"Droz..." Omden said.
I lifted a hand. "In our house or Lessa's. I already thought it through, but I want him close. If he's a spy for the Moles?" And I flicked my tail up and looked back at Sylis. "I will kill you, do you understand? If you harm my people, I will sting you with my venom, and it will burn. Every inch of your body will be consumed by pain until you die from it."
"I don't want to die," he whimpered.
So I put my stinger away and lowered my tail. "Then help us? I know you don't know how, but we'll figure it out. That doesn't mean this is going to be easy. You have killed my friends. You've eaten them!"
"Not once I knew," he insisted. "I swear that. After my first hunt, I never ate the meat again. I even helped Tobias and Callah when they needed an excuse. I claimed it was punishment for Tobias once, since I was his squad leader!"
"Which is a good start," Omden said. "The rest? We will heal you. We will save your life, but you're not one of the women. You aren't the victim here, Sylis. You were one of the men making it all happen."
And the guy lifted his chin in the best defiance he could offer while lying on his back. "And I didn't have a choice either. That's what you don't understand. Everyone down there is someone else's victim. The question is whether they like it or not."
I simply leaned back. "And I think he just gave us the first useful bit of information. Keep it up, Sylis. That? That will help us save the good Moles. Without it, we will kill all of you before we let you kill us."
"I know," he said. "But not Tobias?Please?He's a good man, and he's my friend. I know we didn't get the code, but we've been trying! It just isn't easy. So kill me if you have to, but not him?"
"Not him," I assured him, deciding this guy deserved a chance.
Because that? That was the sort of desperation I'd only seen twice before: in Ayla and Meri. I just hadn't realized what it was the first time, and had been too damned big to help the second. But this little bird? He wasn't a meek and harmless sparrow. He also wasn't a hawk. He was a bit of both, just like the kestrel, often called a sparrow hawk.
"Close your eyes, kestrel," I told him. "Sleep while you can. It'll make the trip easier, and you have a long journey ahead of you."
"Kestrel?" Omden asked.
I shrugged. "Just go with it."
"Kestrel it is," he agreed, smiling proudly at me over the wounded man between us.
Forty
Ayla
The Reapers' camp started moving when the sun came up. Considering none of us had gone to sleep until a few hours ago, I didn't know how they did it, but I did sit up. Mostly, that was because there was no way I was going to sleep through the noise around this strange "house" I was staying in.
But Zasen was already gone. Kanik was upstairs in the loft, and from the looks of his tail hanging over the edge, still asleep. I didn't see Rymar, and I wasn't sure if he'd even been back yet, but Holly was watching me intently.
"Okay," I whispered as I got up and began looking for clothes. "Let's get you something to eat, hm?"
She wagged her tail but didn't move, waiting until I was not only dressed, but headed for the door. Then she finally hopped up and raced me there, reaching it before I did. Quietly, I slipped out, doing my best to let Kanik sleep a little longer if he could.
He was healed, but not completely recovered. The doctors had said he'd need time to rebuild the muscles that had been cut, and he'd probably get tired easier than normal. Since I wasn't used to people surviving something as traumatic as what he'd been through, letting him sleep made me feel like I was doing my part to help him get better.
Outside, a trio of carts was slowly heading out of town. I spotted Omden's bright green skin in the last cart in the line. I also didn't really know what was going on. In Lorsa, the morning after an attack, there was always a town meeting, but here, they didn't even have a stage for that.
This camp was almost like a town, but less permanent. Everything could be moved around. The ground it was on had been packed down by generations of use, but there weren't any clear roadways or paths. It was more true to say everything was one.
Hoping to find someone I knew, I headed toward the trees so Holly could relieve herself. She ran off into the grassy area, so I turned to lean against a tree, trying to figure out what was going on. Sadly, I still didn't see Zasen or Rymar, but a dark dog ran toward me - and it was one I knew well.
"Hey, Shadow!" I said, kneeling down to greet him. "Where's Lansin?"
He woofed once, then rushed past me, heading the same way Holly had gone. I chuckled, knowing an urgent need when I saw one, and pushed myself back up, but when I turned toward the "town" again, the man in question was meandering his way closer.
"Morning, Ayla," he called out. "I'd say good, but it isn't."
"It is," I countered. "We're alive; the Moles are gone. That counts."
"Spoken like a true Dragon," he said as he reached my side. "So, I didn't get to ask before, but how's Holly working for you?"
