The White Towers (21 page)

“You liar!” snarled Sameska, filled with a fury so huge he was shaking like an earthquake. “LIAR! You people, you humans, you drove our race from Vagandrak thousands of years ago, and then deleted us from your history books, erased us, so it appeared we had not even existed! Your ancestors hunted us, killed us, hundreds of thousands of elves were slaughtered and the poor remains driven into the White Lion Mountains to die in the ice and snow. But we found our way through treacherous passes, many thousands more dying of cold or tumbling down into the bottomless valleys filled with ice and blood.” Now, Sameska backed away from Yoon and Narnok. Kiki had her sword out, Dek his hands splayed wide as if trying to pacify a hot-headed fist fight. Sameska looked around, and no longer was he a weak and tortured individual; now, suddenly, in the blink of an eye, he appeared incredibly powerful, containing the strength of root and heartwood, sap flowing through his twisted veins. Sameska may have been tortured by Yoon, but he had not been broken. Not by a very long bow-shot.

“Kill it,” croaked Yoon, suddenly full of panic. “You must kill it!” he screeched.

“You forced us into the place of poison, away from our Heart Trees, away from the Motherwood.” Sameska was hissing and spitting. “In Zalazar the land is poisoned beyond repair. It is a terrible, haunted, evil place.” And Kiki realised the elf rat was addressing her, large yellow eyes almost pleading. “We were forced to join with the twisted, blackened, poisoned and poisonous trees just to survive; an elf is connected to the earth by more than blood and bone. You should know this,
Shamathe
…”

Kiki gasped.

And then Sameska turned and with incredible agility, incredible strength, bounded across the camp. Trista and Zastarte had weapons drawn, formed a wall, but in a blur Sameska was beyond them, both Iron Wolves knocked back, whirling around, Zastarte gasping, sword cutting out at something that was no longer there.

Silence fell like ash. The fire crackled. A log shifted, making a banging sound.

Yoon gave a low, deep laugh. “You’ve done it now. You’re like a group of lively village idiots, re-enacting a tragedy in the village square for your supper and a hard bed and even harder fuck with the local syphilitic whore. But the only tragedy is
your
lack of understanding of the real fucking world. The only tragedy, my hopeless friends, is that you’re allowed to continue. Thankfully, when Captain Dokta sorts his shit out and arrives, we can offer you thanks on behalf of the slaughtered people of Vagandrak.”

“Big words for a little man, tied up,” said Narnok, moving close.

Yoon tried to back away, seeing murderous intent in Narnok’s single iron eye, but the tree was in the way. Kiki appeared at the axeman’s side and gave the monarch a bleak smile.

“When Dokta arrives, we’ll be waiting for him. No matter how many men he brings. My guess is he’ll travel light and fast in the hope of catching up, intercepting us. It will be a pleasure, King Yoon, I assure you. But for now, I really do suggest you keep your flapping, pessimistic mouth shut. Or maybe next time, I won’t intervene when Narnok here wants to smash out all your fucking teeth in an attempt to silence you.”

 

Everybody slept. Kiki lay awake, staring up at the pines high above and the occasional flake of snow that penetrated their dense canopy. Dek and Narnok followed Sameska’s trail into the woods, but soon lost the wood elf; the wood elf
rat
. As Dek so eloquently put it, “He’s a fucking
elf.
Bonded to the trees and the heartwood. How will we find him in here?” Kiki felt reasonably safe. She had a funny feeling Sameska contained an incredible power, possibly similar to the
Shamathe
power she herself carried, which… could be unleashed… when a need for massive destruction was at hand.

Kiki shivered, but not through the cold.

She rolled from beneath the thin blanket and, grabbing a makeshift poker, a wood with a pointed, blackened end, she stoked the embers of the fire and tossed on another couple of logs. Soon, heat was blossoming from the burning wood. It crackled softly, glowed like an old friend in an alcoholic embrace. Kiki warmed herself for a while, but the chill in her soul was nothing that an external heat source could ever cure. She glanced over at Yoon, and spat into the fire. The bastard was still keeping facts to himself. Still playing his
xazenga
cards close to his chest in the hope of cleaning up across the whole game board. Well. Kiki didn’t care for his fucking politics. She didn’t care for his kingship. And maybe, just maybe, for the first time in Vagandrak history, it was time to put his wife – the queen – on the fucking throne.

