Phoenix’s Fire (The Ruins Of Men #2)

Chapter 43

Forty-Three

Ayla

" W hat?" I asked, surprised enough to take my eyes off Tobias as I checked to see if Zasen was joking.

Then I looked at Tobias again. He was big - huge even. So was Jerlis. His hair was a mousey blonde, different from most of the Moles. There were signs, but I'd never realized it before I'd seen so many different people. Tobias looked enough like everyone in the compound to blend in, but just different enough to show he wasn't quite one of them.

"Your mother was in quarantine?" I asked, needing him to say it again.

He nodded, lying perfectly still in the leaves. "She was, and she had dark hair, not blonde. She told me this wasn't all - well, that."

"The compound," I realized.

He nodded again, quickly and nervously. "She also told me women aren't worthless. They're people, and if I was a good boy, I'd remember that, so I did." His eyes jumped over to Zasen, then back. "Ayla, that's why I never yelled at you. I made a promise to my mother, and I was trying to honor it."

But Lansin pushed in. "You need to get out of sight." Gunshots in the distance echoed his point. "Find out what he knows, then kill him. I have to make sure Irrik's okay."

"Go," Zasen told him. "I'll handle this. Tell Drozel he's in charge."

"If this fight lasts that long," Lansin said. "Holly, guard Ayla. Shadow, heel!" Then he turned and jogged off.

Zasen simply pointed away from the shooting. "Behind those rocks, Mole. Ayla, get your bow."

"But - "

The look Zasen gave me had me turning to find where I'd dropped the thing. It wasn't far, laying on top of the leaves, but only a few steps past that was the still body of the other man. I jogged over, snagged my weapon, then turned back in time to see Zasen clasp Tobias's hand and pull him up.

The men ended up face-to-face. Zasen was taller, but not by much, and considering his altered feet, that said a lot. Tobias was just as broad across the chest, even though he didn't have the same muscles. Seeing him like this, Tobias looked almost frail.

"Let me make this clear," Zasen told him. "If you reach for that gun, you're dead. If you try to run, you're dead. If you do anything to hurt Ayla?" He smiled cruelly. "You will die very, very slowly and feel all the pain I can cause. Do you understand, Mole?"

"Yes, Mr. Wyvern," Tobias breathed. "But what's a Mole?"

"A small animal that burrows under the ground," I answered as I hurried back to them.

Zasen pushed Tobias forward. Holly followed. The thing that surprised me was how willing Tobias was to get behind an outcropping of rocks and turn to face us.

"Do you have Meri?" he asked.

Zasen lifted a finger. "Why?"

"I promised Callah I'd ask," Tobias hurried to explain. "She found a way to get Meri out, she said. We all saw the fallout, but then she wasn't on the tree, so I hoped. I told Callah you would find her, and I hoped I wasn't lying. We know you're alive, Ayla, because of the arrows, but Meri's pregnant and - "

"We have her," I promised.

"Ayla..." Zasen warned. "Don't trust him."

So I held up the paper. "She gave him this, Zasen! Never mind that Meri told me he'd helped her. Callah made a point of making sure Meri told me that!"

"What do you have?" he asked.

So I shoved the paper at him. "My mother drew that. I inherited it when I turned, and left it with Callah. She was going to put it somewhere no one else would find it. If he has it, the only way is if she gave it to him."

His hands carefully unfolded the paper, and then Zasen's eyes went wide. Slowly, he looked up at me. "This is..."

"The entrance. Yes, I know."

"From when I was a boy!" he hissed.

"When my mother knew it," I agreed. "That's Lorsa, Zasen. That's why Callah had to hide it. I thought it was Heaven - and it kinda is."

"I didn't look at it," Tobias promised. "Callah also gave me the fletching from the arrow that destroyed Jamison's shoulder. He's a fungus farmer now, but she saved his life. She learned to heal, Ayla, and she said it's from the books."

"You know about the library?"

"I know there are books. Not where," he admitted. "Look, Callah doesn't trust me, but we've been walking together - "

"You can't!" I snapped. "Your mother was in quarantine! "

"I am so lost," Zasen muttered.

"I can," Tobias assured me. "Men are allowed to petition for an exception. That's why we get added to lists. I proved myself gathering because I'm big enough to carry more than everyone else. I used that to get permission, because it's the only way I can talk to a woman alone."

"Why do you care?" I demanded.

"Because I want out too!"

I rocked back at the intensity of his words. "What? Why? Why not just leave when you're up here?"

Tobias just thrust his good arm towards the body of his partner. "They pair us with someone we can't stand. If I try to run, he's supposed to shoot me. If he runs, I shoot him. We're rewarded for it, given more privileges, and allowed more items. If we prove ourselves enough, we're put in charge of a squad or a team. If we don't, we're killed and no longer a problem."

"But men are pampered!" I hissed. "You're given everything, and we're the ones who supply it!"

"If we live," he told me. "Ayla, there aren't enough women for all of us. There's not enough food, or clothing, or everything else. The only way the elders can continue to live like they want? Half the men must die. They keep the ones who prove they are loyal to the compound, and anyone who tries to change things?" He jerked his chin at the dead man.

"So tell us how to get in," Zasen demanded.

"There's a door - " Tobias tried.

"I know that!" Zasen hissed. "How do we make it open?"

Tobias just shook his head. "I don't know. They said that if we come back late to pound on it, and they will open it. There's a code, but they don't tell us that."

"Can you find out?" I asked.

"Ayla..." Zasen warned.

"What?"

Zasen sighed. "I wasn't going to let him go back."

"But Callah..."

"And he's a fucking Mole!"

"I left her a pocket knife," Tobias said. "It's for her sewing, but it has a little blade. I thought that if I don't make it back, she could use it to stab her husband, and it worked for you, Ayla, so they'll throw her out. You just have to make sure she gets off the tree before the beasts find her."

