A boy. Maybe six. A wolf in human form crouched in front of him with both arms around his shoulders. Shielding him. The wolf is bleeding from a wound in her thigh. The boy is crying.
"Children." The woman's voice cracks. "There are children here."
Nobody moves.
"And those—" She gestures wide, sweeping the whole healing station. "Those are wounded. People crying out, getting their hands held, getting their bones set. Eating. Bleeding. Surviving. Likeus."
Her hand drops.
"I have three kids at home. I was told to come here and kill monsters. That was the order. That was the word." She looks at Theron now. Direct. "Monsters. Notchildren. Notmothers. Not the woman with the braid holding that boy's shoulders right now."
Theron's jaw works.
"Get back into the line, soldier."
"No."
"That's an order."
"I know."
Silence.
"These are aggressive creatures—" Theron's voice climbing. "They have killed our people for years—"
"Yeah." From the patchy-beard kid. "Because we keep attacking them."
Theron's head snaps to him.
"Stand DOWN, soldier."
The kid doesn't. He looks at the ground. Then at the woman. Then he does what she did—unbuckles his sword belt, throws it back behind the line. Steps clear of where it was.
He doesn't speak.
Then another. A man in his thirties, rows back. Drops his weapon. Steps forward.
Then an older man. Gray beard. Limp from an old injury. Drops his sword. Steps forward.
Then two more, almost together—a young man and a woman maybe my age—weapons hitting the dirt one after the other, the sound of metal on packed earth, again, again, again.
The line is breaking.
Theron sees it breaking.
Something in his face changes.
Not panic. Not shock. The cold thing underneath. The thing that came to my cottage with a group of men and a plan.
"Soldiers." His voice has shifted. "Listen to me carefully."
Heads turn. Everyone listening.
"By the authority of the Forest Warden and the Council of Blomstradal—and by the agreed coordination of Sarveil, Volmaris, and Rynkova—any soldier under my command who refuses this engagement is in violation of his oath."
The official voice. The Council voice.
"Such soldiers are hereby stripped of standing. Stripped of citizenship. Stripped of the protections of any settlement under coordinated authority."