Kiki stood and stretched, a long, feline movement, then moved away from the campfire. Away from the flames, it was suddenly, deeply cold and she gave a shiver from the core of her body. And then he was there, wrapping a blanket around her. She said nothing, and as he placed the blanket around her shoulders he stayed there for a few moments, holding it in place, sharing his body heat.

Kiki walked a few more steps out into the dark, and the snow cool of the forest. Long shadows danced. The blacks were blacker than ink. The scent of pine was strong, mesmerising. Like a drug.

“How do you feel?”

She turned, and stared up into Dek’s face. To some, she knew, he was nothing more than a brutal thug. After the Iron Wolves had folded, after the glory and the honour and the prizes, Dek had bounced from meaningless dockland job to meaningless warehouse job. Finally, an argument led to a fight outside a tavern, the Fighting Cocks, and after a short brutal bout where Dek demolished the resident bare-knuckle champion, the landlord of the Fighting Cocks had come up with a proposition. Now, a renowned pit fighter – huge, heavily muscled, with small dark eyes and a head that constantly lost a fight with a razor – Dek was scarred and badly tattooed in places, with some of his tattoos received after drunken sessions, and some even only half-finished. His carcass was not one that inspired instant respect; well, not as much as his scarred knuckles and the natural broad shoulders, narrow hips and easy gait of the born fighter. But to Kiki,
to Kiki,
he was so much more. So much deeper than a fucked-up pit fighter with no family, a history of betrayal and nowhere to go. And, worst (or best) of all, she knew he loved her. Through and through. Right down to the core. He loved her like no other human being on this miserable fucking planet had ever loved her before.

“Dek,” she said.

“Let me just hold you a while.”

“That’s… good. Yeah.”

They stayed like that, his arms around her from behind, his chin nuzzled into her neck. She sensed him inhaling her musk. The scent of her hair. She grinned. Now
that’s
not been washed in a long time. Still probably had mud-orc blood and brains lodged in the matted strands from Desekra’s walls before…

She blinked, and it was gone. The
Shamathe
. The powers of the Equiem. Dark magick. Old magick.

He reached up, took hold of her shoulders with surprising tenderness for one so brutal. He turned her around to face him, and she was looking down.

“Kiki.”

“Yes, Dek?”

“I have something to say.”

“Will I like it?”

“Probably not… I love you.”

Kiki paused, and his hand came up, finger pressing against her lips. “I know I’ve told you that before. And I know I was a bad man. I know I did terrible things. Not just killing your friend that time, although I was drunk and she fucking deserved it, the carping fish bitch; but… the other things. The women. The woman. Narnok’s wife. I know I had you. I know you were mine, body and soul. I know I was sucked into a web of deceit and lies and violence; set up like a piece of cheese in the centre of a steel-fanged rat trap. I took the bait, like the weak fuck I am. And I suffered the consequences. We all did.”

“Dek…”

“No. Wait. Let me speak. I fucked up. I was more stupid than the village idiot after ten pints of Old Bowel Rot. And I suffered. You suffered. We all suffered. But I’m a different man now, and I’m a different man living a different life. We live in dangerous, violent times, in a time of change, of upheaval, of battle, and of war. Back there in the Prison Box, when we faced down those white-skinned bastards… well. I was proud to have you by my side. But I was ashamed. Ashamed you didn’t know the deep roots of my love for you. I can live with dying, Kiki. But I can’t live with dying until you know how I feel.”

She lifted her head and stared into his dark eyes. “I know,” she said, gently.

“I betrayed you. But I am not that person any longer. I am yours, body and soul, forever, until we die, until we are condemned to the Chaos Halls and tortured for eternity. But I am yours.” He took her hand and kissed her skin. “Yours, Kiki. Until the stars die.”

Kiki leaned up, and kissed him on the cheek.

“That’s a nice fuck-off.” He grinned.

“Not at all.”

“Then what is it?”

“You could have just asked me for sex. It’s… been a long time.”

