Horde (Razorland #3)(112)

“Good work.”

Within minutes, the tenor of the battle changed. These weren’t soldiers, but they were brave men, and the rest of us fought as hard. It could have been an hour or five, but eventually the horde broke. The Freaks tried to run, but riflemen from Soldier’s Pond had been practicing for years for this day, and they cut them down.

On the enemy’s side, there were no survivors.

Death

Ravens and crows swept down on the dead, even as I tried to tend the living. Tegan was distraught; we had no plan in place for victory, no facilities for the wounded. She shouted at people to help her carry litters away from the killing field and men responded to her call. Tegan found a capable-looking woman to serve as her nurse, and they discussed the best way to save as many lives as possible.

As for me, I was looking for Fade. I walked among the corpses, staring down into their bloody faces. Each time I saw a lean young man or a shock of black hair, I lost my breath and my courage. It took all my willpower to keep searching. I found Zach Bigwater cut down … and I hoped he’d found peace, redemption from his conviction that he was a coward. To me, it looked like he’d fought hard and I whispered, “Thank you.”

A few minutes later, I rolled Harry Carter over. The older man was smiling, as if he’d seen something lovely before he died. Fear took deep root in my belly. Fade promised. He’s fine. You just have to find him.

I stumbled across Spence by accident. He was half hidden by a rise above the river, bodies all around him. The beady-eyed black birds crept closer on forked feet and his scream sent them scattering in a flutter of wings. Too late, I saw Tully cradled in his arms. The container that held her bolts hung empty, and her knives were nowhere to be found. Her blood had clotted, going brown in the sun, but he didn’t let go of her. He just held her and rocked. His eyes opened when he saw me; and he seemed too young for such grief with his ginger hair and freckled face.

“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.