She didn’t have far to go. The concealing bush soon came to an abrupt end, the path turning sharply right as it passed along the outside of a wooden fence. Within the fence was Io’s farm, a series of low, cleared and cultivated hills, surrounded by forest.
All the buildings were gone.
What Theuli saw was enough to know that Jan and Io and their children were dead. The house had burned some time ago, and she saw the bodies of at least two of the children lying in the dirt like discarded bundles of rags. The livestock, too, were gone.
Gasping harshly, struggling to master herself, she tried to get her thoughts in order, to think about the safety of the others. Fighting for calm, and against a rising sense of panic, she tried not to flee blindly.
The welcome sight of her friends waiting for her in comparative safety, and her own pent-up need to unburden her grief, almost undid the last of her composure. But despite the giddy feeling of shock, she somehow managed to keep her wits about her.
‘They are not here,’ she told them. ‘They have left already. We must rejoin the others, as quickly as we may.’ Even as she spoke this rush of words, a peculiar light-headed feeling took hold. It wasn’t until she found herself looking into Deborah’s frightened eyes that she realized she’d almost fainted. Malina was at her side as well, her eyes wide. Groaning at her own weakness, Theuli forced herself to move.