by M. D. Grimm
“Papa?”
Olyvre rolled Derkun over, then looked at his daughter. “Aishe, could you...?”
I nodded. “Come on, Lyli. Back to your room.”
She pouted but didn’t argue. Once I had her safely in her room with the door shut, I walked back to the parlor to see Derkun now sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. Olyvre was helping him drink some water.
Morgorth hadn’t moved. I went to stand next to him.
After Derkun drunk a fair amount of water, he finally spoke. His voice was a croak. “Olyvre, Lazur, thank the Mother. Thank the Mother I found you.”
Morgorth’s eyes flashed at the use of his birth name.
“What happened, Derkun?” Olyvre pushed the lank hair away from Derkun’s face. He had a slight beard and his face was certainly haggard. I couldn’t stop my instinct to heal from rising up, but I made no mention of it. It seemed as though Derkun’s condition was genuine but...Morgorth didn’t seem convinced. He would know his family’s dynamics better than I.
“It’s Father. He... he’s mad, Olyvre. He’s mad and determined.” Derkun’s eyes swung to stare at Morgorth. “All he talks about is defeating you. Punishing and destroying you. At first I wanted that, I wanted to journey with him. But once he found the emerald...once he found it, I became his whipping boy.”
He wept. Big, fat tears slipped out of his eyes, down his face. He covered his face with his hands a moment. My gut clenched in sympathy. I glanced at Morgorth but his expression didn’t change. Did he see something I couldn’t? For some reason, my abilities weren’t seeing falsity.
“Did you escape him, Derkun?” Olyvre asked. He handed Derkun a clean cloth from his pocket, and his brother mopped at his face.
“No, not exactly. He knows Lazur—” Morgorth’s eyes flashed again and Derkun flinched. “I mean, Morgorth’s here and wants to duel him. He said...he said he wants to end this standoff here and now. He told me to tell you,” Derkun now looked at Morgorth, “to meet him today at Lyccin’s Plains. He said you’ll settle your differences there.”
He hiccupped and buried his face in the cloth. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I saw the tender way he moved his arms, one of his shoulders. He was in pain. I took a step toward him but Morgorth’s hand lashed out and gripped my arm painfully.
“Don’t go near him.”
“What is wrong with you?” I hissed. “Is he really that good of an actor?”
Morgorth met my eyes and his gaze bored into mine. “Yes.”
It was the absolute certainty in his voice that caused me to back down. I stepped back and he released my arm. Then he turned back to Derkun as Olyvre jumped to his feet.
“He’s telling the truth, Morgorth. He has to be. Just look at him! Don’t let your hatred for our others brothers prejudice you.”
Morgorth tilted his head, never once looking at Olyvre.
“What do you think, Derkun?” It was the first time he’d spoken directly to his brother in decades. “Should I trust you? Should I see your tale as truth?”
“Tale? There is no tale!” Derkun raised his face. His eyes were bloodshot, his nose running. “I am telling the truth! What motive could I possibly have in doing otherwise? He tortured me, ordered me here to deliver his message.”
“Bullshit,” Morgorth said easily.
“Morgorth—”
“Olyvre.” Morgorth raised his voice, cutting off his brother. “If you can’t handle this, go be with your daughter. Otherwise, be silent.”
Olyvre’s face reddened. “Do not speak to me like that in my own home, Mage.”
Morgorth’s eyes flickered. I saw something in them but I couldn’t determine what, the instant was too fast. “Olyvre.” His voice deepened. “This is a game Father and I have played since I was born. It’s now my move. Step back, step aside. At this moment, you’re only an observer.”
Olvyre looked at me, his gaze beseeching. “Aishe.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry, Olyvre. But I trust Morgorth’s judgment in this.”
Outvoted, Olyvre did step aside, but he stayed in the room.
Derkun tensed, his eyes wide. “Wh-what are you going to do to me?”
“That depends.” Morgorth stepped closer, then knelt in front of him. “It depends on whether you can find the truth in your tale of lies. Father wants to duel me, that is the truth. But it won’t be at Lyccin’s Plains today. He’s already destroyed two towns with that cursed emerald, but of course, you knew that. He destroyed them so he could make his family squirm in their seats as he bore down on them, didn’t he?”
