“So why can you understand this language?”
“I don’t know. Honestly.”
“I have an idea as to why.” He looked at me and smirked again. Then he turned away to pace around the room. “It is because of irony.”
“Irony?”
“Yes.” He gestured at the rock in his hands and then the scattered piles of fossilized wood. “because you are the one person that doesn’t give a shit. So of course you would be able to understand some ancient language and writing that could be a great cultural discovery.”
“I doubt this is some great cultural discovery.” I chuckled.
“Of course you don’t. It’s like everything else that falls your way that you don’t care about.” He stopped pacing and looked into my eyes.
“Not this bullshit again.” I sighed and covered my face with my hand. The cold metal of the gauntlet was comforting.
“Have you talked to her?” he asked.
“Have you talked to her?” I spat back. “Why the fuck is your love life my responsibility?”
“Because she loves you and not me.”
“Then get over it and move the fuck on with your life. What the hell is wrong with you? There are hundreds of women that want you, pick one of them.”
“You know I can’t. None are Shlara.” His face looked so pained that I felt a pang of remorse at my harsh words. My friend couldn’t get the beautiful green-eyed woman out of his mind.
I knew the feeling.
“I’ve told her to move on.”
“You said you would tell her you didn’t love her.”
“That would be a lie. I do love her. I love all of you.”
“This is why she can’t let you go.” He threw his hands up in frustration. “Stop feeding her that bullshit about being with her after this war. About starting a family with her. She clutches onto that dream and I--“
“But it is true. I do want to be with her when this war has ended.”
I should have been angered, but I felt nothing but pity for him and complete serenity in my mind. When Entas had begun my mentorship, we had to fight through intense waves of anger and hate that overtook me and prevented me from progressing in my training. He taught me to relax my mind enough to make better decisions in times of conflict.
“If you really did care for her, then you would set her free. Tell her you don’t see a future with her.”
“I did what you asked. She didn’t believe me.” I crossed my arms and felt the thick leather strap that held my shield flex against the plates of my armor.
My weapons were heavy, unbreakable, and had a tapestry of screaming demonic skulls flowing across the surface of the metal. The climb up the mountainside had been treacherous and long so I had left the matching skull plate armor at my tent. Instead, I wore a much lighter combination of plate and chain with skulls etched on the pauldrons. This armor was more display than actual protection. It would stop a light strike from a weapon but little else.
“You didn’t try hard enough.” My friend sighed.
“We have work to do, Malek. Can you get your priorities straight?” I felt the anger seeping into my words and my heart started to beat a bit faster.
“This is a priority. I have done everything you’ve asked of me. My devotion to you and our cause is unquestioned. My army is strong and successful. How many improvements have I made to our magic techniques? How many Elvens have I helped you destroy? Have I not contributed? Besides her, I am your best, am I not?” We stared at each other for a few moments. My friend kept his brown hair long, and it was tied back in a loose braid that fell down below his shoulders. When he had been given the power to control our magic, his hair had turned gray at his temples, something that had never happened to anyone else. He was a handsome man, with sharp features and a hawkish nose that complemented the charming smirk he commanded.
He was right about his capabilities as a general. Malek was constantly looking at new ways to improve the performance and morale of his army. He pushed his warriors to focus more on harnessing the Elements. His mages were an asset on the field since the Elvens often augmented battles with magic users that could hurl giant fireballs across the sky and slam bolts of lightning into the ground. Harnessing the Elements to create or combat Fire was a complicated maneuver that could leave an unskilled warrior dazed for a few precious seconds. During battle, this could cost them their life. Malek’s troops were masters and invaluable.
“You’ve done well my friend. But there is more work to do.”
“I know. But my love for her has driven me insane. She only refuses me because of you. You have to help me.” His eyes pleaded, showing a weakness that only a woman could produce in a man. “Tell her again that you do not love her. Tell her to be with me.”
“Don’t be a fool, I cannot force anyone to love someone else, Malek.”
“Try harder.” His voice filled with resentment.
“You are acting like a child. Not the leader of my army.” I was angry now, and I heard both of our hearts start to beat faster at the prospect of an argument.
“Stop.” He waved his palms toward me. “You are the child, clutching onto her affections without returning them. I love you, Kaiyer. You are my brother and best friend. But it sickens me how you treat her.”
“I treat her as I treat Alexia.”
“Who loves you as well, but will never tell you so.”
I sighed and closed my eyes. I did not understand why Malek believed I could force Shlara to love him, or why he would accept that love even if it did somehow work. How could he find happiness with her, knowing always that she would prefer to be with me?
“I’ll talk to her again.” I already knew what her answer would be, but I figured this was the only way I could end this conversation. I understood why Malek loved the woman. Shlara was incredible. She was my best general, the most devoted, ambitious, and hardest working warrior in the army. She was brilliant and beautiful and she was as dedicated to the freedom of the human race as I was.
She was the one I should have been in love with.
“You’ll convince her?”
“I will try my best.”
“Thank you.” He smiled and the tension in the air melted.
“Now, about this citadel.” He flipped the stone up in the air and caught it in his right hand with a wide grin. “Give me a few more hours and I’ll have a much better under--“
A screech sounded from outside. It was the unmistakable sound of Elven magic descending from the sky in a lazy arch. A few seconds before the explosion, the roar of battle penetrated the inside of the old green tower.
We did not speak, but sprinted across the large space of the top floor and flung ourselves out of the small window like thrown spears, scraping our shields and weapons against the edges of the stone as our bodies twisted in the air to thread the narrow gap. The ice covered rock was some seventy feet below, but the fall wouldn’t damage us enough to be of concern.
