The Destroyer Book 3

by Michael-Scott Earle

  Then there was the empress.

  Who looked almost exactly like Nadea.

  “The O’Baarni,” Vernine announced as we approached. I tried to hide my shock. She was the same. The shape of her face, her cheekbones, her eyebrows. The curve and color of her lips, the way she held her head. It was unnerving. As we grew closer I saw that there were some slight differences between the Elven and Nadea. Nadea’s eyes were brown and the empress’s were amber and the exaggerated almond shape of Elvens. Nadea’s hair was a darker brown than her eyes, while the empress’s hair shone a light, reflective bronze. And of course the empress’s ears extended up through her hair and almost reached the top of her skull. Despite these differences, I was certain that this woman was Nadea’s mother.

  "You were wrong, Vernine. He recognizes my sister." The woman seated next to the empress had skin and hair the color of snow and looked immediately familiar. I turned my attention to her and searched my memory for anywhere I could have met her but came up without an answer. Her eyes were startling against her white skin, deep black onyx, the iris as black as the pupil. Her left eyebrow arched in puzzlement when I glanced at her. There were two other women seated between the empress and Alatorict: one with braided green hair the color of jade and matching eyes, and the other with onyx hair and eyes the color of sapphires. At the end of the semi-circle on my right was a male Elven with dull reddish hair.

  "Please sit down, O'Baarni," Alatorict said in his pleasant timbre. I turned to him briefly and tried not to let any emotion show. The pillow was made of feathers and wrapped in a satin that felt more luxurious than even the silk clothes I wore. Once I arranged my knees underneath me I turned my attention back to the empress and met her eyes.

  She wore a cream-colored robe accented with green and gold embroidered vines, flowers, roots and birds. The tailoring and detail were exquisite. I could only recall seeing finer garments in my memories, when we ransacked the homes of conquered Elvens. At her side lay a curved short sword, the hilt and scabbard matched the design in her robe and I assumed the blade was a work of art as well.

  There was silence in the tent while we studied each other. The strange but pleasant scent I had been trying to identify when I first walked into the pavilion still lingered. I realized I had lost track of how long I stared at empress. Isslata had to have seen the resemblance to Nadea. I wondered why she had not said anything or brought Nadea here to the empress.

  The generals sat as still and serene as the empress and I, but the guards began to fidget as the minutes passed. Finally, I saw Alatorict raise his hand from the edge of my vision and Elven servants entered from behind the empress carrying trays. They moved quickly to each of the seated Elvens and laid out a large wooden platter loaded with pewter plates of breakfast foods: Smoked fish rested on a bed of multicolored rice, poached eggs in a bowl of salted chicken broth, and a cucumber and strawberry salad coated in a fragrant pepper vinegar. Finally, a small cup of tea that smelled of pine and a large glass of wine were placed in front of me.

  "Please eat, O'Baarni. The empress's cooks prepared this meal especially for you." Alatorict used a pair of thin wooden sticks to pinch a piece of fish, which he scooped into the bed of multicolored rice, and then placed in his mouth. The empress followed Alatorict's example with a bite of the fruit and the rest of her generals began to consume their breakfast. I studied the empress's grip on the wooden sticks and grasped mine in the same manner. The first bite was a bit clumsy, but the fish tasted even better than it smelled, with just the right amount of smoke and salt mixed in with the flesh.

  "Does this meal please you?" Alatorict asked after I took a few more bites and washed it down with a sip of the wine. The liquid was an odd mixture of grape and plum. Bitter and sweet.

  I shrugged my shoulders and glanced back at the white-haired Elven that sat on the empress's left. She smirked at my attention and then turned to one of the other general's as she spoke in the language I remembered.

  "He doesn't look like much. Certainly not a great warrior." The red-haired male grunted. His hair was not a bright red, but more the color of desert rock. The hair seemed to have a sticky oil in it that made it stand up. He was stout for an Elven and I noticed thick coiled muscles underneath the crimson tunic he wore.

