CHAPTER 336: THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

The problem was...they couldn’t just leave the children in the woods, and they had no carriages of their own, only two horses, already in use.

Cassius, however, solved it without hesitation.

The next time a merchant caravan passed by, he strode over, exchanged a brief conversation, and handed over a pouch so heavy with coin it made the merchant’s eyes widen.

The offer was too good to refuse.

Within minutes, Cassius had purchased the caravan outright, horses, wagons, and all.

The rescued hostages were helped aboard, and anyone among them who knew how to drive a wagon took the reins. The makeshift convoy began to follow the group at a steady pace, their wheels creaking softly behind the sound of falling trees.

At first, it was just two carriages, rickety wagons with creaking wheels, each packed with frightened women and children. They trailed behind Cassius’s group at a cautious distance, the sound of the wheels blending with the steady thud of trees being felled ahead.

But as the hours passed, they found more camps. More bandits. And with every fight, more hostages were freed.

Two carriages became five.

Five became ten.

By the time the sun began its slow descent, there were over twenty carriages following behind them, an entire convoy that looked, from a distance, like a massive merchant company winding through the forest.

Except there were no goods in these wagons.

Only faces.

Small, scared, trembling faces.

The sight was heartbreaking. If Cassius and his team hadn’t arrived, every single one of them would have been sold, abused, or killed.

Many had already endured things no child or young woman should have to. The air inside the wagons was heavy with silence and the faint, stifled sounds of people trying, and failing, not to cry.

Skadi had been the first to try to fix that.

She moved from wagon to wagon between scouting duties, crouching at the edge to smile at the children, telling little jokes, or showing off small magic tricks.

But...nothing worked.

Most of them just stared down at their knees or clung to each other, too lost in their trauma to respond. The ones who did look up had eyes that were dull and empty.

Aisha, Skadi, and Julie all exchanged quiet, heavy looks. They had seen battlefields, they had fought in wars, but this...this was a different kind of hopelessness.

"...I don’t think they’re coming back from this anytime soon." Julie muttered to Aisha as they walked.

Aisha sighed, her voice low. "It’s not like we can undo what’s been done. Some wounds are deeper than any healer can reach."

Skadi’s tail drooped. "...Feels like nothing we say will matter."

Cassius, however, didn’t share that belief.

"Hopeless?" He said, overhearing them as he swung his fist into another tree. The trunk splintered and collapsed with a crack. "You three really have no idea how kids work, do you?"

Aisha frowned at him. "Cassius, these children—"

"—need to remember they can still laugh." He cut in. "And that’s exactly what I’m going to make them do."

And somehow, even while breaking down trees, hauling hostages, and occasionally launching massive trunks into distant bandit camps, he began working on the children.

It started when he suddenly raised his voice, projecting over the sounds of hooves and wagon wheels.

"This story..." He began. "...is about a girl who lost everything, her home, her family, even her smile, in a terrible war."

The children lifted their heads...Just slightly.

"She thought the world was done with her." Cassius continued, his tone both serious and soothing. "But she decided she wouldn’t let it win. She trained. She fought. And finally one day...she became a general."

"A mighty one...Not to take revenge, but to make sure no other girl ever had to cry the way she did."

He didn’t say it, but the story was close enough to some of the girls own lives that they couldn’t help but listen.

And some sat up straighter...Some even leaned forward.

And for the first time since being rescued, there was a faint light in their eyes, a small spark of hope.

But Cassius didn’t stop there.

Without warning, he broke into song.

"Round the ring of roads we go,

Through the rain and through the snow,

Lantern high and spirits bright,

We’ll drink by dawn, we’ll dance by night!"

It was a popular tune, something even the youngest children knew. But Cassius sang it badly.

Horribly off-key, stumbling over the lyrics in all the wrong places.

The first giggles came from the front carriage.

Then more heads peeked out from behind canvas covers.

"You messed it up!" A little boy called.

"I did?" Cassius gasped in mock horror. "Well, you sing it then!"

They tried to correct him, but every time they did,

Cassius intentionally made it worse, turning the cherished song into a mockery and swapping words so absurdly that even the most solemn children burst into laughter.

Soon, some of them were leaning halfway out of the wagons, trying to teach him the real lyrics, while others sang along just to make sure he didn’t "accidentally" ruin another verse.

And just like that, the once-silent carriages became filled with song.

"Step and turn, and clap your hands,

Hear the drums of far-off lands!

Boots that wander never tire,

Hearts that roam burn twice with fire!"

"Hey-la, ho-la, swing me wide,

Down the hill and up the tide,

From the mountains to the den,

We’ll not see this road again!"

Still not done, Cassius began visiting wagons between tree-felling, speaking to each child individually.

Sometimes he cracked a joke.

Sometimes he offered quiet, steady reassurance.

Other times, he simply listened.

And then his hands weren’t punching or throwing trees, they were busy carving, small animals, toy soldiers, and miniature houses from wood scraps.

He passed them out like treasures, watching the way small fingers clutched them as though they were priceless.

He even let some of the braver children ride on his back while he knocked down trees, pretending they were the ones delivering the final blows.

He’d scoop others up and toss them gently into the air, catching them with exaggerated grunts, making them squeal and laugh.

And by the time the sun dipped low and the convoy swelled to over thirty carriages, the transformation was undeniable.

The air was no longer heavy with grief.

Laughter rippled from wagon to wagon, mingling with cheerful chatter and the occasional burst of singing.

Even the most broken ones, the girls who had been utterly hollow, were smiling now, drawn into the tide of joy that Cassius had somehow conjured out of nothing.

What should have been a grim funeral march through the forest now felt like the beginning of a strange, whimsical journey...as if they were all headed toward some magical land instead of the nearest safe city.

And for Aisha, Julie, and Skadi, the sight hit deep.

Aisha’s heart swelled watching him.

The sight of the man she loved effortlessly bringing joy to the children she cherished most, it made her eyes soften until they were nothing but warmth and adoration.

It was almost visible, like pink hearts floating in the air. She looked ready to pounce, to smother him in kisses, to claim him right there in front of everyone.

Skadi...Skadi’s reaction was far less restrained.

A low, primal heat coiled inside her, her predator’s eyes locked on him.

In her mind, she wasn’t watching her master work, she was watching the male she wanted to claim, to take, to keep until her belly was round with his pups. Every joke of his, every laugh from the children, just stoked the heat of wanting to birth his children.

And Julie...was a different story entirely.

She glared at him while hacking at the next tree in her path, while gritting her teeth.

She was trying not to fall for him. She had been trying her absolute best.

But now?

Now he had to go and be good with children.

Now he had to melt the trauma from their little faces like it was nothing.

It was the sort of thing no woman could resist, and she hated him for it, hated herself for the warmth in her chest.

At one point, she actually started bangingher head against her sword hilt.

"Ugh, no. Nope. Not happening." She muttered, smacking the flat of her blade against her own forehead.

Thunk!

"Not falling for him." She said again, hitting herself once more.

Thunk!

By the third hit, a noticeable bump was forming.

The children in the nearest carriage stared at her. "Miss Julie...are you okay?"

She gave them a slightly wild grin. "Perfectly fine! Just...keeping my head in check!"

The children exchanged glances.

"...She’s gone crazy." One whispered.

They weren’t entirely wrong.

She was crazy, just crazy in love that she wasn’t willing to accept...