Thorn watched the women for a moment. ‘She’ll have to go to the camp until we do.’

Blackmane stiffened. ‘What the hell are you talking about? She’s not going anywhere near that place.’ He looked to Tatum for support, but the commander only looked down at his feet. ‘We’ll figure out another way.’

‘We?’ Tolly asked. ‘You’re about to return home, remember? We’ll be the ones figuring a way through this mess.’

Thorn sniffed. ‘We all know if she goes back in there, she’ll be the safest person in that camp.’

‘You don’t know that,’ Blackmane said.

Thorn lifted his eyebrows. ‘I didn’t say she would get off easy, but at least she would be alive at the end. Meanwhile, while we stand here debating this, someone else is being killed while he waits for her.’

‘He is right,’ Isabel said behind him.

Blackmane whipped his head around, not realising she had wandered over to them.

‘I need to get to the camp.’ She looked over to where Ita was still rocking her mother. ‘Right now.’

Blackmane took a step towards her, and she took a step back.

‘I am not asking your permission,’ she said. ‘The sooner I go, the fewer people will die.’

Tatum cleared his throat. ‘Not to play devil’s advocate here, but there’s a lot of sense in what she’s saying. Lord Cuckoo is prepared to burn the world down in order to get her back, and her return will soothe him in the interim.’

Blackmane stared at him like he was a traitor. ‘Or maybe he accidentally kills her—like he almost did last time.’ He looked back at Isabel. ‘Go comfort your friend. She needs you.’

Isabel searched his eyes. Then, with a defeated nod, she returned to Ita.

‘How quickly can we get those children out?’ Thorn asked.

‘We estimate two hundred children,’ Tolly said. ‘One at a time utilising a single tunnel. It’ll take all day, but more realistically, it’ll end up being as many as we can before someone notices they’re missing.’

‘That’s a lot of hours,’ Thorn replied. ‘A lot of corpses hanging from trees.’

Blackmane blinked slowly. He hated the thought as much as any of them. He simply was not prepared to sacrifice Isabel for the cause.

‘And when the children are out, the fighting begins,’ Tatum said.

Thorn crossed his arms. ‘The challenge there is getting enough people inside at one time to make a real impact.’

‘We have a little defender trick that’ll help with that,’ Tatum offered.

‘I didn’t think you were allowed to help with anything,’ Tolly said. ‘Aren’t you supposed to be neutral?’

Tatum brushed a hand over his head. ‘I don’t see an issue with us casually mentioning the technique before departing.’