Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
Tobias
Ijerked awake, startled from my paltry sleep by a nightmare. I couldn't get the screams of those women out of my mind. I'd tried to tell them we weren't going to kill them, but they couldn't understand. Unlike Ayla and the Wyvern, these people only spoke that gibberish language.
But hauling them back kept me from needing to kill the men. I'd seen blood before, but this? This had been so much worse. Bodies had laid in the paths where they'd fallen. Their dogs had been the only thing holding us back, and too many of those had paid the price too.
But the wild men had done their fair share of damage in return.
We'd gotten back early last night, since the walk was mere hours.
Then I'd stayed in the infirmary as long as I could, holding hunters down while Callah and the other healers sewed them back up.
Some, she'd healed, like Sylis. Others, she'd done a good job of hurting them even more.
They'd live, but I wasn't sure they'd want to.
Thankfully, Sylis's wound hadn't been too bad. An arrow had sliced his calf. It was deep enough to need sutures, but that was all. Callah had cleaned it properly - and not all the women knew to do that - so he'd be okay.
I sat there for a little too long, waiting for my pulse to go back to normal. The hammering in my chest was almost painful, and every time I blinked, I could see those bodies all over again. Some had been children!
We'd gathered them all. Both Dragons and wild men had gone into the cart this time. Women too, if they were already dead. The living ones had been shackled and forced at gunpoint to walk back with us. No one would say where they were going, but I already knew that part.
Quarantine.
Sadly, Callah had made it to our suite first. By the time I'd returned from my shower, she'd been asleep, and I refused to wake her. But turning a bit, I did allow myself to look at her.
She slept in a soft little dress that failed at shielding her body. She was my wife, so there was no shame in seeing it, but it still felt wrong to gape at her breasts, stomach, and legs. The fabric was there, but sheer.
And yet, it was her hair that drew my eye.
Loose, it sprawled across her side of our divided bed, looking softer than anything I'd felt before.
I wanted to touch it, but that would wake her, and she looked so peaceful like this.
Lost in sleep, it was as if the horrors of our lives couldn't touch her.
She was beautiful. Of all the women I could've married, I'd somehow ended up with the woman who pleased my eyes the most - and she was my friend. Not a stranger. Not a bothersome wife who tried to nag me constantly, but an actual friend.
As I watched, she pulled in a little breath and tensed. A moment later, her eyes opened, finding me immediately. For a second, her brow furrowed, then she pulled the covers higher over her chest and sat up.
"Did I wake you?" she asked.
"No, I had a nightmare." And I laughed once, but it was dry. "Callah, it was bad this time."
"Did you see Ayla?" she asked.
I shook my head. "No. We didn't go there. We went to the wild men."
"I..." That crease reappeared in her brow. "Tobias, I don't understand."
"It's a two day walk to the Dragons," I explained. "We leave the compound and go straight ahead until we reach the path. Then, we mostly follow that, even if we aren't on it. More like walking parallel with it." And I used my hands to demonstrate what I meant.
"Okay?" she asked.
"This time, we turned right. We found the path again, but took it in the other direction. The same way I used to go as a gatherer." I paused to swallow, then had to clear my throat when my mouth ended up too dry.
"Let me get you some water," she said, climbing out of bed, no longer worried about what I might see.
And I looked. I didn't mean to, but the lights on the wall shined through the fabric enough to outline the silhouette of her body. A body nothing like mine. I could see the curve of her breasts and the swell of her hips, but the moment I realized it, I averted my eyes.
She was my friend. I'd said I didn't want to hurt her like that, but the more days we spent together, the easier it was to see the appeal.
I wanted to touch her. I just didn't want to hurt her when I did it, and I wasn't sure those two things were possible at the same time.
Looking away was definitely the better option.
"Here," she said, pressing a glass into my hands before climbing up to sit by my knees.
I took a deep gulp, paused, then another. "Thank you."
She took the glass and set it aside without leaving. "So you only got plants then?"
"No," I said. "Callah, we hunted the people. Humans, Dragons, and their beasts. We killed and took the bodies. Worse than that..." I paused, but when she reached for the water again, I caught her hand. "I brought back women, Callah."
Her fingers curled to hold my palm. "No..."
"I tried to talk with them, but they didn't understand," I continued. "I tried, Callah, but I couldn't let them go or the other hunters would shoot me!"
"So they're in quarantine?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "Gideon and Mr. Peterson took them the moment we were inside, but I have a feeling they are."
"Me too," she said.
"But it's worse than that," I insisted. "A couple weeks ago, they said we had enough meat for all the weddings so we were skipping the next hunt too. Then, two days ago, they informed us we were going out again. It was almost a spontaneous decision."
"Or they've been hiding it from the hunters," she pointed out.
Which was a good point. "Yeah, maybe."
"The real question is why," she told me. "Either we have the meat or we don't, right?"
"Or we've been eating too much because of the constant weddings," I said. "The problem is I don't know, and I'm not sure anyone does."
