“No. I want to speak with you about it privately.”
“Tell me what happened. Now.” His fists fell to his side and one of the hands brushed the handle of his sword.
“We argued. She attacked. I didn’t mean to kill her.” The half-truths skipped from my mouth like stones across a lake.
“What did you argue about?” he growled. He looked past me and must have noticed my discarded armor, shield, and mace scattered on the grass.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does if you killed her! Fuck! Stop with your lies!” His teeth ground together and I felt the power of the Earth surge through his armored body.
“I just did not love her enough, Malek. Not the way she wanted,” I whispered the words. Each syllable tore through my throat. “I finally made her understand.”
“No. You loved her.” The tears streamed down his face. “Just tell me what happened, Kaiyer.” He sobbed the words. “We finally won, our people are free, and now the woman I love is dead, by your hands?” He kneeled before me and grasped my wrists. “Why did you do this?”
I pulled my hands away from his grip and took a deep breath in an effort to steady my nerves. A plan was beginning to form in my mind. There were only three possible outcomes: I would die here, I would be captured, or I could escape and continue on my path to meet with Iolarathe as we planned.
How could I ensure the last result without killing anyone else?
“I am going to put my armor back on.” I regretted the words when they left my mouth, but I knew Malek would understand what I was doing as soon as I touched the skull-emblazoned metal.
“Why was it off? How are you even alive? I saw you fall from the dragon. Shlara told me she was going to recover your body. We thought you died.” I hoped that my friend was too distraught to figure out why I was putting on my armor.
I didn’t answer him. Instead I grabbed my blood-crusted undergarments and slipped into them. I didn’t know how I had survived the fall from the dragon but perhaps I shouldn’t have, then Shlara would still be alive. I grasped my leather shirt piece and shrugged it over my shoulders with practiced ease.
Then Malek punched me.
Perhaps I should have expected the blow. Maybe I wanted him to hit me. The fist caught me on the left eye and knocked me spinning through the air with the force of a horse’s hoof. I landed on the ground next to my discarded armor and it took a few seconds for my brain to steady the sky.
Malek jumped on top of me but I managed to block the next few strikes of his armored fists. I finally caught one of his arms and managed to trap it next to my neck. Then I lifted my hips with a sharp jerk and threw his body off of mine. Malek was skilled in combat, but he wasn’t a match for my prowess. No one but Shlara came close to my level. I soon had our positions reversed. Instead of pummeling him, I just pinned his arms under my hands so that he could not continue to strike me.
“Who the fuck is she?” he screamed from beneath me.
“What are you talking about?”
“The woman. Was it the Elven general?” Foam was coming out of the side of his mouth and he was doing his best to unhinge his arms from mine. His accusation surprised me and he managed to free his left hand and punch me in the nose. He didn’t have good leverage from beneath me, but the magic of the Earth made our attacks powerful and I felt my skull threaten to crack and my vision swim dangerously.
“Stop hitting me!” The sadness over Shlara’s murder and the shame of my deed was suddenly replaced by anger.
“Tell me I am wrong, Kaiyer! Tell me you didn’t fuck that Elven bitch and then kill Shlara when she found you two? I am not a fool!” Now both of his hands were free and I let him push me off of his chest.
“Nothing to say? Just tell me, damn it all!” He pointed at me again but I couldn’t say the words to defend myself. The four warriors on the horses had their hands on their swords and I wondered how serious of a threat they would think I was. I knew they were more loyal to Malek than they were to me.
“I am so sorry, my friend.” I lowered my head.
“I’m not your fucking friend, Kaiyer!” he growled. “I will find out what happened here, even if I have to torture it from you.” He gestured to the last man on the line of horses. “Elantik, go gather a scout party immediately and bring them here. There are horse tracks beside the corpse leading north. Whren, Gwito, and Fredic, help me bind Kaiyer.”
“Stop.” Elantik obeyed my command by halting his steed. The other three men also paused in their act of dismounting their horses.
