Daniel
So. That was unexpected, Ethan said.
The carriages lifted off in silence.
Caleb had secured the boarding clips himself, efficient and unsentintal about it, and now the group rode in the particular quiet that settles over people who have too much to say and no agreent yet on where to start. Daniel, Vivian, Sophie, Ani, and the Li brothers had joined Caleb and Claire in the main carriage. The Li household retainers and the Serans, who preferred their own company, made the walk back to Crescent Hyr on foot.
The silence inside held.
Daniel sat with his eyes closed and tried to organize his thoughts, which was not going well. Seeing Caleb and Claire again after this much ti carried a specific awkwardness that he had not fully anticipated. He knew Caleb's history, knew Ethan's history with Claire, had lived adjacent to both threads long enough to understand their weight, and still had no clear sense of how to hold himself in the sa enclosed space as either of them. During the Ho Return there had been proximity without real contact. This was different. This was a shared carriage and the knowledge that several people in it were watching him without appearing to watch him.
Caleb had also arrived with news.
In the first few minutes after boarding he had told them about the rcenary group that had escorted the won from Moher, the ones who had taken a contingent south along the river and not returned. Only one man had made it back to the Zhou estate. When Caleb said it, Vivian, Sophie, and Ani had each reacted in their own way, none of them loudly, all of them visibly, and then a heavier silence had moved in over the one that was already there.
This is weird, right? Ethan asked.
ga weird, Daniel replied. Not entirely sure how to act. Your brother's kind of a douche.
Ethan made a sound that was the internal equivalent of a laugh. Yeah, I've seen that one in your mories. It's a funny insult.
I thought so.
What are you going to do?
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I don't know, Daniel said. I've been thinking about Karguk. He's a regressor. Has to be. And he recognized Claire. You told she beca powerful enough to be a serious factor in the prior war, and you also said she ran.
She did, Ethan said. The demons invaded and she ran. That whole period was chaos.
How much do you actually rember of it?
Honestly? Not much. It was chaos, and I died, so my perspective on the later stages is limited by definition.
Daniel shifted slightly in his seat, still keeping his eyes closed, still aware of the others around him. We've never really talked about that part. When you died, what was it like? Did you go straight back, like a jump cut? Or was there sothing in between?
Ethan was quiet long enough that Daniel felt the deliberateness of it.
I don't think it was that simple, he said finally. It's all kind of fuzzy. And you rember how I said so of my mories feel locked away. I think so of the answers to your question might be inside that part.
Sooner or later we're going to have to figure out how to open it, Daniel said. Or at least figure out why it was locked.
Agreed. A pause. From what I can access, and I want to be clear this is fragnted, I don't think I went straight back. I think I witnessed at least so of what happened after. I get flashes when I push at it. Massive armies. Giant beasts. Demon generals whose nas I can't pull up. A lot of blood. Human cultivators fighting back, and so foreigners too, people from outside the Empire. I can't tell if the battles I'm seeing happened here or sowhere else in the world.
The tal warriors, Daniel said. You ntioned them once before and then didn't follow up.
I'm still not entirely certain whether I actually saw them or whether it's a fragnt of sothing else, Ethan said. When I push at it, though, no. They were there. I saw the fight. The tal warriors were from Calot.
Daniel opened one eye and then closed it again. You're going to have to explain that.
Calot is a country across the sea. Northern island, very green, society built around feudal lords. Those lords command warriors called Oath Takers, n and won completely encased in armor, carrying lances and massive swords. They ride beasts called myelin. Four-legged, large heads, tusks, ugly elongated faces. A delegation ca to the capital when I was about ten. There was a parade. The war beasts were intimidating enough that I still rember them clearly. Another pause. Their mana is different from ours. A variant, the way the Pulse is a variant. Sothing between divine and martial that we don't have a clean frawork for.
Daniel ran the description through his head. Big tal warriors. Lances. Massive swords. Four-legged beasts with tusks.
Wait, he said slowly. Are you describing knights? Not regular knights, like Warhamr 40k knights? Because if so I want to go there imdiately.
What's a knight?
Daniel sighed internally. Never mind.
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