"What news?" I demanded. No one spoke for a few seconds.
"I don't want to repeat myself." I looked at the man who wore riding leathers and appeared out of breath.
"Duchess," the scout stammered. "Nanos has declared that the duke is dead. He claims himself rightful king and ruler of Nia. He invites all the royalty and nobility in the kingdom to the castle two weeks from now to celebrate his ascension, swear loyalty to him, and be rewarded for their support of his crown." His face grew paler as he said the words.
"Very good. Thank you for your report. Dismissed." The man turned tail and fled out of the tent as quickly as possible. I broke away from Runir's arm and limped to my chair behind the desk in the pavilion. The room stood silent as the dozen men watched me.
I leaned back and closed my eyes for a few seconds. I let my thoughts drift through various patterns, plans, and gambles. Finally, I opened my eyes. It seemed years passed, but in actuality only a few seconds escaped me.
"Soldiers of Nia," I whispered. "Which of you will escort me to the Royal Ball in two weeks?"
I could only hope that Nanos would look as shocked as these soldiers when he saw me at the ball.
Chapter 19-The O'Baarni
The Elvens kept their newborns in a special nursery building on the inside of their tribal compounds. I never really puzzled together what they thought of their young. Humans carried a strong emotional attachment to their offspring, laughing when they laughed, comforting when they cried, and wailing when the young ones died. Like most tools, Elven children were probably treated the same as a nice weapon or a horse, something that the mother and father used to gain more power and influence in their community. I hoped that they held some shred of love for their children. Especially at times such as these, when I watched their nursery burn to the ground, killing scores of the baby maggots.
They may have felt no sadness at the loss of their offspring, but the Elvens certainly got fucking angry.
I was counting on that.
It took only a few minutes for the whole estate to be up in arms. Once the Elvens noticed what my band of merry pyromancers had done, they frantically swarmed around their houses, attempting to put out the fire with buckets conveniently placed near the nursery, the wells, and the small pond on the outskirts of the compound. The wood pails were already filled with what appeared to be water, and since the Elvens moved with such haste to save their offspring, they didn't question what was actually in the buckets before they tossed the contents onto the roaring flames.
For a brief second, I wondered at the differences between our two races. We had used a special oil that carried an indistinct scent. I had always guessed that Elvens possessed the same heightened sense of smell we did, but perhaps they were so desperate to save their children that they didn't think to sniff the contents of the pails before they threw them on the inferno.
The oil fueled the flames to impossible heights. The fire chased the arcs of liquid backward, igniting a few of the Elvens attempting to extinguish the flames.
“This is almost as satisfying as killing them single-handedly,” Alexia whispered from below me.
She had climbed the pine tree from where I was observing the inferno. I looked down beneath the branch and did not see her. She giggled softly and I realized she was dangling upside down like a spider from the same branch on which I perched.
“Your team set up the buckets of oil perfectly,” I whispered to her. She silently scampered up the side of the branch and straddled it, facing me. Her short blonde hair was concealed by a black cowl.
"I thought they would smell the oil and not fall for the trap. This is working so well, Thayer’s group might not even see any action. Let us move in and finish them?" she asked.
“No. Wait until their elders come out. Should only be a few moments.” She nodded and then spun around on the branch to face the fire half a mile in the city below our shared perch.
“Burn you fucking bastards,” she whispered again, but the words were spoken so softly that I might have imagined them. Alexia had joined our small resistance a few years ago when Thayer and I scouted the perimeter of a neighboring Elven tribal estate. We had stumbled onto four Elven men raping her repeatedly, something that most of their kind enjoyed doing if the opportunity presented itself. After Thayer and I had killed the rapists, we brought her back with us to Entas. She had been our first recruit since our exodus from Iolarathe’s home.
I didn’t believe that anyone else was more committed to destroying the Elvens than I, but Alexia came close in dedication. She was a skilled warrior and her ability to walk through a forest without making a sound added to her effectiveness at murdering our enemies.
