“Are you finished?” I asked. The pain in my leg caused my vision to blur but I kept my face and voice from revealing this weakness. This whole operation had been such a gamble and I was nearly spent.
“No.” He looked at the surrounding guards. “Do you know she isn’t your liege’s daughter? She is some Ancient spawn he found in the Teeth Mountains. Did you know?”
My guards didn’t answer. They just stared at Maerc like statues of death, swords drawn, waiting for me to command them to life.
“Are you finished?” I said again calmly.
Maerc didn’t say anything for almost a minute. His blue eyes stared at me in cold hatred.
I matched his gaze and intensity.
Finally, he broke.
“Nadea, what are you doing? We need Brilla’s help; they’ve been in alliance with our kingdom for over fifty years. This was what the king wanted! There is no way that the men you have here can stand against Losher’s forces. It is suicide.” The anger faded from his voice.
“I already told you that I agree with you. That is why you are going. No one can do it better than you. I will cut off as many pieces of Losher’s army as I can. By the time you get an army from Brilla, our main force will return from the North. Then we will crush what Losher armies remain and take back our castle.” I glanced to Runir. “You can go with your father, but I think we would both prefer that you stay here. I need your help managing the army, and he’ll want you to be around to prevent me from doing something ridiculous.”
The blonde man turned to look at his father. Maerc nodded.
“You can ride with him out of the camp if you wish. I have your bodyguards and a squad of soldiers ready to receive you. You should make it to Brilla in less than three weeks. I’ve detailed the process to communicate with me in one of the letters.” Maerc nodded. The anger was gone from his face completely now and only sadness remained.
“How did you do this?” the general asked quietly. I stared into his eyes and saw the glassy sheen on their edges. I let out a long sigh and started to feel regret. Maerc loved his country as much as I did, he would gladly sacrifice his life if it meant that Nia would continue to exist. He was a proud man, intelligent and steadfast. If we had seen eye to eye, it would have been a great partnership.
“I could do it because you thought you beat me. You thought you had information that would ruin me if someone found out. You thought I was ashamed of it and that I had something to hide.” I looked at Runir. “You thought I was an injured and broken girl that you saved from certain death. But most importantly, you underestimated how much I love my father and want to murder Nanos for his betrayal.”
Runir nodded as he considered my words.
“I should have done what the king’s letter told me to do and killed you.” Maerc spat out the words in desperation. “I love your father too, the king as well. They wouldn’t have wanted this. They specifically ordered me to execute this plan.”
“It is too late to negotiate. You wanted to persecute three days ago. Now it is my board. Have a safe and productive trip to Brilla. When you bring their army up in the spring you will have cooled off and we can work together again for the benefit of our country.” He tried to get another word in, but I held up my hand “You are dismissed, General. You as well, Commander.” I nodded to my warriors and they inched closer to the two blonde men. They got the point and exited without looking at me again. The pair of guards behind them followed them out the front door.
“The general might try to do something stupid,” one of my men said.
“If he does, then kill him.” The words came out of my mouth; I felt my breath give life to them. But they were cold and dead on my lips. Like someone else controlled my voice. Someone with hair the color of blood and eyes that glowed silver.
“What about Runir?” he raised an eyebrow. My father once told me that sometimes being a leader meant making the kind of decisions that no one else could make.
“Let’s hope he doesn’t do anything stupid,” I said.
I meant those words with all of my heart.
Chapter 16-The O’Baarni
“This isn’t going to end well. Is it, Brother?” Thayer whispered through ragged breaths that came steaming out of his mouth in giant puffs.
“There are only thirty of them.” I looked at him sideways with a smirk. He grunted but didn’t smile.
That’s when I knew that we probably wouldn't escape.
We were cut off from the rest of the escapees, almost fifty miles north of where our temporary campsite lay secreted away. We had spent the last year pushing in this direction, trying to put distance between us and the Elven clan that created us. Unfortunately, I hadn’t correctly judged the tenacity of our former masters. They did not want any other Elven tribes capturing my friends, so they sent five hundred warriors in pursuit. I didn't realize that Iolarathe’s tribe was one of the largest and most powerful within a thousand miles.
I hadn’t realized that they were the first to be testing human magic. If the other Elven tribes learned of us, the news would spread like a lethal virus. More Elven families would start experimenting, and there would be a disruption of Iolarathe’s family’s push for dominance in the land.
“They have been relentless. Perhaps they know it is you and me?” Thayer slowly peered down the cliff wall. The snow had been falling for two weeks, the world was painted with white.
“We will have to move out when night falls,” I whispered. My body convulsed and shivered for a second. It was fucking cold and it had been almost a week since either of us ate. We had discarded most of our clothing during the chase to throw off their trackers. They brought dogs with them this time, but I knew that my enemies' sense of smell was on par with ours. I doubted that they even needed tracking beasts, but the animals were expendable and handled the colder weather easier.
Now we only had our undergarments and weapons left. There was little else to discard to throw the hunters off of our trail.
