Elgar did not confirm or deny this, but instead simply said, “I have called for Caemorn–”
“Kaly themself would be the only one able to control this and I would not have them on my land!” Weryn growled.
Caemorn is Kaly!Ryder shouted at him as if he were a particularly thick child.
No, he cannot be! He was all moon-eyed over Elgar’s Master! He would never–
He was moon-eyed over Balthazar, who IS Eyros, by the way,Ryder emphasized.They’re friends! More than that, they’re Master and Childe on some level. You don’t understand anything!
You are mistaken! They are nothing like Kaly and Eyros! I knew them both! You didn’t!
They’ve changed. This life has changed them,Ryder said and there was a tone in his voice that held some shockAnd it’s changed me too. I thought that what I did before was more important than who I am now, that I would be overwhelmed by my memories and personality from before, but I was wrong. THIS is who I am now. I am who I am now!
You are talking nonsense!Weryn snarled.
But Weryn felt a sense of unease as if there was a crack that had suddenly appeared through the image he had of himself and, behind it, was something else. Someone else. A bright light.
“I have contacted Caemorn,” Elgar repeated steadily. “And he is coming, but to counteract the Necrolyte will require more than just his presence. He may not be able to come here and get this under control in time.”
“Time? Yeah, we’re running out of that!” Demos laughed wildly as the Gydr’s skeleton picked up a Mettung and snapped off its long, bony tail to use as a combination club-whip against them.
“Go for it’s right leg, Demos!” Weryn ordered. “I will take the weapon-wielding arm!”
Fighting with this relatively new Vampire was effortless. It was as if he and Demos had been fighting together for years–
Over two hundred years actually,Ryder corrected.Just let it flow and we’ll work in tandem. Him and I. Don’t fight it.
Demos ran towards the Gydr at full speed. The skeletal giant swung that club-whip around, but Demos dropped down and slid along the ground. He struck the Gydr’s lower right leg with both of his feet. There was acrack! Bone snapped and the Gydr went down onto one knee.
At almost the same time, Weryn ran forward, too, but he jumped up when Demos ducked down. The arm with the club-whip passed beneath him just as it passed over Demos. He landed on the Gydr’s shoulder. There was asnap!The shoulder separated from the Gydr’s body and the arm hung uselessly by a few pieces of dried tendon.
Weryn flipped around and grabbed the Gydr’s head as he rode on the back of it. He wrenched the skull backwards. The skull and most of the spine were ripped from the body. The Gydr went down. He jumped off as the Gydr collapsed uselessly on the ground. He grinned at Demos who was nodding in approval at what he’d done.
“You should have been with me when it was alive!” Weryn laughed. “We would have taken it down much easier than with my last hunting partner!”
“I’ll always be by your side, Ryder,” Demos said.
I know. And I owe you so much that I can never repay,Ryder said.
Weryn just gave a sharp nod as the two of them raced back to their companions.
“Can we really not teleport to the gate? I can’t teleport us to Nightvallen, but I can get us that mile and a half real quick!” Sana pointed out, eyes wide as the undead started to shamble towards them from every direction.
Shaela’s desperate expression and the sense that she would shed her skin if she could mirrored Sana’s opinion. It wasn’t just the Hunter’s Path that was alive with the undead, but every building and the forest beyond. There were undead slithering out from beneath tree roots, others slamming bony shoulders against slabs of stone that formed the floors of the streets and the buildings, more rising up from the muck of nearby swamps, and even some swimming to the surface of streams and the Endless Sea. Too many to count. Too many to fight.
“I must lighten my mental load for us to even attempt it,” Elgar said. His silver eyes narrowed. “And I know just how to do it.”
“How?” Demos asked. “Kill them?” This was said softly and reluctantly. But Demos firmed himself for whatever it would take. “Don’t take this on yourself, Elgar. Let us help you!”
He understands what must be done,Weryn thought with approval.
Demos doesn’t kill lightly. He remembers every person we’ve had to give First and Second Deaths to,Ryder told him.Life is precious to him.
If you remembered the War–any of our wars–you would understand that such a belief is not a strength, but a weakness,Weryn said.And you claim to be me. Let us even say you are. What use will you be to King Daemon? A Soldier who is reluctant to kill? It is like a nail without something to hammer it home.
If I hadn’t been so eager to kill after what happened with Ashyr, maybe I would have found a different way to stop Kaly,Ryder pointed out.Ashyr is our General, our strategist, but I am not some blunt instrument without the ability to think for myself.
Hesitation often leads to death.
