My vision cleared from the powerful memory, and it took me a few seconds to reorient myself to my surroundings.

My body lay submerged in the massive bathtub. The water coming out of the metal spout sizzled as it splashed into the boiling pool around me. I reached up and turned on more of the cold flow from the silver pipe. The heat wouldn’t burn me, but my body already felt on fire after the memory of Iolarathe’s lovemaking.

I stared into the water and attempted to relax. I tried to remember more about her and the hay loft. That particular session seemed different than the others, more intense. She had never asked me about other lovers before or after that morning. My throat clenched up as I remembered her killing my brother. Her face seemed to be just as pleased when she had strangled him as when I released inside of her.

She was dead anyway. The O’Baarni had killed her and her Elvens long ago. Turned to dust, as Malek’s letter said they all were. I didn’t need to feel anything about her anymore.

I grabbed the soap from the shelf by the tub. I had been in here too long and I didn’t know how much time I had before Paug would come to get me for the celebration tonight. I lathered up my body, cleaning off the oil and sweat from the workout I had performed in my room for most of the morning.

Paug and his grandfather ate breakfast with me after the king’s tailor measured me for clothes. They spent a few hours before my exercise, asking me various questions about my memories and what I thought about everything that had transpired since I awoke. I didn’t tell them about certain things. Like the magic that I wielded and my relationship with Iolarathe.

After Janci left, the boy opened a few books he had gathered from the library, showing me the meaning of the words written there. I picked up the script quickly, or so he said, and he left after lunch, telling me that he would come get me before the banquet began. I did feel a bit nervous about attending a large gathering where I would receive some award. Even though my friend said I understood their language, I was obviously missing key points of their customs and culture that had put me at odds with Nadea.

I got out of the tub and shaved my face quickly with my razor. My hands still shook from the memory and I nicked myself half a dozen times. I healed almost as soon as the first tiny drops of blood left the small cuts.

Calm down. The voice echoed in my head hundreds of times.

I remembered yelling those very words across a group of soldiers practicing magic. Perhaps I was a trainer, or teacher, like the man with the cane. I remembered brief flashes of fighting in a circle. I yelled their mistakes aloud, my blade cutting through them. They healed within minutes and attacked me again.

“Calm down and attack me together!” I yelled to them.

A woman with beautiful hair, the color of rich soil, jumped high over me and brought her spear down toward my chest. She was the leader of this squad, and the best of the bunch, but I easily stepped away from her thrust. The spear dug into the ground next to me as I buried my sword to the hilt in the stomach of her companion. He screamed and she sprung toward me with her arms outstretched, prepared to grapple me to the ground so they might finish me. I hooked my right arm over her left and spun away from her, a ripping crunch followed by her scream told me I had broken apart her elbow. I finished my twirl and clamped my left arm around her neck. My right hand grabbed one of her legs at the upper thigh and I hoisted her above my head, tossing her at the remainder of the group. Her training mates scattered and fell like an ocean wave slamming into a cliff face.

“Stop,” I said. My voice was a little above a whisper, but they obeyed. They sighed and relaxed. Some of them were so exhausted that they didn’t bother to remove themselves from the tangled arms and legs of their group. I turned and looked behind me; there was a small hill from which another unit observed us. One of the men handed me the sword I had used, still sticky with his blood. I walked toward the assembled men and women on the hill. As I ascended, I focused on a man with long dark hair, gray at his temples. He frowned and his brow ridged in concern. At first I thought his worry was for me, but his eyes were on the woman and the warriors I had humiliated.

The knock on my door startled me to the present. I made sure the towel wrapped securely around my waist before I stepped into the other room, across the thick yellow and green rug, and to the door. The knock sounded like Paug’s.

“You aren’t dressed yet?” He frowned.

“Sorry. I’ll be ready in a few minutes.” He walked in as I held the door open. I went back to the mirror in the bathroom to make sure all the blood and hair was cleaned from my face.

“That’s okay. I came over early, we’ve still got some time before we have to be there.” I nodded to him, even though he hadn’t followed me into the bathroom. I finished the last cuts to my face and rinsed off again. My hands weren’t shaking anymore.

“Your clothes look really nice!” he shouted as I walked into the room with the bed.

“Yes,” I said as I went over to the neatly stacked piles. The tailor seemed to be skilled at his craft. A few hours after lunch his lovely assistant dropped off several packages of pressed garments. I tried to convince her to stay and help me bathe and put them on, but she had declined.

“I’ve heard about you,” she said with a smile and wink. “Maybe another time, handsome, the banquet has made us very busy.” Her wavy blonde hair reminded me of a tapestry. She ran her hands through it several times while I attempted to seduce her.

“You okay?” Paug said. I looked over at him.

“Thinking about things.”

“More memories! What did you remember?” He sat up excitedly in his seat as I found the gray and green pants the tailor's girl advised me to wear tonight.

