Chapter 44
Forty-Four
Zasen
T he girl weighed nothing in my arms. Carrying her back to our house was easy, but that thought made me pause. Our house. Not merely mine, Rymar's, and Kanik's anymore, but also Ayla's. Somewhere in the last few weeks, this woman had become something I liked having around.
I'd tried to resist that. I'd done my best to remember she was a Mole, but tonight had destroyed all of it. Kanik and I had left her in the storage area under the stairs with nothing but a child's toy crossbow and bolts meant to poke holes in a target - not kill anything. I'd expected to chase the Moles out of Lorsa and come back to find her and Tamin still hiding.
Instead, she'd killed to protect the child. I didn't know what had happened out of my sight, but I'd watched her use a gun as a club to smash a man's head. I'd been confused when she'd offered a Mole the antidote for our venom, only to find out she'd lied to him to get the information I really needed.
She. Had. Helped.
Not only that, but she'd done it without trembling or shedding a tear. The meek and timid little woman we'd been trying to bring out of her shell had slaughtered men she must've known. She'd been as vicious as any Dragon defending our home - but she'd done it all to save a little boy who looked nothing like her. A boy with a tail and bright teal skin covered in black speckles. A boy who had to look like a monster to her, the same way I did.
And yet when I reached our house to find Kanik and Rymar had not only beaten me, but were carrying out a body? I wasn't surprised. If the Moles had come in, that would explain why Ayla had left the safety of the building. That they were dead actually fit everything else I'd seen tonight - which didn't fit the girl who'd been in my house at all .
"Ayla?" I asked as I slipped into the still-open door and aimed for the couch. "Did you kill people in the house?"
"I'm sorry. They were going to shoot Tamin," she mumbled, making it sound like an apology. "The one in the kitchen did, but I'll clean it. I promise!"
Easing her down onto the couch, I couldn't stop myself from leaning back to glance into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was a large bloodstain in the middle of the floor. Things in the house had been jostled and knocked over. None of that mattered, though.
"It's okay," I said as I shifted to look at her wound. "You did the right thing."
"I didn't shoot the second man fast enough," she explained. "He's the one who shot Tamin. I think the boy dodged, which is why the bullet only hit his leg, but Tamin did that. I wasn't fast enough!"
"You still killed the Mole so he couldn't shoot again," I soothed, pushing her hair back on her head the same way I had with Tamin. "Now I need to look at your side, okay?"
"Okay," she mumbled.
Which was when Kanik came back in. "Ayla?" he asked.
Rymar was right behind him. "Did she get shot?"
"Cut," I told them. "By a Dragon."
"I'll get your things," Rymar offered, heading for the weapons closet.
Kanik simply reached down and tore her dress more, making it easier to see the wound. I'd planned on lifting it up, but when he glanced over and met my eyes, I realized he was right. Ayla was too modest to be okay with that. This would probably be much easier.
"Grab Ayla's medical bag for me?" I asked Kanik.
He did, so I pulled out the numbing agent Mom had given her and quickly dripped it across her side. "Ayla, this is going to make it feel strange, but it won't hurt when I sew your side closed, okay?"
She nodded, those blue eyes of hers locked on me. "Like with my feet. Don't worry, I won't move."
Yeah, I didn't want to think too hard about that either. This woman talked about pain and death as if they were no big deal. She elevated friends to an almost godlike status, though. And children? Clearly she held them as worth protecting, even though she'd shoved a fork into a man's arm to prevent having any of her own.
She was an enigma, but also a very good patient. When Rymar returned with my own clean medical supplies, I did my best to close her wound in a way that would leave the smallest scar possible. Her pale, nearly translucent skin was so soft and delicate. Sheltered was a better word, but one that was making me realize just how strong this woman must really be.
Her demure nature wasn't natural. It was a defense. Her politeness was another. She pulled into herself not because she was unable to fight back, but because she had learned - and I hated to think of how - that it was safer than daring to speak her mind.
"Okay," I said when I was done. "Now I'm going to carry you to the bed you've been using."
She tensed.
Kanik just smoothed down her hair the way I had earlier. "So you don't pull those stitches," he explained. "But we need to take the bandages off her feet first."
That made me look down to find the only things covering her feet were disgusting. The layers of cloth weren't close to real shoes, and yet she'd run outside without hesitation. She'd been in the forest and back out. Never mind the bloodstains!
"I'm not going to wrap them again," I told her even as I peeled off the bandages. "That means they'll be tender."
"I'll be okay," she promised.
Yeah, I had a feeling she would, but once that was done, it was Kanik who shoved his arms under her and picked her up. The man was smaller than me, but Ayla still looked tiny in his arms, and as he headed into my room, I felt a surge of something.
I didn't want to think about that either.
Thankfully, Rymar tossed himself down into the chair nearest to me. "So, the house is trashed," he said.
"Saw the blood in the kitchen," I assured him.
"More in the hall," he said. "Looks like a Mole found their hiding spot and she shot him point blank. The one in the kitchen had a bolt through his jaw and into his brain. I don't even want to know how she got that shot off."
Gathering up the mess I'd made, I tossed it on the coffee table, then claimed the other chair. "She saved Tamin."
"Mm." Rymar nodded as if that made sense.
"He got shot in the leg, and I haven't heard the whole story yet, but she got him into the forest to hide, then came back with a gun. I know Tamin stung a man for her, but when I saw Ayla running at me with a gun raised?"
"About shit yourself?" Rymar teased.
"I certainly did not expect her to shoot one of the men attacking me and then use the end of the thing to beat another unconscious."
