{"id":2999,"date":"2016-10-03T00:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2999"},"modified":"2016-09-29T16:47:26","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:47:26","slug":"forty-one-02","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=2999","title":{"rendered":"Forty-one – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Leinth stared at him for a long moment, the strength of his quietly spoken words sinking in slowly. Then, finally, she said, \u201cYou mean that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re damn right I do.\u201d Thom\u2019s jaw tightened. \u201cIt may take a lifetime to make it happen, but that\u2019s what I\u2019m willing to spend if that\u2019s what it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time her hand made it all the way to his shoulder. She squeezed it gently. \u201cI hadn\u2019t seen it before, not truly,\u201d she said in a whisper. \u201cBut I see it now. I see it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSee what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Wanderer\u2019s blood in you.\u201d One corner of her mouth quirked upward in a smile. \u201cThough now that I see it, I can\u2019t believe I missed it before. You have his stubborn resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom exhaled softly and shook his head. \u201cI suppose that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d He jerked his head to the side. \u201cGo on. Seamus won\u2019t say it, but he\u2019d be better off seeing you before this all starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leinth squeezed his shoulder again and turned away, moving toward where Seamus stood a few dozen yards away, still talking to the knot of archers from the Wild Hunt. Thom closed his eyes, his hands curling slowly into fists.<\/p>\n

He wanted Marin, but she was safer where she was, and he was needed where he<\/em> was\u2014was needed here to lead, to organize.<\/p>\n

To be some kind of bloody symbol in a way. A giant walking target.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cShe told you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded in response to Sif\u2019s question, opening his eyes but not turning toward the sound of her voice. \u201cLeinth told me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour wife will put him to rights,\u201d she said, clearly meaning it to be reassurance. Thom smiled weakly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe will,\u201d Sif said, then strode forward, headed for the wall. \u201cI will fill her hole in the defenses,\u201d she said as she started to climb up to Marin\u2019s usual perch above and to the right of the gates. \u201cThough I fear that I\u2019m not quite the shot she is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom choked on a laugh. \u201cI\u2019m not sure anyone is,\u201d he admitted. I don\u2019t know how she does it or how much is Mar and how much is Brigh\u00edd. Probably more of the latter than any of us care to think about.<\/em><\/p>\n

There were times he shivered to think about it\u2014but then, he had his own issues with his own ancient soul. He tried to use the insights, the memories and the dreams, to his advantage but sometimes he had to wonder.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter in the end. Finn was a part of him. There was nothing he could do to change that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSing out if you see something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course,\u201d Sif said, one corner curving in a momentary smirk. Thom wasn\u2019t sure if it was because he was telling her something he didn\u2019t need to or if it was for another reason.<\/p>\n

Another thing that didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n

The drums were growing closer, louder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThordin was coming after he got them to safety, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed so,\u201d Sif said, her gaze already turned to the view beyond the wall. \u201cHe\u2019d best be. It won\u2019t be long now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Thom said quietly. \u201cNo, it won\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gods and monsters. Whatever powers that are out there, have mercy on us this time.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please.<\/em><\/p>\n

He began to climb the wall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view.] Leinth stared at him for a long moment, the strength of his quietly spoken words sinking in slowly. Then, finally, she said, \u201cYou mean that.\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re damn right I do.\u201d Thom\u2019s jaw … 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":[124,222,14],"tags":[150,171,170,166,149,148,159,168,147,167,165,158,146,195],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-41","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-leinth","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Mn","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","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=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3000,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}