Chapter 41
Forty-One
Rymar
Iwoke up for the attack. I hadn't slept yet, but there would be plenty of time for that later. Eriska needed help, and we Dragons were used to handling the fallout after an attack. The first step had been sending the seriously injured back to Lorsa to be cared for.
The next had been counting the dead and missing. Surprisingly, that number was much lower than we'd expected. There was one person dead. Just one. Plenty had been hurt, but no one had listed a loved one as missing.
I hoped that was because we'd sent the non-combatants to the Reapers' winter camp.
I couldn't be sure, though. For all I knew, it could've simply been because we'd been ready this time.
Setting guards worked for the Reapers. Their dogs could detect Moles long before any of us could even see them. Last night, it had saved lives.
But Eriska hadn't done this a million times before.
She was a bit overwhelmed, and kept trying to chase her tail - figuratively, of course.
So, once everything else had been handled, I told her to call a meeting.
She tried to tell me the Reapers didn't do that, but I told her they needed to this time.
It was early afternoon when someone began building up a bonfire in the middle of the camp. Not a big one, but places to sit followed once the fire started burning. Chairs, logs, and even some blankets were carried out, and the people began to gather - Reapers and Dragons alike.
"Now what?" she asked.
"We tell them the numbers," I explained. "Eriska, this is their home. They deserve to know how badly it was damaged - and how well they fought back. More than all of that, we need to make plans for the next time, because there will be a next time."
"You want to handle this?" she asked.
Which surprised me. The chief of this band of Reapers was not a weak woman. She had no problem handling both the easy and the hard things, but I knew she'd lost someone in the first raid. I knew she was grieving. I'd also come here because I had done this before.
"If you're sure," I told her. "I am not here to undermine your authority. I came here to assist."
So she gestured toward the gathering crowd. "Then assist, Rymar. Show me how this part is done, because I have no fucking clue what to tell them to make this better. I have a feeling you do."
Clasping her shoulder, I towed her forward with me. Then, once we were beside the fire, I turned around and let out a piercing whistle. The kind no one could miss. A few stragglers looked over. The people already here all fell silent, and far too many eyes were watching me.
"Last night, the Moles attacked this camp the same way they have done Lorsa so many times."
"We know that!" someone snapped.
I lifted a hand, begging for a chance. "And I'm here to help.
Eriska has asked how we've managed to handle this, so I'll tell you.
The first thing? You all deserve to know the numbers.
Last night, seven Moles were killed - based on the bodies we found.
According to our informant, they could've taken some of their dead.
Also, it's likely more will die later due to their lack of medicine, but at least seven of them died for daring to attack us! "
That set off a wave of whispers. People looked to the person beside them and nearly everyone here had something to say.
The few who didn't? I recognized most of their faces.
Over there was Zasen, Kanik, and Ayla. I spotted Xav and Tayle, more militia members.
But the Reapers were getting louder, and angrier.
"However!" I called out, stopping them before this got out of hand.
"We lost one. Yes, that is one life too many, and yes, it was a Reaper.
Still, that one person died protecting their home, their friends, and their family.
No, that does not make it better, but it means their death wasn't pointless! "
"We should go to their home and show them how it feels!" a man called out.
And there were far too many agreeing with him. The rage was right there, ready to break free. Somehow, I had to focus these people again and remind them we were the defenders here.
But Zasen stood up. "You can't," he said. "Trust me, I would love to break in there and kill every last one of them, but - "
"But you're fucking one!" a Reaper snapped, standing up to glare across the fire at Zasen. "We heard her last night. That woman beside you is a Mole!"
"She's a Dragon," I said.
"Slapping some paint on it doesn't make her something else," the man insisted. "She is from down there, so she's a Mole!"
"But!" Lansin jumped to his feet. "Ayla escaped.
She broke free. She also killed men last night to help us!
So be pissed about it. Rant. Rave. Rage!