“What?” Olyvre and I said together.
Morgorth continued to look at Derkun as he spoke. “Our father wants revenge on his own brothers who had the nerve to be born before him and who gained most of the wealth after their parents died. We’re of noble lineage, Ollie, isn’t that a kick in the ass? I say that about the time I reach Lyccin’s Plains, dear old papa will be razing that estate to the ground. Am I correct?”
Derkun’s mouth moved but no sound came out. He looked stunned.
Morgorth snorted. “I know how the monster thinks, Derkun. He’s underhanded, manipulative, and a coward despite his genius. He hasn’t the balls yet to face me outright. He’d rather skulk in the shadows.” He paused, lowered his voice. I strained to hear. “Derkun, do you think there’s anything you could say I would believe? I remember you. You desired, above any of us, to please him. You jumped when he said jump, you ran when he said run. You punched your baby brother because papa told you to. You slapped mama when he told you to. There was no regret, no remorse, only the need to please.”
I watched Derkun closely. His eyes darkened and color stained his cheeks. His jaw tightened. I realized something then. Lazur must have wanted Morgorth to find Matylde, to learn the full story of his birth. The timing of Derkun’s arrival was too perfect. It couldn’t be coincidental. What did Lazur hope to accomplish? To make Morgorth more fearful? Or to make Morgorth feel as though his entire life had always been planned and calculated, that he had always been a tool? I couldn’t say for certain but those reasons rang true. Lazur wanted Morgorth to fear him again. But Morgorth was onto his plan.
“You ran after him when he ran off. He kept you around because you were a loyal pet. That’s what you were to him, what you are to him, you know. A pet. He’s got you well trained. I’m sure he wished you were me. He’d have conquered the world by now.”
“You know nothing,” Derkun said, voice rasping.
“Don’t I?” Morgorth whispered. “Where is he, Derkun? Where has he been hiding?”
Derkun breathed through his teeth, his eyes dark and furious. Morgorth tilted his head the other way.
“If I was his ally,” Derkun said, teeth gritted, “why would he torture me so?”
“Simple, really: to make your story convincing. And why would you have fought him? Torturing you would have pleased him. Pleasing him is your life’s work.”
“He hurt me—”
“And I’m sure you liked it.”
Derkun lashed out. Morgorth caught his fist with one hand, and the other grabbed his thin collar, yanking him close. Morgorth’s eyes were terrifying to behold. They were a stony amber, glowing with a fierce light.
“Tell me, Brother. Where is he?”
Derkun growled despite the obvious terror in his eyes. “Telling you would displease him. Bastard.”
I heard Olyvre suck in a breath. We both finally realized it was all an act. Morgorth slammed Derkun against the wall, creating a dent. He stood slowly, towering over his older brother.
“Aishe, Olyvre,” I felt his magick pulse around him, heating the air, “Derkun and I need to have a little chat. I’ll be back soon.”
He gripped Derkun’s collar, dragged him to the door.
“Morgorth—” I stepped forward, held out a hand.
Morgorth whipped his head around and his expression stopped me dead. “Stay here.”
The command held me rooted
to the ground, as if he used magick on me. But he hadn’t. Then he was gone.
“Aishe?” Olyvre’s voice was shaky.
I stared at the door. “What?”
“Is he... Is Morgorth going to torture Derkun?”
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know.” But I did know. The answer was yes.
Chapter Eighteen
Morgorth
I didn’t want to believe it. But it made sense, didn’t it? Of course he would hole up there, of course he would plan, scheme, and learn how to use the emerald there.
I stood over the quivering form of my brother. He lay on the ground, among his vomit and piss and other unsavory bodily ejections. I curled my lip at him and with barely any effort, set fire to the thin strand of hair held between my forefinger and thumb. It turned to ash. I stepped away from him, thinking.
