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Iryana rushed down the narrow path to the lower valley with the others, the path now well-packed and much easier to traverse.

She could see the 18th making their way through the trees. Many rushed, as quickly as they could with snowshoes, others helped push or pull sleds with gear or injured soldiers. Based on the number of injured, the retreat hadn’t gone well. Heart in her stomach, Iryana searched their faces frantically, but it was hard to track everyone filtering through the trees.

She started moving once she saw Pyetar, just on the edge of the line of spikes they’d set up. Uncle Dinhal had already found him, talking to him urgently as soldiers moved around them. Someone was in Pyetar’s arms.

Iryana called out a few orders as she made her way to them.

She arrived just as Pyetar was moving Lidishta into Uncle Dinhal’s arms. There was a bloody bandage tied around her leg, and she looked pale.

“Ah,” Lidishta mumbled, sounding cross. “Our guardian hero. Please tell me you have something strong for the pain.”

Iryana frowned with worry. “My sister will take care of you, I promise.” She nodded at her uncle, who started carrying her toward the post.

She looked over to Pyetar, to find him bracing himself on his knees.

“Did you carry her the whole way?”

“Just since the river,” he panted. “The gods are clearly not communicating with their creatures. Not only did we have to deal with the dakii, but the water serpents didn’t want us crossing the river again.”

“How many did you lose?”

“Only a few.” He finally straightened again. “Tenar is leading a force to guard our retreat.”

“Do they need reinforcements?” Iryana asked quickly.

Pyetar looked exhausted. His blue eyes were dull, his posture stiff.

He shook his head. “No, they’re working their way here. They shouldn’t be too far behind us.”

“Okay, we’ll be ready.” She was already calculating how they’d get all the supplies and injured carted up. “You made good time this morning. I wasn’t expecting you until later. We still have some daylight left.”

“The fort wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Pyetar admitted.

“We haven’t seen that much action in this valley yet.” In fact, it had been lulling some of them into a false sense of security that Iryana knew wouldn’t last.

The duchess had been right that the brigade would draw the beasts.

“That’s about to change. The dakii followed us.”

A shiver ran up her spine.

“We’ll be ready,” she responded with a confidence she didn’t feel.

Iryana looked around to see who was nearby when she realized a couple of her cousins were watching Pyetar with narrowed eyes. Gods, their hatred of him was so frustrating.

Pyetar took a step away from her, likely noticing as well, turning toward the defenses her clan had been able to put together. “We should clear some space between the spikes and the cliff, give us some room to maneuver properly.”

They hadn’t gotten around to clearing trees, not with their lack of manpower. But they had far more forces now. And since her cousins were clearly lingering and didn’t have anything better to do, Iryana turned to them.

“Kladara, can you see if any of the earth-forged have axe forgings? We need to clear the trees out between the spikes and the cliff. And Edvar, check with all the captains—the ones with green belts—and get the numbers of injured versus ready fighters in their teams.”

She’d need to make sure Hadima was ready for the number of injured and that they had enough shelters, houses, and spare rooms available.

Kladara and Edvar were still glancing between Iryana and Pyetar.

Iryana looked back to Pyetar, at his glazed eyes, took a deep breath and then turned to her cousins.

“Guardians!” she snapped.