The Destroyer Book 3 (31 page)

"I don't care for games, Elven. Make your point and then tell me what you want from me." I felt my stomach tighten as the words left my mouth. I was walking a thin tightrope and insulting her might tempt her to do something rash.

But if she wanted to kill me she would have done so by now. She needed me for something.

"The Destroyer raised an army from nothing and conquered Green Solo against a superior force. I believed that there was much to learn from him, how he trained, battled, thought, and loved. I wasn't the leader of our people back then, but I knew someday I would either free us or assist the one who would. I needed to know how he was so successful."

"What is Green Solo?" I couldn't remember any mention of it in my memories.

"It is the world on which the Destroyer was born. It is the nexus of the Radicle and where the O'Baarni Games are held every ten years." She stopped speaking and studied me for a few seconds. Or maybe she was waiting for me to respond to her statement. I thought about my memories and the single moon, it was large and light green. The name was fitting.

"So you studied the Destroyer, learned how he built and army, somehow won the O'Baarni Games, begged for this world, and got here." I filled in the story I had put together from speaking to Alatorict, Isslata, and Vernine. "But I was already here, which angered you. So you tried to have me killed, but failed. Suddenly you changed your plan and decided you wanted to get to know me better. I don't believe you." I picked up the glass of wine and drained the rest instead of looking at her.

"How did you get to this world?" she said with another smile. In this way she differed from Nadea, who would have tried to punch anyone in the face who had indirectly called her a liar. I still could not shake the feeling in my head. I was attracted to the empress. I inhaled deeply and picked up the scent of her skin and hair from across the floor. Her smell mixed with the lavender, the food, the wine, and the building sexual needs I had not extinguished since I fucked Vernine and Isslata many months ago.

"Probably the same way you did. But I do not remember." I held my glass out to one of the servants and he quickly filled it with a wine bottle. The man moved with such fluid grace and speed that I guessed serving was not his main role in the army. Concentrating on him pushed the images of ravishing the empress out of my mind, briefly.

"I like the scar on your hand." The woman with the white hair spoke suddenly. "It is very fitting. I can tell you did your research on the Destroyer." The empress nodded, and I felt attention in the room shift to my scarred left hand.

"There have been a few of your kind that have pretended to be a rebirth of the Destroyer. Sometimes they even get a small following before the other clans eliminate them. I've studied most of them and spoken to my generals about them often. Most of these men get small details wrong. The scar on the hand is often overlooked. How did you acquire it?" The empress flicked out her left hand while she spoke and the servant replaced my plate of food with another.

"I pulled off the gauntlet of my armor to rip the Elements out of a dragon, and then another one breathed fire on me. It was painless at the time, but I wasn't quite myself at that point." I couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of this situation.

"Very interesting. What happened after you were burned?" The empress smiled in what I assumed was mock interest.

"The last dragon got away. I jumped on her talon but slipped off and fell to my death." I felt sick, and I screamed at myself to relax. I could not faint right now, or have another memory, or do anything fucking stupid that would get me killed.

"If you died, how are you still here?" the man with the red hair asked spitefully.

"He is humoring us," the woman with the onyx hair said.

"He is not," the woman with the jade hair and eyes whispered with conviction, and the others turned to look at her. "What happened after you died?"

"I came back to life. Then I wandered the world looking for someone." I smiled at how odd the it sounded. They were trying to check their legends with my own past, but the truth was often more fantastic than the stories historians crafted to explain impossible events.

"Did you ever find that person?" the jade-haired woman asked.

"I don't remember." I nonchalantly put more of the smoked fish and rice in my mouth. If anything, this second helping tasted more delicious than the first.

"Perhaps this person wasn't important then?" the empress asked.

I shrugged and focused my attention on the food. The Elvens were still working on their meals. I would be able to clear three more plates before they finished.

"Alatorict has asked you about your clan and told me you were not forthcoming. I must admit that your behavior has kept us guessing. Can you tell me which clan you are from?" The empress smiled at me again and I felt the nausea in my stomach fade. Why was she so likeable? Was it her similarity to Nadea or something else? Something that garnered the reverence of all her people?

"Does it matter?" I looked at the white-haired Elven and tried again to remember where I had seen her before.

"It does. We have better dealings with some clans as opposed to others," the onyx-haired woman answered for the empress.

"I do not have a clan. All I know of them Alatorict and Isslata have told me."

"You have no loyalties?" The empress raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"I am loyal to humans. I remember the past atrocities your kind inflicted upon us." They were silent to my response, and I took the opportunity to finish the rest of my meal.

"Tell us your name, O'Baarni," the woman with the white hair demanded.

"What is yours?" I spit back.

"I am Fehalda. General of the empress's Black Army." She looked around at the other generals before speaking again. "The O'Baarni has a point. We didn't introduce ourselves to him." She smiled strangely, and the other gathered Elvens matched her grin. I realized I must have said something they found even stranger than my other statements.

"You know me." Alatorict smiled.

"I am Yillomar. The Hatchet. General of the Red Army," the man with the red hair said with pride.

"Jayita. General of the Teal Army." The woman with the onyx hair nodded to me.

"Dissonti of the Brown Army," the woman with the jade hair and eyes said. They all seem to be gauging my reaction to their names. Should I have known who they are?

"I am Telaxthe," the empress said at last. "Can you tell us your name and title?" She smiled in amusement and I suddenly thought about kissing her red lips.

"Kaiyer. Son of Kai." I gritted my teeth and forced the empress out of my head. I expected them to cringe as Vernine and Isslata had. But the generals didn't seem to mind me voicing my name.

