The Destroyer Book 4

by Michael-Scott Earle

  “Malek was a backup plan.”

  “You are speaking nonsense again.” I felt no anger. Kaiyer seemed completely healthy and we followed him out of the cave into a massive campsite of the O’Baarni army.

  “Blood forms a bond. We only have so much power in this world. We have more with those we are bonded with.” Entas looked at me and then back to Kaiyer. “I’m using simple terms with you because you are an idiot.”

  “Fuck you.” The joy left my stomach and the anger came back in full force.

  “That would be dysfunctional. Do you want me to finish my explanation?”

  “Fine. But if I could kill you, I would have by now.”

  “I am helping, Singleborn.” He shrugged. “I should not have insulted you, but I grow frustrated as well. He was supposed to listen to me but he didn’t. He never does. You’ve always been the easy one.”

  “What are you talking about? Damn it, Entas!” I screamed and felt the tears begin to cascade down my cheeks. “Why won’t you just explain what is going on? You treat me like an idiot but I am only confused because you refuse to speak plainly. I just want my daughter to live. I want her to know her father. I will do whatever you ask, just help me.” The words burned as I spoke. It was humiliating asking this old, feeble human for help. But I meant every word.

  “I want them to meet as well. You might not believe this, but I want that to happen more than you do. I’ve been waiting an eternity for her.” He did not smile. “I can only do what I do and pray to your Gods for luck. You have more power than I. I will tell you what I can. I will explain what you can comprehend. If you do what I say and we are more than lucky, we may succeed. Are you willing to follow my instructions? Even if it means doing things that you may not understand?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Yes. But no other alternative will bring her back from the Radicle.”

  I stared at the man for a few moments. There was no hint of his characteristic humor. I did not understand human facial expressions well enough to gauge if he was being sincere. He smelled like Kaiyer and he smelled like Vaiarathe.

  And it seemed as if I had no other choice.

  “I will do as you say.”

  “Good.” He smiled again and bobbed his head. “Kaiyer has forgotten that he needs the Ovule. He forgot his daughter. He just wants to flee. We need to get him to the same world as Vaiarathe, at the correct Radicle, with her name on his lips.”

  “That sounds next to impossible.” I shook my head.

  “Nothing is impossible. Just more than a little difficult.”

  “You were telling me about the blood and why I needed Malek.”

  “Once you are bonded to someone, you can communicate with them in a subconscious state.” He scrunched up his mouth and looked thoughtful for a moment.

  “Through his dreams?”

  “Dreams are the easiest.”

  “I am bonded with Kaiyer.” I had tasted his blood.

  “You are. But his mind is too strong. Malek is all we have.” Entas walked out of the cave entrance and pointed below us. I followed his finger and saw Kaiyer, wearing a stolen uniform, riding a supply cart beside another human.

  “What about my sister?”

  “She is too far away from Kaiyer and Malek.”

  “But I can talk to her while she is sleeping?”

  “Yes.” He looked at me and raised a gray eyebrow.

  “The O’Baarni do not know how to operate the Radicles. Malek is the most educated among them and even he does not know about Ovules.”

  “Yes.” He somehow seemed to raise his eyebrow even higher; it looked ready to leap from his head.

  “Will Kaiyer continue to resurrect himself?”

  “I hope so.” He shrugged.

  I looked out over the army. I could taste the smoke of hundreds of campfires and hear the O’Baarni working like bees in a hive. All the little insects striving together toward a common goal. They followed their queen without question.

  “How is Shlara still alive?” I finally asked.

  “You of all people should understand that.” I turned to look at the man and for once I saw the flicker of fear in the eyes that were the same color as mine. I nodded at his confirmation and felt my own terror threaten to seize my body. I exhaled and then looked at the army again.

  “I have a plan,” I said to my new partner.

  Chapter 43-The O’Baarni

  They had all cursed me. Malek. Thayer. Alexia. Gorbanni.

  Shlara.

  They trusted me to lead them against an impossible evil. In the end, I brought them to the cusp of victory and then I betrayed them all.

  None of that mattered now.

  I floated with the islands.

  I danced with the white birds.

  I laughed like the water falling into the sky.

  And I forgot.

  I forgot the pain. I forgot my failures and my guilt. I forgot Kaiyer and Shlara and Iolarathe and everything else that ever mattered to me.

  I forgot my daughter.

  What is the moon but a reflection of the sun? Each day it hides and forgets the night that has passed. Why should I remember when all it brought me was pain?

  “Hi.” It was an old man, skin weathered by years, his face and stomach round and merry.

  “Hello,” I said back to him.

  “Don’t you have something to do?” He tilted his head and his mouth moved in the other direction.

  “No,” I replied.

  “Are you sure you are not forgetting?”

  “Who are you?” I asked him. He seemed familiar.

  “I’m your friend. Do you remember?” he asked. His face was kind and I felt tears come to my eyes.

  “I never said goodbye.” My voice choked. The tears were streaming down my cheeks now.

  “What you said while I lived means more than what you did not say while I died.”

  “I loved Shlara. I killed her, Entas.” The woman screamed in my memories and the white clouds around us darkened.

