Chapter 84
Eighty-Four
Tobias
We walked for two hours before the light finally faded from the sky. The whole time, the men around me chattered. I caught details here and there, but most were things I expected, like how Gideon had taken the rest of the hunters with him.
But once the sky was dark, my men relaxed. Their conversations grew louder, and since I wasn't constantly trying to silence them, their words grew a bit more brazen. By the time the world began to grow still, they were talking without any restraints.
"They took a cart."
"Man, I wanted to be on that team."
"Yeah, but we're the least respected of the hunters," another man pointed out.
His friend agreed. "Barely made the cut. Only here because we haven't died yet."
And that made me look around at the men I'd been assigned. I'd wondered about my squad before, but Harald's was decent, weren't they? And yet, I recognized a few faces who'd made glaring mistakes in training.
Matheos's group had no discipline at all. Even though I wasn't chiding them for it, Jonnas's men and Harald's were at least keeping their voices discreet. Then again, Jonnas's men were mostly injured - and badly enough they shouldn't have been let join this attack. A few were actually limping.
But we'd been walking long enough to be in range, so I pulled the whistle from my shirt and stuck it in my mouth. For a while, I walked like that, just messing with the thing so no one would worry about it.
"Where'd you get that?" Timon asked.
"When we attacked the wild men's camp," I told him. "I took it off a man I killed. Don't know what it does, but it's mine now."
"Is it metal?"
"Yep." And I blew on it, two short blasts. Air hissed through it, but that was the only sound. "It helps me think. Keeps my nerves steady."
"Then maybe I should get me one," Timon said, offering a weak smile.
Which made another guy call over, "Gotta kill a few first, Timon!"
"Yeah, yeah," Timon grumbled, waving him off.
I blew a set of three blasts, hoping somewhere out there, a dog would be doing its thing, and then I talked around the whistle. "Since we're not hunting meat, I'd rather all of you were careful instead of bold."
"Yes, sir," Timon said, turning to Elijah on his other side.
Those two had been spending a bit of time together lately. I wasn't sure if it was because Elijah was watching out for him, or if they were becoming friends. I also didn't mind. Either way, it was working, and I really didn't want to be the reason these men died tonight - or ever.
So I kept blowing on my whistle. I'd walk a few steps, blow it twice, then walk a few more and puff three times. In truth, it was soothing. I found a pattern to it and just kept going, allowing all of my fears about this mess to fade away.
Ayla had to be out here somewhere. If not her, then the man who'd given me the whistle. Maybe Sylis was with them? Would he be well enough for fighting yet? I didn't know. I simply walked and whistled, keeping my word in the hopes I'd live long enough to tell someone this code.
At some point, the world around us grew cold.
Puffs of breath became visible, and the animals had gone completely silent.
The things which usually moved were gone.
In my experience, this was the middle part of the night, halfway between the sun going away and coming back.
And yet, my whistling still didn't stand out.
Not long after that, Matheos moved closer. Seeing him coming my way, the men from my squad slowed, giving us space. Sure enough, the squad leader fell in at my side. At first, he simply walked, acting like this was normal, but I knew he wanted something.
"What?" I asked, ending the charade.
Matheos ducked his head and chuckled. "I still don't understand what we're even doing out here."
"Me either," I agreed.
"But what do you know?" he pressed. "What are we walking toward?"
I shrugged. "Mr. Peterson said we need to break through this line they've made, so that's what we're going to do."
"So, we're fighting them just to fight them?"
I grunted under my breath. "To kill them, I think."
"But why?" another man asked, angling his feet so he veered toward us.
Some of the other men did as well, and it made even more move my way. We still had to weave between the trees that were all around us, but in a few steps, the cluster of men had condensed to half the size it had been a moment ago.
"Why what?" I asked the guy.
It was his friend who answered. "Why are we attacking them? They know where the line ends. Why don't we just go around?"
"Gideon's team found the left edge already," another pointed out. "His squad was bragging about it."
"Told ya," Timon grumbled.
But that made me stop hard. "Wait. Pull it in for a moment."
They did. The rustling of their feet in the leaves was loud, but that man had just said something important.