“I think I was a trainer in the army. I remember teaching people how to fight.” I didn’t want to tell him about my lover. “It is still hard to remember some things, but I am almost positive. What rank do you have for a trainer in an army?”

“Sergeant,” he said and I nodded.

“Yes. Perhaps I was a Sergeant.”

“That’s great! Did you remember any of your training techniques?” I frowned and shook my head.

“Oh. Well, I’m sure you will soon. Don’t worry about anything tonight. It is going to be fun! I’ve never been to a royal banquet and celebration or seen anyone get knighted. Let alone my best friend!” He bounced out of his seat and skipped across the room. I noticed he wore black pants and a purple tunic that looked soft and comfortable. His hair was cut and lay slicked back against his skull.

“Yes. It should be fun. I am nervous. Thank you for coming with me. I don’t want to say anything wrong.” I put on thin wool socks and the new pair of boots that the king's tailor made for me. They fit perfectly.

“You’ll be fine. All you have to say is ‘Thank you, my king,’ after he instructs you to rise. Afterward he will dismiss you to your seat. Everyone will applaud and we’ll get on with the feasting. I haven’t eaten all day! I’m going to stuff myself full of delicious food.” He rubbed his hands over his belly. I saw that his stomach pushed out against the material of his soft shirt.

“You had breakfast with Janci and me this morning,” I pointed out.

“Oh. But that was just a bit of eggs and some fruit.”

“You also ate lunch with me,” I said with a smile.

“Yes but that was just a few small sandwiches and wine.”

“Didn’t you mention that you were going to get a snack as you left my room?” I couldn’t help but smile.

“They had cobbler in the kitchen. I was going to bring you some, but you said you would exercise in your room before bathing. Hopefully they have more tonight.”

I finished buttoning my shirt and I ran my hands through my thick hair. Then I looked at him and shrugged.

“You look great, Kaiyer. The green goes well with your eyes.” I nodded. The clothes did fit much better than what I pillaged from the Vanlourns. The fabric was thick and felt durable. I started to strap on my sword belt.

“Oh no. Only the guards and king’s knights can carry swords. You’ll be able to carry your sword after he knights you, but you won’t need it tonight.” I put the belt down. He looked me over again. “Ready to go?” I nodded and we set off deeper into the castle.

I had only been out of my room twice: when Nadea took me to speak to her father and when I broke my fast with Iarin. The halls were bustling with servants dashing from room to room helping to prepare guests for the celebration tonight. Despite the activity, the castle was fairly quiet, the plush carpet and thick tapestries lining the walls absorbed much of the sound, and the servants padded silently, heads down, discrete and focused on their tasks.

Paug seemed to know where he was going, so I followed him down the stairs and through long hallways. Eventually we made it to a part of the castle where finely dressed men and women waited and mingled in a large receiving chamber. I counted more than eighty people engaged in conversation, while servants moved on the outskirts of the crowds with trays of bite-sized food and crystal goblets of wine. As Paug had said, no one wore a weapon of any kind. None of these people looked like soldiers or knights, they were predominantly aristocrats, well-fed and arrayed in beautiful, if impractical, garments and jewelry.

Instead of the tapestries that decorated the rest of the castle, the walls of this room were covered in massive oil paintings framed in ornately carved gold and silver. The paintings depicted battle scenes and people I assumed to be past kings or other nobles posed in military garb atop mighty warhorses. One painting stood out among them all, not just because of its central placement above the doorway, but because unlike the others, it was of the night sky. The moons were in the center, surrounded by an accurate yet artistic rendering of the constellations and celestial bodies one could observe from Nia.

I realized that I should have asked Paug to take me on a tour so I may have learned the layout of the castle. This room was so filled with socialites I could not discern an accessible exit, nor from which direction an attack might come. There were archways that opened to more rooms filled with people, and one huge set of closed wooden doors, which I suspected led to the room in which we would be dining. I had lost my bearings following Paug through the massive castle and didn’t even know where we were in relation to the building as a whole, or the city walls.

“We’ll wait here for a few more minutes, until they finish with the Great Hall. Once the staff signals we will go in and take our seats.”

“Where is your grandfather?”

“He didn’t want to come tonight, said that parties were for young people and other such nonsense. He gets moody sometimes and doesn’t want to be around people.” I couldn’t imagine that. Paug’s grandfather seemed to enjoy every aspect of his life.

“Where is Nadea?”

“Royalty makes a grand entrance after we have all been seated.” He gestured to a man with a silver tray of food. The man came over and Paug took three small bite-sized morsels off of the tray. “These are amazing Kaiyer. Try one!” I grabbed one of the pieces. It looked to be a bit of fruit wrapped in a thin piece of meat. I nodded to the servant and he walked away. It was delicious. If the rest of the food tasted half as good as this, then it would be a great celebration indeed.

After another quarter of an hour the doors to the Great Hall opened and people began to trickle in.

