The prince's guard carefully reached around the stone bench and pulled out a folded piece of paper from underneath the seat area. He examined the outside of it before handing it to the prince.
Nanos looked around him a few more times, spoke to his man, and opened the envelope. I struggled to listen to them, but the wind carried their words away from us. It took a few seconds for the prince to read the note and then he hastily stashed it inside of the vest beneath his robe. His demeanor had changed from a look of concern to one of absolute terror. He said something sharp to the guard and the man suddenly had the same look of terror on his face. They both backed up against the wall and stared out into the garden, toward the tower.
"I didn't expect this reaction," the duke whispered so softly that he might have meant it only for himself.
"He seems to believe he is being watched," I noted.
"He is being watched," Greykin stated with a chuckle.
"To our left!" I waved my hand out as I seethed the word. Two shapes seemed to materialize out of the shadows sixty yards between Nanos and the main castle. My gut told me they were Elvens before they stepped into the light of the torches and proved me correct.
The man was slightly shorter than the woman. He had long silver hair and an air of command about him. The woman had hair of gold, the bright color of yellow midday sun. They were both wearing dark, soot-colored robes that blended with the shadows enveloping them as they strolled toward the prince. As they walked, I saw the woman's robe open, exposing a blue uniform and a thick-bladed sword at her hip.
"Shit! They found him! What do we do?" Greykin's voice was laced with panic and I could feel it blossom in my own chest.
"I can't really make out what they are saying," I said as I tried to strain my ears to listen. The Elven man hailed the prince as soon as he emerged from the shadows. Nanos tried to conceal his fear, but even from this distance, I could tell he was doing a poor job of it.
The two Elvens got within arm’s reach of Nanos and his guard before they spoke any more. The blonde man didn't bother looking around, so I guessed he had feared it was Elvens watching him. They exchanged a few words before Jessmei's brother crossed his arms uncomfortably.
"That is their leader. He's a smooth-talking bastard. I haven't seen him much in the castle. They spend most of their time in the wing where you and Nadea stayed. They order a small amount of food every few days and occasionally send runners to speak with Nanos." The duke had scurried over to whisper in my ear.
"I don't think I can kill both of them without a weapon." It was a slight falsehood. I could kill both of them. Probably easily, but I didn't want to risk exposing myself unless it was certain that Jessmei's brother was in danger.
"No. I was afraid he would get caught, but I hoped he would be able to see the note and escape their notice. I am gambling that the boy is important to their plans and they'll keep him alive. This proves he is being closely watched." Once the duke said it, my mind wandered to my memories. I had made hundreds of gambles with thousands of lives.
Crows filled the air and picked at the field of glittering corpses. The blood on their armor shone like the setting sun reflecting on the last waves of the ocean.
I shook my head angrily and looked back to Jessmei's brother. The Elven leader held out his hand to the prince with his palm to the sky. Nanos shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, opening his own palms toward the Elven. I believed that he was trying to pretend he was not hiding anything, but he was doing a poor job of acting. Sweat trickled down his hairline and his face was unconvincing. The silver-haired Elven's face was emotionless before, but it slowly transformed into a friendly smile. He shook his hand again and leaned down to appear less threatening. Nanos lowered his hands and then shrugged again, letting his shoulders slump. He reached into his coat and pulled out the piece of paper that the duke had left for him.
The Elven leader snatched the note from Nanos's grasp. Nanos crossed his arms and stood back, looking to his guard, who returned the young man's nervous demeanor. The Elven finished reading it in a few seconds and then passed it to his female companion to read.
"Shit," the duke and Greykin both said at the same time.
The Elven man snatched the prince by the collar of his expensive coat and pulled him like a puppy caught by the scruff of the neck. Nanos’s guard put his hand on his sword and drew it almost halfway before the female Elven grabbed his wrist, twisted it around behind his body, and lifted. His face expressed the intense pain he was in, but he did not scream out, so I doubted she had broken the limb.
