“Which village?” I asked.
“Northpond,” he said.
I hummed, considering my options while I could feel Nira’s eyes scanning me intensely. Northpond was one of our smaller village allies, where we stored only a small bulk of food supplies and housed some of our troops with the civilians. It was protected well enough with the amount of rebels who stayed there, and surely the situation couldn’t be too dire.
Nira, however, didn’t wait for me to give a response before asking, “You’re not coming?”
“I didn’t say that,” I said.
She looked instantly irritated. “You’re thinking it.”
And she was right. Nilson had gotten Ava to smile. That was more progress than had been made the last three days, and if she was ever going to seek me out, it might be today. I wanted to be around. I wanted to be nearby in case she decided to speak to me.
“You have to come,” Nira protested. Kingston sidestepped away from us at the tone of her voice, looking like he didn’t want to be involved, and when I nodded at him, he retreated back into the caves. “You’re our leader. You’re the strongest fighter.”
“Hardly,” I told her with an amused huff, trying to ease the tension.
All she did was narrow her eyes at me. There wasn’t a single scouting or raiding mission that we hadn’t been on together, but I couldn’t understand why she was so irritated about this. The rangers were perfectly capable, and they didn’t need me, but Nira was unexpectedly upset.
“What about our safety?” she asked. “Something’s wrong at Northpond. What about my safety?”
“I’m only one person,” I said. “My absence will hardly make a difference.”
“You’re still doing this?” she spat, and my forehead creased with confusion. “You’re too damn humble, Kiena. We need you, and the wolf.”
“I’ll send the wolf,” I told her, thinking that would be enough.
“It’s not the same!” she hollered in exasperation, and she was so upset with me that she turned and started walking away.
“Wait, Nira,” I protested, spark jumping in front of her.
“Don’t do that,” she scolded, gesturing angrily with her hands. “You can’t just do that every time you want to talk to me or not.” And she shoved past me toward the stables.
I grabbed her wrist to stop her. “Why are you so angry with me?” She yanked out of my grip and scowled. “I thought you’d understand,” I pleaded.
“I do understand,” she said. “But just because she’s here now,” she motioned toward Ava, and when I followed the movement, I noticed that Ava was watching us again even though she couldn’t hear us, “it doesn’t mean your fight is over. Doesn’t mean you get to quit.” I opened my mouth to protest that, because I wasn’t quitting, but she didn’t let me say anything. “What about the rest of us?” she asked, and while she was still undeniably upset, there was a hint of disappointment in her voice. “What about those of us who haven’t yet got what we’re fighting for?” She gave a sad shrug, anger fading as her eyes dewed with tears. “What about what I’m fighting for?”
My shoulders slumped. The whole reason Nira had wanted me to make her an archer in the first place was so she could help avenge her parents’ deaths, but she wasn’t just fighting for revenge. She was fighting for Akamar, and for the kingdom they’d left behind, and for anyone else whose family would be ripped apart because of Hazlitt. This was important to her, as important to her as Ava was to me.
At that, I glanced across the meadow once more to Ava, and she seemed so interested in my exchange with Nira that she didn’t shy away from my gaze. I didn’t want to leave. I was so anxious for her to say one word to me that the very thought of leaving was stressful. What if she decided she was ready while I was out fighting? But Nira was right. This rebellion was bigger than Ava and me. It was so much more than making amends, and I owed it to Nira to be as devoted as I’d always been.
Nira must not have thought I was going to agree, because while I’d been staring at Ava, she’d stomped off toward the inlet, where another rebel had already brought her a horse. She was just mounting when I noticed, with all the other rebels already in their saddles and prepared to ride off. Even though she didn’t like it, I spark jumped to her.
“Wait for me,” I told her.
She still appeared a little resentful that I’d even considered not going, but she couldn’t keep her lips from curling with a pleased smile. That is, until I strode past her to grab my own horse, and touched my finger to her leg to shock her. She clicked her tongue in mock annoyance, leaning back in her saddle before I got too far away to slap me in the arm. I laughed, feeling better because I was as good as forgiven, and after I’d put on my armor and mounted my own horse, I led the way.
We galloped in the direction of Northpond, and I knew the she-wolf wouldn’t follow because I’d asked her to look after Ava. The village was only about ten miles away from the caves, and it would take us less than an hour to get there, but it didn’t take the full distance before I started to get the feeling like something was more wrong than I’d thought. The signal fire that had alerted Kingston to a problem was high up in a tower, and only large enough to see from the mountain. It certainly wasn’t large enough to fill the woods with the smoke I could smell. It wasn’t just smoke, either. As we neared the last mile to Northpond, there was something bitter in the air. Something that turned my stomach, and made every one of us fall silent with tense anticipation as we slowed to a canter.
Where the trees ended and the outskirts of the village began, we reduced to a trot, dropping our pace out of pure shock. The edges were farmland, while houses and other edifices were gathered at the center, and the smoke in the village was thick. Huts and homes were in flames, but the largest fire seemed to be at the very middle of the village, from a source we couldn’t see at this distance. Northpond had clearly been attacked, but there was nobody around the outskirts of the village to greet us, or to tell us what had happened. I thought perhaps everyone was at the core, working to put out the various fires that had been started. However, that bitter scent and the lack of commotion and people caused the turning in my stomach to sink.
The closer we got to the village center, the stronger that putrid smell became. It wasn’t until we rode past dead soldiers bearing Hazlitt’s crest, and burning homes, and finally reached the source, that I realized what it was. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but I pulled my horse to a stop twenty feet from the flames, the rest of my rangers stopping beside me. I didn’t want to think that the massive pile of burning bodies was truly what I was seeing.
Because it wasn’t just bodies, and it wasn’t just our rebel troops who’d been killed in the attack. It was villagers—civilians, men and women. Worst of all, there were children. All thrown into one cruel heap and set ablaze, and this wasn’t a strategic attack on one of our barrack villages, or on one of our storage villages. It was a slaughter. The only bodies being burned were those of civilians and rebels, as the few bodies of Hazlitt’s soldiers who’d been killed lay around us, untouched. This was a sacrilege. This was a message. And deep down in my gut, I knew the message was for me. It was retaliation for rescuing Ava.
It was more than the stench of burning flesh that caused my eyes to flood with tears. It was each innocent life being devoured by the greedy flames at our feet. It was the cruelty of our enemy. The fact that Hazlitt had sent his soldiers to murder an entire village. And for what? This village wasn’t a large enough force for the Vigilant to determine whether we’d win this war. These people, these men and women and children, they were farmers. They were foresters, hunters, and gatherers. They weren’t fighters.