Chapter 137 Contac (1/2)
”Can't sleep either?”
Stoneheart's voice eary as he sat down next to Arran, and from the way hehih, anyway,” he said ”How are your injuries?”
”Not too bad,” Stoneheart replied, picking at one of his bandages ”That food of yours helped, too How did you get so much food with Natural Essence, anyway?”
”Just a bit of luck,” Arran said, unwilling to elaborate
”You seeht he could hear some bitterness in the tall novice's voice
”I've had ood and bad”
”I could do with some of the former,” Stoneheart said dejectedly ”Ever since I crossed the border, it's been one disaster after another I never thought it would be like this”
Finally, Arran couldn't take it anymore When he first ly confident and boastful, speaking in grand terle between the Sixth Valley's factions
Now, after a few disastrous months, it almost see gone Yet although Arran didn't o, it now seemed to have been replaced with self-pity
Between Arran's worries about Snowcloud, their group's dire situation, and the bloodlust he still felt si within hi he could not bear
”You think you haven't been lucky?” he asked, keeping his voice calm
”Look at me,” Stoneheart replied flatly ”Look at what happened these past few months Do you see any luck in that?”
Arran spoke softly, but even so, he wasn't able to fully keep the anger froiven all the resources you ever needed to grow strong, and never wanted for ave Stoneheart a cold stare ”You think you're unlucky?”
”Maybe I had a good start,” Stoneheart said, raising his voice, ”but my luck over the past lanced at him, then shook his head ”You created your own bad luck”
”I couldn't have known things would go this way,” Stoneheart said, looking flustered
”You could have” Arran no longer tried to spare the novice's feelings ”You knew the region was chaotic, and you knew there was conflict between the factions Yet you chose to cross the border with an entire arh to protect them”
Stoneheart listened to Arran wordlessly, his forehead creased in thought as he took in the words
”With so many, you never had the chance to choose your battles,” Arran continued ”Anyone anted to could easily find you, and for a fight on their terms Amaya knew she couldn't defeat you alone, but you ht it wise to carry around the biggest daion
”How could it have gone any other way? Did you think your enemies would just sit around and wait for you to face them one by one? Did you think they would happily offer thelory? You could have known, and you should have known”
When Arran finished speaking, Stoneheart remained silent for a time, a troubled expression on his face
Finally, he spoke again, his voice soft and unsteady ”You're right,” he said ”I was one of the strongest novices in the Valley — not a ht real battles would be like the duels back in the Valley”
”You'd never been in a real fight before?” Arran asked, finally beginning to understand soo
Stoneheart shook his head ”Not one with death on the line The closest I'd experienced were duels, and I've always been good at those I thought hed cheerlessly ”You can see hoell that went”
Arran sighed, his anger at Stoneheart now gone
For all his talk and bluster back in Hillfort, the tall novice had crossed the border with less experience than Arran had when he traveled to Fulai City Small wonder all his plans had turned to disaster