The King's Ring (The Netherworld Gate Book 2) (6 page)

“Is that true?” Talon asked.

“It is, I swear!” the male elf said. Talon pressed the elf down with the heel of his boot.

“I am not talking to you,” he said. He looked back up to the female elf. “Can you sail better than him?”

She nodded slowly.

“I told you,”
the katana whispered in Talon’s mind.

“I thought you were sleeping,” Talon said aloud to the sword.

“I can sleep,” the male elf said quickly. “I can do anything you want, just let me go!”

Talon pressed the male elf harder into the floor so that he couldn’t speak. “Sail me out of here, and I promise no harm shall come to you,” Talon told the she-elf. She nodded. Talon eyed her carefully and then motioned to her clothes on the floor. “Get dressed,” he said as he set the lamp down and pulled the curtain closed.

He bent down and seized the male elf by the neck. “You come with me,” he whispered. He took the male elf above deck, ran him through with the katana, and then slipped his body into the water below.

“The sweet nectar,”
the sword whispered.

Talon looked down and saw the blood disappear into the metal. He spoke to the blade in soft tones, “Do you always talk so much?”

“You don’t have to use words to communicate with me,”
the sword said.
“I am in your mind. You need only think, and I will hear you.”

Talon slid the katana back into the scabbard and released his hold on the blade.
“Can you hear me now?”

Silence.

Talon shook his head. If not for the pain the sword had put him through only a few moments ago, he would have thought he was losing his mind. As it was, he was on the edge of dropping the cursed blade into the ocean. The only thing that prevented him from doing so was what the old drow had said about the Sierri’Tai respecting the blade as being held by their rightful king.

He sighed. Perhaps the old elf was just trying to pawn off a cursed blade. He looked down to the handle and then the female elf emerged from below with the lamp. She turned slowly and looked at the fires raging in the city.

“You killed him, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Would you shed a tear for a false lover who offered you up in his stead?” Talon asked back.

The elf shook her head. “My husband has gold, but no time for his wife. The centuries can drag on in an elf’s life.”

“I am not your judge,” Talon said harshly. “But if you don’t get me out of here, there will be more blood tonight.” Talon moved his hand to rest on the katana’s handle. No sooner did he do so, than the blade entered his thoughts again.

“Why do you lie to the she-elf?”
it asked.
“We both know you couldn’t kill a woman, not even if it is an elf.”

Talon let go of the blade and the whispering stopped.

The female elf moved about the ship and launched it without another word. She opened the sail and wove a spell calling forth a breeze. Before long they were in open waters, far away from the coast. Talon kept his eye on her the whole time. Watching the wind push her silken gown against her curves as she worked the wheel. He wasn’t really looking at
her
so much as he was looking for a knife hidden under the dress, or any sign that she might have magic beyond what she was doing with the sail. Once they were out of sight from land he moved to sit on a wooden bench while he kept an eye on her.

“It is an easy boat to sail,” the elf said after a couple of hours. She turned to face Talon and moved to stand only a few feet before him. “I suppose you have been watching me and deciding whether it is easy enough to handle by yourself.” She glanced around at the sail and then back to Talon. “It is very easy. So long as you catch the wind, and keep your bearing, you can sail it alone.”

“Why do you tell me this?” Talon asked.

The elf looked down to him with her golden eyes and sighed. “I don’t expect you to keep your word,” she said flatly. “And if you are going to place your blade in my back, I prefer you just do it now and get it over with.”

Talon rose to his feet and stepped within a few inches of her face. “I don’t kill women,” he said dryly. “Though I will have no problem tying you to the mast and leaving you to be found should you try and double cross me, I mean you no ill will. Take me where I want to go, and then you may do as you please.”

“That simple?” she asked.

Talon nodded. “Normally I would use a mixture that takes away your memory, but I don’t have any on me.”

She nodded and a tear slid from her left eye. “I wouldn’t want it anyway,” she said. “If I were to forget, then perhaps I would be found and someone would take me home.
That
would be a fate worse than death. Better that I remember the mistakes I have made, for they have made me who I am.”

Talon cocked his head slightly and eyed her.

“Where are we sailing to?” she asked.

“Selemet,” Talon replied.

