by Eden Winter
There weren’t many elves left alive on the blood-stained sand of the beach. So many were attacking wraiths and doing their best to not be dragged back into the caves by the cliffs or into the ocean to be devoured by the sirens and merfolk.
Kainen was losing hope, but he refused to let it show on his face. He and his people could retreat and return to the rest of the army that was still waiting for them on the edge of the valley, but how could they leave when many were still in the clutches of their enemies? As a king, he knew that he couldn’t leave them there. And he wouldn’t. But it was only a matter of time before Syrena rose from the sea to lure all those on shore to a watery grave below.
Kainen suddenly felt a blistering pain around his shoulders slowly burning into his flesh. And then he could feel another line of pain that was wrapped around his waist.
He had been lassoed by two wraiths. Their cords had solidified as they began to burn and melt through his flesh. Kainen could see Dende was fighting off a wraith of her own; she had come off her horse and was tending to Yleinen who had become unconscious from using his strength to wield the king’s sword.
Kainen clutched the sword. He was not going to lose it again this time. He would rather lose his life than his sword. The sword was bound to him and would crumble into dust upon his demise. But to be tortured and kept alive for a wraith to be able to wield the sword was too much for the king to bear.
In the distance, a loud roar from the forest made the birds stir and fly out in different directions. More roaring followed. There was more than one of whatever was making that sound. Kainen didn’t know if he wanted to find out what creatures were responsible for the roaring, but he was also losing his life force with the two cords that connected his soul to the wraiths. The king struggled to remain conscious and standing. He used all his remaining energy to keep hold of his sword.
He was losing the battle to keep himself on his feet; his knees were beginning to buckle beneath him. He looked around to see if anyone was able to help him, but all of his people had been captured or were lying possibly lifeless on the beach. Yleinen had collapsed and was face down, Dende had been lassoed by a wraith that was dragging her to a hungry mermaid by the sea, some of the horses had been decapitated, and a few more of his people were still in the midst of their own battles with wraiths and merbeasts.
There was no hope for him. He wasn’t going to surrender to the power of the wraiths, but he had no choice. He fell to his knees and Kainen noticed a trickle of blood oozing from his nose. There was the sound of another roar and the trees splitting. They were coming closer. Would there be any time?
He looked up then. The last thing he wanted to see before his death was the morning sky. He wasn’t near the vampire queen’s realm, so the sky would not change for him. The sky would stay a pale blue with dark clouds swirling in wait.
Kainen’s mind went to Veri for a moment, but only for a moment. He stopped himself and decided to focus on someone else.
He thought of the man who—not that long ago—had captured his heart. He thought of the man with the golden hair and navy blue eyes, with a laugh that could cure even Kainen’s deepest feelings of guilt and regret. A man so strong yet able to make himself soft and delicate. The man that Kainen now loved.
Adam.
Kainen had fallen for him from their very first encounter. He had never felt anything like it, not even with Veri… and for Kainen to fall so hard and so quickly. His knees had almost buckled in that moment too, but that had been a feeling that made him feel more alive. Now the weakness in his knees only meant that he was slowly wasting away.
He wanted his last memory to be of Adam in his arms. He let his thoughts take him there.
“ROARRRR!”
The roars were closer now. So close.
King Kainen removed himself from his fantasy and looked towards the forest.
Right before his last breath was to leave him, he could see what had come to either save or kill him.
“Siluman,” Kainen whispered. That was when he lost consciousness.
Chapter Five
The Pawn
“What happened to him?”
Two elves from King Kainen’s army had to hold Adam back. He was trying to break free of their grasp and move closer to the king, but there was no use. Elves were stronger than humans and almost half a foot taller. That didn’t stop Adam from trying to get a closer look.
He had heard the sounding of the horns that signified the king and his army were on their way back to the kingdom in the mountains. Adam already knew that they were on their way. So, he waited. He waited until he heard the loud creaking of the giant doors opening to let the army come into the citadel.
There had been throated cheers from the townsfolk, both elvish and human, echoing through the streets and walls of the citadel when the army was first seen coming up from the foot of the mountain. That should have been a signal for Adam to come down from whence he was resting to greet his love at the gate, but instead he locked himself away and waited patiently for the time it would take for the soldiers to ascend the mountain. He had a keen intuition and knew that if he had gone down too soon, he would have made a spectacle of himself in front of everyone.
Even before the army had returned, Adam knew something was wrong. He may have been human, but he had an almost sixth sense, and he was never ever wrong about these things. He didn’t want to be around the entire court if what he feared had come true. He wanted to, if need be, collect himself in silence. So, he waited. He waited in solitude and spent his time sitting in the king’s chambers, reading one of the hundreds of books that the king had in his personal library. This book in particular had caught Adam’s eye. It was a history book that included old languages and had maps of the old kingdoms lain out. It was a book about all the clans and kingdoms of this realm—even the ones that were long gone.
