Draven and Balandria had their men pile the bodies of the strangers up on the beach and set them aflame. Aydra, Lex, and Ash helped them pile the bodies. Aydra watched Draven as he held his cold, stern face before his own men, giving his kingly commands and instructing his people where they were needed. She recognized his held together facade as one she put on herself.
Their losses were not as great during this one. Including Dunthorne, the Venari lost three men, and the Honest lost four. After the bodies were piled, they made carts to take the bodies of their loved ones back home.
“Any wounded should stop with me at the Umber,” Nadir called to them.
Lex raised an expectant brow at Aydra’s defiant frown. Aydra cursed the canon stinger wound on her arm and huffed at her.
“I’m fine,” Aydra assured her.
“Go with Nadir,” Lex insisted. “At any rate, just go so you can meet Lovi.”
“What will you do?”
“Find a ledge to throw him off of,” Lex said with a nod to Ash.
Aydra raised a brow in agreement. “We miss an opportunity earlier,” she muttered.
“True.” Lex’s hands sat on her hips, and they both watched him try to speak with one of the Honest women. “You should tell him where you’re going. He won’t listen to me.”
Aydra nodded. “Hey Ash—”
The sound of his name coming from her made him alert to her as though he were being called by his master. He excused himself quickly from the woman and came jogging up to her. “Yes, Your Majesty. I am here.”
“Thank the Architects,” Aydra mumbled under her breath. “You’ll go back to the Venari kingdom with Lex. Pack your things. You’ll ride out for your Village by nightfall.”
“Where will you go?” he asked.
“I am stopping with Nadir by the Umber. Diplomatic mission,” she replied.
Ash gave her the first agreeing nod he’d taken all day.
Aydra bid Lex goodbye a moment later, and then she made her way across the sand to where Nadir was standing, gathering up their injured people.
“Surviving, Sun Queen?” he smarted upon her approach, a slow smile growing on his face.
As the adrenaline of the morning began to slow, Aydra felt herself start to tire. “I am,” she forced herself to say. “Your people fought valiantly,” she told him. “The ambush from the reef side was well coordinated. Those men had no idea what to do upon seeing you all rise from the waters.”
The smirk on his lips widened. “My people have been guarding this reef for two hundred years—not usually against people, but against creatures and the Infi. We have—”
“You fight creatures?” she balked.
He eyed her. “Don’t give me any of that ‘creatures are misunderstood’ bullshit, Sun Queen. These were vicious animals.”
“So is the Ulfram—” a flash of small red caught her eye, and she called out to the cardinal passing her by “—but with the right understanding, they are no more deadly to you than a cardinal,” she said as the cardinal landed on her finger.
Nadir’s jaw set and he stared at the small red bird on her finger. “I’m pretty sure that bird helped peck men’s eyes out today. So I don’t know how innocent I would say it is.”
Aydra smirked and the bird left her. “Tell me, Nadir. Will your giver be at the Umber when we get there?”
“Ah… probably,” he finally decided. “No promises. Don’t think he will listen to any politics you’d like to talk about.”
Aydra shook her head. “No politics.” She held up her arm, showing him the canon stinger burn, to which he winced for her.
“Ouch.”
“Ouch is correct,” she agreed.
He grinned a crooked, mocking grin down at her. “So not all creatures are vicious, huh?”
