Except…
Maybe…
A few times…
A few…
Like when Legion had led him into that trap.
He centered himself and looked around them. The Hunter’s Path was a broad stone hallway that led to his throne room. Ever Glow torches on tall holders framed the path. Stone statues of creatures slain by him throughout the millennia. They represented the greatest hunts he had ever completed. The likeness of his prey had been carved into stone statues that soared to the ceiling on either side of the gallery hallway.
The Hunter’s Path was exactly as he remembered it. Well, except that it was mostly empty. This used to be the place where the strongest of his Bloodline gathered to tell tales to the newest. Tales of bravery and battles hard won. Their rapt audience would follow these elder Weryns’ every word to glean some small beads of wisdom for the next fight. How to sneak up behind a ravenous Mettung with their razor-sharp claws. Or the best way to land a killing blow on the gelatinous Sirvir who could slip through even a crack if given enough time. Or wherethe Neyfrunn with their pelts of silvery black could be found and how to skin them in one stroke.
But instead of brave and willing Weryn, three people were standing by a statue of a Gydr–a creature that stood nearly twenty-feet tall with arms and legs as big and strong as old tree roots and a penchant to batter their prey to death–and talking in sharp, low tones.
“It was amistaketo come here!” Roan snarled at Legion. “The soul gem contained remnants of Weryn! It will bring his memories to the fore! This will be the first place he looks for us!”
Indeed. We are here. We know where they are! Let us go!Weryn thought with triumph and sought to withdraw from this vision and tell the others.
Wait!Ryder insisted.Let’s hear what they’re saying! We need intel on them and what they’re planning not to mention what they took from the Kaly Palace.
We can pry it out of their dead hands,Weryn growled, but he did not try to pull back. For while he had always trusted his great strength and cunning, he knew that mistakes–however small–could turn the tide of a battle decisively.
Roan is wearing modern human clothing,Ryder said.A three-piece suit. Doesn’t wear it as well as Balthazar. I’m betting he’s copying him on some level. Kaly was always jealous of Eyros. Probably believes that the clothes make the man.
As Ryder had noted, Roan had on a three-piece suit in all shades of gray. Light gray tailored slacks and suit coat with a slate colored vest and nearly black shirt and tie. His slicked back hair was messy, locks of it fell over his forehead as if he’d been running.
I care not for what he’s wearing!Weryn scoffed.
Don’t be foolish. He has on dress shoes. He’s not skulking around in the Ever Dark’s wilderness in dress shoes,Ryder insisted.All of this matters!
Weryn looked at Roan’s footwear. It was as this “Ryder” said. The shoes showed no sign of wear and tear. Nor were they clumped with mud or stained by water or grass. He could not have been wandering in any woods for long. There were some scuffs, but they were minor and recent. So he, at least, had not been hiding in the woods surrounding Nightvallen.
So they have been staying in the cities rather than in the wilderness?Weryn found himself asking Ryder.
A human city,Ryder corrected.That suit’s been pressed. Those shoes were recently shined. Be a little hard to keep up that kind of look in an abandoned city or in the catacombs beneath Nightvallen.
You are right. He would need access to many flipperies to keep himself looking so neat and many servants as well,Weryn agreed reluctantly.That would not have gone unnoticed.
“It was Shaela who took us here!” Legion whined. “Why are you blaming me?”
Despite their large, monstrous body, Legion’s voice–when agitated–had always become high and querulous like a child that had not yet reached puberty.
A child?Ryder whispered.Is Legion a child? No, surely not. I wouldn’t have turned a literal child into a War Childe.
You claim to be me. Why are you making that a question?Weryn snarled, feeling a trace of shame spiral down his spine.
But why should he feel shame? Children had been turned since time immemorial! Life for mortals was brutal and short. Not turning them until they were fully matured risked them being maimed or killed. And it wasn’t like he’d had time during the War to hesitate! Besides, Legion had not been a true child when he’d found him.
What do you mean?Ryder pressed.Explain this to me!
I do not answer to you!
If you’re so copacetic with what you did then why won’t you tell me?Ryder snapped back.Everything I say you have an excuse to ignore even when you know it's right! Don’t you see what you’re doing?
What I’m doing–
You’re ashamed! I’m ashamed! Tell me who Legion is!
