“That line of questioning indicates that you are willing to breed with me.” Her tongue slid across her lips slowly.
“I have not agreed to anything. Please answer my question.”
“You have no motivation to kidnap our child. Where would you take it? To a world with O’Baarni? You would rob your child of his or her mother?”
“No. I would not do such a thing.” I shook my head. “Unless it was apparent to me that you meant the child harm.”
“Is that what you believe transpired with Nadea?” She raised a dark metallic eyebrow.
“Your story does not make sense. I am supposed to believe that your mate suddenly decided your child was safer sent off alone to a distant planet than with you for no reason? If there is more to the story, tell me now. If you expect me to father a child with you, I need the truth.”
She stared at me for a few seconds and her eyes narrowed. She turned away from me. A few minutes passed and I guessed that our conversation was over. I began to plan my next steps. I wanted the empress’s help with this escape and the eventual manipulation of the Radicles, but if she intended to kill me after we freed ourselves of Turnia, I was going to have to decide when and how to kill the woman.
“He said he heard a voice in his dreams,” she whispered.
“A voice?”
“He was insane. We caught him a few seconds after he sent her away.” She sighed and rolled back over to face me. “He intended to follow her but never had the chance. I didn’t realize that he knew how to use the Radicles. During the torture process I came to understand he had this planned from the beginning. I thought I had been manipulating him but in actuality, he was taking instructions from the voice.”
“Who spoke to him?” I felt a chill crawl down my back. This story sounded familiar.
“He claimed it was our Dead Gods. Then he laughed.”
“Did he say why he sent her to this world?”
“No. He did not even tell me where he sent her. Believe me, Kaiyer. I was more than persuasive. I held him captive for two years and worked on him almost every day. I did things to the man that disgusted me then and still do now. He never cracked. Except for the laughter. He said that as soon as he sent the child through the Radicle, the voice stopped.”
“So you did nothing to Nadea to make him fear for her life?” I asked.
“Of course not. I know you believe us to be monsters, but we are not incapable of love. She is my daughter. And I had important plans for her. Nyarathe had hypothesized that such an individual might have the ability to unlock wondrous new magic for our people. I had gathered thousands of tomes about the Singleborns and the new abilities they have discovered. The girl was going to be important to my kin. She still will be.”
“When I talked to Nadea in the dungeons she said that you two had not spent much time together.”
She looked irritated with my question. “To protect Nadea, to protect this planet and all of the humans and Elvens here, I must close the Radicles. Every moment I have must be spent teaching Jessmei. Once we have done this, when I can rest assured that we are safe, I will spend more time with Nadea. I am more than eager to do so.”
“Could Nadea learn the same magic that you are trying to teach Jessmei? She is part human, after all.” I realized it was probably a mistake to ask the question. I wanted the empress to think I was her best alternative to Jessmei. Then again, Telaxthe was intelligent and I was sure she already thought of using her daughter to close the Radicles.
“I can sense power in individuals much like Nyarathe, I know what is needed to work with the Radicles. I believe Nadea’s powers lie elsewhere.”
“She did bring me through the Radicle.”
“She did?” The empress seemed surprised by my statement and I realized I may have made an error in revealing this. “I was told the human boy Paug was the one who pulled you from the Radicle.”
“You’ll need to discuss it with Nadea. She had a different story and I was out of sorts when I awoke.”
“Very well. Did my answer to your earlier question satisfy you?”
“Somewhat.” I exhaled and debated how to refuse the empress and still form a lasting alliance with her. Truth seemed the best course of action.
“I cannot mate with you. I have commitments to others,” I began to explain.
“Oh? To Jessmei?” Her full lips smiled.
“Yes. Also, Nadea.”
“You are lover to both of them?”
“No.” I refrained from explaining further and she left it alone.
“Their opinions do not matter while we are prisoners of Turnia and facing execution.” She shook her head and the smile left her mouth.
“They will be upset with me if you and I make a child. It will interfere with your relationships with them.”
“I can deal with their anger if it means I have you as my ally. Besides, you and I do not have to be in any sort of relationship beyond what is required to create an offspring. If you want to mate with the queen or my daughter afterward, I will not attempt to stop you.” I almost laughed at her comment when I thought about what Jessmei or Nadea would think of what Telaxthe said.
“They will consider it a betrayal. The humans of this planet value fidelity. Their traditions hold that couples remain entirely monogamous.”
“If they are sharing you already, why would they care if you created a child with me?”
“Nadea and I have never been lovers, and Jessmei does not know I have feelings for Nadea. Your daughter knows about Jessmei and she has made it clear that it is unacceptable. I will have to choose between them, or neither will have me.”
“Their traditions are impractical. Elvens mate with multiple partners to create stronger offspring. In Iolarathe’s time, the deals were orchestrated by the chieftains of each tribe. I have divided my population up between my generals and give them guidelines for breeding the most powerful offspring.”
“I remember Isslata complaining about something like that while I was her captive.” I thought back to the golden Elven warrior woman and did feel a slight pain of loss. I knew part of me cared about the woman, but I would probably never be able to figure out why.
