Escaping The Heat

Escaping The Heat is the thirty-sixth chapter of Tales of Sheol'gotha:  Shadow of the Abaddon.

Synopsis
The commanders stop by the side of the road as they travel west, sitting and waiting out the heat of the day. Soltas is aware of the creatures skirting the edges of their camp, as well as the other travelers on the road, and debates freedom through death as opposed to servitude to Valon's mark.

Haebin passes by and dissuades him from anything rash without even asking what Soltas was thinking about. He bears a small, struggling lantilos, and Soltas regards the creature fearfully. Haebin decides to use the creature to terrorize Soltas, dragging the scoutmaster away for a private talk. He asks about Soltas' father's presence at Upper Kheylet, but Soltas reaffirms that he knows nothing until Haebin pins him with the creature. Soltas recalls the death of a soldier in his youth to such a creature, and when it becomes obvious that no one is going to intervene, he admits the truth.

He explains that his father had urged him to abandon Valon in favour of Kaltrin and his siblings in order to propel the family's status with the abaddon, though he admits that he was more concerned with his his family viewed him. He is left scorned by most of the group, though Haebin in particular when Soltas admits to seeing the two figures in the cave. Valon immediately draws the connection between them and the brothers his mother warned him about, but Haebin suggests them to be the Shadow the group has been chasing since Flagstone. He chews Soltas out for not getting a better look at them.

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