The Destroyer Book 3 Read Free Page A

the twisted limbs of the tree in front of me. Every few minutes, one of them would caw, leap off of its branch, swing outward, then return to the embrace of the oak and scatter the others. I spent some time studying their behavior until it became clear that there was no hierarchy in their ranks. The birds seemed to change places with no plan or great purpose other than creating distress for each other.
    I killed Shlara. Her last panicked scream echoed in my memory, louder than the crows singing their pain.
    I took a deep breath and felt it swirl around my lungs. I had grown so accustomed to the Elements that it was difficult to separate the natural feelings of my body from their power. That would need to change soon; I needed to remember how to train the newly changed in harnessing the Elements.
    Footsteps approached. I guessed who they belonged to from the heavy falls of the slightly agitated gait. He was still one hundred yards away, so I had time to prepare for our conversation before he reached me.
    "Kaiyer?" Runir's voice sounded timid. I looked down from the crows in the trees to the tall handsome man. Last I saw him he was blonde, but in the two weeks since I had arrived in the camp he explained the situation that forced him to dye his hair black in disguise.
    "What do you need?"
    "Do you still want to watch her? Gerald's shift is coming to an end and I think he would like to spend time with his daughter." Runir crossed his arms and turned his gaze away from the lone oak tree to the camp where Nadea's army was fortified. The majority of the army was well hidden in a gorge that cut into the side of a cliff face.
    "Yes," I said with as much enthusiasm as I possibly could. Watching over Nadea's body pointed to my failures with Shlara and the experience was far from pleasant.
    I should have been able to save her.
    Runir grunted. Then he offered me a hand to assist my rise from the loamy dirt and thick grass in which I knelt. I ignored his offer of help and came to my feet easily. Then I turned to walk back toward the camp with him in tow.
    I could have been at her tent in less than five seconds, but that would require startling everyone in the camp. Instead, I took my time and walked slowly through the grass while I observed the morning. The sun clawed its way over the distant Teeth Mountain range and the dawn air was blessed with the taste of wet dew. There was a sandy trail that led up the side wall of the gorge and we made the hike up to the guard post in ten minutes of silence.
    Runir told me that the location of the camp was called Fisherman's Gorge because it formed a net-like grid through the foothills. We were about one hundred and twenty miles northeast of Nia Castle, but still well within the borders of the kingdom.
    "You should bring guards with you," Runir commented absently when we made it to the top of the trail to the south opening of the gorge. It was a narrow passage, only two horses could fit through the gap at once.
    "You didn't bring any." I looked at him and smirked.
    "Fair enough," he replied before he saluted the guards at the entryway and walked around the gorge wall and into the campsite.
    If I could have renamed Fisherman's Gorge, I would have called it Ladder Gorge or perhaps Step Gorge. Natural rock formations formed impromptu stairways that led to hundreds of small ledges on the sides of the canyon. Some were only large enough for one lone tent. Others were vast enough to fit larger pavilions that could house a dozen soldiers. Tents, makeshift wooden structures, and camouflage-dyed nets blanketed the base of the canyon and were intersected with irregular pathways. At the bottom of the gorge, a deep, quick-moving creek gently drowned out the sounds of the camp, while also providing us with fresh water. It was a strategically perfect location to hide the small army.
    Runir followed me up a narrow stone path, across a slender support bridge, and over a ledge where a small group of soldiers trained.