78. Sacrifice
Chapter 78
Sacrifice
22 nd Day of the Blood Moon
Elkenrim – Winter, Year 3081 After Doom
Eltoar stood with his arms folded behind his back, looking out the window at the city of Elkenrim, his armour stripped from him and laid out across a table on the far side of the room. In the distance, Helios soared through the skies over the Elkenwood, scales glinting in the light of a rare warm day, Karakes and Seleraine with him. Ever since he had been a child, there had been nothing that settled his mind more than watching dragons fly. There was a devastating beauty in it. These were creatures more powerful than anything else in existence, their fire so devastating the gods had taken it from them. And yet, even with the rage that burned inside them, the purest joy in their hearts came from being free with the air beneath their wings. They did not seek to destroy for the sake of doing so. When a dragon’s wrath was unleashed, it was because something they loved was in danger.
His thoughts swirling in his mind, Eltoar reached out to the Spark and drew in threads of Air, Spirit, and Fire, weaving them through the air around himself, then pushing them outwards to create a ward of silence around the room. He turned to face Lyina and Voranur, who stood on either side of a sturdy wooden table, upon which sat a golden chest. The thing was about three feet across and the same in depth, the flaming egg insignia of the Drac?rdare worked into each side. That chest had been used to carry dragon eggs once, a long time ago. It seemed fitting. “What would you give to see the eggs hatch again? What would you risk?”
“Anything and everything.” Voranur’s response was immediate.
Eltoar moved to the table’s closest edge, meeting Lyina’s gaze.
“What’s in the chest, Eltoar?” He knew the sound of worry in her voice.
“Anything and everything,” Eltoar said with a sigh.
He had kept his secret for centuries, not told a soul – not one. But the time for secrets had passed. Too much had been lost, and now the empire was crumbling, battered and broken, besieged on all sides. The eastern cities were ash, the elves held Catagan, the rebels had almost brought Berona to its knees, the South was aflame, and the Uraks tore everything apart. Even astride Helios, with the others at his wings, there was nothing he could do. Millions would die. Everything he had sacrificed, everything he had done, would be for nothing. The world he had given so much to create would be dust.
Eltoar slipped a key from his pocket and slid it into the lock set into the centre of the flaming egg. A click sounded. He grasped the lid with two hands and pulled it back.
A soft red glow emanated from the smooth gemstone that sat on a bed of purple silk. The stone was larger than a dragon egg, far larger than any gemstone in existence. The power of the Essence that radiated from it should not have been possible. The power to break open the world.
“How…” Lyina lifted her hand, the hairs on her arm all standing on end. She stared down at the gemstone, eyeing it as though it might spring forth and slit her throat. “I’ve never felt a power like that. What is it?”
“It’s what Fane wants,” Eltoar said, losing himself in the flickering glow of the enormous vessel. “The thing he hunts for – the Heart of Blood.”
Lyina pulled her gaze from the gemstone, her mouth open wide. “And I’m sure there’s a very good reason as to why you have it, Eltoar?”
Eltoar released a long sigh, and he felt Helios pull their minds together, their sorrow, loss, and grief blending. “The night it all happened. The night The Order fell… the night we tore it down. Fane held this gemstone atop the Sky Tower. The power he had was like nothing else. The skies opened. The world ignited.”
Voranur looked at him, mouth agape. “The Burnt Lands…”
Eltoar nodded.
Lyina staggered backwards as though struck in the gut. She shook her head. “No, no… Eltoar, tell me this is not what I think it is…” She steadied herself, horror in her eyes as she looked down at the glowing gemstone. “Tell me this is not the Essence of every soul that perished at Ilnaen. Tell me that the strength of all our brothers and sisters that we betrayed does not reside within this thing. Please.”
Eltoar stared at Lyina, wishing he could tell her what she wanted to hear. “I do not know…” He sucked in his cheeks, looking down at the pulsing light. “But I believe it is so. I cannot see how this much power could be harnessed any other way.”
Voranur looked from Lyina to the gemstone, to Eltoar. “How does it now reside in your hands, brother?”
