by M. A. Nilles
"You are too kind, my lord." Nadia brushed aside a loose thread of hair tickling her face, the rest of her brown locks hanging in a braid behind her. "This is why Kaelen is here. The elders seek its power."
"Of course, they do."
He stepped close behind her, bearing the hated tinge of evil borne in the dagger. The scent of the demonlord, unlike any human, was something fresh and appealing, not the stench of sweat and filth. It circled her in the sleeping chamber and she inhaled deeply, welcoming the contrast to the sickening aura of the blade.
A faint swallow cracked the quiet of the room behind her.
"I need to destroy it. I will not hand it to him," she said, more to give herself strength than for Lord Je'Kaoron to know. "The dagger is only the beginning of a way to defeat the demonlords."
He blew out a heavy sigh. "The other clans fear the power sought by the Adepts and are organizing to oppose them."
She had suspected that, but to hear him say it sent a chill down her spine.
"What of Je'Dron's allies?"
"High Lord Je'Dron," he gently admonished her lack of title. All demonlords expected to be addressed with appropriate titles, a show of respect from their subjects since they dominated the world of Derandria, although she'd heard them talking about one or another without titles.
"What about High Lord Je'Dron's allies?"
"They are hardly strong enough to oppose the majority of demonlords."
"Then the weapon must be destroyed before the others learn of it and decide to do something, like take it for themselves." It might not alleviate the problem, but it would rid the world of one vile abomination. In the wrong hands, it would be a terrible weapon.
"How would you do that?"
Nadia blinked and turned, surprised by the question. "I don't know. Can you not?"
"Our power may be strong, but such magic is beyond us." He studied the blade held between his hands. "Only those who created it might have the knowledge and the power to destroy it, but would they?"
There was the question, and the answer weighed upon her. "No." The sorcerers had done this for a reason. She was perhaps the only Adept to see the harm they were causing.
After a pause, he said, "You could return to the Nik'Terek Gate."
The Nik'Terek Gate. Anything that passed through vanished. The blade would be gone from that world.
She stared at the weapon in his hands as realization coalesced. "I should have tossed it through that day."
"You weren't ready. All things happen in their own time. The time wasn't then, but you're ready now." He lowered the dagger and stared out the balcony doors in silence for several seconds before saying, "I must return there also. It will be dangerous—many of Je'Rekun's supporters survived. I've been delaying as long as I could, until I was certain Je'Surana was safe here. Thanks to you, I feel confident of that."
"But her wound—"
"Nothing for a half-blood, and she will have to rest for a day or two, long enough for me to leave without her begging to join me."
Nadia stared at him, studying the softening lines of his face when he spoke of the young girl. Never had she witnessed such love from a demonlord for a half-blood child. The last human girl whose newborn half-blood Nadia had taken with the dagger had said the demonlord father had visited to console her. They weren't monsters. When they were human, they were human in heart and form, or more human than human men.
She pushed aside the painful memories arising from the ashes since Kaelen's return to her life to focus on the man before her. "She is a blessed girl."
His smile warmed through her, radiating from her core to her limbs. "You honor me and my kin, my lady."
She tried to smile, but the tangle of feelings rising inside forced her to look away. "Why must you return?"
"I have...unfinished business. When I was recovering from injuries sustained in the battle, High Lord Je'Dron ordered the return to Acropa Je'Gri. I healed but could not abandon others. I should not wait longer."
Under the intensity of his gaze, Nadia could not escape. She was one of those "others". Because she had killed Je'Rol when she had finally realized it wasn't what she wanted, the grief had torn her apart. Without Lord Je'Kaoron, she would have killed herself to end the suffering. He had encouraged her to eat, made her feel valued, shown her that she could feel without feeling weak, and he had assured her that Je'Rol's death was the only way he would have found the peace he sought and that she hadn't taken his soul. Grief had replaced the anger that had hardened her all those years. And Je'Kaoron had respected her as a demon hunter and as a woman, drying her tears when they flowed while never judging her and never asking anything of her. He simply cared about others as if everyone mattered.