It had separated the vampires, werewolves, wraiths, incubi, succubi, mountain elves, volcano elves, forest elves, sirens, mermaids, witches, and cave trolls. The volcano elves had died out or disappeared, and the same had gone for the incubus and succubus tribes. The crumbling of those empires had occurred so long ago that nobody alive in any of the kingdoms had seen any of these creatures in their lifetime, and certainly no member of any of those kingdoms had been seen since.
This book was written in a time when wraiths were a clan of themselves, when werewolves had one true king, and when the creatures by the sea were not so hungry for the flesh or souls of men. It was a time when vampires and elves did not have bad blood between them, but how times change.
Adam had known about Kainen and Veri, but that had taken quite some time for him to know. Kainen was still having a secret affair with the vampire queen when Adam first arrived. He had just come to the king’s court but had fallen for Kainen instantly. The king was inspiring and charismatic, and there was something beautiful about his brown skin and pale colored eyes. He commanded respect without needing to speak, and he had the full faith of all of his subjects. Adam had never seen that kind of power before.
When Adam saw the king for the first time, he told himself that he just needed a moment with Kainen… just one moment, and he knew that the king would fall for him too. But King Kainen was always off the mountain to hunt or meet with other leaders from the different kingdoms and clans, and sometimes he simply wanted to ride his horse and have some moments for himself. Or so Adam had thought. It was strange how present King Kainen was, but also how absent the king could be.
Adam was a brave and curious human—curious in a way that compelled him to steal a horse and a cloak of invisibility and then follow the king on one of his outings. His bravely went because he felt it was something that he needed to do. He was still very afraid of being caught, especially by the king. If Kainen found a human spying on him, maybe Adam would be made an example of.
But Adam was a brave and curious human—and possibly a stupid one. The fear of punishment or even death was not enough to deter hi
m. He snuck off down the mountain on his stolen horse and invisibility cloak and followed the king. Kainen had unknowingly led Adam through a secret passage at the foot of one of the neighboring mountains. It was a dark trail that no one would have been able to discover unless that person knew where it was that they needed to look. Adam followed silently, more driven by love and curiosity than he cared to admit to himself. He almost wished he did not have feelings for the king. It was wishful thinking but also a lack of planning—like this very venture that had brought him to the king’s castle in the first place.
It had taken nearly a full day to travel down the mountain and into the secret passage. Adam had kept as quiet as he possibly could, grateful that in this kingdom the horses were large and could travel above the ground without legs.
Adam couldn’t believe what he saw once King Kainen reached another opening in the secret mountain passageway. At the opening on the other side was a bright and vast field. It was a shocking green, so bright that the darkness of the forest and the now fully visible volcanoes appeared almost unreal and far too dark compared to the luscious field. There were no other creatures as far as his eyes could see. This was a place just for the king. It was the perfect secluded place to collect one’s thoughts and meditate. Knowing that the king must have frequented here made Adam fall for the him all the more. Kainen was a ruler who needed some time for himself, and he had found a sanctuary. The king had possibly even created the secret passageway himself.
Adam had considered making himself known once they had passed through the secret trail in the mountain. But just when Adam was about to reveal himself to the king, a figure appeared on the opposing side of the field. She had not come on a horse. It made Adam wonder how far she had traveled and which one of the kingdoms she had come from.
There was no way that she was an elf, but Adam could see that she was gorgeous. She was much shorter than Kainen, but her hair was bone straight and ran down the length of her entire back, and it was as white as her skin and as white as the dressing shirt and pants she was wearing. Her shirt had a hood, but she removed it once she was close enough to the king. She looked like a porcelain angel. Her bright red lips countered her dark eyes, but upon seeing the king, her whole face lit up like one of the bright moons that was shining overhead. When she smiled, Adam could see small fangs in her mouth.
That was the first time that Adam had ever seen a vampire before. Being a vampire meant that she had a keen sense of smell. Now he was terrified that she would be able to smell him, or smell the blood of his horse, but she was too concerned with the king to notice the human already backing away from the entrance of the secret passage. He didn’t want to see them together. He turned around when he saw the vampire wrap her arms around the king’s shoulders and give him a kiss. Adam couldn’t take it, and he left shortly after the vampire queen had arrived at the field.
That was the moment that he had learned about Kainen and Queen Veri. But it wasn’t Adam’s place to confront or scold the king. He was just another human in the king’s court, a human who was still learning the customs and way of life of the mountain elves. And he also wasn’t fully aware of the feud between the elves and the vampires. He didn’t know that Veri was the queen of the vampire kingdom, and he definitely didn’t know that it would have cost everything if he had made the very unwise choice to tell anyone.
Several weeks passed before Kainen and Adam had an opportunity to formally meet each other. And just as Adam thought, it had been love almost instantly. Adam was even more smitten than he had realized. The king was charming, romantic, wise, and patient. But when Kainen saw Adam, it was like he had known instantly that Adam was someone who might change his life forever. In fact, it was the king who had approached him, letting Adam know just how remarkable he was.
Kainen had never known anyone in his court who looked the way Adam did. Kainen said that meeting Adam was like meeting an old friend for the very first time. They were familiar with each other right from the start, and that was all that it took for them to fall for one another.