“I will come peacefully. There is no need to track the horses. The animals fled the pasture when I killed Shlara.”
“No, Kaiyer. Shlara’s horse would not have left her. Who took it?” I couldn’t hide my grimace. I had let my emotions interfere with my logic. Of course Malek could see through the lie.
“I did it. I will come peacefully if you give up the pursuit.” I did not know how else to bargain with him. I had to let Iolarathe put some distance between herself and my troops. They would easily overpower her now.
“You are not in a position to negotiate with me,” he sneered. “Take him!” He drew his sword and the three men dismounted. Elantik kicked his horse forward and they headed after Iolarathe.
The horse and his rider burst into a torrent of flame. The Fire roared purple and green. It was molten magma that instantly consumed the screaming beast and man. The three other men jumped to the side to avoid being scorched, but the sticky flames spread. The nearest horse was soon engulfed, it stamped and screeched as it roasted alive.
I had only intended to kill Elantik’s horse. My magic was imprecise and powerful. I did not want to hurt any of them, but I could not let them hunt Iolarathe. I had made my choice.
“You fucking bastard!” Malek’s sword cut at me horizontally but my shield was suddenly in my hands and his blade bounced off it with a deafening ring.
He did not expect the block and his eyes went wide with surprise. I stepped toward him and slammed the flat surface of the skulls into his unarmored face and torso. The blow did not break his jaw, but there was enough force to knock him off of his feet.
The first two warriors came at me with a combined attack. They were both right handed and their heavy horse sabers were designed to slash downward from a mounted position. They expected me to fall back and away from their attacks. Instead, I stepped forward, slamming my shield against the man to my right, and then intercepting the attack of his partner with a palm strike to his shoulder. My blow altered the direction of his swing and the weapon swiped harmlessly in front of me, almost striking the other warrior.
My left foot lashed out and connected with the warrior to my left. My shin collided with the mailed part of his knee joint and I heard the bone snap with a dreadful wet sound. The man did not scream out against the pain, but he lost his footing and began to fall toward me. He was more concerned with keeping his balance than attacking me again, so I brought down my shield against his blade, lifted my left arm against this elbow, and shattered his forearm. His saber spun through the air like a disc and I snagged the hilt of the weapon before he crashed into the ground at my feet. There was a break in the wolf armor at the neck and I buried the sword into the warrior’s throat before he could push his helmet down to protect the jugular.
Then there were only two warriors and Malek.
From the corner of my eye I saw my friend struggle to a crouch while he covered his bleeding face. He would be healed in a few more seconds and then I would probably face the wrath of his magic or his sword play. I yanked the buried sword out of the dying man’s neck and then focused my attention on the last two of his warriors. The man I had pushed away from me drove his blade to my right side, but my newly acquired sword was quick and the heavy cleaver almost felt like a toy in my hand. I whipped it upward easily and it caught him in the elbow before the edge of his weapon could cut into my undefended side. The armor parted at my attack and his blade, along with his
hand and forearm, spun free of us in a shower of blood. He was surprised and choked out a brief scream of disappointment before my weapon removed the top half of his armored skull.
The last warrior was the most skilled of the three and he lashed out with a series of precise cuts aimed at my right side. I had to fall back a few feet and adjust my shield to block the majority of the attacks and I realized that he was herding me away from Malek. My friend had risen to his feet and fury was clear on his face. He brought up his hands and I knew what was coming next. Unfortunately, my current attacker had done an excellent job of positioning me at the perfect angle for Malek to aim his magic. I was too far away to sprint toward my general, so I risked throwing my sword at him. The blade twisted through the air and buried itself into his midsection like a dagger through a sausage.
The three of us screamed in unison. I had only meant to distract Malek from launching a globe of Fire at me, but my attack may have actually severed his spine. My friend collapsed with an agonized look of panic on his face and the sides of my vision began to grow dark.
