The extent of the destruction brought by the fire was fully revealed as Idelle made her way out of the city.

Whole city blocks had been reduced entirely to ash and scattered rubble, often blocking what was left of the often narrow former roads. As she walked her feet kicked up dust that mixed with the still smoky air and made her throat itch and eyes water. She covered her hand with her sleeve, wishing she had a handkerchief or something. Thankfully, her recent feeding seemed to have satisfied her need for water or food for the moment.

Despite that, it was easy enough to work towards the outer walls. Even with buildings in the way, they had loomed tall enough to be visible from much of the city. Now, they ringed it like the sides of a distant cage in the smoke. She couldn’t imagine anyone would be left feeling that protected by them, after this. Not that they had been designed to help against an attack like the one that had taken place last night.

The night before?

Probably still last night, Idelle decided, it was hard to imagine she’d spent a whole twenty-four hours unconscious.

Despite herself, she coughed into her arm, her chest spasming with the motion. It ached slightly, still tender, and she winced. It was getting hard to not feel a little thankful for her strange powers, given the abuse she’d managed to survive thanks to them. Being smashed away and into the ground by something that was probably a thousand times heavier than her had been an unpleasant experience, to say the least.

At least she was alive, she reminded herself again. As long as she stayed alive, she could keep growing stronger. As strong as she needed to be. A body and mind like steel, that was what she needed right now.

The walls reached ever higher towards the skies as she drew closer. The blocky tower that made out the gatehouse was only a few minutes walk away, so she started to head towards it more directly, clambering over a messy pile of bricks that might have once been a fireplace or oven before the building that housed it had collapsed. She half expected to see someone guarding the gates, but no one was visible. Right, what was there even left to guard, at this point?

The main gates and side entrance both had been left open, and the smoke lessened slightly as she passed through them. Idelle looked over to the merchant camp, visible by the edge of the woods a distance away, and was greeted by a mass of improvised tents and bustling activity. More shelters were still being improvised, with others working to dig latrines and a third group in the process of chopping down a section of the nearby trees. Soldiers were positioned in groups around the outskirts of the camp, weapons nearby.

Idelle quickly strode over towards the camp, the nearest group of soldiers quickly noticing her and waving. One of them spoke as she drew closer.

“Did something else happen? Any orders for us?”

Idelle shook her head. “I don’t know, sorry… I just came out of the city.”

He whistled in surprise. “Just now? Are you all right? What happened to you? I assumed everyone who hadn’t fled by now was dead already.”

She shrugged. “I was trapped for a while and injured, couldn’t get out until now.”

The man took a closer look at her blood-stained gambeson and winced. “Wow. Um, do you need help getting to the medical camps? They’re around the other side of the city, closer to the barracks. Most of us are over there, tending to the wounded. Though…” He hesitated, looking pained. “Well. There’s less wounded than you might hope for.”

Idelle grimaced. That didn’t surprise her, given how ruthless the attack had been. “I’m all right, I think it looks worse than it is. I was lucky enough to be trapped away from the fire… It just took me a while to get out, that’s all.”

“That’s good… I’m glad to hear that someone was lucky in all this. Either way, though, you should go get it checked out. There’s no reason to risk infection or anything, right?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll go do that, then. Around the city by the barracks, you said?”

“That’s right. There’s more work to be done over there anyway, what with all the dead to bury.” The man shrugged, the morose bitterness in his voice apparent to anyone listening.

Idelle thanked him and quickly started her way back around the city. Dead to bury, huh? She wondered if she could find any corpses from the mysterious attackers. If she could, her powers might give her a real shot at tracking them down, or at least finding out where they come from. As effective as the night attack had been, she couldn’t imagine that at least some of them hadn’t died. Not with people like Ivar on their side.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the medical camps the soldier on guard had mentioned. They were nothing more than another series of temporary shelters, with bedrolls and a few cots laid out under them for the wounded.

People were moving among them, distributing water, food, blankets, and the like. Quiet cries and moans of pain drifted over to her ears, and she involuntarily looked away.

More soldiers were carrying stretchers out of the city, unloading them in the grass nearby where another group was grimly digging long lines of what could only be graves. More of her comrades were resting under trees, some downright asleep and others looking too exhausted for conversation or games. No one seemed eager to blame them or force them back to work. She wondered who was even in charge. Adrian? He would have survived, right?

