Eye of Hel: Stories of the Nine Worlds (Ten Tears Chronicles - a dark fantasy action adventure Book 2)

by Alaric Longward

  He pointed at an elaborate seat, and I took it, listening as Tiria commanded the first mate to haul the ship around and begin the sail for the Gold Hall. Ompar hesitated and nearly went out, but decided against it. ‘She has no business ordering the ship anywhere, but I guess she needed to restore her pride.’ He walked to his desk, reclined on his seat and lifted his long legs onto a desk littered with papers and rocks to hold them down. He cursed softly as his swords hampered him from enjoying his seat. He tugged at them, shifted the belt, and smiled at me apologetically. ‘Excuse me. Hazards of looking like a captain. I rarely use them, but you have to admit they carry authority. I have little else.’

  ‘Can you see and hear the Glory?’ I asked him.

  He frowned at that and rapped his fingers on the sword pommel, and I cursed myself under the mask. ‘See and hear? See and hear indeed. That is a strange way of putting it, my dear. We Embrace the Glory. Or we don’t. But I don’t. My father does. My sisters do. My … brother does. My mother did. I do not.’ He leaned forward and whispered with a smile. ‘I’m always going to be the lame lizard of the family. Not every elven noble can sense the power, but they should, in the eyes of some. Like Father.’

  ‘You don’t look like a lame lizard,’ I said and blushed at the words, happy the helmet covered my face.

  He frowned again, waved his hand around and pointed at a cabinet. ‘I suspect you will not take Mereidan?’

  I hesitated. That wine I had tasted in Trad. It was exquisite, superbly rich wine of golden color. But I’d have to take the helmet off. ‘I don’t drink with pirates.’

  He laughed hollowly. ‘I see. You must protect your reputation, and pirates, after all, make terrible drinking companions. They spill the stuff on their laps, roaring drunk. But pirates will have to drink, nonetheless, to keep up their reputation, so I’ll help myself to some. In a bit. I suspect, however, that you must be very thirsty.’ He smiled as he regarded me. ‘So easily you call us pirates. It is strange since you of the north have been bullying us in the south since time immemorial and have been robbing our ships just like we sink yours, no? House Vautan, Bardagoon, and Safiroon will never let the rude southern merchants roam peacefully across the seas, and we but return the favor.’

  I snorted. ‘Perhaps there are no merchants in these waves at all, my lord. Only cutthroats. I prefer the land.’

  His eyes flashed. ‘I’ve cut some throats in my time. At the sea, and on the land as well. And yes, I was hoping to find some spoils, even if I was to lug my sisters around. We left Himingborg two days ago. We knew about some Bardagoon ships leaving the port, and a few Safiroon ones, on their way to Trad and House Vautan. When there is the Feast of Fates, seas get busy. It is our business, my lady, to cull the busy lanes.’ The Feast of Fates. Where Euryale had planned to use me to her advantage in Himingborg, where all the mighty ones would meet once a year. It was the annual feast where grudges are aired, wars are declared, and peace made. The whole feast sounded very dangerous, anyway. But that is where I was headed to, blind as a fool. ‘Lady … Glamir?’ he said.

  I waved my hand and acknowledged him. ‘I’d go to Himingborg.’

  ‘Were you not on your way to Trad, though? The ship was, I know it. Even a simple drunk remembers such details.’

  I ground my teeth together and pointed a finger at him. ‘I’d go to Trad or Himingborg. Either one will do. I’d love to be put in a filthy fishing hamlet, if nowhere else.’

  ‘You will see the south first.’ His eyes gleamed as he stared at me. He pointed a lazy finger my way. ‘You will miss the Feast of Fates as well. Though it has been postponed before when key people were missing. And I hear some are. Like, Father. It takes a week to sail south.’

  I hesitated at that. ‘What makes you think I was going to take part in the Feast?’

  He smiled. ‘What? Let’s get to that in a bit. One week as we sail south.’

  ‘A week. And a week back.’

  ‘Yes. And, of course, what time we will wait for House Glamir to respond to our demands.’ He smiled thinly. ‘Months?’

  I tried to adopt a non-threatening tone, even if I was burning to shout at him. ‘I’m not important, lord. I did not lie about my status,’ I said with a lazy shrug. ‘They didn’t even pick me up when I fell. Why not just put us on the coast?’

