The Destroyer Book 3

by Michael-Scott Earle

  I missed him. His smile, his laugh, his voice, and the moments we had shared in each other's arms after we made love. I felt my eyes begin to water, and I fought back the hopelessness that matched the gathering of the dark clouds in the sky. Chances were that we would never see each other again, let alone share our love and raise the family I wanted.

  It wasn't just him that I missed. I missed my father, Greykin, Nadea, my handmaidens, even my brother had been such an important part of my life. I hoped that the Old Bear was still alive, somewhere on the boat stuck with my angry mother. But Nadea and the others were probably dwelling in the Spirit world with my father now. Perhaps they looked upon me as I rode toward my fate. They would want to bless me however they could. The thought of protectors watching over me eased some of my fear.

  I shivered, fighting against the cold grasp of the wind. I wondered if my captor had a naturally lower body temperature than a normal human. She did not feel warm, but perhaps I was projecting my mood and feelings onto her. There were no trees here, the hills were blanketed in low scrub brush and jagged rocks that poked out of the surface like white tipped waves on dull green water.

  "Looks like you have an acute weather sense, Princess," the woman said a few seconds before the first drop of rain descended from the inky sky and landed on our horse’s face. The animal flicked its head around sideways in annoyance at the rain, but the protest did not stop the following downpour.

  "Now we can stop and set up camp?" I phrased it as a question, though I wanted it to be an order. I was not good at commanding others and it was yet another skill I lacked but needed if I was to have any hope of ruling Nia. Though an Ancient dragging me there against my will was probably not the best person to begin ordering around for practice.

  My captor didn't answer me and in a few minutes I had all but forgotten about anything but the rain, the wind, and the resulting chill that spread through my body. I was weak. It could not really be that cold, my country never got as chilly as Loorma, or the countries to the north. The Ancients had even given me a thick leather coat, the water slid off of it as if it were made of duck feathers. But my face was wet and my long hair was drenched. I reminded myself that Kaiyer had chased after me on foot for two weeks in the snow without shoes or supplies. If he could endure that pain for me, then I could deal with this slight discomfort.

  If I were certain Kaiyer would be there waiting for me in Nia, this would be easier to bear. Instead, my thoughts slipped away from me for the next few cold hours of travel. I thought of all the reasons I was not worthy to be his. The mistakes I had made, the lies I told, the smiles I wore. The things I should have said to Kaiyer.

  I hoped I would be able to one day say them to him.

  Eventually my thoughts returned to my mother. The source of most of my regrets and guilt.

  I wished she had died instead of my father. I knew thinking such a thing made me a horrible person, but now that I was only days away from whatever fate the empress had chosen for me, I needed my father. He was warm, caring and gave all of himself to his family and the kingdom. Especially to me. My mother had never been happy with the choice her family made to marry her to him, and she seemed to resist everything that could have given her happiness or made life pleasant for those around her. Especially me.

  Nothing I did pleased her. I was not pretty enough. I did not make the right facial expressions or say the right things. I was not smart. I could not dance gracefully. My sewing was clumsy. My singing was off-key, my conversations embarrassed her and she lamented that the nobles who interacted with me were judging her parenting skills because of how I turned out. I could not even allow myself to become betrothed correctly. Though that was more due to my father than me, and had caused yet another rift in their already contentious relationship.

  I tried my best to please her, but as Nadea had so easily surmised, the woman just did not want to be happy. My brother was the single source of her happiness and she constantly tried to make me more like him. She applauded his victories in training and pushed our father to give him more responsibilities in the kingdom in preparation for his rule, all while plotting to marry me off to the ruler of the most distant land she could find.

  Kaiyer did not value my noble blood. He saved me from my captors because he loved me. He left because he loved my family and had to ensure their safety. But all this had done was put me in jeopardy. I never should have let him go. If I were more like my mother, I wouldn’t have.

