“She found Mattox. He’s alive. They’re coming home.”
The physician slumped to the ground next to him, and they leaned into each other, lost in their individual thoughts and prayers of thanks.
* * *
It wasn’tuntil they stopped for the night and were seated around the campfire that Mattox and Caralas were able to tell their story of survival. Atty and Mistelle treated them for their wounds. Hers were not as extensive as first thought, thankfully. The bear had left three gashes several inches long down the front of her right thigh, but they were superficial and not deep. A splint was bandaged around her wrist, but the cuff was slid back on for added protection.
“How many men did we lose?” Mattox inquired as his mother applied a poultice to the back of his thigh.
“Seven, that we knew of when we left to come search for you.”
“About a dozen or so injured,” Paxton inserted.
“Soldiers? Townspeople?”
“All soldiers,” Atty replied. “The townspeople all made it through safely.”
“How badly was the compound damaged?”
“Most of the roofs are gone off the homes and shops,” Lucien answered.
“What about the main hall? Our lodge?”
“Yes to both,” Atty admitted. “We lost the entire roof to our home, but only some of the main hall’s roof was torn away. A section caved in by the front doors and the side rooms.”
“The barracks sustained damage,” Renken informed him. “Luckily, the stables were untouched. And the bell is gone.”
“The bell tower?” Mattox clarified.
Atty nodded. “Yes. All of it. Plus a large section of the main wall on the north end went down.”
“Debris was flung everywhere,” Lucien added. “It looks a lot worse than it really is. All in all, we were very lucky that naydo didn’t flatten everything in its wake.”
“That’s because Father makes certain everything that’s built is double reinforced,” Mattox acknowledged. “Of course, he does that in the event of a siege, but, hey, that storm was a siege in itself.”
“How about the visiting battle lords and Mutah?” Caralas asked. “Did they survive?”
Smiling, Atty leaned over to grasp her hand and give it a squeeze. “If you’re asking if your father survived, yes, he did.”
Caralas bowed her head, a soft sob escaping her. Mattox threaded an arm around her and pulled her next to him. His action was not lost on the others, but no one said anything as she rested her face against his shoulder.
He started to ask his mother another question when he felt a surge of pain at the back of his head. Wincing, he hissed as he ducked away.
“You have a nasty welt back there,” Atty said, almost with relief. “Thank heaven it appears to be healing well.” She sighed loudly. “That explains it.”
“Explains what?”
“Why I stopped sensing you. Did the same happen to you?”
Mattox glanced over his shoulder at her, not needing to shield his look of affection. “Yes,” he softly admitted. “I thought you were dead.”
His mother nodded solemnly.
“I miss that link, Mom.” He was surprised to see her smile.
“Do you remember the story your father told you, about the time I went missing, and he had to come look for me?”
He glanced over to see similar smiles on Renken’s, Paxton’s, and Fortune’s faces. “That’s how Cole met Paas. In that compound where her tribe lives, far to the east.”
