The Destroyer Book 3 (70 page)

Then I saw the blood.

It pooled beneath the double doors like a shiny rug. It was shaped so perfectly, with crisp clean borders, that I almost didn't recognize it for what it was.

"Vernine?" I called out. The sound of my voice seemed to echo off the empty walls. The thought of walking across all the blood brought my terrorized heart to a stampede. But the idea of just staying here, waiting for the raiders to come and kill me made me even more afraid. Where would I even go? I couldn't return to my room. I couldn't stay here.

I turned to the stove and flipped the cuts of fish in the pan. There was a jar of salt and I took a few pinches and sprinkled it over the food. One side had been seared black, it was still edible, but probably had lost most of its taste. I flipped the greens in the other pan; they had turned bright jade and only needed another minute or so. My hands were shaking, but I still managed to get the cork out of the wine and poured two glasses.

Vernine would return shortly. I took a few sips of the wine while the alarm smashed into my ear drums again. I leaned my head back to gulp the remainder of my glass. It was sour and needed time to air. But the warm burn of alcohol on my throat calmed me a bit, so I immediately poured myself another glass and turned my attention back to the food. Vernine would still be hungry when she came back.

I found two plates on the shelves above the stove and dished out the fish and greens. Then I cut up a few slices of bread from a freshly baked loaf and found some flatware. Vernine would be back any minute, but to keep her plate warm, I covered it with an iron lid from one of the pans.

I ate a careful bite of the fish and tried to ignore my trembling hands. Then I took a bite of the cooked vegetables and a sip of wine. I wasn't hungry, the food tasted like ash in my mouth, but it was something to do until Vernine returned.

I stopped with my fork in the air when screams ripped through the hall outside the door. A few seconds after the initial screech of pain I heard shouting and the clash of steel on steel. There was a battle close to the entrance of the kitchen. Maybe just right outside of the doors. I ducked behind the counter, wrapped my arms around myself, and tried to decide what I should do.

Vernine wasn't here. She was probably dead by now and I was a fool to depend on her for protection. I couldn't leave by the main door. I could run through the servants' door, but if the castle was really under attack, there would be O'Baarni waiting for me there. They would kill me.

I stopped and smiled. The O’Baarni would not kill me. I was a human, not an Elven. Though I told the empress I would work with her, this was simply to facilitate my eventual revenge. I was not siding with the Elvens. Kaiyer would have told me not to. I wanted and needed the O’Baarni to wipe my country clean of the Elven scourge. I wanted them all to die for the murder of my father, Kaiyer, and my countrymen. I steeled myself in determination and prepared to stand and walk through the door like I owned the castle.

This was my castle, after all.

These alarm bells were mine.

I heard the door open after the bells chimed again and all confident thoughts and bravado fled from my mind. Wet sounding footsteps echoed in the large room, causing my stomach to flip and my breathing to come out like a horse’s. I prayed to Grandmother that whoever was in the kitchen wouldn't bother to look past the counter; I prayed to my father that they would turn around and walk back out through the doors.

"Jess?" a voice from the grave said. My breath froze and my mind twisted with shock. I had never believed I would hear that voice again, but I would recognize it forever. It was impossible that Kaiyer was here. I didn't want to look over the counter. I feared seeing his Spirit as much as I feared seeing an empty room. Either way, it meant I had gone insane.

"It's me. You have to get out of the castle." The footsteps grew closer and I shivered uncontrollably. I thought about his head rolling on the ground. I remembered how much I had screamed and how much my heart ached. It was too soon to see his Spirit, even if it was here to help keep me safe.

"No. Leave me alone," I hardly whispered.

Go to him.

Another voice urged me. It was a voice more familiar than Kaiyer's and it made me move without question off of my knees. I pulled myself up to look at the man who had spoken to me.

He was covered in blood, almost as if he had been swimming in it. He had swords in each of his hands, but the one in his right was cracked and broken off halfway.