“Do not speak of her again or I will become angry,” Telaxthe’s whisper turned into a soft growl. Before I could respond she spoke again. “We both have leverage over each other. I am sick of the back and forth now, Kaiyer. I care little if you anger Jessmei or Nadea. There are more important reasons for us to solidify an alliance. I will give you a few minutes to consider and then you need to make a decision.” Her demands came out rapidly and I fought against my own anger. I had saved Telaxthe’s life and offered her a small chance at victory over the O’Baarni. She had displayed gratitude initially, but now she was making demands that benefited her more than me.
“What has changed tonight, Telaxthe?” Her hair was dark in the night, but still had a metallic sheen that reflected the small amount of the moonslight seeping through the thick canvas above us.
“What do you mean?” She raised her eyebrow in an expression that reminded me too much of Nadea and her mouth curved slightly into a smile.
“You are making demands that you know I won’t agree with. I have the power here. I can tell Turnia to kill you now. I bartered for your life to be spared and I have a plan for us both to live. I don’t understand your strategy.”
“Do you have an answer?” she whispered urgently.
“No. My answer is no, but this does not mean we must be enemies. We can still work together.” I reached to touch her shoulder. I intended the movement to convey friendship, but my hand stopped midway between our bodies.
Something was wrong.
The pit of my stomach was clenching. My skin was crawling. The Earth raced through my body like a rushing river. I knew the feeling. I looked down at Telaxthe and her smile grew.
“Do you think I am a fool, Kaiyer?” Her voice was no longer a whisper. She brushed my hand aside and sat up in our bed. “D
id you think I would only take a few dozen guards as an escort while I was in the maw of the bear?” My ears rang and I heard the sound I knew all too well: Elvens and O’Baarni engaged in combat.
I stood up and the empress followed. She glided a few steps away from me toward the wooden stand that held her many robes. With a practiced movement she donned one of the plainer garments.
“I would have let you stay if you had agreed to my terms.” There were screams in the camp now and it sounded as if a full scale battle was underway. The explosion of magic a few hundred yards from our tent lit the night with orange flame and tore through the shouts like a dozen thumps of thunder. “But I am not without gratitude.” She walked toward me and placed her palm on my bare chest. “Turnia would have killed me before Yillomar and Fehalda could plan the perfect ambush. Thanks to you, I am still alive.” Her hand slid up my chest, around my neck and to my jawline. My mouth was still opened in surprise and she gently closed it.
“But now we will continue to the Radicle with a few thousand troops. I will banish you from this world and my people will live here in peace.” I heard the shouts and the footsteps before they poured into the pavilion. I turned my head and stood nose-to-nose with the big Elven general Yillomar. Beside him stood Fehalda. The big red Elven wore a smirk on his face, but the empress’s sister did not look pleased.
I considered attacking Telaxthe, but it was futile. Even if I managed to kill her before Yillomar or Fehalda could intervene, I would soon be butchered by her other soldiers.
“If you call forth your armor, we are prepared to take you down. I will sacrifice every warrior here if it means you will be driven from this world. You cannot win, Kaiyer.”
She reached behind me and grasped my neck. Her nails dug into my flesh and our eyes met. I gritted my teeth against the pain, but the cuts were nothing compared to the disappointment that churned in my stomach. I was a fool to doubt her prowess. With one risky ploy, she found the location of the Radicle, killed an O’Baarni clan leader, and ensured my capture.
Now I would pay for underestimating her.
Chapter 36-Iolarathe
Lightning struck through the air, dawn in an instant. I was already crouched, crawling through the bushes beside the swollen river, my nose filled with the scent of burnt vapor. I lay flat on my side for the roar that followed the burn. It was hard to hear anything over the torrent of the rain, the scream of the river, and the crash of the thunder, but I did not hear my pursuers raise any alarm.
I risked a glance through the hail-beaten juniper bushes, but the night was so black and terrible that I saw nothing save a few feet of torrential rain. I couldn’t see, I couldn’t hear, and I couldn’t smell anything through the storm that seemed to follow on the cloaks of the O’Baarni hunters.
Lighting flashed again and the world was lit with a sharp clarity. There were more than a dozen armored figures spread out within six hundred feet of me. There could have been more, the forest was thick with pine trees and bushes that obscured my view in the darkness of the night and the storm.
I lay back down against the frigid mud and the ice-cold granite. The hopelessness of my situation crashed into me harder than the pebble-sized hail that the rain had just turned into. There were too many. I was trapped. I wished Kaiyer were here, but thinking of my lover only made me tremble against the chill of the storm.
If they were here, then it was obvious why he was not.
I should just stand up and fight. The World would warm my blood like a hundred fires and I’d kill at least five of the fuckers before the rest could butcher me. It would be my preferred way to die. Death through battle would be quicker than whatever torture and punishment they had in store for me.
I felt the kick from within my womb and sighed. If I were alone, I could die. I had never much enjoyed this world anyway, not without Kaiyer.
Though he was dead, I wanted our child to live.
I dug through the mud at my feet and separated out the gravel. Then I applied the liquid dirt to my hair for the tenth time. I prayed to the Dead Gods that this mud would keep the light off of my mane and increase my chances of escape. I had no plan other than crawling away undetected. Suddenly an epiphany struck me like the lightning bolts that darted through the sky.
