The Destroyer Book 3 (63 page)

"I'll be back shortly then. Thank you." He nodded gratefully and I realized that my friend probably wanted to spend some time alone with his mentor's body as well. By sitting here all night I had robbed him of that opportunity.

It was just another way I was being selfish about Entas's death.

The stars were bright angry reminders of the light the dawn would bring. Entas had once told me they were suns similar to our own, and there were other worlds that circled these suns with lands and people just like us. I then asked him if these people had killed all the Elvens on their planet and he just chuckled. I should have asked him more about these other worlds. Though I did not care much about them, it would have made the old man happy. He always seemed disappointed in my singlemindedness and lack of interest in history or philosophy. Malek had been a better student, the two had bonded deeply and quickly over their shared interest in such things.

We moved his body into a small tent in the center of camp. There were other tents set up fifty yards away, but most of the warriors were asleep or on the outskirts of the camp on watch. I took a deep breath of the frigid night air and exhaled smoky life back out again.

I started a slow jog to the east end of the campgrounds where the trees briefly surrounded the campsite before opening to a field perfect for training exercises. The stars gave more than enough light for my keen eyes to see, but there were still a few fire pits carefully placed on the open ground for soldiers to huddle around while they recovered from their training.

There were only sixty warriors on the field, and most of them were gathered around a fire. As I ran the perimeter of the field warming up my body, I could hear their various conversations. Some spoke of preparations for upcoming battles, some spoke of previous battles, and some spoke of more carnal desires they wished to act upon with their training partners.

There was no talk of Entas.

My mentor had not spent a great deal of time with my soldiers. He had focused most of his attention over the past few years on Malek and his troops who wished to improve their mastery of the Elements. Before that, he spent time with Thayer and I, but left most of the physical and magical training of the army to us, preferring to advise us nightly. I hoped that more than a few of the O’Baarni would show up to view his body one last time, but it would probably be a small group. His contribution would never be realized by most of my kin. They wanted to believe in the invincible Kaiyer and his steadfast team of brilliant commanders. That image was much more romantic and inspiring than a wizened old man who spoke in riddles and could not even walk without a cane.

I heard footfalls running behind me and recognized the sound of Shlara a few dozen feet before she caught up to me.

"Malek said you took a break. I guessed you would be here." I grunted and continued my run.

"Do you want to talk?" she asked after we made a lap around the field.

"I'm fine."

"I know you too well to believe that." She smiled and I chuckled.

"I am angry at myself," I admitted. She didn't reply for a few minutes and our jog slowly increased in speed until we were almost running.

"My sister was raped and killed by Elvens. It was a few years before I gathered my people and escaped from the tribe." Malek had told me this story, but Shlara never spoke to me of her past.

Everyone had their tragic memories, I knew theirs were likely as terrible as mine.

Shlara continued, “She was older than me. I always looked up to her. She was so strong and beautiful. I was even a bit jealous of her as I felt my parents gave her more attention than me. Everyone I knew constantly reminded me of how amazing she was.” I could not imagine a woman more incredible than Shlara, but I knew voicing this opinion would give her false hope about our relationship.

“I was so absorbed in my envy, I never let her be my friend. I never told her I loved her, because I really did not love her until she was gone.”

“Was that when you decided to leave?”

“Yes. It was selfish, I was not motivated by some noble desire to save my people. I was driven by fear. I knew it was only a matter of time before the Elvens raped me. I hated them for taking her away from me before I could make things right between us. I hated myself because it was not until she died that I really became my own person. I’ve already told you how I organized my people and escaped. We were pursued, of course, but the Tulcitas were attacked by another tribe. That was why we made it. Not because of me. Because of simple luck.”

"Preparation has a lot to do with luck." Entas had told me that and I repeated it to all of my commanders often enough that they believed it to be true.

“I understand your grief. Once death takes someone, you can never take back the things you said, or say the things you should have. But you can remember and honor them by pushing forward and being the person you think they would have wanted you to be.”

"You're right."

“Entas could have left whenever he wanted. He chose to go now because he knows you are ready to lead without him. He could not have built this army. He needed someone with your charisma and strength. He was ready to leave this world peacefully because he was confident you have mastered all he set out to teach.” Her smile was brighter than the stars and I felt the ache in my heart ease.

"The regret will pass. I've forgiven myself for the way I treated my sister. You'll forgive yourself for not spending every second of your life with Entas," she continued and her light teasing did make me grin.

"I know. New wounds hurt for a bit until they heal. It always hurts to lose someone. Perhaps it is easier to leave than it is to stay on this world," I said.

"I've thought of that as well. We have many years of work and pain ahead of us. Entas gets to rest now." Her smile faded and we ran in silence for another quarter of an hour, increasing speed until we sprinted almost as fast as a galloping horse.

"Spar?" she questioned. I nodded and we slowed down and stopped. We squared off, facing each other a few steps outside the track. She raised her arms over her head and twisted her body sideways to angle toward me. I quickly matched her stance and blocked her first few strikes and shin kicks. I countered with a feinted palm strike to her face and then landed a solid left punch to her stomach. Her abdomen was as hard as a maple tree, but she let out a short gasp of air from the blow.

"I've never done the morning training routine with you," she said after she caught her breath and elbowed past my guard, cutting my skin above my right eyebrow.

"You don't need it." I wiped away my forehead with a flick of my hand and tested her guard with a few quick punches to her face and sternum. She blocked them all, but I was able to close the distance between us and wrapped my left arm over her shoulders. It was a veiled attempt to take her to the ground, but she must have expected the move. When I sidestepped her body to pull her off balance, she flowed toward me with a careful shuffle as soon as my arm touched her.

