The Destroyer

by Michael-Scott Earle

  At least, that was what I tried to do. In actuality I managed to crack both my eyes open a bit, moan a whisper, and shake my body like a wind chime that had been hit with a gentle breeze.

  "The boy attacked you?" the voice asked. It looked like the Ancient general who had demanded that the king surrender. I had forgotten his name, if he had given it to the king those many weeks ago when they had made their exchange of demands from the wall around the castle.

  "Yes. As did Nadea. They conspired to kill me." Nanos frowned when he looked at me.

  "My empress asked that you capture the human boy named Paug and the human woman named Nadea. You have failed to do this." The Ancient had been studying me, but he glanced back to the prince. "My empress does not accept failure."

  There were two guards accompanying Nanos. One of them held the small candle that caused me the agony. Even in its dim light I saw my cousin's face pale. His mouth hung open in shock.

  "No. Wait. I did everything she asked of me." His voice became frantic but the Ancient seemed uninterested in his concerns. "Paug is dead, but Nadea is still alive. She can answer all of the empress's questions."

  "I do not believe that will be possible. This woman appears to be close to death. She is dehydrated. Her leg wound is festering, and she has an extreme fever. Humans are frail and weak. She will die today or tomorrow. This will not please my empress." The Ancient sniffed and then made a small frown with his angular features.

  Nanos turned to one of his guards.

  "How much food and water have you given her?" his voice went up in pitch as he squealed in fear. I smiled and tasted blood in my mouth. I hoped that I died and the empress ripped Nanos apart for being such a backstabbing piece of shit traitorous bastard. The two guards exchanged nervous glances.

  "I'll get her some, sir," the meeker one said before he quickly ran out of my prison.

  "Can you speak, human?" the Ancient addressed me. His eyes had a strange silver hue to them and they almost seemed to glow softly with the candlelight. I tried to say yes but I only gurgled.

  "This is disappointing." The Ancient shook his head and crossed his arms. "She will be very upset with you, King of Nia."

  "What . . . what will she do to me?" Nanos’s voice quavered.

  "I do not know, human. But I would recommend that you attempt to save this woman's life. Then my empress might only remove your arm for the death of the boy."

  "Remove my arm?" Nanos gasped in horror.

  "Yes. I have seen her do worse to our kind who failed her in less of an extreme manner than you. The empress made it very clear in my orders and to you in the treaty documents. The boy and this woman needed to live so that she could question them about the O'Baarni."

  "But I did what she asked of me! I didn't fail her! I gave her the Kingdom of Nia!" The prince threw himself at the Ancient's feet and gripped his pants. Tears began to streak down his face and I struggled to smile. I wished that I could be alive to witness him scream when he was punished.

  "You are correct, you delivered Nia. However, one might argue she would have taken it in short time by force or your father might have given it to her peacefully. You made the recommendation for betrayal, and agreed to have the O'Baarni's companions ready for questioning. Your proposition satisfied my empress but now she is out one third of the deal and looks to be out of another. I believe she would have chosen other alternatives had she known you would not fulfill your promises." The Ancient sniffed the air again glared at me in disgust.

  "She has shat herself and I cannot endure it any longer. I recommend that you make sure the woman lives and pray that the empress has mercy." Without another word, the Ancient walked beyond the bars of my cell and toward the exit of the dungeon. Nanos looked as if he wanted to plead more with the man, but my blonde cousin thought better and instead turned to the guard that returned with food and water.

  "Feed her and find a medic. I want her guarded and placed in the infirmary so that she recovers!" the prince screamed at the two guards. They snapped to attention and nodded. Nanos turned to look at me; he could probably see that my eyes were half-closed. He opened his mouth to say something, reconsidered, huffed, and walked two feet out of my cell. The asshole stopped suddenly and faced the guards again.

  "Bring the medic here, bring water to wash the prisoner, and bring fresh clothes for her. She cannot be seen by anyone but you two and the doctor. Do not let them leave. I do not want anybody to know Nadea is alive." His guards nodded again and Nanos stormed out of the cell with a dramatic swing of his cloak. The light from the candles made the bars to my cell cast rough shadows so that he looked like a caged monster as he stomped down the hallway and up the stairs out of the dungeon. The guards said nothing until we heard a distant door open and slam shut.

  "I'll get a medic, you take care of the water and clothes," the one holding the candle said to the other as they moved toward the exit. During their short transition out they found a torch mounted to the wall. A warm glow soon bled across the dungeon hall and leaked through the bars of my cell.

  The thick door slammed from the hallway up above me again and then I was alone.

  It was foolish of me, but for what seemed like hours I hung there, desiring to die more than anything else. Wishing that my life would just end so I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of loss, failure, and sickness. I also wanted revenge on Nanos and knew that my death would bring it. I closed my eyes and prayed to the Spirits that the darkness would last forever.

