No matter how much time passed, it was still a fresh wound, for all of us, but especially him.
“Sort of,” I said, my voice quieter.
“Well then, might I suggest that I send one of mine with you, just to even the odds?” Amestele continued, leaning back in the chair, calm, composed.
“We should take two, we only need one sniper,” Ashley murmured beside me.
“I heard that,” Eve snapped from the other side of the table. “I’m coming with, whether you like it or not.”
Ashley snorted, not giving Eve the satisfaction of a reply. We were still divided, since the accident, Eve’s rifle being the very thing that caused Mey’s death. It hadn’t been intentional, she was fighting with a mage, but the results were the same, and none of us knew how to move forward from that point.
“Then it’s settled,” Amestele nodded. “Izera and I will share food and quartz between our people, and we’ll appoint someone to recruit more soldiers while we gather the existing ones for travel towards Darkshire. Did I forget anything?”
“To raise your hand before speaking?” Ashley murmured quietly, and I hoped that no one else but me caught it. Discretely, I tried shoving my elbow into her side, and she straightened herself as she defiantly crossed her arms.
“That is all,” I blurted out quickly, closing the conversation to avoid any questions. “Who will you send with us, then?”
“I’ll have him meet up with you outside,” she smiled, as she leaned to the side and whispered to a mage next to her who disappeared quickly afterwards.
“Fishy.” Ashley leaned closer to me. “I bet she’s sending a spy with us, trying to get an advantage.”
“Well,” I sighed quietly. “We’re all about being open and honest now, aren’t we?” I gave her a knowing look again, and she waved her hand at me as if trying to wave off a fly.
“Let’s get to it, then,” Izera said shoving off her chair and walking out without waiting for a reply.
The rest of the Ashen Corps slowly followed, more uncertain, a clear image of how broken and shattered they had become without solid leadership. Remove their hatred of mages, and suddenly they’re all just lost and confused.
“Until next time,” Amestele chuckled lightly, rising along with her comrades to leave.
She, on the other hand, was too confident with no visible hesitation, which led me to believe she might be after something else, exactly as Ashley indicated.
“Phew… you could string up that tension and make a violin with it,” Nate sighed loudly.
“Fitting, since you’ve been out of tune this whole time,” Ashley snickered, before she could stop herself.
Their eyes collided and silence stretched, before Nate rose and began walking away.
“Wait, Nate,” Ashley sighed, stubbing her foot against one of the chairs. “Damn it!”
“You’re so smooth, one might think you get paid for salting our wounds,” Eve said sharply, glaring at her.
“Oh, you mean the wounds you inflicted?” Ashley bit out, like an attack dog. Before Eve was able to react, Ashley’s head dipped and I hooked my arm with hers, pulling her along with me to catch up with Nate.
We left the room, the only finished building in the camp, and entered the sea of surrounding tents.
We had practically built a camp in the field where everything had gone down a couple of weeks earlier. It was located right at the border between Aetherion and Ashen Corps lands, a place now called the Rimefield.
It was here that we had managed to broker a fragile ceasefire after decades of blood spilt… To think, the place where both sides had lost high ranking leaders in a nightmarish display had now become a site of unity for us all.
CHAPTER
2
As we walked over the field towards the supply tent, Ashley turned her head slightly watching Nate, as if assessing her damage.
“Look—” she began, but was cut off when she bumped head first into someone.
“Watch out, you—” she barked as she turned but then instantly fell silent.
