Page 115 of Legacy of the Heirs
“That does not explain why the ones without rings are serving Caligh if they do not owe him anything.”
Larelle frowned at Elisara’s bluntness.
“I am missing something,” said Larelle.
“You cannot speculate on another’s history. Nothing is fact without the person there to verify it.” Elisara turned and headed back into the tent.
“We have twenty minutes,” Larelle called. “And then we must leave.”
Elisara collapsed back on the stool. She cried out as she sat down, the pain nearly unbearable, as if trying to rip free of her body. She pulled the sword back on her lap and removed the talisman from her pocket. Twenty minutes, and she would be reunited with her love or avenge him somehow. She did not wish tobewithout him. Elisara dangled the talisman on the leather and lowered it around her neck.
Elisara’s head flew back as the talisman met her chest. A gust of something reached into her soul, consuming her and unlocking something within. She gripped the sides of the table, her fingernails bleeding from the pressure. Image after image flashed through her mind, too fast for her to recognise and too many to cope with as she blacked out.
***
Elisara blinked; her face was pressed against the hard vanity. Slowly, she sat up, rubbing her forehead. Voices ran through her mind, ones she did not recognise. The pain had subsided when Elisara opened her eyes, and as she stared back at her reflection in the mirror, she knew what she had to do.
Chapter Sixty-Six
Elisara
Clarity ran through Elisara’s mind, gifted with the knowledge of the past. Kazaar could not have experienced this, or else he would have told her. Each of her steps vibrated along the ground as she strode from their tent and slid her sword into the strap down her back. She held the Sword of Sonos in her left. The remaining army were in formation, standing several lines from the edge of the dune, away from Caligh’s sight. Elisara reached the middle of the back row and stood, waiting until the soldiers turned and created a path to the front. The other rulers stood at the end, watching and ready to move. Before she stepped towards them, a cough sounded to her right. She turned to find Vlad.
“We all know,” he said, a thickness to his voice. “Despite the reputation once laid upon him, he was respected—byallof us.” Vlad raised his right fist and placed it over his heart. Elisara nodded, keeping her emotions in check as a new, profound focus flowed through her, the power coursing in her blood. Vlad frowned when Elisara said nothing but marched ahead. With every step, the soldiers raised their fists and bent their knees, a sign of their respect for him and their reverence for her.
Elisara held her head high, the sun beating down upon them, as though unaware of the second battle to come. The battle she would win. Larelle glanced at her neck and frowned at the talisman she proudly displayed. It was his, yet now it was hers. Gifted in memories.
She nodded to Nyzaia and gripped her forearm, neither acknowledging their pain. They would do this for him. Elisara passedher the Sword of Sonos.
“I cannot,” Nyzaia said, but Elisara forced it into her hands.
“Take it. It is not important,” she said, recalling the pieces that appeared to her while unconscious. Caellum frowned beside Sadira, and Soren narrowed her eyes.
“Of course it is important, Elisara,” Sadira began, but Elisara whipped her head to her with a look that silenced further protests.
“It is a sword made from a special metal in Ithyion, laced in poison. The metal kills anything, whether it is created from darkness or not.” Elisara stared at Sadira. “It has no imbuement. Either your Wiccan clan lied or were ignorant to the truth.” Sadira jerked her head back, yet Elisara had no time to cradle other’s feelings. They all began to talk, speaking over her, asking how she could know such a thing, but the time for questions was later—after she took from the man who stole Kazaar from her. Elisara ignored them and strode for the top of the dune. Nyzaia caught up to her with Farid and the rest of the royals. Larelle raised her hand to halt the army behind them.
“Elisara, you need to tell us what is going on,” said Nyzaia, reaching for her arm. Elisara’s head snapped to look at it, prompting Nyzaia to jump. She shook her hand, expression pained when she looked at the talisman.
“What have you done?” Nyzaia asked. Elisara stared back; her eyes boring into Nyzaia’s. “You cannot wear more than one talisman, Elisara. We only did that to speak to the gods.”
“I needed to speak to one again,” Elisara said, facing ahead. The armies drew closer. Caligh stood with his hands clasped, waiting.
“Tell the army to stay here,” Elisara said to Larelle. “I wish for only you seven to come with me.”
“You want us to meet him without an army?” Caellum exclaimed.
“He only wants me; I just need to get close enough. Can you all feel your powers?” she asked, and they nodded. “Other than the imbuement on the soldiers and creatures, they only wane when hewields shadows. Can you see shadows?”
“Not yet, but—”
“I just need to be close enough,” Elisara said again. “Do you trust me?” She waited for someone to object to Elisara’s odd bout of self-certainty and commands. Instead, they nodded. Larelle kept her hand raised, commanding the armies to stay as the group descended from the dune.
“What did the gods tell you?” Larelle asked as they walked. Sand whirled around them as they strode forward, disrupting the ground littered with the remaining Novisian bodies not yet taken back to the tents.
“God.Singular.” Elisara said.
“Well?” Nyzaia pushed, yet there was no time to reveal all she had learned. Elisara halted partway down the dune, close enough to hear conversation between the two sides. A clear, sizeable gap festered between them, with their armies behind it. Swirling sand settled to reveal the surviving human soldiers ready to fight behind Caligh. Rows of deadly servants in copper uniforms stood, readying for their general’s signal. Two men stood by Caligh’s side. One stood at the front of the army in his tailored suit, another, younger boy, beside him in dark grey leathers, forming a wall of protection behind Caligh should he need it. The Novisian armies had succeeded in eliminating most of the eyeless creatures; however, those that remained circled high above, assessing their prey. The shadows Caligh wielded no longer lurked, which unsettled Elisara, who found him intimidating even in the absence of his power. The way he smirked and trailed his eyes across her body only fed her discomfort.
