Page 111 of Legacy of the Heirs
She screamed and hit the wall again as Caligh’s laughter heightened, yet Elisara continued fighting for the other half of her. Kazaar ducked, hooking his legs around Caligh like he had countless times with Elisara. Shadows shot from Caligh’s hands and encircled Kazaar’s foot, twisting him over onto his stomach.No.Caligh pushed his boot against Kazaar’s back, holding him down while his shadows reached for the Sword of Sonos, placing it in Caligh’s hand. Nyzaia faltered on the other side of the wall. Her hands rested against the wall with wide eyes as she watched her brother.Get up, Nyzaia mouthed.Get up!She appeared to be screaming now, tears welling in her eyes.
“Get up.” Though it was not Nyzaia who spoke, it was Caligh. His voice was deep and ancient, stoking the fury left inside Elisara’s empty body. Caligh removed his foot from Kazaar’s back, who shifted instantly, flourishing his hands. No power emerged from his fingertips; nothing reached out to defend him. Kazaar’s eyes widened momentarily before he jumped to his feet and reached for his weapons, yet he had none left. Elisara swung at the wall again. She would do anything—give everything—to reach him. She would relinquish her title, her realm, her power, her tie, anything to get through the wall. But no one answered her pleas for help; no spark ignited within her. She was powerless.
“She is relentless,” Caligh said to Kazaar. “Elisara.” He nodded in her direction.
“Keep her name out of your mouth,” Kazaar growled. Caligh laughed again, circling Kazaar; he caught Elisara’s eye as he passed.
“So possessive, those with a celestial tie,” he said. Elisara hit the wall again. “You feel emotions so strongly.” Caligh waved his hand, and shadows snaked along the floor for Kazaar’s feet, climbing around his legs to lock him in place.No.Elisara reached within her soul again, searching for that power.Someone help me! She screamed to the gods in her mind.Do not take him from me.
“Hatred.” The shadows twisted around Kazaar’s abdomen as he clenched his jaw. “Friendship,” Caligh murmured. “Passion.” The sword glowed as he raised it and faced Kazaar, who was only a few steps away. Kazaar looked to Elisara then as she pierced the wall again, screaming. He opened his mouth to say something, to mouth words they had promised not to say until this was over.
“Pain.” Caligh grinned and plunged the Sword of Sonosthrough Kazaar’s chest. Elisara screamed, piercing the sword through the wall of darkness as her heart ripped in two. Elisara screamed from the pain as a piece of her was forced from her body and as Kazaar’s body fell in time with the walls of shadow. And just like when her heart once shattered in tandem with a falling statue in the Vala gardens, destined to be pieced back together by this man, Elisara’s heart splintered as her sword broke through and the shadows fell.
“No!” she screamed. “No, no, no.” Caligh pulled the sword from Kazaar’s chest and stepped back, the shadows engulfing him as Elisara ran to Kazaar.
She did not notice the shadows weaving throughout the war or separating the copper soldiers from the Novisians. She did not notice how everyone paused or how the creatures retreated at Caligh’s whistle before silence descended across the Ashun Desert. All she saw was Kazaar’s chest slowing, the shadows falling away to reveal blood seeping from him, his hands slack by his sides.
“Kazaar,” she whispered. “Kazaar.” Elisara fell to her knees at his side. “Kazaar, look at me.” She placed her hands over his wound to stop the bleeding. Reaching for a dagger, she sliced her hand, letting her blood fall on his wound. “It will be okay; we are tied,” she reassured him. “You will heal.” Yet, as Elisara glanced at the stickiness on her hands, as he tried to speak, she found they were red. Only red. No silver blood flooded from her veins; no sign of their tie remained. “No,” she sobbed. Kazaar tried to reach for her hands as she pulled his leathers aside. The silver film on his sun scar faded, leaving only the faint reminder of raised skin.
“Angel,” he murmured.
“No!” Elisara sobbed. Kazaar’s breathing slowed beneath her, and he coughed, sputtering blood, red staining her skin and clothes. Time stilled as Elisara memorised his features, his lips that promised her the world, a smile that lit up only for her, and eyes that promised her an eternity together. Elisara’s hands trembled as she clenched his wet leathers, squeezing her eyes shut.
