Chapter 16 · Frontier Lord - Chapter 16: Give Them Back

The scarf hung from the gate like a threat.

Ava's lungs still burned from the tunnel run, but she didn't need clean air to recognize the fabric. Blue-and-gray check. Sera's wife had woven it two weeks ago, traded it to one of the southern families for seed grain. The woman who'd taken it—Mira—had three kids and a cough that wouldn't quit.

"They took her." Rain's voice was flat. He was already counting the dirt beyond the wall, reading tracks Ava couldn't see. "Four horses. Maybe five. Headed north an hour ago."

"We just got out." Ava's hands were shaking. She pressed them against her thighs, felt the grime from the tunnel crack under her nails. "How did they—"

"Someone was watching the wall." Rain didn't look at her. His jaw was tight, that muscle near his ear jumping. "Waited till we went down. Took whoever they could grab fast."

Sera pushed past them both, her face white. She grabbed the scarf, yanked it down. "Mira was on water duty. She was filling the morning buckets."

"Alone?" Ava heard her own voice go sharp.

"We're stretched thin." Sera's knuckles were bloodless around the fabric. "You know that."

Ava did know.