There was no reason to kill the girl, but Henley had. He’d struck her down like she was some disease to be cut out and removed with swift excision.
Henley pulled a handkerchief out from beneath his tunic and cleaned his face, his movements almost elegant as he wiped away Dagne’s blood. As though it were no more than grime from a day’s travel.
Luna’s voice escaped a fraction too loud: “What of Sivo and Perla? Are they unharmed?”
One of the soldiers at the edge of the group shifted in his saddle and turned to face the hill where we crouched.
I dropped flat, shoving Luna several feet down the rise with me. “At the moment, they’re fine,” I growled, “but we won’t be if you don’t lower your voice.”
She didn’t care. She strained against me, fighting to get up. She was ready to launch herself down the hill.
I seized her shoulders and turned her, pinning her to the spot. “Stop trying to get yourself killed. They killed Dagne. They won’t hesitate to slaughter us, too. Now wait here and I’ll see what’s happening.”
I crawled back up and looked down the hill again. Henley pointed a finger in Madoc’s face, questioning him. Madoc gazed at his slain sister, a crumpled and broken life on the ground. His sobs tore through the wood, loud and ugly. As if midlight wasn’t fast fading and this wasn’t the time for silent breaths and swallowed words.
I glanced around at the encroaching darkness. Madoc’s sounds weren’t going unheard. The dwellers might not be aboveground yet, but they were waiting below, listening.
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances. They knew the hour was fading fast and all the noise did not bode well. One dweller, even ten, they could easily dispatch, but Madoc was likely rousing dozens of drones.
I couldn’t hear Henley’s words from this distance. Sivo nodded once at whatever was said, his features drawn and pale, lips compressed in a flat line. When the commander finished, he turned and mounted his horse, circling his hand once in the air for the men to move out.
“They’re leaving,” I announced, watching the horses retreat in practiced stealth.
Before they disappeared entirely from the glen, the commander pulled his mount around to address Sivo. He surveyed the tower as well, his gaze stretching over its walls and then back down again. He was evaluating it. It would make an excellent outpost. He or others from the capital would be back. Or others from the king would. Everything had changed. Luna and her family were no longer safe here.
I looked down at Luna, my hand closing around hers. “Come. They’re gone.”
“Midlight is over,” she announced dully, almost as an afterthought.
I lifted my face up to the darkness. “So it is.”
We walked swiftly to the tower. I was still aware of her trembling beside me.
A movement to the right caught my notice, and I turned, watching as a dweller clawed itself free from the dirt, gray, talon-like fingers churning soil. Its square-like head broke the ground’s surface, the receptors on its face shaking loose dirt as it tasted air.
I hurried our pace. We’d be inside before the creature could reach us.
Perla supported Madoc, guiding him to walk. Sivo lifted Dagne’s body in his arms. He looked up as we approached, his shoulders slumping in obvious relief. For the first time I saw him as he perhaps was: a tired, old man. “Luna”—he breathed her name—“you’re safe.”
Perla squeezed her hands together in prayer. “Heavens be praised.”
More dwellers stirred the ground behind us. I stepped forward and took over supporting Madoc. “Let’s move inside.”
Perla glanced around, her eyes rounding in terror. “Yes, of course.” She ushered Luna into the tower. I followed with Madoc.
Sivo brought up the rear. He lowered Dagne’s lifeless body to the ground with a grunt and then bolted the tower door behind us. “Wouldn’t be right,” he muttered. “Leaving her out there for the dwellers. I’ll bury her tomorrow.”
I didn’t bother pointing out that the dwellers would find her either way—buried in the ground or left above. Inhaling, I smelled the faint odor of the soldiers who had invaded this space. Leather, horse, and sweat. Those had been the smells of my childhood. At one time comforting, but now they only reminded me of pain.
Sivo’s gaze connected with mine, grim and brimming with emotion. Perla’s, Luna’s, and Madoc’s steps shuffled away, fading as they made their way up the stairs.
“They killed Dagne. They simply struck her down.”
I nodded. It was senseless. But I knew that violence in these men did not have to make sense, especially when it came from the likes of Henley.
“They found us,” he declared, looking a little dazed. “More will come.”
I inhaled a deep breath, knowing this to be true, and knowing I shouldn’t care. I wasn’t supposed to care. What happened to these people . . .
It changed nothing. I was leaving, and they would have to continue to survive on their own.
ELEVEN
Luna