“Yes,” he says and wraps his arm around her shoulders as she blinks away the moisture clinging to her lashes.
“Do you recognize anyone?” I ask. “Any of you?” All I can think of are Leo and Wyatt. I left them in the village, left them somewhere safer than where I was supposed to be going. Granted they both wanted to be here, but I still feel responsible for them.
“No. Maybe.” Signe hides her face against Reece’s chest. “I cannot look.”
Reece’s frown grows intense. “Where’s Halim?”
Signe immediately pulls away, her face showing her sudden panic. “Halim? Halim!”
“Here,” his high-pitched voice answers.
I race toward the sound and stop when I nearly stumble over him and the body he’s hovering over. I yank him to his feet. “What are you doing?”
He yanks free. “Listening.”
Halim drops to his knees and puts his ear to the man’s mouth. “Go on.”
Reece and Signe emerge from the smoke, and we huddle around and wait. It doesn’t take long for the last breath to leave the man. Halim sits back and places his fingers over the man’s eyes, forcing them closed.
“What did he say?”
“He is a Corlian.”
“From the land to the north of us?” Signe doesn’t hide her surprise. She examines the sword I still hold. “But they are our allies.”
“His people were promised power and riches if they fought for the new lord,” Halim says.
“Who is it?” I ask, though I’m afraid I already know.
“Someone not from here. He said the lord is young and reckless and brutal, disposing of lives as one would a bare bone. They followed him out of greed, but also out of fear he’d turn on them. He has a lot of power.”
Reece snorts. “Sounds like Teag’s allies aren’t as friendly as they say they are.”
“Teag isn’t as friendly as it wants people to believe.” The bitterness in my voice surprises me. I’m tired. The air feels thick, my movements slow, and one of us is missing…again. I grumble my irritation at our inability to stay together. “Bodog!”
As Bodog lumbers through the dead toward us, the acrid smoke swirls apart, and the manor’s fortified walls come into view behind him. He stops a few feet short of us and leans on his walking stick like an old, frail man. The wariness in his eyes is unmistakable. “Only the eye of the storm.”
“What, like the intermission?” Reece asks. He grabs Halim along the back of his shirt and pulls him to his feet. “Let’s go.” He literally marches the kid and Signe to the gates.
We’re not the only ones making our way to the manor. Both sides of the conflict stagger to the gates. We press forward, and I’m a little surprised when Signe tells them who I am and we’re rushed ahead of everyone else.
Inside the walls, we’re greeted by piles of dead and the moans of the wounded. One of the sentries escorts us through the throngs toward the house. Everywhere I see ruined outbuildings and stunned people. Signe’s fingers suddenly dig into my arm, drawing my attention to the stables. We all stop and stare. It’s a mass of rubble, with dead horses and smoldering timbers…and still buried within it all, the unmistakable form and feathers of a griffin.
“This way.” The sentry motions us forward.
I’m stunned. We’ve come so far, and now this. It’s almost too much for me. How am I supposed to reach Kera now?
Signe has to pull me along like a disobedient child. “There is another way. There has to be. Do not lose faith.”
“I don’t have much left.”
A man, his hair dirty and his clothes blood-spattered, intercepts us and grabs my arm. “You’ve come back. I told them you would.” He turns to those around us. “The heir to Teag is back. Did I not tell you? He is back!”
Okay, this is new. I’ve never met anyone from Teag who was excited to see me. Only Kera.
The man’s excitement sweeps through the crowd. Faces alight with interest. Hope even. The once worn and weary crowd presses in. Our escort shouts at them to stay back. We push our way forward and burst through the doors of the manor. A handful of soldiers rush forward to help keep the people back.
We’re quickly escorted down the hall. Raised voices come from what looks to be a study and we pause in the doorway. Wyatt, Leo, Hadrain, and several soldiers are huddled around a huge library table. A map, magically dotted with green and black showing each army’s movements, lies unfurled across it. Lord Hadrain jabs at a section. “I tell you, they came from this direction.”
Lounging in a chair across the room, Lucinda delicately yawns and shifts her weight. “Nothing is over there but a spit of barren land and then the sea, My Lord.”
The muscles in Wyatt’s jaw twitch. “Seems like Leo’s little kitty knows quite a bit about everything, but still has nothing of real value to share.”
“Wyatt,” Leo warns.
“What?” Wyatt pounds his fist on the table and points toward Lucinda. “Look at her. She’s acting like—”
The soldier announces us, and those around the table turn our way as we enter. A split second later, we’re rushed. Signe is engulfed in Hadrain’s arms, and Wyatt, dressed like a soldier of Teag, whoops when he sees his brother. Bodog hides behind me as best he can as Leo rushes over and gives me a huge hug. “Bro, I am so glad to see you. This is some crazy rabbit hole we’ve fallen into.”
Leo looks like an extra in a period movie, wearing spit-polished leather shoes, a suit with a vest, a bow tie, and a watch on a fob. I don’t have time to question his style. I duck my head through the strap of my satchel and let the thing fall to the floor with a sigh. “You’ve got a mess outside and from what Bodog tells me, it’s only halftime. Where’s Granel?”
Reece’s attention snaps to me, completely ignoring his brother, but Wyatt keys in on the tension. “Funny you should ask. As soon as you left, he disappeared. All that talk about protecting his people…absolute crap. No one knows where he is. His men don’t know what to think, so I’ve given them something to think about.” He spreads his arms wide, winces, and lowers them, pressing his hand against his shoulder. It’s then I see a bloody bandage peeking out between his fingers, and he says with a shrug, “Meet their new leader.”
“You?” Halim asks as he peeks around Reece. “Why would they follow you?”
I see Hadrain take off his glasses and disappear into the hall as Wyatt stares down his nose at the boy. “Who’s the runt?”
“Halim. Be nice.” Who Reece is telling that to, his brother or the boy, is unclear. Most likely both.
Wyatt ignores the kid. “Apparently Granel wasn’t that popular with his men. Didn’t know jack about tactics.”
“Have you looked outside?” Halim asks. “It doesn’t look like you do, either.”
“Ha-ha, little buddy.” Wyatt grabs the back of Halim’s head and pulls him close. “Those aren’t my men.”
“Neither am I. Does that mean I’m going to end up dead too?”
“Nice kid you picked up,” Wyatt says to Reece. “Wouldn’t it be kinder to throw him back into the deep end of the stray pool?” He finally lets go and Halim stumbles back, irritation twisting his face as he glares at Wyatt. It’s not hard to imagine the torture plots running through Halim’s mind.
I’m not the only one thinking that. Reece whispers something in Halim’s ear, and then affectionately rubs his head before the boy wanders off. Reece turns his attention back to his brother. “Who are they?”
“Who aren’t they?” Wyatt motions to the map, where army units move in an ever-tightening circle. “Seems like everyone wants to join the let’s-kick-Teag’s-ass outing. We’re only able to hold our own with the help of Hadrain’s and the council’s combined magic.”