Idelle glanced around further and saw a larger shelter, really just a shade, set up a little further away. Sure enough, Adrian was standing under it, along with several secretaries seated at tables along with a great deal of paperwork. His face looked like iron as he discussed something with a woman she didn’t recognize who was dressed in an expensive embroidered tunic. Better not to bother him, she thought.

She hesitated, then started towards the gravediggers. Better to get the work done, for now, and ask questions later. As she approached, she spotted a familiar face. It was Sergeant Cateline, carrying the front end of a stretcher with yet another corpse out of the city. Idelle hastened over, the rugged older woman’s face displaying a surprised look as she recognized her.

Cateline spoke first before Idelle had a chance. “Idelle, was it? You all right? You look like crap.”

Idelle glanced down at herself. Yeah, she had to admit she did in fact look like crap. Blood had stained a large part of her gambeson, and the rest was covered in ash and dirt. Her left arm was still visibly bruised as well, her body having prioritized healing more serious injuries, and there was a large cut in her leggings with encrusted blood visible underneath that as well. She shrugged. “I’ve been better, but I’m still alive, so it could be worse.”

Cateline lowered the stretcher she was carrying with a thud, her lips curled into a humorless grin. “Truth. I didn’t see you until now, were you badly injured? Don’t push yourself.”

Idelle shook her head. “No, nothing too bad. I only just got out of the city, that’s why.” She hesitated for a moment, then her jaw tightened and continued. “I went to find Ce — the princess … Last night, I mean.”

Cateline met her gaze with an overcast expression. “Ah, then you probably already know. She’s vanished after the attack. Kidnapped, or dead somewhere we haven’t found her. Swordmaster Ivar is missing as well, Adrian thinks he might be a traitor.”

Idelle’s hands curled into fists, looking down at the ground, away from Cateline’s hard eyes. Ivar as well? “...Actually… I — I think the princess was the traitor. I saw her, working with the people attacking us.”

Cateline didn’t respond for a long second. When she did, her voice was quiet. “Are you sure? Do you have any proof?”

Idelle still didn’t look up. “Not really. Just my word, I suppose, that I saw her.”

There was another agonizing pause in the conversation before Cateline finally spoke again. “I think you must have been mistaken. Maybe it was someone else, disguised as her? Or maybe she was being kidnapped, and simply going along with them out of fear or until she could find a moment to escape.”

Idelle met Cateline’s eyes again, the older woman’s expression had softened but still held that steely glint of conviction. “What makes you so sure?”

Cateline shrugged. “Her Highness was — is, a good woman. The only one in the royal family, as far as I’m concerned. She treats us common soldiers better than anyone, and I know a lot of us would die for her because of it. No, she treats everyone well. The nobles hate her guts for it too, you know.”

Idelle hesitated, unsure what to say in response. “It really was her, though. I spoke with her, actually. She didn’t even deny that she was involved.”

Cateline’s eyes narrowed slightly at that. “You spoke with her? And then what, she just let you go?”

Idelle’s brow furrowed into a frown. “No, she, um… She tried to kill me.”

“...Clearly she didn’t do a very good job.”

Cateline’s words held no trace of amusement, and Idelle backtracked. “Sorry. You’re right, I must be confused. It’s — a lot happened. Sorry.”

Cateline sighed, looking away from her. “It’s all right. I believe that you saw something, at least, so I’ll take this as a sign that Her Highness is still alive, if nothin’ else. But you should go to one of the medical tents and rest. The bad air might be getting to you.”

Idelle shook her head from side to side in a firm refusal. “No, I’m all right. Just pretend I didn’t say anything. Is there anything I can help with for now, Sergeant?”

“You can help with burying the dead if you want. Plenty of that going around, as you can see. Just don’t spread any other strange rumors while you do it, or I’ll personally make sure you rest. Understand?” Cateline’s tone was inscrutable.

“Yeah, sorry. Like I said, a lot happened.”

“Apology accepted.” The sergeant looked at the teenage boy who had been carrying the other side of her stretcher. He’d flopped to the ground during their conversation, eyes half-closed and breathing slightly fast. “You there, Erik, right? Go get some proper rest. Idelle will help me with this.”

He nodded, slowly clambering to his feet, and Cateline jerked her head between Idelle and the stretcher. “Come on then. We can talk while we work.” Idelle grimaced. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything.