Chapter 9 Whisper #2
Demos rose up from his crouch. Ryder does not forgive himself though, Elgar. He holds himself to a standard that’s too high. It always has been. Accepting what he did as Weryn during the War? I don’t know if he can ever do it!
Ryder/Weryn were not exactly arguing now.
Ryder was telling Weryn that he had to come to terms with Legion, that they had to end this being, not because they were a representation of how far he had fallen, but because Legion was dangerous.
They could never be trusted, because they were a lust murderer and that didn’t go away.
Weryn was listening to Ryder carefully. It was one person having a conversation with himself in order to clarify what his duty was to himself, to Legion and to the world.
He will come back to you, Elgar promised. From what I see in his mind, Demos, he is fighting to come back to you.
Demos studied his face intently, willing what he said to be true. Finally, a small smile bloomed on Demos’ lips that warmed Elgar.
Well, if you see that then I have faith, Demos said. I want him back. Some much. I used to think about what it would be like to meet Weryn–like he used to be–and now… I just want Ryder back.
Elgar nodded. I understand. Balthazar is Eyros, but he is… more. And that more is significant. I would not change him back again.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Demos nodded tightly.
Sana stepped to Elgar’s side. She moved restlessly as always. Shifting from foot to foot. Her hands lifting and falling. Like Ryder/Weryn, she wanted to dive into the action.
Shaela is a powerful Wyvern. She’s nearly First Blood, Sana told him. Only two Vampires separate her from Wyvern herself.
Shaela was the one in that group that made the least sense to him.
Unlike Roan and Legion, she had no violent streak.
Instead, she had concerns that the Immortals were gaining back their power with no consequences for their prior actions.
She had not allowed herself to get to know the Immortals as they were now, assuming that they had learned nothing and regretted less.
She’d lost Children, lovers, friends and family in the War.
All had been taken from her and now she moved mostly solo, not allowing herself to have connections, because they would slow her down when the time came to escape from the next war.
She is still shattered from the War. She does not truly believe that things can ever be as they once were, Elgar said.
Sana wrapped her arms around herself, but her expression and thoughts showed anger and disgust. So better to kill human beings? Stop the rest of us from trying to move on? Her pain means all the rest of us should be as lost as she is?
Elgar was a First Blood, a Childe of Eyros himself, and he remembered how those Vampires had used their power and proximity to the Immortals to rule those below them.
They were often seen as extensions of the Immortals.
That Shaela was high up and likely had used such power, but now wanted to judge the people she had served so willingly for her own benefit was what was rubbing Sana the wrong way.
She does not see it so clearly, Elgar answered gently.
Of course, she doesn’t! Selfish, Sana growled. Though she’s older than me, I can take her. I’ve always been faster.
I have no doubt, but you will not need to be. She has exhausted herself coming here from Nightvallen. It is worse than she is telling them. She worries that she will not be able to teleport for some cycles, Elgar said.
Roan abused her, Sana snorted. How unsurprising! I’m so glad that Balthazar took him out. Or part of him anyways. She suddenly frowned. But if Balthazar did then how does he have the same body as before?
Caemorn brought the Harrows back into their old forms. I would imagine the same way, Elgar said, but a thought occurred to him. But if he would expend so much power to do so rather than simply take another form, he must have some attachment to that body, that face.
That’s not obviously Kaly’s original form, right? Or nearly? Sana clarified.
No, Roan is a War Childe made by Eyros, Elgar explained. Kaly took over that form and now calls it their own.
This was a valuable piece of intel. He would certainly tell his Master and Grandsire about it immediately upon their return.
Caemorn’s particular fear that Roan was him at the core would be proven false by this.
Roan considered himself separate. Kaly, but not Kaly.
Better than what had been before. It was distinctly interesting.
Elgar felt the mood change between the three adversaries again.
It was like a high-pitch note in the back of his mind.
The Whisper had turned their emotions so high that they were like a scream.
And that scream was crescendoing. Roan was using the Eyros gift to have Legion rip off his own fingers. Elgar’s stomach roiled.