  He waved his hand as he acknowledged my point. ‘There is that. But perhaps they missed your clumsy accident as you suggested? I am confused now. You said they missed you, and now you say they didn’t care enough to pick your ass out of the sea?’

  I sulked. ‘My ass?’

  He bowed. ‘I am sorry. I am a pirate. I tend to take note of a nice ass and not be shy about it.’

  I sputtered and calmed myself. ‘Yours is rather bony, my lord. Would you pay attention to me and not on the ass under my armor?’

  ‘Bony?’ he said with a smile. ‘I’ve heard that before. There was this girl in Trad who claimed I was too thin and tried to feed me for two weeks while in bed.’

  ‘Must be true, then,’ I said coldly.

  He laughed raucously. ‘Well. I agree with you on this. They did not miss you falling from the ship. And they didn’t miss all your servants jumping in after you, either.’ He quaffed. ‘No, they didn’t care for you enough to try. Or they were too scared to fight us.’ He smiled, his face full of merriment. ‘Would you remove your armor and let me see you? Or must it be the hard way?’ he whispered with a crooked smile. ‘And no, I am not trying to see if my judgment of your ass was correct.’

  I felt a twist of fear in my belly. We knew very little about elves, and this one seemed both charming and dangerous. ‘Your seat will not serve as a guard should I release a spell of ice under you.’

  ‘Oh, it’s back to threats. I’m not exactly unprotected,’ he said and picked up a small, round shield. It was bronze and golden and strangely crude. There was a wide, astonished face in its center. He rapped it proudly. ‘Father’s toy. Tiria carried it in Himingborg on her mission; gods know what that was about. I stole it from her chest this morning when she was washing. Don’t tell her. I’m still contemplating on keeping it and blaming someone I don’t like when Father comes raging and demanding it. And he will. He doesn’t trust me.’ He looked at the shield sheepishly. ‘With good reason, it seems. This artifact is the finest one in our treasury. One of the mightiest artifacts in the whole of Aldheim.’

  I snorted. ‘A thief and a pirate. They are, of course, the same thing,’ I said with spite. ‘How will that stop you from getting your rear pierced?’

  He quaffed. ‘It soaks up magic. Arrows as well, and spears. It was made by a dverg smith ages past. Elves can craft wondrous things of Glory, but this is truly worth a great deal. Imagine a great maa’dark of huge powers and this? He could dish out damage and take nearly everything thrown at him. Incredible. It’s called the Charm Breaker.’

  ‘I can sink the ship, perhaps,’ I said sullenly, eyeing the wicked-looking shield.

  ‘Remember your friends,’ he pointed out with a growl. ‘They might find it hard to go for a swim again. In our bad company, no less. All of us sharing the sea? Not a very good idea. Your friends would suffer. For a while.’

  ‘You threaten my friends?’ I asked him furiously and realized he had baited me. Friends. Human friends. Not servants.

  He raised his hands to show he was done with abusing me. ‘Yes. And no. Let us act civil. This is a tale worth hearing, I think.’ He eyed my blade. ‘It is a strange blade. Crude like the Charm Breaker, but light and deadly. Firm. Where did you get it? It’s not elven made. I know blades. No smith of the Freyr’s Tooth would fashion one like it.’

  ‘I stole it,’ I said. ‘From someone I hated.’ I did not lie. I had hated Bilac, the tattooed Gorgon. I was happy Thak had eaten her.

  ‘Ferocious,’ he smiled. He rubbed his face. ‘But you didn’t answer the question. Where, not from whom.’ He threw the blade on the desk, where it rattled. ‘Can you take it off?’

&n
bsp; ‘I said no,’ I said thinly, my voice breaking with panic. I bit my lip.

  ‘Again you misunderstand my question. I asked,’ he said, leaning forward, “can you?” I know you don’t want to. But I hear the Frigg’s Gift is a fine thing, a magical thing and will not come off easily if someone tries to force it. I read it takes concentration, and you should deal with it like you would with another living thing. I saw this in an obscure book. Oh yes! I read books when I’m not pirating!’

  ‘Frigg’s gift?’ I asked him, suddenly covered in cold sweat.

