It was fair. Unsettling, but true. And also wrong, so very wrong.
“We can’t leave them here,” I whispered, my brow tightening as I thought about it. “They don’t know how to fight it.”
Baxley stepped closer. “Wedon’t know how to fight it either, Amarya. We didn’t evenscratchit.”
Shit. Not good. Not good at all.
Captain Marson heard him and looked between us, then he gave a single, decisive nod. “We take what we came for, and then we move on,” he said. “Tight formation. No one breaks off.”
Because if anyone did, I didn’t think we’d hear them go.
“And the injured?” Nicco’s gaze didn’t waver as he held the captain’s stare.
“We protect our own.”
Nicco held his stare a moment longer. Then his attention flicked to his companions, and whatever he saw there made his jaw tighten further.
“Right, let’s see how long that lasts,” he grumbled as he moved forward. “Trailfinder,” he added without looking back, “you stick by me.”
It wasn’t a request, and I didn’t argue.
“The rest of you” —his gaze flicked over the soldiers, cool and assessing, — “try not to die before we’re done here.”
“We’re King’s Guard,” someone muttered.
Nicco spat to the side as he walked, and I never heard another sound as we walked closer to the town’s center.
We moved forward at a steady pace. The kind of pace that said we knew we were being watched, even if we couldn’t prove it.
Nicco was at my side, the soldiers tightening into formation behind us. Baxley and Larana drifted at the edges, not guarding, not flanking… just… aware. Looking in every direction at once.
“Where?” Nicco asked me quietly.
“Supply stores,” I told him. “North side. Caravans and merchants. They stock up before they head out.”
“Lead the way.”
I moved ahead, and he pulled me back by my cloak. “Stay beside me, bunny.”
“You saidlead,” I hissed at him.
“Use your words, not your feet.” He smirked when I glared at him. “You’ll need your feet soon enough, Trailfinder.”
Right. He was expecting us to have to run from the town. I didn’t look at him. I just walked, quietly directing him as our companions watched the shadows around us.
The deeper we moved into Skallfen, the worse it became. It wasn’t just the silence. It was how complete it felt.
There wasn’t even any wind. No creak of wood, no distant voices. Even our footsteps felt... swallowed, as if the town no longer carried sound.
A line of stalls appeared to our left.
Canvas still stretched over them, stiff with frost. Goods left out in neat rows, tools, rope, dried food. All untouched.
“Why hasn’t anything been taken?” one of the soldiers murmured.
No one answered because we all knew. There was no one left to take it.
I slowed down, and this time, it was my turn to pull Nicco’s arm, pulling him back. “Careful.”