"Winter comes soon. We can make the journey and return before the coldest days."
Uncertain what to say, Nadia nodded. She needed to be done with the dagger and the sooner, the better. His company would make the journey easier.
A soft smile lifted the corners of his lips. "You will feel lighter without this burden," he said with a hint of admiration in his quiet voice and held the dagger to her.
She shook her head and turned to the fireplace. "Not until I'm ready to leave."
"If that is your choice." He returned to the fireplace and set the dagger into its hole, slid the stone over it, and slid the ashes and grate back into place as if nothing were amiss. He then passed his hand before it and a blaze roared to life upon the logs, warming the chill from the room.
"It must be done, before this world descends into chaos." She stopped at his side, staring into the fire. After a lengthy silence, she looked up to a hint of pain on his face.
A few seconds later, he stirred from whatever thoughts haunted him and smiled at her. "The young bear the hopes of the old. You see possibilities that the others dismiss. That is a quality this world needs."
He was far more flattering than she deserved, but she appreciated his encouragement. This would destroy her dagger, but not the others that had been presented at the gathering but rejected. What would happen when those others were ready? Another thought burst from her lips: "I hope Je'Surana heals quickly."
"She will...Sleep well, Nadia. I will see you tomorrow." He turned to the double doors, his white and black robe sweeping out behind him.
She shivered from the cold lingering in the room and turned back to the view of the autumn evening. Once the dagger was gone, she would feel better. That was a first step in the changes the world needed, a world in need of healing as much as she had been.
Chapter 3
She was a fool. No demonlord could be trusted, especially those who feigned to treat humans as equals. She knew that. Kaelen hadn't wanted to believe Nadia would be sleeping with them, but seduction was the only way to explain what had happened to her. She had been one of the best in training and her anger had pushed her to succeed better than he had hoped. He was good, but she had been the best, the fiercest. Something had changed that, and he would bet it was the demonlord.
It didn't help that she despised him for what he'd done, and maybe she was right to hate him, but it had made her a better demon hunter.
And that was why the sorcerers had entrusted her with one of the four blades. Although he didn't trust sect du Maistri Te'Mea, if they had succeeded in creating weapons that could kill demonlords, he was all for the chance to end the tyranny of the immortal creatures that ruled their world.
Although Nadia had hurried from the chamber where she had been training the young half-blood and had sworn to keep the dagger, there were ways of making her cooperate.
Trailing far behind to avoid the demonlord's acute senses from detecting him, Kaelen watched the two enter a room in a quiet corridor.
Disgusting. She had been enchanted.
Unless Nadia was the one using Je'Kaoron for her own means. Perhaps Kaelen owed her greater credit. She wasn't a naive young girl who fell for the seduction of a demonlord's lusts but a trained warrior and an Adept. And
she was a woman. While female demonlords were cold and aloof to the flattery of any man, perhaps the males were more susceptible to the teasings of a human woman. There was one advantage that Nadia had, and in consideration, she would be one to use the full range of weapons available to her.
Only time would tell where her loyalties lay. She had, after all, sunk the dagger into the half-blood.
And Lord Je'Kaoron hadn't batted an eye.
Kaelen had to wonder if the demonlords had any feelings. They truly weren't human to say they cared and then to allow harm to those they supposedly cared about.
Upon the stirrings of old regrets like sediment from a river bottom, he adjusted his posture and let them be carried away by the current of the present situation.
Demonlords knew how to keep Adepts guessing about their motives, and that included the secret meetings of demonlords that many of the sorcerers and hunters had reported at their gathering.
Nadia hadn't given him the chance to explain, but she would.
He waited inside an empty room two doors from the one where the two had entered, his door open a crack to listen and watch for one or both to emerge while hopefully containing his scent from the sensitive nose of the demonlord.