“Names?” a sour looking man said as we approached the entrance to the hall.

“Paug and Kaiyer. Guests of the king,” Paug said through a smile as big as his face. The man looked over a list and nodded, then gestured to an attendant and told him to take us to our seats.

I gasped as we entered the Great Hall. It was so incredibly voluminous that I felt like I had stepped into a hollow mountain. The ceiling extended almost one hundred feet above me and was supported by a symmetrical network of thick wooden beams. The room was probably two hundred feet at its smallest point and three hundred and fifty feet at its longest. Giant chandeliers hung from the beams like glittering spiders. Their light illuminated rich purple and orange rugs, deeply polished wood floors, and a semi-circle of dining tables.

There looked to be enough places for two hundred people to seat themselves in space and comfort. Each table was covered with a rich satin cloth alternating in royal purple or a deep burnt orange. The tables were decorated with towering silver vases overflowing with purple flowers. They were set with fine plates edged in gold leaf, gleaming silverware and crystal goblets that mirrored the sparkle of the chandeliers. At the center of the semi-circle, a raised platform with tables upon it drew my attention. I assumed this would be where the king would sit. Offset from the center of the room, massive stone pillars held up the roof like columns in a cave.

“Wow,” Paug and I both said at the same time. Then we looked at each other and laughed. The servant cleared his throat and we hurried to catch him. Twenty seats to the left of the head table the man gestured to two chairs and we took them.

“I thought you would have been seated closer, since the king is going to knight you,” Paug whispered to me. An older man with a red face sat next to me. He smelled like sweet tobacco and his stomach looked like it might erupt from his buttoned blouse if he sneezed too hard. His companion was a young woman with short brown hair and cute freckles.

“Hello. I’m Baron Listal,” the man said as he extended his plump hand to me.

“Kaiyer.” He smiled. I think he was waiting for me to tell him my title. “I’m a knight.”

“Ahh, excellent! My wife and I will enjoy talking to you. It is so nice to interact with the king’s fighting men.” The young woman smiled at me shyly. The man leaned over her to say something to a neighbor a few seats away and I turned to Paug.

“What is a wife?”

“What?” He turned from the older woman he was speaking with.

“What is a wife?” I whispered to him again. “I haven’t heard that word before.”

“It is . . . oh. Let me think about how to explain it.” He looked around then back to me. “It is the name of the woman in a relationship when a man and a woman vow to be together and raise a family.” I nodded, I understood his words but the idea sounded strange.

“What is that word in the Ancient language? I don’t remember it,” he asked.

“There isn’t one,” I said flatly.

“What do you mean? You had a mother and father, did you not? What did your father call your mother?” He set down the small loaf of bread he had been buttering, his appetite forgotten for a moment.

“He called her, ‘your mother’ when he spoke of her to my brother and I, which was rare. The Elvens didn’t do such a thing, or at least I don’t think they did. I know they mated and formed alliances, but their unions were not permanent or meant to be. Humans were not allowed to. We could have children together, but why make a vow like that when it could easily be broken by our masters?” I thought about my father. I never knew my mother and I wondered how much Kai had loved her.

“That’s horrible!” he gasped. “So you’ve never been in love?”

“I have,” I said. I tried not to show my emotions on my face.

“Oh. Tell me about her? That is if you don’t mind.” He must have seen my face harden.

“There are things I must keep to myself. I only remember parts of our relationship. I remember it was, difficult.” I smirked as I said the word. My vocabulary was not extensive enough in either language to find the right word to describe what I felt for Iolarathe. Perhaps that word did not exist. I hoped he would leave me alone. Luckily, he turned back to his bread and took a bite. His eyes were sympathetic.

“Where is Iarin?” I asked, to change the direction of the conversation.

“I don’t think they invited him. That is too bad, since he had a lot to do with you being here.”

“How about Greykin?” I looked around the room for the big man.

“He won’t be eating, but he’ll be around, I’m sure."

A bell sounded in the hall, and people that had been standing and conversing hurried to their assigned seats. Then the room became silent.

The doors at the far end of the hallway opened and Herin entered. With a loud and clear voice, he shouted: “The Royal Envoys of Gradar: Duke Ritr and his wife, Liea!” A man and woman dressed in finery walked into the hall. They were both attractive, the man's hair was speckled with gray and the woman's curled around small sunflowers. The gathered audience applauded as the two sat down at the head table.

“The Royal Envoy of Loorma: Grand Commander Astotal!” A well-muscled man walked into the hall. He wore a short sword around his waist and moved with the trained prowess of a cat. His clothes seemed to be of a military fashion, with polished pieces of metal and black leather.

“The Royal Envoy of Newvana: Baroness Stokia!” An elderly woman walked in, escorted by an adolescent boy that wore the colors of yellow and green. Her ears were adorned with sparkling emeralds and she used a thin walking cane to aid her movement.

