The Destroyer Book 3 (45 page)

Two arrows hit the shield on my back with the kicking strength of a horse and knocked me forward a few feet. I heard the third arrow pass behind my head, so I was thankful for the helpful push. I was suddenly standing much closer to the woman who had just tried to stab me than either of us had planned. But I was quicker to act and latched my free right hand over the elbow of her sword arm and dug the butt of my mace in the same spot over her left arm. She was missing her left hand, and I assumed Malek had cut it off in the midst of swordplay. It was a tactic he often used.

I pulled her to me and kneed her in the stomach. Air exploded from her lean armored frame and then blood exploded from her face when I repeated the movement another time. I threw her body away from me and into the remaining two warriors behind her. She probably wasn’t dead, but two men from Elise’s team quickly dispatched the trio.

“You okay?” Malek slid on the ice next to me.

“Yes.” The archers had been killed by Elise and the soldiers that had been searching the floor of the citadel. My stomach began to itch as the organs and muscles healed themselves. In a minute or two there would be little evidence of the mortal wound. I sighed and wished I could have been wearing my heavy armor. We hadn't expected to get caught by our enemies here and I wondered how they had made it past Alexia's scouts.

“Looks like Alexia is holding them.” My gaze had already shifted to the battle below our position.

“There are more to kill.” I was running down the slope now, shield off my back and in my right hand. The thought of killing more Elvens filled my mind and drove out all other worries and concerns. I felt more alive on the edge of death in battle than when I was managing the army or talking to my friends.

“Fire now!” Malek screamed from his run a few feet behind me. Three massive streaks of blue flame sheared the wind around me, traveled down the slope, and smashed into the ranks of Elvens a few hundred yards into the mass of armor.

I jumped into the air, mace raised high and landed into the thick of the Elven forces again.

I gasped and choked on too much air that I suddenly didn’t need. My heart raced from the battle before I realized it had all been a memory. I was still sitting on the pillow in front of the empress, her guards, and generals, all of whom stared at me in a mixture of shock and disbelief.

I moved my hand to my stomach and almost expected to find wet blood from a hole the spear had left in me. I sighed when I only felt the thin cloth of the green tunic Vernine had given me a few hours earlier.

“Pretender.” The voice sounded deep and gravelly. I turned to my right to see three new additions to the dinner. The man seated in the middle drew my attention first. He wore his light brown hair braided up and tied at the top with a knot of suede and hawk feathers. His skin was tan and rough. His face handsome and wide. In fact, everything about him was stocky and muscular. His chest could have doubled for a small horse’s and his arms were layered with slabs of muscles thicker than my thighs. He wore tan leather pants and a sleeveless tunic that was only a few shades off from his skin. The hide was decorated with blue embroidery of bear shapes standing as if ready to attack. Beads of blue and green glass hung from leather strips on the ties of his clothes and gave color to the tanned garments.

His broad face and muscular stature reminded me of Thayer, although this man was far more handsome than my old friend. But he was unmistakably O’Baarni.

“You must be Kannath,” I stated. His eyes narrowed as he weighed me. Their light blue color was an interesting contrast to his dark skin.

“Aye.” His right hand rose to point at me and I noticed a pair of bear tattoos engraved on his shoulder. “You looked asleep, yet you were speaking.”

“I grow bored easily. Especially around Elvens.” He nodded, but it was apparent I hadn’t satisfied his question. The woman sitting to his left glared at me. Her hair was dark black, braided and tied up high as Kannath’s but had white feathers decorating it. Like Kannath, she wore leather decorated with the same color beads and embroidery. She also had the bear tattoo on her bare shoulder.

“What is ‘Lenaan’?” the man sitting to Kannath’s right said. He had blonde hair, shaved close to his skull on the sides, with a long mane braided up in the middle. A few of the Elvens in the half-circle shifted in their seats slightly when he asked the question. I turned to look at the empress and was surprised by the expression of concern that briefly passed over her face.

“I’ve heard the word before, but do not know what it means.”

“You were repeating it,” Kannath said.

“I doubt that.”

“Everyone here in this tent has been sitting for the last five minutes listening to you repeat it with your head bowed down as if you kneeled in front of a clan leader,” the woman next to Kannath growled. Her voice was deep and rugged like Kannath’s.

“I do not remember.” I shrugged.

“Regardless, you have been accused of using the name of our Betrayer,” Kannath spoke again. “Is this true?”

“I use the name because it is mine.” Yillomar shot me with a glare.

“I will bring you to the Council for judgment. We will leave at once.” Kannath rose from his seat.

“No,” I said as I turned my head away from him and found my wine. The glass was currently full, so I set about draining it in one quick swallow and then nodding to my Elven attendant to refill it.

“You do not have a choice, Pretender.” It didn’t sound as if my response had bothered him at all.

“There are plenty of choices. I am choosing to have dinner with Telaxthe and her generals.” I turned to the empress. “What course are we on?”

“We will take you by force if necessary.” Kannath’s dark voice sounded like wind echoing off of a mountainside, but he didn’t seem angry.

“That is a nice story,” I mocked with a sigh. The artichoke was half-eaten on the plate in front of me and I grabbed a leaf, dipped it in some of the sauce, and ate it. The vegetable had long since gone cold.

“Or I could threaten someone you care for.” Kannath’s voice edged toward anger.

