{"id":3030,"date":"2016-11-02T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3030"},"modified":"2016-11-01T20:08:28","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T00:08:28","slug":"forty-three-05","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3030","title":{"rendered":"Forty-three – 05"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cYou said you\u2019d tell me about her,\u201d Thom said, apparently picking up the dropped thread of conversation, one interrupted by Thordin\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did,\u201d the leader agreed. \u201cThough I hope what I am about to impart to you will not be in vain. I would hope that you will help us find her\u2014if what you claim is true and you don\u2019t already know her location. If you do know where she lays hidden, I would hope that by the time I am done, you would hand her over to us as I\u2019ve requested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tone was mild enough, but the words left Thordin uncomfortable and uncertain. Who the bloody hell was he talking<\/em>\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cRest assured that I haven\u2019t the foggiest clue where the Hecate\u2019s gone,\u201d Thom said, his expression impassive. It certainly wasn\u2019t a lie\u2014they didn\u2019t<\/em> know where she was, though their search hadn\u2019t taken them too far afield of home.<\/p>\n

Still, I have to wonder how far she really might have gone.<\/em> Thordin took a slow, silent breath. But if Olympium wants her, Christus, we can\u2019t just decide to hand her over without knowing why we\u2019re doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

He stared at Thom for a brief moment and decided that wasn\u2019t something the other man would do, regardless of how he actually felt about the woman. He\u2019d know the reason and make the choice from there.<\/p>\n

At least, that was Thordin\u2019s hope\u2014for even he, as much as he disliked the Hecate, for as much trouble as she\u2019d always seemed to bring, he didn\u2019t like the idea of just handing her over\u2014especially if she was no longer with them.<\/p>\n

In the old days, she always was\u2014or at least appeared to be. She never <\/em>seemed to be working at cross-purposes to them. Did something change? It must have. If it hadn\u2019t, they would have found her by now\u2014or she would have sought them.<\/em><\/p>\n

In these things, there was safety in numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs my\u2026companion\u2026has indicated, she was once his consort,\u201d the leader said. \u201cThough I must mention that they have been estranged from each other for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWrongfully\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

The leader cast the flag-bearer a warning look and the other man fell silent, swallowing his commentary but glaring at his leader\u2019s back once he\u2019d turned back to Thom and Thordin.<\/p>\n

Another chill crept down Thordin\u2019s spine.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was young when we took her in, a orphan of war, if you will,\u201d the leader continued. \u201cShe was not the only one, of course, but she was among the most powerful. Her power was manifesting then, though some was still nascent, still…undeveloped. We helped her to realize her full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHer full potential,\u201d Thom echoed.<\/p>\n

Thordin felt a growl rising in his throat, felt his hackles starting to rise. He tried to tamp down the reaction, though something flickered in the woman\u2019s gaze\u2014she, at least, had noticed some faint sign of his discomfort, of his reaction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a bad feeling about this.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thordin’s point of view.] \u201cYou said you\u2019d tell me about her,\u201d Thom said, apparently picking up the dropped thread of conversation, one interrupted by Thordin\u2019s approach. \u201cI did,\u201d the leader agreed. \u201cThough I hope what I … 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":[124,232,14],"tags":[231,150,171,170,230,149,148,168,147,165,158,169,146],"class_list":["post-3030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-43","category-story","tag-aietes","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hera","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-MS","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030","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=3030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3031,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions\/3031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}