“The Royal Envoys of Brilla: Captain Guvey and his wife, Hellan!” An attractive man and woman entered, both of them were extremely tall and well-muscled. They had thick manes of blonde hair and tan skin. I noticed that they wore no jewelry except for rings that had blue glittering stones in them.

“Duke Beltor of Nia and his daughter, Duchess Nadea!” The applause became almost deafening as the two walked in between the tables. The duke wore a double breasted suit coat of rich purple, but my vision was consumed by Nadea.

She wore her hair up in a twisted spiral of lustrous brown locks. Peeking out of different parts of her hair were purple and white orchids. Silver chains of diamonds swung from each of her earlobes and emphasized the sleek curve of her neck. Her dress was of a softer purple than the duke’s coat and it hugged her well-toned frame from her breasts down to her ankles. There the dress flared out a little, giving her enough room to walk. Her legs were accented by a high-heeled pair of purple shoes that showed her feet through thin strapping. Across one of her ankles wrapped another delicate silver chain that helped draw attention to her tan skin. Her father leaned into her and whispered something. She looked at him and laughed as they walked to their seats. I couldn’t hear what he said over the roar of the crowd.

“Prince Rilc of Loorma and Princess Jessmei of Nia!” The crowd erupted again as a brown-haired young man escorted Jessmei in. He was probably a little younger than she, and his face blushed at the attention he received from the audience. I didn’t concentrate on him much because Jessmei looked like a sparkling diamond. She wore a glittering tiara on her head that parted the silvery hair down her back in a white wave. Her dress was more of a gown; it hugged her chest but then flowed out with various shades of blue and white gauzy material, accented with a scattering of sparkling diamonds. She wore white gloves on her delicate hands and the material faded to a blue that matched her dress as the cloth ran up her arms. As she walked toward her seat she turned to look over at Paug and me, gifting us with a dazzling smile.

“Prince Nanos of Nia and Princess Estaver of Newvana!” The crowd applauded again as Jessmei’s older brother escorted a petite girl into the room. He was tall and dashing, with a charming smile, blonde hair swept back, and an ornately hilted short sword at his side. He wore a light brown suit with purple trim. The princess had curly black hair and beautiful skin the color of rich coffee. Her dress was a creamy yellow, and pink flowers wrapped around her dainty wrist.

“Please rise!” Herin shouted. The gathered audience did as he commanded.

“The King and Queen of Nia!” The roar was like thunder as people cheered, clapped, and stamped their feet against the stone floor of the hall.

The king and queen were very attractive together. Her hair was a light blonde that swept over the front of her shoulders in purple lashed braids. Her dress was a creamy orange color and seemed to be cut from sheer and soft material that caught the glimmer of the light from the chandeliers. Her crown was slightly larger than Jessmei’s tiara but she wore it just as elegantly.

The king wore a deep purple jacket with a pleated orange shirt that blossomed like a flower from his chest. Across his hip he wore a hand-and-a-half sword encrusted with gems and gold. His crown looked as if it was made of at least three pounds of exquisitely crafted gold. It must have been annoying to wear.

The king and queen approached their chairs and he offered her his hand so that she could sit comfortably. Then he motioned with his hands for all to sit.

“Thank you, my friends, for joining us tonight. Although the worries of our world can sometimes cause our shoulders to buckle, we cannot forget the friendship and love that has kept us persevering for so long.” He paused and looked around the room. “We have much to celebrate on the eve of our great task. So let us feast and enjoy each other’s company. I have gathered the finest entertainers to provide us with joy. I have also asked my chefs to prepare the best meal their imagination might dream up, so that we may honor our guests.” As he spoke, a small army of servants entered the hall from doors behind him. They each carried covered silver trays. “Please enjoy the finest my kingdom has to offer!” the king said, and he clapped his hands. The servants moved quickly to the tables and placed their trays down in front of us. Without any sort of cue, they all pulled back the lids at the exact same moment, displaying a large bowl of creamy orange soup that smelled wonderful. My mouth began to water. The young wife of the baron next to me gasped in delight at the presentation.

The servants seemed to vanish. Everyone looked to the king as he took the first sip. He nodded and the rest of the gathered began to eat.

“The Royal Minstrels and Dancing Troop of Nia!” Herin shouted again as thirty men and women skipped into the hall and posed in the middle of the semi-circle the tables made. Six of them held various musical instruments. I don’t remember where I had seen similarly designed instruments, but I recalled the familiar sound of each as they began to play.

The music was fantastic, and the dancers moved with beautiful grace and agility. I briefly thought of Iolarathe, but then I forced the memory away.

They danced and played for almost half of an hour. I looked over to Paug and saw the reflections of the dancing women’s skirts in his eyes. The audience clapped when they had finished. The dancers bowed and ran out the door as servants came to gather the used soup dishes.

Paug stood up and stretched as a few other people around us did the same.

