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A few hours later…
They brought the dead bodies home in lines that did not tangle.
Shadeclaw handled the slope — ropes over rollers, sleds lashed with cross-cord, three drones to a haul. Silvershadow took the ledges — silent feet, traffic in one direction, orders in the other. Armor came off first: plates stacked by size, helms nested, blades in bundles tied twice. Lirien stood at the forge arch with soot on her cheek and counted without a slate, eyes flicking, lips still.
"Steel to the left," she said. "Leather to the vats. Rope on pegs. No piles that fall on toes."
Two thousand bodies made a long, quiet city on stone.
Kai walked the length once with the spear upside down, butt knocking the floor to keep the lines honest. He did not make a speech to the dead. He only said to the living, "We will use what they brought to our door. Strip what can be forged. Return the rest to our strength."
He turned to the ten cohorts of drones and raised two fingers.
