"The Moles attacked us." She waved her companion forward. "The two of us rode out before the dawn."
"A few hours before dawn," the man clarified.
Which meant they'd traveled hard. It should take two days to get from their camp to here. These two had made it in less than one. That explained the state of their horses, but wait. I was missing the obvious thing! They'd attacked the day after Zasenand Ayla had been out in the forest, ready to fight them off. They'd gonethere,not here this time! That couldn't be right.
Convinced I had to be misunderstanding her, I asked, "They hit your storage?"
"Us!" the man snapped.
The woman waved him down. "Nyco, I need you to walk the horses out."
And she dismounted. The moment her feet hit the ground, the woman staggered, proving how tired she was. Her hands grabbed the saddle to steady herself. I moved, expecting the horse to stagger too, but she paused for only a moment before passing the reins to the man. He let his horse amble forward, trailing the other behind him.
But as she made her way over, the woman jerked her chin at Holly. "That looks like a Reaper dog."
"She was," I agreed. "Bred by Lansin. My partner's dog now." But these pleasantries felt wrong. "What happened?"
"I don't know," she admitted, then grunted. "Sorry. I'm Yrena. My friend is Nyco. We don't know medicine but do own horses, so we volunteered to make the trip. There are carts filled with injured headed this way. Probably four hours behind us? Maybe more.Theywon't be running their horses to the limit."
"So we need to ready the hospital?" Zasen asked as he came around the house.
"Yes!" she said.
"Mom! Jeera!" he bellowed.
I knew that would bring everyone else, but most of them would find out anyway. Thankfully, waiting for Zasen, Rymar, and Ayla to reach our side allowed Yrena to catch her breath. The moment they were close enough, she offered her hand to Rymar.
"Yrena of the Reapers," she said. "The Moles attacked us last night- "
"No…" Ayla gasped.
I lifted my arm, encouraging her to come closer so I could offer support. It was more of the emotional kind than physical, but Ayla moved to wrap her arm around my waist. That allowed Rymar and Zasen to shift over, facing Yrena.
"How bad?" Zasen asked.
"Bad," Yrena said. "Dozens critically wounded. I don't even know how many dead."
"What?" Jeera gasped, moving closer. "Who? Is Irrik okay?"
Beside her, Brielle was clutching the baby to her, looking terrified. My tail sagged, realizing their boyfriend could be among the dead, but before either woman could start to panic, Yrena shook her head.
"He's okay. Has a few injuries, but he was up and walking when we left. Him, Lansin, and Eriska were all helping with the cleanup."
"Eriska is their chief," I told Ayla. "She's like our mayor."
Ayla nodded, but her eyes were on Yrena intently. "Did the Moles take the bodies?" she asked.
"Yeah," Yrena said, looking up at the rest of the people who'd come from our backyard and were now listening in. "They took captives, too."
"Men?" Ayla asked, clinging to my waist a little tighter. "Or only women?"
"I..." Yrena paused. "I don't know, but I only saw women and girls."
"Fuck!" Rymar snarled, spinning away one step.
But Zasen asked, "Did they take the grains?"
"Not at first," Yrena said, "but the bags were gone when I headed out. We were hit hard. Dogs are wounded. Horses were scattered - but we don't think killed. No, they killed us instead."
