Bringer of Destruction (The Bringan saga 2)

Chapter 2

She looked down at the ground where, in the midst of a pool of blood, lay the blue stone of her pendant. It floated and shone with a life of its own. She bent down and picked it up, wiping the blood that covered her with his thumb, caressing her gently, while the light radiated warming her soul, calming her by silencing the voice of the beast inside her that had finally been released.

She focused on that light and the feeling of peace it gave her, she focused on the memory of his laughter, his eyes, his whispers in the night that kept her away from the nightmares that chased her every time and drove away her demons. Just like he was doing at the time.

His light enveloped her and pushed back the beast made of darkness now free, she pulled back bowing her head, submissive to him, to his memory, while her body slowly relaxed.

The voice in her mind became more and more distant and faint, the surrounding sounds returned and she could hear them again. Her body relaxed, and the warmth that pervaded her diminished, causing her to return to her normal temperature.

The pendant's string was cut now, but she brought the small stone to her chest, letting the light of Nathan's power envelop and cradle her. He hadn't even noticed it when she created it.

She looked down and saw a huge laceration on her chest that was gushing blood, but it didn't hurt. The skin inside was burning, as if it were healing itself.

"Demon," she heard a voice behind him.

Aislin turned and saw two other people, motionless. One had a part of his body burned, his skin bleeding, half of his head completely bald, his face mottled while only the frightened eye could be seen; The smoke came out of his skin and the smell of burnt skin reached her nose, making her gag, the man moaned and cried desperately, meanwhile he looked at her terrified.

The other was holding an arm from which blood was dripping and forming a puddle on the ground.

"Demon," the man repeated, looking at her.

"Daughter of a demon," she said again.

"Deorgh," moaned the other on the ground, slumping more and more.

Aislin frowned and looked at them.

"Daughter of a demon!" she cried again.

"Your race must be extirpated from this land!"

"Who sent you?" asked Blake behind him.

The knight had risen and was limping towards her, positioning himself in front of the girl who stood looking at the two survivors.

"Kill the demon," ordered the one on the ground, groaning.

Blake approached and kicked the man in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He kept him pinned to the ground as he pulled out his sword and held it to his throat.

"Who sent you!" Blake repeated through gritted teeth.

"He told us she wasn't a danger, not yet, that we had to get rid of her before she became one," said the man on the ground as he looked at the princess in terror.

"Who?!" cried the knight this time.

His voice boomed all around them and sent a shiver down her body.

"The king," the man declared, looking at the knight who was holding him in place.

Aislin stopped breathing, her body freezing as she felt bile rise up her throat, she leaned over to the ground and vomited. Her stomach twitched from the exertion but she continued to vomit as her heart began to pound in her chest, threatening to explode. After stopping the retching, she looked up at the man in front of her.

"My father? Why?" She felt her eyes burn, tears began to blur her vision, and her throat closed.

"He said to kill the demon. He said to kill the witch's daughter," the man said, trembling.

"Spare me, demon! I'll give you back all the king's gold, but spare me! I have a family waiting for me, children!" continued the man in terror.

"Queen Reanna is not a witch," Blake replied through gritted teeth.

"The king said to kill his bastard daughter, the offspring of the demons, only in this way will we find salvation," said the man, almost in tears.

Bastard daughter.

Bastard daughter.

The words echoed through her mind like a mantra, while all the memories she had with her father flooded her mind. The look of disgust he reserved for her every time he met her on his way. The hateful and disgusting words he had spat on her when he learned of her affair with the Prince of Haefest. The way he treated her, the way her mother consoled her as a child whenever Kyros chased her away or mistreated her. The way he dealt with Athelstan and Nemis, different from how he treated her, to how he despised and belittled her whenever he had the opportunity.

Suddenly, she remembered what had happened a few days before. Her father had gone to her chambers with the wise old man, he wanted to talk to her about her departure for Althea and about her future as queen next to Elhias. That was the first time he'd had a real conversation with his father, a support from him. She had felt happy to see him so serene with her. They even toasted, her father filled her with a glass of wine, and drank.