  "Looks can deceive," said the woman to the empress's right. Her onyx hair was loose like the empress's and slid down her back like an ink stain. Her glowing sapphire eyes gave a stark contrast to her hair and pale skin. The robe she wore was simpler than the empress's, it was a light shade of teal with trim reminiscent of sea shells. "I prefer our better sense." She licked her lips slowly and eyed me with interest. "He smells as Vernine described." I turned to look at Vernine. She stood behind me with her arms crossed. Her face was expressionless, but she made eye contact briefly with me when I glanced at her.

  "You understand our language." It was Nadea's voice, only it came from the empress. The other generals stopped their leisurely meal and stared at me in astonishment. I made contact with the empress's honey eyes and could not keep myself from smirking. I had made a mistake by looking at Vernine.

  "The accent is strange, some words are different, but I get the sense of it," I said to her in our old tongue. The empress's eyes narrowed and she leaned back slightly.

  "Perhaps your accent is the strange one, O'Baarni. How did you learn our tongue?" She reached down and picked up a portion of egg with her wooden sticks. Her eyes didn't leave my face, and I was reminded again of Nadea's mannerisms.

  "Where I come from, everyone spoke it." My mouth felt a little strange forming the words. I hadn't actually spoken the language since Paug taught me his.

  "Where do you come from?" The empress finally smiled, and I wanted to scream at the similarity between her and Nadea.

  "I was born in a stable. My father was a blacksmith." I shrugged and tore my eyes away from her to focus on my food.

  "Alatorict had mentioned that you were not forthcoming with information. Perhaps you will be more open with me?" She smiled again, and I tried to keep my eyes off her mouth.

  "What do you want from me?"

  "I want to get to know you better." She held out her empty cup to the air and a servant almost instantly appeared to fill it with tea.

  "I find that hard to believe. If I called you a liar would it piss off your lap dogs?" I looked at the male with the spiked red hair. He frowned slightly but didn't seem offended.

  "What would make you think I am lying?" She tilted her head sideways a bit like a confused animal. The movement made her bronze hair fall off one of her shoulders like a wave of water. Something strange was happening. It felt like magic, but I couldn't identify what kind the empress used. I didn't feel my usual anger and disgust in their presence. Perhaps it was her resemblance to Nadea?

  "A few of your warriors attempted to kill me in this city about ten months ago. It doesn't seem as if you would order that if you wanted to know me better."

  "I can see why you would feel that way. But I did learn something about you, didn't I?" she smiled slightly again and her generals grinned to match her, save the woman with the white hair. She didn't seem to pay attention to the conversation; she was looking at my hands.

  "You learned I could kill your brood easily. Did you expect any different?" I finished my meal and pushed my plate away. The food had been delicious and I could have eaten another eight courses without feeling full.

  "What name were you given O'Baarni?" She changed the subject.

  "I believe you already know that." I snorted and looked over at Alatorict. He shook his head.

  "I am interested in that name." She took a small bite of an egg and then slowly chewed. Finally, she swallowed and reached for her glass of wine. "I am somewhat of a historian on the Destroyer. Call it a hobby if you will. Can you guess why?" she smiled at me again and I suddenly thought about fucking her. She looked too much like Nadea.

  "I don't care for games, Elven. Make your point and then tell me what you want
from me." I felt my stomach tighten as the words left my mouth. I was walking a thin tightrope and insulting her might tempt her to do something rash.

  But if she wanted to kill me she would have done so by now. She needed me for something.

  "The Destroyer raised an army from nothing and conquered Green Solo against a superior force. I believed that there was much to learn from him, how he trained, battled, thought, and loved. I wasn't the leader of our people back then, but I knew someday I would either free us or assist the one who would. I needed to know how he was so successful."

  "What is Green Solo?" I couldn't remember any mention of it in my memories.

