The Last Knight (An Awakening the Lightforged Novel)

Chapter 32: Exhausted

Then we start building and lie low. We'll still need to attack the railways, but we can attack the Imaia to provoke them while gathering food and parts and anything else we need.

C. 23 days, 33 hours since the assassination of rebel leadership

Even though it had been years since the oruu had disappeared, Koruuksi still found the transition from day to night strange in their absence. There was nothing to signal to people to start winding down for the day beside their own internal timesense.

As Koruuksi sat nursing a can of bean rations—he'd stepped outside to smoke the last of his violetsage earlier, so they tasted a bit better—eyes downcast, it didn't feel like night to him despite the slow trickle of people out of the mess hall. Before everything had gone wrong, he'd read a few reports from astronomers about worlds that rotated on an axis that wasn't pointed at their star, where there would be no Lightside or Darkside, and the entire planet would experience total darkness and light every rotation. Something like that didn't entirely make sense to Koruuksi, but he figured it would be something he would need to get used to if they ever managed to leave Efruumani and find a new home.

First, I need to finish things here.

No longer welcome in Lysanda and Nomlana's room, Koruuksi had wandered around the base the last few days, finding places to sleep among the Ironpeak refugees. He'd helped those who had continued to trickle in, but mostly he'd observed and talked to people, gathering intel, then thought long and hard on what he'd learned.

He needed to be done with this place, to go back and help Estingai and Uuchantuu. As much as his sister infuriated him, he knew she was struggling as much as he was, and she needed him. He also missed Uuchantuu. He'd never gotten used to being without her for long periods of time.

So he'd thought over everything he'd learned since arriving here. Every interaction he'd had with Mahele, Paiz, Kytai, and those two bodyguards. After things had gone wrong at Memfoso, it had to be one of them.

Koruuksi had checked out the two bodyguards first. Though they guarded Last Shadow's leadership, they weren't as high profile as those they protected, and had been easier to gather intel on. Both of them had the necessary skills, but everyone Koruuksi had talked to said they were no different than most career soldiers. If they'd done anything, it would have been on someone else's orders, not of their own volition.

It wasn't Mahele. Of that, Koruuksi was certain. The grief in the man's eyes was all too real, and Koruuksi hadn't detected any guilt, either. No more than any survivor would feel at a loved one's death, at least.

Kytai was an obvious choice: an aide to the new leader, calling the shots while he was distracted by his grief. Koruuksi had found a few obvious spies and traitors in the past, but Kytai didn't feel the same to Koruuksi as those had.

That left Paiz.

She kept Yktoron around constantly, and in all Koruuksi's interactions with her, she never spoke of her mother, and was overly protective of her father. Asking around had told Koruuksi that arguments between Vila and her daughter had been common, especially when it came to running the base, dealing with the other factions, or how to strike at the Imaia. Koruuksi knew he could just be biased, given how hostile Paiz had been toward him and regarding Estingai, but he didn't think he was.

He'd seen no grief from her. Maybe for her father's suffering, but not for her mother. Just a hardness that reminded him of Estingai. She was also now in a position to influence both her father and Kytai.

As Koruuksi glanced across the hall to where Paiz sat with Yktoron, eating in silence, a deep breath in reminded him that he still had a bit of a high from the violetsage. Rather than clouding his thoughts, though, it calmed him, making him more certain of what he had to do.