{"id":2995,"date":"2016-09-28T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2995"},"modified":"2016-09-27T17:09:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-27T21:09:23","slug":"forty-07","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2995","title":{"rendered":"Forty – 07"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cLeann\u00e1n<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n

I came awake groggy, my eyelids feeling heavier than I\u2019d ever known them to be. Opening my eyes required a herculean effort, one that I was more than willing to undertake as I heard the worry underlying Phelan\u2019s rasping voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeann\u00e1n<\/em>, please.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still here,\u201d I managed to mumble, one eye struggling open, then the other. Every muscle ached, as if they\u2019d been tensed for too long. Perhaps they had been, though I had no real idea of how long I had been out.<\/p>\n

It couldn\u2019t have been that long,<\/em> I realized as it struck me that Phelan and I were still alone down here. It couldn\u2019t have been more than a matter of a few minutes. I took a deep breath. \u201cDid it work?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThink so,\u201d Phelan managed. He was still slumped against the wall, his eyes open but sunken into deep hollows around his eyes, as if somehow Thesan had managed to leech some of the life from him through whatever connection she\u2019d had\u2014one I\u2019d hopefully been able to sever. \u201cWas it her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t know?\u201d I pushed myself up into a sitting position slowly\u2014I must have collapsed into a heap when I\u2019d blacked out and found myself in that strange dreamscape, facing off with Thesan.<\/p>\n

He shook his head slightly, then winced, as if the movement hurt. \u201cNo,\u201d he rasped. \u201cI suspected. Wasn\u2019t sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed like even breathing<\/em> hurt as I watched him. What sort of war of wills had he been waging before I intervened? Or was it the magic he\u2019d been channeling when Leinth had brought him back to us that had left him this way? Was it both? I didn\u2019t know\u2014had no way to<\/em> know.<\/p>\n

I reached for his hand, my fingers curling around his and squeezing hard. He exhaled with a shudder.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust had to fight it,\u201d he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut for a long moment. \u201cDidn\u2019t know more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d he said, his voice growing even quieter. He swallowed hard.<\/p>\n

It should have struck me as strange that he didn\u2019t ask who. I guess maybe it didn\u2019t matter\u2014either that or he already knew.<\/p>\n

Somehow, even I<\/em> knew who was coming.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hate who we were,\u201d I said. \u201cThey hate who you are. They won\u2019t spare us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t let them win,\u201d Phelan breathed. His fingers tightened around mine, though weakly. \u201cNot this time.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one had really won the last war we had with them.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry about the war yet. Worry about this battle.<\/em><\/p>\n

One fight at a time, Marin. One fight at a time.<\/em><\/p>\n

I squeezed my eyes shut and rested my free hand against my belly. My son kicked at my hand, as if reminding me what we had to fight for\u2014for him, for Tala\u2019s twins and for Neve\u2019s unborn children, for Angie and all the other children I\u2019d seen in my visions of things to come.<\/p>\n

Nothing is certain.<\/em><\/p>\n

Some things <\/em>are certain.<\/em><\/p>\n

Phelan squeezed my hand again and I opened my eyes to look at him. He met my gaze steadily, though I could tell he was tired, far more tired than he\u2019d admit. \u201cFaith, leann\u00e1n<\/em>,\u201d he said faintly. \u201cHang tight to it. It\u2019ll get us through when all else fails.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFaith in what?\u201d I asked in a whisper.<\/p>\n

\u201cHope,\u201d he said, then closed his eyes again.<\/p>\n

I bit my lip and curled against his side, tugging his free arm around me. He rested his head against mine and together we sat there in silence, waiting for the others to come.<\/p>\n

Waiting for the war to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] \u201cLeann\u00e1n?\u201d I came awake groggy, my eyelids feeling heavier than I\u2019d ever known them to be. Opening my eyes required a herculean effort, one that I was more than willing to undertake … 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":[124,219,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,173,148,168,147,165,220,200,146],"class_list":["post-2995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-40-book-5","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thesan","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Mj","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995","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=2995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2996,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2995\/revisions\/2996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}