The Elven was yelling something urgently at Nanos. Nanos's whole body shook as if he had just been submerged in ice water. Though I detested the prince, I could not allow him to be killed.
"Want me to intervene?" I asked the duke. It would be hard to hit the woman with magic and not kill the guard she was holding, but it would be even harder to eliminate the silver-haired leader without injuring Nanos.
"No! If they wanted him dead, they would have done it by now. They are only trying to scare him. They want to know who wrote the note."
Nanos was trying to respond to the flurry of questions. The process continued for almost five minutes before the Elven abruptly pushed the prince away. Nanos stumbled, stepped on the tail of his fur coat, and collapsed backward in a pile of fear and sweat. The silver-haired Elven turned and walked away without speaking another word. The female let go of the guard and began to follow her leader. Before she was more than four steps away, she spun around and drew her sword in a flash of bright lightning. The guard's head was cut clean in half by her strike and the man's corpse fell over on top of Nanos, covering him in a spray of blood and brain matter. The woman looked down on the prince for a few seconds, and spoke to him with a grin on her face that reminded me of my old silver-haired trainer.
"She'll kill him!" Greykin hissed.
"If she wanted to kill him, she would have already," I echoed the duke's earlier words and forced my voice to be calm. "Besides, we have no weapons and are too far away to do anything." As I spoke, the Elven woman turned her back on the prince and walked after her leader, leaving Nanos to climb out from under the bloody body of his guard. The process took him a few minutes of clumsiness and swearing.
"I doubt he is being watched now. Let us act like servants and offer to aid him. Then we can ask him about my daughter." The duke was making his way down the dark stairs of the tower as he spoke.
"What if the Ancients come back?" Greykin asked.
"I'll kill them," I said. No one argued.
Nanos had begun to walk toward the main castle by the time we reached him. He was no longer looking around for someone watching him, so we were able to approach him without his notice.
"My lord! Do you need assistance?" the duke boldly called out as we stepped out of the gardens and onto the path, following the young man.
"Yes. Clean that body up, and have wine brought to my room." The prince didn't even glance behind to see us closing the distance. Greykin's boots were loud and he suddenly turned to look.
"Did I stutter? Answer promptly when--" The sneer on his face froze as he recognized the three of us.
"Uncle!" the young man gasped in bewilderment before he looked to Greykin and me. "How are you all alive?" He licked his lips nervously and his heart began to beat quickly. Instead of the relief I expected, Nanos looked dismayed. My instincts told me this was because he was hiding something, but I tried to ignore this and reasoned that he was upset at the complications our presence added to what was already a stressful situation. We were another secret he would have to keep to protect his kingdom and its people.
"We'll have time to talk to you about it later. Is your mother okay?" the duke asked as he glanced around the courtyard. I followed his gaze and saw a darkened pathway that led to the back side of one of the battlements.
"We should go over there," I said as I pointed to the shadowed area. The three other men nodded and we absconded from the twi
light and glow of the torches that lined the castle walls.
"My mother is fine. She is upset, of course, but that is to be expected." He looked to me. "I thought you were dead, Kaiyer? The guards said that the Ancients burned you." I was surprised at how pleased he seemed that I was alive.
"I just left the city. The Ancients didn't kill me."
"Why did you leave?" he asked inquisitively. His heart was racing, like he was running in full armor.
"We can talk about that later," the duke interrupted. "Where is Nadea?"
"Nadea?" Nanos's face turned white in the darkness and I heard him swallow his breath.
"My daughter. Where is she?" Beltor pressed. "Is she in the castle?"
"No." The blonde man glanced between the three of us. "She is in the dungeon. The Ancients are questioning her there."
"Where in the dungeon?" the duke asked, frantic.
"The special cell they made for her, I can take you." Nanos paused and looked out into the darkness past the tower and the torch light. “But it has to be early in the morning. Give me a few hours.”
