Tank socked me in the shoulder, and I glowered at him.
“What’s with the death stare? Be happy, man, look at everyone we’re saving.”
“It’s not that I’m unhappy about. Whatever magic she’s using, it’s affecting Everest’s body,” I told him quietly, watching her from across the rundown manor house we recently cleared out of Black Diamonds. She was tending to a few minor injuries for our soldiers, but every time she stood, her knees wobbled a bit. “Those damned witches are killing her, Tank, and I can’t do a bloody thing about it.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” he argued until I growled at him. “Everest chose this, remember? I know you trust her, so keep trusting her. She knows what she’s doing.”
“Sure she does.”
Tank was right about one thing, at the moment I should’ve been jumping for joy. We successfully infiltrated the second dimension, and though we lost more than we did in the first attack, we managed to liberate this one as well. But there had been no Priests here at all, none trying to kill us. The Black Diamonds had put up one hell of a fight until Nora shut them down with a massive lightning storm that drove the rest of them to surrender or flee.
“Too easy,” I whispered to myself.
“What’s that?” Tank said.
I shook my head. “Once we’re finished here, I want a meeting with everyone back in town. Pass the word along, would you?”
“Sure thing. What are you doing to do?”
“Have a conversation with a very stubborn woman, or seven women, you know what I mean.”
He chuckled as I moved through the house toward Nora.
“Can I help you with something?” she asked, not looking up from the wounded arm she patched on one of the witches.
“I need a word with you outside, now if you don’t mind.”
“There are still many wounded I need to tend to.”
“Now, Nora,” I growled, and she sighed.
I didn’t wait but headed straight outside.
A few moments later she joined me, and I pulled her out of the way of anyone overhearing us.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m afraid I don’t see the problem.”
“Of course you don’t because you simply refuse to. You need to stop using so much power, understand? It’s killing Everest.”
She crossed her arms and stared at me blankly. “This again? I have told you time, and again, she is fine. Her body and mind are both fine. You need to stop wasting so much energy worrying about her and focus on the endgame.”
“I am, and that endgame involves Everest being alive. Does yours?”
Her jaw clenched, but she stared at me straight in the eye. “If Everest begins to weaken, I will let you know, but until that moment in time, you have more pressing matters to worry about. If you’ll excuse me, I have wounded to take care of.”
“I’ve called a meeting, and I expect you to be present. If your strength allows it,” I called after her.
She stopped for just a second then kept on walking, but that was all the answer I needed.
“Just like Everest, you can’t lie to save your life.” I uttered a curse and kicked at a stone on the ground, watching it tumble off into the weeds before I took in our surroundings.
This dimension hit far too close to home when we first arrived. I spent most of my life here amongst the dilapidated homes and shacks that passed for shelter. Hiding. Always hiding to try and stay alive.
Those who’d disobeyed orders had their bodies hung and displayed for all to see. Preston and Jenny had already cut them down, and they would be taken back with us, as well as the rest of our dead, to be given a proper farewell. The Black Diamonds we left there for their bodies to rot.
At first, I considered trying to fully reclaim these dimensions, but there was too much death lingering in the air. Too many bad memories soiled the dirt. I doubted anything would grow here ever again. Everywhere I looked was just dead grass and dead land. No green. No blue sky, nothing worth saving except those of my clan.
“Slade, we’re getting ready to head out,” Jenny called, and I waved at her.
This next meeting would not be an easy one. First, we had to decide how to proceed with our next attack, but I had to voice my current concerns with the lack of pushback coming from Radnak. By now, I expected him to make an appearance, or attempt to hold these two dimensions, launch a counterattack, but so far there’d been nothing.
Not even a trap. It all felt too easy.
Having Everest still possessed put me on edge, made me paranoid, but since we attacked the camp, these battles just felt off somehow.
I followed the wounded and the rest of my soldiers out of the portal and into town, the place that would one day be their new home.
A few hours after the portal was sealed off to that dimension, I sat with the Council members, the clan leaders, Nora, and a few others to discuss our options moving forward.
“Tonight,” I announced, “I want our people to have a chance to celebrate our latest success. Let them have a night to feast and drink and let go of their past fears. They deserve that, and I believe our fighters have earned that as well.”
All heads nodded in agreement, except Nora’s, but I ignored her and pushed on.
“However, there is something I wish to say before we head off to see to the festivities.”
“What is it?” Orella asked, leaning forward in her chair.
“Has anyone else noticed how easily we took those dimensions?”
My words hung in the air and I waited, prayed really, for them all to shrug off my worries and tell me I was overthinking it. But no one did. Instead, their faces reflected the same discontent with how quickly we managed to push through the territories and rescue the Shadowguards.
“I assumed Radnak would have shown himself,” Charlette said. “After all, we have been at each fight and yet, nothing. Not even an attempt to take us.”
“It does seem strange for him to pass up a chance to attack when we might be vulnerable,” Quinto agreed. “But at the same time, I don’t want to question our good luck. Like you said, Slade, he thinks nothing of us or our armies. Perhaps he merely underestimated us and acted too late.”
“Maybe, but it still feels wrong.”
“You’ve been fighting so hard all your life,” Selma pointed out, “and you’ve been doing it either alone or with very few numbers. This is new for you, to have so much aid.”
She had a point. Each time I’d encountered the enemy, I was alone or only with a few others to watch my back. Now, I stood at the head of an army, charging in beside other armies. Though my instincts screamed at me that Radnak was playing us somehow, there was no advantage to him letting us take the dimensions, or free my people, right? We bolstered our number and took away his only weapons against his Shadowguard fighters. He was always sure of his plans and that no one could ever stand against him.
“You’re right,” I finally said, giving in. “We’ve fought hard to push back against Radnak, and we will continue to do so when we attack the Fell Gates in a few days’ time. For now, let’s relax and celebrate our victories.”
They cheered with me and left the table to go find their friends or wives and husbands and spend a night not talking about the war.
I stayed in my chair long after everyone had gone. This was too easy. Too damned easy. I wanted to shake the feeling, hating to think I was going to jinx us moving forward, but I knew Radnak. He had a plan, and I hated to think we were too far behind him to catch up to whatever it was he had waiting for our army. My thoughts drifted from Radnak to Everest and the power I’d seen her use the last few days. Each time, she took a hit, and no matter what Nora might tell me, the chance of my seeing Everest at the end of this grew slimmer by the day.
I missed her, missed simply talking to her, or holding her hand. Or watching her scowl at me over one thing or another.
“Stop it,” I muttered to myself, “you’re acting like she’s already dead.”
But she wasn’t. She was alive, trapped in her own mind, on a damned beach. If I shut my eyes, the image of her in that white dress came back to me, and I held it close, needing something to get me through an evening where everyone around me would be smiling and cheerful, and I would be the brooding clan leader.