"Do you have a title or station?" Jayita asked.

"I am pretending to be the Destroyer. So I'll use that title." I couldn't help but smile and I felt the atmosphere in the room lighten a bit.

"No," Dissonti breathed from her seat next to Alatorict. The other generals turned to look at her again and I noticed Yillomar's face twitch with emotion. He seemed to be the weakest and my mind spun plans to antagonize him.

"Call me a stable boy then. I grew up as one."

"You are quite convincing. Perhaps it is good that you are here and not on Green Solo. For your own safety," the empress smiled again, but her eyes focused on Dissonti.

"Why is that?" I couldn't help but wonder out loud.

"As I mentioned before, the clans would kill you for using the name and pretending to be the Destroyer. They have done an excellent job of keeping his legend hidden on all of the worlds."

"But you are an expert?" I tried to say it sarcastically, but the words twisted in my mouth and came out sincerely. I needed to leave. My head was hurting as if I had a bad hangover. It was the telling sign that I might have another fainting spell. I took a few slow, deep breaths to steady myself but it only made my headache worsen.

"It was not an easy task. But you also seem very educated on the topic." Telaxthe looked at me and then brushed back a lock of hair that had fallen over her left eye. "Perhaps you can give me some interesting perspective on Kaiyer, since you believe you are him." The other generals smiled in excitement.

"You don’t really want to know me better."

"What Elven tribe did you belong to? This is something the histories are unclear about and I have always wondered."

"Why do I like you so much?" My head was throbbing as if it was a drum full of water on a bumpy ox cart.

"What do you mean, Kaiyer?" Her lips pouted and I felt my arousal building.

"Is this magic?" I nearly spat the words on the wood floor of the pavilion.

"Perhaps it is." Her smile turned into a smirk and I knew I was correct. She had some sort of power over my emotions. My head was spinning now.

"You were going to tell me which tribe you were born into." She motioned for the servants to bring her another cup of tea by raising her glass.

"The tribe was called Laxile." I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. I didn't want to tell her anymore, but I felt compelled to do whatever she wanted. Her scent filled my nose now and I could hardly hear over the pounding in my head.

"That is what I guessed you would say. It makes the ending to his legacy all the more ironic." I felt my vision swimming. I couldn't seem to smell or taste anything but Telaxthe. I wanted to devour her. I needed her. I would do anything to have her.

Voices filled my head. I recognized Entas, Shlara, Thayer, Malek, and Alexia. But I also heard Iolarathe. They were screaming, but it sounded so far away.

Then I realized what I needed to do.

The Earth constantly flowed through my body like blood. It enhanced everything about my perceptions. I was impossibly strong and fast, but I could also hear a mouse's heartbeat from a hundred yards away and be able to see the same mouse from half a mile away. The same powers applied to my sense of smell and taste since they were both closely connected. I twisted the Earth and did something I hadn't done since Greykin, Danor, and I made our trek through the sewers of Nia.

I stopped the flow of Earth to my senses.

Almost instantly the pain in my head eased and my vision cleared from the darkness that threatened. I tried not to gasp but I failed and a sigh of relief left my mouth. I had been slumping over in my kneeling position and I brought myself upright with a victorious smile. Fehalda, Jayita, and Yillomar could not hide their surprise.

"I can see how you convinced the clans to allow you to enter the O'Baarni Games. I wonder why you needed such a display when you could have just used this manipulation.” The empress's smile left her face and her eyes narrowed. The movement looked even more like Nadea's angry expression than I wanted to admit.

"I am impressed." Her smile returned. "But you do not seem to understand how clan leadership works."

"I don't care to understand them. I am here with you now, in the belly of your army and before your generals. I am your prisoner. You do not need to control me any more than you already are. Just tell me what you want from me." My mind had fully cleared. The empress licked her lips and leaned back in her plush seat before responding.

"Do you understand the concept of money?" she asked. I nodded and was about to ask her again to get to the fucking point, but she continued. "I want you to imagine that you purchase farmland. You save all of your money for the investment and you arrive to your new property with family in tow, excited about the possibilities for your future." I nodded again to show that I understood. "But once you arrive there is something wrong. The fields are barren, the soil doesn't give life, and worst of all, the former owner's extended family is still attempting to live off the land. You try to reason with them, to tell them that you have purchased this land fairly, and all you want is a place to grow with your family. Yet the squatters claim to be unaware of the deal. Then agents representing the seller come to call. They are plentiful and have weapons. They explain that there has been a mistake and that this place isn't really the one you bought. Instead, there is another property down the road a bit. Then they ask for more money for the inconvenience of moving you."

"Alatorict mentioned something about a treaty. Is this what you are alluding to?" I looked over at the Elven with the long silver hair and he nodded slightly.

"Yes, Kaiyer." Her mouth rolled around my name before releasing it. I was no longer intoxicated by her magic, but she still reminded me of Nadea. She still had the power of all beautiful women.

“I know nothing of these other worlds. But I don’t understand why they cannot give you one free of humans.” I crossed my arms and inhaled. It felt like my nose was plugged, but it was just that relative to what I was used to, my unenhanced senses were so dull. It had been a long time since I had experienced the world through my natural human senses.

"There are humans on all of the worlds connected by the Radicle." Her eyebrow arched slightly as Nadea's would have if I had asked her an obvious question. "This is the fourth time we have attempted to reach an agreement about the future of my people. You are here, like the others of your kind that have accosted us in our new homes. If the pattern repeats itself, I can expect more of your kin to show up in a few months. You will harass us, attack us, and bully us until you force us back to the shared worlds."