Page 67 of The Truth

“Because The Order has been poisoned, Salara. It is rotten. You do not see it. You are young, and there is much you do not know. I ask you to trust me, to put your faith in my hands as you have always done.” Eltoar kept his hand proffered in the air. “I have watched over you since you were barely at my chest. And I will continue to do so until the day I die, so long as you let me. Take my hand, Salara. Take it, and we will forge this new dawn together.”

Salara’s blade trembled in the air, and Vyrmír lowered his head over her, a rumble in his chest. Helios watched the young dragon closely.

Eltoar’s heart sank as Salara shook her head, and he felt her open herself to the Spark.

“You are not my master.” He could hear the struggle in her voice, hear the sadness dripping from her words. “I do not know who you are, but you are not him. He would never stand here and ask me to betray my brothers and sisters. In the name of The Order and of the Draleid, I command you to lay down your blade and surrender yourself to the judgement of the Archon.”

Eltoar nodded, his heart squeezing. He couldn’t help the smile that rested, sorrow-filled, on his lips. “Not the words I wanted to hear. But I respect them. You will see, Salara. In time.”

“No.” She shook her head. “I already see.”

Salara leapt forwards, her blade arcing towards Eltoar’s side.

He pushed himself backwards just in time to avoid the steel carving open his ribs. Behind her, Vyrmír launched himself into the air, flames flickering in his jaws. In a heartbeat, Helios was upon him. The great dragon slammed Vyrmír to the ground with such force the earth shook and knocked Salara off balance.

Eltoar moved in to grab her, but she swung back and smashed the pommel of her sword into his cheek. He staggered, and she followed up with two more swipes, one missing his throat by a hair, the other carving a thin line through the symbol of The Order on his breast.

Helios pushed down on Vyrmír, and Salara screamed.

In that moment, Eltoar tapped into the gemstone around his neck and grabbed Salara’s throat with his right hand. A pulse of Essence sent her blade skittering away. He held Salara in the air, the Essence flowing through him, the power pulsing in his veins.

“Master…” she said through muffled chokes. “Please.”

“I have given so much to you,” he said, a rage burning between him and Helios. “I poured my love into you. I trained you, I held you when you wept, I picked you up when you fell. I stood by you always, and yet you cannot stand by me now.”

Salara slapped at Eltoar’s arm, but with the Essence flowing through him, he was set like stone.

“You… are… wrong,” she choked. “Cuh…coward.”

“You know nothing!” Eltoar roared, squeezing Salara’s throat. As he did, he heard her choking breath and watched as tears streamed down her cheeks, her eyes red.

He let go, stumbling backwards at the realisation of what he had come so close to doing.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

But even as Salara fell on her hands and knees, coughing violently, he could still feel that rage burning away beneath the surface.

“You will be safe here,” he said, reaching into the satchel that hung at his side and producing a pair of Fane’s rune-marked manacles. He snapped them shut around Salara’s wrists, and she screamed as though he had flayed the skin from her bones.

“Vyrmír?” Thrashing, wailing, she tried desperately to look at Vyrmír as Eltoar bound her to the ground with Essence. Her rage only succumbed to relief when she set her eyes upon her soulkin. That relief was supplanted just as quickly when she glared up at Eltoar, pure hatred in her eyes. “Why are you doing this? I love you… I…”

Eltoar drove threads of Earth into the ground, pulling roots through the clay and wrapping them around Salara’s body.

Vyrmír roared like an unchained god, throwing himself upwards so hard he knocked Helios off balance. The young dragon kicked back his head and poured a pillar of fire over Helios.

Eltoar tapped into the gemstone once more, pulling deeply on the Essence within. He wrapped Essence around Vyrmír and slammed the dragon to the ground, turning him to face Salara. Eltoar pulled and stretched out Vyrmír’s neck, his chin flat against the Earth. And just as he had done with Salara, he pulled roots from the ground and bound the dragon so tightly that Vyrmír couldn’t move an inch. He pulled tighter still.

“You will be safe here,” he said, looking down at Salara and Vyrmír. “I never wanted it to be like this, but I can see no other way. I will return when it is done. You will see in time, Salara. You will see.”

As Eltoar turned and walked towards his soulkin, Salara’s screams pierced the night.

“Please!” she roared. “Master! Don’t leave us here!”

Eltoar climbed to the nape of Helios’s neck.

“Please, no! Don’t do this! Master! I can’t feel him – please, no!”

Eltoar hardened his heart, and Helios lifted himself into the air.