The Destroyer Book 2

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “We’ve known Nanos his whole life too,” Runir said in anger. “If we believe you, we must believe he is the source of the betrayal.”

  “I didn’t lock myself up in the dungeon.”

  “That is true. But the king had some doubts about your motives. Perhaps Nanos did as well. Can you answer his questions? I want to believe you Nadea, but you admitted that you are not of the royal bloodline. What else of the king’s assumptions are close to the target? Why did you visit the ruins? How did you know about Kaiyer?” Maerc leaned forward and his blue eyes burned into mine.

  I sighed, leaned back in my chair, and debated what to say. How much should I tell them? They would think I was insane. Perhaps I was. I was so desperate to find out more about my past that I almost ignored him these last few years. I should have just been happy that I had been adopted by a kind man who raised and nurtured me. Father never complained about my wish to understand more about my past, but I guessed he must have thought that I had not been satisfied with his love.

  I would give anything to see and speak with him again. All the journeys and time spent on the Ancients and the O’Baarni were not because his love was not enough. I wanted to tell him that I loved him more than anything else in life. Memories of my childhood flooded into the darkness of my closed eyelids. He had been a wonderful father and I never spoke this truth clearly to him.

  “I’ve always had dreams of a woman. She told me of the locations of the ruins in archaic ways and said I would learn more about my past and gain powers if I made the journey to each location.” The men seemed surprised. They didn't expect me to tell them this.

  “A woman? Do you know who she is? How often do you have dreams about her?” Maerc asked.

  “I don’t know who she is. Her hair is long and the same color as fire. Her eyes are like pools of hot silver. She is beautiful." I paused and took a deep breath. “She is an Ancient.”

  They looked at each other in surprise and sat spellbound when I continued. It was the minimum amount of information that I could share, but it might spare my life and give me an opportunity to put the next steps of my plan into motion, so I told them everything I knew about the strange woman and the dreams that haunted me for most of my life.

  Chapter 13-The O’Baarni

  It was one of my least favorite tasks, so dull I hardly ever did it. I delegated the logistics of supplying, feeding, and training the army to my generals almost ten years ago, yet I still had the logs delivered to me every weekend and gave a quick glance through the journals once a month.

  I was avoiding something worse. I knew what it was, but I could not bring myself to tackle the issue directly. Instead I stared at the written tallies and tried to determine if there was any process I could improve.

  “Kaiyer!” a voice called from the darkness outside my tent.

  “Yes Bartu?”

  “General Malek approaches.” I sighed. If I would not confront the problem directly it would come to me.

  “He may enter,” I said as I turned back to the logs. Alexia’s ledger indicated how much armor we were making. It was completely uninteresting, but I wasn’t really studying it. I was trying to piece together my plan for this conversation. I’d been putting it off for a week so I could be more prepared, but I experienced no sort of revelation in that time.

  “Hello, Kaiyer,” he said with a smile as he stepped into the tent. His hair was pulled back into the traditional ponytail that he favored. Most of his troops wore their hair longer. Thayer, Gorbanni, Alexia and I kept ours short. Malek had been a house servant and the length of his locks never interfered with his previous Elven work.

  “Good evening my friend.” I forced myself to smile.

  “You’ve been avoiding me.” His smile turned into a smirk.

  “Sorry.” He waited for me to say more, but I looked back to the journal. Silence became an edge of tension between us.

  “You talked to her?” he finally said.

  “Yes.”

  “It didn’t go well then, or you would have come to me sooner with good news,” he sighed.

  “Do you want to sit?” He shook his head and continued to stand. There was no other seat in the room except for the abused stool that I set up next to the planning table where a stack of books rested. For once I regretted the precedent I had set regarding comfort in my own dwelling. We would need to relax while we conversed.

  “Bartu! Wine, and some food!” I yelled out. The attendant grunted and I could hear his feet dig into the ground as he sprinted from the vicinity.

  “I’m not really hungry or thirsty,” Malek said.

  “Me either.” I smiled at him and we both laughed. I stood up from my chair and stretched my arms above my head. Once I would have cracked bones in my back and shoulders with the movement but now my body was perfectly balanced and lubricated. Every joint, muscle, sinew, and ligament had been meticulously trained to understand its place. I sat down cross-legged on the hide floor and leaned against the chest that contained my clothes. Then I motioned for my long-haired friend to do the same. He sighed again and mirrored my action, leaning his back against the frame of my bed on the opposite side of my small tent.

  “What did she say?” His voice was mixed with dread. He seemed more nervous about receiving the bad news than I was about giving it to him.

  “She was mad at you for getting me involved.”

  “Fuck. I should have known.”

  “She was angrier at me actually for getting involved.”

  “Hurmp,” he grunted. “Do you remember what she said, exactly?” He knew that I had a good memory.

  I heard a call outside the tent and Bartu entered with water, a flagon of wine, earth-colored bread, and cheese that looked like the yellow wheel of a small wagon. I waited until he left before I continued. My attendants held a perimeter far enough away from the thin walls of the canvas so that they wouldn't hear, even with their enhanced senses.

