Page 83 of Of Empires and Dust

Fane continued to stare as the wave from Helios’s earlier manoeuvre surged towards them, growing as it moved, fish andeels writhing within. Without turning his head, the man pulled on threads of Water and Air and the wave lifted, crashing against an invisible shield that surrounded Eltoar and Fane.

Fish, both alive and dead, some little more than snapped bone and torn flesh, were trapped within the twisting water, spiralling helplessly. A burst of power pulsed from Fane, and the water furled and unfurled like strips of linen in a gentle breeze, rejoining the lake seamlessly.

All the while, Fane stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching as Helios rose into the morning sky. Not a bead of sweat adorned the man’s brow. Not a single marker of lethargy touched him. Fane talked of dragons, of how they were not of this world, of how their power was unnatural. And yet there the man stood with a grasp of the Spark unlike any Eltoar had ever known. Fane was himself a dragon, one unhindered by the gods.

Helios’s mind pressed against Eltoar’s, and he pulled them together, the world sharpening around him, the lapping waves like claps of thunder, the water’s reflection like glaring fire. Through the dragon’s eyes, he saw two riders rushing from the city gates, dust trailing in their wake. The horses were Blackthorns, the riders garbed in the same shade of night as their mounts. The message must have been urgent if Taya Tambrel was sending her Blackwatch to deliver it.

When the riders skirted the lake and reached the rocks where Eltoar and Fane waited, one dismounted and dropped his plated knee to the ground.

“Emperor, I come with urgent word.”

Fane’s gaze lingered on Helios, his attention totally and fully captured. After leaving the man kneeling for what must have been a full minute, Fane turned and gestured for him to stand. “Speak, Captain. If it’s urgent, we don’t have all day.”

“The elven fog, Emperor. It has started moving again. Towards Elkenrim. And a dragon has laid waste to almost half the fleet of fishing vessels off Antiquar’s coast.”

“The dragon,” Eltoar said before Fane could speak. “Do we have a description?”

“Green scales, Draleid. Big as a house.”

“Insightful,” Fane said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s Irulaian and Dravír.”

Fane nodded, scrunching his lips in contemplation. “Captain, please thank Supreme Commander Tambrel for the swift dispatch. Inform her that I will require both her and her generals assembled within the hour.”

The Blackwatch captain inclined his head and mounted his steed, then set off for the gates with his companion.

“The wait is over,” Fane said a few moments after the two riders were in the distance. He pursed his lips.

“Vandrien is no fool. If she moves before the Blood Moon has fallen, there is a reason for it.”

“I agree.”

“Our response?”

“We play the game. She has moved first, which means her position is the weaker. Irulaian and Dravír, what say you?”

“They are bait. They burn the fishing fleet to draw our dragons away from Elkenrim.”

“Hmmm. And how would you respond?”

“I would send Lyina. Bait or not, we can’t allow them to burn our ships unchecked. Without the fish from Antiquar, we’ll have more hungry mouths than a tree has leaves.”

“Agreed. You would not go yourself?”

“Lyina is the better choice. I would rather be at Elkenrim, and I don’t entirely trust her emotions around the elves at the moment. She and Karakes are more than a match for Irulaian and Dravír.”

“See that it is done. I will have reinforcements sent from Merchant’s Reach and Catagan.”

As Eltoar made to leave, Fane grabbed him by the wrist and stared into his eyes. “Where is your heart on this, Eltoar?”

Eltoar didn’t need to ask what the man meant. “I will do what needs to be done, as I always have and I always will.” He hesitated for a moment, then grasped Fane’s shoulder and pulled him close. “Viel akara. I denír viël ar altinua.”

We are brothers. In this life and always.

Fane let go of Eltoar’s forearm and grabbed the back of his skull, pressing their foreheads together. “Uthikar, yíar’ydil, vir væra faelrin denír valirdín, nakil det eram. Silvrím il fahír er norîl, il nära er vantihír. Vi matív uil sarvinis.”

Together, old friend, we will change this world, make it better. Even though the night is dark, the light is waiting. We must only persevere.

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