*
“We’ve got to do something,” Davin said unhappily. “Where’s that Voice when we need it?”
Niam arched an eyebrow. “Now you’re starting to see things my way,” he said.
Davin held up his hand to stop his friend before he started.
“Well, it’s not like it remained silent when a few words could have helped us stop this,” he said bitterly.
Davin took in a deep breath. He frequently had to remind himself that Niam had a personal stake in the Voice’s warnings and silences that went back over a year and a half. “I’m just not sure what it can do and cannot do,” Davin told him. “I think it’s ultimately up to us to decide what gets done.”
Niam kicked a dust bunny in disagreement, but let the argument go. “We seem to be drawn to trouble,” he began.
“Or it’s drawn to us,” Maerillus added.
“Or it’s drawn to us,” he echoed. “So maybe we should just go stand in the woods until Kreeth, Ravel, and the trall show up to kill us.” For once, Niam was surprised when Davin and Maerillus actually paused long enough to consider that. “We could return to Kreeth’s estate to look around for anything we might have missed,” Niam offered.
“I don’t know,” Davin mused. “The place is lit up day and night now that the garrison is working around the clock to cut everything down and burn it—a half a mile in every direction.”
Niam shrugged his shoulders. “It just seems like the Voice comes to us when we’re in the right place at the right time is all I’m saying. Maybe we just aren’t where we need to be.”
Davin’s head shot up. “I think that’s a great idea!”
Niam sounded shocked. “You do?”
“Yes,” Davin said. “I honestly do.”
“The Lake Valleys province covers a lot of space,” Maerillus said with clear reservations.
“I think it’s better than nothing,” Davin argued. “Besides, I wonder if all we have to do is get close to an area where we’ll find something important.”
Maerillus gave it a few more minutes of thought. “Well,” he said, “if Niam’s right about us and trouble, I suppose it does make it’s own twisted sort of sense.”
“Thanks pal,” Niam mumbled.
Maerillus punched him in the shoulder.
The Dread Lords Rising Page 77