{"id":3894,"date":"2019-03-06T08:45:11","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3894"},"modified":"2019-03-06T08:45:11","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T13:45:11","slug":"twelve-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3894","title":{"rendered":"Twelve – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Above, in the watchtower, Gideon whistled. The rider whistled back. In the space of a few heartbeats, he was near enough to see, and Matt took a slow breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know him,\u201d he murmured. The words earned a sharp look from Phelan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know very many of them anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than you think, but most of them not well,\u201d Matt admitted, jaw tightening for a second. He glanced back toward Hecate, still standing in the shadows of the watchtower, then forward again. \u201cA lot of the ones I knew are gone now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being a rider of the Hunt in some ways had been safer than being a part of any other army back in those days\u2014save perhaps one or two that C\u00edar never would have thought to dream of then but Matt could imagine now\u2014but it had never truly been safe<\/em>. The attrition rate was high enough to guarantee that many of those who\u2019d ridden with C\u00edar mac D\u00fabhshl\u00e1in were long since passed\u2014especially in an organization where attrition<\/em> was basically synonymous with death<\/em>. Matt tried not to think about it too much, since the ache was soul-deep for some of the men now likely long<\/em> dead and the memories and pain belonged to a man now long dead himself.<\/p>\n

At least that was what he told himself sometimes when the nightmares stirred.<\/p>\n

Phelan put his hand on Matt\u2019s shoulder and squeezed. Matt exhaled, shivering slightly as he squeezed his eyes shut, head drooping until his chin touched his collarbone.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d he murmured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to be sorry for,\u201d Phelan said, squeezing again. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matt just nodded and opened his eyes again, gaze snagging on the rider.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Daegon,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cAnd if anyone truly knows what he\u2019s seen is real, it will be him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Matt’s point of view.] Above, in the watchtower, Gideon whistled. The rider whistled back. In the space of a few heartbeats, he was near enough to see, and Matt took a slow breath. \u201cI know him,\u201d … 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":[299,316,14],"tags":[150,171,170,194,181,149,173,148,168,147,165,146,195],"class_list":["post-3894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-12-book-7","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-hecate","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-phelan-ocredne","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction","tag-wild-hunt"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-10O","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894","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=3894"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3895,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3894\/revisions\/3895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}