  ‘Yes, that is what it is. The Silver Maw,’ he smiled. ‘Armor of the Hand of Life. And inside it, the one elf every lord is looking for. I know that thing will not accept anyone else, but only the holy one. You can be the Hand without it, and that armor was lost a long time ago, and it’s yours. And here it is. I saw a picture of it as well, you know.’

  ‘A picture, you say,’ I whispered. ‘You saw a picture. That is all?’

  He nodded. ‘Yes. When the Hand dies, the Race commences. Everyone is trying to find the noble female who is gifted with healing. There has not been one for nearly twenty years. The Hand has nearly always ended up with the Bardagoons, in the Freyr’s Tooth, but now it is different, isn’t it? Should someone land the Hand, in the south, perhaps, and then the Feast of Fates would be a harsh affair for Almheir Bardagoon. I know something of this issue. I know my father would like nothing better than to see you in his grasp. He expects to, in fact.’

  ‘I …’ I began and went quiet. I eyed his shield. He smiled and tapped it with his finger, making a point. ‘Expects to?’

  He went on. ‘You have been found. I knew of it. Father spoke of it. He said he had made a deal, and you would meet him in Himingborg. Said you would take part in the Feast. Said he had made a deal and that would topple Almheir Bardagoon. That is part of the reason Tiria was visiting the city. He didn’t tell me this, of course, but I found out just yesterday anyway.’

  ‘Your father knows of me? And your sister was there to prepare something that involved me?’ I asked, and he nodded. What had Euryale been planning? I thought she wanted to simply blackmail Almheir into allowing me to try to fetch the Eye, but now there were the southerners involved. I had told Dana she was evil, that we could never trust her words and plans, but the hair on my neck stood up as I thought about the situation. She had planned to give me to Danar Coinar? ‘How do you know this? Tiria does not seem like the sort to share her plans.’

  The elf nodded, eyeing me carefully. ‘She is not. Hannea told me. She is teeter tottering between Tiria and me, you see. She can be very talkative, and I do not hate her like the other one.’ He made a mockery of a frown and pulled his black hair over his chest as he mimicked Tiria’s sour face. I nearly giggled but stopped myself. We were in danger; I reminded myself. ‘And now you are here,’ he continued, smoothing his hair back. ‘It’s fateful. It challenges me. I cannot imagine a stranger event in the history of the Coinar. Hand of Life was promised to my father and that was set up to destroy the Regent. She was to be given to Danar Coinar in Himingborg. But one nearly drowned in the Dancing Bay. On my path. It’s like Hand of Life is something one runs into almost daily in the hen market. Hand here, Hand there.’

  ‘I escaped from something, a creature if you will. It was a creature that was planning for something terrible,’ I told him carefully. ‘I don’t know what, exactly. And your words left me confused just now. I do not know what your father has got to do with this creature’s plans.’

  ‘Tiria visiting the great city, speaking with someone. Hannea helping her. You here. Father and his Daxamma allies moving troops around. There is a conspiracy, and it takes place in Himingborg. Dangerous, dangerous. Speak up. Tell me everything.’

  ‘To Danar Coinar’s son? I am not—’

  He slammed the shield on the table. His handsome face turned into a mask of frustration. ‘My sisters are right now sitting in their cabin. Hannea is probably thinking about your armor. It is unusual. They are no scholars, no, but she is far from stupid and might have seen it somewhere as well. We have nobles riding into battle fully armored; we have soldiers marching to war like that, but your armor is much more elaborate and unique.’

  ‘You are making this all seem much more fantastic than it truly is,’ I told him. ‘Fairytales.’

  He shook his head. ‘No. This is a miracle. I cannot imagine anything that might surprise me more than finding the Hand of Life in the sea, surrounded by the strangest of servants, bobbing up and down in the waves with a dark shark circling, and then coming aboard under my sword. Tell me something that could surprise me more!’

  I sat there, mortified. Then I laughed, and he shrugged, confused. I could tell him something that would shock him more. A human Hand should do the trick. I leaned towards him. ‘And what will you do with me? Take me to your father?’

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘No?’

  ‘I have to take my sisters to Gold Hall,’ he said diplomatically. ‘I’m sure the Feast will be postponed as Father has not yet left the south. But you must come with me when I sail that way. I cannot leave you here, on the coast. You see, I am not the only one who would know that armor. And the others might be much more inclined in acting selfishly. Even in the lands of House Vautan. You will come with me.’