Once Kainen had admitted his feelings for Adam, he had been open enough to tell him about his affair with Queen Veri. Adam acted surprised. He didn’t know what he would do if the king had known that Adam had been spying on him before they had properly been acquainted.
King Kainen had ended his relationship with the vampire queen a few short weeks after. That both fascinated and terrified Adam. It meant that the king’s love for him had been true, but it also meant that the vampire queen would find out about him soon enough. He did not want to spend his life afraid of a queen who had unspeakable power and incredible influence.
But Kainen had promised to keep him safe, and so far, safe was what Adam had been. Kainen wanted to keep Adam so safe, in fact, that he had told the members of his court that he was going to meet with the vampire queen. The king told his people that it was a tactic to regain the friendship of the vampires on the opposite side of the realm—the vampires who would make powerful allies. This union could be the start of something that could change the kingdoms forever.
Adam knew the real reason behind Kainen visiting with the vampire queen. Kainen wanted to calm the raging heart of Queen Veri. The skies on her side of the realm had been as black as ash and full of lightning and rage ever since their affair had ended. Kainen didn’t like that he was unsure of what the queen was thinking. They were no longer joined by love or by blood, and Kainen’s premonitions had come to him less frequently. When they did come, they only appeared in short bursts and blurs. He was being drained of that ability, and the King was unsure why. Part of being able to rule was his ability to know what may occur in the future.
Kainen had not mentioned anything about his blurry visions, but Adam knew. He could always tell when something was amiss. He had an excellent way of reading the energies and expressions of those around him. Adam also refused to bring this up with the king. The citadel had barely recognized Adam as the king’s lover. Kainen was a noble and an elf, while Adam was a lowly human who had not known anyone in this kingdom, and that meant that he was unable to tell friend from foe.
Adam had learned quickly to keep to himself and to trust his own instincts without insulting anyone in the citadel, and Adam hated the idea of overstepping any sort of boundary… especially because he knew the truth about Kainen’s sudden absence from his own people. Adam knew that it was all because of him that Kainen was risking his life and the life of some of his soldiers to tell Veri that it was time for her to let him and his love go.
Now that the king had returned to him, Adam didn’t know how to feel. Seeing the king so weak, and seeing how many of the king’s army had not returned made Adam think the worst.
That a war was coming.
Several soldiers had shielded some of the townsfolk. The humans and the elves had stopped asking questions and stopped trying to get a glimpse of their mighty ruler. Adam knew that the soldiers were now speaking to the people of the town, using their minds to tell everyone to remain calm and to allow the soldiers to do the best that they could as quickly as they could. He could hear some of the soldiers in his own thoughts, but he was not paying attention to any of their words. He only meant to get closer to his king.
For some reason, the silence and the calm of the humans and elves in this kingdom was worrisome to Adam. Only a few hours before, everyone was wild with excitement, preparing to greet their king at the gate. But now it was as if he was living in a ghost town. Everyone was still there, but everyone was also different.
“What happened, Dende?” Adam asked again. His tone had been forceful, but he calmed himself down enough for the two elves that had been restraining him to let him go. It was Dende who simply nodded for them to move away; otherwise, there was no way Adam would have been allowed near the king.
He was walking alongside the stretcher that was carrying the king, too afraid to touch him for fear he might disturb him. Dende was holding one part of the stretcher, and three mor
e elves held a corner each.
“There was a battle by the sea, but we can’t speak here,” Dende said. She side-eyed Adam but said nothing more. They were going to carry the injured to the infirmary, but the King was going to be sent to his chamber so that he could be taken care of in private.
Adam could see Yleinen and several other elves being led away on stretchers. The four elves holding Kainen ascended one more flight of winding stairs. They were narrow, and they wound up a long tower to his chamber.
His tower was one of the highest in the citadel. King Kainen was able to see a long stretch of forest to his west, the tops of the volcanoes behind the mountains of his kingdom, and the skies of the vampire kingdom that was off in the distant southeast near where the coastline would be. He could see almost all of the kingdoms from his room.
Adam wondered if that was what was worrying Kainen so much—the fact that he was constantly able to see the sky of the vampire kingdom and realize what each color change must have meant. Knowing that the queen wasn’t at peace must have made Kainen ill at ease too. He claimed that he did not love her anymore, but Adam thought it would have been a lie for Kainen to say that he simply didn’t care about her at all anymore.
“My lady.”
It took all of Adam’s self-restraint to not want to scream. He had been so focused on the king that he hadn’t noticed that there were four werewolves walking up the stairs with them. That might have been what had most of the elves and humans so silent. Some had probably never seen a werewolf before—Adam knew that he certainly hadn’t.
What were they doing here now? They were taller than the elves and more than twice as thick, but they didn’t seem to pose a threat. The one that spoke had fur that was not quite brown and not quite gray. His voice was like the deep churning of a distant wave. He was talking to Dende.
“My lady, we haven’t much time,” the werewolf said.
“Don’t you think I’m aware?” Dende snapped back. She almost stopped to offer an apologetic glance at the wolf man, but she continued to walk in somber silence.