Chapter 64
Sixty-Four
Ayla
Being on watch was boring. The shifts were divided into three chunks throughout the day, and Zasen had finally listened when I told him I should be helping at night.
My eyes saw easier in the darkness. I also wouldn't be missing my friends and family because all four of us now kept nearly the same hours.
We were out in the forest, but only far enough the campfires the Reapers put in front of their cabins wouldn't blind us.
Zasen had found a place to sit where he could lean against a tree and stare at the darkness while I showed Pepper more of the commands Holly knew so well.
The best part was how quickly she was learning.
Holly knew everything. Pepper knew the basics, but that was enough to let me teach her more complex tasks.
Even better, when Holly did something right and got praise, Pepper would often copy it out of jealousy.
After that, a few repetitions was all it took for her to understand the command.
Doing it well, however, was a different story.
My new dog was a smart girl. Supposedly, she didn't like men, but she seemed okay with Kanik, Rymar, and Zasen.
No, she wasn't as excited to see them as Holly was, but she didn't want to bite them either.
But while Holly would obey a command from Zasen as easily as from me, Pepper only listened to a few from him.
"Guard" was her favorite, but "wait" worked with her as well. The rest? She only obeyed if Holly did.
"How's her 'disarm?'" Zasen asked, his voice loud enough to be heard but soft enough it wouldn't carry on the cool night air.
I rocked my head from side to side. "She's okay. She keeps forgetting to go around to the side, but she is very good at knocking people down."
"That dog is a killer," he teased, flashing me a grin to show that wasn't a bad thing. "Holly's what they call a working dog. She can do a bit of everything, which makes her one of the most sought-out types. Pepper? She's a guard dog, Ayla. The one thing she wants to do is protect her family."
"Me?" I asked.
He nodded. "Holly too, I bet. Dogs live in families too." He smiled at my girls. "So, Rymar thinks we need to build kennels onto the house."
I made a gesture to summon both my dogs before me. "Why?"
Holly spun to face me and sat immediately. Pepper was watching Zasen and didn't seem to care about obeying at all. Snapping my fingers got her to look at me, so I pointed again. Letting out a heavy sigh, she moved to mimic Holly, then sat.
"Good girls!" I praised, petting Pepper first because she needed it more, then Holly got more attention. "You're a good girl, aren't you?"
"Now that," Zasen said, "is adorable. And why kennels? Because that's where you keep the puppies, Ayla. I mean, we'd have to save up and buy you a male to breed these girls to, but you do have a nice pair there."
"I think you've been talking to Lansin," I teased.
He picked up a stick, waving it to get the girls' attention. "Yep." Then he threw it.
Both dogs raced after it, so I moved to join Zasen, keeping an eye on them. Holly was faster, but only because she had longer legs. Pepper was shorter but broader, and the difference in their speed was the length of a nose.
"I don't think I'm ready to raise puppies," I admitted as I lowered myself to the ground beside him. "I like puppies, don't get me wrong, but..."
"Feels too much like what you faced in the compound?" he guessed as the girls brought back the stick for him to throw again.
"No!" I hurried to assure him. "I'm more worried about knowing what to do with them. I can't imagine a dog that can't be controlled. Zasen, I've seen them bite people!"
"But you're good with them," he reminded me.
I grunted. "Maybe, but that isn't the same as experienced. I'm making everything up, and both of these dogs have the basics already. I think I want to learn how to teach a dog the starting stuff first, but I can't do that with the Moles attacking every other week!"
"Yeah, that's a good point," he agreed. "Also a surprisingly sensible one."
This time, Pepper got to the stick first, and when she carried it back, she spit it out on my lap. Reaching in to give her a good petting first, I then held up the stick until they were watching before throwing it as hard as I could.
It didn't go as far as Zasen's throw, but it went further than I expected. I was getting stronger every day, and the men kept reminding me of it, but seeing it was even better. This was proof of my progress, just like having Pepper listen to her commands was proof of hers.
But only a few feet before the stick, both dogs stopped so hard they skidded, ending up on their bellies in the fallen leaves.
Confused, I looked at Zasen, checking to see if he'd given them a command somehow, but he was looking back at me. Okay, maybe they'd seen something? Either way, they'd probably lost their stick, so I leaned out to grab another from the forest litter around me.
"Come!" I said, not needing to yell. Then I whistled softly.
The dogs turned as they took off, racing back to me as fast as they could. I didn't know why, but I loved when they did that. It made me feel like they actually wanted to be around me, and something about it was amazing.
"Want it?" I asked, waving the stick. "Come. Sit."
And again, the girls slid down onto their bellies, stopping hard. Not in front of me like I'd expected, and not sitting like they'd been taught. Both of them stopped and lay down, going so far as to pause their panting for a few seconds at a time while their ears swiveled to the sides.
"Come," I tried again.
Pepper did, but Holly? She crawled, glancing back into the trees like something was wrong.
"Guard!" Zasen hissed, scrambling to his feet.
Pepper immediately moved to my side, staring the same way Holly was, but Holly? She turned on her belly, but her face looked intent. Then Pepper lay down again, both girls looking the same way - and I realized I was a fool.