“No. You will take us now,” the duke’s voice cracked with worry. Nanos’s head was already shaking when his uncle voiced the command.
“I need to be sure that I am not followed. I need a few hours to create a distraction. Then I can take you to her safely. If we are caught, they could kill all of us, including Nadea.”
There were a few seconds of silence as we waited for Beltor to accept Nanos’s plan. Finally, the duke asked the obvious question.
“What distraction will you create?”
“I have some allies in the city, drinking friends who haven’t left yet. I’ll ask them to do something at the front gate, then send all of my guards to take care of it. It should attract the attention of the Loshers and the Ancients.” The prince licked his lips and exhaled a slow breath. He smiled when the duke began to nod his head.
“It’s settled then. Meet me in the cell adjacent to Kaiyer’s training room in the dungeon in five hours. That will give me time to get word out and prepare. Where will you hide yourselves in the meantime?”
“We’ll be in the abandoned tower in the west garden.” Beltor pointed his thumb over his shoulder to where we had witnessed Nanos pick up the letter.
“We need to extract Nanos and the queen with Nadea,” Greykin said, his voice was powerful, even at a whisper.
“My mother isn’t fit to travel. She is still mourning Father’s death.”
“Too bad. She needs to get her ass up and meet us with you. We are taking the royal family out of Nia and to Brilla. Then we will regroup with the army and attempt to retake the castle,” Greykin said.
“I’ll do what I can to get her to come. I don’t think retreating to Brilla will do much for us. We have fallen. The Ancients are too powerful. Even with Brilla’s forces we can’t retake the castle.”
“We’ll worry about that when we get there. Make sure your mother is with you when you meet us in the dungeon.” Greykin’s tone of voice indicated that there would be no more discussion on the matter.
“Very well. We'll meet you three in the dungeon. I’ll need to go and prepare now.” The prince smiled briefly and nodded as he moved toward the door of the tower where we had hidden.
“Wait,” I said. I had suddenly remembered something. Nanos froze and his breath caught. “What did the Ancient say when you found the letter? We couldn’t hear the words that passed between you.”
“He wanted to know what the letter had meant and who had written it. They are interrogating Nadea about you.” Nanos turned around to confront me. Through the soft golden light of the distant torch, I saw the sharp lines of his face as he snarled in anger.
“Interrogating her about Kaiyer?” the duke asked with fear and concern laced through his voice.
“Yes. Everything was fine until this asshole showed up in our kingdom. The only reason they are here is because of him. They wanted to know how he got to this world. She’s the only one who knows for sure. I don’t know exactly what they are doing to her down there, but I’m sure they are torturing her for information.” My body went cold and numb. The thought of Nadea being tortured made my mouth go dry.
“If you had just done what we told you and not created a spectacle, they wouldn’t be here. My father would still be alive, Nadea wouldn’t be in some cell being tortured, and I wouldn’t have been imprisoned here as some sort of puppet king for a fallen empire. Fuck you Kaiyer.” He had moved nose-to-nose with me and I felt his spit land on my face as he spat out the accusations.
I didn’t really comprehend most of his words. I was still too caught up in my fear of what was happening to Nadea. Thousands of horrible scenarios crossed my mind while fatigue seeped into my bones. I couldn’t be hundreds of places at once.
I had acted on impulse and gone after Jessmei, giving little thought to my friends in Nia. I did not mean to sacrifice one woman for the other. I did not realize Nadea was even in danger, and even if I had, Nadea seemed much more capable of saving herself than the princess.
“That’s enough boy,” Greykin said. “Get your plans executed, get your mother, and meet us in the dungeon. We’ll all have plenty of time to argue on our trip to Brilla.”
Nanos nodded, glared at me again, and made a grunting noise as he pulled open the door to the tower and went inside the fortress. The sound of the large piece of wood slamming echoed through the empty courtyard and caused roosting crows to squawk and fly away from their perch across the garden.
“He has been through much in the last few weeks.” The duke put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Don’t blame him for those harsh words. None of this was your fault, my friend.”
