The Destroyer Book 3

by Michael-Scott Earle

  "One of the women in the hallway recognized me." I grabbed the first guard and dragged her body into Nadea's suite.

  "Why did you kill them?" Nadea's face was red and she crossed her arms tightly across her chest.

  "Do you want to see your father or not?" I shot back at her.

  Her meeting with the empress was fast approaching and the outcome of that meeting would determine the fate of every human being on this planet. Nadea could not enter into that negotiation unaware that the empress was her mother.

  "Yes of course I do. Your actions will strain the beginnings of our relationship with the Elvens." Nadea's voice had calmed down and I heard her move toward the doorway.

  "These Elvens aren't your friends. They've killed many of your people and mine. They may approach you with an open hand, but it will only last until they have gotten whatever it is that they want from you. Then you will be slaughtered or enslaved, just as we were." I finished moving the second body inside and retrieved the head of the first Elven, throwing it on the pile of bodies that was now in Nadea's room.

  "Get your possessions and go to the other room. Don't step in the blood." I grabbed one of the scabbards off of a body and tied the belt to my waist.

  "You got it, lad," Greykin said before he stepped around me. Runir and Danor quickly followed after they too took weapons.

  "I did not even see him move," Danor whispered once they made it to the hallway.

  "You are right." Nadea sighed and the tension in her shoulders melted away in acceptance. "It used to be that I wanted Nia to overcome these invaders. When we were turned away at Brilla, I realized that we were in danger of losing our entire populace. The empress's deal seemed more attractive then. I knew how horrible these Elvens were, but I thought that the empress's forces would be different."

  "Let's go see if your father is in that room. Then we will talk. If you decide to stay here that option will still be open for you." I moved over to the table and wiped the blood off my hands with a white cloth napkin that hadn't been used yet.

  "If he is being kept in Maerc's room, there are hidden passages leading out of that suite and into the bones of the castle. We can leave without raising detection." Nadea walked out and I followed closely behind her, being careful to avoid the blood on the ground. The Elvens would still be able to find me by smell because of the trace amounts on my hand, but if my friends didn't have any on them, it would make their tracking harder.

  The three other men had already reached the door down the hall. Danor pulled out his dagger and entered first after Greykin pushed it open. By the time Nadea and I made it to the room the sounds of Beltor's voice and the chuckling of the other three men were leaking into the hallway. Nadea's walk turned into a sprint that only one of the O'Baarni could have matched and when she reached the doorway to her father's room she grabbed onto the dark oak trim with her left hand to spin her into the room quicker.

  "Father!" I stopped in the hallway and couldn't help but smile. Nadea and her father were lost in an embrace so tight that they almost seemed to be one person. Beltor looked twenty years younger than when I had last seen him with Jessmei. He spun his daughter around in the air as if she weighed the same as a newborn. Finally, he set her down and pulled away to look at her face.

  "I missed you so much." He clasped her cheeks and looked in her eyes. There was no mistaking the love and gratitude on the man's face. It warmed every part of my body and made me wonder what it would have been like to meet my own daughter. Would I have been as good of a father as Beltor was to Nadea?

  "Greykin." Beltor turned away from the door and reached out to hug the older man. The Old Bear had trained the duke, the king, and their generals in their younger years, so I knew that the two men had a close relationship. Runir and Danor received strong hugs from the duke as well as words of gratitude.

  "It is good to see you both. Thank you for bringing my daughter to me."

  "You'd have to thank Kaiyer for that. It was his crazy idea to sneak into the castle and rescue you all," Danor said with a smirk as he nodded his head toward me.

  "Kaiyer?" Beltor spun around to face me."By the Spirits!" His mouth hung open and his skin turned as white as Fehalda's.

  "You don't exactly look happy to see me, friend." I smiled at him.

  "I can hear his voice as well. Do you all see him, or am I going insane?" The duke's voice was hardly a whisper.

  "What is wrong, Father?" Nadea stepped to the side of her father and her brows furrowed with worry.

