"Sylis kissed me, Ayla," I said, hoping this might work. "I was confused, but he's not the only one who does that?"
"Does what?" Omden asked.
"A man who kisses men!" I explained. "I... It's..."
"Not done in the compound," Ayla explained for me. "Marriage is expected. It's to produce children. There is no affection, Omden. They don't understand any of that, just like Meri doesn't."
"I was hoping he'd say it," Omden admitted with a shrug and a mischievous smile. "Sex, Tobias. That is the word. Men who have sex with men."
I made a face in disgust, unable to help myself. "I do not want to hurt the person I care about."
And Omden hung his head. "So, it's clearly a universal fear down there. I see."
"Yeah," Ayla said. "But what do we do now?"
"If what you're saying is true," I told her as the Wyvern moved to her side, "Sylis needs to stay here. Ayla, that's why he helped me. He thought that because I don't want to consummate my marriage to Callah it meant I was like him."
"Are you?" the Wyvern asked, looking at Ayla with a brow up as if hoping to be caught up.
"You were right, Zasen. Sylis kissed Tobias," she explained. "He now has a gut wound and will die down there. Tobias can say he died in this fight, and we can save him - "
"And learn what he knows without a time limit," Omden pointed out.
The Wyvern nodded. "Which will help."
"But," I said, "I don't have the code, sir. Sylis was going to get married so he can be promoted. He was told he'd be eligible for promotion then, but not now. He needs to prove he's ready for leadership."
"So we still can't get in," Ayla finished for me.
The Wyvern turned his eerie eyes on me. "Thenyou'llhave to do it. Your other option is to get Callah out. Bring her here, and we will let you live. If you leave her..." He smiled cruelly. "I'll let Ayla sting you with my tail."
"I won't leave without her," I told them, "so your threat is meaningless. I'd rather die than leave her in there to be wed to another man!"
"Then become a leader," the Wyvern told me. "Use your friend's 'death' as a cause for vengeance. Lie, Tobias. Deceive. It's what your elders are doing, so play the game better than them. Ayla says you're the biggest man down there. Use that. Become the best warrior they've ever seen."
"How?!" I demanded, glancing back to check on Sylis. "To become a respected hunter, I need to bring back meat. To do that, I have to kill the same people I'm hoping will save me. I won't do it!"
"Then be smarter," Ayla told him. "Claim the dead someone else killed. Run faster, fight on your own. Be so crazy they won't want to keep up with you, and keep returning in one piece." She looked down at her hands - the ones covered in Sylis's blood - and smiled. "Be more like a woman, Tobias."
Then she swiped her hand across my cheek and down my neck. I could feel the stickiness she left behind. That was my friend's blood. It was on my hands too, so what was she doing? What did she mean about being like a woman?
"I don't understand," I admitted.
"If you have blood on you," she said, "they'll assume you killed someone. If you take credit for what a dead man can't, they'll be impressed with how much damage you did to us. If you run ahead, alone, no one will see to know it's all a lie. That's how they make this work. The elders lie, the leaders lie, and so many men lie too. So lie, Tobias, but lie smarter and better than they do - like a woman would."
"But if I'm in the front, the wild men will kill me. They tried to kill Sylis, and if you weren't here..." I looked back again. "Will he really be okay? Will you tell me if he's not?"
"That," Ayla said, gesturing to my friend, "is a minor injury up here. We can stop infections. My friend was hit with a grenade the last time I saw you. I put my hand into his gut, pulled out metal, and today he's here. He's not only alive, butfighting. So I promise Sylis will live. But you're going to owe me for saving his life."
"Anything," I promised.
"You have to save Callah."
And I smiled. "I am." But she'd just reminded me of the letter. "And I brought this to leave, hoping it'd get to you." Reaching into my shirt, I pulled out the folded and sealed paper with a hand-drawn phoenix on the front. "I'll protect your friend, you protect mine, and maybe it'll be enough for us to somehow stop all of this."
"Or die trying," she agreed.
Thirty-Six