At that moment it occurred to her how her throat had begun to burn, that she had not been able to breathe anymore and how she had collapsed to the ground: her hands to her throat, while her father had knelt beside her and looked at her carefully, without moving a muscle. She had felt life leave her and then closed her eyes.

After a few moments she opened them again and found herself in her bed, the wise old man next to her caressing her cheek gently, telling her that she had fainted and fainted in her father's arms. Aislin had looked up and met Kyros' green eyes, hatred had spread through them as he looked at her with contempt.

A lump formed in her throat that almost prevented her from breathing.

It's just a bad dream, it's not possible. It's too much even for him.

But it wasn't. Slowly the princess became aware of it, she noticed everything that was around her, that had happened in those years, while the tears began to fall copiously on her face, without her being able to stop them.

"The spawn of demons?" asked Aislin in a faint voice, tears streaming down her face. Something inside her was breaking, breaking into a thousand pieces, the last part of herself that didn't make her an empty shell, she felt it, it was leaving her.

Her father hated her.

He hated her so much that he wanted her dead.

All those years when she had escaped the killers, all those deaths that she had on her conscience for protecting herself. Those deaths did not belong to someone who had undermined the alliance between Locrand and Aeris. These assassins had not been sent by some neighboring king. They had all been sent by his father. To kill it, to uproot it from that land as if it had been some disease hidden among men, as if it had been a curse.

"The demons of the Ucries," said the man in a whisper, as if afraid to even name them.

Aislin's stomach twisted again and she vomited, feeling her throat burn with exertion, her eyes were now covered with tears, her chest ached, and not even the stone she held tight on her heart could calm her.

Nothing could fill that void, nothing could mend what had broken inside her.

She heard the beast's voice echoing in her head again, she wanted blood, she wanted her blood, Kyros's. She wanted to see him on his knees begging forgiveness like the wretch he was.

She felt her face on fire and looked up at the man on the ground who stared at her in terror before his eyes widened and beamed beams of light. The eyeballs began to burn as the man opened his mouth wide to scream, but no sound came, only smoke and flames came out. His body burned from the inside, under the flaming gaze of Aislin who didn't move a muscle. Blake made a pass back and walked away from the man, of whom only the burnt and smoking carcass remained.

Aislin shifted her gaze to the other man, the one with half of her body burned, feeling the hatred surface inside her. He nodded, and the man's head turned unnaturally, moving backwards, and a crack echoed in his ears.

The man's limp body fell to the ground, his head turned away from his body and his eyes wide open. She stood still and watched the corpses of the dead men around her before taking off her ring with her family's crest and throwing it next to one of the burnt lifeless bodies. No one would be able to recognize any body and that was best for her. Blake approached her and helped her to her feet, without looking at her nakedness. He took off the top of his armor and laid it on the ground, before taking off the tunic he was wearing underneath and passing it to her, allowing her to cover herself.

Aislin slipped it over her head and walked away from the c*****e she had partly created. Blake got dressed and looked around. The carriage was completely burned, as were all the bodies of the men who had accompanied them and those who had attacked them.

"I'll take you back to the capital," Blake said, as he approached.

"So as to give my father a better chance?" asked Aislin, feeling a lump in her throat, she choked back the tears that threatened to flood her face. She didn't have to be weak, she couldn't be, otherwise she would die.

She ran her hands furiously over her cheeks, wiping away the tears and blood that covered her.

Blake looked at her and sighed, Aislin could sense compassion in her eyes.

"Where shall we go?" asked the knight, looking at the slaughter before them.

"Will you stay by my side?" asked Aislin, surprised.

"Always," Blake said, looking her straight in the eye. "I have sworn to the gods to protect you with my own life, if need be, I do not intend to break an oath."

The man cheered her up, his gaze and his support made her feel more protected, although at that moment she felt terribly alone and helpless, at the mercy of the will of others.