  ‘With you? Will you take me for your own toy? Will you try to take over from Almheir? I only wanted to reach the Regent. I have business with him. And why would you not wish to elevate yourself, your house?’

  He gave a dry laugh. ‘I don’t particularly like my father,’ he said. ‘Nor do I like Tiria. Hannea is all right when Tiria is not around. And I absolutely loathe my damned brother. I would never do anything to elevate him. He is nothing but a turd from a piss bowl, and I would rather keep him there.’

  ‘I don’t want to support you, either,’ I told him, though for some reason I hesitated.

  He grinned. ‘As I said, you do not need to. All we have to think about is how to get you where you want to go. The Regent. I seek a new lord. Almheir is the greatest one. He is facing war this Feast time, and treachery, and I have once been betrayed like he would be. I don’t like to disclose my personal failures in this life to a stranger, but as it happens, despite your awful day so far, you are in luck. I am indeed no enemy to Bardagoon. Simply because the enemy of my enemy is a friend. This holds true for elves and men both. My father made an enemy of me.’

  ‘How? Did he make you stop swearing? Or teach you table manners with a belt?’

  He shook his head. ‘Fine. If you must know, he killed my wife. She was safe in Lowpass, but she was not, at the same time. Lowpass is my own bit of land. My wife was strange.’

  ‘Your wife, lord?’ I asked him and wondered at the bout of grief that invaded his face.

  ‘This might surprise you,’ he said with a frown. ‘At least it is unbelievable.’

  ‘I have a healthy appetite for long stories and mysteries,’ I said, ‘but I need to know what happened in the end.’

  He smiled. ‘Fine. A lover of tragic stories. This is one. It’s not a long story. I was married to a human. In the south, that is a crime, though, of course, I was hardly alone in such a crime. But I am the son of Danar Coinar, and gods above and below know that I loved her.’

  ‘What happened?’ I asked, wondering at the depth of sorrow in his face, and then I felt sorry for him.

  ‘She was pregnant. And while Father had endured the fact she existed, the new family member was too much. No. A half-elf in the family? Coinar family? He would rather be disemboweled with a dull spoon. So, Father sent someone to kill her. He will never admit it, but he is protecting the killer. It was family,’ he said bitterly. ‘The only one who could get to Lowpass. And that one, my dear, hates me, as Mother gave me Lowpass. Mother was dying, and my brother—’

  ‘Brother,’ I said with horror.

  ‘Brother was sure he would get Lowpass. Does he not Embrace the Glory? Is he not beloved by Fath
er? He is the champion of the House Coinar. He bragged. He bought new furniture for the castle. He bought plans for New Harbor and Central Keep. Paid for them. And when he didn’t get it? He was mocked behind his back. He will never forgive.’

  ‘How can your father do such a thing? How can he protect—’

  ‘How does he protect this killer? He loves him more,’ he said with scathing spite. He calmed himself, struggling visibly with the sentiment. It took a while, but then he went on, tired and heartbroken. ‘The killer is ranked just below Father. He is called Strife.’

  ‘I am so sorry,’ I said.

  He nodded and went on. ‘I found her. It had not been an easy death. This was two hundred years ago, but I have not forgotten. Nor will I. The presence of this killer in the Gold Hall? It is an affront to me. I hid myself in Lowpass for a while. Then I found the sea. I hate them, both of them. Father and my brother. Don’t like Tiria, either.’ He looked at me dangerously. ‘And now, the prime game piece in some evil scheme of his is on my lap. I call it justice.’

  ‘You said you would take me north. You would serve the Regent.’

  He nodded. ‘I did say that. But I will have to deal with my sisters first. I will let them off the ship. They would fight if I turned the ship around or tried to leave them on some island. I’ll not leave them in Vautan, either. They would suffer there. I don’t love Tiria, but I do love Hannea. And as I said, I will not let you run around in the lands alone. We will all have to visit south. We will dock; I will take you lot to the city under watch as I would any prisoner. Later that night we’ll take the core of the crew back out, and I’ll take you back to Himingborg to your Regent. And I will join him there. I will leave this place behind and you, the Hand I plucked from the shark’s maw, shall endorse me to him. You shall make it so I have a place at his table. They will not trust me; I am no fool. But you will help me gain his confidence, and I will fight for him. He cannot refuse when I bring him such a mighty gift.’