  I felt warm raindrops on my face and realized I was crying. I prayed to my grandmother and father to free Kaiyer so he could return to me and save me from these horrible creatures. I needed him to wrap me in his arms, take me out of the rain and make love to me again. I regretted the prayer almost as soon as I whispered it. I had asked too much of my father and grandmother in the last week and I didn't want to strain whatever abilities they had. And Kaiyer did not need their help.

  "We will camp for the night near that tree,” the Ancient woman said loud enough to make it to my ears over the torrential rain. I tried to nod, but I was already shivering and couldn't force words through my numb lips.

  I lost track of how long we had been riding, but it felt like the sun was close to setting. It was very hard to see the vast span of the road through the darkness and rain. The horse moved off to the right and then stepped up to make it over the muddy shoulder of the road. The motion leaned me back into the woman behind me and her arm quickly wrapped around me to prevent me from falling.

  But I still fell.

  The Ancient attempted to shield me with her body but the impact knocked the wind from me. I tried to scream, but I could hardly manage more than a gasp. It felt like Jiure had punched me in the stomach again, but instead of trying to fight against the pain, I could only lie in the mud, dazed.

  I heard a scream and my captor's thorny nails clawed at my leg. I tried to get to my feet but slipped and fell again. This time I rolled down the hill and splashed into a river that was somehow colder than the rain. After a second of panic I realized that the water wasn't deep enough to be a river, it was just the rain pooling at the bottom of the hill. I pushed myself to my feet and felt my stomach lurch in protest as my head throbbed in agony.

  I stumbled in the direction I thought we had been going on the road. My feet sank into the mud and water and it took almost every ounce of strength in me to yank my legs free. The Ancients had given me knee-high leather riding boots and the suction of the mud threatened to take them away from me. They were very warm and I didn't want to lose them at a time like this. I took another few steps and someone grabbed onto me. I tried to scream, but a hand closed over my mouth.

  "We have to run!" Beltor hissed in my ear. Thunder boomed and lightning struck in a bright echo. I tried to move faster but my boots stuck again and I had to reach down and pull them up with my hands.

  "The shoulder!" He tugged me over to the opposite side of the road. The ground was much firmer suddenly and another flash of lightning revealed the thick patches of grass beneath us.

  He pulled on my arm again and I tried to run after him. I stumbled through another thunderous boom and my face slammed into the mud. Hands grasped me by the waist and he grunted loudly with the effort of tossing me over his shoulder. He ran and my body shook so hard that I actually started to feel pain through the freezing cold. Thunder and lightning struck again, behind us I could see the Ancients for the instant the world was illuminated.

  I lost track of time in the darkness, in the falling sleet, in the thunder and the brief flashes of light. I just wanted it to be over. I could not stand the running, the fear, the constant stress of wondering what horrible thing would happen next. I just wanted to be safe with Kaiyer. We should not have run. The Ancients would find us no matter where we went. Surrender was inevitable and felt preferable to this perpetual fight.

  A clap of thunder boomed in my ears at the same time that I was blinded by lightning. Beltor stumbled and I felt him tip. I tried to grab onto s
omething, but there was only air, then mud, and then I could not breathe. Water filled my lungs and I choked and coughed as I slid down over mud, rocks and grass. A massive oak tree burned and cast black shadows on the darkened landscape surrounding us.

  "Uncle?" I came to my feet in a shallow pond formed by the folds of the hillside. Beltor coughed muddy water out of his mouth and lifted me out of the pool like I was a baby. He forced his way through the water, away from the burning tree and the hillside, but his breathing was coming out in painful gasps. He couldn't carry me much longer at this pace.

  "Can we hide?" I had to yell it three times before he understood what I asked. He nodded and said something back that I couldn't understand. He thrashed through the water and climbed up the muddy hill while I clung to him, a useless burden.

