4
THE AFTERMATH
A few hundred survivors had crawled from caves and blackvine forges, or from under lakes and streams as Anna and Pasha had. All of them were children or ancient and infirm. As one old man had put it, “Only children left. The old kind and the young kind.”
Pasha’s hopes of finding someone to go with them faded with the embers of the fire. The children couldn’t help and, anyway, were the only future the valley people had, whatever new purpose they might find for themselves. The elderly either tried to convince them to stay or to leave and never come back. None thought Pasha and Anna had any hope of retrieving anything from the demon riders, and they had neither the will nor ability to come with them themselves.
Pasha and Anna saw the devastation as they traveled but still
