Page 31 of The War of Wings
“No offense taken at all, Commander.” I laughed, and it felt good. “I was very glad to see them, too.”
“And please don’t take offense to this either, but were you planning on telling us about them, or…”
I blinked slowly, confused. “I didn’t know about them,” I finally blurted as understanding dawned on me. “I didn’t even believe they existed.” Summercut nodded, wide-eyed, waiting for me to proceed. I took a deep breath, clearing my throat as I looked around the tent at the eyes all trained on me.
A commotion sounded outside, muffled voices just audible through the canvas tent, and everyone went quiet. “But you need to rest, Lieutenant!” a harried voice strained, exasperation evident in his tone.
“I feel fine,” a familiar voice answered too abruptly. “I need to be here.”
“But–”
Miles pushed through the tent’s flaps, where I could see a young squire standing stock straight, wringing his hands in front of him. I gave him a quick nod and his shoulders dropped in relief before he scurried off and out of sight.
“Your Majesty,” Miles greeted with a nod, coming to stand at my other side.
“Lieutenant Landgrave,” I said, and I couldn’t keep the concern from seeping through my voice at the shadowy circles beneath his eyes and the slowness of his movements. “You do need to rest.”
“I need to be here,” he answered, peering down at the map. “Carry on. I’ll catch up.”
Cal’s brows were furrowed at his brother for a moment before he gave me a slight shrug. I cleared my throat, knowing I would get nowhere with denying Miles his spot in this tent.
I turned back to the waiting faces. Even though these men had trained for years to exemplify all the hardness and fearlessness of a military leader, I could feel dread coursing through them, could smell the stink of sweat, see the nervous glances exchanged.
“The bad news,” I started, “is that I was wrong. The battle was not fought between the Saint of Pain and an army of Vacants. It was fought against Malosym and the Occulti. Or…some form of the Occulti. I think.”
“You think?” Summercut asked cautiously.
“I… Yes,” I answered, suddenly not feeling as confident in my answer as before.
Summercut shifted on his feet. His expression was not one of disbelief, but of confusion. “But they looked like Vacants.”
“I know. But their swirling eyes, and the sheer number of them… How else could there have been that many of them? How could Malosym, back when he was Castemont, have created such a large army of Vacants? I don’t know how, but I know they were Occulti.”
A fragile silence fell over the tent, laced with tension, until Miles’ gravelly voice broke it. “I have a theory, your Majesty.”
My eyes widened. “You do?”
“I think he used the Vacants as vessels for the Occulti.”
Silence fell once again, but this one was different. This one wrapped around my neck, flexed and constricted until my throat felt too tight to breathe. “What?”
“It’s been a long time since I read about them,” he continued, his hands flexing at his sides, “but if I remember correctly, the Occulti can take any shape. So my theory is that, for some reason, he created them to look like Vacants. Maybe to take you by surprise. Maybe it took less power. I don’t know.”
I had no answer for him, no response to this theory that felt like the truth. I scrubbed at my jaw. One commander’s face had gone completely white. Another clutched his chest, his jaw ticking. Everyone around the table was silent, the implications of what this all meant for their departed loved ones soaking in like blood on the earth.
Finally, I managed to utter a few measly words, “There might be something to that, Lieutenant.”
“Saints,” Summercut whispered. “Where is Malosym now?”
“I don’t know,” I said quietly, fighting to keep his stare. “But I know he’s coming back. I don’t know when, I don’t know where, and I don’t know how. But I do know we haven’t seen the last of him. But Katia and Rhedros are still trapped, and I need to free them. Somehow.” Heads nodded all around. I looked up at Cal for a moment. “That’s all the bad news. The worst news is that…” I steeled myself. I didn’t even want to believe what I was about to say. “His conquest doesn’t stop at the Human Realm. It doesn’t even start here, really. He’s infiltrated and laid ruin to the Saints’ Realm, and he didn’t stop there.”
The energy shifted suddenly in the room, from fear to something different. My words were met with muffled murmurs, brows that had been furrowed in concern suddenly rising. Summercut leaned over the table slightly, his eyes hard on me. “You’ve seen the Saints’ Realm?”
“I saw Heaven,” I said evenly, trying not to cower beneath the disbelieving gazes around me. I placed my hands flat on the table, as if the sturdiness could ground me. “I understand how outlandish all this sounds. But I saw Heaven with my own eyes. King Belin did, as well,” I said, gesturing to where Cal loomed beside me.
“It’s true,” he said evenly. “There are realms beyond our own, and the entirety of the universe is at risk of collapse.”
The murmurs got louder, taking on an edge I didn’t like. They were questioning me. And they had every right to question, but we did not have the luxury of time.