I don't care, but that woman has proven herself, and she's already offered to help us again.
She's willing to show us Reapers how to use our dogs against them more effectively. "
"And get our dogs killed too?" someone else asked.
"No!" Ayla said, shooting to her feet. "I don't want Holly to die. I assume the rest of you love your dogs just as much, but they are brave and fast. The Moles have guns. Us? We have dogs! So we need to use them to stop the guns!"
"How?" I asked.
"We can teach them to disarm," she said. "It's easy, and without guns, the Moles die fast. We also need venom. The tailed need to poison the arrows for the tailless, because mine killed fast last night."
Zasen waved that away. "We can't. The tailed will need their venom if they come back tonight, and they aren't on a schedule anymore, Ayla. It takes time to refill our venom sacs."
She grumbled something under her breath and sat back down, but that asshole wouldn't let go of his foolish idea. "So we go there!" he said. "We need to kill them before any more of us die."
"And then what?" I asked.
Which made him look at me blankly. "Then there won't be any more Moles!"
"Kill all of them!" someone else yelled. "Then we can keep our harvest. All of it!"
"You can't get in!" Ayla snapped.
"Then get us in," a woman demanded. "You got out, so you must know how!"
"She also saved that other one," the first man pointed out. "The big guy carried my partner away!"
Ah, yes. I remembered hearing about that. Well, fuck. This was going to get ugly before we found a solution, but maybe it needed to?
"Those two," Zasen said, "are our informants. They are not the enemy!"
"They sure as fuck look like it," the man snarled. "When they're hauling women away, you can't tell me that makes them our ally!"
"It does!" Ayla said. "They warn us of the plans being made inside there.
They tell us what we need to know, and they do their best to make sure your loved ones survive!
In the compound, they are now desperate enough to kill the tailless and eat them too!
There's a good chance they took some of their own dead and will eat them, because they are starving! "
"Let 'em!" a woman called out.
But Kanik shoved to his feet. "We tried that, but you kept feeding them.
Oh, it was fine when Dragons were the ones dying, but now that things have changed, it's suddenly a big deal?
You care now?" And he pointed to the scar along his abdomen, just below his ribs.
"I took a fucking grenade because they were hunting us.
Where were the Reapers then? But the moment you need help, we came.
We didn't ask what was in it for us. We came to help! "
"Kanik..." I tried, aware a few were looking down in shame.
"No!" he snapped, making his way forward.
"They look at my partner and see an enemy, so let me tell you about Ayla.
She escaped by attacking a man. A man she was being forced to marry!
She used the only weapon she could find - a fork - and was thrown out because of it.
Now, she and her friends - all three of them - are the only chance we have to stop this forever.
Not for now, and not to send them on to attack someone else, but to finally put an end to this, and yet you want to ruin it all?
Because you're finally feeling how much this sucks, you'll throw away a plan that is actually working? "
"And how many will die before they stop?" the man demanded.
"I don't know," Kanik said calmly - too calmly.
"I can tell you I should've been one. If it wasn't for the Phoenix, I wouldn't be standing here.
That woman burned down her old life, rebuilt herself, and burns brightly now.
She is why I'm alive, and if she says we can't get in, then it's not because she's scared of trying. "
So I asked, "Why can't we get in, Ayla?"
"Because the door is locked with a massive bolt that is controlled by electricity.
It takes a code to unlock it, and only the top-ranking Moles know it.
That code is likely required to let people out too, and without it, an intruder alarm sounds.
One that will call every man down there - and that's a lot more people than you realize. "
"Tell them about the lights," I reminded her.
She chuckled once, the sound dry. "Yeah.
It's dark inside there. When the lights are on, it's as bright as a night with a half-moon in the sky.
When they're off?" She shook her head. "The only light comes from far down halls.
When I was there, I could barely make out my own hand.
I also couldn't force my eyes open in this much light.
I have a feeling I'll be nearly blind down there now. "
"Probably," Zasen said, gesturing for her to sit again.