“What do you think about just going down there, killing as many as we can, and then calling it a day? I’m sick of running Brother. Let’s be done with this. It is a good day to die. We gave it our all. We just were not meant to be free.” I heard the hopelessness in his voice and the emotion began to leak into my own soul.
“Fuck that. You don’t die until I tell you. You swore you would follow me until the end. The end is us living free, in our own home, farmlands and cattle stretching out as far as our eyes can see, with no worry of these bastards chasing us anymore. We just have to evade these fuckers, get back to the camp, flank them, and finish them.” I sighed in relief and warmth flooded my body. I said the words with such conviction that I actually believed them. This was good, because I wasn’t going to be able to make anything happen unless I believed it first.
“In this fantasy land, are there beautiful women? I’m fucking horny and looking at your face isn’t doing it for me, Brother.” His cocky grin returned.
“Of course there are. You can have as many women as will put up with you. But let’s get out of this situation first. What are your ideas?” I crawled to the edge of the cliff to view the horizon. I didn't see any movement below in the trees, but I knew there were at least thirty Elvens in the forest and half as many dogs. After a few moments of scanning with Thayer I moved deeper into the cave and stretched my arms.
“You’re the idea man, Kaiyer. I only kill shit. You tell me how to get out of here and I’ll follow.”
“If they knew we hid here they would have flushed us out. They probably think we scaled the cliff and went farther north. I’m thinking that we descend and backtrack the way we came. They will figure it out eventually, but it will give us a few days’ lead.”
“Sounds good. Let’s do it.”
“There is also a possibility that they have already gone up the other side of the cliff but did not see our tracks or pick up a scent, and believe we did not come up this way. They will search around the bottom of the pr
ecipice and realize that we are hidden on its face. If that happens, we should go up right after they circle to confuse them.”
“Okay, Brother. Let’s do that,” Thayer said with as much conviction as he had shown in response to my earlier statement.
“The second alternative leads us farther from our friends,” I murmured.
“Shit. Okay. Let’s do the first one. I like that one better anyway and we can kill a few of the Elvens.” He blew hot air into his cupped hands and rubbed them together.
“It is odd that we haven’t seen any of them. I figured that they would have at least brought the dogs to the cliff face to sniff. Then they would have known we climbed the cliff.” I leaned up against the damp wall of the cave. Its mouth didn’t stretch far back into the rocky formation, so I assumed that it was home to some bats during the summer months.
“You are surely a prophet, Brother, four of them approach now!” Thayer whispered as he flattened his body against the edge. I pushed myself down and joined him as quickly as I dared to avoid disturbing any loose rocks.
Thayer had been correct in his observation. There were four Elvens at the bottom of the cliff face, about two hundred yards below us. They had three dogs that looked more like giant wolves: four hundred pounds of barely controllable teeth and claws. The dogs paced back and forth at the base of the wall we had ascended.
“Their clothes look warm,” my friend said with longing. The Elvens wore snow-colored long cloaks, pants, and fur-lined jackets. The attire probably wouldn’t fit our wider frames, but they would offer some protection against the elements. Thayer and I protected ourselves with an effort of will and a slow drain of our Earth. We couldn’t keep it up for much longer.
“But their bows look deadly,” I remarked. They would easily kill us if we dared to climb the cliff face with the sun out. Even as I spoke, the Elven hunters looked up at the steep wall, trying to identify if we were scaling the icy surface.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I hate feeling trapped. What now?”
“We should stick with the first plan. There might be a few of them up above, but once it is night we should be able to either sneak by or kill a few. The sun will set in a few hours. You should rest while I keep an eye on these assholes.” Normally Thayer wouldn’t have let me offer to take watch. But we were exhausted and had been on the run for so long that his scarred face broke out into a grateful grin.
“Thanks, Brother.” He shifted his weight back into the cave, where it was slightly warmer.
The Elvens continued to examine the wall of the cliff. Our tiny cavern was well hidden, so I felt no worry of discovery. Thayer and I had climbed westward across the bluff, hoping we would throw off the scent of the dogs. It was a stroke of luck finding the cave. A cracked boulder created a dark shadow that made the nook invisible, and we had only seen the crevice when we climbed above it and looked down to the ground. There was a possibility that we could stay here for a couple of days, but I doubted it. Iolarathe’s family had pursued us almost eight hundred miles north over the last year. Our original group of sixty escapees had dwindled to a few dozen.
At the beginning of our exodus, we did our best to cut the massive force into bite-sized pieces that we could destroy. We initially scattered and headed the four directions of the wind. Thayer and I had circled back toward the tribal lands with a few of the training mates we knew would not buckle under the most dangerous of tasks. The other escapees had clear instructions to travel for twenty miles, cut north, and proceed to the highest peak of the distant northern mountain range. We’d meet at the base of the peaks in two weeks, stay for a week to catch stragglers, and then continue onward to look for a new homeland.
When the Elvens got to the trail of the main group, they figured that we had all gone our own way, scattered like rabbits when the hawk calls. They set off in pursuit, and from our hiding places in the trees behind them, we overheard them talking about how easy this assignment would be. They also spoke about how much they looked forward to skinning us alive and bringing back our heads. The Elvens believed that we were stupid, unorganized, and running in fear. To them, this was no different than sport hunting boar or deer. They brought plenty of luxury pavilions. Their tents were stocked with food, alcohol, minstrels, and human slaves so that all of their comforts would be fulfilled.