He would wait all night if he had to, but sooner than he expected, Je'Kaoron stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Kaelen froze, not daring to breathe. The demonlord paused and turned his head as if aware of something, but after a couple seconds, he strode away. He must have noticed Kaelen's presence.
Now was Kaelen's chance to speak to Nadia, but he also wished to speak to Lord Je'Kaoron, specifically to learn Nadia's role in the defeat of Je'Rekun, whose allies might seek her head or those of any other Adept if they suspected them of taking sides in a dispute. It had reached the Kodre noct du Te'Mea that she had been present at the battle of the Nik'Terek Gate, where Je'Rekun had disappeared and many of his supporters were killed. It was also known that Je'Kaoron had deceived Je'Rekun and that a half-blood girl had possessed an ancient object meant to control demonlords.
He could find Nadia again, but locating a particular demonlord could be difficult among so many who could hide in their natural predator forms, and Nadia didn't want to talk to him.
Confronting Lord Je'Kaoron would be another matter. That required a certain sense of submissiveness, something that went against Kaelen's defiance to their authority.
Before the demonlord put too much distance between them, Kaelen stepped out quietly and followed past Nadia's door. A simple spell from the elder sorcerers in the Kodre noct du Te'Mea whispered from his lips. Sorcerers didn't like to share their spells, but they had been known to help demon hunters, only because they were also Adepts. In his case, the elders had felt it useful for him to possess that knowledge. If it worked as they had taught him, it would obscure his presence to blend with his surroundings, his black cloak being ideal for hiding in shadows. If he moved quietly, the demonlord wouldn't even realize that Kaelen followed him.
Lord Je'Kaoron led him through corridors and down a set of stairs to a wider level, where a boardwalk lined a garden to the cliff. Je'Kaoron halted behind a white and black figure sitting at the far edge of the garden.
Kaelen ducked behind a tree and waited. His interrogation of the demonlord would have to wait. Luckily, shadows were long with the sun behind the mountain, and night approached in the east like a predator stalking its prey.
["I thought I might find you here,"] Je'Kaoron said in the demonlord Lexic.
["It clears my head. You might try it."] The man twisted and, in the mix of light, revealed the face of High Lord Je'Dron. ["Sit, old friend."]
Je'Kaoron took a place next to the High Lord of the Je'Gri. Although they sat with their backs to Kaelen, the breeze blew from their direction, carrying their voices with it.
After a period of quiet filled by the few remaining leaves rustling in the tree where Kaelen hid, Je'Kaoron said, ["The time has come."]
["You're ready to investigate rumors of a sakul m'rath?"]
["I am."]
Je'Dron turned, black and white hair partially hiding his face. ["Je'Surana is ready?"]
["She is. Nadia has prepared her sufficiently."] In a low voice, Je'Kaoron said, ["She can protect herself."]
Je'Dron's brows lifted in question.
["Winter will come soon. We cannot afford further delay,"] Je'Kaoron finished.
["No. We can't."] Je'Dron turned forward again, facing the valley with its webs of roads connecting human communities and fields stretched out below and making his words harder to understand with his back to Kaelen. ["But I wonder if you are truly ready."]
["If what I have seen is a warning, then my suspicions are correct. It must be stopped."]
["I may be far younger, old man, but even I have learned the difficulties of separating emotion from duty…and paid the price."]
Je'Kaoron nodded and fell still for a while. The soft chirrup of insects sang in the gap, while the last light of the day slowly faded from the stars twinkling in the darkening sky.
When Kaelen thought they might not speak again, Je'Kaoron said, ["I can do no more for Je'Surana. She must live her life, with or without me."]
["I wasn't speaking of her. You may fool others, but I've known you too many centuries not to see what ails you."]
Je'Kaoron paused for several long seconds. ["I will do what must be done. One old man's temporary joy is not worth sacrificing this world."]
["And what of the huntress?"]
Kaelen's heart threatened to leap from his chest. He strained to make out every word of what followed that question.
Je'Kaoron partially turned, and Kaelen dreaded the demonlord spotting him. However, Je'Kaoron bowed his head and dropped his shoulders. ["She will do it."]