The elf nodded and returned to the wheel.

Talon went and sat back on the bench. He rested his hand on the katana’s handle, more out of habit than anything else.

The humming returned to his head.
“You are soft,”
the blade said.

“I don’t kill women,”
Talon said in his mind.

“I can admire a man with principles,”
the sword whispered.
“But I fear that this principle shall be the death of you.”

Talon removed his hand and silenced the sword. The last thing he needed was moral advice from a blood-drinking elvish blade.

The next morning the sun had just been coming up over the horizon, with an added tinge of red in its color casting a fiery sky over the sea, when Kai and Seldaric arrived at the pier with Liloriel, and a cool breeze blowing in from the east was helping to clear away the last of the wisps of smoke that lingered over Bluewater.

Liloriel had worked on Kai’s wounds through the night, anxious to set out at first light. The beast she had sensed the night before had disappeared before midnight, vanishing beyond Liloriel’s ability to track it. Kai knew she had been angry about that, but he was grateful she had chosen to stay and tend to his burns. His body felt much better now, though the blisters on his side would still be healing for weeks to come.

When the three of them had come out to the docks to inspect the area where she had last sensed the beast, they had found a body floating in the water. It was being thrashed about by some small sharks, slamming into the pillars beneath the dock. Wrestling the corpse away from the trio of nurse sharks had been an interesting ordeal, but once they eventually got the mangled body onto the wooden docks it took a moment to look beyond the damage done by the sharks to notice the cause of death. The naked elf was missing his left hand, bitten off at the wrist, his right arm from below the shoulder, and his right ankle. A couple of hunks had been taken from his side as well. Despite the damage, Kai and Seldaric both saw the tell-tale stab wound in the elf’s chest. Flipping the body over, they saw the stab was a clean through and through strike.

Liloriel had gone to relay the information to another local guard, who could in turn notify the elf’s family and arrange for burial services. Seldaric had offered to go, as he knew the guards better, but Liloriel had said that she still needed to gather the crew as she had spent the night tending to Kai’s wounds.

It was obvious to Kai and Seldaric that the assassin had murdered the naked elf while stealing a ship, though neither was quite certain why the elf was naked. Seldaric had draped the corpse with an old sail that had been left out near the warehouse for repairs due to a large tear in the cloth. Then, they waited for Liloriel to return as they sat upon an old, weathered bench on the pier.

The two listened to the quiet sounds of the surf and the creaking of the nearby vessels as they slowly drifted to the ends of their tethers and back again. The empty dock and unattended series of longboats and sailboats bobbing up and down gently in the morning waves made for a quiet picture that stood in stark contrast to the intensity of the previous night. Usually there would be a bustling of sailors and merchants resupplying their vessels and taking off into the waters, but that was not the case today. Most of the city was busy with rebuilding efforts, repairing and cleaning the damage done the night before by the old drow.

The sun had risen three spans above the eastern horizon and shed its reddish tint by the time Liloriel arrived. Her long, silver hair swayed in the morning breeze, and her lips formed a straight line across her face. Behind her were seven more elves. Three of them made their way to a forty foot schooner off the east side of the docks while the other four grabbed the wrapped corpse and carried it away. Kai and Seldaric rose from the bench they had been resting on and walked the few paces necessary to close the distance.

“He has slain the beast,” Liloriel said as she looked to the waters where they had found the body. “Last night I thought I sensed the beast, but in fact I was detecting the assassin. The murderer carries something from the beast, perhaps a tooth or a claw.”

“Are you certain?” Kai asked.

Seldaric shot the man that same disapproving look, but Liloriel held up her hand and replied directly to Kai.

“The night when the assassin approached the Scholar’s Tower, I sensed something similar. I did not think much of it at the time, for the beast has often come near to the tower. However, I felt it much stronger just before I discovered the intruder. Afterwards, I thought that perhaps I had sensed the beast because it had been stalking the assassin, or maybe that it was scavenging the bodies of the guards left behind in the evil human’s wake, but now I realize I was mistaken. When we found the body this morning, I could feel traces of the beast’s energy. Obviously the large cat would not be able to take a vessel out to sea, so I went and meditated upon what I was feeling. I know it was the human.”

