{"id":4659,"date":"2021-07-07T10:22:30","date_gmt":"2021-07-07T14:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4659"},"modified":"2021-07-07T10:22:30","modified_gmt":"2021-07-07T14:22:30","slug":"twenty-two-06-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=4659","title":{"rendered":"Twenty-two – 06"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

That, of course, was the worst of it.<\/p>\n

If not me, then who?<\/em><\/p>\n

The problem was, he couldn\u2019t come up with a good answer.\u00a0 Unless it was someone completely unconnected to all of it, there really was<\/em> no other option.<\/p>\n

Tory just shook his head, turning to head back across the marsh, back toward the village.\u00a0 Suddenly the riverside wasn\u2019t nearly as welcoming, wasn\u2019t nearly so attractive a place to think.<\/p>\n

You weren\u2019t really coming out here to think.\u00a0 You were coming out here to escape what you\u2019d already realized.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019d gone two steps before Astrid was there at his side, falling in with him as he started back across the marsh.\u00a0 The look she shot him told him that she knew exactly<\/em> what he was thinking and exactly the effect her words had on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTory, you already knew.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI came out here because I didn\u2019t want<\/em> it to be true.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course you did.\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what we all do<\/em>.\u00a0 We\u2019re just lucky we haven\u2019t had to face more than little things growing up.\u00a0 All of us know that our parents would\u2019ve liked to escape some of the crazy themselves but that was never an option, now was it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d he mumbled as they tramped through the mud and the damp.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to clean his boots when they got back.\u00a0 \u201cIt seems like they tried, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe,\u201d Astrid allowed.\u00a0 \u201cBut I don\u2019t think they ever succeeded and in the end it probably would\u2019ve been easier if they hadn\u2019t fought it tooth and nail.\u00a0 So when do we leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

He stopped walking.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

She went another step and pivoted back toward him.\u00a0 \u201cWhen do we leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think we have to leave?\u00a0 Have to go somewhere on this quest to claim your destiny?\u00a0 You don\u2019t think there\u2019s some kind of war we\u2019re going to have to fight?\u00a0 You\u2019re dreaming, Tory.\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head and started walking again.\u00a0 \u201cJust tell me when.\u00a0 I\u2019m with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She left him standing there in the marsh below the hill, alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Artorius Mackenzie’s point of view.] That, of course, was the worst of it. If not me, then who? The problem was, he couldn\u2019t come up with a good answer.\u00a0 Unless it was someone completely unconnected 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":[336,337,371,14],"tags":[340,271,372,150,171,170,149,148,168,147,165,146],"class_list":["post-4659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambrose-cycle","category-book-8","category-chapter-22-book-8","category-story","tag-ambrose-cycle","tag-artorius-mackenzie","tag-astrid-sifsdottir","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-serial-fiction","tag-story","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-1d9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659","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=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4660,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions\/4660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}