Zasen slowly turned back to Tobias. "You're not trying to talk me out of killing you?"

Tobias swallowed hard. "Would it help? I came up here knowing I probably wouldn't make it back. I just..."

"You like the girl," Zasen realized.

Tobias nodded. "She's my friend. I've never had one before, and I know what will happen to her in November. She shouldn't have to do that . She's too soft and kind. The men who'd be willing to propose to her? They'd... "

"Fuck!" Zasen grumbled. Then he made a gesture to me that looked like I should get on with it. "Fine. He gets one chance."

"Which means you get to live," I told Tobias, "but you have to come back. If you don't, the next time we see you, we will kill you."

"I need a way to find you out here," Tobias said. "That was the part I couldn't figure out, but I saw him." He pointed at Zasen. "And they said you'd tamed him, so - "

Zasen barked out a laugh. "Tamed?"

"They believe you are an animal, sir. We've never been able to understand you before, because you didn't know God's language. That's why we..."

"Eat us?" Zasen offered.

"Yes..." Tobias breathed.

So Zasen leaned toward him. "The Phoenix taught us. Now many of us can speak English. What will you do with that?"

"Pray I find one who understands when I ask to find Ayla?" Tobias tried.

"And tell your friends?" Zasen asked, but it sounded like a warning.

"Them?" Tobias scoffed. "These men are not my friends. They beat me for being too big when I was a child. They laughed at me for being stupid because I said women were smart. They do nothing but torment me. They are not my friends, Wyvern. Callah is, and yes, I will tell her."

I reached over, touching Zasen's arm to guide him back. "Tobias was always kind to me. He held the men for me in the infirmary, and he never complained when I gave him orders. Zasen, he listened. I mean, they said he was too stupid to be offended."

"No, I just knew the men were as cruel to you women as they'd been to me," Tobias said. "Ayla, being dumb kept me from being punished when I said the wrong thing. I'm too stupid to know better, right? I started that when I was a boy, and it worked, so I kept doing it. Now, I just want to get Callah and myself out. I need to know where to go. I have to find a way to make sure we'll make it there without the wild men killing us - or the Dragons."

"The arrows," Zasen said. "You said you had one, right?"

"Just the feather part," Tobias admitted. "Well, here. I have the tip in my room."

So Zasen reached over and pulled a new arrow from my quiver. Without hesitation, he snapped the shaft in half and passed the fletching to Tobias. Then he pulled one from his own quiver and did the same.

"Hang them from your belt like a trophy," he said. "I'll order the Dragons to look for it. That doesn't mean they'll be nice, but they will demand a password from you before bringing you to us."

"What word?" Tobias asked.

"Zasen," I said. "Z-A-S-E-N. That's the Wyvern's name. The Moles don't know it, but they know mine." I looked at Zasen. "Tobias will remember it."

"Zasen," he said, nodding. "I can do that. What else do you need?"

"I plan to destroy the Moles," Zasen snapped at him.

"I'm trying to help you do that!" Tobias shot back just as intensely .

Which made Zasen pull back in surprise. "I need to know how to get in. We need a count of how many men are in there, plus women and children. Separated out. I need a map, but I'm going to guess that isn't likely."

"And we need a way to get the women out," I told him. "Tobias, they don't know. I had no idea what my meat was made of! Neither did Meri."

"Is she okay?" he asked. "Callah's worried about her pregnancy. Is she going to be okay up here?"

"Dragons have medicine," I assured him. "She's seen a real doctor, not just a woman who can heal. Meri's going to be fine. Tell Callah I'm making sure of it."

He nodded. "And..." This time, he looked at Zasen as he asked, "How did my mother know about Dragons?"

"Because she was one," he replied.

"No, but - "

"Tobias," I said, "every Dragon is born from a woman like me. They call us tailless. Your mother had a brother. He's the mayor of their town!" I paused, rocking my head from side to side. "And big, like you. You have family here, and we think every woman in quarantine does too. The hunters take women from the surface, lock them in quarantine so they can't be seen, and then use them to make children."

"No…" he breathed, rocking back. "But..."

"It's all a lie," I said. "Everything down there is meant to keep some people in power and the rest of us helpless. Tobias, it's a lie, and we have to get Callah out before that lie kills her."

He nodded. "I'm trying. Wyvern, I'll find a way to open the doors. There has to be one. Ayla, I will tell Callah all of this." He paused to grunt and clutched at his wounded arm. "At least this is a good reason for why I'm still alive."

"The animal dragged you away and you lost your gun," Zasen told him. "I killed your partner. You took those feathers from his body, but without a weapon, you tried to find your way back and got lost."

Tobias nodded in agreement. "That will work."

"And she is the only reason you're still alive," Zasen said, pointing at me. "She's also the reason we are destroying you."

"I know," Tobias said. "I figured that out, but they haven't. They can't imagine a woman doing anything but what she's told." He looked at me and smiled. "But I knew better, Ayla. I knew you were strong enough to survive."

"And to get revenge," I told him. "Just tell Callah about quarantine. She needs to know. Find out the name of her mother too. If you can get her out, tell her to wait by the tree. The wild men will find her and bring her to me."

"What if I can't?" he asked.

I reached over to rub Holly's neck. "Then you'd better have the code for us to get in. Come back with something, Tobias, or I'll make sure she does more than bite your arm." Then I tipped my head at his wounds. "And tell her to use ethanol on that. It's going to hurt. "

"Still feels worth it," he assured me. "I'll make sure to be on this side of the fight again next time."

"The east," Zasen said, pointing over Tobias's head, into the forest. "And the road is that way. I suggest you wait until it's very, very dark before you move."