The Destroyer Book 4

by Michael-Scott Earle

  Kaiyer.

  I almost said his name aloud just to feel it across my tongue again. Instead, I kept the sound in my mind. Even there it almost made me shiver with desire. The faint scent of my own arousal filled my nose deliciously. If the servants smelled me, they didn’t say anything or pause.

  I recalled the feeling of his fingers along the arches of my feet when he washed them this morning. It was so delightfully erotic to have such contact with him. Perhaps after the dinner tonight I would make my way to the stables and teach him how to do more than wash my feet. My imagination frolicked with the idea and I actually did shiver when I imagined his rough hands caressing my naked body and his tongue licking my entrance.

  The servants finished lacing up the back of the dress and I examined the end result. These tailors always surprised me. Their styling wasn’t up to date with the current trends in the desert tribes, but my father’s workers were not afraid to experiment. The black dress was bare on my right arm and shoulder and only covered the top half of the breast there. On the right side, a tight fitting sleeve extended to the back of my hand. The rest of my chest was covered on that side, but the stomach was left bare. The black material was a shiny satin and the fabric contrasted nicely with my white skin where it was exposed.

  “You look ravishing, Mistress.” Relyara’s arousal was easy to smell. It mixed with the scent of my own and the combined aroma made me think of our lovemaking. “You will make an impression on the elders.”

  “I always do.” I smirked and she waved the servants into the other room.

  “What is your plan?” she whispered once we could hear the women begin to play their stringed instruments in my foyer.

  “I don’t have one.”

  “That is unlike you.” She motioned for me to sit and raise a leg so that she could place a shoe on my foot.

  “Perhaps it is more appropriate to say I have many plans, depending upon how the conversation goes.” I followed her directions and felt the wetness of my warm entrance when I lifted my leg. Relyara’s lips shifted into an understanding grin and she tossed her blue-black hair over one shoulder. “It is unfortunate that you have to be downstairs so soon. It seems that you enjoy this dress as much as I.”

  “It will serve its purpose during the dinner.” I returned her smile and tried to control my arousal. Relyara would wonder where I was if I visited Kaiyer at night. I would have to find something to task her with, or be satisfied with continuing my post-riding conversations with Kaiyer. These were easy to arrange with less suspicion. After riding, the members of my entourage took some time to bathe before our midday meal, no one noticed where I was then.

  “It will.” She finished putting on the other shoe and I stood up from the stool. The thought of the upcoming verbal battle with my father and elders helped curb my arousal. As long as I kept thoughts of the human from my mind, I would be able to focus on the task at hand.

  “Do you wish for me to walk with you?”

  “No.” I took a last look in the mirror. I had better uses for my time than admiring myself, but the occasional appraisal was useful. Did Kaiyer find me attractive? I had never wondered if humans had the same feelings of disgust for my race as we did for theirs. I had never cared.

  I left my suite and walked to the dining hall.

  I rarely made dinner plans with my suitors or maidens. We spent almost the entire day together and I had little desire to extend those hours into the night. That was where my brother came to my aid. I had to admit that while I thought him only a few steps above a fool, he was proving very useful in keeping them occupied. He had even been able to dig up interesting gossip about each member of the group. I had already guessed at each of their motivations for courting or positioning themselves around me, but Grednil managed to ferret out various alliances transpiring between the two sexes.

  He was probably entertaining them right now. I informed him yesterday that I had a dinner planned with the elders tonight and it would be of great assistance if he distracted them for a few hours. He lapped up the responsibility like a puppy and said he would take care of them so they would not bother me.

  The elders awaited me in the dining hall. The mood smelled tense, and there was no conversation or laughter. The atmosphere seemed to brighten once the servants opened the doors and announced me.

  “Dearest daughter, you look beautiful tonight.” My father entwined his fingers with mine briefly in greeting. He was wearing a thick coat of pleasing lavender oils that prevented me from smelling his actual scent. I quickly greeted the other elders and took my seat at the other side of the long table from my father.

  I sat closest to Gnella. She was the youngest and the only female. Of the group, she was my favorite. She motioned for a servant to pour me a glass of wine. Oimon also sat near me. While I didn’t like the man as much as Gnella, we often spoke of Contania’s various antics. She was his only daughter, and while he had five other sons, I had rejected the one who tried to court me early on, his personality was grating.

  The servants laid out the first course while I engaged Oimon and Gnella with small talk of my courting process. We kept the conversation light around the servants as it was an unspoken rule to keep the elder’s conversations private. I paid little attention to the food, less to the wine, and almost none to the questions coming out of Gnella and Oimon’s mouths. Instead my thoughts drifted back to the stables. I managed to keep Kaiyer in the background of my mind however, and thought about how wonderful it would be to saddle a horse and leave this place forever.

  I would take Kaiyer with me.

  “Iolarathe.” My father’s voice cut through the murmur of the dinner gathering. I jolted to the present and realized that the servants had left the hall. Anger rose in my chest and I struggled to contain the emotion. I needed to pay attention and not dream about something that would never happen.

