The Destroyer Book 3 (33 page)

"Will we ride through the rain or make camp?" I asked her sweetly. I couldn't quite twist around to see the Ancient's face, but I knew she possessed the alien beauty they all did: flawless pale skin, almond shaped eyes, and ears that grew long past their hairline. She also had the same pewter hair color and red eyes as her other five companions who escorted my uncle and me.

"We will ride," the woman said. It was more of an answer than I expected. When I had been kidnapped from castle Nia by the three Ancients, they constantly spoke to each other, bickered, and laughed while they hauled me up north and ignored me, as if I were simply lifeless cargo they were tasked with delivering. These Ancients never spoke, never laughed, and never argued.

I leaned forward a bit in the saddle and attempted to look behind us, where my uncle rode with his entourage on the narrow road. We had been traveling for three days and our captors did a good job of keeping us separated. When we stopped for our nightly camp, I could see him across the fire. I tried to ask him how he felt, but he gave me a look that indicated we shouldn't talk in front of them.

"It might be a bad storm, and it is almost lunch time." I rubbed my tied hands against the hard leather of the saddle. My body was sore from riding, and I was not eager to reach our destination, which I assumed was my home, under the rule of their empress.

"We are used to bad storms, kitten," the woman said indifferently. This was the most I had gotten her to talk since I was saddled with her three days ago.

"I am not. I am sore, tired, and I want to rest. How far are we from my home?" I guessed four days, but I had not done enough traveling through my own kingdom to know exactly where we were.

"Five days at this pace. You ate a large breakfast. We won't stop until the horses cannot see." I groaned and shifted in the saddle. When my uncle and I had been captured we both feared the worst possible outcome: torture, imprisonment and death at the hands of their empress. This could still await us in Nia, but so far, they had done nothing more than hit my uncle when he tested them by refusing, at first, to mount their horse.

"This is a slow pace. We would move faster if we were not trying to keep you comfortable.”

"Why does your empress wish me to be comfortable?" The woman didn't answer, and I let the conversation drop.

I felt deeply shamed by her silence, though I knew it was her habit, I was frustrated with my lack of cunning. How could my uncle expect me to run Nia, to save Nia from the rule of this powerful race, when I was not even intelligent enough to gather information from them now? I could carry on a lively conversation with another noble at a party, I could charm most men into doing what I wanted, but when charisma really mattered, I was useless. Kaiyer was cunning. He would know what to ask, and how to ask to get the most pertinent information from the Ancients. He would devise a plan for escape. But if he had been with me the fifty Ancient warriors would never have been able to trap us the way they did in Relliat.

I missed him. His smile, his laugh, his voice, and the moments we had shared in each other's arms after we made love. I felt my eyes begin to water, and I fought back the hopelessness that matched the gathering of the dark clouds in the sky. Chances were that we would never see each other again, let alone share our love and raise the family I wanted.

It wasn't just him that I missed. I missed my father, Greykin, Nadea, my handmaidens, even my brother had been such an important part of my life. I hoped that the Old Bear was still alive, somewhere on the boat stuck with my angry mother. But Nadea and the others were probably dwelling in the Spirit world with my father now. Perhaps they looked upon me as I rode toward my fate. They would want to bless me however they could. The thought of protectors watching over me eased some of my fear.

I shivered, fighting against the cold grasp of the wind. I wondered if my captor had a naturally lower body temperature than a normal human. She did not feel warm, but perhaps I was projecting my mood and feelings onto her. There were no trees here, the hills were blanketed in low scrub brush and jagged rocks that poked out of the surface like white tipped waves on dull green water.

"Looks like you have an acute weather sense, Princess," the woman said a few seconds before the first drop of rain descended from the inky sky and landed on our horse’s face. The animal flicked its head around sideways in annoyance at the rain, but the protest did not stop the following downpour.

"Now we can stop and set up camp?" I phrased it as a question, though I wanted it to be an order. I was not good at commanding others and it was yet another skill I lacked but needed if I was to have any hope of ruling Nia. Though an Ancient dragging me there against my will was probably not the best person to begin ordering around for practice.

My captor didn't answer me and in a few minutes I had all but forgotten about anything but the rain, the wind, and the resulting chill that spread through my body. I was weak. It could not really be that cold, my country never got as chilly as Loorma, or the countries to the north. The Ancients had even given me a thick leather coat, the water slid off of it as if it were made of duck feathers. But my face was wet and my long hair was drenched. I reminded myself that Kaiyer had chased after me on foot for two weeks in the snow without shoes or supplies. If he could endure that pain for me, then I could deal with this slight discomfort.

If I were certain Kaiyer would be there waiting for me in Nia, this would be easier to bear. Instead, my thoughts slipped away from me for the next few cold hours of travel. I thought of all the reasons I was not worthy to be his. The mistakes I had made, the lies I told, the smiles I wore. The things I should have said to Kaiyer.

I hoped I would be able to one day say them to him.

Eventually my thoughts returned to my mother. The source of most of my regrets and guilt.

I wished she had died instead of my father. I knew thinking such a thing made me a horrible person, but now that I was only days away from whatever fate the empress had chosen for me, I needed my father. He was warm, caring and gave all of himself to his family and the kingdom. Especially to me. My mother had never been happy with the choice her family made to marry her to him, and she seemed to resist everything that could have given her happiness or made life pleasant for those around her. Especially me.

Nothing I did pleased her. I was not pretty enough. I did not make the right facial expressions or say the right things. I was not smart. I could not dance gracefully. My sewing was clumsy. My singing was off-key, my conversations embarrassed her and she lamented that the nobles who interacted with me were judging her parenting skills because of how I turned out. I could not even allow myself to become betrothed correctly. Though that was more due to my father than me, and had caused yet another rift in their already contentious relationship.