  He nodded his head. “You have been trying to forgive yourself. Was there anything else you were trying to do?”

  “I don’t want to do anything but be here with you.”

  “What about Iolarathe?” His words hammered into my chest and I gasped.

  “Is she here? I never said goodbye to her either.”

  “She is here. She wants to see you. But more than that, she wants you to meet your daughter.”

  I had a daughter with Iolarathe.

  “I need to find our daughter.”

  “Yes.” He sighed. “You do not belong here anymore.”

  “What about Iolarathe? What about you?”

  “We will be okay. We are friends now.”

  “I find that hard to believe.” I laughed and felt relief in the brief expression of joy. When was the last time I had laughed?

  “It is true. Will you return?”

  “How do I return? I don’t remember.”

  “You just have to decide that you no longer want to be here.” He rocked his head up and down.

  “I do want to be here.”

  “More than you want to find your daughter?”

  “No.”

  “Protect the Ovule. She will be our Savior.”

  I tried to speak again, but the world began to fade. Night fell upon the islands. The birds quieted, the sky darkened and the clouds and islands dissipated like evaporating mist. It was familiar. I realized I had been here before. This was not the first time, nor the second or third.

  I had been to this strange place thousands of times.

  Chapter 44-Kaiyer

  The bright sunlight faded into darkness and I blinked a few times to make sure that my eyes were actually opened. I looked around. Again I found myself on a stone dais, in almost complete darkness. This time, I was alone. I did not know how much time had passed, but I felt refreshed and ready as I rose. I had to find Nadea.

  Then the memories hit me like
a tail whip from a dragon.

  They could not kill me.

  I remembered Thayer driving his sword into my chest. I remembered Malek taking my head off with his sword. Gorbanni drove his lance through my chest. Then he cut me in two with his cavalry cleaver. Alexia killed me numerous times with her arrows and her blades.

  I would not stay dead.

  I heard their curses echo in my mind. I recalled the frustration in their eyes as they fought me. I was a sickness that never left them. I was a hell they could not escape.

  And I kept trying to get the Ovule.

  I understood, finally, why they had to exile me. I felt the pain I had caused them; the desperation they must have felt. They were forced to send me here, in exile, to keep me from returning. To keep themselves safe. To keep the humans they had fought to free safe from me.

  Memories tumbled through my mind with tears too painful to shed. They did not know why I wanted the Ovule, or even what it was or how it worked. Perhaps they feared I would use it to kill more of their people. They were not acting out of simple hate for me, but from fear and love. Love for the world they were building. The world I should have been building with them.

  “I am sorry, my friends,” I said to the empty salute of the Radicle beds. I had been more than cruel to those who loved me. I had believed any life was worth sacrificing if it meant I could recover my daughter from the Radicle. I still believed it.

  I should have told my friends the truth. I should have confessed my love for Iolarathe, told them of our child. They would have helped me. They would have understood. They would have forgiven me.

  The leather satchel lay at my feet. I did not remember how many months it had been since I left it there, but it seemed like lifetimes had passed. There were still many steps left to my journey and the unknown variable of Nadea. Did she know my daughter’s name?

  Would she even be willing to help me?

  I grabbed the satchel and felt comforted by the weight of the Ovule inside. I slung the straps over my shoulders and then walked down the flights of stairs to the exit of the spire that made up one of the support columns of Castle Nia.

  I had forgotten about the wurms before I used the Radicle, but they would not stop me from reaching Nadea or saving my daughter. My armor was gone, as were my familiar mace and shield. I had not even bothered to think of them when I first arrived here. I wondered if I could call them forth again. I would try later. Every moment I tarried here was one more my daughter waited, trapped in the stasis I had once endured.

  She had been stuck even longer than I had. My heart ached and I felt my jaw clench and my eyes blink back tears. I did not know the girl’s name, but I knew I loved her beyond anything I had ever loved before. I would not fail her. I would bring her here, hold her in my arms and tell her how much I loved her until the day that I died.

  I neither heard nor smelled the putrid wurms, though I felt little reassurance in this. The beasts were powerful and deadly enough to make prey of any man, woman or creature I had ever encountered on this world or any other.

  Save a dragon.

  I grabbed the ledge above me and I flipped up to the higher platform. Then I jumped across to the bridge system and carefully sneaked to the main pillar with stairs winding around its circumference. I remembered that the stairs led to the dungeons above these vast caverns.

  As I climbed the stairs that clung precariously to the sides of the giant pillar I began to consider where the creatures came from, why they were so horrid, and how they acquired sustenance. Perhaps I could return here some day and rid the place of their presence. I might need to do the same at Nadea’s keep. I had killed the remaining lizard monsters on the switchback leading up to the eastern fortress, but that did not mean that there were not more hiding deep in the pits of the mountain.

  My heart burned at the thought of meeting my daughter. I wanted this more than I had ever wanted anything in my many lifetimes. More than I had wanted to eradicate the Elvens. I wondered what she looked like, how old she would be, what she would think of me. Had Iolarathe told her of me? Would she be as excited to meet me as I was to meet her, or would she be fearful, or worse, angry that I had not rescued her sooner? That I had not saved her mother? That I had destroyed the Elven people? That I had betrayed the humans? She was both human and Elven; both races had reasons to despise me.