They had planned to hunt us down like trophies. At the end of the week we exterminated them like vermin.
Our victory left us drunker than any wine and solidified my role as the leader. I had made promises to them and delivered. Even when our masters tried to kill us, I had proven my mettle and triumphed over the Elvens in a way that must have completely demoralized them.
Then I made a mistake that would bring ruin.
We looted all the Elven’s equipment, weapons, and supplies. It was such an unexpected windfall that I decided to make camp at the base of the northern mountain we had originally set as our waypoint. We established a small farm, set up fencing for livestock, and assigned working roles for our band of powerful humans. At the foot of the mountains, I thought we could start our new lives, free of the Elvens. We would be our own masters and create our own destiny. I believed that we had crushed our enslavers so completely that they would never try to hunt us again. I thought that we had fled far enough away, and I believed that, even if they attempted to hunt us down again, we would deal with them as easily as we did the first time.
Obviously, I had been proven wrong. Or I wouldn’t be freezing, hungry, and hiding in a cave on a cliff while thirty of the fuckers and their dogs tried to find me. My mistake cost many human lives.
I awoke with a start and almost gasped out in shock. I must have fallen asleep. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. I cursed myself. The sun was beginning to set, spilling golden oil across the endless treetops to the south. I slowed my breathing and focused on listening. All of my senses were enhanced by the Earth that flowed through my body. I could see better than an eagle, smell better than a wolf, and hear better than an owl. Our enemies didn’t experience the same sort of benefits when they harnessed the Earth. The Elvens were naturally stronger than humans, possessed better senses, and could heal themselves quickly. Their natural abilities were only enhanced slightly through the use of magic.
But even with magic flowing through my body and my ears seeking surrounding sounds, I didn't hear anything. I did hear the unending racket of the forest: mice scurrying around in the cliffs, the hoot of an owl a mile away, the distant howl of a pack of wolves several miles to my east, and the chill wind passing through thousands of trees and their needles. Thayer’s heart sounded like the twin slams of thunder from behind me and I remembered that he slept. It would be time to move soon, so I relaxed on the flow of Earth and carefully crawled the few feet back into the cave.
My friend shivered as he fought off the cold. As I studied his almost naked body I was suddenly overcome with emotion. We had survived so much together. We would probably die tonight, put down like hunted animals. But we were okay with that ending to our lives. Better than death under the yoke of our enslavers.
Thayer came awake instantly when my fingers closed around his ankle. We had our roles of hunter and prey reversed so many times that the actions surrounding the tasks were second nature. He didn’t make a sound as he sat up and looked at me.
I signaled to my ears and eyes, gestured outside, and gave the negative signal with my hand. He nodded. I pointed up, indicating that we would climb, then I made the signal for the sun and the same negative signal. He acknowledged again and prepared himself by stretching his neck and shoulders.
The period of dusk when the sun sets is the best time to move unseen. Something about how the glow faded from the sky made it more difficult to discern objects than when the light shone from above or when it was true night. It would be a small advantage that would last a quarter of an hour.
I poked my head out of the cave slightly and focused more of the Earth through me; I still didn't hear or see any sign of our pursuers, s
o I let out a deep breath and signaled to Thayer. A few seconds later we were making our way silently up the face of the cliff. It wasn't the plan I had told him of earlier, but he wouldn't mind the change.
Climbing up surfaces was easy for us. We could pull ourselves up with the strength in one finger and crush the rocks we scaled with our bare hands. However, doing the same exercise with complete silence required absolute mastery and a bit of luck. We needed to predict which handholds would be secure enough without crumbling. We also needed to be constantly aware of what our feet and legs were doing, as they could create rockslides if placed incorrectly, or disturb animals that might give away our position.
The sun had fully set by the time we reached the top of the cliff. With its departure, the glowing orb took all the light from the sky and sucked what little heat there was out of the air. The frigid conditions made it that much harder to find handholds, and even a steady stream of Earth flowing through me didn’t keep me from shivering.
When we were twenty feet from the edge, I paused to listen for our pursuers and still heard nothing. When we reached the top, I neither saw nor heard any signs of our captors in the clearing.
I flipped my body to the top of the cliff and helped Thayer pull himself to his feet. We sat still and listened, catching our breath and silently giving thanks to our bodies and minds for getting us this far. Perhaps we would make it back to our friends alive.
I signaled northward to my friend and he grinned, splitting his scarred face into a painting of triumph. I wanted to tell him that we weren’t safe yet, but I didn’t want to get his spirits down, so I stood up off the ground and crept into the trees.
We walked for a few hours, and while the pace would have been fine for me when I was a normal human, now I could do a sustained run faster than a horse. The slow speed through the forest was more of a test of patience than of stealth. Both Thayer and I just wanted to run, we could move faster than the wind through these trees, leave behind deer with our speed, and escape these Elvens forever.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 23