Thanus 67

Soren and I got along surprisingly well. He treated me like a person, not a lowborn. I’d assumed since he’d never paid me any mind that it was because of my class. But it turned out that Soren acted that way to everyone until he had to interact with them.

“So in his message, he said he’d meet at Kiromir’s legend. I’m assuming this is something to do with that whole ‘Mothman incident.” Soren seemed displeased about it.

“Yeah, but it’s not that simple. It’d be easy to say Point Pleasant, but the fact of the matter is that there are a half dozen places it could be.” I tallied them up in my head.

Sorrin rolled out a map of the US, one of the old road crawlers, and I pointed along our summer routes. Hopefully, wherever Gaff had intended would be along that route, and it had to have had something to do with Mothman. Then, I marked Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and a few other locations like roadside attractions that boasted ‘museum of oddities’ type things. I remembered because Lowak used to drag us to one every year to torment Kiromir.

By the time I ruled out and listed all the locations, we only had three or four to choose from. Niala never moved when she got lost, so I knew they’d stay close.

“Take anything from the storages and pick your men. If you take a team of six, you can take coarselight twice and still head back here for the night.”

“We can only go to one place and then back,” I corrected him, but Soren grinned. “Take songbirds with you. Our people have more mana, and you’re charged with Kiromir’s fire. So you should be fine.”

“Make your recommendations on men, then.” I wanted Soren’s input because I didn’t know his men like ours.

“Balester, Lerrin, Kahera, Senson, Rehn, and Kirayan,” Soren named off automatically.

“And you trust them?” I didn’t know if I trusted anyone at this point after what just went down, and the prospect of not having my own men terrified me.

“With my life.” Soren straightened his posture. “But I see that things are strained. Feel free to name your men to take, too. It may slow you down, but—”

“Nodak and Krell,” I said it automatically.

“They’re so young!” Soren balked at my choice.

“Krell has an abundance of mana. His mother was a songbird. Nodak has a one-track mind for fighting. He goes on auto-pilot and doesn’t stop. He follows orders and doesn’t flinch.” I held my ground. Nodak was an asshole at the best of times, but I’d trust him to fight to the end. “Also, neither of them are bound. I’d pick Lizer, but he’s a little wild and acting as Prim’s cover. Everyone else is bound or has children. I know either one of them would give a wing for Niala.”

“Good choice.” Soren approved.

“When can I meet them so we can head out? I think I know Balester and Kahera.” I said, restless.

“Good. Balester is out back, so go round the men. Leave as soon as possible. The sooner we have our kids back, the sooner we can bolt down.”

I nodded and stood tall. It was time to reclaim what was ours.