In the morning, the dispatches said that Commander Rayburn was dead. Word after that trickled in agonisingly slowly: word of what had happened, and who had died. Word of Captain Woodsinger seizing the flag before it fell and leading the army: “A woman!” said General Lakelost, and yet did not dare send orders that she be removed from command in case those orders were not obeyed. Louise Sunborn’s troop, now Luke’s, had been in the thick of the battle. Elliot did not sleep for two nights, not until the list of survivors arrived.
