Wherever I Am

Chapter 23 - Part 2

"So let me get this straight," I said loudly, but not really caring. I was getting tired of these surprises. "Sobecks are primitive humans and not some sorcerous hybrid of wolf and human like everyone here thinks?"

"Hominid is the proper term," Lauretti replied. "From a different world where they evolved differently."

"And you're just telling me this?" Why were they always holding things back?

"I thought you were just going on some macho bullshit campaign to kill a few Sobecks and come back victorious, so there wasn't much reason to discuss this. However, since your goal is to find their home and rescue the people they've captured, you need to know that their true home is across the ether in another world.

"And they're here why?"

"Originally, or this time?" She shrugged. "It might be the same, so originally, they were sent here to terrorize the area, i.e., the Realm presence here. The problem with that theory this time is that they were here before you were, and the way we'd ignored Baemardis for the last couple of decades, it would've had little effect on the Realm if we hadn't dropped you here. We had no plans on dropping you and Ellie here so unceremoniously until about an hour before we did. If they are being sent here again, or survivors have flourished in the area, something else is happening. If that's the case, I don't understand the vendetta. This isn't simple pack expansion, so I assume they're being sent here in force. We are investigating this but aren't coming up with anything yet."

"Who's investigating?"

"Danus and Tabitha are the boots on the ground here," Lauretti said, taking a sip of her plum wine. "Right now, they're getting everything set back up here, including a healing chamber. That should be ready in a week or so."

I sighed and glanced out at the starlit sky off my balcony. "Am I being stupid to go hunt Sobecks?"

"An active leader is usually a good leader. Your people are dying, and while some of your troops will die in battle, it's a better death than being slain on their hearths."

I understood that. "I just have to keep from doing something stupid and getting us all killed."

"That would be helpful," she agreed. "Reginar has planned and fought in several battles over the years, and Cornelia has a fair amount of experience, too. Listen to them, but make your own decisions."

I snorted. "Be steered but not overwhelmed by them? Is that it?"

She lifted her glass in a toast. "I understand Sinense has decided to join you after all."

"Otherwise, her bedmates were going to desert her."

"I hadn't heard that."

I told her what Sorina had told me, and she laughed. "That explains a lot. Sinense has been protected and not trained like you, Ellie, and Nathan. In some ways, her world didn't support that. With their ongoing recovery from that celestial holocaust and its resulting ice age, they were isolated from potential enemies by distance. We know there are other survivors in other parts of the world based on radio communications, but the weather isn't conducive to long-distance travel."

She sighed and continued. "She was going with you on your campaign anyway, but I like that it's now her idea. I know you don't like it, but don't leave her at Bacea. If you have to, leave her at Suata with Boian's family, but I'd rather she was in the field with you for the entirety. She needs to experience the real world."

"I don't even know what the real world is anymore," I retorted.

"Touché," she replied, "and you're right. There's only one reality, but it's split through the universe like a prism so that you only see certain colors at any one time."