  "She didn't understand why I wouldn't choose her as a lover. I attempted again to reason with her, but you know that Shlara is hard to convince of something she does not believe." I took a deep breath and choked down a mouthful of wine.

  "So what did she decide?" Malek was about to take a bite of cheese but he set it down on the plate.

  "I'm sorry. I tried, but she has already made up her mind." My eyes met his across the room and held them. I could see the pain in them. He broke my gaze and we sat in silence for a few minutes, disturbed only by the sound of our teeth ripping into the food. Actually, it was only me eating the meal. Malek just looked at his plate.

  "I am jealous." He leaned back against the side of my bed and laughed. "I used to just respect you for your leadership, your discipline, your prowess--"

  "You are as fine of a leader as I am, and you are a much more powerful magic user," I interrupted him with a smile.

  "Entas used you as his set piece. 'Keep working at it and maybe a year from now you'll be as good as Kaiyer was in his first week.' I never thought I was as talented as you."

  "The old man didn't know what he was talking about. You were his favorite student. You are a great teacher and an excellent commander." I felt my heart beat faster. I didn't spend much time with Entas when he taught others the basics of channeling the Earth, Wind, and Water. Did he use me as a way to drive his students? The idea didn't sit well in my stomach.

  "I've had plenty of women, and it is only a matter of time until they ask the questions I dread." Malek motioned his hand toward me and I tossed the flagon of wine to him. He caught it deftly and took a long swallow.

  "I can't imagine where you are going with this." I tried not to smirk. Thayer and Gorbanni would have made a joke of the situation by now. But I knew that my long-haired friend was more sensitive.

  "’Tell me about Kaiyer. What is he like? How often does he have lovers? Is he as handsome as they say he is? What does he say to you about my team?' I feel as though every woman I've ever been with would rather be with the Legendary K
aiyer than with me."

  "Find better women," I spat out.

  "Easy for you to say. You can take whichever one you want and never fear you don't possess her every thought." Malek's eyes narrowed as he glared across the tent at me.

  “I have not taken any lovers, actually. And I have no need to possess a lover’s every thought. No one should be possessed in any way. Is that not what we are fighting against?”

  Malek raised his hands and his glare softened. "I don't mean it that way. I just want to know that she isn't thinking of another man, wishing she was with you, when she is with me. She should be with me in her mind and body like I am with her."

  “I understand you, but I stand by my earlier statement. You need to find better women. Most of the people in this army have never even seen me without my armor. I'm just a figurehead by now; I'm not real to them. You choose women who are chasing a ghost." I beckoned with my hand and drained the last of the wine after he tossed it to me.

  "You do not understand."

  “You are in love with Shlara. No one else will compare to her. Yet you wish the women you bed to think only of you. You wish to possess their every thought while she possesses yours.”

  We said nothing for a few more minutes, eating and drinking until the silence overwhelmed me.

  "It seems that Gorbanni, Alexia, and Thayer have the right idea. They take whatever lovers please them and move on afterward. You overanalyze the emotional aspect of the relationship." I shook the bottle of wine to confirm that it was empty and looked down at the plate of food we already finished. There was still a large pitcher of water left so I grasped it and drank.

  "No. You do," he said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "If you really weren't concerned with relationships between lovers, then you would have found one long ago. You obviously see meaning in it, or you would not push Shlara away." He spoke with conviction. It seemed almost rehearsed.

  "That is not true at all. There are other factors at play. Haven't we talked about this already? I grow sick of explaining my relationship with Shlara to everyone."

  "You've talked to everyone about it?" He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

  "No. I guess only you and Shlara. But I’ve said the same thing so many times it feels like I have said them to many people." I smirked.

  "So explain it to me again. Since it puzzles me that the woman I love spurns me for someone who wants nothing to do with her. Maybe I can learn from your technique and snare her in a similar fashion." He laughed for a few seconds until he saw that I wasn't joining him.

  "Malek," I sighed before I continued. "I don't think I should be fucking any of my generals. What would happen if I lost respect amongst the army?"

  "How would you lose respect? Everyone else takes lovers freely. Thayer screws a different one of his commanders every night." My mind flashed back to the orgy I narrowly avoided years ago when I wandered around camp.

  "Thayer's troops aren't as disciplined as the other generals'. He loses their respect."

  "Alexia does the same. Perhaps she is a bit more discrete, but it is not a secret that she enjoys the company of many that she commands. Her troops perform excellently."

  "Once this is all over, then I can take a lover. But right now my focus is destroying our enemies." I didn't mention how close Shlara and I had come a few weeks ago when I originally tried to speak to her about Malek. I had done my best to avoid her since then, but she wouldn’t let me flee from her forever. During the meetings with my generals her glances hinted at her desires more openly than she normally did. I was surprised that Malek hadn't noticed.

  "It is a shame that you have to wait to begin your life," my handsome friend said with a frown.

  "This is my life."

  "This is not life; this is a war. This will end, and you will have nothing." His words were angry, but I almost didn't hear them. I flashed back to Iolarathe's lips on mine. The sound of her voice gasping as my tongue ran across her nipples and breasts. The flower like citrus smell of her body. Her face when she strangled Leotol and ordered my father killed.