The baby kicked again. At least crawling on my elbows and knees took some of the pressure off of my spine and bladder. As if escaping the O’Baarni while huge with child was not difficult enough, the creature in my womb liked to sit right on my fucking intestines and rest its head on my bladder and I had to relieve myself every ten minutes.
After a few dozen yards of scraped knees and numb arms I began to fantasize about being in my father’s house with Relyara. Once there were hot baths. Warm meals of fresh food. Foot and back massages from my lover. Fuck, even the porcelain toilet occupied my mind with a feverish intensity. I really wanted to urinate again and for more than half a minute I was tempted to just squat down right behind this bush and allow the O’Baarni to find me if it meant I could be relieved of the pressure on my bladder right now.
My stomach pounded angrily again and I moaned. I almost decided to surrender, but my hand slipped on an ice-slick rock and I was sent spinning down an avalanche of mud, rocks, and roots. My hands reached out to grasp onto anything but found no purchase. As soon as I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to stop my descent into the river I curled myself into a tight, frozen ball around my stomach and prayed again that I didn’t land on a boulder when I fell.
I felt a sudden sensation of weightlessness and then I lost all perception of sight, smell, and sound. I was in the frigid water, safe from the hail, but colder than I could ever remember being in my entire life. The water was swift, angry, and it only took the torrent a few moments to realize that I was at its mercy. Once it did, the river slammed me into a boulder. I felt my shoulder break from the impact and I did finally scream. My face was underwater, so I doubted the sound reached my O’Baarni pursuers, but the shriek managed to let a few bottles worth of water into my lungs and breathing suddenly became the most urgent of my priorities.
I couldn’t tell where the surface of the river was, so I picked a direction and kicked my legs with as much strength as I still had left in my exhausted body. I breached the surface and took a panicked breath before the current yanked me back down into the darkness and spun me around like a top. Then I smashed into another boulder and felt my right knee break.
I was going to die here in this dark water. If there was an afterlife with the Dead Gods, perhaps Kaiyer would also be there. Perhaps our baby would come with me and we could both see it together for the first time.
At least its death would deny the dragons what they wanted. Their mirrored black scales reminded me of the dark water that tore at me. I never should have made a pact with such evil. I should have known they would betray me and attack against my wishes.
They wanted my child. They would not have it.
I found the surface again somehow and another strike of lightning revealed the outline of the river for half a second. Up ahead, the middle was deep and devoid of obstacles. To my left, a felled tree hung over a bridge of wicked boulders. If I could navigate the gaps in their teeth and grab onto the tree without being impaled on its sharp limbs, I might be able to pull myself from the icy grasp of the water before I froze or drowned.
No one else could help me through this. Relyara couldn’t escape the O’Baarni. Nyarathe fell to dragon fire. Kaiyer never made it to the mountains, he was dead. I was the only one who could save myself and the child that swam angrily in my womb.
The Singleborn of a Singleborn.
I kicked with my legs and ignored the jagged sharp pain of my smashed kneecap. I couldn’t see shit and held my arms out in front of my face, halfway expecting them to slam into the sharp lines of the boulder before the rest of my body did. The impact might not have immediately killed me, but it would snuff out the life in my womb with a cold merciless certainty.
I
caught the tree branch.
I almost sobbed with joy. Somehow there was still strength in my numb hands and arms. I pulled free of the river’s icy suckle and straddled the drenched wood of the fallen tree. It had stopped hailing, but the rain was still pouring down as if the clouds were trying to drown me as much as the river. I wanted to lay on top of the wood and just sleep, but my body would not stop shaking and I knew that the O’Baarni were still hunting me. It took me a few minutes of feeling my way across the drenched log, but I eventually made it back to the shore and collapsed behind a rock that offered protection from some of the wind but none of the rain.
My stomach clenched and I gritted my teeth. The pain slid from the front of my womb and then ended at the base of my spine with the sharpness of a hundred daggers being driven into my body with sledgehammers. The baby in my womb started kicking frantically and I wondered if the hunger was getting to me.
Then the pain flared up again. Worse this time and some warmth spread through the crotch of my deerskin pants.
“No. No. No,” I said through painful breaths. It had only been a year since Kaiyer and I were lovers for the last time and it took twenty months for Elvens to gestate offspring. But it was faster for humans.
“Ahhhh!” I stifled my scream by biting into the fleshy part of my hand under my thumb. I tasted blood after the pain passed but I doubted that the O’Baarni could smell it through the storm. Their armored trackers were still nearby, and I needed to find somewhere to escape. I knew little of birthing, but I did know that it was going to be painful and I wanted freedom to scream.
I crawled away from my makeshift shelter of rocks toward the forest. My broken arm was moving, but it wasn’t fully healed yet. My kneecap was still shattered and the pain of crawling on it was worse than the contractions digging into my spine. The contractions were intermittent, unlike the ache of my broken limbs. Each half-minute of sharp agony was followed by a few minutes of respite. I began to count between them in my head so I would know when to expect the next one. They were coming regularly.
The Destroyer Book 4 Page 44
