Chapter 56
Fifty-Six
Zasen
Ayla and I went out hunting twice more. I invited Kanik once, since he was decent enough at it, but he smiled at Ayla and said he wouldn't want to kill the mood.
She'd blushed, but once we were in the trees, she'd also taken my hand.
Feeling her delicate fingers wrap around some of mine?
I liked that a lot more than I wanted to admit.
Sadly, that was where my seduction ended, but only because the game had been bountiful.
Eriska had explained to me that Reapers only hunted in one direction each season.
That gave three years for the other directions to replenish, and this year had been toward the Moles, west of the Reaper's camp.
Combined with the small number of people in their clan, it made sense why there was more than enough food available for this.
And we hadn't been the only ones having luck. I also didn't want to hold the meat so long it began to spoil. The kitchen had been cleaning the carcasses for us and letting them rest, but we'd reached the point where we wouldn't be able to haul any more, so I asked the chief to call a meeting.
That morning, she'd lit a bonfire in the middle of their camp. The four of us had headed there together, but when Ayla took Rymar's hand? The smile on that man's face made it clear he was falling hard for our partner, and it looked damned good on him.
But just as we neared the seating put out for this little meeting, someone called out, "Pepper!"
Ayla's new dog paused, lagging behind for a second. Ayla noticed immediately, but I'd already turned, trying to see who'd recognized her. There, jogging toward us was a man.
"Hey, girl!" he crooned, grinning at the dog.
Rymar leaned toward Ayla's ear and said something to her. A smile immediately took over her face. "Moldan, right?" she asked.
"Yeah." And he held out his hand. "I'm sorry we didn't really meet last time, Ayla. I was just curious how she's doing for you."
"She's amazing!" Ayla said, bending down to hug and pet Pepper. "And she gets along with Holly really well. I've been teaching her how to help me hunt, and she's so good!"
"My partner always said she was a little too aggressive."
Ayla made a face and shook her head. "She likes to use her teeth, but we're working on that. She's such an amazing dog, and I'm sorry about your partner."
"Me too," he agreed. "I think she'd be happy to know Pepper's found someone to love her, though. I was never a dog person, but you clearly are."
The way that made Ayla beam? I had a feeling hearing it from someone else, someone who should be judging her, only made her believe his words more. We'd told her dozens of times that she was good at this, but her smile proved it hit differently from a stranger.
"Well, don't want to interrupt," Moldan said. "I was just hoping I could pet her one more time."
"Any time you want," Ayla assured him.
So Moldan knelt down and murmured soft words to Pepper.
Oddly, the dog ignored him. Oh, she didn't try to leave, but the whole time he was ruffling her fur, Pepper looked up at Ayla as if waiting for her next command.
I'd thought Rymar was simply trying to spoil our woman by buying her yet another dog, but now I had a front row seat to what he'd tried to explain.
"You're right. That's her dog," I said softly.
"Yeah, she is," Kanik agreed. "Rymar did good."
"Again," I added.
"Shut up," Rymar grumbled. "And we don't want to be late for this."
He tried to walk off, but I caught his arm, holding him in place. "I'm making a new rule in this relationship. If Ayla's being cute, everything else can wait. Holding your hand counts as cute, Ry. The last thing we want to do is make her think she's annoying us."
"I mean," Kanik said, "if she was holding my hand, it might as well be a leash. I'd follow her as loyally as Holly."
"Rymar's more like Pepper," I joked. "Loyal, but too afraid to show it."
"Fuck off," he groaned.
But this time, when he walked away, he headed straight for her. I watched as he shook Moldan's hand, said a few more words, then turned Ayla toward the seating area. Beside me, Kanik chuckled under his breath, but more like he was impressed than amused.
"Guess that talk you had with him is working?" I asked.
Kanik hummed as if weighing that. "He's trying. Ry's problem is he has so many people tell him what they think he wants to hear that he has to figure it out for himself each and every time. He's getting there, though."
"And she doesn't play by our rules," I pointed out. "Ayla's values are based on very different things than what we're used to."
"But you're missing the obvious problem, Zasen," Kanik told me.
"She's gorgeous. That woman has fleshed out, muscled up, and turned into the kind of woman who could have any man she wants.
She also doesn't have a tail, so those looking to settle down would put her at the top of their lists.
And here we are, thinking we're not good enough because all of us have insecurities, but we keep forgetting that in her culture, we're the ones offering something she thinks is impossible to find. "
"Yeah," I agreed. "And yet I don't want to count on her ignorance to allow me to give her less than she deserves. One day, she'll barely remember her time down there. When that happens, I still want her to think we're the right men for her."
"Which is why we're all so paranoid," Kanik said. "Now go make arrangements, Wyvern."
I slapped his back and turned him to walk with me. Together, we found a place to sit at the front, where any of us could stand and address the group without acting like we were taking over. Then we waited.
Eventually, Eriska moved to stand before the flames.
"All right!" she called out. "It's been determined that we have enough meat.
The problem is what comes next. Our goal is to send that meat to the Moles, hoping it will keep them locked in their little caves a while longer. This is where the problem comes in."
"They'll come when we're not looking!" someone called out.
That was when I stood. "Hopefully, I have a plan for that," I said, looking at Eriska for permission to keep going.
She gestured for me to take over and stepped aside, but not away. "All yours, Zasen."
So I moved before the flames, feeling my tail whip to the side to avoid the heat. "In order to move this much meat, we're going to need volunteers. Currently, I think we have four carts filled with game. I'd like to have between ten and twenty people help with this plan."
"And if they come?" that person asked again.
