Page 130 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
A few painful beats before the Stradat Lord Kapitan said, “At least he can no longer cause issue here. He was working with the enemy, though I now think the enemy is no longer solely Cerulene.”
“We must find the second Gate and restore both Kainadr and Xera with the powers infused into the swords.” Fely smoothed back flyaway pieces of her dark hair. “Using that information, we might be able to bargain with the General to leave your city alone. He’s bent on revenge, but in the end, you both aim for the same goal— to save Yalvara.”
“I’ll never give in to those blasted—” The Stradat Lord Kapitan used a word to describe them that wasn’t polite for anyone’s ears, much less the women in the room. Kase started to rise, but Hallie pulled him back down.
Niels just stared straight ahead. The cold had spread into his shoulders and his hips. He wanted to sleep.
“But what must we do? What will finding the swords accomplish?” Hallie sounded so much calmer than Niels would’ve figured possible, considering the circumstances.
It was Saldr that answered, “Some believe in combining the Essence powers, including the final sliver of Toro hidden within Valora, which would stop the destruction of the planet…for a time. No prophecy or ancient text tells us what will happen after.”
“How would that work?” Niels asked, but everyone ignored him.
“There is a chance it all fails? That whatever we do will have no effect?” Hallie’s freckles stood out starkly on her pale skin. Niels could’ve counted every single one. “Why wasn’t this done earlier? When the Essences were together? And Loffler. He’s somewhere in the Gate. He had an Essence power.”
Saldr rubbed his jaw. “The secondary Gate—”
Saldr’s answer was interrupted as one of the guards entered. The rush of noise from outside the tent physically hurt. Niels swayed. He gripped the edge of the table, but no one noticed, too focused on the guard.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, Stradat Lord Kapitan, but the Walkers are outside.”
Hallie jerked her head toward the entrance and tried to stand, but the table was in the way. She cursed softly as her leg collided with it. She sat back down. Niels couldn’t do anything to help. He was too numb.
“We are in a meeting,” the Stradat Lord Kapitan said with irritation coloring the words. “I will not stand for petty interruptions.”
Niels caught the feathering in Kase’s jaw. Niels and his own father hadn’t had the closest of relationships, but that didn’t mean he hated him. Niels knew he hadn’t been an easy child to raise, that he would never be as good as his brother, even if Niels had stayed to help provide for the family when Andre had left to sell furs in Nar. He’d failed and had returned home to help with the struggling farm.
But then they’d all died. Except for Niels.
Niels gripped the table even harder until it hurt. The pain kept the swaying at bay.
“They are quite insistent, Stradat Lord Kapitan.”
“They will wait.”
The soldier saluted and closed the flap behind him. The Stradat Lord Kapitan glared at Kase, “This is your doing, isn’t it?”
“They’re Hallie’s parents.” Kase crossed his arms. “They deserved to know when she returned.” His voice was the fire to his father’s ice.
Hallie stiffened. Niels’ neck went cold.
The Stradat Lord Kapitan’s eyes narrowed further as he opened his mouth to argue back. The tent flew open, interrupting the scathing remark he was sure to make.
Zelda Walker barged in, and for all her short stature, she looked about ten feet tall.
“I don’t care who you are or that you could order my execution tomorrow.” Zelda aimed her words at the Stradat Lord Kapitan. “But I will see my daughter.”
Niels couldn’t even muster up a smile at her audacity. It was like his face was frozen.
Hallie shot out of her seat. Kase stepped between his father and Zelda. Niels couldn’t move. Hallie grabbed her mother by the hand and dragged her back to the tent entrance. “Mama, you need to wait.”
Zelda did not like that one bit, but her dropped jaw and ready response got cut off by a rumble through the tunnels. Kase dove for Hallie, protecting her with his body. Something large and heavy crushed the sleeping cot.
Niels fell sideways onto the table and banged his head before tumbling out of his chair.
He barely felt it.
The other side of the tent collapsed around them, ripping it in two as the side with the Stradat Lord Kapitan’s desk toppled into a growing, rattling crevice ripping open the stone floor. Both Fely and Saldr’s chairs fell into the abyss. Fely screamed, scrambling for purchase along the giant crack that appeared inthe floor. Saldr lunged, catching her by the wrists and pulling her up.
