{"id":3497,"date":"2018-02-05T00:00:18","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T05:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3497"},"modified":"2018-02-04T21:07:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-05T02:07:03","slug":"thirty-two-02-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3497","title":{"rendered":"Thirty-two – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The words haunted him, even days later. Brigh\u00edd had noticed but not asked, a mercy for which he was silently grateful. He had no desire to tell her what her brother had told him, no desire to watch her face as she came to realize that her brother had become some sort of prophet of the end of their world as they knew it.<\/em><\/p>\n

That realization would come in time, but at least he wouldn\u2019t be the bearer of that news.<\/em><\/p>\n

He heard the crunch of boots against the gravel of the path, though he didn\u2019t turn. The tread was familiar. Finn took one breath, then another, fingers flexing around the haft of his bow.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnything?\u201d she asked as she drew abreast of him, standing to his right, near enough to touch, near enough to hear the sound of her breathing over the sound of the crashing waves below and the wind coming off the water.<\/em><\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cNo. Nothing yet. But they\u2019re coming. I can feel them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He inclined his head slightly, offering a brief, if small smile. \u201cIn a matter of speaking.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMm.\u201d She stared off over the water, though he knew she was watching the sky more than the waves. \u201cCome back,\u201d she murmured. \u201cI\u2019ll set someone else on the watch.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI told you I\u2019d\u2014\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe took a boar today,\u201d she said, interrupting him as if he hadn\u2019t spoken. \u201cC\u00edar and I. It was like old times. They\u2019re roasting it right now.\u201d Brigh\u00edd\u2019s fingers slid into his, squeezed. \u201cCome back to the encampment, Finn. They won\u2019t be here tonight.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI just do,\u201d she said softly, then tugged at his hand. \u201cCome. Sit with us and remember better days.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it, not looking at her, gaze still on the horizon. \u201cBetter days will come again, Brigh\u00edd<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I fear they\u2019ll be long in coming. Come. I\u2019ll set another watchman.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll come when he\u2019s relieved me,\u201d Finn said. He finally looked at her, risked a faint smile. \u201cGo on. Knowing you, I know it won\u2019t be long.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

She gave a slight nod and squeezed his hand before she let go. \u201cOf course it won\u2019t be.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Finn nodded and watched her as she walked away before his gaze shifted back to the horizon, to the water.<\/em><\/p>\n

Perhaps she was right, perhaps they wouldn\u2019t be here today, but it was only a matter of time.<\/em><\/p>\n

In this, time was not their ally\u2014it was their enemy, one that could not be vanquished as they\u2019d handled so many before. The enemy that would come, though, that would be a different matter entirely.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of that much, he was certain.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view] The words haunted him, even days later. Brigh\u00edd had noticed but not asked, a mercy for which he was silently grateful. He had no desire to tell her what her brother had … 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":[240,282,14],"tags":[150,267,171,170,283,149,148,168,147,165,158,146],"class_list":["post-3497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-32-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-brighid-inion-dubhshlaine","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-finn-of-the-fianna","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Up","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3497","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=3497"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3498,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3497\/revisions\/3498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}