Chapter 10 Protect #3
The Kaly Vampire stared at it as if he couldn’t quite believe what Elgar was handing him. Caemorn slowly took it from him. He clasped it tightly before sticking it in his own pocket. He kept a hand over it for a moment as if to make sure it didn’t disappear.
“You trapped him in a soul gem, Elgar?” Christian asked, brow furrowed.
“No, Christian, I have no such power. I made him do it to himself,” Elgar answered.
“You made him?” Balthazar covered his mouth with one hand for a moment before dropping it. “And you also kept control of these two?” He pointed with his other hand towards Legion and Shaela. “All at the same time?”
“Yes, but this is only a slice of Roan. One of many slices, I think. So it was not as if I was holding Grandsire with my mind and them,” Elgar pointed out. “That would be… very difficult even for you.”
Balthazar gave Caemorn a sad smile. “Yes, I rather think it would.”
“This battle does not end our enemy. It merely takes out some powerful soldiers,” Elgar said.
Weryn felt Legion’s pride at being called powerful by a being who was clearly second to none except to Eyros himself.
Weryn was not sure what he felt. He had not bested Legion in combat.
He had not torn the War Childe apart. He had done little in this battle.
Elgar had taken the lead and done it all.
What is left to do may be the hardest. Do I just kill Legion? End them?
“Yes, I didn’t think it would end so easily. Not that this was easy, I can see that, but… it's not over. ” But then Balthazar was shaking himself. “What am I doing? We came here to save you. Not question you when it sounds like there is a bloodbath going on out there!”
“There is,” Weryn said, shaking himself. “My creatures are keeping the undead at bay, but at great cost. We must… go.”
Forsworn is lost. Lost. Lost. But what is the cost to try and keep it?
No longer did the thoughts in his mind have different voices.
No longer did they sound like two different people.
There was only one voice. And yes, there was grief and loss and rage and pain in that voice, but there was also happiness and relief and love.
Grayson was alive and waiting for him. His best friend was right there.
He was connected to his Bloodline and the other Immortals in a way that he hadn’t been in so long. Maybe had never been.
“With Christian and Balthazar’s assistance, I believe I can break the Necrolyte’s power,” Caemorn said as he swung around to face Weryn.
“It will be difficult, but if you can bear to sacrifice a few more of your creatures… for a few hours… perhaps a day or two or… We can break it. We can restore the land.”
This is Kaly? Yes, this is Kaly. But different. Just like I am different. He is willing to do whatever it takes to fix this.
“But at what cost?” Weryn found himself asking.
“The cost?” Caemorn clearly was confused.
“To you. To them.” Weryn inclined his head towards Caemorn and then to Balthazar and Christian. “There would be a terrible cost, would there not? To stop this? To even try? Say you are successful, the three of you would be drained at best and at worst?”
He studied Caemorn’s face. He was determined to do this. To sacrifice himself upon this altar. To do whatever he could to fix this. To make amends. And the others were willing to do it too. To help him. To get him back the city he had lost for reasons that were all his fault.
Are they doing this for me? For himself? For Daemon? Maybe for everyone. But I can’t let them. This is my turn to do something different. To protect instead of destroy. That is what a Soldier can do. Protect. I will protect these people.
“Yes, but if we do not attempt this then Forsworn will remain infested with the undead for who knows how long. The effect of the Necrolyte will spread and… it will be terrible,” Caemorn said quietly. “So there is no question that we must–”
“There is a question,” Weryn found himself saying. “Because there is another choice.”
One I should have made long ago. I should have stopped. Even with the grief of Ashyr’s death hanging over me like a scythe, I should have realized that my revenge would not bring back, but just cause more pain to myself and to everyone else. Will I continue this cycle of pain?
He felt Demos’ eyes upon him. There was hope in them. Cautious hope. Hope that his own people had not dared to have around him, not fully, until now. “And what choice is that, Ryder?”
“We let it go so that you three are not harmed,” Ryder answered, finding nothing in him speaking with another voice. He was speaking. This was his voice. It always had been him. “No place is worth the damage it will cost to undo this.”
“But Forsworn is your city, ah, Ryder!” Balthazar said, staring at him with curiosity. “It is Ryder, isn’t it?”
“When we have stopped our enemies, when our minds are clear, when the costs can be fully assessed, we can decide to come back,” Ryder said. “But not now. I will protect you from this. I choose differently.”
No one spoke for long moments. The battle continued around them. He mourned every death. He mourned this place. But he would let it go to keep these people safe.
This is who I am. This is who I will be.
“He actually means what he’s saying, Caemorn,” Balthazar said after a moment of the Kaly Vampire regarding him unblinkingly.
“Are you certain, Ryder?” Caemorn asked.
We don’t recognize you anymore, his Bloodline had cried.
, Weryn! You’re frightening us! You’re killing us!
You claim to want to win the War, but at what cost?
What will you be when it is all said and done?
You will not be our Immortal Weryn. You will not.
You will be an empty husk, sitting on a throne of bones…
“I’m sure,” Ryder told him. “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”