Our old farm, the place of my nightmares, had fallen into disuse after my father left, after our mother died. All my brothers moved away and the land became general land, belonging to the kingdom. If the land soaked in the poison of its owner, I wouldn’t be surprised if nothing could grow there. It would be useless land except to him. I should have known he would be there. I think part of me did. But I didn’t want to go back—I swore to myself I’d never return to that place of pain and misery.
Yet maybe I wouldn’t have to. If I encountered him at his brother’s estate, then I would still take the battle to him, but stay away from those dark memories. I was going to bring the fight to him. It was time: time to stop running, to stop hiding. To stop this damn game. We would meet, face-to-face, and have it out once and for all.
I turned around and gingerly grabbed Derkun’s collar. His smell was overpowering. I held my breath and said a word inside my head to teleport us back to Olyvre’s home. We landed right in front of the house, and I stepped back, sucking in fresh air.
They must have been looking out for me because the door opened and Aishe jogged out first.
“Morgorth—”
“We leave for the Freydsson Estate now. Hopefully we aren’t too late as it is. Let’s end this now.”
Olyvre stared at Derkun, his face paling. Then he looked at me with seeming reluctance. I didn’t want him to fear me. Not him. But I couldn’t change who I was or what I would and could do.
“See to him, if you must,” I said briskly. Then I turned to Aishe. “Since I know it’s wasted energy to ask you stay here, I will ask for your word you will stay out of the fight.”
Aishe’s mouth twisted. I stepped right up into his face, made sure our eyes locked.
“Give me your word, Aishe. No matter what you see or hear, you will stay out of the fight. This has to be strictly between him and me. He’s the demon of my past, Aishe, and I need to be the one to destroy him.”
He swallowed hard, his green eyes stubborn, his expression fierce, but I knew he understood. He knew part of what I felt since he had needed the same vengeance against Kayl. It was my right to ask this of him.
He inhaled slowly. “I give you my word.”
I nodded, the knots in my gut slightly loosening. I stepped back. “Good. We end this today.”
***
I wondered if my father knew his spy bird was dead. Was that why he sent Derkun the morning after the duel? I couldn’t say. Either way, I hoped it didn’t change his plans. For the first time I knew where he’d be and when. I used speed to reach the estate since I couldn’t teleport. Derkun had provided the directions and it didn’t take us long to arrive. A small village sat in the shadow of the stone manor where it loomed like some beast on a shallow hill. I knew there would be farms spaced around the estate, every person owing loyalty to the lord of the manor. They weren’t really indentured servants, but the farms would give the best of their crop to the lord and sell the rest, and many of the wives and daughters probably worked in the manor. My father had grown up in privilege and yet he’d still wanted more. Greedy bastard.
Perhaps it had once been a thriving place of business, I didn’t know. As soon as we arrived, we stood in the middle of a war zone. Or a slaughterhouse.
There were fires everywhere, small ones gradually grouping together to create larger ones; at least half the buildings had collapsed, being made of wood and thatched roofs. People ran screaming in utter chaos, and as I stepped forward my boots sank into mud. It wasn’t just the rain the soaked the ground. The mud had a reddish tint to it.
“What has he done?” Aishe whispered.
I said nothing. The chaos rose in pitch around me, and it was a short moment before I laid eyes on the reason for the screams and blood, and it wasn’t my father. Not directly, anyway.
A female seela went down right in front of me, a large, furry beast smashing against her back. The creature resembled a wichtln but without their elegance and symmetry. It looked like a half-assed attempt at resemblance for the thrill of it. It bent down to gnaw on her neck as she screamed her head off, but an arrow suddenly punctured its shoulder. I stared as its giant head whipped around and pierced both of us with a gaze filled with golden bloodlust.
My mind clicked to what they were. I actually felt myself pale.
“Mother save us,” I whispered. “Lutin. Dammit, Aishe, they’re lutin!”
Even as I spoke, the foulest creature to ever grace the surface of Karishian shape-shifted into a trul with golden eyes. It grew tall, bulked out, its tusks razor-tipped with claws long and nasty. Lutin were said to be somehow related to revenai, demons of Underworld, but legend stated they were born of wolves, and started shape-shifting after their first year. I really didn’t much care where they came from: they were really, really hard to kill.