“This isn’t about sex,” he said.

“I know,” she said, and punched him playfully on the arm.

Dek stared into her eyes. “What are you saying, Kiki?”

“I’m saying I love you, Dek. I always have. I always will. I can still hate you for betraying me. I can hate you for betraying Narnok. I can hate you for fucking his wife, for sticking your tongue into her cunt and her groaning her way to orgasm… but hate only gets you so far. And you know what, mate? Love gets you further.”

Dek leaned down, and touched his lips to Kiki’s. She responded, and they stood in the cold, snow-bound forest, enjoying the gentility of a kiss that should have belonged on the lips of lovers two decades younger. Then Kiki took Dek’s hand, and led him out into the forest, and under random beams of moonlight, removed her clothing to stand naked before him.

Dek groaned, a low animal sound, and he stepped forward, but her hand pressed against his chest.

“I’ve shown you mine. Now it’s your turn.”

Dek undressed in a frenzy and, naked, his cock huge and eager, stepped in towards her. He licked lips dry with nerves and gave a little laugh.

“What is it?” she said, moving in close, hands touching his skin, head dipping, teeth biting him just a little.

“I can face down the biggest fucking mud-orc in the world, and not feel as much fear as this. This, now.”

Kiki lifted her head, features softened by strands of moonlight. “There’s nothing to be afraid of here,” she said, and guided him towards the soft, cool, welcoming forest carpet.

They travelled north. The snow had stopped. A biting wind filled with ice needles drove into them, making each man and woman lower their heads, wishing for hats and gloves as they pushed onwards towards the nearest city on Dek’s battered, tattered map: Zanne.

“I fucking hate Zanne,” mumbled Narnok.

“Why’s that, axeman?” asked Dek, genuinely interested.

“It reminds me of worse days. It reminds me of bad days.”

“Such as?”

“Maybe I don’t want to talk about it.” Narnok threw Dek a scowl.

“Come on, Narnok. We’re old friends. Maybe I’m here to help.”

“What, liked you helped fuck my wife? Like you helped split us up? Liked you helped channel her towards a friendly torturer who removed my eye and fucked up my face? I’ve seen enough of your help to last me a lifetime, Dek. Why don’t you fuck off and grease up your new and yet old pussy. I’m sure she’s enjoying it. Sure sounded like it out in the forest last night.”

Dek’s jaw clamped shut, and he cut sideways, leaving Narnok walking alone and tugging along the uncomplaining figure of King Yoon behind, like a dog on a leash.

“Trouble?” said Kiki, smiling until she received no response.

“Nothing I can’t deal with.”

“Is he moaning about his wife again?”

“Oh yes.”

“He’ll never get over it, Dek. Something you’re going to have to learn to live with. You betrayed him. He hates you for it. Can’t blame the man for that.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” said Dek.

“Have you heard yourself? Did your cock force itself inside her quim? Did she drug you and rape you?”

“No. All right. It was my fault. I was weak.”

“We’re all weak,” said Kiki, remembering the lure of the honey-leaf and the need to slit a person’s throat just to get that bitter sweet drug under her tongue. Nothing mattered anymore. Not people. Not family. Not friends. Although in all honesty, her family were shit and dead. Especially Suza. Especially
that
bitch. Kiki shuddered. The lure of the honey-leaf was still strong; and yet she had passed away from the physical addiction. General Dalgoran had helped her with that. Helped her
overcome
that, God bless his suicide-soul. And she realised, now, with a gradual understanding, that the addiction was not in the chemical, not in the drug in her blood. It was in her head. In her mind. And even without the need for chemical stimulant – even
without
the need to take the shit to feel normal again – it was still there. Gods. The honey-leaf was still there like a long lost bastard brother coming back to regain his shitty undeserved inheritance. Still there. Always would be. Would haunt her until her dying day. Would
ensnare her
until her dying day; or at least, until the day it forced her to die.

Forever gone. Forever lost. Forever loved.

Kiki found tears on her cheeks, and she wiped them away, and Dek asked her if she was okay, and she wiped that away as well. Some things you had to suffer on your own. Some things weren’t for fucking sharing.