Phoenix’s Fire (The Ruins Of Men #2)

Chapter 49

Forty-Nine

Callah

I slept fitfully after cleaning and bandaging Tobias's arm. He'd said a beast had attacked him, and I had a dozen questions now, but no way to ask yet. When the lights came on the next morning, I washed my face twice with cool water, hoping to wake myself up, then headed to sermon.

Thankfully, Gideon had spoken to Mr. Cassidy. When we broke for our noon meal, our instructor pulled me aside to tell me I was expected to spend my afternoon caring for our remaining hunters. I assured him that I knew the man who needed my attention, then headed to the dining hall.

Like always, the line was long. Sadly, my serving was even smaller than usual this time. The dollop of plants wasn't even as large as my fist. Four fungus slices were placed beside it. Struggling not to sigh, I carried my plate to a table at the side, well away from the normal flow of traffic.

It didn't take long before Tobias dropped his plate beside me then lowered himself down. I offered him a gentle smile even as my eyes dropped to his wounded arm. The sleeve on that side had been pushed up, but it was still bandaged.

"Did you wash that today?" I asked.

"Yeah, and wrapped it again," he said. "Mrs. Worthington gave me a few bandages to use."

"Is it painful?"

He bent to shove a forkful of mash into his mouth, then looked around us. The lost hunters meant the dining hall was even less full than usual, and the widows table had grown. I was pretty sure no one would come sit beside us, but like him, I let my eyes scan to see if we were within earshot of anyone else. Thankfully, we weren't.

"It hurts," he finally said, "but I can use it. Some of these guys can't say the same. "

"I'll make sure it heals well," I promised.

So he leaned in. "Callah, only seven of us made it back."

"I know."

"And so do the elders," he whispered. "Do you realize how many men have died since Ayla was thrown out? Most of the veteran hunters!"

"Oh."

He nodded, holding my eyes. "There are too few men, too many widows, and not enough children. Callah, they're talking about dropping the marriage age."

"What?!"

"And the age for boys to become hunters," he admitted. "Eighteen, but that means you're old enough now."

"No..." I breathed, feeling like my skin was contracting around me.

"So we have to get you out," he insisted. "If they announce this, then you stab me, Callah. I gave you that pocket knife. It has a blade. Make sure you keep it with you, and if we have to say vows, you stick the thing in my arm or leg, okay?"

"No," I said again. "Tobias, I can't."

"You can," he promised. "It's just like cutting meat. I'll yell that you should be banished, and that'll set everyone else off, okay? Then you'll be hung out, and we'll make sure you get to Ayla."

"But - "

"And," he went on, "I'll find you at the next hunt. You can tell Ayla I helped. She'll tell the Wyvern. That's the only way they'll let me live, so I have to get you out first, Callah."

Giving in, I jiggled my head. "When?"

"When what?" he asked.

"When will this happen?"

He pushed out a heavy breath. "I don't know. They said they have to look at it, but it's what they want to do. The men were told to consider the girls as well as the women. Married men were encouraged to send their children to nursery so they can focus on making more." His eyes jumped between mine. "There will be an announcement, and we're not supposed to say anything, but you need to know."

"I'm not ready," I insisted.

"And I will marry you, but only to keep you safe," he swore. "Callah, I'm going to get you out. We are going to escape this place, okay? That's what we need to focus on. This does nothing but speed it up."

"No," I shot back. "What if they send me to quarantine instead of above? This..."

He grumbled under his breath and looked away. "Yeah. About quarantine..."

"What?"

I watched as he licked his lips. Then, almost as if bracing himself - or buying time - he took another bite of his meal. Deciding I needed to eat as well, I matched him, chewing around the overly boiled mix of vegetables.

"The beast that bit me was controlled by Ayla," he said. "Out there, we're paired with a partner. Mine was Malcus. We came over a little hill and the Wyvern was right there. Malcus went to shoot, the animal slammed into him, the Wyvern followed, and then Ayla helped." He paused to wipe at his mouth. "She sent the animal at me."

"What? But Ayla knows you," I insisted.

"She knows most of the men in this compound," he reminded me. "She doesn't know which ones can be trusted."

Okay, he had a good point, so I simply nodded.

"But I convinced her that you'd sent me. She got the picture, and that was enough." He looked around us again, then lowered his voice even more. "Then she and the Wyvern spoke with me."

"The Wyvern?" I asked. "The Dragon? "

"He's a man with scaled skin, and this time he spoke English," he said. "I told them what I knew, and they told me what they do. But, Callah?" He paused again. "My mother used to tell me stories. She used to say the Dragons would save me - because she once was one. The Wyvern knew my mother's name. Ayla said I had relatives up there. They... I..."

"Wait." I clasped his good wrist, needing to make sure I was keeping up. "How did a Dragon woman get into the compound?"

"She looked like you," he explained. "My mother's hair was dark, but otherwise she looked like you, Callah. Like a woman. Like a normal, human, Righteous woman. Not like the creatures up there we call Dragons. But Ayla and the Wyvern said she was a Dragon, that our hunters had stolen her and other women, and that's why they're in quarantine. My mother, Ayla's mother... And probably yours."