  "I see Kaiyer's Spirit in the doorway." He pointed at me.

  "I'm no ghost, Beltor," I said with a laugh. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from the south side of the castle.

  Many footsteps.

  "You said there are passages out of this room?" I looked at Nadea and she nodded.

  "Guards approach. I will buy you some time. Find Jessmei and flee the castle. Danor." I turned to the mustached man. "You will show them."

  "Aye, Kaiyer. We'll wait for you at the horses."

  "Don't wait too long. I can follow you on foot. You must get Nadea and Jessmei out of the castle."

  "We'll do it, Kaiyer." Greykin growled and seemed to increase in physical size instantly, while Runir moved back in the suite to a bookshelf and pried at the edges.

  "I saw you die, Kaiyer," Beltor whispered through pale lips. Everyone paused their movements and turned to me.

  "You are mistaken, Duke. I am alive here now." I smiled and listened down the hall. It sounded like a dozen sets of feet. Maybe I would get lucky and it would only be servants.

  "I know what I saw, man! That woman cut your--"

  "Kaiyer!" a voice I recognized screamed down the south hallway and interrupted Beltor.

  "Get Jessmei. Bar the door." I looked to Nadea and she nodded.

  "Be safe," she said. Her brown eyes met mine and I wished the moment could have lasted forever. Instead, I grabbed the door and slammed it shut. Then I turned down the hall and began to walk toward the voice that had called my name.

  "I thought I picked up your scent in the castle. I should have known that Fehalda was full of shit!" Isslata was flanked by ten guards who all wore Alatorict's colors. Her golden hair was tied in the usual thick braid, today it was laced with green ribbons and lavender blooms.

  "You found me." I continued to walk toward her and tried to fight the worry gnawing into my stomach. Isslata was no fool and she must have known why I was here and in this hallway.

  "Untie your sword belt and drop your weapon. The empress will wish to speak with you." Isslata smiled slightly and then her eyes shifted past me down the hall. We were still a few hundred yards from the doorway to Nadea's room, but I was sure Isslata could see the pool of blood on the ground and painted on the side of the wall. She must have wondered where her four guards were.

  I didn't see her make a gesture, but the Elven warriors behind her drew their weapons. Swords were made to kill, and the sound of them escaping their scabbards was a song of death.

  I stood fifty yards from Isslata. It was a distance I could cover quickly, but the odds of me surviving a charge against eleven armed warriors who had their blades ready and knew what I was capable of were low.

  "I won't ask again, O'Baarni. Disarm. Now." Isslata's green eyes seemed to turn golden in the torchlight. I heard the ever fainter whispers of my friends as they retreated through the tunnels away from us. I didn't know for sure how well the Elvens could hear, but I hoped that Isslata didn't realize that the prisoners were escaping.

  "No," I said. The words came out of my mouth with regret. It was not the time to muse on my feelings for the psychopathic Elven, but there was no denying the connection we had developed during our countless nights of sex and conversation. I did not want to kill her.

  She stared back for a few seconds, face cold and impassive and beautiful. She could not tolerate my refusal in front of her warriors. I suspected if it were not for the fear she wielded through her violent and erratic behavior, m
any of them would have already questioned our relationship and her loyalty to the Elvens. One of us would have to die tonight unless she could figure out a way to retreat without looking weak.

  "Kill him," she said softly. It was hardly a whisper but was filled with more remorse than I had expected.

  Her guards sprang forward like rabid wolves, hungry for the kill that had taunted them for too long.

  So be it.

  Chapter 24-Jessmei

  I paced my room after Telaxthe left, my mind awhirl with thoughts too agitated to be contained in an immobile body. It was a relief to have something to think about besides Kaiyer’s death. The story the empress had told me was too fantastic to be real. Though sometimes the truth was harder to believe than the fantasies we created to protect ourselves from the pain of reality.

  A soft knock sounded on my door and I paused. Perhaps my mind had been so wrapped up in my thoughts that I had created the noise out of some deep desire for company. The knock sounded again and I moved toward the oak door and opened it.