"But Ayla has helped us more than any of you can guess.
And yes, she's killed Moles. More of them than even me.
Trust me, she wants them dead for what they did to her, and the story isn't pretty.
Down there, women are the victims. Some of the men too.
Ayla has a friend who is trying to start a rebellion from the inside.
The men we spared? They bring Ayla letters from that friend, and deliver ones Ayla has written.
They're also trying hard to get that code, and we were so fucking close. "
"But someone stabbed Sylis," Ayla said, looking right at the angry man. "He would've been given that code today if he could've survived, but Moles don't have medicine! A gut wound is certain death, and a painful one!"
"So," I said, "our informant is being taken back to Lorsa where he'll be treated. Then, without a time constraint, he will be able to tell us everything we need to know about how their hunters operate. And yes, that's what they're called. They speak English - in a way few of you have heard before."
"It does not sound like you'd expect," Lansin said, confirming that. "The language shift was worse than we realized."
"So we're now back to square one," I said.
"Currently, the big guy, named Tobias, is trying to get positioned so he can 'earn' that code.
Once he has it, we will save him and his wife, and destroy the rest. Once he has it, we will be able to stop the Moles forever!
So do not kill that man. I don't care if you hurt him.
I don't give a shit if you want to punch him a few times.
Do not wound him in a way that will kill him without medicine! "
"Can we all agree to that?" Eriska asked, finally speaking up. "The Dragons are the ones who've been dealing with this for generations. They never begrudged us our safety, so what sort of allies are we if the moment our lives get hard, we try to turn it on them?"
There were a few murmurs as her words sank in. Some nodded, but that didn't mean the anger was gone. I understood that, because I'd felt the same rage when Tasult had been killed. Yet when she nodded to let me know I could keep going, I no longer knew what to say.
We needed to stop this, or at least delay it. Granted, maybe asking for ideas would let these people feel like they were contributing?
"What we need," I said, "is a way to buy ourselves some time. According to Tobias, they no longer have a schedule. The elders - which is what they call their leaders - decided the night before they left that this would happen."
Ayla stood. "Tobias also said the elders claim the wild men - Reapers - are beasts of the Devil, thus good for food.
Not people! Worse, the hunters were told to capture any woman who looks like us so she can be saved from eternal damnation.
Those are the ones who were taken back. Currently, they're safe.
Scared, confused, and blinded by darkness, I'm sure, but safe - for now. "
"Can he get them out?" the angry man asked.
"If he gets the code," Ayla said. "The way things work in there, a code should be required to open the door - from either side.
But what none of you realize is that something has changed.
No longer are they just hunting for food.
They've changed - and for Moles, that's never a good thing.
It means they have a reason, that they're planning something! "
"Ayla?" I heard the question, but had to scan the crowd to find Xav with his dog beside him. "Would feeding them slow them down?"
She looked surprised. "Yeah, probably. If nothing else, it would be hard to say they need food. Why? What are you thinking?"
"We..." and Xav gestured at the Dragons he'd come with, "are some of the best hunters in Lorsa. I'm going to assume quite a few of these Reapers can claim that title for here. So how much meat would it take to feed those people in there?"
"A lot," she said. "There are hundreds upon hundreds of people. I don't know the exact number, but between the children, the women, and the men? It would be more meat than the people here would require."
"Shit..." someone breathed near me.
"But we could do it," Xav said. "There's deer in the forest. Birds, rabbits, and more. I heard you didn't eat meat when you came, so I'm wondering if showing them what real food is might be enough to help that rebellion inside."
"But we'd have to hunt it," I pointed out.
"We can do that!" the angry man said. "If it'll spark a rebellion? I know where there's elk, too."
"Before we do that," Lansin called out, "we need Ayla to show us her new command for her dog. We can practice while we hunt. That way, when the Moles come back..."
Eriska finished, "We'll be ready this time!"