“Now we can mingle for a few minutes, until the next bell rings.” He looked over to the king’s table.

“Oh.” I didn’t feel like standing, but I did it anyway. I followed Paug’s gaze and saw Nadea engaged in conversation with her father and the male envoy from Brilla. She looked over at me and quickly looked away when she noticed my attention. It seemed that she was still mad at me.

“Did I do well Kaiyer?” a female voice said in my memories.

“Yes. Excellent job.” I was suddenly in a field of corpses. Elven corpses, I realized as I bent down to inspect one’s face, twisted in death. The stench of their rotting bodies smelled as wonderful as a plate full of food after a long day of training.

“They didn’t suspect I would flank their ambush of your forces.” The voice belonged to the woman whose arm I had broken. She wore a beautiful smile and her eyes sparkled a bright shade of green. Her armor fit her body perfectly, its massive plates of riveted steel each weighing at least ten pounds. It had taken the smiths almost six months to craft it for her. Finely etched dragons and lizards ran across each surface of the grayish metal.

The bell brought me back to the present. I sat down and looked over to Paug.

“What will the next course be?” I shrugged before I realized he asked the question rhetorically.

I frowned when I tried to pull back the fuzzy memory of the woman in the dragon armor. These recollections seemed to be coming more often now. Maybe I would remember everything in the next few weeks. I remembered the message Malek left me and couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. I hoped I hadn’t forgotten my past for a reason.

The servants came out with more silver trays and repeated the presentation. This course consisted of a baked fish with small boiled eggs on the side. Next to the eggs and fish were a few thin stalks of a plant I had never seen and couldn't remember. The servants returned quickly with wine bottles and began to fill the glasses that were placed in front of us.

“May I present: The Actor and Bard, Esthat Usmay!” There was a startled round of applause as a gray-haired man stepped into the semi-circle and pulled out an instrument with a long neck and twenty-four strings attached across its length. He bowed to Jessmei's family and to the gathered audience before he started playing.

Although it was just one man, the variety of pitches and tones he produced with his instrument seemed more varied and interesting than the musical troop that had played before him. I found myself entranced by his fingers and body movements as he pulled the music out of the air and pushed it to us.

I felt Paug touch my shoulder and I looked over to him.

“Don’t forget to eat, my friend! You’ve been watching him for ten minutes without touching your food.” I smiled and tasted the fish. It was as delicious as it looked, it melted into my tongue in soft, buttery flakes with a delicate, herbal flavor. The small eggs also were very fine, smooth and creamy, although I didn’t expect them to be as salty as they were and I had to wash them down with a gulp of wine.

“Careful you don’t get food on your shirt,” Paug warned me. “You’ll have to stand up in front of everyone when the king knights you.” I looked down at my still clean tunic and sighed in relief. This whole ordeal seemed to be a complicated process and I needed to be careful at each step.

After the servants cleared this course we stood again to stretch. The Baron asked me about the life of a fighting man, how much I trained, where I was stationed, and what brought me to this gathering. Paug came to my aid and helped me answer each question in ways that the Baron seemed to approve of. Shortly, the next bell rang and we all sat down in our places.

“This should be salad,” Paug said with a wrinkled nose. “I don’t really like vegetables that much, but Grandfather makes me eat them. I have a feeling that I will like these though.”

Paug was right. The servants set down a small plate of raw mixed greens, with purple and orange fruit, drizzled with a lemon-flavored dressing. It was light and helped cleanse my palate as I ate it.

“May I present: The Mistress of Song. The Dove Herald herself, Tanya Gettil!” The audience gasped and applauded loudly as a pretty young girl walked into the semi-circle. A servant ran and set down a chair for her to sit upon. She carried an instrument that looked like a large wooden horseshoe. It had strings across it and seemed to be made out of gold and silver leaves.

“She is famous,” Paug whispered to me, "and only plays for royalty or for one hundred gold pieces an hour! She is supposed to have the most beautiful voice in the world.” He gazed at her dreamily as she started to sing. Her voice did sound amazing, like the sound of the waterfalls in my dreams. I looked over at Paug after she had been playing for a few minutes and poked him.

“Vegetables?” I said as I pointed at the greens with my fork and smiled.

“Ugh, you are just like Grandfather,” he said, his face scrunched up as he took a bite. Then he smiled and took another.

“Her voice makes everything good, right?” I said. He nodded.

“It is too bad this night has to end,” he sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “I hope I can remember this forever.”

“I agree my friend,” I said before I put the last bite of leaves into my mouth.

The young woman finished playing and bowed to us. All the gathered stood up to applaud her. She bowed again and took a seat at a table on our side of the hall, with the older man who had played before her.

“She is sitting here eating with us. Perhaps you should go talk to her?” I suggested to Paug.

“Oh no! I couldn’t do that.” His face looked white. “She is too beautiful.”

“So?”