“Can you track him?” Kai pressed.

Liloriel shook her head. “I would need to be very close, and I do not think he shall cross our path so easily again.”

“Where is he going then?” Kai asked, not letting the subject drop.

“You should be more respectful,” Seldaric said pointedly.

Kai shook his head. “Listen, I know this man. I saw him flee Governor Gandle’s house moments before I found the governor murdered. I know he also killed Captain Lador.”

“The Ranger Captain?” Seldaric asked with an arched brow.

Kai nodded.

“You have something you wish to share with us, but you aren’t sure we will believe you,” Liloriel stated dryly. She narrowed her silvery eyes on Kai and cocked her head to the side. “If you wish to know my secrets, then I would advise you apprise us of yours.”

Kai sighed and glanced out to the water before shaking his head and looking back to Liloriel. “I suppose there isn’t any merit to hiding it from someone who can read thoughts,” he muttered.

“You are among friends,” Seldaric said encouragingly.

Kai pressed his lips together and wrinkled his nose. “Alright,” he said with a defeated slump of his shoulders. Taking in a deep breath and glancing at each of their eyes in turn Kai began, “The last night I was with the rangers of Rasselin, my sister was kidnapped by a human trafficking organization. I was able to track her in time to save her and her friend, but in my need for speed, I raided one of their brothels without first obtaining ranger sanction. In the time it took me to deliver the girls home, the evidence of the trafficking ring had been cleared out, but the local guard had discovered the bodies I had left behind.” Frustration evident in his voice as he recalled the baffling disappearance of evidence from the brothel, Kai turned and took a step away from Seldaric and Liloriel, beating his fist into his open left hand. “I turned myself in to my comrades, but was then secretly recruited by my commander, Captain Lador, to help with a sting operation on the governor, who Captain Lador had long suspected of aiding the human smuggling operations in Rasselin.” Kai shook his head and turned back to the elves. “I first saw the assassin just as I made my way to the governor’s manor. I didn’t know what had happened at the time, so continuing with my investigation, I snuck into the manor to look for evidence of Governor Gandle’s involvement. When I climbed through the second floor window, I found the man dead in his chair. The assassin had stabbed him in the chest. That was when his body guards came in and saw me. I managed to escape without incident. In the meantime, Captain Lador was also murdered. Without his word to prove that I had been sent to the governor’s mansion on assignment, the governor’s murder was added to my own crimes in the eyes of my fellow rangers.” Kai shook his head sadly as he remembered the way he had found his friend and mentor murdered in the city dungeons. “I learned of Captain Lador’s murder when I returned to tell him of Governor Gandle’s assassination, but I found him dead in the dungeon. Rasselin city guards attacked me there and I was forced to fight my way out, knowing that I would now need to track the assassin on my own. I fled the city through the sewers with the help of a couple of dwarves.”

At the mention of dwarves, Liloriel and Seldaric exchanged surprised glances, but remained silent as Kai continued.

“I went to the city of Blundfish, as I had a lead indicating that the trafficking organization had partners there. That is where I met Kelden Ferryl. He informed me that he had been tracking human traffickers in Kobhir, and had learned there that a trio of Kuscan brothers were the leaders of the organization.”

“Kuscans are formidable opponents,” Liloriel commented.

Kai nodded knowingly. “I had killed one of them during my raid on the brothel in Rasselin. Captain Ferryl told me that a second had been killed along with his associates in Kobhir, so only the counterpart in Blundfish remained with his crew. That is, the Blundfish crew, and at least one of the Rangers. My sister was nearly retaken by the group in Kobhir before Captain Ferryl got involved. If the criminals had corrupted one of the Rangers, I knew the only way to keep my sister safe was to completely dismantle the trafficking organization. Together Captain Ferryl and I took down the last of the Kuscan brothers. Then Captain Ferryl inducted me into his unit.”

“That is quite the ordeal,” Liloriel said.

“It isn’t done yet,” Kai said. “If you want to know everything I have done, there is something else you should hear.”

Liloriel nodded and gestured for Kai to continue.