Locrand couldn't go back, he couldn't go back to his father's clutches, let alone Aeris. If those were Aislin's origins, Ecbert would cut off her head immediately. He wouldn't care about the affection he felt for the girl, he would kill her because she was a threat, his very existence was a threat, even though she hadn't done anything wrong or that could harm them.

"I need answers," said the princess, after a moment.

"Only one person can give it to me," he continued, staring at the space in front of her.

The knight nodded and didn't say a word. Only Docria could give her all the answers she needed. Only she could tell her the truth about who she really was.

She felt a stabbing pain in her lower abdomen and bent over and put a hand on her belly, it felt as if someone was thrusting a dagger into her flesh. Soon after, she felt a liquid run down her legs. She lifted up the pieces of cloth she had left and saw that blood was flowing down the inside of her legs, blood that came from the center of her core.

******

Aislin placed a hand on her belly and watched as Blake was quietly filing the blade of his large sword. He was sitting at a wooden table with Lyza and Barclay who were playing dice. The man didn't look up, but he could see the exasperation on his face. It was always like that when he was with the two warriors, anyone would have been exasperated with them.

"So?" Doreon Noksen's voice roused her from her thoughts.

Aislin turned to look at Nathan's old commander. Doreon was staring at her, her golden eyes brighter than the first time she had met him, she liked the vitality that shone through the boy. That vitality that he had managed to conquer by being among his people.

His elbows rested on the wood of the ship, the dark tunic he wore was wrinkled and badly tucked into his black leather trousers: he could never be in order. A part of Aislin wanted to put his shirt in his pants, she hated the mess, the other part of her was happy to see him so relaxed and comfortable.

She couldn't explain it, but from the first moment he stood in front of her to Cynemon, his eyes scanning everything around him and studying every little movement, Aislin had felt a kind of affection for him.

Seeing his blank and sad gaze had made her feel what she hadn't felt in years. Maybe all the stories Nathan had told her about Doreon had been complicit: about how different he was from the others, how much better he was than anyone else, and Aislin knew it was the truth.

She had seen it in the way he had tried to protect Barclay, in which he had stepped up against the Ucries and risked his own life, even though it was not his duty.

Only then did she understand all the respect she had seen in Nathan's eyes when he talked about Doreon Noksen.

But she could never have imagined the magnitude of the pain in his eyes. Though he tried to hide it, Aislin had seen beneath the surface, felt the pain that accompanied it and the fear of being judged, of being rejected.

It was what led him to be extremely attentive to everything around him, to every whisper, to every breath, and she, for some strange reason, had felt compelled to keep him away from everything that hurt him, even if it meant pushing him away from Nathan as well.

She had tried in every way to convince him to stand by her, not only because she needed the loyalty of the men who blindly followed Doreon, but also because she needed him, his beliefs, and to save that soul that had been destroyed by the judgment of others and people who criticized on the basis of nothing. And not for a moment did she regret that decision.

Doreon was cheerful and serene, joking with Barclay and getting drunk with his men at night. She saw him serene, she sensed his tranquility and she knew that she had done the right thing, even if it meant making him suffer. He knew he would suffer.

"What?" asked Aislin, leaning her back and elbows against the wood, and looking ahead.

Barclay was laughing uproarly with one hand on his belly, while Blake shook his head trying to ignore him and continue to file his sword.

"Did you hear a word of what I said to you?" said the boy, snorting.

"No," Aislin admitted, turning her head to look at him.

Doreon ran a hand through her black hair, ruffling it as she snorted loudly.

"I asked if you trust Blake," the boy repeated, rolling his eyes.

"Blindly," the girl replied, without a moment's thought.

"Then why don't you take him with you? Why me?" asked Doreon, confused.

"Because I need to have you by my side," Aislin said, raising her head to the starry sky.

Her blonde and pink hair swayed in the breeze, gently brushing the skin of her arms. "To keep an eye on me?" he asked, almost wounded.

"No," Aislin replied confidently.

"A mission like this requires special qualities. Blake can't move in the shadows, he's been trained to fight in the open field, not to spy, and I need someone who's just as good at moving in the shadows as I am," she said, turning back to look at him.

