“I’ve never heard you or your brother mention your mother. Is she…”
“No, she’s still alive, I believe. Her name is Hana. She was gentle and beautiful, an accomplished singer actually. My father sent her to one of the other settlements before he died, didn’t tell us which one of course. Claimed that because she was a Countess, she shouldn’t be out here on the front lines with us. But he really just wanted to separate us from her.”
“That’s horrible.”
“That was my father. Hard, severe. Willing to do whatever it took to make the 18th strong enough to survive, to make my brother and me hard enough to survive.”
It explained a lot about Karvek.
Pyetar continued to lead her through the trees, continued sharing this story like he couldn’t stop now that he’d begun.
“When we first came to Myura River Fort, my father sent my mother to try and reason with the settlements, to let us join the guardians in defending the border, supply us from behind, but they refused. Said we couldn’t give up on the war against the dakii or all would be lost. It was the last order the queen had made.”
Iryana nodded, trying to imagine what that had been like on his side. “I didn’t really understand it. They just told us kids the military hadn’t given up, so we couldn’t either.”
“Looking back, it might have been the right call for Istri. We distracted the dakii enough that the settlements could truly form, pull in stragglers and set up their walls and defenses. If the full brunt of the dakii had been at those borders, I am not sure how many would have survived.” Pyetar shook his head. “But it was hard to see it like that. They struggled to find enough food for us, to repair our weapons and armor. There was a lot of illness, a lot of deaths even without the dakii killing us.”
“I suppose we were lucky in that regard,” Iryana admitted. “It wasn’t much, but the settlement did what they could to help the posts.”
“The brigade considered themselves abandoned, only fodder in Istri’s eyes. Makes it hard for a soldier to feel honorable, like they are serving the realm. By the time I was old enough to fully enlist and be forged, the brigade was nothing like it once was. Being a soldier was something entirely different.”
“It makes sense,” Iryana sighed. “The posts have villainized the military a lot, blamed them almost as much as the dakii for our troubles, but they became what Istri forced them to be to survive.”
Pyetar nodded, glancing back at her. “The dakii changed us all, not just the soldiers.”
Iryana sucked in a breath. “And we can never go back to who we were before.”
He turned away from her. “Let’s pick up the pace,” he said, rushing ahead.
It took a few moments to follow.
“These parts of the forest are not covered by our usual patrols.” Pyetar stopped at a large stone sticking up from the dirt, big enough to lie on and roll a few times before falling off. “I need you to be silent—not a word—until I tell youotherwise.”
Iryana’s gut reaction was to argue, but that was quickly suppressed by logic. This was his territory, not hers. And as much as she didn’t want to admit it, she trusted him.
At least out here.
“Okay.”
His eyes narrowed slightly at her, as if he had expected an argument and had already prepared a counter.
“How long can you hold your shield now?” he asked.
“I haven’t tested it, but with all the practice with my forgings lately, I imagine pretty long.”
“Good. Don’t worry about your weapons right now; they will just drain you. You need your shield up until I tell you otherwise. Keep it thin and small—you will hold it awhile, so don’t push it. Make sure it can hide your scent from the dakii.”
She hesitated, but Iryana let the magic of her bow return to her. Walking through the dakii’s woods without a weapon in hand made her feel naked.
If she concentrated the raw magic in a small area, like she had fighting the dakya on that cliff, she could form a suitable shield. But to surround herself entirely—that would be a challenge.
It took her a while to stretch her remaining raw magic out into a suitable shield. It was like rolling out dough a little too far, the spots thinning and threatening to break. Stretched all the way around her, the magic was too thin to stop anything more powerful than a caress, but it would dampen her scent enough. She hoped.
When she looked over at Pyetar, her brows shot up. She’d been impressed when she’d seen it before, when he first led her to Myura River, but the shield he formed now was even more impressive. If the magic had any shine to it, it would look like he’d dipped his whole body in watery milk. She hadn’t realized he was that good with his magic.
“Is this how you move around on your own so much?” Iryana had to admit she had wondered. It was hard to go anywhere without running into the dakii, especially lately.
Pyetar nodded, bringing his finger to his lips as a reminder to be quiet. Then he crossed the rock and headed back into the trees.