“She would never want to talk to me. She is destined to marry someone great and powerful. I am just destined to be a village school teacher.” His face fell. “At least I got to see her play once.”

“I think you should go converse with her. Then you can say you got to see her play and you got to talk to her,” I said with a smile. The servants cleared off the finished course and I tried to avoid the Baron’s gaze. I didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

“She’ll reject me. Look at me. I’m not handsome, or brave, or powerful. I’m just a boy.”

“I think you should go talk to her,” I repeated. “But what do I know? I’ve been asleep for a long time.”

The bell rang again and we all sat, but instead of servants coming out, the king stood up and raised his hands, palms outward. The crowd instantly became quiet.

“I want to thank you all again for coming tonight, especially our friends from Loorma, Newvana, Brilla, and Gradar. Our families have stood together in peace for generations, and I could not see it any other way.” Heads around the hall nodded in approval. Paug mentioned that some of the countries here had only mild affection for each other. I wondered how much political skirmishing was going on behind the scenes to keep the wheels of their truce greased.

“But there is someone else here that I would like to personally thank.” He looked over to me. “Kaiyer, please stand and come forward.”

All eyes in the room turned to me as I slowly rose to my feet. My stomach flip-flopped a dozen times when I took the first few steps around the room. A memory suddenly hit my brain and I remembered a valley full of armored warriors.

A thousand pairs of eyes watched me as my horse approached the ranks of soldiers. They were devoted to me like I was one of the Dead Gods the Elvens worshiped. There could be no one else that would save them, deliver them from the Elvens.

I circled the last table and made my way to the raised stage. The king walked in front of his dinner table and drew his ornate sword. Its blade looked perfectly balanced, the gemstones on the hilt sparkled, reflecting bright jewel tones as they caught the light from above. He raised it before his face and held it easily. He was still on the raised platform, so that he might look around to the gathering and down at me.

“It brings me joy to personally thank someone such as you, a hero who has risked his life many times to protect my beloved family.” I heard mutterings around the room, people asking who I was, what exactly I had done, and about the family I came from.

Suddenly Maerc was at the king’s ear whispering urgently. The general looked at me when he had finished and glared. I had been paying attention to the susurration of the crowd and didn’t hear what he said. That had been foolish of me.

The king’s face paled and I could see his hands shake a tiny amount. He continued his speech.

“Because of these great achievements toward my family I would like to bestow upon you--“

There was a tearing and explosion behind me. I turned to see the doors to the Main Hall ripped open. One of the great pieces of wood teetered off of its top hinge. Four figures walked calmly into the room.

Elven figures.

I stepped aside and my vision began to blur. My heart surged with the power of the Earth in the stone and the blood flowed through me like a roaring river. It thumped like a battle drum and I couldn’t hear anything. Tears came to my eyes as I tried to fight with my hatred. I tasted blood in my mouth. I was biting my tongue. It healed quickly as I tried to cut through it with my teeth.

Half a dozen guards came charging forward with spears. The Elven in the lead held up his hands and yelled:

“Peace!” The guards slid to a halt. Other soldiers stood in front of the king and the lead table. “We come in peace, King of Nia. Tell your dogs to step back, or we’ll decide to change our minds.” The figure oozed confidence. The sound of his voice made me want to scream and kill everything around me, human or Elven.

“What do you want, Ancient?” the king yelled from across the hall.

“Instruct your guards to move back and allow me to approach. I will tell you then.”

“Don’t let them closer, sire, they could kill you before we would have the chance to protect you,” Maerc whispered into the king’s ear.

“Tell your foolish general that we aren’t going to kill you. We would have done it by now if we wanted his death. Your soldiers are soft and like sheep to our wolf hunger.”

The king hesitated a second and then waved his hand.

“Fine. Move forward and say what you will. Then get out. You are not invited to our celebration.” I was surprised at the conviction in the king’s voice. The guards that had circled the four moved back slightly, allowing them to walk through the empty space that had previously been the stage for our peaceful gathering.

The lead male wore polished plate armor. It was etched red with pictures of hawks and eagles. A thin long sword hung at his waist, and daggers on the other side of his belt had red accents on the hilt wrappings. His eyes were a pale gold, as was his braided hair. He looked like a beautiful statue. I wanted to break him into a thousand pieces. My blood felt like it might boil through my skin.

Two females and another male accompanied him. The three wore smooth leather armor dyed red, they were armed similarly to their leader. The women’s armor was cut low to expose the perfect cleavage of their breasts. One woman’s hair was gray and tied into matching knots on each side of her head. Her eyes were bronze. The other’s hair was a light slate green and flowed down her back like moss on a rock. Her eyes were as red as rubies and glowed like embers. The man's hair was a blackish-blue, and his eyes looked like amber stones.

