"All that was divided, must in time, unite. All that was united, will in time, divide." - Xaliburnus the Conqueror, First Emperor and founder of the Elmaiya Empire.

"Sal! Grün! Glad you two made it!" said Reinhardt with genuine relief in his voice. The two women returned his offered welcoming hug with friendly embraces as soon as they finished seeing to the injured's treatment.

He had known them - and been close friends with the women - for close to six years now, from when they had been new to the company. Elfriede had been part of the group of three women back then, and since he married her, he had naturally grown quite close with her best friends.

More importantly, he was truly relieved to see them back, because if anything happened to them, he knew Elfriede would have been devastated. Notwithstanding the more pragmatic reasons, that is, as Grünhildr, being a rarely seen void mage, was one of the deadliest warriors of the company, while Salicia was indubitably their best archer.

He patted their backs even as Grünhildr returned his embrace with one that made his bones creak. Even though the mixed-breed woman was even shorter than his wife, she was also far bulkier, and much, much stronger. Probably comes with the territory, as Reinhardt knew the muscular woman had some orcish and dwarven blood in her.

"I take it the second company also met an ambush, then?" he asked once they separated. His eyes roamed towards the dozens of wounded - some of whom were in really bad condition - that Salicia and Grünhildr had helped reach the fort.

"We actually detected the ambush early, thanks to Lili and Rózsa," replied Salicia as her one good eye looked towards where the twin half-elven women lay on stretchers, both with heavy injuries. "They were scouting and noticed the ambush, although they nearly got killed on their way back to warn us. We all owe our lives to them."

The twins were shapeshifter nature mages, and habitually scouted ahead in animal guise. That was how they discovered the ambush before it could be sprung, but some of the overzealous ambushers had noticed and tried to kill them on sight.

They barely escaped alive to warn the rest of the company, with Rózsa delirious from blood loss and Lili paralyzed from an injury to her spine. The company naturally refused to abandon them, and kept them protected even while they retreated through the enemy pursuit.

Another news that made Reinhardt sigh with relief was that three of the five healers attached to Second Company made it out alive. None of them were particularly powerful healers, but with how few healers remained at the fort, every little bit counts.

"Damn… and I thought we got it bad. We only had like around a thousand trying to ambush us. Lost more from all the roaming patrols we ran into though," said Grünhildr with a sigh when the topic eventually turned to what happened to the first company. "So… we're all that's left of the Free Lances?"

"Unless some survived in the woods, likely so," replied Reinhardt with a grim nod. They had come into this contract with their full strength, a thousand or so combatants. Now barely a quarter of those still lived, and many of those were injured.

Even though their dependents and camp followers had taken up arms and boosted their numbers a good bit, he knew better than to rely too much on them. Those who fought well like Ylisera were the exception, and while most knew how to use a weapon, they were barely better than most militia rabble.

They were pivotal for repelling the assault in the fort two days ago, but that was partly because they were cornered and fighting for the sake of their families. He doubted that most of them could achieve that sort of morale under different circumstances.

As part of forces that defended a fort? They would serve well enough, but the vast majority would not be too useful in military operations other than to serve as cannon fodder. That was a line he refused to cross, however.

"So how fucked are we?" asked Salicia without preamble. The one-eyed archer was always blunt, and almost never minced her words. "What do we have left?"

"Between what remains of our companies? We have maybe a hundred and sixty. Two hundred if we give the lightly injured time to heal," said Reinhardt as he mentally counted their remaining assets. "Two fifty if we include those who could really fight amongst the followers, with another three hundred to help hold the fort."

"At least we're not low on supplies, or armaments. You saw all those corpses out there on your way in," he added after a moment of thought. "We got full salvage on that bunch, divided three ways with the Brewers and the Legion."

"So we're down to less than half a company effective, and almost out of commanders," said Salicia, as she summed up the situation succinctly. "Who's in charge now? Captain Ingrid's gone, and Vice-Captain Marco didn't make it either."

"I… don't know, to be honest. Aunt Ingrid had me lead what's left of First Company back then, but I had expected some of the commanders from Second Company to take charge when you all returned," he admitted with a worried expression. "We should probably call a meeting to decide."

"We should, yeah," nodded Grünhildr in reply. "But not now. I could use a good bath and half a day of sleep first… and a fucking barrel of ale."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," he said with an understanding nod. "Only made it back yesterday myself. Though I had other worries in mind at the time."

"Nothing happened to Friede or Ery, no?" asked Salicia, as some worry was evident in her voice. The first time she showed much emotion since she returned. "No, that shouldn't be the case. You wouldn't be so calm and chatting with us like this otherwise."

"Friede's taking care of Ery right now, in the barracks," he answered with a nod. "We're on watch duty at the moment, and not like Friede's any good for that."

"Fair point," replied Salicia. The corners of her lips slightly raised in amusement at the jab to her old friend.