{"id":3206,"date":"2017-04-24T00:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T04:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3206"},"modified":"2017-04-23T20:03:20","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T00:03:20","slug":"nine-04-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3206","title":{"rendered":"Nine – 04"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Phelan stared at him for a long moment. \u201cSo you lied to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, I\u2019ll make it to the forge.\u201d Thordin shrugged with one shoulder. He was still pale after his ordeal and Phelan was more than half certain he\u2019d dropped a dozen pounds\u2014probably of muscle\u2014during his recovery as well. The lindwyrm had very nearly been the end of him. \u201cI did want to talk to Matt about some things and he\u2019s up there, but I also felt like I needed to talk to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout what?\u201d Phelan mumbled, staring out over the ravine again. A shaft of sunlight through the canopy of trees caught his eye and he tracked it up to a gap between branches and trees before letting his gaze drift away again. \u201cDid I miss something?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you did, it\u2019s less than what I missed.\u201d Thordin shook his head slightly. \u201cThey\u2019re coming back for another round, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems that way.\u201d Phelan chafed his palm against his arm, biting down on the inside of his lip. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m surprised it didn\u2019t happen sooner. Daniel and his pack must have been very good at laying a false trail and bogging them down.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hope they didn\u2019t pay a price for it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cOr they got distracted by something else,\u201d Thordin said, his voice quiet.<\/p>\n

“Like what? I don\u2019t know about you, but my experiences with them point to a serious interest in vengeance\u2014to the exclusion of everything else. That\u2019s the only thing that knocked me off their radar. Well. That and distance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thordin shook his head slowly. \u201cThey\u2019re more easily distracted than you think, especially if they think they\u2019ve found better targets. But they don\u2019t forget. Sometimes I think they bank on that\u2014their targets forgetting before they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cExcept we haven\u2019t forgotten,\u201d Phelan said, squeezing his eyes shut. We\u2019re just not ready for them.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we haven\u2019t,\u201d Thordin agreed. \u201cBut I\u2019ll be damned if I know how we\u2019re going to handle them and<\/em> Leviathan.\u201d He lapsed into silence for a moment, absently rubbing at his injured side, close to healed, but Phelan knew it still bothered him and probably would for the rest of his life. Some wounds were like that\u2014like Cameron\u2019s, where the dirae<\/em> had gotten a piece of him, like Teague\u2019s where one of Hecate\u2019s daggers had dug deep into his side.<\/p>\n

What would he say now if he knew?<\/em> Phelan wondered, his thoughts drifting. His attention snapped back as Thordin cleared his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m guessing from your silence that you don\u2019t have any really stellar ideas, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Phelan admitted. \u201cBut how the hell do you know so much about them? I thought you didn\u2019t remember everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t. Sif and I have been talking, though, and they\u2019ve got a reason to hate her, too.\u201d His lips thinned and he swallowed hard. \u201cI\u2019m worried about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn what way?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried that she\u2019ll try to talk me into cutting and running,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI\u2019m worried that I\u2019ll listen and then you guys won\u2019t have us or worse yet, we\u2019ll go, some of you guys will come after us and you\u2019ll find us dead or worse because we can\u2019t handle those bitches on our own and running isn\u2019t going to help. We can\u2019t run forever. I think that\u2019s the only thing that keeps her from doing everything I\u2019ve just said.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan winced, rubbing at his jaw. \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNever, not anymore.\u201d Thordin leaned back, resting against his elbows and staring at the sky. \u201cIf there\u2019s anything that\u2019s become abundantly clear to me in the past year, it\u2019s that there\u2019s a lot of shit I don\u2019t know and even less I understand.\u201d He shot his friend a weak, wry smile. \u201cHonestly, I\u2019m not sure I would want to carry that burden anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, you don\u2019t,\u201d Phelan muttered. \u201cBut in some ways, I\u2019m starting to be in the same boat. There are some things I know are supposed to happen and Thom and Marin\u2019s visions have been confirming it, but there\u2019s stuff that I\u2014\u201d he broke off, his jaw tightening for a moment. \u201cIt\u2019s starting to get hard to track all of it and keep myself alive at the same time.\u201d And have a life and maybe a future that doesn\u2019t involve me wandering the face of the globe looking for prophecies and shepherding them to their fruition or whatever damned bullshit we were taught to believe a Taliesin was supposed to do.<\/em> \u201cMaybe I should stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStop what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to make sense of all of it,\u201d Phelan said, then sighed. \u201cStop trying to play the role of the Taliesin in a world where maybe I\u2019m not needed anymore\u2014not in that capacity, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPhelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tone of his friend\u2019s voice made Phelan grimace. He rubbed at his temple. \u201cI know what you\u2019re going to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you going to make me say it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Phelan said, feeling the weight of the world crash down on his shoulders again. \u201cNo, you\u2019re going to tell me that I\u2019m needed, that I still have a job to do and the world still needs a Taliesin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMostly that,\u201d Thordin said. \u201cBut I was also going to say that being the Taliesin and being happy aren\u2019t mutually exclusive. Being the Taliesin and mostly staying here, staying with Jac and the others, you can do that. You\u2019re the Taliesin. You make the rules and no one is going to tell you that you\u2019re doing it wrong. The only person who could is Seamus and he\u2019s got his own shit to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan smiled crookedly and shook his head. \u201cWhen the hell did you get so wise about this sort of bullshit, Thordin?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d the other man said. \u201cMaybe I always was and I never had to rise to the occasion. Probably that, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan chuckled and Thordin grinned.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want company up at the forge?\u201d Phelan asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably wouldn\u2019t say no to it,\u201d Thordin admitted. \u201cYou ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan nodded. \u201cYeah. Let\u2019s head up. Thanks for pulling me out of my own head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEasier than pulling you out of your own ass,\u201d Thordin said as he got to his feet. \u201cYou\u2019re welcome, Phelan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Taliesin threw his arm around his friend\u2019s shoulders and together, the two headed up the hill toward the forge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Phelan’s point of view.] Phelan stared at him for a long moment. \u201cSo you lied to her.\u201d \u201cEventually, I\u2019ll make it to the forge.\u201d Thordin shrugged with one shoulder. He was still pale after his ordeal … 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":[240,250,14],"tags":[150,171,170,149,173,148,168,147,165,169,146],"class_list":["post-3206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-09-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-PI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206","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=3206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3207,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3206\/revisions\/3207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}