{"id":3176,"date":"2017-03-24T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-03-24T04:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3176"},"modified":"2017-03-23T19:08:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T23:08:10","slug":"seven-01-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3176","title":{"rendered":"Seven – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

An hour past sunrise found Thom out at the wall, expression grim, pacing its length, searching for weaknesses, places he could improve on what they\u2019d already worked so hard and spent so much time to build. It was their first line of defense, though, that wall, and if they were going to have to face Leviathan\u2014or something worse\u2014he wanted to be ready.<\/p>\n

He had a family to think about, damn it all. He was going to be ready<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Seamus came to him out there, stood watching for a few long moments. Thom knew he was there. The why didn\u2019t matter, though he knew that the older man wouldn\u2019t keep his silence forever. Soon enough, he\u2019d break the silence.<\/p>\n

Until then, Thom was content to move up and down the wall with a small sketchpad and pencil in hand, sketching and jotting notes.<\/p>\n

Shore up the wall at the north end. Needs repairs at eight meters. Add a blind at the fifteenth meter. Blind at the twenty-fifth meter. Signs of weakness at twenty-seven meters.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA wall may not stop that bastard,\u201d Seamus said at last. He stood with his hands in his pockets, squinting at Thom in the glare of the morning sun.<\/p>\n

Thom grunted, tucking his pencil above his ear and stuffing the pad into his back pocket as he walked over to inspect a gouge in the concrete at thirty-one meters\u2014not too far from the gate, now. \u201cAt least we\u2019ll have a first line of defense,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Seamus made a quiet noise in his throat, lapsing into silence for another few moments as Thom continued down the wall. \u201cWhat about the defenses on the back side of the village?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ravine-side? We have choke points and rubble to stop him there,\u201d Thom said, then turned. \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ravine and the wardings might not stop him,\u201d Seamus said, his voice grim. \u201cWe can\u2019t rely on those forever\u2014or the Wild Hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chill washed over Thom. \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething isn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Understatement of the century, there.<\/em> Thom shook his head. \u201cTell me something I didn\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a fight we win with defenses or strength of arms, Thom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then I don\u2019t know how the hell we\u2019re going to win it\u2014luck isn\u2019t going to save us this time, either, now is it?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDefenses are all I\u2019ve got,\u201d Thom said bitterly, turning back to his work.<\/p>\n

Seamus fell silent again. If he\u2019d angered the Prince of the Aes Dana, Thom didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

He kept to his work, moving toward the gate.<\/p>\n

Defenses and a stubborn streak\u2014and a gift I can\u2019t master, a gift I don\u2019t fully understand\u2014that\u2019s all I\u2019ve got to protect my family.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be damned if I can\u2019t find a way to make that be enough. One way or another, it\u2019s going to have to be enough. I don\u2019t have anything else. Not now. Not yet.<\/em><\/p>\n

Not yet.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view.] An hour past sunrise found Thom out at the wall, expression grim, pacing its length, searching for weaknesses, places he could improve on what they\u2019d already worked so hard and spent so … 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":[240,248,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,148,159,168,147,165,158,146,195],"class_list":["post-3176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-07-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Pe","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176","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=3176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3178,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3176\/revisions\/3178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}