By midday, I have my count.
Vel and Therin meet me near the well, both still blood-spattered.
“Thirty who can function. Maybe another twenty who will come back with time. The rest—” I shake my head.
“Thirty.” Vel’s jaw tightens. “That’s barely a third who can follow orders. The humans knew what they were doing.”
“They’re not all broken the same way,” Therin says. “Some of them will just need time, space, and food that isn’t slop.”
“Time we might not have.”
“Then we work with what we have.” I look between them. “I want everyone inside before dark. Mix the functional ones in with those who need help.”
“And the ones who are truly gone? The ones who won’t come back no matter how much time we give them?” Vel’s voice is harsh.
I don’t answer right away. My thoughts go to Caelum, sitting in his open cage, staring at nothing.
“They are still our people, Vel. We don’t leave them to die in the dirt.”
“We can’t waste resources on living corpses, Cairn.”
“I know that. If they can’t eat or drink, if they’re so broken that they can’t respond to anything at all, we will give them the peace they need.”
She nods. Vel has never been one for sentiment.
“I already have Maedric distributing food and water. I’ll select another two and we’ll start moving people into the buildings.”
“We need perimeter guards. Even if you can set wards, some humans are immune. We need a secondary warning system,” Therin says.
He’s right, so I don’t argue.
“If anyone approaches, I want to know immediately.”
The rest of the day passes in small crises and even smaller victories.
Getting them inside isbrutal.
Some come willingly, following orders, finding spaces and settling without complaint. Those are the ones who remember what it means to be part of something larger, even if their hands shake and their eyes jump at every sound.
Others have to be guided, coaxed, and sometimes carried. One male refuses to cross the threshold of the small barracks, backing away each time we try to bring him through. Something about the doorway terrifies him. Maybe because it reminds him of the cage door that only opened when they were taking him somewhere worse.
Vel stands beside him, patient as death, until finally, an hour later, he takes a step forward.
I watch from across the courtyard and think about all the times I’ve seen Vel do that. Wait and outlast. Wear down resistance through sheer, stubborn presence. She should be commanding armies. Instead, she’s coaxing a traumatized male through a doorway, using the same patience she once used to break through enemy soldiers.
Some can’t move at all. Those ones we carry inside. Caelum among them.
By the time night falls, everyone is indoors.
I make one last circuit of the Dell, checking the wards I’ve placed and speaking to the fae Therin selected for guard duty, then enter the lodge. Cowen’s head stares down at me from the wall, but the rest of the trophies have been removed. Probably Vel’s doing.
The main hall is full of fae. Some are eating. Others are just sitting, staring at the walls or floors, or their hands.
I find Therin near the back, sword across his knees, watching the dark courtyard through a window. He shifts to make roomfor me. “Sit down before you fall down.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re running on nothing and we both know it.Sit.”