It looked like he had been through demon's teeth and spit out again.

But he looked alive.

"How do you get to the dungeons from here?" His voice was urgent. My mind wouldn't give me the answers to his question. I wanted to ask him how he was standing here, covered in blood, when I had seen his head cut from his shoulders a few days ago.

"Jess?" He was suddenly standing behind the counter and shaking me. His hand on my shoulder felt real, but I still couldn't believe he was alive. The broken sword lay on the counter next to me. The blade was not only severed, but the edge was so abused it looked more like a saw than a sword.

"How are you here?" I managed to gasp. I felt that even saying those words took all of my strength.

"Danor and I came through the sewers and dungeon. Nadea, Runir, Beltor, and Greykin are waiting for us, we have to leave now." He tugged on my arm and I followed him out from behind the counter. "Can we get there through these doors?" He pointed to the smaller set of doors that the servants used and I nodded.

Then we were running through the servants' quarters, cutting through rooms, dashing through hallways, and pausing every so often so that Kaiyer could listen for our pursuers. My legs and lungs burned. I wanted to ask him again how he was still alive, but I couldn't mouth the words and put life to them.

Or maybe I was afraid that if I asked him again he would disappear and I would wake from this dream.

"Wait here." He pulled me into an empty room and whispered softly in my ear. I felt the warmth of his lips and smelled the pleasant scent of his breath. I crouched as well as I could in my dress and he darted out the door. The alarm bells rang as soon as he left my sight, but he returned before they were done ringing and pulled me into the corridor.

The hallway was decorated with dozens of beheaded Elven servants. I tripped over one and Kaiyer prevented me from falling, but then I slipped on the pooled blood the corpses had left and he had to steady me again. The air reeked of blood, feces, and death. I gagged and forced my free hand to my mouth to stifle the reaction. We finally reached a door that led out of the castle.

"I can hear the guards behind us. Hurry!" He pushed open the door to the courtyard and pulled me with him.

It was a good distance across the courtyard to the door of the dungeon. Alta hung full and illuminated the empty field with a grayish light, but Yaha was at half wane and added a slight yellow tint. If the rest of my family really waited in the dungeon, they were agonizingly close.

Was this a dream?

"Let's go." Kaiyer closed the thick oak door and led me across the courtyard. I tried my best to follow him, but he moved so fast and my body just couldn't seem to get enough air.

Then he slowed his run and walked a few steps before stopping.

"Fuck." He reached his right arm out and circled it around my waist, pulling me to his back. I peered out from behind him. Dozens of Elvens rose from the bushes on the far side of the courtyard.

"I knew you would come for the princess," a voice called out from behind us. I turned to see more Elven archers. The voice came from Vernine and she walked next to the empress and a feminine looking man with long silver hair. He wore a blue and gold silk robe that had various moons and stars embroidered into the fine fabric.

"Fuck," Kaiyer whispered with seething anger.

"Cast aside your sword, please," the man said with a mocking smile.

"No," my lover grunted and the alarm bells rang again, like the castle was punctuating his statement.

"Don't be stupid, Kaiyer. There are over sixty bows aimed at you." Frustration was prevalent in Vernine’s voice.

"I do not wish to injure Jessmei. Let her come to me," the empress said and beckoned to me with her hand.

"No. She'll stay with me," Kaiyer growled. My head spun. This must be a nightmare. I'd wake up any second and be back in my bed. Or maybe I was still in the cave where Kaiyer and I had spent so many nights as lovers. I'd come to my senses in his arms and we would make love again. I'd forget all about this dream and just be with him.

"We have your other friends as well," the man with the blue robe said. At his word, the door to the dungeon opened and more Elven soldiers emerged. They dragged Greykin, Runir, and Danor with them. The men's' faces were bruised and bloody. Greykin thrashed enough to require two Elven warriors to haul him into the courtyard.

"Where are Nadea and the duke?" Kaiyer growled.