  "I've experienced love. It didn't end well. I appreciate your concern, but my mind is settled on the matter. Attend to your team now." My voice cracked at the last few words. I had never spoken of my father and brother to anyone. Death among humans was so common, Thayer probably suspected that I lost my family as he did, but I never confirmed. I had never spoken of Iolarathe to him or anyone.

  "I'm sorry Kaiyer." He stood up at attention. "I will see you tomorrow morning at the meeting." He waited a second after I nodded and then exited the tent. He walked some fifty yards before he let out a whoosh of air in a tempered sigh.

  It had been a few months since I thought of my brother and father. The sharp pain Malek's comment made quickly faded. They were gone now, and the only thing left was revenge, revenge for every human that had lost their family, for every woman raped, for every man who been gelded, and for every child who lost their parents and been forced to live in fear. I would eliminate all the Elvens from the world and we would begin a new age of peace and prosperity.

  I sat on the floor of my tent until the oil in my lantern sputtered, reminding me that it was low. I shook my head to remove thoughts of flame-red hair and full lips curved into a wicked smile. Then I forced my mind to Malek and Shlara. I did not mean to end the conversation with him as I had, I was going to need to apologize and talk to him about it until he felt better. He needed more emotional input from me to be an effective general.

  I refilled my oil lamp and headed out of the tent. It was deep midnight now, but the camp was active during all hours of the day and night. The different parts of the war machine practiced, ate, rested, and completed assignments no matter what the temperature, weather, or time. I nodded to my attendants as I left the perimeter of my area at the nucleus of the small galaxy of fires. It would probably take me ten minutes to walk through the network of tents, but I decided to go around the perimeter of the camp and arrive at Malek's subdivision in twenty.

  The night air was cold, it felt as though we were a few days away from snow. This encampment lay in a large valley nestled between treacherous peaks. The basin had enough room for an ample farm and many square miles of grasslands where we kept sheep and cattle. The location of the dale remained undiscovered by Elven forces for the last two years and we were probably going to stay for a few years longer. Of course, we were so large now that it would take a substantial Elven army to challenge us.

  Like the one they were currently building.

  I crossed paths with various smaller groups of men and women training. If they had spare breath or energy, they would nod to me as I passed. But I didn't think they actually knew who I was. It was dark enough on the perimeter of the camp to obscure most of my features. I wasn't recognized for anything more than a terrible suit of armor and unequaled combat prowess. There were rumors about my appearance, but they varied so much that most did not really know what I looked like without the skull helmet.

  Malek's area was organized in neat rows of even tents that were perfectly spaced from each other. It reminded me of the crop fields outside of the camp that his group was responsible for growing. I snaked my way through the dwellings until I made it to his large pavilion in the center. There were no guards around his tent, and I momentarily grew worried. I had demanded that they never go unguarded. They resisted the order and accused me of paranoia, but I knew if I were planning to dismantle an army, my first step would be to assassinate the generals.

  I carried no weapon, but it didn't matter, I could easily kill a handful of Elven soldiers without a blade or my mace. Malek's tent was forty yards from its closest companion, and almost one hundred yards away from the nearest campfire, where I observed his troops taking a meal and talking. I crouched down low and crept through the dead grass and gravel toward the pavilion. They must have dispatched the guards and then pulled their bodies inside to hide them. As I grew closer to the tent, I noticed a
faint light that lazily pushed out of the seams of the canvas, two figures cast shadows against the stretched cloth.

  I realized that Malek was probably just meeting with one of his lieutenants and had dismissed his guards to have a private conversation. I wanted to ensure his safety, so I continued my silent approach.

  "What did he say?" The words were muffled through the canvas and the twenty yards of space, but it was Shlara, speaking in a volume below a whisper.

  "You know, the same. Why do you torture me with this?" Malek said. I concentrated on making my breath as long and deep as possible so I wouldn't be heard.

  “The way you feel about me? I feel the same for him . . .”

  "Why the games? Why don't you just tell him? I feel like I am lying to him." Malek sounded agitated.

  "I have told him. When he came to see me about you I almost convinced him."

  “Shlara, have some pride. He has refused you so many times. Let him go. You know I can make you happy. I will spend the rest of my life trying.”

  "I have to try one more time."

  "No! This has gone on for too long. I don't want him to know that I had any part of this. He'll believe I have betrayed him."

  "Why would he think that? You are only aiding me. And you are helping Kaiyer too. He just doesn't realize it yet." Shlara's voice was confident and I could feel my anger rising. What was the woman orchestrating without my knowledge?

  "There are dark things in his past. He doesn't want to revisit them."

  "I will help him. He needs me. He needs my love."

  “I need your love. I think of nothing else. Since the moment we met, I have been unable to love anyone else,” Malek’s voice echoed, sad and lost. I felt my heart wrench when I thought about what Shlara and I had almost done. It would have devastated him.

  "I love Kaiyer as much as you love me. How hard would it be for you to give up your pursuit?"