{"id":4047,"date":"2019-08-05T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T04:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4047"},"modified":"2019-08-04T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T21:06:26","slug":"twenty-03-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4047","title":{"rendered":"Twenty – 03"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Matt stared at the two of them like each had just grown an additional head.\u00a0 \u201cWhat just happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA logic train,\u201d Thom said, then smiled weakly.\u00a0 \u201cOne that Anselm was trying to make sure you were on before we went further\u2014unless I\u2019m mistaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are not,\u201d Anselm said, then stood, fetching a kettle of water and settling it over his small cookfire.\u00a0 \u201cC\u00edar was once one of us, Matthew, but you are far less experienced than he was when he came to us.\u00a0 You may have his soul and many of his memories, but you do not necessarily have his experience<\/em>\u2014just the memory of it bound into the fabric of his soul.\u00a0 That\u2019s different than actually living those experiences in this life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A chill crept down Thom\u2019s spine.\u00a0 Doesn\u2019t help when it still <\/em>feels like you\u2019ve lived it, sometimes.<\/em>\u00a0 He grimaced, rolling one shoulder carefully, trying to stretch it without pulling too much on still-tender, still-healing wounds.\u00a0 \u201cIt doesn\u2019t,\u201d Thom agreed.\u00a0 \u201cBut he does have a host of different experiences which have left him stronger for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anselm inclined his head slightly, clearly loathe to argue the point\u2014regardless of whether or not he agreed.\u00a0 He settled back down into his seat again, watching Matt and Thom with a thoughtful gaze.\u00a0 \u201cThere is a great deal of truth in that statement,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cNow.\u00a0 Suppose that when I send men to scout out where Orcus is encamped and what forces he has martialed that we learn that his army is far larger and more powerful than we fear.\u00a0 Will we still go forward with a strike?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat depends very heavily on what the Hunt finds out,\u201d Matt said, scrubbing a hand over his face. \u201cI\u2019m worried that\u2019s what you might find, but if it is, at least we\u2019ll know how we\u2019ll have to rig our defenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOr if we need to evacuate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Matt really did<\/em> look at Thom like he\u2019d grown a second head.\u00a0 Thom glanced away, quiet for a few seconds before he looked back at his brother-in-law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would be fools to imagine that\u2019s not a possibility,\u201d Thom said after a few seconds of silence.\u00a0 \u201cWe both know it.\u00a0 We\u2019ve held out against a lot, sure, but we didn\u2019t have much of a choice.\u00a0 If Orcus has a force that\u2019s too much to withstand, we might have to run, and quickly.\u00a0 If we head south, we might be safe for a time.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll even be able to come back afterwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ve finally lost your marbles,\u201d Matt said.\u00a0 Concern was etched in every line and curve of his face, worry heavy in his voice.<\/p>\n

Thom just smiled.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes you have to make the hard call to live another day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Thom’s point of view.] Matt stared at the two of them like each had just grown an additional head.\u00a0 \u201cWhat just happened?\u201d \u201cA logic train,\u201d Thom said, then smiled weakly.\u00a0 \u201cOne that Anselm was trying to … 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":[299,325,14],"tags":[178,150,171,170,181,149,148,168,147,165,158,146,195],"class_list":["post-4047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-7","category-chapter-20-book-7","category-story","tag-anselm","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-matthew-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","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-13h","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047","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=4047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4048,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4047\/revisions\/4048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}