“Kaiyer,” she whispered urgently and I saw a sudden rush of activity to the north of the nucleus of the inferno. A few dozen armed Elvens were escorting the elders of their tribe. They would be proficient in magic, and would probably combine powers to stop our fire. Entas had predicted as much.
“Let’s go. I’ll follow your lead.” I had hardly finished speaking before Alexia grunted and launched herself effortlessly from the branch we shared. My eyes traced her falling body through the darkness. She rebounded skillfully off three thick branches before landing on the nettle-coated dirt below the tree canopy. A second later, I was on the ground behind her, sprinting across the forest toward our prey.
She cut north before we hit the clearing, allowing us to attack the party of guards and elders from their left, the perfect approach, as it was both away from the fire and their line of sight. Unlike my lithe and graceful companion, I was as loud as an angry bear as I followed her. Luckily, the roar of the inferno and the screams of our enemies drowned out the sound of my plodding footfalls.
We ran out into the clearing, dashing toward the small cluster of Elvens guarding their elders. There was an empty space of three hundred yards, and we would only have a few seconds to sprint across it before the guards found us. Alexia and I led this mission because we were the fastest runners in our army, so I was confident we would be able to make it there in time. But to further the odds in our favor, our team of six archers began to pepper the guards from the other side of the camp.
Chaos erupted in the band of Elvens when the first volley of arrows showered their ranks. Then Alexia and I smashed into them like two ravenous animals.
My friend cut the left leg out from one of the leather-clad Elven soldiers with her curved short sword and then slammed the blade of her dagger into the spine of another. I sliced the neck out of the Elven as he fell and then speared the point of my blade through the skull of the only armored bastard left who did not have an arrow in him.
One of the elder Elvens ducked down to escape the rain of arrows and saw the brief flash of carnage Alexia and I made in the back lines of her group.
“We are under--“ she screamed but couldn’t finish. Alexia kicked her in the face, shattering the old woman’s nose, jaw, and teeth in a satisfying crunch.
Not that her alert would have mattered.
The other guards had not even noticed that Alexia and I closed the distance behind them. I picked one on the left of me and removed his head from his shoulders with a crimson spray of my sword. Then I kicked the back of the other’s legs and caught his face with my fist as he fell backward. Entas just wanted two of them alive.
Alexia’s dagger flew over my shoulder and I heard it sink into the skull of an Elven who had noticed we had incapacitated their leaders. More screams sounded from the other side of the burning nursery. Thayer and his team fulfilled their part of the mission and were providing a violent end to the Elvens that attempted to extinguish the fire.
Then the battle ended.
I inspected the woman Alexia had kicked and the other elder I had punched. They were alive but wouldn’t be able to chew food for a few days. Elvens didn’t heal as fast as we now did.
A runner from Thayer’s group approached as Alexia and I tied and gagged the two elders.
"It is done.
" She spoke in an excited slur.
"Run the perimeter again. Meet at the slave housing in three minutes,” I commanded the woman. She nodded and sprinted off to execute my order.
Alexia signaled to her archers and they picked up the pair of bound Elvens and started ripping weapons and armor off of the corpses of their guards. We needed all the equipment we could get.
"I hate it when you call it 'slave housing.’ I wish you would call it 'human housing' or something else." My friend almost never voiced her feelings, so I was surprised by her small whisper.
"No. slave housing is appropriate," I said to her as I increased my walk to a run. Our destination was half a mile from the main Elven estate and we expected that a half a dozen guards would lay in wait. If those Elvens had any emotion, they would be concerned about what was going on in the rest of the camp. This wasn't an attack that we could execute in silence, and I was sure that the Elven soldiers heard the sounds of the distant battle.
"Why?" Alexia spoke just enough to make her voice carry over the wind to me as she caught up to my stride.
"Because it angers you. It angers me too. We'll be slaves until they are all dead. You're a slave to your memories."
