“Everything will work out, Walak,” soothed Lyra. “They will never know that Syman was there and he will back soon. We are not looking to fight with anyone, least of all the raiders, but we have to get word to someone in the village about what happened at the Academy. You will soon be back home with your family.”

“If they are not killed by the raiders,” sobbed Walak. “They might be lying dead back there now and we wouldn’t even know.”

“Not unless your father gave up using his ornate coach,” offered Lyra. “The coach was not there when the battle took place and I have never seen him arrive without it. If we can get word to the village, then he will know enough not to go there without troops. Do you see why it is important that we get word to someone about the massacre?”

Walak nodded. “I have never seen anything so terrible before. One side cutting anyone who got in their way and the other burning people where they stood. It was horrible. All of those students dead and just because of your father.”

Lyra winced at Walak’s remarks, but she withheld the words she wanted to blurt out. She told herself that Walak was frightened and didn’t really mean what he said, still the words stung like a lashing. Lyra wondered why her father had resorted to offensive magic. She would not have believed it had she not witnessed the scorch marks on the walls and the burnt bodies. She had thought her father would die before he would ever use offensive magic again, but she was obviously wrong. Maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought she did.

“Tell me what happened at the Academy,” Lyra asked hoping to get Walak’s mind away from his fear. Perhaps just talking about it might help her as well as Walak. She knew the shock of the attack and the loss of her parents had not fully hit her yet and she may well react the same as Walak if she did not start talking about it.