Chapter 14

Year 163 – Summer – Quartus Mensis – 40th day

Avem, Town of House Valmai, land of the Vale

As she was sleeping on the table, a hand was placed on her shoulder, waking her up in fear. Vatra took the table knife in front of her and slashed behind her, but the strong grip of Ethen stopped her arm from reaching him. As her sight reached his, she dropped the knife and calmed herself.

Vatra – “Sorry, my Eagle . . .”

Ethen – “I’m the one who’s sorry.”

Vatra didn’t reply.

Ethen – “Most of the militia in Avem will stay militia their whole life because they don’t want to acquire this discipline. The main difference between them and you is that they know what they will go through if they accept it.”

Vatra – “Nothing stopped you from telling me! I would have still done it, probably . . . but at least I wouldn’t have thought you were going to kill me!”

Ethen – “I still wanted to make sure that you were not a spy. The fact you didn’t say that you wanted to stop being part of the army meant a lot in your case.”

Vatra – “So I’m still considered a potential spy?”

Ethen – “Not by me, but I can’t say the same for the council. Don’t worry too much about it. Even if I might not look like it, I’m on your side. Tomorrow is going to be the same as today. If you fail to do the running, the same thing will happen. I know you can do it, and the reason I want you to do it is because on a battlefield, your mentality needs to be stronger than ever if you want to adapt quickly. Anyway, your meal is cold, but there’s a fire over there if you want to heat it up. I don’t think you have a place to stay for the night, so I brought you a wool bedroll. I’ll be going.”

Vatra – “Thank you . . . Ethen . . .”