He felt her nod. “I’m scared.”
“Me too,” he said.
“I’ll miss you when you leave us,” she said after they had been silent for a time.
He opened his mouth to refute the strange and sudden statement, but couldn’t form the words.
“It’s all right. I know you have to,” she said.
“I don’t think I know what I’m doing any more than you do.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“And what’s that?”
She sat up and put a hand on his chest. “We’re building a new world. Just like Hilaros wanted. Something better. Something with more love in it, no matter the danger.”
He was taken aback. It wasn’t her words that surprised him, but the firmness with how she said them. The look in her strangely colored eyes was one of utter certainty. Tannyl thought he could feel waves of power coming from her body. He shuddered.
“How do you know that?”
Suddenly, the look vanished and her whole body seemed to deflate. The luster in her eyes dulled and her hand fell to her side. “Know what?” she asked.
“That you’re meant to change the world?”
Adelaide’s face contorted and she looked slowly about her. Her eyes rested on Hilaros. Tannyl could see her eyes widen. “Is that the All-Mother?”
Tannyl grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. He studied her face and saw nothing of what had been there a moment prior. The face that stared back was one of a sixteen-year-old girl, and the wonder plastered on her face was that of a child.
She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his chest, squeezing tightly. “I love you, Tannyl,” she said. “And I don’t care what you think.”
His heart was pounding again, but he squeezed her tighter. “I love you too, Addy.”
She giggled and wriggled into him. “Really?”
“Yes,” he said, trying to hide the tremor in his voice. It was true. Whatever she was, Tannyl loved her, but not because he wanted to. He loved her because, in that moment, he knew she needed him to.
Chapter Forty-Six
MAIRA IMMEDIATELY TRANSITIONED into a body of rage. She flipped her bed with a single hand and sent a large portion of the outer wall spinning into the Shadows. She didn’t stop until her mind had completely reformed, banishing the memories and restoring her tenuous control.
She sucked at the air, and found she could not stop her hands from shaking. How dare he reject her? After all she had done, the elf had taken her life as opposed to his. He had journeyed to that wicked place, destined to die, but when given the opportunity to make his death count for something, he balked. The coward! The fool!
Wife.
Maira cursed and wrung her hands, trying to still them. She was not in a mood to stand before her impotent god and husband. She needed to return to the surface. She needed to find Tannyl and destroy him. Of course, she would need to kill the others first. Despite what it seemed, she knew Tannyl cared for them. His death could wait for a bit of punishment. No one rejected her.
Wife. Come to me.
She curled her hands into fists at her side and forced her breathing to slow. She kicked down her chamber door, releasing the last bit of her rage. She unclenched her hands, saw them still, and stepped into the shadows. The brief journey to the throne room calmed her further, and as she stepped through the archway, her mask was back in place. Head high and shoulders back, she strode to the dais with purpose.
She didn’t bother bowing. “I wish to kill the Chosen. And the girl. Let us end this foolish game of yours.”
I am prepared to grant you that wish. Except as it concerns the girl with red hair.
Maira knelt and pressed her forehead to the obsidian steps. She hadn’t expected such acquiescence. Suddenly she was ashamed at her haughty entrance.
“Thank you, Husband. But what of the girl?”
You will bring her to me.
Maira stood and combed her fingers through her hair. “I don’t understand. You wish for the girl, but forbid me kill her?”
Yes.
She stared at the shadowy elf strung up by ethereal chains. His face was a constant swirl of black mist, though she had no doubt it would be just as unreadable no matter the circumstance.
“Husband…”
“You must bring the girl to the Shadows,” Vyncis said. Maira started. She hadn’t even noticed the armored man standing beside her husband. “Alive.”
The general’s hard eyes shone, and the edges of his mouth curled ever so slightly. Maira hissed internally. He understood what she did not. That would have to be remedied. She forced her eyes back to Him, fearing her simmering anger would boil over should she focus on Vyncis Gewralt any longer. Her mouth was silent, but her mind pleaded for an explanation.
