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led them away from the trees and further onto the hillside, toward where the flags lay with the discarded drums. Cam tore himself from the spectacle in the sky and found Miuri looking at him with a glazed-over expression.

He walked to her and took her hand. She clutched it and blinked twice before her eyes focused on his.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I think so.”

“What happened to you?”

She shook her head. “When my goddess appeared…” She trailed off, as if she was grasping for words.

“We can’t stop looking at them,” Felin said. “They’re like a flame and we’re just flying bugs. We’re drawn to them. It’s their power, but it’s more than that. They’re our mothers… we’re a piece of them, in some way.”

Key draped her arm around Felin’s shoulder and hugged her close. “It’s okay. I think it’s almost over.”

“It’s not,” Miuri said. “They can’t kill each other. Or maybe they won’t.”

Cam bit back a curse. He took Miuri’s hand and pulled her toward him. “We need to join the army again,” he said. “We’ll regroup and find your father.”

She nodded almost like nothing mattered. Her gaze returned to the goddesses in the sky like she couldn’t pull herself away.

And just as soon as it started, it stopped.

The wind picked up. Cam pulled Miuri against him and held her tightly as a gust nearly knocked them over. The wind ripped through them and bent the trees sideways. Branches cracked and Cam let loose a growl of fear and frustration. Key almost toppled, but Felin grabbed her and held her up.

Cam looked into the sky again.

The goddesses were gone. The clouds rolled aside and the sun shone brightly on the ravaged landscape.

Slowly, the wind died down.

“Is it over?” Cam asked.

“Yes,” Miuri said. “She’s gone.”

“My goddess is gone too,” Felin said. “I can feel it. There’s an absence. It’s like…”

“It’s like I can breathe,” Miuri said.

Felin nodded. “Like I can think again.”

Cam hugged Miuri tight then let her go. “Come on,” he said. “We have to find the others. There will be wounded down there.”

“So many dead,” Miuri said, her eyes moving to the devastation below. “So much destroyed, and for what?”

“I don’t know,” Felin said. “I really don’t know.”

Cam tugged Miuri along. Key and Felin followed.

Together, they moved back down the slope toward the camp. It was still chaos, but fewer men were running.

He’d pull them together. They’d send scouts out to find what was left of the wolves and to contact the Elves. And they’d try to save as many lives as they could.

Once that was all over, they’d burn their dead and send prayers to the Urspirit.

But after this, nothing would be the same. Cam felt it deep within his body. The wolves might be stopped, but something changed today in the sky above the battlefield.

Two goddesses fought each other.

Cam knew it wouldn’t stop there.

Power didn’t go back into a box once it was unleashed.

41

Cam walked across the shattered earth toward a tent pitched in the center of the broken field. The canvas fluttered in the breeze. Rocks tumbled from nearby clusters. The dirt smelled like blood, ash, and sweat.

“Whose idea was this?” Cam asked.

Miuri leaned against his shoulder. “My father’s,” she said. “It’s symbolic.”

“Symbolic of what?”

“Victory?” She shrugged. “I’m not sure. “He’s always going on about the importance of symbolism. Sometimes I think he takes himself too seriously.”

“Hard to imagine what a person would be like after a few thousand years of life.”

Miuri laughed. “I’ll let you know when I find out.”

He smiled at her but felt no joy. The stones were loose beneath his boots as he neared the tent. Arter and Vorn stood outside, their backs straight, their spears on their shoulders. Cam nodded and the pair nodded back as he brushed aside the entry flap and stepped inside.

The space was wide and dominated by a long table. The tent’s roof was peaked and open to the air. Sunlight spilled in, illuminating the old, pocked wood surface.

Haesar sat at the far end of the table. Gwedi sat at his side. Key and Theus sat closer to Cam on the Human side of the table. Brice and Stavar sat across from them.

Cam lingered for a moment in front of the chair at the head of his side of the table. But instead of taking it, he walked to the right and sat in a seat at the very center of the long structure. Miuri smiled at him and sat on his right, closer to Gwedi and her father. He took her hand and squeezed it.

He figured Haesar would appreciate the symbolism of him sitting between the two camps.

“Thank you for coming, Haesar,” Cam said.

“Of course.” Haesar bowed his head. “Thank you for doing the dirty work.”

Cam laughed. It was a strained laugh that bubbled up from his chest. His eyes flitted over to the Elf Lord and lingered on the wound across his cheek. It was deep and stitched together, and Cam could only imagine what it would do to his otherwise flawless beauty.

He looked over at Key, at Theus, at Brice. They looked back at him with varying degrees of concern. Stavar sat with his back straight, his mouth shut, an annoyed expression on his face, although that was common for the man.

“We need to discuss the prisoners,” Haesar said.

“I know,” Cam said. “I kept hoping we’d put it off.”

“There are too many to ignore,” Gwedi said. “Thousands of the wolves survived the battle. We have hundreds, but the rest roam the countryside.”

“They’re no threat,” Key said. “They’re just loose bands. We’ll round them up, sooner or later.”

“She’s right,” Brice said. “But that’s not what you’re worried about, is it?”

Haesar smiled. “No, it isn’t,” he said. “I’m worried about what comes after we’ve rounded them all up. The wolves are a long way from home, and we can’t reliably send them back. I don’t trust them to return without looting and killing on the way.”

“We can’t feed them here,” Stavar said. “Bunch of murderers. I