and Kian grunted. Mave watched Rain take Alchan’s hand, going on his toes to kiss the king’s cheek. Emerian came to Mave’s side and sighed.
“This is worse than everyone thought it would be, isn’t it?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, it is,” she confirmed, reaching out to pat his shoulder as she turned to Bryn, who was silent. “What are you thinking about? Your scouts?”
“Aye, and…Mat is still out there. Zayden is still out there,” he whispered, stepping closer to her. “And if I can’t trust mah scouts to find ‘em…I’m the only one who might be able to.”
“I would be okay with it, but you’ll have to clear it with Alchan. I wouldn’t mind if you go out there and bring them home for us. I’ll stay here until you get back. I promise.”
“I’ll ask him about it on the way back to the village,” Bryn decided. “Let’s go help these warriors get home.”
Mave nodded.
It took the entire day. Packing the warriors back up, helping them get moving, and the long walk home was exhausting. Mave didn’t sleep the entire night. No one did. As they entered the village, many came up to them, trying to help. The bad news had been spread ahead of them, so the warriors coming home would have help. The shock had worn off as well. Everyone was grim as they helped people get back to their friends and family if they had any. Those who had lost their husbands, brothers, fathers, and sons were consoled.
Mave was dead on her feet as she made her way back to the war room. Luykas and Bryn were still by her side, and Emerian ran ahead of her to get three seats ready for them. Mave didn’t know how the male was still moving, but he had persisted all night and day like the rest of them and was still kicking.
Rain and Alchan were in next, dark circles under their eyes. Alchan found a chair, fell into it, pulled Rain onto his lap and held his consort tightly, burying his head in Rain’s hair.
Then the others came in—the unit commanders, Kenav, other advisors, like some of the nobles Alchan had recognized who had money and experience that proved useful to the king.
“We heard the news,” Kenav said stiffly as he looked over everyone. “Do we have a plan of attack?”
“I would like to say we have something concrete right now, but not yet,” Alchan said as Rain left his lap again, so Alchan could see the room.
“We need—”
“Things have been talked about, but everyone here needs sleep,” Mave snapped.
“We need to retaliate,” Kenav growled.
“We need to figure out how bad the damage is,” Luykas countered. “We’ve lost hundreds of warriors. We’re missing others on different missions, who are late getting back to us. A few scouts haven’t reported in weeks—”
“Months,” Bryn corrected. “And don’t count on them coming back at this point.”
“Thank you,” Luykas said softly to their rogue husband, who was running on even less sleep. When he turned back on Kenav, his gold eyes narrowed. “We’ve been hammered this season. Alchan and I have rough ideas, but we need to shore up some immediate issues before we can go ahead with those plans. We probably won’t send anyone out until autumn—”
“That’s in a month,” Kenav said in frustration. “We need to hit them back now.”
“And get more people killed?” Alchan asked. “Don’t be like that, Kenav. We can’t rush into anything without the proper intel. Tomorrow, Luykas is going to reach out to my spies in the Empire. Tomorrow, I’m going to tell everyone here what I’m considering as major changes to our strategy against the Empire. The only good thing is Shadra needs prep time if she wants to march on us, and it’s already too late in the year for her to make considerable headway on that.”
“Of course, Your Majesty,” Kenav relented, bowing his head.
“Can someone find Dave and Learen?” Alchan asked, looking around the room. “I need to talk to them about the supply chain. We’re a thousand warriors down, so we need to make some changes to the numbers. If we can afford to leave more food in Kerit for their winter, I’m sure those in the city would appreciate it.”
“They should be on their way, but I can see what’s keeping them,” Emerian offered, looking first at Alchan, then Mave. She nodded encouragingly. Emerian needed to make himself as useful as possible, especially with Alchan and other members of the Company. It