He shifted, pulling at His chains, and then relaxed, letting His full weight hang from the limitless tethers.
She cannot be killed. She is the one the Guardians call Ta’Nyah.
Her eyes narrowed.
It is Gods’ tongue. It means ‘The Daughter.’
“She is their child?”
Vyncis shifted just enough for his armor to clink on the black glass of the dais. She didn’t dare look at him. Even so, her hands curled into claws.
She will be, yes. They seek to use her to change what has always been and always will be. She has already consumed Eros and Hilaros. She has even fed on Miseo, though not enough to destroy her. If she should reach the others while I am still in mortal form…
His form was an enigma, but the tone of the thoughts He threaded into her mind showed His true emotion. It unsettled her.
“Dear husband, allow me to end her false life and restore your peace of mind. She cannot haunt us from the grave.”
NO!
The force of the thought exploded within her mind and sent her sprawling to the black glass, clutching her head. She couldn’t hear him, but something told her that Vyncis was relishing in seeing her struck down. Violence burned within her soul.
You must bring her to me, alive, so that I may draw on her power. I will use their pet against them. Never again will the Guardians dare interfere with the nature of this world.
Maira found her balance and stood. Her ears still rung, and her vision swam. “Yes, Husband. It shall be as you wish.”
Good. Now, go to Shahdo. The foolish dwarves have nearly reached the Gateway. See that they are replaced, and prepare for the girl’s capture.
She nodded, though she still lacked full understanding. She knew better than to argue. The path would present itself as she went. And while she would have loved to watch the Chosen witness their precious charge butchered, having been granted permission to kill them would be enough. She smiled. She would save Tannyl for last. The thought of his suffering sent a charge throughout her body and made her muscles twitch with anticipation. She stifled a moan.
Vyncis cleared his throat. She shot him a look that she hoped would slay him where he stood. He matched the look and crossed his meaty arms.
The Emperor will command my army from Shahdo once you have seen to the transition.
Vyncis smiled. She regretted ever having underestimated the man. Guile was not something he lacked as much as she had hoped.
“Of course,” she said through gritted teeth. “Your will be done.”
A thread from Him snaked into her mind, far softer than usual. It was only for her. Do not despair, my love. The time is nearly upon us. The Guardians’ presence will only accelerate my rise, and once I have Ta’Nyah it will be complete. Alfuria will become a wasteland and you shall rule over it as it crumbles to dust.
She took comfort in the words and responded in kind, opening her mind so that there would be no mistake in what she thought.
Bring me the girl and you shall have your son. He will stand beside you in glory.
She channeled her sorrow into focused rage and nodded. “Your will be done,” she repeated.
Ignoring Vyncis, she swept fr
om the room with all haste. She crumpled against the nearest wall. She made no effort to restrain the tears that wet her cheeks. It was foolish to think the memories could ever be killed. Tannyl had forced a wedge between what she remembered and what she strove to forget. There was no true escape. No solace. She hugged her knees and trembled.
Soon, she thought. My dear, sweet Evendur. Soon.
Lilacoris was at the helm when every emotion in her body was wrenched from her soul. Pain rushed in and brought her to her knees. The rest of the crew felt it as well, though not as acutely. The Council members at her sides recovered first and rushed to help her to her feet. She allowed them to hold her upright. Her legs could not bear the weight.
The moment she had always dreaded was here. She knew it for the certainty that it was, but wished it false with every fiber of her being. She was empty. Her senses continued to function, but nothing reached her mind. She was alone, barren, and forever changed.
She gasped as the collective emotions of the Fae filled the void. They nearly overwhelmed her, but that was to be expected as well. Sorrow and rage were dominant, hers chief among the totality of the Fae.
“High Watcher?” Nyx, Queen of the Underground, said softly. The arachnid held her right shoulder with a spindly arm.