"Sylis?" she asked.
"No." Because I'd asked. "According to him, Gideon said something about how the Dragons would be waiting, so it was time to try something new. They've been doing that a lot. First, it was the grenades, now this? And it sounds like we'll be hunting again soon."
"There's not another holiday for a while," she reminded me.
"That doesn't seem to matter," I pointed out, shifting her hand so I could wrap it in both of mine. "Ayla isn't there, Callah. I can't talk to her."
"But that's okay, because Sylis doesn't have the code yet," she reminded me. "And while he and Felicity have been walking together, I'm not sure that's enough. He may need to wed her before he can get promoted."
"That's what I'm worried about," I agreed. "Considering she's not available for a little longer, how long will it take for him to be promoted and get that code?"
"And you have to keep your distance from him so you don't look too close," she said, realizing the problem.
"Which makes planning even harder," I agreed. "But what if they changed the plans because of the women?"
"What do you mean?" she asked.
I turned her tiny hand over and traced the outer edge of her thumb. "We were barely out of the compound before Gideon told us to collect the women. The ones like us, Callah. He said girls and women. If they were waist-high and looked like Righteous, we should take them too."
"Girls?" she asked.
I nodded. "Girls who look like us. Most people up there don't. They have dark skin and darker hair, but they wanted the ones who look like us."
"Like our mothers," she breathed.
I nodded. "And my fear is that if our men are dying this fast, and they're bringing back more women, they must have a plan, right?"
"Or they don't," she said. "Breed more, that's always been what we do."
"And it takes a husband to make a child," I reminded her. "As amazing as you women are, you can't do it on your own, but they are sending us men out to die."
"But it doesn't make sense," she said.
"I know. So what does? Think, Callah, because you're good at that. What about this makes sense? They sent us to the wild men to bring back women. We brought back people as meat. Both people like us and the Dragon kind. We got the plants too."
"Could it just be that it's now one trip instead of two?" she asked.
"But if we kill the ones who grow the plants, then how will we get more?"
Before me, she began to chew on her full lower lip. That made it even more pink, and I liked how it looked on her, matching the color of her hair. When her pretty green eyes darted across the pattern on our blanket, I was completely entranced.
Then she sucked in a breath. "Could they know we're pushing back? Felicity was punished for being rude. Could someone have told them how many women are complaining over our laundry now?"
"Maybe?" I had no idea.
"No!" she gasped, sitting up. "It's the girls trying to harm their husbands!"
"What? Which ones?"
"At the weddings," she said. "The ones who want to be banished like Ayla and Meri! If they have replacements, then they don't need us - or so they think."
"Okay?"
She groaned. "Tobias, you men are convinced we're only good for making children. You forget about all the other things we do."
"Like bringing me water?"
"And cooking, sewing, washing?" she offered. "Most men don't have a clue how to repair their clothing. Without us - the wives - you'd all be naked! The women in quarantine can't mend. They certainly wouldn't be allowed to cook! That involves knives."
Yeah, she had a point. "But I'm still not keeping up," I admitted.
"Because you didn't sleep well," she said, rubbing my hand in sympathy.
"But think about it. At least a dozen brides tried to be banished to the surface.
If they bring back a dozen more, then they can get rid of a rebellion before it even starts.
Those who want out go. The rest of us are forced to behave or risk death, and that's the thing.
Most of us don't have a man willing to say their friend is alive.
They're just gone, and from the stories we're told, there's no way they could survive. "
"So remove the problems and the rest behave," I realized. "Without a friend to talk to, we all feel alone, so we just keep working to avoid punishment, never realizing we're perpetuating the system."
"Exactly," she agreed. "So is that why they needed the women now?"
"I don't know," I admitted, "but it's better than any theories I have."
"Like?"
I had to glance away. "Um, most husbands enjoy making children."
"Ah." She nodded, understanding completely. "But enough to risk the lives of our hunters? How do they think we'd eat if there's no one to bring it back?"
"Or no one to flirt with the beautiful girls," I said. "You said it yourself. Most girls don't want to marry an old man, but the old men control everything. They think they deserve it all because they're the eldest, so why doesn't that apply to the prettiest of the girls too?"
"But they're just children compared to those men," she countered. "Tobias, do women really lose their appeal that fast?"
"No," I said. "You die giving birth. You're married to someone else, lost on the birthing bed, and forgotten in only a few years."
"Yeah..." she breathed.
"And the elders don't like someone having something they wanted," I reminded her. "You told me what Mr. Saunders said to Ayla. He missed out on her mother, so he wanted to marry her. His goal was to fornicate with her, Callah, not worry about the children that might survive their pairing."
"This," she said, "is why I didn't want to get married."
"It's why I didn't either," I agreed. "I like our version, though."
"Yeah," she said. "Me too. I'll like it more when you show me the surface."
"It'll happen," I swore.
And I couldn't help but notice she'd made it sound like she'd stay with me. That was something to work for, almost like my own dream come true.