"Then we will have an early warning system," I said.
"Because those helpers? All of us will be armed.
I'd like as many dogs as the Reapers can spare.
Spare, people, not bring. I'll take my militia, which gives me.
.." I looked at Kanik, who nodded. "Nine of those people right off the top. Rymar will stay here - "
"Nope," Rymar said. "I'm going, Zasen."
"Okay," I relented. "Make that ten. You Reapers do not need us to guard your camp for a few hours.
Plus, if the Moles come out of their compound, they'll have to come through us first. The Phoenix will send her dog back to Lansin if that happens.
You will be armed, ready, and defensible before they have a chance of making it here. "
"And us?" Xav called out.
"We know how to disappear," I assured him.
"We also kill more of them than they kill of us.
The best-case scenario here is that they do come out - so we can get inside.
However, I'd like to get there in the middle of the day - because that is their night.
The lights underground will be out, the people will be sleeping, and no one will be hunting anything. "
"We aren't going to let the Dragons do this without us, are we?" Eriska called out.
A chorus of Reapers yelled back, "No!"
"So who's brave enough to go that far?" Eriska taunted. "The Dragons have two dogs - "
"Three," I corrected. "Ayla has two now."
"Well, look at you," Eriska beamed at Ayla. "Sounds like you should've been a Reaper instead of a Dragon, girl." Then she lifted her voice again. "So, three dogs. I'd like seven more. Lansin will be here as point, but who else is willing to make the walk?"
Hands shot into the air. Far too many of them. I'd expected more people to stay quiet, but that was foolish of me. These were the Reapers who'd stayed. The guardians of their clan. The ones who wanted to get a little revenge.
"We will go armed," I said. "You'll need a bow, plenty of arrows, and blades of some kind.
When we get there, all of you will need to help unload the meat and stack it up.
The Phoenix, who many of you know as Ayla, will be in charge of that part.
She's the one with the knowledge of what goes on in there, and when we get close, we will listen to her.
If you have a problem with any of that, please lower your hands. "
Only four hands dropped.
"I'm also going to need drivers for these carts," I said. "I'm not sure if the owners of them are willing to go into enemy territory, and I will not ask that of them. So, do we have four people willing to take their horse and equipment into danger?"
Six hands shot up.
I just waved them all down. "I'm not going to pick you. I refuse to make that decision for anyone. I will say that drivers with combat experience would be the better choice. Also, if things go bad, those drivers will need to make a quick retreat - hopefully with carts full of Reapers."
"We aren't going to run away without the Dragons!" someone called out.
"We appreciate it!" a Dragon yelled back.
I ducked my head to chuckle. "Okay. Tomorrow, after breakfast, I want to meet right here.
Eriska wants seven more dogs, but I won't complain about more.
I will complain if the camp is left without its own protection.
This will likely be a long, boring, and tedious walk, nothing more.
But if things go wrong, will you be leaving someone behind, missing you?
Will someone else have to raise your children for you?
Consider all of this before you show up tomorrow! "
"How will we know it worked?" a woman asked, pushing to her feet so she could be seen. "If we give them all of this, how do we know we're not just making our enemy stronger and us weaker?"
Ayla shot to her feet and turned. "We don't!" And she slashed a hand through the air to make that clear. "That's the problem. No one knows what they will do right now, not even the men they send to kill us."
"Tell them about the compound," Kanik told her.
Ayla nodded and pulled in a breath. "No one up here can understand the life they lead down there.
" Slowly, she turned, looking at everyone.
"They call themselves the Righteous! They use religion to justify everything from beating women to death to eating people!
They are the Righteous, so their needs matter more than ours.
With those doors closed, most people down there have never even seen the surface except for pictures shown to us as children.
This?" She gestured around her. "It's a myth! "
In the crowd, people had hands pressed to their mouths and wide eyes. They were listening, though. No one was shouting her down, and that seemed to give Ayla more courage.
"Their entire community is built on a group of old men who are in control.
They are the elders, and their decisions rule everyone else.
They do not get voted in, or picked. They choose the next man to take their place, and those men?
They get more than anyone else. Down there, they barely have any light.
Clothing is all worn and thin. Colors are faded.
Food has no spices. Gossip is heresy, individualism is evil, and the only way to survive is to do what you're told!
That means everything depends on what safe, secure, spoiled old men want - and none of us can predict them. "
"Fuck me," a man breathed.
"So," I said, "our hope is that feeding them will cause enough confusion to create chaos in there for a bit. It will fill their bellies, shift their focus, and give us the time for our man inside to get us access. Then, and only then, will we be able to destroy them forever."
"Or," a man said, kicking his legs out as he leaned back, "we could just let a few of the tailed sting that meat."
Ayla gasped. "No!" And her head whipped around to look at me. "Callah isn't immune!"
"I know," I assured her, waving down the murmur that was spreading through the crowd.
"What Ayla didn't point out is that there are hundreds of innocent women down there.
Women who have been tortured and abused by this system.
Among them are the seven Reapers who were taken.
Are they immune? Do we want to risk it? Are we willing to kill the Moles' other victims just because we can? "
"And would it even work?" Rymar asked. "They eat so little of our meat, it might only convince them that eating the flesh of animals makes them sick so they should hunt more people. That is not a risk I'm willing to take, so no. We will not poison anything."
Heads began to nod, seeing the wisdom of our choice. It was easier than I'd expected - so far. Now, I just had to wait to see who'd be here tomorrow, ready to make this happen. Because it was easy to agree from the safety of the camp.
It was a lot harder to head out into the unknown.