"They are safe somewhere else." The empress smiled and tilted her head sympathetically.

"Jessmei, come here, please." Telaxthe held out her right hand to me and something in her voice almost made me want to obey her. But I turned to look at Kaiyer instead. His face was a combination of anger, frustration, and fear.

I had never seen him afraid.

"There is only one way out of this, Kaiyer. Just do what we say and no one else has to be hurt." Vernine's voice was urgent and maybe a little pleading. I had only known the woman for an hour, but it seemed unusual for her to beg. It was too much emotion for her.

"What are your terms?" Kaiyer asked at last.

"Drop your sword and we will talk terms," the man said.

"No."

"You have no leverage in this situation. Unless you wish to kill Jessmei?" the empress said with a shake of her head. "Just throw your sword a fair distance away and we can speak peacefully."

"They need you for something," Kaiyer whispered to me.

"We know you will not kill her."

"I want to talk terms first," Kaiyer insisted again. He pulled me a bit closer with his right hand and I could smell the coppery blood on him.

"Kill the one at the end." The man pointed at Knight Captain Danor. The Elven soldier yanked on the mustached man's hair to expose his throat and then he moved his sword to slash.

"Wait!" Kaiyer screamed. The Elven stopped and turned to look at Telaxthe for instructions. Kaiyer tossed his sword into the grass and sighed in defeat.

"Wise decision." Vernine smiled.

"Come over here, Jessmei,” the empress demanded again. Her voice was still soothing and warm, but beneath the sweetness, I detected her desperation. Kaiyer was right. She did need me.

"No." Kaiyer's grip tightened slightly on my shoulder. He did not need to hold me back. I would not leave him. "I threw aside my sword. What are your terms?"

“My terms?” the empress raised an eyebrow in mockery. “When my sister said she killed you, I was quite angry. I still believed you had information I needed. But now I know you are a liar just like the rest of your kind. You take no responsibility with the power you possess. I gave you ample opportunity for fair treatment and you spit every offer back in my face with callousness and disrespect. You butchered my kin in my own home. So here are my terms,
Kaiyer
,” she spat his name with obvious contempt. “Get off of my world, or you will be destroyed.”

"She did kill him!" I screamed. I didn't even realize I had spoken the words until they had left my mouth. "Kaiyer surrendered! Then she cut off his head anyway. I saw it all happen." I felt warm tears run down my cheeks. "I saw him die."

Silence permeated the courtyard. No one spoke for a few seconds and even the castle's alarm bells remained silent. The Elvens all look shocked by my outburst.

"What do you mean, Jessmei?" Kaiyer asked.

"She said that you couldn't move under her magic. Then she cut off your head. It rolled onto the ground at my feet. You died. I saw it!" I gasped through my sobs and kneeled down.

"They couldn't kill me," a voice said. It came from where Kaiyer was standing, but it didn't sound like him. His face looked empty, as if he was daydreaming or asleep with his eyes opened.

"They killed her. Then they tried to kill me. They tried again and again but I couldn't die."

"Who are you talking about?" The empress's question was mixed with frustration.

"My generals. They killed Iolarathe!" he screamed so loud that my head filled with his voice. It echoed so much in my skull that it sounded like hundreds of men were repeating what he said.

"But. They. Could. Not. Kill. Me." Screams filled the courtyard and I saw the other Elvens drop their bows and hold their hands to their ears. My brain felt like the inside of one of the large alarm bells. I looked up to Kaiyer.

I also screamed.

Instead of Kaiyer, there was a monster. It was twice the size of the man it had consumed. Its skin was a dull black. Screaming faces with the flesh torn from their skulls were etched across every surface of its exoskeleton. Each tiny face seemed more horrified than the one beside it. The head of the monster was a horned, toothy skull that smiled wickedly and screamed at the same time. The creature held a shield in one hand and a massive metal club in the other. The mace looked like it could eat the soul of whatever it touched and add its victim’s face to all the others emblazoned across its body.