“I took it.” In the depths of the gemstone, Eltoar saw the memories of that night. He watched as hundreds of arcs of lightning tore down from the warped sky, as the great wave of fire turned the city to ash and spread for hundreds of miles, wreaking death and destruction the likes of which he’d never known. That night, as he stood on the tower beside Fane, he’d feared he had made the greatest mistake that any soul had ever made. And now, as he stared down at the gemstone in that golden chest, this decision laid before him, he knew with every fibre of his being that he had.
“In the weeks following Ilnaen’s fall, while Fane’s mind was elsewhere, I made a choice. I took the vessel and hid it in the depths of the Sea of Stone. Fane had stood by me in everything. I trusted him. But no one soul could truly be trusted with that kind of power. I feared what he might do.”
“What could have been darker than what we already did?” Lyina stared down at the stone as she spoke, her gaze lost in its light. “It’s a strange thing when you look back at everything you’ve done and can’t tell if you slayed the monster that threatened everything you loved or if you simply became it.”
“We did what we needed to do,” Voranur hissed, folding his arms across his chest.
“Did we?”
“Yes. I know you think that I don’t feel the shame and darkness of what we did, but I do. I simply don’t allow it to consume me as you do. We can dwell on it, spend our lives pondering the choices we made, but we will never be the better for doing so. I regret many things, sister, but I do not regret choosing to fight for a better world… I just wish we had succeeded.”
Lyina nodded softly but did not speak.
“Why show us this now?” Voranur asked. “You’ve held it for four centuries and said nothing. But now we are deemed worthy of your trust?”
“He is considering returning it to Fane.” Lyina stared openly at Eltoar, and he heard Karakes roar in the distance. She held his gaze for a moment. “You are.”
“I’m not sure,” Eltoar said honestly. “That is why we are standing here. You are the last of my kin. You and Tivar, but she has made her choices. And Luka and Erdin haven’t been seen in a long time.”
Voranur spat on the ground at the mention of Tivar’s name, and a fire burst to life within Eltoar.
“Do that again and I will rip your tongue from your head.”
“She turned her back on us, Eltoar.”
“She is still Tivar.” Eltoar rounded on him. “She chose to stand by the first new Draleid in centuries. She chose to protect what could be the future of our entire race, a future you almost burned.”
“Me?” Voranur snapped. “I did what I was ordered to do, and it cost me almost everything.”
“La?l sanyin, myia’kar.” I am sorry, my brother. Eltoar let out a long, mournful sigh. “My emotions overcome me. That hatchling is the first in so long… I cannot help but think if I could talk to the Draleid…”
“Then what?” Voranur asked, none of his anger fading. “Aeson Virandr has had his ear for a year at least. I would wager the man would sooner slit our throats than listen to a word from your lips.”
“Shut up!” Lyina roared. “Both of you. This is not why we are here.”
Voranur’s lip curled, but he said nothing further.
“Eltoar, why now? After all these years, why now are you considering handing this power to Fane when by your own admission it is a power no soul should wield. What has changed?”
“Everything…” Eltoar closed his eyes as memories and emotions flooded into him from Helios. Memories of all those who had died across the years, of the first moment he had accepted that the eggs would no longer hatch, of Meranta falling from the sky… of watching Lyina hold Pellenor’s lifeless body in her arms. “Everything has changed, Lyina,” he repeated. “This world was not what we fought for, and now it lies on the brink of collapse. The empire is burning. The continent is in pieces. More than a million souls have been butchered in the past year alone. If this continues, there will be nothing left. Everything we did, everything we sacrificed will be for nothing if we allow that to happen. With this vessel, Fane could end the war. He could bring Efialtír across the veil between worlds.”
“Is that something we want? Truly? What is to say the world we leave behind will be any better than this? Perhaps it is time to step aside, Eltoar.”
“He claims that with the Heart he may be capable of breathing life back into the eggs.” Eltoar looked into Lyina’s eyes, then out the window behind him, where Helios, Karakes, and Seleraine still flew. “To bring the dragons back. If the gods truly did strip the life from the eggs as punishment for what we did, then a god who would give that life back is a god I would follow.”