“Eyes,” he wheezed, “on me, angel.” Elisara opened them to meet his face. She moved her hands to his cheeks, staining his face with her blood.
“There is no existence without you,” she cried. The dark and light tendrils from the universe faded in his eyes to their fiery amber glow from before and then the final brown that belonged only to her. Kazaar blinked slowly and opened his mouth to speak when his hand stilled on her wrist. Elisara clutched his face as his fire faded and his head lulled to the side. Her hands faltered as his face began to crumble, stealing Elisara’s chance to say goodbye with a final kiss.
“No,” she whispered as Kazaar began to disintegrate, killed by the Sword of Sonos. “No!” The other half of Elisara’s soul disintegrated before her, fading into blackened ash that floated on the wind. Elisara fell forward, dragging her hands through what remained of him.
The fury that had been within her twisted, the pain within her as he left her burned under her skin. Elisara shrieked, her scream echoing across the desert and bouncing off the darkened clouds. Lightning struck, and the ground trembled. Elisara screamed as the universe took him.
Someone laughed behind her, and Elisara’s tears fell in the ash as she turned when Caligh emerged from his shadows. When Elisara looked around, everyone was paused, trapped by the darkness.
“We could end this here, Elisara.” His voice whispered to her in the wind. “I took him. I got what I wanted, but now, there is you. It seems only fair that I stay and add you to my collection of deaths.” Elisara said nothing, the agony within her threatening to overtake her reason.
There is no I without you.
“I will give you two hours to mourn your deaths and regroup before I take your kingdom, as I have taken so many before it.” Caligh tossed the Sword of Sonos on the sands by her feet, a smirk on his face as she frowned.
They should have known. They should have known this was never the end, that Caligh would take Novisia like he took Ithyion.
Elisara said nothing as she turned back to where Kazaar had laid, her hands clenched in his ashes. Her fingers caught on something smooth, which she pulled from his remains. His talisman. The only piece she had left of him. When she turned back to Caligh, he had faded into the shadows. The darkness holding back the people of Novisia dropped, and her people ran to her.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Caellum
Bodies collided with Caellum as he forced through the crowd, the enemy soldiers now hidden, protected in shadows he did not understand. Nyzaia had called for retreat, a command echoed by Sir Cain. Caellum pushed his way through the running soldiers who headed for the tents at the edge of Keres to await further instruction, yet what instruction, he did not know. He had been fighting a copper-clad soldier when a wall of shadow emerged, shrouding the soldier, too, as a call for retreat resounded across the sands.
Odd looks met him as he ran in a different direction, pushing against the crowd to where he had last seen Sadira. He pushed against the wave, his limbs exhausted and weak, but despite the endless fighting, the added strength of his lineage allowed him to persist. He ran despite the throbbing of his thighs and calves. Caellum stilled when he reached where Sadira had been. She was not on the dune where he had left her to wield; she was not anywhere.
“Sadira!” Caellum shouted over the sound of trampling feet. “Sadira!” he screamed, spinning in every direction and scanning the sea of blood-covered Novisian soldiers. His heart hammered, his breastplate suddenly too tight as he charged in different directions, shouting her name. The soldiers thinned out before him, most now over the dune by the tents. He scanned again but could not find her or glimpse the light of her hair amid the darkness.
Plumes of shadows swirled and writhed, containing the copper soldiers. The remaining creatures roared and paced in the distance before some shifted back into soldiers dressed in leather uniforms.Caellum backed away as the shadows faded, the soldiers turning and marching into formation behind General Caligh. He was calm and stood with his hands clasped, staring straight at Caellum.
“I would be quick, King. Say your goodbyes before we take your kingdom.” Caellum glanced at the two men standing beside Caligh. They each held a chain attached to a creature that bit the air and writhed against its bindings. Caellum swallowed. What had they done to the beast to make it so dangerous that it should be chained? Caellum scanned the line of offence one last time, but there were no captives, no head of golden-blonde hair. Caellum retreated and ran for the tents.
***
