half of my weight, so I fell down to it and desperately adjusted my right leg so that I remained upright. Lemarti's sword came crashing down on my upturned blade. She was slower and weaker than me, but her position gave leverage, and our blades screamed in frustration when they connected.
She attacked again with whip-like strikes of her weapon that kept me from standing or returning any sort of offense. In the meantime, her male companion rose to his feet and reached for a small quiver at his belt. I guessed they were more of the metal darts he threw at me earlier. They would be heavily poisoned to ensure I stayed at the edge of death and unconsciousness.
I needed to get away from Lemarti, and my broken knee had almost healed, or at least, I thought it was strong enough to carry my weight. I blocked her next series of attacks and made a half-hearted riposte toward her crotch. She blocked the thrust and spun away, so I took the opportunity to push backward with both feet and launch myself to the other side of the chamber with a roll.
The man with the darts launched the missiles at me in three quick successions. I swept the first two aside with my blade, but the last one sunk into my right shoulder a few inches. I felt the poison begin to crawl through my arm with the strength of time and the urgency of death.
He smiled at his victory and then drew his sword. It was a waiting game now. They just needed to stay alive until the drug pulled me into a coma. I guessed the toxin would only need a minute and a half.
It was gospel throughout the ranks of my army that I was a master of the Earth, but when I first struggled to control the Air I was worse than terrible. Entas would constantly berate me in front of Thayer and Alexia for my failures, while giving praise to my friends. Eventually I became adept with Air, and I spent many hours alone practicing the techniques until I mastered the Element. By then, the rumors in the army had already been set and I saw little reason to demonstrate that I was skilled with Air and the esoteric Water.
I hardly ever used Air during battles, and Lemarti probably counted on a physical fight of Earth versus one of Air. I could use that surprise to swing the conflict my way. I was going to need some luck, or I would be captured and fail in my goal.
The poison grasped my chest and fought against my heart when I drew more Earth and forced Wind through me. There was absolutely no breeze in this temple, but the movement of our bodies during the battle created some motion. I had reached the point of my magical understanding where I pulled and pushed the Elem
ents to wherever I wanted and in whatever manner I needed.
The fire leapt toward the man like a crossbow bolt. He anticipated my magic and dove out of the way as a twisting dolphin through water. Lemarti dove forward with a vertical cut at my head. Her attack was slow, just a movement to keep me occupied while the toxin did its work. I blocked it and the next three attacks she swung at my upper body.
My injured knee supported my weight, but I wasn't moving very fast because of the poison. She pressed another flurry of attacks, one high that I parried, and then another lower at my legs. I couldn't deflect the last one and it scraped across the same knee she had just broken.
I winced in frustration but didn't cry out.
The man who had dodged my Fire jumped into the melee and I found myself backed up against the wall, frantically blocking both of their assaults while they danced around me. Both their attacks were perfectly coordinated to prevent me from parrying, and I guessed that the pair often trained together. He would attack high while she aimed low. Then Lemarti would press my strong left side and the male would target my injured right leg. I had to make sacrifices with my parries, blocks, and movements to protect my head and other vital points. Within a few seconds of their combined effort, I was covered in shallow wounds, my skin slick with blood. I could no longer see through my right eye due to a nasty cut Lemarti had inflicted above it.
I needed space, another sword, and to be free of the poison flowing through my veins. I wanted to kill these fuckers. If I did not, Iolarathe would escape me, I would die at the hands of my friends, and I would never see the daughter Iolarathe and I had created. The daughter I had just learned of and yet desperately wanted to meet.
I needed to take a risk. I was already fucked and had little to lose at this point.
Overconfidence led to failure. When someone was successful, they tended to repeat the same maneuvers mindlessly. I was hoping this would prove true now. Lemarti and her partner had whittled me down and were sure of their victory. They launched their next volley of coordinated attacks in the same manner as their first onslaught. After a few more exchanges, I recognized their pattern and realized I only had one chance to succeed in a counterattack before the poison or blades rendered me unconscious.