I tried my best to please her, but as Nadea had so easily surmised, the woman just did not want to be happy. My brother was the single source of her happiness and she constantly tried to make me more like him. She applauded his victories in training and pushed our father to give him more responsibilities in the kingdom in preparation for his rule, all while plotting to marry me off to the ruler of the most distant land she could find.

Kaiyer did not value my noble blood. He saved me from my captors because he loved me. He left because he loved my family and had to ensure their safety. But all this had done was put me in jeopardy. I never should have let him go. If I were more like my mother, I wouldn’t have.

I felt warm raindrops on my face and realized I was crying. I prayed to my grandmother and father to free Kaiyer so he could return to me and save me from these horrible creatures. I needed him to wrap me in his arms, take me out of the rain and make love to me again. I regretted the prayer almost as soon as I whispered it. I had asked too much of my father and grandmother in the last week and I didn't want to strain whatever abilities they had. And Kaiyer did not need their help.

"We will camp for the night near that tree,” the Ancient woman said loud enough to make it to my ears over the torrential rain. I tried to nod, but I was already shivering and couldn't force words through my numb lips.

I lost track of how long we had been riding, but it felt like the sun was close to setting. It was very hard to see the vast span of the road through the darkness and rain. The horse moved off to the right and then stepped up to make it over the muddy shoulder of the road. The motion leaned me back into the woman behind me and her arm quickly wrapped around me to prevent me from falling.

But I still fell.

The Ancient attempted to shield me with her body but the impact knocked the wind from me. I tried to scream, but I could hardly manage more than a gasp. It felt like Jiure had punched me in the stomach again, but instead of trying to fight against the pain, I could only lie in the mud, dazed.

I heard a scream and my captor's thorny nails clawed at my leg. I tried to get to my feet but slipped and fell again. This time I rolled down the hill and splashed into a river that was somehow colder than the rain. After a second of panic I realized that the water wasn't deep enough to be a river, it was just the rain pooling at the bottom of the hill. I pushed myself to my feet and felt my stomach lurch in protest as my head throbbed in agony.

I stumbled in the direction I thought we had been going on the road. My feet sank into the mud and water and it took almost every ounce of strength in me to yank my legs free. The Ancients had given me knee-high leather riding boots and the suction of the mud threatened to take them away from me. They were very warm and I didn't want to lose them at a time like this. I took another few steps and someone grabbed onto me. I tried to scream, but a hand closed over my mouth.

"We have to run!" Beltor hissed in my ear. Thunder boomed and lightning struck in a bright echo. I tried to move faster but my boots stuck again and I had to reach down and pull them up with my hands.

"The shoulder!" He tugged me over to the opposite side of the road. The ground was much firmer suddenly and another flash of lightning revealed the thick patches of grass beneath us.

He pulled on my arm again and I tried to run after him. I stumbled through another thunderous boom and my face slammed into the mud. Hands grasped me by the waist and he grunted loudly with the effort of tossing me over his shoulder. He ran and my body shook so hard that I actually started to feel pain through the freezing cold. Thunder and lightning struck again, behind us I could see the Ancients for the instant the world was illuminated.

I lost track of time in the darkness, in the falling sleet, in the thunder and the brief flashes of light. I just wanted it to be over. I could not stand the running, the fear, the constant stress of wondering what horrible thing would happen next. I just wanted to be safe with Kaiyer. We should not have run. The Ancients would find us no matter where we went. Surrender was inevitable and felt preferable to this perpetual fight.

A clap of thunder boomed in my ears at the same time that I was blinded by lightning. Beltor stumbled and I felt him tip. I tried to grab onto something, but there was only air, then mud, and then I could not breathe. Water filled my lungs and I choked and coughed as I slid down over mud, rocks and grass. A massive oak tree burned and cast black shadows on the darkened landscape surrounding us.

"Uncle?" I came to my feet in a shallow pond formed by the folds of the hillside. Beltor coughed muddy water out of his mouth and lifted me out of the pool like I was a baby. He forced his way through the water, away from the burning tree and the hillside, but his breathing was coming out in painful gasps. He couldn't carry me much longer at this pace.

"Can we hide?" I had to yell it three times before he understood what I asked. He nodded and said something back that I couldn't understand. He thrashed through the water and climbed up the muddy hill while I clung to him, a useless burden.

He made it halfway up the slope before slipping in the mud. We fell together but only lost a few feet before I grabbed onto the wet grass to keep us from sliding farther down the slick embankment. Beltor clawed into the grass with his muddy hands and pulled us up inch by inch until we crested the slope. The top of the hill was still lit by the burning tree, but the other side descended at a sharper angle into darkness.

"Hold on." He sat up and set me onto his lap. Terror gripped me as I realized what he intended, but before I could protest he leaned forward and we slid down the other side of the slope almost effortlessly. Once I had visited my mother's parents and experienced a similar ride on a waxed piece of wood down a snowy slope. But that had been in daylight and laughter instead of darkness and thunder.

We stopped sliding when we hit another flooded pool at the bottom of this hill. My face submerged again and I came back up to the surface choking out dirty water that felt slightly warmer than the rain. Lighting struck again, etching a white spider web into the sky. In the quick flash I saw that my uncle and I had narrowly missed a large grouping of boulders during our slide. We were in an actual creek now, overflowing in the storm. Beltor grabbed my hand again and led me in the direction of the current.

We half stumbled, half-swimming through the flooded creek bed. The brook ended in a small waterfall that dropped ten feet down to a deeper pool.

"Hold onto this." My uncle pushed me up against a boulder to steady me against the rushing stream.