The draconian troops allowed the children to play until they were tired, then fed them hot soup made of the remnants of yesterday’s venison. The babies ate well and were now content to return to their sacks, where they soon fell sound asleep.
Late that afternoon the First Dragonarmy Field Engineers lined up in the temple courtyard, prepared to move out, to continue their march. Snow had started falling again, but this time Kang welcomed it. The snow would hide their tracks, throw off pursuit.
Kang had a debt to repay. He could not leave without first thanking Sister Marsel. He found her in the temple, standing before the statue of the platinum dragon.
“How is Sister Hana?” he asked.
“She’ll be all right. The others are with her.” Sister Marsel crossed her arms over her chest, shivered. The fires had gone out. The temple was cold.
“You shouldn’t stay here,” he warned her. “The goblins might return.”
“I know,” she replied. “We should have left long ago, left when the rest of them left. But Sister Hana said that someday Paladine would return and he would be disappointed to find us gone. There’s a village not far from here. They’ll be glad to take Sister Hana in and give her and the others a home.”
“What will you do?” Kang asked curiously.
Sister Marsel smiled wanly. “I need to climb out of my warm fur sack, don’t you think, Commander?”
Kang shook his head. She seemed very young and very fragile to go roaming about a world that was becoming darker and more dangerous every day. It was not his part to say so, however. The choice was hers.
“Good luck to you, Sister,” he said. “And thank you for what you did for us. We are in your debt, all of us.”
“If Sister Hana had carried out her threat, then everything Paladine taught us would have been a lie.” Sister Marsel raised her eyes to the statue. “It isn’t. I know it isn’t. I’m going to find the truth.”
Kang shrugged. He had already found his own truth. He left her standing beside the statue of the platinum dragon.
It was odd, but when he turned around to glance at them both again, the dragon didn’t look all that forlorn.