“Such as?” I turned to look at the trio. Kannath still sat back on the pillow provided for his ass, the man to his side had a stupid smile on his face and his muscular arms crossed. The woman’s face was red and an angry vein pulsed on her forehead. Somehow the hot emotion made her more attractive.

“I have a young blonde girl and her uncle. Apparently, they are the rulers of this kingdom.”

My stomach knotted and a thousand questions sped through my brain.

“How did you acquire them?” Telaxthe asked nonchalantly.

“They were already destined for this city. They had an escort of your personal retainers, but I convinced them to leave the two in our care.” The empress nodded. She made a slight smile toward her new guest. I noticed Vernine had moved toward the rear of the pavilion and almost disappeared behind the curtain.

“Come with us and no harm will befall them.” He looked back at me. I would have thought that he was lying, but I knew the tell patterns of a human heart. Kannath did have Jessmei and Beltor.

“The Pretender is my guest, Kannath. He has committed to stay for the next few days and give us assistance in this world.” Telaxthe gave me a cat-like smile that left no doubt in my mind as to what would happen if I decided to leave.

My game suddenly became more difficult. If I went with Kannath, I could probably kill them all when I got to Jessmei. Then we would figure out how to get back to Nadea’s army. I might be able to circle around Nia and reach them before they made it here. I could guess at their possible location given the route from Fisherman’s Gorge and Nia’s capital, but Isslata would make quicker time to Nadea on a direct path.

“Is the Pretender your prisoner here?” the man to Kannath’s right asked.

“Of course not! He is free to go whenever he wishes,” Alatorict answered for his empress.

“Then the Pretender should make the choice that results in less death,” the raven-haired woman said with a growl.

The tent grew silent as all eyes turned back to me. I searched my imagination for an answer, but the empress came to my aid.

“Kannath, you have stood for us in the past, when our kind struggled to find purchase with the clans. Do you recall?” Her words were warm and sweet like honey.

“Yes. Now you have what you ultimately wanted and I am after what my clan needs for the same leverage.”

“This I can understand.” She glanced to me and I was again struck by how much she looked like Nadea. Then she returned her eyes to Kannath. “We had planned a small game tonight after our dinner. It should be of interest to you.”

“Oh?” Kannath said with a slight raise of his eyebrow.

“Yillomar and the Pretender have agreed to an unarmed match.”

Kannath leaned back and laughed. It was a deep chuckle that came from his muscular belly and fell out of his mouth like a downpour. His two guards smirked, and I felt the tension in the room relax.

“That hardly sounds like an interesting match.” I turned to the Elvens and noticed that Yillomar smiled at me. What I wanted to say was that it sounded like a waste of time and they could all go fuck themselves, but the warning Telaxthe gave me still rang in my head. With a word from the empress Isslata would rush out of this tent and make her way to Nadea. My friend would be murdered by my Elven lover. The irony didn’t escape me.

“It will be interesting,” the big Elven said with a chuckle.

“I have to object. I need the Pretender alive.” Kannath looked at me and shook his head with a smile. “Although the thought of watching someone smash in his face for an hour or two does sound entertaining.”

“Not a fight to the death, of course.” The empress waved her hands and laughed lightly. ”Just a light match until one warriors submits to the other.”

“No. The risk is too great. I’ve seen the Hatchet in combat.” He looked over to Yillomar and nodded with respect.

“You will not kill our guest, Yillomar,” Telaxthe ordered

“No, my empress.” He closed his eyes and bowed his head toward her.

“There.” Telaxthe turned back in our direction and clapped her hands. “It is settled then. We have Mastkur that we can prepare for you while you watch the match.”

“You have Mastkur?” the woman said in amazement.

“Yes Gaizka. Our guest was given some earlier but we still have plenty to share,” Alatorict answered again for Telaxthe. The O'Baarni woman nodded and licked her lips before turning to Kannath. Their hearts began to beat slightly faster, and I saw that the calmness behind Kannath’s eyes was replaced by an emotion I didn't recognize. Desire perhaps?

“Very well. We will stay for a feast, watch the Pretender get pummeled by the Hatchet, and then carry his broken body to our camp afterward. It will probably make the journey much easier.” Kannath chuckled again and nodded to Telaxthe.

“Excellent! Notify my chefs that we have three more guests,” she commanded her servants and a few of them dashed out through the rear of the pavilion to fill the empress’s wishes.

“I would like to prepare for the combat,” Yillomar said.

“Very well. Return in a quarter of an hour and we shall begin. I will have an arena made at the clearing on the north side of my tent.”

Yillomar stood, nodded to Kannath and gave me a glare of contempt before departing. Once the large Elven had left I turned my attention to my plate and continued to eat the rest of my cold artichoke. It still tasted delicious and the rose-colored wine that my personal servant poured complemented the flavor perfectly.

“Kaiyer,” Dissonti said my name and I looked up from the last scraps of my meal to look at the strange Elven general. I had originally thought that her hair and eyes were the same shade of green, but her eyes were a few shades lighter.

“Do not say that name,” Gaizka said.

“That is his name, unfortunately,” Dissonti answered without looking away from me. “Do you wish to prepare for the game against Yillomar?” I noticed again how the other Elvens seemed to pay almost as much attention when Dissonti spoke as when Telaxthe did.

“I’m not worried.”

“That seems foolish,” Fehalda said in a tone that made it clear she believed I was a complete idiot and not merely foolish.