  "Nadea," I thought a voice called my name.

  "Psst! Nadea." I struggled to peel open my eyelids. The voice sounded like it came from my right, in the opposite direction of the exit. I tried to twist my head and see who spoke, but my strength failed.

  Shadows danced in the hallway as a trio of dark figures moved quietly toward me.

  "Nadea, can you hear me?" the figure in the front whispered. Coal darkened his face but I recognized his blue eyes in the dim light of the torch.

  "Runir?" I coughed out blood.

  "Shhh. Shit. Don't talk." He reached out to touch me and pulled back. He looked up at the chains anchored to the ceiling and manacled to my wrists. Then he examined the floor and my cell. He seemed indecisive. The dark figure to his right inspected the gash on my leg while my friend talked.

  "We came to get you out of here. My father and I have a few hundred troops that managed to escape. We are camped out to the northeast in the High Forest."

  "This wound is very infected and must be cleaned. We can't take her through the sewer like this," the man examining my leg interrupted and Runir grimaced.

  "Okay Nadea, we are going to clean this and then take you." He reached out and touched my hair. It felt good to have affectionate human contact after what seemed like an eternity in the darkness. I saw the other warrior open up a small travel bag and search through the contents.

  “Fuck. I don’t have the right medical equipment. We’ll need to come back. Curse the Spirits,” Runir’s friend growled.

  "Wait," I croaked out. My throat seemed to be made of sandpaper and my tongue was so swollen that I had trouble pronouncing words.

  "Shhh. Don't talk. We'll return soon. Just hold on, please." Runir whispered.

  "Nanos," I whispered. Each word left my vocal cords in a searing roar of agony.

  "I know. He's trapped here too. We will rescue him as well. You'll be easier to break out since they are keeping you in the dungeons by the sewer. We’ll return in a few hours."

  "No." I tried to speak but my voice had reached the limit of what I could do today. I wanted to scream that Nanos had betrayed us all, killed his father and Paug.

  The door above opened suddenly and the three would-be rescuers disappeared, sliding slippery and smooth into the darkness of the dungeon like frogs into a deep lake.

  "Where are you taking me?" a voice filled with fear asked.

  "Shut up and walk. I'm not here to answer your questions." It sounded like a dozen heavy sets of boots coming
down the stairs. When the group passed the torch, the entire dungeon became engulfed in their flickering shadows. When they got into my cell they lit additional torches. I struggled to keep my eyes open but even when closed the firelight seemed to burn into my brain like a hundred suns.

  "Duchess Nadea!" a mouse-like voice squealed in shock. I cracked my eyelids apart as much as I dared and saw a small man with glasses, a tiny mustache, and thinning hair. He wore the white attire of a medic and carried two leather bags overfilled with gauze, vials, and other medical supplies. "What is she doing here?" he turned to ask one of the guards.

  "She is a traitor. But the Prin-King needs her alive for questioning so you are instructed to fix up her leg." I saw four other men with the original two guards and the medic. The new guards were Losherians and each carried two steaming buckets of water.

  "How is the duchess a traitor?" the mousey man asked.

  "If you don't shut up I will kill you here and find another medic,” the guard said easily.

  "I need some more supplies. The water is good but also a stretcher, table, more light, and someone to bring me other tools from the infirmary." He set down his bags, causing a rat the size of a small dog to scurry around the cell and dash through the bars away from us. The small man let out a shriek and almost jumped into the arms of the guard that had just threatened to kill him. It would have been comical in any other situation, but the Losher soldiers didn't seem to possess a sense of humor, Nanos’s men worried about me dying, and it would have hurt too badly for me to laugh.

  "Get to work asshole!" the prince's guard berated the small man, pushing him away from him. The medic stumbled and slammed into me. I let out a grunt and my vision swam. The guards yelled, I felt like I had to vomit, and then everything went dark.

  I awoke slowly, my mouth tasted like bile and my body was on fire. I was burnt everywhere but I couldn't stop from shivering.

  "It will be okay, Duchess," the mousey man's voice echoed. I realized I lay on a table. A thick sheet covered my naked body. I tried to raise my head, but my strength failed.

  "I am stitching up your leg. It is infected, but I already cleaned it. I need to force water into you every half an hour. Sleep for now and I'll wake you soon." I knew it was the medic, but it sounded like he yelled at me from a quarter of a mile away.

  "She is strong, but I might have to amputate if the infection doesn't clear. I probably should do it to be on the safe side, but I want to give her two more days to see if she can recover." The voice trailed away. It was foolish, but the thought of losing my leg was more horrifying than my life. I wanted to cry.

  "Everything will be okay Naynay,” a voice consoled me from the darkness of my subconscious. It sounded like my father's voice, but I knew that was impossible. He was dead, along with everyone else I ever loved. I would have no one to cry to, no one to love, and no one to miss me.

  I was alone in the darkness of my sleep.

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