The war room hadn't held this many people at once since the night before the Concordat's host broke against our walls, and the map at its center still bore the scorch mark from where someone's candle had guttered too close during that long argument between Zereth and Rena. Nobody had bothered to sand it out. It felt wrong to erase, somehow, like painting over a scar before the wound underneath had finished deciding whether it was healed.
Zereth opened with the numbers, because Zereth always opened with numbers, the way other men said grace before a meal. "Aldrik Voss has pulled the remnants of the Eastern Host back across the Ferrowine, consolidating with whatever reinforcements the Concordat can still raise from the southern provinces. Baldric Stonewall's banner hasn't been seen since the retreat. Our best guess is he's regrouping somewhere behind their supply lines, licking whatever wounds Selena left him with."
"Not enough of them," Selena said, low, not quite to anyone.