Kai’s expression turned to one of extreme sorrow and frustration. Rubbing his hands over his eyes several times as though to drive away the reality that came with his next words, Kai continued with great effort, as if the words stuck in his throat and refused to come out. “During the course of the investigation in Blundfish, two of my former comrades, Rangers Jimik and Gainer, found me and attacked me. They wouldn’t listen to me. They were so angry about Captain Lador, thinking I had betrayed them, that they offered me no quarter. I tried to explain the truth to them, but they wouldn’t listen. They had already decided to kill me. We fought. A mark I had been sent to protect as part of my undercover role with the traffickers in Blundfish was caught up in the battle and killed.”

Kai shook his head and looked to his feet. “I begged them to listen to me, but they wouldn’t stop. Everything happened so quickly. I… I killed them.”

Kai closed his hands into fists and closed his eyes tightly. He held his breath for a moment and twisted his head to the side as though he had eaten something extremely bitter. Finally he sighed deeply and opened his eyes, looking back to the ground. “There you have it,” he said quietly, his jaw set. “Those are my sins. Not a day goes by that I don’t question myself and what I did, but I have to press on.” Turning his eyes to Liloriel, Kai continued in a slightly more normal voice. “Now I am working under the authority of Captain Ferryl tracking the assassin who killed Gandle. I believe he killed Lador too, and I want more than anything to take him down.”

To their credit, Liloriel and Seldaric were not quick to judge Kai as he explained where he had come from, and what he had done. As he had come to the part about Gainer and Jimik, Seldaric had moved away from Kai, moving toward the bench they had been sitting on earlier, and folded his arms. He stood there now, his eyes staring out at the water, occasionally shaking his head angrily. Liloriel stepped in close to Kai then. The ex-ranger didn’t look at her, glancing instead between Seldaric and the wooden planks of the dock that stretched out in front of him, his hands hanging limply at his sides.

“I didn’t want to kill Gainer or Jimik,” he said quietly, closing his eyes again. “They didn’t have anything to do with my sister’s kidnapping.”

“They gave you little choice,” Liloriel said. “On the other hand, had you not killed them, perhaps the smugglers in Blundfish may have lived. They might have escaped from Blundfish, thinking they had been found out. Then the human traffickers would still be free.”

Kai nodded. “After Kelden brought me into his secret group, he asked me to investigate the cube. It was only chance that I ran into the assassin again in Bluewater.”

“Perhaps not chance,” Liloriel put in quickly. “Sounds as though the webs of fate have brought you here.”

“Let me go after the assassin, and then you can take me in, if you wish.”

“I have no intention of arresting you,” Liloriel assured him.

“Nor I,” Seldaric said, turning back to them just then. He covered the three paces back to where Kai stood and put a hand on his arm. “But we do things differently here on the Elven Isles.” Kai nodded and averted his gaze from Seldaric’s piercing eyes.

After a moment Liloriel patted Kai’s other arm and began moving toward the schooner which would carry them to Selemet. “What is it you wish to know about the cube?” Liloriel asked.

Kai turned to follow her and offered a confused expression along with a shrug, trying to gather his thoughts after the abrupt change in conversation. Seldaric followed, still looking slightly troubled.

Kai shrugged again. “I am not sure what to ask,” he said. “My instructions were to find out anything I could and report back.”

“To whom do you report?” Liloriel asked.

“Kelden Ferryl, the man I told you is in charge of the small unit.”

Liloriel nodded. “If I were to send a message, where should I send it?”

Kai gave her the address of the alchemy shop that Kelden had told him about on Dobtree Lane. “What will you send?”

Liloriel smiled. “Jahre knew about the cube,” she explained. “He gave it to a trusted friend. It was Jahre’s opinion that the cube might save the two human kingdoms.” Her smile vanished then as they arrived at the schooner. She indicated to Seldaric to board the vessel, nodding her understanding that he had something on his mind, and waited for a moment, smoothing down a sleeve of her red robe which had folded over in the wind. “If the assassin succeeds in his goal,” she continued to Kai, “he will be a terrible enemy to all in this realm. If the two kingdoms are divided, they will fall to him, or at least they could fall. Jahre said he had several visions of what might be. He told me that he was still hoping for the assassin to choose the wise path, but he hedged his bets all the same by sending the cube north.”