Her head smashed into the bridge of my nose, breaking it with a wet snap that would have tumbled most people. But my nose had been broken hundreds of times and the normal blurred vision and stinging pain no longer affected me. Instead, I slid my left arm up and hooked it around the back of her neck as I twisted my torso, lifted my right arm under her left armpit, and threw her on the ground headfirst. My body lay on top of her sideways and she struggled to block a quick series of elbows that I aimed at her temple.

One slipped through and graced her cheekbone. She grunted in annoyance and then finally caught onto my elbow and pulled me down to her chest, preventing me from getting more piercing attacks in on her face. This position let me knee her in the side though, but after a few blows that would have easily cracked the ribs of a normal human, I realized that she was just too tough for them to make an impact. I guessed that this grappling game was going to go on for another hour, so I disengaged from her grasp and pushed myself off of her, rolling backward and coming up into my battle stance.

She was already on her feet and had a mischievous smile painted on her beautiful face. Her grin did not fade as I threw a volley of left jabs at her face and then followed up with a right elbow. She blocked all the punches and danced away to avoid my forearm. I tripped her trailing foot and managed to force her down again with my shin, then I stepped toward her and kicked out with my left food. The edge of my boot caught her in the temple and knocked her unconscious. It would have killed a normal human, but Shlara woke up a few dozen seconds later and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Fuck. I’ll feel that for the rest of the day.” She gasped and spit out a mouthful of blood. “Looks like my unarmed skills need work.”

“You did fine; I am pretty hard to beat.” I flashed her a smile and then instantly regretted it. I had to be more careful about leading her on. I hardened my expression and turned away from her. “Let’s finish our calisthenics.” I sprinted over to the nearest pine tree and grabbed the lowest hanging branch with my right hand. Shlara grabbed one adjacent to me and matched my reps until we had done two hundred pull-ups. Then we switched to our main hands and began the count again.

“Have you prepared some words?” she asked.

“A few. I don’t know if I will say them though.” We switched back to the original hands.

“Will Malek speak?”

“I hope so. He is more eloquent than I am.” I smiled over at her.

“Thayer?” she inquired.

“I don’t think he will want to.” We switched hands again. My muscles were starting to ache slightly. We healed fast, but the strain of this workout was putting more toll on my joints than I could heal. Muscles grew stronger through healing the damage done by lifting; nerves learned that they could lift the weight by repeating the actions. I could still wield tremendous strength by merely harnessing the power of the Earth, but building our overall fitness in this way meant there would be less damage to repair during combat, and we could save our energy and focus for when we were seriously injured by a weapon. Entas and I had worked for countless hours developing the optimum exercise and conditioning plan to help us resist damage.

“Pushes?” Shlara’s voice pulled my attention back to our current efforts. I grunted and switched hands before pulling myself up to the top part of the limb. Shlara followed my movements until we were both suspended above the tree branch with our feet pointed toward the sky and our faces toward the distant roots of the pine tree. These push movements were harder than the pulls, and they were often done on the ground with just one hand. Shlara and I were strong though and we easily lowered our chests to where our hand clenched the thick branch. Then we pushed ourselves up into a handstand with minimal effort. We pushed out a few hundred movements on each side, dipping our heads beneath the branches for maximum range of motion. Then we moved down to the ground for some one-legged jump squats.

After another five minutes we were done. If this was a typical day of training, the exercises would be performed four more times with slight variations throughout the day. But now it was time to spar with some weapons. Shlara and I knew the routine and we walked from the tree in silence to the center of the training field where a few spare weapons and heavy steel shields lay in a pile.

I grabbed one of the larger shields and wrapped my right arm through the thick leather loops. The chunk of metal weighed over twenty pounds and came down to my lower shins when I held it at chest height. I swung the bulwark around, adjusting my perceptions to the weight and size. Once I felt satisfied, I picked a spear from the pile and did the same. Shlara matched my weapon combination, although she had chosen a shield three quarters the size of mine.

I pointed away from the stack of arms and we walked the short distance across the empty field. The sky was lightening to a dull purple color that might have been difficult to see with plain human eyes. It meant that dawn was a few hours off and I realized I still had much to organize before Entas’s cremation.

A sudden movement from Shlara ripped me back to the present and I managed to get my shield up before she skewered me with her spear.

“Stop brooding,” she commanded with a smile before she thrust her spear at me again. This one was aimed at my face and the dulled tip slid across the smooth metal of my shield like a flat stone across water. I pushed sideways with my right arm, throwing her spear wide, and then stabbed my own weapon forward. I aimed for where her spear arm was and believed she wouldn’t be able to get her own shield there in time.

She was fast and countered with a few thrusts toward the lower part of my body on my left side. I blocked both attacks and then sidestepped a slam with her shield aimed at my head. The movement left her flank open and while I couldn’t get the point of my spear aligned and into her fast enough; I forced her to lose ground with a retreat she hadn’t planned. I took the opportunity to push forward with an attack and she backpedaled frantically, blocking my spear blade half a dozen times while she tried to regain her stability and put some strength behind her shield.

Shlara was quick though, much faster than I was. Every time I thought I would put the dulled point past her shield, the woman's body melted like steam around the shaft a tenth of a second before she knocked it away. Each time I thought I had flanked her and would take her by surprise, she got her shield in the way before I could strike. After a few minutes of beating her across the training field I realized that she was probably up to something dastardly and I switched up my tactics, falling back to give her wiggle room.