The brilliant white robes of the Priestesses of Thalia made them easy to find in the milieu, and Sir Matthias hopped out of the carriage and sprinted over to them. Sapphire joined her husband as the priestesses motioned toward those deeper in the smoke and wreckage.
Sir Matthias kissed Sapphire’s cheek. “Please stay here with the priestesses. Or better yet, head over to Lady Brighton’s. Lady Brelynn would love the interruption.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll ride back on one of the injured Knights’ horses. The horses will need to be tended anyway.”
Sapphire squeezed his hand, nodded, and watched him disappear into the smoke and ash. After he’d left, Sapphire found a young sandy-haired squire wearing the brilliant red tabard of the Knights. She motioned the boy over to her.
“Miss, you shouldn’t be down here. Still lots of stuff being uncovered. A lot not fit for a lady’s eyes.”
Sapphire thrust several gold pieces into his hand. “Take this over to Sally Millan. She works at a bakery close to here. You know the one?”
The boy nodded as he stared at the coins.
“Tell her we need enough bread to feed these people. Then I want you to find Jim Barley,” Sapphire gave him several more coins. “Have him send down ale for these folks. It will take time to deal with all this, and a full stomach will make it easier.”
The squire wrapped his fingers around the gold. “I promise, m’lady. I will see it done.”
The fervor in his voice made her smile. He was already on his way to the Knighthood. “Very good. Please hurry. I’m sure many of these people are hungry.”
The boy nodded and sprinted down the street toward the bakery.
Once he’d departed, Sapphire searched for the white robes. She never understood how the priestesses kept their holy arraignments spotless as they slogged through the muck and grime of the dirtiest parts of Tamryn. Perhaps it was their faith.
Not that it mattered why.
It made them easy to find.
Sapphire wound her way through the throng, ignoring the smell of burned wood and flesh. She found Priestess Sanya, one of the young priestesses she’d worked with at the orphanage.
Despite the suffering that surrounded them, Sapphire felt the gentle radiance that surrounded the priestess. Love, sanctuary, belonging. Everything Thalia promised, and everything the people suffering through this needed.
“Miss Darrington,” Sanya said, a smile curving her lips. “We could use your help.”
Sapphire didn’t bother correcting her that she was Mrs. Northland now. “I’ve sent for food and ale for the people down here. What else needs doing?”
“Knights are still pulling survivors from the wreckage, and we’re healing them as we can. We need to reunite families and get an idea of how many more are still missing.”
“Where are you sending those that escaped together?”
Sanya pursed her lips as fatigue pulled on her brow.
Sapphire touched the priestess’s shoulder. “You’ve been out here all night, haven’t you?”
“Thalia wouldn’t want me to abandon these people in their time of need.”
A mage levitated a chunk of debris and dropped it into the back of a wagon. A Knight of Valor waved the wagon through and another took its place.
Sapphire turned back to Priestess Sanya. “Is there room at the Temple of Thalia for more survivors?”
“I don’t know, but we’ve sent so many there. So many…”
That meant there wasn’t.
The Church of Thalia would have taken the immediate influx, but a fire of this magnitude would soon overwhelm them. While the Priests and Priestesses of Thalia were the most compassionate people Sapphire had ever met, helping those in need was different from sorting out logistics.
Sapphire squeezed Priestess Sanya’s arm as another mage pulled more wreckage from the site. “You keep looking for survivors. I’ll help where I can.”
Striding across the wreckage, Sapphire stopped to talk to several families, listened to their stories, and promised them more help was coming.
She prayed she wasn’t wrong.
After consoling several more people, Sapphire made it over to the Knight who was leading the excavation. “How many wagons do you have ready?”
He raised a brow. “Half-a-dozen. Why?”
“We need to move the debris, but we must also get the survivors to the safety of the Dragon Church before more are injured.”
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. “I can’t authorize that.”
“You have those magic slips of paper. Use one to send a message back to the High Knights.”
“My lady, if you’d please-”
Sapphire’s temper snapped against her control as she imagined all the people that had worked for her father over the years and how many had started out in places like this just looking for a chance. “By the seven hells, Sir Matthias is here healing the injured. He’s a High Knight. He’ll approve it.”
“We were told to deal with the debris.”
“Use the paper. Tell them what’s happening down here. Let them decide if the Dragon Church chooses to turn away these people. Unless you want me to find Sir Matthias and ask him myself.”
The Knight of Valor set his jaw, but he removed a vial of magic paper from his cloak.
Sapphire crossed her arms and waited for him to send the message. She then waited for him to get a reply even as the mage levitated another chunk of debris into a waiting cart.
Refusing to cough or brush the soot from her cheek, Sapphire met the Knight’s gaze with an arched brow.
When the reply came, he pursed his lips and slit his eyes at her.
Sapphire ignored him and walked around the wagon being loaded with debris. Motioning to the driver behind the current cart, she pointed at the people sitting on the streets. “You’re taking survivors to the Dragon Temple.”
The driver tipped his cap to her but glanced over at the Knight who nodded once.
Sapphire never acknowledged the Knight again, burying her resentment beneath her ballroom smile. Not all Knights of Valor embraced Thalia and Her dictates. Sir Matthias did, and Sapphire loved him all the more for it.
Returning to the twisting mass of humanity, Sapphire searched first for mothers clinging to children and got them loaded onto the wagons. She hunted for families huddled together amid the confusion and sent them to the safety of the Dragon Church.
She then oversaw the squires passing out the bread and ale to those that remained.
Convincing those that had already found their families to leave what was left of their home behind was difficult, but facing those that were still looking for loved ones was almost impossible. There was still hope that somewhere in the tangle of people a lost child would find her parents, but that hope grew slimmer as more time passed.
Sapphire ignored the throbbing in her head and the ache around her heart as she did all she could for the survivors.
She had to focus on them and not all they had lost.
Exhaustion tugged at her and the sun was high in the sky when Sapphire felt a tug on her skirts.
She smiled down at the child, smudged and dirty from the fire and too thin by far. “How can I help you?”
“You’re finding kids’ moms.”
“Trying to, yes.”