Despite the heat from Spaulder's scaled skin.

Despite the ash raining in the air, scattered and burning from the raging fires of the fae magics and Spaulder's fire.

Despite the anger that burned in me.

I was ice cold.

Numb, really. Numb to all of it. The closeness to DuVarick. Bara Khalja. The atrocities that the warlock rose against us.

Baeleon.

I wasn't the only one silent on our retreat. The names and fae meant little to Spaulder. To him, it was just another battle. Something he was evidently very versed in.

But for the rest of us, it was crushing.

Watching Eberon and Nassir both pull Thain away from the valley of teeth that swallowed Baeleon was painful. For someone who rarely showed a depth of emotion, Thain's heart was plain for all to see as he raged and grieved at the shock of his lost king. Aside from Eberon, I hadn't known him to be so loyal to anyone else. Eberon handled it little better, but when his focus had to shift to keeping his last remaining triquetram alive Eberon became a different person entirely.

Schula's rage, fear, and despair were plain to see. She cried, big, fat, sloppy tears as she yelled down to DuVarick as we left.

Nassir was quiet, but the deadly calm that settled over him like a dark cloak of hatred was unsettling. It was so unlike him, but after the way he behaved in Eidelhein and again in the valley, I'm sure having Bara Khalja slip through our fingers did terrible things to his state of being.

Even Puko flew to us from the trees, having kept away from the battle itself. The fact that he landed silently in my arms spoke volumes, and I buried my face against his black feathers.

Spaulder didn't fly long, but every moment I looked down into the wreckage from his back felt like time had stopped.

Bodies. The scars of magic in the Mother's earth. Fire. Weapons. Bones.

And ice. So much ice.

Nothing was untouched, and to top it all off, ash rained down like a thick summer storm of blackness and heat. A poison to all who inhaled it.

At least Spaulder kept us above the worst of that.

I held Puko in my arms, the wind tearing at my disheveled braids and tugging at my clothes as the great dragon glided through the air. But soon enough he began to descend, and my heart filled with dread.

Up here, the pain was numb. On the ground, it would become a real, tangible thing we had to deal with.

With the great flap of wings and a gentle bump as we hit the ground, I pulled my face from Puko's feathers and looked around. Spaulder broke through the canopy above where the Autumn court had made camp, taking us nearly to where our tents stood, near Baeleon's.

At first, I didn't recognize where we were. My eyes needed a moment to adjust to the darker surroundings, and the ash was making its way here, even through the treetops. There was also little life here. Some fae remained to watch the horses and divide out supplies for the returning army.

My heart sank, just thinking of how small that number might be.

It wouldn't be just us. No, Baeleon pulled enough from the valley before it overtook him. And not all of the Autumn force was lost to battle. But depending on how many stayed to fight the overwhelming enemy and how many made a retreat, it could mean all the difference in our chances next time.

Someone came out of Baeleon's tent. One of the strategists I had seen from the meetings in the palace, I think. He looked up at us expectantly, surprise and suspicion plain on his face.

My eyes shifted to where Thain was sitting. I looked down long enough to see Eberon's fingers entwined with Thain's, then back up to his face. It was cold and hard. Stone, and hard lines. Not a trace of the explosive emotional mess he was earlier remaining.

At least, not on the surface.

Eberon, knowing Thain was in no way prepared to deliver a report of the battle, freed his hands from Thain's and slid down Spaulder's side. He landed gracefully and spoke rapidly with the strategist, pointing around the camp and beginning to give orders.

'Little ones,' Spaulder soothed Schula and me. I startled, realizing I could hear him clearly when one of my ears was still deafened and the other still muffled.'We cannot linger here. Retrieve your belongings and treat your injuries.'

My eyes widened, moving from Eberon and his work on the ground to the fae around me. Thain did look rough, his once scarlet Autumn shirt now in tatters. Schula had a nasty gash on her leg that would need attention soon. Thankfully we wore the armor Baeleon gave us, or it would have been much worse. I didn't think I had anything myself, until Schula's concerned attention was turned to a tender place on the side of my back, just under my breastplate. It was likely from where I had been knocked down hard at some point.

"Wren." Schula gave me a concerned look, tenderly touching my side. I turned my head to hear her better.

"Come on," I murmured. I stopped, blinking. There was something disorienting about only hearing your own voice through muffled sound when you weren't used to it. Without the rest of the battle to distract me, I was now more than just distracted by my hearing, I was a bit concerned.

I fumbled my way down Spaulder's side and he leaned down to help me slide off closer to the ground. Puko chose to flap out of my arms and land on a horn from Spaulder's head. I straightened with a grunt, the knock to my back may very well have hurt the ribs I just healed from a few weeks ago. Nothing quite felt broken, but they certainly weren't in their best shape.

Thain and Nassir didn't move. Either Spaulder didn't speak to them too, or they just didn't care. Probably a bit of both.

Schula took my hand and, with one last tentative glance up at Thain and Nassir, we went to our tent to retrieve our things.

It was eerie walking through the camp. The sight of Autumn fae moving around, taking orders and rushing to gather anything that could be important or valuable before moving out. Some seemed to be preparing the horses to carry the injured. My eyes darted to Hellwind briefly. What would Eberon do with his horse?