I smiled at Beltor as well as I could.
“I am not mad at him. His logic is a bit flawed; I need some time to explain it to him.”
“What do you mean that ‘his logic is flawed?’”
“He blamed me for the Ancients coming here, but everyone thought I was dead, including the Ancients. So they wouldn’t have come here for me. They won’t be satisfied until they have brought your entire world under their heel. Their appetite for conquest is insatiable. It was only a matter of time before Nia was attacked.” My head swam with memories of pain and sadness. But I could help. This was my purpose. This was what I was born to do.
“You’re right of course, let’s go back and gather Greykin’s men. We’ll need to get to the room now and wait for Nanos,” the duke said.
“Why did you tell the lad we would be in the tower?” Greykin asked as we sneaked through the dead garden toward the servants’ entrance.
“In case he is caught en route and questioned. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, but what he does know could hurt us.” The big man grunted in agreement.
"He still knows we will meet him in the dungeon," I muttered under my breath, but neither of my companions heard me speak.
The duke stepped on a dead branch and it made a soft cracking sound. It echoed through the silent night and was answered by an owl on a distant rooftop.
Chapter 15-Nadea
“Wait for me!” I called up the hill at Kaiyer’s back. He turned his head over his shoulder and shot me one of those easy smiles that made my heart flutter. I always believed that I was in excellent shape. Most of the days I spent at my father’s keep involved running, climbing, sparring with his warriors, or hunting in the Teeth Mountains. At night I would retire to my study and be awake half the evening, studying dusty old manuscripts that I had gathered from various parts of the world. Most traders and scholars in the Eight Kingdoms knew about my hobby and those that wanted favor with my father would normally get it by gifting me with precious documents. But still, even though I could out race and fight most of the men at Nia's East Keep, Kaiyer moved like a hawk up the boulder dotted foothills of the Teeth. His feet hardly touched the ground and his cloak did seem like wings as it fluttered in the wind behind him.
“You’ll get lo
st! I know this area better than you!” I was annoyed that he ran so far ahead of me, but I couldn’t help but smile. It felt wonderful to see him again. It felt like I hadn’t seen him in a long time. He disappeared over the edge of the rise and my joy turned to panic. I pushed my sweaty body up the hill, scattering small clumps of soft dirt down the gentle slope with every aggressive movement.
It was early morning and the fog gave way to bright rays of sun. It made the air around me seem to glow and the dew layer on the boulders and grass-covered hills reflected the light and heat of the new morning.
“Hurry up Nadea!” I heard his voice in the distance and the fatigue that started to drip into my legs vanished.
I reached the top of the hill a minute after Kaiyer crested it, but the other side did not look the same as the adjacent slope. A steep valley opened below and I didn’t recognize it from my travels around the Teeth Mountains. The valley was void of any grass or boulders; instead the earth was blackened and cracked, like the salt flats in the deserts of Astical. Twisted, burnt oak trees seemed to scream out in pain toward the sky.
In the middle of the valley, the Castle Nia slouched like a crippled spider. Half of it was charred a sickly color of gray and yellow. The other half of the massive structure crumbled apart like a salted cracker. I saw shapes climbing on the once beautiful walls, but from this distance I couldn’t see what they were.
“The O'Baarni destroy everything,” a woman’s voice said behind me. I spun quickly and reached for the sword that was always at my hip. But I must have left it where Kaiyer and I had camped the night before. That was as far back as I could remember.
It was the Ancient woman, her face a beautiful mask of perfect porcelain, her hair the color of blood, or fire, the sun as it set in the ocean. She looked at me, but didn’t seem to see me.
“Where is Kaiyer?” I demanded and reached for the dagger hidden at the small of my back. That too was gone and my brain tried to remember when I had it last, did Kaiyer take it off of me? I recalled almost kissing him in my private library, his hand had grabbed around my waist and I knew he felt it there.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 20
