War of the Fathers – Chapter Twenty Four

This week’s episode features Chapter Twenty Four of War of the Fathers. Click here to download it or press play below. Here is an excerpt from the show:

Jorad held his blaster ready but the reassurance wasn’t enough, he doubted it ever would be, especially with Soret in danger. Instead of trying to push away the fear, he let it remain and ignored it. Soret was beside him, and he could almost hear her shivering. He breathed and focused on what was important, protecting Soret and finding the others again. He hoped that it didn’t come down to using his blaster, the weapon was loud enough that anything within a mile would hear, the situation would have to become desperate before he took that risk.

They had left their camp earlier that morning after escaping from Zecarani. Jorad was still a little bit shaken by the experience. He had come within a hairsbreadth of dying when an arrow had whistled by while they ran, just missing his neck. The incident had been bothering him all day. Not only had Tere managed to ruin their chance to get the tablet, but he'd almost gotten Jorad killed in the process.

At one point, while they were still fleeing, Karn had lost his temper with Tere. Surprisingly, it was Adar who talked Karn down. Jorad had been hoping that Karn would just solve the problem for them. For his part, Adar hadn't spoken a word to Tere since the incident. It was obvious that Tere had gotten himself mixed up in something far more involved than what he claimed. It was also obvious that any attempt to get more information from Tere would have to involve physical force.

Instead of focusing on Tere or trying to find another way to get the tablet, Adar had chosen to focus on getting them to the Arches. They'd left the road several hours earlier and had been following a trail that only existed in Adar's mind. After traveling all afternoon, they’d stopped to make camp at a comfortable spot, and at Adar’s insistence, everybody had split into patrols before resting. Jorad had partnered up with Soret. He hoped it would be a good opportunity for some time alone with her but not long into their patrol, they had spotted a ship and hidden.

Dusk was setting in, and he was feeling exposed. The surrounding countryside wasn't as thick as most of the forests they'd been traveling through recently. They were standing at the base of a thick oak tree, using the canopy of leaves overhead as cover to keep the Hunwei ships from finding them. They'd already hid from two. If anything were on the ground, though, the tree wouldn't help them much because the branches were too high to provide them with cover. Jorad scanned the area, trying to determine if it was safe to move yet. He wanted to get back to the others before it was dark.

He gritted his teeth and prepared for a long night, they couldn't stop to rest now. Adar would want to push forward to the Arches.