The Sylph Hunter

by L. J. McDonald

  Devon forced himself to step forward. He wasn’t sure how he did it, except it must have had something to do with not wanting to fail at this, not wanting to have to go home and face Leon’s disappointment or Heyou’s anger. Maybe it had to do with his own sense of responsibility toward these people, little as he knew them. After all, there was a very good chance that if someone didn’t act quickly, they would all soon be dead. Mostly, he suspected it had to do with the small, dark hand he held in his own and the woman who stepped forward beside him. He did it for her. It was still unbelievably hard. The battle sylph was glaring now and the hate was growing stronger. These creatures didn’t have Solie’s order not to kill whoever annoyed them. They didn’t have her order not to use their hate aura. He could destroy them in an instant if he chose, though he probably wouldn’t for fear of upsetting Zalia. Maybe.

  Somehow, Devon found the strength somewhere deep inside of himself to take another step.

  “My name is Devon Chole,” he managed to say after clearing his throat several times. Airi was still whimpering against the back of his neck, as frightened as he was. “I am the ambassador for Queen Solie from Sylph Valley. I’m here to see Queen Eapha.”

  The battler stared at him, his eyes narrowed and angry. With a step taken toward them, he leaned forward and sniffed imperiously, studying Devon.

  “Why would she want to see a coward like you?”

  Devon felt his stomach drop out from under him as he heard Zalia gasp. He shouldn’t have come, he should never have come; Leon made a mistake sending him. The man should have stayed here himself. They had respect for Leon. He’d freed Eapha from slavery and told her and her battler how to make her a queen.

  “Leon Petrule sent me,” he gulped, hoping this battler had heard the chancellor’s name before.

  Apparently he had. The battler’s lip curled and he spun away, returning to the doors. As he did, the hate aura dropped and the men behind Devon gasped in relief. Humans weren’t designed to handle a battle sylph’s hate and Devon had never been able to understand how the men who were masters to bound battlers could stand it. In places like Eferem, battlers never dropped their hatred. At least this one had, though that didn’t allay Devon’s fear any and he wiped sweat off his brow that had nothing to do with the heat. Knowing that the battle sylph could feel his terror didn’t help either.

  The battle sylph paused while facing the door, his head tilted a bit to one side, and then grabbed the handles and threw both doors open.

  “The queen will see you, coward.”

  Past the battler was a chamber that must have been some sort of sitting room. It was large, the ceiling at least two dozen feet high with chandeliers holding hundreds of slim candles that could be lowered for the candles to be lit. None were glowing at the moment, thanks to the sunlight that shone through the floor-length windows. There were eight windows, their glass forming the back wall of the sitting room, and overlooking what had once been a garden. Now the garden ended only a half-dozen feet beyond a series of rosebushes, dropping off into nothingness without warning. The floor was more of the polished marble, covered by intricate carpets that were worth thousands back home. More silk, artwork, and weapons hung on the walls, while the carpet was covered by beautiful, delicate furniture like that in the halls, all of it inlaid with the ornate, detailed shell and stonework he’d seen before.

  The rest of the floor had pillows of every color scattered over it; lounging on these were women. Startled, Devon counted nearly a dozen, all young and beautiful, before one of them stood up and made her way toward them, nearly tripping over the multitude of pillows and her friends. They laughed at her, shouting out that she shouldn’t be so clumsy.

  She was only a few years older than Zalia, with the same dark hair and brown skin. Where Zalia was growing more beautiful to Devon every day, this woman was almost heart-stoppingly so, and would be worth taking a second look. Devon very carefully didn’t take one. She had a battle sylph for a lover and they were nothing if not fiercely jealous.

  “Queen Eapha?” he asked with a deep bow, well aware of the guard watching him. The women lounging on the pillows giggled, watching avidly.

  The woman smiled. “Yes, I am. Did Leon send you?”

