{"id":3101,"date":"2017-01-09T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T05:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3101"},"modified":"2017-01-07T09:13:43","modified_gmt":"2017-01-07T14:13:43","slug":"forty-nine-01","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3101","title":{"rendered":"Forty-nine – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Shields snapped up and into place a second before Matt consciously realized they should be there, lightning sheeting off the lines of the wards his sister had crafted. Half a second later, he remembered they weren\u2019t designed to do that and his heart gave a strange double-beat.<\/p>\n

His hands were glowing, faintly silver-gray, his fingers splayed, a faint tremor starting in the muscles of his arms.<\/p>\n

Is this me?<\/em><\/p>\n

She told you they would need you to help shield them.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was too bright beyond the ward-line to look at where she stood, with lightning crashing down faster and faster at that spot where she\u2019d been.<\/p>\n

The army Olympium had brought with them was moving, though they weren\u2019t moving together\u2014half was forming ranks and moving forward, others were running, fleeing back toward the rear.<\/p>\n

What the hell does all of this mean?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cArchers,\u201d Thom said, his voice quiet at first, then rising slightly. \u201cArchers, target the ranks moving toward us. Keep your shots clear of the lightning column in the center. We don\u2019t want to hit her on accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sif\u2019s voice rose above the storm and the sound of lightning crackling off the wards, repeating Thom\u2019s order. Responses echoed down the wall from the Wild Hunt\u2019s archers. Sif notched an arrow and sighted her target.<\/p>\n

Matt\u2019s heart rose into his throat. Phelan\u2019s hand fell on his shoulder and his jaw tightened. He cast a sidelong glance at the other man as Phelan\u2019s fingers tightened around his shoulder. A faint tingle flowed through him, centered on his friend\u2019s hand, lending him strength that he didn\u2019t realize he needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s drawing on you,\u201d Phelan whispered, his voice barely audible over the storm. \u201cWhat she\u2019s doing out there isn\u2019t something she can do alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told me I needed to be here,\u201d Matt murmured. \u201cOn the wall, with all of you, protecting you. I wanted to stay with her.\u201d His eyes stung as he struggled to see her amidst the blinding blue-white of the lightning. Phelan\u2019s fingers tightened and Matt squeezed his eyes shut, the after-images dancing against the black of his closed eyelids.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoose!\u201d<\/p>\n

The hum of bowstrings and arrows momentarily overrode the sound of the storm and Matt bowed his head, a tremor running through him.<\/p>\n

What if someone didn\u2019t\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n

No. No, they wouldn\u2019t dare.<\/em><\/p>\n

Would they?<\/em><\/p>\n

Phelan squeezed his shoulder and Matt swallowed hard as he opened his eyes in time to see arrows rain down on the leading ranks of Olympium\u2019s army, the ranks that continued their advance.<\/p>\n

A horn blasted a signal from somewhere at Olympium\u2019s rear. For a moment, the fleeing ranks paused. Some turned back to join the front.<\/p>\n

Matt held his breath. \u201cThey\u2019re not running.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Phelan agreed, his tone grim. \u201cI don\u2019t think we expected that they would.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they hoped.<\/em> Matt\u2019s jaw tightened. \u201cWhat more can we do to help her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArchers!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sif echoed Thom\u2019s shout and responses flowed down both lines of the wall. Matt\u2019s heart started to beat faster.<\/p>\n

He tore his gaze away from the field and stared at his friend. \u201cHow do we stop them if she can\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan stared at him for a long moment before a wry smile curved one corner of his mouth. \u201cAre you asking me what the cost would be or if it\u2019s smart?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think smart<\/em> went out the window when I left her alone out there on the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something flickered in Phelan\u2019s eyes, but the once-druid nodded. \u201cProbably right on that. Do you trust me?\u201d<\/p>\n

A laugh tried to tear itself free from Matt\u2019s throat. He shook his head. \u201cFuck, is now really the time to be asking that question?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPoint taken,\u201d Phelan said, his old devil-may-care grin flickering across his face for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cLoose!\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin leaned close, his expression grim. \u201cWhatever you two are going to do, you\u2019d better do it fast before they get too close for the archers to make a difference and we have to start going over this wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s right,\u201d Phelan said, meeting Matt\u2019s gaze.<\/p>\n

Matt nodded. \u201cThen whatever it is, let\u2019s do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And damn the cost.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Shields snapped up and into place a second before Matt consciously realized they should be there, lightning sheeting off the lines of the wards his sister had crafted. Half a second later, … 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":[124,239,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,173,229,148,168,147,167,165,158,169,146,195],"class_list":["post-3101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-5","category-chapter-49","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-pluton","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-O1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101","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=3101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3102,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3101\/revisions\/3102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}