The soldier paused to assess his general and I grabbed my mace. He turned back to me just in time to block my attack with his own sword. The saber shrieked when it made contact with my weapon and the warrior stumbled back before I could land a blow against his body.
I drove forward with my shield and he was forced to retreat against the combined pushes from the bulwark and the devastating swings from my mace. The man had left his shield on his horse and was not able to defend against my attacks without giving up ground. After a few seconds, I timed his footwork and managed to slip my bare toe behind his armored heel. He tumbled down before me and my mace crushed the wolf helmet with a shower of red blood and brain matter.
“Fuck you, Kaiyer!” Malek lay on the grass a few feet from his dead warriors. I dropped my mace and shield and then walked to him.
“Hold still,” I commanded. I looked at the position of the blade. It was not coming out of the other side of his back, his armor and his own strength had stopped the weapon from reaching a fatal point in his spine.
“Why? You are my best friend. We trusted you.” The tears streamed down his face and blood came out of the side of his mouth.
“You will live,” I said with a long sigh of relief. It would have been too much to kill Malek and Shlara. A surge of memories rushed through my head and I recalled the many laughs, arguments, and problems my friend and I had shared over the decades we had worked together building this army.
“Why did you kill her? She was wonderful. Kaiyer, she loved you.” He was weeping along with me.
“Don’t follow me. Don’t follow the horse tracks. You are fit to lead our people. Just leave me alone. I am sorry, Malek. I am so sorry.”
“What do I tell them? That you just killed her?” He grabbed my shoulder and I realized he was using all of his magic to remain conscious.
“Tell them I died.” I sighed. “Or tell them what happened. I don’t care. Just don’t follow me. You have what you wanted now. The Elvens are dead.”
“No, you fucking bastard! You can’t do this to us!” I could almost taste his hatred. His sadness.
“I am sorry.”
“You betrayed us all! It was not supposed to end like this.”
I stood and walked toward the group of patient horses. My path took me past my weapons and the armor I had worn for so many years. I would not need them anymore, so I left them on the ground.
“You should finish what you started!” Malek screamed at me. “Kill me, you asshole. I will never leave you alone. We will hunt you. I will make you pay for killing her. I’ll find the Elven woman and kill her as well!”
I mounted the nearest horse and stroked its mane. It was a gray-spotted animal and it cooed at my touch. For a second I recalled being the stable boy at Iolarathe’s home. It seemed ridiculous that I was here now.
I used to love horses.
“Goodbye, Malek,” I said to my friend. He was trying to pull the sword out of his spine, but his hands were covered in blood and he could not gain purchase on the weapon. All it would take is someone to yank the weapon out of him and my old friend would be healed within a minute. A new torrent of tears came to my eyes and I desperately wiped them away with my bloody hands.
“Fuck you, Kaiyer!” he screamed, but his voice was weak.
I turned my horse and rode away toward the east while my friend continued to scream. They would come after me first so I had to disappear into the wilderness. As soon as I lost all signs of pursuit, I would head north and meet Iolarathe. Then we could be together.
Forever.
Even if the sounds of Shlara’s dying scream and Malek’s curses haunted me for the rest of my life.
Chapter 38-Kaiyer
“You awake, Kaiyer?” the voice called from outside my tent.
“Ugh.” I rolled over on my mat and tried to wipe the horrible memory from my mind by rubbing my eyes.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Yillomar said as he entered the tent with two plates of breakfast food. I was surprised at his appearance as Vernine had been responsible for delivering my food for the past five days.
“What is this?” I asked the obvious question.
“Breakfast. Will you eat with me?” His mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
“Do I have a choice?” I sat up and fought against the sounds of Malek’s voice screaming in my memory.
“As my empress often says: ‘There are always choices.’ But I am guessing that you are probably bored with being alone in your tent all day.” He set one of the plates of food in front of me and then sat. He carried a large earthenware jug, I had not noticed it at first because it was concealed in the nook of his over-muscled arms.