  Devon straightened up. Her eyes were kind, if distracted. “Yes, ma’am. I’m here as the ambassador for my queen and to offer you all the assistance I can.” He hesitated, his mind flashing through the many things he had to talk to her about. The poverty, the economy, the Hunter as well. There was so much. This entire country was falling apart and Eapha stood before him, no interest lighting her eyes.

  She actually shrugged at him. “I’m not sure what you can help with, to be honest. The sylphs have everything under control. I just try not to get in their way.”

  Devon gaped at her. Was she insane or just stupid? Realization of what was happening flashed before his horror—and disgust—set off the battle sylph. Queen Eapha was lounging on pillows in a floating palace—whether it was her idea or not. Devon knew the battle sylphs back home would love to isolate and protect Solie this way, if only she would allow it. Here Eapha had and because of that isolation, she had no way of knowing how bad things in her kingdom were. She’d never see it and the only reports she must have been getting were all coming through sylph biases.

  “I really need to talk to you,” he told Eapha earnestly and this time saw a flicker deep in her eyes, something of doubt at her own words. “There are a lot of things I need you to know.”

  “She knows everything she needs to know,” one of the women lounging on the pillows called, waving languidly with a hand holding a fan of cards. “Come on, Eapha, it’s your turn.”

  Eapha opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, the battler roared in anger. Airi shrieked and grabbed her master, yanking Devon straight off the ground and into the air, away from the battle sylph that was turning to smoke and lightning and wrapping himself around Eapha despite her startled screech. He still roared his warnings. The other women were also screaming now, scrambling up from the pillows while Xehm grabbed his daughter, pulling her in terror toward the exit. Gel stood frozen, shaking as Shasha braced herself at his side, not willing to run if he wasn’t.

  Clouds of battle sylphs appeared at the massive windows that overlooked the city, the depth of them blocking the sun and turning the interior to sudden night.

  Twenty feet above the floor in his sylph’s embrace, Devon felt his chest grow tight as he forgot to breathe. The battle sylphs were pouring into the room itself now, coming in through one of the windows. Some of them converged on the women lounging amongst the pillows, the rest shifting to human as they circled the queen. Exhausted, Airi finally dropped Devon down beside Xehm, Zalia, and Gel, but retreat was impossible. Battle sylphs were between them and the doors now, looking at them more with curiosity than malice. Devon was a little bit relieved by that realization, but horrified as well to see one standing far too close to Zalia, smiling at her. She stared back at him, her face bright red. Her father appeared scandalized to see him, but also too afraid to say anything.

  Devon was pretty sure there weren’t as many battle sylphs in the entire Valley as there were crowding into this room right now.

  One battler held Eapha’s hands, looking down at her. He was tall and dark, his eyes a glistening red color. Eapha smiled up at him, love in her eyes.

  “My king,” she said, her tone laughing.

  The stern face he’d been looking down with lightened and he smiled, the skin around his eyes crinkling. “My queen,” he answered her. The smile didn’t last long, fading in the next instant. “We have a problem,” he told her. “There’s a Hunter in the city.”

  Airi groaned against Devon’s neck, reminding him what she’d said about not wanting the battlers to fight the Hunter. It still felt like an alien concept to him. Fighting was what battlers were born for.

  Eap
ha looked baffled. “What’s a Hunter?”

  The battler nodded shortly, his face hard. He was as aware as Airi of how dangerous these things were, Devon realized. The rest of them were grinning, their excitement palpable, even as Shasha shook her head sadly and Airi moaned again against his neck. Whatever it was the elementals thought about the Hunter, the battlers were obviously in disagreement.

  “Hunters are predators from the hive world,” the battler said. Most of the women had wormed their way through the crowd to see what was going on and each of them stood with a battler close by, usually with his arm around them or holding their hand. They watched curiously, a few picking up on the glee of their battlers and smiling. At least Eapha wasn’t smiling, not while she looked up into her own battler’s face.

  “How did it get here?” she asked.

  “It came through the gate. It killed everyone there. I don’t know how long ago, since no one was able to send a warning.”