"How many squads did Gideon take?" I looked around, making it clear anyone could answer.
"Uh, like ten? Twelve?" Harald guessed. "Why?"
"And they've actually found both ends of the line?" I demanded.
"Yeah," Timon said. "I told you that! One side is the wild men's camp. The other is left a ways. Further than we've been before."
"They said the ground starts going up like it does around the compound," another offered. "But there's a trail."
In my chest, my heart felt like it had stalled.
My skin prickled. None of this was right, but as I looked at the men around me, I started putting a few things together.
These were men who'd made mistakes. Men Gideon had screamed at in training.
Men who'd been said to have no chance of a promotion, who would eventually end up in the fungus farms at the rate they were going.
But I was still missing something. I could almost feel it like an itch on my skin I couldn't reach. There was one piece that didn't make any sense, and I knew I had to figure it out now, before we went any further.
"How many of you have been reprimanded for something?" I asked.
"Really?" Elijah asked.
"Have you?" I shot back.
He murmured, tilting his head slightly as if I wasn't completely wrong. "I was saved by the Wyvern. I said he might not be wrong. Gideon - and the operations manager before him - made it clear I should never say that again."
"I shot my last squad lead," another man admitted. "Didn't kill him, though!"
"Still made him retire to reloading," his friend pointed out.
So I asked, "Is anyone here moving up the ranks, getting promoted, and comfortable with what the leadership thinks of you?"
Silence. The men looked at each other, then to someone else. There was guilt on a few faces, which meant I'd found the problem. This was why we'd all been picked!
"Okay," I said. "What does anyone know about Gideon's mission? I don't care if it's gossip."
"They took carts," a man in the back offered.
"And shackles," someone else said.
"Daveed said this was going to be the redemption we've been waiting for," another called out.
"One of the squad leads was saying that if this worked, he'd never have to deal with his shrew of a wife again." And the man shrugged.
But those words? That was the missing piece!
"Satan's testicles!" I snarled.
"What?" Elijah asked.
"Do you remember the last men's meeting? The one that had only hunters?" I looked around, seeing a few men nodding. "They want to capture wild women to replace any wives who disobey. They want to stop the girls from attacking their intended, or the widows from refusing suitors, right?"
"Don't we all?" Jonnas asked.
"But what are those women doing wrong?" I asked. "What is their sin?"
"God said to be fruitful," another offered.
"But what is the sin?" I demanded. "Which commandment are they breaking? Of all God's laws, how are they disobeying one?"
"They're not listening to their husbands," Uriah tried. "That's their job. They're supposed to obey and bear our children."
"Their. Job." I said, turning to see the men behind me too. "And look at us. I know I'm not the most qualified man for this position. I wanted it, yes, but others deserve it more. Never mind that it came out of nowhere!"
"But you led the team back last time," Jeshiah said.
I nodded. "And that wasn't enough to get me promoted before.
I've also made mistakes. All of us have, but here we are, the worst of the hunters?
Don't any of you find that odd? And we're being told to attack the middle of this line of heathens now?
Exactly when..." My words trailed off as the all-too-obvious answer hit me.
"What?" Harald asked when I was silent for too long.
"If they can discard the women who aren't good enough at their jobs," I said, "then what about the men who are the same? Us. The ones who aren't the best hunters, but aren't bad enough to move to another assignment? What if they sent us outside, then made sure we couldn't return?"
"No..." someone breathed.
"And if they send us out to attack the enemy exactly when Gideon's team is sneaking around them? Make all the Dragons and wild men look this way, not that one? Let us die so we won't cause any problems?"
The men around me erupted. People were yelling on all sides. Many were trying to deny it, but others were saying they weren't going to make it easy to be killed off. Twenty-four men, give or take a few empty spots on the squads, and all of them were roaring in anger.
"So what do we do?" I yelled over them.
But they didn't hear me. They were now screaming at each other, offering suggestions, and verging on panic.
This was why Gideon kept them quiet. I'd always been told women were excitable, but my experience said otherwise.
These men - most of them barely more than boys - were growing louder and louder, and none of them were listening as I tried to get them to focus!