“I am Greretal. Captain in the Empress's Red Army. I am here on behalf of our empress. We demand your decision.” They stood twenty feet from the king. I was off to his side slightly. Maerc had his right hand on his short sword and his left on the king’s shoulder. Guards with spears stood in front of the table but were not in between the Elvens and the king. It did not matter. As Greretal had stated, they could do nothing to protect their monarch if even one of the Elvens wished him dead. Four trained and armed Elvens could effortlessly massacre every human in the Great Hall, if I was not here.

“My decision?” the king asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Don’t be coy, Your Highness,” the Elven practically spit the word. “My empress thought sending me would instill within you the gravity of your decision. She wants it now.” The three other Elvens were looking around the room. They seemed excited. I looked at the female with the green hair; her right glove was dribbling blood on the floor. The room became silent except for the sound of the dripping.

“I’m sorry. I broke some of your toy soldiers; they didn’t believe we wanted to come in peace,” the green-haired banshee said with a giggle.

We never have to bow before them again. We’ll take the battle to them, striking when they least expect it and showing no mercy. Then we will disappear.

“This plan is suicide Kaiyer,” Malek said. “We are outnumbered three to one and they have the higher ground.”

“I’ll lead the charge,” I said.

Sweat was pouring out of every inch of my skin.

My armor had millions of tiny skulls engraved in the dense metal. My gauntleted hand dripped with blood as I sank my teeth into a pulsating heart. It tasted sweet and tough.

“What are you doing, Brother?” Thayer said. He tried to hide his disgust.

“I said I would eat his heart. Look, he still lives to see me do it.” The Elven general moaned as the last of his blood ran out of his body.

The green-haired woman had walked over to me. The flowery smell of her filled my nostrils. I could hear her reptilian heart beating its slow, careful rhythm. My body twitched and my vision faded from black to red to black again.

“Look at this one. He is so scared he is going to shit himself. Can I cut him open and play with his intestines?” she asked the leader in the tongue of the Elvens. My head snapped down and my eyes made contact with hers.

“How about I tear your throat out and drink your screams instead?” I said in our shared tongue. The power of the Earth flared into my body. I couldn’t stop myself. I had to kill them, grind them to paste, my hatred was like a pot of water that now boiled over.

The woman’s eyes widened in shock and her three companions’ heads jerked over to look at me in surprise.

They were just in time to see me grab hold of her throat and rip it out of her neck.

Her hands came up to grasp at the warm, gushing fluid that poured from the hole in her trachea. She managed to get out a gurgling sound of surprise before her friends realized what had happened. They shouted in outrage as the other two drew their swords and moved in front of their leader.

There were screams of shock and fear from the gathered party attendees, but no one dared to move. Now they would be privy to a different performance, one far darker and more sinister than what they had enjoyed so far this night.

We faced each other for a few seconds as the three Elvens looked from my face to my right hand, which still clutched a handful of her throat.

“Circle and cut him down!” their commander said. They slowly began to move around me.

“That sounds like a great idea. I’ll kill them first, and then rip you limb from limb,” I spat at the man in the red plate armor. His face turned from outrage to fear. He wasn’t used to being taunted, especially by a human that spoke his language.

The male on the right attacked prematurely. When I was a normal human, I remember that they seemed to move so quickly and beautifully. Their strength and grace made us believe that they were Gods that deserved to rule us without question.

Now I knew them to be mortal, slow and weak. They could be slain like any other prey.

These Elven had never met a predator before.

His sword passed inches from my face. It was a vertical cut and my hands wrapped around his hand and wrist when he reached the bottom of his stroke, pulling it downward below my waist. I stepped over this sword and maintained my grip on his hand as I circled him and raised my arms across my body. The speed of my action combined with my weight and leverage caused his wrist to snap like a dry piece of wood. His body flipped and landed heavily on the stone floor. It made a sound like a thunderclap as the large tile beneath him cracked. His hand lost its hold of the sword when I broke his wrist. The movement had put the thin blade into my capable hands.

He screamed when he felt the pain radiate up his arm. It was one of pure agony and shame.

The Elven people are not used to experiencing anything other than pleasure. They are mentally unprepared for the serious wounds that we will inflict upon their bodies, minds, and souls.

My own voice echoed in my head as I faced the woman. Her eyes were still surprised, but she cunningly waited to see what I would do to her friend before attacking. She feinted the same movement her companion had made, but I pushed my blade up to parry above my head instead of taking the bait. She danced back with a quick back cut that would have ripped me in half had I been more aggressive. Then she executed a series of carefully constructed horizontal and vertical slashes that targeted my chest and thighs. I managed to dodge each one by an inch or so. She smiled as she saw me give up ground. Then she did the same combination of movements again.

I came in quickly after her first horizontal cut flicked past my stomach. I reached around with my left hand and grabbed the back of her elbow, drawing her to me like a lover. The closeness of our bodies left her right arm trapped in between us, her sword rendered useless.

