I shrugged. “Everyone else seemed to be having fun,” I said innocently. “Why can’t I?”
“Because if there’s one thing the Arachessen are known for,” he muttered, dripping with sarcasm, “it’s fun.”
I almost chuckled at that one. He wasn’t wrong. I loved my Sisters, but they could be… a stoic bunch.
“I’m not an Arachessen, remember. Maybe I was just so much fun I got myself kicked out.”
Erekkus, despite his obvious misery, actually made an expression resembling a smile at that.
“I’ll remember that,” he said, “and challenge you to prove it the next time there’s wine around.”
I returned his smile despite myself. “I might be moved to accept it.”
I was a little surprised to see Erekkus that day, actually. Atrius had seemed so unhappy to see me wandering around the night before that I thought he’d fire Erekkus as my bodyguard. But no—apparently Atrius still trusted Erekkus, because he remained my companion, and I had to admit I liked that. In part, because he was talkative enough to get information from. But I found I also just enjoyed the chattiness.
We packed up camp and traveled over the next week, venturing closer to Alka as the crescent moon approached. Then, several hours’ travel from the city, we stopped again, shielded from the city by the rocky cliffs. Because of the steep, mountainous terrain, we were able to get quite close to the city while still remaining hidden—though no doubt Aaves, Alka’s warlord king, had some inkling that Atrius was coming for him.
This was, however, the only advantage offered by Alka’s terrain. The roads from here were narrow and steep, making it difficult to move thousands of soldiers at once and forcing them into a chokepoint that would make them easy to target with snipers—or, more likely, a bunch of drunken maniacs with oil-fueled firebombs. Beyond the mountain passes, the city was broken up into tall, isolated islands, connected by a series of difficult-to-navigate, poorly maintained bridges.
It was challenging. But Atrius, I’d learned, didn’t back down from a challenge.
Here, we stopped and waited. Erekkus was called away from me for the first time since the festival night. No matter where we went, my tent was always beside Atrius’s, separated slightly from the rest of the group. With Erekkus gone, I sat against the cloth wall of my tent, on the side closest to Atrius’s, and reached out for their presences.
I couldn’t make out their words, but I could sense their intentions. Half a dozen people gathered in Atrius’s tent, and as always, Atrius’s presence overwhelmed then all. They were tense and serious. Every so often, the energy would rise—in arguments, I thought—and then would immediately fall back into quiet with a single soft-spoken word from Atrius.
They were strategizing. Determining their approach.
Hours later, Erekkus left the tent and strode back toward mine. Curiously, another presence I didn’t recognize joined him. I moved away from the wall quickly, settling onto my bedroll and looking thoroughly bored by the time he opened the flap.
“You should knock,” I said. “You might’ve seen something you didn’t want to see.”
A reluctant smile pinched his mouth. “Oh, I doubt that,” he said, but his companion gave him a stern glance and he quickly sobered.
I cocked my head at the newcomer—a dour-looking man, older than most others I’d seen in Atrius’s army. His body didn’t betray his age as much as his presence did—worn, tired, beaten down.
“This is Rilo,” Erekkus said. “I’m needed in the offensive, so he’ll be watching over you.”
“Watching over me where?” I said. “Here?”
Erekkus looked at me like I was stupid. I wondered if he’d ever really understand that I knew when he did that. “Yes.”
Oh no. Absolutely not.
I straightened my back and clasped my hands. “I’d like to speak to Atrius.”
Erekkus actually laughed. “Atrius is extremely busy before an imminent attack.”
“I’ll be quick.”
“No. He’s not taking uninvited visitors.”
“I’ve had another vision. It’s very important. It affects the attack.”
Erekkus looked annoyed. “Bullshit. You’re lying.”
“Does Atrius trust you to decide that that’s true? I think he’ll be unhappy if he marches without this information, just because you made a unilateral decision you weren’t supposed to make.”
Erekkus was silent for a long moment, then cursed, turned around, and ripped the flap open.
“Stay there,” he commanded. Then, over his shoulder, he added, “I’ll ask, but I’m telling you, he’s not going to see you. He’s got better things to do.”
Atrius saw me.
He wasn’t happy about it, of course. I could sense his irritation even beneath that constant, powerful calm—though I suspected that was only because he was allowing me to.
“You take up a disproportionate amount of my time, seer,” he said, “considering that I have a thousand other people reporting to me.”
“Call me Sylina.”
I smiled. Atrius did not. It was difficult to charm him. Then again, I’d never been a very charming person.
“I would like to march with you,” I said. “Let me fight with you in Alka.”
Atrius didn’t even look up from his desk—if the makeshift stack of crates could be called that. “No.”
“I’m your seer. I’d be useful out there.”
“I’ve never seen anyone seer on a battlefield, and if they did, I think it’d cause much more trouble than it’s worth.”
He had a point there.
“I’m a trained warrior,” I said. “You yourself said the Arachessen are a force to be reckoned with.”
He lifted a lazy hand—gesturing to the camp beyond his tent. “I have a thousand warriors, and all of them are good. I have only one seer.”
It made it hard to argue with him when he was so thoroughly correct in his reasoning. I would make the same decision in his place. Any rational leader would.
I didn’t have to argue with him. I could sit like an obedient little prisoner in my tent, guarded by whatever-his-name-was, and then piece together the battle afterwards.
But I was here to gather information, and fast. What information was more valuable than seeing how they fought? I’d witnessed it once—it had been like a wall of water crashing over the shore, inevitable and inescapable. I had been distracted, though. This time, I needed to dissect their tactics. To do that, I had to be there. I could only learn so much after the battle ended, piecing the story together secondhand. Hyperbole and myths took hold fast.
I wanted the truth.
The challenge would be coming up with a good enough reason to be there.
I let out a long, noticeably shaky breath, clasping my hands together tight. For a long moment, I didn’t speak.
It was an uncomfortably lengthy stretch before Atrius’s gaze flicked up.
“What’s wrong with you?”
So blunt. It was almost charming.
I ducked my head, as if embarrassed by myself.
“I—I didn’t lie to Erekkus,” I said, “about having another vision. But I confess I lied about the nature of it.”