  He made it halfway up the slope before slipping in the mud. We fell together but only lost a few feet before I grabbed onto the wet grass to keep us from sliding farther down the slick embankment. Beltor clawed into the grass with his muddy hands and pulled us up inch by inch until we crested the slope. The top of the hill was still lit by the burning tree, but the other side descended at a sharper angle into darkness.

  "Hold on." He sat up and set me onto his lap. Terror gripped me as I realized what he intended, but before I could protest he leaned forward and we slid down the other side of the slope almost effortlessly. Once I had visited my mother's parents and experienced a similar ride on a waxed piece of wood down a snowy slope. But that had been in daylight and laughter instead of darkness and thunder.

  We stopped sliding when we hit another flooded pool at the bottom of this hill. My face submerged again and I came back up to the surface choking out dirty water that felt slightly warmer than the rain. Lighting struck again, etching a white spider web into the sky. In the quick flash I saw that my uncle and I had narrowly missed a large grouping of boulders during our slide. We were in an actual creek now, overflowing in the storm. Beltor grabbed my hand again and led me in the direction of the current.

  We half stumbled, half-swimming through the flooded creek bed. The brook ended in a small waterfall that dropped ten feet down to a deeper pool.

  "Hold onto this." My uncle pushed me up against a boulder to steady me against the rushing stream.

  "We can't make it down." I could not recall ever being this tired in my life. Everything was soaked through and my legs felt numb with exhaustion and cold. My muscles were spent and I did not think I had the strength to take another step.

  "We can jump down. I'll go first and then I'll yell for you to follow." It was difficult to see his face in the darkness. He was going to break his neck on the fall and his body would be swept away in the cold waters.

  Then I would be alone.

  "No. No. No." I let go of the boulder and clung to him.

  "We have to, Jess. We need to escape." He picked me up again and stumbled through the water toward the edge of the small waterfall. I panicked and screamed but the sound of the thunder masked it.

  Then I was submerged in icy blackness.

  It was hard to feel the cold anymore. I was so tired, so chilled, so empty. Everyone that had loved me was gone. My father was dead, murdered by the people chasing me. My guardian was probably lost at sea with my mother. My handmaidens were gone, Nadea was gone, Kaiyer was gone. Only my uncle remained, and once they found us again and took us to Nia I suspected they would have little use for him. But the Elvens needed me alive for something, I should let myself die here just to spite them. Finally I could be useful and make my mother proud.

  You never even bothered to learn how to swim properly.

  I laughed to myself because I had learned how to swim one summer. I tagged along with Runir, Nadea, and Nanos when they escaped the castle and played in the Stone River. When my mother found out she had been furious. She tried to take it out on Nadea but my cousin, even as a child, had chosen to ignore the queen like one ignored a small yapping dog. My mother could never chastise Nanos, instead she just punished me by relieving me of my handmaidens and friends for two weeks.

  Beltor yanked me out of the water and I sputtered a frantic sigh of regret. No. Today was not the day and this river was not the place. Kaiyer was still alive, Nadea was still alive, my brother, handmaidens, uncle, Greykin, and the people of my country still needed me. My mother was just a terrible and jealous woman. She would always try to shame me. I was never good enough for her. But I was here, fighting for my life, while she just wanted to give up and surrender to our enemies. That should have proved to the Spirits that I was worthy of what I wanted.

  The Spirits did not send me a sign to show they agreed with me.

  Instead, the rain drove down with fury, intent on washing the skin from our cold, tired bones. Beltor and I struggled on across the edge of the pond, toward an outcropping of rocks. Light emanated from the storm clouds, illuminating everything in a soft orange glow.

  “Here.” Beltor found a small opening in the gathered boulders. He stuck his head into the dark hole for a few moments before crawling inside the cave. I knelt down and peered inside. It was impossible to see more than a few inches into the darkness. What if there were snakes, or bears, or some other evil creatures in there? I had grown up hearing tales of monsters that lived in small holes and liked to eat the flesh of young women, especially princesses; although I believe they were known to prefer virgins, so I was safe on that count. Still, there had to be a better place to hide.