"Zasen, the whistles!" I gasped, scrambling to get the gear I'd set down when we'd come out here. "They're lying down because of the - "
And someone yelled in the distance. I had a feeling that was another group on watch because the scream didn't seem scared or injured. It sounded like an alert, though. There was just one problem. I couldn't remember what Lansin had picked for the signal.
"Was sit for here or not here?" I asked.
"Don't know," Zasen said as he grabbed his bow. "What order did he say them in?"
I thought back, trying to remember that night. It had been crazy, and Sylis had been wounded. I'd been more worried about not getting the code, but I was pretty sure Lansin had told him about sit first. That was two blasts on the dog whistle. It meant they were coming.
And tingles ran across my skin. "Sit for here."
"Lying down?" he asked.
"Means they aren't coming here, I think." But I wasn't sure. Damn it!
"Holly," Zasen snapped, "find Rymar!"
Immediately, the brindle dog raced away. Pepper jerked like she wanted to follow, but stopped herself and looked up at me.
"Guard," I told her before looking at Zasen. "What do we do? If they aren't coming here, then where? Lansin said the dogs can hear the whistles about an hour away, so they have to be close, right?"
"No." He caught my arm and hurried me forward, back to camp. "Ayla, it's cold and humid. It's night. All of those things help sounds carry easier, right?"
I nodded, because I had noticed that.
"Which means they could be further. They could be on top of us, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to be out there. I also know the one man who can translate what these dogs are saying." Then he snarled under his breath. "Fuck! I should've sent Holly to Lansin, not Rymar!"
Well, I knew where Lansin was. Tapping Zasen's arm, I took off at a jog, knowing he'd keep up. Together, we followed the short path back to the edge of camp, and I turned, angling around the outside. This was the way he'd brought me that first day.
We didn't make it all the way there before the ruckus of a dozen dogs barking erupted. Even better, Lansin was outside with three dogs already around him.
"The Moles are on the move!" he said, seeing us.
"Where?" I asked. "How far?"
His eyes scanned the area around me. "Where's Holly?"
"Rymar," Zasen answered. "Ayla doesn't know how to figure this out. Where the fuck are they going, Lansin?"
The man didn't answer immediately. First, he looked down at a silvery-grey dog. "Steel, get Eriska." Then over to a brindle-and-white. "Patches, get Sidicia." And finally at Zasen. "Not close. Mine were confused at first - "
All the dogs lay down again, proving that wherever Tobias was, he was still blowing his whistle. Seeing it made my heart beat too fast. I felt helpless, like I had so many times in the compound. I knew a bad thing was coming, but this time I had no clue how to stop it.
Thankfully, Lansin didn't have that problem. "Fuck! They aren't coming here, and I can only think of one other place they might be going."
"No..." I breathed, realizing what he meant.
"Lorsa," Zasen said. "Ayla, go tell Rymar to mobilize everyone. Lansin, I'm going to need your fastest runners."
"Horses," Lansin corrected, dragging Zasen with him. "Ayla, tell them we're going to need all the carts!"
I didn't know what that meant, but Zasen had said to get Rymar, and I could work with that. "Pepper, find Rymar!" I ordered.
She looked at me for a moment, her ears perked forward with the floppy parts aimed at me. Just when I was sure she didn't remember that command, Pepper took off - and fast. Where Holly would wait for me to follow, clearly Pepper expected me to be as fast as her.
Her path was straight across the camp. We darted around a cabin with three people scrambling to get their gear on.
Then we ducked across a busy path, narrowly avoiding a trio of someone else's dogs.
Everywhere, people were up and moving, but most looked like they weren't sure why.
Too many paused to watch me chase after my dog as if hoping for a hint.
Pepper found Rymar, though. He was in the middle of the Reaper's camp, talking to the chief. Both of them were waving their hands around intently, clearly arguing. I was almost to them when Pepper lay down again - just like every other dog around us.
"Rymar!" I panted, rushing in to grasp his arm and interrupt them. "They have to be heading to Lorsa. Three blasts for 'not here.' If the Moles aren't coming here, then where else would they go?!"
"Blasts?" Eriska asked me.
I grabbed the whistle that now hung beside my signet ring and waved it at her.
"Tobias, my Mole, has one of these. Two to sit if they come here so we'll know ahead of time.
Three to lie down if they go somewhere else.
" And I thrust my arm back at Pepper. "They're going somewhere else!
" Then I snapped my attention to Rymar. "Where's Holly? "
"Kanik has her," he assured me. "I sent him to get arrows. All the arrows."
I nodded. "Lansin said we need all the carts."
"What?" Eriska asked. "Why?"
But Rymar understood immediately and answered for me. "Because she's right, Eriska. If they aren't coming here, they must be going to Lorsa - and most of our defenses are here!"
"Shit!" The woman who led this group of farmers didn't need anything else.
Like a dog obeying a command, she turned and got right to work.
Yelling names of people I still didn't know, the Reaper chief made things happen.
She also completely ignored us, but I heard something about carts, weapons, and leaving no one behind defenseless before Rymar caught my hand and began towing me toward the communal kitchen.
"Ayla, it's two days to Lorsa by foot," he told me. "It's just over a day by horse. Day and a half in a cart."
"Okay?"
"Which means," he said, "we can catch them. Go get dressed for a fight, Phoenix, because they can't have anyone else without coming through all of us."