To compel a being such as Legion to do such an act was not something that was done at a mental distance.
There had to be an intimacy–mind to mind–to keep them under control as the hideous pain overwhelmed their system.
Roan would have to be in Legion’s head, experiencing all their terror and pain on some level, to do this.
Roan knew this yet there was only rising excitement in his mind.
Elgar felt tainted by experiencing it and shook himself.
Ryder/Weryn stood up. We must end this. Now.
And then he stepped out into the golden-lit path and said simply, “Stop.”
Ryder/Weryn strode forward with powerful strides.
Demos glided after him like his animal form.
Sana was quick as a hummingbird. Each of them looked grim and foreboding.
Their three adversaries were shocked at their appearance, having forgotten the danger of pursuit as the Whisper had clouded their reasoning.
That shock allowed Elgar to slip into all three minds and hold them in place.
“I have them,” Elgar announced.
Their adversaries were unnerved by their presence.
They were spent by their activities in Nightvallen.
Whatever they had retrieved there must be very valuable to have risked so much, Elgar again told himself.
But only Roan knew the nature and power of the artifact from a quick scan of their minds.
The other two had just been told it was necessary.
And Roan had masked his memories of it. Elgar would have to delve to discover what he was hiding, but it was dangerous to do so here while he was controlling the other two. It would have to wait.
Ryder/Weryn’s head shot towards Elgar. “Have them?”
“I control them. They cannot move, cannot fight, cannot flee. They cannot even talk,” Elgar explained.
Ryder/Weryn’s eyebrows rose. “You are First Blood? Elgar the Whisperer. I have heard of you. I did not realize how strong you are.”
“There are just three of them,” Elgar said with a shrug as if this was no big thing, but it was. “Roan is not a real Eyros after all. He just pretends to be one.”
“Ouch!” Demos laughed. “Now that’s a diss, Elgar!”
“It is merely a fact,” Elgar said. “He is not an Eyros. He will never be an Eyros. He is not Kaly either. Not a Kaly or the Kaly.”
“I don’t have to read minds to know he’s pissed at you for that,” Demos said, referring to Roan.
“Yes, he wishes to hurt me, but he wishes to hurt everyone. I will not allow him to do so again,” Elgar answered.
“You make it sound so simple,” Ryder/Weryn frowned. “Eyros Vampires lasted the longest in the War.”
“We did until… we did not,” Elgar answered neutrally.
He could not speak of that time with Weryn. Not even with Ryder. Not yet.
“I think Weryn was looking for a big battle, Elgar. You’ve taken the wind from his sails a little bit,” Sana laughed.
“Perhaps,” Ryder/Weryn growled. “How long can you hold them, Elgar? Long enough for us to get them back to Nightvallen? I would have them presented to–to everyone on a platter.”
He means to present them to Daemon. He believes that Daemon is awake now.
As to whether Elgar could hold them until then was a question.
Though he had spoken blithely about Roan, the truth was that the man was wriggling like a worm on a hook and he was loosening Elgar’s hold upon him even as Elgar clamped down.
With the two others to also contend with, eventually Roan would get free.
“Yes, I can hold them, but we must move with efficiency,” Elgar said.
“I am nothing if not efficient,” Sana laughed. “I can teleport them to the gate one at a time or–”
“I will lose control if you teleport them,” Elgar told her. “There is a momentary loss of connection during the teleportation, they can break free. We must walk them back.”
“Walking!” Sana laughed. “Well, at least we’re moving even if it is at a snail’s pace.”
“Then let’s get them moving,” Demos said. “I’ll be happy with them behind bars.”
Elgar ordered the three adversaries to walk, first to them and then ahead of them down the Hunter’s Path. The path wound up to the gate. It was over a mile and a half away. Never had such a distance seemed so long.
As Roan and Legion walked past them, Ryder/Weryn said, “Here we are again. They tell me it has been a long time since I saw you two. But I remember it as if it were yesterday. But this time, I will crush you underneath my heel. Nothing will stop me.”
