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 himselfseparate. 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 beinLegion’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 hadretrieved 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 isnota 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. NotaKaly ortheKaly.”
“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 toNightvallen? I would have them presented to–to everyone on a platter.”
