The first person to complain after the battle wasn't Sebastian.
It was a woman standing beside the ruined toll booth, holding a bleeding little boy against her chest.
"That was my husband's roof!" she shouted, pointing at the smashed wooden building across the road. "He built that roof yesterday!"
Sebastian looked at the splintered boards, then at the woman. The shack had barely qualified as a building. But the boy's face was pale, and a piece of wood had sliced his forehead open.
"Galleon," Sebastian called, "put a new roof on the border office. And keep the children away from the wreckage."
"With what timber?" the dwarf demanded. "Your grand entrance used half the lumber as kindling!"
"Take it out of the invasion budget."
"We don't have an invasion budget!"
"Then start one."
Valerie pushed between them carrying a bundle of clean cloth. "Both of you, shut up. That boy needs stitches."