  "It is the world on which the Destroyer was born. It is the nexus of the Radicle and where the O'Baarni Games are held every ten years." She stopped speaking and studied me for a few seconds. Or maybe she was waiting for me to respond to her statement. I thought about my memories and the single moon, it was large and light green. The name was fitting.

  "So you studied the Destroyer, learned how he built and army, somehow won the O'Baarni Games, begged for this world, and got here." I filled in the story I had put together from speaking to Alatorict, Isslata, and Vernine. "But I was already here, which angered you. So you tried to have me killed, but failed. Suddenly you changed your plan and decided you wanted to get to know me better. I don't believe you." I picked up the glass of wine and drained the rest instead of looking at her.

  "How did you get to this world?" she said with another smile. In this way she differed from Nadea, who would have tried to punch anyone in the face who had indirectly called her a liar. I still could not shake the feeling in my head. I was attracted to the empress. I inhaled deeply and picked up the scent of her skin and hair from across the floor. Her smell mixed with the lavender, the food, the wine, and the building sexual needs I had not extinguished since I fucked Vernine and Isslata many months ago.

  "Probably the same way you did. But I do not remember." I held my glass out to one of the servants and he quickly filled it with a wine bottle. The man moved with such fluid grace and speed that I guessed serving was not his main role in the army. Concentrating on him pushed the images of ravishing the empress out of my mind, briefly.

  "I like the scar on your hand." The woman with the white hair spoke suddenly. "It is very fitting. I can tell you did your research on the Destroyer." The empress nodded, and I felt attention in the room shift to my scarred left hand.

  "There have been a few of your kind that have pretended to be a rebirth of the Destroyer. Sometimes they even get a small following before the other clans eliminate them. I've studied most of them and spoken to my generals about them often. Most of these men get small details wrong. The scar on the hand is often overlooked. How did you acquire it?" The empress flicked out her left hand while she spoke and the servant replaced my plate of food with another.

  "I pulled off the gauntlet of my armor to rip the Elements out of a dragon, and then another one breathed fire on me. It was painless at the time, but I wasn't quite myself at that point." I couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of this situation.

  "Very interesting. What happened after you were burned?" The empress smiled in what I assumed was mock interest.

  "The last dragon got away. I jumped on her talon but slipped off and fell to my death." I felt sick, and I screamed at myself to relax. I could not faint right now, or have another memory, or do anything fucking stupid that would get me killed.

  "If you died, how are you still here?" the man with the red hair asked spitefully.

  "He is humoring us," the woman with the onyx hair said.

  "He is not," the woman with the jade hair and eyes whispered with conviction, and the others turned to look at her. "What happened after you died?"

  "I came back to life. Then I wandered the world looking for someone." I smiled at how odd the it sounded. They were trying to check their legends with my own past, but the truth was often more fantastic than the stories historians crafted to explain impossible events.

  "Did you ever find that person?" the jade-haired woman asked.

  "I don't remember." I nonchalantly put more of the smoked fish and rice in my mouth. If anything, this second helping tasted more delicious than the first.

  "Perhaps this person wasn't important then?" the empress asked.

  I shrugged and focused my attention on the food. The Elvens were still working on their meals. I would be able to clear three more plates before they finished.

  "Alatorict has asked you about your clan and told me you were not forthcoming. I must admit that your behavior has kept us guessing. Can you tell me which clan you are from?" The empress smiled at me again and I felt the nausea in my stomach fade. Why was she so likeable? Was it her similarity to Nadea or something else? Something that garnered the reverence of all her people?

  "Does it matter?" I looked at the white-haired Elven and tried again to remember where I had seen her before.

  "It does. We have better dealings with some clans as opposed to others," the onyx-haired woman answered for the empress.

  "I do not have a clan. All I know of them Alatorict and Isslata have told me."

  "You have no loyalties?" The empress raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

  "I am loyal to humans. I remember the past atrocities your kind inflicted upon us." They were silent to my response, and I took the opportunity to finish the rest of my meal.

  "Tell us your name, O'Baarni," the woman with the white hair demanded.

