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“Vaneshta!” Lidishta cried with joy as they reached them.

Vaneshta grunted, stabbing another dakii. “Don’t distract me!”

Lidishta laughed at Iryana’s side, leaping toward one of the dakii.

They dove into the fight with a vengeance, not caring who fought at whose side. They took turns holding off the dakii, the armored bears keeping enough back to give them a chance. Eventually, they fell back to the choke point, the rest of the forces taking over.

The scouts on the ridge signaled again that more dakii approached.

“Take them back to the post!” Iryana ordered Kladara, who nodded and rushed over to the group now huddled a few paces back in the trees, catching their breath. “We’re almost there, a little farther,” Kladara ordered, picking up one of the small kids. “Follow me quickly!”

“Numbers?” Major Tenar called up to Mezhimar, who loosed arrow after arrow into the pack of dakii.

“Too many!” Mezhimar eventually answered, swearing.

Iryana met Tenar’s gaze. She didn’t know him well, but she understood that look. Iryana nodded.

“Prepare to fall back to the wall!” he shouted, the command spreading through the troops.

Iryana recovered her breath and joined Uncle Dinhal, waiting to engage any dakii that got farther in.

“It’s always an honor to fight by your side,” her uncle said.

Iryana smiled, bracing herself. “Yours too.”

They had lost most of the lower valley but had made a stand at the base of the cliff leading up to the post, where that first spike wall they had built gave them enough relief to hold out.

Iryana had left Major Tenar and his soldiers down there. The path leading up to the post, the watchtowers, and the wall were all filled with every archer they could put on duty. Pyetar had joined and reinforced them with the reserve soldiers.

They needed to evacuate the post, sending the first wave to the fallback location. Those that would take longer to retreat.

The entire post was chaos. People were saying goodbye to loved ones, bundling up children and the elderly, strapping the injured into the sleds. They needed to leave as soon as possible. Hadima was still trying to stabilize the injured who had arrived from the last settlement.

Iryana and the First had told all the settlement leaders to send half their fighters with their noncombatants and injured as part of the first wave. Pyetar had allowed teams to volunteer to hold the wall instead of guarding the initial retreat, telling them that he’d choose randomly from the rest in order to get enough. He didn’t have to choose; enough had volunteered to stay. He hadn’t given Vaneshta’s squad the option, though. They were too ragged already.

Iryana now had the important task of dealing with her grandmother.

“You need to join them,” Iryana urged the First, holding out Limhiz’s staff to her.

“I’m the head of this clan. I will not retreat until everyone is to safety,” the First snapped.

Her grandmother had fought when the dakii had swarmed the war encampment after the initial loss to Karvek, and Iryana suspected it took more out of her than she had let on. Her grandmother couldn’t fight like that again, definitely not in the cold.

Iryana almost called her grandmother stubborn, but then she realized it would be hypocritical.

“We can’t both stay,” Iryana tried to reason. “Someone needs to be there to keep everyone calm. And who else would you put in charge? Uncle Dinhal and Tonhald are staying. Do you want Darsha in charge? Kladara?”

“Fine, you’re right,” Vesima finally admitted, slowly taking the staff from Iryana’s hands. “But you best make it back.”

Iryana nodded. “I will see you soon.”

There had been a new tension between them since Iryana’s mother tried to convince her, Hadima, and Misha to leave. Neither the First nor her sisters had spoken about her since that night. The only report she’d received was that her mother had in fact left when she said she would. Iryana was grateful to leave it at that. They had so many duties to focus on instead.

With her grandmother going to grab her bag, Iryana checked on the rest of the guardians.

Uncle Dinhal and Levek were down in the valley still, Uncle Byorsh in one of the watchtowers. Darsha, Sanora, Kladara, and Edvar were already with the team of sleds ready to go.

She walked past Tonhald, holding his wife and daughter tightly, sniffling as he made sure Anara was bundled up snugly on Teshya’s back.