{"id":2945,"date":"2016-08-08T00:00:16","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T04:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2945"},"modified":"2016-08-07T09:11:55","modified_gmt":"2016-08-07T13:11:55","slug":"thirty-seven-06","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2945","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-seven – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

I walked, at first, then broke into an uncomfortable jog toward the tents, the cookfires\u2014anywhere I could hope to find our friends. It would only be Thordin up at the forge this time of day. My best chance at a concentration of people would be by the cookfires.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s out there. I haven\u2019t a bloody clue.<\/em><\/p>\n

What the hell was I doing?<\/p>\n

Dammit, Phelan.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was too late to turn back now.<\/p>\n

Hand against my swollen belly, I resumed my jog toward the cookfires, cursing him under my breath even as his care made my heart ache.<\/p>\n

Shoving me out of harms\u2019 way. A shame I never stay completely out of it.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was breathing hard by the time I made it to the fire, where Tala was tending a cauldron of stew for dinner and Jac was boiling bandages. Both of them looked up curiously, though Jac\u2019s curiosity morphed quickly into alarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

I gulped in a few breaths of air before I said, \u201cDrums in the distance. Something out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

My friend swore softly under her breath, glancing at Tala. \u201cMake her sit down and drink something,\u201d she ordered, then looked back at me. \u201cStay here. I\u2019ll get the others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still catching my breath, I nodded. Tala took me by the arm and sat me down on a log.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think it is?\u201d she asked as she turned away to get me a drink.<\/p>\n

I shook my head. \u201cI have no idea,\u201d I said between breaths. \u201cBut I\u2019m damned worried we\u2019re going to find out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure there\u2019s any doubt of that now.\u201d She poured something steaming out of a kettle and then pressed the mug into my hands. \u201cHere. Drink it slow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it?\u201d I lifted the mug, the scent of its contents familiar and soothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething Phelan gave me. Tea of some kind, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded slowly and took a slight sip. \u201cTala, if you need to go make sure your kids\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will, but not until someone else gets here first.\u201d She smiled weakly. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

I nodded, staring down into the mug. I wished that I still had her optimism.<\/p>\n

After losing Matt, I didn\u2019t anymore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] I walked, at first, then broke into an uncomfortable jog toward the tents, the cookfires\u2014anywhere I could hope to find our friends. It would only be Thordin up at the forge this … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[124,214,14],"tags":[150,171,170,174,152,149,148,168,147,165,215,146],"class_list":["post-2945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-37-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-tala-johanson","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Lv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2945"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2946,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2945\/revisions\/2946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}