  If I had never met Iolarathe, our daughter never would have existed. My life would have been so different. Such a simple choice on her part led to the creation of an entirely new world. A new life of freedom for millions. Death for millions more. She had created everything by loving me. For it had always been her choice, I was a helpless slave against her limitless power. I led the war, but she set me in motion. Without her I never would have felt a rage strong enough to drive me to lead a revolution.

  If there was an afterlife as Jessmei described, perhaps Leotol and Kai looked upon me and knew what I had done with the life they had been denied. Leotol would have been proud. He would have fit right into my army, becoming best friends with Malek, falling in love with Alexia’s cool aloofness. He was strong and loyal; he would have been a great general.

  Our father was a steadfast, simple man, devoted to his work. He never spoke of freedom or yearned for change. He rose and worked every day as he was required, seemingly satisfied and accepting of his fate. Was that because he truly did not care, or because he did not want to give a hope to his sons that he knew they would never live to see? Yearning for something you can never have is more painful than accepting something you do not truly want.

  Did they deem my actions noble and applaud the freedom I had granted our people? Or did they think my crimes were as horrendous and unforgiveable as I knew they were?

  It did not matter now. All that mattered was rescuing my daughter.

  At the top of the stairs sat the familiar gate that divided this ancient place from the younger dungeon. I had left the rusted iron portal closed, there had been no lock then, but now a shiny new padlock was firmly in place.

  The lock broke easily in my hand and I cautiously unhinged the latch. I did my best to go through the gate without causing the rusted hinges to screech in protest. I was partially successful, and while there was a bit of a yelp from the metal, no one in the castle would hear it, unless they expected my arrival.

  Of course, it was possible that they were expecting my arrival.

  Telaxthe was cunning. I had not been able to surprise her, yet she had continued to surprise me. I believed Turnia had defeated the empress and was shocked when she revealed her plan to overtake the O’Baarni clan leader. It was as if she anticipated all the possible negative outcomes of any situation and planned for them accordingly. I had done the same as the general of my army. It was a wise course of action when facing an enemy intent on destroying you and your entire race.

  Telaxthe may have alerted her generals to the possibility that I would escape here, seeking Jessmei and Nadea. They would be heavily guarded.

  The dungeons were a simple maze. Corridors formed a horizontal ladder of cells. At the end of each level, a set of spiraling stairs led up to the top floor of the dungeons. There, stairs led out to the castle courtyard. I was in the lowest level. The only light came from the very distant glow of the Radicle beneath me. I doubted any human or Elven could discern the soft violet light, but my eyes were strong and had adjusted to the near darkness enough that I could use the dim light to guide me.

  It grew ever more faint as I ascended, so I produced a tiny flame in the palm of my hand. While I walked I listened for any signs of life on this floor or the ones above me. I heard nothing, not even the scurry of rats, and no torches were lit, nor had they been in some time.

  When I reached the highest floor of the dungeon, I expected to finally see torches blazing, perhaps even a prisoner or two, or at least hear rats and insects skittering over corpses away from my light and motion. But there was nothing here. The cells had all been meticulously cleaned, I caught no li
ngering scent of mold, blood, or feces.

  The door to the courtyard was closed. I stopped and listened. I did not know the time of day. When I had left the other Radicle, it was still lit with midday sun. How long did the journey take?

  There were sounds on the other side of the door. Horses, carriages, men and women conversing. I stretched my sense of hearing, but there was little to the conversations that I could use to assist me in my plan of entering the castle. These were simple servants and guards chatting about nothing of importance. I waited for a lull in the conversation and then pushed open the door, emerging into the bright afternoon sun. I hoped this meant I had not been too long in the Radicle. The sun was only a little lower than it had been when I left. It took me a moment before I could lower my hand from my eyes and stare in wonderment.

  The castle shone in the sun like gold.

  Every surface was immaculate, reflecting the sun as a mirror. Hundreds of beautiful green banners hung from the ramparts and fluttered lazily in the warm breeze. I was overwhelmed by the scent of roses, fruit, and fresh earth from the garden.

  Dozens of servants and guards hustled through the courtyard on various errands. A few gave me a sidelong glance and then changed their path to give me a wider berth. It was almost laughable, as the courtyard was many hundreds of yards in width and much more in length. I was not close to any of them, but they were afraid.

  Something was wrong.

  My stomach flipped a few times and I began to walk toward a side entrance. I was getting too many wary glances from the people and my brain was starting to agree with my gut. This had happened before.

  “Paug?” A voice cut through my confusion and panic. The voice belonged to a young woman. She was dressed in the servant livery and carrying a basket of freshly baked bread. Her dark hair fell down past her shoulders in a chocolate wave. The woman was very pretty and the plainness of her uniform did little to hide her beauty.

  “Paug?” the woman asked me again and I realized that I recognized her from somewhere. I never forgot a name, but her face did not match the last memory I had of the girl.