Page 24 of Elven Throne

“Did you check every wing for stragglers?” she asked.

Still staring at the crater, Corey blinked heavily, as if pulling himself out of a dazed stupor, then met her gaze. “Not every wing. The front was a little harder to get to, for obvious reasons.”

“Take a count, anyway,” she told him with a nod. “I don’t want anyone in that building.”

“Or what’s left of it,” the tattooed troll murmured. “Wouldn’t callthatmuch of a building, now, anyway.”

“We’ve rebuilt it before,” Shell piped in. “More than once. That I know of.”

Corey swung his head heavily toward the troll woman, like it weighed a thousand pounds, and raised an eyebrow. “Things are different this time.”

A grim scowl darkened Shell’s brow, but she nodded.

No one could argue with that. This time was absolutely different, on multiple different levels. This time, there was hardly anything left to even make rebuilding worth it.

“Zida! Is Zida out here? Pretty sure we need a healer!”

Echoes of responding shouts cut through the silence before Zida realized the operatives were calling for her.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Keep your pants on.” She pushed herself away from Bor to hobble toward what little remained of the compound’s shattered, twisted entrance. “I need my supplies!”

“You’re not going anywhere,” Bor grumbled as he raced after the healer with surprising speed and clutched her arm to hold her back. “Are youtryingto get yourself killed?”

“They called for a healer,” she snapped. “Unless you see another one floating around out here on demand, that meansme. And the healer needs her supplies.”

“What youneedis to rest,” he snarled, not quite yanking her back but definitely not letting her go. “What you just went through—”

“Is over now,” Zida hissed, struggling feebly to free herself from the giveldi’s grip. “If I’m not dead, I can still do my damn job.”

“Step foot in there, and youwillbe—”

“You stubborn old worm! Who made you—” A gasping moan burst from the healer’s lips as she stumbled off balance and lost her footing. The next second, what had remained of Zida’s energy seeped out of her, and she sagged against Bor’s chest instead of trying to wrench herself away from him.

The giveldi grunted and held her in support, staring blankly over the top of the old healer’s hairless head. “Look at that. Finally came to your damn senses.”

She slapped him with a feeble, clawed hand, but that was all the resistance she had left.

Bor lifted his chin over the top of her head and bellowed, “Somebody better get their ass to the infirmary and bring her those supplies! Doesn’t matter if you know what it is. Pack up everything that ain’t broken and make it travel-ready! You hear me?”

“Travel-ready…” Zida snorted and pulled away from Bor just enough to look him in the eye. “You plan on going somewhere after sweeping me off my feet?”

The look he gave her in that moment made Rebecca feel like she’d suddenly stepped into the wrong room where this odd but still perfectly fitting geriatric couple were supposed to have been left alone in their privacy.

“Just in case,” he muttered.

The words were for Zida’s benefit only, to keep the healer’s mind off what came next once Shade had a clearer big-picture view of what they had left to work with after this battle. But Bor already knew what was necessary.

So did Rebecca, but that didn’t make it any easier.

Everything—whatever remained in their possession after the devastation—had to be travel-ready now. Because staying here in their destroyed home was no longer an option.

There was nothing left, and the previously hidden and unknown location of Shade Headquarters was no longer a well-kept secret. Especially from their enemies.

But that conversation would have to wait.

Rebecca turned her focus as much as possible to the injured operatives being guided together to receive medical attention, once Zida had her supplies.

While Rebecca surveyed the damage to her operatives and personnel, which fortunately wasn’t nearly as bad as she’d expected, the last of the teams who’d gone after the jump points returned to the parking lot to deliver their reports.

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