For a few seconds my body hung in the air outside the tower and I got a glimpse of the battle below. The gorge that hid the citadel was a hundred yards deep, in the left corner of a path that traveled east and west across the mountain range. One of Malek’s scout teams had seen it when backtracking on our path to ensure that the Elvens weren’t doing something crazy, like traversing the north facing cliffs in an attempt to flank us.
Apparently the Elvens had traversed the north facing cliffs and flanked us.
In the distance I saw a few hundred of Alexia’s soldiers engaging twice the number of Elvens where the elbow of the road disappeared past the mountain wall and obscured my vision. It was hard to tell how many Elvens had ambushed us. They swarmed like ants from the edges of the north side of the cliffs and descended like a golden ocean wave of weapons.
A group of forty Elvens turned the corner into the ravine and sprinted up the slick, icy rock toward the entrance of the citadel. Elise and the seven O’Baarni who had been in the ancient structure fell back into the doorway for protection. The portal was just wide enough to allow three or four of our enemy to stand abreast, so I doubted my soldiers would be able to defend against forty Elvens for long.
I pulled Earth into me, filling my blood with its power and my brain with its energy. When I had first learned to harness the power, I had to be touching the ground to use it. Now I could call upon it at any time and release the magic to empower my muscles and senses, or to spit giant balls of burning hate at my oppressors.
The back row of Elvens burst into orange flame like dried wood chips. They didn’t even get a chance to scream as my fire engulfed and snuffed their pathetic lives from their golden armor. I felt my brain go numb and spin slightly as I pulled my knees to my chest and rotated my body backward. My left hand yanked at my mace and the slip knot of leather came loose at my hip, allowing the heavy weapon of screaming demon skulls to be raised over my head.
Then I fell into the group of unaware Elvens half a second after my fire devoured them. My legs snapped out before I landed on the back of some asshole with a ridiculously large wreath of red flowers tied around his shield. His spine crumbled into liquid when I hit him, but before he could crumple to the ground, my mace shattered the skull of the warrior standing to his left.
I was in the thick of the two dozen Elvens now, with enemies on all sides of me. Fortunately, I had surprised them with my sudden descent into their group and only a handful of vermin were actually facing me, with their strangely-colored eyes opened in shock. The surprise would only let me get a few swings in before they attacked, so I would have to make them count. I stepped toward the nearest Elven, a woman with long silver hair braided back like a horse’s tail. But before my mace contacted her ripe little skull, Malek landed gracefully behind her, removing the top half of her brain and helmet with a precise cut from his long blade.
I shuffled to Malek’s left and delivered a wide strike to the nearest Elven. My opponent managed to get his right sword arm up in time to block the blow with his blade, but his legs and hips were not prepared for the force of my swing. My mace met little resistance, crushing blade, forearm, shoulder, and skull in quick tandem. Malek stood against my back so I could sense his movements, cuts, and blocks as he cleansed two Elvens from our world and tied up three more that rushed to surround us from his direction.
Elise and the rest of the search group were taking the brunt of the assault at the doorway. I spared a quick glance over my shoulder and saw them force a push out of the entryway, putting pressure on the dozens of our enemy that suddenly found themselves pinched between us. My look toward the tower proved to be a bit too risky, and I blocked a sword swing destined for my shoulder. However, I was too slow to parry a short spear jab from another attacker aimed at my stomach. I attempted to twist my body out of the way and realized that if the thrust didn’t take me, it would punch through Malek’s backside.
The combination of plates and chain of this light armor did little to stop a thrust from a well-trained Elven spear arm. The steel point tore through the metal, my stomach, and connected with the back side of the shield that hung from my shoulders. It missed my spine by half an inch, but the wound was enough to kill a normal human and take one of my ordinary soldiers out of the fight for long enough to mean certain death.
I was hardly ordinary.
My right hand grabbed the shaft of the pike to keep the Elven from yanking it out. The two Elvens that flanked him swung their sabers with the premature glee of victory, both blades foolishly aiming for my head. I squatted down low, ignoring the sound of my organs and muscles ripping against the blade of the spear while I listened to the ring of the swords banging together a few inches above my helm. I pushed out with my legs and embraced the pain of the lance tearing again at my insides. The Elven let go of his weapon too late and the upward swing of my mace combined with the push from my thighs separated his skull from his shoulders. It spun off into the air behind his dead body, whipping the plum of his helm around like a spinning tail.
“I heard shields are more effective if you carry them in hand!” Malek yelled at me over the sounds of weapons and screams.
“It saved your ass!” I shoulder checked one of the Elvens to my right, pushing her away, and then slammed the side of my helmed head into the face of the one to the left of me. It made a satisfying wet crunch and the man’s legs gave out.
I yanked the spear out of my stomach with my right hand and used the shaft to push on the shoulder of an Elven aiming a swing at my skull. The knock caused his attack to go wide and spin him slightly off balance. Then my mace exploded into the back side of his neck and drove the life from his body.
“Archers!” Elise’s team had reached Malek and there were only a few Elvens left in our midst. However, forty yards down the slope toward the main battle, a trio of Elven archers had peeled off of their main force and were pointing their notched arrows in our direction.
One of the remaining Elven warriors swung her sword at me and I parried quickly, so I might maneuver my body with her between me and the archers. The woman was fast and countered my parry with a quick thrust toward my blood covered groin. I slapped the flat side of her blade with the staff of the spear. She twisted her sword up toward my right hand, forcing me to loosen my grip on the long weapon before I turned my back to the archers as the twang of their strings screamed in my ears.