  “Good evening, Princess.” An Elven woman wearing a green uniform with gold embroidery of trees and flowers stood in the hall. Her skin was a few shades grayer than snow white, while her hair was a darker ash. Her eyes sparkled like red rubies. They were the kind of eyes that would have made me think the woman was a monster had she not possessed such an alien beauty. It almost looked as if an artist had carved her out of granite and affixed the precious stones on her face just to give her some sort of color.

  “The empress sent me to keep you company. It is close to midnight, but I heard you walking in your room.” The woman’s mouth curled into a slight smile and her beauty seemed to increase dramatically. Her hair was tied together in a loose bunch of braided curls, one of which I noticed was actually colored a red darker than her eyes. I realized I had been staring at the woman for longer than was polite and I felt my cheeks begin to burn.

  “I was just thinking,” I replied.

  "I pace when I am deep in thought as well. What were you thinking about?" She tilted her head slightly and her long braids fell to one side of her face.

  "It doesn't matter," I said, maybe a little too quickly. I knew that by requesting an escort around the castle I would gain a bit of freedom, but it would saddle me with someone always watching what I was doing and trying to pry into my mind. It was worth the hassle until I could get a feel for what was actually going on in my home.

  “Do you wish for food? Drink?” The woman’s smile disappeared and I guessed that she wasn’t used to being pleasant.

  “I am fine,” I said, looking back over my shoulder. I had kept the fire burning brightly, along with several oil lamps. On the oak table were two pitchers of water and half a bottle of wine that I hadn't touched since the empress left fifteen minutes ago.

  “Well, I could eat and would prefer someone to join me. We can walk to your main kitchen and then make the journey back. Perhaps the stroll and conversation with me will help you relax?” I debated telling her no, but realized that I might as well take advantage of the request I had made earlier, I did want to see the castle. Besides, I really was having problems sleeping and a bit of exercise would no doubt help my mind relax.

  “I would enjoy that.” I smiled and then looked down at my clothes. I was wearing a light wool slip and it would be unseemly for anyone to see me dressed as such outside of my room.

  “Can I change quickly?”

  “Of course.” The gray woman nodded and stepped inside of my suite when I gestured for her to enter.

  I walked to the other side of the main room and opened the door to my bedroom. Then I moved to my dresser and slid open the wood doors to reveal my abundant collection of dresses. When the woman who had killed Kaiyer returned me here I had been surprised to find my quarters as I had left them. I would have thought that the Loshers would have pillaged every square inch of the castle and burned whatever they couldn’t haul away. Most of the dresses required various sets of hands to help button, tie, braid, or otherwise fashion to my body, but there were a few I could manage by myself. I selected one, a smooth satin dress with a shorter cut at the legs. It was more of a spring dinner piece, but the garment was modest and easy to walk in. I hadn’t heard the footsteps of the woman follow me into my room, but I still stepped behind my vanity screen to take off my nightgown and slip on the new dress.

  “That dress is pretty. It matches your eyes,” the Elven said after I walked out of my room.

  “Thank you.” It was always nice to be complimented, but I doubted she really cared.

  “You should brush your hair though.” She raised a finger to point to my blonde mane. I hadn’t bothered to look into a mirror after I put the dress on, and now that I thought about it, I didn’t remember the last time I had even glanced in one.

  I returned to my bedroom and approached the mirror cautiously, afraid to see how awful I looked. My face was thin and the blue of my irises was bright against my bloodshot eyes and the dark circles that rimmed them. My hair was a nest of hay tumbling down my back and I realized with embarrassment that I had dined with the empress in this state. My mother would have been horrified. She always chided me about making a good impression, that keeping my appearance neat and pretty was not just good manners, but my duty as a representative of Nia. I sighed and vowed I would present myself in a more appropriate way the next time I saw the empress, and make my apologies for how I looked tonight. I ran my fingers through my matted hair. It would have taken my handmaidens an hour to sort through the tangles and arrange it properly. I could not keep the Elven woman waiting, so I did my best to quickly smooth it down and pin it up into something a little more presentable.

