Chapter 379 A Quiet Departure (1/2)
Kaleesh left Lady Raina's chaetic look for abandoning him And as the captain stepped outside, Arran turned to face the Lady, his expression calm
”What is it you wish to know?”
”There are h I doubt you can give me all the answers I seek But let's see what I can learn froht, then asked, ”This Acades with them?”
”I have,” Arran replied flatly ”They're the reason I fled the Ehtful look ”What did you do to earn their enes,” Arran answered without hesitation He'd prepared the story well before he entered the I it required little thought
”You killed a e?” She raised an eyebrow ”Any particular reason?”
Arran gave her a wry sirl I didn't like e on even terms, so I killed him before he could burn me to a cinder After that, I fled the Ehed softly ”Of course,” she said ”I should have guessed The world has no greater fools than young men who think the?”
”I wouldn't be here otherwise,” Arran said ”And after I crossed the an to study Body Refinement”
”You h it was clear that she had little interest in his training ”But tell me, this Academy… what do you know of it?”
”I know that they control all ic in the Ees who do not subh she seemed unimpressed ”What ht?”
”The Erew up there, I can't even begin to iine its size” He shook his head, and continued, ”Yet froed in the Empire For that to be the case, they must hold far more power than they show”
This, at least, was true
Although he hadn't fully realized it before his travels, he now understood that for the Academy to hold power in such a vast territory, it had to have strength well beyond anything he'd seen If not, the Acadeo
Lady Raina, however, seemed unconvinced ”So you haven't witnessed their poith your own eyes,” she said ”Instead, what you have are rumors and conjectures And perhaps these very rumors are what keeps this Acadeth, rather than their strength itself”
”It's possible,” Arran said, though he was unable to fully keep the frustration fro his irritation, she shook her head ”You misunderstand It isn't that I doubt your words But what I need are arguht convince the others”
Arran gave her a ht help her, none of thes he could share Not in the Ie would likely cost hih the Lady continued to question him for another half hour, the result proved as useless to her as it was frustrating to Arran
Finally, when she ran out of questions to ask, she dish she did so with a friendly smile, Arran did not fail to notice the look of disappointment in her eyes — a disappointment he fully shared
When he stepped into the hallway, he found Kaleesh waiting for him, the captain's expression tense as he looked at Arran
”How did it go?” Kaleesh asked in a low voice ”Are we still safe?”
”We are,” Arran replied ”She just had some questions about the Empire I answered them as best I could”
The captain nodded, visibly relieved ”Let's go for a walk” He cast a furtive glance at the door to Lady Raina's chambers, and added, ”The courtyard should be quiet, this tiht”
They made their way to the courtyard in silence, careful of any hidden listeners behind the keep's walls When they finally stepped out onto the grass, beneath the star-lit sky, Kaleesh let out a deep sigh
”I nearly got us killed,” he said in a voice that now held no small amount of weariness ”That bastard Rannoc… if I'd knohat he was planning…”
”You reed ”Happens to the best of us But you truly didn't know about the schism in the Darians' ranks?”
”If I did, I wouldn't have gotten us into this o, and even before that, I never reeain, then added, ”To think they're considering abandoning their lands…”
Arran ss are in the Desolation”
The captain nodded ”At least we'll have plenty of opportunity to et killed,” Arran replied ”If even Knights and Lords are struggling, the situation can't be good”
”Now that youkilled…” Kaleesh narrowed his eyes as he looked at Arran ”Tell hter”
”Dalia?” Arran looked at the captain in puzzleave him a flat stare ”You haven't noticed the way she—” He paused mid-sentence, then shook his head in exasperation ”Of course you haven't Just do as I say and avoid her In fact, from now on, avoid any Darian women we meet If you keep this up, you'll find yourself either dead or married within the year”
”Keep what up?!” Arran asked, no less exasperated than Kaleesh ”I didn't do anything!”
”Darians are a traditional people,” Kaleesh explained ”Especially when it comes to matters of men and women What borderlanders would consider ht think deeply inappropriate”
Arran frowned, but though he reave the captain a nod ”If you say so, I'll stay away froh the courtyard's gardens, discussing both the journey ahead and the things they'd learned froh sohtspawn in particular — the fact of the matter was that no aht
Experienced warriors though they were, in the Desolation they would face enemies unlike any they'd encountered before One could not truly prepare for that — not without doing battle against these new foes and learning how they fought
And so, when Arran and Kaleesh finally retired to their own quarters, they were no closer to knowing how they'd face the Blight
The next , Arran awoke before dawn Or rather, he akened before dawn, roused fro on his door
The source of this noise turned out to be Kalin, eager and ier's eyes shone with fervor, and Arran was reminded of Dalia's words — that what her brother lacked in sense, he eration, as Arran spentout his weaknesses and giving advice on how to address them
Much to Arran's surprise, he found the task an enjoyable one It was far less taxing than his own training, and for the first ti of rest came over him
Perhaps the keep wasn't quite as comfortable as his ood and the company pleasant
Briefly, Arran even wondered whether they should perhaps reive the troops rest as they readied theht was short-lived, however, as Dalia joined hih she was as eager a student as her brother — and otten Kaleesh's words
Although there the girl's behavior seeh, he now noticed a subtle tension in the way she acted — a hint of nervousness when she spoke to him, so s
Yet if Arran had only suspicions, Kalin appeared to have a better understanding of his sister
”It see to you,” he said after they'd finished training for the day, a grin on his face that suggested he found the irl,” Arran said uneasily ”But I'll be leaving in a few days”
That Dalia had an interest in hih, but now, it appeared that her brother approved of it And that, Arran thought, could only be a bad sign
”You plan to return, don't you?” Kalin asked ”With your power, I can only iht After that, you'll be a good match for any woman”