Flashback ( PDFDrive )

Sophie really wasn’t in the mood to wait—but Keefe wouldn’t tell
her anything else. So when Cadfael finally finished off the last
newborn, she all but sprinted into the clearing, trying not to look at all
the carnage as she ran. But she still caught a glimpse of Umber’s
mangled body, half pressed into the ground outside the hive.
Umber’s hood still mostly covered her face—but the part she could
see was so misshapen that she had a feeling the skull had been
crushed so badly that they’d never be able to figure out what she
looked like.
Not that it mattered anyway.
Umber was dead.
Like, really dead—definitely no coming back from what happened.
One enemy down.
It should’ve made her feel better, but . . . mostly she just wanted to
vomit.
“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Cadfael asked, and Sophie jumped,
wondering how long he’d been standing there.
She had to clear her throat several times to get her voice to work.
“Well, it’s a dead body. . . .”
He shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. They left her here.
With all the power and tricks they have. They just left her here to rot.
One of their own. It’s disgusting. I’m not leaving here without my
soldiers—even if there’s not much left of them.”
Sophie was tempted to point out that when a band of ogres attacked
Havenfield, they’d left bodies behind as well.
But maybe Cadfael hadn’t been a part of that.
“These are the people you’re choosing to serve, Cad,” Ro said as she
joined them.