Summer 1096 SR
Charlaine lifted a scorched table, hefting it aside. “There’s nothing left of value,” she said.
Throughout the blackened debris, her fellow sisters were doing likewise, clearing away the rubble in a desperate search for anything worth saving.
“I found something,” announced Danica as she lifted a clay tankard, only to have the handle come loose and fall to the ground, shattering into dozens of pieces. “Never mind.”
Aurelia wearily sat down amongst the charred remains. “We’re done here,” she said, “they’ve won.”
“Is that what you think?” came Giselle"s voice.
They all looked to where their captain stood.
“They have burned our outpost, that’s true, but we have inflicted a much greater defeat on the raiders. WE have destroyed one of their mages!”
“But at what cost?” said
