Chapter 112: Sorrow and Grief
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Princess Mia stood at rigid attention. Polished garnet armour hugged her slim frame; gem-lined pauldrons caught last light in blood-red sparks. To either side, healers in white bark robes waited with stretchers, and heralds clutched long silver horns that had greeted countless heroes.
Mia’s breath hitched each time dust silhouettes emerged from the crowds. She ticked off units by memory: First Dawn-Blade Cohort, intact but limping; Supply Auxiliaries, Vanguard Spear flaunting fresh enemy standards... yet no crooked, spear-lean figure that matched Kai.
A ragged line of workers trudged past, their eyes sunken, harness ropes carving bloody tracks across shoulders. Mia’s heart lurched. "He would never march ahead; he’d stay rear-guard, watching for stragglers." She scanned the tail of the convoy, still nothing.
The final company creaked into view: a shattered sledge with slate "Delta-19" scorched on its side. Two familiar ants walked at its head. Fenn, tunic torn and one antenna splinted; Brask, shield still blackened by acid burns. Both dropped to one knee before Mia, their body quivering in sadness.
"Highness..." Fenn rasped. "Scout-Leader Kai was... seized. A five-star Blood-Scythe Mantira struck from the rear flank. General Irontide prioritised the corpse train... We... couldn’t do anything. Kai might be... "
Words disintegrated.
Brask lifted dull eyes. "We never found his body, Your Grace. He... he saved wagon-eight. If he hadn’t drawn the beam..." the shield-bearer’s plate rattled as he fought tears "more of us would lie in the sand."
The plaza seemed to tilt. Mia’s vision blurred with pin-prick stars, but she sank emotion under a princess’s mask. She placed a gauntleted hand upon Fenn’s bowed head, gesture of absolution. "You served with honour. Report to triage, both of you. Dawn-Blade bears no shame."