{"id":3287,"date":"2017-07-14T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2017-07-14T04:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3287"},"modified":"2017-07-13T10:08:33","modified_gmt":"2017-07-13T14:08:33","slug":"seventeen-01-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3287","title":{"rendered":"Seventeen – 01"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cWhere is Sif?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the second time he\u2019d asked the question, as he hauled himself up onto the wall on the far side of the gate. He was surprised to see Marin crouched next to Seamus, her bow in hand. How had she beaten them there? He hadn\u2019t thought rallying the rest and getting Phelan\u2019s staff from his room had taken quite that long.<\/p>\n

Maybe it was his good-bye to Jacqueline and sending her below. That\u2019s what took so bloody long.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even as worry swelled his throat, Thordin couldn\u2019t blame his friend. If he had been in the same spot, he\u2019d have done the exact same thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeamus.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former leader of the Wild Hunt gave a little jerk, tearing his gaze from the field. He took a deep breath and for a second, Thordin could see the weight of all of the years crash down on Seamus\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

Then, he pointed out into the field and Thordin\u2019s heart froze in his chest.<\/p>\n

No.<\/em><\/p>\n

There she was, out on the field, her hair whipping around her, torn free of her braid in the winds of Anhur\u2019s brewing stormfront. She faced Anhur, who slowly drew to a stop a few yards from her, clouds writhing in the sky above him. It was too far away to hear what they said.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t realize he\u2019d risen from his crouch, didn\u2019t realize he\u2019d moved toward the forward edge of the wall. He didn\u2019t realize that his weapon was in hand, that he was ready to jump\u2014not until Phelan grasped his shoulder and jerked him back.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t,\u201d the Taliesin said, his voice grim but firm. \u201cIf you go out there and whatever she\u2019s doing is going well, you showing up there is going to turn everything sour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if it\u2019s not going well?\u201d Thordin croaked. It felt like someone or something had him by the throat, choking off his air. Maybe it was his heart, risen up to strangle him. \u201cWhat then?\u201d<\/p>\n

Phelan\u2019s fingers tightened. \u201cThen we fight like hell because this is our home and no one\u2019s going to take it\u2014or anyone here\u2014from us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you stop her, Seamus?\u201d It was Thom that asked the question, and for that, Thordin was silently grateful. He wasn\u2019t sure he could form the words, let alone sound quite as civil.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen she has her mind set to something, there\u2019s no stopping her, no matter how much you may want to,\u201d Seamus said, his voice grim.<\/p>\n

Out on the field, there was a flicker of movement. Thordin sucked in a sharp breath as Sif drew her blade.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no.\u201d The words escaped before he could stop them, a whisper lost in the suddenly howling wind.<\/p>\n

Thunder crashed and lightning arced downward unerringly toward the charging shieldmaiden as the storm flowed outward, toward her, toward the wall.<\/p>\n

Toward the rest of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The light left him blinded and breath burned in his throat. Rain sheeted from the sky, the storm suddenly rolling over them, over the walls, the sky black as soot and wrought iron. Thom was yelling; something about archers and range. Marin was shouting\u2014something about watching the sky. A shiver of power swept over him. Phelan and Matt were working magic again, deep magic\u2014it seemed the geology student turned blacksmith remembered far more of a druid and a silversmith than he had ever let on.<\/p>\n

And Thordin could do nothing except stare blindly ahead at a spot where there was nothing but the painful blue-white of lightning bolts raining down where the love of his life had been and hold on to a last fraying thread of hope.<\/p>\n

Lightning crackled at his fingertips. It was hard to breathe.<\/p>\n

No.<\/em><\/p>\n

There was<\/em> something.<\/p>\n

He stopped thinking entirely. He slammed a hand down against the stones of the wall; a ripple of something flowed outward in the space of a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

If it takes my life for yours, it will have been worth it.<\/em><\/p>\n

His vision dimmed at the edges.<\/p>\n

I love you, Sif. Forgive me.<\/em><\/p>\n

The sky screamed<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thordin’s point of view.] \u201cWhere is Sif?\u201d It was the second time he\u2019d asked the question, as he hauled himself up onto the wall on the far side of the gate. He was surprised to see … 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":[240,263,14],"tags":[261,150,171,170,160,174,152,181,149,173,148,159,168,147,167,165,158,169,146],"class_list":["post-3287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-17-book-6","category-story","tag-anhur","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-j-t-mackenzie","tag-jacqueline-bell","tag-marin-astoris","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-seamus-vaughan","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-sif","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thordin","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-R1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287","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=3287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3288,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3287\/revisions\/3288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}