The hilt of my sword smashed into her face from above. She grunted in pain, but she couldn’t fall back since I had trapped her to me with her left arm. I pulled back my right arm and smashed the pommel again into her beautiful face. This time I heard the skull crack and echo through the room. I let go of her body and she fell to her knees, free of me but not free of the abuse. I wound back my arm again and punched her in the face a third time with the hilt of the sword. She was probably already dead, but the force of the impact snapped her head back and sent her body sliding across the floor like a drop of rain down a slanted roof.

“Who are you?” the leader screamed at me. He was backing away toward the door. His friend with the broken wrist struggled to his feet. He tried to move away as I walked to him.

“No no. Forgive me!” he screamed as he felt my hand close around his esophagus. I didn’t bother to choke. I just crushed the bones into each other and let go. His body twitched a few times like a fish that had just been gutted. I watched the light fade from his eyes as he died.

By the time I looked back to their leader I realized that I had made a mistake letting him watch his friend die in my grip. His armor-covered hands rose toward me in a movement I recalled. I felt the massive blast of force, fire, ice, and pain slam into me. My feet left the floor with the power of the magic he had used. I heard wave after wave of explosions and my eardrums popped. Everything went black for a second and there was another impact behind me, bringing me back from unconsciousness.

I coughed up blood and felt my skin and lungs repairing themselves. My eyes burned, but I forced them open. I was forty feet away from the last Elven, almost on the other side of the Great Hall. I climbed to my feet and coughed again. The last of the black smoke oozed out of my chest and into the air. My fine shirt was on fire in the front. I grabbed onto it with my left hand and ripped it off of my torso. I had slammed into one of the columns that held up the roof. I couldn’t see where the sword had gone, but it wasn’t in my hands anymore.

I noticed the shocked expressions of horror on the surrounding faces, but none as horrified as the Elven leader.

“Who are you?” he screamed again.

“How did you get here?!" he screamed louder and backed away. His magic threw over the table where I sat with Paug. I was going to need to jump over it to get to him.

Then he turned and started to run.

“Sword!” I yelled to the king as I leapt over the table and ran to the door. He tossed his through the air and my hand closed around the guard as I swung my body to the exit. I slid for a few feet on the Elven woman’s blood. By then I had reached the door of the hall.

“We have to kill them or they will report back,” Thayer’s voice said in my head.

I sprinted toward the doorway and into the Receiving Room. He was up ahead and turned the corner. I grabbed onto the door frame to help me turn. My feet hit the opposite wall as my bottom half went the direction I had been going. For a few seconds, my speed and the way I took the turn allowed me to run on the wall instead of on the floor.

I saw him mount the set of stairs ahead of us and I gave chase.

The stairs twisted in a spiral and I tried to figure out what he planned. I couldn’t see him, so I assumed he thought I wouldn’t know on exactly which level he would exit. Perhaps he didn’t realize that I could hear his heart beating its staccato of panic.

He went up three flights of stairs and ran down the hallway. I was gaining ground on him, even though the king’s large sword hampered my movements.

Then he did something I hadn’t expected. He turned a corner quickly and met with a dead end, an ornate window looking down to the distant ground.

He glanced back at me as I turned the same corner. Then the Elven ran toward the window. A deadly shower of beautiful, vibrant glass blanketed his armored form as he crashed through it, light glinting in a rainbow of colors as he fell.

I ran up to the broken opening and looked down to my prey. He had survived the steep drop and was limping away. He looked over his shoulder at me with a smile. It was almost sixty feet to the ground.

The smile turned back into terror as I leapt from the window and crashed into the ground. It hurt terribly, and my legs almost snapped with the impact. My ligaments groaned and complained in the fraction of a second before I rolled forward and came to my feet. My body struggled to restore itself, but I had been hurt worse in the past and recovered. Within seconds I could feel the energy of the Earth repairing the minor injuries to my legs.

His heart beat faster than a small bird’s. I didn’t need to run after him. He was limping slowly. As I drew closer he tried to skip his body ahead by thrusting his hips forward and jumping. We were in the open training area on the opposite side of the wing from my room. He would never make it to the gate of the castle before I reached him.

“You aren't supposed to be here! Your leaders made an oath!” He was almost crying now. Finally, he fell down on his backside and raised his arms. “I surrender!” he said as tears came down his cheeks. He was so afraid, he forgot that he had a sword at his hip that he might use to defend himself. My brain was trying to puzzle out what he had just said, but before it could send a message to my mouth so that I might ask him for more detail about my 'leaders' my arm was already moving.

The king’s sword sliced off the top four fingers of his right hand. He gasped in terror as he brought them down to look at them and screamed. My next cut took off the rest of his hand. I didn’t think it was possible, but he screamed louder.

I tried to see how loud I could get him to scream before he died. He only lasted three more minutes until he bled out, and he didn’t get louder than when I had cut off his hand. His display of pain disappointed me.

I told him so before his eyes closed forever.