Chapter 442 (1/2)

Book 4, Chapter 60 – Cutting Off the Head

The Dark Ato room to repel Abaddon's attacks and retreat to his men Grand Prior Phain returned to the shi+ps as well, breaking off the fight with Wolfblade Both armies withdrew and eyed each other warily

Dark Atoents suspected the Elysians would have soh as to expect their sneak attack Froather the whole Elysian arht between them and the Conclave forces

How could Skye have knoould come?

Whatever the case, their carefully planned rear assault on the Elysians had been cut short by unexpected treachery It gave Skycloud;s soldiers the time they needed to restructure formation and adopt a more defensible position

Skye could breathe a little easier It was then a faht his ear

Cloudhawk, Dawn and several others were racing his way

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

“Grandfather, you should be thanking us If Cloudhawk didn't sneak us into the eneher position” Dawn called to him, still exhilarated from their success “Remember to write us a commendation when this is over!”

Skye was pretty dahter to keep Cloudhawk back at base – the exact opposite of what she was doing now hell, she let hi her out to the middle of a war zone!

Selene was just as surprise to see Cloudhawk suddenly appear a was happening, this guy was part of it And a good thing, too Showing up gave the expeditionary forces a moment of respite to re-calibrate the situation

Cloudhawk briefly explained what happened that brought them here

After days of searching on their way here, neither hair nor hide of Drake and his people had been found Instead, the clues they followed led them to Skye and the main Elysian force While he kneas in violation of direct orders, he pointed out the obvious – that he'd saved their asses So in the end it was the right decision

But this guy was just so daerous this place was?

Were he a normal demonhunter, Cloudhaould have died half a dozen times before they reached the front Skye Polaris had decided that he was to be his son-in-law, and now here he was caught between a flying fortress, a demon, a God, and a two Gods-dao up in ss went poorly

If he paid so little heed to Skye's orders no could he be expected to lead the whole fa his lead What happened to the stubborn girl from the old days? What happened to the traditional fury he'd bred into the Polaris family?

Skye sputtered through his beard, ready to share a few barbed sentences with his future son-in-law But then his eyes swept over the others he'd brought with him

A girl with a short hair, she looked like a delance that she had the physicality of a h A shame that she'd chosen the road she did

His eyes lingered on her for only a moment When they fell on the old drunk, however, they narrowed and he took a closer look A man like him had surpassed the limits of normal human capabilities, and part of that was the ability to tell solance

There was definitely rant than as on the surface

His eyes traveled down to the cane clutched in his dirty hands “Dawnguard? You're…”

The drunktime, elder”

Skye had guessed his identity, and it struck ith a deep sense of astonishment No one in Skycloud had heard frootten, only to show up in the thick of battle “It is you!”

It was disappointing to the drunk to rets in life was that he'd never been good enough to spar with the War God Skye was a respected hero of the forreatest ambition had always been to conquer that ned he would never succeed

Phain was stunned The expression on the ed man's face was conflicted However, the other Templars with him were elated when they discovered who the old drunk was

The War Sage held tre even more respect than the two Oracles [1] He was only second to the High Priest hiend

Most of the training regined or improved by him If you said the War God's achievehts for hue cut down the brambles that barred the way

Both men had left bold marks on the annals of human history But one was old, and the other a recluse Ti – a true shame

The old drunk was Phain's senior, and foric would lead one to believe he would share the other Teain But that was not the case, or at least not entirely A keen eye ht see the veiled resentment in his eyes

Perhaps the drunk did, because he spoke next to the new Grand Prior “You display good progress In another three to five years the position of Grand Prior will have an honorable bearer I can stop worrying then”

Phain said nothing He didn't need to, Vulkan saw it for himself

In truth Phain had not led a charmed life either The person Vulkan had failed the most was the same person Phain cherished ement between the two men, a chasm that was likely insurmountable