“Ya don’t want to know how worried we’ve been for ya,” Bryn told Zayden and Mat as they came to his side.
“It happens. We did what we had to do. I’m just glad we found you. I don’t think we had another week in us.”
“Well, now ya don’t need another week.” Bryn thumped each of them on the shoulder.
They moved camp, and when they rested, Bryn put himself right in the middle of them. He’d missed the pile they often made at home and was taking that back immediately. It gave him some comfort because he was battling other thoughts. Thoughts he didn’t want to give a voice to yet.
He’d spent eight days alone in the wilderness, and those eight days brought him to a wild theory he was certain no one wanted to entertain.
I think there’s a spy in our village, but I don’t have any evidence. I’ll work on it when we get home. I don’t need to make everyone paranoid until I have some sort of proof. It’s just a baseless theory. That’s all. I’m being paranoid.
25
Mave
Mave was training with Alchan and didn’t see them when they arrived. She hadn’t been paying attention, too focused on beating Alchan into the ground because now, Bryn was late getting home. He was supposed to come back three days before, and he was still gone.
Then a third sword entered the spar, and she turned with a growl to see Nevyn, who gave her a lopsided smile before pointing his thumb over his shoulder.
Mave looked, and her anger faded away in a single heartbeat.
“You found them,” she gasped, letting her sword drop. She didn’t ask her feet to move, they did so on their own, leading her straight to those three husbands. Mat and Zayden looked terrible, but they were alive. They were there. They were home. “You found them,” she whispered, reaching out to touch each of them.
“He found us.” Mat took her hand when she laid it on his chest and brought it to his lips. “We need to brief Alchan, then we’ll go home.”
“Good. Um…” She turned back to her king. She knew he was about to lay down a judgment. For two-and-a-half weeks, she had been working with a group of warriors, including Kian and Emerian, preparing for their new mission. They were going to blow a mountain and send rocks down on an Elvasi camp, one of the largest. If it worked, Alchan was going to send out three more missions at the same time.
“You’ve been preparing since Bryn left,” Alchan said softly. “One night, then I have to send you and the unit out. We don’t have a lot of time. Mat, Zayden, we can debrief right here, right now, then you can go home and spend the night with Mave. I’m sorry you don’t get much time together, but autumn is coming upon us, and we need to make a move. Summer was a shitshow.”
She stepped aside as Luykas joined their group. Nevyn and Varon stayed as well. Soon, the entire Company was listening to what had happened. The moment Mat and Zayden were done, Bryn started explaining what happened when he went out to look for them, explaining how he ended up getting back late. Alchan forgave him immediately, and it wasn’t mentioned for the rest of the conversation. The best news came out of Nevyn and Varon, who led a wildly successful but small mission. Alchan gave them news in return. Of the missions that had gone out, only three returned, Mat and Zayden’s team included. They were now down just over a thousand Andinna since the beginning of summer.
“And on that somber note, you’re all dismissed. Unless you’re leaving at dawn, meet me in the war room by midday for the next stage of planning. We need to prep the next missions with full training exercises before they get back, so you can leave immediately on their return. I’m sorry to say it, but we’ll probably run missions through winter. We’re not slowing down any time soon.”
Everyone nodded, and Mave dragged all four of her husbands home. Emerian followed them, coming inside to start making dinner. Zayden grumbled at his actions but allowed it.
“You both look half-starved,” she complained as she helped in the kitchen. “Thank you, Emerian.”
Her nemari only nodded and continued what he was doing.
“It wasn’t an easy mission. So, you have to leave tomorrow. What’s the plan?” Mat was disappointed, but she