We stopped at the tree line after a short climb. The slave compound held about a hundred of our kind in three large long houses. A few scattered torches lit the log buildings, but this night was dark, and the light the flames gave out didn't comfort the four Elven guards who huddled close together. I increased the sensitivity of my ears so that I might listen to their conversation.
"Should we go?" one of them whispered to the other three.
"It's only been a few minutes. A runner will come soon," a female voice spoke.
"I will go look. I'll be back in a moment,” the first male voice said.
"Don't leave, asshole. We'll all be punished if they catch you abandoning the post," another man said.
"What if it is Gittarum attacking?" the first male said again.
"They wouldn't dare! Our sentries would have seen them. Just wait!" the female demanded.
That was an interesting tidbit of news. Gittarum was another Elven tribe that had their lands about twenty miles from here. They would be next on our list and it felt comforting to know that our enemies didn't even consider that humans were attacking them.
"Kaiyer, look to the north of the houses." Alexia gently touched my arm. I looked in the direction she indicated and saw a group of four humans circling outside the log buildings. They attempted to peer around the corner at the guards, but little escaped Alexia's vision.
"I am going to go and see. Fuck waiting," the Elven said as he stepped up the path toward the main estate.
"Stop! We will all get reprimanded!" Two Elvens walked after him and tried to hold him back.
"I'll go with him." The fourth voice was deep for an Elven, he had not yet spoken. "I am curious about the screams too. If it is nothing, we will return quickly. Otherwise, we will say it was our idea." The four started to bicker more.
"They are going to ambush the Elvens," Alexia said.
"Yeah. I don't think it will go well, but I admire their mettle." I grinned back at her. She looked at me for a few seconds before a slow smile crept to her face.
"Are we going to help them?"
"Of course. Let's see if the guards split first." I heard the rest of Alexia's team climb up the hill behind us. One of them whispered to her that the elders and equipment were secure with Thayer's group.
We watched the humans watch the Elven guards argue for a few minutes before they finally agreed to leave their post and investigate. Two of them moved at a slow jog up the path toward the main estate.
I turned to Alexia's team.
"End them quietly." The three warriors nodded and disappeared into the forest behind us like they were sinking into a still pool.
"You just wanted some alone time with me didn't you?" Alexia smirked.
"Perhaps. Do you think the four of them can kill the two Elvens?" I chuckled at her.
"No," she said quickly. "I'll move closer." She didn't wait for permission; she launched herself from our ledge and down the dirt slope like a bounding deer. Her every footfall managed to land on something solid and silent. Within a few seconds, she had made it the few hundred yards to the log houses and had expertly flipped onto the thatched roof of the nearest structure.
The Elvens spoke between each other, their voices excited by the possibility of an attack or being punished for their companions' desertion. I saw the four humans decide that they would not come upon a better opportunity for revenge, so they left their place of concealment and crept toward the two guards.
Alexia perched on the roof of the house where the men hid. She looked over in my direction and put a hand up to her ear and then pushed her thumb downward before touching her ear, signaling that she thought they were loud, but the Elven's hadn't noticed their advance.
The man in the lead of the humans had a thick crop of dusty blonde hair. Unlike the other three men who looked like they might shit themselves or run at any moment, his face was locked in calm concentration. He carried a wood axe, another a pitchfork, and the other two had makeshift clubs. I hoped the humans would be able to kill the Elvens before the reptilian bastards drew their own finely crafted weapons.
I couldn’t help but hold my breath as the humans neared their prey. Perhaps I should have moved closer, but I figured that Alexia could slaughter both of the guards easily and I was curious to see how the brave men would fare against the Elvens.
"Should I engage?" Alexia signed from the roof.
"Let's see if they are successful. Jump in when you wish." She nodded, and her grin grew with pride.