  “Thank you for attending this dinner with us.” The other elders nodded in agreement. Whether they agreed with his sentiment or not, they would unite for a common cause for the good of the tribe. I smiled back at him and tried not to laugh. Most members of the tribes, even descendants of the chieftain, would not be received in such a manner by the tribal elders. It was because I was the Singleborn.

  “I am always happy to spend time with my family.” I raised a glass and the other elders followed my example before drinking. It was somewhat of a bold move and my father’s slight glare made it clear he wasn’t pleased about me making the first toast of the dinner. This was traditionally the chieftain’s role.

  “We have many things we wish to speak with you about, Daughter,” he continued after everyone had sipped their wine. “Can you update us on the progress of your courtship? You have had the same set of suitors and maidens for almost six months now.” They turned to regard me from their seats.

  “Progress is being made, Father.”

  “Oh? Have you selected a suitor for breeding?” He raised an eyebrow and I inhaled to get the scent of the room.

  “I am closer. It will be a male in this group,” I said with as much authority as I dared.

  “Why has the selection process taken so long?” Dluuzit asked.

  “I don’t care to answer your question, Elder Dluuzit. However, if it will facilitate the progression of this conversation, I will explain to you that as I am only able to produce a limited number of offspring, I take the decision very seriously and wish to take due time to ensure I am creating the strongest possible children for our tribe.”

  “Have you narrowed the selection down any? Is there a particular male that you are intrigued with?” my father asked. Dluuzit, Vuma, and Zaarmo leaned forward to hear my response.

  “Perhaps,” I said with a smile. “They all have their charms and strengths. I need more time to make my selection. I may choose a different male from this group for each of my births. That would mean I would remain in your care for the next dozen years.” The idea made my stomach churn, but it would be an answer that delight
ed them.

  “This news pleases us greatly. We had our doubts about your tenure with us after the attempts on your life,” Gnella said with a sly smile. Her question helped further my guess that one of the elders, or even my father was responsible for the assassins. The woman was crafty and she had hinted to me before that she knew who orchestrated the attacks and would be willing to tell me who it was in exchange for favors.

  “I disposed of the assassins. I’ll eventually find out who tasked them and exterminate that individual as well.” The meal was roasted boar and I cut a small piece and ate it. If I was eating alone I might have enjoyed the food, but in this company, it tasted bland.

  “We have been investigating the attempts. The matter is difficult since none of your attackers were left alive.” Vuma’s voice had a hard edge to it and I didn’t need to smell him to know what he was hinting.

  “Forgive me for defending myself, Elder. Next time I’ll just let them kill me. Or would that fall too easily into the workings of your plans?”

  “Are you implying that I am behind the assassination attempts?” Outrage filled his sharp face.

  I smiled and speared another bite of the meat. None of the other elders were eating either. The air smelled of tension as they watched me, probably afraid I would fling Vuma across the room again. Perhaps he meant to provoke me with his comments.

  “My apologies, Elder Vuma. I meant no disrespect to you. Of course you are not behind the attempts to assassinate me.” I forced a smile to my face. I imagined my nails sliding into his eye sockets and the sensation of his skull shaking in my hands while he went through death twitches.

  “Oh.” He was caught off guard, they all were. He struggled to find his next words and I took pleasure in the change in my tactics. “There is no harm, Singleborn. Let us speak of something else.” He nodded and the rest of the elders relaxed. My father returned to his meal and the others followed his example.

  The second course was cleared and then the third course was laid out. My father indicated again that he wished to speak and we turned our attention to him.

  “There is another important matter we wish to discuss with you. In many ways it is actually more critical to our tribe than the subject of your offspring.” I gave a slight nod. I guessed that my father already knew that I had found out about his side project.

  “Before we speak of that; there was an earlier question, about your suitors, that you did not answer. You said that you would choose one from the current group, but you also indicated that you did not know whom you would breed with first.”

  “That is correct,” I replied

  “This complicates the matter of our next subject. We are allowing several members of competing tribes to live with us, and to have access to our most prized possession.” I felt my stomach harden when I realized he was referring to me as a possession. Of course I wasn’t considered a real Elven. I was just a tool, a way for them to gain more power, as my children would be.

  “Our neighbors are warlike and jealous of the resources of our tribe. They will do anything to take what is ours, by force if necessary. We have already seen what they are capable of in their attacks on you. You have only been with us for a few years, but your arrival did not create this mistrust. We have been battling the Ubarwa, Leitive, and Proticule since the time of our great grandparents. Perhaps even longer.”

  The rest of the elders nodded and he continued.

  “Protocol demands that we host their descendants here for your courtship. Protocol also indicates that this should be a time of peace between our four tribes. But the attempts on your life and the cattle raids that occurred in the last six months have made us question the sincerity of our neighboring tribes. They smile to our faces and then stab us in the back for just a few cattle.”