“Do you believe him?” Lyina asked.
“Does it matter? If there is even the slightest of chances?—”
“Then we should take it.” Voranur cut across Eltoar.
Eltoar turned his gaze to meet Voranur’s, searching his eyes.
“I find little joy in this world anymore,” Voranur said, “save for flying with Seleraine. Perhaps you are right. If it is true that the gods punished us for what we did, maybe it will take a god to lift that punishment.” He stared down at the gemstone, then nodded softly. “If there is even a chance. Just the tiniest sliver, a grain of hope…” He stared into Eltoar’s eyes. “Then you should take it. We owe them that much,” he said, looking out at the dragons. “We owe them a chance.”
Eltoar had never seen Voranur so open before. It stirred something within him.
Lyina sucked in her cheeks as she always did when she was thinking. “And what’s to stop him from killing you when he learns of your theft?”
“It would be a good death if it meant life for the eggs. Though we would not simply lie down.”
Lyina pressed her palms against the table and looked down at the glowing red light in the chest. “Is it worth it? Does one mistake fix another? I’m not?—”
The door swung open, and a soldier all but fell into the room, panting and heaving. He stepped through the ward of silence without knowing, sweat dripping from the top of his nose and streaking down his face. “Commander Daethana,” he said, dragging in deep lungfuls of air as he pulled himself upright. “The beacons near Merchant’s Reach and Greenhills are lit.”
Both Voranur and Lyina’s eyes widened, and Eltoar slammed the lid of the chest shut, releasing the ward of silence around the room.
“How did they get as far as Greenhills without our knowing?” Lyina narrowed her gaze. “When were these beacons lit, Captain? And why haven’t you come to us sooner?”
“I came as soon as the fire rose, Draleid. Only the beacons towards Greenhills lit first, those at Merchant’s Reach after.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Voranur strode towards the captain, looking down at the shorter man. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
“Absolutely,” the man answered, trying to avoid Voranur’s gaze. He looked past Voranur to Eltoar. “The beacons towards Greenhills were set ablaze first, near an hour ago?—”
“An hour ago?” Voranur rounded on the man. “They were lit an hour ago, and you are only here now?”
“We… we thought it an accident, Draleid.” The man swallowed, his hands trembling. “We wanted to be sure before we sent word, and then the beacons at Merchant’s Reach were lit and I came immediately.”
Voranur pinched the bridge of his nose and turned away from the captain, looking at Eltoar. “So the elves will lay siege to two cities at once? They seek to split us.”
Eltoar shook his head. “No… that still wouldn’t explain how the beacons at Greenhills were lit first. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless it is not the elves.”
“The new Draleid? You believe he is that brazen as to attack Merchant’s Reach? With no army in support?”
“No. He has no interest in Merchant’s Reach. He flies for the Firnin Mountains, for the army that marches on the rebel outpost.” Eltoar placed a hand atop the chest. “Leave us, Captain.”
The man looked as though he wanted to say more, but instead he bowed and left.
When the door had shut, Eltoar locked the chest, then carried it to the table where his armour lay on the far side of the room. He set the chest on the ground, then ran a finger across the black flame set into the white steel breastplate.
“If we go, we leave Elkenrim vulnerable,” Voranur said.
“And if we don’t, then we leave the forty thousand souls laying siege to the rebel outpost at the mercy of dragonfire. We make the choices we can live with.” Eltoar turned to Voranur and Lyina. “Ready yourselves. We leave at once.”
Lyina stood beside Eltoar as Voranur strode from the room. She looked into his eyes, her voice low. “Do we fly in aid of the armies or for another reason?”
“If I can talk to him, then I will. That is my hope. But if not, then I will do as I must.”
She nodded slowly. “We need to know how the egg hatched, Eltoar. If something has changed…” She looked down at the chest. “We need to know.”
“Agreed.”
“What will you do with that? Surely you cannot leave it here.”
“I will leave it somewhere safe.” Eltoar laid a hand on the chest. “This gemstone may yet be the future of our race.”