V relished the oasis of Bess’ embrace for the scant moments her arms were wrapped around his neck. Her tiny arms, so powerful despite their size, brought pools of tears to his eyes as the child’s pain and fear bled through. He made to speak soothing words to her, to affirm that they would return her to her mother, but Bess had already begun to struggle. Vandilo didn’t fight her, and he allowed the girl to slip free of his grasp.

With Bess free of his arms, he felt impotent and lost. In the chaotic nightmare of the past few minutes, protection of Bess had given him purpose, and had taken his mind from their failure to protect Drust. Now, as he knelt near beside his brothers and sisters who were lending their aid to Abe, he had no such crutch. Navid’s skilled hands worked quickly, and V tried to look for an opening to help. He would reach to assist, but his movements were hesitant and unpracticed, and Navid worked around him like water passing around a river stone. 

Frustration with his feeble actions mounted in his chest, a misplaced target for the hatred of those who had taken his brother, and at last he sat back upon the ground with a grunt of anger. His hands found their way to either side of his head, the fingers lacing into his dirty blond hair, pulling at the strands. Drust was in the hands of individuals tainted by the imps, his patriarch lay injured upon the ground, and his eyes had yet to find Floure. The defining threads that had woven themselves into the tapestry of his life were being pulled away, and with them his existence seemed on the brink of unraveling. Around them, the imps danced and laughed. Not hiding in the dark corners as they usually did. No, now they were fat with despair and fear, and they moved amongst Croftshire like flies upon carrion, emboldened by the wounding of their natural predators.

Vandilo looked up into the face of Chavi as her voice rose in tremulous joy at Navid’s handiwork. He blinked several times as his mind at last surpassed his racing emotion. Here was Chavi, with her brother taken, and her father lying injured before her, and she had not crumpled into a worthless pile of desolation. Though her expression was etched with the lines of worry, she had not relinquished hope, and this brought shame flooding into quell the fire of his selfishness. V had no right to crumple where his family stood strong, even in the face of tragedy. 

At Chavi’s mention of getting to safety, V found a renewed purpose, and he stood. Bringing his fingers to his mouth, he blew a loud whistle. The sound carried above the lingering din, and in moments he heard the whinnied rejoinder of Hibo. The mare galloped up the road and came to a skidded stop beside Vandilo, where she stood pawing nervously in place. 

V turned to kneel beside Abe once more, looking up to his family. “We can lay Abe across Hibo’s back. I say we either get back to camp, or at the very least make it into the forest.” He shuffled over to take a position behind Abe’s massive shoulders, and he braced his hands under the man’s armpits, ready to lift.