"Nice," he purred just as the bedroom door clicked closed.
A moment later, Kanik walked around the corner and sighed heavily. The man's eyes landed on the dirty bandages. Sighing again, he scooped those up and turned for the kitchen without pausing. And yet, his return had made Rymar and me fall silent.
"Is she sleeping?" Rymar finally asked.
"She will soon," Kanik promised. "I had to talk her down. She was worried about Tamin's toy."
"Fuck," I breathed, remembering the carving his father had made.
Pushing to my feet, I headed for the storage area, hoping it would be that easy. Sure enough, the palm-sized carving was tucked carefully on a shelf in the back corner. To me, it was one more sign that Ayla had protected the boy, because he'd been in the back. That meant she'd been in front, shielding him with her life.
Cradling the carving, I headed back into the living room to find Kanik on the couch where Ayla had been lying. Both he and Rymar had a beer, and there was another bottle sitting in front of the chair I'd left. I placed the carving beside it, deciding I'd give it to Saveah tomorrow, then picked up the bottle and had a long drink. Hopefully, it would wash the adrenaline from my system so I could start to relax too.
"She helped," I finally said into the silence.
"Sounds like she did more than that," Rymar said.
"No," I groaned. "I don't mean she put in the minimal effort or anything. I mean that timid little waif of a woman became a fucking Dragon tonight."
That made Kanik look at me. "How so?"
I told them about the supposed antidote. About how she'd lied to a Mole man with the straightest - and sweetest - face I'd ever seen. How she said she knew when they were coming back, then realized our calendars weren't the same. I told them about her getting the bullet out of Tamin, and everything else she'd done with the wounded in the street.
Then Rymar explained the bodies of the men again. Kanik mentioned that carrying a wounded child up the hill so they could get to the forest wouldn't have been easy either. No, we didn't have the whole story, but together we had enough to see one important thing: Ayla was on our side.
"She stabbed a man to get out of that place," Kanik reminded me. "Why wouldn't she be?"
"Because killing people you know isn't easy," I countered. "It's why I didn't want to be too nice to her. I didn't want to like her."
Rymar just chuckled. "And sitting on the porch, having long talks while watching the sun set is... Distant? C'mon, Zasen. Admit it. You haven't had the balls to kill that girl since she slapped you across the face."
Since I'd realized she'd been scared of getting raped, he meant. The shitty part was how right he was. Then seeing her dive into learning our language? I'd tried to tell myself she was getting information, which proved she could still be a spy. I hadn't believed it then, and even less now.
"We need to make her immune to venom," I said, ignoring Rymar's comment. "If a tailless woman was willing to cut her with a kitchen knife, what will happen if a tailed one wants to kill her?"
"Teach her defense," Kanik said. "She used that crossbow well - "
"And a gun," I reminded him.
Kanik just lifted a hand, begging for me to listen. "She used the bow well enough. She was strong enough to pull it. A child's recurve bow? Maybe even a small hunting bow? Zasen, it's going to take time to teach her how to aim."
"Time you two can keep talking to her," Rymar added. "Time you can use to also teach Tamin how to use his weapons." He smiled. "And if you ask her what you want, she might even spill it all."
"Yeah," I breathed, knowing he was right. "But one problem still remains. Jerlis isn't going to like it."
"I said I'll handle the mayor," Rymar promised. "And while I'm at work, I'll even start convincing people she's no longer a Mole. I'll plant the idea in their heads and make it clear how hard she worked to get away from them. You two simply have to handle the girl."
"Easy enough," Kanik said. "She loves reading, and she's doing well enough with Vestrian that I think she can handle more than books for kids."
"So what will you give her instead?" I asked.
"History," he said. "I mean, since I'm assuming we no longer need to hide anything from her?"
I took another long drink of my beer, because there was still one major problem with our idea. "Jerlis is really going to be pissed. You two do realize he could banish her from Lorsa, right? Before we start any of this, we need to get him on our side."
"Don't worry about that," Rymar insisted. "I'll handle the mayor. You two worry about what you're going to share with our little refugee."
"And I trust her," Kanik told me. "Zasen, I've talked to her enough - in both languages - to have caught her if she was lying. Besides, what assassin kills their own people to spare ours?"
"What spy has no idea where her meat came from?" I added, showing I agreed.
"No..." Rymar said as my words made sense to him. "She didn't know?"
"Not a fucking clue," I assured him. "She wanted to know why they were attacking us. Us, guys. I may have snapped that they were hunting, and I told her how they take our dead and leave their own." I reached up to rub that spot between my brows. "I screamed it at her, and do you know what she did?"
"Puked?" Kanik guessed.
I shook my head. "She ran back to protect Tamin."
"So when does she get to be a Dragon?" Rymar asked.
All I could do was shrug. "I have no idea, because that's one thing that's not up to me. Jerlis is the one who signs off on that."
"So should we stop treating her like the enemy and more like a Dragon in training?" Rymar suggested. "Because I, for one, am not worried about Jerlis at all."
"And you're the only one," Kanik countered. "That man hates Moles."
"So make sure she's safe in the meantime," Rymar said. "We brought her here. That means we have to take care of her now."
"She's not a fucking pet," Kanik grumbled.
"Nope," Rymar agreed. "She's a very pretty young lady who is in so far over her head."
"And isn't sinking," I added. "Because, that's the thing. No matter what is thrown at her, it seems Ayla finds a way to figure out how to handle it."
"A survivor," Kanik realized.
"A damned good one," I agreed. "The kind who could be exactly what Lorsa has been waiting for, they just don't know it yet."