I caught up to my uncle as he walked out of the front door of the hall.
“Uncle Keller!” I wanted to stay out of arm’s length. I wasn’t certain that he wouldn’t use that desiccating ability on me if he thought I was being annoying.
“What?” The King turned back to look at me.
I swallowed. “Are you really going to kill all the Elves in your city without giving them a chance to leave? Even the kids?”
The King paused for a moment, then nodded and turned to my father, who was standing right behind me. “New orders. We’re going to cleanse the blight that is the senators, then issue a proclamation that at the end of the week Hepool will be an Elf free city. Any Elves in the city after then will be executed on the spot.” He made a twirl in the air with his finger. “Take your men and make sure no one escapes the senate building.” He pulled me close to him. “You’re right, I’d never kill kids without giving them a chance first. That’s why I need you next to me, Gravis. With the two of us together, nothing will be able to challenge us again!” He let me go, then started whistling as he walked towards the gate.
I watched helplessly as he drained the two guards that were standing at attention, then kept going.
“Someone has to stop him.”
I turned around and looked at Alessa.
“Aye.” My father shook his head. “But the Elves dropped a whole tower on his head and that didn’t stop him.” He turned to me. “Talia told me you figured out who you are…” He started wringing his hands together. “I’m sorry it wasn’t me that told ya. I was waiting until you were eighteen and then…” His shoulders sagged. “It never felt like the right time.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“It’s okay.” I honestly felt betrayed, but it hadn’t been out of malice that he’d kept it from me. He’d been trying to protect me and knowing who I was wouldn’t have been able to change much of how things had unfolded.
I looked at the gate where the two dead guards were lying. “How do we stop him?”
“During the Great War we used to say the only way to stop a Sineater is with another Sineater.” My father couldn’t look at me. “But it’d be better for me to kill you myself then to send you after that monster.”
I didn’t like where this conversation was headed. “You aren’t going after him. At least I have a chance to stop him. It might be a fish’s chance on a ride through a kraken’s gut, but it’s still a chance.”
“Could you do it?” There were tears dripping down Alessa’s face. “Could you kill my…” She sniffed. “My…” The tears were falling freely.
She’d been four when the coup had happened. The only memory I had of my mother was the one we’d shared. I knew my memories had been tampered with, but somehow I doubted that there were many left after all this time. She’d probably had a vision of what her father had been like. There were pictures of him hanging on walls of the castle, so there was no way that she couldn’t have crafted a version of her father that was wildly different from the wild man that had just walked out of the castle.
“I’ll stop him.” I wrapped her up in a hug and felt the tears on my neck. “There’s got to be good in him still. He’s just been isolated for so long. We’ll bring him back.”
I could see the look on my father’s face and knew he didn’t believe me.
“We’ll come with you and try to get them out of harm’s way.” My father motioned for everyone to start moving.
“Wait.” I let go of my cousin and took a deep breath. “Wait a little bit. If you show up and start evacuating people, he might attack you. Let me distract him, then you can evacuate the Elves.”
“May your veins be nothing but mithril.” Garm saluted me.
I ran out of the courtyard.
“And may it jump in your bucket.” I finished the Dwarven blessing under my breath. I was going to need all the help I could get.