I could only stare at him, replaying his words over and over in my mind. I hadn't been in quarantine as long as many. My mother had been forced to give me up, so I'd been raised in the nursery. I still remembered her and the stories she'd whispered to me. Stories that made no sense. Phrases no one else used. Things that had made Meri laugh at me when we'd been little.

Ayla's childhood had been the same. So had Tobias's, but not because the Devil had taken them. It was because the Righteous had. Women who'd been born into the wild world above had somehow ended up here, and that left me with so many more questions than I could handle right now.

So I kept to the important things. "Did she know about Meri?"

"Yes," he hurried to assure me. "They have Meri and she's going to be okay."

"Will they kill you if you have to hunt again?"

He shook his head. "I'm supposed to wear the fletching on my belt. I now have two yellow and one blue arrow. Good luck charms, I call them. The Dragons will be told not to shoot me if they see them."

Slowly, I nodded, filing all of that into my mind, but it kept bringing me back to the same thing. Even with everything he'd just said - as shocking as it was - my thoughts kept jumping back to him. This man was not just my only friend, he was also my last chance to escape this place safely.

"Please don't die," I breathed. "I don't want to be stuck here alone, and what if I can't get out - "

"Hey..." he breathed. "You had plans before I shoved my nose into them. Callah, this is good. This is nothing more than us securing our escape plan, right?"

I nodded. "Okay."

"And," he went on, "it makes us allies. So if I have to propose, I will. We'll pretend, Callah, just like we are now. I'll keep saying you're pretty, and you'll keep blushing, right?"

The words were barely out of his mouth before I glanced away, feeling my face warming up. "But we're just pretending, right?" I asked.

"You are pretty," he mumbled.

"But - "

"And my friend," he hurried to explain. "A pretty friend. Other men know you're pretty too, and if we weren't friends, they'd all be trying to get your attention. So I say things about how much I like you, and how I'm going to make you keep healing so you'll be as good as Mrs. Worthington. That way you can patch me up since I'm a hunter."

"Yeah?" I asked, liking that, even though I knew we weren't going to stay here.

He just shrugged. "You're a good healer."

"And your arm needs to be treated," I reminded him.

A funny little smile took over his lips. "Men say their wives nag them when they do things like that, but I kinda like it."

"When I take care of you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess?" His hazel eyes jumped up quickly, then shifted to his meal. "I'm supposed to take care of you, though. I want to provide, but I also don't."

"I don't understand," I admitted.

"Callah, the meat? It's Dragons. It's not like the animal that grabbed me. It's like the man Ayla was fighting beside."

"But..." Okay, that didn't make sense. "Why?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "There has to be more to eat out there, but we always go to hunt Dragons. They say we have to defeat the Devil. That fighting them, and bringing them back for our meat? It's helping to win the war."

"Are we?" I asked. "Tobias, are the Righteous winning?"

"No."

"What happens if we lose?"

Slowly, he stirred the congealing mess on his plate. "I don't know, but I think it might be a good thing. I think Ayla will make sure you're okay, and if you speak up, I will be too."

"I'll speak up," I promised. "You're the one taking care of me."

"Trying."

"But you are," I insisted. "Tobias, ever since you started courting me, I'm no longer being pressured to be a better woman, or to become more appealing to a potential husband. If anything, I'm given more freedom because of it."

"And we're running out of time," he said softly. "I can't get us out because Gideon refused to share the code for the door. I need that to prevent the alarm from going off. Once I have it, I can slip you out, but..."

So I wrapped my fingers around his hand, making his words fade away. "You'll protect me."

"Don't play those womanly games," he grumbled.

"I'm not," I promised. "You, Tobias, are my friend. You will protect me in ways only a man can. I will protect you in ways only a woman can. Together, we will manage, right? If Ayla knows you're coming, then she'll make sure you won't get killed."

"My partner might kill me," he reminded me. "If I'm caught doing anything suspicious, the man assigned to hunt with me will shoot me as easily as he would a Dragon."

"Devil's buttcheeks," I cursed.

Which made his head snap over. "What was that?"

"The most foul thing I can imagine," I explained - then paused. "So you shoot him first?"

"If my partners never make it back..." he warned.

"Like your last one?" I asked. "Like most of the hunters? I think the odds are on your side in this."

Which made his brow crease. "Huh. That's a good point."

"So you shoot your partner if you have to," I decided. "Do not risk him shooting you, do you hear me?"

He paused. Slowly, he looked at where my hand was still wrapped around his. I felt his fingers tighten, then he turned a little more to examine my face.

"That would be a sin."

"All of this should be a sin," I said. "None of this feels holy, or loving, or righteous." I bit my lips and pulled in a breath. "Before Ayla left, I told her this feels like Hell. We're underground, we're trapped, we're forced to pay for our sins over and over with nothing at all to be happy for, and there's no end in sight. What is that, if not the Pit? This, Tobias, isn't a reward for God's children. It's a punishment, and if you have to commit a few more sins to free us both from it, then I think God would understand."

"Yeah," he agreed, the word so soft. "But you need to eat something, Callah. While there's still food, eat what you can. We can talk about this while you change my bandage."

But I got the impression he didn't want to kill - neither Dragons nor his partner. Oddly, that made me like the man a little more.