Page 128 of Oath of Rebellion

"We have more refugees," she told Lailant.

She walked through the small gap in the wall and through the familiar woods to the no longer secret hole in the ground.

She stopped on the edge of the glen, her brows raising in surprise. A man knelt on the ground, his hand extended down to help someone up the ladder.

Her jaw dropped. He was bigger than Knox and looked to be made of solid stone. He even had stone wings on his back. He was slightly familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it.

He glanced over, then grunted, "Ah, you survived. Excellent."

Her mind reeled. "Um, do I know you?" she asked.

He turned away from the entrance, stood, and offered his hand.

She shook it as he said, "Name's Ashur. I'm a Robin, Knox' second in command. He was anxious about you. Did he survive too?"

Ashur frowned and looked around. Eirwyn nodded, and he sighed, his face relaxing slightly as he knelt in the dirt once more.

"Great, that's good. Now I don't have to handle this mess. He can." He began pulling people up the ladder. Eirwyn gasped as the first one up was the downstairs scullery maid at the castle. Except she'd been changed by magic.

"Oh Molly, you poor dear." Eirwyn hugged her, the feathers on her head making Eirwyn sneeze, as Molly began to complain so quickly Eirwyn could barely understand.

Eirwyn walked her to the edge of the glen and pointed to the gap in the wall of the road. She directed Molly through then turned.

Ashur led more and more people through. Eirwyn kept directing them, checking on them, seeing what they needed and reassuring them they were safe now.

She kept a calm smile on her face even though each person who came through was cursed with twisted features that mixed objects with their bodies. One had table legs instead of real legs, and one had a torso twisted like a wardrobe. There was even a little boy who seemed to be made entirely of wood. Several looked like animated caricatures of furniture.

The more people came through, the more she worried about their lives. How would they eat, how long could they live like that, how quickly could they find a cure or curse reversal?

And she worried about Bella. If the state of these people was any reflection on the mental status of her friend, she needed to be there to comfort her. She smiled and listened to the next person, offering reassurances.

She kept glancing back at Knox to see if he was alright. Her gut told her he was growing weaker, spending too much magic.

A familiar woman stepped up the ladder, her round cheeks red from exertion. "Heavens preserve us," she muttered, her eyes wild.

Eirwyn raced over to her. "Helga, you're alive," she said, wrapping her arms around her former nanny.

Helga grunted, then hugged her back. "Oh Eirwyn, I've been so worried about you. You're alright?"

Helga pulled back, inspecting Eirwyn. "Well, you look right enough. Unlike myself."

Helga pulled the cap off her head. Her hair fell down around her shoulders, but it wasn't actually hair. Instead, it was leaves. Eirwyn frowned and ran her fingers over one.

"It's tea leaves, dear. What am I supposed to do with tea for hair?"

Eirwyn snorted, her brows rising. "Make tea?"

Helga rolled her eyes and stomped after the last of the people moving through the forest to the road. "There better be some type of civilization in this god-forsaken forest, or I swear..."

Eirwyn shook her head and turned back to the stone man.

The man ducked his head into the hole and said, "Hurry. We need to collapse this tunnel to prevent the curse from entering the forest."

Eirwyn frowned, worry eating at her. She wasn't sure if collapsing the tunnel would work, but it was a different thought that nagged at her. "Scarlet! Have you seen Scarlet? She was with you earlier when you stormed the castle, yes?"

He pursed his lips and nodded. "Yes, she took the brunt of the curse, and it's affected her worse than most of us."

"She's alive then?" Eirwyn asked, her brows rising as she looked around. "Where is she?"

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