  “Jess!” my uncle hissed. The rain was still strong, but it was no longer forcing me to my knees with its intensity. I was too exhausted to protest. I crawled into the small cave and told myself I wouldn’t scream if a snake or alligator tried to bite me.

  As I crawled farther into the cave the mud gave way to moss covered stone, then dry, smooth rock. It was so dark inside the cave I could hardly tell if my eyes were open or closed. It almost seemed brighter when I did close my eyes, at least then I saw swirly squares of light pulsing behind my eyelids.

  "Ehhhh!" I forced myself not to scream when something brushed my hand and continued past my feet.

  "Just mice." Beltor's voice was a whisper and the patter of the rain seemed far away. His hand found my face and we embraced.

  "Shhhh." He stroked my soaking hair. The comforting sound made me realize I was crying. Then I started to cry more. Why was I crying?

  I missed Kaiyer.

  I was scared.

  "Just close your eyes, Jess. We are safe for now." He sounded tired.

  "Are they going to find us?"

  "No. Take deep breaths with me."

  I tried to match his breathing. It was warmer than I expected in the darkness of the cave and after a few minutes of clinging to my uncle, the chill faded with my fear and I thought about what we might do to get ourselves to safety.

  We could probably last here a few days. There was water nearby, and eventually the Ancients would stop looking for us. We could make our way back to Relliat. Perhaps Greykin would still be there, or we could procure another boat and continue to Brilla. It would be a difficult journey back to Relliat without horses, supplies or food, but I knew we could make it back to the Bay of Korono. I could almost feel the salty wind on my cheek and hear the gulls crying as they soared by the cliffs.

  Jessmei.

  I turned my gaze from the teal of the bay and faced the white homes clinging to the walls of the cliff. Kaiyer stood on the steep road above me. He leaned against the railing and looked down upon me. My heart soared with the gulls. He wore the dark green tunic and matching pants of the Knights of Nia. As he smiled at me, the distance between us seemed to shrink.

  "Jessmei." His mouth didn't move, but I heard him call my name. I didn't waste any time and ran up the steep road toward him. I was wearing my favorite cream garden dress and I had to hold onto the edges of the long skirt to keep from tripping. Finally, I made it up the cobblestone switchback to where he stood.

  "I missed you." I wrapped my arms around his waist and
buried my face in his chest. His arms encircled my shoulders and made my head spin with joy. This was all that I wanted. To be with him, to love him, to feel his love.

  Jessmei.

  I wanted to see his face again, so I pulled away from his embrace. But instead of the wonderful view of Kaiyer and the city of Relliat, I opened my eyes to find darkness. I panicked and tried to stand, but arms circled me and a hand went to my mouth.

  "Quiet." Beltor's voice was softer than a whisper. Memories of our frantic escape through the lightning storm came back and I almost cried again. Kaiyer had just been a dream. Maybe the whole memory of our time together had been a dream as well.

  "Jessmei!" someone yelled for me in the distance. It was hard to tell how far away they were but it was loud enough to bounce into the cave where Beltor and I hid. The voice called again and I gasped. It was a man's voice and I thought I recognized the timbre.

  "Kaiyer?" I asked my uncle. I couldn't tell for sure if it was his voice.

  "Is it Kaiyer?" Beltor asked in disbelief.

  "I recognize the voice. Do you?" I raised my voice a little above a whisper.

  "Jessmei!" The shout was louder now. I could see nothing but blackness.

  "No. I don't recognize the voice," Beltor said cautiously.

  "Jessmei!" he yelled again.

  "In here!" I yelled. Beltor's body tensed next to mine and I wondered if I had made the right decision. I didn't think the voice was an Ancient's, but I could be mistaken.

  "Jessmei?" The voice rang louder and I crawled toward what I thought was the exit to the cave.