Now that the lutin focused on us, the seela it had knocked down crawled away and none of us gave her any mind. Aishe suddenly screamed in rage, and my next thought came as rapidly as my first: lutin had been sent by Kayl to massacre Aishe’s tribe. They were often employed as assassins but to try and control so many...it was the stone of power. Ellegrech. The lutin would follow power, and if my father ordered them to kill everyone, the beasts would relish the task.
I gritted my teeth, my magick springing to the surface, fire flooding my veins.
“Aishe, don’t be foolish!” I said. “You won’t win. I will deal with them. Get as many of these folks out as you can.”
“No. I owe them.”
I glanced at Aishe to see a sight I didn’t often see: Aishe in battle mode. True battle mode. His eyes were hard and flat, his bow replaced for the short sword. His hair was tied back, and he bared his teeth in a snarl. Even as the lutin, shaped as a trul, crouched to attack, I gripped Aishe’s arm and yanked him around. He met my eyes.
“I know what you feel, Aishe. Mother help me, I know. But that is not why we are here. I can’t lose you, dialen. Get these folks out of here.”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but then the lutin roared, the high-pitched, grating sound causing us both to wince.
Aishe gripped my arm in return. “I can’t lose you either, mage.”
“You won’t.” I shoved him from me and he ran. I prayed to the Mother and Hunter to protect him. I didn’t pray, ever, but at that moment, I begged. Don’t let that be the last time I see him. I didn’t doubt his skills, but sometimes skill wasn’t enough.
The lutin followed his passage and seemed to consider which it wanted more, him or me. I decided for it and threw a fireball straight at its face. The lutin swung around and pinned me with its gaze. Lutin were intelligent creatures, but once they gave into their bloodlust, most of their mental capacity focused solely on the thirst for blood and pain. They also tended to rape their victims before, during, or after mauling them.
“Come and get me,” I said before running deeper into the village. The lutin screamed and ran after me.
More lutin in various forms were charging folks left and right, eating, raping, destroying. I shot fire, ice, flaming wood, whatever I could at them all to turn their attention toward me. Fire rose along my arms as my mag
ick surged to the surface, throbbing and pulsing. I had to end this quickly, it wouldn’t take long for the beasts to devour the entire village. I also didn’t want to be fighting one beast as another snuck up behind. I needed all of them where I could see them. Magick pumping hard, I raced and they followed. One by one, they came after me, sensing my power, angered I disturbed their bloodbath. I shot pure force, fire, shook the earth, and brought up gales of wind to turn their attention toward me. Some villagers I saved, others I couldn’t. Many scrambled away as soon as the lutin turned toward me. I saw Aishe a few times, helping, shooting arrows into lutin eyes. If that didn’t kill them, it certainly distracted them.
Smoke made me cough and it burned my eyes, but my stamina in magick and physical exertion had grown since meeting Aishe and completing my second phase of training with Master Ulezander. A year ago I couldn’t have done as much. A year ago, I wouldn’t have bothered. This town wasn’t under my protection, but the very fact my father found it important meant saving it became my highest priority. Anything that burned his ass was well worth the potential risks.
I saw one seela male giving a lutin a hell of a time. He was evidently a swordmaster by the way he swung the blade around, cutting and slicing the beast. His stance never wavered, his face hard-set. His finely stitched clothing indicated he was of the nobility. I quickly took in the fact he also seemed to be guarding a small group of females and children where they huddled against the wall of one of the only buildings left standing. Every time the lutin tried to pass by the swordmaster, he would step lightly and cut across the beast’s snout. The lutin would focus on him again and the dance would continue.
I sent a giant ball of ice racing toward the lutin and it smashed into the middle of its back. The lutin snarled and whipped its head around. The male looked startled but he didn’t miss the opportunity to slash his sword at the back of the lutin’s exposed neck. Down the beast went, dead. There were vulnerable spots on all creatures, and we just discovered one.
I ran past them and turned a corner, the horde of lutin still in pursuit, when my eyes fell upon my reason for being there.