  She looked alarmed; Devon shared her feelings. “How can it do that?”

  “They’re unbelievably fast,” one of the battlers laughed with a cocky grin.

  “Then no one survived?” Eapha asked.

  “We did,” a gravelly voice answered before the lead battler could.

  Eapha turned toward them, as did the rest of the battle sylphs and their women. Nervous all over again, Devon looked over his shoulder at Shasha. The earth sylph gazed at her queen without expression, both hands holding one of Gel’s while he stood beside her. He was white with fear, but at least he looked to be interacting with the world again.

  “What happened?” Eapha asked her.

  The earth sylph looked down. “Everyone was celebrating. The gate had opened onto a hive where there were many willing to come through. We were pulling humans off the street to become masters. There were hundreds.” She looked away from them, obviously unhappy with the memories but not willing to be silent. The battlers and women stared at her, as did Gel. He reached out with his free hand and laid it on Shasha’s stone head. She smiled at him. “I lived because I was far from the gate. It came through and everyone…died. I’d seen a Hunter attack before and I knew…I dove for my master and buried us both. I still barely made it.”

  “Why didn’t you call for help?” one battler furiously demanded.

  She looked at him. “You know why.”

  He glared. “You know nothing,” he snapped.

  Devon took a deep breath. He didn’t like the thought of speaking near so many battle sylphs who were already angry at having their abilities questioned, but that was what he’d been sent here for. “Your Majesty?” he called, noting that it took a moment for Eapha to realize he was speaking to her and turn his way. She looked uncertain and pale, as she should be.

  “I saw the gate,” he told her. “The place was devastated.” He shivered. “And the cages that were used to hold the feeders were destroyed, as if something huge had pushed its way to the surface.”

  Eapha’s jaw dropped, alarm flickering across her eyes. Devon didn’t like to see anyone frightened, but this woman needed to be worried. “How big are these things, Tooie?” she demanded, turning back to the lead battler.

  Tooie hesitated for a moment and then shrugged. He actually looked a bit sheepish.

  “The same thing happened at the harbor,” Devon continued, partly to cover Tooie’s lack of an answer, but mostly because he had to. He didn’t know for sure if the battlers reached the same conclusion he had about what happened there. He knew they were aware something went on, thanks to his own panicked flight, but not if they’d equated it with the Hunter. Eapha gaped at him. “Two nights ago. Everyone was gone, including some friends of mine. All I found was their blood.”

  Eapha stared at him, looking horrified, and spun toward Tooie again. “Why haven’t you killed it?” she demanded.

  He shrugged again. “It’s invisible.”

  “What?”

  “It’s invisible. We can’t see it. We know it’s out there, but we can’t find it yet.” The rest of the battlers grumbled agreement, none of them looking happy.

  “You sylphs are in charge. What can you do?” Eapha asked, still looking up at Tooie.

  “Kill it!” the other battlers shouted, more taking up the roar until the room resounded and the humans had to put their hands over their ears. In the midst of all that sound, Shasha stepped forward.

  “Raise the hive,” she told the queen, who blinked and lifted a hand so she could hear. Instantly, every battler was silent. “Surround the hive with walls ten feet thick, and let no one out,” Shasha concluded. “That will protect us.”

  “Ten feet?” Eapha gagged.

  “Anything thinner and the Hunter will be able to pull them apart.”

  Devon felt ill at the very thought. So, apparently, did Eapha. She paled and looked back at the women she’d been sitting with, all of whom were shouting suggestions, most of which seemed to involve the battlers throwing explosions around until they caught the Hunter in one. Eapha even looked at Devon for a moment, but before he could think of what to say, she returned her gaze to Tooie.

  “She’ll make that hive, but you can find it and kill it,” she told him. “Right?”

  “Right,” he agreed.