Do what? What did they have planned for Nadia?
Rage flared inside him, but he restrained the urge to demand an answer from these two. It would only end up with his life forfeited. Instead, he took a deep breath to calm himself.
["Then it shall be."] Je'Dron sounded almost dismayed. ["I would not wish on anyone the burden you bear. Knowing your secret is enough for me."]
["Then it is better that so few of us remain."]
So few of who? What secret? If they had something planned for Nadia, Kaelen needed to know.
["Perhaps…Or we might not be in this situation if the others had such guidance."]
["The young never listen to their elders,"] Je'Kaoron said with a hint of admonishment in his voice.
["Some of us learn, and we will try to pass on the wisdom."]
["Not all are open to learning."]
At that, Je'Dron tipped his head. ["That is their loss."]
["It would be the loss of all."]
The two fell still for a while again as the stars lit in the sky and the moon rose among them.
After some time, Je'Dron stood. ["I must retire, but I expect you have much to ponder."]
["I need only notify the party of our departure tomorrow."]
["Then I will send word to them."]
["Thank you."]
["Thank you,"] Je'Dron said with a bow of his head. ["For all you have done for me and this world."]
Kaelen frowned, confused by the show of respect from the highest ranking Je'Gri to a lesser. Je'Dron wasn't the high lord he had encountered upon first arriving in the city palace. At the time, he had the impression that Je'Dron yielded to no one, but apparently that wasn't the case.
The high lord blurred and changed. The tiger that replaced the man ran towards Kaelen.
In the second he would have had to prepare for an attack, the tiger ran past.
Kaelen caught his breath from the moment he thought he would be a snack for eavesdropping on the ruler of the Je'Gri domain. He should have been. Demonlord hearing was supposedly so acute they could detect a rodent's heartbeat, and their sense of smell was capable of tracking any prey. High Lord Je'Dron should have detected him.
It didn't m
ake sense, unless the spell cloaked everything.
The white tiger disappeared as if he wasn't there.
Kaelen relaxed and watched the man remaining at the ledge like a ghostly statue. What are you about? The cryptic conversation played through his head with possibilities that led to the same destination—Lord Je'Kaoron was up to something and using Nadia for that purpose. Kaelen couldn't allow it, and not only because of the dagger. Nadia deserved more respect.
Reality hit like a punch to his gut. Not even their commanders of the Li'Ador training had granted her that much, using him to try to fail her from her goal of becoming a demon hunter. He had hated himself for what he'd done, but he'd been proud to learn it had only made her stronger. Nadia deserved the recognition and respect she had earned, and he wasn't going to let a demonlord take that away.
Kaelen stepped from the shadows.
Je'Kaoron turned his head aside. "Are you now a sorcerer?"
Kaelen froze a step from the tree and waited.
The demonlord rose and turned to face him. "Hidden from sight but not from other senses, Hunter," he said with a hint of annoyance. "You followed me for a reason."
Kaelen stood his ground.
"No doubt you question my motives with the huntress." Lord Je'Kaoron stepped towards him. "Or you would not have followed me from her quarters."
Kaelen choked on the demonlord's revelation for a second before organizing his thoughts. Apparently the spell hadn't hidden more than his image. High Lord Je'Dron had chosen to ignore him. "After reports of your deception of Lord Je'Rekun, I must."
A huff of mild amusement accompanied Je'Kaoron's momentary smile. "Rumor travels fast. You must not believe all you hear. An open mind is far more powerful than blind loyalty."
Kaelen let out a soft snort. "Is that how you justify it?"
"I'm certain your compatriots have formed their own opinions which have influenced you. What good would it be to share my view if you will not believe it?" Je'Kaoron clasped his hands before him, an act of confidence; but demonlords could afford to relax. He was right that Kaelen would not believe him. The man was far too perceptive to be trusted. "Would you prefer to be hunted or to serve to protect humanity?"
