Within minutes, the Dominion officers shouted that they had taken control of the canopy. This was true, though we had taken the pole weapons with us and their swords wouldn’t reach low enough to threaten any of us.
That hardly made us safe. Plenty of carnoxen and oropods were down here along with the majority of Ironhearts. I heard fighting already breaking out in some areas ahead.
It was time for the battle to shift again. Basil had assigned one hundred men as fire starters, their first job to burn any rope ladders that came down from above, keeping the Ironhearts overhead trapped. Their second job was to light smoke bombs as needed, ones Harlyn had shown the Halderians how to make from the saltpeter and sugar.
With the first fires lit, the forest immediately began filling with thick white smoke, rising fast and becoming trapped in the canopy. As the Ironhearts ran for breathable air, they often ran directly off the track, with men following so close behind them that several fell before anyone changed course.
We weren’t finished. We had also converted some of the saltpeter into gunpowder that exploded at the base of trees, bringing down the entire track and everyone on it.
“Retreat!” someone called from above.
“How?” another voice answered. “We’re trapped up here!”
“Find a way!”
While I fought below, I ordered our fire starters to stay ahead of the Ironheart retreat, keeping as many as possible in the canopy. The rest of us moved deeper into the forest. The Dominion hadn’t co
me this far yet, granting us a little time to rest.
I leaned against a tree, uneasy with unused energy that still pulsed with the urge to fight. Meanwhile, Commander Mindall and Harlyn were checking on their soldiers, and Trina was nursing a long cut on her arm. After a quick review of his men, Basil headed toward me, looking cautiously hopeful. I wished he didn’t. There was still little hope for us.
“Gather the wounded,” one of Basil’s officers ordered. “And bury the dead.”
“Our dead.” All eyes fell on me and I added, “Not theirs.”
Basil shifted his weight. “Simon, out of respect …”
“If we bury everyone, the Dominion returns to an even battleground, any memory of today’s losses a thing of the past. No, I want them to see how many men they lost and wonder if they got any of ours.”
Basil nodded, then called to his men, “Find a quiet place for our dead. Somewhere they won’t be disturbed.”
The first wave of battle had gone well, with far more Dominion losses than ours. Still, we had too many fallen fighters, which meant when I saw Commander Mindall walk toward me, my stomach filled with dread. I was scolding myself plenty. I didn’t need his criticism too.
But he stood beside me, looking back on the white smoke still filtering through the forest and said, “It’s a terrible thing to lead a battle. No matter how it ends, you’ll inevitably spend the rest of your days obsessing over every choice you made, berating yourself for any mistakes you made. Learn from them, then let them go. If you can, then today’s mistakes become tomorrow’s victories. Refusing to move on is simply another mistake.” When I only frowned at him, he clapped a hand on my shoulder and added, “It was a good day for our people.”
He gave me a respectful nod, then left, yet my mind lingered on his words, that it had been a good day for our people. Not his Halderians. It didn’t bother me that he’d said it that way; it bothered me that I cared.
The Dominion set up their overnight camp outside the forest, where they could build fires for warmth in the wintry air and cook some hearty food, its mouthwatering scent easily carrying on the wind toward us.
Forced to make camp among the trees, we did our best to relax within the lingering smoke and haze and within easy sight of the unburied dead. Without enough food to go around, Mindall ordered some of his men to hunt for anything remotely edible, and a few others offered to fish from King’s Lake in a clearing deeper in the woods.
“A bridge runs over the east end, before it empties into a river,” Basil suggested. “That’ll be your best place to fish.”
The idea of eating appealed to me, but sleep sounded even better. Trina had built a small fire and I sat beside her and stared at the flames, wondering if the Dominion would wait until morning before attacking again. Hoping so. Every part of my body ached, and I’d begun to notice small injuries that had escaped my attention before. I was beyond exhausted and might’ve fallen asleep until one of our watchmen called, “We have prisoners!”
Mindall and I stood in time to see Halderian fighters leading two people forward. I recognized Huge first, his arms propping up Gabe as they walked. I gave a shout of happiness and ran toward them.
“These aren’t prisoners!” I wrapped an arm across Huge’s shoulder, then nodded at Gabe, who was half-bent over, clearly still mending from his injuries. To the fighters, I added, “Release my friends!”
Trina had joined us by then and helped me lead Gabe toward a bedroll Harlyn laid out. Carefully, we lowered him onto it.
“Thanks,” Gabe mumbled as Harlyn spread a blanket over his bruised body.
Huge settled onto a log near the fire and someone passed him a flask of water, which he gratefully accepted, taking a long draw before offering it to Gabe, who also seemed eager for a drink.
Mindall’s eye passed from Huge to Gabe to me, his expression souring with every turn of his head. “At last the great Corack army has arrived,” he said wryly. “All two of you.”
“Where is everyone else?” I asked Huge. “And why did you bring Gabe here? He should recover at Lonetree Camp.”