“Lilacoris?” Pliratis asked from her left side. His mandibles clacked nervously.
She sensed their minds with all the ease of breathing. Was this the burden that Hilaros carried for so long? Her fall into madness was no longer a mystery. It was a certainty.
She spoke, knowing that the others could not form the words. “Hilaros is dead.”
They knew it to be just as true as she did, but doubt still pulsed within their minds. No, not doubt. Hope.
She took a deep breath, drawing in the collective, taking strength from every Fae that lived or had ever lived. Pliratis and Nyx stood back and allowed her to stand on her own. She felt taller than before. Sorrow swirled within her own mind, but she held it back. It would not benefit her people. She brought forth her hatred and rage. She closed her eyes and sent it along the magic with a single, forceful blast. It took seed in the Fae almost immediately.
She turned to the Council. They stood at her back, enraged, but restrained. They all nodded in unison.
“All-Mother.”
She bowed deeply, lending them courage. “The Outsyders will be punished for what they have done.”
Wicked smiles spawned from their faces. She could taste their hunger for vengeance. Her hunger. She closed her eyes once more and joined with the minds of the Fae Wyld. Her rage only grew. The Shadowed had destroyed Paladrix completely. They had also invaded the Forest, Desert, and Underground. And she sensed their presence nearing the Artic Realm as well. It would not be long before the Fae Wyld collapsed. Lilacoris possessed Hilaros’s link with her creation, but she had none of her predecessor’s power. Even without the threat of the Shadowed, it wouldn’t last. It couldn’t. Not without its progenitor.
Her thoughts flew fast and frantic. Prepare, my children. We cannot stay here, but Alfuria remains ripe for our taking.
The Council received the same string of commands that every other Fae had, but there were things that the collective did not need to feel.
“General,” she said. Pliratis bowed and clasped his four hands together in obedience. “The Outsyders will return to Alfuria through our forest in the north. Find them.”
He clacked eagerly, his bloodlust apparent even without her presence in his mind. “Yes. All-Mother. It would. Be my pleasure.”
She turned back to the helm of her ship and changed their bearing. Their retreat had become an advance. She could sense the collective, and it pleased her.
I once feared you, Fae’Ta’Nyl, she thought. But now I control the entire collective. We will take your world and your life. Restitution shall be taken from your very soul. Piece by bloody piece.
The Fae moved as a single mind, for that was what they were. A single terrifying mind fueled now by rage. Her rage.
Menis sealed the missive with the orcan sigil of scholars and set it aside with a sigh. Sitting back on his heels, the orc chieftain shut his eyes and tried to dismiss all of what he knew. Knowledge was a burden, and one that his mortal mind was still struggling with. He hated nothing more than the restrictions imposed by his physical body. It was far more limited than he had ever dreamed.
He focused on the steady beat of his heart, wondering at the nature of such a thing, until his mind seemed his own once more. He opened his eyes and whistled sharply.
The flap of his tent immediately swung aside and admitted an aged orc. A long beard of gray covered his bare chest and nearly reached his waist. Though stooped, the elder moved with a precise authority that Menis had grown to love.
“Chieftain,” he said with a subtle nod.
Menis nodded in return and gestured to the opposite side of the furred rug he knelt upon. “Please, Grawmir, my old friend, sit.”
It pained Menis to see his friend labor so just to kneel before him, but the old orc made no indication that he felt the same. Settled, he seemed more at ease.
Grawmir’s eyes went to the sealed letter in front of Menis. The chieftain had to smile. “You always know what I wish before I ask it,” he said.
Grawmir looked up at Menis and shook his head. “I am sorry, Chieftain, I did not mean to assume.”
Menis sat between his heels, enjoying the stretch in his legs, and made a show of unbuckling the sash from across his chest. He tossed it aside and spread his arms. “Please, dispel the formalities. How long have we known each other?”
