Redeemed

Ch. 55

"Solas, I have a request." Three weeks had passed since our wedding, giving us just enough time to start to get to know each other before we had to return to work. In this case, the war.

"What is it, love?" That simple word. Love. It still sent pleasant shivers through me. We were currently on a short break in the middle of a war council discussing where we should send the armies. Due to my experience with Marduk, I was asked to join, but what I wanted to ask was far from Marduk's last movements and was probably not even being considered by him.

However, the thought weighed heavily on me, and if there was one person who could set things right, it was Solas.

"I want to take back Tunack."

"Why? There are no troop movements on that side of the continent," Solas replied. He was wanting me to explain, to get to the heart of the matter. While I might have tried to argue a different angle that appealed to whoever I was talking to, I knew nothing could be hidden from him.

"I have dear friends there who helped me when I needed it most." Maurine. Norman. Milor. How could they last in such a corrupt place?

"It used to be one of your cities, right?" I continued, speaking quickly. "If we took it back, think of all the good we could do with that city back in our control."

"This is the first time you have asked me for something since I caught you on that cliff," Solas replied. He stared at the opposite wall, contemplating, or maybe listening to another's counsel. "Very well, I will add it to the list of possible places to go."

"Thank you," I replied. If it was on the list, it had a fighting chance. Meetings here were very different than in the Dragon's Keep. There, Marduk or Nourse would decide the missions and assign them in a top-down manner, no questions or suggestions taken.

Here, we discussed and gave ideas about what to do, but before any action was decided on, we would bring the list of items to the Almighty in prayer and wait for an answer. The first time I experienced this, I thought the generals around me had gone mad. One talked about a vision she had received while another shared a scripture while another shared a song. Somehow, everyone who shared talked about the same subject, which also happened to match one of the items on the list.

Of course, I knew it was no coincidence. Merium had talked about the Advocate before, the one in the Almighty who gave guidance to those following the Prince. I know I heard the Advocate's voice that night Shay and I snuck out to see the refugee camp, but since that day, I had received nothing. Solas urged me to continue in my prayers and study of the scriptures, telling me to be open and listen. I'd done that for the last three weeks, but silence was all I ever heard. So I leaned on Solas's words and promise: Patience, Thea, it will happen.

When the generals returned from break, Solas introduced the idea of taking back Tunack. Surprise echoed around the table as the others discussed the benefits and drawbacks of such a task.

"What are your thoughts, Thea?" asked Debrah, a tall woman with curly chestnut hair. With her stern face and full armor, she looked fierce and unyielding. She had been the main force keeping back the Naithairi and other bandits in the west.

"I have friends there who would add much to our cause," I began, explaining what I had just said to Solas. "It would also be a severe blow to Marduk in the middle of his territory, and he would not expect us to attack such a stronghold."

"But at what cost?" replied Amos, a burly general who oversaw training of new troops. Another answered, and the debate continued. Though I should have been listening and arguing my case, I couldn't concentrate, my mind wandering to the people I had met in the past year who were still under Marduk's leadership.