The ship was gone.

  The fire had burned a perfect cone from the storehouse to the shore. I had no idea how they were able to put out the flames, but there was nothing but ash on the ground. Save for a line that was a mixture of dirt and ash, like the burnt terrain had been pushed into the ground.

  I knew what had happened. They’d taken supplies out of the storehouse. I just hoped that they hadn’t taken it all.

  Val didn’t need my direction to find the hole to the storehouse. The cover was wooden and hadn’t survived the fire. THe ginger readied her sword as she dropped into the hole.

  I shifted my sword to my left hand and called a small ball of fire into my right. I could see in the dark, but she couldn’t. That was one of the many reasons why Bokor preferred wide open places with lots of natural light and the Touch hid in caves and tunnels.

  I held up my hand so she could see. There weren’t any bodies in the tunnel, but the blood was still there. At least there wasn’t that mess to clean up. The dead had to be cremated, because if they weren’t, then more often than not, they’d turn into a Zombie.

  My heart sank when I saw the main room. There was one barrel, three crates, and seven bags that had root vegetables. It was enough food to feed everyone for almost a year, so I shouldn’t have been disappointed, but considering how much had been in here, what was left felt like a loss.

  “Here.” Val held out an unlit torch.

  I transferred the small fireball to the torch, which she then put in a holder that was in front of a mirror. The entire cave lit up a lot more. She pointed at three other torches.

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  “Light those.”

  Without moving I threw fireballs at each of them. I missed the second one, since it was all the way on the other side of the room. The flames sputtered as it exploded against the glass, but nothing caught on fire.

  I slowed down my throw and maintained control as the next one flew through the air. This time I was able to connect as I did with the last one.

  Val surveyed the room now that it was well lit.

  “What do you think?’ She waved her hands around.

  “About the food?” I sighed. “There was a lot more when Fyga and I were here, but I think there’s enough-”

  “I meant about staying here.” Val cut me off.

  “What?” I wasn’t sure that I’d heard her correctly.

  The ginger turned to look at me. The purple swirls on her cheeks were glowing even more in the firelight, or maybe it was because she was excited.

  “We’re not getting off this island any time soon.” She gestured at the tunnel. “That ship isn’t going to come back, so we need to start thinking about winter.”

  That hit me like a stone wall. I’d been given a month to check all the cities on the peninsula. That was two weeks down and two weeks back. I’d been out for almost a week in Port Reggo, so my first two weeks were almost up and I hadn’t made it to Port Town yet. Master James had told me that he would get me more time, but I hadn’t been thinking past the next month.

  We had people that were relying on us for their lives and all I was thinking about was up until I stood before the Council. I needed to think about more than just what I would be doing.

  “Everyone won’t fit in here.” I looked around. “But we can get the elderly and children in here. Maybe make a wall and some buildings outside?”

  Val smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  My mind was running through possibilities, and most of the outcomes weren’t good.

  “They will come back.” I shook my head as I looked at the tunnel. “It might not be them, but someone will be back.”

  Val shrugged. “Then we’ll just have to build some defenses of our own.

  I nodded. I guess we better get started.”

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