Larkin grinned and spooned up more stew. “That wouldn’t be a problem, not at all. Fetch Eogan now, won’t you, sweetheart?”
“You’ve had a bit of that, have you?” Cian murmured.
“Had—No.” Then his tawny eyes glinted with humor. “Well, a bit, but nothing substantial you could say.”
“How do you want to handle this business?”
“Eogan’s a sensible man, a solid one. He’d have heard of Tynan by now from those we brought with us. So, I’ll answer the questions he’ll have on that. I’d like it best if you’d go over the precautions and orders again with him. Then if he’s nothing more to report than we’ve just heard from Isleen, we’ll leave Malvin and two others here, and go on to the next. Aren’t you hungry then?”
“As a matter of fact, but I’ll wait.”
“Ah.” Larkin nodded his understanding. “You have what you need in that area?”
“I do. The horses and cows are safe.”
“I saw the carcasses along the way. Not like an army had fed, but a few scavengers. Deserters, would you say?”
“It’s exactly what I’d say.”
“An advantage now,” Larkin murmured, “with her losing troops here and there. A problem for later.”
“It will be, yes.”
“We’ll think of something.” Larkin looked over as the door opened. “Eogan. We’ve much to talk about, and little time.”
There was little more at the next stronghold, but at the third, Lilith had left her mark.
Two of the outbuildings had been burned to rubble, and in the fields the crops had been torched. The men talked of a night of fire and smoke, and the screams of the cattle as they were slaughtered.
With Larkin, Cian stood and studied the scorched earth.
“It’s as you said, you and Blair. She would lay waste to the farms and the homes.”
“Stone and wood.”
Larkin shook his head. “Livestock and crops. Sweat and blood. Hearth and home.”
“All of which can be bred and grown, shed and built again. Your men withstood the siege, with no casualties. They fought, and held the ground—and took some of Lilith’s forces to hell. Your glass is miraculously half full, Larkin.”
“You’d be right, I know it. And I hope if she tries to drink what’s left in it, it burns her guts black. We’ll move on then.”
There were fresh graves at the next base, burned earth and wounded men.
The sick dread in Larkin’s belly eased, finally, when he saw his younger brother, Oran, limp out of the farmhouse. He strode to Oran quickly, and in the way of men gave him a hard punch in the arm, then a bear hug.
“Our mother will be pleased you’re among the living. How bad are your wounds?”
“Scratches. How is it at home?”
“Busy. I’ve seen Phelan at one of the other camps, and he’s safe and well.”
“It’s good to hear. Good to hear. But I have hard news, Larkin.”
“We know of it.” He laid a hand on Oran’s shoulder. His brother had been little more than a boy when he’d marched away from home, Larkin thought. Now he was a man, with all the weight that went with it. “How many besides Tynan?”
“Three more. And another I fear won’t make the night. Two others taken, dead or alive, I can’t say. It was a child, Larkin. A demon child who killed Tynan.”
“We’ll go inside, and talk of it.”