  Wrong, Devon started to say, but Tooie looked out over the heads of the others and they roared again, most of them immediately shifting to cloud form and rising into the air, darkening the room as they flew out the window, Tooie with them. Devon ducked, his arms up protectively around his head as they went past him, close enough that he was brushed by the warm edges of their mantles. “Wait,” he tried to shout at them, but none of them seemed to hear, and in all the noise, he wasn’t even sure he’d spoken aloud.

  They’ll die, Airi mourned. They’ll all die.

  A moment later, the majority of the battle sylphs were gone out the window again and the women were looking at each other, some a little uncertainly, the rest with the beginnings of amusement. Eapha hugged herself, rubbing her arms, and her friends surrounded her, reassuring her that the battle sylphs could fix any problem, that they would be safe and she didn’t have to worry about them.

  That just wasn’t true. Devon took another deep breath and stepped forward. “Your Majesty?”

  One of the other women turned toward him, her expression angry. “Can’t you see she’s upset?” she snapped. “She’ll talk to you some other time.” She made a languid gesture with one hand.

  “Your Majesty, I have to talk to you. It’s important.”

  Something stronger than stone grabbed Devon’s shoulder and he froze, his breath catching in his throat as the hand dug in hard enough to hurt and another clamped over his mouth before he could speak.

  Despite Devon’s muffled protests, the battle sylph had no problem hustling him and the others out.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Eapha sat heavily on one of the few chairs in the room, this one a chaise covered with embroidered fabric. She and the other women were too used to only having pillows to really be comfortable sitting on harder surfaces, but right now she wanted something solid underneath her.

  Ten-foot stone walls were all that could stop this thing? Plus it was invisible? She remembered having nightmares as a child, horrible dreams where she was being chased by something she couldn’t see. She’d run down the streets of her neighborhood and always it would be after her, following her around every turn, and no matter what she tried to say to anyone, no one would believe her. Not a little slave girl like her.

  Over in his corner, Haru looked up from Fareeda and over at Eapha, a frown on his face as the battle sylph studied her and then sniffed the air. Was he trying to sniff out the Hunter? she wondered. Haru just turned back to his lover, still frowning.

  Kiala bent down in front of her, the woman’s face skeptical and a little annoyed. “What’s wrong?” she demanded. “You’r
e not worried, are you? The battlers will find that thing and destroy it and we’re safe up here until they do. Yahe says that Hunters attack along the ground, not this high up. This place is completely safe for us, and that dome will protect everyone else.” The other women nodded in agreement.

  “It won’t be able to hide from them for long,” Abra added, “even if it is invisible. Did you feel how excited they were? They finally get to do something important.”

  The women laughed, all of them bragging about how their own battle sylph would be the one to kill it. Eapha’s shoulders sagged. They were right, of course. There wasn’t anything to worry about, was there? She couldn’t quite shake the feeling that Tooie had hoped for something else out of her though.

  She frowned for a moment. Was she imagining that? With all the emotions going on in the room, it had been hard to separate any of them out. She’d been overwhelmed by the excitement of all the battlers and her own friends, familiar with them as she was. She hadn’t even been able to pick out Leon Petrule’s representative. He hadn’t been all that impressive; he looked even younger than her and terribly frightened. She looked around, but he’d already gone. She sighed. He must have been as unimpressed with her as she was with him. She knew her friends were. Their indifference for Eapha’s position was like a burn on her soul that she flinched from. Devon must have felt the same about her. No wonder he left.

  “Someone suggested a card game?” she asked at last, straightening her shoulders and looking up at her friends. Pleased at that, they all went back to their pillows. Eapha joined them, their happiness a balm to her, despite her own doubts.

  In the corner, Haru watched them from where he knelt before his lover, just as he always had. Nothing of what he was thinking crossed his face, but he studied his queen for a long moment and then looked at his sweet Fareeda. Her mind was broken, but her soul was still there and she was vulnerable, so frighteningly at risk. Haru flicked his gaze to the huge, airy windows that made up the majority of the palace and touched his lover’s face, whispering silently to her for a moment before he rose and went to look out those windows, leaving her whimpering in fear behind him.