Grawmir sat lower, sliding between his heels as well. “Since your beginning.”
“Just so. Can we not speak as friends?”
“Of course.”
Menis nodded and picked up the letter. “As I’m sure you know, this needs to be sent ahead to Frostelle.”
“Are we to continue our march south?”
“Yes. Hilaros falling changes nothing as far as the Horde is concerned. If Frostelle needs our assistance, then we will give it.”
Grawmir ran fingers through his beard. “Then you are certain? Hilaros is dead?”
Menis winced, but collected his thoughts and nodded. “She was my Other.”
“I am sorry.”
Menis waved the pity away. “She knew the cost. And it was her that began all of this, though I cannot truly begrudge her. Though I am now destined to die just as the others, I have never felt more alive.”
“You don’t know that.”
Menis shrugged. “It matters not. Whatever time I have here shall be spent correcting her mistake. And taking what is ours.”
“And those that killed her?”
Menis smiled. “I shall do to them the same kindness.”
Grawmir grinned, looking like a child wetting his blade on an enemy’s blood for the first time. “Good. I had thought you lost your vision for a moment.”
“No. Losing Hilaros may have swayed me for a moment, but still our directive remains the same.”
“The Horde will be pleased.”
“As they should be. Too long have we held to the northern border. And for what? Surely, the Empire is not nearly as terrible as we are. More numerous, certainly, but they are without our mysticism.” Menis set the letter before Grawmir and conjured a small flame in his left hand. Lightning danced between the fingers of his right.
“They will surely fall.”
Menis dismissed the magic and nodded to the sealed letter. “See that it arrives ahead of us. Frostelle will need to prepare as well if she wants our knowledge.”
“Do you think she suspects your true motivation?”
Menis laughed. “Please. She may claim to have orcan blood in her veins, but she is more human than she’d like to admit. And there is no dimmer race. No, she trusts us to come save her from the Fae, just as I said we would.”
“And if Miseo should respond herself?”
Menis jabbed a fing
er at Grawmir. “Do not speak of that one, old friend. She does not deserve even a thought from the Horde.”
“My apologies, Chieftain, but you would have me entertain all possible outcomes.”
Menis sighed. “You are right, of course.”
Grawmir picked up the letter and stood, careful not to show the obvious discomfort the action caused. “Is there anything else, friend?”
“No,” Menis said. “Go with the Horde, old friend, and may you find glory in the ultimate knowledge.”
Grawmir returned the blessing and left.
Alone once more, Menis shut his eyes and massaged his temples. Hilaros had begun this and now she was gone, destroyed by the very mortals she sought to live among. He would not make the same mistake. There was no love in his heart, and he would destroy all that opposed his Horde. The world would be his in the end, and then he could do as he saw fit. It was an opportunity he never would have taken on his own, so for that he was grateful to his fallen Other.
“There is no use thinking on that any longer,” he whispered aloud. It helped center his thoughts.
He opened his eyes and pulled a thickly bound tome in front of his knees. He pulled the aged pages apart and leaned forward, quickly losing himself in the script. Let the barbaric humans and foolish Fae beat at each other with blunt objects until bloody and broken both. It would make the rise of the Horde all the easier.
Chapter Forty-Seven
SACHIHIRO OPENED HIS eyes for what felt like the first time. It took even longer to remember where he was or even who he was. Seeing Adelaide sitting next to Tannyl was enough to jar him fully awake, however.
He rubbed the back of his neck and stretched. Every muscle groaned, but nothing hurt quite as badly as it had. Tannyl looked up from the arrow he was fletching, but didn’t say anything. Adelaide jumped off the crate, dropped a handful of feathers, and ran at him. He was nearly bowled over by the embrace. She was much larger than she had been, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one who would need to get used to it.
“Oh, you’re alive,” she exclaimed.
The Girl With Red Hair (The Last War Saga Book 1) Page 30