I nodded and realized that I might be able to get some information from the red-haired general. Vernine had been tight lipped since Telaxthe's warriors had saved her, and my ex-lover did not speak to me other than to ask if I needed more food or water.
It had been a boring four days.
The big Elven took a massive forkful of food into his mouth. I studied him for a few more seconds and then started on my own food. It was better than the fare Vernine had been delivering me. The cut peppers were stuffed with a smoky cheese and pork. The taste combined with the soft scrambled eggs to deliver a wonderful sensation to the front of my tongue.
We ate in silence for a few minutes. He set his fork down and placed his hands on his knees. Our eyes met and I raised an eyebrow to prompt him to speak.
“I disagree with my empress,” he began.
“About?” I asked.
“If it was my choice, I would keep you on this world. I’d have you close the Radicles and I would try to form a truce with you.” He nodded at his own words and I felt my mouth drop in surprise.
“I am confused,” I said after a few seconds.
“I doubt the human queen will be able to learn the magic quickly enough. We’ll have to fight the O’Baarni when they begin to come through. In some ways, I am eager for the challenge, but I would prefer not to risk the world we have fought so long to obtain.” He punctuated his sentence with another bite of eggs.
“Does your empress know you feel this way?” I wondered why the Red Hatchet was bothering to tell me these things.
“Yes. We’ve spoken about it at length. As have Dissonti and Fehalda.”
“What do they think?”
“I’m sure you can guess.” He took another forkful of food and I realized he wanted me to make a prediction.
“Dissonti wants me to stay and Fehalda wants me gone.”
“Ha. You are partially correct. Both agree with me.” He finished his plate and then took a large swallow of the liquid in the jug. After he was done he passed it to me and I drank. It was refreshingly cool water.
“I find that hard to believe. Fehalda hates me.” I set the water jug down on the floor.
“Maybe. But she claimed you saved her and Vernine from some sort of monst
ers at the foothills of the Teeth Mountains. The White Flame would rather have you as our ally than the rest of the O’Baarni barking up our tree.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I asked. The sun was higher up in the sky now and my tent was uncomfortably warm. I guessed we were probably close to the border of Brilla and the climate, while not as tropical as Vanlourn, was still much warmer than Nia.
“I wanted to apologize.” The crooked smile left his face.
“For what?” Sweat was beginning to drip down my back and I took another sip of the water.
“I was rude to you when we first met.” I almost spat the water out on the big Elven.
“Are you fucking with me?” I asked.
“No.”
“I was ruder to you.” I laughed slightly and finished another swig of the water. It was only a quarter full now and I set it down.
“I’m not very good at politics. That is the realm of my empress and Alatorict. Much like Fehalda, I prefer the fight. I thought you were just an O’Baarni sent to hamper our settlement of this world. Then I believed you a Pretender. As soon as we fought each other, I realized I was mistaken.”
“You intended to kill me in that battle.” Isslata had told me of the empress’s plan before the fight. Even then, the Elven woman did not believe I was their Destroyer.
“Yes. Do you blame me? My empress knew what it would mean if Kannath took you back before the Council. It was horrible timing for him to arrive when he did.” He grabbed the jug from the floor and finished the rest of the water.
“So you only wish to apologize?”
“Do you accept?” he asked. I searched his red eyes and his sharp, chiseled face. I did not know what would come if I refused to accept. I guessed the Elven general would leave and I would not find out exactly what he wanted.
“Yes, I accept your apology.”
“Thank you. Now I have a request.”
“I guessed as much.”
“We are camped next to the Radicle. We were unable to change my empress’s mind and she will banish you from this world shortly.” I sighed at his words and nodded. I didn’t know what I expected to happen since Turnia’s people were massacred. Telaxthe’s reversal of fortune had completely surprised me and her army of thousands of Elvens meant that there was no way I could escape from their clutches.
The Destroyer Book 4 Page 46
