“I couldn’t find her.” His voice was a song born of pain. “I was too late.”
Dropping to my knees, I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“She always said I’d get tired of her. She never—never—”
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Maybe she didn’t say it out loud, but she knew you loved her. I could see it between the two of you.”
“I can’t do this.” Without warning, he dropped her body and went for his gun.
Terrified, I grabbed his arm and wrestled him for it, using all my strength to pull the barrel away from Spence’s body. He actually hit me, hard enough to make my vision sparkle, but I dug my fingers into his arm and didn’t let go. We rolled in the mud, end over end, and I came up on top, barely hanging on. I couldn’t let this man die.
Fortunately, his burst of fury didn’t last long, and when he yielded, I hurled the weapon into the water.
“I can get another,” he said dully.
“Do you think she’d want this for you?”
His blue eyes went hard as ice. “No. But she’s dead, and she doesn’t get a say.”
“Pull yourself together. People among the living still need your help, and I haven’t given you permission to quit.”
Spence offered a terse suggestion as to what I could do with my orders; and if I wasn’t so worried about Fade, I might’ve cracked a smile. Instead I shoved to my feet and pointed. “Pick her up. Move Tully to where the medical team can look after her. Once we take stock of who’s left, we’ll see to our dead.”
He argued a little, but in the end, he swung his beloved into his arms and he was weeping unashamedly when he delivered her to Tegan. She registered at once who he carried and what she’d meant to Spence. Tegan waved frantically at Morgan, who had some carts. His men must’ve gone across the river to ask Rosemere for help.
Tegan said, “I need you to take care of her for me.”
“I will.” Morgan had proven he was steady as a rock, so his word was good.
“How the devil did you get here just in time?” I asked.
“Thank your traders. They’ve been haranguing all towns in the territories to send men for weeks. On their last trip, which they made without your protection, they swore there would be no more supplies unless we all manned up and did our share.”
“We owe them our lives.” I pitched my voice low, casting a glance at Spence, who stood like a ghost beside Tegan. “He’s not all right. Keep an eye on him while I search the battlefield? I’m missing some men.”
Fade, Morrow, and Rex. I couldn’t speak of the ones I’d lost.
Morgan agreed with a ready nod. “You know, Colonel Park wants to speak with you, as soon as you get the chance.”
It was funny to me how formally he referred to his own wife, but her position made their relationship a quiet, private matter, glimpsed primarily in a subtle look.
“I have a lot to take care of first, but I’m heading to Soldier’s Pond when I’m done.”
With no more conversation, I returned to my mission. I found Rex soon after, and my stomach lurched when I saw him lying there. Momma Oaks would never forgive me for taking another son from her. But when I put my fingers to his throat, I felt a pulse. I searched him from top to bottom and uncovered a flesh wound on his chest and a bruise on his jaw. He was bloody enough, however, that the poison-fogged Freaks had thought he was dead.
Shaking him gently, I set a jug to his mouth and poured. At first the water just trickled down his neck, but apparently that was enough irritation to bring him around. He slapped my hands away and struggled upright, his eyes fuzzy at first. I knew the second he focused on me and realized he was still alive.
“That’s a bit of a surprise,” he said.
“A good one. On your feet. I need you to help me find Morrow and Fade.” Actually I was more interested in seeing if he could get up, which should help me gauge how badly he was hurt.
With my help, Rex clambered up and he looked around, his face going green. “This is…”
“Yes,” I said softly. “It is.”
Though Rex was unsteady on his feet, he seemed sound enough, so he stayed with me as I sorted the living from the dead. Three times, we found men who looked as if they were done, but I found a heartbeat and called Tegan’s workers to treat them. It was terrifying and exhausting, there among the wounded. Somewhere past midday, Szarok found me. His sharp features were familiar in a way I found strange, considering we’d only spent one night talking. Rex stepped closer in reflex until he remembered that the monsters were dead.
“Your soldiers fought well,” he said.
“As did yours. One of them saved my life.”
“I wish there was a way to take the memories from the dead,” he said somberly, “so they’re not lost.” Before I could reply, another Uroch approached, and they hissed and growled a conversation. Then the other hurried away. “I’ve been reminded to state my terms for our alliance. We keep Appleton. While it’s regrettable the way we acquired it, I doubt any of your people care to settle there now.”
“I don’t have the power to—”
“The devil you don’t,” Rex cut in. “You led this army. You united every able-bodied person willing to fight in the territories. You beat the horde. So if you offer Appleton to our allies, nobody will argue with you.”
Could that be true? I supposed it was. “All right. Appleton’s yours. This isn’t the time to talk about such things, but there will need to be…” I didn’t even know the words.
“Treaties,” Rex supplied. “Trade agreements. And the Uroch will probably want to wear those armbands, at least until the last of the old mutants are gone.”
A flicker of pain registered in Szarok’s golden eyes. Those were his people Rex was casually dismissing. We hadn’t killed all of them; there would be stragglers in forest and field, but if we were careful, they’d die out in a few years and their legacy of violence with them.
But I couldn’t help wondering, “Can the few remaining old ones breed … and start the cycle all over again?”
Szarok shook his head. “They’re past the age of reproduction. The future of my people rests in our hands now.”
“That’s good to hear,” Rex muttered.
The Uroch favored him with a sharp glance, before saying, “We’re returning to Appleton now. These bodies are nothing to us since we can’t collect their memories. So the crows are welcome to them.”
That was a way in which we differed, but I didn’t judge him for it. “Might be best. I don’t know how the men will react, now that the fighting’s stopped.”
Rex nodded. “Peace takes time.”
Szarok went on, “The Gulgur have returned to their burrows. They told me to ask you to bury their dead along with your own. I don’t know if they’re interested in treaties or trade agreements, but they’re pleased it’s safe to come into the light, if they so choose.”
“I’ll take care of it. Thank them for me,” I said.
With a lift of his taloned hand, Szarok turned and signaled his surviving warriors with another of those exploding things. They loped away, along the river and out of sight, leaving me to continue picking up the pieces. With each body I turned over and each face I searched, my hope grew fainter. The sun was past its zenith when I found Morrow.