Knife of Rebellion: Battles of Eyenwar, Book 1

Chapter 23- Truth

Dinner was brought to us a few minutes later by the first servant I had seen the whole time we have been in Miraclus. Not that a lack of servants was unfamiliar to me. We only had a few highly ranked servants in Essenis, the Torranian capital. And those were mostly just for show for foreign dignitaries.

We all ate in between questions and discussions on the rebellion. We tried to come up with a plan to contact the Gricadan resistance, but no one had any idea where to begin. They had survived this long because no one knew where they were exactly, and no one knew anything about their leader.

Finally, Alida volunteered to ride into the Gricadan mountains to investigate. With her tenacious personality I had no doubt she would succeed. Ragna was reluctant to send her daughter alone, so Garen offered to send Fin with her. Apparently both could speak limited Gridish, the language of Gricada.

Then came the point when Ragna asked for information of Alaric's weaknesses. Garen, Mirabel, Branon and I looked at each other nervously.

Between the three of us we tell her haltingly about Summerhunt's possession and my role in his exorcism, as well as the disturbing revelation of his ghost soldiers.

Ragna, to my surprise accepts it all quickly. In fact, once we are all finished, she jumps angrily from her chair, demanding to know why we didn't tell her sooner.

"I want to see this soldier. Right now." She demands.

Monika quickly fetches him, and they both come back in several minutes later slightly out of breath. My guess is they came running down the hall in their haste.

"So," snaps Ragna, "this lump is the one who knows the information that could decide a war."

Summerhunt's mouth thins into an offended line, but he nods.

"What more do you have to tell us?" She snaps.

The affronted man looks to me, asking my permission. I look him straight in the eye and say-

"Tell us everything."

He nods discretely, before recounting most of what we have already described. I sit waiting, my hands wringing nervously under the table. When he gets to the piece of information I've been waiting for, it is almost a relief.

"How does Alaric control all these ghosts?" It is Alida that asks the fateful question.

The former lieutenant responds, "Because he is possessed by a specter more powerful than any of the others"

As I expected, the room explodes as everyone reacts at once. Branon shoots out of his seat spouting various swear words and curses. Mirabel starts rambling about saving queen Jacqueline. Garen in sitting frozen in his chair, shaking his head in silent refusal.

Ragna is also in shock, enough that I know it will fall to me to get the gathering of misfit rebels back in line.

I stand and slowly walk around the room, touching each person on the forehead as I pass. With this touch I reach into their life threads and sooth them, calming their owners considerably. By the time I reach Ragna the entire room has quieted, and she refuses my touch. I nod and return to my chair.

"You seem to know about this already," Branon states accusingly.

I shrug, "I did."

"How could you keep that from us?" he asks angrily, his icy blue eyes narrowed in anger.

"You can tell instantly if someone is telling the truth or not, and you still didn't believe me when I told you that possessions even existed. If I had told you that your king has been possessed since he was three you would have thought me insane and disregarded everything I said." I explain, my voice soothing and logical.