Despite Ryder/Weryn’s cutting words, Legion’s hope at seeing him was like a child’s.
That hope rode upon black waves of violence and depravity.
Elgar had always hated being in Legion’s mind, because it was a sewer of diseased thoughts.
There was no conscience there, only primal desires to torture and kill.
For Ryder/Weryn alone there was a mockery of tenderness, because he had given Legion the dark gift of vampirism and allowed them to become themself. That Ryder/Weryn should come and rout Roan seemed especially gleeful in Legion’s eyes. In that, Elgar and the War Childe were in agreement.
Elgar’s eyes flickered to Roan as the Kaly-Eyros Vampire walked past him.
Sweat stood out on Roan’s brow as he fought for control.
But the Whisper had weakened him and the slicing had done the rest. His mind seethed with rage and petulance.
It resembled Caemorn’s in no way whatsoever.
Absent his knowledge that this was a Kaly slice, Elgar would have never connected them.
“They didn’t win the War,” Demos said grimly. He put his hands on his lips as he regarded them with disdain. “They’ve had to live in complete darkness, nursing old grudges, and fearing Daemon’s return. Well, he’s back now and his empire will be greater than ever while theirs will be a cell.”
“Not being able to teleport is worse than a Second Death to a Wyvern,” Sana remarked as Shaela brought up the rear. “I wonder if it was worth it to attack your own kind, to go against our king.”
Shaela felt like a butterfly pinned to a board.
Her soul squirmed at Sana’s, seeking escape.
There were rumors that Wyverns were more spirit than flesh in some way, which was what allowed them to travel from one place to the next as they did.
The sense within her that she had to move was stronger than just a wish, but he would not let her go.
They started after their adversaries, but his feet felt heavy as if he did not wish to leave this place, as if there was something undone. He frowned. He glanced around, but saw nothing out of place yet…
Elgar’s gaze went to the back of Roan’s head as the Eyros-Kaly Vampire strode ahead. His mind was a tumult of thoughts. Rage at being caught. Consternation for missing the Whisper. Aggravation at Legion. More and more surface thoughts…
“Elgar, you coming?” Demos called over his shoulder.
Surface thoughts. Too many surface thoughts. Anger, but underlying it all… glee. He believes he has won!
“Stop!” Elgar shouted, even as he forced their captives to as well.
“What is wrong?” Ryder/Weryn got out just as the ground began to shake as if there was an earthquake.
But there was no earthquake.
Elgar’s head snapped up and he met Roan’s eyes. They were filled with triumph.
Your Whisper was too effective, Roan said. It caused me to forget to reset the Necrolyte and now it is too late. I had hoped to use it elsewhere, but here is better than nothing.
“What’s with the tremors?” Sana asked as she struggled to keep her feet.
“What the hell?!” Demos shouted as his eyes went huge. “Elgar, what’s happening?”
“What have they done?” Ryder/Weryn growled.
Elgar ripped through Roan’s mind, looking for information on the artifact–the Necrolyte–and he found it just as the first skeletal arm shot out of the earth.
It was the arm of one of the creatures that were represented by the statues.
Their corpses had been buried in front of the statues carved in their honor.
But it wasn’t just the dead here that were rising.
No.
Not just here.
And not just these creatures.
Oh, no…
Make this stop, Roan! Elgar commanded as he seized Roan’s mind in a fierce grip.
His power rose up inside of him greater than it ever had. Roan’s nose was bleeding profusely. There was even blood coming out of his tear ducts. Elgar had been none too gentle in his search for the truth of the Necrolyte. He would make Roan do what he wanted! He would puppet this creature!
But Roan was smiling.
A bloody smile.
And Elgar realized why.
You can’t stop it, can you, Roan? Elgar said. You’re too weak to do it. You’re too weak…
And yet look what I’ve done! Not an Eyros! Not a or the Kaly! And yet, here I am having unleashed the destruction of this place, Roan laughed. Every single dead creature in Forsworn is going to rise. And no one can stop it. Not even the Kaly. Forsworn will be lost again, but this time forever.