Awakenings

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]

               “So which part, exactly, are we voting on?” Jacqueline asked.  The question came quietly, no judgement or doubt in her tone—a simple, matter-of-fact question.  Her gaze was intent as she watched Matt, hugging her knee against her chest, a basket of fabric scraps near her foot.  “Whether or not we want to enact whatever plan we hammer out in the early hours of the morning, how we want to handle those staying behind, what?”

               “Both, I think,” Kellin said, a faint frown creasing her forehead.  “I mean, I think it should be both, though I have a gut feeling that I know what way at least one of those votes is going to go.”

               Matt’s stomach sank again and he hoped he was dead wrong about which vote she was talking about and what direction she suspected it would go in.  At the end of the day, though, how they handled the situation wasn’t solely his choice to make—it never had been.

               In some ways, he was silently grateful for that.

               “Both,” he said, his mouth dry, as if he’d suddenly swallowed a mouthful of sand.  “We vote on both and we do it now.”  As much as he dreaded the outcome, waiting seemed worse.  If they voted against his proposed plan, they’d need all the time they could muster to prepare for what was coming—or to evacuate and put as much distance between them and Orcus’s forces as possible.

               He wasn’t sure what he would do if they voted against his plan.

               His stomach roiled and he swallowed hard.

               Breathe.  Just breathe.

               “All right, then,” Kellin said softly.  “Then let’s do it so we can get to work.”

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]

Carolyn blinked, staring at Hecate for a few seconds. “I probably already know the answer to this question, but I’m going to ask anyway. Why, exactly, won’t they have much reason to come if we fail?”

Now, Hecate did glance in Matt’s direction and he found himself swallowing hard against a lump that climbed higher and higher in his throat. She looked away after only a few seconds, her voice quiet and tone matter-of-fact. “He offered our lives in exchange for my joining him. If we fail, then I imagine that he’ll be doing everything he can to take me alive. If it means keeping anyone left behind here alive—or at the very least buying you all time to evacuate—then I’ll play him for as long as I have to. One way or another, I’m pretty sure that I can do that.”

“Pretty sure,” Carolyn echoed softly. She sat back, nodding, though her brow was still furrowed, either in concern or thought or both.

Matt took a slow breath, trying to calm his churning guts.

It won’t come to that. It won’t. It’ll be all right. You’re going to be able to stop him in his tracks where he’s at and then extract your peace—or deal with him once and for all. One or the other. Everything’s going to be okay.

For a second, his gaze slid toward Thom, then toward Marin. There wasn’t any indication from either of them that he was right—or wrong. He hadn’t expected it, anyway, nor was he entirely sure that he wanted it.

“So there’s a plan,” Rory said from where he stood, staring into the fire. “How many of us does it need?”

“As many volunteers as I can get,” Matt said. “We have to be smarter than he is but force of numbers probably won’t hurt.”

“It’ll depend on what we’re looking at,” Cameron said, chewing at his lower lip. Artorius was cradled in one arm, sucking on Cameron’s knuckle, eyelids slowly drooping. “But we won’t know that until the Hunt’s scouts come back, right?”

“Right,” Matt said quietly. “Does that mean you’re in?”

“I don’t see how I could decide otherwise,” Cameron said. Matt saw Neve wince, but couldn’t tell if Cameron had seen it. If he did, he didn’t give any indication. “You said you need everyone willing to volunteer.”

“Maybe we should figure out exactly how this is going to go down,” Leinth said. “Then we can get to the volunteering. We’re not going to be able to overwhelm Orcus with force of arms.”

“No,” Matt agreed. “We have to outsmart him and take the advantage away—and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Somehow.

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]

“I don’t think anyone else has a better one,” Thordin said, his gaze steady and his voice low. “I know I don’t and I also know that I’m tired as hell of just bracing ourselves for a coming storm. Maybe this will send the message that needs to be sent so we can we can get some goddamn peace.”

Matt’s heart lifted, just a little bit, buoyed by Thordin’s support. He watched Carolyn, though. Her expression hadn’t changed—she still looked skeptical, worried.

It’s not like I can blame her. If we fail, we’re leaving everyone here practically undefended beyond some walls and wardings—probably without much of anyone to shore those up if we fail and Orcus brings his army here.

“If it makes you feel better, Carolyn,” Hecate said, interrupting his thoughts, “I don’t think he’ll have much reason to come here if we fail. And if he thinks he does, I’m sure that someone will convince him otherwise.”

That made his stomach drop even more. He looked at her, but she wasn’t looking at him, but at Carolyn. Her tone of voice, the matter-of-fact way she said it, told him more than a look would have. She’d made a choice about going with them and there was no way that he was going to be able to talk her out of it.

He would still try, though, on the off chance that somehow he’d prevail.

Marin glanced at him, her expression grim. He swallowed hard.

She knows. Hell. She’s probably on Hecate’s side. Matt swallowed bile and tried to focus again. Hecate coming along would be more terrifying for him but probably better for all of them in the long run. They’d need her strength, no matter how much he was loathe to admit it.

They would need as much as they could muster, one way or another.

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.]

The question seemed to unlock his tongue and clear the blockage that had choked off his words. It didn’t erase all the nerves, though, and he kept pacing even as he started to speak. “It’s undoubtedly Orcus out there—we’ve confirmed that much—and he’s martialing an army. He plans to come after us in three days if we don’t accede to his demands, which we’re not going to do.” Matt managed to smile. “And he’s sure as hell not going to be very pleased with what we’re about to do either way.” He paused for a moment, starting into the fire as he chose his next words, thoughts racing.

Don’t panic, but don’t say what you’re about to say in a way that’s going to make anyone else panic, either. Just breathe. Breathe.

“I’ve talked to Anselm and he’s agreed to dispatch some additional Hunt scouts to get a better idea of what Orcus’s camp looks like, its exact location, and the makeup of his forces. With any luck, they’ll be back by later tonight. Tomorrow morning, we plan our assault.”

“Assault,” Cameron said, his eyes narrowing. “What are you talking about?”

“He gave us three days,” Thordin said, answering before Matt could. “Then he comes whether we’re ready or not. If I’m hearing correctly, I think Matt’s about to suggest a preemptive strike.” His gaze cut toward the younger man, his brow arching slightly. “If I’m not mistaken.”

“You’re not,” Matt said, feeling the tightness return to his chest for a few seconds. “Honestly, I don’t think we’ve got a choice on this one. I think we have to hit them before they hit us or we run the risk of not being able to hold them off.”

“What if we fail?” The question came softly, from a source he hadn’t quite expected. He glanced at Carolyn, who watched him carefully. “What if we attack them and we fail to deter them from coming after us? What then? What do we do?”

“I’d like to say that’s not an option,” Matt said.

“It’s probably not, but it’s a possibility. None of us are omniscient. We could lose. I’m sure that you’ll factor in every variable you can, but even if we do, we still might be walking into a fight that we can’t or simply won’t win.”

“Then we’ll have to put it to a vote with everyone,” Matt said. “What the fallback option is. I know that we’ll do as much as we can with our defenses here, but I don’t—” he stopped, taking a breath as the bottom dropped out of his stomach. “—I don’t want our only option to always be defending ourselves. At some point, our luck is going to run out. The fact that we keep winning hasn’t stopped new threats from coming at us and old threats from coming back. We have to do something. This is the only idea I’ve got.”