  "What is yours?" I spit back.

  "I am Fehalda. General of the empress's Black Army." She looked around at the other generals before speaking again. "The O'Baarni has a point. We didn't introduce ourselves to him." She smiled strangely, and the other gathered Elvens matched her grin. I realized I must have said something they found even stranger than my other statements.

  "You know me." Alatorict smiled.

  "I am Yillomar. The Hatchet. General of the Red Army," the man with the red hair said with pride.

  "Jayita. General of the Teal Army." The woman with the onyx hair nodded to me.

  "Dissonti of the Brown Army," the woman with the jade hair and eyes said. They all seem to be gauging my reaction to their names. Should I have known who they are?

  "I am Telaxthe," the empress said at last. "Can you tell us your name and title?" She smiled in amusement and I suddenly thought about kissing her red lips.

  "Kaiyer. Son of Kai." I gritted my teeth and forced the empress out of my head. I expected them to cringe as Vernine and Isslata had. But the generals didn't seem to mind me voicing my name.

  "Do you have a title or station?" Jayita asked.

  "I am pretending to be the Destroyer. So I'll use that title." I couldn't help but smile and I felt the atmosphere in the room lighten a bit.

  "No," Dissonti breathed from her seat next to Alatorict. The other generals turned to look at her again and I noticed Yillomar's face twitch with emotion. He seemed to be the weakest and my mind spun plans to antagonize him.

  "Call me a stable boy then. I grew up as one."

  "You are quite convincing. Perhaps it is good that you are here and not on Green Solo. For your own safety," the empress smiled again, but her eyes focused on Dissonti.

  "Why is that?" I couldn't help but wonder out loud.

  "As I mentioned before, the clans would kill you for using the name and pretending to be the Destroyer. They have done an excellent job of keeping his legend hidden on all of the worlds."

  "But you are an expert?" I tried to say it sarcastically, but the words twisted in my mouth and came out sincerely. I needed to leave. My head was hurting as if I had a bad hangover. It was the telling sign that I might have another fainting spell. I took a few slow, deep breaths to steady myself but it only made my headache worsen.

  "It was not an easy task. But you also seem very educated on the topic." Telaxthe looked at me and then brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her left eye. "Perhaps you can give me s
ome interesting perspective on Kaiyer, since you believe you are him." The other generals smiled in excitement.

  "You don’t really want to know me better."

  "What Elven tribe did you belong to? This is something the histories are unclear about and I have always wondered."

  "Why do I like you so much?" My head was throbbing as if it was a drum full of water on a bumpy ox cart.

  "What do you mean, Kaiyer?" Her lips pouted and I felt my arousal building.

  "Is this magic?" I nearly spat the words on the wood floor of the pavilion.

  "Perhaps it is." Her smile turned into a smirk and I knew I was correct. She had some sort of power over my emotions. My head was spinning now.

  "You were going to tell me which tribe you were born into." She motioned for the servants to bring her another cup of tea by raising her glass.

  "The tribe was called Laxile." I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. I didn't want to tell her anymore, but I felt compelled to do whatever she wanted. Her scent filled my nose now and I could hardly hear over the pounding in my head.

  "That is what I guessed you would say. It makes the ending to his legacy all the more ironic." I felt my vision swimming. I couldn't seem to smell or taste anything but Telaxthe. I wanted to devour her. I needed her. I would do anything to have her.

  Voices filled my head. I recognized Entas, Shlara, Thayer, Malek, and Alexia. But I also heard Iolarathe. They were screaming, but it sounded so far away.

  Then I realized what I needed to do.

  The Earth constantly flowed through my body like blood. It enhanced everything about my perceptions. I was impossibly strong and fast, but I could also hear a mouse's heartbeat from a hundred yards away and be able to see the same mouse from half a mile away. The same powers applied to my sense of smell and taste since they were both closely connected. I twisted the Earth and did something I hadn't done since Greykin, Danor, and I made our trek through the sewers of Nia.