We reached our tent and gathered our bags. We only had one bag apiece anyway, so it wasn't hard to grab and leave. The tents themselves would probably be lost to the Winter army, but there was just no time. And while Spaulder was big, even carrying the broken down tents would be awkward when we're already trying to hold onto his back on our own, let alone managing the heavy canvas and long poles.

"Where do we go now?" I asked. Even though my muffled hearing I could tell my voice cracked as I spoke.

Schula didn't answer for a moment. Her hands moved over her face, as though she was wiping tears away. Then, she turned to face me with firm decision in her eyes. "Thanantholl."

I nodded. This battle was well and truly lost, I suppose there was little else we could do at this point.

Schula took us to Thain, Eberon, and Nassir's tent. The least we could do was grab their things while we were here. But we weren't the only ones with that idea. As Schula opened the flap to their tent, we found a fiery-haired, golden-skinned fae.

"Eb," Schula said.

He smiled wearily. "Just collecting our things. I'm sending some of them on with Hellwind."

I swallowed, nodding. "I wondered how we would get him to safety. I don't think he would enjoy a fly with Spaulder."

Eberon gave a weak smile. "No, I suppose he wouldn't. A unit is about to set out for the outreaches of the Autumn lands. To... to pass on the news. The ones starting near Mother's estate agreed to bring Hellwind home."

"Let me help," Schula said, almost too softly for me to hear as she grabbed one of the three bags Eberon was trying to carry. I already had mine and Spaulder's, now we each held two.

"Thank you." Eberon sighed. "Let's get going, I guess. There's not much left for us here but to be underfoot until the enemy arrives."

I followed Schula and Eberon numbly as we crossed the space to Spaulder once more. We climbed up first and Eberon passed us up the bags. Once I was situated again, I began to dig through mine.

"Here," I passed a salve to Schula. "This will help your leg and my back."

She nodded, uncorking the wide bottle and dipping her fingers into it. Her nose scrunched. up. "Pleasant."

I shrugged. Few of Purda's medicines smelled pleasant, this ointment least of all.

Digging further, I found a roll of linen. Scooting my bag behind me, I reached forward and placed a hand gently on Thain's arm.

He flinched as though I had burned him. I had never seen him caught so off-guard. When his silver eyes turned back to meet mine, I looked into a broken mirror. My throat tightened. I don't know what made me think of it, but the moment I fully accepted the death of Bryn came rushing back to me, raw and screaming. Thain held that now, fresh and overwhelming. He had lost someone before in his triquetram, and I have no doubt that would have been stronger, but this thing between him and Baeleon must have been as strong as two unbonded fae could reach.

Because the Thain I saw now was broken.

I held up the bandages, showing him what I was about to do. He didn't really move or acknowledge what I was doing, but I took over anyway.

As a fae, there wasn't much that I needed to do for any smaller cuts and scrapes. Things that would have been dangerous if left unchecked on a human would be gone tomorrow on him. But a few places on his hands, his neck, his calf, needed more. I was surprised to see almost nothing on his torso, through the tattered shirt, but I guess as one of the most revered warriors of the Wyldes, Thain kept his core safe.

I put the salve to chase away infection wherever the wounds were deep or if the bleeding still hadn't quite stopped. Thain didn't move or complain, but his eyes did watch my hands at work.

When I was done, I leaned back and handed Eberon my bandages and more salve. He and Nassir were too far for me to reach, but Eberon seemed to be in good enough shape to take care of them.

"Wren," Schula caught my attention. "Your turn."

She gently lifted the edge of my robes and pressed cool, salved fingers to the side of my back. I hissed, a mix of pleasure and pain as the pressure brought a sting to the wound, but the salve brought relief.

'Are you prepared to leave?' Spaulder asked.

"What in the..?" Eberon murmured.

"I think so," Schula said.

He must have addressed all of us.

'Where shall we go?' Spaulder asked.

"Stop."

Thain spoke, and moved to climb down Spaulder's side.

We all froze, watching him. He made his way down stiffly, causing me to wonder if I missed any larger injuries he wasn't telling me about. When his tattered shirt snagged on an errant scale on Spaulder's shoulder, Thain ripped it off of himself and discarded it on the ground.

"Where is he going?" Schula hissed. I had to turn my good ear to her.

"He's not running back," Eberon said. "Don't worry."

We watched as Thain walked to Baeleon's tent. A few attendants and the strategist were there, but they all moved out of his way.

The dark fae's steps were slow and calculated. His eyes fixed forward as he disappeared into the grand tent by the bonfire.

None of us spoke. We practically held our breath waiting for him to come out. Finally, he emerged, something grasped in his closed fist. Thain walked back to us, climbing more gracefully this time as he scaled to Spaudler's back.

Settled in, he raised a hand to his ear and clipped on a golden adornment. Something I hadn't given any thought to before, but now that I looked on it, Baeleon wore it every time I had seen him. A simple maple leaf, curling around the ear with little red ruby dewdrops scattered on the surface.

Thain looked ahead, his face hardened and knuckles white on his clenched fists.

"Take us to Thanantholl." Thain's low voice had a dangerous ring to it as he spoke. "I will really a massacre."

Spaulder made that rumbling pleased purr of his as he spread his wings. Beating them down and scattering gusts through the encampment around us.

With a push, the great black dragon took to the air, carrying us in the direction of the Autumn city.