  The elders nodded again at his words. I knew of the raids on our cattle. They had resulted in a handful of Elven deaths. When I heard the news I guessed that Ubarwa was behind it. The more I studied the matter and spoke with Relyara, I considered that it may have been Proticule, since they had the most to gain from the attacks. My gentle inquiries with Alwor, Daranyet, Alatald, and Ilttaia had not gleaned me any information. The set of suitors and their matching female maidens were probably kept from the inner workings of their tribes while they were here.

  But I knew they were all reporting what they observed.

  “Do you wish me to dismiss them? It would probably increase tension between us.” I shrugged.

  “No. I’d prefer for you to select a suitor so we have one less challenge.”

  “As I said before, I am still considering. What does all this have to do with why you want to speak with me tonight?” I pulled the topic away from my selection and back to the real matter at hand.

  “What do you know about humans?” He leaned into his chair and sipped on his wine glass. For a second, a shock of fear went through me. He must have found out about Kaiyer. I quickly dismissed the idea and hoped that my scent had not revealed my fear. I had been careful in my dealings with the human so far and not even Relyara suspected anything.

  “Dumb, smelly, and practically useless. At least cattle give us beef for food and milk for cheese.” I smirked. I had once believed those words. Maybe I still did for all of them besides Kaiyer. He was the exception.

  “The humans do possess a rudimentary intelligence. They can be trained. I never had a problem with them in the house until you arrived and took offense to them.” He smiled and chuckled a bit in his chair.

  “I do have high standards,” I said and the elders laughed in agreement. I wondered, as I always did, at their motivations. Were they laughing because they feared me, or because they wished me to favor them and choose their offspring for mating? I knew it was not because they actually cared for me or found my comments amusing. The reek of deceit was thick in this room.

  “We’ve had a few skirmishes with our neighbors in the last two decades. In these battles, many Elven lives were lost. Lives of our children and descendants sacrificed to defend what is rightfully ours. Your arrival has granted a short reprieve to the violence, but it is no secret that Ubarwa wants what is ours and the other tribes would be glad for scraps of our carcass,” my father continued.

  “Aren’t we larger than Ubarwa? What do we have to fear from them?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear them give their reasons.

  “We own more cattle, and more farmland. They have more mines and a higher population. They are gold rich right now, and rumor is that they are training soldiers. They have also acquired some mercenaries, and been in lengthy negotiations with Leitive. Perhaps nothing will come of this, but we feel it is best to be prepared.” The elders nodded in agreement.

  “What if I choose Alwor for my mate?” I asked.

  “That might befuddle their plans a bit. The intention of your breeding would be to form an alliance with another tribe, but one of your first offspring is already promised to your mother’s family. If we gave Ubarwa the other, it could be seen as a sign of weakness, as if we were giving away our bloodline just to appease them. If you were to breed with Alwor for a second time, this could create a lengthy truce.”

  “Or, it would mean they need nothing more from us except for our land,” Gnella astutely pointed out from her seat next to me.

  “Your current delay in choosing a mate creates opportunities as well as frustrations for us. No one will act until you decide,” Vuma said. It was an angle I had not considered before this meeting. I had guessed that whoever was organizing attempts on my life was doing so to thwart the breeding process. Either out of jealousy for my father’s power, or because they realized their tribe would not benefit from my offspring. Vuma’s words made my mind scatter with possibilities. Anyone who wanted war between our tribes would want me dead as soon as possible to expedite the process.

  Or they might want me to choose a mate from my own tribe to erode any possibility of a truce.

  “It sounds like you wish me to delay in cho
osing.”

  “For now, yes. But this strategy cannot leave this room. We have to appear from all outside gossip to be angry at how long your decision is taking. All of my communication to your mother and our current dialogue has been to that effect.” I noticed that the servants were no longer in the room and had not been present since my father began to speak.

  “But keeping your suitors around creates complications the chieftain already hinted at. Earlier, your father asked your opinion about humans,” Dluuzit said. His words were careful and calculated. I had once thought him a fool, but his actions over the last few years gave me reason to believe that he was the smartest of the elders. “You answered truthfully, and your honesty reveals what most of our kind believes of the slave race. They are weak, dumb, and have very little use beyond simple work in houses and the fields.” The elders nodded at his words and the old Elven continued, “But they are loyal to their masters; they are terrified of punishment. Nonetheless, it is our duty to the Dead Gods to ensure that they are put to good use. What if they could serve as our defenders?”

  “I don’t see how. They are weak and slow. Most of them cannot even balance on their hands.” They were getting close to telling me what was actually happening in the training fields and I was going to continue to feign ignorance of their plans. They didn’t need to know I had eyes and ears everywhere in our land.

  “What if their strength could be enhanced? What if they could be trained to fight even better than our own kind?” he asked.

  “I wouldn’t believe it.”

  “We have found a way,” my father said.

  “How?”

  “Magic,” Dluuzit replied. “Ancient magic, that dates back to the time when the Dead Gods lived. We are able to infuse it into humans, and they were able to perform incredible feats of strength and speed. In some cases they are as strong as we are.”

  “I have never heard of such a thing. Where did you find such magic?” I knew they were experimenting on humans and giving them combat training, but Relyara had not learned of the magic from her network of observers.