"I see. But you're wrong about one thing," said Doreon seriously. Aislin arched an eyebrow. "I'm nowhere near as good as you," the boy said in all seriousness. "I'm much better than you," he continued, a broad smile on his lips that lit up his eyes, making them even more golden, if possible.

Aislin giggled and shook her head. "When you'll win me in combat, we'll talk about it again," he said.

Doreon smiled even more. "That day is very near," he said confidently.

Aislin snorted back to look at the sky, feeling relaxed. She hadn't felt this way in years now, it had only happened to her with Nathan. Only he could instill in her a calm and peace that would extinguish all the voices in her head.

Since she had lost him too, those voices had increased. The beast inside her had always tried to take over, but she had managed to keep it at bay, most of the time.

Lately it often happened that she was able to free herself and dominate her, she was no longer sure that she was able to control her and the only thing she wanted with all her heart was for her to stop. That he would stop whispering in her head, that he would leave her alone and this was only possible thanks to Doreon's closeness.

Maybe it was because the boy was the only connection she had to Nathan, the only thing that reminded her of him, that he was there in Mihdel.

Thoughtlessly, he grabbed the necklace and carried the fabric of the pendant between his teeth, fiddling with the stone, which the closer they came to Mihdel, the brighter it shone.

"He always does the same thing when he's thoughtful," Doreon said beside her. Aislin looked at him again and frowned, not knowing what he meant. Doreon laughed and nodded to the necklace Aislin kept between her teeth.

"Nathan does the same thing when he's thinking about something," he said almost softly. Immediately Aislin let go of the necklace and cleared her throat, not often did she show her emotions.

"Especially when he's with his little queen," she said almost acidly, unable to stop the surge of jealousy that was pervading her.

"Don't think he spends so much time with Sumon, he prefers to keep to himself. When I left they were starting to spend sleep together again and only to produce an heir. The position of both of them is at risk, and an heir would make the situation calmer," Doreon reflected.

Heir.

Immediately thinking about it, she felt like a pang in her heart, her hand went to rest immediately on his belly, but she clenched it into a fist.

She couldn't be weak, she didn't have to. It wasn't the time.

"Do you think you can do it?" Aislin asked to Doreon, looking him in the face.

Doreon stared out to sea, while the sound of ships moving across the water accompanied them.

"It' s the right thing to do," Doreon said, staring out to sea.

"Are you aware that you will have to fight him?" asked the commander again.

"And you?" said the boy.

Aislin sighed and turned, looking out to sea. The surface was illuminated by the moon reflecting off the dark blue water.

"Sierra: this will be the first stop," Aislin said thoughtfully.

"I need to get into the Bochus." He looked out of the corner of his eye

at Doreon, who nodded. "I'll let you into the city and the Bochus, no one will ask if they see me, I'm still his right-hand man," Doreon declared.

"If he hasn't already proclaimed you a traitor."

"Not Nathan. Maybe Sumon could persuade him to do it, but I'm sure Nathan will wait as long as he can and make excuses to justify my absence," the boy replied.

" Is she dangerous?" asked Aislin.

She had never met the little queen, she had never had the chance, but she had a suspicion that he was a real threat to her.

"Extremely," said Doreon. "Sumon is smart and knows how to handle any situation, if the kingdom were given to her it would rise again in a few years, it's one of the reasons why Nathan has surrendered, he listens to her and makes her decide almost everything."

"Nathan is too good for the job and position he's been given," Aislin reflected. Nathan was too good to be true, he just hoped that his goodness of heart wouldn't fade with what he would face in the future.

"He is, that's why he's not the right person," said Doreon, almost talking to himself.

"Then we'll stay away from the little queen and stay as little time as possible in the capital, the time to take what I need and then go to Althea, the first and biggest problem is Elhias. It's the only real threat to everything we're trying to do," Aislin said.

Doreon nodded, and together they stood in silence watching the waves. Waiting to finally be able to get to Mihdel.