  “What is your name?” I asked after I returned to the gray Elven.

  “Vernine.”

  “Pleasure to meet you.” I curtseyed and she bowed slightly. She gestured to the door and closed it behind us. The two guards in the hallway nodded as we passed but did not question where Vernine was taking me. Perhaps they had already discussed it, or maybe she outranked them and they were not supposed to question her.

  “They have different colored uniforms than you do.” I should have said it as a question but the words came out as a statement, a stupid and obvious statement.

  “They are in a different army.”

  “The empress has different armies?” I had never paid much attention to any of the war talk my father engaged in, but I knew that Nia only had one army.

  “The empress has five different generals. Each controls their own army.”

  “Which army are you in?” If there were multiple armies with their own generals, perhaps I could find an ally in one of them.

  “I report directly to the empress. I am a commander in her Elite Guards.”

  “But the other armies know who you are? You work together?” I tried not to sound like I was digging for information, but I supposed that Telaxthe wouldn't have sent Vernine if she thought I would be able to manipulate her.

  “My green kit shows that I am with the empress.” She gestured to her uniform with some pride. “But I know the guards posted at your door. I was with the blue general when he seized your castle. We have been comrades for years now.”

  “Who is the blue general?”

  “Alatorict. You may not meet him for some time. Your interactions will be with the empress or myself.”

  We walked in silence for the next few minutes until we reached the foyer of the Royal Wing. I descended the marble stairs, but after a few steps I noticed that Vernine wasn’t accompanying me. I turned up the banister and saw the ash woman sniffing the air slightly as if she had caught the scent of a dessert baking and was trying to determine the location of its oven.

  “Are you okay?” Kaiyer had spoken about his heightened senses, but he had not mentioned these Elvens sharing similar traits.

  “I am fine. Let us continue.” Vernine looked the exact opposite of what she said. I considered asking her what she smelled, but as
she was clearly intent on lying to me about it, I did not bother.

  There were five Elven guardsmen in the foyer, all dressed in blue. The group looked somewhat agitated. They had their hands on their weapon grips and moved to the bottom of the stairs as we descended.

  "Hail, Vernine." The man in the front had bronze-colored hair shaved close to his skull. "Did you see Isslata?"

  "No." Vernine stuck her tongue out and licked her lips quickly. "How long ago did she pass through here?"

  "Not five minutes. She asked us not to let any humans leave this wing until she returned." The man turned his attention to me.

  "She was accompanied by your warriors?"

  "Yes." The man nodded and the other guards behind him mirrored his movement. They seemed agitated. "Her Saber Squad."

  "I am sure they can handle whatever disturbance is afoot. You should obey her orders and detain any humans attempting to leave. The princess and I are on our way to the kitchen, we will return shortly." Vernine's voice never fluctuated. Something was going on in the castle, but she seemed completely indifferent. I supposed that Telaxthe had ordered her to attend to me and she was giving that task her undivided focus.

  "Very well." The guards hesitated for a few seconds, but apparently Vernine had not lied earlier when she had spoken about her connection to the empress. The warriors stepped to the side of the stairway and allowed us to pass with no further words about my race.

  "Who is Isslata?" I asked after we had left the foyer for the south bound hallway toward the center of the castle.

  "Alatorict's primary commander and trainer for his army."

  "Is there something amiss in the castle?" I asked the obvious question.

  "Perhaps," the woman turned to me, "if you believe in Spirits or ghosts." Her lips parted in a slight smile. She wasn't used to smiling.

  "I do believe in Spirits," I said.

  "Oh? Tell me more."

  "When the people we love die, they often come back to watch over us. They do their best to aid the living. It brings them peace in the afterlife." I was giving her the short version. I could have spoken about the specifics of prayer and such for hours, but I suspected she may have been sarcastically asking me about my faith. Then again, I could not tell if this ash-skinned Elven even knew what sarcasm was; her voice was so devoid of emotion.