I was impressed with how near the four men got before their discipline faltered. They were about four feet away when the man at the back raised his weapon and let out a war cry that was a mix of insanity and panic. Then they charged.
Maybe the man believed his screech would terrify the two Elvens, but I knew better. Compared to normal humans, Elvens were more than three times as fast and twice as strong. The guards looked surprised for half a second, which was an eternity to Alexia and I, but not even a fraction of a blink to the humans. By the time the leader of the men was close enough to swing his axe, the Elvens had already drawn their swords. Alexia decided she needed to intervene now and began an elaborate flip off the roof of the long house, her lithe body twisting in the air like a spider dangling from silk.
I jumped down the slope and sprinted toward them. I figured the fight would be over by the time I got there, but I wanted to be within melee range just in case.
The male Elven blocked the clumsy swing from the leader's axe and shoulder charged him, knocking him over like the human was made of bundled straw. The female Elven was the better warrior, she side-stepped the inexpert thrust from the pitchfork and cleanly decapitated the man wielding the farming tool.
Then Alexia landed with her short sword buried into the top of the Elven's skull. The force of the impact took the blade down halfway through the bitch's back and sprayed her thick crimson blood everywhere.
The remaining Elven warrior did not react to Alexia’s landing or the death of his companion. He deftly whipped his sword around with a horizontal cut at Alexia’s shoulders. For a brief second, I worried that she had not seen the attack coming. Of course, Alexia did not need my concern. She spent countless hours sparring with Thayer, me and the rest of our band. Even our worst warrior could defeat most Elvens. Our training was intense and effective. We were all deadly and ruthless.
The blonde woman bent slightly at the waist and the weapon harmlessly swept over her shoulder blades. I had reached the melee by now and planted a firm jump kick into the Elven man's ribs. I heard several of them break and the man let out a surprised scream. The force of my running attack should have sent him sprawling, but the human that he had knocked to the ground grabbed the Elven's ankles. The guard flipped over like a coin and smashed his face into the
dirt.
Alexia was already in the air and landed on the Elven, sinking her long dagger into the man's neck.
Then our enemies were dead.
The blonde woman and I crouched down and looked back toward the road where the other two guards had gone. They should have been dead by now, but we didn't want to take any chances.
"How many guards are there?" Alexia asked the blonde man on the ground.
"Four. The other two went up the road." The man didn't hesitate with his answer.
"Hold," I commanded, and the three men left alive lay still on the floor. We waited for another minute in silence. Alexia and I didn't expect any more resistance, but we knew how much a mistake could cost us.
Then we heard the faint hoot of a dove from up the road a few hundred yards. It was the signal that the Elvens were dead.
"Get up," I commanded as I examined the three humans. The leader stood shorter than me by half a head and was as lean as a whip. I saw dozens of veins pushing out against the skin of his bare arms. The other two men were in poorer shape. They were probably only in their early twenties but looked much older due to malnutrition.
"Who are you?" the blue-eyed man asked my friend. She smiled to him and turned to face me.
"I'm Kaiyer, this is Alexia, and we are the O'Baarni."
"How did you kill the Elvens so easily?" He glanced back to Alexia again with astonishment in his eyes. She shrugged and looked at me. The woman didn't like meeting new people.
"We can talk about that later," I said to him." We are freeing you and your fellow slaves. I assume they are gathered in these houses?"
"Aye. We have been planning an escape for the last few months. One of my friends was going to start a fire in the main house of the Elvens, then we would overpower the guards and escape."
"What?" he asked after Alexia and I exchanged a look of bewilderment.
"We started a fire, actually," I said to him.
"I don't care who started the fire. We are ready to go. We are planning to escape north. These people think I can lead them to safety. I don't know what I am doing, but I'll die before I disappoint them." The man smiled and pushed his fists together nervously. It brought back a memory of me fleeing my old home. Of course then I had a group of elite and empowered warriors accompanying me. This man just had endless courage.
The Destroyer Book 2 Page 28
