Horde (Razorland #3)(114)

It seemed like it took forever before Tegan finished working on the storyteller. He was so pale that it didn’t look like he had any blood left in his body. She dropped to her knees and pressed her cheek to his, and that seemed like my cue to back out of the tent. Along the way, I stumbled, but there was nothing to trip me, only the smooth roll of grassy ground.

Rex steadied me with one arm and said, “You have to eat something.”

“I can’t. I have to find Fade.”

“Eat,” he demanded gently. “Or I’ll tell Momma that you don’t listen to your brother.”

Shakily, I assented, but only because I’d never locate Fade if I collapsed. If he was wounded and unable to call out for help, buried in a pile of corpses—I shook all over, just thinking about it. This battle would never end for me if he didn’t keep his promise.

Rex led me to a fire where village women were warming soup. I took a wooden bowl of it and drank in a few furious gulps—anger because pain would drown me without the protective shell. Then I downed some water and glared at Rex.

“Happy now? Can I go back out there?” Even as the words spewed out in that tone, I knew my brother deserved better than this.

To his credit, he only nodded. “Let’s keep looking.”

More bodies rolled beneath my hands, more dead faces to haunt my dreams. Beside me, Rex was grim and silent, but I was glad to have him. With Tegan tirelessly treating patients and the men looking for their own friends and loved ones, I’d be alone otherwise. And without his calm determination, I might be screaming and tearing out my hair. We’d been searching for some time and it was starting to get dark when Gavin rushed at us.

The brat was so breathless he could barely talk, so the words juddered out in fits and starts. “Deuce, this way … please. Hurry.”

His urgency was contagious. I pushed to my feet and stumbled after him, the riverbank a mass of bodies, so much death. There were small forms, the Gulgur, and larger ones: Uroch wearing armbands, townsfolk with hoes beside them, and the fallen men of Company D. The stench was becoming dreadful. If we didn’t do something about the corpses, they’d poison the river, ruining the tranquil beauty I’d so admired. Rex ran behind me, steadier on his feet.

I hoped with all my heart for good news.

Ahead of us, Gavin led the way with the bloody banner still flying in the wind. The brat ran lopsided, but if he was capable of moving on his own, then he was low on the list of people Tegan needed to see. There were so many who wouldn’t last the night, maybe including Morrow. My own injuries cracked and stung as I churned the earth, trying to keep up.

When the boy stopped, he stood beside a lean figure sprawled upon the ground. And there was so much blood, so much, all over his face, that I was afraid to look closer. As I braced to scream, Fade opened his eyes.

Relief drowned me, and I lost my breath. “You promised you’d be on your feet.”

Memorial

It took thirty-two stitches to put Fade back together. While Tegan sewed, I hovered and paced, shadowed by Rex, who seemed to think I might do something drastic. Mercifully, Fade passed out before she finished. Her eyes were bleak as she raised her head.

“This wound could be tricky.”

“Give me everything that Doc used on you. I’ll take care of him and fight the infection.”

Without another word of protest, as she had other patients to tend, Tegan handed me a collection of dried herbs and bottled remedies. I listened to her instructions, memorized them, and then turned to Rex. “I need your help getting him to Rosemere. We can’t stay here.”

In reply, my brother swung the man I loved up into his arms, and we left the medical tent, leaving Tegan to hover over Morrow and wait for the next soldier to be carried in. Gavin went with us, and I was eager to escape the smell of death. Flies were thick in the air, buzzing in the reeds and laying eggs in something I didn’t want to see. Rex shouted to a boatman; they were in constant motion, ferrying supplies and wounded back and forth across the water. I was desperate for the sanctuary Rosemere represented. Though there might not be any danger on the mainland, I needed to get away from the battlefield.

The fisherman came in response to Rex’s call. He couldn’t come all the way to shore, lest his boat founder, so we waded out, and I helped my brother lift Fade into the boat. Gavin clambered in on his own, the banner still in his hand. It looked more like a rag, smeared with mud and blood, but my symbol was still discernable in the center. Wearily I climbed aboard myself, and the man sailed us silently back to the Evergreen Isle. On the docks, the fishermen chattered about the battle and more volunteers had assembled to help with the wounded.

Our boatman went back out, along with two more, in case they were needed. Villagers peppered me with questions and I answered in a monotone, thinking only of getting Fade to safety. Just when I was about to lose my temper, Stone shouldered through the crowd, his handsome face lighting with relief when he saw me.

“I can take him,” Stone said, but my brother shook his head.

It must have been a matter of pride since Rex had to be as exhausted as I was. With Stone leading the way, I trudged to his cottage, where Thimble stood with Robin balanced on her hip. She stepped back and made room, her face creased with worry.

“How bad is it?” she asked. There was no answering that yet, so I kept quiet, and she turned her attention to Gavin and Rex, who seemed pleased by her care. “If you’d like to wash up out back, I’ll feed you, then you can rest in the loft.”